Latest Articles (Page 3420)

Valve are pretty chirpy at the moment, aren't they? But ignoring that game for the moment, the developer's other recent announcement - a standalone Day of Defeat title to be published by Activision - has taken a step further this week as the mod, game, patch - whatever you want to call it - has gone gold.

Microsoft in Europe is finally dumping the original, bulky controller from Xbox packages, 13 unlucky months after it launched to widespread criticism. The pad was of course succeeded some six months later by the much better, lighter and hand-fitting Controller S, and this will of course replace the original pad in system packages and presumably bundles.

Vectorman, one of Sega's classics from the 16-bit era, is the latest in a string of old titles to get the remake treatment. The game, developed by Pseudo Interactive for PlayStation 2 and expected for release early 2004, will get its first proper showing this year at E3.

Having just spent the weekend in Goth central, a.k.a. Nottingham, it's probably as good a time as any to dust off the All About Eve records, apply the eye liner and indulge ourselves in some dark Action Adventure antics. The original Devil May Cry established itself as an instant classic on its release shortly before Christmas 2001, with its relentless blend of sword and gunplay, dressed up in some of the finest gothic visuals gaming has ever seen. The prospect of a quick-fire sequel was certainly welcomed, but it was hard to see what Capcom could do to improve upon the original in such a short space of time.

Sony Pictures is in final negotiations to secure the film rights to The Getaway, The Hollywood Reporter reports - presumably from Hollywood. Sony's Screen Gems label will apparently handle production early next year, so that the game coincides with the release of the sequel during 2004.

Evening. Kristan found this a little while ago. Interesting, isn't it?

Russia's Buka Entertainment has revealed its mostly new line-up for this year's E3. Here's what we can expect:

Acclaim has joined the growing list of publishers to announce their E3 line-ups this month. They will be occupying booth #152 in the Concourse Hall (hurray) with sexy secret agent caper Alias, Roman adventure Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance (formerly "I, Gladiator"), arcade basketball revival NBA Jam 2004, bandwagon tenderising Summer Heat Beach Volleyball, Urban Freestyle Street Soccer and the latest futuristic racer in the Extreme-G series, XGRA. NBA Jam 2004 in particular is something we definitely want to clap eyes on.

THQ has released a trailer of forthcoming WWE destruction derby type title Crush Hour, which puts all manner of lunatic wrestlers behind the wheels of monstrous vehicles. You can grab the 15MB trailer from us here, and it's about 75 seconds long, mostly comprising in-game footage.

SCEE released details today of another forthcoming PS2 action-adventure title - Ghosthunter. Not to be confused with Empire's Ghost Master (well, we were confused for a second, anyway), the game is in development by Studio Cambridge, the masterminds behind - ahem - Primal, C-12: Final Resistance and the MediEvil series.

We're pleased to announce the release of the official World War 2: Frontline Command demo, courtesy of publishers KOCH Media and developers the Bitmap Brothers. Featuring one exclusive Normandy mission not available in the retail release, and the opportunity to gather new military hardware much faster than in the full game, the demo offers a comprehensive look at the forthcoming real-time strategy title.

Sega has announced that Headhunter: Redemption will be demoed for the first time at E3 this year - exclusively on PlayStation 2, by the sound of it. The game, in development at internal Sega studio Amuze, is due out in North America and Europe in late 2003.

Japanese publisher Capcom has slashed 18 games out of its development schedules – nearly 20 per cent of titles in progress – following significantly larger than expected losses for its 2002 fiscal year.

Activision has signed Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman and Michael Madsen, along with a host of other, lesser stars (notably Michelle Rodriguez of Resident Evil movie fame), to lead the voice cast in True Crime: Streets of LA. God knows how they managed that. The other stars, for the sake of completion, are Russell Wong, Ron Perlman, CCH Pounder, James Hong, Mako and Keone Young.

In a somewhat laudable move, Relic Entertainment will be releasing a free modification for its animal-creating strategy title, Impossible Creatures. The expansion, Insect Invasion, will feature 15 new base insects and animals that can be combined with the existing creature library to create a wide variety of new creature designs. The release will also contain new environments and multiplayer maps, as well as nine additional special creature abilities.

Somewhat intriguingly, Ubi Soft has let slip some teeny nuggets of information about some upcoming titles it has planned within its half-year financial reports. Namely, these titles include - ooooooh! - Splinter Cell: Shadow Strike and Ghost Recon 2. There have been absolutely no further details released about either of these games, but expect something soon.

