Well, some people may not know when to quit. Over the past few days we’ve been seeing the death of a handheld. Or rather a version of a handheld that has seen success in other versions but not this one. But it seems that Sony in the U.S. still believes that the PSP Go has what it takes to sell. Too bad it hasn’t.
Despite Japan and Europe stopping production of PSP GO Sony of America spoke to Joystiq and told them: “We are continuing production of PSP Go for North America.” Why exactly they are doing this despite worldwide abandonment of the PSP Go is unknown at the moment but perhaps they have a stockpile of PSP Gos in a warehouse somewhere and will say those are newly produced still.
That certainly didn’t take long. Just a couple weeks after officially revealing Sonic Generations, Sega have now launched an official website for the game and released a gameplay trailer. Scheduled out for a “Winter” release in Japan, this new title celebrating Sonic’s 20th Anniversary is still yet to see an official date for the rest of the world, but I imagine Sega of Europe/America should be shedding light on that very soon. Also, it does indeed look that this will be a full-priced disc title due to a listing on GameStop’s official website which lists a placeholder date of 12/31/2011 with a pricepoint of $59.99 (US).
The true star of this story though is the brand new trailer. The clip is over three minutes in length and shows Sonic tearing his way through the Green Hill Zone with the classic famed tunes from the level unchanged. From this trailer alone I can easily say Sonic has never looked this fast and fluent in years and if the whole game plays like what we see hear, we might be looking at the return to glory that Sonic Fans have wished for since Sonic 3. So do yourself a favor and feast your eyes on the new trailer below and once Sega start confirming some more official dates for Sonic Generations, we will be sure to bring you an update.
Nevermind that June 7th release date that EA and Suda 51 announced a few months back for Shadows of the Damned. In an event in San Francisco, Grasshopper Manufacture announced that the game will instead be seeing a June 21st release. This place sit two weeks after the original release for unknown reasons. But two weeks of extra polish is always a good thing, if that is what this delay is for.
Shadows of the Damned is going to be a very bizarre third person shooter with plenty of horror themes. The names on the development team lead to quite a strong backing already with Shinji Mikami, Suda 51 and Akira Yamaoka being on the team. Meaning that fans of any of those men should already have their money in hand for when the game releases, despite Alice: Madness Returns, another horror based game, being released shortly beforehand.
Looks like Mario & Sonic are going to be teaming up again to bring children the Olympic Games this year, or perhaps next year as no release date is currently known for the title. But either way this is now the third Mario & Sonic Olympic Games game ever since they started the franchise back in 2008. The logo above for the game also contains the London Olympic Games’ logo above it.
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (long name) is going to be released for the Wii and most importantly for the 3DS. There will be new events added to the Wii edition of the game including soccer and horse riding as well as something called Dream Events. The 3DS version of the game unfortunately has not seen any actual game announcements but will contain over 50 different events that can be played. It will be interesting to see this family friendly game on the 3D handheld when it arrives some point in the future.
One of the most interesting things about Prototype 2 was the fact that for some reason or another the protagonist changed. Instead of playing as Alex Mercer you will be playing as James Heller and in the latest video the developers explain why that is. Because nothing says overpowered enemy like one that you created yourself.
The video explains that James Heller lost everything in his life, including his family. Now he has been infected by Alex Mercer himself and is out for revenge against Alex. Besides the story explanation we also see some pre-alpha footage of the game. It most certainly is pre-alpha because the game isn’t even slated for release until some point in 2012.
If you turned on your Playstation 3 or your PSP today you may have noticed that the PlayStation Network is down at the moment. Both SCEA and SCEE have acknowledged the problem and have stated that the PSN is down for maintenance at the moment. Though due to the fact that this was not announced and only mentioned after the system went down, it means that other circumstances are involved. They recently released an update that the PSN will be down for either one or two full days before the service is up and running completely.
The exact reasoning for the outage is unknown and it also comes at a very unfortunate time as both Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat released on Tuesday of this week. Meaning that if you wanted to play with your friends on the PS3 then you are out of luck at the moment. We will keep you updated if any more news is released by Sony about these outages.
There’s now less than one month until L.A. Noire is available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (May 17 in the US, May 20 in Europe and Australia).
L.A. Noire’s latest gameplay video, “Rising Through The Ranks”, takes adeeper look into the world of Detective Cole Phelps, and the various partners you will work with as you rise through the desks of the LAPD. The video outlines the game’s ranking system, the use of ‘Intuition Points’ to help solve a case, and provides information on how to tackle street crimes or ‘Unassigned Cases’. The video is created entirely from in-game footage. L.A. Noire will release on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on May 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
SOCOM: Special Forces arrived on the PlayStation 3 yesterday, the latest instalment of the multi-million selling, critically acclaimed SOCOM franchise. In this title, player pick up their guns as an elite commando unit on a covert operation in the depths of Southeast Asia, with just six days to capture the leader of a militant terrorist organisation known as Naga, which is attempting to destabilise the global economy. Players get the latest high tech weaponry, intelligence and air support at their disposal and it is exclusive to the Playstation 3. With intelligent AI, a major focus on teamwork and issuing strategic orders and stealth, SOCOM: Special Forces comes with 3D support and Playstation Move features, as well as a deep online multiplayer mode, with co-operative multiplayer, including options such as custom missions and the ability to create your own co-op campaign. Are you ready to take command? Expect a Capsule Computers review soon!
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia also announced the following today, and it’s sounding pretty cool!
Ever wanted to see your face in your own personalised videogame trailer? Now’s your chance, so grab your webcam soldier, it’s time for you to move into the action. What are you waiting for? Visit ‘SOCOM Warface’ at www.facebook.com/PlayStationAU
I dunno about you guys, but Im picking up my webcam for this, and while Im at it, I might grab a copy of SOCOM: Special Forces as well!
Here’s this week’s releases which go live this Friday:
(Go Series: Tower of Deus, Nintendo DSiWare, Gamebridge , 200 Nintendo DSi Points)
(Valet Parking 1989, Nintendo DSiWare, Zordix, 500 Nintendo DSi Points)
(Ubongo, Nintendo WiiWare, Korner Entertainment, 800 Wii Points)
Anything of interest to you all this week? It’s not a particularly interesting release schedule, that’s for sure. Ubongo is a puzzle game based on a board game popular in much of Europe in countries like Germany and Sweden, Valet Parking 1989 sees you direct cars into their parking spaces with your utmost precision, and Go Series: Tower of Deus is a simple 2D platformer. Will anyone be picking any of these up?
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced that Ryan Neal, 18, from Bury St. Edmunds, won both the UK and European Mortal Kombat Tournaments, bagging himself an Arcade Machine, Championship Belt and trip to Chicago to visit NetherRealm Studios, developer of the game. Congrats Ryan, undoubtedly a deserved winner, fending off competition and securing himself some fantastic prizes in the process.
Taking place at the UK’s largest consumer electronics show, ‘The Gadget Show Live’, the competition was held in front of thousands of gamers at Mortal Kombat’s spectacular ‘Fight Arena’ stage in the Over 18 Gaming Zone. Players entered by participating in qualifying rounds taking place throughout March and April at various gamestation and GAME stores throughout the UK.
