No Red Steel in 2009

Game delays are a constant source of frustration for gamers. Today Ubisoft adds to our collective anger gages by pushing back a few of its top titles, including Red Steel 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, I Am Alive, and Ghost Recon.

"We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft. Lastly, we are having to adjust our full-year targets to take into account the fall in business over the first half. The excellent response to our games at E3, as well as the high buzz generated for titles such as Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Avatar, reinforce our belief that the company can achieve strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year."
-Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot

Red Steel 2 and Splinter Cell are now expected to be released between January and March 2010, making the holiday game list a bit shorter.

You Got The Megaton Hammer!

After a few days of speculation, Nintendo has went ahead and released the new Zelda Wii artwork that Shigeru Miyamoto revealed on June 2nd. There's not much to say about it since it's well, artwork, but it's nice to see the high res image (click it to make it bigger). I wonder who that ghost-like lady is.. Thoughts?

Snake? Snake? Snaaaaaaaaaaake!

There was tons of news at this years E3 about Metal gear solid. First we had Metal Gear Rising, the more action based game staring Riden, which we thought was an Xbox 360 exclusive, which it isn't. Then they gave us Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the Psp. Lastly, and most oddly, Kojima announced Metal Gear Soild: Arcade... Aparently, Arcades do much better in Japan than here in the U.S. Details about this game are limited, other than it carries the tagline Tactical Online Action and will be played with "3d" goggles. Sounds intresting, however, I highly doubt it will come stateside. Who's up for a trip to Japan?

Roundtable With Miyamoto

After Nintendo's E3 conference today, many people where left wondering, "Where's Miyamoto?". Well he was in the audience! After the conference he held a round table discussion about Nintendo and it's software.
Summary:
-Wii Sports Resort/ Wii fit plus talk and demo
-New Zelda in the works, set for '10, concept art depicts Link in his twilight princess form or possibly older, Might be a wiimotion plus exclusive
-New Super Mario Bros Wii will not have WiiSpeak, possibly no online
-Demo of Zelda: Spirt Tracks
-Wii Vitality sensor used to control robots with your mind in a demo/ Could be used in a future pokemon game

Get the whole discussion here, it's a very nice read. (Might have some loading errors, sorry!)

*E3 09* Come to the MMO side

If you love Star Wars, then Bioware has a game for you. The Old Republic is an MMO set 3 thousand years before the events of the films. The game will have FULL voice acting for all characters, it's the first MMO to do so. This trailer, presented during EA's conference is beautiful and breathtaking, I had goosebumps watching it. See it here.

Get this game to the store, STAT!

Man, it's everyday with these game announcements.... E3 hasn't even STARTED YET! *cough* Anyways, Atlas is giving Wii owners another chance to play doctor with Trauma Team, successor to the Trauma Center games. This time the player can choose to be a specific branch of medicine: general surgeon, diagnostician, E.M.T., orthopedic surgeon, endoscope technician and medical examiner. Not many other details about the game are known at this time. We'll let you know when they start pouring in.

This isnt Twilight, but it sure does shine...

I love this time of year! I have often said E3 and the time surrounding it are like Christmas for us gamers. Following up on the present High Voltage Software gave us last night (Gladiator A.D) is this gem, The Grinder. Like Left 4 Dead? Of course you do, and you'll like this too! The Grinder is a 4-person online FPS, pitting the player against monsters like vampires, zombies, werewolves, and other such badasses. Anything you could want in a Wii title seems to be present here: Wii speak, Online, Single-player mode, spilt screen, multiple on screen enemies, awesome sound track, tons of customization, huge arsenal of weapons, range of characters with individual personalities,and of course lots and lots of blood! I'm trying not to get too excited about all this pre-E3 news, becuase I've been disappointed in the past, but Damn it's tough! I'm practically giddy at this title. High Voltage Software is finally giving the Wii the respect it deserves, thanks guys!

