Via Gamespot

Though it was only a moderate success when it hit theaters in 1995, Heat has developed a devout cult following. Its deep characters, clockwork-like plot, and intense violence have earned director Michael Mann's three-hour-long crime epic many fans, more than a few of which were game developers. Indeed, the ultra-difficult bank robbery level of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was a direct homage to the film, featuring copies of the hockey-mask-and-coverall disguises worn in the beginning of Heat and recreating its violent street-shootout denouement.

Now, it appears Heat will be getting a more direct game adaptation. Today, the hybrid entertainment company Titan Productions announced that it has reached a deal with Regency Entertainment, the Hollywood production company that owns the rights to Heat, to publish a game based on the film for "next-generation consoles" in 2007.

According to Titan Productions, Mann is in talks with Gearbox to oversee the game's development. There's also a good chance that many of the movies' stars will be lending their voices and likenesses to the game. Titan claims it is in "advanced stages with representatives for Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer to be part of the video game sequel."

According to a statement by Titan, Heat: The Game will be a prequel or sequel to the film. If the game is a sequel, De Niro's character, Neil McCauley, will appear in flashback, perhaps in the form of training missions. If Pacino declines to get on board, it would be a sequel which would have a new detective chasing down McCauley's crew.

Though the prospect of a Heat game elicited whoops of delight inside the GameSpot E3 booth, Titan's record has been more than a little spotty. Clive Barker's Demonik, its next-gen game collaboration with Terminal Reality, was canceled in February. Little has been heard about its other movie-game crossover projects, such as Guillermo del Toro's Sundown and John Carpenter's Psychopath, since they were announced.

However, unlike other Titan projects, the Heat game has a well-respected studio on board--Gearbox Software, developer of Brothers in Arms and the PC port of Halo. "There is something about this concept that I call 'hardcore heist' that has never really been done well in a video game, yet everyone on the planet has thought about robbing a bank or something at one time or another," Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford said in a statement. "Heat pretty much defined what hardcore heist means and it gives us a narrative mechanism to consider both sides." ...

Via Engadget

When we found out Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to give us a second round to ask him about the latest in the world of Nintendo here at E3, I found that same inner-child fanboy Peter reminisced about when we last interviewed him start to emerge. Suddenly I wanted to play all those games I grew up on again, but we had to know how he thinks the Wii is going to change the future of gaming. Vlad Cole and I somehow managed to pull ourselves together long enough to ask him about whether the sedentary gaming world is ready for full-body frenetic gameplay, how he's influencing the next generation of Nintendo games and game designers, the media agendas of the 360 and PlayStation 3, and even a little on HD gaming.

So, thank you very much for meeting with us, I really appreciate it. The Wii represents a major step forward for Nintendo in terms of functionality and capabilities. One of the things we're really curious to know is what Wii is going to enable you as a game maker to create that you've never been able to create before.

Well, I think the greatest strength of the Wii is that it allows you to create games that are very intuitive and very easy to pick up and play, such that people who've never played a video game before can easily pick up the controller and start playing. And that's kind of the concept behind the games like Tennis and Golf and Baseball and the Wii Sports Series, and these are really kind of the very basic games that we're looking at doing.

And then of course thinking about the types of games that the gamers have come to know and play over the years, the unique features of the Wii controller, such as the direct pointing device on the Wii Remote will allow gamers to now more directly interact with the types of game screens that they've seen, where they're pointing directly at a place on screen to interact with it.

Is there a type of game that even now you still can't or for whatever reason create?

I can't think of any off the top of my head. I don't really have any ideas that stew in my brain for long periods of time. I really just focus on what I'm working on at the moment.

The one thing that I have been thinking about for a long time is this problem we've had with 3D games, where as we've been making 3D games, 3D worlds and the control schemes have becomes so complicated. People who don't play games can't easily jump into those interactive worlds and experience them. And I think we've been able to overcome some of that difficulty with the functionality of the Wii controller. So now as we go forward and create software I have to continue to think of ideas of how to take advantage of that to overcome that barrier.

