Wouldn’t you know it — Realtime Worlds wastelling the truthwhen they said theAPBbeta would be starting up in a matter of weeks, not months. As it so happens, I was also being honest when I said we were dying to see if the game’s character creator could handleBrad Nicholson’s pecs. Look for the full report next week. Realtime Worlds CEO Gary Dale gave GamesIndutry.biz a quick confirmation that theAPBbeta would berolling out next week....
This week’s Art Attack artist is Sii-SEN and she loves herself someLegend of Zelda. Most of the images you’ll see in the gallery above are all based theZeldagames, specifically theWind Wakersaga. There are a few crossovers with Link as well that are pretty funny. Link and Luigi riding together, Kirby giving Link a lift, and my favorite being the Link and Luigi switching outfits one. Most of the pieces are goofy, but there are some serious ones as well that look fantastic....
Ubisoft is launchingAssassin’s Creed Project Legacyfor Facebook tomorrow. TheMafia Wars-like role-playing game will see players taking on missions that will have direct ties toAssassin’s Creed Brotherhoodfor the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the first time Ubi has integrated a Facebook game with a console title and there will be rewards for both games. Basically, play the Facebook game and you’ll unlock stuff in the console versions and vice versa....
While Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopuloshas statedthat the company has no plans to release aRock Band 3in 2009, that doesn’t mean the music is going to stop. Sure, we expected the weekly downloadable content to continue to pour into theRock BandMusic Store. But there might be more music coming that we could have even imagined. According to aBillboardarticle (viaYahoo! News), “MTV said it plans to increase the number of available song this year to as many as 5,000....
In a surprisingly pleasant bit of news, it has been announced thatBloodRayne: Betrayalwill release August 30 on PlayStation Network and August 31 on Xbox Live Arcade. Nice! BloodRayne: Betrayalis well on its way to becoming the first videogame and/or movie in the franchise with an ounce of respectability (I love the series, but it’snotrespectable). Developed by WayForward and taking more than a few leaves fromCastlevania‘s book,Betrayalis easily among my most anticipated digital titles of the year....
Reflex- or twitch-based videogames are a lot like visual art or music in a lot of ways, particularly in that they don’t depend on language to communicate ideas effectively. A good game is good, no matter if you speak English, Russian, or Bengali. Consider, for example, an “arcade” in Darjeeling, India (7,000 ft. above sea level), where some kid absolutely wiped the floor with blogger Lee Bradley during a few rounds ofStreet Fighter Alpha 3....
It’s no secret that Activision Blizzard has gained something of a fondness for milking its core franchises for every cent they’re worth — yearly iterations have become the name of the game. That makes it somewhat surprising, then, that they’ve decided to give theCall of Dutyseries a year off. Speaking at a recent analyst day in Santa Monica, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffithdropped the newsthat we won’t be seeingCall of Duty 6: Moderner World Warfareuntil “calendar year 2010....
Today, Capcom confirmed what we had been hearing for awhile — their CAPTIVATE media day will take place in Monte Carlo this year. That’s right, Capcom has decided to hold a typical gamer’s day in the “jewel of Mediterranean,” laughing in the face of a tough economy. What will they be showing off? Well, what’s been confirmed so far is what you’d expect:Dead Rising 2(including a new trailer and actual gameplay);Lost Planet 2; a new playable build ofDark Void;Spyborgsfor the Wii and its new look;Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles; and more....
Capcom posted some information on theUnity Blogabout the upcoming release ofMarvel vs. Capcom 2 Mix Tape, a collection of hip-hop songs that acts as an alternate soundtrack for those players who have no appreciation for the music in the original game and want to play with something more urban in the background. Philistines. I will say that the assortment of rap and hip-hop artists they’ve put together to contribute to the album is impressive....
Konami has announced that its Xbox LIVE Arcade title,Castlevania: Harmony of Despairhits Xbox LIVE Marketplace on August 4. The price to slay ghouls and skeletons with your buddies? 1200 MS Points. Harmony of Despair is a curious take on the series, dumping players in massive explorable levels inspired by the Nintendo DS titles,Dawn of Sorrow,Portrait of Ruin, andOrder of Ecclesia. The catch? The game can be played cooperatively with up to six players over Xbox LIVE....
Fans ofCastlevania, rejoice! It has been revealed that Hudson of all publishers is bringingCastlevania: Rondo of Bloodto the Wii’s Virtual Console some time soon. The game has been rated by the ESRB, so is ready to hit the Wii at any time. Rondo of Bloodwas the tenthCastlevaniagame in the series, originally created for Japanese PCs. The game arrived to the West in its current form for the PlayStation Portable in 2007, and the title of the Virtual Console version would indicate that this is the ported version....
This past weekend, Jim Sterling told you Codemasters’Bodycountwas coming out in August. Always vague, that Sterling. Here’s a proper date, just revealed today, for those in North America: August 30. The first-person shooter nearly everyone forgot about is finally, for real, coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Even though it was announced what seems like ages ago, I’ve not played or seen much of the game myself.Samit did see itlast year, and thenJim playedit and called it an “endless parade of death....
Ah,Daigasso Band Bros. When I bring it up (or play it), people either ask “what the hell is that?” or say “oh, I love that game!” But it’s something you’ll never find on North American store shelves. This Japanese music game was released early on in the DS’s life (2004), but it was never released domestically. This was probably due to licensing issues, as the game consists of several Japanese songs, ranging from anime tunes to J-pop....
