FFXIII: No Playable Demo This Year

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but according to Playstation fan-site, Playstaion Universe (PSU) SQEnix have announced that we will not be sampling the playable delights that their up and coming sequel, Final Fantasy XIII will have to offer.

Back in April, C&VG reported on an article in EGM which implied that a demo was on its way to PS3 owners this year. However, PSU have transcribed an article in Famitsu where they cite Square Enix's Shinji Hasimoto as saying that we won't be seeing a anything on the sort. This not only includes FFXIII but the spin-off Versus, too.

What will happen however, is that in-game footage will be shown "later this year", most presumably at the up and coming Tokyo Games Show. So 2008 it is then. Sorry.

Here, have a consolatory screenshot:

Looking good.

Source: Kotaku

Crackdown Devs Want You To Help make Crackdown 2

There's gonna be another one!

Realtime Worlds, makers of the critically acclaimed, free roaming, third person shooter, Crackdown have sent out a plea to the Crackdown community at large to give them ideas for a sequel.

Although busy on their forthcoming title, APB, those lovely chaps down at Reatime want you to pitch in with your ideas as to what they could include in the next instalment of the game.

If this sounds like the thing for you then head over to Destructoid.com, post your idea in their comments section and they'll deliver the goods to Realtime "when the thread goes limp" as they themselves salaciously suggest.

If it was me, I'd want birds flying around that I could shoot down and of course helicopters, planes and /\/\070Rb1k3z!

Source: Digg

Capcom Defends Going Multi-platfrom with Devil May Cry 4

Kieiji Inafune, Capcom's Head of R&D has recently talked about with the company chose take their forthcoming title Devil May Cry 4 multi-platform instead of following tradition and maintaining its exclusivity to the Playstation brand.

In an interview with Spong.com, Inafune remarked, "Until now it’s been hard for us to develop multi-platform games, but recently we have developed this development engine that allows us to develop a game in the engine and then put it on to PS3 and 360." (He likes the word develop - or the translator does more like!)

“Developing Dead Rising and Lost Planet helped flush out everything in the development tool system – which is now pretty much complete, aside from the usual upgrades – so we decided to use that engine, make it for the 360 and the PS3 with Devil May Cry 4”, he added.

The series has been with Sony since 2001 and when Capcom first announced their were going multi', hardcore fans of the series went nuts polling Capcom saying say were planning to boycot the company amongst other really pathetic things.

As of yet DMC4 as it's commonly known, has no official release date but some sites have it down Q4. However, screenshots are available. Here, have one!

Serious.

Source: Playstation Universe

Slimline PSP out in the UK before Japan

As discussed on Monday, Sony's new slimline PSP, or the recently dubbed PSP Lite is expected to be on Japanese shelves on September the 20th. Sony however, have now announced that the UK will now get this new, improved handheld before Japan.

According to our old friend, David Reeves - Mr. Sony Europe - "“Once people get it into their hands they will feel the difference. It will come out at €169 (approximately £114) in all PAL territories at the beginning of September."

That's not my hand!

However, rumours on the internets are whispering that the new PSP could already be in stores as early as late August! I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Exciting, huh?

Source: MCV

First Look at Bungie title, Marathon: Durundal on XBox 360

At last week's E3, Bungie announced that their classic shooter, Marathon was coming to Microsoft's XBox Live arcade service. Well now you can see footage of it, albeit blocky, low-res YouTube footage and I made the executive decision that this was certainly better than absolutely nothing. So watch:



As you can tell from the clip it will support up to 8 players over Xbox Live and will feature the now standard original and HD modes. A release date is yet unknown but the USK (German Ratings Board) have rated the game which is usually a sign of things not being too far off.

Is it just me or does it look like Doom?

Nintendo 64 Kid loses his crown?

Those who remember the borderline psychosis of a the wholesome all-American pre-teen opening his presents at Christmas to find a shiny new Nintendo 64 lurking under the wrapping paper will no doubt be somewhat less surprised than otherwise expected by this new offering from the children of America.

The video entails a boy sorting through his Pokémon cards and he comes across one that judging by his reaction he didn't expect he'd get. Take a look!



