Wii Sports Resort bundle doubles-down with a MotionPlus pair: $60 on October 12
Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009
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250GB PS3 shows up for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk, ships on October 1
PS3 3.0 / 3.01 firmware update making Blu-ray drive unusable?
What could possibly cause nearly 700 comments on an official Sony blog post announcing the relatively minor 3.01 firmware update for the PS3? Plaudits? A Kanye meme gone awry? No, it's the age old problem of an update that apparently breaks more than it fixes. In this case, a sizable number of users are reporting that the 3.0 and/or 3.01 update caused their PS3's Blu-ray drive to be all but unusable for both games and Blu-ray movies (although some folks report that DVDs still work). Other users are also reporting intermittent problems like no sound, and some problems with specific games, but it does seem like the complaints are pretty widespread and, as of yet, Sony isn't saying much about them. Bitten by the upgrade bug yourself? Let us know in comments.
Mad Catz announces 'Round Two' Street Fighter IV fightpads and fightstick
It's not doing anything crazy like lowering the price, but it looks like Mad Catz is at least set to give fighting game fans a few more options when it comes to choosing their peripheral of choice. As usual, the headliner is the company's Tournament Edition fightstick, which dials things back after the explosion of color on the Comic-Con exclusive edition, but otherwise remains identical inside and out. Those that honed their Street Fighter skills on their SNES or Genesis can also now choose from a new range of fightpads, featuring artwork with your choice of M. Bison, Guile, Zangief, C. Viper, Cammy, or Sagat. No firm release date just yet, but the whole lot should be out sometime this fall for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with the fightstick setting you back the usual $149.99, and the fightpads running a considerably more affordable $39.99 apiece.
Madden NFL 10: AFL Legacy Pack Now Available
Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009
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This year marks the 50th season of the American Football League and the NFL is celebrating the occasion by fielding original league teams in their AFL throwback unis. Now Madden NFL 10 is in on the AFL anniversary fun with a just-released add-on pack known as the AFL Legacy Pack.
The pack is available for download now on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network and features the eight original AFL teams represented by name and throwback uniforms: Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs (as the Dallas Texans), New England Patriots (as the Boston Patriots), New York Jets (as the Titans of New York), Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, and Tennessee Titans (as the Houston Oilers). In addition, the referees in the game wear the traditional orange striped uniforms and the field will be marked with AFL logos. There will also be a new retro interface and film-grained broadcast camera.
The pack will also inlcude a new set of retro Madden moments, complete with a handful of new XBL achievements/PSN trophies. The AFL Legacy Pack is available now for 560 MS points and $6.99 on the PSN Store.
Assassin's Creed II Updated Hands-On
We leapt across Venetian rooftops, killed plenty of guards, and even found time for a spot of shopping in the Tokyo Game Show build of Assassin's Creed II.
The last time we saw Ezio, the lead character of Assassin's Creed II, he was just starting his adventure in Florence. However, in our recent Tokyo Game Show demo, we got to take control of him back in Venice. The session started with Ezio dropping into a Venetian street, incognito, and in need of some new threads and weapons. Thankfully, we were able to find a shop that provided a solution to these problems, allowing Ezio to get some new, slightly heavier armour and a mace to go with his hidden blades and sword. There were other options, though, including a scimitar and a warhammer. The Venetian section in question was about halfway through the game's purported 27-hour main storyline, so while you won't get to play with all the new toys from the beginning, it looks likely that you'll have a wide variety of weapons to choose from for much of the game.
Having kitted up, we headed to a tailor's shop, where Ezio could buy packs of dye that would change the primary colour of his clothing. The colour of his outfit didn't seem to have an effect on gameplay, but it does seem to add another layer of customisation to his look, making ACII a much more personal experience than its predecessor. Walking from shop to shop, we saw the new crowd-blending techniques in action; if you keep pace with any group of pedestrians in Venice's crowded streets, you'll blend into them, being invisible to guards if they're on the lookout for you. Mingling with people is, of course, an ideal opportunity for a spot of petty larceny, but as in real life, this comes with its risks; if your mark spots you and starts a ruckus, the spell is broken and those pesky guards will be onto you.
With clothing and weapons sorted, it was time to see the main part of the mission--an assassination. This mission, one of 130 or so in the full game, starts with Ezio being instructed to take out five archers placed on rooftops around your target's house to make the initial approach possible. This was accomplished with few problems--the new high-speed scrambling made ascents up to the rooftops easy enough as the city wasn't yet aware of Ezio's presence, shown by the notoriety meter that sits next to his health indicator.
Dispatching the archers was a simple affair; the fact that they were often perched on the edge of rooftops made eliminating them relatively easy, though working out the best path to avoid taking cover required a little more time. The range of weapons allowed for some fairly brutal kills, and the layout of the level made simple, stylish, and quiet kills just as much fun.
