Archive for February, 2010

Rainbow Six Vegas Expanding With 5 New Multiplayer Maps

I know this is old news by now for some of you, but since we talked about Lost Planet’s upcoming multiplayer maps yesterday, it’s only fair to do the same for another hot multiplayer game on the Xbox 360 – Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six: Vegas (or was it Tom Clancy’s?). At the end of March, the game will expand, as usual via XBLM, with a new downloadable content package called Player’s Pack Red Edition, containing five new multiplayer maps and a couple of additional game modes.

Two out of those five maps, however, will be nothing more than revisited and relit versions of the previously existing Border Town and Killhouse MP maps. So that leaves us with only three brand new maps, for which players will probably have to pay around 1000 Microsoft Points, give or take 200. Ubi hasn’t annouced a final pricing yet, but assuming this estimation is accurate, one brand new Vegas map would average at over 280 MS points ($3.5) – versus 200 MS points ($2.5) / map from Lost Planet’s upcoming pack. You be the judge which game is more worthy of the investment.

And to help you decide, here are some more details about the new maps and game modes:

Three Brand

Kill Cliffy B Co In Gears of War

Think you’ve got what it takes to frag the hell out of Cliffy B, Mark Rein and other hot shots from Epic Games, in a manly match of Gears of War? If so, you’ll get your chance to prove yourself this Saturday, February 24, in a developer showdown event that everyone is welcome to join. Well, everyone from Europe with an Xbox Live account, at least. But that should be more than enough to keep the folks at Epic busy during those couple of hours.

Playing host to the event (no pun intended) will be Lead Designer Cliffy B and Vice President Mark Rein, along with a dozen more designers, programmers and artists from Epic. Marcus Fenix wannabes are being asked to check their chainsaws and grab some ammo, because this is their chance to find out if they can mix it with the guys who created the game! To join in the fun, check the developer showdown page on Xbox.com, or simply follow these instructions:

The battles will take place on the Old Bones and Raven Down maps, both available now for free download on Xbox Live Marketplace. Just add the GamerTags below to your Friends List, get on Xbox Live between 1900 and 2100 on Saturday 24 February, then wait for your invite to play the developers of Gears of

Lineage II Interlude New Chapter Coming This April

With the impending conclusion of the first major Lineage II chapter (The Chaotic Chronicle), a new one will begin this April on the game’s European and US servers. The Chaotic Throne, as NCsoft calls it, will expand the Lineage II saga with a wealth of new content, and if all turns out exciting enough for the players, it might just expand the 14-million strong userbase as well.

The bridging link between Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle, and The Chaotic Throne, will be called Interlude. Along with NCsoft’s latest announcement detailing the contents of this following update, we bring you this first batch of screenshots from the expansion, and you might also want to check out the Lineage II: Interlude trailer that’s been around for a couple of months (as you might imagine, Interlude is nothing new for the Koreans…).

Aside from the usual round-up of novelties (new items, new quests, new skills and such), Interlude will also introduce a new zone Primeval Isle, a new dueling system, and the so called Shadow Weapons, to name but the most prominent features. A few details about them can be found below:

- New Zone – Primeval Isle – Pterodactyls dominate the

Juiced 2 Hot Import Nights Also Drifting On DS

A few days ago, it was confirmed by the Swedish Gamereactor magazine that THQ plans to continue its disappointing NFS-wanna-be series with Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, a sequel set for release on the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, and PSP. Well, they got the title right, but left out one platform. As properly announced today by the publisher, the game will indeed be released this Fall for all of the above-mentioned platforms, but also for the Nintendo DS handheld.

Putting aside the fact that they refer to Juice Games’ franchise as being original, THQ also brags about Juiced 2 being the only game that allows players to showcase their skills at Hot Import Nights events – a global tuner event and a very profound lifestyle experience by the looks of it (there’s nothing quite like an expensive nitro-packed car and a cheap silicon-implanted babe to enlighten yourself).

Juiced 2 also promises to feature unparalleled vehicle customization, an adrenaline packed drift racing experience and ultra-realistic Driver DNA. Here are some words of wisdom from a Juiced Games developer and some Hot Import Nights official:

Juiced 2: HIN introduces a thrilling new drifting component and

SBK 07 Superbike World Championship Details And Screens

After having acquired the official SBK World Championship licence in November of last year, Black Bean Games have recently entered a publishing agreement with Koch Media. Over the weekend, they re-announced the new Superbike game currently in the making at Italian developer Milestone, called SBK-07: Superbike World Championship 07 and set for release on the PlayStation 2, PSP, PC and Xbox 360. It seems however that the PlayStation versions are a lot further ahead in development, as implied by the large gap between the game’s release on the PS2 and PSP (in Q2 2007), and later on the PC and Xbox 360 (in Q4 2007).

