The trailer shows next-gen potential, but it doesn’t say much about GTA itself Last night, the highly anticipated…what am I saying here? The most anticipated video trailer ever, was released after a painful, almost 1 month long countdown: GTA IV Debut Trailer. This morning, you couldn’t even click to see it on the official site (in HD that is), due to lag, as every gamer on the planet wanted to view it and more than once I’m sure. After roughly everyone saw the footage (sadly not as long and as in-game as hoped), questions whether Rockstar would finally say something about it started to arise. But no. Rockstar ain’t saying nada. (more…)

Online petition succeeds in swaying 2K to release collector’s version of Irrational Games shooter, extra goodies to be chosen by gamers.

Earlier this week, Cult of Rapture, 2K’s official Web site for BioShock, drew attention to an online petition asking the publisher to release a collector’s edition of Irrational Games’ upcoming first-person shooter. In the posting, a 2K representative said that if the petition received 5,000 signatures, the publisher would indeed make a limited edition of the game available.

According to a follow-up post on the site today, the petition met its goal of 5,000 later that night, and kept going. As of this writing, more than 18,000 people have added their names to the request. Today’s update confirms that there will be a collector’s edition of the game available for both the PC and the Xbox 360, but it indicates that the specific bonuses to be included in the package have not yet been determined. (more…)

Sega is prepping the first expansion to the latest entry in its popular RTS series for a fall assault; first screens inside. Four months ago, Sega released Medieval II: Total War, the latest installment in the long-running real-time strategy series. Developed by the British studio The Creative Assembly, which Sega bought in 2005, the game has players vying for control of Europe during the Middle Ages via massive battles with individually animated soldiers. Medieval II received solid reviews, including an upbeat assessment from GameSpot. It also enjoyed decent sales for a PC game unrelated to The Sims or World of Warcraft, moving just under 200,000 units in the US in two-and-a-half months. Today, Sega surprised few by announcing that it is readying the first expansion pack for Medieval II. Developed at The Creative Assembly’s Australian studio, Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms will supplement the original game with four all-new single-player campaigns, including: –The Americas, which casts players as Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés or the Aztec and other indigenous peoples who resisted his ruthless conquest of Mexico. –The Teutonic Wars, which saw Christians and pagan tribes clash violently in Northern Europe.

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Okay, so Capcom will be holding an event on April 12th, where we may or may not hear about Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, neither or both. At this point, nobody knows, and adding more fuel to the fire are retail listings of Resident Evil 4 (yes, you read that correctly) coming to Wii at a reduced $29.99 pricing.

What the hell is going on? Capcom won’t tell us. “Capcom has not made any announcements about a new Resident Evil title,” is all a company representative would say — not surprising considering official announcements are just weeks off.

The rumors stem from listings on both EB Games/GameStop and a Japanese retailer. Both listings have since been removed, but the magic of copy-and-paste allows us to show what the listings did look like, before the powers that be intervened.
Source: gametab.com

Small-scale retail chain has triggered a ‘chain reaction’

Retailers in Italy have broken a very sacred rule concerning gaming consoles: don’t sell before launch date. Not two days early
anyway. Small-scale retail chain Darty took out adverts in national newspapers. They said that customers would be able to get their PS3 at Darty stores from 7pm on Wednesday, even though the official launch date is set for Friday March 23, as everyone already knows.
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It’s the only way gamers will be able to enjoy more than one or two games

Again: buy your PS3 but rent the games. Don’t laugh. With a £425 price tag, UK gamers don’t have much of a choice.
Earlier this week, news about Gametart Direct having two offers regarding Sony’s PS3, immersed. The first one said: PS3 + 6 months of unlimited games rental at the incredible price of £499.99. The second: PS3 + 12 months of unlimited games rental at only £549.99. The store calculated that if you bought 3 PS3 games per month for six months, it’d cost you £810. They say their deals allow you to play the same amount for just £75, saving you £735!

