Tony Hawk: Ride Dated

In news that most will undoubtedly not care about, Tony Hawk: Ride has been priced at $120 USD in accordance with being bundled with a life-size skate deck controller peripheral. It has also been confirmed for November 17, 2009.

I like what Activision-Blizzard/Robomodo have done here with adding an out-of-the-box type of thinking and controller. What I think they'll have trouble doing is winning back old fans that have moved on to EA's Skate franchise, as well as winning over new fans with a $120 price tag. This is a major drawback that will not sit well with consumers. Die hards will pull out their wallets at the drop of a hat, but the casual gamers will more than likely sit this one out until they see a tumble on the price point.

Fistful of News

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 has been confirmed to contain co-op missions. A new group of screenshots feature Ayane and Rachel duking it out in the team missions mode where players can tackle self-contained missions in co-op.

Titan Studios, developer of Fat Princess, has released its first patch for the game, patching severe connection issues, among other things.

Brutal Legend has been confirmed to contain over 100 rock tracks, including tracks by, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Ministry, Motorhead, and Motley Crue, just to name a few.

A major XBL update is coming tomorrow, August 11, it mainly entails the games on demand service which will allow users to download full 360 games onto their console's HDD. Other updates included in the XBL update are:

User Ratings - Rate anything you play on XBL, demos, games, arcade games, and sort by rating to find games that got the highest ratings

Indie Games - XBL Community games have been renamed to Indie Games

Account Management - Get a stamp showing off how long you've been a member of XBL as well as a reminder when your account is going to run out

User Interface - Enhanced UI which includes a streamlined navigation, new ways to sort through friends lists, and a revamped achievement browser

XBL Parties - Invite friends to XBL parties easier and automatically reconnect when disconnected

Netflix Updates - Bring your party to Netflix and watch a movie or TV show together

The argument that many are putting up is that some of the games on demand may be more expensive than their disc counterparts. Not to mention the fact that the download is far cheaper to the developer and should have a lower price than the disc. For instance, Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero, two of the 360's launch titles have been confirmed as being part of this service right away, and the price point given is $20-30. As of right now the games sell brand new for between $10-15. Not raining on Microsoft's parade, simply saying that if they want users to purchase games via this online service, they should get their act together and not charge more for them than what you're seeing in the store.

Starcraft II Delayed

Following many rumors that the high-profile PC real time strategy game would be delayed, it has been just that -- delayed. Only this time it is official. Activision-Blizzard announced today that they would be delaying Starcraft II until the first half of 2010 citing releasing it alongside the relaunch of its networking service Battle.net as the reason for its delay.

Releases Set

The release date of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 has been set for September 29, 2009, Tecmo announced this morning. Keep in mind this is in North America only for the time being. It is going to be in the same week as Dead Space: Extraction for the Nintendo Wii, Gran Turismo PSP, and the PSP Go launch. Thus, the week of September 29 is looking quite busy.

Like many releases this fall, Ninja Gaiden Sigma has an Gamestop exclusive collector's edition. For $10 more than the regular edition ($59.99USD & $69.99USD) of the game, it includes an 80-page book featuring a strategy guide, 'vibrant' Ninja Gaiden art, and a comic featuring the cut scenes from the game.

Delays and More Fun

Ubisoft announced a series of delays for a few highly anticipated titles earlier yesterday, as well as announcing that their earnings during quarter 1 of their fiscal year were down almost 51 percent year over year. Splinter Cell Conviction for the 360 and the PC has been delayed until quarter 1 2010. Red Steel 2 will succomb to the same fate as it too has been pushed back until sometime in quarter 1 2010. The next instalment in the Ghost Recon series as well as I am Alive have both been pushed back into Ubisoft's next fiscal year. This means the earliest they could come out is March 2010 and latest would be March 2011.

Top Cow has announced that a sequel to the Darkness is in the works, but as for any other information it is few and far between. One would assume 2K games is publishing the said title, however when asked for a comment a 2K rep did not give one.

