Metal Gear Solid 4 EDGE Magazine Preview Breakdown

The latest issue of EDGE Magazine contains a lengthy preview of Konami's upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. To the breakdown.

• Metal Gear Online is included with Metal Gear Solid 4, but it will be the bare bones to be added to and upgraded in time.
• The opening credits (of Metal Gear Solid 4) were designed by Logan, the people that did the hugely successful ipod ads.
• The story visits more locations and embraces more styles than any Metal Gear Solid to date.
• A 'virtual range' will be included from the main menu. Here you can test the huge amount of weapons in Metal Gear Solid 4 as well as the various advanced CQC techniques in the game.
• The game will feature various details to play around with such as highly detailed and fashionable consumer gadgets.
• Metal Gear Solid 4 has been 4 years in development.
• There will be one hell of a big bang of a final to the game. Not a whimper. This will blow you away.
• Snake is a slave to injections that keep him alive.
• The sneaking play of the originals with it's air ducts and cameras has now become a fast pace living battlefield of traps and innovations.
• The control system is 'revised and improved'
• The Gekkou (the mechs with organic legs that make mooing sounds) will work in packs to hunt you down. They can sense past your optic camo if they think something is amiss.
• Snake will have two new energy bars that makes Snakes advanced age impossible to ignore:
• Stress: This rises in response to fight conditions. This can work with him, giving him heightened senses such as accuracy and sustained damage being halved. But if in this condition for too long, snake will crash causing him to become exposed to his illness. a drag on a cig will help him calm down however.
• Psyche: This affects your general state of mind in the field.The balancing of these two bars will affect your progress.
• You can use a camera to sneak away from your mission objectives and record incidents happening on the battlefield in secret. Some can be 'unpredictable and dangerous' There is something special about the camera this time around but EDGE were not allowed to say what
• There is a "surprising degree of explorative freedom" in the game. You can choose to engage in battles if you wish, or just ignore them. Friends and enemies can be gain this way if you do choose to help one side out.
• Drebin (the arms dealer with the small monkey) will be important to the story and will also act as Snakes weapons dealer.
• Productions values transcend modern video games: A Hollywood grade surround sound and moving track score by Harry Gregson Williams. Electrifying cut scenes and a sense of closure "more suited to Return of the King than Halo 3".
• There is so much tucked away in the game that some things won't be discovered until months or even years after your first play.
• Kojima says: As for future Metal Gear Solid I would love to produce rather than direct. But as far as Snake is concerned, this is it. It's over".

[360Indians]

Official Prototype Website Launches

Sierra Entertainment have officially launched the Prototype website today with some hidden flash puzzles and some new screenshots. There is exclusive media hidden within the DNA on the site, which is basically a puzzle where you need to correctly switch DNA pairs to get that media. Check it out at the link below.

[Prototype] [Prototype website launches with DNA surprises]

Fallout 3: PLAY PC Magazine Preview Breakdown

The latest issue of PLAY PC Magazine in the UK featured a preview of Bethesda's upcoming Fallout 3. Unfortunately, the images in this issue are the same as all the other images in magazines lately. Lets get to the breakdown.

• Summary of the BoS article.
• Super mutants kidnap local people and found a way to turn them into mutants.
• You'll be able to issue commands to Dogmeat (your Dog), e.g. tell him to bring you some items like ammo.
• They use "active pause" instead of "VATS".
• The main statistic of weapons will be DPS or Damage Per Second, e.g. a shotgun has 20-40 DPS.
• There will be addictions and diseases.
• The world will have no invisible walls or other artificial barriers, instead of using the main entrance, you'll be able to climb over a wall or use another alternative way in.
• The developers are considering making the player able to complete the game without killing anyone, using only dialogues, sneaking and hacking.
• Conclusion: Despite the complaints of orthodox fans, they are convinced that Fallout 3 is the future of RPG and will be great, but they're worried that while having awesome gameplay and atmosphere, the game will lack black humor.

Please Bethesda, release a gameplay video! You've got me drooling on my desk.