When it comes to designing these games, specifically with regard to the Wii controller, what kind of role is it that you play now within Nintendo, and how do you oversee the process of game design?

Well, I am overseeing a large number of games at one time. But at the same time, out of that large number I always try to choose maybe two or three games that I focus on, and that I try to involve myself directly in.

So then that would beg the question, which games specifically bear your mark? Which two or three of the most recent spate of games show your signature on them?

Well, obviously I have to kind of take responsibility for Super Mario Galaxy, and Zelda: Twilight Princess, as those are two of my most important franchises, so I'm always involved in any new development on those. On top of that I'm also working on the Wii Sports games. We have a number of very young directors, about six of them, each of whom is responsible for one of these sports games. So they're all working underneath me, and I'm giving them quite a bit of direction as well.

Being that there's some delegation of game design to other people, what is it that you think is really the hallmark of your contribution to these games?

Well, game development takes a very long period of time to complete. And over that period of time you experience any number of elements that you devote a lot of time to -- and maybe you make some mistakes on and you have to go back and redo. So I think my biggest contribution is to be able to step in and try to pinpoint where those types of errors might occur before a lot of work is done on them; to keep that type of effort at a minimum. It would be best have those young directors kind of experience those mistakes for themselves and learn from them, but at the same time, in the idea of trying to keep the development time lines down it's also important for me to step in and kind of point them out, and help them overcome those mistakes.

And then on top of that, I think something else that's very important is bringing all those directors together and communicating with them in a group, so that the other directors can also learn from the experiences that everyone else has had, and learn from the mistakes that they have made.

I would love to have a specific example of a mistake that was corrected by you; you stepped in and you made some changes, and you taught others what not to do in that situation. Can you think of a good example?

This is a kind of a slightly different case then what I just explained, but one example I can ...

Via CVG

Still beaming (get it?!... *sigh*) from the critical and consumer acclaim bestowed upon Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda has announced its new project for the Xbox 360 - a real-time strategy game based on the Star Trek licence, entitled Star Trek: Legacy.

Enlisted as an Admiral (bloody hell that was a quick rise up the ranks) you must command a fleet of war ships through a series of escalating real time battles, which offer all the recognisable starships from the numerous incarnations of the television series - including the tribble infested Enterprise of the Kirk and Spock era, right the way through to the battle hardened version of Jean-Luc Picard's reign. But for the rebel in you, there is relief away from the rules and regulations of the Federation, with the chance to pilot the powerful fleets of Klingon, Romulan, and Borg races too.

Developed by Mad Doc Software, creator of Star Trek Armada II, the game is due out this September for PC and Xbox 360, but won't be the last title we see from the Star Trek universe, due to Bethesda acquiring the rights from CBS Consumer Products to publish a series of games across all gaming consoles, an agreement that has the company looking forward to the challenge ahead...

"Being able to work with the entire universe of this beloved series is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us," said Todd Vaughn, vice president of development for Bethesda Softworks. "We have some great ideas about where we want to go with this license and having the exclusive right to develop and publish Star Trek games across all platforms ensures that every Star Trek game will be a quality game worthy of its name."

The game will also boast a full multiplayer campaign, from small-scale engagements to all-out war involving multiple star systems. Matchmaking, stat tracking, and player rankings on Xbox Live are set to be included, so you can check your progression from Kirk to a Kahn (or visa versa) easily. ...

Via CVG

After months and months of agonized waiting, we've finally managed to get our hands around Nintendo's hugely unconventional new controller for its next-gen console, Wii - and OMFGetcetc, it's a brilliant, phenomenal bit of kit. Everything you've heard and hoped for is true - you ain't seen nothing quite like this before sunshine. We'll go through the ins and outs of the Wii-mote elsewhere and hop straight to those all important games. First up, the most accessible - and damn, if it's not the single most concentrated pile of immediate fun we've ever had in a game - Wii Sports.

You'll have seen this already if you were watching Nintendo's media event on Tuesday - it's the game Uncle Reggie, Mister Iwata and King Miyamoto challenged one lucky winner to, in the form of Wii Tennis. Also bundled in with Wii Sports - already confirmed as a launch game - you'll find Golf and Baseball. Nintendo's also suggesting there might be a couple of additions to the sports package - potentially Airplane, which is showing under the Wii Sports umbrella here at E3.