Forza 3 has been confirmed for October 27, 2009. There will be a limited edition and regular edition of the game. The limited edition includes bonus cars in an Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro, Nissan Fairlady, and an Acura NSX.

Finally, the long awaited Playstation Network game Fat Princess will finally debut on July 30, 2009. The game will be $15 to download from the PSN.

Battlefield 1943 Surpasses 600k

It was announced recently that Battlefield 1943 surpassed 600,000 downloads in the first week, making it the fastest selling one-day downloadable game for both 360 and PS3, and the fastest selling one week downloadable game for both 360 and PS3. All of that after there were launch issues on the first day of release due to the overloading of servers. With these announcements, it is easy to see why.

Microsoft Handheld Coming, Map Pack 3 Announced

Microsoft Exec, Shane Kim, recently mentioned in an interview with Kikizo that the Microsoft brand was destined for the handheld market. He said that doing so right now would draw too much focus away from 1080p HD, Facebook, Twitter, and Project Natal, however that after those projects were complete then their outlook on the handheld market would expand. He made it quite clear that it was going to expand.

Call of Duty: World at War's third map pack installment has been announced and is set to come out sometime in August. Like its previous counterparts it will feature a zombie map and three multiplayer maps.

Sales Numbers and Delays

Earlier this week, the sales numbers for June were released, and similar to what many analysts thought would happen, games sales fell in a dismal month in comparison to last year. To be fair, last year did have to compete against stellar titles such as Wii Fit, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and the super-selling Grand Theft Auto 4.

Total $
Software: $625.79M (-29%)
Hardware: $382.62M (-38%)
Accessories: $158.2M (-22%)
Total: 1.17B (-31%)

Hardware Totals
Nintendo DS - 766,500
Wii - 361,700
360 - 240,600
PS3 - 164,700
PSP - 163,500
PS2 - 152,700

Top Selling Non-PC Software Chart
(Last Month/This Month)
*/1. Prototype (360) - 419,900
1/2. UFC Undisputed (360) - 338,300
3/3. EA Sports Active (Wii) - 289,100
*/4. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii) - 272,400
2/5. Wii Fit (Wii) - 271,600
*/6. Fight Night Round 4 (360) - 260,800
*/7. Fight Night Round 4 (PS3) - 210,300
7/8. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 202,100
*/9. Red Faction Guerilla (360) - 199,400
5/10. Infamous (PS3) - 192,700
*/11. Ghostbusters (360)
4/12. UFC Undisputed (PS3)
*/13. Prototype (PS3) - 179,200
6/14. Pokemon Platinum (DS)
8/15. Punch Out!! (Wii)
10/16. Wii Play (Wii)
*/17. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (360)
12/18. Mario Kart DS (DS)
*/19. The Legendary Starfy (DS)
11/20. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)

PC Software Sales
Last Month/This Month
*/1. Sims 3
*/2. Sims 3 Collector's Edition
2/3. Sims 2 Double Deluxe
1/4. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
3/5. World of Warcraft Battle Chest
*/6. Spore Galactic Adventures
4/7. World of Warcraft
6/8. Spore
5/9. Empire: Total War
10/10. Starcraft: Battle Chest
11/11. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
13/12. Reel Deal Slots Adventure
*/13. Civilization IV: Complete Edition
18/14. Warcraft III Battle Chest
14/15. Sim City Box
16/16. Diablo Battle Chest
8/17. Sims 2 Apartment Life
*/18. Prototype
17/19. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
*/20. Ghostbusters: The Video Game

PC Charts are dominated by Activision-Blizzard/EA, 75% of the chart is made by either of them.

The DS Sales are still monsterous, powered by the new DSi. Rest are fairly unsuprising, Wii dominates, with 360 in 2nd and PS3 in 3rd.

Bayonetta, Red Dead Redemption Delayed

Bayonetta was delayed earlier this week until January 2010 at the earliest. Red Dead Redemption has also delayed both versions until 2010 marking another of the Take-Two Interactive franchises taking a tumble to next year, (the main one being Bioshock 2).

