Ready for more Red Dead Redemption informations? Good, because Rockstar have plenty to share as the hype train for their latest gets re-rolling ahead its May 18th release.
Today the publisher unveiled the territory of New Austin, just one of three areas that make up the giant world in RDR, which is "home to scattered townships and forts, but far from tamed. Savage outlaws and wild animals still roam the open spaces, and wary travelers share the newly cut roads with as many bandits as farmers. Trains and coaches move quickly between the larger towns, but a sidearm is a necessity when traveling by horseback."
Hit the jump for mammoth new gallery of screens, and stay tuned later today for a new gameplay video: "Life in the West."
Infinity Ward's public service announcement about random grenade spam in Modern Warfare 2 last year, well, you know, it didn't go over so well at the end of the day. Not at all. Kind of like Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer itself. But luckily for us, EA and DICE stepped up to the plate with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, took position, and have had MW2 in their sights from the get go. And they succeeded so far in just about every area. And that now includes a friendly little PSA of their own.
DICE teamed up with New York Yankees' pitcher CC Sabathia to bring the familiar, and important, issue to the forefront. Mission accomplished. Critical strike. Whatever else fits in this instance. We'll just let it play out as it should. Enjoy.
Sweetwater is the man. Well played, EA. Well played.
Spider-Man spins another web later this year, with Activision recently confirming the next interactive wall-crawling adventure will drops sometime in 2010. What that game is, though, remains a mystery to us. Or does it? GamePro have just spoiled (some of) Activision's announcement fun.
The cover of the newest GamePro reveals that Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is on the way, though it's unclear if that is the main (or only) Spidey title in the pipeline for the near future. A proper Spider-Man 4 was being worked on to coincide with the film, but the death of that sequel and the subsequent news of a franchise reboot by Sony put the breaks on the project. What's this new game about? Time travel, perhaps?
Whose developing Shattered Dimensions also remains unknown. Sources claimed that Radical Entertainment, developers of Prototypewere working on the aforementioned Spidey 4 before they lost the gig, and then were all-but shut down. As well, the team at Shaba Games behind the last major title, Web of Shadows, also are no more.
Unless the remains of Radical are pumping this out, could we be looking at another Vicarious Visions or Treyarch effort? We'll have to wait for more info when the magazine arrives.
Holy unbelievable news, Batman! Initially only announced for Europe and Australia, the 3D-enhanced Game of the Year Edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum is swooping onto North Amercian shelves in May, Eidos revealed today.
The re-release includes a pair of 3D glasses to view the exclusive new visuals, as well as all the DLC Challenge Maps: "Scarecrow Nightmare", "Crime Alley," "Totally Insane," "Nocturnal Hunter," as well as "Insane Night" and "Prey in the Darkness." The package will retail for $39.99.
Even the media giant IGN isn't immune to the plague that is videogame industry lay-offs. The corporation today revealed that they're having to "reduce the size of our organization" and will be "eliminating roles today in every part of the company."
A internal memo obtained by Joystiq this afternoon confirmed rumors that have been swirling all day, acknowledging the need for IGN to "reduce costs" due to the poor economy. Company president Roy Bahat said to staffers:
"While we've been doing well -- we're profitable and our audience continues to grow -- we're still feeling the effects of the economy, and we need to make sure we can invest where there is opportunity. Over the past couple of years, we have been focusing IGN on areas where we can not only grow, but be best in the world: serving gamers online, and serving advertisers looking to reach men. To do that successfully, we have to be as efficient as possible in our core businesses. The difficult actions we're taking today get us to where we need to be."
He adds that "We are losing colleagues who played an important role getting us to where we are -- #1 in games and men's lifestyle, and growing 40% over last year in the total size of our audience. We are deeply grateful to our colleagues for everything they've done. We as a company are absolutely headed in the right direction, and while today will be hard, it won't stop us."
The company says they are "making every effort to be compassionate and fair to the people whose roles we've eliminated." Apparently this whole matter was to be kept "absolutely confidential to IGN," but that ship has obviously sailed.
Best of luck to all who have been affected. Sad news indeed.
[Update]: Though the story is still developing, some confirmed axed staffers are noneother than the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TeamXbox, Brent Soboleski, as well as IGN's Chris Roper.
Any hot new software from Epic Games, with the exception of other third-party products that use the Unreal Engine, is skipping out on 2010, the studio has confirmed as of this week. That goes for the likes of unannounced new IP, Gears of War 3, and potentially Shadow Complex 2.
But about Gears 3, a game that we all know is coming, and has been in the works since before Gears 2 shipped. Apparently it's coming along nicely, and we'll be getting a first look at it soon. Really soon. Like next month soon.
A report from Edge, who cite a "trusted publishing source," Microsoft is slated to drop the next installment of Marcus Fenix's assault against the Locust in spring 2011; April, to be more specific. What's more, allegedly a teaser video for the title will be released on April 8th (yes, next month), with a proper reveal/announcement to come at E3 -- probably at Microsoft's press conference. Anyone who didn't see that part coming from mile away, well, that's unfortunate.
According to the source, "Microsoft’s keen to avoid a clash with Halo: Reach and wants Natal to own Christmas. That’s why we won’t be seeing Gears Of War 3 until next year, but expect a major marketing push ahead of its release."
Halo: Reach was just recently pegged for a September 14th release, while Project Natal is rumored for an October-ish launch. Neither have been confirmed by Microsoft. More curbstomps and Lancer duels in the springtime? What's that you say, f*** yeah? I concur. Though, let's hope a multiplayer beta is in the works this time around.
For the record, Epic's VP has issued a comment on the rumor, saying, "You’re kidding, right?” Take that however you will.
Project Natal is sure to bring with it not just innovative new gaming experiences, but also retrofitted software and mini-games aplenty this fall. Codemasters, though, they're warning that doing one of the latter
Codemasters Studios' VP Gavin Cheshire said to Edge, "I’m sure there’ll be games attuned to Natal and that’ll be great, but what you can’t do is back-engineer it into something you’re currently doing. And that’s where it’ll fail."
“There are a lot of companies saying they’ve got Natal stuff coming," he adds, "but it’ll be bolted on to something they already had in development, probably.”
Microsoft have stated that over seventy percent of the developers and publishers are working on Natal software, with the full launch line-up to be showcased at E3. Outside of companies like Rare and Ubisoft, there haven't been many confirmations of in-development products. What's in store remains a mystery, and if early Wii titles were any indication, tacked on user interface ideas and gesture controls aren't going to cut it, or work that well.
“We’re not big enough to just try out a few things on Natal. We’re certainly looking, and we’ve got some great ideas, but it’s how you implement them," he said. “We’re never going to say no, but to be fair to us we’re focused on other priorities right now."
XBLA this week: Game Room 22 March 2010 08:47
The Block Party comes to a glorious end this week by way of Game Room, LIVE Arcade's brand new 3D social Avatar arcade for retro titles (some of which will eventually require a re-purchase)....