If anyone knows a cure for this kind of behaviour please keep it to yourself as I'm sure you'll join me in finding it rather funny, if a little bit warped.

For those of us who wondered what happened to our past-master, Kotaku have done some digging.

Video Source: Joystiq

Wii has now sold 3m units in Japan alone

According to a new report Nintendo are sitting on a huge pile of money. Having already announced that they are actually earning on every console sold, the report now states that they have sold over three million units in their home territory, Japan.

This new information has been extracted from reuters who cite Famitsu publisher Enterbrain which said that since the Wii's début on December 2nd the console has sold over 3.01 million units. Which is quite a lot in old money.

The Nintendo Wii: doing rather well it seems!

They go on to explain the in the same time-frame, although released a month earlier on November 11th, Sony's PS3 has sold only 1.01 million units. This was also compared to the 360 total sales of 420,705k consoles.

However, just to put thing into perspective it announces that the Nintendo DS has sold 18m units in Japan alone. Nintendo executives were too busy counting to comment.

Source: Next-Gen.biz

120GB PS3 for Europe?

During an interview with Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, SCEEs President David Reeves reinforced his stance on how the 80GB PS3 simply wasn't worth bringing to Europe.

"[Unlike the US and S.Korea] going up 20GB is not worth it." He stated. Although this still leaves Playstation owners wondering why, David Reeves did leave a footnote to his sentence. "...if you double it, it's worth it. So maybe you'll see something a bit later."

So does this mean that Europe will get an exclusive machine that the US and S.Korea won't? Or does he simply mean that when Sony decide on a 120GB model for all regions, "the most important region in the world", Europe won't be left out of the loop this time.

The 80GB PS3 should be available in the aforementioned regions from around August, come bundled with the hugely successful first-party title Motorstorm and retail for around $599.

Here, have a picture!

Sony's New 80GB PS3 bundled with Motorstorm

Source: Engadget

No on-line Co-Op for Halo 3

Bungie's PR Superstar Frankie O'Conner has revealed that sadly on-line co-op will not be an initial feature of Halo 3. The game is due to be released in September and Bungie's media mogul said:

"'We're not dumb,' says Bungie's Frank O'Connor. 'We know that people want it and we're trying to make it happen. I think the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That's a significant challenge. And there's lots of design things you could do to prevent that from happening, but they would make it not feel like Halo any more. If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't.'"

So close yet so far

So, those of you who were planning on sitting down with a friend over XBox Live and enjoying Halo together on release day will either have to save up for that air fare, or simply play alone alongside the Arbiter, crying softly to yourselves.

Source: Snatched from the pages of EGM

Resident Evil 5 - First Details In

At last! Something to chew on. When Resident Evil 5 was announced way back when all this was all fields, the internet murmered with excitement at thought of a Next Gen outing. Since then, however, pickings have been slim to say the very least. Until very recently.

Back at last weeks E3, teaser footage was shown and we all shuffled about excitedly as we did back in the day. Capcom have now given us even more news: some setting details and more importantly who our protagonist will be.

Producer Jan Takeuchi revealed all to Japanese Gaming Magazine Famitsu and gaming website IGN had translated it for us.

The plot will unfold in what appears to be an African village where Resi-legend Chris Redfield is sent to unearth the ghastly goings-on. Apparently Takeuchi has promised as that there will be a new kind of enemy, one with a lot more brain power than you'd expect from your every day, common and garden living dead.

Does he look more intelligent to you?

Still no release date though. '2008' is the closest we can come.

Xbox 360 DVD Region Hacked

A member of the console modding community who goes by the name of SeventhSon, has devised a way to change the DVD Region of your XBox 360 console. This, in a nutshell, means that now an owner of a US console could effectively play UK PAL games and vice-versa.

For the technically minded of you, SeventhSon altered the DVD Region Code and the Game Key for the Hypervisor Exploiter Kernels 4532 and 4538.

If you know what that means please drop me line as although it is a wonderful piece of terminology, I have only been able to unearth that the hack itself means de-soldering your XBox 360 Flash Chip.

