Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw is at it again, this time reviewing the latest stealth genre game Velvet Assassin.

Having recently finished the game myself, Yahtzee and I tend to agree on most of his critical points, especially the strange choice by German developers Replay Studios to needlessly have you run and gun (in a nightie) through the last mission. While the core gameplay borrows ideas from such notable franchises such as Hitman, Splinter Cell, and Thief, it does try to give itself an edge by attributing a “psycho killer bitch” angle through its heroine.

Adding strange to the already strange was the marketing of this game as “inspired by real life events of Violette Szabo.” Violette Summer (the game’s psycho heroine) seems nothing like the historical Violette Szabo. In this regard, I’d have to say Szabo’s surviving daughter made a good choice by disassociating herself with the game completely.

So did Yahtzee like Velvet Assassin? You’ll have to watch the video below to find out what he has to say about killing more Nazis, the real Violette Szabo, blood soaked lingerie, crotch stabs, trial-and-error gameplay, and, of course, the Emo look of the 40’s.

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Thief fans rejoice! Garret returns!

Following on the heals of teasing Eidos employees and interweb rumors, Eidos-Montréal has made it official today: Due to popular demand, Thief 4 (or Thi4f) is heading our way – full sails and all. Coinciding with this announcement are openings of the Thief 4 official website and the Thief 4 official forums.

You can read my thoughts as well as the press release regarding Thief 4 after the break.

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Just when we were starting to expect nothing short of blatant shenanigans aimed at fellow gaming executives and their work from the folks over at Gamecock Media, SouthPeak Interactive walks in and acquires the Austin-based developers.

Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak, commented on her company’s latest acquisition by stating that:

“Gamecock brings us a solid slate of upcoming titles, including Legendary, Mushroom Men and Velvet Assassin and supports our strategy of working with independent developers. We are excited to give the Gamecock titles a bigger platform to succeed.”

You may recall that in the past, Mike Wilson was a partner of “Gathering of Developers” (a.k.a. God Games) which was bought out by Take-Two in 2000, approximately two years after opening their doors, for 30 million dollars which in turn raked in over 350 million dollars in revenue for Take-Two and was eventually absorbed by the 2K label. So, what did Gamecock’s CEO Mike Wilson, jokester extraordinaire, have to say about another one of his companies being bought out? Why, nothing more than amiable words of phrase of course:

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with SouthPeak to continue to bring great original titles from independent developers to market with a stronger sales and distribution reach.

“We have followed each other’s progress closely over the last two years, and combining our team with theirs results in a very strong and well-rounded force in the market.”

SouthPeak is expected to release Gamecock’s current IPs Legendary and Mushroom Men titles during the current quarter. I guess their days of crashing acceptance speeches and wearing strange outfits reminiscent of a Mexican wrestler are all in the past now. I bet Kevin Levine is breathing a sigh of relief that their rein of terror may finally be over.

It looks like Gamecock has decided to push the release of Velvet Assassin back a few months into early 2009. The World War II stealth action title was originally set to hit store shelves in October, but the publisher has decided to change the release date to keep the launches in the U.S. and Europe more in line. This of course also avoids the barrage of triple-A titles due out in the coming months. It’s probably for the best, since I actually enjoyed my time with the game at E3; and I’d hate to see it get buried under the scores of much-more-hyped games coming out. Besides, I already two hands ot count the number of games I’ll be buying within the next couple of months.

Via Eurogamer

Following on the heels of their partnership with THQ, GameTap has now announced a new partnership with Gamecock Media Group. The new partnership will bring some of the publisher’s titles to GameTap’s subscription service as well as make them available for purchase online. Games like Insecticide and Stronghold Crusader Extreme will be among the first to become available through GameTap, but future titles will be made available as well, such as Velvet Assassin (woo!) and Legendary.

“Gamecock is committed to providing gamers with original titles from the most talented developers,” said [Gamecock president] Harry Miller. “With the growth and acceptance of digital download, gamers now have greater access to original titles. By partnering with GameTap, we have another chance to ensure that gamers can find and play great games made by independent developers.”

