Fans of Lara Croft won’t have to wait long before being able to go on yet another adventure with the sultry archeologist.
GDC is well under way and Joystiq met up with developer Crystal Dynamics in order to discuss the upcoming title. The game will launch this summer as a download only, being released for PC, 360 and PS3. The full price of the game will be $15.
As confirmed last week, the game will be a top-down isometric, arcade-style co-op game, vastly deviating from the Tomb Raider series regular third person action perspective. Players will take control of Lara Croft and a Mayan spearman named Totec. Together the two will solve puzzles, destroy enemies, platform and, presumably, raid tombs.
Avast, ya scurvvy landlubber! Be ye a fan of t’ scallywags at LucasArts, ye be knowin’ them as the buccaneers who pillaged an’ looted yer coin purse with their adventurin’ games!
Landlubbers got t’ experience being a mighty poirate in t’ enhanced version of Monkey Island in 2009, an’ those greedy buggers from LucasArts arrr lookin’ to loot and pillage again, wit’ t’ sequel!
Treasure maps close to those brigands at t’ isle of Kotaku claim a refurbished Money Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge be on t’ horizon for t’ good ships Xbox 360, PS3, iPhone an’ PC.
Arrrrr! Time to hoist t’ main sales and prepare for plunder me hearties!
Yesterday a “Surprise Sony sequel” was teased on GameTrailers TV, and for a while the internet was abuzz with speculation. So give thanks to Sony for mucking it all up. The surprise sequel, you ask? SOCOM 4. Feels a bit anti-climactic if you ask me.
The all new SOCOM is being developed by Zipper Interactive, the developer of MAG for the same console. The game’s story will take place in South Easy Asia in which “a revolutionary army has seized control of a country bordering one of the world’s most vital waterways; threatening to disrupt he global economy,” according to the European PS Blog.
“Your mission is to step into the well-worn boots of the Ops Com, a NATO Operations Commander of an elite, five-man squad. You must venture deep into inhospitable jungles, city streets and crumbling urban ruins to engage an army of rebel fighters and discover their plans.
Although you’re vastly outnumbered, you’re armed with the latest weaponry and your men are second to none – but do you possess the stealth, speed and tactical thinking to lead them to victory? Time is not on your side: you have just six days to complete your mission. To emerge victorious, you must lead from the front, maintain control of the situation and fight with sheer intensity.”
Online the game promises matches for up to 32 players and realism that “will be second to none”. No release date has been revealed yet. IGN has the full scoop.
Boss of Grasshopper Manufacture Goichi Suda (otherwise known as Suda-51) is known for being one of the biggest auteurs within the games industry. The man is known for producing some fairly quirky, but very original games. So what’s next for Suda-51? Project Natal and PlayStation Arc.
In an interview with GameSpot UK, Suda said he was interested in making games geared towards the new forms of motion control.
“I will make some original IP to fit that control system.”
That’s basically a confirmation, isn’t it?
He also expressed an interest in making a game similar to Heavy Rain, but said such an endeavor would be difficult to make with “the current generation” of Japanese game developers.
Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix Europe announced today a new entry into the Tomb Raider franchise: “Guardian of Light”. For some reason, they’ve decided to forgo the Tomb Raider prefix.
According to the press release the title is going to be released via digital download in 2010. No spesific details have been revealed, but General Manager of Crystal Dynamics Darrell Gallagher is more than excited:
“This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting.
“Lara Croft is such an iconic character in videogames, with “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light” we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”
The game will be shown behind closed doors at GDC next week, but the official site is already up.
Happy birthday, PS2! Ten years ago today, Sony launched the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The console launched on October 26 and November 24 respectively in the same year.
Since then the PS2 has become the best-selling console of al time, selling over 140 million units. The best selling PS2 game of all time ended up being Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
So let’s all join together and celebrate the PS2! Good times
According to BingeGamer, Activision has not paid royalties to Infinity Ward over the success of Modern Warfare 2.
The article cites sources “associated with Activision” who says this could be one of the reasons for the confrontation between publisher and developer earlier today.
BingeGamer also mentions that Infinity Ward have been looking for a new deal with another publisher.
IW is contracted to Activision as a developer until October, and it’s rumoured that Activision’s move is a power play to try and bully Infinity ward into staying with Activision. Both developer and publisher owns equal parts of the Call of Duty Franchise, so Activision might be moving to acquire IW’s half of the CoD name.
Publisher Random House is looking to establish itself as a new source of story content in video games. The company has formed within itself a new unit, the IP Creation and Development group, with the specific task of creating original stories for games in development.
Random House are far from new to video game fiction. The company’s Del Rey imprint publishes novels based on video games regularly as well as works of sci-fi, fantasy, alternate history and horror. Random House will also assist developers in fleshing out existing stories. read this entry »
[UPDATE] G4 reports that a source close to Activision has revealed that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will adress the employees of Infinity Ward in a meeting today. There will also be a second meeting adressing the studio as a whole, but no details on either meetings are clear.
Trouble seems to be brewing within the halls of Infinity Ward. According to a report from G4, security guards of the “bouncer-types” showed up at the offices of Infinity Ward.
Studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West reportedly met with Activision this morning and wasn’t seen by Infinity Ward employees since.
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
Sony has issued a full status update on the crippling PS3 bug issue which has been plaguing consoles throughout the world. The issue is apparently being caused by a bug in the system’s clock functionality.
SCEE has released a full statement in which the company aims to have the issue resolved within the next 24 hours.
Split/Second’s developer has some high hopes and expectations for it’s upcoming racer, citing it as the Modern Warfare and Uncharted of racing games.
For those not in the know, Split/Second is being developed by PURE creator Black Rock Studio, a racing game in which players destroy the very race tracks themselves in order to damage and set back their opponents.
Braid creator Jonathan Blow has been keeping mum on details about his upcoming game The Witness. All we know is that it’ll be a 3D puzzle-exploration game.
Further deepening the mystery is the revealed concept art on the game’s official development blog. According to Blow “the game is very visual”, and he deemed it more appropriate to show off concept in order to begin discussion of the game.
Much scrutiny of the shots has lead me to a single conclusion: they sure look incredible! More details when Johnathan Blow reveals them.
Another one of the big games being talked about during Nintendo’s Media Summit was Metroid: Other M.
Nintendo could confirm the report from IGN Australia and dated Metroid: Other M for a release date of June 27 in the US. Unfortunately nothing was said of a European release date.
“When you finish playing this, you’re going to feel like you know Samus in a way you’ve never known her before,” said Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway.
That certainly sounds awesome. So mark your calendars for June 27.
Nintendo’s Media Summit went down in San Fransisco yesterday and among the big titles being talked about was Super Mario Galaxy 2. We’ve already told you when it’s going to be released, but the media summit also came with a bally load of trailers and gameplay footage, which we’re very proud to bring you.
I am a huge fan of the original Super Mario Galaxy and from just seeing the trailer alone I was even more excited. I dare you to watch the trailer without grinning inanely when Yoshi pops up! Super Mario Galaxy 2 seems to have everything: iconic music, inventive levels, Yoshi and giant space dragons.
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