Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Lending some convincing creed-ence (OOF!) to those nearly forgotten rumors, the DS version of Assassin's Creed has appeared on Nintendo's "holidays and beyond" release list. Those hoping to abandon their Pokémans in favor of, uh, poking a man in the back with a dagger should note that the game falls into the "beyond" part of Nintendo's schedule. Ubisoft's pint-sized bump-off sim is currently set for release in February 2008.
Aside from a release window, not much is known about the game. Will it play anything like November's console versions? Will the stylus be used to simulate violent and inevitably controversial slashing motions? We've already sent the appropriate demand to Ubisoft: Your assassinz, let you show me them.
While Kane & Lynch's bank heist multiplayer had us intrigued, we were quite disappointed to learn that the eponymous duo's criminal cooperation wouldn't extend beyond an offline split-screen mode. Eurogamer politely asked game director Jens Peter Kurup to explain the omission, to which he responded, "It's a matter of focus, choosing what you want to deliver at what time. We looked at it and decided it was too much of a risk to change our code to be very very good at that, and we're not going to be very very good at other elements." He noted that he'd miss the feature, "but not terribly."
As that's not a sentiment likely to be shared by those enjoying the online co-op of a little game called Halo 3, Kurup places a divide between the two titles. "They are not only selling Halo," he said, "they are selling technology, they are selling consoles, they are selling Microsoft, the whole online package. That's not what we're doing." He's right on two counts! They are selling (by the boatloads) and IO Interactive isn't selling the whole online package. Instead of applause, let's offer some commentary.
Regardless of Microsoft's intentions for its platform, Halo 3 is still a video game competing for the time and attention of gamers, as is EA's cooperatively themed Army of Two. With Gears of War well behind us and Perfect Dark Zero (thankfully) even further back, we're of the belief that online co-op is (or should be), where appropriate, a standard "next-gen" offering by now. Kurup made a valid point about increased development time when he said gamers "also want the game at some point," but when some point happens to be November, you'd best give your game a full pair of water wings before tossing it into that shark-infested maelstrom.
Yahoo! Games has posted a video preview of this holiday's multi-instrument music extravaganza, Rock Band, paying special attention to the venues you and your faux band will be tearing up, bringing down and figuratively destroying. Spread across the cities of Boston, Los Angeles and New York, the initially revealed venues (out of the final 41) are divided into three size groups, with your band's surging popularity pushing you out of small clubs and into large arenas.
In an accompanying interview, Rock Band's senior artist Peter McDonald explains that the fancy venues provide not only bigger crowds, but also more spectacular stage effects and sophisticated camera work (read: "crazy crane shots"). Have a look for yourself at places like "Heebie Jeebie's," "Empire Square Garden" and "The Snake Pit" by clicking that Read link.
At least 4 times more powerful than your average, two-bit vampire slayer, the pixelated protagonist of early Castlevania adventures will accompany Gamestop and EB pre-orders of Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles. An "8-bit Simon Belmont figure" not only makes the PSP's Rondo of Blood remake more desirable, but also illustrates how far the series has come, shifting from side-scrolling vampire killer to... prettier, side-scrolling vampire killer.
Oh well, if $30 doesn't net you any change on October 23rd, at least it grants you access to Dracula X Chronicles' bonus game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Fang you very much, Konami.
Because your trusty 486, TURBOMODE and all, simply isn't good enough to cope with the lush forests and cybernetic shenanigans of Crysis. Publisher EA has today chosen to end the tech spec-ulation in order to paint a clear, anti-aliased picture of the system you'll need for optimal first-person shooting. Still, if you think your filthy hobo of a mobo deserves to dine in Crytek's five star restaurant, you'd best try out the demo on October 26th.
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista
Processor: 2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or 3.2 GHz or faster (Vista)
Memory: 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
Video Card: 256 MB
Hard Drive: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Real Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows XP / Vista
Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.2GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Memory: 2.0 GB RAM
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS/640 or similar
Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista) or faster, Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista) or faster, AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or faster.
