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We have known for quite some time that Activision has planned to release Guitar Hero IV sometime close to the holiday shopping extravaganza, but during their conference call yesterday they confirmed that it will be made available for all three major consoles plus the PS2 and DS. Still, that is no surprise.

What is surprising though, slightly at least, is that this yet unnamed title will provide what Activison calls a “significant leap forward in innovation” for not only the franchise but for music simulation gaming as a whole. Could this be the extra instruments they have been talking about recently? Who knows at this point, but during the call it was stated that information would be forthcoming soon.

As far as new concerning Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS, Activision announced that the company and Nintendo are planning to release a bundle which will include a Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero: On Tour and the DS peripheral. Also, an add-on pack of new music will be released for Guitar Hero: On Tour sometime this year but contents, release date, and price was not given.

Stay tuned for more information on the ever growing assortment of Guitar Hero titles. I am sure Guitar Hero: Fergie is next somewhere down the line. God I hope not.

Thanks: Videogaming247 (here and here)

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EA confirmed through a press release this morning that the demo for Battlefield: Bad Company will be available on PSN and XBL on June 5. Players will land on the battlefield as part of the ‘B’ or Bad Company, a wayward band of soldiers more interested in the pursuit of gold and personal financial gain than following the rules. Gamers will get a sneak peek at how tactical destruction changes the way shooters are played, both offline and online in the single player and multiplayer demo.Players can also gain early access to the demo by pre-ordering the game through participating retailers in North America and Europe. More details on this special pre-order campaign can be found here.

Players who missed their opportunity to participate in the closed beta will get a second chance to experience the multiplayer Gold Rush mode on the Oasis map while the single player portion starts gamers at the beginning of their ‘B’ company career. The single player portion of the demo sets the stage for players as they’re introduced to the humorous and sometimes irreverent set of characters that make up the ‘B’ company. As gamers embark on their quest for gold, they’ll gain access to numerous vehicles, weapons and open maps as well as tactical destruction.

Battlefield: Bad Company is slated to hit stores on June 25th in North America and June 27th in Europe for the PS3 and Xbox 360. For more information, check out our previous posts.

Via: Press Release

Codemasters has secured the exclusive video game rights to Formula One in a worldwide licensing agreement with Formula One Administration Ltd. In turn, the developer/publisher will create a new generation of the multi-million selling Formula One game franchise across multiple consoles, handhelds and PC.

Here are some “gushing” quotes pulled from the press release:

“FORMULA 1 is ambitious in expanding its reach with more circuits planned beyond recent additions in the Middle East and China. It is also ambitious in expanding its reach via technology. The digital communities that computer and video gaming creates will play a key role in further growing the FORMULA 1 audience and connecting them globally,” said Rod Cousens, chief executive officer, Codemasters.

“As a world-leading creator of driving games, this alliance with FORMULA 1 is the jewel in Codemasters’ racing crown and creates an undisputed segment champion. FORMULA 1 has gone with the best, the segment leader. It has gone to the home of the EGO Engine for quality; it has gone to the company that can host FORMULA 1 Online, to the company that is streaking away from the pack.”

“Codemasters’ success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge,” said Chris Deering, chairman, Codemasters.“The combination of FORMULA 1’s new momentum of expansion and Codemasters’ contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen.”

This deal will provide Codemasters with rights to feature all Grand Prix circuits, Formula One teams, cars, and driver likenesses. In addition, the FIA Formula One World Championship games will be developed using the evolution of the EGO Game Technology Engine, Codemasters’ cross-platform middleware technology. The EGO Engine is currently being deployed in the creation of Race Driver: GRID, the latest in Codemasters Studio’s international circuit-based racing series which will be released on May 30th.

The first FIA Formula One World Championship game is set to launch in 2009.

Via: Press Release

Criterion Games announced this morning that the popular driving game Burnout Paradise is being rebuilt specifically for the PC. Burnout Paradise will be the first Burnout title ever made for the PC, customized with expanded multiplayer, enhanced online features, and community driven content.Originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Burnout Paradise has won over 55 awards worldwide and delivers an open-world environment built for speed, excitement and exploration and boasts a nice transition from single-player offline to online gameplay. The PC version will combine all the open world racing, speed and action of the original game with additional new gameplay.

