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Gamer Chip - by Craig Hill

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Gamer Chip

The Beatles: Rock Band

April 22nd 2009 05:45
Apple Corps., MTV Games, and Harmonix have announced that The Beatles: Rock Band will be released simultaneously around the world on September 9th 2009 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii, with new Beatles themed Rock Band peripherals being released on the same day.

The three pronged publishing and development team behind the game has announced the following game and instrument bundles, complete with US pricings for each product (price tags for other regions have not been detailed at this time):

* The Beatles: Rock Band Software - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii: $59.99
* The Beatles: Rock Band Standalone Guitars - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii: $99.99
* The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii: $249.99

Beatles Rock Band


The $59.99 price tag is the usual RRP for a game in the US, so you can expect a UK RRP of £49.99 with any luck. The other two bundles are a little bit more of a grey area, especially considering the fact that the pricing of previous Rock Band bundles have been comparatively higher in the UK.

While the guitars bundle pricing of $99.99 translates to about £70 with the current exchange rate, $249.99 for the extravagant limited edition bundle clocks in at a worrying £177 (we can only assume that this includes all the peripherals on offer and a limited edition game).

However, gamers should expect prices to be higher than that in the UK as electronics products tend to be more expensive here than they are stateside.

The announcement also confirmed that all previously released Rock Band peripherals will be compatible with Rock Band: The Beatles, so perhaps the prices won't be quite so harsh on those of you who have already forked-out for a Rock Band studio.

Available on xBox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii
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Posted By: Craig Hill - Category: PC, Xbox 360, Wii
   


Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4

February 20th 2009 07:42
Atari Europe has today confirmed that the next instalment in the Ultimate Ninja franchise, following the adventures of young ninja Naruto, will be arriving across May on PlayStation 2.

Set over two years after Naruto leaves the seclusion of the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 follows the storyline of his return to the village, where a new threat – the Akatsuki – have appeared in the shadows. Over 52 players make up a jam-packed roster in the one-on-one beat-em-up, which will also include a more narrative-driven 'Master Mode' that unlocks the story behind Naruto's return.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 has been developed by CyberConnect2, and first launched in Japan back in April 2007. A fifth instalment was released in the Far East back in December 2008, so with some luck we may receive that sometime during Christmas 2010.

The trainee ninja has so far made a single appearance on PlayStation 3 in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, which was also developed by CyberConnect2.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja 4


Set two and a half years after Naruto left the Hidden Leaf Village to undergo a strict training regiment with his mentor Jiraiya, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN : Ultimate Ninja 4 lets players experience this exciting new storyline for the first time.

Returning to help save his rival Sasuke from the evil Orochimaru, Naruto is reunited with all his old friends, only to find that a mysterious organization known as Akatsuki now poses a more ominous threat to the Village.

Available on PS2
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Posted By: Craig Hill - Category: No Category
   


Mario And Luigi RPG3 (Exploring Bowser's Internal Organs)

February 1st 2009 10:14
Details on the third Mario & Luigi RPG are still a little vague, since its unveiling back in October. However a recent update to the game's Japanese website has revealed a surprising twist.

With the ability to take control of Bowser alongside the brothers previously being revealed, it appears that both Mario and Luigi have found themselves exploring the insides of Bowser.

Exactly what Mario and Luigi are doing exploring around Bowser's internal organs remains to be seen, but it does appear to provide an intriguing gameplay slant. One video on the official website demonstrates Bowser drinking water, which in turn causes further obstacles for the intrepid duo to overcome.

Available on DS

Mario And Luigi RPG3

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Posted By: Craig Hill - Category: No Category
   


Prince Of Persia

February 1st 2009 08:55
Prince of Persia Epilogue, the first portion of DLC for Ubisoft's 2008 reworking of Jordan Mechner's iconic franchise, is due out on February 26th and is set to add new powers and attacks for the prince as well as a whole new region to explore.

The Underground Palace is the setting for the Epilogue DLC, where gamers will have to aid the Prince and Elika's escape attempts from this corrupted subterranean lair.

To help them along their way, Ubisoft has wilfully provided a new power for the Prince called 'Energize', which allows him to reconstruct destroyed areas of the game environment for a short period, and a new 'Sprinting Clash' attack that's pretty much as it sounds.

Ubisoft is touting a 3 hour length for the DLC and upon completion of the content you will be rewarded with new skins of Elika and the Prince that show how they looked during the prototype stage of development.

Prince Of Persia


Set in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, the Prince finds himself caught in an epic battle between the forces of light and darkness: the God of Light versus his brother, the destructive God of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life, which threatens to plunge the world into darkness. Now the Prince must partner with Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption.

Available on PC, 360, PS3
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Posted By: Craig Hill - Category: No Category
   


Boom Blox Bash Party

February 1st 2009 05:57
Boom Blox Bash Party, the sequel to last year's Boom Blox, has been announced by EA as part of the publisher's collaboration with Steven Spielberg and is due out on Nintendo's Wii during the spring of this year.

