News

We'll Be Seeing More Of Unreal Engine 4 This Year

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:41:00 GMT

We haven't seen much of Unreal Engine 4 outside of that Samaritan tech demo released last year, but we'll be seeing more in 2012 according to Epic's Mark Rein. Speaking to G4 at DICE, he said "People are going to be shocked later this year when they see Unreal Engine 4 and how much more profound an effect it will have."

Considering we might also be seeing some new consoles announced at E3, this could be the year that we get our first peek at what next-gen visuals may resemble.

Source: G4 via Joystiq

Sony Video Prepares Gamers For Vita Launch

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:03:00 GMT

We're not far from Vita's February 22nd launch, and Sony wants to make sure gamers know about the assortment of features included in the portable. This week, the official Playstation Blog released a 12-minute "Welcome to Playstation Vita" video to help gamers know what to expect.

You can check out the video below.

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The Binding Of Isaac's German Rating Raised For "Blasphemy"

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:53:00 GMT

Inspired by the Biblical story of Abraham, The Binding of Isaac doesn't shy away from religious references. According to designer Edmund McMillen's Twitter page, that's the reason for a rating change in Germany.

His tweet reads: "Turns out Isaac is the 1st and only game to ever get its rating raise to 16 because of "Blasphemy" it actually had a 12+ 1st."

The Last Guardian Is Still Going To Happen, Sony Reassures

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:38:00 GMT

With Fumito Ueda now working on the title on a contract basis, many have wondered what the status of Sony's The Last Guardian is. Despite plenty of concern, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida recently reassured that the game is still going to happen.

In an interview with 1up, Yoshida said "The project has been making progress, but slow progress. So that's tough, but we haven't changed any focus. It's still a really important project and a vision we want to see realized, and Fumito's vision is really causing a very difficult challenge for the developers, so there's some scrapping and rebuilding -- iteration in the process. That's why [it's taking so long]."

No word on when to expect the long-in-development title, but here's hoping we see it this generation.

Temple Run Hits 36 Million Downloads On iOS

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:19:00 GMT

If you've played Temple Run on iOS, you're probably aware of just how addictive it can be. You're also nowhere near the first person to realize this, as the game has surpassed 36 million downloads.

Also of note, my score of 5,408,964 is still higher than Reiner's 2,809,728.

Source: Gamasutra

EA Announces Rosario Dawson And Brian Cox For Syndicate Voice Cast

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:44:00 GMT

In a recent press release, Electronic Arts and Starbreeze announced some details regarding Syndicate's voice cast. Hollywood talent Rosario Dawson and Brian Cox will play roles in the game, portraying Lily Drawl and Jack Denham, respectively.

In a statement that totally sounds like it was written by Rosario herself, she said "I’m amazed how videogames have become so deep in story, delivering fantastic worlds and memorable characters rivaling big Hollywood films. I was excited when EA approached me to play Lily Drawl in Syndicate. She’s an interesting and strong female character. How cool is it to play the mastermind who designed the military chip inside the player’s head!”

Syndicate will also be noteworthy for being the 7,000th video game that Brian Cox has provided a voice for.

Frictional Teasing Follow-Up To Amnesia

Dan Ryckert — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:37:00 GMT

If you played Frictional Games' surprise hit Amnesia: The Dark Descent, we hope you've emerged from that fetal position by now. If you have, you'll be pleased (or terrified) to learn that the developers apparently have something else up their sleeves.

A new teaser site (found at nextfrictionalgame.com) doesn't say much, but the Amnesia mention makes us wonder if it's a full-on sequel. Interestingly, if you click on the image, it takes you to this Google map of China. No hints regarding what that's about, but we're curious to see what the studio has in store next.

Atlus Gives You A Second Chance To Buy Radiant Historia

Phil Kollar — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:30:00 GMT

If you missed last year's excellent DS RPG Radiant Historia, you may have discovered that it's now very difficult to find this game. As is common with Atlus-published titles, a small initial batch was released that quickly sold out. Thankfully, Atlus will be putting out a second printing of Radiant Historia, so here's your chance to not miss out again.

According to an e-mail sent out by Atlus today, a new shipment of Radiant Historia will hit Amazon, EB Games, and possibly other retailers in late March. Sadly this second printing will not come with the soundtrack that was included with the original run of copies.

