Latest Articles (Page 3308)
-
Game Stars to return in 10 episode series
Including The Hunt for the UK's Greatest Gamer and an hour-long climax. Which sounds enviable.
Former one-off awards programme Game Stars is set to become a regular fixture of TV schedules late next summer and autumn, the show's organisers announced this week.
Read the rest of this article -
And we've mirrored them. Which doesn't mean they're backwards.
Sports Interactive has patched Football Manager 2005 to version 5.0.2 on PC and Mac, and we've taken the trouble to mirror them on Eurofiles. Here be PC, here be Mac. And, for the record, it was trouble. Oh the faffing.
Read the rest of this article -
Feature | Reader Reviews
Far Cry, Unreal Tournament 2004, xSokoban, gaming itself, and Final Fantasy XI all catch your attention as we catch up on the backlog. More submissions please!
We can barely believe it either! But as Kristan toils away ceaselessly on something you've all been wanting to read for a few days now, here's another batch of your very own reviews to keep things fresh and interesting. Or, well, just interesting; some of these filtered into the wrong folder and only turned up when we were trying to find something else last night... Still, here they are, and if you have something to say about a game and need a place to say it (for example, a place which has more readers than any other gaming-related destination in these parts), please refer to the foot of the page for details on how to submit.
Read the rest of this article -
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
We've seen 25 minutes of it. Ahead of our full interview with Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto and Nobuo Uematsu later this week, here's some of the things we learned, and some of our impressions.
Typically, we're not inclined to sit around for two hours making small talk. We're not like that. Believe it or not, we have better things to do than arch our spines next to coffee tables making idle conversation about frightening-looking marble dogs perched in hotel lobbies. But then again, there are exceptions. Invite us round to see 25 minutes of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - the CG-based film that Square Enix is making to explore the fates of the cast of FFVII after the events of the game - for example, and, though we'll spend most of the time burning up inside with anticipation, we'll still sit around patiently for just about as long as it takes.
Read the rest of this article -
Oxygen to publish Kuju's Conspiracy
New first person title sends players on the trail of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Publisher Oxygen Interactive has announced the latest addition to its release portfolio, with first person shooter Conspiracy: Weapons of Mass Destruction due to launch on PS2, Xbox and PC next March.
Read the rest of this article -
Sven Co-op for Half-Life 2 takes shape
First version will sort the basics, but there's more to come. Multi-user vehicles, for example. And a customisable TFC-style class system.
Although there's no word on when it'll be released (other than "When it's done."), the makers of Sven Co-op, the near-legendary co-operative play modification for Half-Life, have revealed that the Half-Life 2 version is well underway and outlined some of their plans for the first release and beyond.
Read the rest of this article -
Chinese government attacks Football Manager 2005
It's a threat to "sovereignty and territorial integrity" apparently. Which sounds like bollocks to us, but...
The Chinese Ministry of Culture has declared Football Manager 2005 a threat to the country's "sovereignty and territorial integrity", claiming to have received "strong protests" from Chinese gamers about the inclusion of the Taipei region of Taiwan, the Hong Kong Macau region and Tibet as separate countries.
Read the rest of this article -
Codies suspend development of Club Football
Out for the season, and quite possibly longer.
Codemasters has suspended development of its next Club Football game and made 18 people redundant as part of a review of its football portfolio, the British developer recently confirmed, but promised that its LMA series of footy management titles would continue and that most of the development team would be moved on to other projects.
Read the rest of this article -
Donkey Kong takes over February 4th
DK King of Swing joins Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat on Nintendo's list for early next year, although there's no word yet on more Donkey Konga titles.
Nintendo has revealed that Game Boy Advance title DK King of Swing (screenshots) - an unconventional Donkey Kong game featuring platform and puzzle elements, but largely based around swinging through trees using the L and R buttons - will launch alongside the GameCube's Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (screenshots) on February 4th next year.
Read the rest of this article -
This And That: Wednesday News Roundup
Metal Slug Advance gets Euro date, Mortyr 2 and Pacific Fighters patched, Wild Arms The 4th Detonator gets Japanese date, Midway confirms Harvey Smith appointment.
We have Ignition! ---'s press release here which says that Metal Slug Advance is due out on December 17th for £29.99. Hurray! According to product manager Peter Rollinson, MSA is "a new slant on one of SNK's most loved games," although said slant should in no way be construed as a third dimension, because MSA is another resolutely 2D side-scrolling shoot-everything-whilst-riding-a-camel-'em-up. We're looking forward to playing through its "five huge, gloriously detailed action-packed levels". On, er, December 17th.