Supported chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or greater. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported. Integrated chipsets are not supported. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.
MTV's Multiplayer blog continues its helpful pronunciation guide, this week shifting from Nintendo's Reggie "FEEH-SUH-MAY" to notorious something-resembling-filmmaker, Uwe Boll. The German director notes that if you're going to bash his next anti-masterpiece (and let's face it, you almost certainly will), at least have the decency to get his name right. It's not "YEW-EE" or "EEE-VEE," it's "OOV-UH."
"OOV-UH-BUHL."
All that's left is to apply this knowledge to everyday conversation:
"I can't wait to see OOV-UH-BUHL's interpretation of Far Cry's thought-provoking plot!"
"I left a message on OOV-UH-BUHL's answering machine. I do hope it's spelled correctly."
"Wow, I was simply BUHLED OOV-UH by how bad that movie was."
Ragdolls, that is. Brought to you by the creepy kids who tore the arms off their action figures, Soldier of Fortune: Payback declares war on subtlety, good taste and the important bits that keep your limbs connected to the rest of your body. The brief video above is demonstration enough of the game's absurd level of violence, don't you think? Its composition of gory decomposition should give the ESRB a grand old time and players a hearty chuckle -- proof that over-the-top, Verhoeven-esque violence is still funny... or that years of desensitization have turned us into heartless murder machines. We just don't know, Jack.
What we do know is that if Soldier of Fortune:Payback is anything like its predecessors, utterly generic gameplay won't stop it from surfing a bloody torso all the way into the spotlight. (Like it just did when we posted this video!)
That makes two thrones monolithic publisher EA has been ejected from this year, the first one now crushed beneath the enormous buttocks of Activision, new ruler of third-party publishers (and source of disturbing visual imagery). Nintendo has taken the top spot in this year's Top 20 Publishers report, as compiled by Game Developer magazine according to number of releases by SKU, average games review score, revenue and reputation. The Japanese giant pushes EA to the second position, away from the comfy spot it had occupied for the last four years.
Rival Activision places third, followed by French publisher Ubisoft and in fifth place, THQ. Gamasutra notes that Atlus USA makes its debut at number 18, contributing to poor Atari's fall to number higher-than-twenty. That's rough -- even in the rare event of the company's numbers going up, it's bad news.
As was revealed over the weekend, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is finally gracing Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. A fee of 1,200 MS Points ($15) allows entry into the kingdom where warring men and beasts settle things not by clanging swords, but politely manipulating colored tiles. The price of such civility may seem puzzling, but the digitally distributed form seems to offer the most features (examine them after the break) at the lowest price.
Wednesday sees another game arrive at the lowest price, specifically $0. In what is sure to be a vortex for game of the year accolades, Toyota's "Yaris" advergame allows you to test drive the eponymous vehicle from the comfort of your couch. You'll dodge robotic rabbits, engage in the exciting "Yaris vs. Yaris" mode and even upgrade the "protective shielding" you're surprised Toyota hasn't made more of an effort to market. Unfortunately, this game is only available to Live subscribers in the US and Canada.
Gallery: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (XBLA)
If you've yet to get yourself an Xbox 360 in this post-Halo 3 world, Microsoft is of a mind to sway you with fast cars and terrifyingly tight pants this holiday season. New Xbox 360 bundles (yep, these ones) are set to arrive "retail-wide by the end of October," with both the $349.99 "Pro" and the $449.99 Elite models offering two games at no extra charge -- racing sim Forza Motorsport 2 and supervillain clobberfest, Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
Though Project Gotham Racing 4's arcade styling would have held more general appeal than Forza's serious nitty-gritty, the latter's unquestionably a fine game for a freebie. The same holds true for Marvel Ultimate Alliance, a fun and accessible adventure both online and off. We rather like this bundlingbusiness.
What a terrible thing it is to hold sin in your hands, gently pressing its buttons and marveling at the pleasing electronic beeps and boops it emits. Its digital delights entertain for hours on end, but they merely distract from the gnawing guilt and anguish inside. Only when it is turned off is the perpetrator revealed, reflected in a glossy LCD screen.
