Project Origin screenshots: move out, try not to die

  

New screenshots coming in for Project Origin. No in-your-face flesh-torn-off creatures here, but Alma, the creepy little girl, is still present with her creepy bangs hiding her darling little eyes. You'd think she'd have learned how to comb by now.

This batch of screenshots feature Delta Force in a kill or be killed situation. Unfortunately the latter is always true at one point or another.

Still no news on a release date but we'll keep you posted. For now maybe you want to check out previous videos and screenshots from Project Origin (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).

   

Microsoft to spend US 300 million for big advertising stint

Sony just had its recent big ad campaign for the PlayStation 3, and now it's Microsoft's turn to heavily advertise its products. According to some reports, Microsoft will spend about US 300 million in advertising its front line products, such as the Xbox 360, the new Zune media players, Windows Vista OS, as well as Windows Mobile.

Bill Gates, who will deliver his keynote in the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show on January 7-10, is also believed to aggressively market Microsoft's wares in the event.

Aside from Microsoft, other companies who will be participating in the event are Shuttle Computers, Commodore Gaming, and Red Lion Interactive, among others. The CES 2008 will be held in Las Vegas.

Video game industry benefits from Writer's Strike?

Weren't able to catch your TV programs because of the writer's strike? Well pick up your controller and play video games.

At least, that's what Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, thinks will happen to you and every other stranded TV viewer left high and dry by the strike.

Olin believes that the strike will actually help the video game industry. Unlike TV media at large, video game writers that are part of the Writer's Guild of America are not under the jurisdiction of the current strike. Says Joseph Colin:

If you're a fan of network programming, maybe seeing another repeat of "Pushing Daisies" or "Cold Case" will inspire you to finish that level of Ratchet and Clank Future instead.

There's a much better relationship between game developers and publishers than there appears to be in terms of all the polemics between the writers, producers and studios.

On a lighter note of the strike, video game writers may be getting their due as well as the 2008 WGA awards will be recognizing video game writing as well. The move hopes to raise the profile of video game writers.

Famitsu Xbox 360 reveals new Ninja Gaiden 2 quirks

Like it or not, Team Ninja is going to make Ninja Gaiden 2 a lot more difficult when it appears on the Microsoft Xbox 360. According to a forum post with what's supposed to be the translation of Famitsu Xbox 360's feature, the changes to Tomonobu Itagaki's hardcore action game won't be just aesthetic.

This time, the only way to restore life outside items is by activating save statues and claiming a stock of life recovery. To make life harder, the Talisman of Rebirth won't be exploitable by resetting the game anymore. The enemies will also be able to run walls and do more hurt while giving chase.

As if that wasn't enough, there's the Necrosis system that is said to prevent auto-healing from working when damage is done in certain parts. We're yet to confirm if those parts refer to Ryu's body, but our bet is on some damage types being irreversible unless you use an item.

Furthermore, our ninja can only hold six items in Ninja Gaiden 2. The game will briefly pause when the player uses the D-pad to access items, so we'll get time to choose at least. Helpful tips will supposedly appear on screen when Ryu dies, and the easiest among four difficulty levels is available for the newbies.

Unlike the first Ninja Gaiden which often took players back often to Tairon, the sequel's levels will be taking Ryu to "fresh" locations. Ryu also won't be forced to fight all the time, since he can choose to run away instead of clearing an area the hard way.

Another minor tweak you might want to know is that Ninja Gaiden 2 will have a user interface different to what we've seen in its Tokyo Game Show 2007 showing. For more details, click on the link below.

The Club split-screen multiplayer, time attack gameplay videos

Because we can't get enough videos of Sega and Bizarre Creations' The Club (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, PC), here are some snippets of the third-person shooter's multiplayer and time attack modes.

The game offers various multiplayer modes such as Team Skull Shot and Score Match, but from what we see in the video, it seems satisfying enough to just go four-player split-screen in a dog-eat-dog free-for-all.

If The Club's multiplayer demo doesn't sound too exciting, you can also check out the time attack gameplay video featuring one of the levels where you'll be taking enemies down to buy time and earn points for bragging rights. See it for yourself - the videos are embedded below.

 

 

Buy: [The Club (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [The Club (PS3)]

Hear Kyrie sing: Devil May Cry 4 cinematic prologue

Capcom once again seems to be penning a new chapter in the colorful life of our shimmering-silver haired hero Nero with its latest installment to the Devil May Cry franchise, Devil May Cry 4 (Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) slated for release next year. For die-hard fans who simply can't wait any longer to catch a glimpse of their brooding, cloaked protagonists, we have chanced upon a video portraying Nero in another rendered cinematic prologue from Devil May Cry 4.

In the video, we see Nero run across a picturesque, cobble-stoned town that closely resembles Italy as he makes his way to see Kyrie, another Devil May Cry 4 character, as scenes of her singing in what looks like an old-century church fade in and out of the screen. Nero engages the marionettes who block his path in battle.

With that said, does Nero manage to see Kyrie's performance in time? You'll just have to check out for yourself in the video with provided you with below.

Buy: [ Devil May Cry 4 (PS3) ]
Buy: [ Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360) ]
Buy: [ Devil May Cry 4 (PC) ]

Xbox Live service update: 'things getting better each hour'

If you've been keeping tabs on the intermittent problems the Xbox Live service has been experiencing lately, well we're sad to say things haven't really improved much since then. However, Major Nelson has updated his blog reassuring gamers that the Operations Team will be working non-stop until the issue has finally been resolved.

The official Xbox website support page noted that the Live service status was "up and running", although with a disclaimer that users may still be experience problems logging into the service. This was confirmed by Xbox Live's director of programming Larry Hryb (a.k.a. Major Nelson) on his Xbox blog recently, admitting that such problems were "not acceptable" and that their team is currently working to resolving the issue.

