2010 Is The Year Of "Hardcore" Wii Games

Slowly by surely, the Wii has been getting less attention from gamers all over, due to the fact that most believe it has become a pure "casual" gaming console. Sure there have been a couple games like Zelda, Smash Bros, Mario Galaxy, and The Conduit which have scratched the "hardcore" itch. It's no secret however, that the Wii is marketed more towards the "casual" crowd, rather than the "hardcore".
However, Miyamoto says that 2010 to be a totally different story.

                                                                         I'm sure he'll be happy
"I really want many households to be able to have a hands-on experience of Mario Galaxy 2. I didn't have any involvement in Metroid Other M, but it is on its way. And also we are working on the New Legend of Zelda for Wii. So from this year to the next, I hope that the hardcore-type gamers are really looking forward to the multiple Nintendo titles on Wii. And also, we are working on the [new] Pikmin."

I'm glad to see that Nintendo is looking to deliver some great new games to their "hardcore" audiance, as it's something most gamer's have been looking forward to for while.

Dead Space 2 Demo Is Coming

When Visceral Games launched Dead Space in 2008 it was one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year. It was sure one of my favorites of 2008 due to the fact that I love scary 3rd-person shooters, but sadly, many people didn't even realize that Dead Space existed in 2008.
With Dead Space 2 however, EA and Visceral Games is going about their marketing a little differently.

“Last time, I just heard a lot of comments like ‘The demo was way too hard,’ or ‘It kind of came out after the fact.’ We’re really putting an emphasis on making sure that we have something there so that new people can check it out,” said Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis. “There’s a lot of people that seem interested and we just want to give them an opportunity to check it out and get into it.”
I'm excited to see that I could start playing  Dead Space 2 demo in the near future, but I'm even more excited that people will actually realize how much fun Dead Space is! Look forward to a bit of Dead Space 2 coverage as it draws closer to release later this year.

Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion iPhone/iPod Touch Game

It's pretty common these days for a major band to have iPhone/iPod Touch apps in order to promote their music and overall popularity. It's not common however, for a band to have a full original iPhone/iPod Touch game released on the App Store and have it actually look "good".
Linkin Park has just released a trailer for their iPhone/iPod Touch game, Linkin Park: 8-Bit Rebellion.


As you can see, the trailer looks pretty decent, the gameplay looks like fun and its built from the ground up for an iPhone/iPod Touch so the controlls shouldn't be too bad either.
I'm not really into Linkin Park, although some of their older stuff is alright, and so I probably won't be getting this game anytime soon. If you're a Linkin Park fan however, this game seems like a pretty bundle.

More Rumors That Resistance 3 Is In Development

Last year in October, a picture of a Resistance 3 billboard hit the web. The billboard was supposedly placed for an advertisement in a movie shoot for, Battle: Los Angeles, scheduled to come 18 February 2011.

Its been a while since that picture, and the Resistance 3 rumors have died down a bit...until now. Sony recently sent a pretty strange survey to it's PlayStation fans, one that "hypothetically" brings up Resistance 3.
 "Do you think that there is a future version of Resistance, Resistance 3 being developed?" was one of the questions, the second asked, how likely the reader would be to purchase this hypothetical game.
It's a bit strange for Sony to ask for this kind of information, as I don't see any real benefits to it. If it's already in development, which it probably is, then it seems a bit late to see if people actually want one.
I guess this kind of info could be used to see how much money Sony should put into the marketing for this game, but something like that might be better judged after a trailer of some sorts.

In any case, when you look at Insomniac's track record of releasing a Resistance game one holiday season and a Ratchet and Clank game the next holiday season, I think its pretty certain that we'll see Resistance 3 later this year.

New World Map Replaces The Super Mario Galaxy Hub World

Throughout Mario's life, he has traveled all over different world, into other dimensions, and even into outer space. During his adventure Mario usually has a "hub world", or some other type of over-world map which is used to travel to and from different levels. Super Mario Galaxy 2 however, is going to try and change things up a bit.
Game Informer met with Shigeru Miyamoto to talk to him about Super Mario Galaxy 2, and how this new map will help the player travel in and out of different galaxies.

"We want players to focus on the joy of the action instead of getting to each game course," he said. "We wanted to make it as accessible as possible and as easy as possible for the players. Also, because we're going to incorporate a number of different stars, and conquering all the stars is going to be one of the most challenging missions for the player," Miyamoto added, "we want [players] to understand as easy as possible where they should go next and which places they should go back to in order to get access to the remaining stars."
It makes sense that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is going to try and streamline certain parts of its game, in order to allow a more casual feel. Miyamoto made sure to say however, that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will not be an easy game, the hardcore fans will still have a long adventure in front of them to collect all of the stars.

Rock Band 3 Will Have Vocal Harmonies

Apology
 First, I would like to say that I'm extremely sorry for not posting anything for the past two days. I have had a very busy week with my school's finals, and so blogging kept getting pushed back. Although, now I'm done with school! Which means I'll have more gaming news to read,write, and laugh about. Thanks to everyone who stuck around, now lets get back into the action.

Real Post
I'm sure you're all well aware that PAXEast, Penny Arcade Expo East, took place earlier this week and a lot of great news came out of it. One piece of news that was discovered at the panel "An Awkward Hour" however, wasn't supposed to be unveiled yet.
At this panel five Rock Band designers answered questions from fans, with one rule, no questions about the recently announced Rock Band 3.