[Fallout 3 preview in Polish play magazine]

Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer Preview Fact Sheet

The lucky bastards (just kidding guys!) at Kotaku where one of the sites to post their impressions on their recent test run of the Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer mode. They summed up just the facts for us guys who don't really want to read a lengthy post. View that below.

Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer Fact Sheet

Supports up to 16 players in all adversarial modes except co-op, which is a maximum of 4

Players are ranked from 0-10, picking up money in multiplayer increases rank

Options in each mode are dictated by the host - among the options they can change are location of the matches (can be entire city, one borough at a time, or even small sections within the borough), types of weapons available, time of day, weather, use of auto-aim, police presence, NPC presence, and tons more.

GTA Race sees the host choosing the class of automobile, each player can choose a car within that class. Races can include helicopter and boat races as well.

Multiplayer Modes:
Team Deathmatch
Classic deathmatch done Grand Theft Auto style. Go anywhere, do anything: the whole city is yours. 16 players max, teams can be made in any configuration. Weapons on the ground can be configured by the host. Capitalism rules here: the team with the most money in the end is the winner.

GTA Race
Rockstar North's twist on the concept of a race. Host selects vehicle type (each racer selects his or her specific vehicle after that), race, number of laps, and time limit. Despite ordered checkpoints, players can go anywhere in the city at any time. Do you want a straightforward race from start to finish or do you want to create a roadblock and shoot rockets at your fellow racers? The choice is yours - each player does it slightly differently. 16 players max.

Cops N Crooks
2 teams, 2 vastly different goals. The cops can see the crooks on their radar but the the crooks can only see the escape point making this the ultimate cat and mouse situation. For the first time, players can get a chance to be on the other side of the law in a Grand Theft Auto with Cops n' Crooks. A team of "crooks" need to get their boss to safety, as the team of "cops" pulls out every trick in the book to try and stop this from happening. Again, 16 players max.

Hangman's NOOSE
Co-op in Grand theft Auto IV is a 4 person affair. Each mode is a short, story-based mission you must complete with your friends. In Hangman's NOOSE you must get crime boss to an extraction point alive. First, several of Liberty City's finest need to be dealt with and then transport must be secured. Will you take Kenny to safety in an armored car? How about a motorcycle or attack chopper? The choice is all yours.

Remember, these multiplayer modes are just four of the fifteen gameplay modes to be featured in Grand Theft Auto IV. 21 days.

[GTA Multiplayer: Just the Facts Please]

Major Burnout Paradise Update Coming April 24, 2008

Criterion Games' website listed a new update for Burnout Paradise coming April 24, 2008. The update is codenamed "Bogart", and it addresses the top concerns of the game's community. The full list can be seen below.

* PS3 game can crash when a player is taken down and the player that has performed the Takedown leaves the game.
* The game indefinitely displays “Connecting to Paradise City Servers” if it’s having problems communicating with the rebroadcast server.
* Disconnecting the controller before a race begins can mean that race timings can be manipulated with players who didn’t cross the line first being awarded the win.
* Repeatedly joining and leaving a game with 8 players can cause the game to hang.
* Hammering the A (360) or X (PS3) after unlocking a car can cause the game to hang.
* East Crawford and Watt St achievements cannot be achieved if the player goes online and sets road rules before attempting them.
* Audio distortion when using 5.1 / DTS and looking back at the car.
* Enhanced 360 streaming performance stops instances where the game seems to pause for a second or so.
* Total time driven in player stats would stick at 145 hours.
* VoIP connection problems with 8 player games. This is now live on the Paradise City servers.

The update also adds the following game experience enhancements:

* We fixed Head-on Takedowns as these seemed generally unfair and unrealistic. Unfair low speed Takedowns have now been eradicated.
* Increase online race timer timeout so players have a greater chance of finishing the race.
* Fix drifting bug when drifting and boosting. There wasn’t any real control on the brake so players would grind around the walls of the corners. Giving you all better control of the car.
* Stabbing the boost has too much of a jerky behaviour in the car handling, when in Stunt Run.
* Surround sound fix - Centre speaker was 4dB louder, ruining the mix. The speech has now been positioned correctly.
* Increase the # of search results returned for online games.
* Increase Picture Paradise timer so it doesn’t kick in so quickly.
* Post event ticker commentary is not now displayed for disconnected players.
* Show player the number of Complete Challenges easily by listing X/50 in the Challenges menu.