Now, specific games rental site, rentps3.co.uk has been set up as a special outlet of PS3 games rentals, to help people get the most out of their PS3, after reaching so deep in their pockets for the machine. They also have some good start-up deals for people who still haven’t ordered their system. (more…)

Coder submits portable Duke as entry in programming contest.

With all these Duke Forever stories suddenly poppin’ up all over the place like spring locusts, it’s almost starting to look like the Viscount of Vaporware may (finally) see the light of day.

How appropriate then to hear (via DS Emulation) of a recent successful port of the original Duke Nukem 3D to… (wait for it)… the Nintendo DS?

The ambitious effort appears to be the work of a modder known to the Internet as “GPF” — one of the entrants in the 2007 NeoFlash Coding Contest. I don’t know what kind of coding chops you have to have if you plan on going up against a submission of a fully-functional DS Duke Nukem 3D — obviously ’strong kung-fu’. Looks like GPF is set up to win a Wii if the judges take a shine to his handiwork.

The project’s name is Duke3DS. You can check out its homepage here along with some barebones installation instructions. Since the original Duke dates from the “pre mouselook” era, the game may actually play all right on a handheld. As always, don’t expect sympathy from Nintendo Cusomer Care for any broken lampshades, pregnancies or black screens of death which may occur as a result of attempting to bring Duke Nukem into the happy world of Nintendo. (more…)

Three screens and a feedback wheel prove an effective warm up.

“Do you guys have (the circuit) Long Beach in this game? I’ve never driven it before and I need to learn it for the next race,” asks professional racer Mika Salo on the Risi Competizione Ferrari racing team while checking out a build of Forza Motorsport 2. The game and its three screen, wheel-enhanced setup were brought to the first race of the 2007 season at Sebring International Raceway in Florida to some surprisingly interested drivers who deal with the real thing every day.
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Last night’s announcement shouldn’t have been a surprise.

To anyone following Capcom (or the industry), last night’s revelation that Devil May Cry 4 is no longer a PlayStation 3 exclusive came with little shock. And yet, the announcement’s spawned message board threads spanning dozens and dozens of pages — half filled with celebratory remarks, the other damning Sony for losing the game. Others went so far as to accuse Capcom of dumbing the game down in the endless pursuit of money.

Thus far at least, Capcom offers little allegiance to any platform this generation. Dead Rising and Lost Planet both seemed to arrive on Xbox 360 because Capcom was willing to take a risk with Microsoft on jumping into the next-generation pool early. Even then, their zombie thriller didn’t show up until nine months after the machine launched in the US. The risks have paid off for companies like Capcom and Ubisoft (see: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter). And, as of January, Dead Rising had sold over a million copies and talk’s already underway for sequel.

Rumors puttered about in EGM that Sony was surprised at Dead Rising’s success and working with Capcom to secure a PS3-exclusive sequel. To date, that’s not come to fruition and DMC4 makes it all the more unlikely. Lost Planet found similar success when it launched in January, allegedly pushing more than a million copies across Europe and North America combined. The NPD Group numbers put sales for the adventure across the frozen tundra at 329,000 in January — still mighty impressive. (more…)

Consoul looks directly at the lifestyle of customers bringing them new emerging girls…uh gadgets

“Welcome to high definition lifestyle” is the first subtitle in the new Consoul Magazine, launching in Germany on 06/03/2007 with a run of 500,000 copies. High definition all right, but I’m not so sure if it’s the gaming as much as it’s the girl sitting on the john with her panties pulled down, flushing
it at the same time. What is she doing anyway, flushing the toilet while still sitting on it? Oh…yeah. OK, never mind.

The press release was translated by Consoul Games for which we deeply thank. The new monthly trend magazine appears in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and is distributed through stores catering to the gaming & internet scene and other selected outlets free of charge. “With Consoul we look directly at the lifestyle of our customers. We address all, the fun of new emerging gadgets, the digital life of the internet, and naturally our outstanding games and films”, said Uwe Bassendowski, Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland GmbH.
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