Video Games News

Quite honestly, the amount of games we receive here at TVG is starting to give our cleaner a serious neurotic disorder, so we're organising a weekly Twitter competition where our readers can win a bag of swag direct from the outbox of our overworked TVG elves.

To enter our Clutter-Buster Giveaway, all you need to do is follow us on Twitter and then Tweet the following message from your account:

Win #TVG Clutter-Buster Giveaway (http://ow.ly/sIxR) RT and follow @totalvideogames

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Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling has revealed that week one sales for the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 have surpassed the mark set by the original Modern Warfare for PC in 2007. This is despite the lack of dedicated servers and a restricted player limit in the sequel.

"The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 has actually outsold the PC version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in its first week. Making it the most successful PC version," Bowling explained on the Infinity Ward forums.

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The scriptwriter for Modern Warfare 2, Jesse Stern has spoken candidly about Infinity Ward's decision to put the infamous airport scene in the game, stating that the developer "wanted to make it something that would be upsetting, disturbing, but also something people relate to."

"Ultimately, our intention was to put you as close as possible to atrocity," Stern told GamePro. "As for the effect it has on you, that's not for us to determine. Hopefully, it does have an emotional impact and it seems to have riled up a lot of people in interesting ways. Some of them good; some of them bad."

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Sitting on top of a variety of movie and music labels, Sony Corp should be in the strongest position to deliver the all-encompassing media hub that virtually every company in the sector is striving to create.

For decades, Sony has attempted to unify its diverse range of hardware manufacturers and content companies, bringing the material created by the likes of Colombia Pictures and Epic Records to products that it creates.  However a long history of corporate infighting and a lack of insight have thwarted such plans in the past.

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According to this job ad, Microsoft Game Studios is currently on the lookout for a Lead Producer to head-up the publishing side of Microsoft's Gears of War and Shadow Complex properties at Epic, suggesting that sequels for both series could be in the offing.

The successful applicant will apparently, "drive the success of Gears of War and Shadow Complex in the highly competitive and fascinating world of interactive entertainment." While direct sequels are not mentioned explicitly, this does imply that there are new Shadow Complex and Gears of War projects underway at Epic.

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Additional multiplayer game modes, maps, and killstreak bonuses have been discovered in the PC version of Modern Warfare 2.  ModernWarfail2 brings word of the modes and how to go about unlocking them on the PC version.

The modes include 'Global Thermonuclear War', in which players have to capture a nuclear bomb and detonate it, along with 'One Flag CTF', which challenges players to capture a solitary flag and deliver it to their base, and finally 'VIP', which should be self explanatory.

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Assassin's Creed fans will enjoy plenty of hours of gameplay with today's release of the hugely anticipated sequel.  However you might find yourself slightly puzzled by a plot device that leaves two of the 14 DNA sequences missing.  

We won't spoil how this pans out, but it left us wandering whether we missed something when reviewing the title, so we contacted a Ubisoft rep to find out.  Their response leads us to believe that future DLC could go back to these sequences:

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Capcom today provided further details on the extra DLC heading to Resident Evil 5.  The DLC will include two new episodes, new costumes and a 'Mercenaries Reunion' mode, which features eight playable characters and a range of weapon load-outs.

The first episode, Lost In Nightmares, fills in the details behind the Spencer Mansion cut-scenes, which finds Chris Redfield reunite with Jill Valentine as they attempt to investigate the Umbrella Corp mastermind's hideout.  Details of the second episode have yet to be revealed.

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According to this document from a Sony media/investor conference, the electronics giant could be poised to add a subscription based service to the PlayStation Network that will bring in a "New revenue stream" for the company.

PSN has been free of charge to PlayStation users since its inception back in the PS2 days, although slide 39 from the conference does seem to suggest that gamers will soon be paying for a subscription to certain content on the platform.

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The next Legend of Zelda will herald a bunch of surprises beyond MotionPlus compatibility according to the series supervisor Eiji Aonuma.

"It is something we used to talk about with Mr Miyamoto," Aonuma-san told the Official Nintendo Magazine.  "He and I agree that if we are following the same structure again and again, we might not be able to give long time Zelda fans a fresh surprise."

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Sony's Video Delivery Service for the PS3 and PSP, which will bring on-demand movies to the consoles via PSN for the first time in Europe, has now gone live. The service, which has launched with 2000 films across the whole continent, also boasts an impressive array of 800 movies for the UK market alone.

Although the platform has launched in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK initially, Sony has plans to expand the service across the region next year, while also increasing the payload of videos that are available at a rate of 50 per week.

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Sqaure Enix has announced that the long-awaited sequel to 2007's Supreme Commander will be available next spring, when the series will return its PC spawning grounds while launching simultaneously on the Xbox 360.

Set 25 years after the events of the original Supreme Commander's Infinite War, Supreme Commander 2 kicks-off after the President of the Colonial Defense Coalition is assassinated, which brings the United Earth Federation, Cyber Nation, and The Illuminate factions into direct conflict.

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Speaking to The Times, Rockstar Games' Dan Houser has provided the first official (of sorts) acknowledgement that GTA V is in the works.

Following the spoof advertisement in 'The Episodes From Liberty City' manual, The Times references Red Dead Redemption and the "next GTA".  

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Reports from Russian websites are indicating that Activision-Blizzard's Modern Warfare 2 has been recalled, as a result of the game's controversial stage set in a Russian airport.

This report suggests that Infinity Ward will deliver a censored version which removes the scene for release across the territory with a timeline of 10-20 days.  TVG took a brief look at several Russian online retailers and couldn't find the title, particularly Ozon.ru - considered Russia's equivalent of Amazon - doesn't appear to be currently listing the title.

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As widely expected the Friday 13th Final Fantasy XIII announcement has brought news of the Western release date.  Following the game's Japanese release on December 17th, Final Fantasy XIII will be released worldwide in the west on March 9th 2010 for the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360.  

Today's announcement also reveals that X Factor winner Leona Lewis will provide the theme track for the game.  The song, My Hands, features on the Grammy-nominated artist's second album set for release on November 16th.

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In a press release announcing the availability of a specific BBC iPlayer Wii Channel, Nintendo has confirmed that sales data from Chart-Track reveals that the Wii is nearing six million sales across the UK.  

Such figures suggest that the UK sales account for approximately 9% of combined Wii worldwide sales; or viewed in another way, in the region of one in 10 of the UK population own a Nintendo Wii.

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Xbox Live's Major Nelson has announced that Microsoft recorded 2 million concurrent users on Xbox Live yesterday evening, which is thanks in no small part to the influx of gamers playing the newly released Modern Warfare 2 online.

The concurrent users record had previously been broken last Christmas, when Microsoft recorded a peak of 1.5 million simultaneous users on Xbox Live thanks to some bumper sales figures for the period.

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Activision today provided further suggestions that it will be bringing an MMO strategy to the Call of Duty franchise, following previous hints that such a strategy is on the cards.

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Conference and reported by IGN, Thomas Tippl Activision-Blizzard CFO claimed that a mutually beneficial relationship between the teams working on Xbox Live and PSN along with Blizzard could herald a Call of Duty title with micro-transactions and additional MMO features.

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Following Chart Track's decision yesterday to reveal day one sales for Modern Warfare 2 in the UK, Activision has now announced that the game has shifted a total of 4.7 million units across the US and UK in its first day of sales, grossing a total of $310 million (£187 million) in sales.

According to Activision figures, that makes Modern Warfare 2 the "biggest entertainment launch in history," beating out rivals such as Microsoft's Halo 3 and Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man 3 to the record.

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Shawn Lee, a musician who wrote the score for Rockstar's Bully (or Canis Canem Edit) in 2006, has seemingly let the cat out of the bag on a Rockstar sequel by indicating that he's about to start work on the music for a Bully 2 project.

Lee, who's previously worked on the music for two videogame projects (The Getaway and Bully), was asked by the gaming liberty whether he'd consider penning any more scores for videogames in future.

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Gran Turismo's head honcho, Kazunori Yamauchi has stated that the inclusion of motorbikes in Gran Turismo 5 is a distinct possibility if there's enough demand for them from fans.

"If that's what users really want in the game, I think that's a possibility. Or we could consider making a Tourist Trophy 2 as well," Yamauchi told IGN when asked whether bikes would make the cut in GT5.

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Activision and Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 has broken UK sales records by shifting 1.23 million units in its first day on the market, surpassing the previous record of 631,000 day one unit sales for Rockstar's GTA IV.

This is according to Chart Track figures, which estimate that MW2 has grossed £47 million in its first 24 hours. This compares to £27.2 million in total revenues for GTA IV on its day of release during April of 2008.

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Amazon.co.uk today confirmed that Modern Warfare 2 has become the biggest selling pre-order of all time, surpassing those of GTA IV beforehand by more than 50%.

"The level of interest in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been unprecedented ," said Chris Poad, Director of Video Games at Amazon.co.uk Ltd. "We have seen demand increase rapidly as the release date has drawn closer and it is now benefitting from over 50% more pre-orders than we saw for Grand Theft Auto 4. That is an incredible achievement."

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At a parliamentary question session for the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Keith Vaz Labour MP for Leicester East raised his concerns surrounding the impending launch of Activision-Blizzard's Modern Warfare 2.

"Are you aware that at midnight tonight a new and violent video game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is to be released?" Vaz asked the house, having earlier expressed concerns in The Daily Mail.  

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We're not the biggest fans of pipe music; pan pipes are for hippies and the less said about bagpipes the better.  But Link has always been a fan of the wind instruments so we're willing to look beyond our own prejudices in this case.

Nintendo today announced that you'll need to master such instruments in the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.  Thankfully it doesn't seem as though you'll have to whistle songs into the DS' microphone, instead using the stylus and touchscreen to control the pitch and play the correct melodies to restore the tracks to each of the temples featured in the game.  

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Alongside treating Dot Cotton's bronchitis EastEnders actor Adam Croasdell can add drinking dry martinis and driving exotic cars to his repertoire.  Digital Spy brings word that the square's doc will be taking on the slightly more glamorous role of James Bond in the next 007 video game.