If you want to take a look at the direct quote taken from his blog, here it is:

You may have noticed that the LIVE service has been having a few issues over the past few days. This includes things like signing in, matchmaking and account recovery. Not everyone has had problems, but I know some of you have and I wanted to give you and update. While the service was never completely offline, problems like this are not acceptable. The entire LIVE team has been working day and night to ensure that you can have a great LIVE experience. While we re not done yet, I wanted to let you know that things are getting better each hour and that no one on the team is going anywhere until the job is done. Thanks for your patience.

In any case, we seriously hope they get this issue fixed as soon as possible considering the backlog of holiday gamers who are itching to get those online matches up and running.

GameFly's year-end sale on pre-played games

  

It was a great year for games. Well, any year is a great year for games. And now that the year is ending it's time to look back on all the games we loved. Likewise, we look back on all the games we haven't played... and hope they're up for grabs on sales bins.

GameFly's offering a year-end sale on pre-played games with free shipping until January 4. They're offering games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP, with games going as low as US 9.99.

It might not be an earth-shattering collection of games at first glance for the most of you, but there's something to be said about getting games en masse. Games they're offering include Two Worlds, Ninjabread Man, and Sega Rally Revo. Follow the link below for the complete list of games from GameFly.

Lara Croft's new adventure: Tomb Raider Underworld details

 

Looking forward to Lara Croft's new adventure in Tomb Raider Underworld? Well so are we. Here's something to make the wait easier for you (or more difficult, depending on how you take it): new info of the game from magazines PSM3 and CD-Action.

It's been revealed before that the story of Tomb Raider Underworld (360, PS3, PC) will center on Lara solving the mysteries of the Mayan civilization. Now it's also been revealed that the new game will not have Lara going back to places she's been in before.

The game will have Lara exploring different parts of the world this time. It's been reported she'll be traveling to locations in Australia, Easter Island, Rome, the Vatican, Mesopotamia, and the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia.

As most of the locations are in places that haven't been touched for centuries, there won't be a lot of human enemies. Instead, Lara will be facing off with monsters, some of mythological nature.

The new save system also allows the game to take a snapshot of debris and felled enemies as they are. Remnants of battle such as enemies you defeated will also be saved to file. Load your game again and everything will look the same as you've left it - assuming you did save.

One exciting new feature of the game is that Lara will have dynamic use of both her hands, mixing action and platforming in the game. She can now do actions like shoot her gun while hanging from a ledge at the same time.

Jack Thompson links violent video games and Omaha mall tragedy

Shortly after Jack Thompson's recent allegations between the purported links between Department of Defense and the gaming industry, Thompson has jumped to Omaha, Nebraska in the wake of the Westroads Mall tragedy, where Robert Hawkins killed eight people and committed suicide.

Thompson attempted to inquire about what was stored in Hawkin's computer, to check if violent video games were installed, in order to prove his theory about the correlation of video games and violence. However, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren refused Thompson's request to check the computer. The police have commented that the contents of the hard drive are not a matter of public record.

Because of the refusal, Thompson has filed a lawsuit against Warren. "These games are actually rehearsal devices that teach techniques and scenarios and methodologies on how to kill that they wouldn't otherwise have," the Florida attorney said.

Video game industry benefits from Writer's Strike?

Weren't able to catch your TV programs because of the writer's strike? Well pick up your controller and play video games.

At least, that's what Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, thinks will happen to you and every other stranded TV viewer left high and dry by the strike.

Olin believes that the strike will actually help the video game industry. Unlike TV media at large, video game writers that are part of the Writer's Guild of America are not under the jurisdiction of the current strike. Says Joseph Colin:

If you're a fan of network programming, maybe seeing another repeat of "Pushing Daisies" or "Cold Case" will inspire you to finish that level of Ratchet and Clank Future instead.

There's a much better relationship between game developers and publishers than there appears to be in terms of all the polemics between the writers, producers and studios.

On a lighter note of the strike, video game writers may be getting their due as well as the 2008 WGA awards will be recognizing video game writing as well. The move hopes to raise the profile of video game writers.

Gearbox's Randy Pitchford on war shooters and rhythm games

Who would've thought that a game company centered mostly on blowing things up on a bloody battlefield would come up with such a wholesome remake of a classic rhythm game on the Nintendo Wii? This is the latest project that Randy Pitchford, head honcho of Gearbox Software, talks about with their Wii port of the Dreamcast classic Samba de Amigo.

Being true-blue Samba fans, they wanted to recreate the maracas rhythm mayhem on the Wii. The biggest challenge, however, was using the Wiimote and the Nunchuk to simulate the maraca peripheral that originally came with the game. Pitchford was confident that it was possible considering the amount of talent the development team has.

He then went on to describe some of the accolades of their recent Brothers in Arms series. Even Steven Spielberg had good things to say about the video game series released by Gearbox. Aside from the superior graphics, the upcoming Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) will definitely raise the bar for the series with its "added value".

Pitchford also mentions the original IP project Gearbox is working on with Borderlands (PC, Xbox 360, PS3). The Sci-Fi FPS will feature a lot of RPG elements not necessarily seen in other games of the genre. Considering your starting "party" are characters based on the fighter, hunter and magical class, the game definitely sounds like something from your typical dungeon crawling RPG adventure.

Gearbox has even has its own in-house created weapons sequencer that can produce up to half a million different weapons in the game - complete with its own name, appearance and property.

While the weapons made out of this flexible game feature may come up with the most broken weapons in any FPS, Pitchford had this to say about it: "If there's a gun that can break the game, why would we limit that?"

If you want to check out the details of the interview with Gearbox's big boss, you can access the complete article through the Via link below.