Latest Articles (Page 3357)

Publisher THQ has signed a deal which will see the it acquiring Vancouver based development studio Relic Entertainment, which is currently working on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War for the company.

According to senior UK sources, speaking under strict conditions of anonymity, British publisher Codemasters and UK development darling Free Radical are on the verge of sealing a publishing agreement regarding Second Sight.

So there I was, crouched down behind the banks of Kingsmill and Toffee donuts, just watching the trolleys zoom past. Up ahead was my prey - a wiry looking chap in a white fleece. It doesn't matter what his name was. It never did. He hadn't seen me; he was too busy ordering a double-cheese and pepperoni from the deli counter. I'd bribed the old woman to take her time, and she was earning every penny. I'd top her later to iron out the creases.

Following last week's news that Doom III Xbox would feature co-operative online play despite the lack of split-screen options, a series of screenshots of the Vicarious Visions-penned Xbox version have popped up this Wednesday, confirming something else that our sneaky source in the States told us: that it's "very, very faithful to the PC version," and looks great.

Vivendi has announced a new Spyro game in development at Eurocom. Dubbed Spyro: A Hero's Tail, it's due out by the end of the year on PS2, Xbox and Cube and - oh I just got it! - scripted by Emmy Award winner J. Stewart Burns. He has been employed seemingly to breathe life into the story, which sees Spyro the purple dragon of justice setting out to save the Dragon Realms from the Evil Red Dragon, who has distributed light-sapping Dark Gems all over the world. The bastard.

Reality TV is obviously a big load of bollocks, but games about wacky reality TV shows we can just about put up with, particularly when they're as bizarre as JoWooD's Neighbours From Hell. You may recall we rather liked the first one up to a point (the point at which it became hideously repetitive), in which you had to torment an irritating neighbour for the hidden cameras, and we're certainly looking forward to seeing how the second one updates the formula. And, via the magic of the webformation interhighway, now we can! All thanks to a 30.9MB playable demo, which gives you a taste of the sequel, in which wily trickster Woody follows his neighbour onto a cruise liner and attempts to irritate him and his mum for as long as possible.

Sega is preparing two new games in the Shining Force strategy-RPG series, according to a teaser site which sprang up earlier this week. "Up ahead lies a new Sega RPG," it reads on the left, as we look past a sign with a dragon on it, down a bendy road and over the hills towards the towers of a shiny castle in the distance.

Late last year, as The Return of the King was reverberating around cinemas up and down the land and EA was toasting the success of its spin-off game of the same name, a producer on the title told sections of the US press that EA still had big plans for the franchise - beyond the scope of the PC-only MMORPG The Battle for Middle-Earth in fact - and to watch out for a console RPG called The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Hip Games has announced CT Special Forces: Fire For Effect for PS2, Xbox and PC, due out in early 2005, and promises the game will feature "unique missions in the fight against worldwide terrorist networks," in case it wasn't obvious.

Rumours of Tekken 5's development have been circulating for a little while now, and the buzz seems to indicate that it will make a splash at E3 next month (as with every other game in the Western world by the looks of it). Well, now it looks more or less certain, unless the Flash movie on the front page of Yamasa Slot World is some sort of elaborate fake, or something else entirely.

US publisher / developer LucasArts has confirmed that it has made 29 staff at its San Rafael offices in California redundant, bringing the head count at the company, which has cancelled several projects in recent months, under the 400 mark.

Eidos has released a new trailer for ShellShock: Nam '67, the new Vietnam-based third-person shooter from Killzone developer Guerrilla Games, which is set for a showing at E3 next month. And it's Guerrilla's last multi-platform (PS2/Xbox/PC) game before the Amsterdam-based developer dives into a deal to develop exclusively for Sony platforms, so Xbox and PC owners might as well enjoy it while they can.

Codemasters grabbed its first number one since August 2002 with the Xbox and PC release of TOCA Race Driver 2, but the good news for the Britsoft publisher was tempered by the news that the fifth in the series was the lowest-selling chart topper since EA's Medal Of Honor: Frontline in week 33 of 2002.

Halo designer and Bungie co-founder Alexander Seropian has formed a new development studio, Wideload Games, which has started work on a new PC/Xbox title based on the Halo engine technology.