"Oddly enough I have just played James Bond in the new James Bond video game - how weird is that? Croasdell confirmed in an interview with BBC Asian Network.

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It's difficult to see beyond the fact that this year's biggest blockbuster launches at midnight.  But in light of Activision-Blizzard holding off on the review front, Charlie Brooker has shared his opinions on Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2.

Brooker's opened the Twitter account with:

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On the eve of its release, The Daily Mail has expressed its outrage at scenes in Modern Warfare 2 that allow the player to target civilians in an airport in order to infiltrate the ranks of the terrorist organisation.

No stranger to controversial video games, Keith Vaz Labour MP for Leicester East, promised to raise his concerns during parliament today.

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The big fish at Gran Turismo's Polyphony Digital studio, Kazunori Yamauchi has revealed that there will be a Gran Turismo 6 and gamers won't be waiting as long for it as they have been for GT5, which is due out in Japan during March of next year.

When asked by Autoweek whether there will be a GT6, Yamauchi responded, "Yes. You won't have to wait as long as you did for GT5. GT5 represents a whole new operating system. GT6 is just new apps that run on the GT5 system."

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The English translation to Nintendo's Q&A session following the company's recent six month financial results has finally arrived.  Much of the information has already been revealed via hasty Google translations of the original Japanese transcript; however, like my mother always says, the devil is in the detail.

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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will mark a landmark in the history of Zelda games. Not only will it cast aside the archetypal damsel in distress storyline, but it will also place Princess Zelda alongside Link as they fight together to save the land of Hyrule.

Zelda, who has traditionally been saved by Link at the end of his many epic adventures, will now be able to command Phantoms with her spirit and provide handy navigational tips for Link (uncovering new areas, storyline arcs, and items) as he drives Spirit Tracks' train.

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Despite the fact that Media Molecule has spoken openly about a possible LittleBigPlanet sequel in the past, the developer has now cast doubt over the prospect of LittleBigPlanet 2 ever emerging from its Guildford based studio.

Media Molecule Producer, Martin Lynagh told Critical Gamer, "I think what you've seen so far from LittleBigPlanet, that's the way it's going to continue," he commented in reference to DLC updates for the current game.

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If any further proof was needed that Super Street Fighter IV is going to be worth it for Street Fighter fanatics, then a little more nostalgia is surely the trick to seal it.

Beyond an extended cast of fighters, Famitsu (via Siliconera) brings word that the car-smashing/barrel busting rounds that featured in between bouts on Street Fighter II will be making a return in the spin-off title.

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The original Mass Effect didn't enjoy the best of relationships with post-release DLC, however that's all being rectified for the sequel if a Microsoft Expert Zone quiz for retailers is anything to go by.

Destructoid reports that the survey offers "planned episodic combat via DLC, weapon an armour packs, new downloadable characters for the campaign experience, new downloadable worlds, as well as full campaign expansions for download."

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Microsoft and BSkyB's hotly anticipated launch of the Sky Player on the Xbox 360 got off to a great start last week, until it disappeared shortly afterwards and taken offline since.  Following its October 27th launch, the service, which brings a range of Sky channels to the Xbox 360, was removed due to “phenominal demand”.  

The service is still inaccessible to many, nearly a week after the launch, as Sky today admitted that it “did not have the capacity to satisfy all service requests”.  It's believed that the service is now being rolled out gradually, although the media giant hasn't specified a timeline for when the service will appear entirely.

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Remember that incredibly weird GTPlanet forum post from earlier this year, which sounded more like a Nostradamus prophecy than a game reveal? Some commentators took that to mean that a track editor will ship with Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5, and now the developer has apparently confirmed this rumour.

Since the initial ramblings, videos from Helsinki's DigiExpo have also been linked with the GT5 track editor rumour, although our inability to speak Finnish is a crippling barrier here. Nonetheless, this apparent confirmation that emerged over the weekend is a lot clearer:

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Sony has released its financial report for the second quarter of its fiscal year (ending September 30th 2009), which reveals a loss of 32.6 billion yen (£217 million) for the company compared to the 11 billion yen (£373 million) it recorded in operating income for the same period last year.

Total sales and revenues were down by 411 billion yen (£2.7 billion) over last year's figures for the second quarter, while revenues for Sony's Networked Products and Services division (which accounts for PlayStation sales) were down by 113 billion yen (£748 million) over the same period last year.

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Despite the fact that some of Warren Spector's most celebrated games (such as Deus Ex) won acclaim for breaking the shackles of game design in terms of storytelling and player choice, the Junction Point Studios boss has nonetheless revealed that he won't make a sandbox game and is a big believer in linear game design.

"I've never done the 'Grand Theft Warren' game, you know?" Spector said at an Epic Mickey event in London earlier this week. "I don't make sandboxes; I'm a big believer in linear narrative. So every player's going to accomplish the same big mission goals, but it's how you get to that goal that's unique to you..."  

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According to this Reuters report on sales of horror videogames, Dead Space 2 from EA's Visceral Games studio is due for release next year at some point, although the article does not give a rough launch window for the sequel.

"Electronic Arts has a pair of horror offerings for gamers. The publisher recently shipped Dead Space: Extraction for Wii, which is a prequel to last fall's Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC hit. Dead Space 2 is in development for next year," states the article.

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A lack of key Wii releases and the recent price drop were cited as determining factors in Nintendo posting a 52% drop in net income for the six months ended September 30th 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Net sales for the six month period ended September 30th 2009 amounted to 548.06 billion yen, which represents a 34.5% drop compared to the same period last year and 21.7% below forecasts issued earlier in the year.

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So we're the type of gamers that don't spend two seconds on game manuals.  By the time we've ripped open the packaging, the disc is already spinning in the drive and there's no time for inconsequential activities such as reading.

But sometimes such an overlook can be costly.

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Despite only a few days ago denying that a new Nintendo DS was in the pipeline, the Japanese hardware giant today unveiled the Nintendo DSi LL, due to be released in Japan on November 21st for 20,000 yen (£134).

As previously reported the new version features larger 4.2" screens compared to the DSi's 3.25".  As a result the dimensions of the device have increased by approximately 15% to 161mm x 91.4mm x 21.2 mm, and weighs 100g more than the DSi.  The format will initially be available in three colours: Wine Red, Dark Brown and Natural White.

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At an event held in the UK, Disney Interactive Studios today unveiled Epic Mickey.  Currently in development at Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, Epic Mickey's story focuses upon a mistake by Mickey Mouse that devastates a world where forgotten Disney characters dwell.  

Yen Sid, a nickname given by the animators to the unnamed sorcerer in Fantasia (and 'Disney' spelt backwards), is the creator of the game's whimsically-twisted world where forgotten and retried Disney characters dwell.  One of the earliest inhabitants is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the first cartoon star from Walt Disney in 1927.  Over the years, Oswald grows resentful of Mickey's rising fame, and when Mickey stumbles upon a map of Yen Sid's world he makes an innocent yet terrible mistake that devastates .  The mistake pulls Mickey into the world to face the destruction he unknowingly created, where only Oswald can help him, but only if he helps Oswald.

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It seems Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy and Nobi Nobi Boy, wishes have come true, with an announcement at Nottingham's GameCity event that he'll help to design and develop a children's playground.

Takahashi-san expressed such a desire back in 2006 following his decision to leave the Katamari franchise and criticising the "safe-bet" nature of publishers.

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We thought adopting a third-person mode was controversial enough, but it seems Infinity Ward is going for the jugular judging by the latest leaked footage that has emerged.

But firstly be warned, this is an extremely graphic spoiler of dramatic in-game action, so hit the back button if you don't want to spoil any surprises.

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Following the furore over Infinity Ward's retraction of dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield developer DICE has now committed itself to providing dedicated servers for PC users in games such as its upcoming sequel, Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

"A lot of buzz has been floating around the internet lately about dedicated servers and we wanted to make sure our all our players have the best understanding of how Battlefield will be played on the PC," said DICE Producer, Gordon Van Dyke. "Since Battlefield 1942 DICE has used dedicated servers for all platforms.  This formula has worked well, and still works well, for us and for the gaming community.   We have stayed true to this practice and will continue this tradition into the upcoming title Battlefield Bad Company 2."

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Following increased speculation that Nintendo is on the verge of announcing a new Nintendo DS, the Nikkei Shimbun is reporting that the fourth iteration of the popular handheld will feature larger screens.

The article fails to reveal any further specifications, although reports from GI.biz indicate that the screens will now measure 4 inches compared to 3.5 inches on the current DSi and is designed to compete with the iTouch/iPhone instead of the PSP.

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Following a leaked video that emerged over the weekend, Infinity Ward's community man, Robert Bowling has now confirmed that gamers will be able to play Modern Warfare 2 from a third-person perspective, although this feature will be limited to specific multiplayer modes.

"3rd Person is a new playlist mode in Multiplayer," Bowling told Kotaku. "So you can play your favourite playlists [or] game types, like Team Deathmatch just standard, or in Hardcore mode [with] limited HUD and increased bullet damage) or in the new 3rd Person mode, which means you and everyone in the game is in 3rd person."

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Speaking to TVG at an Aliens vs. Predator event in London last week, Rebellion revealed that its incoming AvP reboot will look better on the PC platform with DX11 support than the game's other consoles versions.

When we asked whether DX11 support was allowing Rebellion to do things on PC that it can't on consoles, AvP's Senior Producer, David Brickley told us, "Performance wise, there's no question - yes. It's incredible and we've had a lot of support from the hardware manufacturers as well in order to get the cards early enough to see what they can do. What's been announced so far, obviously in terms of tessellation for one thing, is way beyond what you're able to implement on the current crop of consoles."

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Aliens vs. Predator isn't due out until early next year, but it appears developer Rebellion will be ready to hit the ground running with DLC as the studio has revealed that it already has downloadable content "in production".

Speaking in a TVG interview, AvP's Senior Producer, David Brickley said, "The intention is that this is a proper reboot that is well supported and does new and interesting things with the title.

