GameStop has listed the official boxarts for Soul Calibur IV on their game page. It seems Namco Bandai is going with the dark side and light side jokes. The PlayStation 3 boxart is dark, matching the logo on the side, with Darth Vader up top. The Xbox 360 boxart is light, matching it's logo up top, with Yoda on the top. They also match their consoles. Good work Namco Bandai!
[Soul Calibur IV Boxarts: 360 = Light Side]
Well, for those gore fans, we have a nice release for you this week. SEGA's Condemned 2: Bloodshot is releasing in the US this week, along with Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (finally). Lets take a look at the release list.
US PlayStation 3 ReleasesWell, nothing really much to import. Enjoy Condemned!EU PlayStation 3 Releases
- Condemned 2: Bloodshot (March 11, 2008)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (March 11, 2008)
Asian PlayStation 3 Releases
- Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (March 14, 2008)
- Skate. (March 13, 2008)
- Winning Post 7 Maximum 2008 (March 13, 2008)
The latest issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine (April 2008) has a cover feature for LucasArts' upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Here is a breakdown of the information we get from the new issue.
[Playstation: The Official Magazine April 08]
- Controls
- Force Jump - X
- Force Push - O
- Lightsaber - Square
- Force Grip - R2
- Game uses 3 physics engines (Euphoria engine, Havok engine, and DMM engine).
- Timed button presses do more damage than button mashing.
- Takes place between Episode 3 and 4.
- Huge plot twists for the entire series.
- Camera follows enemy bodies when spectacular moves are done.
- Force powers take more force the stronger they are but are usable with any amount for desperate attacks.
- You can grab flying TIE fighters and toss them into stormtroopers.
- Blocking lasers is automatic, but pressing L2 increases chance of blocking and reflecting.
- After completing missions you get points to upgrade powers and unlock new combos and skills.
- Force talents are separate and are used to upgrade health, energy, deflection chance, and lightsaber damage.
- Exploration is encouraged by finding holocrons. Sith holocrons, grant powerups, and Jedi holocrons unlock new costumes, lightsaber hilts, and crystals.
- Enemies can grab onto things like railings to stop your force grip.
It's clear that Grand Theft Auto IV is going to be one of the most epic games of 2008. Many people are forgetting our Italian brothers over in Mafia II. I actually enjoyed the first game and am looking forward to the second, probably because I'm Italian.
PC Games have done a graphics comparison of both titles. It's clear who the winner is, but I'll let you decide.
[Grand Theft Auto IV vs. Mafia II]
Three Speech has posted a list of the PlayStation 3 and PSP titles to be featured at the Play.com Live event in the UK. One of the listing is KILLZONE 2 with the word 'trailer' next to it.
Well, it's either an old trailer (which wouldn't be quite good for an event), or a brand new trailer. We will update you when the event arrives.PlayStation 3
- Gran Turismo 5 Prologue - playable code
- Everybody’s Golf: World Tour - playable code
- Time Crisis 4 - playable code
- Echochrome - playable code
- KILLZONE 2 - trailer
- LittleBigPlanet - trailer
- Play TV - trailer
PlayStation Portable
- God of War: Chains of Olympus - playable code
A new update to semi-official Sony blog, Three Speech came with a wider layout, new banners, and a countdown to something big under the banner. The countdown is about less than 4 days away and says "A NEW BREED OF WARRIOR WILL BE BORN...". The countdown, if I'm correct ends on March 12, 2008 which is supposed to be the unveiling of Motorstorm 2. It's either that or Heavenly Sword 2, or some brand new IP. I wonder.
[New Changes To Three Speech]
EA's Colin Robinson has came out today to tell us that Crysis is not in development for the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360.
He stated that they have talked about doing it before, but they seel that the PC market is going to be seeing a renaissance period over the next few years.
[EA Says Crysis Not In Development For PS3]
In the newest issue of UK Magazine, Games Master, Dan Houser speaks exclusively to them about Grand Theft Auto IV. Houser, along with his brother Sam Houser, and his friend Terry Donovan, founded Rockstar Games.
Houser speaks on Niko. They always made characters that made the story work together with them. Niko emerged as a more complex character, someone battle hardened, a man who has experienced many bad things and wants to escape from his past. He wants to do good, but is much better at doing bad.
On Liberty City, houser says their goal was going for the most detailed and involved virtual world. The artist, Aaron Garbut, spent months walking the street of New York City taking photos. Many researchers were involved as well, helping them find graffiti in Brooklyn, or ornate facades on apartment blocks around Central Park. Of course, they can't exactly replicate it, but they think they've done a great job that captures the essence of New York in 2008.
You have a nightlife in Liberty City as well. You can to the the Steinway Beer Garden, and play some darts. You can go make sexist remarks to the female bar staff. You can see the hit stage show 'Banging Trash Can Lids for an Hour', it seems to have amazed critics. You can pick up a drink at the SuperStar Cafe as well. Thats just the tip of it as well.