Everything went to plan until someone asked whether Green Day: Rock Band songs would still have harmonies when imported into Rock Band 2. Chris Foster, Harmonix Project Lead, said this, ""We've said Rock Band 3 would have harmonies already, right?" A noisy "no" was heard throughout the auditorium, and all Chris said afterward was "It's been nice working at Harmonix."

Since The Beatles: Rock Band had harmony support, it makes sense to think that any new Rock Band from then on will also have harmony support, but it's nice to get some actual confirmation. As for the answer to the earlier question about harmony support in Rock Band 2, well Chris didn't say anything about that, he must have forgotten after his little slip-up.

Half Life 2 Episode 3 Should Scare You

Recently Edge magazine had the opportunity to talk to Valve's founder and president, Gabe Newell, who had some interesting things to say about Valve's next steps.
When Gabe was asked "if the Half-Life series deliberately matured with its audience as part of a special look at the franchise", he replied:
"I feel like we've gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I'd like, and it's something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on."
After that, Gabe was asked  "what scares [Valve gamers] the most" he had a pretty intense response,"the death of their children. The fading of their own abilities."

 I never saw Valve as a studio who's into making scary games, but after I thought about it for a couple of seconds I realized that all the way back in Ravenholm from Half-Life 2, Valve has included some "scary" thing in their games (TF2 had a special Halloween patch). I'm always one to enjoy a good scare in video games, so I fully embrace Gabe's vision, and I'm sure many others will too.
On a side note:
I gotta say, Gabe is always spot on with his humor to the point where you can't tell if he's joking or not, and I love it!

3D Dot Game Heroes Full Trailer

Do you like comedy? Are you into Retro games? Do you love the original Zelda? Then here's your new favorite game: 3D Dot Game Heroes!
Atlus and From Software have been promoting bits of this game for a while, and now they have released the game's full trailer.


I can't wait to get my hands on 3D Dot Game Heroes, the game just looks like pure fun. It doesn't seem to try too hard with inventing new battle systems, or complicated ways to level, and that's something you don't see very often any more.

3D Dot Game Heroes will be out on Sony's PS3 May 11.

Blizzcon 2010 Announced

Its not a huge surprise that there will be another Blizzcon this year, although there was some mixed info on where it would be held. Earlier this year reports starting rolling in saying that Blizzcon 2010 would be held in Las Vegas, but it turns out that's false.

Blizzard released their official Blizzcon report today, and what do you know, Blizzcon 2010 will be October 22-23 at the Anaheim Convention Center as usual.
I've been able to attend the last two Blizzcons ('08 and '09), each of which have been a blast! If your at all interested in Blizzard and their games, I'd highly suggest you look into going this year. More info will be released as we draw closer to the event's date, but until then, might I suggest some Diablo 2 to cure you're Blizzard fever.

F.3.A.R. Is A Stupid Name

This news surfaced yesterday on a popular video game forum, NeoGaf. A "Spanish magazine" is apparently getting the first scoop on the next title in the F.E.A.R. series, but what makes stand out, is the name. F.3.A.R. as some people might think, is a clever way to number a sequel, but in this case, its pretty stupid. F.E.A.R. stands for "First Encounter Assault Recon", but with the number thrown in the middle, that acronym no longer makes any sense.

Well alright, I might be over reacting on the game's name a little too much considering the real news here is that F.E.A.R. 3 is on it way.
I really like the first F.E.A.R. and its expansion "Extraction Point". After those 2 titles however, I found the F.E.A.R. series kind of lost its magical balance between scary and great gun play. I'm sure this had a lot to do with the split of Monolith Studios and Sierra Entertainment, but I hope that Monolith (the studio who now has the rights to the F.E.A.R. series) can bring back some of the first game's excitement.
We'll have to wait and see if this is actually the game's title, but I'm sure we'll hear soon enough, as the next month's issue of this "Spanish magazine" is supposed to have a lot more info.

The Witcher 2: Assassins Of KingsTrailer

In 2007 a small but very talented developer, CD Projeckt, hit the scene with a not so small game called "The Witcher". The Witcher was overall very well received by critics and consumers alike, it offered a great style of RPG game-play, along with a good story, and a great atmosphere.
Ever since the release of The Witcher, CD Projekt has been pretty silent about their next "projekt", but now we can see what it is.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is their next game, and from the launch trailer, it looks very promising. I really enjoyed The Witcher when I played it earlier last year, even though it was a 2007 game I still feel that it stands up to games being released today. If you haven't checked out The Witcher, but are into RPGs, I highly suggest you check it out.

Nintendo Announces Next DS System: "3DS"

This was really unexpected. I was about to go to sleep when sudden announcement of Nintendo's next DS system hit the web. The "3DS" will give the user 3D visual effects without  the need for 3D glasses, while still being compatible with DS and DSi games.

Furthermore, this new device will be shown at this years E3, and we can expect a release date between April 2010 to March 2011.
The question isn't whether its do-able, the tech is readily available, but I think the better question is: Do we want this? I really don't know why Nintendo would want to make the leap into the 3D hand-held market, but I guess someone had to do it. Right?

