Sorry about the maintanence!

I didn't have lots of time to do anything on this blog because of damn school and other stuff.

I going to add the video guides from Next Gen walkthroughs for now, later on i'll add my guides on instead.

I am also going to add files such as mods and demos

This process may take at least 1 month.

But for now, stay tuned!

Verbinski BioShocks Hollywood

Gore Verbinski is returning to Davy Jones' locker. Having completed work on the Pirates of the Caribbean film trilogy, Verbinski has signed on for another oceanic epic with the big-screen adaptation of 2K Games' award-winning action game BioShock.

The publisher today announced the project in conjunction with Universal Pictures. The studio is in talks with Academy Award-nominated writer John Logan (Aviator, The Time Machine) to provide the screenplay.

In an interview with Hollywood trade magazine Variety, Verbinski said the film won't be on the same scale as his summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean films.

"It's a much more intimate story than Pirates," Verbinski explained. "Although it's an adventure, its a dramatic adventure. I see it more along the lines of Blade Runner."

Guitar Hero leaping forward in Q4

Earlier today, Activision reported nearly $3 billion in earnings for its 2008 fiscal year. The company called out Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as being the number one game in terms of revenue in the US and Europe during the 12 months before March 31, 2008. It also promised more profits from the franchise, thanks in part to the forthcoming June 29 release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3.

During a conference call with analysts afterward, Activision publishing president Mike Griffith also talked up Guitar Hero: On Tour, the first iteration of the game for the DS. "[It's] a breakthrough peripheral-based game for the Nintendo DS that brings the Guitar Hero experience to the 41 million DS users in North America and Europe so they can play Guitar Hero anywhere, anytime," said Griffith.

Activision sales near 3 billion dollars

Following several quarters of record-breaking earnings reports, Activision has ended its 2008 fiscal year with a bang worthy of a Call of Duty 4 claymore. For the 12 months ended March 31, the Santa Monica-based publisher reported net income--aka profit--of $344.9 million on record revenues of $2.9 billion. The whopping figure was made even more impressive because it was a 92 percent increase on the $1.51 billion Activision took in the year prior, and marked 16 years of consecutive growth for the company.

The massive sales surge has also prompted Activision to claim a series of bragging rights once held by its archrival, Electronic Arts. Citing figures from the NPD group, the publisher now claims to be the number-one third-party publisher in the US in terms of console and handheld software dollars, having grown its market share to 17.3 percent of the market--a 7.2 percent increase in a single year.

Mummy Game, LMAO

Way back in 1999 when the first Brendan Fraser-led occult action flick The Mummy debuted in theaters, Vivendi Games was on hand to develop the movie game tie-in, with Konami publishing. For the 2001 Universal Pictures sequel, The Mummy Returns, Vivendi took over game publishing duties and exported development to the burger slinger Blitz Games.

Now, with Universal slated to drop The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the third installment in the franchise, on theaters August 1, Vivendi has once again returned to supply the game, this time through its soon-to-be subsumed subsidiary, Sierra Entertainment. A direct tie-in to the film, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will release in North America a week before its silver-screen counterpart, on July 22 for the Wii, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo DS, while Europe will get the game a week after the film, on August 8.

Xbox 360 wins for GTA4 sales

Following the launch of Take-Two and Rockstar Games' critically lauded Grand Theft Auto IV on April 29, the question on many industry watchers' minds was just how well the heavily anticipated game performed and whether it lived up to its heady expectations. Take-Two kept the stats-hungry mob on edge a full week after, saying just yesterday that the game nailed its reported 6 million sales prediction, generating $500 million in week-one revenue.

While Take-Two kept the industry waiting, Sony, which sponsored a portion of the advertising spots for the game, chimed in a full week prior to extol the game's as-yet-unconfirmed performance. In a congratulatory statement bereft of any hard details, the PlayStation maker said GTAIV "drove sales of the PlayStation 3 entertainment system within the first 24 hours," and not much else.

It now appears that the reason for Sony's ambiguity was that the majority of consumers opted to pick up GTAIV on Microsoft's console. Today on Microsoft's marketing-team-operated GamerScoreBlog, the publisher dished on the stats breakdown for the 6 million copies of the game sold in its first week at market.

Pandemic initiates LOTR: Conquest

As part of an investor meeting in February, publishing giant Electronic Arts let slip, and Pandemic Studios quickly confirmed, that its freshly acquired developer was at work on a new game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels. However, aside from revealing that the new LOTR was set in the same universe as Peter Jackson's much-acclaimed film adaptations, Pandemic was only willing to say that more details would arrive "in the very near future."

That future date is today, as EA said that Pandemic's The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Nintendo DS this fall. In a marked distinction from EA's previous movie-based LOTR games from the early 2000s, Pandemic's take on the series promises to give players control of both sides of the conflict, fighting for either the alliance of men, elves, and dwarves or Sauron's evil legions.

Next Gen Marvel Games?

Marvel has no qualms about spreading its net wide when it comes to sidekicking gaming-industry partners. The comics aficionados have teamed up with a variety of publishers in recent years to varying degrees of success, including Sega on the just-released Iron Man game; Activision on Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, a sequel for which was announced in February; and Microsoft and EA on their respective recently canned fighting game and massively multiplayer online venture.

Now, THQ is getting in on the Marvel licensing party. On the heels of its deal with DreamWorks earlier this week, the publisher said it has entered into a multiyear agreement with Marvel to make games based on the child-oriented Marvel Super Hero Squad franchise. The deal extends to all current and "next-gen consoles," as well as handhelds and Windows PCs.

Under 17 buying M games

Only 20 percent of kids under 17 were able to buy "M"-rated games in the United States this year, according to a government report out Thursday.

The Federal Trade Commission report studied kids' success at buying tickets to R-rated movies or purchasing R-rated DVDs, mature CDs, and M-rated games. In every case, the FTC found the success rate had dropped over every previous year it conducted its study.

But nowhere was the drop sharper than with games.

According to the study, while 20 percent of under-17 kids were able to buy M-rated games in 2008, the number had been 42 percent in 2006 and between 60 percent and more than 80 percent in previous studies.

COD5 announced

Earlier today, Activision made known its dominance in the gaming industry, triumphantly proclaiming it had secured the top publisher slot in the US in terms of console and handheld software dollars. One of the crucial titles driving Activision's $2.9 billion windfall of annual revenue durings its 2008 fiscal year was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the first contemporary installment in Infinity Ward's long-running first-person shooter series.

It goes without saying that Activision plans a new installment in the Call of Duty franchise during its 2009 fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2009. The publisher has released a new installment in the series every fourth quarter since the series launched in 2003. In today's earnings follow-up with analysts and investors, the publisher dished more details on the fifth Call of Duty game, first revealed in December.

"We'll launch on all four platforms we've participated on in fiscal [year] 2008," Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith referring to Call of Duty 4, which sold over 7 million units worldwide on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Nintendo DS in 2007. Griffiths then re-confirmed that "we'll [also] launch on the PS2 and the Wii," marking the series' return to the PS2 and Wii after a two-year hiatus.

GTA4 record entertainment sales

In the weeks leading up to the release of Take-Two and Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, predictions were in abundance as to how well the game would do. While analysts' predictions were mixed, Take-Two execs themselves were reportedly under the impression that the game would shift 6 million units in its first week after measuring out preorder demand.

It turns out that prediction was spot on. The Rockstar Games parent said today that Grand Theft Auto IV has sold through to consumers 6 million units globally in its first week, generating income of approximately $500 million. First-day sales for the game hit 3.6 million and tallied a staggering $310 million--nearly double Halo 3's $170 million day-one take and $10 million more than the sci-fi shooter's entire opening-week haul.

Law against GTA4

When Rockstar confirmed that Australian versions of Grand Theft Auto IV had been modified to better fit with local classification laws, many gamers cried foul and demanded to know exactly what had been taken out. Rockstar has so far refused to reveal exactly what the difference is between Aussie versions of their hit game with other versions around the world, saying only that the changes were "not significant" .

GameSpot AU can now explain in some detail at least one change that has been made. Having just received a region one version of the game, we tested out a few scenarios and only found one difference so far: how the game deals with prostitution. In Australian versions of GTA IV, Niko can indeed pick up prostitutes, but once he takes said sex worker to a secluded area, the game camera shifts to a tight shot of the rear of the vehicle the pair are in and cannot be moved.