Read the rest of this article -
Which is unfortunate, but then we prefer to kill people when there are no witnesses anyway.
Sony's American arm has confirmed (via sign language, presumably) that Rise of the Kasai, its forthcoming prequel to oft-underrated brutal sneak-and-kill-'em-up The Mark of Kri, will not feature an online co-operative mode as had previously been planned.
Read the rest of this article -
Feature | UK Charts: NFSU2 still in front of San Andreas
EA holds onto the top spot for the second week running.
Need For Speed Underground 2 held off the might of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the second week running as driving games once again proved the biggest draw at the top of the UK charts.
Read the rest of this article -
Apply now for City of Heroes Euro beta places
In line with recent feedback, this item is devoid of Smallville references. We torched 'em all. Ulp.
As regular visitors to the site well know, we hold City of Heroes in high regard. High enough for the inimitable Kieron Gillen to call it "focussed excellence" in his 9/10 review of the US version. And although we imagine many of you have already been bitten by the superhero bug and saved the world countless times after buying it and downloading it online, we have a feeling that news that NCsoft Europe is accepting applications for a European beta will still be well received.
Read the rest of this article -
Now the bastards are using bots. (With apologies to Dave Barry. Er, this is an item about World of Warcraft, incidentally, since it probably isn't obvious...)
Having banned a whole bunch of users from the plains of Azeroth last week, World of Warcraft developer Blizzard has now ejected another 300 or so users guilty of using bot programs to automate their characters' actions and advance their progress without actually being at the keyboard.
Read the rest of this article -
Excel powers advanced Halo 2 stats system
A Microsoft programmer has produced a spreadsheet that does new things with Halo 2's RSS feed, producing stats that go into more depth than Bungie's.
An unlikely union of Halo 2 and Excel has been capturing the interest of statistically minded Xbox Live fans for whom Bungie.net's seven-day online game stats service just isn't detailed enough.
Read the rest of this article -
EA working on new C&C Red Alert game
From the team that brought us Command & Conquer Generals. Official announcement due in the near future.
Electronic Arts has revealed that it's working on a new game in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert series in an email sent to fan site operators by VP and executive producer Mark Skaggs.
Read the rest of this article -
UK Gov calls for stronger ratings enforcement
Senior politicians back calls for crackdown on sale of 18-rated games to children.
Laws banning the sale of 18-rated games to children need to be enforced more strongly and warnings on boxes should be clearer, according to the UK's trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt.
Read the rest of this article -
Sony to replace defective demo discs with games
SCEA acknowledges the importance of save game data to consumers by offering free games to anybody who lost their saves thanks to a bug in a recent demo disc.
Sony Computer Entertainment America has offered to replace defective PlayStation Underground demo discs sent out recently in the USA with a free PlayStation 2 game, according to reports, following widespread condemnation of a bug in one of the demos which deleted Memory Card save game data rather unceremoniously.
Read the rest of this article -
Cordless Headset for Xbox, anybody?
It's amazing how much we can write about something so straightforward when we make virtually no effort to stay on topic...
We don't normally write about third party peripherals. Which begs the question: why don't we normally write about third party peripherals? Is it because we're peripherophobic? Is it because we don't have the time what with all the gamingness? Or is it because we only use first party stuff because the build quality is generally much better and we don't want to be that kid down the road who had the Turbo button who cheated at the mashing bits at the Millennial Fair in Chrono Trigger? Or is it because we waste our mornings writing useless paragraphs like this which serve no purpose other than to hold up the rest of the news item - news in general, in fact - and in the process rob ourselves of the opportunity to go out and seek new, brighter peripherals with better futures and functionality, which come from a land where all is pure and costs £12.99 or comes free when you buy two games for £19.99?
Read the rest of this article -
EA considers changing rules on overtime payments
Leaked memo shows efforts to improve working conditions at industry's top publisher.
An internal memo from EA's senior vice president of human resources Rusty Rueff to staff at the company has revealed that the firm is contemplating a change to how it classifies jobs with regard to overtime eligibility.
Read the rest of this article -
Interview | Sid Meier's Interview!
The Firaxis supremo answers our questions about Pirates!, the strategy genre at large, and where the developer plans to head next.
