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Manhunt 2 Gets Green Light for Release in North America
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Corporate News, PlayStation 2, PSP, Release Dates, Survival Horror, Take2, Wii,
Rockstar Games found itself in a bit of a pickle earlier this year when the ESRB slapped Manhunt 2 with an Adults Only rating. Most stores balk at selling AO-rated games, but more importantly, Nintendo and Sony refuse to publish them. As a result, the game’s original release date of July 10th was scrapped, and much hand-wringing ensued on the part of Rockstar executives wondering just what the hell to do next.
Well, Rockstar’s long nightmare appears to be over, as company PR has revealed that Manhunt 2 has been modified, rated M by the ESRB, and will hit North American store shelves this October 31st on PS2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii. “Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we’re glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience. We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it,” said Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games.
There has been no word yet on what content changes were made to the game in order to lock down a Mature rating. And sadly, the game is still banned over in the UK.
Read More 
| GameDaily
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Killzone 2 Footage Shows the First-Person Cover System
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Sony, Trailers,
New footage of a developer demo for Killzone 2 showcases, in addition to the very grey but attractive graphics, the ‘Lean and Peek’ cover mechanic. Essentially it works like the cover system in games like Rainbow Six Vegas or Gears of War, but doesn’t compromise the first-person perspective to do so. It maps the left shoulder button to the cover snap (like hitting ‘A’ in Gears) but pulls low cover up to cover about half the screen and still allows for blind fire as well as snap-up firing. With high cover you use the analog stick to lean out and take your shots. Check out the video above for the full scoop.
BioShock Post-Launch Updates
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Xbox 360,
BioShock has, in the days since it’s release, received a seemingly equal amount of praise and criticism. While reviewers are raving about the game’s polish and atmosphere, some gamers have been griping about the way the game handles widescreen displays and some of the DRM issues on the PC version. And as was perhaps inevitable, someone in the mainstream media started some stink about the game’s moral dilemma involving harvesting versus saving the Little Sisters.
Irrational/2K Boston’s Ken Levine spoke with Joystiq about these and other post-launch issues, essentially coming clean that there were some mistakes made on their end, but confirming that they were committed to making things right. He also confirms that there isn’t any PlayStation 3 version in the works despite the reference to the platform found in a configuration file. Regarding the Little Sister concern, Levine says:
This is a game about making your own choices and consequences. It doesn’t take things lightly. Somebody should just sit down and observe the sequence of harvesting a Little Sister. It is about the most thoughtful presentation and most carefully executed presentation of the subject. It is strictly about getting the emotional content across without unnecessary violent content. There are people on the flip side who want to chase down a Little Sister with the gun, if they want that, they’re playing the wrong game.
Click to continue reading BioShock Post-Launch Updates
Read More | Joystiq
Sony Believes PS3 Price Drop Helped Boost Sales
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: PlayStation 3, Sony,
Sony has examined the most recent NPD numbers and, happy with what they saw, are attributing their 61% jump from the previous month’s numbers to the PlayStation 3 price drop they announced just prior to E3. They are quick to point out that anticipation for some actual exclusive titles like Heavenly Sword and Warhawk may have helped drive interest in their slow-out-of-the-gate console.
Despite the predictably upbeat tone of Sony’s blog post, some have had a less than enthusiastic response to July’s NPD numbers since many analysts predicted that Sony was going to beat the Xbox 360‘s sales in July largely because of the price drop. That the PS3 was still unable to overtake the 360 in sales in spite of a comparatively more affordable price has some worrying that Sony just doesn’t have enough market draw to convince consumers to take the plunge. What is plainly obvious now is that Sony drastically overestimated the price the market would bear: It’s wallet-busting PS3 has lagged in sales from the beginning while Nintendo’s $250 Wii has flown off store shelves consistently for almost a year and as soon as the price went down on the PlayStation, it saw an improvement in units moved.
Read More | PlayStation Blog
65 Nanometer Microprocessors Coming to an Xbox 360 Near You
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Hardware, Microsoft, Xbox 360,
Dean Takahashi has a write-up regarding the upcoming 65nm microprocessors reportedly shipping on new Xbox 360 units. The more efficient processors are included on the new Falcon boards that are included standard in all units going forward. Of course, Microsoft still needs to sell its existing stock of 90nm chip systems and as a result is being, shall we say, coy about the new processors and their availability.
Also of note is that these new Falcon boards curiously do not include replacement 65nm ATI graphics processors, which some have speculated are at least partially responsible for the frequently discussed Red Rings of Death issue that Microsoft recently took steps to correct. Takahashi remarks that he expected the 65nm chips—both processor and graphics—to have appeared long before now but speculates that the problems with the 90nm boxes may have pulled Microsoft’s engineers away from the efficiency shift to concentrate on damage control.
