Archive for March 5th, 2010

“Blur” saw several extra months in development thanks to a delayed release date from Activision and Bizarre Creations, and everyone involved wants to see the game as polished as possible when it reaches the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on May 25th in the U.S. With all of the various race settings, power-ups and tracks from Barcelona to Tokyo, you have to wonder where they’ll look first for downloadable content. Bizarre wasn’t ready talk about what the DLC for “Blur” will look like, but they want to begin work after they’ve finalized the core game.

“I don’t have any dates for DLC, but what I can say is it’s always been a massive part of the strategy to support the game with DLC,” “Blur” lead designer Ged Talbot told MTV News.

Talbot’s team will be fine-tuning “Blur” in the coming weeks as its multiplayer beta test continues on Xbox Live. Right now, that’s where the “Blur” developers’ studio hours are focused. Once the game hits stores, that may change.

“We do have plans for DLC,” he assured. “Again, no one has worked on it yet.”

With more than 30 race locations and 50 cars already planned for the title, it’s going to take a while for players to burn through the initial payload of content, so there’s probably no rush. Right now, I’d settle for a crack at single player mode, having only played the multiplayer demo. After this game hits the masses, I’ll be interested to see which components Bizarre chooses to build off of.

What’s your impression of “Blur” at this point? Do you think you’ll check it out this May? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

The iPad, Apple’s new-fangled tablet computer, will be hitting store shelves on April 3rd. The device combines the multi-function use of the iPod Touch (music, movies, web-browsing, gaming, so forth) but with a larger size and a higher resolution screen.

The version launching on April 3rd is WiFi enabled, while iPads with WiFi and 3G connectivity will be launching sometime in late April.

The pricing structure remains the same as was announced at Apple’s press conference a month ago:

WiFi Enabled
16GB – $499
32GB – $599
64GB – $699

WiFi/3G Enabled (Not including monthly service contract)
16GB – $629
32GB – $729
64GB – $829

Pre-orders are also starting next week at Apple stores, which should ease your concerns if you were planning on camping out in front of a giant glass cube all night.

There’s been a fair amount of controversy surrounding the Xbox Live’s Code of Conduct, concerning what you can and can’t say on the service. One of the more hot button issues was the ban of anyone declaring their sexual preference in their profile or Gamertag. It’s been a point of contention between Microsoft and users for some time, with Microsoft saying that it could lead to harassment, while users just wanted to express who they were.

Well, apparently the users have won. Today Microsoft announced that they’ve updated their Code of Conduct to allow people to indicate their sexual preference in their profile or Gamertag. Worth noting that you can’t just say any ol’ thing. The following terms are now allowed:
* Lesbian
* Gay
* Bi
* Transgender
* Straight

Other terms, including slang, are still no go and will result in a ban and/or a forced Gamertag name change.

We’ll have to wait and see if this causes any blow back. Surely there will be some harassment by morons, but that’s the internet for you. Thankfully there’s recourse, ranging from the Mute option to submitting a negative player review.

You can read the full Xbox Live Code of Conduct here.

Valve knows how to drum up buzz before a GDC appearance, and if the puzzle-ridden update of riddles, codes and images they released for “Portal” last week weren’t enough to maximize the number of message boards discussing their two-year-old game, a new ending probably did the trick. As they did before, the Steam forum has been poking around trying to overlay audio files and detect whatever may be hidden inside the new sequence, but the results seem inconclusive.

Categorized as “Added valuable asset retrieval” on the new update, the new ending fades away at the end with a robo-voice mentioning something about assuming a position. Feel free to take a stab at discerning what that means.

Theories flying around right now include the possibility that Valve may expand the scope of “Portal 2,” perhaps even overlapping it with a new “Half-Life 2″ chapter or sequel. Right now, if Valve doesn’t announce a “Portal” or “Half-Life” sequel at GDC, I think there may be riots, as they’ve stirred up their fandom with impressive results.

Given how the Orange Box linked the two properties before back in 2007, it’s conceivable Valve might do something similar post-GDC. Let’s not hurt our brains too much trying to calculate outcomes, though. After all, GDC is just days away, and the easiest way to figure everything out is to listen to what Gabe Newell says there.

Do you like the new “Portal” ending? What do you think this madness means? Share your theories, no matter how far fetched, in the comment section below.