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According to a job posting on Gamasutra, EA and Steven Spielberg's collaborative game series, Boom Blox could be set to make the jump from its Wii spawning grounds to the higher tech. surroundings of Sony and Microsoft's current-gen consoles.

"Our last two titles were Wii-based, but our next titles will be for the next generation," reads this job ad for work at Electronic Arts' LA studio (thanks, Superannuation). The ad also specifies that successful applicants will be working on, "The BAFTA-winning Boom Blox team".

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Superannuation has been at it again, digging through the annals of the internet in the search for more headline breaking discoveries.  This time around it's the resume of Craig Peck that has attracted the attention.

Peck's current line of work seems to confirm that work is progressing on Rockstar Games and Team Bondi's ultra-elusive LA Noire.

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Bethesda likes to keep quiet on new Elder Scrolls titles.  It's been three long years since Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion burst onto the scene and besides a good supply of expansion packs and DLC we don't know a thing about where the series is headed.

Amidst rumours that an Elder Scrolls MMO is on the cards, a listing for an Elder Scrolls novel has however provided the slightest hint.

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Leaked footage from Modern Warfare 2 has allegedly revealed a big secret, so if you'd like to keep it all hush-hush until the game releases then make sure to hit the back button now.

The video demonstrates the game being played in third-person, with an accompanying screenshot reportedly confirming the existence of a 3rd Person Cage Match multiplayer game type.

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The Lead Producer on Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed II, Sébastien Puel has revealed to TVG that the studio is interested in bringing a multiplayer component to the Assassin's Creed universe at some point.

When we asked Puel whether he could see a future Assassin's Creed game featuring co-op or multiplayer modes, he told us that, "This is something that does interest us."

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It's a story that's been going as long as the HD DVD format bit the dust in February of last year, but now Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer appears to have provided a definitive answer as to whether or not a Blu-ray drive will be incorporated into the Xbox 360 console.

When Gizmodo asked Ballmer whether Microsoft would consider adding a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox 360, he reportedly said, "Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there," but quickly added that, "you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories."

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At a BAFTA event in London last night, the spearhead of Microsoft's European operation, Peter Molyneux announced that Fable III will support Microsoft's incoming Natal technology.

Reports also indicate that he hinted at the inclusion of micro-transactions in this third instalment in Lionhead's RPG series, where gamers could fork out real money for in-game items and game walkthroughs within the Fable III world.

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THQ has announced that its publishing a new FPS being developed by the Ukrainian based studio, 4A Games. The shooter, which is titled Metro 2033 and is based on a 2002 novel of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky, is due to surface in early 2010 on Xbox 360 and PC.

The game's sci-fi storyline is based in Moscow and set in the wake of a nuclear holocaust in 2013, where the holocaust's survivors now live beneath a decimated cityscape in the city's subway systems thirty years later.

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EA has announced that its Need For Speed series has passed through the milestone of 100 million lifetime sales, collating an impressive $2.7 billion (£1.63 billion) in total sales revenues along the way.

The arcade racing game series has been iterated through 15 separate titles across 14 different platforms since its inception in 1994, with gamers logging over 279 billion miles on the various race tracks and roads featured throughout the series' history (how EA figured out that stat is anybody's guess).

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Roughly four days have passed since IWNet's zero hour - when the matchmaking service for Modern Warfare 2 on PC was revealed by Infinity Ward's sounding board, Robert Bowling - and now he's spoken out on his blog in defence of the service.

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games," insisted Bowling in the post. "It's also the most feature-rich PC version we've ever made. IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilised and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own."

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While challenge rooms have featured in the boxed retail versions of previous God of War games, where they've provided extra content aside from the main campaign, the first new title in the series to land on Sony's PS3 platform may dish out additional challenge content for the game via DLC.

This is according to God of War III's Director, Stig Asmussen, who was asked how the Sony Santa Monica studio is looking to serve up challenge room content in the upcoming sequel and whether the setup will be changed at all...

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Siliconera recently uncovered a patent for a mysterious Sony hand held controller, and when we went looking we discovered several different variations.

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Aside from announcing delays, Ubisoft has been keeping very quiet on the return of Ghost Recon, a game that was first sighted on a leaked release schedule back in 2006.

Questions as to whether the fourth title in the series will mark a departure from the GRAW series however appear to have been answered, with the game recently appearing as 'Ghost Recon Predator' on the Australian Classification Board website.

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Compared to its rivals the Wii is already a relatively small piece of hardware; it may be sitting there as a slab of plastic for some people, but that's another matter.

Still it seems that Shigeru Miyamoto envisions Nintendo's next piece of hardware being even more compact and possibly even cheaper, according to an interview he gave to Popular Mechanics.

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Despite Polyphony Digital's Kazunori Yamauchi assurances that Gran Turismo 5 is ready for release, we still have nothing firmer than an early 2010 release date.  Perhaps the reasons behind such a wait are due to the manufacturing time needed to produce the three blu-ray discs that seem to be included in the final version.

In a promotional video for the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG which features in the game (embedded below), Yamauchi-san clearly wields a package that contains space for three discs.  Now we're not suggesting the game is so huge that it warrants 150GB worth of storage, we suspect at least one of the discs will be some sort of promotional/making of/car museum, but it seems that Polyphony haven't spent the five years of development twiddling their thumbs.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi has gone a little quiet since Cry-On was quietly cancelled late last year.  However a cryptic blog update (spotted by RPGSite) has shed light on Mistwalker and suggested a new title is in the pipeline:

"Am I an "idle man", I wonder? (^^;
Well, I am just trying to pastime...
I am working hard on a new project.
Now we are being rushed into the "finishing" stage.
No matter what, I will make it really good.... "

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The British Board of Film Classification has passed Activision and Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 for release in the UK with an 18 certificate.

Not cuts were made to the original code, although this will be the first 18 rated game in Activision's Call of Duty stable (all the previous games have weighed in with 15 ratings).

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In a move that's led 53,000 PC gamers (and counting) to sign an online petition, Infinity Ward has revealed that it will replace the dedicated servers from the original Modern Warfare with a matchmaking service called IWNet for Modern Warfare 2 on PC.

Infinity Ward's community man, Robert Bowling revealed the info in a BASHandSlash webcast (via Kotaku), where he commented that, "It's definitely going to be a change. It's going to be a very different setup than what we're previously used to in the Call of Duty franchise for the PC."

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We tend to find the predictions of Wedbush Morgan's analyst for the entertainment industry a little hot and cold.  Sure in recent times Michael Pachter has been on the money when it comes to the DSi and price cuts, but he's been a little off the pulse in the past, predicting that Final Fantasy XIII would remain PS3 exclusive and not to mention his singular stance on the Wii HD.  We'll wait to see whether GTA V is ready for next Christmas as well!

So we'll retain a degree of scepticism when it comes to news that Pachter is predicting a hike in the price of an annual subscription to Xbox Live Gold.  

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Last week, Hideo Kojima said that the team at Kojima Productions are "really considering" the prospect of doing another Zone of Enders game. Now, via the Japanese Kojima Productions blog, he's promised that Zone of Enders 3 will be made at some point.

"I cannot make a promise about time. However, I can promise a sequel," said Kojima, before then going on to talk about why the last Zone of Enders game didn't record strong sales figures despite receiving high review scores.

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Quantic Dream CEO, Guillaume de Fondaumiere has indicated that the developer and Sony are planning a worldwide release for Heavy Rain when it launches next year, although a precise launch window for the title remains unclear.

"The launch date of Heavy Rain has not been fixed yet. We're looking forward for a worldwide release, and I'm sure we'll be able to communicate the exact launch date very soon now," said de Fondaumiere.

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Charles Martinet, best known for bringing (get ready for it)... Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Baby Wario to life with his expressive voice, sent the Twitter with news of a new Mario title.

Martinet twitted:

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2010 will get off to a quick start with confirmation that Mass Effect 2 will be arriving on January 29th across Europe, although the press release fails to disclose whether this is for both the Xbox 360 and PC versions.

"Our fans are in for a genuine thrill in the New Year with Mass Effect 2 - the second installment in the trilogy will be of amazingly high quality," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA. "BioWare's fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting this epic sequel, and we couldn't be more excited to reward them for pre-ordering by delivering some awesome bonus content!"

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Scans and details from Game Informer's first look at Epic Mickey have hit the net, ahead of the Wii exclusive's official unveiling later in the month.

As previously suspected, Epic Mickey finds players taking control of the iconic character in a world inspired by an earlier style and filled with long forgotten Disney characters.

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Rumours of a Wii HD refuse to die, even if Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is the only person that's circulating them.  But it seems that the chatter received a considerable boost, with Shigeru Miyamoto recently confirming that Nintendo is open to the idea.

Speaking to IndustryGamers at a New York event, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that the increase in HDTV sales will see Nintendo move along in step with the progression.

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Comments: (343)

It'll be no big surprise to most of you, but SEGA and Obsidian has confirmed a delay for Alpha Protocol that will push the title from its previous autumn 2009 release window into spring 2010.

This follows reports from last month (citing an alleged SEGA document) that a Sony product evaluator said the game, "felt barely RPG," with an initial level that was, "too challenging for players," and that "Mass Effect felt more RPG".

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The European PlayStation blog has recently posted a belated interview from Gamescom with Hideo Kojima.  Responding to questions from the community regarding a possible update to the popular mech space-opera series, Zone of Enders, Kojima-san suggested that a sequel is certainly on the cards.

"A lot of the users gives us lots of love calls about Zone of the Enders especially," Kojima-san told the PS blog.  "We actually do love the tile as well at Kojima Productions and we always want to create on the next-gen as well."

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German developer Crytek has today announced the release of what it's calling the first "truly Next-Gen-Ready" game engine, the CryEngine 3, which is now available to all developers for licensed use.

Unlike the CryEngine 2, which was largely sidelined to the PC platform, the CryEngine 3 offers an "all-in-one development solution" according to Crytek. This allows the engine to not only cater for existing Xbox 360, PS3, and DX9/10 based hardware, but also "all major upcoming platforms" as well.