Supporting this assumption are the first screenshots from SBK-07, currently representative of the PS2 and the PSP versions only. You can see them locally here (PS2) and here (PSP), although don’t expect anything too impressive – for that, we’ll have to wait until they decide to show us the next-gen version.

In the meantime, Black Bean has issued a new press release in which they draw parallels between the game’s development and the preparations for this year’s SBK Championship, now at its 20th anniversary. We won’t get into details about the real

Edobean playing Final Fantasy

We are edobean’s fans, we love you!
http://twitter.com/pkedobean (link for stalkers).

Sam Max Episode 4 Starts Today

Abe Lincoln Must Die! Federally mandated group hugs, a pudding embargo… what’s next, gun control? This will not stand, this aggression will not stand, man! Or so the dudes from Telltale tell us. In their latest Sam & Max: Season 1 episode, the hysterical detective duo is going for a trip down to the White House, to meet the man himself. And, quite likely, make a mess out of the United States’ presidential institution.

The President of the United States has lost it. Federally mandated group hugs, a pudding embargo… what’s next, gun control? Sam & Max are off to Washington to take care of this bozo, but the political climate will only get stormier… and a new power will rise…

This is pretty much the starting scenario for the fourth episode of Sam & Max: Season 1, titled Abe Lincoln Must Die!, and premiering on GameTap today. The episode will also be released worldwide from Telltale’s website in a couple of weeks, on March 8, at which point the season will be just two more episodes away from completion.

Until then, our local Sam & Max gallery welcomes you with a new batch of screenshots from Episode 4, and we

Mercenaries 2 Confirmed For Xbox 360 And PC

Electronic Arts did more than just confirm the long-since rumoured Xbox 360 version of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames today. In a rather unexpected communique, they are announcing that Pandemic Studios’ explosive sequel will be released not only on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but also on the PC and PS2. Furthermore, EA says that the game should be released simultaneously worldwide on all of the four platforms, in holiday 2007.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames delivers the next evolution in explosive open world gameplay – regardless of the system you play it on, said Pandemic Studios CEO Andrew Goldman. All four platforms are incredible gaming machines, and from the beginning we designed an experience that accentuates their individual strengths and delivers the interactive freedom and explosive action Mercenaries fans demand.

EA Partners is proud to team up with Pandemic Studios to help execute a seamless, simultaneous global release for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames on four platforms, said EA Partners vice president and general manager, David DeMartini. The team at Pandemic Studios is building an incredible game that will blow away gamers in all regions of the world.

News about the

Violent Games Didnt Kill The Homeless Psychos Did

An old murder case from 2004 was brought back to light this week by a disturbing BBC story that bears a vague, yet misleading connection to violent video games. Preceding an ample report about more and more teenagers sport killing homeless people in the US, the publication begins with the case of Rex Baum, a 49-year-old homeless man who was beaten to death by three derranged teens in 2004. Among them was 17-year-old Andrew Ihrcke, who at the time told police that killing the bum reminded him of playing a violent video game.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly the kind of statement that the (non-gaming) media needs in order to put games in a bad light – which they do whenever they get the chance – and for the likes of Jack Thompson to waste public money on the wrong problem. Because there was obviously a very serious problem with those kids, and it wasn’t about video games. Not by a long shot!

For once, however, somebody decided to speak out and set the record straight. The woman living with one of the boys’ father wrote a lenghty letter to Penny Arcade, which was published in full yesterday, decribing what is clearly a very sick and twisted kid.

To say

UFO Sightings Afterlight And Extraterrestrials

While we were waiting for Irrational’s ultra-secret X-COM project to be confirmed (or denied, at worst), another couple of UFO sightings have been reported, concerning UFO: Afterlight and UFO: Extraterrestrials. Although there’s no connection between the two, other than their similar title and common spiritual ancestor, it just so happens that both games have received new release dates this week, and both should be launched during the current quarter.

UFO: Afterlight has actually been out in Europe for a couple of weeks already, but a new announcement made by IDEA Games reveals that Altar’s strategy / tactical sequel will also be made available online from February 26. The place to look for it is the Sproket website, who are also offering the previous two instalments – UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Aftershock – for €9.90 and €19.90 respectively (plus VAT).

UFO: Extraterrestrials, on the other hand, was originally supposed to launch in 2005. But after multiple unexplained delays, the devs from Chaos Concept finally appear to be nearing completion. Although the game’s website currently lists a February 28, 2007 release date, publisher Tri