It never ends, does it? For quite some time now, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City has been rumored to be gracing the PlayStation 3 at one point or another. The package, which includes The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, is currently exclusive to Xbox 360.

Retail website simplygames.com has listed Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City for PS3. The listing even contains the newly designed PS3 boxart, lending the listing some credibility.

Via: PlayStation Lifestyle ...

Via: Silicon Alley Insider

Gears of War won't be coming to Nintendo's Wii platform, despite its 50 million users.

Epic Games's Unreal Engine would have to be scaled down to make it work with the Wii and VP Mark Rein told IndustryGamers it's not worth it.

If you stretch something too thin, it becomes very thin. How do you support that? We don't make games for that platform because we don't see a market for the kinds of games we make – let's be honest.

Mark said other developers that have tried to simplify complex games for the Wii in the past have flopped. He cite the example of the Madden game on the Wii, saying it was "a dumbed down game."

Mark said that if Nintendo came up with more processing capability, more memory and better graphics, Epic Games will be prepared to make games for it. He says:

Industry Gamers: We're a very high-end engine, and we have the best tools and awesome visuals and great physics. It's more likely the platform will rise up to meet us than we'll go down [to customize our technology for it]. And eventually I think that'll be the case, and it'll be true of handhelds and even the iPhone.

Epic Games's Unreal Engine works with PCs, Macs, XBoxes, PlayStations and Dreamcast. ...

Via: worthplaying.com

Posted on Thursday, January 31 @ 09:07:47 PST

Developed by the creative team behind PaRappa the Rapper Masaya Matsuura and New York artist Rodney Alan Greenblat, Major Minor’s Majestic March turns the Wiimote into a “special” baton that the bandleader, Major Minor, uses to keep tempo, recruit new band members and pick up valuable items.


Major Minor’s Majestic March turns the Wii Remote into a “special” baton that the bandleader, Major Minor, uses to keep tempo, recruit new band members and pick up valuable items. While marching through eight whimsical locations that contain various hair-raising events, Major Minor strives to create the most impressive parade ever. Players can add up to 15 different instruments to their dynamic procession—including brass, woodwinds, and percussion—to alter its composition and resulting performance. Players are scored on how well their band maintains its rhythm and manages obstacles that could otherwise throw the procession into disarray. The band keeps tempo to more than 25 popular marching band songs from around the world, composed into original medleys for each stage.

In a town where marching bands are prevalent and everyone is looking to be the best, Major Mike Minor is fairly ambivalent towards marches despite hailing from a long line of illustrious Drum Majors. After his parents present him with a “special” baton that magically attracts band members to fall into rhythm behind the leader, will Major Minor finally fulfill his potential and share the joy of marching with the world?

“There’s something magical about marching bands that truly captures the imagination. The concept of leading a virtual band that’s reliant on your musicianship is a perfect fit for the interactive capabilities of Wii,” said John Merchant, Marketing Manager, Majesco Europe. “The combined musical and artistic superiority of Matsuura and Greenblat make them a natural choice to deliver this innovative title exclusively to the Wii audience.”

Features

* Major Minor’s Majestic March marks the return of the creative team behind the renowned PaRappa the Rapper franchise-legendary game designer and multimedia musician Masaya Matsuura and famed New York artist Rodney Alan Greenblat.
* Your Wii Remote is Major Minor’s “special” bandleader baton, used to keep tempo, recruit new band members and pick-up valuable items. If your rhythm is unstable confusion will result; band members will drop out and you could ultimately fail the stage.
* March in 8 different whimsical locations that contain various hair-raising events. Use your best efforts to create the most impressive parade ever whilst nimbly avoiding obstacles.
Add 15 different instruments to your procession, from brass to woodwinds to percussion.
* As the makeup of the band changes, so does the performance; it all depends on which members you select! Try different combinations each time you play.
* Numerous modes of play.
* March and keep tempo to more than 30 well-known marching band tunes from around the world, composed into original medleys for each unique stage.
* Dazzle the crowd with your incredible baton-twirling displays during brief intermissions. ...

Via: Joystiq

Sure, everyone loves activating star power and wailing on the whammy bar in Guitar Hero. But for a certain, incredibly anal subset of players, these actions and their distracting arm movements represent potential streak killers. Well, those finicky gamers are in luck, because peripheral maker React has now released a foot pedal that transfers those pesky arm motions to your feet, which were just sitting there tapping out a rhythm before.

The wireless pedals, which require 4 AA batteries and work with any PS2 guitar, might seem steep at $25, but they're a bargain for the truly compulsive GH player. As the sole Best Buy reviewer put it, "I bought this pedal primarily because activating Star Power by raising my guitar usually results in missed notes." And was we all know, rock music is about exacting precision above all else. ...