As many of you have probably already discovered by now, Microsoft are about to launch a limited edition crusty snot-shaded Xbox [Oh we jest! We jest! -Ed] [Says you -Martin]. Released May 2nd, the console will come with two similarly shaded controllers and retail for €229.99/£149.99.

Battlefield 1942 is set to get another good patching with the announcement from DiCE and EA that a 1.4 upgrade is in the works. There is no release date set for the patch yet, but some details on what we can expect in the way of changes have been revealed. These will include the fixing of a tank repair exploit meaning tanks can no longer repair in airplane hangars, an improved voting interface, a Linux server and two new guns - the DP 1928 Japanese assault rifle and the Type 99 Russian assault rifle.

InfogramesNotAtari division and Shiny have announced that Enter The Matrix has gone gold! All four versions (that's PS2, Cube, Xbox and PC) will ship on May 15th, the same day that The Matrix Reloaded goes on show in the US (and we all take time off from E3 to go and see it, ha!).

An official expansion for Infogrames' RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 has been officially announced. Wacky Worlds will naturally introduce new rides, scenery and attractions with settings based in all seven continents.

Valve has confirmed that Half-Life 2 will be on display at E3. And that's about it really. There's also talk of the game being due out by the end of the year (to mark the original's five-year anniversary), based on leaks at NVIDIA and elsewhere.

Midway has revealed Roadkill, a new combat driving title currently in development for PS2, Xbox and GameCube. No relation to the tremendous top-down Amiga racer of the same name, Roadkill actually bears more than a passing resemblance to one of our old favourites, Carmageddon.

There have been rumours of SSX3's development pretty much since Tricky first shipped, with tantalising but unsubstantiated nuggets of info appearing in several magazines over the last year - including the Official PS2 Mag here in the UK.

When Capcom told us that it planned to produce five GameCube-exclusive titles under the banner of a new studio… that wasn't what it meant, but the results so far are still unlike anything that's come out of the Japanese firm in ages. Product Number 03 didn't catch our attention like Viewtiful Joe and Killer 7, granted, but the often whitewashed, clinically unblemished environments and acrobatic antics of Vanessa Z Schneider were enough to encourage an import. And we're not sorry we went for it.

Beat 'em ups aren't really my forte, which is one reason why I won't be reviewing this one when it comes to Europe. But like just about everybody else with a pulse I was allured and then briefly transmogrified by Soul Calibur, a game structured around beauty, playability and balance - so much so, in fact, that when I spotted the sequel on the shelves of my local importer a couple of weekends past, I couldn't help myself. It did cost me £60, yes, but it was worth it.

German publisher CDV launched its blitzkrieg against overseas markets in style with the Europe-wide release of chart topping strategy game Sudden Strike back at the tail end of 2000. With a vaguely realistic World War II setting, support for up to a thousand units in a single map and none of the usual resource gathering and base building elements that govern most real-time strategy games, it was a breath of fresh air for the stale genre.

The good news from Sonic Team is that the Cube versions, overseen by Shintaro Hata, have now both entered the beta testing process. As expected, the four-player online mode is the developer's main focus, but Hata-san, speaking to Dengeki magazine in Japan, says that players of the offline mode "won't miss out". It is the online sections though - accessed via either the promised broadband or modem adapters - that will come under closer scrutiny by the gaming press.

Teenage high school student and part-time videogame heroine Miyu has ventured into the cursed Himuro mansion to try to find her brother, who disappeared without trace whilst filming a documentary. The prologue - shot in artsy high contrast black and white - shows roughly the events preceding Miyu's adventure, but obscures the conclusion to leave her brother's fate hanging in the balance. Throughout the game, the story of the brother and sister and the mansion's former occupants is told through the documentary team's scattered research notes and Miyu's supernatural flashbacks.

We may still be enjoying our trips through Rokkotsu Pass in Way of the Samurai, but we lost all sight of that when details of Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven emerged from Activision at E3. With fact sheets, screenshots and a list of the game's controls (for some reason) now in our possession, it seems like a good time to talk Tenchu. Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I'll slit your throat.

Soul Calibur II is faster to play, but Namco has been careful not to implement changes at the expense of the carefully protected gameplay balance. Despite the change of pace, veterans of the original should feel right at home with the classic four-button control system of high and low attacks, kick and block, and the new charging moves are equally simple. By clutching all three attack buttons simultaneously, characters are doused in glitzy lighting effects and able to unleash a flurry of brutal moves - almost like the transition between bloke and beast in Bloody Roar - and although there is no actual claret involved, the whole of the game is so fastidiously violent that an adult certification is almost guaranteed.