Activision/Vivendi leave ESA, skip E3

Yesterday, selected members of the gaming press were sent an invitation to register for this year's E3 Media & Business Summit. The invitation offered a nontransferable registration to the 2008 event, which will return the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 15 to 17. It didn't take long for visitors to notice that though Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft were all listed as participating companies, a number of high-profile publishers did not appear on the list. Vivendi, Warner Bros, Bethesda, and several others are all currently missing from the Entertainment Software Association's E3 Web site, as is international superpublisher Activision.

GameSpot has since reached out to several prominent publishers that attended last year's show but were omitted from the ESA's recent list, and can confirm that Warner Bros., Bethesda, id Software, Majesco, and D3Publisher still plan to attend the event.

However, at least one publisher will not be in attendance at the ESA's annual event, which underwent significant downsizing last year. Activision has confirmed for GameSpot that not only will it not be attending this year's E3 Media & Business Summit in LA, but also that it has pulled out of the industry trade body entirely.

Muse download for Guitar Hero 3

After the original Guitar Hero came out, diehard fans had to settle for playing the same setlist over and over again for an entire year before new songs arrived in Guitar Hero II. Things have changed significantly for rhythm-game fans since then, given that Guitar Hero III and Rock Band have both supplemented their libraries with downloadable songs since their releases last October and November, respectively.

Next week sees both games receive a trio of new songs. On Thursday, Guitar Hero III players on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will be able to download three more songs from Muse, whose "Knights of Cydonia" was included in the original game. The new songs--all of them master tracks--include "Exo-Politics," "Supermassive Black Hole," and "Stockholm Syndrome." No price was announced, but previous three-song packs have sold for $6.25 (500 Microsoft points).

NCsoft, Foundation 9 bypass E3 '08

The Electronic Entertainment Expo has been in a serious state of flux in recent years. At the behest of many top publishers and hardware makers, the E3 Media & Business Summit organizer Entertainment Software Association said in July 2006 that it would be dramatically downsizing the annual trade show--reducing attendees from approximately 60,000 to a mere 5,000--and changing the venue from the spacious Los Angeles Convention Center to segmented locations in Santa Monica, California.

In December, the ESA said that the E3 Media & Business Summit would be returning to the LACC, but that this year's show would remain a scaled-down affair in line with the 2007 expo, which was invite-only. Though the ESA no longer plans to occupy the LACC in its entirety, the convention center will have at least one noticeable void on its show floor. Earlier today, Activision (and by proxy Vivendi) said it would not be attending this year's media event, and in fact would not be renewing its membership with the trade body at all.

Rock Band hits

Earlier today, American media conglomerate Viacom reported a solid first quarter. The MTV parent company posted revenues up 15 percent year over year to $3.1 billion, with net income spiking a significant 33 percent to $270 million, up from $203 million for a year prior. While Viacom has its hand in all manner of media, including film, TV, and radio, the company specifically called out the the Harmonix-developed Rock Band as a particular contributor to growth.

specifically Reporting on its earnings, Viacom said that since Rock Band launched in the North America last November, MTV Games has shipped more than 3 million bundled units. Viacom will undoubtedly soon have more cause to celebrate MTV Games and Harmonix's rhythm game. In April, the game's publisher said that the Xbox 360 version would finally arrive in Europe on May 23, with other editions slated to follow later in the summer. Harmonix also said that a Wii version of the game will release in North America on June 22 for $169.99, complementing the already available Xbox 360, PS3, and PS2 editions.

Rocketmen expansion Came From Uranus

Rocket science is widely accepted to be not easy, and Capcom seems to have hit upon that fact with Rocketmen: Axis of Evil. Though A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.'s downloadable title was initially slated to arrive during the latter part of 2007, it didn't in fact blast off on Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network until March.

Fuel tanks thus in working order, Capcom is wasting no time on the first expansion for Rocketmen. The publisher said today that Rocketmen: It Came From Uranus will be available for download over XBL on May 14, with the PSN version clocking in a day later. Gamers can pick up the expansion for $4.95 (400 Microsoft points), and the original Rocketmen is required to play the add-on.

We Ski gets gold

Nintendo is set to launch the Wii Balance Board as a bundle with Wii Fit on May 19, but the first game compatible with the peripheral will actually arrive in stores a bit earlier. Namco Bandai Games America today announced that We Ski for the Nintendo Wii has gone gold and is set for retail release on May 13.

More sedentary gamers will have a choice in controls, as We Ski supports the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as well as the board. It also includes freestyle, slalom, mogul, and downhill racing game modes, more than a dozen different tracks, customizable characters, and support for gamers' own Mii avatars.

Sony sales

Sony's PlayStation 3 was late to the next-generation console party in Australia, arriving three months after the Wii's local release and a full year after the Xbox 360's launch. However, Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCEA) seems to be more than happy with its performance so far, saying that the PS3 has sold 238,000 units down under since its debut in March 2007.

The 238,000 figure comes from SCEA directly and not from official industry trackers GfK Australia (who do not include bundle deals such as Sony's PS3 giveaway with Bravia televisions in late 2007/early 2008 in their figures). The last official count from GfK featured figures for the end of 2007, which had the PS3 at 155,000 units sold, compared to more than 300,000 for the Wii and 306,000 for the Xbox 360. In January this year, SCEA head Michael Ephraim told GameSpot AU that more than 28,000 PS3s had been given away as part of a holiday promotion in which every purchaser of a new Sony Bravia LCD received a free console. The 238,000 figure means that the PS3 has easily eclipsed the first-year sales total for the PlayStation 2, which clocked in 146,000 in sales for its first 12 months. GfK has yet to release figures for Q1 2008 hardware sales in Australia.

GTA4 PS3 fix

Reports of Grand Theft Auto IV freezing up have been circulating message boards since the game's launch Tuesday, but Rockstar Games has been tight-lipped as to the reason or the remedy, passing off requests for public comment onto Sony. While the majority of complaints appear to be coming from PlayStation 3 users, Xbox 360 owners with glitch-ridden game experiences have also voiced their frustrations online.

Take-Two representatives may not have been willing to go on the record about the issue, but the publisher's tech support team does not have the same luxury when it comes to customer complaints. An inquiry into the Take-Two tech support site yielded the following array of suggestions on how to fix the problem.

Miyamoto tops Your Time 100

Last week, popular television satirist Stephen Colbert lamented the fact that he was not topping Your Time 100, the online complement to Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People list. This week, he will surely be grousing again, given that the final list shows him bested by his archnemesis, K-Pop singer Rain, who in turn was beaten by an iconic figure from the game industry.

"Time asked who you thought should be on the list of the 100 most influential people of the year," the magazine said on its official results page. "Over 200 candidates were given a rating of 1 to 100. And your #1 choice? Shigeru Miyamoto!" (Emphasis in the original.) It is the second year in which the Donkey Kong creator and Wii and DS design guru has made the online list, and last year he was also honored on its print equivalent.

Take Two shares wobbly post-GTAIV launch

From the day Electronic Arts first went public with its bid to buy Take-Two Interactive, the takeover target and owner of Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Rockstar Games has been consistent with its response. Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick reiterated the opinion that EA's original $26 per share offer undervalued the company's worth when rejecting said offer during a shareholders' meeting last month. However, he also said the Take-Two board would be open to entering discussions after GTAIV went on sale April 29.

GTAIV came out this week to critical acclaim and record-setting sales, prompting Zelnick to tell the New York Times in a statement that the reaction to the game "vindicates our strategy of waiting until the launch with regard to EA's offer." On the day of the game's release, Take-Two stock nudged upward $.16 to close at $26.63.

Gold PGA Tour 09

Although they're no death and taxes, annual installments in Electronic Arts' many pro-sporting franchises are one of life's near certainties. The publisher has already announced a number of its usual suspects for the 2008 season, including Madden NFL 09 and its collegiate counterpart NCAA Football 09, and today it officially teed up Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii.

This year, Tiger will be sharing the spotlight with his real-world personal coach, Hank Haney. Commentary from Haney is the primary new addition to the game's single-player career mode, and according to EA, the dialogue will be customized to a golfer's individual performance in a round.

Skateboard controller

Spiking revenues in the game industry aren't limited to console makers and software developers. The accessories business has been booming from increased market penetration of current-generation hardware, as well. For the month of March, accessory sales jumped 58 percent over the same period last year to $220 million, according to the NPD Group.

