Are EA feeling alright?

Odd this. EA have announced that they will be releasing a new multiplayer mode as DLC for The Godfather 2 on the day it ships which will be free. Free, what from EA? Yes apparently so. The new DLC which will enable Don Control in multiplayer.

Wow along with all this they have released screenshots which can be viewed here.

Damn good of a company who only half a year ago were polluting us all with DRM games which they have relaxed a little on, charging for DLC and releasing poorly made games which felt only half finished. Perhaps this will turn out to be a new page in the history of EA. Would be nice to think so.

The Godfather 2 is set for release on April 7th 2009 on PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3.

Starcraft 2 beta sign-up begins:

Blizzard have recently relaunched their online hub for their games www.battle.net and for anyone who signs up to the new site you will have the option to be able to participate in their Starcraft 2 beta. People will be chosen at random from this however as of yet there has been no date for either the beta or the release of the game. If you remember earlier on this year it was mentioned about how only one game in development would be released this year. Judging by the beta only just starting with sign-ups I would suggest this would be Diablo 3 as I previously mentioned (You can view the post here).

No co-op for Bioshock 2:

2K have dispelled rumours which have been flying round the internet about there potentially being a co-op mode for the sequel to Bioshock by stating:

"There won't be any spliced-up rhinos, Soviet invasions, or co-op, but you may very well see a Big Daddy or two."

Interesting there was speculation about all of those mentioned but nice to see that the Big Daddy will be making a return to the game as there were at first doubts as to whether the Big Daddy was to be replaced by the Big Sister.

Blizzard have also confirmed that they will be releasing the game simultaneously on all platforms these including the PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3. Nice of them to do it in once go unlike with the first game where they delayed the PS3 version until later although that did provide us with a nice teaser for the sequel to the second game which can be viewed below.



You can also view the video here in case it does not show.

Riddick 3:

On a side note quickly. For those of you who saw Friday night with Jonathan Ross tonight you may have noticed that Vin Diesel was being interviewed. In the interview he mentioned that the script for the next Riddick film has been completed and that they are hoping to start filming early next year! Brilliant news in my opinion and let us hope that it will follow through with the atmosphere of the first two films yet still keep the unique aspect of the series.

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG).

You might be wondering...

As to why this week has been a bit on and off with the blog posts. I do have a fairly good reason/reasons but I shall put those off and just let you know what I am hoping to do in the short future dependent on time.

Basically I am planning on doing the normal week-day posts which will involve the round up of interesting news items as found on the internet. These will be gaming related for the foreseeable future. The weekends or at least one day over the weekend I am hoping to start doing a weekend feature of sorts on a specific topic and my thoughts on it. As ever the week-day posts will also have this attached to them too.

If you have previously seen in a previous post (or if you have not please click here to view it) you may remember be mentioning about the You Tube project I had in mind. This should surface over the summer however it will again be dependent on the amount of time i have between now and then.

That is actually all for now. This is as I said due to varying reasons why I have not posted recently but please be sure to check back tomorrow for more news!

AJ

Why so serious?

Stealth! That is the main subject of the next video to come from Eidos (being developed by Rocksteady Studios) for their upcoming game, Batman: Arkham Asylum. This can be viewed below.

Now onto the subject of the video. As I stated above the video focuses on the element of using stealth to kill or incapaciatate your enemies inside Arkham Asylum which has been overtaken by the Joker. The graphics look brilliant, the game play looks brilliant and the moves which you seem to be able to perform look oddly like something Riddick would do. Strange but it looks pretty good coming from that perspective.

So if you like the look of the video below then be sure to pick up the game coming soon on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360!



You can also view the video here in case it does not show.

Operation Wolfenstein gets leaked:

22 screenshots which have been claimed to be taken from the multiplayer side of Wolfenstein which is currently being developed by Activision. The screenshots look surprisingly good however the only thing which confirms they are from the next game in the Wolfenstein series is the Wolfenstein logo in the bottom right corner. Does this confirm that they are from the game? Potentially although Activision have seemingly denied that these have been approved by them or distributed.

You can view the screenshots here.

DLC Achievement now unlocked for Steam:

Today Valve have announced that developers can now add DLC to games using the Steam platform. Wow this is a big step you might suggest. I think so too and in all honesty probably a good move for them as it may push for more developers to put their games and DLC onto Steam. Constantly expanding Valve are providing more and more services, the majority of them free of charge, to both developers and gamers alike available for use on Steam.

The celebrate this next advancement in the development of Steam, The Maw will be the first game to release DLC via Steam.

Valve also had the following to add about the DLC:

"DLC can now be added to any game on Steam, regardless of whether it was originally purchased via Steam, at retail, or via other digital outlets. It is also a feature of Steamworks, the suite of free tools and services available to game developers and publishers."