On top of all this news, you shouldn't forget that today many top journalists/video game bloggers got their review copies of the DSi XL. The DSi XL isn't even out for the general public, but Nintendo is already deep into development of a newer DS.                                                      

Picture from Kotaku

I'm a bit shocked, but like I said in an earlier post, big companies need to think ahead of the current market in order to stay competitive.
If you want to read more, I have linked bellow the Japanese, and the English documents revealing the 3DS.
Japanese Info
English Info

Diablo 2 Patch 1.13 + Ladder Restart Tomorrow

Okay, the truth finally comes out. I am a Diablo fan-boy, there, I said it. Diablo(1) was the first game that I really got into at a young age. I can still remember being in 4th grade and staying up all night with my friends on Battle.net playing Diablo, while being on a 5+ hour conference call with our home phones because Ventrillo didn't exist yet. Good times were had by all, and naturally when Diablo 2 came out, it became my new favorite game of all time. I've sunk an absurd amount of time into the Diablo series at this point, and I'm not gonna stop now.

                                                                   Hopefully this won't happen again... 

Today the announcement for the long awaited patch 1.13 was released, a patch that has taken over a year to arrive. The patch notes can be found here and as you can see, some pretty dramatic changes have been made.

I've always been a fan of Blizzard (being a Diablo fan-boy and all), so to see that their putting out serious patch for a game that came out in the year 2000, makes me love them even more. I could go and talk about the patch notes for hours and hours, but I feel that I've already bored you guys enough with this silly news most won't even care about.
If you're planning on playing in the new ladder season, post your Realm/Character name in a comment bellow, and maybe we can do some Baal runs together!

New Zelda Might Use Nintendo's Vitality Sensor

Last at E3 Nintendo showed their newest Wii accessory, the Wii Vitality Sensor. Everyone's reaction was pretty much the same, just a big "WTF?!?!". At the BAFTA video game awards last week, Shigeru Miyamoto, said that it's very possible for the newest Zelda to use this Vitality Sensor.

“Whenever we are going to use any new device it is possible to expand the appeal to those who are new to the videogaming world. At the same time, however, it is also fun to think of ways in which we might apply that new technology to existing forms of gameplay,” he said, “just like the way we are working on the new Legend of Zelda together with Wii Motion Plus.”

I'm not sure how I feel about all this vitality sensor stuff, I need to get some hands-on experience with this thing to really form a good opinion. I'm sure we'll hear more about the Wii Vitality Sensor at E3 later this year, until then, I'm going to keep trying to think of ways this thing could actually make games better.

Mass Effect 2 Kasumi DLC Gets A Price

Up until the Alternate Appearance Pack, all of the Mass Effect 2 DLC, had been free for Cerberus members. Now the first DLC pack to add a new member to Shepard's crew will also cost you more than a Cerberus "membership fee".

"Cerberus has procured the service of Kasumi Goto, the galaxy's most enigmatic master thief. In return for her help, Kasumi has asked Shepard's help on a dangerous heist to infiltrate the vault of a deadly master criminal named Donovan Hock. Gain Kasumi's loyalty on the planet Bekenstein, where Hock is throwing a party for some of the galaxy's richest and most deranged criminal minds to recover data of great importance to Kasumi... and to the galaxy at large. Includes a new squad member, mission, weapon, research upgrade, casual outfit, and achievement."

The new DLC pack is entitled "Kasumi - Stolen Memory" and it will cost you 560 Microsoft points on the Xbox 360, 560 BioWare points on the PC, and it will come out later in April.

So far I feel that EA/BioWare have been very fair with their DLC strategy, giving enough free DLC for Cerberus members and not over charging for premium DLC, so I'll defiantly be picking this one up.

Natal Successor Already In The Works

Even though Project Natal is still 8 months away, Microsoft is already working on the next motion sensor. Research Asia department director Hsiao-Wuen Hon spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald (via Spong) that they are already thinking of a new version.
“When we invent something first like Natal, while we have a researcher working with the product group for the first version we already have a researcher thinking about the second version down the road,” said Hon. “We certainly hope we will continue to be holding that technology.”

Now don't get worried. This doesn't mean that Microsoft is planning to "annualized" releases of Project Natal, or that they think the first one sucks so they're making a new one. This is just big companies think way into the future in order to stay competitive with everyone else. Chances are that we might never see Natal 2.0 hit retail stores, although I find that to be pretty unlikely.

This sure does say something about people's belief in motion control however, many developers think that motion control is just some type of fad rolling through the games industry at the moment. When companies like Microsoft keep investing into newer/better motion control, it might be something that's here to stay, even though some don't want it.

 
I'll keep you guys posted on more Natal 2.0 info, but don't expect more anytime soon. We still have to go through Microsoft's Natal heavy E3 keynote, sometime between June 15-17.

Pikmin 3 Is In Development

http://teamtwie.blogspot.com/2010/02/pikmin-was-designed-for-high-school.htmlA magazine from the UK, Official Nintendo Magazine, posted a pretty awesome "tweet" yesterday.
 "ONM is at the BAFTAs! Miyamoto just told us Pikmin 3 development is "well under way".

I'm sure I'm not the only one excited for some game-play designed for Japanese school girls, who's with me!?


...hello?...anyone?...