Between this and THQ’s lineup of titles, it starting to seem like a person could spend most of their lives playing these new additions to GameTap.

Velvet Assassin ranks up there with one of the many happy surprises I had at E3. To be honest, I was a little hesitant about meeting up with Gamecock’s group, since they still linger in my mind as those guys who dress up in capes and chicken masks. As it turned out though, their setup was one of the most low-key at this year’s E3; it was just a discreet area in the Figueroa Hotel. And so I met up with Replay Studios to see their upcoming World War II stealth-action game, since it sounded the most interesting to me. I wasn’t really expecting much, but almost half an hour later, the developers practically had to rip the controller out of my hand to make room for another appointment. However, the whole time the producer and PR director were showing me the game, one word kept crossing my mind: “ballsy.”

Let me explain: the game takes place in Europe during World War II and is being made by a German developer. That’s gutsy enough, but they didn’t stop there. Velvet Assassin is one of the few video games — in fact, the only one I can think of right now — that actually depicts the Holocaust. The level I played through involved you infiltrating the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were sequestered after the Nazis invaded Poland, in order to assassinate a Nazi official. The producer was even telling me how he remembered stories his grandfather had told him about when all that happened, which helped him infuse the game with some realism. The more I saw of the game, the more I realized this was not your typical guts-and-glory World War II game.

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Hmm, smooth-looking stealth gameplay and hordes of Nazis for bad guys? Yep, Velvet Assassin already has two good points right off the bat. This new trailer shows off a few of the moves you’ll have at your disposal as you sneak through Nazi territory with an arsenal of moves reminiscent of Sam Fisher. There are a lot of ways this could go wrong in the final product, but I’m still a fan of killing Nazis.

Gamecock Media Group and Valve announced today an agreement to launch Gamecock titles on Steam.  The first Gamecock titles available on Steam will be Firefly Studios’ Stronghold Crusader Extreme and Insecticide Part 1.

Stronghold Crusader Extreme picks up right where Stronghold Crusader left off and is set during the first, second and third crusades.Stronghold Crusader Extreme is now available for $29.99 via Steam. The all new “Extreme Trail” is a twenty-mission set with over 10,000 units on the battlefield. Players will find new A.I. opponents and 30 stand-alone maps for multiplayer or single-player skirmishes, plus, the complete original Stronghold game.

Insecticide Part 1follows the exploits of Detective Chrys Liszt as she untangles a web of corruption on the streets of Troi. This film noir storyline plays out through hard-boiled, fast-shooting action scenes and adventuring in a world where bugs have evolved as the planet’s dominant race.

Additional Gamecock titles – including Insecticide Parts 2, Velvet Assassin, and Legendary - will be made available via Steam later this year.

For more information about Gamecock titles on Steam, click here.

Via: Press Release

Thanks to a link provided by VG247, we now have a list of developers confirmed for E3 2008 along with what titles they will be showing off at the event. While the list is still updated regularly, as of this post, this is what you can expect should you be attending.

Akella
Postal III (PC, X360)

Bethesda Softworks
Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, X360)

Capcom
Bionic Commando (PC, PS3, X360)
Bionic Commando Rearmed (PC, PS3, X360)
Capcom Project #1 [untitled] (other)
Capcom Project #2 [untitled] (other)
Dark Void (PC, PS3, X360)
MotoGP 08 (other)
Neopets Puzzle Adventure (PC, Wii)
Plunder (PC, PS3, X360)
Resident Evil 5 (PS3, X360)
Spyborgs (Wii)
Street Fighter IV (PC, PS3, X360)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3, X360)

For the full list, hit the jump.

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Publisher Gamecock has unveiled a batch of new screens for their upcoming Velvet Assassin. The game will play like a stealth action title, but set during World War II. As such — and judging from these screens — the game will have a washed-out, old-timey visual style. I’m hoping this one turns out good, since it combines two of my favorite in-game past times: stealth and killing Nazis.

You can check out the rest of the screenshots here.