How Microsoft will get around this and indeed respond to this news remains to be seen.

Story Courtesy of Engadget

The Darkness - Devoured on the XBox 360

Beginning

It took me a while to complete The Darkness. There were just as many nights that were spent ripping NPC's hearts out of their chests as there were getting killed within seconds - not being able to get past a certain obstacle that the developers over at 2k Games had wedged in my path. My affection for Jackie Estacado had grown in tandem with the Darkness powers that gradually make themselves available to you throughout the game. His story became our story and we were both interested in reaching the final chapter.

Many FPSs rarely achieve this level of story telling. They attempt to tack on a plot in order to give the aftermath of the massacre you have just partaken in some kind of meaning. Gears of War is a good example of this: I never once felt like I was saving the world, or even trying to. I just took pleasure in annihilating everything in my path and gawped at the graphics along the way. Graphically, The Darkness is no Gears, but what it may lack in presentation, it certainly makes up for in atmosphere. Not that the Darkness' presentation is poor, but it pays more attention to physics and character animation than to whether the wallpaper actually looks as though it's peeling off when you lean up against a bullet-ridden wall in search of some cover. The rag-doll physics are well implemented and body parts splay and flail in a more than life-like fashion.

Without wanting to reveal too much of the storyline, which for me is the game, I'll say this: your journey through the subways of New York is punctuated by chance meetings with old mobsters whom all share your feelings of being sick to the back teeth of your old Uncle Paulie the Don and his relationship with Police Captain Shrote who is in cohorts with Paulie's drugs operation in this modern-day New City that you inhabit. The old-timers you bump into ask you for help along the way, do some odd jobs for them in return for some phone numbers that you can call to hear a quirky message and unlock a wide range of extras including The Darkness comics and golf outfits for your Darklings.

Darklings are your companions throughout the game. They can be summoned at any almost any juncture in a level but only when Jackie has his Darkness powers enabled. There are four types all possessing different abilities; from turning off lights - darkness gives you power so your abilities last longer - to smashing the bad-guys on the head with a golf club. The 4 Darklings can be a great help in tricky situations as they draw fire, enabling you to select from a whole arsenal of weapons that you've got stuffed under your long, black, leather trench coat.

Hmmm. I didn't mention this bit, did I...

Middle

Estecado's love for his girlfriend Jenny, is the driving force behind his actions and his thirst for revenge is unquenchable. We are constantly reminded of his undying and passionate love for her. The sympathy the game tries to evoke however, feels somewhat hollow. As we are not treated to any history of the couple, their life together, their shared experiences, I found it difficult to empathise. The drive behind the story, at least for me anyway, is the various missions handed out to you by the bearded 'Butcher' Joyce, an old friend of Jackie's and quite handy at 'disposing' of bodies. It is the various pieces of the puzzle that you collect along the way and how the dark and mysterious background of your possession unfolds that lights the way.

You are spoken to throughout the game by The Darkness itself, a black, slithering monster that inhabits you voiced by Mike Patton of Faith no More and Mr. Bungle fame. His twisted, coarse vocals add a sick and macabre tone to this thing living inside you. It hates you, you hate it. You need each other to complete your various quests although your motives could be no further apart. The hatred grows as you try and outwit one another, but the hatred you feel only brings you closer together. The power The Darkness covets, the more powerful you become and dispensing of Uncle Paulie's henchmen becomes both increasingly fun and varied. You can suck your enemies into a black-hole, stick your demon-arm through their chests and hurl them into the air. Or how about sending one of your tentacles around corners and through doorways to sneak attack enemies; ripping their larynxs out with sharpened, gnashing teeth? Or simply using your Darkness Guns to send shockwaves through your enemy? It's riveting stuff!

That Demon Arm is sure Handy!

End

For all the morbid pleasure The Darkness brings, it suffers from a few niggling issues that must be addressed. Sometimes your mission doesn't update as it should and it can leave you disorientated. There have also been complaints that some of the side missions simply haven't loaded for some users, making the Achievement hunters out there somewhat disappointed at not being able to up their gamerscore. Also, some of those quests mean that Jackie has to traverse great distances in order to reach his goal and the fact that he moves excruciatingly slowly can make your journey feel like a chore.