:(

Killzone 3 Coming...Sometime

GTTV's Geoff Keighley sure knows how to get information out of people. As seen on last night's episode Keighly got SCEA president, Jack Tretton, to come forth with some Killzone 3 info.
"You know, we own Guerrilla Studios, and uh, they did a great job on Killzone 1 and 2 ... I don't know when you'll see announcements about it, but I can promise you a Killzone 3."

Well there you have it folks, Killzone 3 will be released...sometime...
I enjoyed Killzone 2 quite a lot, but with a third iteration, I think Guerrilla could heavily improve on the series.
I'll be sure to keep you all posted on more Killzone 3 news as it rolls in...maybe during E3...

Release Trailer For Just Cause 2

When I first say Just Cause 2 I didn't think much of it, as the first one was buggy as hell, and just not really my "cup of tea". However, every time I see something new about this game it looks better and better. So without further a-do, enjoy this explosive trailer.

Mass Effect 2 DLC Coming March 23

Bioware announced earlier today that the "Firewalker" DLC, which will be free for everyone connected to the Cerberus Network, is coming out March 23.

The DLC pack will contain a five-mission pack introduces us to the Hammerhead, a new flying vehicle.
Mass Effect 2 is without a doubt one of the best games I've played in a while, and some free DLC is always welcome. Lets just hope this vehicle doesn't turn out the same as the MAKO from Mass Effect(1).

New Square Enix RPG For iPhone/iPod Touch

Square Enix has just come off their Final Fantasy XIII launch, before that they released FF I&II on the iPhone/iPod Touch, and now they have just released a trailer for a new RPG.
The new game is called Chaos Rings, and it looks like it will be a pretty big hit. They upgraded their FF I&II tech to do 3D models of characters and enemies, which looks pretty cool.
This trailer is mostly in Japanese, but what really matters is the visuals, and they're very well done for an iPhone/iPod Touch game.

Secret Announcement Of A New God Of War Title?

God of War 3 only came out last Tuesday, but it seems that some people already have the platinum trophy for it. For those of you that don't know, the Playstation 3 uses trophies instead of achievements. When you get all the trophies from a single game, you get that game's platinum trophy.
Apart from the usual bragging rights to a platinum trophy, God of War 3 also gives you something a little extra, a link to a hidden page on the God of War 3 website.

 There's nothing on this page, other than some falling rain and a shield with an upside down "V" on it, but my guess is that its going to announce a new PSP title.
We've heard multiple times from Sony execs that the story of Kratos ended with God of War 3, but there's always possibility to re-visit the God of War universe from a different perspective. From the url hint, Spartans Stand Tall might be the game's title.
All of this is still pure speculation, I'm probably competely wrong about all this but regardless, its always fun to speculate :)

Skate 3 Now Has An Official Release Date

I'm having a pretty hard time trying to think of an interesting way to communicate these release dates to you all...but I can't, so let's just cut straight to it.

 North America will be getting their "Skate" on May 11 while the rest of the world has to wait for May 14.
I always enjoy a good skating game, be it Tony Hawk, Skate, or just about anything else (although I could have defiantly gone without Skate or Die!).
Look forward to joining a skate crew, making parks, pull of "radical" tricks, and even doing photo-shoots when "Skate 3" hits later this year.

Steam Version Of Battlefield Bad Company 2 Getting A Nice Patch

Along with a couple of bug fixes the newest patch for the Steam version of Battlefield Bad Company 2, the SecuROM will also get removed. EA has some history with the SecuROM, but that history has never gone over well with EA's consumers. Most of you will probably remember the Spore fiasco of only allowing a limited amount of installs before the disc would become completely useless. You can thank SecuROM for that.

Although it seems some light has been shined into EA's heart recently, Dragon Age didn't launch with SecuROM, Mass Effect has had it removed, and now Bad Company 2 is going to get it removed aswell.
Although this is only no the Steam version of the game, due the fact that Steam has its own authentication solutions in place, its still a big plus for anyone who's into PC gaming.
I'm glad to see that Steam is trustworthy enough, even for big publishers like EA, so that we might avoid more of these crazy DRM strategies (looking at you Ubisoft).

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Hits North America Soon(ish)

I know you're probably still working on Final Fantasy XIII (I am), but Square Enix has already planned for another major RPG to hit the US market, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. This PSP exclusive title hit the Japanese market on January 9 of 2010, and today we were told that North America will get the title during the "Summer of 2010".

I got into the Kingdom Hearts series last year, and instantly became a huge fan. Although I've only finished the first one (slowly working my way through the second), I'm really excited to see that a new Kingdom Hearts game will be coming our way. All of this is bound to lead up to the highly anticipated release of Kingdom Hearts 3, but that will have wait until another time.

Battlefield Bad Company 2's Take On Grenade Spam

You might recall a couple weeks before Modern Warfare 2 launched last year, Infinity Ward put out a video to promote their game. The video featured Philadelphia's MLB pitcher, Cole Hammel, giving a quick talk on grenade spam, and how it ruins games. The video was supposed to be on the humorous side, but it caught some negative attention for the last couple seconds of the video. "Brought to you by Fighting Against Grenade Spam" was the famous line that caused all the commotion. If you don't notice the acronym for that line turns out to be F.A.G.S. which didn't go over too nicely with most of the public. Here's the video in-case you missed it during its release.