Once the archers had been dealt with, there was the meat of the assassination: breaking into the target's compound and taking him out before he realises what's going on. Approaching at street level, all the entrances were blocked by packs of four guards, one of whom was heavily armored and was wielding a halberd. A quick scout of the surrounding area revealed a group of courtesans in a nearby square. For a fee you can hire them, which provides you with mobile cover as the four of them walk around you, providing a crowd for you to blend into, and they can then be sent off to flirt with guards, allowing you to slip past unnoticed.
This distraction allowed Ezio to take on the other set of guards on the perimeter. This task seemed fairly daunting--especially given the presence of the another brutish fellow complete with halberd--but fortunately the game's director was on hand to demonstrate the most effective way of dealing with the group. First, he disarmed the brute, and then he swept his legs out from under him, before delivering a precise fatal blow with the stolen halberd as he hit the floor. This was enough for the lesser guards, it seemed; while the reach on the weapon meant that getting one more down was possible, the others fled in terror back out into the city.
Having breached the compound, it was time to track down the target. We scrambled up the outside of the building in which he was ensconced and tried to find the most effective stealthy route to him, taking out guards silently where necessary. This was tricky but was helped out by a few tricks that Ezio has up his sleeve that Altair lacked. The first of these is the ability to leap from ledges onto unsuspecting enemies and swiftly dispatch them in flight using the hidden blades; if you have two foes sufficiently close to each other, it's possible to take them both out at once. After dispatching a few guards perched on the top of the building to make sure there was no one watching above our mark's head, it was easy enough to scramble around the building and take out two of his three personal guards before he was even aware anything was afoot. This was followed by a short chase around his palazzio as he attempted to flee as we dealt with the last guard, but this was thankfully short-lived, and a cutscene ensued, ending the demo.
Assassin's Creed II is looking like an excellent follow-up to the massive-selling original, and the team behind it is working hard to address gamers' and critics' comments regarding the first game's flaws. They seem to be managing this with a certain degree of success; the game does look to be a lot more varied, though all the fundamental building blocks from the original remain. We'll bring you more on Assassin's Creed II as it nears release, so keep it tuned to GameSpot.
R.U.S.E. Updated Impressions
We lift the fog of war as we find out what exactly the AI will be capable of in upcoming strategy game R.U.S.E.
The last time we saw Ubisoft's WWII-themed strategy game R.U.S.E. was at GamesCom, where we pitted our skills against a human opponent in direct battle. Skip ahead a few weeks and Ubisoft is once again showing off R.U.S.E., although this time at TGS they're focusing more on the single-player experience. We donned our battle fatigues yet again to see just how smart the game's artificial intelligence will be.
What's New: During our behind-closed-doors demo, a friendly developer from Eugen Systems took us through what we can expect from the game's AI when taking on the game solo. While a final decision hasn't been made yet, the developer said there may be up to five different difficulty levels in R.U.S.E., with the AI acting in an increasingly sophisticated manner on harder difficulties.
Of course, being more sophisticated in R.U.S.E. means making better use of the game's deception-based gameplay. These special ruses can be activated on the map, and can confer strategic bonuses such as deploying fake units, sending spies to find key enemy locations, disguising the true abilities of your troops, and much more. At lower difficulty levels, the AI won't even make use of basic ruses such as minimising radar. Pump it up, though, and the computer-controlled enemy will have full use of the same arsenal of ruses as a real-life player.
What's The Same: The game still looks great, with its real-time 3D engine impressive to view as it seamlessly shifts from the high-level battletop view all the way down to ground level.
What Impression The Game Made This Time: Our demo tester set the game's AI on a fairly low level, which meant that the match was won with a simple rush of heavy bombers directly attacking the enemy base. We're keen to get some more hands-on time to see if the AI can be as deceptive as a human opponent, though, so keep checking back with GameSpot for further updates on R.U.S.E.
Avatar Updated Hands-On - Verdant Pinnacle and Stalker's Valley
As the release date for both the Avatar film and game draws near, Ubisoft is showing two new areas from the upcoming game set to be a companion to the ambitious film project from director James Cameron. Although we've been getting peeks at the game since our first look in June, we've now been able to get our hands on two new areas and also get a feel for character customization and advancement. The game is being shown off in a private media area at a nearby hotel as well as on the Tokyo Game Show floor.
What's New: There are two new areas to play--Verdant Pinnacle and Stalker's Valley--which continue to highlight the play experiences between the human soldiers and the Na'vi on the beautiful but hazardous world of Pandora. The Verdant Pinnacle level let us play as a Na'vi and make our way to an objective point deep on the other side of the massive level. We were able to use the different Na'vi skills in addition to standard melee attacks and weapons against enemies. The area featured a twisting path that offered detours onto tree and rock formations jutting out in places to give us a good view of where we needed to go, as well as a clear shot at human and mechanical enemies. There were also ample pickup items to help keep our ammunition pretty well stocked, although it dipped precariously during some of the more-intense firefights that cropped up as we got closer to our goal.