Via: digitalspy.co.uk

Tomb Raider: Legend has picked up the award for Best Mobile Action Game of 2007 at the latest Spike Video Game Awards.

Discussing the game, a spokesman from Eidos said: "With a revolutionary game engine, users will encounter an unprecedented gaming experience. The level layouts and game mechanics, as well as the game's control scheme, are designed from the ground up for the mobile medium.

"The 3D mobile version of Tomb Raider: Legend adds to the accomplishment of a growing brand on mobile and mirrors the success of a brand which has enthralled gamers for ten years and is still one of the best-selling videogame franchises of all time, with over 32 million copies sold."

Also nominated in the Mobile Casual Game category was puzzle game Prism: Light the Way, which features a variety of modes from beat the clock to battle play. ...

Via: Pocket-lint

Climb-down on figures as fiscal results announced

NEWS: 31 January 2008 13:42 GMT - Sony has announced it has cut its PlayStation 3 sales target for the year to March 2008 to 9.5 million units from their predicted figure of 11 million.

This climb-down on the sales figures is in strong contrast to their stance at the Tokyo Games Show last September.

Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai said, in his keynote speech at the event, that he believed the company would achieve its predicted sales target of selling 11 million units before the end of the fiscal year in March.

Worldwide, Sony sold 4.9 million units of the PS3 between October and December.

Sony has raised its PSP sales target for the current business year to 13 million units from 10. Third quarter sales were up by 1.1 million units to 5.8 million, although game sales dropped.

Sales of the PlayStation 2 dropped by 1.35 million compared to the same period of last year, but beating predictions, it outsold the PS3 with over 5 million units bought worldwide.

Overall sales and revenue were up 9.6%, but the gaming division is still in the red - and expects to stay that way for some time to come due to losses made on the PS3.

"We have reduced losses on the PS3 due to production cost-savings but don't expect the game division to become profitable until the second half of the next fiscal year," a Sony spokesperson said. ...

Via: HEXUS.gaming

Black for the boys, pink for the girls, I presume.

Haven’t these multi-coloured Wii-motes already been released? I’m sure I spotted that lipstick pink one in my wife’s bedroom drawer the other day.

Well, Sunflex Europe claim that their new range of snakebite Riimotes, will be released in the UK of February 8th and will include a glossy black Wii-mote and the aforementioned lipstick pink one.

The controllers will be wireless and will come with a strap and matching non-slip rubber sleeves.

The company will also be releasing a snakebyte Nunchaku, a Wireless Nunchaku, and a retro Controller in the spring. You may be delighted to know that they’ll also come in a range of pretty colours. Black for the boys, pink for the girls, I presume.

You can check out the full range of products on the official Sunflex website. ...

Via: HEXUS.gaming

Sony hit the black, but lower sales forecast

Sony’s third-quarter results are in and spurred on by software sales for the Playstation 3, the electronics giant has reported a 31.2% increase in sales for their games division.

However, good news is followed by bad, because despite the reduction in the cost of producing the PS3 and the recent upsurge in sales, the company has decided to drop their sales forecast for the console in the lead up to March by 1.5 million units, bringing their estimation to 9.5 million.

"Sales of the PS3 have been robust since the introduction of the new model. We are receiving strong feedback and feeling very confident going forward," said Oneda.

"However, the momentum is not enough to cover the sluggishness we saw in the first half. So we have decided to change the sales target for the PS3," he said.

Sony are hoping to fair better with the PSP, which is still selling strong, and subsequently have raised their sales target for the current business year to 13 million units from 10 million.

Source :: Yahoo ...

Via: HEXUS.gaming

A newspaper report suggests that in North America approximately 90 percent of DS gamers are now using the notorious R4 piracy chip to get their illegal fix of hand-held gaming.

“The implications are massive. In America it's thought 90 percent of Nintendo users are playing pirated games because of R4,” explained John Hillier, Manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit in an interview with the Sunday Post.

The Sunday Post also contains a report about the situation in Scotland where it’s believed the chip is sold for approximately £40 from various websites and traders. The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) say that the chip “gets around the protection built into the Nintendo DS to prevent playing of unauthorized games. The R4 in effect blinds the console and makes it think it's seeing a genuine game. Trading standards and police are finding these devices in raids on people who sell pirated games.”

Hillier told the newspaper that the offence for selling these chips could lead to up to two years in jail or an unlimited fine.

ELSPA say that the R4 chip has devastating consequences on the gaming industry, that’s despite Nintendo reporting record software sales recently with 5 million units sold of Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? 2.8 million units sold of More Brain Training From Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? And Nintendogs recently hitting the 8 million mark.

“That's the real danger – you may think you're getting a good deal but using the R4 is risking the future of the games industry," concluded Hillier.

Source :: Strategy Informer

edit: Correction issued http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=88787 ...