It's no wonder, then, that new ancillary products continue to flood the market. Today, peripheral manufacturer Actiga Corporation announced it had signed a North American licensing deal with Microsoft to produce wireless controllers for the Xbox 360. The first product of this union will be a full-sized skateboard that will be compatible with the "popular skateboarding games" that will launch during the second half of 2008. Skateboarding games thus far available for Microsoft's console include Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, American Wasteland, and Project 8 from Activision as well EA's newest entrant, Skate.

Tecmo Bowl kicking off on DS

Nearly a year ago, Tecmo teased gamers with news of a new installment in its original football franchise, Tecmo Bowl. All the publisher said at the time was that the game would arrive in 2008 and that it was "not going to be on the platform you're thinking of right now."

It appears people weren't thinking about the Nintendo DS, as Tecmo today announced Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff for the handheld. Based on the Tecmo Super Bowl games of the 1990s, Kickoff will include series staples like an arcade-style approach to the gridiron and cutscenes to emphasize big plays. The game may not have an NFL license due to Electronic Arts' exclusivity deal with the league, but Kickoff will feature a default 32-team league and customizable squads that allow users to choose colors, emblems, names, and more. Gamers will also be able to create their own playbooks.

EA-Land closing in August

EA had high hopes for The Sims Online when the game was first launched in December 2002. Billed as an experiment into mass-market massively multiplayer online gaming, The Sims Online proved to command nowhere near the attention of its inspiration--The Sims--with EA saying not long after the online game's launch that initial sales were "disappointing."

The game persisted, however, and appeared to be in for a revival earlier this year, when EA renamed the game EA-Land in February and said it would be making a number of changes to the title in the coming months. Those ambitions have now proven to be for naught, as EA has said this week that it will officially be shuttering the title as of August 1.

"It is with mixed emotions that today we are announcing the EA-Land experiment will soon draw to a close," said EA in a statement on the game's official blog. "Since 2002, EA-Land / TSO has attracted a very special group of players (of which you are one) and we certainly appreciate your participation in the EA-Land community. The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena. We’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world."

Sony's echochrome incoming

t's been nearly a year since echochrome was first revealed during Sony's 2007 E3 Media & Business Summit presentation, but the visually minimalist PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable perspective-based puzzle game is finally arriving in the US.

A post on Sony's official PlayStation Blog today has revealed that both versions of the game will be available for download tomorrow for $9.99 each. Both editions can be downloaded via the PS3's PlayStation Store, and the PSP version will also be available through its own PC-based storefront.

Each version of the game tasks players with guiding an artist's mannequin through a series of 56 levels, overcoming obstacles and navigating hazards by repositioning the camera to make areas look safer and more straightforward than they actually are.

Blizzard acquire Diablo3.com

Activision is no stranger to speculative game name registrations, taking time out early last year to trademark Drum Villain and Guitar Villain, and it seems like its new stablemate Blizzard is treading a similar path.

A statement on Diablo3.com yesterday indicated that the site was changing its URL to DiabloFans.com at Blizzard's behest, and that it was in the process of transferring the old domain to the Diablo publisher.

Knowing that such an acquisition would send the Internet rumourmongers into overdrive, Blizzard made it clear to mockery, the administrator of the fansite in question, that "this shouldn't be considered an announcement" of Diablo 3.

Blizzard's denial hasn't done much to slow the rumour mill, however, especially given the fact that this year's Blizzard invitational is only two months away. Last year's equivalent event was the scene of the surprise announcement of Starcraft 2, and the Paris event would be an appropriate stage for Diablo 3 to be introduced to the world.

Against GTAIV driving

Much like its unfortunate series of protagonists, the Grand Theft Auto series seems to be continually under fire. The latest parental interest group to put the game in its crosshairs is Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which commemorated Grand Theft Auto IV's release yesterday with its own official statement decrying the game.

Noting that drunk driving claims nearly 13,500 lives each year, MADD said that it is "extremely disappointed" that the game lets users get virtually drunk and then get behind the wheel of an equally virtual automobile.

"Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke," MADD said. "Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime, and it is also 100 percent preventable."

Crytek abandons console Crysis

Crysis, developed by German studio Crytek and released in late 2007, was one of the most highly praised PC-exclusive games last year. It won GameSpot's Best of 2007 Editors' Choice award for Best PC Game and a host of other gongs.

However, it seems that all is not rosy at Crytek HQ in Germany. The studio's director and founder, Cevat Yerli, recently spoke out about the problems currently besetting his firm, PC gaming in general, and how Crytek plans to address the issues it faces.

In an interview with Croatian magazine PC Play, Yerli said, "We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin... PC gamers that pirate games, inherently destroy the platform.

Forums aflame over GTA4 freezing

Last month, the launch of Rockstar Games' Bully on the Xbox 360 was marred by a bevy of crash bugs and other glitches. With this morning's heavily anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto IV for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Rockstar finds itself dealing with still more troubleshooting trouble, as online forums are buzzing with reports of crashes.

Combing through crash threads on the Xbox.com forums, Sony's official message boards, GameSpot, and the NeoGAF forums, it seems that the issues are affecting PlayStation 3 users more frequently, although gamers with both systems are reporting problems. Reports of crashes on the 60GB version of the PS3 hardware are the most common, and tech support advice like deleting and re-installing the game doesn't appear to address the issue effectively.

Aerosmith only rocking Guitar Hero

Ever since Activision and Aerosmith confirmed the rumours that there was going to be an installment in the Guitar Hero franchise dedicated to the self-styled bad boys from Boston, questions have been asked about whether the deal extended beyond the scope of the game. A recent article by a US magazine indicates that the deal locks in Aerosmith to the Guitar Hero series for some time to come.

Newsweek reports, via its Level Up blog, that Aerosmith's publicist has confirmed that the deal is "exclusive...for this game." Activision's vice president of music affairs was then moved to extend this, explaining, "We do have the band exclusively, and their catalogue should be exclusive to us beyond the one or two tracks they had licensed out to Rock Band before we made our deal." To date, only one Aerosmith track, "Train Kept A Rollin'," has appeared in Rock Band, and even then only as a cover version.

Canada PS3 Store to cut prices down

Things are looking up for Canadian gamers. Early last year, retailers in the country were jacking up prices on PlayStation 3 hardware to adjust for a weaker Canadian dollar. Since that time, the Canadian dollar has pulled virtually even with its American counterpart. The 40GB PS3 now sells for the same $399.99 on both sides of the border, and today Sony announced that it is adjusting prices on its downloadable-game store as well.

Citing the stronger Canadian dollar as the reason for the adjustments, Sony Computer Entertainment America said that the changes will be phased in before tomorrow's weekly PlayStation Store content update. PlayStation Store senior manager Grace Chen said in a statement that the company expects the new prices "will meet the expectations of our Canadian consumers."

Executive Shuffle: Hudson, Warner Bros.

Digital distribution over Nintendo's and Microsoft's respective online services has been a boon for Hudson Soft. The publisher has been quick to import gems from its days gone by to Nintendo's Virtual Console, and the publisher has found success over Xbox Live Arcade, in particular with Bomberman Live, which was deemed the Best Overall Arcade Game by XBLA users in 2007. Now, the man who has overseen this recent renaissance, as well as participated in the developer's '90s heyday, is stepping down after 20 years.

Hudson Entertainment announced today that John Greiner, president of the company's North American publishing operation, will be leaving the company effective May 15. Greiner began his career with Hudson in Japan in 1988, and was appointed president and CEO of Hudson Soft in 2003. According to Hudson, Greiner plans to "spend time with his family and pursue personal interests," and the US division's senior executive and chairman Seiichi Ishigaki will assume his responsibilities.

SCi rebuffs Infogames advances

The games industry has seen a flurry of corporate activity in the past year. From EA consuming BioWare, to Bizarre moving to Activision, and Bungie breaking free of Microsoft, many high-profile gamemakers have either been bought up or have forged new relationships elsewhere. Deals are also being brokered at the publisher level, with the potential takeover of GTAIV publisher Take-Two by EA and the nearly concluded merger of Activision and Vivendi Games.