The crux of the report is that buying a new Xbox 360 right now is probably not the wisest consumer decision, at least until someone determines how to effectively differentiate between the chip sizes from the outer boxes. Once the last of the 90nm systems have been liquidated from stock all 360s sold will include HDMI and the more efficient chips, which many believe (or perhaps hope) will be more reliable than 360s have historically been. The moral of the story then is for those considering an Xbox purchase to wait for a few months for the holiday buyers to clear out the older stock, something Microsoft hopes you won’t do which is why they remain so elusive with details on the new chips.
Read More | San Jose Mercury
PS3 to Get PlayTV Tuner DVR Accessory
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Accessories, PlayStation 3, PSP, Sony,
Sony announced in a Leipzig press conference a new digital tuner to be released in early 2008 for the PlayStation 3 that will allow it to display and record TV, effectively turning the console into a PVR. In addition to the PS3 recording and playback functionality, the tuner will also be able to transmit the signal locally or via WiFi to a PSP adding Slingbox-like capabilities to the accessory.
So far there has been no announcement of pricing of the unit, dubbed the PlayTV.
Read More | Computer and Video Games
Ken Levine on Hacking in BioShock: “It’s a Little Out There.”
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, PC, Puzzle, Take2, Xbox 360,
Everybody loves BioShock. From the whale-like moans of the Big Daddy to the thrill of smashing a frozen Splicer into little bits, the game is quality. However, one aspect of the game that isn’t thrilling everyone is its hacking mechanism; if you want to break into a safe or turn enemy turrets into your own mechanized defense force, you first must succeed at a hacking minigame that plays a lot like the Lucasfilm Games classic, Pipe Dream. Well, as it turns out, BioShock’s own big daddy, Ken Levine, is also not in love with the mechanic. Shacknews sat down with Levine for an interview and got his take on it.
It’s a little out there. That’s why it was important that you could bypass it in two ways; you can buy it out or you can use the hack tools—or you can just ignore it. There’s only one hack you have to do in the game.
But I think if we could go back and do it again, we would have maybe rethought that a little bit. I think it was more a function of our limitations at the beginning of the project when we had a very limited budget, and then we zoomed in so many other areas that we sort of forgot to go back to that area.
The purely non-spoiler interview, linked below, goes on to cover all things BioShock and is well worth reading.
Read More | Shacknews
Project Gotham 4 In North American Stores October 2nd
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Driving, Microsoft, Release Dates, Simulation, Xbox 360,
Bizarre Creations’ Project Gotham Racing series has always masterfully toed the line between out-and-out arcade racing and actual driving simulations. And now, with the fourth installment in the series and second for the Xbox 360, Bizarre is adding motorcycles to the mix. Yes, the road isn’t just for four-wheelers anymore, as the scruffier set can now take to the streets of St. Petersburg, Shanghai, and Macao (to name a few cities) and snatch up those elusive Kudos. Throw in dynamic weather effects and a revamped career mode, and you’ve got the 360 PGR that we should have gotten the [i]first[/i] time around. Better late than never, I suppose.
PGR 4 speeds onto the Xbox 360 in North America on October 2nd, and in Europe on October 12th.
Read More | Xbox.com
Half Life 2: Episode Two Stage Demo Video
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, First Person Shooters, PC, PlayStation 3, Puzzle, Trailers, Xbox 360,
At the Games Conference in Leipzig, developer Valve walked the audience through the latest chapter of Half Life 2, due to arrive on Steam and as part of The Orange Box this fall. This video shows off Episode Two’s soft lighting effect, “cinematic physics,” and new enemies. Interestingly, the updated physics and lighting systems will make an appearance in the console versions of Episode One as well, so if you are first experiencing Episode One on your PS3 or Xbox 360 through The Orange Box, you get to bask in the more up-to-date technology.
And since I don’t see people dancing in the streets on a daily basis, I figure there must be some confusion out there about what this mysterious Orange Box really is. It’s quite simple, really. The Orange Box is the gaming deal of the millennium. On October 10th of this year, gamers will be able to buy one box which contains Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode One, Half Life 2: Episode Two, the multiplayer-based Team Fortress 2, and the puzzle game Portal…all for the price of one game. It’s scheduled to hit the PS3. Xbox 360, and PC, not to mention the global economy, all on the same day,
Read More | Valve
Researchers Use World of Warcraft to Study Real-World Response to Disease
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Culture, MMORPG, PC, Role Playing Games, Simulation,
The New York Times has a story about a group of researchers who examined the outbreak of the in-game disease ‘corrupted blood,’ originally designed to affect only high-level World of Warcraft characters, for clues about what the social response might be to an actual pandemic. The game provided the authors of a research paper set to be published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal a unique set of conditions for this research that had typically been difficult to simulate: A wide population, an emotional response (because WoW players get really attached to their characters) and the ability to disseminate information among the population.
The corrupted blood outbreak was a glitch in WoW that took place in September 2005 and provided a unique look at the responses both by the population and the “bug:”
As the virus spread, very real challenges emerged, such as the failure of quarantine measures, further transmission by character’s pets and the existence of “immune” characters, who act as carriers, passing the virus to others while failing to succumb to symptoms.
It’s a fascinating use of the social construct that WoW has become.
Read More | Times Online via Slashdot
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