Had enough E3 yet? We sure haven't. The boys at EvAv Radio cover everything E3 and more. Press conferences, announcements, hands on impressions and more await you in episode 115.
That's right folks, the great PC franchise has made it's way onto consoles. Not only is it good, it's damn good. Find out just what makes Julius Caesar tick in our review.
Anyone waiting for an European release of Fatal Frame IV anytime soon will not be pleased to hear this. Apparently, Nintendo of America doesn't even know that there exists a game by this name. GoNintendo reports:
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During my interview with Denise Kaigler, I did manage to slip in a few ‘traditional’ questions. One of my inquiries related to Fatal Frame IV for the Wii. I wanted to know why we didn’t hear about it at the conference, and why it wasn’t on the show floor, or in Nintendo’s meeting room. I was a bit surprised to find out that no one during my meeting had even heard of the game. They weren’t familiar with the title at all. I thought for sure they would know the game I was talking about, considering Nintendo is publishing the title in Japan!
Yesterday a rumor came up that says WipEout HD might have been delayed because it failed epilepsy tests (known as the Harding Test), today CVG confirmed that story. They were told that the game "failed the tests so much, that it has to be re-engineered."
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Imagine our surprise when we were told that the game had failed epilepsy tests and has to be re-engineered as a result before it can be released to the public.
CVG has been told that WipEout "fails the epilepsy tests so much that it has to be re-engineered." All that speed and flashing lights zipping past your eyes must be too much to handle.
Now that is bad. Yesterday I refused to believe it because personally I can't imagine where WipEout HD is more extreme as many other games. Guess I was wrong. Does anyone knows how those tests are done exactly?
N4G brings word that Square-Enix is bringing Final Fantasy XIII, and all future projects in development to the PC... thanks to their in-house tech that brings ease to multi-platform development.
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Square Enix has gone PC. On the first day of the show, the Japanese game publisher announced that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (in Europe and North America only) and PC. During a press conference following the Microsoft event, Final Fantasy XIII Producer Yoshinori Kitase discussed the new development strategy that Square Enix has taken with its upcoming games.
Aside from the new The Last Remnant game, which is being created for Xbox 360 and PS3 using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 externally, all new internally-developed games from Square Enix, including Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Versus, and an untitled new massively multiplayer online game, utilize the new PC-based Crystal Tools development environment. These tools allow development teams to create cross-platform games.
"The content will be the same on all platforms," said Kitase. "However, we have yet to determine how many discs will be required for the 360 version. We'll have to consider the differences between formats. Currently the game is being built on PC, where it's actually functional. We're still focusing on making it work on PS3, so it's difficult to know how long the process of taking it to 360 will take."
Thanks to the new PC development platform, Kitase added, "Now that we're developing on a PC base, the pace is going a bit faster," Kitase said. "We haven't introduced new footage of the game, but we should be able to show something new in the near future."
Some more legal troubles for Nintendo, but this time you may actually notice the effects on store shelves.
Yesterday a District Court Judge in Texas ruled that Nintendo was infringing on a patent held by Anascape Ltd. As a result of the ruling Nintendo will either have to place the amount of the judgment - $21 million - in escrow or stop selling the GameCube, WaveBird and Classic Nintendo controllers. Nintendo has already announced plans to appeal the judgment.
Anascape's patent - covering technology used in analog sticks - has already been licensed by both Sony and Microsoft. Anascape has also announced plans to enter the controller market themselves.
We've just posted a review of NCAA Football 09, now out on multiple systems.
There's a good chance you might not be very interested in this review given the perception that our readers aren't all that intrigued by sports games, but I'm a big sports fan and hope to bring more sports reviews to you and possibly up another avenue of gaming. NCAA Football 09 is riddled by broken sections (defensive line play, linebacker speed, etc.), but it still plays a pretty good game of football. There is a lot of potential in this game, EA just has to work on fixing the problems that have presented themselves and, for once, it looks like they're doing everything in their power to fix the game.
Feel free to read our Review and we will try to answer questions to the best of our ability.