Another player in the industry receiving investment attention is SCi Entertainment, the parent company of British industry veteran Eidos. SCi has been receiving a lot of attention of late, previously reported to be from companies such as Ubisoft, Midway, and Time Warner. This week, French publisher Infogrames was confirmed as the latest suitor. The owner of Atari was forced to respond to rumours surrounding an offer for SCi, and it confirmed that although it has made an offer, SCi has so far declined to accept it.

Fatal Inertia EX finally arrives on PS3

When Fatal Inertia was first announced, it was presumed to have been secured by Sony as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, but in November 2006 it was announced that the game would also head to Microsoft's Xbox 360.

In September 2007, the Xbox 360 game came and went with no sign or news of its PS3 cousin, save that it had been further delayed. Koei today confirmed that the game is finally on its way to PS3 owners via the PlayStation Network. It will reach the console in May, having been tuned up and redubbed Fatal Inertia EX.

The sci-fi racer sees gamers race heavily armed hovercraft in a variety of exotic locales, attempting to win races, achieve top speeds, or just be the last one standing. GameSpot complimented the original on the Xbox 360 for its imaginative weapons and good-looking locations, but it came under fire for its punishing difficulty and sometimes lacklustre course design.

Bourne declines game offer

As evidenced by Sir Anthony Hopkins' appearance in Ubisoft's movie-to-game tie-in for Beowulf last year, a growing trend in the film adaptation business is for top-tier Hollywood talent to cross over into the gaming spectrum. However, when High Moon Studios and Sierra Entertainment's Robert Ludlum's Bourne Conspiracy is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on June 3, it will be both be a year behind the last Bourne film and noticeably lacking the movie's iconic star, Matt Damon, as Jason Bourne.

The first oddity can be answered by the fact that the game has as much to do with Robert Ludlum's novels than the recent Tony Gilroy-penned movie scripts--though, as noted in GameSpot's previous coverage, Gilroy contributed to the game's story. MTV's Multiplayer blog reports that the second is due to Matt Damon backing out of the role.

GTA4 mugged and stabbings

Midnight launches aren't always the gaming industry's proudest moments. The PlayStation 3 release in particular was riddled with launch-related crimes, including a mugging, a store robbery, a launch line hold-up, and a shooting.

Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale in stores around the world at 12:01 a.m. this morning, and already reports of criminal midnight launch madness are starting to filter in. BBC News is reporting on a pair of incidents, with news of a stabbing outside a Gamestation in Croydon and a mugging by another game store in Lancashire.

According to the news service, a 23-year-old man was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant as he passed a line outside the Gamestation. The victim was treated for several stab wounds and has since been released. The attacker, who police said appeared to be waiting in the line of about 50 to 100 people, was not apprehended.

In the mugging, an 18-year-old was robbed of his copy of the game and beaten as he walked home from the store with a friend. The victim was taken to the hospital with a broken jaw and a broken nose.

Police are asking for witnesses in both cases to step forward.

BioWare releases Mass Effect on Windows some time

Xbox 360 exclusives seem to be making a habit out of eventually being released on Microsoft's other platform, Windows, several months after the fact. In February, BioWare signaled that this trend would continue for its epic-scale role-playing game Mass Effect, with PC gamers offered a variety of tweaks, balances, and revisions to remunerate for the lagging ship date.

Today, BioWare revealed yet one more incentive for PC gamers to pick up the latest edition of Mass Effect. Those who preorder through participating brick-and-mortar retailers or online will receive $10 off of the game's regularly schedule $49.99 price tag. Those who purchase the game through BioWare parent company Electronic Arts' online storefront will instead receive Dead Space swag, including a poster and the first edition of the comic-book series that surrounds EA's survival horror shooter.

Rabbids on WiiBoard!!

With the launch of the Wii in 2006, Ubisoft's Rayman series careened into a decidedly off-kilter direction, abandoning its platformer roots with a new focus on zany minigames. A launch title for the platform, Rayman Raving Rabbids was praised as one of the first games to cleverly put to use the Wii's motion-sensing technology. However, the second installment, released a year nearly to the day later, was met with markedly less enthusiasm.

It now appears as if Ubisoft has a mind to bring the Rabbids back for another go-around, once again taking on Nintendo's new peripherals. The publisher today released a teaser trailer titled "Rabbids Secrets to Health and Happiness." While no details accompanied the teaser, the trailer makes much ado of the Wii Balance Board, with one of the series' patently insane Rabbids attempting to consume the board for its dietary value.

Nintendo recalls lapel pins

Product recalls are nothing new in the gaming industry, but typically the objects of concern have to do with the electronics themselves. Such is not the case with Nintendo's latest recall. The publisher said today that it is recalling all lapel pins sold or given away as promotional items at its Nintendo "Fun & Games" employee store in Redmond, Washington, and its Nintendo World Store in New York, New York, between 2004 and 2007.

According to Nintendo, the lapel pins are coated by paint that contains an unsafe level of lead, as determined by US government regulations. The pins, which measure approximately 1/2 inch to 2 inches per side, depict various Nintendo characters, and Nintendo said it will be replacing the items with uncontaminated versions free of charge. More information on the recall is available on Nintendo's Web site, and lapel pin owners can call Nintendo at (800) 431-0971 to arrange for replacement pins.

Battleforge in EA

Before being acquired by Electronic Arts last August, Phenomic had established itself on the PC gaming scene with the SpellForce franchise, which blended elements of real-time strategy and role-playing games. For its first project under the new regime, the Germany-based studio is working on another genre mash-up.

EA Phenomic's first game as an Electronic Arts subsidiary will be BattleForge, an online fantasy-themed real-time strategy game for the PC that borrows from the world of collectible-card games. Players will be able to buy new cards and trade old ones through an in-game marketplace, form guilds, enter tournaments and chat rooms, and wage card-game-war cooperatively with friends. EA is billing the game as the first fantasy RTS to incorporate social-gaming elements and community features.

EA CCO Bing Gordon departs

For the past 25 years, William "Bing" Gordon has been a staple at publishing giant Electronic Arts. No longer. Venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced today that EA's longtime chief creative officer would be joining its ranks as partner beginning in June.

Gordon, who joined EA when the publisher was still a startup in 1982, oversaw the creation of many of the publisher's hallmark franchises, including Madden NFL, The Sims, and Need for Speed. At Kleiner Perkins, the former exec will lend the VC firm insight into the entertainment and consumer-technology sectors. Gordon will also maintain his relationship with his former employer as chief creative officer emeritus, "leading periodic workshops on innovation with EA Studio leaders."

Studios bankrupted

Since January, a host of development studios have closed their doors, suspended operations, or otherwise stopped making games. Stormfront Studios, Perpetual Entertainment, Pseudo Interactive, Iron Lore Entertainment, and Castaway Entertainment have all hit the rocks in the last four months. Still-unconfirmed reports also have Activision's Foster City site, formerly Z-Axis, on the chopping block.

During that same period of time, the industry has racked up phenomenal sales. NPD's retail software-sales data for the US has been up by double-digit percentages for each of the first three months of the year, with growth of 47 percent and 63 percent in February and March, respectively. Meanwhile, Chart Track has reported its own record sales figures for the UK industry in the first quarter of the year.

Blockbuster expands game offerings

Retail game sales are experiencing explosive growth, and Blockbuster is intent on getting a piece of the gaming pie one way or the other. After making a billion-dollar bid for electronics retailer Circuit City earlier this month, today the video-rental chain announced that it would be stepping up its game offerings in the company's corporate-owned US locations.

Customers will now be able to purchase software, hardware, and accessories for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS at roughly 4,100 domestic Blockbuster locations. The company also said that it would be expanding the variety of games available for rental, and upping the number of rental copies as well.

Blockbuster's announcement made no mention of PlayStation Portable or PC offerings, and company representatives had not returned GameSpot's request for confirmation on those platforms as of press time.

Spyro strikes back

In March, the writing appeared to be on the wall for Sierra Entertainment. According to a report on Variety's gaming blog, the long-standing publisher was in store for significant shake-up as a result of the impending $18.9 billion merger between its parent company, Vivendi Games, and Santa Monica-based megapublisher Activision. Two Sierra stalwarts evidently not to be affected by any reevaluation are Spyro and Crash Bandicoot, given that the publisher announced today a new game in each of the series.

With Radical Entertainment looking to finish off the violent Prototype this fall, the developer is targeting the same release window for its family-friendly Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant. As is evident from the title, franchise antagonist Neo Cortex has devised a mind-control device, and is using it to dominate the will of monster and marsupial alike in a bid to take over the world.

