Gamestop Hopes Halo Wars Is Worth A Midnight Launch

It's not very often that a real-time strategy title earns a midnight launch, but toss the word Halo in there and GameStop sits up and listens.

GameStop is inviting Halo fans to "bring out their inner Warthog" during Halo Wars midnight launch events, held at more than 2,000 locations across the U.S. this coming Monday, March 2nd. While I cannot begin to imagine why they would want you to bring out your inner futuristic military dune buggy, I'm sure they meant it in a nice way. The company is throwing out all the stops for the launch of the next game in the Halo series, with Halo 3 tournaments, dress-up contests, trivia challenges, and Warthog races going on from 10pm to midnight, when a much smaller crowd then they are expecting line up to get their copies of the game.

It's not that I am hating on the game or anything. From what I've heard it's not too bad. It's just there's only one company I know of that puts out real-time strategy titles customers are going to line up at midnight for, and StarCraft II is a ways off. Still, if you can't wait til Tuesday afternoon, check out GameStop's launch page to see if you don't have to.

Kaz Hirai Will Continue Playstation Leadership

Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai will continue to oversee Playstation in his new role as the head of the Networked Products and Services Group.

Earlier this morning Sony announced a major restructuring of their company, with Sony CEO Howard Stringer being named president of the company and the formation of two new groups within the company, the New Consumer Products Group and the Networked Products and Services Group.

As head of that latter group, Hirai will oversee the Walkman lines, Sony Media Software and Services, which develops a common service platform across Sony products, and Sony Computer Entertainment.

The goal of this new group is to "maximize the potential and pace of Sony's innovation and to enhance profitability." Integral to this process, Sony says, will be the utilization and expansion of the Playstation Network.

What does that mean to gamers? It sounds like Sony is trying to do a better job of getting their different groups to work better together, which could mean greatly expanded Playstation Network offerings and some interesting product development. PSP phone? PSP Walkman? Who knows?

Patapons Coming To LittleBigPlanet

In an effort to turn every single Sony property into Sackboy form—hurry up, Blasto Sackboy!—the company has turned the LittleBigPlanet transmogrifier on the PSP tactical rhythm game Patapon. Cross-promotion is just a happy by-product.

Yes, Patapon 2 is coming stateside soon-ish—the official PlayStation blog says it's "in the horizon"—meaning a cyclopian Sackboy interpretation is overdue.

No word on when this guy will ship out to the PlayStation Store, but we're betting it's in advance of Patapon 2's street date.

PATAPON 2: It's Pata-Pata-Pata-ON!!!! [PlayStation.blog]

GTA IV's 'The Lost and Damned' found by many, many people

Move over Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, because there's a new top earner on Xbox Live, and it's GTA IV's "The Lost and Damned". Rockstar's Xbox 360-exclusive DLC pack featuring Johnny and his crazy motorbiking buddies has set a record on the service, as its first-day sales revenue has eclipsed all other titles that have debuted on Xbox Live (note: at $20, The Lost and Damned is also more expensive than the previous record holders). Sadly, exact sales figures aren't given, so we don't know how much Microsoft and Rockstar have made off the DLC yet. When we know, we'll be sure to let you know.

GTA IV's "The Lost and Damned" DLC pack is available now on Xbox Live Marketplace for 1600.

Gallery: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned DLC

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sony reorganizes divisions, has big plans for future

Like two lovers caught in a seductive tango, chief executive Howard Stringer has taken the lead as president of Sony's electronics division, taking on a more intimate and hands-on role with the company's future. The previous president, engineer-turned-exec Ryoji Chubachi, will undertake a new role as vice chairman and stay on to assist Stringer. This recent move is part of Sony's attempt to manage the huge losses the company has suffered recently. The reorganization doesn't stop there, oh no, Sony is really shaking things up.

