Latest Articles (Page 3312)

Microsoft corporate VP Peter Moore appears to have underestimated the first-day sales of Halo 2 in North America, which are reported today to have topped $125 million, while retailers in the UK are celebrating a hugely successful midnight launch for the title.

Although we feel sure you need little reminder, for the sake of absolute clarity we'd like to point out that a certain Xbox game called Halo 2 is officially released across the UK and most of Europe today, November 11th, having been released in the US and certain sections of continental Europe on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

A report this morning in a UK magazine has speculated that Nintendo plans to launch the DS handheld in late March 2005 in Europe, with a UK price point of UKP 129.99 (186 Euro), significantly higher than the equivalent US dollar pricing.

In a move not-at-all designed to spoil Konami's Xbox launch of Pro Evolution Soccer 4 on November 19th, Electronic Arts is inviting gamers to head over to Earls Court on Saturday, November 20th to take part in its FIFA Interactive World Cup on Xbox.

LucasArts is planning to release a Star Wars real-time strategy game in 2005, company president Jim Ward has revealed in an interview this week, and believes there is "a bright future" for games based on new live-action and animated TV shows.

Sony Computer Entertainment held a party in Tokyo yesterday to celebrate the completion of Polyphony Digital's long-awaited Gran Turismo 4, which is set for release in Japan - and, apparently, in North America - this December.

Activision has revealed that it plans to ship Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines on November 16th in the USA, meaning that the game will be in direct competition with Valve's Half-Life 2 - the Source Engine technology for which Bloodlines uses under licence.

Escalation, the first expansion pack for multiplayer first-person shooter Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising, has officially gone gold and will be premiered to an audience of PC gamers at Multiplay's i22 LAN event at Newbury Racecourse this weekend, publisher NovaLogic announced this week.

Having already detailed its pre-order plans for the US, Korean and Australian editions of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment has now announced similar incentives to precede the European release of the game - as its open beta campaign in the US continues to attract enormous interest.

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has smashed yet more UK sales records, salling over a million units in just nine days - making it into the fastest selling game, the fastest to hit a million units, and the fourth biggest selling PS2 title ever.

Karaoke is an age-old concept, but, up until Sony's SingStar, attempts to turn it into a viable computer game have proved hit and miss. Konami had a go with its Karaoke Revolution/Stage series, and Microsoft's fairly abysmal Music Mixer included some karaoke stuff, but Sony really nailed the formula: it's actually more fun if you just let people sing along, and don't force them to try and hit the notes. That's why Alan Partridge singing Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear is so funny, and your sister gyrating her larynx to Sum 41 plainly isn't. It's also why we were so keen to track down the folks behind SingStar and talk to them about their future plans and SingStar Party, the package of 30 new songs and new game modes due out for PS2 in Europe on November 19th...

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has sold more than one million copies in the UK in just nine days, Chart-Track has revealed, having already broken records by clocking up sales of 677,000 in the two days following its release on October 29th.

Veteran developer Warren Spector has announced his departure from Austin-based studio Ion Storm, where he oversaw franchises including Deus Ex and Thief, but he will continue to work with parent company Eidos as an IP consultant.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within has slipped a week and will now be released on December 3rd across Europe on PS2, Xbox, Cube and PC, reflecting a slight delay in the US where the game will now be released on November 30th.

Capcom has played down reports that Resident Evil 4 will be released on Xbox, telling journalists that it has yet to decide upon the game's future on other formats.

The recently launched Gizmondo handheld console is set to receive a number of software titles from Microsoft Game Studios, with Gizmondo Europe today announcing a new deal with the software giant.

Little known games publisher Electronic Arts has released a trailer for Battlefield 2 from developer Digital Illusions, showcasing just under a minute of in-game footage from the near-future everyone-crowd-in-and-blow-each-other-'em-up.

Pro Evolution Soccer 4 will be released on Xbox and PC-DVD this November 19th, Konami of Europe has confirmed this afternoon, and both versions will support "fully competitive online gameplay".

Order yours now from Simply Games.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

Space. There is, to put it mildly, rather a lot of it. It's vast, dark and cold beyond comprehension, and filled only with emptiness. And lens flare, naturally.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

Order yours now from Simply Games.

While the discussions continue to rage over the relative merits of GTA: San Andreas, a rather less high profile release slipped out to rather less fanfare last week - the long overdue GBA version that finally brought Rockstar's mega-franchise to the handheld after extensive delays and developer changes. But since the transition of the brand from its top down viewpoint into 3D, would the old style gameplay still stand up to scrutiny after all these years?

At a time like this when you've got a game with such massive expectations heaped upon it, it's almost futile trying to offer anything but the most positive comments you can possibly come up with. With Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, where we've been fed more pre-release information and preview opportunities than just about any game in history, it seemed impossible that the game couldn't be anything other than absolute mind blowing genius. Everything we'd seen, read and heard spelt out that this was a title so far ahead of the sorry pretenders that there simply could be no other game out there worth playing. The game of the generation. The game to end all games. Technically advanced, bigger, better, even more controversial. But you all know how it works. They would say that wouldn't they? The first commandment in the law of games is 'Thou shalt hype'.

As it gears up to release Metal Slug 3 at a ridiculously low price on PS2 and Xbox this Friday (seriously, how is MS3 not worth £14.79?), UK-based publisher Ignition Entertainment has revealed that it plans to release the next in its growing line-up of SNK Playmore titles in January. Beat-'em-up SNK Vs. Capcom: Chaos should be out around then on PS2 and Xbox - again for less than £20, and capable of going online over Xbox Live. Sadly the critics in the US weren't as enthusiastic about this one as they might have been, but at less than 20 bob it might well surprise. Who knows? We'll find out in January.

Digital Leisure, a publisher with a predilection for DVD-Video based game products, has announced, demoed and released "Dragon's Lair III" this weekend, which seems to be some sort of amalgam of previous Dragon's Lair action-adventure titles and new extras like expanded boss battles.

Having lined it up to launch alongside the Japanese hardware on December 2nd, Nintendo has started trailing details on WarioWare, Inc. DS online this month, opening a Japanese website that introduces the characters and some of the game concepts in predictably frenzied fashion. See here.

By now you've probably seen the film trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and, if you're anything like us, you still found something compelling about it, whatever your views on Episodes I and II. But then perhaps that was Lucas's plan all along; stoke everyone's fiery internal conflict between Star Wars apologist and angry detractor and convert us all to the dark side in one fell swoop? It might work. It'll get him our money, regardless.