The first game won plaudits last spring for its innovative design and original gameplay, which challenged players to bring down towers of blocks by hurling objects (or 'tools') such as baseballs at them using the Wii's motion controlled Remote.

In a marked expansion from the original, Bash Party will boast a variety of new features such as underwater and zero gravity stages across over 400 levels in the main game. As the Bash Party moniker suggests, multiplayer has also been expanded considerably, with twice as many challenges as the first game and new team-based events.

New 'tools' include a cannon, slingshot, and paintballs, while fresh blox have been brought to the stage including cylindrical and wedge shaped pieces, as well as the intriguing virus and conveyor blox.

Boom Blox Bash Party


"Boom Blox Bash Party is a wild social gaming experience," said Steven Spielberg. "We know families and friends really enjoyed playing the original Boom Blox together, so we designed more explosive multiplayer experiences with Boom Blox Bash Party."

There's also a new range of characters for Bash Party, who will actually form part of the gameplay this time around as they can be both stacked among other blox and thrown at the destructible towers as well.

An enhanced Create Mode now allows users to rate levels designed by EA and other Boom Blox players across an online community, expanding on the limited options from the first game that only allowed sharing between your friends list on Wii Connect 24.

"In Boom Blox Bash Party we are taking the game elements to the extreme," said Amir Rahimi, Senior Producer. "In the original Boom Blox, we really focused on perfecting the game's physics so now we can push the boundaries of physics, offering exciting new challenges and completely new ways to play."
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PS3 and PSP Future Plans - Sony Talks

October 28th 2008 03:28
sony psp ps3 firmware japan


Via the power of an online translator, Naoya Matsui, Koujiro Umemura, Masaki Takase, and Shinji Noda, all high ranking Sony Computer Entertainment employees directly responsible for firmware and network issues regarding the PS3 and PSP, gave their views and plans on the future direction for both the handheld and home consoles through the latest Random Tracking column .

The main points revolved around the addition of Flash 9 support for the PS3, a heavily requested feature to help view regular internet channels such as our YouTube or the Asian homegrown version, Nico Nico (catchy). The support has been in development for over a year according to Sony, but will at last make an appearance.

And it sounds as though performace will be excellent, as "flash-based playback for H.264 videos makes use of an SPU. This allows for loading up of web pages to be separate from video playback, improving framerate."
Just don't expect the same for the PSP... There are no plans for Flash 9 to appear in your hands any time soon.

More details qouted from the article are:

Sony's engineers do still have things in the works for the PSP. While PSP already has screen capture support built into its development tools and accessible to game developers who chose to use it, plans call for a future firmware update to add video capture support as well.

Strangely, the PS3 took the opposite route with these Web 2.0-style features. On the PS3, video playback and upload to YouTube came first. Screen capture support was added only in the latest update. Takase detailed the screen capture support just a bit, revealing that the PS3 captures in PNG format at the full resolution of the current game and stores the images in the Photo section of the XMB.

Now let's hope we'll start seeing some games that actually use the feature!

We're going to have to leave you on a sad note here, especially if you picked up one of the early 20 gigabyte PS3 systems. Sony's new Ad-Hoc Party initiative, which allows the PSP to use the PS3 as a proxy and matching server for playing internet-based games, will, as previously announced, not be supported with the 20 gigabyte PS3 due to the lack of built-in wireless networking. Umemura added in his latest comments that it would be difficult at present to allow 20 gigabyte owners to simply attach a wireless LAN adapter via USB and use the service.
All interesting news to the Playstation community.
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Posted By: Colin Stevens - Category: Other
   


Star Wars: The Old Republic Full Presentation Releaved

October 27th 2008 23:37
star wars MMO old republic


LucasArts have kindly released to the Star Wars Geekdom their full presentation of Bioware MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

It's twenty minutes of information about the game, including art styles and trailers.

Things are looking good, and the project is definitely in the right hands.
And although the game has only been in production for a short time, and no gameplay footage is available, the signs are good, with LucasArts looking to gain as much community feedback as possible.

You can find the full video here.
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Posted By: Colin Stevens - Category: PC
   


Motorstorm DLC Every Week - And Mostly Free

October 27th 2008 22:41
motorstorm pacific rift


Motorstorm Pacific Rift has been eagerly anticipated for some time, and now that the release is just around the corner fans are being treated to more good news - that there is a rift full of DLC coming, and the majority of it will be free.

See the details below from the Playstation Blog (and note some of the creepier stats.... good to know i'm only a few dozen toilet rolls away from a hit game):

Its launch day for MotorStorm Pacific Rift in North America tomorrow (w00t)!

It means you all can enjoy MotorStorm Pacific Rift and we can all go on holiday. Except by this point, the UK is accelerating into winter in typical rainy, cold fashion. So it’s the Southern Hemisphere for the sun worshippers amongst the team, and a catching-up on a big pile of games in a darkened room for us redheads that find the sun overrated.