Support the (clone) troops

I'm very happy to tell you that today LucasArts announced the next title in the Star Wars Battlefront series titled Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron. The title had been seen previously on the Esrb rating website, causing rumors to swarm. This is a Ds and Psp game, which is a bit disappointing. The game will feature multiple battle fronts (Space, ground, ect.), an ingrosing story, and span the entire Star Wars saga and beyond. If your wondering if the Ds and Psp will get the same versions, that would be a no. It seems the Psp is getting many more features than the ds, including 16-players multiplayer and complete character customization. The Ds will have 4-player multiplayer, but it wasn't made clear if it was Online or local for either platform. I look forward to hearing more about this title. SW: Battlefront is one of my all time favorite series, hopefully E3 will bring us many more details, and gameplay footage!

American Gladiator AD

Seems as though the announcements are going to stream in a bit early this year, since E3 2009 isn't until June 1st and games are already making headlines left and right. Today High Voltage Software announced a new game for the Wii, titled Gladiator AD. If that name rings a bell, it's most likely because they are the developers of The Conduit, if it doesn't, then where have you been? Gladiator AD will take players back to anicent Rome to do battle, taking a bit of insperation from the movie 300 (yes, those were Greeks). Players get a choice of many (number unreleased at this time) gladators, all with different skills, and story lines. The game is said to be "challenging and well-balanced for all skill levels". I look forward to seeing more footage of this game at E3, and to hear about the other Nintendo title to be released from High Voltage Software tomorrow!
***Updated 5/27/2009***
Thought I'd throw in a nice trailer for you guys, enjoy!

Capcom Fires On All Cylinders

Last week Capcom held Captivate '09, the developers annual media conference and lineup showcasing. It's the perfect time for them to announce details relating to upcoming games, and more importantly, allows the privileged press hands-on time with the titles. This time around, Capcom showed off their most anticipated games, including: Dead Rising 2, Lost Planet 2, Dark Void, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Spyborgs. All information from the event will be grouped within this post.

First up, we have the first full trailer for Dead Rising 2. I'm not too crazy about the new main character's look, but am willing to give the game a try regardless. Expect lots of new weapons, extreme amounts of blood, and most important, hordes of zombies. The DR2 engine can currently reach a max of an insane 7,000 zombies on screen at one time. 

Next, we have a gameplay video for Lost Planet 2. Key features of the game are four player co-op, in-depth character customization, and insane boss battles. Much like Shadow of the Colossus, you can climb onto giant beasts and slay away, but it even takes it one step further. You can go inside the monsters to kill them from the inside, while other players battle from the outside.
Another gameplay video, but this time it is for Dark Void. The real selling points for this title are obviously the ability to fly around the world (The Rocketeer, anyone?), vehicles, weapons, etc. The thing that intrigues me most is the vertical gameplay, which looks pretty interesting and uncommon.
This fourth video is a new trailer/gameplay combo for Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. The team behind the game is promising to present some of the best Wii graphics yet by using effects like illumination, lighting, and filters. Atmosphere seems to be a key part of this new entry in the RE series.


Finally, some new screens were released to show off the new look of Spyborgs. The team behind the game scrapped the old look, after the internet practically exploded with negativity. I was one of those who didn't necessarily like the old look, but was willing to wait and see more. Now I can say that I'm so glad they changed the look. It definitely looks to be one of the prettier Wii games to date. I've posted my favorite screen, click over for the rest here.

The Behemoth Unleashes New Beast

For the past few months, indie developer and 2D geniuses The Behemoth have been teasing a new game on the official Behemoth dev blog. Today the company came through on their promise to finally pull back the curtain on the now untitled third game at the Tokyo Anime Fair. I've been so ecstatic to see what the team behind Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers have been up to, and the early trailer they released didn't disappoint. For me personally, The Behemoth's games always feel full of love.. all the way from the gameplay to the unique 2D art style. The Behemoth also left some questions unanswered, as no console or price were announced. No price is understandable because the release date is sometime in 2010, but no console makes me wonder if it'll be multiplatform. Definitely going to be interesting to see how this game develops over time, but I'm glad we got to see this much so early on in development. Enjoy!