Ambush Bug Year None #1 - There may not be a character so beloved by fandom, yet so unknown by that same fandom. What began as a minor Superman villain became a cult favorite, mostly through humor and send ups of the industry. This series sees Ambush Bug go through most of the major Crises in DC's history, as told by his most famous creators: Keith Giffen and Bob Fleming.
Uncanny X-Men #500 - I'm not usually one to make a big deal about big round numbers, but this one is special. Very few titles in the history if the industry have ever crossed that threshold, and in recognition Marvel is giving their Merry Mutants a new creative team. Ed Brubaker's solo run so far has been underwhelming, so the new blood - in the form of co-writer Matt Fraction and artists Greg Land and Terry Dodson - should give the book a shot in the arm. Previews for the book promise the return of some old nemeses as the X-Men settle into their new Bay Area digs.
Question of the Week: This week we get the granddaddy of them all, the San Diego Comic Con. Every year the event gets bigger and more mainstream, to the point that some comic intellegencia are complaining that it's too mainstream and no longer about the comics. But either way it's the place every year for major announcements and ground breaking deals. So, what news do you think we will see at the show, and what news do you want to hear?
No it's not some big bash with beer pong and flip cup, the Xbox Live Party system is going to be a way to game with up to 8 friends easily using the "New Xbox 360 Experience." Gamasutra has some choice quotes from Xbox platform engineer Eric Heutchy on just how the system will work.
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At its core the feature is eight way group voice chat. It works over all Xbox 360 experiences - all existing games, all new games, the dashboard, movies, media center, everything you can do on the console. The members of your party can each be in a different experience.
There's one button in the guide that allows a player to send game invites to everyone in his live party.
It is not a replacement for in-game parties that a number of triple-A titles have," he admitted. "Live party is about having a social connection prior to entering that game's party."
Essentially, when you start a new game Xbox Live will keep checking to see if you have friends you can invite, and it will also query your party members to see if they are playing games you could join.
For example, a message might come up on starting Uno Rush that "other members of your Xbox Live Party are playing Uno Rush. Would you like to join them?"
There will also be an option to "invite party to current game," if applicable, which will quick launch "any game on your hard drive, memory unit, or disc in the tray.
There's a bunch more info on how this will work including what seems like a new integrate feature that games will support called Live Party Aware that will contain some more seamless features. I'm REALLY looking forward to this feature, I know it's something we've been asking for, for quite some time on Xbox Live.
Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Games, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone—Mild Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Pirates: The Key of Dreams is a frantic nautical shoot-’em-up. Sail your way across the Caribbean, cannons blazing, looting booty, running blockades and ultimately battling Blackbeard himself. The player takes control of a navy captain sent deep undercover as a ruthless pirate in order to seek out and retrieve the Key of Dreams, a valuable and dangerous cursed artifact. Rescue castaways to bolster your ship’s crew, gaining performance increases to your navigation, weaponry, structural integrity and cartography skills. Collect increasingly powerful weaponry including rockets, mines, chain shot, saw blades and a flamethrower to hurl destruction into the path of your enemies. Play against three of your scurvy friends or A.I. opponents in pitched multiplayer battles over 35 levels, set in seven themed environments. Choose from different ship types that reflect your play style. Play in turbo mode if you're pirate enough.
This episode is full. We simply can’t fit anymore into it. And yet we still didn’t get out everything we wanted to talk about. E3 may be small, but the information we get out of it is enough to fill nearly three hours. It’s a full plate and we go over all the big news from the week that was. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and the games as well including Borderlands, Sonic, Op. Flashpoint 2, Empire Total War, Killzone 2, Halo Wars, MK Vs. DC, H.A.W.X., Far Cry 2, MAG, and so very much more. Bapenguin even calls in and gives us the info of games he got to play on the last day of E3, plus he and I personally (and by name) thank everyone who donated to get us out there.
The episode is stacked and the episode after the episode is running over with info as well. James goes over his new PC build and all the MMO’s he’s loaded into the thing and WWII Online is discussed leading us into our thoughts of the Too Human demo. Plus, we can’t go without talking of The Dark Knight - spoiler-free, of course.