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Codemasters' Executive Producer on Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Sion Lenton has revealed that the first DLC for the game will be "coming up in a matter of weeks" after the game was released last Friday.

We've got some very ambitious plans with DLC - our first pack is coming up in a matter of weeks," Lenton told the Telegraph. "We'll also have title updates coming up because once the game's out there, we'll need to get feedback from the people who are playing it, and if need be make a few adjustments and tweaks.

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Comments: (3)

Following reports of a deal between Nintendo and nVidia to provide a System-on-Chip processor for the Japanese firm's next handheld, Fudzilla brings word that Microsoft and ATi are cosying up once again for the next-gen Xbox.

It could just be typos (none of us are above the occasional typo), but we're a little unsure of a report that titles the Xbox 360 GPU codename incorrectly as 'Xeons' (an Intel chip targeted towards servers) instead of 'Xenos'  and doesn't exactly provide any tangible information to back anything up.  

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Comments: (437)

RPG specialist BioWare has stated that it will be supporting its latest opus, Dragon Age: Origins through DLC for two years after the game launches at the start of next month.

"We have [DLC] plans that stretch out for basically two years," said the game's Executive Producer, Mark Darrah. "And it's going to be everything from really small stuff like item packs up to larger quests that might last an hour or two up to even fully fledged expansion packs. Really it's a broad long term support plan for the game."

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Since the days of the GameCube Nintendo has stuck with ATi to provide the graphics processors behind many of its machines.  However that could be about to change, as a report on Bright Side of News alleges that nVidia will produce the graphics chipset for Nintendo's next handheld.

The article suggests the successor to the Nintendo DS will utilise a Tegra chipset, which has previously been employed in Microsoft's Zune HD player.  Citing inside sources, nVidia will provide a Tegra system-on-chip processor, which contains a CPU, GPU, a media processor and system memory on a low-power consuming chip.  The fact that the Tegra chipset is based on an ARM 11 processor hints that backwards compatibility with DS titles appears likely.

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Steam's Left 4 Dead 2 boycotters, Walking_Target and Agent of Chaos, have announced that they are going to shut down their boycott group on Steam as of 5:00pm UK time on October 21st.

"We have accomplished everything we can on our manifesto," said Agent of Chaos. "We've been dealing with Valve ever since our group started, then we met them in-person and now we're at the point of concluding our discussions. Our goal wasn't to steer people away from L4D2, it was to get Valve's attention and have them support original L4D. We succeeded and that's where our mission ends; nothing more or less."

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The fact that the offending Tweet has long since disappeared suggests there's definitely something to David Sullivan's update, which claimed:

"First voiceover/motion capture audition today for a video game. Re-casting of Cole in the sequel of Infamous. 'I'll melt your face.' e.g"

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Hideo Kojima is pretty well known for teasing a waiting audience and playing tricks, so the revelation that he has a surprise in store for Peace Walker on the PSP comes as no surprise.

"I'm putting everything I want to do on a portable console into this game," Kojima-san told Famitsu (translated by 1UP). "I haven't announced this yet, but there's another feature in here that will surprise people, to the point where they'll want to go out and buy a PSP right now!"

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The latest Epic Mickey update over on Game Informer's website has revealed a new enemy, the robotic Beetleworx. You can see a concept artist drawing Mickey and the Beetleworx in a time lapse video below.

Enjoy...

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Following critical comments of Valve's Steam portal by Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, Tripwire Interactive's President and Co-founder, John Gibson has now spoken out in defence of the digital download service.

As an Indie developer that's released two titles via Steam (Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, and Killing Floor), Tripwire Interactive has had a lot of experience of doing business with Valve via Steam, and it's all positive by the sounds of things:

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Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, recently delivered a keynote speech at GDC China, in which the game maker-cum-filmmaker talked extensively about the franchise, his original aspirations and ultimately where the game series could be heading.

A Gamasutra article highlights the progression of the series from game to film, sharing Mechner's thoughts on his roles as game developer to script writer.  Intriguingly, Mechner describes the franchise prior to Sands of Time as "a garden that I was neglecting. By 2001 Prince of Persia was really a dead franchise -- completely and totally dead."

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How long does it take to draw thousands of nouns from the English language, put them in a videogame, and then designate specific properties to each object? Only a year and three months, according to the visionary behind recently released DS title, Scribblenauts.

"About a year and three months, which is crazy," said Jeremiah Slaczka, the co-founder of 5th Cell, Scribblenauts' developer. "That's probably the only thing I don't like about 5th Cell's development. It's just how it is. That's the way it is. We're competing against companies like Square Enix and Nintendo, triple-A products.

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A first sighting of anything Resistance 3 related has cropped up and it's not via a LinkedIn profile, tucked away in Sony's financials, or been mistakenly spilled by a voice-over actor. Nope, it appeared as an advertising billboard on the film set of an upcoming movie (that's a new one on us).

The images below are from Shreveport, Los Angeles - an area commonly used for shooting movies. They appeared on NeoGaf over the weekend, the community of which has since concluded that the dilapidated petrol station in the foreground of one of the images is part of a set for the upcoming film, Battle: Los Angeles.

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Development on Tekken 6 has finished ahead of the game's release on October 30th for the PlayStaiton3 and Xbox 360.

In addition, Namco-Bandai has sent along details of the online modes that feature in the game along with information on the game's exclusive content found in the Home space on PlayStaiton3.

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The former Free Radical Design studio (now Crytek UK) is at the conceptual stage of development on a new FPS game with an "original IP", according to Studio Manager Karl Hilton.

"We are currently concepting up an original IP that we hope will become a defining game series for the UK studio," Hilton told Develop, according to a studio profile page that was updated earlier this month. "However, in reality, the opportunity to make any kind of original FPS genre game where we get to focus on the quality of both the multiplayer and single-player experience is what drives people at the studio. We have a strong history of creativity here, and we want to take that forward with Crytek and the CryEngine 3."

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Former Bungie man and now Microsoft's Creative Director of 343 Industries (its dedicated Halo division), Frank O'Connor has stated that there is a six-year plan in place for the future of the Halo franchise that will see the game series' canon branch out across action figures, books, videos, and comics.

"We do have a plan that goes out at least six years," O'Connor told USA Today. "Eventually, it will become very apparent that there is a plan for the way the canon all ties together and the way the comic books and the novels all tie together."

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Watching Ryo Hazuki race alongside Sonic, Eggman and Ai-Ai in Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing may not be the return that Shenmue fans hoped for, but at least it signals the first time we've seen him in over eight years.

On the plus side it does have Ryo racing around in a forklift truck - and for that we're very, very happy SEGA.  What used to be mild curiosity over a fanboy kart-racer has now turned into something we're genuinely craving over, simply to see Ryo in action once again.

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Valve has revealed the fourth game mode for its incoming sequel Left 4 Dead 2, which will set teams of up to 4 players against each other as Survivors attempt to refuel a power generator and Infected do everything in their powers to stop them.

This new Scavenge Mode is both time and points based, as Survivors have to pick up gas cans from each level and pour them into a generator to add time to a clock and score points for their team. The Infected then play as Boss characters and must stop the Survivors by attacking them, destroying the gas cans, or running down the clock.

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British actor, Billy Murray has apparently been reprising his voice-acting role as Captain Price over in LA recently according to his website, suggesting that the handlebar moustached hero of the original Modern Warfare may be set to make a return in Infinity Ward's upcoming sequel.

[N.B. if you still haven't finished the original Modern Warfare, then avert your eyes from this paragraph]. It was of course Captain Price who tragically died at the end of the last game (or, at least, he appeared to), although this latest piece of info suggests that Price is alive and kicking in the sequel.

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Nintendo may have unleashed global price cuts for its Wii console only days ago but Nintendo of America's President, Reggie Fils-Aime is already being asked whether the price will come down even further in future, to which he's answered an unequivocal "absolutely not".

"We lasted 34 months without having to cut the price," explained Fils-Aime. "We were able to reach over 20 million consumers here in the US at $249. The next group of consumers we will get at this $199 price point, and we've already seen very strong results after just one week on the marketplace."

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Comments: (343)

Call of Duty may never have entered modern times if Activision executives had had their way.  In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine (reported by CVG), Infinity Ward's Vince Zampella remarks that the developer wanted to move away from WWII with Call of Duty 2.

"With Call of Duty 2, we were dead set against it being World War 2," Zampella claimed, "but Activision really wanted it, the compromise sort of being that we'd get some dev kits for consoles in exchange for doing a World War 2 game.

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Budding superstar DJs will have to move aside the plastic guitars and drum kits for the release of DJ Hero on October 30th.  

Featuring a considerable array of talent including DJ AM, Cut Chemist, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, J. Period, DJ Shadow and DJ Z-Trip, Activision-Blizzard today revealed the final set list featuring 93 mixes that appear in the game.

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Could game rentals be on their way to PSN? It would certainly be the next logical step in the digital distribution chain and, if these latest reports are anything to go by, then Sony's PSP may be the first console to harbour the service.

Gamespot has picked up and confirmed a story from a blog called The Retail Gamer, which indicates that Sony has added extra functions to help players group their games in the PSP's XMB interface. The only thing is, these grouping options make no sense given the handheld's current capabilities.

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In the wake of a $50 price cut for Nintendo's Wii in the US, Nintendo of America's President has stated that while it's too early to release precise sales figures, the response from consumers to the reduction has been "very strong".

"The consumer response has been very strong to the price reduction," Fils-Aime told the Financial Times before adding, "There are literally millions of consumers out there who want a Wii and had been on the sidelines."

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Comments: (343)

Despite assurances from Sony that sales of the PSPgo are in line with its expectations, UK retailers have already started to drop their asking price for the handheld while one outlet is reporting slow sales of the console in its first week on the market after it launched on October 1st.

Although Sony has set a £224.99 RRP for the PSPgo, retailers including Amazon, Play, Game, and HMV have already knocked that price down to £199.99. We can confirm via a Google cache that at least one of these retailers was selling the system at £224.99 a week ago.