But that's old news. The real story comes from EA's new first person shooter, Battlefield Bad Company 2. Bad Company 2 has a tendency to subtlety make fun of Modern Warfare 2 throughout its campaign, but their new promotional video isn't too subtle anymore.

I find the video pretty funny in both parody, and its actual contents. Although this does beg the question. When is directly making fun of your game's competition too much? Do you think this video crossed the line?

Starcraft 2 Beta Client Coming To Mac In April

I know a lot of you are Starcraft fans, and so I thought I'd share some of this SC2 news.
Blizzard held a question and answer segment over Twitter a little while back, and some interesting news came out of it.

When a fan asked "Mac beta please? Any information!" Blizzard moderates responded with "We are currently working on a Mac version of the beta and hope to release it sometime in April. Hang in there!! :)"
 The PC client for the SC2 beta has been out for a little less than a month now, and seeing how Blizzard always supports both PC and Mac this isn't super surprising news, but it's sure nice to get some re-assuarance everyone once in a while.
Along with this announcement, and Valve's announcement of Steam coming to the Mac OS, it might actually be a good time for Mac gamers!

Source

No Epic Games Coming Out This Year

 Many people were expecting a Gear of War 3 announcement last week at GDC, considering the first two games had their debut at previous GDCs, but this year its a bit different.
We actually got some news from from Epic Games VP Mark Rein, that was the complete opposite at GDC this year.

 "We don't have any games coming out in 2010, so from a games standpoint, it's more about our customers' games, right? Already this year we've seen some pretty great games this year-- Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, and Arkham Asylum's coming out in 3D, the GOTY version, so that'll be kinda cool."
Even though Epic isn't releasing anything from their studio directly this year, you can be sure that they are hard at work on Gears of War 3, and of course their Unreal Engine.
Personally I thought that Gears of War 2 was pretty lacking in overall gameplay, and so I think its for the better that Epic isn't going to rush out Gears 3 this year. Then again, I'm sure Microsoft wants to give Halo: Reach as big of a spotlight as possible this year, and so we might see many other major releases getting pushed back a bit this year.

Source

Modern Warfare 2 Map Pack Detailed And Over-Priced

Last week a pretty clever ad hit the web, which was advertising the first Modern Warfare 2 map pack DLC.
Details of which maps will be included came out today, so without further a-do, here's the list.

New maps: 

• "Salvage," a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars 
• "Storm," an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery
• "Bailout," a multi-level apartment complex
 

Modern Warfare(the first) maps: 

• "Overgrown," which features a massive dry creek bed
• "Crash," a war-torn urban environment 

The pack looks pretty decent, but here's the kicker, its going to cost you 1200 Microsoft Points which is $15. Now $15 might not seem like too much money when you're comparing it the $60 price point of Modern Warfare 2 itself, but for a simple map pack, that's a lot to ask.
Setting this type of price point sure isn't helping Activation's image of "The evil empire", but I'm starting to think they don't care too much.
This DLC is coming out on Xbox Live first, and it will be hitting PSN a month after that.

TeamTwie Is Back In Action

Hey guys, I was a GDC yesterday, and so I didn't have anytime to post on my blog. On the bright side however, I met a great deal of fantastic people, saw some cool new tech, and learned a great deal of new things.

I'll get back to my regular posting scheudal now, so don't worry, TeamTwie isn't going to go away anytime soon.
I might do a little "write-up" of my experiences yesterday...or I might not...stay tuned to find out! :)

Thanks,

-Twie

Fable III Might Be Headed For The PC

Early this week Peter Molyneux held a Fable III panel during this week's GDC. The usual things were said, and the usual things were asked...except one thing. When Peter was asked if Fable III might ever make it to the PC, or any other platform, the answer wasn't the usual "We have nothing in the works right now".
Instead Peter said "I can say, mystically, that I love the PC. I love what’s happening to the PC, and I would love to see the Fable franchise on the PC."

 It sure isn't an actual conformation, but it is a bit more than a simple "no". I guess only time will tell if Fable III will make it to the PC, but seeing how Microsoft has been more aggressive with their Games For Windows branch lately, it might not be as far off you as you might think.

New Brink Trailer Shown At GDC

Bethesda and Splash Damage's newest game, Brink, has just gotten a new trailer shown at this year's GDC.

Every time I see a new video regarding Brink, it looks better and better. The overall look of this game seems fantastic, and add that to the awesome new tech, Brink looks like a very promising title.
I'll have to wait till I can get my hand on it to really give my full opinion, but that will have to wait until later this year.

GDC Award Show Winners

Yet another award show happened tonight, the Game Developers Choice Awards, at the Moscone Center in San Fransisco.

What sets this award show apart from the rest however, is that not only games are being awarded, but also the people responsible for making them. Along with that, there were 3 awards given out directly to games industry folk, which I have listed bellow.