Spore Creature Creator germinates July 17

Will Wright's Spore won't be spotted in stores until September, but those eager to tinker with the fabric of life can start mucking about with Mother Nature much earlier. Electronic Arts today announced that the Spore Creature Creator will be available worldwide beginning June 17.

The full retail version of the Creature Creator will be sold only at retailers in North America and at most European territories, for $9.99 and €9.99 respectively. However, a free downloadable demo will be made available from the game's official Web site on the same day. The demo includes about 25 percent of the full version's various creature parts. Both versions will let players share their creations with others and will include a way to seamlessly upload videos of the creatures to YouTube.

No Wii or DS price cuts

ike anything else, the price of game hardware is affected by the law of supply and demand. If everyone wants something but there isn't enough of it to go around, prices aren't likely to come down.

Nintendo has no doubt realized that demand for its hardware is high and supply is not, as it reportedly doesn't expect to bring down the cost of admission for either piece of hardware anytime this year. According to Reuters, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed the possibility of price cuts in an analysts' meeting earlier today.

"Our earnings projection for the year is not based on hardware price cuts, and I don't think we are going to need them," Iwata was quoted as saying.

Metal Gear beta back online

Konami and Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is easily one of Sony's most prized upcoming titles. Though fan anticipation can already be considered at a fever pitch, the console maker said when it announced the game's June 12 launch date in February that the online portion would benefit from an online beta test, beginning in the latter part of April.

That April launch date turned out to be earlier this week, but the beta didn't stay up long, thanks in large part to the massive interest surrounding the game. However, after a week of tinkering, Sony said today on its official blog that the Metal Gear Online development team has patched the beta client and servers are now back up for play. To compensate for the delay, Sony has said the beta period will now extend to May 11.

Microsoft cuts 360 prices

Microsoft is continuing its attempts to gain a foothold in the Asian gaming market with the Xbox 360, and the latest part of that effort is a series of hardware price cuts. As reported by The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed to GameSpot, Microsoft is lowering the price of the Xbox 360 hardware in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Each country receives a different price cut, with Singapore gamers getting the biggest of the breaks at nearly 20 percent to SGD$499 ($366). Taiwanese Xbox 360 prices will drop 17 percent to NT$10,360 ($340), with Hong Kong gamers receiving a drop of nearly 11 percent to HKD$2,499 ($321), and South Korean systems falling barely beyond 5 percent in price to settle at KRW$369,000 ($367). Korea's price cut goes into effect on Thursday, whereas the remaining drops are effective as of today.

Game trumpets record results

The year 2007 was good for gaming, with the likes of Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Guitar Hero III, and Portal providing top-notch experiences for gamers of all tastes. Such a breadth of titles, coupled with a price drop for Microsoft's Xbox 360, improving stock levels of Nintendo's Wii, and the launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 all amounted to a bumper fiscal 2007 for British high street retailer Game. Chief executive officer Lisa Morgan described the results as "a record year for the group."

Game, which billed itself as the UK's biggest games retailer even before its merger with Gamestation was green-lighted in January, reported that it has boosted profits, total sales, and like-for-like sales by impressive margins. The company also grew from 817 to 1,170 stores, in five different countries. As well as various internal changes, the company stated in its preliminary results for fiscal 2007--the 12 months to January 31, 2008--that one of the factors behind its forward march was, "The Nintendo Wii and DS Lite... broadening the appeal of video games."

Game trumpets record results

Wii Fit muscles to top of charts

2008 is shaping up to be a very healthy year indeed for Nintendo. The company recently announced record financial results, and saw Mario Kart Wii race to the top of the charts after its recent European release. Today, Nintendo has seen its latest product, Wii Fit, not just hit the top of the UK's all-formats sales chart, but also become the sixth-fastest-selling games debut ever in the country.

Wii Fit is the latest extension of Nintendo's strategy to target the mass market, following DS games such as Brain Training (Brain Age in the US) and Sight Training (Flash Focus in the US). Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto told The Sunday Times recently that, "People say video games are a waste of time and are bad for your brain and for your health. We wanted to create something to answer that." Wii Fit, using the new, included balance-board peripheral, tracks each player's weight, and provides a multitude of activities designed to be a part of a daily exercise regime.

Koei UK dates Samurai Warriors 2 4 PC

It's all go for Koei's UK arm, which has announced UK launch dates for PC versions of both Samurai Warriors 2, in shops on June 27, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, due July 25--four days ahead of its US release. There is currently no planned US release for the PC version of Samurai Warriors 2.

It wasn't always this way. Previous iterations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms--one of the longest-running historical simulations, dating back to the late 1980s--had been released on the PC only in Japan and the US.

"We're constantly striving to bring our games to as wide an audience as possible, and our move into the PC arena is a very important step for Koei in Europe," said sales manager Will Curley.

SingStar hits sales

The rhythm action genre is a competitive market these days, with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and SingStar all vying for musically enamoured gamers' time. Sony's SingStar may be the gaming equivalent of The Rolling Stones, having been around for nearly four years, but it shows no sign of being forced out by the new kids on the block. Sony announced today that the series has sold more than 12 million copies in PAL territories to date, with 5 million units sold in fiscal 2007.

The karaoke series, which first hit the PlayStation 2 in 2004, has seen more than 15 spin-offs on the PlayStation 2 and a next-gen version on the PlayStation 3. While certain editions, such as SingStar Rocks and SingStar '80s, have made it to the US market, these sales figures only include the PAL territories.

Favre tackling Madden NFL 09 cover?

It used to be that Madden NFL cover duties would be a simple affair. A gridiron grunt would perform well, EA Sports would offer that player a pile of cash to appear on the cover of its game, and then the superstar would sit out the following season with a debilitating injury. Clean, simple, easy.

This year, however, EA Sports has thrown a monkey wrench in its well-oiled machine for all its football franchises. Rather than selecting a single cover star for NCAA Football 09, EA has opted to cover individual editions with a different athlete, with Darren McFadden gracing the Xbox 360, Ryan on the PS3 edition, Michigan State's mascot Sparty for the Wii, and others to come.

Petz help breed profitz for Ubisoft

Launching a new hit franchise with Assassin's Creed may be the most visible success that Ubisoft achieved over the last year, but the French publisher spread the love around a little more broadly in its fourth-quarter financial report today.

Assassin's Creed was just one of a few big wins to which the company attributed its 36 percent full-year sales increase. The publisher also said that existing brands such as Rainbow Six, Rayman, Settlers, and Ghost Recon all turned in strong sales performances. Furthermore, its Games for Everyone range of casual games, which includes the Petz, My Coach, and Imagine series, tripled its sales over the course of the year.

For the 12 months ended March 31, Ubisoft racked up revenues of €928 million ($1.46 billion), up from €680 million ($1.07 billion) for the previous year. The Wii- and DS-centric Games for Everyone line accounted for nearly a full quarter of that haul, bringing in a total of €230 million ($361 million).

Little League World Series

As the sole third-party rights holder to the Major League Baseball license, Take-Two has enjoyed a monopoly of sorts on the sim baseball gaming space, with the only real competitor of its MLB 2K franchise being Sony with MLB: The Show. As the pro license is wrapped up until 2012, Activision has found the best solution to this conundrum is to step up to the little league plate.

The publisher has announced Little League World Series 2008 for the Wii and Nintendo DS will take the field August 5. Billed as "the first officially licensed Little League video game to hit next-generation consoles," Little League World Series 2008 offers 16 international teams, eight of which hail from the US. In addition to a standard franchise mode, the game offers a variety of skill-based minigames and character customization options.

Burnout Paradise

Last year, Bizarre Creations significantly tinkered with the formula for its fourth installment in the Microsoft-exclusive racer Project Gotham Racing. Dynamic weather effects aside, Bizarre added a hefty helping of zip to the high-octane street racer, adding in a variety of motorcycles both mundane and ultrasleek.

Taking a similar tack, Criterion Games said today on its official Web site that as part of its August software update for Burnout Paradise, motorcycles will be added to the game. As with other vehicles, bikes will receive their own game modes and challenges as well as "some new locations tailored to fit their unique performance and handing characteristics."