The company is forming two new divisions, one of which will oversee PlayStation and Vaio PCs, while the other takes charge of Bravia TVs, Cybershot digital cameras, and Handycam camcorders. The man in charge of the new PlayStation and Vaio division is none other than Kaz Hirai, head of Sony's gaming business. Heading up the other division will be Hiroshi Yoshioka, who currently oversees Sony's TV business.

On the video game side of things, one of the opportunities presented by this restructuring will be the expansion of PSN beyond the realm of games. Sony wants to offer real network-based content that works across all Sony devices, including its game consoles, Walkman brand, and even the e-Reader. With Sony reorganizing all of its divisions, the prospect of SCE having greater access to other divisions in the company becomes higher. This leaves the possibility of new synergistic ideas within Sony, such as PSN on your cell phone or an MP3 store for PSP. This corporate shuffle will allow Sony to be the "united company" it has been telling us it will be ... for years.

Source - Stringer adds president post in shake-up [Via Edge]
Source - Strategy Analytics: Sony Brings Down Silos To Address Connected Consumer Opportunities

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years coming to Wii

It seems that Nintendo's recently discovered trademark for "The After Years" was, in fact, referencing a Wii port of the cell-phone based follow-up to the SNES role-playing classic Final Fantasy IV. An ESRB rating for the sequel confirms that the game will be hitting North American Wiis, though a time frame for its release, or even its release format (retail? WiiWare?) has yet to be revealed. The ESRB stamped the title with an E rating, as it doesn't classify the frequent usage of the word "spoony" as inappropriate for adolescent ears.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, which was released in an episodic fashion on a number of Japanese mobile platforms last year, follows the exploits of Ceodore (the progeny of FFIV protagonists Cecil and Rosa) nearly 17 years after the events of the original game. It'll also feature appearances from other major characters from the SNES title -- well, the ones who survived, anyway. Those who played the title will recall that FFIV was somewhat Hamlet-esque in its final body count.

Watchmen: The End is Nigh will be $20 on XBLA/PSN/PC

Is it just us, or are digital downloads getting progressively more expensive? Just last summer we were reporting on why Jonathan Blow was charging $15 for Braid and now here we are less than a year later reporting what Warner Bros. Interactive told us this afternoon: The XBLA/PSN release of Watchmen: The End is Nigh next week will be dropping for 1600/$19.99 (respectively). Steam's PC release will also carry the same price tag.

The amount of visual polish that goes into a title as graphically intensive as Watchmen may justify the unusually high price tag. If the similarly priced Penny Arcade Adventures are any indication of where this series is headed, we'll be waiting a few months for a price drop before sinking into this beat-'em-up. Feel free to check out the gallery below and see for yourself why Watchmen: The End is Nigh received its luxury price.

Gallery: Watchmen: The End is Nigh

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Taito reveals Space Invaders, Cooking Mama games for iPhone, iPod, Android

Taito has announced that iPhone and iPod Touch users can access versions of Space Invaders and Cooking Mama in the app store now. The Space Invaders game available in the app store is of the classic variety, but features "full use of the motion sensor and other iPhone 3G and iPod Touch input methods." As for Cooking Mama, the version available for the iPhone and iPod Touch includes "both favorite recipes from past console installments as well as a variety of dishes completely new to the series" and has been enhanced to "make the most of the iPhone 3G / iPod touch's multi-touch screen accelerometer." You can find Cooking Mama and Space Invaders in the app store now for $6.99 and $4.99, respectively.

In addition to new games for Apple platforms, Taito has also announced plans to support Android. T-Mobile users will be able to pick up Arkanoid and Space Invaders now for $5.99 each.

Gallery: Cooking Mama (iPhone/iPod)

• 
• 
• 

Gallery: Space Invaders (iPhone/iPod)

• 
• 
• 

Let's play ... Spot the Real Wii or DS Game!

Hey gang. After checking out this staggering list, we played this hot new game on the Joystiq Podcast this week. It was such a hoot, we'd encourage you to do the same with someone you love. Here are the rules.