I also took issue with your Darkling helpers: for all their abilities I found I only used them as cover rather than them actually helping me. Maybe I didn't use them correctly, but half of the time my "Lightkiller" Darkling didn't kill the lights, so I shot them out with it standing next me look rather swish if not utterly useless in a flat, tartan cap and Pringle sweater. (seriously!) I like many others, also found that for the most part, your "Creeping Dark" ability is sufficient to further your progression - enabling you to stand around corners and virtually never engage in battle. The offering of Achievements for different types of kill does offer an incentive to be creative however. In fact their are plenty of Achievements to go after making the various side-quests a slightly more rewarding experience.

Every story however, must have its end and Jackie Estacado's is no different. Like all well told tales, the final chapter left me wanting more when I put down my pad at the end of the game . Was it really the end? Will we see Jackie again? What of The Darkness? Although Estacado hated him, I rather liked Mike Patton saying weird and scary stuff in my ear for 10 hours. Have 2K Games plans for a sequel? I hope so.


8/10

Peter Moore Resigns (A Peter Moore Day exclusive!)

Well, it's happened. Peter Moore has handed in his notice for quote-un-quote, "Personal Reasons." He is moving his family back to the Bay Area - wherever that is - and taking the EA job.

So the king is dead, long live the king, I suppose. And the XBox's 360's new royalty is Don Mattrick, a former President of EA. Wow. How long will the wife-swapping continue?

The King

So Tuesday, 17th July will forever be remembered as Peter Moore day. I ask all my 0 readers to take a moments silence as you read the Official Press Release from that huge company in Redmond:

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Don Mattrick, a former president at Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), will lead the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB), which includes overseeing the Xbox® and Games for Windows® businesses. Peter Moore, who currently serves as corporate vice president of IEB, has decided to move his family back to the Bay Area for personal reasons and has secured another opportunity in the video games industry.

Mattrick will take over as the senior vice president of IEB at Microsoft, effective July 30. Mattrick was the founder of Distinctive Software Inc., which operated as a private company from 1982 until its merger with EA in 1991. Mattrick held various senior positions within EA, most recently as president of Worldwide Studios, until his resignation in February 2006. In February 2007, Mattrick began working with the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft as an external advisor.

"Peter has contributed enormously to the games business since joining Microsoft in 2003 and we are sad to see him go," said Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "Since that time, he presided over the global launch of the Xbox 360™, spearheaded a revitalized and rebranded Games for Windows business, and helped steer the console's ascent."
Moore has decided to return with his family to Northern California, where they lived until he took the position at Microsoft. Moore will remain at Microsoft to assist in the transition through August and will then return to the San Francisco Bay area.

"While Peter will certainly be missed, we are delighted to have one of the industry's most talented and passionate veterans on board to lead the business," Bach said. "Don is well-known and respected throughout the industry for his deep knowledge, technical expertise and management savvy. Under Don's leadership, the games team is looking forward to embarking on our biggest holiday ever, with a wide-ranging roster of some of the most highly anticipated titles."

Mattrick brings 23 years of games industry and development experience to the strong Microsoft management team, having helped bring to life such celebrated game franchises as the "Need for Speed," "Harry Potter" and "The Sims" while at EA.

"Over the past two decades, and the past few months in particular, I've worked closely with many of Microsoft's top leaders and I've always been impressed by their talent, passion and commitment," said Mattrick. "I'm thrilled to join an already strong team that's delivering truly amazing gaming experiences to customers around the world. I've never been more excited about the future of the industry, and firmly believe Microsoft will lead the next great innovations in gaming."

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Tuesday is now Peter Moore day

After the recent article about how Peter Moore responded to Sony's onslaught yesterday, you would be forgiven into thinking that Peter Moore will have had enough of being in the Games Daily limelight this Tuesday. However you are sadly mistaken. Rumours are now abound that Microsoft's corporate vice president of interactive entertainment business, entertainment and devices division, basically Mr.XBox, is leaving the company to secure himself a position within the upper annals of EA Sports.


