Penny Arcade Episode Two Goes Gold

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.



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Hothead Games today announced that the second installment in the Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness episodic series has gone gold.

"Episode One was a huge investment for us and established a great base from which we built Episode Two. It allows us to focus even more on the fans in developing future games in the series," said Hothead CEO, Vlad Ceraldi.
"Our new game has a lot of great enhancements that were made possible by direct fan interaction and we are extremely excited to get our game into their hands and get their feedback."
Episode Two will launch on Windows and Linux PCs, Macs, and the Xbox 360 this Fall for $14.95/1200 Microsoft Points. A PlayStation Network release is expected to follow “shortly thereafter with similar pricing.”

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War World Hits Xbox Live Arcade

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.

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Microsoft today announced that War World, a third person shooter developed by Third Wave Games and published by Ubisoft, is now available to download from the Xbox Live Arcade.

Promising “a unique blend of action and tactical gameplay,” War World allows players to chose from 16 different 'mechanoids' as they work through a 100-level strong campaign or indulge in some head-to-head multiplayer.

For a downloadable title, War World boasts an impressive array of advanced visual features, including “full HDR rendering, normal mapped diffuse and specular lighting, light blooms, atmospheric, explosion and weapon effects.”

You can download the game immediately for 800 Microsoft Points.

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Age Of Conan Servers To Merge

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.



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Speaking in an open letter on the official Age of Conan forums, Funcom Game Director Craig Morrison has confirmed that the North America and European servers for the games are going to merged in the future.

“It’s important for us to ensure the best gameplay experience for you all, and more healthy populations on each and every server will make sure we maintain healthy communities for the game in the future,” said Morrison.
“Still, there are many complexities involved in this, and we want to ensure that everything happens as fair and streamlined as possible. That work has now started.”
Morrison goes on to confirm that Funcom has “come very far with the DirectX 10 version” of the game, which is reportedly “almost ready [to be moved to] the full test server.”

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AC/DC Headed For Rock Band

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.



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MTV Games and Harmonix today announced that they have entered into a deal with Columbia Records to bring an entire album's worth of AC/DC songs to Rock Band later this year.

“We're excited to be part of AC/DC’s and Columbia's global plan for the release of their new album, DVD and now, videogame,” said Paul DeGooyer, MTV’s Senior Vice President of Electronic Games & Music.
“Being the first to present these revered songs in interactive form, exclusively on the Rock Band platform is a true honor. For those about to rock with the AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack, we salute you!"
The full selection of tracks, which will available in the U.S. and various PAL territories by the end of the year, will include the following, each remixed specifically for the game by Mike Fraser: 
"Thunderstruck"
"Shoot to Thrill"
"Back in Black"
"Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
"Heatseeker"
"Fire Your Guns"
"Jailbreak"
"The Jack"
"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
"Moneytalks"
"Hells Bells"
"High Voltage"
"Whole Lotta Rosie"
"You Shook Me All Night Long"
"T.N.T."
"Let There Be Rock”
"Highway To Hell”
"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”
The total price will range from $29.88 (£19.99) for the PlayStation 2 version to $39.98 (£29.99) for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii versions, the latter of which will arrive two weeks after the former's November 2 U.S. Launch.

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Xbox 360 Sales Double After Price Drop

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.

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Microsoft today announced that, according to the latest sales figures from ChartTrack, the Xbox 360 is currently outselling the PlayStation 3 by more than two-to-one following its recent price drop in Europe and the UK.

“This data shows that the Xbox 360 trajectory continues upwards, and not just in the UK. We’ve seen uplift in all countries in Europe and are confident that we can [provide] a steady supply of consoles throughout the Christmas season,” boasts Chris Lewis, VP of Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA.
As of September 19, the standard Xbox 360 (which now comes packaged with a 60GB hard drive) is priced at £169.99, while the Arcade and Elite systems are priced at £229.99 and £129.99, respectively.

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New Characters, Level Coming to Force Unleashed

Posted by Nick Place  ago.

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Lucasarts announced that new playable characters and a brand-new campaign level will be availble for download for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of The Force Unleashed in the next few months.

Luke Skywalker Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kit Fisto, and Ki-Adi-Mundo will be coming to the third-person action game as playable characters. It's unknown whether they will come with their own move sets or if they will be simple re-skinnings of the secret apprentice.

The new level will be set in the Jedi temple on the Imperial capital planet of Coruscant, where the apprentice will go to learn more about his father.

No word yet on release date or pricing, but Force Unleashed executive producer Haden Blackman said it would not be the last expansion for the game. Speaking to Kotaku, Blackman said:

There's easily another two dozen (locations) we could make into levels. This is a good way to continue the story...I wouldn't rule out any future content on The Force Unleashed."

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Guitar Hero World Tour Screens

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.



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Guitar Hero World Tour, formerly known as Guitar Hero IV and the latest installment in the Guitar Hero series, is currently being developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2/3, and the Wii.

Taking inspiration from the likes of Rock Band, World Tour will be the first entry in the series to allow for the use of drum and microphone peripherals in addition to the standard guitar controllers.

Guitar Hero World Tour launches across North America on October 26, across Europe on November 7, and across Australia on November 12. For now, you can find a selection of new screenshots in the image gallery above.

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Rare, Lionhead Won't Go the Way of Ensemble

Posted by Nick Place  ago.

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Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer says that Rare and Lionhead Studios will not be subject to the a shutdown or "re-organization" like their fellow (former) first-party developer, Ensemble.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Spencer said that no other first-party studios under the Microsoft Games Studios banner was in line for shutdown or an organizational shuffle. Ensemble, famous for developing the Age of Empires series of real-time strategy games, was putting that RTS experience to work on the upcoming 360-exclusive Halo Wars.

Said Spencer:

"So the productivity and effort in those two studios is just great to see, and the number of studio resources we have in the UK - this is our largest concentration of studio resources anywhere on the planet. The studios, and the franchises, remain a very important part of our success...

And Rare, and Lionhead, and Remedy, and the other relationships that we have here are really important." 

Rare is currently working on the Banjo-Kazooie revival Nuts and Bolts, while Lionhead has just finished the Peter Molyneux vehicle Fable II (pictured).

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Force Unleashed: The Movie?

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.



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Speaking in an interview with the LA Times, project leader for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Haden Blackman, discussed the possibility of LucasArts' recent video game making its way onto the big screen.

"Oh, that would be incredible, and it's not impossible. Never say never. George [Lucas] has looked to tell new Star Wars stories through the games and with the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe,” said Blackman.
“And then he has also shown a willingness to let the characters come into the films. Look at Aayla Secura, a creation in the [Dark Horse] comic books who became part of the theatrical films."
Geoff Boucher of the LA Times goes on to speculate that Lucas could take a theatrical spin on the game in a similar direction to the recently released Clone Wars animated movie.

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CoD: World At War Collector's Edition

Posted by Karn Bianco  ago.

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Activision this week confirmed plans to release a Limited Collector's Edition of Call of Duty: World at War, its upcoming first-person shooter for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, and Nintendo DS.

The complete package will include the immediate availability of the usually-high-level-only FG 42 Machine Gun, the chance to earn double experience points for a full week, a coloured clan tag, a steel canteen, and a metal storage tin.

Both the regular and Collector's Edition (pictured above) of World at War are scheduled to go on sale across North America on November 11, across Australia on November 12, and across Europe on November 14.

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EverWars.com - You have GOT to play this game!