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Heavier than rain: Kojima teaser site for next game blown wide open

Gino D. — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:05:45 +0000

Just as promised, Konami's teaser website for Kojima Productions' next project has opened its gates with blustery winds and flying cows (umm right, is Helen Hunt in the house?).

There's nothing much to see in the teaser site though - just some storm clouds rolling past a countryside and some wind sound effects playing in the background. A recent scan of a magazine ad for the same teaser hints that something may happen in the website on May 18.

So what game is it? Some say it's going to be called "Tornado Outbreak", as spotted a few days ago in Gamefly product listings for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii (all links are cached now since Gamefly seems to have taken them down).

Check out Konami's website through the Via link below. Gives me some sort of Heavy Rain vibe, but... c'mon, that's too much of a cop-out. Remember... check back by May 18!

Forget Indiana Jones, here comes Han Solo and the Staff of Kings with playable crossover cameo

Gino D. — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:08:37 +0000

Why play as Indiana Jones if you can go racing through jungles and ruins as rogue pilot Han Solo himself? Yes, LucasArts has revealed that Han Solo - or, at least, a costume/skin for Indy - will be crossing over to Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. Two Harrison Ford roles in one game - who'd have thought?

Looks weird seeing the Star Wars space man swing about with a whip, but hey, that's the novelty of it. Oh and sorry, furry friends, no Chewbacca. gwwwaarrrggglle

LucasArts hasn't said anything about how to actually unlock Han Solo - via game completion, special password, who knows? No news yet either if it's gonna be available across all platforms, but for what it's worth, the game will come out for the Wii, DS, PS2, and PSP by June 12.

You can check out the Via link below for a high quality version of the video embed.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings whips out story trailer

Lumos: Harry Potter 6 release date revealed

Gino D. — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:40:01 +0000

Finally. The Potter gang is back (this time with more raging hormones and some erstwhile snogging behind curtains in between classes).

After the whole ordeal of the "Harry Potter and the delayed video game" scenario, we get a street date notched in stone. The game was delayed due to the rescheduling of the movie from an original November 2008 release to summer 2009.

But now that mid-2009 is here, we can expect the game to finally roll in to coincide with the movie. What's more is that the game is coming out a few weeks ahead of the movie. Announced via the Daily Prophet press release, Electronic Arts makes it official.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released across all major platforms on June 30 in North America and July 3 in the UK. Choose your poison: the game's gonna be available for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, Mobile, Mac, and PC.

Just so you know, the movie comes out mid-July. Make sure to double-check with your local theaters for specific calendar dates.

Sudden withdrawal: no E3 for Atari

Gino D. — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:05:06 +0000

"Who you gonna call? Not Atari, that's who."

Aww, and I was so expecting to see some Ghostbusters PSP action in E3! Turns out that Atari will be pulling out from this year's gaming event - and no, it's not really because of Swine Flu concerns.

They're pulling out of the show floor and have confirmed that they won't be making any sort of press conference in LA during E3. From a press representative of Atari:

Atari has made the proactive decision to attend but not exhibit at this year's E3 event. Although we feel E3 benefits the entire games business, we are very focused around other selling and marketing initiatives for our upcoming Ghostbusters, Champions Online and other to be announced titles.

With the ESA website still listing Atari as one of its exhibitors, this sudden turn of events makes it appear as if it was a last minute decision on Atari's part. Dude, there's like three weeks left before the event, and only now they decide to pull out? Aww.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings whips out story trailer

Gino D. — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:13:21 +0000

I'm not sure if hiding your relics in a booby-trapped dungeon was all the rage back in Moses' time, but yeah, sure enough, the story behind Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings involves looking for that sea-parting stick of glory.

To elaborate more on the story of how this whole adventure starts out, LucasArts has released a video trailer outlining the backstory for the game. This video diary is actually the first in a series of videos they'll be releasing leading up to the game's street date next month.

If you've been iffy about the game so far, this vid's got lots of gameplay and cut scene footage.

LucasArts' Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for the Wii, DS, PS2, and PSP will be out by June 12.

Rumor: Beyond Good and Evil 2 leaked footage going beyond Mirror’s Edge?

Gino D. — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:04:12 +0000

We seemed to have missed this over the weekend, but just in case you're not one of the tens of thousands of people who've already viewed this on YouTube, here's one that's definitely for the books. It shows some leaked footage from Ubisoft showing what could possibly be an E3 2009 trailer for Beyond Good and Evil 2.