Want to know more? Then tune into a live webcast on the Criterion Games website at 8:00 AM PST on Friday, May 9th for more details on this announcement.

Killzone 2 may have been pushed into 2009, but that’s not stopping Sony from revealing a new trailer for us to drool over. At their recent Gamers Day, they treated attendees to this trailer for the highly anticipated sequel. The video starts off kind of slow, but that last part of the trailer is just pure FPS action. If this is actual in-game footage, then we’re already looking at one of the must-have games for a PS3 owner.

Ever since Midway announced the next Mortal Kombat title with MK Vs. DC, new media for the game has been somewhat scrarce. Now though, we can at least get a peek at what Scorpion will look like in the upcoming game. As you can see, not too much has been changed about his basic appearance, though his costume has undergone a slight makeover. Of course, there’s not much Midway could do to the guy that wouldn’t result in him looking like a badass.

Via Kamidogu

Sony Computer Entertainment prez Kaz Hirai attended PlayStation Day in Europe earlier this week, and one of the matters he attended to was apologizing for the PlayStation 3’s first year, which he called a “difficult one.”

“It’s fair to say that the first year of PlayStation 3 was somewhat a difficult one,” offered Hirai. “There were some teething problems, success from our competitors, and our customers were a little underwhelmed by the range of titles that were available.”

“This was something that we were very much aware of, and something that we were confident we could over come,” he said.

Home, or more specifically, the constant delays, were another subject that Hirai felt the need to say sorry about. He said, “I realize this announcement was disappointing to many people, from TGS where we were aiming for a spring launch, so please accept my apologies for this delay.

“But as I said at Tokyo Game Show, I would not open up Home until I was completely happy with it, and I still stand by that statement.

“We’ve been testing Home for some time and I simply feel that as great as Home currently is, it needs a little bit more time before it’s ready for the wider public - something we firmly believe we can provide in the autumn,” he added.

While I don’t think any PlayStation 3 owner will be upset with his decision to apologize, but it’s going to take the release of Home, LittleBigPlanet, etc. for his apology to really mean something. (And it helps that he didn’t offer Ridge Racer as a way of making amends.)

via GamesIndustry.biz

No, I’m not ready to let go of Grand Theft Auto going-ons yet.

MTV Multiplayer compiled a list of eight glaring inaccuracies between GTA IV’s Liberty City and the real world New York City. As someone who is close but doesn’t frequent NYC, I really wouldn’t have had these things occur to me in the course of playing the game.

We are not a car town: No sensible New Yorker uses a car as their primary means of transportation in the city, unless — maybe — they commute from the suburbs. Car ownership doesn’t make much sense. There are never any parking spots. Parking garages are prohibitively expensive. And, most importantly, the subway is a faster, cheaper and more efficient means of transportation. We don’t drive here. Niko, to be a real New Yorker, should rely on the subway. But what would he be left to grandly thieve?

We have lots of two-story tour buses: GTA IV includes sports cars, sedans, taxis, limos, garbage trucks, police cruisers, buses, motorcycles and more. But where are the red double-decker tour buses? This a drastic oversight. Every major thoroughfare in Manhattan has a roofless double-decker bus from Big Apple Tours or some other company. These buses are used to show visitors the sights. A guide stands on the top level with a mic in hand, pointing stuff out. Hey, Rockstar, if there was one signature New York City vehicle I wanted to commandeer right off a short pier in Liberty City, this was it. You let me down.

We eat bagels: Have I missed something or is it not possible to eat a bagel in Grand Theft Auto IV’s Liberty City? Niko can eat burgers, hot dogs and go to diners. But bagels? The most famous New York City food? Never fear, visitors to our town, we have bagels that can be eaten and enjoyed, whether Liberty City acknowledges it or not. Burgers? Waste of time. You can eat them in any town.

Okay, he’s nitpicking, but it’s still fun to find out where Liberty City falls short of being a true virtual representation of NYC.

