Game music can make or break a gaming experience.

The best soundtracks, you remember forever – like just about all of the Final Fantasy music by Nobuo Uematsu. MADWORLD, Sega’s experimental game for the Wii had a pretty interesting hip hop score and now fans of the music or the game can relive their experiences while driving through rush hour traffic crammed behind the soccer mom van and the yuppie convertible.

The game features music by OX, Doujah Raze, Sick-YG, Bandy Leggz, Wordsmith, S.O.U.L. Purpose, and Optimus. The lyrics (in typical hip hop fashion) feature some suggestive and explicit lyrics befitting a game about smashing people with violent intent.

The game’s soundtrack includes 20 songs and will be available through retail or via sumthingdigital.com or Apple’s iTunes music store.

Nintendo has announced its early 2009 game line up which kicks off with Pokémon Platinum. the popular DS title will hit shelves March 22, 2009.

Other familiar games among the over 100 planned releases are New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and New Play Control! Pikmin are coming out for the Wii with edutainment title Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Personal Trainer: Math and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars headed for the Nintendo DS.

More games from the Q1 2009 Nintendo line up follow the break.
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Platinum Games and Sega have released a trailer for their upcoming graphic novel style game MadWorld. While similar to the other trailers and all of the screens we have been given over the past few months, about the only difference compared with this trailer is that some of the scenes have been “censored”.

Despite being called the Christmas Trailer, this new video has absolutely nothing to do with the holiday, other than the Christmas tree and the happy holidays tacked on to the end of it. It is only your basic trailer and more of a gentle reminder to gamers that the game is still coming. So, why not just forgo the whole “Christmas” aspect of it?

MadWorld is expected to be released for the Wii during the first part of 2009, providing the developers and the ratings board can land on the same page. Quite a few people are up in arms about such a violent game coming exclusively to such a squeaky clean console, but if Nintendo did not see the added value of such a game being made available to gamers who do not have families or children in their house–they never would have green lighted the game for their console in the first place.

Sega’s David Corless assured gamers at the Games Convention presentation of MadWorld that the company is working work ratings boards. MadWorld is an ultra-violent Wii-exclusive videogame that’s already been banned in Germany.

“Yes, it’s violent,” admitted Sega marketing man David Corless. “We don’t try to hide that, but as publishers, we see it as a fantasy game – it’s fantasy violence. It’s over the top. It’s cartoony.”

Corless added: “We also take the violence very seriously. We are working with the age rating boards, with PEGI and with BBFC. We’re not at the end of the game’s development, but we’re working with them now to make sure that we don’t go over the top.

“The game has been banned in Germany; there’s no getting around that unfortunately. But we are taking it seriously and we’re going to make sure that this game is rated for the appropriate audience,” he said.

People have come to see the Wii as a “safe” casual console for family type games ignoring titles such as The Godfather: Blackhand Edition and Resident Evil 4. MadWorld is animated in black, white and blood red in a Frank Miller comic book style which belies the extreme violence in the game. However it wouldn’t be the first Mature, violent videogame on the Wii. I can hardly see how one more mature game for the Wii will “spoil” the family friendly appeal of the console as watchdog groups have alleged.

Gotta love Britain’s favorite tabloid, The Daily Mail. Among the gossip and pictures of pregnant celebs in “killer red stilettos”, they have jumped on the violent videogame bandwagon once again. This time, it is regarding SEGA and Platinum Games’ MadWorld.

MadWorld, as you are all aware, is the upcoming Wii Exclusive where gamers are thrust into a world where “The Running Man” meets “Sin City”. Being hailed as more art than game by critics since its big debut at E3 2008, The Daily Mail has taken it upon themselves to dub the game the “most violent ever” and are standing behind watchdog Mediawatch-UK, as a campaign to preemptively ban the game goes into full swing.

The paper is supposedly shocked that a mature rated (read violent) game is slated for the Nintendo Wii, and feels that it will ruin the consoles reputation as a “family friendly” entertainment outlet.  Because of this, John Beyer, director of Mediawatch-Uk has called upon the BBFC to step in:

“This game sounds very unsavory. I hope the British Board of Film Classification will view this with concern and decide it should not be granted a classification. Without that it cannot be marketed in Britain. What the rest of world does is up to them. We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people.