New PS3 Store

After a rough first 13 months on the market, the PlayStation 3 is having a good 2008. Though it still trails the Wii, Sony's high-powered console outsold its archrival the Xbox 360 in January and February, according to industry-research firm the NPD Group. March was essentially a tie between the two consoles, with the 360 eking out a 5,000-unit victory.

Perhaps more importantly, Sony's 2008 software lineup for the PS3 is its most robust yet. Following next week's launch of the dual-platform Grand Theft Auto IV, the electronics giant has lined up a string of high-profile third- and first-party exclusives, including Haze (May 20), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (June 12), LittleBigPlanet (Q3), SOCOM: Confrontation (September 16), Resistance 2 (TBA '08), Killzone 2 (TBA '08), and Gran Turismo 5 (TBA '08).

GTA 4 New Review - IGN

New Review from IGN they rated GTA 4 10/10.

PS3 GTA4 beats down 360 pack

When Microsoft announced its multimillion deal with Rockstar for exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV, many predicted that this would provide a significant incentive for gamers to choose the Xbox 360 version of the game over the PlayStation 3 version. But Australian presale figures seem to be telling a different story, with major retailers contacted by GameSpot AU today saying that the PS3 version was currently in the lead.

A spokeswoman for EB Games Australia--the largest specialty games retailer in the country--told GameSpot AU that the PS3 version of GTAIV was just ahead of the 360 in terms of presales. "We are happy to tell you it's neck and neck, but at the moment, PlayStation 3 is currently in the lead," EB Games Australia brand and public relations manager Debra McGrath said.

Head Coach going solo in EA

EA Sports is constructing one heck of an elaborate trick play for the latest installment of NFL Head Coach. Benched after a modest performance following the 2006 season, EA said in February that it would be giving the coaching sim another go this year, with Super Bowl XLI-winning Colts chief Tony Dungy fronting the cover. Dungy cover duties were promptly called into question a month later, when EA said that NFL Head Coach 09 would only be available as part of the Madden NFL 09's 20th-anniversary $90 collector's edition bundle, available August 12.

Aspiring virtual skippers were apparently none too happy about the compulsory purchase of Madden NFL to receive Head Coach 09, a fact EA Sports president Peter Moore noted yesterday in his company blog. "I have to admit, even I was surprised by how much feedback we've gotten the past few weeks since we announced it as a featured item of our Madden Collector's edition," said Moore.

Stray Bullet MMOG striking Wii

When Stray Bullet Games announced last year that its first game after breaking away from Wolfpack Studios would be a new, original massively multiplayer online game, most assumed it would be a PC project in the vein of Shadowbane. Some may have thought it would explore the Xbox 360's or PlayStation 3's online networks, as Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI has done and Sony Online's The Agency will do. However, it's likely that no one thought it would be a project for Nintendo's Wii.

Be that as it may, it appears as if that's just what Austin, Texas-based Stray Bullet Games intends to do with its as-yet-untitled project. According to a recently posted job requisition, the professed MMOG development outfit is looking for a senior programmer with "experience developing and shipping title(s) on Wii and/or GameCube platform." Stray Bullet's job req also leaves open the possibility of the game appearing on other systems, noting that experience on other platforms is a plus.

Industrial Growth

March's US retail sales figures were through the roof, but one analyst thinks the current growth rate can't be sustained for long. MarketWatch is reporting on a note to investors from Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Higginbotham, who recently downgraded his assessment of stock in retailer GameStop to a "sell" rating.

According to Higginbotham, GameStop shares are "poised for a pullback as industry growth remains on a path toward deceleration from its current peak," suggesting not that the industry itself has peaked, just that growth figures later in the year likely won't be quite as impressive as March's 57 percent spike.

Ubisoft doing Prince of Persia

In October, the secretive industry mole known as Surfer Girl landed what she claimed to be early-in-development screens of the next installment in Ubisoft Montreal's Prince of Persia franchise. Surfer Girl claimed that the game--subtitled Ghosts of the Past--would operate as a prequel trilogy to Sands of Time, have a family-friendly focus, and launch in the second half of 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PC. Despite the convincing screenshots, Ubisoft was mum on the details of a new POP game, though the publisher did say in January that it plans to ship a game from Jordan Mechner's venerable franchise in its 2008-09 fiscal year. Today, a few more details on the project may have emerged, thanks to all-things-trademark site Trademork. Rifling through the United States Patent and Trademark Office's online database, Trademork unearthed an application for trademark filing by Prince of Persia creator and rights holder Jordan Mechner for Prince of Persia Prodigy

Nintendo record sales

With Mario Kart Wii reaching the top of the UK sales charts in its first week of release, the Wii and DS continuing to rule the hardware sales charts, and a multimillion-selling US debut for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo has had plenty of good financial news lately. Further evidence of that arrived today, as the company reported "record results in both net sales and income" for its most recent financial year. In a separate statement, the company also confirmed the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Europe on June 27, 2008.

Nintendo says it wants to be the games company that "puts smiles on the faces of people of all ages and genders," and following its financial statement today, there are likely grins all around at the Mario Factory headquarters. The company has reported that net sales for the year ending March 31, 2008, were ¥1.672 trillion ($16.2 billion), up 73 percent on the previous year. This resulted in a net income (or profit) of ¥257 billion ($2.5 billion) for its 2008 fiscal year ended March 31, up 47 percent on the previous year.

The GTA4 fever

Grand Theft Auto IV's hype has just about reached fever pitch. With only days to go until GTAIV's global release, Rockstar's vice president of creative, Dan Houser, spoke to British men's magazine ShortList about the game's development process; the replication of New York as a living, breathing, city; and why GTAIV isn't so controversial after all.

Houser, who cofounded Rockstar with brother Sam Houser, says early on in the interview, "Grand Theft Auto IV will change the way people think about video games...we had to make sure no one thought, 'It's just like the previous one; I could have played this on my old machine.'"

So besides new characters, music, and multiplayer modes, what else is new in GTAIV? Houser says, "the fourth dimension is details...there are about 40 new things in GTAIV, from the new motion physics of the main character to the firearm targeting to the interaction with pedestrians. The overall goal was to make the world feel more alive. Every little detail was researched, analysed, and broken down."

Devil May Cry 4 get PC dates

Considering Devil May Cry 3 made the move to the PC 10 months after its PlayStation 2 counterpart, the keyboard-and-mouse friendly edition of Devil May Cry 4 ruffled far fewer feathers than the Xbox 360 version. With the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions having enjoyed ample success when they launched in February, Capcom today said that the PC version of the game will ship out this summer.

The PC game will benefit from an extended stay in purgatory, as it comes equipped with two extra modes, some additional content, and a variety of graphical customization options. In Turbo mode, the game will be sped up to an even faster pace than the original, while Legendary Dark Knight mode will up the difficulty by dramatically increasing the number of enemies thrown at the player.

PC Age of Conan golden

Before his untimely suicide in 1935, author Robert E. Howard said the "Hyborian Era" that his stories featuring Conan the Barbarian was set in took place about 12,000 years ago. Ironically, the period following the 2005 announcement of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has also felt like an eon, thanks to several delays.

In the end, though, PC gamers will end up only having to wait three years and 10 days for the massively multiplayer game. Developer Funcom has announced Age of Conan has gone gold and is already in production. The game will launch the US on May 20 for $49.99 with a $14.99 monthly subscription fee. In Europe, the game will cost €49.99 ($79.38) with a subscription fee of €12.99 ($20.62).

GreenScreen over Take Two

In February 2007, Take-Two founder and CEO Ryan Brant pleaded guilty in the publisher's ongoing stock options-backdating scandal, agreeing to pay up some $7.3 million in the process but trading five years' probation for jail time. As a consequence of that outcome, Brant has been effectively barred from running a publicly traded company, but that hasn't stopped the one-time exec from flexing his entrepreneurial muscle.

GreenScreen Interactive announced its presence today, saying GT Interactive founder Ron Chaimowitz will act as the company's chief executive officer. While Brant's role in the company was not disclosed, Chaimowitz did discuss having the former Take-Two chief on the payroll with Newsweek.

PS3 bundle pack for GTA4

It's fair to say that Grand Theft Auto IV's April 29 release date is a big day on the gaming calendar. Janco Partners' Mike Hickey said that the game could "conceivably" ship 9.5 million units in one week, while Variety said that GTAIV could make $400 million in revenue in the same period.