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Previously teased and already generating more enthusiasm than the entire Wii's slate of forthcoming titles combined, Disney Interactive Studio and Junction Point Studios have finally confirmed the existence of Epic Mickey.

Game Informer has the lowdown on the title, which puts the iconic Disney character into new territory under the watchful eye of Warren Spector.

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Seabass and the team at Konami may be nursing the bruises from yet another bout with FIFA, but it seems they have plans to make things a little different next year.

Speaking at the European Championship held in Nice, IGN brings word from Seabass' mouth that PES could soon be featuring support for Project Natal and Sony's Motion Wand.

"Up until 2009 we believed all the platforms should have the same controls and features", Shingo Takatsuka said.  "That's no longer the case, because there are specific controllers for different machines, what with Natal and the PlayStation motion sensor system. I cannot say much, but I can say we are looking at integrating those devices into our games very aggressively."

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It's not the first time we've heard it suggested, but if a LinkedIn profile is anything to go by then EA's Medal of Honor series could be headed to modern times in its next instalment.

Micah Lapping-Carr, who is currently working as a Software Development Engineer at Microsoft, also worked as an intern at EA during the summer of last year (according to his LinkedIn profile). Here's what he had to say about the experience:

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EA Sports' FIFA 10 has become the fastest selling FIFA game in UK history and the second biggest game launch ever, with only Rockstar's GTA IV selling more copies during its launch week.

This is according to official Chart Track figures, which place FIFA atop the UK charts following its release on Friday. FIFA 10's sales at launch were 48% higher than its predecessor, while the format spread was 2% higher on the Xbox 360 than they were on PS3 (Xbox 360 - 48%, PS3 - 46%, other formats - 6%).

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EA discovered the perils of releasing unfinished features in a finished game across the launch weekend of FIFA 10.  Attempts to use the Game Face technology or Live Season 2.0 failed abjectly, with servers allegedly struggling to keep up with the sheer demand.

Players struggled to log-in to the website www.easportsfootball.co.uk, and on the rare occasion when the editor was actually available, problems such as editing or saving meant that a lot of disgruntled customers were intensifying the heat in EA's official forums across the weekend.

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Despite news from earlier this week that pointed to a spring 2010 release for Modern Warfare 2 DLC, Infinity Ward's community guy, Robert Bowling has now stated that development of the game's two promised map packs won't start until after Modern Warfare 2 is finished.

"We haven't even begun thinking about what our DLC will be, let alone finish any," said Bowling on the official Infinity Ward forums. "No DLC will begin development until the entire game is finished and certified."

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On October 23rd, Gearbox Interactive's latest opus Borderlands will arrive on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. To celebrate the event, TVG is holding an exclusive competition giving away copies of the game and 150 portions of DLC for the title as well.

Five copies of the game are on offer for the competition's winners - all of which will receive the DLC weapons pack as well - while an additional 145 runners-up will receive the DLC prepped for download upon the game's release.

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Codemasters has announced a UK release date of 20th November for F1 2009 on PSP and Wii ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend (where Jenson Button could seal the deal). The game will release across the rest of Europe on November 19th and the US on November 17th.

That's about it really, apart from this snazzy new trailer for the Wii version showing footage from F1 2009's Suzuka circuit...

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UK Supermarket Tesco is currently offering EA's FIFA 10 at £24.97, which is a markdown of 50% from the game's RRP of £49.99, while other retailers have attempted to follow suit with similar price reductions.

We purchased our copies at the store this morning from a promotional display that was setup front and centre at our local Tesco Direct but, if you can't be bothered to make the journey, then there's always the online option via the TVG Store.

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Things started to look questionable this morning when a Nintendo schedule listed Tony Hawk: Ride as a December 4th release, and now publisher Activision has confirmed a two week delay for the title in the UK.

The game, which was originally scheduled to release on November 20th for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, will now come to market on December 4th across all three platforms and alongside the all-new skateboard peripheral that Activision and developer Robomodo have crafted.

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The General Manager of Eidos' Championship Manager series, Roy Meredith has spoken to TVG about the sort of improvements he's looking to make with next year's instalment, including a deeper set-piece creator and a more immersive training system.

When we asked Meredith whether Champ Man 2011 will opt for a gradual evolution of the series or more revolutionary features, he commented that, "There's a balance. We need to put in big ticket new features, but we need to balance it against certain other work that still needs to be done."

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As the world awaits the result of Chelsea's appeal against its transfer ban ruling from FIFA, the General Manager of Eidos' Championship Manager series, Roy Meredith has revealed in a TVG interview that the potential ban may be implemented in Champ Man 2010 via its CM Season Live update feature.

Unless Chelsea's appeal is successful, the club will face a ban on signing any new players over the next two transfer windows (i.e. until September 1st 2010). In turn, this could be reflected in Champ Man 2010 via the CM Season Live feature, which updates the game's database according to events, results, and transfers (or lack thereof) from the real world of football.

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Comments: (15)

With Sony's PSPgo launching worldwide today, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has released details of the 13 PSP Minis games that will be launching via the PlayStation Store today for the PSPgo and all previous PSP consoles.

Alien Havoc: Sounds like a platformer with ZX Spectrum homebrew sensibilities from developer Creat Studio. As an alien trying to transport cows onto your spaceship, you must avoid the attentions of farmers trying to stop you.

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Nintendo has announced a UK release date of December 11th for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Link's latest adventure on Nintendo's DS platform.

Judging from our hands-on with the E3 build of the game earlier this year, Spirit Tracks is very similar in format to 2007's Phantom Hourglass. The major new additions include a steam train instead of a boat in the exploration sections, while Link now has control of a Phantom companion for the puzzles.

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Lionhead's Peter Molyneux has revealed that Charles Dickens is providing an inspiration during the development of Fable III, but that doesn't necessarily mean we'll have a cast of street urchins and ghosts from Christmas past (although that is likely) and a commentary on social reform.

Speaking to Edge, Molyneux claims:

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The first batch of Modern Warfare 2 DLC, or more specifically the first multiplayer map pack, will be arriving in Spring 2010, if an advertisement from the energy drink manufacturer Monster Energy is to be believed.

Shacknews received a pack of the energy drink which is running promotional competitions.  In giving away map pack codes, the accompanying material claims, "5000 MW2 Map Pack codes - planned release Spring 2010"

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A job advert from earlier this month has appeared on networking site LinkedIn which indicates that a sequel to Visceral Games' 2008 sci-fi survival-horror game, Dead Space is now on its way out of pre-production and into full scale development.
 
The posting is for, "a highly motivated Lead combat designer for the Dead Space franchise on Xbox360 and PS3," who will be working on an, "M-rated action/shooter sequel [that] will set new standards for an action-packed story-driven console experience."

"The game is in the later stages of pre-production, ready for production in the next few months, with many of the navigational and combat mechanics in place," the ad states. "We have complete autonomy and creative control over our own decisions."

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Dead Rising 2's Producer, Keiji Inafune has stated that it's his "desire" to put multiple endings in the game (as was the case with the original), although the development team is not currently at a point where they've decided one way or the other.

"Definitely one of the things people seemed to like with the first Dead Rising game was that there were multiple endings, and so I personally would love to be able to put in multiple endings in this game," said Inafune.

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We've become increasingly worried about Rockstar and Team Bondi's LA Noire over the last year or so, mostly because we haven't seen or heard anything about the title for flipping ages, but now Rockstar has reached out across the intertubes to quell fears that the game's development may be in trouble.

"While we have yet to announce a definitive release date, L.A. Noire is coming along quite splendidly, and we're going to have details to share with you all very soon," Rockstar stated via its website.

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As expected, an official reveal of Super Street Fighter IV has emerged today. As was not entirely expected, the game will only be released at retail (although not at full price) and will not be made available via DLC when it launches next spring for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Early indications are that Super Street Fighter IV will add eight new characters to the existing roster of 25 fighters, although Capcom has stated that this number is subject to change depending on fan feedback and the rest of SSFIV's development cycle.

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Some artwork has emerged which appears to indicate that SEGA's much loved Daytona series of driving games could be back on the menu, although early indications are that "SEGA Racing Classic" (this might be a tentative title) could be destined for arcades.

The image above clearly lists the game's developer as AM2 in the top left-hand corner, while the Ringwide logo in the bottom left indicates that "SEGA Racing Classic" is being developed for arcade and coin-op machines (Ringwide is SEGA's proprietary coin-op tech).

The title "SEGA Racing Classic" was trademarked by the publisher earlier this year along with the same logo that appears in the artwork above and a stipulation that the trademark is for arcade consoles and coin-op machines, which at least provides some support for the rumour.

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It seems that Infinity Ward won't be releasing a demo for Modern Warfare 2 before it releases on November 10th, as the developer has announced exactly that on its Twitter over the weekend.

"No plan for a Demo before launch. The entire team is focused on polish all the way up to ship of the full game," Infinity Ward Tweeted.

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Team ICO helmsman, Famito Ueda has indicated that he would like to see the studio's previous titles, Shadow of the Colossus and ICO, come to the PS3 in a similar way to the God of War Collection that's set to launch in the US.

Speaking to 1up, Ueda commented that he didn't want to consider the idea of a Team ICO PS3 Collection at first. "I always thought they were designed for PS2 and should stay there," he said. "But lately, I've been thinking it would be nice to provide the games to other platforms to reach more users."

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Further to last week's murmurings of a Street Fighter IV sequel, Capcom has now launched a teaser site adorned with Street Fighter IV style video clips, which is counting down to an announcement scheduled for 5pm Japanese time on 29th September (that's tomorrow at 8am in the UK).

The site's URL includes the words "new warrior", which could mean anything really, although we're hoping that it's not just an announcement for a new character as DLC for Street Fighter IV. That would really crush our hopes of Super Street Fighter IV or something of that ilk.

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Although Sony previously said that it was looking into the feasibility of a service that would allow PSPgo adopters to convert their UMD discs into digital files for use with the UMD-less handheld, the company has now confirmed that it will not be supporting such an initiative for the time being.