Once were all rested its back to the development bunker to finish off the DLC we have lined up for you guys in the coming months. We’ve got a pile of stuff waiting in the wings, and, you’ll be glad to know, a lot of it is free. We’re going to try and give you something new to play with every week, and we’ve also got some major packs in development that should be on the store after Christmas.

In the meantime, get those Time Trial lap times up on the leaderboards (you’re lucky as I’ve put a moratorium on our QA guys posting up there for two weeks, to let you guys get good at it), have a laugh with split screen, and enjoy this next bout of brutal off-road racing.

Laters!
Nigel

Number of pizzas consumed during development: 1,454
Number of Chinese takeaways consumed during development: 4,231
Number of curries consumed during development: 678
Miles of toilet roll used during development: 37
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Posted By: Colin Stevens - Category: Other
   


Movie Studio Buys Epic Games Says Silicon Valley

October 27th 2008 04:04
epic games gears of war 2 legendary


The evidence is becoming compelling as the rumours pick up speed. Variety have reported that Legendary Studios (makers of the prettily violent '300') are looking to aquire Gears Of War developers Epic. And as we already know, that the two are in partnership over the upcoming film version of Gears, meaning that the basis for the relationship has some solid foundations.

Microsoft have recently shrugged off a number of their development partners, preferring to keep the IP's and key staff for their own Microsoft Games Studios. Many might dismiss the news, thinking that such as important property couldn't be risked, but they thought the same about Bungie...

What we like the sound of is the link between Epic and the potential list of Movie related games that Legendary has on the books. You just know that Cliffy B would love a shot at Clash Of The Titans and Watchman. Cliffy has stated that there would be a few new properties for Epic and these look like a great start. For the sake of gamers everywhere, lets hope that this is the case, as it may mean that we actually get playable movie related games.

Superman: Man of Steel (2011)
Clash of the Titans (2010)
Gears of War (2010) (already an Epic tie-in)
Untitled 300 Sequel (2010)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
The Hangover (2009)
Observe and Report (2009)
Watchmen (2009)
Kung Fu (2009)
Ninja Assassin (2009)
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Posted By: Colin Stevens - Category: Xbox 360
   


A New Star Wars MMO Hope Announced

October 22nd 2008 11:29
star wars MMO


If you had somehow avoided the lure of WoW, were able to deny the siren-like call of Warhammer, chances are your time as a functioning member of the human race are numbered.

Through a cunning and completely unnecessary teaser campaign, the worst kept secret in gaming today has finally been revealed. The latest MMO to hit your PC (and PC only) from LucasArts and Bioware will be Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Promising a real, actual storyline (in your face Age of Conan) that will lure even those that have steadfastly refuse to become involved in your run of the mill MMO's, alongside "an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters," this could be the one old school role players have waited for. Not convinced? How about "fusing BioWare's heritage of critically-acclaimed storytelling with the amazing pedigree of Lucasfilm and LucasArts, and adding a brand-new fourth pillar to the equation - story"?

Damn them. Damn then to Hoth. The title is now in developement so keep an eye out for more news soon. In the meatime the full press release can be found below.


LucasArts and BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts, today announced the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, a story-driven massively multiplayer online PC game set in the timeframe of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic franchise.

Star Wars: The Old Republic, being developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, represents an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, players will explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy.

Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way, players will befriend courageous companions who will fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players' actions.

Players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.

"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the most critically acclaimed Star Wars game in LucasArts history and a preeminent example of our company's interactive storytelling heritage," said Darrell Rodriguez, President of LucasArts.

"For a long time, we've wanted to return to the franchise in a grand way, and we felt that the best setting for it was an online world that would allow millions of people to participate in the experience together. We knew that the developer capable of working with us to deliver an engrossing story with a fully-realized online world was BioWare."

"Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars - combat, exploration and character progression," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder and General Manager/CEO of BioWare and General Manager/Vice President of EA.

"In Star Wars: The Old Republic, we're fusing BioWare's heritage of critically-acclaimed storytelling with the amazing pedigree of Lucasfilm and LucasArts, and adding a brand-new fourth pillar to the equation - story. At the same time, we will still deliver all the fun features and activities that fans have come to expect in a triple-A massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, Star Wars: The Old Republic is set in a very exciting, dynamic period in the Star Wars universe."

Added Dr. Greg Zeschuk, Co-Founder and Vice President Development Operations, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts Inc., "Star Wars: The Old Republic is set roughly 300 years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic, a timeframe that is completely unexplored in the lore. BioWare has been able to add to the Star Wars history in developing the game's story and has created an overarching narrative that players can enjoy, regardless of their play style. Our goal is to offer players an emotionally rewarding experience that combines the traditional elements of MMO gameplay with innovations in story and character development."
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Posted By: Colin Stevens - Category: PC
   


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