Finally! Crackdown 2 has just received an official release date in the UK. The title will be hitting shelves in the country on July 9.
Ruffian’s also released the first ViDoc for the game.
A summer release was originally mentioned a few months ago by Ruffian Games, but this is the first confirmation of an exact release date.
Full press release after the cut.
Anyone who has been a fan of gaming for a while now is more than familiar with Insomniac Games, long time supporters of the PlayStation formats and creators of famous franchises such as Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet and Clank. If certain rumours are to be believed though, this exclusive support may soon come to an end.
A “trusted source” who spoke to IGN anonymously during GDC claims that the company intends to go multi-platform.
Existing franchise are, as far as we know, locked into exclusivity on the PS3 for now, but this does not stop the company from creating a new franchise for the other existing consoles, the Xbox 360 and the Wii.
Insomniac is refusing to comment on this rumour for the time being, but we’ll let you know if something comes of it. I personally would be extremely surprised if this turned out to be true.
In an announcement that will surprise no-one, Microsoft has stated today that the brunt of its Natal line-up with be show off at this year’s E3.
“We have very strong first and third-party developer support for [Natal]. Needless to say, we’re putting some of our best people on coming up with great game ideas for this, and we’re going to have some great stuff,” said Microsoft CFO Mindy Mount, speaking at the Jefferies Annual Global Technology Conference in New York today.
“As a history, Microsoft works very strong with third-party developers, so we’re hoping that we’re going to get some great titles from that. You’ll be able to see more news about that this summer at E3. We’ll show you the full line-up.”
The yet-to-be-officially-named motion-capturing gaming device, Natal, is currently rumoured for an October release date. This journalist, personally, is very excited about seeing what Microsoft has to reveal for the device at this year’s E3.
In a move that shows that can only be described as “desperate,” Microsoft is releasing a new Xbox 360 Elite bundle next week that comes with overhyped-and-undersold titles Halo 3: ODST and Forza Motorsports 3.
Gotta get rid of those copies somehow, right?
The bundle gets released on March 9th for $299 and you can pre-order it right now on Amazon.
Good deal if you don’t already have a 360. Maybe you can use the trade in value of the two games included for something you’ll actually play and have fun with.
Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, has tweeted this morning that Microsoft is changing the XBL code of conduct to allow users to express their sexual orientation through their profile or gamertags.
According to the new policy, you can start using the terms Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender, and Straight in Gamertags and profiles.
However, you may not use these terms to insult or berate other uses on Xbox Live.
Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, posted a letter on the official Xbox website.
I’d like to announce an update to the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct which will allow our members to more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles. Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs. However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms.
I truly believe that our diversity is what makes us strong: diversity in gaming and entertainment options, and diversity in the people that make up this amazing community. I look forward to seeing you on LIVE soon.
Well done, Microsoft. Good to see progress in our accepting ga(y)ming community. See that? That’s a pun.
Also, before anyone asks…yes, that is a three-headed panda monster vomiting rainbows.
The new Halo Reach trailer went live today, showing off the much hyped new game modes.
But nobody cares about any of those! You know why? Because Halo: Reach’s online multi-player will come with… wait for it… jet packs!
Bundles, bundles, bundles, bundles. With the huge amounts of greatly anticipated games coming in 2010, Special Edition Bundles seem to be coming out of the woodworks.
Microsoft announced today an Xbox 360 Splinter Cell Conviction Special Edition Bundle. Try saying it five times fast.
The bundle will be available in North American, Europe, Australia and New Zealand for $399 in April. It contains a standard edition copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction, a 250Gb hard drive and two Wireless Controllers.
This was confirmed by the good Major himself
This weekend, Batman: Arkham Asylum is on sale for your PC via Games for Windows for an astounding 75% off.
You read that right – you can get this game to own for only $12.50 for your PC.
If you don’t own (or haven’t played) this game yet (and why on Earth not?), get some of that Batarang cake right over here.
No, really, do it right now.
A sequel, Arkham Asylum 2, is in the works by developer Rocksteady, and we all hope it’s as awesome as the first.
Well, all-around genius and gaming expert extraordinaire Michael Pachter once again indulges us with his genius.