By my count the only thing they have left this holiday season are the annual sports games, the Grand Theft Auto IV DLC, Borderlands and POSSIBLY Max Payne 3, which will more than likely get delayed as well until 2010.

MAG Delayed

Seems like only yesterday that many of the PS3's fall releases were pushed back to 2009; oh wait, that was a year ago. Well call it deja vu, fate, or whatever you want because it's happening again.

Last year it was Tekken, Killzone 2 and Infamous, Tekken was later announced for the 360, and Killzone and Infamous both came out in the first half of 2009. This year has seen it happen again, thus far, both Heavy Rain and MAG (both supposed to come out fall 2009) will not be seeing shelves until 2010 at the earliest.

Not to fear PS3 fans, always 2010 to be "the year of the PS3".

New Grand Theft Auto in 2010?

Rockstar has confirmed this morning to popular gaming website, Gamespy, that a new Grand Theft Auto for both PS3 and 360 has been in development for over one year and will run on the same engine as Grand Theft Auto 4. They declined to comment on a release date, but being in development for over a year thus far, means that we could see it sometime in late 2010.

Microsoft also has a mystery game they are planning on unveiling later this month at San Diego's comic con. They've said that it is a well known IP and top-tier franchise.

Wolfenstein Delayed and Mothership Zeta

Seems like all I've been talking about recently is delays, but really that's all that has been in the news. Probably the biggest release over the next stretch of five or six weeks (besides Madden 10), has been delayed from August 4 until August 18, that being Wolfenstein for both PS3 and 360.

On a side note, Fallout 3's "final" expansion Mothership Zeta will become available for download on XBLA on August 3, 2009 says Bethesda, for the same price of 800 MSP ($10).

That's really all that mattered today, unless you care about special/limited editions and want the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition which comes with a set of real night vision goggles, a carved head to put them on, and the Hardened version of the game itself. It releases alongside both the Hardened and Regular editions of the game on November 10, 2009.

Bioshock 2 Delayed

It was announced earlier today that Bioshock 2 would be delayed from its previous release date (November 3, 2009) into Take Two Interactive's next fiscal year, which begins November 1, 2009. More than likely it will now fall sometime in 2010, leaving 2009 completely. While this is bad news for those waiting for the game to be finished, it is good news as well as they can polish up the game, and make sure the product that they're producing is going to top notch.

Heavy Rain Delayed...again

Although not surprised about Heavy Rain getting officially delayed this morning until 2010, I am still disappointed. The game looks fabulous, and what else do I have to look forward to on the PS3 besides exclusives?

This has been rumored for a while now, that Heavy Rain would be taking a detour, Sony officially announced it this morning citing reasons including strategic release window to important that it be finished the right way.

New MechWarrior on the Way

For those that have been waiting for a mech game that isn't Transformers or Armored Core to play, you may have finally gotten your wish. Vancouver based, Piranha Games has confirmed they are developing the next MechWarrior game in conjunction with Smith & Tinker. The game has been confirmed for both PC and the Xbox 360.

As a promotion for the announcement, Smith & Tinker also announced that they would be bringing MechWarrior 4 and its many expansions as a free download through Battletech.com.

A release date for both the download and the announced title have not been indicated.

Bioshock 2 Adds ANOTHER Developer

Arkane Studios is the latest developer to be added to the mix on the Bioshock 2 front. They join 2K Marin (based in California), 2K Australia (based in Australia), Digital Extremes (based in Ontario, Canada), and now Arkane Studios (based in France). Speculation has already began on whether or not this will ruin Bioshock 2 and turn it into a Devil May Cry 2 situation. This is obviously the last thing that publisher 2K Games and Take-Two Interactive want along with developer, 2K Marin want. Although this will not prevent speculation around the topic for the months to come before its November release.

