Well, maybe it’s not the first but heck, it’s rare that a respectable gaming site would give perfect 10 to a game. So Grand Theft Auto IV started off with wobbly last years’ graphics and had loads of potty mouth running around shooting and ramming things over in town. It’s a story about a gangster and it’s gangs, whaddaya expect? The game let you have up to 16 players at a time, what is not to love?
This paragraph alone makes me want to go out and get the game:
One of the many things that set GTAIV apart from its predecessors is Liberty City, which is more convincing as a living, breathing urban environment than anything that you’ve seen in a game before, and bears little resemblance to its namesake in 2001’s GTAIII. Liberty’s diverse population believably attempts to go about its daily business, seemingly unaware that several criminal factions are at war in the city. Niko has no such luck. He’s compelled to start working for one of the factions shortly after arriving, when he learns that his cousin Roman has some potentially fatal gambling debts. Niko’s military experience makes him a useful freelancer for employers in the business of killing each other, and though his reluctance to carry out their orders is often apparent, he does whatever is asked of him in the hope that completing missions for other people will ultimately give him the means to complete his own
Nintendo is setting its eyes in the Europe market when it receives more than a lukewarm welcome in UK and Europe.
All looks rosy for Nintendo and its fans in the UK and the rest of Europe. Wii Fit is currently balanced on top of the UK charts (although GTAIV’s sales figures indicate that may not be for long), Mario Kart Wii snaked to the front of the pack at launch, and Super Smash Bros. has finally got a release date. To make things even sweeter, the Mario Factory has just been tipped by an analyst to oust Sony from the top of the heap in the region.
Despite a lukewarm response to Nintendo’s global outlook when it announced its most recent annual results and unveiled its projections for the coming year, David Cole of DFC Intelligence is projecting big things for the Japanese publisher in Europe. He points to the success of Sony’s casual-gaming products such as SingStar and the EyeToy range as the prime indicator for Nintendo’s upcoming dominance in the region in a report published this week.
He believes that “the Wii product line and control system are an evolution of what made the PlayStation 2 so successful in Europe,” and indicated that the move to Atari by Phil Harrison, who was president of SCE Worldwide Studios and seen by many as the standard bearer for Sony’s charge into non-traditional markets, was a turning point. “In many ways this departure is symbolic of how the torch in Europe seems to be passing to Nintendo,” Cole said.
The XBox is doing extremely well with 68% increase in sales this quarter.
After having the next-gen console race to itself for a year, the Xbox 360 has been in a three-way battle since the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii launched in November 2006. After being roundly outsold by the Wii for most of last year–save for September, when Halo 3 debuted–the console found its sales bested by the PlayStation 3 in January and February. In March, the 360 triumphed over Sony’s console by a mere 5,000 units.
However, despite the competition, the Xbox 360 is helping Microsoft turn a profit the size of many country’s entire economies. According to an earnings report filed today, the software giant’s Entertainment and Devices Division–which includes income from the Xbox 360, Games for Windows, and Zune multimedia handheld–saw its quarterly revenue surge 68 percent.
For the three months ended March 31, the division saw $1.57 billion in revenue, up from $936 million the prior year. However, operating income for the period was just $89 million–an improvement over the $324 million loss the company took the year before, as outcry over widespread 360 hardware failures was reaching a fever pitch.
The cartoon that inspired many to fight for their own cause. The cartoon that says, “screw you, superheroes” because the green hulk is angry and his anger is the only reason why he beats bad men and trash things around him. What’s not to love about this green guy, he is angsty and amok, which is why we love him.
Anyway, The Incredible Hulk is set to deliver and based on it’s previous game, it already has a loyal fan base waiting to pursue the green monster’s course. The movie is set to come out too. The array of actors playing the Hulk and the support cast seems rather promising. I’ve always love Edward Norton since I saw him on American History X. :P
Check out the review for the Incredible Hulk game:
With rumors swirling about creative differences on the set of the upcoming Incredible Hulk film, it’s understandable that there are some questions as to how the video game based on the movie is going to turn out. The last Hulk game turned out to be pretty good in spite of the movie being less than stellar, and judging by our first look at the current-gen version of The Incredible Hulk, this game is poised to deliver what Hulk fans want regardless of how the movie turns out.
The Incredible Hulk begins with a brief cutscene showing Bruce Banner standing in the snow with a loaded pistol in his mouth. Just as a shot rings out the screen goes black, and when the picture comes back the Hulk, standing where Banner once stood, spits out the bullet. From there the game jumps ahead five years and shows a cutscene with Bruce being chased by some sort of special-ops unit through the streets of Brazil. Suddenly a helicopter appears, and Banner ducks into a building to get away. But it’s too late; the helicopter fires a missile into the building, turning it into rubble.
From here the game is in your hands. You start by mashing the Y button, which performs one of the Hulk’s “feats of strength,” which in this case involves him digging out from a demolished concrete building. Once he has dusted himself off the Hulk sets off into a factory to exact revenge on the people chasing him. This area acts as a training level, and it’s where you’ll get acquainted with the Hulk’s many moves–conveyor belts will be leveled, puny humans will be thrown, soldiers wearing mechanized suits will be cast aside, and doors will crumble under the weight of his mighty fists. The level ends after an encounter with the game’s first boss, Emil Blonsky, who after suffering defeat at the hands of the Hulk discusses what happened with General Ross.