“It seems a shame that the game’s manufacturer have decided to exclusively release this game on the Wii. I believe it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii.”

I take umbrage with Beyer’s statement because basically what he is trying to say is that the rest of the world can do what they like because unlike the UK, our values do not match the “modern and civilized” priorities of those in the UK. HA!

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More details for MADWORLD have come to light thanks to SEGA and Platinum Games.

In MADWORLD, Varrigan City is under siege by a terrorist group simply known as “The Organizers.” They have isolated its citizens from the rest of the world, and have turned the city into a bizarre and twisted game show environment called “Death Watch.” In this game of survival, all the citizens have become reluctant contestants and they are pitted against unknown enemies in the ultimate battle of life or death, where only the strongest will prevail.

As Jack, players make their way through the various levels and environments in Varrigan City, crafting clever traps and using various weapons – chainsaws, street signs, and daggers, to name a few – to destroy enemies who threaten their lives. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are used in a variety of motions that mimic the action on screen. Lively sports commentators call out moves as players execute them, and darkly comical finishing moves add a level of irreverence that contributes to the game’s unique tone. Along with the exaggerated characters, upbeat pace and bloody visuals that define “Death Watch,” a variety of crazed mini-games called “Blood Bath Challenges” are scattered among the levels, giving players a chance to upgrade weapons and increase overall scores.

MADWORLD will be available Q1 2009 exclusively for the Wii. Check out more E3 screens here, and here is the trailer I posted yesterday.

The upcoming Wii exclusive MadWorld from Platinum Games was shown today at E3 and again it looks like Running Man meets Sin City, and that is 10000% fine by me. I want to get my hands on this game more than most really because the artistic styling in the game appeals to me. Oh yeah, and it looks fun too because since it is for the Wii, I am sure you will be making stabbing, slashing, and bludgeon motions to control your character.

Like the previous trailer, this one shows off some more artsy violence and blood and looks far removed from your typical third-person action game. In MadWorld, you will battle opponents using various weapons and items found within the environment, such as chainsaws and street signs, while “sports commentary” is going on the background.

The game is scheduled for release in the early part of 2009.

SEGA has just confirmed the release dates for their upcoming titles. When I say “confirmed” this also includes a vague time frame for a particular month or quarter and even titles coming in the first part of 2009 – one of which is Aliens: Colonial Marines which has been pushed into next year.

• Beijing 2008 PS3/360/PC – June 27
• Space Siege PC – August 22
• Picto Image DS – September
• Golden Axe: Beast Rider 360/PS3 – September
• Sonic Chronicles – September
• Yakuza 2 PS2 – September
• Sonic Unleashed 360/PS3/Wii/PS2 – November
• Empire: Total War PC – Q1 2009
• Alpha Protocol PS3/360/PC – Q1 2009
• Madworld Wii – Q1 2009
• Aliens: Colonial Marines – Q1 2009

All release dates are subject to change so don’t blame me if that should happen.

Thanks: Videogaming247

Sega has announced that they have renewed their license for the Unreal Engine 3 in order to implement it in at least one unannounced game. Sega originally entered into a licensing agreement with Epic in May of 2007, and is apparently still looking to use their engine in this particularly title:

“The great capabilities of Unreal Engine 3 make it possible for our developers to deliver incredible gaming experiences,” said Dave Cobb, Vice President of Development for SEGA of America, Inc. “Unreal Engine 3 provides superior power and flexibility enabling SEGA to bring original and exciting next-generation multi-platform titles.”

Unfortunately, nothing is known about the game at this time except for the fact that it will be cross-platform. Personally though, I’m hoping this is somehow related to the recent formation of Platinum Games, which already has a few awesome-looking games in the works.

Via Press Release

Last Friday, I posted some screens and a trailer for the upcoming Wii exclusive MadWorld from Platinum Games. Today, we received three more screens for the game showing off the artsy style of violence and blood. This is definitely going to be an interesting third-person action game, where you will battle opponents using various weapons and items found within the environment, such as chainsaws and street signs, while “sports commentary” is going on the background.

Looks like I will finally have a good reason to blow the dust off of my Wii when this comes out in the early part of 2009.