With "Sid Meier's Pirates!" out now across Europe, and reviewed elsewhere on the site today, we tracked down the Firaxis chief and asked him what to expect, what happened to "Dinosaurs!", what's going on in the PC strategy genre right now and how he accounts for Firaxis's success in an increasingly tough market.
Read the rest of this article -
Blizzard bans World of Warcraft cheaters
Well, they had been warned.
Blizzard Entertainment, developer of MMORPG World of Warcraft, has demonstrated that it intends to live up to its no-nonsense reputation when it comes to dealing with cheaters by revoking the accounts of a number of subscribers identified as using "speed hacks" to accelerate movement in-game.
Read the rest of this article -
Bits And Bobs: Monday News Roundup
House of the Dead III for PC, Pro Rugby Manager sequel loses its "005", KOF: Maximum Impact dated in Europe, Namco outlines GBA plans for 2005 (inc. Klonoa and Ace Combat), and lots of games are suddenly patched.
Somewhat inexplicably, SEGA Europe has announced plans to release House of the Dead III on the PC, giving beige boxers the chance to tackle the company's most recent zombie lightgun shooter, which was released on Xbox in early 2003. The PC port will turn up next February, some two years late, and there's no word on the pricing; however SEGA has said the PC port will feature all the new bits that help it to stand out from HOTDs 1 and 2, including a big-old shotgun. We'll doubtless have a look at this when we can, but in the meantime you might like to refer back to Kristan's review of the Xbox version for a proper grounding.
Read the rest of this article -
Feature | Press Release Pain
Or, how we learned to stop complaining and love the spin.
It's easy for you. It's hot, you're invited to a mate's barbeque, and one of his other friends who you met in the pub once says "so, I'm a professional sheep-shearer from the mountains of Borneo - what do you do for a living?" Well, you say, I have a perfectly reasonable job that won't send attractive ladies into giggly fits, and won't provoke derisory comments from anybody over the age of 35. We, on the other hand, get to say "oh, I, er, I write about computer games for a living." Oh the stares. Oh the crippling agony of having your own eyes tunnelled through by Goldfinger-esque laser beams of pure loathing. Do they expect us to talk? No! They expect us to die! Whether it's a bloke or a bird, they'll probably find some reason not to like us. These days, we tell everyone that Eurogamer is a Norwegian, mafia-funded escort agency employing starving Danish buskers. Nobody gives a shit, and we escape unscathed.
Read the rest of this article -
Feature | Reader Reviews
Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, Morrowind GOTY Edition, Wario Ware, Mashed and DRIV3R all get a grilling courtesy of, well, you.
As promised, here's another batch of Reader Reviews to round off the week, including a controversial take on DRIV3R amongst other things. For details on how to submit your own reviews, please refer to the bottom of the page.
Read the rest of this article -
Halo 2 global sales pass five million units
Avid gamers clock up 28 million hours shooting each other in the face on Live.
Microsoft has released a swathe of new figures related to Bungie's Xbox opus, Halo 2, revealing that the title has now sold over five million units worldwide and become the most popular game in the history of Xbox Live.
Read the rest of this article -
Metal Gear Solid 3 due in March with Euro bonuses
In keeping with past tradition, the European version of the latest Metal Gear Solid PS2 game will feature PAL-specific gameplay additions, Konami confirms.
Konami has revealed that the European version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is definitely due out in March 2005 (various retailers have been quoting March 25th to us) and will feature various new modes to make up for the delay.
Read the rest of this article -
Infinium sued by former investment bankers
SBI-USA file suit; Infinium strongly denies breach of contract and fraud claims.
The latest chapter in the often-bizarre saga of technology start-up Infinium Labs has unfolded in the USA, with investment bank SBI-USA filing a lawsuit against the prospective platform holder for fraud and breach of contract.
Read the rest of this article -
Bungie rejigs Halo 2 matchmaking options
The second Xbox Live patch focuses on playlists.
Having sat and watched people play Halo 2 on Xbox Live for nearly a month, Bungie has released an auto-update for the game which updates a few of the game's "playlists" and matchmaking options. Unlike the first auto-update, which mainly dealt with technical issues and unlocked the "Foundation" multiplayer map, this one focuses on what you might call logistical tweaks.
Read the rest of this article -
Nintendo plans move into animation industry
Hiroshi Yamauchi's movie idea wins backing, according to Japanese reports.
A report in Japanese business publication Nikkei Journal has confirmed that Nintendo is set to enter the film business with the creation of an internal studio focused on animated movie production.
Read the rest of this article