On Houser's favore city location he states: “My favourite views are definately heading over the bridges into Algonquin from Broker, Dukes or Bohan as the sun goes down. The dying sun glimmers off the glass of countless skyscrapers and the neon signs and windows start to light up as you head into the sunset toward a sleezy trouble-filled night in the heart of Liberty City.”
On Escaping the Police, Houser says that cops behave more realistically in this game. One cop can call in for back-up on your last seen location. You can sneak into a new car unseen, and escape their search radius. Rather than spray painting your car every time. They said the new changes have gave them incredible feedback, and their goal was to make the experience feel more alive and involving.
On Grand Theft Auto IV's tone and realism, Houser says that the humor in the Grand Theft Auto series has been about parodying the real world that we live in. This game is more naturalistic than previous games in some ways, with a more serious tone, but still full of the comedy the series is loved for. They are very pleased with the story, knowing people will love its twists, turns, and revelations.
View the scans at the link, but the above is pretty much the scans sumed up.
[Dan Houser Speaks Exclusively To GamesMaster]
Okay, we have some more details of Grand Theft Auto IV from the 14-page preview in the Official PlayStation Magazine of the UK. You know the drill, lets get straight to the breakdown.
[New GTA IV Preview, OPM UK - April 2008]
- Francis McReary has criminal relatives.
- Stay on the right side of Bruce's attitude and he'll eventually let you use his chopper.
- Niko's contacts will call him 24/7, either to offer work or just wanting to:
- Meet up and go play pool, darts or bowling.
- Go to comedy or strip clubs.
- If it's business , then smuggling contraband to the docks.
- Betrayal is never far away.
- Just get drunk. Niko and Roman go into an ex-pat bar called Comrades and the screen goes black. Niko and Roman stagger out slurrig their words and laughing.
- Getting into the car while drunk is a task and a half, the camera lurches and the controls become hobbled.
- If Niko's gets capped, the screen will go black and white, he wakes up at the nearest hospital , wallet lighter but without losing his weapons.
- Hold L1 and Niko smashes out the driver's side window with his 9mm, then a crosshair appears, enabling Niko to shoot forwards.
- If you fail a mission, you don't have to drive back to the start , instead, your contact will text your mobile asking if you want to try again.
- Car passengers will suggest listening to the radio rather than talking.
- A Satellite Navigation system has been confirmed. A coloured line appears on the mini-map guiding Niko to his next objective or a waypoint that you've set on the main map screen. Make a wrong turn and it reacts quickly, redrawing the route without any fuss.
- Fancier cars even have a voice on the satellite navigation to read out the directions for you.
- Missions now auto-save when completed.
- Bonus features include Little Jacob letting giving you cut-price weaponry.
- Other Bonus features include Roman letting you use his taxi service.
- Playboy X has a penthouse loft in North Alderney.
- Brucie's past includes military service and time in prison.
- Playboy X's mentor is called Dwayne and he is fresh out of prison.
- Niko's mobile can also play music.
- Hold L2 Button to snap to the nearest bit of cover.
- Square Button handles blocking attacks.
- Pull the pins out of grenades with L2 Button.
- Press R2 to drop grenades out of vehicle windows.
- One of Niko's targets is called Lyle Rivas, he is at 99 Long Road.
- You can punch the address into the GPS and it calculates it for you.
- The magazine re-confirms that there are 18 radio stations in Grand Theft Auto IV.
In a new interview with Todd Sitrin of Electronic Arts, he talks about his job, global marketing, what EA Games is currently doing, and such. One thing he says, however, stands out the most.
When asked "It's always good to see IPs", Sitrin rersponded "Absolutely, we actually have 3 new original IPs in development, the only one that’s been announced is Facebreaker, we haven’t done an original IP at EA for several years, not since back to Freekstyle Motorcycle."
Two unannounced IPs? Nothing to do about this now but wait till they are announced. Or hack their servers and find out myself. No, I'm just joking.
[Interview - Todd Sitrin Vice President of Global Marketing for EA Sports]
Well Yakuza: Kenzan! has shipped in Japan, and it's first day sales did fantastic. Yakuza: Kenzan! came out on top that day selling 113k copies. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which was also released in Japan on the same day, came out selling only 3k.
Let's hope Yakuza 3 will come stateside now.
[First day sales in Japan (3/6)]
In a new interview, Strategy Informer's Mike Bowden spoke with Projeect Lead for Free Radical's upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive, HAZE, Derek Littlewood.
He spoke on the reason for the delay, which was basically that they wanted to deliver more. If they shipped Christmas, they wouldn't have been able to give us all the feautres of the game. The extra time they received to refine and polish it puts the game into the right position.
They've been polishing the core aspects of the game as much as they could. They've been balancing out multiplayer modes, and factions of the game. They state the result is a balance that, with an earlier release date, would not have been possible.
Littlewood states that the hardest part of developing the game was making it stream. That means you won't see a single loading screen from start to finish of the game.
He speaks on all the multi-platform speculation, saying that it is just speculation. He said people shouldn't get angry with the developmet team because it's on one console. It's unfair.
Read the full interview at the link below.
[HAZE Interview] [Thanks xbandaidx!]