Considering that the main character here (Jade, obviously) looks like the one featured in the debut trailer, we're assuming this leak is legit. It shows quite a lot of action reminiscent of the first game - only now on some high-octane 'roids and ditching the whole stealth aspect, while doing some Mirror's Edge-like free running across a town littered with cops.

Run, Jade! Ruuuuun!

On the green corner: Punch-Out!! live-action documentary trailer

Gino D. — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:15:52 +0000

Little Mac is getting ready to deliver some stars whirling around his opponent's craniums once he gets out into the Wii arena. To add another dimension to the previously 2D game, we've got a documentary ad for Punch-Out!!

It's live-action (and it's even got some gameplay bits toward the end). It's quite inspiring, actually, and slightly bit hilarious to see dummy stand-ins for King Hippo (well, the iconic X-marked bellybutton should be a dead ringer) and Great Tiger (care of the turban).

Nintendo's Punch-Out!! for the Wii gets released this May 18.

More Punch-Out!! Wii details revealed: challenges, unlockable secret mode, more

From the launchpad: Astro Boy game gets platform releases, more info

Gino D. — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:58:06 +0000

Announced last year, Astro Boy: The Video Game finally finds its home across four confirmed platforms. D3Publisher has announced that the game based on the movie will be released worldwide for the Wii, DS, PS2, and PSP some time autumn of this year, coinciding with the animated film's October debut.

Some new details for the game: it looks to be a 3D platformer where you can fly around (think Iron Man). Combat allows you to use a bunch of Astro Boy's arsenal - and when I say arsenal, that includes the machine guns that come out of his arse.

D3's press release also mentions some unlockable elements which include an art gallery and different skins for Astro Boy. Both the PS2 and Wii versions of the game will have a 2-player mode.

Sniffing around for some placeholder screenshots from the movie (since there's none for the game yet), I came across the trailer from a few days ago. Why not we post that here instead, huh? Nice to see Freddie Highmore do another good job in voice acting:

Astro Boy movie rocketing to video game platforms next year

Ubisoft’s E3 ‘09 lineup: Assassin’s Creed 2, new games, special guests

Gino D. — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:17:12 +0000

Ubisoft has revealed their plans for the E3 Expo. Sure, they'll have their own booth on the show floor, but their press conference will be held on June 1 in an invitation-only set up at the Los Angeles Theater. We won't have to resort to leaks from the closed-door event either because they'll be making their announcements public on their website the morning after.

Meanwhile, here's the line-up for E3:

Assassin's Creed 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Red Steel 2
Rabbids Go Home
and "other unannounced titles"

Aww, too bad they didn't give an exact number of how many new games they'll be revealing (Capcom's got two mystery titles!). A clue here could be that they also mentioned that their Holiday lineup for this year will be announced during the press con.

More than this, and quite possibly another clue, Ubisoft also stated in their press release that they will have special guests during the event "to thrill attendees and web viewers."

Umm, Jade Raymond, anyone? She is, after all, working on some new project which is not I am Alive. Maybe they're ready to reveal it on E3.

Musical trio officially announced: DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero

Gino D. — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:21:26 +0000

Via press release, Activision has officially announced three new games in the Guitar Hero franchise. Not all that surprising, really, since one of them was pretty much confirmed months ago (though not by way of press release), and the other - the fifth installment - was to be expected eventually.

Though not much specific details were revealed, the following three games are currently scheduled to be released by fall of this year: DJ Hero (see images above for concept renders of the turntable controller peripheral), Guitar Hero 5, and Band Hero.

Bullet points from the PR:

The company s groundbreaking DJ Hero expands Guitar Hero s signature social gaming to all-new consumers with the addition of diverse music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and dance. Introducing an all-new innovative turntable controller, DJ Hero transforms players into DJs who rule the club scene by creating original mixes of popular songs and music from the world s most exciting artists and DJs.
Letting fans continue to fulfill their rock fantasies, Guitar Hero 5 features the hottest rock and roll artists today as well as classic rock bands and gives players an unprecedented level of control over the way they play the game with the ability to drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and difficulty levels on the fly.
The franchises first E10 rated console game, Band Hero delivers an exciting music collection featuring top-40 hits designed to expand the experience to a new genre and appeal to a broad family audience who can play together on the guitar, drums, bass and microphone. The game builds upon Guitar Hero s easy-to-play, difficult-to-master signature gameplay and allows novice players and expert fans to join together on their favourite songs

See, told you the press release didn't say much. No platform releases were confirmed for any of the games, but we assume that it's most likely going out for the three major consoles of this generation.

ActiBliz boss finally confirms DJ Hero, out this year