Portugal probably doesn't spring to mind as a hotbed of video game development, but the strangely named GameInvest is based in beautiful Lisbon and its first title, Sarah's Emergency Room, "revives the time management genre with fun, challenging levels and a frenetic pace with simulation management skills."
The game is being developed for the Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and PC platforms and allows you to assume the role of a graduate nursing student named Sarah as she moves from California to manage a busy emergency room in Arkansas. There "she discovers that managing an emergencyroom is a bit harder than she expected." Nothing like gender stereotyping with a female nurse who thinks life is hard. What's next, Sarah's Lunch Rush Hour where she runs coffee and waffles?
Well, now what? After finding plenty of conflicting information as to whether or not the Rock Band Stratocaster works on the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (including a direct capture of it not working) we decided to ask you directly in the hopes we could arrive at some sort of answer. Instead, we've got this: 4.7% say it works while 5.6% say it doesn't (89.7% just wanted to play along at home).
Now, considering how unscientific this methodology is, we're pretty sure our margin of error is in excess of 5%. Even if we were to consider the information accurate, we're still at a deadlock. Activision isn't talking (really, we've asked for a comment several times), so we're going to go with this: there are multiple versions of the Rock Band Stratocaster and some will work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and some won't. Really, that's the best we can come up with. Of course, this would be a whole lot easier if Activision would just agree to play nicely.
Not too long from now, at a Media and Business Summit not all that far away, LucasArts may be announcing a new game in the Star Wars Battlefrontseries. Online shopping megalith Amazon.com has added listings for Star Wars Battlefront III ... for no less than six platforms. The game is available for pre-order and has what we can only imagine is a tentative March 15, 2009 release date.
A new game in the series is hardly surprising; after all, Battlefront is the best selling Star Wars video game franchise of all time. Reports of it being in development also popped up following LucasArts' recent layoffs, though the company would not comment on it or any other unannounced titles at the time.
Amazon has Battlefront III slated for availability on PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, and DS. If this holds true, it would certainly debunk an old rumor that the game might only hit Xbox 360. Now there's the matter of a developer. With Pandemic – the studio responsible for the first two games – now owned by EA, and internal development slowing down at LucasArts, a new hope must arise. Our best guess at the moment is the rebel forces at Rebellion, the UK-based studio responsible for the generally well received Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron on PSP.
And here we go again: After IGN backtracked on comments that seemed to indicate that Rock Band 2's biggest perceived shortcoming – spreading the rhythm game "platform" onto multiple discs, thereby tossing our precious monolithic library of songs to the wind – would in fact be be addressed by the sequel comes word from GameSpot who say ... well, the exact same thing and ... look at that, they backtracked later as well.
Their original story said that Rock Band 2 "will feature full support for all of the original Rock Band songs, all of the downloadable content" as well as the 80 songs on the RB2 disc. GameSpot evidently got their purportedly faulty information from IGN's piece, and a Harmonix representative tells us that both stories were incorrect (both have been updated).
Even so, that doesn't stop us from dreaming of our perfect solution: You mail in both the Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2 discs; include $5 for shipping & handling along with three cereal box-tops; wait 4-6 months; get Rock Band 2: MEGA edition back in the mail including all tracks from Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2 (including bonus Sgt. Slaughter or William "The Refrigerator" Perry action figures). See? Perfect.
Visiting the official Gears of War 2 page right now sends you to a splash page with the above image. The dog tags and the image name have the same numerical combination: 033-116-117-126-071. When converted from Octal to ASCII you get "ESC Nov 9" (ESC as in the control character). Microsoft hasn't issued a press release, but it's hard to argue against November 9 being the official release date for Gears of War 2. We expect a confirmation by next week, if not before.
Confirming an earlier report, Midway has announced plans to return to the line of scrimmage this fall with its everything-but-the-license take on American football in Blitz: The League II for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. While details remain scant, the company notes that the game's story mode will be penned by ESPN Playmakers writer Peter Egan, while former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor will also lend his chemically-enhanced likeness to the title as well.
Even so, with Electronic Arts' seminal Madden franchise slated to take to the field and bankroll retail shelves this August, how exactly Midway plans to sack EA's tough actin' fat man still remains unclear.
We're putting two and two together and getting ... Lost Planet. First we were tipped by a source close to Capcom that the company would have a movie-related announcement at next week's E3, and that it would involve someone "well known to gamers." Next we read that David Hayter, voice of Solid Snake and screenwriter for such films as X2: X-Men United and the upcoming Watchmen, was talking Lost Planet at last week's Anime Expo '08. It all adds up.
As reported by IGN, Hayter said he is "just closing the deal with Warner Bros." to pen a Lost Planet flick while speaking at AX08, although "nothing is confirmed yet." Of course, Capcom's E3 announcement could always be concerning another movie, but the evidence before us is compelling.
Rock Band 2 could provide download access to all of the tracks featured on the original Rock Band disc, according IGN Xbox 360 Editor Nate Ahearn. Responding to comments made by a poster in an IGN Insider "Grudge Match" that pits Rock Band 2 against Guitar Hero World Tour, Ahearn writes, "Immediately upon purchasing Rock Band 2 you'll have the ability to download a huge library of songs, as well as all of the songs off of the original disc as a free download."
