Latest Articles (Page 3332)

Microsoft Game Studios in Japan is looking for game creators with some original ideas, opposed to the current trend of pushing sequels and established franchises, judging by a job ad that appeared on the firm's Japanese employment page this week.

Yoshinori Kitase, director of Square Enix's CG DVD movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, has hinted in the Japanese press that a sequel to FFVII is not completely out of the question, according to comments widely reported over the past day or so.

The man described as the "father of Final Fantasy," Hironobu Sakaguichi, has founded his own independent development company, which is working on a new console role-playing game and is considering next-generation development.

The oft delayed PS2 and Xbox versions of Ghost Master should finally be with us this September, publisher Empire announced today, curiously choosing to top-load its press release with the line "Released in March 2003". Yep, the PC version was. So, why the long wait? Apparently it's because the publisher realised that both ports "needed to be overhauled to suit the more immediate 'pick up and play' needs of a console gamer." The interface has now been redesigned - so much so that Empire reckons "all interactions and commands can be easily and quickly accessed with a couple of quick clicks of the pad." It ghost faster, then.

Valve Software head honcho Gabe Newell has quietly responded to a forum post (traced through various Half-Life fan sites) inquiring after the size of the Counter-Strike: Source installer and a specific date for the commencement of the beta test.

Britsoft developer Warthog Games has created a showcase for three original titles which it is currently developing, demonstrating the company's ability to create original intellectual property for both home and handheld console platforms.

Japanese console giant Nintendo will not be exhibiting at the Tokyo Game Show this September, and its former annual SpaceWorld show will remain on hiatus for another year, a company spokesperson has confirmed.

We dunno about you, but if we went on Mastermind right now, we could probably quite confidently pick Doom III as a specialist subject. It seems that since the game went gold last Wednesday, every day we've had something new and interesting to chew on, and today is no exception. "Today's Doom III story", then, concerns adventures in benchmarks and Nine Inch Nails man Trent Reznor. Although not together, because that would be silly.

The largest custodial sentence ever to be imposed by a UK court for games piracy was handed down by Cardiff Crown Court yesterday, with a man being sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment for a counterfeiting offence.

Activision plans to continue releasing games in its key franchises on a yearly cycle, supplementing its line-up with one or two new brands each year, president Ron Doornink explained in the publisher's investor conference call this week.

Activision will have "at least" one title ready to launch alongside the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable, president Ron Doornink confirmed in an investor conference call this week on the back of the publisher's latest financial report. Both titles will be established franchises with "top five potential", he said, and development is already underway.

Neversoft, developer of the Tony Hawk series, is working on "a compelling new intellectual property that will bring Neversoft's world renowned development prowess to a new genre," according to a statement made in publisher Activision's latest financial report.

It's been available to pre-order from some UK-based online stores for over a week, but now it's official: Microsoft is planning to release the metal-cased Halo 2 "Limited Collector's Edition" across Europe to coincide with the release of the regular DVD-boxed version on November 11th.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has no plans to launch a sequel to ICO this year, the company confirmed today, but hasn't ruled out a sequel to the cult PS2 title entirely.

Sony has won a landmark case in the British High Court, with a judge ruling that the sale of mod chip devices for the PlayStation 2 is illegal under the UK's implementation of the new European Union Copyright Directive.

Ubisoft is planning to strike hard at retail this Christmas, judging by the company's latest release schedule issued this week, with three massive titles and a number of other supporting numbers hoping to give the company a commercial reception to match the critical acclaim it enjoyed during the same period in 2003.

Codemasters has announced that Colin McRae Rally 2005 will appear on the PC after all, having previously announced the PS2 and Xbox versions towards the end of April. Better yet for PC owners, Codies says it's listened to fans' concerns and that as a result the PC version won't follow the lead of previous PC releases, which generally appeared a few months later with a slightly refined featureset.

Namco Hometek has confirmed that Katamari Damacy, the little Japanese oddity we got so excited about last month, is now set for release in the USA this September on PS2. Although there's still no word on a European release, we're hoping that a Western translation will inspire more PS2 owners to try and play it.

Activision's Spider-Man 2 has remained in the number one spot in the UK software charts for a second week, with the launch of the film driving a 76 per cent rise in sales on PS2 and making it into the best sales week ever for an Activision title.

id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead has told the Houston Chronicle newspaper roughly what Doom III's minimum system requirements will be, hopefully giving anxious gamers a couple of weeks to forge ahead and level out the bits that matter in time for the game's release - on August 5th in the US and August 13th in Europe.

When 2015 shipped Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, it launched a new wave of war-based first-person shooters that has yet to peter out completely; that tried to mix authenticity with entertainment without offending anybody too much. In the period since, the original team has split up more than a little, with many relocating to upstart Infinity Ward, whose Activision-published World War II FPS Call of Duty was so successful last year, while megabucks publisher Electronic Arts continued to try and eke more cash out of the Medal of Honor brand. In fact, only a handful or less stayed with original developer 2015, leading many critics to write off the team's next project - the Vietnam-themed Men of Valor (Xbox impressions) - as just another attempt to try and wring some more value out of a developer's name.

Publisher Majesco Games has announced that its forthcoming science fiction action title Advent Rising is being moved back to 2005 from its originally planned date of September, in order to move the game away from the crowded autumn/winter release schedules.

Artifact Entertainment, creators of the Horizons: Empire of Istaria massively multiplayer online title, has applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to allow it to restructure its debts, but has assured customers that there will be no disruption to the gameplay of the MMORPG title.

Men of Valor is pointless. Not in the sense that it's useless, stupid or inane, but in the literal sense. It has no point to make. Vietnam movies always seemed to have some overarching angle on the whole conflict, using the relationships and events on-screen as a vessel for debating certain issues visually - as well as telling a story. According to developer 2015, Men of Valor is largely narrative and action, and wrapped up in historical research and observation, not politics. And although we're still longing to see one of the developers tackling these conflicts really delve into the thinking as much as trying to entertain the gamer, our experiences with Men of Valor suggest that it will tackle the latter obligation with much gusto. We certainly enjoyed playing it.

Zoo Digital Publishing will release the GBA port of the Grand Theft Auto-esque Amiga title 'Payback' in Europe this October 15th, Eurogamer can reveal today, quite possibly beating Rockstar's own planned GTA handheld spin-off to market in the process. You can see find 14 screenshots of Payback on GBA here, and a series of seven movies neatly zipped up for you to download from Eurofiles here.

Valve has released a high quality, 1024x768 resolution version of the Counter-Strike: Source E3 trailer in its favoured Bink format (the same system as the Half-Life 2 vids). You should be able to download it via Steam, and we also have a mirror of the file on our BitTorrent-based file service Eurofiles, here.

The seventh instalment in the Tomb Raider series will be released in the summer of 2005, not entirely unpredictably, according to an unlikely source - the publisher of the Tomb Raider comic book series, Top Cow Productions.

NCSoft Corporation, the Korean company which runs some of the world's most popular massively multiplayer titles including the Lineage series and the recently released City of Heroes, has announced its intention to open a European division.

Codemasters no longer plans to release a Leeds United title as part of its Club Football 2005 range, according to a post on the publisher's official forum this week, citing "development issues as a result of [Leeds'] relegation to the Football League".

id Software has reportedly confirmed that Doom III game source and the tools necessary to exploit it will be released shortly after the game hits retail in early August. The same reports also state that a level editor will be included in the retail package.