via Xbox 360 Fanboy


Emerging from a wormhole in space, the official release date for the next RPG from BioWare, Mass Effect, has been announced. No longer confined to the nebulous date of "November," Mass Effect will be landing on retail shelves -- where it will no doubt encounter hostile alien life -- starting November 20th. We were very impressed with what we saw of the game at E3, and the media that has arrived since then has done nothing to dull said impressions. Yup, we can't wait to play Peter Moore's most anticipated game. Alas, now we are saddled with the knowledge that we have nearly three months to wait for it. Sigh ... if only there was something to keep us occupied until then. ...

via Xbox 360 Fanboy


This morning a not so new Surf's Up demo was released onto the XBLM for our European, Australian and New Zealand friends allowing them to experience what hardcore penguin surfing is all about. The demo is roughly 668MBs of pure surfing madness and if you think you're experiencing a mild case of deja-vu, you're not. You see, this demo was released way back in June to North American Xbox Live members and took around two months for Ubisoft to make it fit for our European and Australian fanboys. You know, because the demo had to be ... uhh, localized ... yeah, that's it! It took two additional months to release a demo for a kids game to the rest of the world because it had to be localized. (Ubisoft's marketing team so owes us.) ...

via Nintendo Wii Fanboy




Many of our commenters have wondered how the Wiimote fits into the Guitar Hero III controller, and, more generally, what the benefit is of sticking the Wiimote in there. IGN has answered the questions in their latest Guitar Hero III writeup, which includes pictures detailing the guitar's design.

The most obvious new feature in the guitar is its portability. The controller's neck can be removed, making it much easier to fit into a backpack or suitcase. The other noticeable feature, the Wiimote-shaped hole, is actually not the point of access for the remote. Instead, a removable door on the back of the guitar allows you to plug in your Wiimote, with a little indentation provided for balling up and stuffing the wrist strap.

The Wiimote actually does more in the guitar than just broadcast your Nintendo fandom: it provides the wireless connection capability and motion-sensing Star Power activation for which the other GH guitars have their own hardware. Exclusive to the Wii version, powered by the Wiimote, is force feedback-- the guitar rumbles along to the beat, just like a real guitar.

The Wii game, developed by Vicarious Visions, will have all the same songs as the next-gen versions, and will run in widescreen at 480p. It looks fine, and graphics really don't matter in Guitar Hero (who has time to look at them?) Apparently it'll have some kind of online mode, but the exact implementation has yet to be revealed.

The Wii version of Guitar Hero III actually looks like it might end up being a solid purchase-- if the rumored Wii Rock Band release doesn't happen. ...

via PS3 Fanboy


Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will be available later today on the PlayStation Store. For $10, players will be able to play Capcom's beloved puzzle game with new 1080p HD graphics, new gameplay modes, improved game balance, and new backgrounds created by Udon. Oh, and did we mention: online play?

For those unfamiliar, the point of the game is to move and rotate gems to form groups of the same color. By destroying gems of the same color, players will send counter gems on their opponents. In Tetris-fashion, when the screen fills up to the top, the game is over. The three game modes include:

• X-Mode: Classic Puzzle Fighter
• Y-Mode: Gems automatically break when three or more gems of the same color line up in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.
• Z-Mode: Players move a 2x2 cursor around the screen rotating the positions of the highlighted gems; more gems are added from below, moving all the current gems toward the top.

In addition to rebalanced gameplay, players can also create their own drop patters through Counter Gem Edit. Online Ranked Matches will use the "TrueSkill system" for balanced fights. Finally, online leaderboards (a requisite for any online game) are included. Stay tuned later for more information on today's Store update. ...

via Computer and Video Games


You'll see the full three-minute intro and a few early battles but, more importantly, your eyes will get to clap themselves on the lovely Nariko in full swing in three direct feed movies straight from the final version of Heavenly Sword.

As you'll soon see Heavenly Sword is heavy on the action and easy on the mind. Brain Training this most certainly isn't.

September 14 is the game's official release and final code crashed down onto our desks this morning, nearly breaking them in half. We're still looking for our strawberry Chewits...

For your viewing pleasure we've captured the opeing of the game as well as some fighty scenes that'll nicely warm up your fingers right through those cold winter evenings. Brrrr...

Look out for the review soon.


Trailers via source or here ...

via Kotaku


60GB PS3s are on their way out. The US online store SonyStyle.com has run plum out of the 60GB consoles, leading to speculation that only retail units remain. The US $499.99 machine is listed as "Back Order," while the $599.99 80GB PS3 is readily available. According to a Sony rep:




Previously Sony announced that the 60GB PS3s would be available until they were no longer available. So potential customers snap up those remaining "cheaper" consoles while you can, because 20GBs more will set you back a hundred bucks. Don't you just love this pricing scheme? It's evolution, you know. ...

via Computer and Video Games


The benefits of the higher storage capacity of Sony's Blu-Ray discs have once again been pulled into the spotlight as Heavenly Sword chief development 'Ninja', Nina Kristensen, tells CVG that the game would simply not be possible on DVD.

"We have jam-packed the Blu-Ray disc absolutely full," declared Kristensen, as she confirmed rumours that the audio alone was allocated 10GB of space on the 25GB Blu-Ray discs.

That's more than an entire dual-layer DVD game, which holds a total of 8.5GB.

We wondered if this meant compression methods usually used to squeeze content onto normal DVDs had not been used, but Kristensen insisted otherwise: "We used compression all over the place. We had to be really judicious at the end with what was going on the disc and what wasn't.

"I think it's one of those things - if you give us the space we're going to fill it with stuff. It means the audio can be of a higher quality and stuff like that. It all adds to the quality of the package," she told CVG. ...

via Computer and Video Games


It's called the King of Iron Fist Tournament, but a new character revealed for the upcoming Tekken 6 looks more like he'd do better in a pie-eating tournament.

Bob is the rather uninspiring name of the overweight fighter, who has already been compared to Mario because of his blue trousers and red short-sleeve shirt.

The first image appeared in the latest issue of Japanese Arcadia magazine, which describes Bob as a "martial arts genius".

According to a translation:


Translation courtesy of SDTekken.com.

Tekken 6 isn't expected out until the later half of 2008. Maybe he'll be even bigger by then. ...

via Eurogamer


Ubisoft has decided to reward you with a second and free Throwback content pack for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.

You can download it now from Live Marketplace, before enjoying a new game mode and plenty of revamped maps from old Ghost Recon games. You'll also be able to download the first Throwback Pack for free, too.

The new game mode is a co-operative exercise where you'll have to work with your chums to escort a computer-controlled character through a hostile zone to an extraction point, making funny hand signals and saying things like "hornets are circling the bee hive" as you go.

Ghost Recon 2, Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike, and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter make up the inspiration for the new maps.

In the small range there's the Ghost Town map (Summit Strike) that takes place in a rural North Korean village with lots of little alleyways, and Boneyard (GRAW) that's made of up old and disused vehicles all rusty and full of tetanus.

Slightly larger is Aral Sea (Summit Strike), based around an old harbour village with lots of grounded ships littering the coast; Bunkers (Ghost Recon 2), a training ground littered with hidey holes to stop bullets hitting your head as you hop between them; and Rocky Cove (GRAW), a big coastal area with lots of rocks to trip over and hurt yourself on.

Even bigger is River Depot (GRAW), an old storage facility eaten up by the surrounding jungle and now used as a makeshift military base, or District (Summit Strike) - spanning a large Kazakh city with all sorts of tactical options available. ...