We've got some first hands-on impressions below, as well as a couple of screens snapped directly from the show floor. It's worth pointing out that Wii Sports is in no way indicative of the power of the console from a graphical perspective. They've all been designed to be simple, stylised and approachable. As with all the Wii games on display, everything ran at a constant 60 fps - and when you see the gorgeous Mario, Zelda and Metroid in action, you're going to be mighty impressed.

TENNIS


Undoubtedly the jewel in Wii Sports' crown is Tennis, which sees up to four players wielding the Wii remote in wholly intuitive racket stylee. Like all of the offerings in the package, it's a doddle to pick up and play, but it's incredibly basic as far as a sports game goes. Although you can perform all the usual tennis tricks like forehands, backhands and serves (by flicking the remote upward then volleying it as hard as you can), your onscreen representations will find their own way to the ball automatically, meaning you don't need to worry about positioning. Really, all you're tasked with is deciding how to hit the ball and how hard, with the remote detecting the speed of your swings.

Despite it's simplicity though, it's a brilliant piece of design as far as introducing the world to Nintendo's new philosophy goes - and it's incredible how unintrusive the Wii remote actually is, fitting snugly into your hand. Of all the game's we've played so far, this is the one most likely to convince you of Wii's brilliance, in the shortest amount of time. As far as longetivity goes, it's a bit questionable, but as a party game, it promises to be a ball.

GOLF


Admittedly we're less convinced by Golf and Baseball - both are even further simplified versions of the sports, without the thrill of the simultaneous multiplayer hijinx found in Tennis. It's hard to talk about Golf without pointing out that we're absolutely rubbish at it in the real world - so it probably speaks highly of the Wii remote's ability to replicate real-life activities when we say we were shit at Wii Golf too.

Having selected whether you're right or left handed, you're presented with a traditional behind-character view of the golf course. Next, unsurprisingly, you adopt your favourite golfing posture and swing away. Initially, you can take as many practice swings as you want - hold down the trigger or top button though and its the real deal. As you'd imagine, the remote senses your swing speed, effortlessly - and utterly intuitively - translating all that into how far the ball travels and where it ends up. Adjusting your intended path is a bit more old-skool though, achieved by pressing the d-pad either left or right.

From what we've seen, it's not the most sophisticated thing in the world and is probably best described as Monkey Golf with a fancy controller. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's probably got limited appeal.

BASEBALL


Same story here too - although it's worth pointing out that Nintendo's deliberately marketing its Wii Sports package as a mass-appeal arcade style diversion with sporting allusions, rather than anything resembling a sim.

You can probably guess what Baseball entails by now: Use the remote as if it's a bat and swing away. Again, simplifying matters hugely, the game measures the speed of your swing and converts it into distance on the screen - the further you thwack it across the field, the more likely you are to score a home run. There're no fancy complications or cut-scenes if you do though - it's simply a case of the onscreen HUD marking one of your ten innings with the appropriate icon and you're off again. Your longest strike and number of innings is recorded at the end of the game and that's it.

AIRPLANE


Finally, Airplane stands as the oddity in Nintendo's Wii Sports line-up. Although it's collected alongside Tennis, Baseball and Golf on the show floor, it doesn't ...

Via CVG

We're certainly hitting the high notes at this year's E3 on CVG, having just returned from the first reveal of Singstar on Sony's next-gen PS3.

We'll be uploading footage shortly for you to contemplate but Sony revealed during an impressive presentation that two brand new microphones will be released alongside the PS3 launch title and they'll look sleek, silver and slimline and feature increased sensitivity compared to the current model.

Even more intriguingly, one will come in a standard USB wired version but there'll also be a wireless Bluetooth model for full falsetto freedom.