While the renewed chance to buy this great game is definitely good news, you might want to act on it quickly, as I'm sure there will be only a small number manufactured once again. If you want to know why you should buy Radiant Historia while you still have the chance, read Joe's review, which I agree with completely. This is one of the best Japanese RPGs in years. Play it!

Weekend Warrior 02/10/12

Ben Reeves — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:40:00 GMT

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend; maybe we should be spending a few days trying to woo our significant others back into our good graces. Instead, we’ll be broadening the gap by playing a lot of video games. We’ll buy them a big Christmas gift at the end of the year, so we’re sure everything will even out in the end.

Jeff Marchiafava: The past few weekends I have vowed and failed to beat Saints Row: The Third. This week I picked up Skate 3 as a complete impulse buy, further ensuring I will fail again. When I’m not mutilating my skater in Skate 3’s Hall of Meat challenges (by far the best addition to any skateboarding game), I’ll probably spend some time playing Pinball FX 2 – Jeff Cork sent me a message saying he beat my Thor score, so now it’s on!

Jeff Akervik: Having recently wrapped up Skyward Sword, I finally returned to a game I got derailed from over a year ago thanks to Mass Effect 2…Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. It's my hope to finish Ezio's Roman romp before Mass Effect 3 hits early next month. If not, well, Ezio might be relegated to the sidelines yet again. But, so far so good. Other than that, it's pretty slim as far as gaming goes. My 3DS continues to collect not only dust, but my eternal regret for buying what is undoubtedly a flawed device. Curse you Ocarina of Time 3D. Oh yeah, the Gophers are at Denver for a big series in the WCHA this weekend. You know you care. I sure do.

Ben Hanson: The adventures continue in Pokemon SoulSilver, I wasted several hours catching Lugia, but I am still in love with that game. I recently realized that the release of Mass Effect 3 is quickly approaching and time is running out to play through Mass Effect 2 again since I lost my precious save. I’m looking to follow the same path as before, but this time I will be damn sure that Tali lives to fight another day. I’ve also been considering purchasing Halo Anniversary and the Metal Gear Solid HD collection, we’ll see if it happens this weekend. Oh, and ping pong.

Phil Kollar: I’ll be spending most of my weekend preparing for deadline and (hopefully) finishing up my journey across time in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Assuming both of those go alright, I’m also picking up the Jak Collection and Resident Evil: Revelations, but I may not actually get to those until next week. GAMESGAMESGAMESGAMESGAMES

Tim Turi: My weekend will be consumed with working on another play through of Resident Evil: Revelations, this time with the Circle Pad Pro. I’ll also be cleaning up my first run of Sly Cooper and hopefully be starting the Jak and Daxter HD Collection.

Jeff Cork: I’m going to be exploring the magical land of Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning this weekend. I just started it last night, but I liked what I played so far. And yes, of course, Pinball FX 2. Always Pinball FX 2.

Kyle Hilliard: This weekend, I will be working on a review of a game that I don’t think I can identify. When I am not doing that, I’ll be playing the Jak & Daxter collection. And while that is installing, or the PlayStation 3 is updating, or whatever other time consuming PlayStation 3 activity occurs, I’ll be circle-padding it up with Resident Evil Revelations. It’s also time for the baby to start eating solid foods, so that should be an adventure that requires no clean-up. Babies are very careful, purposeful eaters from what I have heard.

Dan Ryckert: Working on weekend news as well as a couple of review games. Outside of the work hours, I think I’ll be spending plenty of time with Soulcalibur V.

Paramount And Namco Bandai To Co-publish Star Trek

Kyle Hilliard — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:25:08 GMT

Namco Bandai and Paramount have announced a co-publishing deal for the upcoming Star Trek game that will be based on the J.J. Abrams Star Trek universe.

The game was shown at E3 last year, and it is set to release near the release of the film in 2013. The movie has a set release date of May 17, and we should see the game before then. The game will feature Kirk and Spock and the likeness of the actors playing them, but it is a stand-alone story unrelated to the film.

This Valentine's Day, Shoot Sweet Tooth's Truck – For Real

Jeff Cork — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Sony's going to be marking the Valentine's Day release of Twisted Metal with a bang. Or a series of more than 100,000 of them. In a launch-day stunt, the publisher is giving fans a chance to use their PCs to seize control of a fully automatic weapon and fire it into the side of Sweet Tooth's iconic truck.

