Archive for the ‘Features’ Category

In an email response from a contact over at Sony, We have been informed that he has just received confirmation that the hotly anticipated Killzone 2 demo will “be live on the PSN store on Thursday 5th February across all SCEE PSN
locales.”

It was previously rumoured the demo would land a matter of days before the full game hit retail, with only those who pre-order in the US getting early access on the 5th but it now seems as though all  EU gamers will get the chance to experience the single player demo this week.

Feel free to post your reactions to this exclusive news.

Today Square Enix has released 17 new screenshots of their upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive, Star Ocean: The Last Hope.  Star Ocean: The Last Hope continues the series traditions of soaring space opera, blending science fiction with fantasy for a unique RPG experience. The refined gameplay features four party members and team-oriented combat, while maintaining the innovative real-time battle system that has become a trademark of the Star Ocean series.  The game is set in the year S.D. 10, where in the aftermath of World War III, humanity voyages into the stars to search for a new home and a second chance.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a prequel that combines sci-fi and fantasy elements, spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the Star Ocean universe.  The game will also contain exhilarating combat sequences which has been expanded upon the franchise’s famous real-time battle system.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is set for release in PAL territories this Spring exlusively on Xbox 360.

Screenshots

Capcom Europe have announced a Street Fighter IV Arcade Machine UK Tour.

Play Street Fighter IV And Win Exclusive Merchandise
Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of videogames, can today announce a whirlwind Street Fighter IV tour of locations up and down the UK, allowing gamers a chance to sample the greatest fighting game of all time in its original form ahead of the console release, and potentially win some exclusive Street Fighter IV merchandise.

Starting in Edinburgh, the machines will sweep down into England crushing all other games that fall before them. The tour is expected to continue beyond release, with further dates to be added, but the current dates and locations are as follows –

29th January – 1st of February
Edinburgh’s Gamestation on Princes Street (EH2 4AH)

5th March – 8th March
Hull’s Gamestation in Prospect Centre (HU2 8PW)

Street Fighter IV is set for release on February 20th on PS3 and Xbox 360.

So it looks like the developers for the new Ghostbuster game coming out on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii have decided to give everyone an insight into their time working on the game.  There isn’t much more for me to say so I’ll just let you get on with the dev diary.

It Begins

So he looks across the conference table over his impressive beard at us. Pauses. Then he says, “It’s Ghostbusters. We’re going to make a Ghostbusters game. The first really good one.”

And the other one, who for the first time since we met has paused talking for almost two consecutive minutes, adds this: “And we think you’re the right guys do it. You up for it?”

Nobody says anything for a long time. They think that after all the buildup and mystery maybe we’re disappointed, that maybe we’re trying to assess the fastest way of out of the room. But that’s not the case. The fact is that Brendan is sitting in stunned silence and I’m just trying to keep from swallowing my tongue. Mark Randel (Terminal Reality President & Chief Technologist) is taking it better: he’s just near-catatonic.

It was January 2006. We arrived at the publisher forty minutes ago, one of a few stops on a tour to show off our Infernal Engine next-gen technology demo and an original game IP we’d been developing (‘the publisher’ at this time being Vivendi, before Atari took over the title in 2008: look up ‘Activision Blizzard merger’ on Wikipedia for more info). In addition to cutting-edge lighting, materials, and rendering, the tech demo depicted squad gameplay action, heavy emphasis on chaotic environmental destruction, and extremely realistic physical interaction.

It was the massive destruction is what really got their attention. Seriously: fiery explosions & debris will get your foot in any door.

Vivendi Executive Producers John Melchior (tall, quietly fast-talking, awesome), and Pete Wanat (beard & soda also awesome) introduced themselves and let us know immediately that they were the two most hated men at this publisher. John O’Keefe (Terminal Studio Director) asked if maybe there was someone else there we could talk to.
They watched our demo politely, exchanged mysterious raised eyebrows, asked a few pointed questions, and then left for a private discussion in the hall.

When they came back they seemed to have agreed on something. They told us they’d been working on developing a movie license IP. Brendan Goss (Terminal Reality Executive Producer) shot a look my way: Uh-oh. Here we go again. But this was a really big one, they continued: a really great one. And it wasn’t tied to an upcoming theater release in less than twelve months.

Then they dropped the G-bomb.

There it was, out in the open. Ghostbusters. Maybe one of the greatest movies made. Definitely one of the funniest. We were getting a crack at it. To say we were thrilled is a lazy understatement. Pleasantly electrified is closer to the truth. It wasn’t until later, after the shock wore off some, when we realized the depth of the responsibility we had staked ourselves to when we finally stammered, “Y-yes! Of course we’ll do it!”