Such performance is also sure to drive sales of consoles, and while the game will land on both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, Sony has made the first move to bundle hardware and software together at launch. A package of its 40GB PS3 console, a Sixaxis controller, and the standard edition of GTAIV will hit European stores on April 29, with a recommended retail price of £319.99 in the UK (approx $635) and €439 in Europe.

BBFC classifies Metal Gears Solid 4 for UK

The British Board of Film Classification should need no introduction to British gamers, after making headline news over its banning of Rockstar's Manhunt 2, and the ensuing court case that Rockstar eventually won.

This was shortly followed by Dr Tanya Byron's government-commissioned Byron Report, which examined the effects of games and the Internet on children in Britain. The report called for a high-profile campaign to educate parents on video game age ratings and consoles' parental controls.

After granting Grand Theft Auto IV an 18 rating without incident, and, more importantly, without cuts, the BBFC yesterday classified Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 and posted the result on its Web site.

BBFC classifies Metal Gears Solid 4 for UK

The British Board of Film Classification should need no introduction to British gamers, after making headline news over its banning of Rockstar's Manhunt 2, and the ensuing court case that Rockstar eventually won.

This was shortly followed by Dr Tanya Byron's government-commissioned Byron Report, which examined the effects of games and the Internet on children in Britain. The report called for a high-profile campaign to educate parents on video game age ratings and consoles' parental controls.

After granting Grand Theft Auto IV an 18 rating without incident, and, more importantly, without cuts, the BBFC yesterday classified Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 and posted the result on its Web site.

Playstation Home back again

First it was scheduled for release in late 2007, then it was delayed to Spring 2008. Now PlayStation Home has been pushed back even further, with Sony Computer Entertainment today announcing that the service's closed beta would be extended, with the open beta now not expected to begin until Fall 2008.

Home--Sony's Second Life-like online service for the PlayStation 3--was first unveiled in March 2007. In a statement, Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Kaz Hirai said the company needed more time to complete Home.

Harry Potter gets Half Blooded Prince for the games

Like a string of handkerchiefs pulled from a magician's sleeve, Electronic Arts has produced a seemingly never-ending line of Harry Potter games and spin-offs on virtually every possible platform. Beyond the games based on the blockbuster movies, EA has also released Quidditch World Cup--a fantasy sports game based on a competition that played a significant part in the Potter books--and a variety of mobile phone games like Find Scabbers and Mastering Magic. There was even a massively multiplayer online Harry Potter game planned at one point.

In keeping with tradition, EA today announced that it will be bringing out a full line of games based on the upcoming film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Timed to coincide with the film's November release, the games will arrive on the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PC, Mac, and mobile phones.

Foundation 9 buried Harker

Earlier today, Konami unearthed details on the fifth installment in its long-running survival horror series, Silent Hill. Formerly announced as Silent Hill V at Konami's whirlwind E3 Media and Business Summit press conference last year, the game has been renamed Silent Hill: Homecoming, and will arrive for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation this September--in Europe at least.

Developed by Foundation 9's Double Helix outfit, Silent Hill: Homecoming has apparently had a garliclike effect on the studio's other supernatural horror game, Harker. GameSpot has confirmed with Foundation 9 that the Bram Stoker-inspired vampire-slaying action game has been put on permanent hiatus.

PS Home pushes back again

First it was scheduled for release in late 2007, then it was delayed to Spring 2008. Now PlayStation Home has been pushed back even further, with Sony Computer Entertainment today announcing that the service's closed beta would be extended, with the open beta now not expected to begin until Fall 2008.

Home--Sony's Second Life-like online service for the PlayStation 3--was first unveiled in March 2007. In a statement, Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Kaz Hirai said the company needed more time to complete Home. "We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," he said. "Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PlayStation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the closed beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition."

Activision CEO: songs to Guitar Hero

For a while, its been known that more instruments were coming to the Guitar Hero franchise. Before it was bought by Activision in 2006, the series' publisher RedOctane had registered the titles "Keyboard Hero" and "Drum Hero." The following January, its new owner plunked down for the titles "Guitar Villain" and "Drum Villain." Then, just this past February, the soon-to-be-merged megapublisher trademarked the title "DJ Hero."

Despite the lengthy paper trail, Activision has made no indication as to which Guitar Hero game would bring other instruments into the mix. Meanwhile, original Guitar Hero developer Harmonix has received critical accolades and millions of content-download dollars for its own platinum-selling rhythm game, Rock Band--which lets gamers play drums, bass, or guitar as well as sing.

Midnight Club hits the streets Sept 9th

All eyes are on next week's launch of the much-anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV from Rockstar Games, but the developer is already looking forward to the next big sequel in another of its well-known franchises. Rockstar Games announced today the release dates for Midnight Club: Los Angeles on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as Midnight Club: LA Remix for the PlayStation Portable.

All three versions of the game will arrive in North American stores on September 9, with European releases scheduled for September 12. Midnight Club: Los Angeles was originally scheduled for an early 2008 release, but was delayed by Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive "to leverage the retail strength leading to the key holiday-selling season, and in order to provide some distance from the release of Grand Theft Auto IV."

No GTA Movie

It doesn't take much for a game to warrant a big-screen adaptation these days, as evidenced by such produced and proposed films as Painkiller, Bloodrayne, and Jagged Alliance. So with deals in place for so many gaming properties, why hasn't there been more speculation about a movie for one of the industry's most successful--and cinematic--properties, Grand Theft Auto?

It turns out the GTA creators at Rockstar Games simply aren't interested in turning their signature series into a movie. Rockstar cofounder Dan Houser gave Variety an extended interview that touched on a slew of topics, including the noticeable absence of a cinematic GTA adaptation. The reason came up in an explanation of how cautious the company is about milking its cash cow.

ESRB goes opinion with parents

With Rockstar Games gearing up to release Grand Theft Auto IV next week, the Entertainment Software Rating Board is likewise bracing for scrutiny over the readily granted M-for-Mature rating it awarded the game earlier this year. In advance of that controversy, which has already begun to rear its head in Chicago, the ESRB today announced its latest partnership with the Parent Teacher Association to help keep parents informed.

As with its previous collaboration with the PTA, the ESRB will be distributing free booklets to all 26,000 PTAs that offer a step-by-step guide to setting parental lock features as well as a guide to online safety penned by Andrew Bub of GamerDad.com. The booklets will also be available online in both English and Spanish through the PTA and ESRB Web site.

Ubisoft opens Casablanca Campus

Last year, the Moroccan government created an incentive program to encourage companies to create new tech-industry jobs in the country as well as train individuals for those positions. One publisher to take Morocco up on its offer was Ubisoft. The publisher said it would be dramatically expanding its Northern Africa operations from 50 to 150 positions by 2010.

Today, the publisher said that it would also be partnering with Moroccan audiovisual company Sigma Tecnologies on a new digital media training campus. The school's curriculum will focus on training individuals for jobs in the gaming and animated-film industries, with courses ranging from "programming to 3D animation and modelling, game and level design to project management."

Mario Kart Shippin' out

This week sees Mario Kart Wii powerslide its way to retail, just in time for the ANZAC day long weekend. The game features more control schemes than you can poke a stick at, including the Wii Wheel, Wii Remote/Nunchuk combination, Wii Remote/Classic Controller combination, and GameCube controllers. Fans of the series will be pleased to note that the game boasts 32 tracks and now givers racers the ability to choose motorbikes. On top of that, you can take Mario Kart Wii online and race up to 11 other players from around the world via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Channel. Be sure to check out the Mario Kart Wii and the Wii Wheel bundle this Thursday when it goes on sale for A$99.95 ($93.32).

The Dual Shock 3 controller for the PlayStation 3 will be debuting on April 24 for A$99.95. The only difference between the Dual Shock 3 and Sixaxis controller is it supports rumble feedback. It still features the motion-sensing technology that the Sixaxis contained, so it will still be backward compatible with all existing PS3 games. Some of the older PS3 games already support vibration feedback, but it's up to the developer to patch in the function for those that don't support it.

No WOW Movie for Blizzard employee

News was in no short supply during the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, but one of the biggest tidbits to come out of the trade show was news that Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures would be teaming up for a silver-screen adaptation of the massively popular massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft.