At the Gamefest in Seattle today Microsoft broke the seal on DirectX11, the newest iteration of their application programming interface (API).
According to Microsoft DirectX11 will allow developers to utilize the GPU for more than just 3D graphics, and in fact let your graphics card function as a parallel processor. In addition, it will more easily utilize multi-core processors. Best of all, DX11 will be compatible with all DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware (as well as new DX 11 specific hardware.)
Activision today announced the Virtuoso Pack of downloadable songs for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Set for release July 24, the trio of songs includes... [Joe] Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien," [Steve] Vai's "For the Love of God," and Buckethead's "Soothsayer"
That's what I miss most in this move to full band rythym games, instrumentals. Insanely good song choices as well.
1up is reporting that the Games for Windows Live service will be free.
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"At the Gamefest 2008 event on Tuesday, Microsoft announced that all Games for Windows Live multiplayer features are now free. These features -- including multiplayer achievements, matchmaking, cross-platform play with the Xbox 360, GFW voice chat, and more -- previously required a GFW Live Gold account. The change is effective immediately and across all GFW titles, both past and future."
In addition to that, they are planning on opening a new Games for Windows Marketplace, similiar to the Xbox 360.
Seems like Microsoft is taking a few cues from Steam.
Stephen Totilo has a great editorial up discussing the breakdown between Nintendo and its fanbase over E3:
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Several times throughout the week, I witnessed the company [Nintendo], its most ardent fans and the E3 press fail to communicate with each other. These misunderstandings — these wrong answers to right questions and right answers to wrong ones — were not always Nintendo’s fault. But the fissures are real and must certainly be a concern to company and fans alike.
Microsoft has officially announced that their Community Games initiative will launch this fall on Xbox Live. What is it? It's a way for budding game developers and hobbyists to showcase their games on a console...something that's never been done before.
Ok, ok...so how do you make money? The first step is buying an XNA subscription ($99 a year) and downloading the tools (which are free regardless of subscription). After completing your gaming masterpiece you'll then submit it for peer review; if enough people approve of the title you can then set a price (between 200 and 800 MS Points) and away you go! Microsoft is going to skim a cool 30% off the top and send you monthly checks, but it's a small price to pay for such mainstream exposure.
Of course, you can also compile your game to run on a PC and distribute it for free...no XNA Subscription required.
The Associated Press, via Yahoo! News, is reporting that Electronic Arts has once again extended the deadline for their proposed buy out of Take-Two, this time till mid-August:
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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. has again extended the deadline for its $2 billion tender offer to buy smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
The offer now is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Aug. 18, an extension from this past Friday. EA said Monday it needed more time to allow regulators to continue their review.
EA previously announced that it was in "substantial compliance" with the Federal Trade Commission's request for information about its proposed buyout of Take-Two. Based on its agreement with the FTC, EA said in a regulatory filing it will not close any acquisition until at least Aug. 21 or the FTC closes the investigation — whichever is earlier.
Needless to say, Take-Two are still playing hardball:
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In a statement responding to the deadline extension, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick urged Take-Two shareholders to resist the offer. CEO Ben Feder said strong sales of "Grand Theft Auto IV" and other developments "have further demonstrated that our value-creation potential is greater than EA's offer."
One thing in business is certain - no seldom, if ever, means no.
Last weeks rumors were saying that Alan Wake would be shown at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show this October, according to a Windows Vista competition. The text for the competition description still says Tokyo Game Show 2008, Remedy however says now that it was from 2007 and they did not speak with Microsoft yet for any show-off at upcoming conventions.
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The Microsoft Vista promotion referring to TGS took place in 2007, and is old news - we've had the winner over for taking the pictures already.
Sorry for the confusion and possible disappointment, but this was not an announcement that Wake would be shown at TGS 2008. Remedy's team is just getting back from a bit of holiday and we haven't had time to chat with Microsoft on upcoming shows/showings yet.
Too bad. It would be really nice to see at least a few new pictures or get some deeper background information besides the tag-line. I don't know what time frame they need for such presentations, but this almost certainly means no Alan Wake for the upcoming Games Convention in Leipzig.