July 9th News in Gaming

Modern Warfare 2 Readds Call of Duty Prefix

Activision-Blizzard announced just months ago that this was going to be a Call of Duty-less Modern Warfare, and a separate IP from Call of Duty completely. News today confirms that the final cover art for Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2 retains the Call of Duty prefix ahead of the Modern Warfare 2 subtitle. Some suggest that this comes after a study announced that interest had dropped over 20% after the name was removed from the title. Keeping in mind that Gamestop has announced recently that the pre-orders for the game are mounting up on both consoles (360 and PS3), this seems like hogwash to me. Regardless, the final copy released on November 10, 2009 will retain the Call of Duty brand.

Source: Gamespot

Command & Conquer 4 Officially Announced

After slipping up beforehand, Electronic Arts officially announced Command and Conquer 4 today, also stating that it would be the final chapter in the Tiberium saga. Whether this spells the end for Command and Conquer games as a whole or just the Tiberium saga which was started in 1995 with the original Command & Conquer.

Source: EA Games

Guitar Hero 5 Confirmed Songs for Setlist

Thus far we have heard very little other than about 8-10 songs that would be on the setlist for the game. Today, Activision-Blizzard released a boatload of hidden gems.
Band of Horses--"Cigarettes, Wedding Bands"
Beastie Boys--"Gratitude"
Beck--"Gamma Ray"
Billy Squier--"Lonely is the Night" Blur--"Song 2"
Children of Bodom--"Done With Everything, Die for Nothing"
Coldplay--"In My Place"
Darkest Hour--"Demon(s)"
David Bowie--"Fame"
Deep Purple--"Woman from Tokyo ('99 Remix)"
Elliott Smith--"L.A." Iggy Pop--"Lust for Life (Live)"
Jeff Beck--"Scatterbrain (Live)"
John Mellencamp--"Hurts So Good"
Queens Of The Stone Age--"Make It Wit Chu"
Rose Hill Drive--"Sneak Out"
Santana--"No One to Depend on (Live)"
The Bronx--"Six Days a Week"
Thrice--"Deadbolt"
Vampire Weekend--"A-Punk"

Along with the ones that had already been previously announced;
The Rolling Stones--"Sympathy for the Devil"
Bob Dylan--"All Along the Watchtower"
The White Stripes--"Blue Orchid"
Tom Petty--"Runnin' Down a Dream"
Johnny Cash--"Ring of Fire"
Kings of Leon--"Sex on Fire"
Wolfmother--"Back Round"

Source: Gamespot

In the news today...

Sony CEO Responds to Activision CEO on Comments of Stopping Support for PS3/PSP

Earlier in June, Activison-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick commented, "They have to cut the price because if they don't attach rates will slow. Being realistic, we may have to stop support for Sony's consoles going into 2010 and 2011." Today Sony dismissed Activision-Blizzard's threats of stopping support for their Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable consoles as "a lot of noise". Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer responsed to Kotick's comments by simply saying, "He likes to make a lot of noise."

Command & Conquer 4 Announced?

The UK office of Electronic Arts released a tweet via its private Twitter account, which is more or less self explanatory, "EA_UK_PR New release: EA LOS ANGELES ANNOUNCES THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMAND & CONQUER 4 http://bit.ly/LOk6R". The link does not actually show much at the moment, as it only provides information on Fight Night Round 4 downloadable content.

Singularity Pushed Back to Quarter 1 2010

The insane amount of interest in Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, has required Activision-Blizzard to push back the release of the much anticipated time-shifting adventure game. Activision-Blizzard did not want its title to be outpaced by one of its own. Rightly so, considering its counterpart Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold over 13 million units to date, and Singularity is a brand new IP. Rival publisher Electronic Arts saw something similar happen when it released both Mirror's Edge and Dead Space last holiday season alongside more popular IPs such as Call of Duty: World at War and Gears of War 2. Thus, Activision-Blizzard's sound reasoning to open the season up as much as possible for Modern Warfare 2.