As to what you'll be singing on the PS3, well it looks like that will be entirely up to you, with a new iTunes-style service giving you full control over your PS3 playlists and karaoke classic selections. This was demoed, with a song taking perhaps less than 30 seconds to come down the wires. And while Sony refused to give an absolute confirmation of pricing, they did say it would cost no more than a typical iTunes track, with a flat rate guaranteed across the board.

Various themed song packages may also be on offer on download, but once you've bought your SingStar package, don't expect further song packs or disks to be heading your way. Although this is yet to be fully confirmed, Sony's current thinking is that you'll buy all further songs through the download service.

We'll be warbling more Singstar goodness your way soon, including a movie of the presentation. ...

Via Gamespot

In a post-earnings conference call last week, Activision chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick gave investors a few hints at the next Call of Duty game. He said it was set to arrive in the company's third quarter of the fiscal year (October 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006), and that it is "not a PC product, it's a console product, and it's all next-gen."

Kotick neglected to mention that it's coming to the handheld market, as well. Activision's official release list has "Call of Duty 3 PSP" for the PlayStation Portable for fall 2006. Activision isn't showing the game at this year's E3, and the only other information on the spreadsheet is that it's a "first-person action game" (the same designation as the console Call of Duty games) and carries a $49.99 price tag.

Activision representatives were cagey about what they could and couldn't say regarding the game, but one did confirm a few facts for GameSpot. The odd "Call of Duty 3 PSP" name is just a working title, it will not be a port of the console editions of Call of Duty 3, and Infinity Ward is not handling the game's development. ...

Posted this a week or two ago that Success HK have this game for USD 39.74 (around 24Pounds) but not heard that its been released elsewhere, heres some screens and info of the killer title for the PSP:

From Sony Online Entertainment, the makers of Untold Legends on PSP, Field Commander is a turn-based strategy game for the portable system. Use any of the game's 15 military units to conquer the opposing army, and deploy your field of 11 officers to lead the battle. Field Commander features 30 single-player battles, plus offers a level designer function and multiplayer head-to-head over ad-hoc and internet play.



...

Heres a new release from Deniska for you Homebrew PSP Fans:

This is a PSP adoptation of Project Starfighter from Parallel Realities (http://www.parallelrealities.co.uk)
- horizontal space shoter with RPG elements.

FEATURES
-------
- 26 missions over 4 star systems
- Primary and Secondary Weapons (including a laser cannon and a charge weapon)
- A weapon powerup system
- Wingmates
- Missions with Primary and Secondary Objectives
- A Variety of Missions (Protect, Destroy, etc)
- 13 different music tracks
- Boss battles

NOTE: Some of game's graphics has been modified for better display on PSP's screen.

INSTALLATION
----------
1.5 users: copy contents of 1.5 folder to ms:/PSP/GAME
1.0 use EBOOT.PBP from 1.0 folder with data files from 1.5 folder
2.0 Please let me know if either version works with the latest eboot loader for 2.0 firmware

CONTROLS
------
[X] MENU SELECT; PRIMARY WEAPON
[TRIANGLE] SECONDARY WEAPON
[ARROWS] MENU NAVIGATION
[ANALOG] SHIP NAVIGATION; CURSOR NAVIGATION
[L-TRIGGER] PAUSE
[R-TRIGGER] ENEMY DIRECTION DISPLAY TOGGLE
[????] ACTIVATE CHEATS MENU & GAME CREDITS - I'll let you figure this one out :-)

GAMEPLAY
------
Please refer to documents in the docs folder for details.

TODO
---

Fix - ocasional slowness & crashes

SOURCE
-----
PSPSDK compatible c++ source code & makefile are attached to this distribution.

CREDITS
------
+++ MAIN PROGRAMMING AND DESIGN +++
Stephen Sweeney

+++ ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING +++
Richard Sweeney

+++ PSP ADOPTATION PROGRAMMING +++
Denis Televnyy

Enjoy,

DENIS

Download at http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk ...

shifty_bill has released a new game written in Lua for the PSP, heres the info:

Its basically a green dwarf walking north, south, east, west, NW, NE, SW and SE.

I will be adding more stuff to this soon.

If anyone is interested in helping me on this drop me an email at

william_keam at hotmail dot com

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