Archive for June 12, 2009

Sony PR Outed as a Fake

Posted in PlayStation 3 with tags , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

ps3

Remember , the so-called Twitterer who claimed to be a Sony PR and spread about massive stuff for Sony’s E3 press conference? He’s been outed as a fake of course now, and ever so subtly as well by another Twitter user who is a proper SCEA PR: Social Media Manager of SCEA and head honco for the US PS Blog, .

For the record, the only real PlayStation PR person identifying himself as such on Twitter is… me. Think of this as “Jeff’s Place” :-)

And when we went to check for his Twitter, it wasnt found. So, consider this your warning if you try to impersonate Sony PR.

6 Comments »

Mass Effect 2 Will Be at GamesCom

Posted in GamesCOM - Cologne 2009, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 with tags , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

ME2

BioWare’s announced that it’ll be showing Mass Effect 2 at GamesCOM, the replacement for Game Convention, in Cologne this August alongside Dragon Age: Origins. As well as GC, ME2 will also be at ComicCon this coming summer.

BioWare will be showing DAO also at CG as well as PAX, Gen-Con and Fan Expo in Canada. Get more info through here.

It’s out early next year for Xbox 360. Dragon Age: Origins is out this October for PS3 and 360.

Leave A Comment »

New Info Announced for Forza Motorsport 3

Posted in Xbox 360 with tags , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

Forza 3Microsoft has announced this afternoon, a day before the start of the Le Mans 24 hour race that the Le Mans circuit will be in the game as a circuit. As well as that, they’ve also announced the first set of 100 cars to be included in the game, several of which include the Peugeot Sport 908, Audi FSI Champion Racing R8, Ferrari MOMO F3333 and more.

They’ve also announced they have brought in Peugeot Sport’s Stéphane Sarrazin, who’ll be racing in the 24hr race tomorrow, as a consultant for the game.

Catch the press release after the jump. It’ll be out sometime in October, exclusively for the Xbox 360.

Read more »

7 Comments »

Molyneux: Natal Will Create Whole New Genres

Posted in E3 2009, Xbox 360 with tags , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

NatalAnything you know about developing games? It dont matter it wont help, thats if your working on Natal anyways.

Head of Lionhead Peter Molyneux states that whole new genres will be created, thanks to the new motion sensing controller which was revealed at E3 last week, speaking in a video interview.

One thing that will be created with Natal, and I bet money on it, is whole new genres. Dont think of RPG’s, RTS’s, or action games or sports games as being just it. Those are the compartments that were defined by a controller, Natal is gonna create whole new compartments.

Natal is now a very big project for Molyneux, considering not only did Lionhead show off a Natal project in Milo, but Molyneux was also promoted to Creative Director of Microsoft Games Studios Europe, overlooking studios like Lionhead and Rare on Natal projects. And anything you know about development, throw it out according to the Fable creator.

For me, as a designer, I’m having to go back to school. Just about everything you think is a holy grail in design, throw away and start again.

Catch the video after the jump.

Read more »

1 Comment »

SCEA’s Tretton Speaks Out on E3 Leaks and Price Cuts

Posted in E3 2009, PlayStation 3 with tags , , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

Jack Tretton

Jack Tretton doesn’t like leaks, especially if it’s coming from his arm of Sony Computer Enterainment. If you leak something, you’d be prepared for a mouthful. The SCEA president spoke out to CNBC after announcements leaked out from their E3 press conference a week and a half ago, such as the PSP Go! and a concept trailer of The Last Guardian, known at the time as trICO, the former of which came merely 3 days before their press conference.

People don’t respect confidentiality in this industry. It’s tough enough to keep a secret within your own company, much less when you speak to third parties.

Tretton also spoke out on a iminent price cut, but he insists partners like GameStop and Activision wont pressure the company to make a price cut anytime soon.

I can’t remember a day that people who have no stake in the profitability of our company have not called for a price cut. I think everybody but us would love to see it given away for free.

Although…

We’ll do everything we can do to make our pricing relevant. But remember cheapest isn’t always the most successful. It’s what you get for your dollar.