You've come to depend on us for providing you with the Japanese hardware sales chart -- the objective and unaltered numerical truth of all consoles and handhelds. Full disclosure must triumph! Towards the end of our trip to Tokyo, on September 24th, we altered the course of sales events. We passed our greedy hands over the chart's fate and altered it ourselves, adding one Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII edition PSP to the outcome. The price was heavy, but the price of our meddling was far heavier.
Also, we just had to buy 3,528 Xbox 360s in anticipation of Halo 3.
If a pirate you were meant to be, trimming the sales and roaming the sea, you'd best mark January 22nd on your Official Babes 'n Barnacles calendar. The date sees massively multiplayer online swashbuckler sim, Pirates of the Burning Sea, ransacking your internet ports and plundering your PC's precious CPU cycles. If you've grown tired of the company of elves and orcs, perhaps living it out on the high seas -- be it through honest exploration or the shameless sinking of ships -- is more your thing.
Those who pre-order the game as of October 23rd will receive several bonus goodies, including a CD filled with "pirate-themed" music, "a blue and yellow parrot" and "a powerful weapon suited to their fighting style." The CD is an in-game item, as anachronistic as that may be. In addition, a pre-order nets you extra sailing time on the Burning Sea, with servers welcoming players 15 days prior to launch. Don't forget to pack some oranges.
Are you a complete and utter failure? Do you find yourself staring into the distance, sighing into the echoing caverns of your life? Is your sad existence often accompanied by music from an equally sad piano? Are you just about ready to type "quit" into the command prompt of life? If you answered positively to any of the above questions, you're much better off than the people in this video. They're likely too ensnared by regret and ineptitude to even muster any sort of response.
These men, women and curly-haired nerds will be off attending the E for All Expo from Oct. 18 to Oct. 21, where they'll "power up and play" and experience the "cutting edge of the video gaming world" -- provided they don't use it to cut their wrists. Judging by the exciting games montage, they can look forward to playing World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero and some racing game that's probably been out for months. As if that wasn't enough, the show's exhibitor list also promises encounters with the 5-Hour Energy booth and (OMG) Fatal1ty!
Would-be director of the now thoroughly deceased Halo movie, Neill Blomkamp, recently spoke to Creativity Online about his work on the trio of live-action videos that preceded the launch of the third game in the series -- and really, did we even have to hyperlink that? Blomkamp made it clear that the clips are completely separate entities and shouldn't be seen as replacement nor attempted resurrection for the film. "In essence, those pieces have zero to do with the film," he said. "Like less than zero."
Not even forgotten movie props made it into the viral videos, as Blomkamp explains that "the design and everything that we'd made for the film is just locked up in some locker somewhere." Of course, "locker" is likely a euphemism for the coffin that now holds the "entirely dead" film. "Whatever happens with that movie, assuming that movie gets made, will be a totally different configuration. It's not so much me as the entire vessel sank." Despite the lack of optimism, the South African born director admits he's still curious as to what might happen in the future. You'd think a guy involved in Halo's marketing would, you know, "believe."
Jeff Minter, cuddler of sheep and designer of psychedelic shooters, has updated his Stinkygoat blog with a mention of his latest endeavor: Gridrunner++ for Xbox Live Arcade. The original scrolling shooter, which requires you to survive numerous waves of enemies in increasingly disorienting levels, will have its graphics and controls overhauled to better suit the Xbox 360.
Minter hopes it'll make for a "more involved game" and is first focusing on "getting all the gameplay working first." That's just as well, given the polar reactions his Space Giraffe galloped and/or flew into.
Lending some convincing creed-ence (OOF!) to those nearly forgotten rumors, the DS version of Assassin's Creed has appeared on Nintendo's "holidays and beyond" release list. Those hoping to abandon their Pokémans in favor of, uh, poking a man in the back with a dagger should note that the game falls into the "beyond" part of Nintendo's schedule. Ubisoft's pint-sized bump-off sim is currently set for release in February 2008.
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