Series creator David Jaffe walks you through the event in the video below. If you're interested in giving it a whirl, visit the official web site for more details.

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Look for Twisted Metal on the PS3 this Valentine's Day, or February 14, for the romantically impaired.

The First Set Of Gotham City Imposters DLC Will Be Free

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:36:00 GMT

As a thanks for everyone who bought Gotham City Impostors and helped during the beta, the first set of DLC will cost zero dollars.

The DLC should be available next month, and it includes the typical suite of additions for an online shooter. There will be a new map on the 25th Floor of the Gotham Times, the ability to join an in-progress match and mute annoying people faster, new weapons, a support item, costume choices, and a fun fact.

Click here for more details on the DLC, and click here to read our review.

Thanks to Wampa King for the news tip!

Steam Hack In November May Still Pose A Threat

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:53:26 GMT

Gabe Newell of Valve, and professional procrastinator when it comes to Half-Life 3 news, addressed Steam users warning them that the November breach may still be a problem.

Valve is investigating the hack along with outside security experts and they found that, "the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords."

Newell went on to say that there hasn't been any concrete evidence that this information is being used for nefarious reasons, but cautioned everyone to keep an eye on their bank accounts for suspicious activity.

Blizzard Opposing Valve's Dota Trademark

Adam Biessener — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:05:00 GMT

Blizzard Entertainment has filed a formal opposition to Valve's application for a trademark of the name Dota, stating that it seeks to usurp the consumer goodwill generated by seven years of use in relation to Blizzard products, specifically Warcraft III and the Dota mods that started everything.

Blizzard's case is that because "Dota" is widely known to refer to its products and services, Valve has no right to trademark it and use the word to market its own product and thereby piggyback on the positive consumer perception that Blizzard is in large part responsible for.

Though the brief filed by Blizzard with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office mentions Warcraft III's end-user licensing agreement, it interestingly doesn't claim any ownership of Dota concepts, design, or the mod itself – only that the EULA states that the underlying game engine, art assets, et cetera are all still owned by Blizzard. This is heartening, since some games' EULAs have seemed to imply that any mods made with provided editing tools are the property of the game publisher, no matter what.

Blizzard's larger claim seems to be that the promotion of Dota as a concept in consumers' minds through Battle.net, Blizzcon, blizzard.com, and other sites entitles the company to gamers' mindshare of the word.

One interesting piece of information to come out of the filing is that Blizzard apparently owns the smashingly popular DotA-Allstars.com website, which still serves as a clearinghouse for the mod's enormous community. Apparently, Steve Feak (also known as Guinsoo, who is one of Dota's key developers and now a designer on League of Legends) and Steve Mescon, the original owners of the website, sold it to Riot in 2010 and then from Riot to Blizzard in 2011. Blizzard uses this fact, and the large role that website has played in the development of Dota as a term, as a supporting plank in its opposition to Valve's trademark application.

Discovery for the case – the period during which lawyers on both sides pore through documents and information in an effort to bolster their case, and which compels both sides to reveal pertinent information to the other – doesn't close until July 23rd, so don't expect any speedy resolution to this issue.

Dota fans shouldn't have much to worry about, though, since the absolute worst outcome of the motion in which Valve was denied any use of the Dota name still wouldn't affect the game itself at all, as Blizzard has not made any claim to the design or game mechanics or anything of that nature.

Game Informer has reached out to Valve for comment, and this story will be updated if we receive any word from the company.

[Source: NeoGAF via Joystiq]

Bethesda Concept Artist Adam Adamowicz Passed Away

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:01:00 GMT

You may not know the name, but you know his work intimately if you have spent time with any of Bethesda's games.

Adam Adamowicz was a talented concept artist at Bethesda, and was hugely influential on the artistic direction of Fallout 3. There is a great write-up about Adamowicz at awesome-robo.com about his influence on at least one other concept artist, and the work he produced while at Bethesda. You can also see him talk about drawing for Fallout on one of the documentaries produced about the game in the video below. Adamowicz appears at around 1:28.

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Next time you jump into Fallout 3, look around at how awesome everything looks and make sure to think of Adam Adamowicz.

Thanks to Dale Williams for letting us know about Adamowicz's unfortunate passing.