Both Microsoft and Game|Life have each compiled interesting lists focused on numbers surrounding the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. So if either numbers or GTA isn’t your thing, you should probably just move on.

According to Microsoft’s US team:

• Actual MS sales data from last week shows Xbox 360 console sales at retail went up 54% week-over-week as a result of GTA’s success
• According to retailers more than 60% of all GTA games sold in the first week were the Xbox 360 version
• Retailers are telling us that the game is attaching strongly to new console sales, with roughly 40% of new consoles selling with a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV

As for Xbox Live:

• In the first week, more than 2.3 million people played Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox Live
• GTA IV is now the number one played game on Xbox Live
• Over the weekend, we saw the Xbox Live service reach 1 million concurrent users
• Gamers have unlocked more than 12 million achievements worth over 100 million gamerscore points in GTA
• Grand Theft Auto IV set a new record for time played, with the average gamer spending more than four hours playing the game on Live in the first week alone

And some of the random facts Game|Life has compiled:

• Damages sought by Take-Two after GTA IV ads were pulled from Chicago buses: $300,000
• Steps included in official fix for PlayStation 3 issues: 12
• Current Metacritic rating: 99
• Restraining orders filed against the game: 1

The numbers don’t really lie, so it’s fun to take a look at them and try to crunch some of these numbers. And to think, the game’s only been out for a little over a week.

When Mortal Kombat Vs. DC was first announced, a lot of people went, “Whoa, that’s awesome!” Then they sat down, though about it for awhile, and went, “Wait…that’s ridiculous.” But what outraged people the most was when it was revealed the developers were aiming for a “T for Teen” rating, indicating that they would be abandoning the series’ signature “Fatalities” this time around. Recently, GameTap sat down to discuss these issues and more with Ed Boon, the creator of Mortal Kombat. At one point, Boon vaguely explained how Fatalities will still have a presence in the game:

“There was never any statement on our part that fatalities will be gone or that finishing moves will be gone. We did acknowledge that we won’t be able to do the same kinds of outrageous moves, like tearing someone’s head off and the spine being attached to it. But there are a lot of assumptions that there will be no blood in the game, that there are no fatalities in the game. It’s an assumption that, because the DC characters will be in there, those features will have to be dropped. My response is that, no, we’re modifying fatalities. But I have every intention to keep finishers. You know, to let gamers do a really cool secret button combination and follow with a really outrageous finishing move to end the match. The names of these moves, and the level of violence we use, are to be determined. But it’s certainly not a feature we plan on eliminating from the series.

…I certainly can’t speak with authority as to what DC will permit. There will certainly be some limitations. But my intention is that we want to push the envelope of a T-rated game as far as we can without being an M-rated game.”

He also went on to give some hints as to how they plan to make sense of these two universes colliding. Read the full article

We’ve suffered delay after delay when it comes to Home. Thanks to testers in the closed beta who either don’t have to don’t acknowledge their NDA, we know that the entire setting was even overhauled. And here we are, 14 months after it was first announced, and there’s still no real date for when the public might even get a glimpse of the beta.

You oftentimes hear Microsoft say their focus is on the games and gamers, rather than trying to go onto other things. (Also known as the “We don’t have Blu-ray” defense.) SCEE president David Reeves admitted that’s exactly the problem Sony has faced with Home — they became too ambitious with the non-gaming aspects of Home and forgot what the focus should be on: the gamers.

“It is definitely coming out in autumn,” Reeves told CVG. “Whether that’s October or November, I don’t precisely know, but it is an open beta.”

“We’ve realized that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that,” he said.

“In that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we’re concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first — instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming.”

Sure, he didn’t go into any specifics on how exactly they’d refocus their efforts, but at least they’ve acknowledged their faults and are willing to do what’s necessary to fix Home. Perhaps with these changes, those who were casting this off as nothing more than a Second Life barrier between players and games will rethink that erroneous assumption.

Remember the promised beta of LittleBigPlanet we were expecting sometime last year, which would give us something to keep busy with while LBP was finished up? And then, when the game was delayed, we presumed the beta was simply delayed right along with it?