Other high priority issues that have been fixed:

* Instances where Barrel rolls were not registering correctly in Stunt Run.
* Takedowns online were not counting towards the Total Takedowns.
* Some instances where Revenge Rivalries desync & don’t get fixed until players are updated online.
* Some instance where the Host couldn’t change the game access if the game was created through an invite.
* Online challenge issues where the challenge couldn’t be completed if it was started at the exact time that a player left the game.
* Incorrect rivalry updates when European players played against English or Japanese players. Online connection issues.
* Rich presence on 360 didn’t change correctly when there is a change in the game parameters.
* Instances where Friends were not being displayed on the mini map.
* Some online race start points face the players in the wrong direction.

[Major Burnout Paradise update for April 24]

PlayStation 3 Outsells Everything in Europe this Week

The latest weekly sales report from VGChartz shows a nice growth in sales for the PlayStation 3 this week. With the recent release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in Europe, the PlayStation 3 has sold more than the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, DS, PSP, and PS2 this week, topping the charts with 150,420 sales.

[VGChartz]

PlayStation Network to Get More Features This Year

We are nearly a week and a half away from the new PlayStation Store. Sony Computer Entertainment's Scott Steinberg has spoken to GameDaily in an interview about the network. He says:

"On the network side, we've stated that we're in a closed beta now for Home, we'll be rolling out functionality later this year, both for the Network and
making Home public to others.

So 2008 is going to be the year where both
on the service side as well as on a Blu-Ray side, you're going to see everything
that we've got."

Yeah, give us the 2D features. For sure.

[PSN Getting More Than Just A Facelift?]

LittleBigPlanet Coming to PSP?

A source has told CVG today that at Sony Studio Liverpool, they are developing a LittleBigPlanet for the PSP. Sadly, no further details were given on how the game will play on the PSP, but we can expect a link up with the PlayStation 3 version, to release September 2008.

[LittleBigPlanet coming to PSP?]

EA Developing More Than 5 Unreal Engine 3 Games

Electronic Arts and Epic Games have announced today that that they have expanded their license agreement for the Unreal Engine 3. Electronic Arts have announced they currently have more than five titles under development using the engine. No details were revealed, however.

They will be shown at later date.

[EA has more than 5 Unreal Engine 3 games in development]

New Mafia II Screens and Information Coming April 11, 2008

For those Mafia II fans, stick around for April 11, 2008. The newest issue of GameReactor magazine will contain a preview of Mafia II with some brand new screenshots (tiny versions viewable on the left). You bet scans will be online shortly after. Stick around.

[GameReactor] [Issue 56]

Metal Gear Solid 4: Latest PSM3 Scans

The latest issue of PSM3 contains a lengthy preview on the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. We don't want to spoil anything for this tremendous read, so check out the scans at the link.

[View Scans]

SCEE Says Grand Theft Auto IV PlayStation 3 Bundle Just "rumor and speculation"

A recent rumor about an upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV bundle for Europe was posted yesterday. The guys at VG247 contacted Sony Computer Entertainment, where they told them: “We can’t comment on rumour or speculation,”. Aw, come on, just confirm it.

[GTA IV Euro PS3 bundle is “rumour and speculation”, says SCEE]

Call of Duty 4 DLC In Certification, Game of the Year Edition

Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling updated us today on his blog that the upcoming Variety Map Pack DLC and patch for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare have went to Certification at Sony Computer Entertainment just last night. He says they are going for a Worldwide release, so expect to see it on any other store. He says the map pack should be hitting the PlayStation Network around the same time that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition hits stores. He will provide more details on that this week.

[PS3 DLC In Certification]