"We were evaluating a UMD conversion program, but due to legal and technical reasons we will not be offering the program at this time," a SCEA spokesperson told Kotaku. Put another way, don't hold your breath.

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Comments: (17)

News on Sony and Microsoft's new motion sensing technology has been spilling out of the Tokyo Game Show today, with Hideo Kojima once again managing to sum-up the moment by comparing Microsoft's Natal tech to "the 2D to 3D shift" in graphics during the 90s.

According to Gamasutra, Kojima said that he saw Natal as a major step forward for the games industry, "like the 2D to 3D shift, or the first time that I ever played with Family Computer [NES]," he commented as part of a TGS panel discussing the technology.

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On the first day of the Tokyo Game Show Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that sales of PS3 Slim have passed one million units worldwide in the three weeks since it went on sale.  The redesigned unit launched across the world on September 1st for £249.99 in the UK and features a 120GB hard-drive.

In addition, SCE UK confirmed a range of 250GB Slim bundles due to arrive in time for Christmas.  From October 1st, a choice of software bundles will be available including two Platinum titles or a copy of inFamous.  This will be followed on October 16th with an Uncharted 2 bundle and finally on October 19th a blu-Ray bundle comprising X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Dark Knight and a blu-Ray Remote.

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Nintendo fans will be pleased to hear that the next Super Mario adventure, New Super Mario Bros Wii, will arrive in the UK on November 20th according to a release we've just received from Nintendo.

The game, which introduces 4 player co-op into the classic Super Mario formula, also brings a variety of new toys to the fore, such as a propeller hat for the usual aerial high-jinx and a penguin suit in the ice levels that allows players to freeze opponents with projectile ice pellets.

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True to the many rumours that have been floating around in recent weeks, Nintendo has confirmed a UK price cut to its Wii console and introduced a new bundle including Wii Sports Resort and the MotionPlus accessory as of October 2nd.

"We will be reducing the trade price of Wii to retailers from 2nd October 2009. In the UK and Republic of Ireland we are also introducing a new configuration of Wii hardware from 2nd October 2009 which will replace the current offering and will include the Wii console and Wii Sports with the new Wii Sports Resort game and Wii MotionPlus accessory," Nintendo said in a statement. "This will be available to retailers at the newly reduced trade price. The ultimate price to consumers is, of course, determined by the retailers. Our aim has always been to expand the gaming population and there are still many more people out there who have not yet experienced the fun of video games. This compelling offer will hopefully make Wii more accessible to everyone."

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Comments: (343)

Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital has dashed hopes that GT5 might arrive in the West before Christmas by announcing that it won't be released in Japan until March 2010 (all previous GT games have released in Japan at least a few months before coming to North America/Europe).

This news comes by way of the Tokyo Game Show, where Polyphony Digital also confirmed that there will be over 70 tracks in the full game covering 20 locations. Additionally, a full 'Gran Turismo mode' has been promised for both the single and multiplayer games, while some sort of PSP connectivity is on the cards as well apparently.

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Valve has announced that 'Crash Course', the second major portion of DLC for last year's Left 4 Dead, will be arriving on September 29th for Xbox 360 and PC, while a demo of the incoming sequel, Left 4 Dead 2 will surface on October 27th.

'Crash Course' will be free for PC, although Xbox 360 owners will have to part with 560 Microsoft Points (£4.76) to download the DLC. According to Valve's Chet Faliszek, this is because Microsoft wants to retain "an economy of value" on Xbox Live. For more details on the content in 'Crash Course', click through here.

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Comments: (170)

SEGA and The Creative Assembly today announced the first expansion pack for Empire: Total War.  Available exclusively via Steam in October for £5.99, Empire: Total War - The Warpath Campaign adds a new North American campaign map along with the ability to play as five American Indian factions.

Battling the invaders from the old world, the Iroquois, Huron, Plains, Pueblo, and Cherokee tribes can take advantage of a new technology tree which features 18 tribal technologies exclusive to the new factions.  In addition, each of the new factions will also feature two new agents, the mystical shaman and the cunning Scout, and their own unique Elite units.

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After a string of delays into 2010 we'd assumed that the barren Christmas release schedule wouldn't suffer anymore casualties; how wrong we were.

VideoGamer brings word that Bizarre Creations' latest racer (and first Activision-Blizzard title) has been pushed into the New Year.  Initially scheduled for a November 2009 release, the delay allegedly gives the team more time to "enhance the game's innovative and distinctive online multiplayer gameplay".

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Comments: (12)

Publishers of MMOs, and possibly any game featuring an online multiplayer component, could soon have to fork out for a patent owned by an instant messaging provider.

A report on The Boston Globe centres upon a lawsuit issued by Paltalk Holdings Inc., which alleges that Turbine Inc., Sony Corp., Activision-Blizzard Inc., NCSoft Corp., and Jagex Ltd. have infringed upon a patent owned by the New York based IM software and technology provider.

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Comments: (88)

Square Enix (and now overseer of all Eidos) has gone on the record in the Financial Times to suggest Nintendo will release a new Wii by 2011.  Yoichi Wada suggests the Wii successor will have more functionality and could feature a new controller.

Wada-san also suggests that Sony and Microsoft's attempts to offer motion-sensitive controllers may only have a "limited effect", but seems to be impressed with Microsoft's Project Natal.  "As a user interface it's fantastic and I think it will become standard," he said.

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Comments: (343)

The fact that Street Fighter IV exceeded sales expectations, coupled with Capcom teasing that new titles will be unveiled at Tokyo Game Show and the producer's blog murmurings regarding a 'sequel' suggests we might see something substantial on the Steet Fighter front at this year's Tokyo Game Show.

IGN brings word of Natsuki Shiozawa's mentioning information surrounding a sequel in a blog, then updating this with a later entry that promises a more solid announcement will take place in the near future.

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Comments: (68)

We might be the only people on the planet to think like this, but we were never that excited by the possibility of an Xbox Live GoldenEye remake in the first place.  Yeah, it brought multiplayer shooting action to the consoles and was a pretty good movie adaptation, but they were better shooters around and it's always best to leave some things as they were.

Still fans' demands for the adaptation were dashed today, with a message from Rare have moved beyond the stage where an agreement was on the cards.

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Comments: (7)

We've received word from 2K Games that BioShock 2 is now set for worldwide release on February 9th of next year. This follows the game's delay earlier this year from its original October 30th 2009 launch date.

The wording on the press release is a touch ambiguous though and doesn't specify platforms for the February 9th date, although it does confirm that the game is "in development" for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. This will no doubt fuel earlier rumours that BioShock 2 could be planned as a timed exclusive.

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Comments: (24)

The first details on Ninja Theory's next game, Enslaved have been revealed via the latest issue of Game Informer, which lifts the lid on a dystopian sci-fi storyline based on a classic Chinese novel.

This novel is Journey to the West, which was written during China's Ming Dynasty in the 16th century AD. The western translation of the novel is commonly called Monkey (as was a cult Japanese TV series from the 70s that was based on the book), which is undoubtedly why Ninja Theory has chosen the name Monkey for its lead character.

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Reports of the PlayStation3 having its own 'RRoD' problem have begun to intensify in recent weeks.  The imaginatively dubbed "Yellow Light of Death" effectively brings the PS3 to a standstill upon booting up. However, like the Xbox 360 before it, Watchdog has come to the aid of PS3 owners disgruntled by those consoles that have failed outside of the one-year warranty.

Following the BBC's Watchdog investigation into the Xbox 360 last year, it appears the consumer protection show has sunk its teeth into Sony with the PS3 and its problems appearing on last night's show.  Watchdog maintains that the issue is centred on "trapped gas" in the circuit board, which Sony has denied.

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Comments: (757)

As the evidence piles up in support of the rumoured 250GB PS3 Slim's existence, it's becoming painfully apparent that Sony's marketing department is sieve-like in its secrecy. Its track record so far this year, with the PS3 Slim and PSP Go leaks, is hardly exemplary.

Nonetheless, we'll go through the rigmarole of branding this news as rumour anyway. Once again, the subject is some alleged bundles for the 250GB PS3 Slim, which this time includes the likes of FIFA 10, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time, Need For Speed Shift, and Uncharted 2.

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Comments: (757)

Major Nelson has just confirmed the arrival of a PES 2010 demo onto Xbox Live. Demos for PS3 and PC are also scheduled for release today as the game prepares for its full retail launch on October 23rd.

According to Nelson's blog, the demo supports multiplayer and allows players to sample PES 2010's new tactical slider settings, which you can have a good look at in the trailer below.

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Comments: (101)

Although Harmonix originally dismissed the existence of a Singstar: The Beatles bundle as rumour after news of it surfaced at GamesCom last month, it now looks like the bundle will appear at retail later this month.

This is according to a Kotaku report, which seemingly confirms that the bundle will include a copy of The Beatles: Rock Band for PS3 and two wired Singstar mics.

The only way that the game is different from any other versions of The Beatles: Rock Band is that, a) the Singstar brand is on the packaging, and b) no instruments are bundled with the game other than Singstar mics.

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Microsoft has announced a second bundle for its 250GB Xbox 360, which this time incorporates a copy of Forza 3 into a "Super Elite Bundle" with two wireless controllers, and will be released in the UK on October 23rd at the cost effective price of £249.99.

This news comes following the announcement of a near identical Modern Warfare 2 bundle earlier this week. However, the 250GB Xbox 360 won't be custom designed in Forza 3's case.

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Comments: (139)

Although we're undeniably entering the age of digital distribution, hardware manufacturers are still playing a cautious game in order not to upset retail where the vast majority of game sales still occur.  But it seems Sony has been a little too quick to jump on the bandwagon and distance itself from the unmitigated failure that was the UMD with the launch of the UMD-less PSP Go!.

The Dutch retailer Nedgame has confirmed on its website that it will not be stocking the latest iteration of Sony's handheld format, claiming that consumers still want a choice between physical and digital distribution and cite the increased retail price for the unit as key reasons behind its decision.