EA and MS have been very close over the years but the fact that Moore once ran the sports business with giant Reebok and is rather outspoken over his love about all things sporty, could add some weight to the rumours.

It's that man again!

The question of salary must be a stumbling block, however as is there a company out there that can match a Microsoft-exec pay cheque? Also, going from "Mr. XBox" 360 to "bloke at EA" could be quite rightfully construed as a backward step.


Who knows?

The Empire Strikes Back

As was reported yesterday, Sony made a rather timely and somewhat scathing attack on Microsoft's XBox 360 console, labelling it as console that wouldn't last.

As expected, Peter Moore bursts out of the stables at a gallop in order to trample over Peter Dillies' less than charitable remarks yesterday. "Sony is failing in Japan!" Peter Moore remarked in an interview with GameDaily (no relation).

"Sony’s getting outsold by what, 6-to-1?” he stated. “You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling.

“I built a business plan for Japan but I don't think my expectations in Japan were anything close to what Sony's expectations are. They are failing.

"They're missing their plan by much more than I'm missing my plan."

Peter Moore, smug, as we like him!

Moore is also very confident that the XBox 360 will outstrip the achievements of its first Xbox outing - which let's face it, can not be the most difficult job in the world. Still, Moore uses this precarious position as a platform for rebuttal:

“I think the plan we have built, that calls for cost reductions in hardware, clearly gives us an advantage in price that actually allows us to get to lower price points much sooner than Sony will.

“They can have a 'ten-year plan' all they like, but it's executing that plan and getting to the mass market with price points that counts, and I feel a lot closer to being able to do that than they do right now.”

So my console is better than yours! Nerr!

Sony says the XBox 360 simply 'doesn't work'.

You can hear the knives sharpening across the Atlantic. Sony's Marketing Vice President, Peter Dillie hit out at the 360 at this years E3 saying the XBox 360 "doesn't even work."

This was not the only thing he said however:

"I don't want to be argumentative," said Dillie. "But I take issue with Microsoft either having a long tail, or being profitable, because they've never done either. They've never made a dime in this business.

"With the Xbox 360 you've got an inconsistent design, some have a hard drive, some don't, and none of them have Blu-Ray, and the HD DVD will be out of business in a matter of months. Is this a ten year product?" he said.

I'm sure Microsoft will reply in kind, and when they do, you'll be first (well, you know, as quick as I can!) to know.

Maddened mother blames games

The mother of the man man who stabbed nurse Cheryl Moss to death, Lorraine Harling, has blamed violent video games for her son, Stuart's actions. Speaking to the English Sunday newspaper The News Of The World she bemoaned gaming as the fundamental influence for her son's actions:

"I knew he was playing the video games but we didn't really know what went on in them, how brutal and graphic they were.

"Stuart was 11 or 12 when I bought him the PlayStation. For a long time I didn't even realise games had age limits on them. We'd just buy him the game that all the other kids had. I didn't really know what they were about. I think most parents are the same."

The judges recently gave Stuart Harling a life sentence after reportedly stabbing his victim 72 times and according to his mother, this was "exactly as he'd practised on the Playstation in his bedroom."

"Every night he would retreat into his darkened bedroom at home in Rainham, Essex, and enter a grisly virtual world that revelled in sadism, ritual blood-letting and death. Just like millions of other youngsters," she is quoted as saying. The News Of The World however, added it's own douse of petrol to the already out of control blaze:

"One of baby-faced Harling's favourite games was the notorious Manhunt, where players SLASH and SLICE their victims with meat CLEAVERS, cheese WIRE and CHAINSAWS, or suffocate them with plastic bags."

Harling's mother is quoted as saying, "I know these games are played by kids across the world, but some are truly horrific. And if they can cause a trigger to be pulled in someone's head they should be banned."

Just what this will mean for the future of video games remains to be seen. It will surely add to Jack Thompson's unrelenting campaign against the industry, that's for sure.

