The Official PlayStation Magazine reveals that the top-selling Xbox360 and PC title Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is coming to the PS3 and PSP sometime in 2007. The PS3 version will have some new content, including a new faction that players can join, called “Knights of the Nine.” Plus the usual new characters, weapons and locations.
The PSP version on the other hand will be called Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion and will take place outside the world of Oblivion. More information is expected in the upcoming weeks.
[Update 1] It turns out that Oblivion will be a launch title for the PS3, while the PSP version be released in Spring 2007.
We recently reported on Remedy’s upcoming game Alan wake, running on quad-core CPUs. This time, we have stunning screenshots, and a video showing the game running on an Intel Core 2 Quad. More screens and the video after the jump.
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Microsoft’s yearly Xbox event, X06, had a lot of interesting news this year, besides the pricing of the HD-DVD add-on. Exclusivity was a big buzz word this time, with several new titles announced exclusively for the Xbox360.
Peter Jackson working on new Halo games
Film maker Peter Jackson (Lord of The Rings, King Kong), currently busy producing Halo the movie, and is working with Microsoft Game Studios on two new Halo games, exclusively for Xbox360.
Doom available on Xbox Live
The original Doom is now available on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points, or $10. The game includes the original single player campaign, split screen and online multiplayer features as well.
Xbox360 HD-DVD add-on coming this November
Priced at $199 in the US, €199 in Europe and £129 in the UK. More here.
Halo RTS game announced
A Halo RTS game, called “Halo Wars” was announced, currently in development by Ensemble Studios (creators the Age of Empires series). The game is stated as an Xbox360-only title (no PC version). Other new game were announced, including Project Gotham Racing 4 and Banjo Kazooie.
Exclusive Splinter Cell game coming to Xbox360
An unannounced Splinter Cell game is being developed exclusively for the Xbox360 by Ubisoft. The game is the next in the series after the upcoming Splinter Cell: Double Agent.
Exclusive GTA4 content
Rockstar announced that they will be bringing two new “episodes” of GTA4 via Xbox Live, with new missions and “hours of more gameplay”. The game will be released on October 16, 2007.
Via Joystiq, Kotaku and Major Nelson
The official box art for the upcoming Wii games has been revealed, and it’s nothing special really. Compared to the Xbox360 and PS3 standard boxes, the Wii ones are rather boring actually. But you should never judge a game by its cover anyway.
Via IGN
Microsoft’s HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox360 will launch this November for $199 in the US, €199 in Europe and £129 in the UK. It will be bundled with an Xbox360 Media remote and (for a limited time) a HD-DVD copy of Peter Jackson’s King Kong.
The add-on will make the Xbox360 one of the cheapest HD-DVD player for a long time to come, but will still end up costing just as much as a PS3 with built-in Blu-ray player. Let the format wars begin!
Read (MajorNelson)
Sony’s Phil Harrison once again makes a rather arrogant statement, claiming that the Blu-ray drive isn’t a burden for the PS3. In an interview with GamePro he says
“There’s this sort of misunderstanding that the Blu-ray disc player for movies is somehow burdening the console with unnecessary cost. That is completely not true”
As you may remember, Sony’s reason for the European PS3 delay was, (drum rolls), The Blu-ray drive! Here is the exact quote from the press statement:
The revision of the launch date in the SCEE territories is caused by the delay in the mass production schedule of the blue laser diode within the Sony Group, thus affecting the timely procurement of key components to be utilised in PLAYSTATION 3.
He does say “Blu-ray disc player for movies”, but a Blu-ray player is for movies and games, so claiming that it has no impact on the PS3 cost and production is, in fact, a straight up lie.
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Anti game crusader Jack Thompson is once again suing several companies on behalf of a family whose son “played GTA and shot three of his relatives”. The $600 million (yes, million) lawsuit includes Take-Two and Sony, among others.
Thomson says that the kid, Cody Posey (16), was playing the game “obsessively” and calls it a “virtual reality murder simulator”. According to the suit, the game
“trained him how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity”
Does anyone wonder why no one asks where these “obsessive” kids got the guns in the first place? Or is that too obvious?
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Sony will be setting up five times as many PS3 demo kiosks than they did with the PS2, over 15,000 PS3 demo kiosks will appear across North America after the launch of the console. Price: $30 million. SCEA co-chief operating officer Jack Tretton said,
“Once the consumers get their hands on a PS3 and understand what’s under the hood, I think price will not be a factor in the decision-making process”
On the contrary, I think once they see the price tag, things might not be as simple as Tretton says. It’s pretty hard for the average consumer to understand what’s “under the hood” while playing a demo kiosk.
Analysts are saying they expect Nintendo and Microsoft to sell 4 times as many consoles by year-end, while the PS3s in the kiosks are meant to “convince” people to wait for the PS3 when they have enough money, or when there are enough consoles for everyone. Either way, things are looking bad for Sony, at least in 2006.
Read (Bloomberg)
The Opera powered Wii Internet browser will be free for all regions until June 2007, a press release from Opera reveals today. The browser won’t be bundled with the console, but will be delivered via a free download from the “Wii Shop Channel”.
It’s based on the same standards as the current Opera 9 browser, and will support Flash and Ajax powered applications like Google Maps and Flickr. There is no information on how much the browser will cost after the free period ends. Full press release after the jump.
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Rumors were spreading like wildfire about Resident Evil 5 being only available on the 360, and not the PS3. Today, a Capcom spokesperson stated that Resident Evil 5 “is a multiplatform simultaneous launch on PS3 and Xbox 360.”
Even though the game was revealed at Microsoft’s X05 event and at E3 2005, RE 5 did not make much of an appearance at any of this year’s gaming events. RE 5′s release date is to be announced, but it is expected to be released during the spring of 2007. The game’s development status is also unsure at the time, only a few blurry screenshots have been released.
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