Again a pretty damn interesting proposal for the leading digital platform for PC gamers. As I said before this could see more developers heading towards Steam and let us all hope so too except with lower prices than they currently are putting games on there for...

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG).

The weather today in fuel...

Looks pretty damn amazing. Codemasters have released a weather gameplay video for their upcoming open world racer, Fuel as well as some new screenshots. They show us how lightning, rain, snow and tornadoes will look in the game and how they could impact on how you play the game. Look pretty good to me so far and so do all of the previous Fuel videos we have seen. This could be a damn good racing game and let us hope that Codemasters deliver on this one just as much as they did with Grid.

You can view the video below and the game is coming out on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on 15th May 2009.



You can also view the video here in case it does not show along with the new screenshots released by Codemasters.

You be the Don:

According to the new video which has been released by EA for The Godfather 2 you can be the Don and you choose how you want to play the game. This shows you a little more about how the game will work without having to read any text on their website. Looks pretty interesting and the explosions somehow look awesome compared to the rest of the game graphics. Mind you looks like this is getting to be a game which we may not want to miss after all...

Also just wanted to add as to how ironic it was that M_the_C commented on the post yesterday about The Godfather 2 and today they released another trailer. Brilliant timing or what!



You can also view the video here in case it does not show.
Tonight it is a short post but you can blame that on Blood Diamond being pretty good and so long. A damn good film but it is late however hopefully I shall do a small article for you all to enjoy on Friday as I have the day off!

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG).

Riddick is back

Starbreeze have released a developer diary video today on their upcoming game Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. This looks fantastic so far with the game play elements looking to really put you into the game and feel immersed. This could be a giant leap for the series as not only are they releasing in one game the Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena but also the re-worked original Escape from Butcher Bay which is just fantastic. To top it all off we even get to hear the voicing from Vin Diesel himself. A bargain!

Play as Riddick on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 from April 24th 2009.



Empire Total War has marched to number 1!

Congratulations are in order to Creative Assembly for making this superb game. The latest title in the series has just made it number one in the sales charts beating Killzone 2 by a whopping 1600 units and it only came out last week! Also another milestone achievement for the Developer is that this title is the fastest selling one in the series to date.

The chart has not had a PC exclusive game at the number 1 spot for a year and a half before today too.

No 2009 release for Rage:

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of ID Software has today announced that Rage will not be released this year. Perhaps they will be looking for a 2010 release?

We do know however that ID Software will not release any games until they are finished to perfection. This is brilliant of a Developer to still do this. Mind you they never really put a release date on the game so we probably were not expecting it this year anyway.

Godfather 2 has gone gold:

EA have announced that their sequel to the Godfather, Godfather 2 has gone gold and will be released on April 10th 2009. The game which sees you playing as a mobster who is recruited by the Corleone family to set up business in New York, Miami and Cuba by any means necessary will introduce a different kind of gameplay element to the original and play out more like the PSP version of the Godfather game. This involved you having to take over rackets in order to become the most powerful Don. Sounds interesting and hopefully it will deliver to be another great game in EA's U-turn of quality for games.

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG).

More The Wheelman screens drive our way

Ubisoft have released 11 more screenshots of in game footage for The Wheelman which is due to come out on the 27th March 2009 on PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3. The game stars Vin Diesel voicing the main character whom you play as. The screenshots look pretty good to me.

You can view the screenshots here courtesy of CVG.

Play as the band to Guitar Hero 1, 2 & 3:

Activision have announced another expansion type game called Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits. This will include 48 famous and infamous songs from Guitar Hero 1, 2, 3 and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. Nothing has been released yet as to what the tracks will be but considering there are 4 games prior to the release of Guitar Hero: World Tour it sounds like only a few from each game will make it into the latest game by Activision. This is however good news for those fans who want to rock as a band playing along to some of the songs features in previous games. So far Activision have not released any of their back catalogue of songs from previous Guitar Hero games unlike the Rock Band series which has made all tracks playable on all titles in the series.

Personally I think this is great news as having played Guitar Hero 3 I would love to have some of the songs available to play on Guitar Hero: World Tour as a band. This will most probably be one of the few 'expansion packs' to the series I will actually get.

The trailer looks a little naff to be honest as all it shows us is some writing on screen and no in game shots or sequences. At the end though it does state to visit the website (http://www.guitarhero.com/) to choose which songs are revelealed next. Perhaps this means we will be able to choose as to what we would like to see in Greatest Hits.

Along with this announcement Activision kindly released a debut trailer for the new title too which is viewable below:



You can also view the video here in case it does not show.

The game is coming out in June 2009.