Battlefield 1943 Server Troubles

The downloadable only/multiplayer only shooter is suffering server issues with matchmaking after launching this morning on XBL Arcade and will more than likely suffer similar issues tomorrow when it launches on the Playstation Network. The major issue arised because of the unanticipated demand for the game, and new people cannot join games unless someone signs off. Not to worry, Electronic Arts says that they are getting more servers up as we speak, and therefore will not be at capacity for much longer.

Top 10 Games of All Time

Figured that it would be only fitting to list my favourite top 10 games of all time in my first blog. Obviously it is completely in my opinion.

o1. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
o2. Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
o3. Starcraft (PC)
o4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360)
o5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC)
o6. Resident Evil 4 (PS2)
o7. Super Mario World (SNES)
o8. Pokemon Platinum (DS)
o9. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC)
10. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES)

o1. Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Mario Bros. 3 brought us one of the greatest platform games of all time, with a suitable remake years later produced on the Gameboy Advance, this game deserves the label it receives from many of best game ever. Whether you venture through the game's eight worlds one by one or whistle your way through in 12 minutes like the internet meme sweeping Youtube, the game has something for everyone, revolutionizing platform gaming for many years to come. That is what makes Super Mario Bros. 3 one of the greatest games of all time.

o2. Final Fantasy VII (Sony Playstation)
Considered by many to be the greatest RPG ever made, Final Fantasy VII's story, battle system, graphics, gameplay, and controls were all groundbreaking for its time. One can easily invest a great number of hours into the game, especially if you are completing all of the side quests.

o3. Starcraft (PC)
Arguably the best real-time strategy game ever released, and easily the most popular of Blizzard's creations, Starcraft is a game that many PC gamers spent the majority of their time playing. Blizzard's revolutionary battle.net system was at the time, an amazing accomplishment, and has stayed alive until even today, over ten years later, where games of Starcraft are still being carried out.

o4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Microsoft Xbox 360)
Easily the best shooter out of this generation of consoles thus far, the only one even coming close would be Gears of War. I personally have it on my all-time list because I'd rank it ahead of such greats as Counterstrike and Call of Duty, and therefore Call of Duty 4 remains a gem in my heart.

o5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo Gamecube)
By far and away the best fighting game on the Nintendo Gamecube, Super Smash Bros. Melee defines the fighting genre on the system and sets the standard high for various other games in the genre. Super Smash Bros. Melee is a great party game, with a plethora of single player action to keep those without friends or siblings entertained. Personally, I loved this game to death, and it was easily my favourite game of last generation.

o6. Resident Evil 4 (Sony Playstation 2/Nintendo Gamecube)
I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Resident Evil 4, as it was quite possibly the greatest action adventure that I have ever played. It's storyline was intriguing, while mixing puzzle, adventure, blood, gore, and fright all into one it created a video game that should be enjoyed by any gamer who loves the action-adventure genre.

o7. Super Mario World (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
With its world system stemming from the success of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World provides a full, engaging, and thorough platform adventure for the gamer. For full unlocks and completion of worlds it takes at least 40-50hrs, and with a new save function in the game, it makes the game much more easier to play the entire way through and clear.

o8. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo DS)
Nations were taken over by the Pokemon craze in the late 90s and early millenium, with Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, and later Gold/Silver/Crystal. Platinum provides all that Diamond and Pearl did to resurge the series plus more added features. Dreams of an online Pokemon were made a reality with Diamond/Pearl, and now Platinum is the sequel to those dreams made with all of the core from the previous games, while adding to it extra features and Pokemon that were not unlockable in Diamond or Pearl.

o9. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC)
Blizzard's first real-time strategy game since the release of Starcraft was met with glowing reviews from critics and rave ones from fans. Warcraft III ran on an upgraded Battle.net server and is still played today by thousands of people worldwide.

10. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
DKC2 was one of the most popular and best platforms that this world has ever known. The sequel to the critically acclaimed Donkey Kong Country, pits Diddy and Dixie against all odds to save Donkey Kong from the evil King K Rool. Hundreds of unlockables, and a vast world map all provide the platforming action that any gamer has grown accustom to seeing from Nintendo.