E3 is over, now it's time to get back to reviewing! We've just posted a dual review of Civilization Revolution by AgtFox and bapenguin on the PS3 and 360 respectively.
Civilization Revolution is a great example of what a game company can do in transposing a deep strategy game onto a console system and making it a valid game in its own right. Even those of us brought up on the computer versions of Civilization should find a lot to enjoy in this game. Just open your mind to this game and try it, you may be surprised by how good it is.
Feel free to read our dual Review and we will try to answer questions to the best of our ability.
From Developers Epic Games and Publisher Del Rey comes word of an upcoming science fiction book trilogy based on the Gears of War universe.
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Epic Games, Inc. and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey will publish three novels set in the gritty world of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Gears of War video game series. The first novel, GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss, will go on sale October 28, 2008. The Gears of War 2 video game, the highly anticipated sequel to the genre-defining third-person shooter that won over 30 game of the year awards, will be released worldwide exclusively for the Xbox 360 on November 7, 2008.
In GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, the last human stronghold on Sera braces itself for another onslaught from the Locust Horde, as ghosts come back to haunt Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. For Marcus — decorated war hero, convicted traitor — the return of an old comrade threatens to dredge up an agonizing secret he's sworn to keep. As the beleaguered soldiers of the Coalition of Ordered Governments take a last stand to save humankind from extermination, the harrowing decisions made at Aspho Fields have to be relived and made again. Marcus and Dom can take anything the Locust Horde throws at them — but will their friendship survive the truth about Dom’s brother Carlos?
“After finishing the first Gears of War game, players were left wanting to know more about Delta Squad and the events leading up to Emergence Day,” said Epic Games’ president Michael Capps. “This trilogy of novels opens up whole new worlds of storytelling opportunities, and will add even more context to the upcoming comic book series, game sequel and motion picture. We loved Karen Traviss’ work on the Republic Commando series, and we can’t wait to get her Gears book to our fans.”
“Playing Gears of War is a kick-ass experience,” said Del Rey editor Keith Clayton, “And the Gears of War books should remain true to the spirit of the game. I’m happy to announce that the marriage of Karen Traviss and chainsaw bayonets is a match made in heaven—or hell, if you happen to be a Locust drone.”
For further information on the novel, GEARS OF WAR: THE BATTLE OF ASPHO FIELDS, visit www.delreybooks.com.
For information on Gears of War and Gears of War 2, visit www.gearsofwar.com.
Edge (Next Generation Online) is reporting more bad news for developer Flagship Studios, the beta test of their free-to-play MMORPG, Mythos, has gone offline.
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Mythos' servers were shut down late on Friday, according to a statement posted on the game’s official forums, although the official line coming from Flagship’s Seattle studio is that the world of Mythos is only taking a break.
“We regretfully announce that on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:59 CST the world of Uld known as Mythos will be going on hiatus,” reads the statement.
“On behalf of all of the devs and community team we want to thank you to everyone for their support and assistance with Mythos Alpha and Beta testing and we will see you soon.”
Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced that Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is in development for the Wii home video game system. Based on the critically acclaimed Dead Rising, which has sold in excess of one million units since its release in 2006.
Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is scheduled to hit store shelves this Winter.
Click the headline for the full press release, plus some screenshots.
Did anything happen last week? It seemed to just fly by.
Oh yeah...there was that whole E3 thing. In fact, there won't be much talk tonight other than the news that came out of LA from last week. We've got dash updates, failures, MAG's, co-op, rock band this, guitar hero that, Kombats and comics, more in depth looks at games seen at E3, Civ Revolution, and everything else we've been playing in the mean time. Plus, a special thank you section tonight during the show for everyone who donated to send myself and Bap out to E3.
Activision today (officially) scored a major player for Team Guitar Hero (take that Rock Band!), landing Jimi Hendrix, who will make his posthumous "video game debut" in Guitar Hero World Tour. Hendrix will feature as a playable character in the game, and two master tracks from the fire-casting rock star will ship on the game disc:
* "Purple Haze (Live)" (recorded in 1969 at the San Diego Sports Arena)
* "The Wind Cries Mary"
As announced on Major Nelson's website, the remake of the Capcom's classic shooter "1942" and the rhythm game "Go! Go! Break Steady" will both be available for download on Xbox Live starting this Wednesday.