Games:
Best Debut Game: Torchlight
Best Audio: Uncharted 2
Best Game Design: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Best Writing: Uncharted 2
Best New Social/Online Game: Farmville
Best Handheld Game: Scribblenauts
Best Technology: Uncharted 2
Best Downloadable Game: Flower
Best Visual Arts: Uncharted 2
Innovation Award: Scribblenauts
Game of the Year: Uncharted 2

Games Industry Folk:
Ambassador Award: Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik, and Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade)
Pioneer Award: Gabe Newell
Lifetime Achievement: John Carmack

At the very end of the award show the host, Warren Spector, announced a third Dues Ex title "Dues Ex: Human Revolution"

Update: 

Runic Games Working On A Torchlight Port For Consoles

If you missed last years dungeon crawling hit, Torchlight, you'll have the option to experience it on consoles later this year.
Torchlight turned out to be a much bigger success than expected, seeing how the game was first released to fund Runic game's next/bigger project(a Torchlight MMO). After Torchlight hit the market however, consumers and critics alike loved the game so much that Runic Games decided to spend a bit more time developing for Torchlight.

Runic Games' CEO Max Schaefer said, “We’re going to put some serious effort into it getting Torchlight onto consoles. There’s a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game. So, we are definitely going to be going in that direction.”
In the past dungeon crawling hasn't worked out too well on consoles, given that spam clicking with a mouse is usually a better/faster way to play through them.
Although Max seems pretty sure that Torchlight will be a different story, and with the amount of experience the Runic Games team has with dungeon crawling, I'm open for any ideas they might have.

Sony's Motion Controller Now Named Playstation Move

Shuehei Yoshida,Sony's president of Worldwide Studios, is on stage at GDC right now, talking about the Playstation Move.

 Sony's motion controller was first announced last year at E3, but until now the name (or much else) has been known about it.
This news is constantly flowing in as I'm typing this, so I'll make sure to update this post as more information gets released.

Update: There will be multiple bundles, including a bundle that includes a PlayStation 3 console, the PlayStation Move and the PlayStation Eye. Furthermore, the company will launch a starter pack, which includes a PlayStation Move, a PlayStation Eye and an unnamed game all for under $100.

Update 2: Sony has now announced some of the games which will has some motion control functions. Aside from the SOCOM 4, Little Big Planet, and Resident Evil 5, there will also be some brand new games for the Playstation Move. Here's the list we know of right now:

*Slider
*The Shoot
*Sports Champion
*TV Superstarts
*Move Party
*Motion Fighter

I don't know any of the details for each game yet, but once that info gets out, I'll be sure to let you all know.

Onlive Priced and Dated

A unique service has been in the works for quite some time now, and today it's finally been priced and dated.
Onlive, a service which will allow you to "stream" games (kind of like watching movies online through Netflix) will be launching June 17, and it will start at a $14.95/month rate.
Onlive's COO, Mike McGarvey, gave a quick talk about what we can expect from this new platform.

“Individual titles will be available for purchase or rental on an a la carte basis. Specific game pricing, including rentals,purchases and loyalty programs, will be announced prior to the consumer launch event at E3. We’ll also be announcing additional loyalty and discount programs for consumers in the coming months.”
EA, Ubisoft, Take-Two, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will all have games available through Onlive when it launches later this year.
The one thing to keep in mind however, is that the $14.95/month charge, only pays for the service. You'd need to pay desperately in order to rent/buy games. I'm not too sure how, if at all, successful this will be. But you can be sure that this isn't the last you'll hear from the folks at Onlive.

First Modern Warfare 2 Map Pack Coming March 30

Are you suffering from an illness, but you can't figure out what it might be. Well don't worry, because Infinity Ward, Activision, and Microsoft have teamed up to cure millions of folks of a new illness....Mapathy.

The picture above pretty much says it all... I have to say though, pretty clever marketing for something as common as a DLC map pack.

PS3 Version Of Final Fantasy XIII Includes Some Extra Goodies

If you haven't heard yet, a little game called Final Fantasy XIII came out today. It avaliabe for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms, but the according to Sony, the PS3 title has something extra for its players.
If you go online to register the game with the Square Enix Members program, you'll be given a special item for use in Final Fantasy XIV. On top of that, you'll also get registered for the Final Fantasy XIV beta access which should start sometime later this year.

Since I only just started playing Final Fantasy XIII, I'm having a hard time trying to even think about a Final Fantasy game so soon. However, its still some pretty cool free stuff!
If you have FFXIII for the PS3, don't forget to register!

Rock Band 3 Is Now Official

I logged on to Twitter today to find a pleasant surprise.
John Drake, Program Manager for Rock Band Network, Manager of Communications for Rock Band, and Drummer for The Main Drag, has something to say about Rock Band 3.
 "VIacom CEO and President Philippe Dauman has confirmed that Harmonix is working on Rock Band 3, for release Holiday 2010! WOOO!"

Looks like we'll all be able to enjoy some Rock Band 3 in the near future! I'm very interested to see how they will change up their game this time around, seeing how this a full on sequel to Rock Band 2.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play some Final Fantasy XIII. :)
 

New Lara Croft Game Will Be Download Only

There's another Tomb Raider in the works...well kinda.
The next game to come from developer Crystal Dynamics, will be about tombs and presumably raiding them. However, it won't be called Tomb Raider.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, is the name of the game(yes that rhymes), and it has a lot of changes aside from just a new title.
For starters, it will be a download only game for XBLA, PSN, and probably PC. Secondly, it sports a classy isometric camera angle, and so changing the way the game is played dramaticly.
These two screens give should give you a pretty good idea for what to expect come late this year.