Ahearn has apparently (and probably wrongfully) answered a long-standing question about the seamless continuity between the two catalogs; from the RB1 disc to the RB2 disc. Many purchasers of the original Rock Band -- marketed as a "platform" by its developers -- had hoped that as the franchise inevitably spawned, there would be no need to swap discs. Supposedly, the solution lies in downloading the first game's disc tracks onto the hard drive. Still, there are at least two important questions that need answering: (1) Can we pick and choose our RB1 songs, or do we download all of them as one "free download?" (2) Can any RB2 purchaser access RB1 songs for free, or do we need to validate our ownership of the first game? Expect the full reveal next week. Update: According to IGN Xbox Team Editor-in-Chief Hilary Goldstein, "Nate goofed in writing that. He hopes that is allowed. Nothing about this has been announced and Nate's never even seen RB2. Sorry, guys." Honest mistake ... or covering tracks? We'll know next week. [Source - IGN Boards (registration required)]
When we first heard that Bethesda was working on a Fallout 3 game we made a pledge to ourselves that we were going to stay completely spoiler free, that we'd go into the experience fresh, with no knowledge of what surprises awaited and what mysteries we would unearth. Sadly, it didn't take long for us to remember that we worked for a video game site, and trying to remain willfully ignorant of a major title was misguided at best.
But it's not too late for you, dear reader! You can avert your eyes right now. You don't have to read this exhaustive Q and A with Bethesda wherein they discuss everything from drug use and child murder to Fallout 3's inventory system! You can still ... you already clicked on it, didn't you?
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a game about the time that 50 Cent went to the Middle East, played a concert and got paid with a diamond-encrusted skull. We mention this upfront, so you can understand how difficult it is to write about this game. What are we going to say that's funnier than that? Nothing!
You know what? How about we drop some truth on you: Every time we see a trailer for this game we want it to be terrible, but it just keeps looking awesomer. It's like some bizarre fever dream that F. Gary Gray would have after watching Three Kings and Romancing the Stone back to back. You know what, the internet? Do want. How is that for honesty? Do. Want.
The word defining folks over at Merriam-Webster Inc. have added "Fanboy," along with 100 other words, to the newest edition of its Collegiate Dictionary*. Fanboy is actually one of the "oldest" of the "new" words, with its origins dating back to 1919. The wordsmiths define fanboy as a "boy who is an enthusiastic devotee, such as of comics or movies." Fanboys should feel free to write with self-righteous fury to MW and let them know it can also apply to video games ... tell them you'll never read their dictionary again if they don't correct this grievous oversight (also make an online petition).
This isn't the first time in recent memory some bit of gaming culture seeped its way into the good word book at Merriam-Webster; "w00t" became the company's word of the year in 2007. So, w00t to all the fanboys out there, the dictionary acknowledges your existence.
*OSX users will find the Dictionary widget, which uses The Oxford American Dictionary, already defines "fanboy." Merriam-Webster is a different company.
In case your appetite for voice-controlled strategizing hasn't been whetted enough by the bountifulbeta leaks, an Ubisoft Forum Manager has announced that you can get "access to the exclusive Stress Test" (i.e. early playtime) for Tom Clancy's End War by pre-ordering the game at participating retailers. More details are said to be forthcoming; a stress test registration page has been unearthed on the End War website that lists July 8 as the opening day.
With development of the latest Call of Duty falling to Treyarch, what's COD1/2/4 dev Infinity Ward up to? We'll give you one guess. If you said "Call of Duty 5," Activision would say "no comment." But you'd likely definitely be correct. But the company, who recently renewed its publishing contract with Activision, has its sights set on more than sequels.
In an update on his blog, IW's director of communications / community manager Robert "Fourzerotwo" Bowling reveals that the company is looking at "the possibility of a unique new IP" – one that it will "have complete control over." We're going out on a limb and betting that it won't have anything to do with military combat.
As for its next game? The one that's not an original IP and wow-that-sure-sounds-like-COD5? Bowling says that IW is "excited to be working on our next project, but it's going to be quite a while before I can share any details on exactly what that project is." "Quite a while" = [insert industry event here] '09.
Online mega retailer Amazon.com has listed a standalone wireless drum set and wireless guitar forRock Band 2 on Xbox 360 for $90 and $70, respectively. Of course, the bundled Xbox 360 guitar with the original Rock Band was tethered to the console and the drums were wired on all platforms, so we're hopeful this means the instruments included in Rock Band 2'sbig bundle will all be wireless. A Harmonix representative informs us that no prices, shipping dates, colors, astrological signs, or further details concerning Rock Band 2 will be released until next week's E3.
Just a friendly reminder that today (July 7) is Bungie Day, which means free Bungie-related gamerpics and themes available on Xbox Live today (and only today). Additionally, the new Halo 3map Cold Storage is also available free of charge for today. As for that announcement that was teased over the weekend, we've heard nothing so far. Trust us, though, if and when Bungie announces something, we'll let you know.