Well it ain’t happenin’.

At this week’s PlayStation Day, PS3 Fanboy got some hands-on time with the game and also got to speak with two of the developers. When asked about the beta, both community development manager Sam Bennett and producer Pete Smith revealed that an open, public beta probably isn’t going to happen. Testing will instead be done internally at Sony, although some lucky gamers and members of the press might find themselves participating in the beta. Nothing’s set in stone, so don’t go getting all green with envy just yet.

There is still hope that you’ll get a chance to play the game before it’s officially released. A demo is certainly a possibility, although the what and when are still up in the air.

Killzone 2, Home, LBP… the delays are killing me, Sony.

Activison has launched the official website for their new Bond game Quantum of Solace. There are a few screens of concept art for the game, which are not very big and you cannot zoom in on them, which sucks, but at least what they do show you is pretty decent looking.Not much else is revealed on the site except for the obvious information regarding the game being next-gen, etc.According to IMDB, the plotline for the movie is as follows:

QUANTUM OF SOLACE continues the high octane adventures of James Bond (DANIEL CRAIG) in CASINO ROYALE. Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (JUDI DENCH) interrogate Mr White (JESPER CHRISTENSEN) who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined. Forensic intelligence links an Mi6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (OLGA KURYLENKO), a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene (MATHIEU AMALRIC), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organization. On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (JOAQUIN COSIO). Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop his organization.

Since the game is based on the movie, it is rational to assume that the game will pretty much have the same plot elements to it and hopefully Activision will have more updates added to the game site soon, so just keep checking back every once in a while. You can also check back with us as well, because as soon as any assets are released, we will post them.

This week, after a slight delay of game thanks to rain and technology, the File-N-Forget podcast ignores the GTA IV release hype and instead focuses on two games that might interest folks who are not mindless GTA obsessed zombies. Iron Man the Game and Viking: Battle for Asgard. Sure Stephany dinged Viking pretty badly in her impression, but Ron quite likes it and talks about why.

The Rant and Rant section of the episode features Ron talking about how World of Warcraft can fail while Shawn bitches about bitchy women.

This weeks show is available by direct download here.

As always, you can get past episodes from our podcast page at http://podcast.filefront.com, and you can send your comments, questions, suggestions, or snarky comments to podcast@filefront.com.

File-N-Forget is also available on the iTunes Music Store.

Sierra has announced the development of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a video game based the third installment of the “Mummy” movies from Universal Pictures. The game, which will mirror the events depicted in the film, is being developed by Eurocom Studios for the PS2 and the Wii; and in development for the DS from A2M.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor game was created through a licensing agreement with Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group. In this third-person action-adventure game, players will take on the roles of Rick O’Connell and his son, Alex (played by Brendan Fraser and Luke Ford, respectively, in the film). Gamers will follow the lead characters on their journey - across locations from ancient Chinese catacombs to the Himalayan peaks - to defeat the revived servants of the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li). The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will allow players to switch between gunplay and hand-to-hand melee attacks, and also features an arsenal of weaponry that can be used to vanquish the many enemies players will face during their journey. Players will also be able to utilize combat, puzzle-solving and hieroglyphic decoding gameplay elements to fight their way through the game.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is expected to be available on July 22nd, while the movie is expected to be released in theaters on August 1st.

You know, as horrid as The Scorpion King was combined with the asinine antics and plotline of the The Mummy Returns, I am surprised that they are even making ANOTHER one. I mean, even Rachel Weisz is smart enough not to be a part of this one - her character is being played by Maria Bello this time around - who isn’t even British so how in the world can she still be considered Jonathan’s sister? Plus, with the “son” as a side-kick in the movie, that just guarantees that it will both suck and blow. Plus, with Luke Ford playing Brenden Fraser’s son, his character would have been 13 when Alex was born which is absurd - of course, now I am just nit-picking so I will shut up.

Via: Press Release

When Pandemic announced back in February that they would be developing the next console version of a Lord of the Rings Game, I was pretty excited. Despite the fact that they are under the umbrella of the evil EA overlords is no matter because Pandemic make great games. Add to this the news that the new LotR title would be like Battlefront but with orcs was even more enticing information, and recently the director for the game Eric Gewirtz revealed even more information for the upcoming title.