 

I can really see myself getting into a game like this. It will probably be a bit shorter than some of the previous Tomb Raider games, considering this will be download only. On top of that, I really like the new camera angle, and the gameplay options that come with it. I'll be sure to report more on this interesting title as we draw closer to its release!

Real Life Portal Gun

Wow, there sure is a lot of Valve news over the past week. Well buckle down, becuase you're about to get hit with some more.
Although...this isn't really valve news...
A video popped up on Youtube today of a couple guys playing with a "real" portal gun.

You might have noticed the last frame flash something weird. Well, if your good at pausing, you can see that its a bunch of random letters, and a distorted picture from Portal.
It could be some viral marketing for Portal 2, or maybe just a fan film, no one knows for sure.
Update: It seems someone has "cracked the code" from that last frame. A member of the popular video game blog, Kotaku, found out what it says.
The message says "Hey there! I hope you liked this video! I'm very very sorry that you spent your time cracking this, but this has nothing to do with any upcoming Valve products. It's just ol' Freddie Wong being a total jackass!
Time is something you will never get back so hopefully you had a laugh or two!"
"But hey dude, if you're the first to crack this, send me a YouTube message with the phrase, "Freddie you are a jerk and I want my time back" and ill hook you up with something. At some point.
By the way, Sam's working on our next project there on his computer, inspired by Activision's recent activity. Keep an eye out. Sincerely, Freddie, Brandon, and Matthew, the coolest dudes on the internet."

All credit goes to Kotaku blog member: Tim.Davila

Gordon Freeman No Longer Confined To The PC

Last week Vavle showed us all some clever ads announcing the popular Steam client for Macs. Today however, we get some more in-depth news from Valve themselves. Jason Holtman, Vavle's Director of Business Development, cleared up something about Steam on Macs.

"Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play."

The one thing I was kind of worried about, having to own two copies of a game for each platform, is no longer an issue!
Now we can all play Team Fortress 2 as one big happy Vavle-loving family. :)

Ubisoft's Newest DRM Cracked On Day One

A week or two back I made a post talking about Ubisoft's latest DRM for all of their PC releases. This particular DRM is surely one of the most aggressive I've seen in a long time, as it requires you to be online all the time, even while playing a singleplayer mode. The first title to ship with Ubisoft's newest DRM was "Silent Hunter 5", but things didn't go as expected...
A group of "hackers" have already busted through this new DRM, making Ubisoft's plan to slow down pirate already broken. Most people knew that this DRM was bound to be cracked eventually, as with most PC games, but few thought it to happen this fast.
I personally am not a fan of this particular DRM, but I find pirating games to be a much greater offense. The problem I have with pirating isn't only that developers and publishers don't see a cent for all their hard work, but also that it ruins things for the everyone else.
If pirating had never become an issue, DRM(s) would have never come along to be a giant pain for all of us. Since we don't live in a perfect world however, we have to live the fact that pirating will always be around in many different forms.
I've seen multiple forums posts throughout the week of people saying they should "unite and pirate Silent Hunter 5, in order to show Ubisoft we hate their DRM!!!"
My only response to that is this:
No. You are stupid.
If you want to protest against this or any other DRM, all you need to do, is not buy/play that game. If the game doesn't sell well because the DRM was too strict, Ubisoft will get the message and pull back on their DRM. If you start to pirate the thing like mad however, the only response you'll get from Ubisoft, or any other publisher, is that they have to make an even "stronger/more aggressive" DRM to try and slow down piracy.

Thanks to Amanda for the info!

TeamTwie Has A Banner

You probably already noticed the badass banner at the top of this page, if you didn't, go check it out now!
pretty cool huh?

Well I didn't make it myself, better yet, a fellow Team member did! Dashiell Sarnoff is the man responsible for this epic picture, and so I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to say thanks for the awesome banner!

                            Here's a picture of our headphone wearing/banner making Team member
 If you have a minute feel free to send this creative mastermind some food/gifts...I'm sure he won't mind.

Portal 2 Confirmed For Mac

After last weeks clever Steam on Mac ads, it seems that Vavle is showing some more love for Mac users. A scan of the popular Game Informer magazine shows us that Portal 2 will indeed be coming out for Mac and PC users alike.

The scan also shows us that Portal 2 will indeed have multiplayer aspects. For now that's all I know, but I'm sure we'll hear a lot more out of GDC later this week. So stay tuned!
Its not the biggest surprise after the announcement of Steam on Macs, but its nice to know that everyone can enjoy the beauty of Portal this time around.

Just Cause 2 Vehicle Upgrades

Avalanche's new game, Just Cause 2, is filled with explosions, grappling hooks, guns, fast cars, and now...vehicle upgrades!

I honestly haven't been this excited about a sandbox game since Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Blur Beta Keys!!!
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Redeem these beta keys here!

Brand New Crysis 2 Screens

Crytek never disappoints when it comes to visuals. Some new screen shots of crytek's newest game just hit the internet, and as usual, the visuals blow every other game out of the water.

I can't wait to see the this game in action, and I'm even more excited knowing that I can play Crysis 2 on my of my consoles!
Not having to go through another PC upgrade will defiantly save me, and a lot of other people, some serious cash.
 
Blur Beta Keys!!!
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Redeem these Blur beta keys here!