UT3 Mods may well be 360 bound after all

After Epic announced at last week's E3 that their up and coming title, Unreal Tournament 3 would be not only be release on Sony's Playstation 3 ahead of rival console, the Xbox 360, they also intimated that community mods for the title would only be released for Playstation3 also.

The very fact that they left out the 360 meant the gaming world at large automatically assumed that these mods would be Playstation 3 exclusive. However, Epic's Vice President Mark Rein explain why they were hesitant in including the 360.

"One of our big concerns was the ability to bring mods to the platform, and it's still a bit of an open issue, but we've had some pretty clear indications that we'll be able to do it, and we're pretty excited about that," he says. "That was kind of the one thing, we wanted to make sure we'd be able to bring user-created content to the platform before we made a firm commitment to it."

The reason for the initial doubts about the ability to mod the 360 version of the game were cast by Epic themselves. They gave an interview at last year's Tokyo Game Show where they remarked rather candidly:

"Unfortunately it's [Xbox Live] more of a closed platform," and says they've even been "quite negative toward user-created content."

So either MS have either loosened up or the very thought of the PS3 getting one up was too much to bare.

You can check out the Official Site Here

Super Stardust HD

I was very apprehensive whilst this game made its way down to my shiny black box from the PSN. I was apprehensive because of what Super Stardust HD was billed to be: As good if not better than the now legendary 'Geometry Wars' on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade.

I didn't like Geometry Wars. I found it too difficult and there was simply too much going on at once for me to get my head round.

There. I said it.

If you're still reading then now you understand my reservations about playing another game of a similar ilk. Still, other reviews were positive so I thought this title deserved a closer look. A decision I'm glad I made.

The control system is simple. Left TS: Move. Right TS: Fire in all different directions. LT: Boost. RT: Smart Bomb. Nothing too complicated at all.

As you're making your way around the various planets, meteorites, alien monsters and little red spiky ball thingies all hunt you down or simply just get in your way. The meteorites come in all shapes and sizes and split into teeny weeny, tinsy winsy smaller ones, all of them in need of a good old fashioned blasting.

As you progress, the sheer deluge of colour and splaying plasma fire lighting up your screen is a sight to behold. All without a shade of slow-down, running at a very smooth 60fps. Although stunning and chaotic at the same time, it didn't leave me with the feeling claustrophobia that Geometry Wars did. A timely boost with the left trigger and I had some breathing space and as you traverse around the length and breadth of a planet, your playing field feels a lot larger.

Shiny, swirly things!

There are 25 levels to get your head round, and considering it took me about an hour and a half to get through the first five that's a good few hours gameplay for around six of your English pounds. Of course if you're a dab hand at this kind of thing, your gaming-time could be considerably less. However, for the price of of a couple of Boots meal deals who's complaining?

Hopefully more games of this quality will be joining Super Stardust HD in the near future. The lean spell that almost all Playstation 3 owners have had to endure recently has been difficult, be we soldiered through it. And with games like Super Stardust HD being the light at the end of the tunnel, it seems we have certainly been rewarded for our patience.

Anyone who needs that kind of casual, 'dip in and out' entertainment that in my opinion the PS3 has sorely lacked since launch, then this is the game to get. Conversely, if you live and breathe for this sort of schmup action, and succumbed to the charms of its evil twin, Geometry Wars, it won't disappoint you either.

Seni Soccer XBLA Priced and dated

The much anticipated remake of the 1992 Amiga and Atari ST classic has finally passed certification and the countdown has begun. That's right, Codies have made a press release that lets us know when we can all get our grubby little hands on it.

Codemasters have remained tight-lipped for quite a while and the "ready when it's ready" tag line has deterred many an enquirer.

Well this week we were finally told that the release will be on August 29th and the game will cost 800 Points.

I'm informed that on-line play will be implemented with the usual 200 Achievements and on-line leaderboards to help boost that fragile ego when you compare yourself with some bloke you've never met off the internet.

There's also a HD version that I'm told is actually worth the price of admission this time round. So all in all, everything is looking pretty positive.

Check back around late August for our in-depth review of the game and for now, there's, well...nothing you can do but wait!

Soon my pretties. Soon!