An Army of.. Zombies?

Late last night developer Treyarch unleashed a new trailer that shows what Call of Duty: World at War fans can expect from the upcoming DLC map pack. The highlight of the entire package is an additional zombie map, entitled "Verrückt." Or simply put, a zombie asylum. I played the nazi zombie mode over a friend's house after they raved about how great it was. Now I've become addicted and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of L4D or just zombies in general. Basically the sypnosis is that you're enclosed in a building and have to see how long you can survive against a horde of zombies. You board up windows to obtain money, purchase randomly chosen weapons, and have to use teamwork in order to stay alive. The DLC also contains three other multiplayer maps, which will all be available when the generically-named "Map Pack 1" is up for download on Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 19th. 
(I'm not sure if the zombie mode is included in the Wii version of the game or not, but where is the love?!). 

Good Vibrations!

Long time no see, but I bring Ye good news. Let's Tap, the vibration sensitive mini-game compilation from Sega, will be seeing store shelves in America and in Europe. The game is set for a summer release and is rumored to cost 30 dollars. I am personally very excited about this, especially since it saves me a ton of money on importing!

Third Place & Still Talking

It's no mystery that Microsoft's Xbox 360 continues to sell well. Nintendo's Wii is a monster in itself, practically destroying the sales charts every month. And then there's Sony's PS3. After a rather impressive showing at CES (while completely skipping over PS3/PSP), Sony put out a press release that is considered an insult by many gamers (myself included). Let's forget the fact that Sony's press release fails to compare PS3 to the Xbox 360 Pro and Elite models. The release refers to the 360 as having "multiple upgrades and additional external devices, putting a burden on the wallet and adds clutter to the entertainment center." Wait.. what? The only external peripheral that exists is the now outdated HD-DVD player. The 360 headsets are tiny and so is the Wi-Fi adapter. Let's also forget that the Wii obviously doesn't need HDMI, etc to succeed. Yet Sony goes on to call the Wii simply a "comprehensive entertainment solution." Not sure what that makes the PS3, but alright. What bothers me the most is that this is SONY. Sony's taking shots while they're in third place and one begins to wonder "who are they to criticize others?" If the PS3 was putting up great numbers, I could totally see their argument, but really? I'm still not convinced that Blu-ray is the future and I'm sure as hell not upgrading all the hundreds of DVD's I own. Finally, I'd just like to point out that Sony forgot to add one more column to the chart above, and that's 'Good Games'. I'm not saying PS3 doesn't have any because there are a few I'd like to play myself. But it doesn't warrant the price of admission. It's statements like these that make me realize Sony still doesn't get it. Sony: Lower the price of the PS3 so the every day consumer can afford it and offer some great content to entice said consumers to buy it. Then we'll talk.

Now I'm even more interested to see December 2008's NPD numbers, which will be released on January 15th. I'll just let the numbers speak for themselves, as they'll sum up my whole argument quite nicely.

Factor Defunct?

It seems even the Christmas holiday can't stop bad gaming news from rolling in. Developer/publisher Midway released a press release last week that revealed they were forced to cut half of their staff and cancel "non-core titles." Perhaps the biggest blow is the troubles that gigantic developer/publisher EA are facing. And just yesterday fellow blogger Raith posted about Free Radical closing their studios. Now, over the past week we've heard all kinds of news regarding Factor 5 in a similar situation.

It all started when a Factor 5 employee wrote in his blog about how the company was essentially falling apart. Apparently workers weren't getting paid and financial stress is continuing to pile up. But that employee removed his post immediately after realizing it was being spread around the internet, and assured the gaming community that Factor 5 is fine. A few days later an insider source claimed that the blog post was real and that 37 team members from Factor 5 had been fired. Finally, word came from IGN's Matt Casamassina via a messageboard post that he had heard from another source that Factor 5 has in fact closed their doors for the last time.

