Streamlining its lineup of studios, Sony today announced that it will merge MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios and Wipeout developer SCE Studio Liverpool.
The racing game developers are already merged in terms of management structure and [are] using combined resources, according to Sony Worldwide Studios Europe senior VP Michael Denny.
He added that the company plans on completely merging the two studios, but that it wont be happening overnight. Denny also noted that future iterations of MotorStorm is being looked at by Evolution. The Liverpool studio is said to be working on a Wipeout game for the PS3, though it hasn’t been confirmed yet.
In an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show today, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous revealed that the studio will be breaking the annual cycle of Rock Band releases, indicating that Rock Band 3 wont be released this year.
“We’ve actually made a choice to break out of the annual release cycle for Rock Band this year,” said Rigopolous. “[This is] partly because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer. We’re trying to take a long term view.”
He added, however, that the company hopes to release the upcoming Beatles music game sometime this Holiday season the game is seen as a focal point for the company this year.
White Knight Chronicles is one of those games that have to be played by gamers. While the game is already available in Japan, no Western release was confirmed until today. Level 5 president and CEO Akihiro Hino has confirmed that the company plans on releasing the PS3-exclusive title in North America.
There’s bad news though: “… The launch date has not been determined yet,” he said when a release details were asked about. It was also added that it has not been decided whether the game will feature cross-region multiplayer capability or not.
White Knight Chronicles was released in Japan on December 25; reception has been positive so far.
Sony pictures has let the release date for Ghostbusters: The Video Game slip. What can effectively be considered the third movie that was never made despite rumors cropping up every few years or so is coming out in June. True Ghostbusters fans won’t be terribly surprised as the game will be releasing on the same day as the original film is released on Blu-ray for the 25th anniversary, June 16th for North America. Europe will be getting the game soon after, with the official release date being June 19th.
The game is penned by the original writers and features the original cast doing the voices of all the characters that have been brought into the game, including the four ghostbusters and even lesser players like Annie Potts, revisiting her role as the bug-eyed secretary Janine Melnitz. Even William Atherton has signed on to voice the annoying EPA agent Walter Peck. The screenshots of the game look quite impressive and all the other facets of the title make for an impressive pedigree, so now we just have to wait and hope that the gameplay is as polished as possible, for many fans will be quite disappointed at a lackluster game.
Unconfirmed sources revealed to CVG that Ubisoft is planning to unveil the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six titles this year. It is also possible that these titles will be hitting shelves before Christmas this year. However, it is unknown whether these entries in the series will be continuations of existing games, or if they will be a new additions to the franchise altogether.
The two-year gap in which the last Ghost Recon was released may indicate that a new series for the franchise is going in the direction of a restart. Ubisoft has declined to respond to the rumor.
MySims is going to get two more games, MySims Party and MySims Racing. That’s wasn’t that unpredictable was it? EA will work on Wii and DS versions and some of us will be really anxious to play them. I think the kart racing game is pretty clear and, may I add, pretty cool. You get to customize your car and race against up to four players in multiplayer mode.
MySims Party on the other hand isn’t that obvious is it. It’s going to be a collection of 50 mini games ready for you MySim. And we hear that each MySim in the game has different stats so you’re going to pay extra attention to picking the perfect character to do the right job.
The games are going to arrive later this year so keep checking out EA’s announcements for the exact date and pricing details.
While this really only applies to those who bought Gears of War 2 preowned, I’m sure theres at least one honest gamer out their who managed to lose their Flashback Map Pack card that came bundled with the game.
Anyways, included in the Gears of War 2 Flashback Map Pack are 5 retextured and remastered Gears of War multiplayer levels that had already been available to those who purchased the game new.
Currently going for 400 Micrsoft Points (or $5) the Flashback Map Pack is available now, for those who don’t already have it, via the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Playstation Home was met with less than steller reviews, receiving pretty much negative feedback from the entire community. But that doesn’t stop Sony from pumping out new content.
Having recenty updated their blog to announce that the talked-about Redbull space is officially going live this week, complete with air races, palm trees, and energy drinks.
That’s not all they announced though, Sony also stated that if you preorder Killzone 2 through Amazon you will recieve an appropraitely themed shirt, for free. Oh yeah, they also threw some Resident Evil: Degeneration shirts in there.
If you think you’ve got what it takes to go up against some famous folk in Bungie’s Halo 3, then you better be sure to mark your calenders.
On Thursday, January 8th Innerpartysytem will log onto Xbox Live at 1:00 PM ET to begin the Game With Fame promotion. Having just released a self-titled album, the band is surely hoping to use this as a promotional tool.
To play with Innerpartysystem, all you need to do is send an Xbox Live friend request to either Innerparty GWF or Innerparty GWF2 and log on at the correct time and hope that their party isn’t full.
An unfortunate delay held PC gamers back from purchasing Saints Row 2 online yesterday, but the issue has since been resolved, and the game is now available for purchase on Steam and Direct2Drive for $39.99. THQ has also announced that the title will be reaching European shores on January 23, 2009 and Australia on February 5, 2009.
In related news, sites are reporting that the port has some performance issues, even on a pretty decent rig. Just to be on the safe side, here are the system requirements. You might want to stick to the console version for now.
Streamlining its lineup of studios, Sony today announced that it will merge MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios and Wipeout developer SCE Studio Liverpool.
In an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show today, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous revealed that the studio will be breaking the annual cycle of Rock Band releases, indicating that Rock Band 3 wont be released this year.