At the time, Blizzard Entertainment was adamant about its level of control over the project, with chief operating officer Paul Sams saying it took the developer five years to find the right partner. Directorial partners have faced a similar level of scrutiny, with Sams saying, "While I can't give out names right now, there's some meaningful people that have expressed interest."

Realtime repurchases APB rights

Last week, Crackdown creator Realtime Worlds officially announced that it had secured $50 million in funding for the "continued growth and expansion as the company develops new creative properties and brings innovative online gaming experiences to market." A specific use for that cash has emerged today, as the Dundee, Scotland-based developer said that it has repurchased the distribution rights to its urban-warfare massively multiplayer online game APB from Webzen.

While terms of the deal were not disclosed, a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing sheds some light on the particulars. Under the original deal, Webzen, which signed on to distribute APB in February 2005, was to pay out to Realtime Worlds 10 percent of all online revenues and 20 percent of all retail revenues for a period of five years after the launch of the game in exchange for funding development time on APB. With the change in contract, Realtime Worlds will now be paying Webzen 15 percent of all net receipts for three years following APB's commercial release, and the former distributor of the game will "retrieve some of the development cost at the first year."

UK game sales hit records

UK gamers are voting with their wallets like never before, with sales at record highs following record periods in 2007 and previous years. According to data released today by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and compiled by Chart-Track, the UK games industry racked up a total of £418.4 million ($828.9 million) in software sales in the first quarter of 2008.

It appears that Nintendo is the real winner of the increased sales, scooping up 37 percent of all unit sales thanks to the success of its Wii and DS offerings, which took the top two spots. The PC was the third most popular platform for game sales, followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360. The report also shows Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games to be the most popular game in the first quarter.

Unreal Tournament for 360

Fifteen months ago, Midway Games announced its competitive shooter Unreal Tournament III would be headed to the Xbox 360. The news came as a bit of a shock, as the game had previously been touted as a possible PlayStation 3 launch title and was the console's answer to Gears of War, Epic's wildly popular 360 shooter. (Both games are also available for the PC.)

Later that year at the E3 Media & Business Summit, some ruffled feathers at Sony were smoothed by the news that UTIII would have timed PS3 exclusivity on consoles, with the 360 version not arriving until sometime in 2008.

Mortal Kombat invades DC

Mortal Kombat is getting a major makeover. For the first original installment on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Midway is not only tinkering with some of the fundamental features of the long-running fighting franchise, it's going to feature a crossover cast of characters pulled from the pages of DC Comics.

That means Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe will feature Sub-Zero and Scorpion taking on the likes of Superman and Batman. Other characters from each universe have yet to be confirmed for the game, but Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon told GameSpot the developers were looking for counterparts between the two brands.

Wrestling fans have a few extra months to brace for TNA iMPACT!, as Midway today announced that its debut title with the wrestling league's license won't launch until September. Originally set to debut last year, the game will be released on the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 2.

Featuring a mix of former WWE talents, standouts pulled from the independent circuit, and homemade stars, TNA originated as a pay-per-view-only wrestling series in 2002 and has since expanded to include weekly shows on Spike TV. A full roster of wrestlers to be included in the game has not yet been released.

COD4 hits 9m milestone

From the get-go, Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a certifiable hit. Its PC performance notwithstanding, the Infinity Ward-developed modern-warfare shooter debuted with more than 2 million units sold across the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in its first month last November. Though having been available for only two months, the title also managed to take the 2007 sales crown, with Activision saying in January that COD4 had sold 7 million units worldwide by year's end.

Proving to have legs beyond 2007, COD4 landed the top slot in the NPD Group's monthly sales dump for January and February, though it was ousted in March by Super Smash Bros. Brawl's staggering 2.7 million-unit debut. Even so, March's NPD report did signify a significant milestone for Activision and Infinity Ward. According to a post by Infinity Ward director of communications Robert Bowling on the game's official blog, COD4 has officially sold more than 9 million units worldwide since launch.

EA extends Take Two lower the offer

Yesterday brought two key developments in the ongoing Electronic Arts/Take-Two Interactive takeover saga. The morning began with the Federal Trade Commission's announcement that it was launching an investigation to see if an EA buyout of the Grand Theft Auto IV publisher would violate anticompetitive legislation. The evening ended with a Take-Two stockholder meeting in which chairman Strauss Zelnick underlined the company board's repeated declarations that EA's $2 billion buyout offer is "the wrong price at the wrong time."

Majesty attempting return to glory

Back in 2000, Cyberlore Studios' Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim took a novel approach to the PC empire-building strategy genre with its hands-off emphasis on heroes, and soon established itself as a cult hit. The game received an expansion the next year, but Cyberlore never got around to making a sequel, and put its rights to the series up for sale after shifting its focus away from game development.

Now, eight years after the game first hit shelves, Majesty is finally set for a sequel. Paradox Interactive today announced that it is planning to release Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim for the PC in the first quarter of 2009. Calling it the biggest title the company has published to date, Paradox executive vice president Fredrik Wester said in a statement the team is trying to rekindle fans' passion for the series while also broadening its audience.

Judas Priest first Rock Band song

Last year, Harmonix and MTV Games promised that their rhythm game duet Rock Band would feature full downloadable albums, with The Who's "Who's Next" one announced offering and Nirvana's "Nevermind" a heavily rumored second option. However, these albums were conspicuously absent from the game's launch lineup of downloadable content, and months passed with no word of when they would finally arrive.

Last month's Boston six-pack of songs came a single track shy of a full album, but next week Harmonix is finally set to make good on its prelaunch promise with the release of Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance in its entirety. The 10-song album will be available Tuesday on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Thursday on the PlayStation Store, with an asking price of $14.99 (1,200 Microsoft points).

Miyamoto uncertain of Wii Fit

With Wii Fit set to arrive in the US May 19, Nintendo is bringing out the big guns for its public relations and marketing blitz. Yesterday the company held a media roundtable in New York to give the press an introduction to the physical fitness game, courtesy of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

One of CNET's Crave bloggers was in attendance to watch the Nintendo figurehead do some yoga stretches and field questions. In addition to discussing where he got the idea for the game, Miyamoto talked about Wii Fit's success in Japan, where it has already sold more than 2 million units. When asked what he expected the American response to the game would be, Miyamoto admitted it was tough to predict due to cultural differences.

DC Powers Gears of War comic

DC Comics is all over the gaming world this week. First the publisher announced that it was adapting Sierra's upcoming action game Prototype into a comic book. Today Midway dropped the bombshell that the next installment of its flagship fighting series would be Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, with characters such as Sub-Zero and Scorpion going toe-to-toe with Superman and Batman. Capping off the trifecta, DC has joined with Epic Games to announce plans for comics based on the developer's sci-fi Xbox 360 and PC shooter Gears of War.

The Gears of War comic series will debut in October, just ahead of the November Xbox 360 launch of Gears of War 2. The comics will be published under DC's WildStorm imprint, home to such critically acclaimed titles as Planetary, The Authority, and the America's Best Comics line that includes Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Soulcalibur IV date til July 13th

Following yesterday's announcement that the original Soul Calibur will be making an appearance on Xbox Live Arcade, Ubisoft has announced that Soulcalibur IV will be making its way down under on July 31 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Soulcalibur IV is the series' first foray into the next-generation domain and features an expanded roster of fighters. Those who get the game on the PlayStation 3 will have access to Star Wars supervillain Darth Vader, whereas the Xbox 360 version features Yoda. Not since Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi have Darth Vader and Yoda appeared in a fighting game. On top of that, for the first time, you'll be able to take Soulcalibur online and challenge fighters from around the world.

GTAIV golden, already in transit

Say so long to those delay rumors. While word has yet to come on whether Take-Two will accede to Electronic Arts' $2 billion acquisition offer, one scenario that will not occur is analysts' speculated delay of Grand Theft Auto IV.

During Take-Two's shareholders' meeting today, the publisher said that GTAIV has gone gold. The game is "in production and in trucks en route to retailers," proclaimed Take-Two CEO Ben Feder. Rated M for Mature, GTAIV will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 29.

Though it won't be released for another 12 days, industry watchers have already projected a massive debut from the next installment in Rockstar North's prized franchise. Last October, Janco Partner's Mike Hickey projected global opening-week sales of more than 9.5 million, with 5.8 million units turning up in US consumers' hands alone. Earlier this week, Variety reported that sources within Take-Two fully expect the game to sell some 6 million units in its opening week, generating revenue in excess of $400 million.