With the exception of the Grand Theft Auto series it seems that usually whatever game is raising the most hackles is generally pretty poorly made. Manhunt 2 stirred whole anthills of controversy before it was released followed by a poor performance in terms of both sales and critical acclaim. Most recently Hindus took offense to Hanuman: Boy Warrior, the first game developed entirely by an Indian studio. In it you control Hanuman, one of the deities of the Hindu religion.
As you might imagine Hindu leaders weren’t happy about this and after voicing their displeasure to the folks at Sony sought to get the game recalled from shelves. Sony of course wasn’t interested in recalling a game aimed at a single market because a subsection of people in that market objected to it. Sony finally made it clear to the Hindu leaders that they really had no desire to comply with their demands.
The Hindu leaders have called for a worldwide boycott of Sony products as they had threatened to previously. The overall impact of such a boycott is unknown and it could potentially be terrible given the large Indian market. Yet I somehow doubt that it will be more than a blip on the radar, since there’s probably not much overlap between conservative Hindus and gamers.
Harmonix, EA and MTV Games are proud to announce the release of the above trailer showcasing none other than The Beatles: Rock Band which originally aired during E3.
But that’s not all, they have also shown off the next Beatles branded peripheral, a Ludwig drumset with a picture included after the break.
The Beatles: Rock Band will hit streets on September 9th for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. READ ON »
Despite being previously announced to have a June 30th release date, EA has recently let us know that Fight Night Round 4 will hit shelves 5 days earlier on June 25th.
If you want to get a taste of the action before you throw down $60 there is a multiplayer demo available on Xbox Live.
Again, just to clarify, EA Sports’ Fight Night Round 4 will be released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on June 25th.
As E3 continues so does the onslaught of information — Next up is Microsoft with an Avatar announcement but wait, before you stop reading might actually be something you care about.
Other than funny looking clothes of all shapes and sizes Micrsoft let us known that you’ll be able to dress your Avatar with clothing touting things such as your favorite game.
In addition to this Microsoft’s Marc Whitten says that a bunch of other free items, add-ons, and outfits will be made unlockable along with a bunch of premium items added ot the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Just as we promised, more Crackdown 2 details for you to sink your teeth into — Microsoft and Ruffian Games have recently announced that Crackdown‘s sequel will in fact include both cooperative and competitive multiplayer, a feature that was absent from the first title.
They also say that “you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City – by any means necessary.” Soun
Expect Crackdown 2 to hit store shelves sometime in 2010.
Despite beating around the bush every which way they can, Blizzard has finally come out and said during an investor webcast that they are hoping to have StarCraft II on shelves by the end of this year.
Joystiq quotes Blizzard president Mike Morhaime as saying:
“We’re targeting an end of year release this year for StarCraft II. But as always, we won’t release it until it meets our standards and the expectations of our players.”
So there is it, while it’s not completely definite its at least more definite that StarCraft II will in fact be hitting shelves by the end of the year, or so they hope. As for the beta? Still slated to be released sometime this summer.
Halo-heads will be happy to hear that Microsoft has announced that the $99 Collector’s Edition of Halo 3: ODST will include the above limited edition controller.
Microsoft made it a point that this controller will only be available with Halo 3: ODST and no where else. Then again, there’s always eBay.
But anyways, Halo 3: ODST will be made available for the Xbox 360 in September.
505 Games and Cooking Mama Ltd. have recenetly gone ahead and announced the impending release of Cooking Mama 3, an addition to their popular Cooking Mama series.
Cooking Mama 3 will apparantly feature over 80 recipies, 200 mini games, 4 player multiplayer along with 2 new game modes, ‘What Dish Can You Make’ (which has you and Mama cooking up a new recipie from two existing ones) and ‘Let’s Go Shopping’ (which gives the player a virtual shopping list to buy with a bunch of different mini-game-esque obstacles to encounter).
There’s no official word on when this game will hit store shelves but gamers should be expecting Cooking Mama 3 before the end of this year.
In addition to announcing the continuation to the Halo series, Halo: Reach, Bungie also released a teaser trailer for the game that didn’t emerge on the internet until now.
Additionally, Microsoft announced that if you purchase Halo 3: ODST later this year you will be invited to test out a Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, much like the Halo 3 beta included with Crackdown prior to its release.
Anyways, watch the trailer and gawk over Halo‘s return.
Finally a reason to shell out the extra cash for the 120GB harddrive, full games on demand. Yes, Microsoft has recently announced at E3 that they will begin offering full, retail Xbox 360 games for download over their Xbox Live service.
Don’t get too excited yet because the new service isn’t set to go live until August but make note that you’ll be buying the virtual titles with a credit card instead of Microsoft Points.
Unfortunately, Engadget reports that Microsoft will not allow full titles to be rented but that it “sounds great for the future”.
With the exception of the Grand Theft Auto series it seems that usually whatever game is raising the most hackles is generally pretty poorly made. Manhunt 2 stirred whole anthills of controversy before it was released followed by a poor performance in terms of both sales and critical acclaim. Most recently Hindus took offense to Hanuman: Boy Warrior, the first game developed entirely by an Indian studio. In it you control Hanuman, one of the deities of the Hindu religion.