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG).

Bullshit says Bowling from Infinity Ward

Yes you read it correctly. Bowling from Infinity Ward had the following to say about the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 leak yesterday:

"It didn't come from anyone who has access to our internal builds and indeed contains several features that are already in CoD4 such as grass camo for snipers. In short, it's BS".

Nice of them to come clean about it. To be honest though when you looked at the list it all looked like guesses anyway plus the information in that 'leak' made the game look more like Call of Duty: World at War to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare than another leap for the series which would be a shame. I hope that Infinity Ward deliver as much development in the gameplay as in Modern Warfare 2. This would surely cement itself for yet more awards and they have already promised us it will be the most anticipated game of 2009.

All aircraft for PC are grounded for another week:

Ubisoft have just announced that Hawx for the PC will be delayed by another week and instead be coming out on the 20th March 2009. They have offered no explanation for the sudden delay. If you remember they also delayed the PC version of Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway in order to fix a bug so perhaps this will be the reason for the delay.

New Screens hit The Pitt:

New screenshots of the upcoming DLC, Fallout 3: The Pitt have been released today from Bethesda. These look pretty good to me and the DLC is set for release on the 24th March 2009. See the screenshots below.Bioshock 2 first news has risen from the sea:

The teaser website for Bioshock 2: The Sea of Dreams has emerged showing us some of the first details about the second game in the series. Bioshock 2 is to take place 7 years after the first game and is a pleasant surprise as there was a lot of speculation that Bioshock 2 would instead be a prequel.

The site shows a world map with some scribbled writing. Above the writing there are a series of 3 items which once selected show a picture of a doll which looks very similar to a Big Daddy but improved. Another is a newspaper cutting about the disappearance of a 7 year old girl. An extract is provided below:

"Local fisherman Eamon Clune, 44, and his wife Charlotte (32) were awoken by the sudden shattering of a window in the front room," a document on the site reads. "Moments later, his daughter Maura, age 7, screamed. Mr Clune rushed to investigate the noise only to notice the unknown attacker racing out of the broken window with incredible speed."

It goes on further to describe the attacker:

"Due to the moonless night, Clune was unable to provide a description of the assailant. He notes that the attacker was thin, above average height and wore some kind of red light."

This description seems to provide the basis for perhaps an evolved Big Daddy and this is further backed up by the picture of the doll resembling what appears to be a Big Daddy. In the original game the Big Daddy's were large and rather slow.

The third item is a letter from a J. Lynch with some red writing on the letter written by another person. No clues as to who this could have been.

You can visit the teaser website here.

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG) for providing the screenshots.

Warning: Quake Live is Packed

Well apparently the free to play online in your browser remake of Quake 3 Arena has been a pretty big success for ID Software. When the beta went live last week there were queues of people waiting to play the game anywhere between 20,000-50,000 people. Wow all that for a free to play game? Wonder if Battlefield Heroes will have the same effect on people. Which apparently should be released sometime this year although that has not been confirmed yet.

Anyway back to Quake Live: ID have stated that they will be making their top priority the reduction of the queues. Clearly this is a huge problem for potential players as no one wants to spend all their time waiting for a game to load, even a free one.

This brings me nicely onto the subject of online free to play browser games. How do they work you might ask? Well let me answer you. Basically by micrpayments and in game advertisements. As this is a relatively new way of delivering games to people this is still quite a new thing for the games industry. The way that these in game purchases of items for your characters and the advertisements is something which has yet to be fine tuned and as to whether it will ensure the game is successful is another matter altogether.

We have however already seen in game advertisements for games, for example the most recent one I have come across is Burnout Paradise. They have billboards dotted round the city usually depicting adverts for 'Real Life' products/services as you would normally see when driving around in 'Real Life'. This works great in a modern game however would be work in the fantasy genre or WW2? If they could disquise it all to that era/setting then it could work rather well.

Need For Speed: World Online:

Today EA have released the first image of their new title Need for Speed: World Online which is set to be released in the far East by the end of the year followed by us Westerners shortly after. Well please find the image below which shows us some of the interface, the world, an in-game map and some other features. Looks rather snazzy to me although we shall have to wait and see as to whether this will sell as the recent Need for Speed games have not exactly been the best of games but time will tell and I would be interested to see as to how this will compare to other racing games at the time.


Hawx - Flying the skies with your friends (or foes):

On Friday Ubisoft released the video viewable by clicking here showing the multiplayer aspect of their new game in the Tom Clancy franchise: Hawx which is an air combat simulator coming out on the PC on the 13th March 2009 and Xbox 360 and PS3 on the 6th March 2009.

AJ

With thanks to Computer and Video Games (CVG) for providing the screenshot.