He told Industry Gamers that his $50 estimate for Natal was probably too low.
As for the DSi XL, he speculates that it won’t sell very well considering it’s only $10 less than a Wii system (and $20 more than a standard DSi system).
We all look forward to Pachter indulging us with his bottomless well of knowledge in the future.
The DSi XL comes out March 28th in the US and will come in three colors (red, black, and wine).
Regarding an October release date for Natal tweeted by TV presenter Jonathan Ross earlier today, Microsoft has only one thing to say – no comment.
“There have been no further announcements on the release date of Project Natal,” a rep told VG247 earlier this morning. “it remains scheduled for Christmas 2010.”
The as of yet officially named motion capturing gaming device is currently set for an “Christmas” release, and we probably won’t get anything more specific than that until this years E3, in June.
Video game analyst Michael Pachter has surmised that Microsoft’s Project Natal will sell for $50.
The Wedbush Morgan analyst stated his speculation on his new GT spot Pach-Attack.
“My guess is, talking to my hardware specialist colleagues at Wedbush, it’s about $50 in cost.
“I’d be very surprised if the thing is more then $79, and I really think it’s going to be $50. Microsoft’s not trying to make money on the device, trying to get everybody to have the device so that they can sell us other things, eventually can sell us a lot more Xbox 360s.
“My call is $50, I think that’s where it’s going to be launched.”
Project Natal has no confirmed price, exact date of release, or even an official name, but the name will be unveiled at this year’s E3 (most likely along with a price) and the item itself is confirmed to be released this year-end holiday season.
Pachter seems awfully confident, especially when he’s been wrong before.
According to a post by a community manager on the SEGA company forums, Sonic 3’s level designer is back working on Sonic 4.
Earlier in the week, it was revealed to us that Dimps would be handling development for the new Sonic the Hedgehog game, but that’s no longer the case according to the forum post.
“So, is it just Dimps? Just Sonic Team? The answer is a bit of both. Yes, Dimps is working on the game. But there’s actually more to it than just that: at the same time, we also have members of Sonic Team, including the original senior level designer from Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the SEGA Genesis working alongside them.
“It is most definitely a partnership, and the result of this teamwork is something many of us are excited for.”
Well, I can definitely say I’m way more excited about Sonic 4 than I was before, but I’m still doubtful of the episodic release style.
The first episode of Sonic 4 is on its way to the PS3, 360 and Wii this summer.
According to CVG a recent job listing from Microsoft indicates that the company is working on a “large franchise” for use with Natal.
The job page shows a listing for a Senior Level Designer, and keywords amongst the document are “mission / environment design”, “combat” and “strategy”.
Halo Duck and Cover, anyone?
Fans of Peter Molyneux knows there’s one thing the man can’t stop doing: over-hyping his own game. But it seems old Mr. Molyneux has had to eat his own words one too many times.
“I definitly have learnt my lesson about over-promising.” he tweeted. “There is a ton of work to do for sure, and the team are working hard. I truly believe”
Though I seem to remember him saying the same thing when Fable 2 was about to roll out.
Last week at X10, Molyneux showed off the new Fable 3, revealing the game would have no HUD and no levelling system. According to Peter this would “piss people off”, which it really didn’t.
Check out the first developer diary here, and the first screenshots from the upcoming game here.
Talking to CVG recently, Aaron Greenberg has stated that he expects Microsoft motion sensing technology, currently going under the codename Project Natal, to be around for quite a while after its launch.
“The richness of the technology is going to really enable experiences that never had existed before. And we’re not just speaking about what we’re doing this year, but I think two, three, four, five years from now as this evolves.”
“We obviously could have done a motion controller if we’d have wanted to do that, but we felt that would be a much more interruptive experience. We had an opportunity here to really do something that’s transformative and brings a whole new category of experiences to life.
“Now we’re saying to creators: ‘We can see when you move your hand, when you move your feet, we can track your body. I can stand in front of this sensor and it can recognise my face and know if it’s me, or my brother or my sister.”
The real name of the hardware is expected to be announced at this year’s E3, though this journalist has become so used to calling the thing Natal that calling it anything will probably come as a shock to the system when its true name is finally revealed.
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