Fans of Zipper Interactive have been getting their online shooter fill with “MAG,” but that fanbase was built on the back of another franchise: “SOCOM.” When hardly anyone was connecting their PS2’s to the internet, it was “SOCOM” that caused the hordes to pick up network adapters. And it appears that Zipper hasn’t forgotten where they came from, as “SOCOM 4″ has been announced and will release this fall.

Sony offered up a basic rundown of the story on their blog:

“As the Ops Com, your mission is to command an elite five-man squad charged with stopping his aggressive agenda before it’s too late. In only six days, you must lead your team through a hostile jungle and urban environments against an army of well-armed rebel insurgents that completely outnumber you.”

They go on to say that “SOCOM 4″ will feature 32-person multiplayer, in addition to the single-player campaign.

If you’re still dying for additional “SOCOM 4″ info, tune in to Gametrailers TV on Spike tonight at 12:30AM, as they’ll be airing the first trailer for the game.

It’s looking more and more like Suda51’s next title post-”No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle” may not be for a Nintendo system after all. Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda has spent some time pondering this year’s upcoming Project Natal and PS3 motion controller (which may or may not be called “Arc” or “Gem”) peripherals, and he sounds convinced that they are where his destiny lies.

“I will make some original IP to fit that control system,” Goichi Suda told GameSpot.

Though he went on to say that he would need to invest more hours with the interfaces to construct a game meant to use them to their fullest, Suda reportedly predicted that he might have something to reveal at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Some gamers out there may have their doubts about Suda (and according to his interview, many of them live in Japan). “No More Heroes” and “Killer7″ rank up there with some of the most original game concepts I’ve put on my shelf though, and I think he’s demonstrated a keen ability to tune his games to control systems in sensible ways. Whether or not you like his games’ content, you should have an eye out for how decides to play with Natal and Arc.

Would you like to see Suda take a stab at developing for Project Natal and Sony’s PS3 motion controller? How do you fee about his past projects? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

The latest game from the Tomb Raider franchise may not have “Tomb Raider” in the title or have a publicly designated platform yet, but it will be called “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.” Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix made the title official today, and promised to have something to present on March 9th at GDC 2010.

“This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting,” Crystal Dynamics general manager Darrell Gallagher said in a press release. “Lara Croft is such an iconic character in videogames, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”

It’s been a while since “Tomb Raider: Underworld” came out, so the new game isn’t a huge surprise. What is interesting, however, is the fact that Lara Croft has all the branding attention now. I’m sure that this is the result of exhaustive marketing surveys, the fact that the gameplay with be different enough that “Tomb Raider” didn’t fit in front, or a combination of both. Maybe we’ll all have a better idea after GDC concludes, though.

Are you surprised that Crystal Dynamics is dropping “Tomb Raider” from the title of Lara Croft’s new game? What platforms would you like to be able to download it for? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

Rockstar Games may have deemed “Red Dead Redemption” ready to show off, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s ready to to ship on time. Take-Two decided the game warranted a few extra weeks of polish and announced that they’ll move the release date to May 18th in North America — several weeks past its original April deadline. The shift came accompanied with the postponement of “Mafia 2,” which didn’t get a date, but will reportedly be out by the end of October.

“We shifted the launch of the game by several weeks into the third quarter,” Take-Two president and CEO Ben Feder told listeners during a quarterly financials conference call, according to Kotaku. “We believe this is the optimal time frame to release what is being hailed as the next generation of sandbox games.”

It’s notable that the vanguard for this “next generation” doesn’t include a revealed GTA title yet for Take-Two, and that seems to be the context for the case Feder tried to make to shareholders.

“‘Red Dead Redemption’ was delayed into Q3, which ironically we believe actually helps Q2 earnings as it is unlikely to be a profitable title given the over 3-4 years of development costs and very heavy marketing spending,” Signal Hill Capital Group analyst Todd Greenwald said in a note to investors, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

Whether or not it turns out to be profitable, I’m optimistic about “RDR,” and though I’m sure Take-Two would like to see it balance out their year-to-year planning with another GTA-caliber franchise, I really just want it to be as good as “Bully” with horses and hold-ups.

Are you disappointed about the “Red Dead Redemption” delay? What about “Mafia 2″? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.