via Eurogamer


Activision has flown a new demo for Spider-Man: Friend or Foe into the Xbox Live web.

It's wrapped up in about 432MB of web, and features cartoon violence and friendship themes.

The demo will let you play as arachnid man himself, on your own or in co-operative mode with one of the baddies-turned-good Green Goblin or Venom.

You'll be able to try out a boss dust-up, too, against old Doctor Octopus, and eventually unlock a sidekick cheat code for your efforts - that you can use in the full game.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is being created for PS2, 360 and Wii by Next Level Games - the same brain responsible for the rather good Mario Strikers Charged on Wii.

There's also a PC offering from Beenox, as well as DS and PSP offerings from Artificial Mind & Movement - Activision's dream-team-port-squad.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is due out across all platforms on 12th October. Look for our thoughts nearer the time. ...

via Eurogamer


Those of you tuning up for the 28th September release of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights can now try out the multiplayer in a new Live demo.

We've already had a Juiced 2 demo, as you know, but this 1.37GB effort emphasises the online element with support for up to eight players.

Which is good news for everyone outside Asia, where the demo isn't being distributed. As one commenter on Major Nelson's blog notes, isn't that where all the big tuner fans live? Indeed it probably is, but it's also where all the Xboxes aren't, so you can see their point. ...

via Eurogamer


Tri-Crescendo's sought-after role-playing game Eternal Sonata has finally been confirmed for PS3.

That's according to the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu (pointed out by Kotaku), which claims to have been given the go-ahead to report on it from publisher Namco Bandai. Go ahead, it probably said.

It follows musical news from yesterday that Namco Bandai had listed a PS3 version of the game on its website, before it removed it to stop us all phoning up and asking what was going on.

Eternal Sonata is loosely based around the final hours of famous composer Frederic Chopin's life, in which he is said to have entered a dream world filled with other people suffering from incurable diseases (his was tuberculosis).

Atari will be publishing the 360 version here in October, while Famitsu believes the PS3 offering will be available sometime next year (in Japan first, then Europe). ...

via Computer and Video Games


Look at these large open landscapes and vivid colours - NiGHTS is turning out to be a very pretty Wii game.

First impressions are that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams will stick faithfully to the 2D-based gameplay format of the Saturn original, albeit with much better visuals.

If you haven't seen the game in action, take a look at a gameplay video and in-game footage here.

NiGHTS will be out in Japan on December 13, while us westerners will have to wait until an unconfirmed date next year.


Screenshots here. It's a shame folks outside Japan still have to wait for a release date to be annouced. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Bizarre Creations has detailed the 57-song soundtrack for Project Gotham Racing 4, due out exclusively on 360 from 12th October.

PGR4 is also fronted by an exclusive song written and performed by The Prodigy called Shadow, which plays on the various menus and over the credits.

Cleverly, the sound team isolated little loops of the electronic track and made it so that entering a new menu initiates a slightly different phase of the song, giving you the sense of progressing through a tune rather than just listing to a jingle on repeat. It's like Rez for menus, innit.

What's more, if you stick around on the main menu for long enough without doing anything, the game just starts jamming, spitting out variations on Shadow with gay abandon.

Elsewhere on the soundtrack, there's a familiar mixture of various genres and styles, and the game will allow you to switch playlists off and on by genre, or individual song within a genre playlist, so if you don't like hip hop but do enjoy a particular song, you can make sure that stays in the mix.

It's all part of a push to avoid having people race in and opt for custom soundtracks - although this being 360, that is of course an option.

For more on the audio side of Gotham, as well as all the other sides, watch the site in the coming days. The full track-list follows. Apologies for typos if there are any - the bloody train is swinging from side to side whose bright idea was that.


View the full soundtrack list here ...

via Eurogamer


Nintendo has told us a three week “Hanabi Festival”, has just begun on Virtual Console. Which means, excitingly, lots of Japanese and American titles will be playable in Europe for the very first time.

The first of these will be Super Mario Bros. sequel The Lost Levels, originally only available in Japan. It builds on the original with new levels, more difficult enemies, challenging obstacles and new secret worlds to explore. This special treat costs 600 points (GBP 4.20 / EUR 6) and is only available until the end of the celebratory period on 30th September.

Joining this is Mario's Super Picross, another Japan-only title where you have to solve silly old picture crosswords. It's a bit like Picross DS, as you might think – what with being based around the same puzzle – and has a save function and changeable music. This one carries a slightly inflated price of 900 points (~ GBP 6 / EUR 9).

Over the following two weeks we're promised Virtual Console offerings in the shape of classic US NES platformer Ninja Gaiden, and iconic shooter Gradius III. These will compliment hidden Japanese treasures Ninja JaJaMaru-Ken (NES), plus Sin and Punishment originally for the N64.

Not invited to the party but available anyway is the TurboGrafx-16 action-adventure Neutopia II. Once again you'll have to save the day from evil person, much like you did in the original – which also happens to be available on the Virtual Console. Both will cost you 600 points (GBP 4.20 / EUR 6)

That's all very nice, then, but we still want Secret of Mana! ...

via Games Industry


Nintendo's North American vice president of marketing George Harrison has confirmed he will be leaving the company at the end of the year.

Following Nintendo's decision to move the US sales and marketing departments from Washington to New York and San Francisco, rumours circulated that senior execs would not be making the transition.

At the time, Nintendo dismissed the chatter as speculation, but Harrison has now clarified that he won't be following his team to the West Coast.

...

via Eurogamer


SouthPeak has moaned and groaned that Monster Madness: EX will be available on PS3 next year.

It's a polished-up version of the 360 and PC game from earlier in the year, featuring new mini-games, better graphics, a more intuitive camera and general gameplay tweaks.

Monster Madness is a four-player co-operative shooter reminiscent of games like Zombies Ate My Neighbours. You play as one of a quartet of teenagers whose sleepy suburb has been invaded by the shambling undead, and use all sorts of weapons at hand to take off limbs and generally destroy the baddies.

Hopefully this new version can address previous problems and put this on the right track to realising its potential ...

via Games Industry


Blitz Games will be using Kynogon's AI middleware for its next PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 project.

The UK developer continues to use its internally developed BlitzWare engine, but needed to ramp up production using Kynogon's solution on the as-yet unannounced title.


Kynogon's AI technology is currently employed by a number of high-profile development studios including RealTime Worlds, Spark Unlimited, Lionhead and Turbine.

"Blitz has an unrivalled reputation within the industry for the quality of its technology, and we are honoured to be providing middleware to the company," added Pierre Pontevia, CEO of Kynogon. ...