The Stalker's Valley level had a different tone, since the enemies that popped up to stop our soldier character amounted to most everything in the forest. The level kicked off with a military aircraft getting knocked out of the sky and our character getting tasked with clearing out the local wildlife obstructing the military forces on the ground. Whereas Verdant Pinnacle resembled the lush forests we've seen in the movie trailers, Stalker's Valley is a darker place that is anything but welcoming. The level's darker color palette, some fires and wreckage at the start of the area, and all the local wildlife trying to murder anything human all made the valley about as unfriendly as possible. The result was a hefty amount of tension that didn't let us relax or enjoy the scenery as we did in the Na'vi level.
What's Different: The chance to see the menus and the customization possible as you level was interesting. We got a better sense of how both characters are going to evolve over the course of the adventure. It looks like there's going to be tons of weapons to swap out for the human soldiers to suit a player's style. The Na'vi don't appear to have as large an arsenal of traditional weapons. However, they have special skills, such as special attacks, sprinting, and self-healing, which seem to offer a comparable number of customization options. It was nice to see extras like the Pandorapedia, which will track all the creatures you come across in the game. One difference in the work-in-progress version we played was that Na'vi characters seem a little more fragile now. We jumped down from what we thought was a reasonable height for a large alien to safely land, and our character died. We spoke with representatives from Ubisoft, who told us that the version we played is currently undergoing some balance tweaking, so the Na'vi's seeming vulnerability to falling may change in the final game.
What's The Same: The gameplay seems solid and offers some distinct variety between the human and Na'vi, though the two character types definitely have things in common as well. The human soldier is all about tech, hardware, and shooting in the traditional sense, while the Na'vi has abilities that are comparable but that deal out less collateral damage to the surroundings. The 3D tech is still a cool feature for those who can support it, although the game looks sharp without it.
What Impression The Game Made This Time: Even without 3D, Avatar is shaping up to be a unique movie-licensed game. The game seems to be making smart use of the universe and the characters that inhabit it to create an experience that's in line with the film but is all its own. If the game delivers on the potential we've seen, there's a chance it will break out from the movie game herd and stand on its own as a solid game that happens to be based on a film, rather than an experience that's dependent on a movie license.
PlayStation 3 | New Sengoku Basara, Ghost Trick due in 2010
Capcom's Samurai Heroes beat-'em-up on Wii, PS3 will join DS adventure puzzler in North America and Europe next year.
Capcom is certainly having no problems grabbing headlines during the first day of the Tokyo Game Show. On the panel side, president and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto discussed the future of gaming, while R&D and Online Business head Keiji Inafune talked Project Natal development, for which the publisher has been confirmed as a developer. Capcom has also announced Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, which will be compatible with Sony's upcoming motion controller.
And while RE5: Alternative Edition has thus far been announced only for Japan, Capcom also has a few game announcements for Western gamers. As part of its TGS 2009 presence, Capcom announced that Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes for the Wii and PlayStation 3 and Ghost Trick (working title) for the DS will see release in North America and Europe in 2010.
Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes can be likened to Koei's long-standing Samurai Warriors franchise and sees players hacking their way through feudal Japan. The game features large-scale battles of "hundreds of opponents," and players will be able to assume control of more than 10 different legendary samurai for use on the field of war. Capcom noted that the Wii and PS3 editions of the game will be functionally the same, though Sony's system will also offer online co-op.
A blend of the adventure and puzzle genres, Ghost Trick tells the story of an amnesiac ghost who attempts to solve the mystery behind his own death while saving the lives of others. As the deceased Sissel, players can take control of objects in the world to accomplish various challenges, with Capcom giving examples of making a bike float through the air to scare the living or possessing a light switch to zap an assassin.
Resident Evil 5 to support PS3 motion-control
TGS 2009: "Alternative Edition" of Capcom's horror-survival game to arrive next spring with motion-control support; Xbox 360 variant also announced.
TOKYO--Capcom's latest survival horror shooter Resident Evil 5 has seen ample success this year, selling 5 million units as of the publisher's last accounting. At Capcom's press conference during the Tokyo Game Show today, Resident Evil 5 producer Masachika Kawata unveiled that a new version of the horror survival game is currently in development.
Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition is currently slated to arrive in Japan on the PlayStation 3 this spring, under the title Biohazard 5: Alternate Edition. Notably, the game will support Sony's new EyeToy-compatible motion controller, which reports indicate will launch in March.
Capcom hinted that an Xbox 360 edition of the game is also planned. "In regards to the Xbox 360, a lot of fans have enjoyed the game on the console. So we are working to release the additional content in another format, as a product." Project lead Miho Suzuki did not mention if the title was one of the Project Natal games that Capcom is currently developing.
The biggest change from the original Resident Evil 5 is that Alternative Edition will feature game controls that make use of Sony's recently announced motion controller. For series fans, another big change is the addition of a new episode featuring Chris and Jill. The episode will be based on the flashback scene from the original RE5, where the two characters infiltrate the Spencer estate in Europe.
"It was a key incident in Resident Evil 5, but it was only there as a flashback scene," Miho said. "In Alternative Edition, you'll actually be able to play through it. We had a lot of requests from fans about it."
Suzuki said that Alternative Edition is currently slated only for Japan. Capcom's North American representatives had not responded to requests for additional comment as of press time.