Sony Announces SOCOM 4

Sony had been teasing an announcement for a "big unexpected sequel" over the past weeks, and now we know what it is. SOCOM 4 has now been officially announced, and the guys at Zipper Interactive are developing it. Zipper Interactive was the studio who created the very first SOCOM game and so it seems fitting that they are back to develop the newest title.

 Your mission is to step into the well-worn boots of the Ops Com, a NATO Operations Commander of an elite, five-man squad. You must venture deep into inhospitable jungles, city streets and crumbling urban ruins to engage an army of rebel fighters and discover their plans. Although you’re vastly outnumbered, you’re armed with the latest weaponry and your men are second to none – but do you possess the stealth, speed and tactical thinking to lead them to victory? Time is not on your side: you have just six days to complete your mission. To emerge victorious, you must lead from the front, maintain control of the situation and fight with sheer intensity.


 You might also know Zipper from MAG, Sony's 256 people shooter. Zipper defiantly has a lot of experience with army style games, but I have to wonder, will developing SOCOM 4 slow down the support for MAG?
 SOCOM 4 is set to hit sometime this fall, and it will also include a full single-player campaign and 32 people online matches.

Here are some Xbox 360 Blur beta keys, as I promised yesterday. I'll be putting these into posts throughout the day, so stay tuned for more!

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Go here, to redeem the beta keys

TeamTwie: Blur Beta Keys To Be Given Away Soon

I'm going to be giving away some beta keys for Bizarre Creations newest game, Blur. I'm not sure how I want to do this yet, becuase I don't know how many I'll have until tomorrow.

Stay tuned and I'll give them out sometime tomorrow.
(I only have Xbox 360 beta keys)

Battle Punks Is Now In Open Beta

Remember when the phrase "Facebook game" was synonymous with "farming game", that is not longer the case. Gravity Bear just launched their first game, Battle Punks, into open beta. Battle Punks is a 2d fighting game where you can create your own customizable character to and outfit them with all kinds of loot.

If your into beating up your friends, or you just like good games, go check out Battle Punks now!

Steam Coming To The Mac

Valve just won't stop being clever. First their Portal update, and now this, ads for the Steam client coming to the mac.
There's quite a few of these surfing around on the internet, but here are two of my favorite ads:

I hope you enjoy them, as much as I did. In the mean time you mac users might want to clear up a couple gigs of HDD space. My steamapps folder has recently reached 153GB!

Red Dead Redemption Has Been Delayed...Again

We've been getting a substantale amount of info on Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption over the past couple months, but it seems that marketing might have started a bit too early.

Take-Two Interactive announced their quarterly financial today, and along with it, the new release date for the North American version of Red Dead Redemption. The game will now be coming out on May 18th, which puts it a little closer to the European release date of May 21.
Being a big fan of the first game, despite all of its bugs, I can deal with a delay knowing that the final product should be pretty entertaining.

Halo Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer

Bungie just released a trailer for the Halo Reach multiplayer beta, which is coming out May 3.

I gotta say, even though I'm not a Halo fan in any way, that trailer looks very cool! There's no doubt in my mind that Bungie will make this, their last Halo game, one to remember.
If you're interested in getting into the beta, you have to own Halo 3: ODST, which includes a beta code. I'm sure you can find a copy for a little under retail price considering its been out for a while now.
I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on any new Halo Reach info.

Sony Buys Media Molecule

Here's some happier news for the day.
Media Molecule's extremely succsesfull debut title, Little Big Planet has gotten more than just fan attention.
Sony announced today that Media Molecule is now officially part of the "Sony family".

"Since Media Molecule's inception, we've had a uniquely close relationship with Sony. Over the years they have consistently shown their dedication to Creative Gaming and Media Molecule, not only through their support of the company, but their willingness to take risks and embrace our often unusual approach and ideas." said Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule. "What we've achieved already with LittleBigPlanet has proved this to us and we're excited by this new chapter of innovation and creative gaming, for all involved."

It's not the world's biggest surprise, but its nice to know that Sony is backing Media Molecule for their creative efforts thus far. I'm sure we'll start to see even more Sackboy/Sackgirls on PSN soon, and maybe even something about the rumored Little Big Planet 2...who knows.

Massive Changes Coming To The Call Of Duty Franchise

Incase you missed last nights Infinity Ward and Activision situation, I'll re-cap everything real quick.
The two co-founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, have left the popular game studio due to "creative disagreements" with their publish Activision. Later last night, Activision filled their 10-k where in they talked about investigating charges of "insubordination." Here's a direct quote from Activision's annual report put out last night:

"The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company."




 Now that everything has been cleared up, at least a little, Activision made a couple announcements regarding their popular Call of Duty franchise.


*Treyarch is developing a Call of Duty game for release this Fall
*Infinity Ward is currently working on the "first two" DLC map packs for Modern Warefare 2
*Sledgehammer games, the Activision-owned studio started by Glen A. Schofield and Michael Conrey--both formerly of EA's studio, Visceral Games--is working on a Call of Duty game scheduled for release in 2011. The game is going to "extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre".

Lastly Activision stated that they are forming a new business unit around the Call of Duty franchise to combine resources and bring to Call of Duty "the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit".
Its been pretty widly known for a couple of years that Activision specializes in making sequels for their franchies. This however, brings the Call of Duty franchise to a whole new level. I won't be surprised if Call of Duty starts to get the "Guitar Hero treatment" anytime soon.