The latter half of this information seems a bit "he said, she said," so I'd take it with a grain of salt. Matt Casamassina also said he tried contacting Factor 5's President, Julian Eggebrecht, but he didn't return his call. One thing is for sure, something is definitely going down at Factor 5; whether it be team downsizing or the abrupt closure that's being reported. I personally find it odd that Mr. Eggebrecht hasn't come out and publicly denied these rumors.

As a side note, I hope I'm not the only one who is recognizing a trend here. Think about it, what do the two companies (Factor 5 & Free Radical) have in common? Well, consider that they both developed incredibly expensive games for PS3 (Lair & Haze).. games that essentially flopped. And with the troubling economy America is in, these announcements aren't that hard to believe. Stay tuned, as I expect Factor 5 will make some sort of announcement in the near future.

Extraterrestrials Invading Wii?

That will be the case if High Voltage Software has any say in it. Today IGN unveiled that NVS is creating a futuristic FPS for Nintendo's Wii, entitled The Conduit. Even better is the fact that it is a game built from the ground up for Wii and uses control mechanics inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. It sounds like everything hardcore gaming fans have been clamoring for. The only unfortunate catch is that it still has no publisher, but with such a promising package, hopefully that will change in the near future.

The game looks rather impressive for a self-funded project.

The guys over at NVS also seem to get what hardcore Wii owners have been thinking and saying for months. "We think it's a real shame that publishers and developers aren't taking advantage of the technical possibilities of the Wii platform. Most Wii games don't even look as good as the later day PS2 titles and that's a real slap in the face to consumers," seconds Kerry Ganofsky, CEO and founder, High Voltage Software.

The drive, style, and potential are definitely there, I'll just remain optimistic that NVS can deliver where so many other 3rd party devs have failed. I'm sure we'll see even more footage in the coming months, but head over to IGN to check out screens and first footage of the game in action!

Source: IGN

Money In The Bank

We're already 18 days into April, but the NPD has finally released sales figures for the month of March, which are listed below:

PlayStation 2 216K
PlayStation 3 257K
PlayStation Portable 297K
Xbox 360 262K
Nintendo DS 698K
Wii 721K

Well, I'll go ahead and state the obvious that March was yet another huge month for Nintendo. Let me put the numbers into perspective, even though they speak pretty well for themselves. The combination of Wii/DS (1,419,000 total units) outsold the combination of PS2/PS3/PSP/360 (1,032,000 total units).

It goes without saying (mainly because this is nothing new for Nintendo), but they have crushed the competition yet again. The recent boost in sales most likely has something to do with the continuing consumer demand for Wii/DS and the launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So, consider this, Mario Kart Wii is only 9 days away from release in North America, and Wii Fit launches in mid-May.

On an unrelated note, GTA4 will be launching at the end of next month! Needless to say it will be even more interesting to see the NPD numbers for April. Stay tuned!

My first and very sad post by Victorprime

Today we report a tragic loss in the video game industry, long-time industry veteran Mark Haigh-Hutchinson has passed away. Haigh-Hutchinson's illustrious career spans decades. He worked on such classics as Paperboy before joining LucasArts in the late '80s, where he went on to co-develop titles like Star Wars: Dark Forces and Rebel Assault. Nintendo fans will better remember him as the project leader and contributing programmer on such N64 games as Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.

The established programmer joined Retro Studios shortly after its inception and was eventually moved to the original Metroid Prime team, where he served as senior engineer and was integral in the development of the franchise's camera systems. Haigh-Hutchinson retained this position for all three critically acclaimed Prime endeavors. Haigh-Hutchinson leaves behind a wife and two daughters and his absence from the industry will be felt by those making games and those playing them alike.

We here at Knights Of Nintendo give all of our thoughts and prayers to his family and loved ones. R.I.P Mark Haigh-Hutchinson