Latest Articles (Page 3363)

Not only has hell frozen over, but Satan has shifted his operations to that ice palace from Die Another Day and changed his name to "Frosty" by deed poll. That's right people - Counter-Strike: Condition Zero has finally received a concrete release date!

Raven Software's Kenn Hoekstra has updated his .plan this week with a special treat for fans of Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy.

According to our sources (lets call them HP and Daddy's Favourite), the San Diego studio responsible for the critically acclaimed The Mark of Kri is busy beavering away on a sequel, with Sony taking a wait and see approach to the development of the second game in what could wind up a trilogy.

Last October you may recall we took a look at Archer Maclean's 3D Pool, an ambitious handheld clack-'em-up from Britsoft developer Ignition. At the time we were led to believe it could be out before Christmas, and the sheer audacity of the project alone - a fully 3D, polygonal representation of our favourite pub pastime - meant that we were itching to get our hands on final code.

Activision has sent along a version 1.3 beta multiplayer patch for Infinity Ward's World War II themed FPS Call of Duty, but goes to great lengths to point out that a) it only works with English-language versions of the game, b) it only works with version 1.3 servers, c) there is no way to roll back to a previous version of Call of Duty besides a full reinstall of the game, and d) installation of the patch means you are ineligible for Activision Customer Support, although subsequent official releases will open the door to such things once again.

Nintendo has announced that Pikmin 2 is due for release on April 29th in Japan, lending weight to recent reports of a planned summer release in the US and Europe. Nintendo Europe reportedly has the game tentatively pencilled in for a June/July release, while retail sources in the US variously point to an early July/August launch date for the yanks.

Sucker Punch is busy working on a sequel to Sly Raccoon/Cooper for Sony called Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves, and the game will appear on the cover of next month's Official PlayStation Magazine in the States.

Sony has announced what most of you had no doubt rightly guessed - that both Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank will be returning for their third respective platforming instalments exclusively on PlayStation 2 later this year.

Publisher Electronic Arts is reportedly planning to shut down its Origin Systems development studio in Austin, Texas, and is offering staff at the studio the choice of relocation to California or a severance package.

Following yesterday's rather bizarre announcement of a chat and instant messaging client for PlayStation 2 (see here), Datel was back on the blower this lunchtime with news of TeamTalk, its new Xbox Live get-up that allows you to hook up to four headsets to your Xbox Live setup for that communal trash-talking experience.

Codemasters has released the PC demo of Colin McRae Rally 04, and you can get your mitts on it - grubby or otherwise - by clicking this link to dodge all the Flash gubbins on the official website. It weighs in at a healthy 151MB.

Square Enix has announced it is in the process of translating the revised Japanese version of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (Star Ocean 3) for release as Star Ocean 3: Director's Cut in North America this August on PS2. What's more, Squenix is also planning to release Front Mission 4 over there on PS2 in June.

Square Enix' PS2 RPG Final Fantasy X-2 has debuted at number one in the UK software charts, knocking Sega's Sonic Heroes off the top spot, while the Cube and Xbox versions of Prince of Persia have also sold well.

According to reports based on retail fact sheets from Japan (picked up on by 1UP), Capcom's latest side-scrolling handheld platformer Mega Man Zero 3 will connect with fellow Mega Man title Battle Network 4 to release unlockables in both titles.

For those of you who just can't get enough Charlie... in Pterodon/Illusion Softworks' Vietcong... this week the developer has released the final version of the Frontier multiplayer map, and you can get a look at the sandbagged jungle monstrosity in a few screenshots hosted by Pterodon.

CDV has announced that Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizon - the previously announced standalone expansion for the publisher's World War II themed RTS title - will be released during April.

Crimson Sea 2, which as you may recall recently switched from Xbox to PS2, has been delayed due to what publisher Koei describes as development issues. The game had been due out on March 14th in Japan and March 30th in the States (with a PAL release anticipated later in the year), but now looks set to debut in the Far East on April 15th instead.

Jiraiya: The Magical Ninjya (yes, with a 'y') probably won't be appearing in Europe. As fellow Capcom obsessives may recall, Jiraiya was one of the firm's product announcements at last year's Tokyo Game Show, and promised us a young ninja with the power to summon beasts, a co-operative gameplay mode and character designs from Maximo artist Susumu Matsushita.

Along with all the rest, the Tokyo Game Show has also introduced us to a handful of new Capcom games, some of which we've heard of, others of which are entirely new!

Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution may well be the final game in the long running RPG series. But while Sega has "no plans" to develop another Phantasy Star game after Episode III, as Sonic Team director Yojiro Ogawa revealed this week, we shouldn't rule out the possibility of another title in the future.

Those cheat cart boffins at Datel have unveiled their latest PS2 peripheral - an instant messaging client.

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has given the first official indication that sales of the N-Gage game deck are not living up to expectations, but says that the platform must be given until November 2005 to prove itself.

When Digital Jesters announced its plans for a bumper Savage deal in Europe, the main point of discussion amongst the game's followers was the enigmatic promise of an official "Samurai Wars" mod, of which very little had been seen or heard. Given how much we liked the rest of the game, we were curious to say the least.

Post Christmas sales helped demand for the main three consoles jump by over nine percent, according to the latest figures released by ChartTrack, but value was down.

At a press briefing in the US last week, Sony Computer Entertainment America unveiled one of its upcoming first-party titles, God of War, which is undergoing development at the platform holder's Santa Monica studio (following roughly two years' work at its Southern Californian studio under the direction of David Jaffe - he of Twisted Metal fame - who also led the presentation).

Vivendi-Universal Games is hoping to breathe new life into its Crash and Spyro handheld franchises by attempting a series crossover. In an interesting move, forthcoming GBA titles Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy (Crash Bandicoot: Fusion and Spyro: Fusion here in Europe) will be able to link up to unlock more content - much like the handheld Pokémon or Mega Man Battle Network series titles.

Congratulations are due for our yankee pals at GameSpot for not only spotting this curious report at HoustonChroncicle.com about a boy arrested for filling a Game Boy with gunpowder, but managing to avoid resorting to "Game Boy is the BOMB" headlines and other pubescent witticisms. We suspect (well, we know) the author of the report is a Brit.

Whiptail Interactive (publisher of the execrable Postal 2, but we won't hold that against 'em) has released a 125MB demo of Gangland, a sort of RPG/RTS hybrid mafia simulation, which is due out in Europe this Friday for just over 20 notes.

German filmmaking loony Uwe Boll has optioned yet another videogame for movie adaptation. Actually, it's difficult to describe Dr. Boll as a filmmaker just yet - he owns a lot of options, but his House of the Dead qualifies as a film only by the skin of its rotting teeth, while his Alone in the Dark picture isn't finished yet.

Despite a number of irritating delays, Raven Shield expansion Athena Sword has officially gone gold this past Friday, and is on track for a March 19th showdown with, er, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Battlefield Vietnam. Wow, Ubi really knows how to pick a release date!