With only a few weeks to got until E3, Atari has announced that the publisher has pulled out of the show. They will still be attending the show, but not exhibiting. An Atari rep told Joystiq that it will look into other marketing initiatives in order to promote upcoming games such as Ghostbusters.

It’s not a surprise that a publisher should pull out of an expensive show like E3, especially during these tough economic times.

Despite the warm reception of the Windows 7 beta and RC1, there has still been some doubt when the OS would be released. Microsoft has now confirmed via a press release that Windows 7 will be launched this year, in the final quarter, almost certainly meaning that it will be available for this year’s holiday season. While pricing has not been revealed by Microsoft, it is certain that Windows 7 will come in six different versions.

PopCap’s Peggle has been released on the iPhone and iPod touch for just $4.99. Peggle has been a hit on both the DS, PC and Xbox 360, ever since it was released, back in 2007.

The iPhone and iPod touch version feature a redesigned user interface, touch capabilities (doh!), a zoom function and several new types of style shots. It’s available in the App store now.

Capcom to release game soundtracks in North America
Cooking Mama sells 4 million in North America
Call of Duty: World at War Game Review–Leftovers In Shiny Foil
New Hitman game in development
NCsoft sees huge Q1 profit jumps
Thief 4 officially revealed
Top Spin 3 Shifts to Simulator Mode
Another studio formed by ex-Ensemble folks
3D Realms officially says Goodbye
EA Opens Doors for Ultima Online: Stygian Beta Testers

For people who have been noticing the glitches with Far Cry 2 for the Xbox 360, chances are you will need this patch. The said Far Cry 2 patch is now available for download on Xbox live. This patch will include a lot of improvements for both single player and multiplayer modes; with better browsing features, more multiplayer game options, and other new additions in order to let you play the game, the way you want. Information on a similar update for PS3 and PC will be announced soon.

Single Player:

• Fix some random crash occurring during specific Malaria attacks
• Fix health damage not following the difficulty level when switching difficulty during player’s walkthrough
• Fix some camera issue when using a mortar near a rock
• Reduce significantly the probability of having a corrupted save game

Multiplayer:

• Add Respawning time in Host – Advanced options – player match
• Add Starting rank in Host – Advanced options – player match
• Add min players in the host option
• Add deaths in scoreboard
• Balance current damage model
• Show VIP on Scoreboard (for your team only)
• Players can stay on the same host for consecutive matches in Ranked match
• Add a Quick match button when selecting a map in the Map community
• Fix vehicles spawning on their initial position immediately after being destroyed by an explosion
• Fix client being disconnected from the host randomly and not being able to see it after that
• Fix death message does not appear randomly
• Fix some issues when interacting with objects
• Fix bandolier doesn’t always unlock extra ammo
• Fix some bug when healing another player and getting wounded at the same time
• Fix diamond gain in rank mode
• Fix players don’t get a request to keep a map after playing on a IGE map
• DLC Fix some issues when using the crossbow

Extra Features:

• Add a “hardcore mode” that will provide a new damage model where all weapons do much more damage to increase realism.
• Add the possibility to play Rank matches on a selection of user maps

(Source) VE3D

Capcom has revealed that it plans to release several soundtracks of its games in North America, soundtracks which have been previously available only in Japan.

Capcom plans to release soundtracks of the following games in the near future; Bionic Commando, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Dead Rising, Dark Void, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Spyborgs.

Release dates will be announced in the upcoming weeks, and the soundtracks will be available on iTunes as well.

That’s not a typo. The cooking game — “simulator”, if you will — has sold over 4 million copies in North America, publisher Majesco proudly revealed. The are a total of five Cooking Mama games, and Majesco revealed as well that the Wii version, titled Cooking Mama World Kitchen, would be lowered to $29.99 — making all Cooking Mama games under $30.

Majesco recently released Gardening Mama, and there a plans of releasing a “Crafting Mama” game as well.

So by now you may have heard about Call of Duty: World at War, otherwise known as Call of Duty 5 for the PC, DS, Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstations two and three.  It’s a game that manages to fuse together the mundane and the unique.  The down side, of course, is that it mostly fuses the mundane to itself to make some horrible ironmongery of stuff you’ve already seen a couple hundred times before.

But before I get right down to business, it’s time for a plot rundown:  we follow a series of different soldiers in all different parts of the Allied forces as they rampage their way across the Pacific Theatre, up into Russia, BACK to the Pacific, back once again to Russia before taking on Berlin, and accomplishing a series of missions, including calling down rockets on Japanese Ha-Go tank forces, handling a Russian T-34 tank and running the guns on a PBY Catalina flying boat.  You will be effectively a part of the last and loudest hours of World War II.

And, in case you didn’t see this coming by the big number five on the title, yes, this is yet another in a long, long, LONG (and growing…) string of first person shooters.  Sure, they’ve got some additions of new gameplay in here—when’s the last time you got to drive a tank in first person?—but let’s face it; there’s only so much variety you can get out of this particular chopped salad mix.  There’s only so many ways you can make the same old baloney taste new and different.

However—if you’re willing to gut your way through a highly realistic, blood-spattered, downright gritty World War II simulation with more gunfire and explosions than even Saving Private Ryan could muster, presented in a format so eye-wateringly predictable that there’s almost no reason to play, then this time around, you’ll get a special bonus.   It’s called Nazi Zombies mode, and, though they may not specifically be members of the Party, the mode itself comprises a series of maps, some of which are downloadable, in which you and possibly some friends attempt to hold a building against a legion of zombies bound and determined to break in.

The down side of that, of course, is like I said: you have to play your way through the ENTIRE CAMPAIGN to get access.  I’m irritated by this.  I’d personally like to see more first person shooters involving zombies (and ZOMBIES, not second-rate 28 Days Later knockoffs like Left 4 Dead, thank you very much), and the fact that these bastards made me slog through a hell of their own making just to get a crack at some zombie killing fun makes me furious to the point of derangement.

So let’s sum it up:  Call of Duty World at War is not really a BAD game, it’s just more of the same.  They offer some excellent graphics, and some fantastic realism, and even some unique features buried in all the warmed over leftover crap that is their primary campaign mode, but let’s face facts—aside from a pretty new paintjob and some fancy bells and whistles, this really is just more of the same. It’s up to you if you want to take another foray into the same crap you’ve been playing over and over for years, but if you love the first person shooter and just can’t get enough, then this is definitely the game for you.

In an interview with GamingIndians, Eidos Life President Ian Livingstone revealed the news that several new sequels are in development.

Among them, a new Hitman game, which is in development at Danish studio IO Interactive (the original creators and developers of the series), and he also revealed that a new Tomb Raider and Kane & Lynch sequels were in development. Livingstone declined to give details on the new games, but we can expect much more at E3 next month, which is shaping up to be one of the best in years.

Korean MMO developer/publisher NCsoft has seen a massive increase in Q1 profits compared to last year; an increase of 315% compared to 2008, or over $105 million.

The results are fueled by the new release of MMO Aion: Tower of Eternity in Korea, which was an instant success. Other titles in NCsoft’s lineup saw an increase in revenue and contributed to the positive financial results, besides Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, which was taken offline lsat February.