With Gran Turismo 4 appearing at E3 next month for the second year running, you could say some of the gloss has come off its mixture of realistic and online racing options. However, anybody peering at the four new replay videos uploaded to the game's Japanese website this week will agree that none of the gloss has come off the game's splendid visuals, which remain very impressive even a year after the last time we played it. With GT4 Prologue due out in Europe sometime this summer, consider these a taster of the taster you could well be taste-testing as early as next month!

Sega has taken the wraps off one of the six new titles it plans to show off at E3 next month, and it's certainly an interesting proposition - aiming to combine one of the PS2's most mainstream pursuits with some of the firm's hardcore properties. Sega SuperStars is, quite simply, an EyeToy mini-games package built around Sega's best-known properties, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Samba de Amigo.

Vivendi this morning announced the sequel to Empire Earth, currently in development at Mad Doc Software for release in the first half of 2005, which promises to build on the first game by adding all sorts of features requested by fans of the original.

Following last week's announcements in the US press, Capcom has revealed slightly more about the forthcoming Viewtiful Joe 2 on PS2 and Cube, and blessed us with the first in-game screenshots of both VJ2 and of Dante making his unlockable appearance in the PS2 port of the original.

UK developer Zoonami has revealed its debut project, and it's not the Cube-only title the studio was rumoured to be working on - instead it's a multi-platform rhythm-action title called Funkydilla, which sounds a bit like a cross between Frequency and Tetris. The UK developer (founded by Martin Hollis, whose credits include N64 titles GoldenEye and Perfect Dark) will be taking the game out to E3 next month with a view to getting support from a publisher and potential licensing partner.

Midway has confirmed the line-up for its next batch of Arcade Treasures, including a number of relatively recent titles like Mortal Kombat 1-3 and Primal Rage, ahead of the package's launch in autumn this year.

Perhaps in response to recent reports (based on magazine scans posted to the web), Nintendo has updated its official website with a product page unveiling Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, shedding a little more light on plot, multiplayer details, and virtually confirming our report that the title will debut at the platform holder's pre-E3 press conference on May 11th - with the game more or less certain to appear at the trade show the next day to boot. The Nintendo.com update also brings us official screenshots to replace those grainy mag scans.

As reported here around a month ago, the next Tomb Raider game will not be appearing at E3 this year. "It's official," an Eidos representative reportedly told the US press this week. The Crystal Dynamics-developed seventh title in the series is currently listed for release in the middle of 2005, and ought to be an improvement on the dreadful Angel Of Darkness at the very least.

The clear skies and sunshine outside the office notwithstanding, it's become apparent in the last few moments that hell actually has frozen over, and that Satan will soon be ploughing through banks of snow on his way to work whilst simultaneously singing Hark The Herald and playing a harp in a tutu. That's right, folks - Unreal II on the Xbox came out this week! Give it a big hand!

The Xbox version of Doom III currently in development at Vicarious Visions will feature co-operative online play via Xbox Live, according to word coming out of an Activision press event in California today. Our source on the scene reports that it "looks great" up and running, and that the four-player Live deathmatch mode is also quite something to behold.

Broadband game delivery proponent Infinium Labs has announced a revision of its stock issue plans, which will now see the company raising $44 million from the venture rather than the previously planned $15 million.

Chavs and boy racers rejoice! EA has finally announced a direct follow-up to Need For Speed Underground, promising to build on the original game's mixture of arcade-style racing, shiny visuals and Max Power style tune-up options. Expect under-car lighting, and all manner of other fancy upgrades that fans of The Fast And The Furious and trendy sportswear will be able to immediately latch onto.

Following yesterday's revelation that Doom III would be playable co-operatively over Xbox Live, our sources at Activision's Californian press event have confirmed that there will be no split-screen options in Vicarious Visions' forthcoming Xbox adaptation, and shed some light on other aspects of the presentation.

The US publishers of forthcoming Hefner-'em-up Playboy: The Mansion have confirmed that the "two major console systems" mentioned in last year's product announcement were indeed PS2 and Xbox, with corresponding versions due out along with the flagship PC version sometime around Christmas. Ubisoft will be publishing in Europe.

Record label EMI has filed a lawsuit against leading publisher Electronic Arts, claiming that the company used its music without permission in a number of recent EA Sports branded videogames.

Microsoft has announced the first European Pandora Tomorrow Xbox Live tournament, giving budding Sam Fishers the chance to walk off with what is quite frankly one of the coolest prizes we've ever written about: a customised Pandora Tomorrow Spy Kit (worth about £2,650).