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Comments: (17)

Modern Warfare 2's ego surely doesn't require any further massaging.  With a range of versions, night-vision goggles and an inflated RRP, surely that's enough?

Perhaps not, as Activision and Microsoft confirmed that the rumoured Xbox 360 Elite, featuring the 250GB hard drive, will make its first appearance under the guise of a Limited Edition console to celebrate the monumental launch of Modern Warfare 2.

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Comments: (349)

Not long after establishing himself as lead designer on a new project at Crystal Dynamics, it has emerged that Toby Gard has left the employment of the US developer.

Why Gard made the decision has yet to surface and it's currently unknown whether the aforementioned unannounced project is still in development.  It had been previously been reported that Gard was heading up the rumoured reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise.  Perhaps Square-Enix had different ideas about the franchise after acquiring Eidos.

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Comments: (5)

Following recent price cuts from both Microsoft and Sony it was surely only a question of when Nintendo would follow suit and attempt to reverse flagging Wii sales.

Although we still wait for an official confirmation, Kotaku has recently spotted an alleged Toys 'R' Us advert which suggests the American price will be reduced to $199.99 (£120.58) from $249.99 (£150.72).

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Comments: (343)

Microsoft has announced that development on Forza Motorsport 3 has finished and the game has gone gold.  To celebrate the occasion, a demo will be released across Xbox Live Marketplace on September 24th, ahead of the game's UK release on October 23rd.

The demo features five different vehicles and the Camino Viejo race circuit inspired by the Montserrat region just outside of Barcelona, allowing players to experience the all-new cockpit view, the enhanced damage and rolls, and the rewind function.

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Comments: (139)

Warren Spector's eagerly awaited first title for Disney Interactive Studios is set to be finally unveiled next month, according to the latest issue of Game Informer.

Scans from neoGAF highlighting next month's issue lead with the tease, "Something EPIC is brewing."  

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It's not often that Nintendo gets caught down the trademark office; however, a new registration suggests that the publisher could be gearing up towards a new franchise.

Siliconera spotted a recent application under the title of 'The Last Story'.  As the article points out, the interesting thing is that the title is registered in both Japanese and English, which Siliconera suggests is indicative of it having a worldwide release.

Other then that we know nothing, nada, nilch...  But surely even Nintendo wouldn't attempt to launch something to appease the hardcore on Wii?

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Batman: Arkham Asylum has sold nearly 2 million copies already according to the LA Times, less than a month after the game's launch.

More solid figures are provided by August's NPDs, which reveal that Arkham Asylum shifted 593,000 copies in the US on both Xbox 360 and PS3 (a PC version will arrive next week), although this accounts for only a week's worth of sales at the end of the month. Additionally, Arkham Asylum has been topping the charts here in the UK, so we'd expect a sizeable portion of additional European sales.

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Comments: (40)

Global Gaming Factory, the Swedish based most notable for launching plans to acquire and legitimise The Pirate Bay, has been kicked off the Aktietorget stock exchange according to a report from The Independent.

The stock exchange alleges that the Global Gaming Factory misled the market by saying the financing of the acquisition was secured, that it had received two informal takeover offers and was in final negotiations with copyright owners surrounding content on the site.

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Comments: (11)

More rumours about rumours have surfaced regarding Sony's alleged 250GB PS3 Slim, which will apparently be available at retail as early as this October in the UK for as little as £299.99 with a bundled game.

A UK retail source has indicated to Eurogamer that three bundles will be rolled out by Sony for the supposed 250GB PS3 Slim, with each bundle incorporating one game from the likes of Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed II, and Gran Turismo 5.

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Comments: (757)

It's not often that Courtney Love makes a great deal of sense, but we'll agree with her recent Twitter outburst surrounding the appearance of Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5.

Going beyond the realms of taste and exploitation for many, the fact that Kurt Cobain is even in the game is bad enough for Nirvana fans, but watching the purveyor of all things plaid sing along to other band's songs is nothing short of tragic.

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Comments: (19)

The creators of Wallace & Grommit will be bringing a series of short films to the Nintendo DS during the run up to Christmas.

The shorts will be created by Aardman's Tim Ruffle with Flipnote Studio, a flipbook animation application available for free via DSiWare.  The first of which, 'The Sandwich Times' will be available to download from September 16th.

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Comments: (66)

The first details on SEGA's next Sonic game, codenamed Project Needlemouse, have been unearthed, revealing that Sonic will return to his hallowed 2D spawning ground in an "all new" HD adventure.

Project Needlemouse will arrive some time next year and, although no platforms have been formally announced at this time, the promise of HD visuals does at least indicate that the Xbox 360 and/or PS3 will be involved in the fun.

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Comments: (6)

Square Enix has been indulging its fans in some URL related riddling with a flash site that reveals a December 17th Japanese release date for Final Fantasy XIII when you replace "_Before_" with "_After_" in the URL.

Here's the webpage as it normally appears, and here's the same page with the amended "_After_" code. It's as good a confirmation of Final Fantasy XIII's release date as you're going to get without an official announcement, which should follow at Square Enix's FFXIII event in Tokyo today that's due to start imminently.

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Comments: (71)

Fresh off its meteoric first week of sales in the UK, Japanese figures have now revealed that the PS3 Slim has encouraged the strongest week of sales in the region for the PS3, err, ever!

According to a Kotaku report, overall PS3 sales tipped the scales at 150,252 units in Japan last week, which is over 60,000 more units than the console managed at launch when it tallied 88,000 sales.

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Comments: (757)

It's been so long since we've seen anything new on LA Noire that we're beginning to wonder whether it'll ever emerge from Team Bondi's studio, but at least a LinkedIn profile has now provided an excuse to reignite the platform speculation for the title.

According to the networking site's entry for Team Bondi's Senior Lighting Artist, Carl Ross, the game is being developed for three platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

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At the end of last week we ran a story about a possible glitch in Sony's Firmware 3.00 update for PS3 that left some gamers complaining about unresponsive DualShock 3 controllers after downloading the update.

Despite the lack of an official comment from Sony at the time and assertions from the company's customer care hotline that this was all news to them, Sony has now come out and stated that it is "looking into the matter".

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Comments: (757)

Very little is known about Rockstar North's next game Agent, which was announced at E3 earlier this year as a PS3 exclusive. However, if a Q&A on Rockstar's site is to be believed, then the game is due to surface next year.

"We appreciate the enthusiasm of PlayStation 3 owners and believe us, we understand where you're coming from," said Rockstar. "That's why we are working hard on a lineup of PlayStation 3 releases for 2010 that we know you will be very excited to play - including Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, and the PlayStation 3 exclusive AGENT, which is a brand-new title from Rockstar North, the creators of the Grand Theft Auto series.  Plus there's more yet to be announced...  Thanks again for your patience and please stay with us!"

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According to Chart-Track figures, sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 have increased by 999% in the last week following the release of the PS3 Slim console last Tuesday.

"The uplift on week 36 on week 35 is plus 999 per cent," revealed Chart-Track's Director, Dorian Bloch. "We don't give out the hardware numbers, but never-the-less it's a very large increase."

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Comments: (757)

While Valve managed to offer its first portion of Left 4 Dead DLC for free on both Xbox 360 and PC, this will not be the case with its incoming 'Crash Course' content, which will be free of charge on the PC but is set to cost 560 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360.

This, according to Valve's Chet Faliszek, was a decision that was not left down to Valve but was made by Microsoft instead. "We own our platform, Steam. Microsoft owns their platform. They wanted to make sure there's an economy of value there," he explained.

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Comments: (170)

SEGA's big cheese in the West, Mike Hayes has stated that the publisher is aiming to announce its plans for Microsoft's Natal technology and the PS3 'Wand' early next year.

"We'd like to think that in early 2010 we'll be making announcements about both of those platforms," Hayes said in reference to the PS3's incoming motion sensing tech and Microsoft's Natal hardware.

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Comments: (437)

Over on the official PS3 forums, a significant number of PS3 owners are reporting a glitch with the Firmware 3.0 update that causes problems when they attempt to sync up DualShock 3 controllers with their system.

While other users are also reporting system freezes with games such as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the biggest problem for Sony will undoubtedly be the purported controller glitch as it has the potential to leave PS3s paralysed by the problem. Without a working controller, it will be difficult for DualShock 3 owners to download a patch that rectifies the glitch.

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Comments: (757)

Sony Santa Monica's God of War Collection, which consists of GoW I and II remakes for PS3 that will run at an HD resolution of 720p, won't release in Europe until 2010 despite its slated late 2009 launch in the US.

"We are currently looking into options to bring God of War I and II to SCEE consumers on PS3; however it will not be possible to release the games this calendar year. We will provide further information in due course," a SCEE spokesperson told VG247.

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Comments: (4)

Following an appearance in the latest issue of Famitsu further details on Okamiden - or Okamiden: Chisaki Taiyou to give its full title - have come to light.

The DS outing is a full-blown sequel to the critically-acclaimed yet commercial failure PS2/Wii title, and not an adaptation as first believed.  The sequel takes place barely months after the events of the original, but features a new protagonist going by the name of Chibiterasu.  

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Following the price cuts sales of the Xbox 360 in the UK skyrocketed by 43% week-on-week, according to figures released by Chart-Track to Edge.

The £30 price cut which saw the Elite model reduced to £199.99 coincided with the UK bank holiday, and took some of the shine away from Sony's launch of the PS3 Slim - which apparently happened yesterday.

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Comments: (437)

The impact of the release of GTA IV in 2008, saw Take-Two Interactive post a 68% drop in net revenues of $138.6 million for the third quarter ended July 31st 2009, compared to the $433.8 million posted in the same quarter last year.  

As a result, the US publisher recorded a net loss of $55.5 million compared to a net income of $51.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008.  Although this loss was slightly smaller than analysts were previously expecting.

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Comments: (510)

Responding to continued fan feedback, The Collective Assembly today announced details from Update 1.4 for Empire: Total War.