Stars Align

The Ghostbusters game finally happened as the result of a fairly rarefied confluence of elements, a sort of Hollywood fairy tale.

Sony Pictures Consumer Products (Mark Caplan & Keith Hargrove) knew that the time was ripe for a Ghostbusters revival, and wanted to wrap it around a centerpiece game. Sony felt that game technology had finally arrived and were looking for a developer with the right mix of passion and skills to do the project correctly. First, Sony knew they needed to do two things: 1. Make sure all IP holders—which includes the director, three of the original Ghostbusters stars, and Sony Pictures itself—would be totally on board; and 2. Find a publisher that could make the game happen with as much of the original talent involved, as possible (i.e. the Ghostbusters).

Across town at the publisher, John and Pete had been talking about doing a GB game for quite a while, and had started talking to the owners of the property. They were also trying to sell their own upper management on the concept. Some reluctance is certainly understandable. The reason we jumped at the chance was the same reason the finance people were shy: a major movie-license game that’s not actually attached to a theatrical release can be a tough sell. There’s no built-in multi-million-dollar studio-financed marketing campaign. With a high-profile title, securing the license can be very expensive, especially when that license is one of the highest-grossing and most beloved films of all times (market research by Vivendi revealed that the enduring ‘no-ghost’ logo ranks just behind Coca-Cola and the Nike Swoosh stripe in order of worldwide recognition). Securing the talent can be both cost-prohibitive, if not impossible to do: Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman haven’t worked as a group for years, and each has his own successful career to manage.

In the meantime, Dan Aykroyd had been trying to get a Ghostbusters film sequel off the ground for years, but was having a hard time reassembling the cast and generating studio interest. He had decided that a CG-animated movie would be the best way to go, since the GB III script called for a daunting budget if shot practically. A few voice-acting sessions would require a much smaller time commitment from the cast. And the now almost-sixty-year old principals wouldn’t have to strap those brutally heavy proton packs back on and run through NYC streets. So, from his perspective, moving to a game format for a true sequel wasn’t too big a leap for him.

The three sides found one other and liked what each was bringing to the table. They worked on pulling the rest of the group back together. And the snowball starts to roll. We jumped on as soon as we could.

So what did everyone think of that little insight into the work they do, feel free to comment on your thoughts.

Fans of  Evolution Studios Motorstorm 2: Pacific Rift will no doubt be pleased to hear that a patch to fix a couple of problems with the game is in the works, as well as bug fixes the patch also promises to add various gameplay improvements.  No date has been set for the release as of yet but we’ll update as soon as we get more news.  Some details which were made available today by Jamie Brayshaw over on the OPB are as follows Read the rest of this entry »

Eidos recently announced details about the first DLC for Tomb Raider: Underworld.  The first of the two packs (Beneath the Ashes) will take place after the Underworld story has finished and will send Lara back to the remains of Croft Manor where she uncovers a massive series of never before seen caverns and age old crypts used to protect and hide a deadly source of power.

Unfortunately at the time of writing we have no information on the second downloadable level (Lara’s Shadow), but will post more as soon as we do.   Beneath The Ashes will launch on February 10, 2009 while the second level (Lara’s Shadow) will be released on March 10.

As well as new levels the packs will also contain six new costumes and an additional 125 achievement points.  Both packs are exclusive to the Xbox 360.

Carrying on from yesterdays Halo Wars Goes Gold article, it has been announced that UK retailer Gamestation will be giving a little bit extra to those who pre-order Halo Wars.

This small gift will be exclusive access to an in-game U.N.S.C Flaming Warthog (picture left), which will certainly add that extra bit of style to the players campaign.

Players will receive an e-mail on launch day with their redemption code in order to obtain access to the Flaming Warthog.

To pre-order your copy of Halo Wars from Gamestation, Click Here.

Halo Wars is released on the Xbox 360 in Europe on February 27 and North America on March 3.

Posting over on the Official Playsation Blog, Brian Intihar from Insomnia gives us the rundown on what to expect in patch 1.40 Read the rest of this entry »

Today Microsoft have announced that Halo Wars has gone gold and has now been sent off to the manufacturers.

The demo for Halo Wars will be available to all when it hits the Xbox Live Marketplace on February 5.

Microsoft describes the demo as follows: “Players will be able master Ensemble’s groundbreaking control scheme in optional beginner and advanced tutorials or jump right into the action to experience the beginning of the Halo Wars story with the first two campaign missions. The demo will also include Chasms, one of Halo Wars’ 14 multiplayer maps, wherein players can battle it out in Skirmish mode vs. A.I., playing either as the UNSC with Captain Cutter’s leader powers, or as the Covenant with the Prophet of Regret’s own unique abilities.”

The retail version of the game will be hitting our shores March 27 where it will face fierce competition from Sony’s Killzone 2.