Each title will cost 800 Microsoft Points or $10.
I guess 1942 is better than "Coffetime Crossword," but I'm personally getting pretty tired of the way MS throttles their releases so that a maximum of two titles per week get released. It result in months of shovelware between decent releases. Many of these games don't deserve the spotlight, especially while high quality titles that are ready to go sit on the sidelines.
All 5 Ghost Recon games pack coming to Steam for $39.99. Big Download has the details:
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During E3 we managed to miss the fact that Valve's Steam service added a number of new games to its downloadable line-up. The major new additions are all of the PC games in Ubisoft's Ghost Recon series of tactical shooters. Valve has all five games in a special collection pack for $39.99 and until July 22 you can get the pack for the discounted price of $35.99.
Monday Blues! Depression, darkness, lousy weather (well, over here anyway), work, hangover, etc.
Time to look back at the good gaming times. What did you guys play the last couple of days? Loaded up Soul Calibur 1-3 to get your fingers in check again for the release of 4? Some Bad Company? Still living the final moments of Solid Snake? Still not done with SSBB? Tell us all about it, right here!
I'm really at a bit of a gaming loss at the moment. Can't seem to really enjoy anything for a long while. I'm still playing Titan Quest because looting never get's old. I also checked out the Naruto demo on PSN (which was awesome) and played through the Too Human demo, which is beginning to grow on me. I love the feel, customization and world. I still don't like the stick fighting mechanic and loss of free camera though.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe head David Reeves has revealed that gamers may be able to charge for content they create in LittleBigPlanet.
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"What we're trying to do with LittleBigPlanet is almost iTunes meets eBay in the sense that once an individual or a developer has qualified by producing certain levels or certain add-ons, they will then be able in the future to exchange these and make money out of them
Now you're probably thinking what I'm thinking: Why would I pay good money for a level shaped like a dong? (and lets face it, given their druthers wang-derived levels would account for a majority of released contents) Reeves says that individuals would have to undergo a bit of a review process before they could start charging for their created content, so the levels should be a bit more polished and less obscene. Obviously some of the details still have to be announced, but this could be a huge deal in the coming months.
From the Regent of Rot, Dr. Pus, comes word that Episode #54 of the literary Zombie Podcast Library of the Living Dead is now available.
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Here is what crawled from the grave this week:
0:00: "Beverly Hills Zombies"
1:12: Steve Cain's "Zombie"
5:19: Dr. Puw Intro
8:21: "Reannimated Man"
11:30: "Pineville" Chapter 7
18:44: MAXIMUM PIMPAGE for A.P Fuchs
21:31: Nickie Rivers "Samaritan"
26:09: Rob Fox's "Z Day is Here" Days 34-36
40:29: Frostie's "Zombie Game Review"
44:08: Done In One by Zombie Survivor called "My Hate of the Dead" Full production
1:19:20: Nora Fleicher's "Rosemary The Librarina" #17
1:25:03: Rob Best's "All Kinds of Things Kill" #2
1:33:12: Stephen A. North's "BTM" Chapter 25
1:59:43: Praises for Permuted Press
2:06:14: Contest winners
2:08:40: "Crummy Comments"
2:15:18: Out song by "The Botched"
This episode has a plethora of full production stories.
I hope you like it!!
Doc
And by the way, we broke the top 200 podcasts on Podomatic for the first time EVER!!! "Libary" came in at the #166 spot. By far the highest we've ever seen. And in the "Literature" category we're at #3. Also the highest we've ever been!!
For the next two weeks I'm house-sitting for family, and their big-screen TV is out of comission. What does that mean? It means I'm gonna be bored as hell, and I've decided to tke it all out on you!
How?
By making an abundance of comics!
Starting tomorrow, Monday the 21st, and for the next two weeks, I'll be updating EvAvComics at least three times a week - an unprecedented amount.
So, make sure to check Evil Avatar Comics, and to keep the topics interesting here on the main site - I'll be watching for inspiration!