Promising an overhaul of the AI in both the campaign map and the real time battles, the improvements focus on how the AI wages war, makes alliances and peace as well as the use of naval invasions. Battle side improvements have been made to most areas of the AI with the focus on the siege AI which has had major changes made to it.

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Comments: (31)

With a third expansion pack on the way and an audience close to 12 million subscribers, it seems Blizzard has been deliberately keeping quiet on its 'next-gen' MMO and waiting for WoW's popularity to dwindle before lifting the lid.

However in an interview with Wired, Blizzard's COO Paul Sams has suggested that the ultra-secretive title is so different to World of Warcraft that there's more then enough room for both.

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Comments: (7)

The rumours surrounding 'Okamiden' were true... well nearly.  Revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu, Okamiden is confirmed as being a new title on the Nintendo DS.

Next to no details are known about the game at this stage, although judging from the Famitsu images it appears that Okamiden remains faithful to its PS2/Wii predecessor.

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Bank holidays are broken by no man, not even the God of War.  Yes, this announcement is a day late, but the idea of a God of War collection is so good we thought we'd bring it to you anyway.

The God of War Collection bundles enhanced versions of God of War and God of War 2 on a single Blu-ray disc, running at 1280x720, 60 frames per second and featuring full screen anti-aliasing.  In addition, the disc also supports PS3 Trophies, giving a reason to play through them all again even if you owned them on the PS2.

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Comments: (4)

Microsoft has stated that its incoming Facebook and Twitter applications for Xbox Live will be limited to Gold members, while Silver members can only access the new services via a free trial.

"Facebook and Twitter on Xbox LIVE will be free to Gold members, with a free trial period also available for Silver members," Microsoft revealed. "...We're committed to adding new features and value for our Gold members, and will continue to do so."

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Comments: (437)

Activision and Infinity Ward have done a pretty good job on putting the clampers on Modern Warfare 2, only releasing a trickle of information to wet the appetitive for much more when the game finally launches on November 10th.

However it appears the security weren't keeping a close eye at a recent retailers' event in the States, where the following footage has emerged from.

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Comments: (349)

Speaking at the Hot Chips conference at Stanford University, EA's Chief Creative Officer, Rich Hilleman has suggested that Sony and Microsoft have more hardware iterations in store for the PS3 and Xbox 360 before any next-gen machines launch.

"I expected we'll see a PlayStation 3.5 before we see a PlayStation 4 and an Xbox 560 before we see an Xbox 720," said Hilleman.

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Comments: (757)

Amazon.de was one of the first retailers to officially leak the PS3 Slim, so the appearance of an Xbox 360 with a 250GB HDD packs a little more creditability than most.

The page has since been removed, which adds further fuel to the flames, but as Kotaku noticed the bundle contains the previously mentioned console, Forza Motorsport 3 and two wireless controllers for 279.99 euros (£246).  Not entirely unreasonable when the solus Elite package with a 120GB HDD now costs £199.99.

No word on when the bundle could be released, although with Forza 3 primed for an October 23rd release, we'd expect this to materialise around then - provided it's true of course.

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Comments: (437)

According to this listing on The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency's website, Hans Zimmer has written the musical score for Infinity Ward's upcoming mega-sequel, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The listing is almost certainly genuine as it's easily accessible from the Hans Zimmer link on Gorfaine/Schwartz's site, while the agency itself appears to have corralled the talents of Hollywood's most emminent composers and musicians (including the legendary John Williams).

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Comments: (349)

GamesCom is out of the way, which means that there's only the Tokyo Game Show to go for the remainder of 2009.

It's still nearly a month away, yet Capcom has been busily twittering about new game announcements that will take place during the show.

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Comments: (8)

Kalypso Media has just announced an October 16th worldwide release date for Tropico 3, when El Presidente will return to the gaming scene on the Xbox 360 and PC platforms.

It's been a long hiatus for the dictator, who's probably been hiding out in a post-Soviet state somewhere since Tropico was released in 2001, although he'll be around for a brief visit on the week commencing September 7th when a PC demo is due to launch prior to his full return.

Despite a worldwide release of October 16th, the PC version will be available in Germany from September 24th onwards, which is probably the result of a corrupt trade agreement or something.

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You can blame the UK's currency for a lot of things: the anti-EU sentiment of the Conservative Party during the 90s, inaccurately minted 20p coins, and now apparently Microsoft's decision to raise the price of its Xbox 360 Arcade SKU in the region.

"We are making modest increases on the Xbox 360 Arcade console as you can see," said Chris Lewis, Microsoft EMEA's VP of Interactive Entertainment Business. "The reality now is partly to offset currency exchange rate fluctuations which have impacted us in local market conditions - particularly in the UK."

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Comments: (437)

Even though Splash Damage and Bethesda haven't even released the first Brink game yet, the game's developer has nevertheless revealed that it has "big plans" for two sequels after the first game launches next spring.

"If [players] are willing to take the chance, they will find that this becomes another landmark franchise that they'll keep wanting to come back to," said the game's Creative Director, Richard Ham. "I'm looking forward to Brink 2 and 3 as well. We already have big plans for that."

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As widely expected, and noticed from an Argos slip up yesterday, Microsoft today confirmed that it has chopped the price of the Xbox 360 Elite to £199.99 in the UK.  The price cut is effective from August 28th and features the 120GB hard-drive.

"With the Christmas season right around the corner, it's another opportunity to put the consumer centre stage with entertainment and games that everyone will enjoy," said Neil Thompson, Senior Regional Director ,Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft UK and Ireland. "We have a goal over the next 18 months to deliver value with amazing content and rich interactive experiences in the living room."

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Comments: (437)

UK retailer Argos is currently listing Microsoft's Xbox 360 Arcade model for £156.59, which is over £25 higher than the SKU's current RRP of £129.99 and supports rumours that arouse earlier this month of a £30 price hike for the system in the UK.

In addition to this, TVG received word from an Argos source earlier today of a price reduction on the Xbox 360 Elite from £224.79 to £194.77, although we later received a correction to this which stated that the price reduction "was an error". The Elite is currently listed for £224.97 on the site.

This provides further evidence for a price cut to the Xbox 360 Elite model, which numerous US retailers have now listed at a price point of $299, which is $100 cheaper than the console's current RRP in the region.

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Comments: (437)

This is a bit of a no brainer really, as Infinity Ward hasn't used vehicles in the multiplayer modes of its various Call of Duty titles in the past, but community man Robert Bowling has now confirmed that they definitely won't feature in Modern Warfare 2.

"We never put vehicles in multiplayer," Bowling told GamerZines. "Our focus is on fast-paced infantry combat, where you're never reliant on transportation."  

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Comments: (349)

Rockstar has announced via Twitter that the PSP version of GTA: Chinatown Wars will be released on October 20th in the US, which suggests that the game will launch in the UK on October 23rd.

Further details from the Twitter announcement also reiterated that the game will be available via PSN as well, although there's no confirmation of whether or not the digital download will be released day-and-date with the UMD version at retail.

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Comments: (3)

We've just received word from Guitar Hero's UK reps that GH5 will release over here on September 11th, 10 days after its US release and a mere three days after Harmonix's The Beatles: Rock Band launches worldwide on September 9th.

Both the standalone game and guitar bundle packages will be available on September 11th for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2, although there's still no word on when GH5's new drum kit will arrive in the UK and whether a 'band-in-a-box' bundle (comprising of drums, guitar,  microphone, and game) will be made available as it was last year.

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Comments: (19)

SEGA Europe's President, Mike Hayes has stated that the release of Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines could follow on as long as 12 months after Aliens vs. Predator's scheduled launch in February, suggesting that the title may not emerge until 2011.

In even more worrying news for Gearbox's shooter, Hayes has even indicated that Colonial Marines' release could depend on the success of Rebellion's Aliens vs. Predator at retail.

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Comments: (8)

Capcom today announced that Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles will launch across Europe on November 27th, and to celebrate the release has teamed up with Nintendo to offer a Zapper bundle pack.

The announcement of a Zapper pack marks the first time that Nintendo has allowed a third-party publisher to bundle the peripheral with a game in Europe.

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During a demonstration at a GameCrazy event, Infinity Ward's community manager has revealed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will feature dual-weapon action.

In a post on the official Modern Warfare 2 forums, IW's community manager claimed:

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Comments: (349)

Despite Sony reducing the manufacturing costs of the PS3 by 70%, the launch of the PS3 Slim will sell at a loss according to an interview in The Times with Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman and CEO Kaz Hirai.

When asked about the costs, Hirai replied:

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Comments: (757)

Pyro Studios' Commandos series was an enjoyable real-time tactics series, until an ill-fated attempt at a first-person-shooter entry went and spoiled everything back in 2006.

Since the release of Commandos: Strike Force, everything has gone a little quiet on the adventures of Tiny, Spookey, Lupin and co; somewhat understandably lurking in the shadows in shame.

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Comments: (1)

Following a surprise appearance at last week's Gamescom event in Germany, it seems that Gran Turismo 5 could be on its way for a Christmas release to give a much-needed bolster to Sony's catalogue.

Rise of Games spotted a brochure allegedly handed out during the event, which details a Q4 2009 release and the fact that the full game boasts over 1000 different vehicles to get your hands on.

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Comments: (46)

We already knew that we'd probably be waiting less than a year for Final Fantasy XIII to come to Europe, which is a lot quicker than usual for a Final Fantasy release, but now the game's Producer has revealed that FFXIII will launch in the territory next spring on both PS3 and Xbox 360.

"We don't have the actual month down yet, but in Japan it's scheduled for a winter release, and in Europe and North American territories it's spring 2010," Yoshinori Kitase told VG247 at GamesCom.

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Comments: (71)

It's not often that publishing executives get involved in the console wars between rival manufacturers, but Ubisoft and EA's CEOs have done just that by showering praise all over Sony's decision to cut the PS3's price tag.

EA's CEO, John Riccitiello has commented that he believes the price cut is a "great move" that's been made at the right time, before the Christmas rush has bombarded consumers with other products. According to Riccitiello, the PS3 Slim "really stands out" because of this.

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Comments: (757)