Metal Gear Online is going to be out on the new and improved PS Store.
Yesterday, Sony Japan issued a release saying that the new and improved PlayStation Store would be coming April 15. It was assumed by many–but not officially confirmed at the time–that this was going to be a global launch, due to the nature and history of the store.
To remove any doubt, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has now confirmed that the “enhanced” PlayStation Store will indeed be coming on April 15.
It also had more good news for Europeans–on April 17, the first content update for two weeks will include the launch of Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta. The beta had already been confirmed for Japan, but those outside of the country had been left hanging.
The online beta will be running from April 21 to May 6, as an online multiplayer companion to Konami’s highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which is due for release on June 12.
Two maps will be available for testers to explore: Blood Bath, and Groznyi Grad, each of which “requires unique strategies” for success. Up to 16 gamers are able to play together in each.
Grand Turismo 5 is on its way and Yamauchi, the creator of GT speaks up of what goodies are to come:
Talking about the two vaporware titles, Yamauchi confirmed they’re both still on the radar. He said, “Gran Turismo for Boys will most likely become a service within Gran Turismo 5, and for the PSP I don’t think we’ll be able to make this year.”
When asked what’s next for the Gran Turismo following GT5 Prologue’s European launch, Yamauchi said that, “first off, GT5 prologue is only at the halfway point to its completion. So in the next update there will be many more features added to the game. From that point to Gran Turismo 5, there’s just going to be a lot more quantity in terms of cars and of the tracks as well.”
GameSpot asked if the development of GT5 Prologue meant a longer wait for the eventual Gran Turismo 5, and Yamauchi answered, “This is true, but creating games on the PS3 is so much more difficult than we imagined at first and it took us three years to get here, and I hope our fans understand that we’re trying our best and will be moving forward [on GT5] from here on.”
Yamauchi also stated that his team at Polyphony Digital is and will be completely engrossed in Gran Turismo for the foreseeable future. He said, “We want to do other things, and I have some ideas but we don’t have any resources and time to do anything else right now, we’re focusing on getting Gran Turismo evolved and moving forward and also [Gran Turismo] for the PSP as well.”
With the Guitar Hero franchise having generated over a billion dollars in sales, there’s no question that it’s “Rockin’ on Top of the World.” Now one of the biggest games in the world has gotten together with one of the world’s biggest bands: Aerosmith. But is the addition of Steven Tyler and company “A Good Thing,” or will the fifth game in the series be the “Same Old Song and Dance”? We got a first look at Guitar Hero: Aerosmith today to find out.
Right away you’ll notice that this isn’t just Guitar Hero with Aerosmith’s name slapped on the box. The crew at Neversoft has gone out of its way to integrate the band’s music, look, and personality into every aspect of the game. This is first evident in the menus, whose backgrounds are all locations taken from Aerosmith’s real-life recording studio. Of course, all of the band members are in the game, albeit in stylized video game form and looking younger than they are today. Athletes coming into the studio to do motion-capture work is nothing new, but when was the last time you heard of a rock star donning the mo-cap suit for a game? Steven Tyler did quite a bit of motion capture to ensure that his signature moves and facial expressions would be accurately represented. Fans of Axel Steele, Johnny Napalm, Izzy, and the rest of the crew can rest easy–the gang’s all here, and they each have four new outfits, for a total of eight per character. You’ll be able to sport all eight costumes online, which sounds like it will essentially have the same modes as in Guitar Hero 3.
GT5 is coming out within the year according to Prologue. That game bears many good memories of my teenage years and later adult years on the PS2. I am not a big fan of racing games but GT5 is pretty fun since i get to customize my cars and win trophies like a real racer.
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is nearing release date in both North America and Europe, coming to the former on April 15, and the latter on March 28.
However, some gamers may be forgiven for wondering whether to splash their cash on the Prologue or to simply wait until the full version of the game, Gran Turismo 5, is released.
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue follows a similar concept to the game Gran Turismo 4: Prologue, which was released in Japan and Europe around a year before Gran Turismo 4, giving gamers a significant taste of what was to come but falling short of being a full game.
However, those holding their breath for Gran Turismo 5 proper had better have a decent lung capacity–according to Sony America associate producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda the game was unlikely to arrive much before this time next year.
I mean they offered USD2billion for this wee company called Take 2 and they turned it down. Yes, you heard me, they turned USD2 billion down. What morons. I’d say do a Deal or No Deal and lower the price as their second move or just let Take 2 face the consequences of a lawsuit. Geez.
Back in February, Electronic Arts made a $2 billion offer for Take-Two, which Take-Two promptly turned down, stating that it didn’t believe it was enough.
Later in the month, Take-Two made it known that EA was not the only suitor it had and also secured severance plans for its employees in the result of being taken over and downsized.
However, by the beginning of this week, some of the company’s shareholders were getting restless. Two major stockholders ditched a percentage of their Take-Two stock, and one shareholder filed a lawsuit against the company for not exploring EA’s offer.
Everyone’s been waiting to see what EA’s next move would be: Would the company put a higher offer on the table or attempt a hostile takeover? Today, the megapublisher has decided on the latter, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Electronic Arts has now confirmed that it will be taking its offer directly to the shareholders of the Grand Theft Auto IV and BioShock 2 publisher at the same price it originally gave–$26 a share.
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