Apparently, gamers will be able to choose from different battles from the film such as Helm’s Deep, Pelennor Fields, Minas Tirith, The Black Gates, along with other skirmish areas such as Moria, The Shire and Weathertop. The cool thing about it though is that according to Gewirtz, you get to play play as a bad guy as well and can start “running through The Shire, trampling Hobbits and burning the place to the ground”. Awesome! Death to those nasty little hobbitses. Some other battles or skirmishes that were not featured in the movies will be added as well, these will be from both the books and made up by the writers for the game but will remain true to Tolkien’s lore.

Also according to Gewirtz:

“We’ve focused equal parts on the good perspective and the idea of re-creating cinematic moments from the films — not faithfully so much, but just kind of allowing the player to experience moments that are like the films — but also really, for the first time, letting you get the chance to play as all of the bad guys. Play as the Balrog, play as Sauron and Sarumon, and really kind of live out that fantasy fulfillment of “what would it be like to really just destroy Middle-Earth? What if evil had won?”

During battles, players will be able to choose between fighting as a melee warrior, third-person archer, support class mage or stealth scout and will be given access to key characters from the film and books like Aragorn, Gandalf, and Legolas. Gewirtz also went on to discuss the different modes to choose from, such as Ringwraiths and all other kinds of really interesting tidbits that I just cannot fit in this post.

To read more of the interview, and to get the rest of the scoop on the game, just hit the link below. In the meantime, you can expect Lord of the Rings: Conquest to hit retail sometime in the Fall for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. You can read the full press release issued this morning after the jump.

Thanks: Videogaming247

Read the full article

It’s always a little strange to see a new trailer for a game released long after the game as hit store shelves. So it looks like whoever was given this task at id decided to spice things up a bit. Thus, there are three new trailers for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, delivered in an infomercial style format. The one above addresses the dangers of “projectile dysfunction,” while the other two advertise a “human juicer” and the game itself as if it were a monster truck rally. You can check out the other two trailers after the break.

Read the full article

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has been a huge success, particularly in Europe, but Sony has told GamesIndustry.biz that it expects LittleBigPlanet to outsell the first significant GT game to come out in over three years. (Sorry, Gran Turismo HD simply doesn’t count.) I don’t think anyone is doubting the success of LBP, but outselling Gran Turismo is no small task.

“We’re hoping sales will be higher than GT5 Prologue,” said SCEE prez David Reeves. Kaz Hirai also spoke at this week’s PlayStation Day, and was quite high on the game.

“These are genre-defining titles, something we’re very proud of, and just one facet of the rapidly growing world of PlayStation,” said Kaz Hirai, president of SCEA.

“[LittleBigPlanet] will completely revolutionise the way gamers interact with their games, especially through the community functions and the ability to interact with LittleBigPlanet lovers around the globe,” he added.

So, anyone want to place any bets? How many sales do you expect to see LBP sell in its first few months at retail?

EA has announced that Fight Night Round 4 is currently in production for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The game will feature a reworked gameplay engine that allows for different varieties of fighting styles to more accurately represent some of the fighters’ real-life fighting styles. This allow players to pit some of the world’s greatest boxers against each other. This will also mark the first time Mike Tyson has been featured in a video game for almost a decade. The last Fight Night game was used to show off the evolution of the next generation of gaming, so you can probably expect more jaw-dropping graphics from this one. Look for the game to hit store shelves sometime next year. And let’s all hope they don’t suddenly replace Tyson with a modern version of Mr. Dream, even though that would be kind of funny.

Via EA

Rockstar has the new Grand Theft Auto IV patch 1.0.1 up. There’s no official patch notes to go by at this time. However, word out is that it will most effect multiplayer. Some gamers are happy to now be able to get online with their PS3. However, there still some complaints with type 2 freeze. It seems there are a lot of mixed results being reported, but really if you want to play online with your PS3, you have no choice but to patch.

via US Playstation Boards - GTA 4 Patch