Leave A Comment »

CONFIRMED: Assassins Creed 2 Out November 20th in UK

Posted in PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 with tags , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

Assassins Creed 2

Ubisoft’s confirmed to Eurogamer that Assassins Creed 2 will be out in the UK on November 20th, 3 days after the American release on November 17th. There will also be a massive special edition coming for the game from Play.com according to Eurogamer, which will see contents like the soundtrack for the game, a 64 page booklet featuring interviews and concept art, plus a figure of main character, Ezio and 3 bonus in game-quests.

The November 17th date was announced at E3 last week. The game came second in our game of show during our Best of E3 awards, behind Splinter Cell: Conviction.

Jade Raymond will be involved, like last time, as Executive Producer, alongside Patrice Desilets who will be Creative Director of the game, working alonside Raymond. Get the E3 screens here.

Leave A Comment »

EA’s Sóderland: Mirror’s Edge 2 in Development

Posted in E3 2009, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 with tags , , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

mirrors-edge-banner-1The senior Vice President of EA Games Europe, Patrick Sóderland has confirmed to VideoGamer.com that Mirror’s Edge 2 is coming and being worked on by a small team at DICE.

Soderland, who also heads up DICE, said that a small team in the studio is working on the game, but would give a timeline as to when the game will be released.

You will see another Mirror’s Edge for sure. It’s just a matter of when that time is and what we do with it. We have a small team on it and I’m excited about what we do.

The first Mirror’s Edge came out less then a year ago, and while it did have a lack of varity as well as being difficult in places where it shouldn’t have been, the game was still very good as pointed out in our review for the game.

Leave A Comment »

Green Day Coming to Rock Band with Several New Track Packs

Posted in PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 with tags , , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

rock-band-2Harmonix and MTV Games have formally announced that Green Day will be coming to Rock Band through several exclusive track packs. The first will consist of 3 songs taken from their newest album, 21st Century Breakdown. The songs are as following:

  • 21 Guns
  • Know Your Enemy
  • East Jesus Nowhere

It was earlier in the week hinted at by Green Day frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong. The track pack will release on July 7th on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store. Full press release is after the jump. Read more »

Leave A Comment »

May NPD Numbers Released – Hardware Numbers Fall But Nintendo Still Dominate

Posted in Nintendo Wii, Other Gaming, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

npdThe numbers from NPD for May are in and they make for grim reading. Hardware numbers are down since last month with the Nintendo DS being the only hardware maintaining strong numbers at 633k units sold. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 made slow numbers unlike before, but still beat the PLAYSTATION 3 thanks to the 360 selling 175k compared to the PS3’s 131k.

The Wii sold 289k units, the PS2 sold less then the PS3 but only marginally with 117k, but it did beat the PSP which had 100k sold. Meanwhile in the software front, UFC Undisputed was the surprise winner on this path, which sold a combined 1 million between the PS3 & 360. inFamous did very well for it’s first month, selling 175k and only on sale for about 6 days in May.

But grim news was given: on a year on year basis, sales went down to $682 million from $1,12 billion.

Full charts after the jump.

Read more »

Leave A Comment »

Metal Gear Solid 4 – One Year On

Posted in Opinion Articles, PlayStation 3 with tags , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2009 by Jonathan Cullen

MGS4

Friday February 29th 2008: I’m in an internet cafe, early that Friday morning. Konami were more then likely all set to announce the release date of Metal Gear Solid 4. When it was announced on a brand new Kojima Productions podcast (back when Ryan Payton was hosting), worldwide for June 12th, needless to say, I was quite happy as I knew that the first two weeks of June would be awesome. Plus, they avoided June 6th as a release date, which was great enough for me. Why? I didnt want the game to come out the weekend I went to see Radiohead the week before MGS4’s release.

But they did avoid it, Radiohead was awesome and now the waiting game was on for Metal Gear Solid 4: my most antcipated game not just of last year, but this gen. Needless to say, I wasnt dissapointed with the game at all, infact, I was more then happy with it, you can read my review for it here. But a year to the day since Metal Gear Solid 4 was released worldwide, does the game still hold up to be not just one of the finest games on the PS3 or this gen, but of all time?

Read more »

13 Comments »