In Round 1, you're trying to pick the one real game among the fakes. In Round 2, you're trying to find the fake amongst all the real games. In the Lightning Round, you just have to identify each game as real or fabricated.

Then, see how you rate!

0-5 -- You're a Nintendolt
6-11 -- You did NintendOK
12-17 -- You Nintendidit!

We've got a list without answers first up, then we'll give you all the answers so you can test your friends. Let us know how it goes!

Continued →

Rumor: Ready at Dawn developing new PSP God of War

If Tuesday's reveal of new -- even exciting -- games coming to PSP knocked you on your rump, you'd best be seated before reading any futher. Comfy? Good. Here's the deal: Joystiq has learned from a trusted source that Ready at Dawn, the studio behind the PSP's excellent God of War: Chains of Olympus, is working on a new Kratos adventure for PSP. Apparently the studio hasn't sworn off PSP development once and for all.

The informant tells us Ready at Dawn did, in fact, ship all of its PSP development kits back to Sony last summer, but received new kits in late 2008 after Sony ordered up the sequel. It's possible that, given its current state of development, the game might appear in some form at June's E3 Expo, our source reports. The title seems an unlikely candidate for release this year, but could be timed to coincide with God of War III's launch, which may occur in early 2010.

When contacted for comment, Ready at Dawn president and co-founder, Didier Malenfant, responded: "You know that even if we were [making the game], I couldn't answer your question." We see a "know" in there, but not a "no."

Sony in talks with Rockstar for more GTA on PSP

It might seem as though the once-strong relationship between Rockstar Games, developers of the highly profitable Grand Theft Auto franchise, and Sony, the progenitor of the consoles said franchise once almost exclusively appeared on, is on the outs. Following the 360-exclusive Lost and Damned DLC, and the movement from the series' portable appearances to the DS with GTA: Chinatown Wars, it appears Rockstar has jilted all things PlayStation in hopes of attracting younger, more lucrative suitors.

However, this isn't exactly the case. In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo, PSP hardware marketing chief John Koller explained that Sony isn't ready to let that particular cash cow go out to pasture. Koller commented that the two PSP-based GTA titles sold like bullet-riddled hotcakes, adding that there's "definitely continued conversations with Rockstar" regarding future Grand titles on Sony's handheld. We can only pray that they'll be as Phil Collins-centric as the last one.

Wii Sports Resort MIA On Nintendo's Upcoming Games List

Nintendo's upcoming release list for the second quarter of 2009 was packed with games, including the highly anticipatedPunch-Out!! and the surprise semi-sequel Excitebots. Missing from the list, however, was Wii Sports Resort.

Kind of curious, considering that Wii Sports Resort was listed as shipping "Spring 2009," according to Nintendo of America's Product Launch Schedule at its press room just a few days ago. That release has since been changed to simply "2009."

The lineup Nintendo released today extends as far out as June for Nintendo-published games, so there's a possibility that the sequel to Wii Sports is now a "Summer 2009" release. Or not.

Simple oversight, or a sign of a potential delay to one of Nintendo's biggest releases? Nintendo does like to space these things out, you know, and Wii Sports Resort's release is tied to the introduction of the Wii MotionPlus peripheral.

We have an e-mail requesting clarification on the date change with Nintendo. We'll let you know what they have to say.

Man Decides PS3 More Important Than Truck Payments, Now In Jail

Quick: Your automobile or the PS3? Make a decision and pronto.

Nicholas Stanfield. a 24-year^old Sacramento man, chose the PLAYSTATION 3. On December 17, a 911 call was placed about the carjacking of Stanfield's Dodge Ram truck. Police responded and found Stanfield with a bruised face and torn shirt.

According to Stanfield, he was walking to his truck when he was assault by two men. They took his keys and made off with the truck.

In the insurance claim, Stanfield stated there was over US$4,000 worth of personal property in the truck. He also asked for payment for the truck — including the $20,000 in customization he had sunk into it.

Something was fishy, and Sacramento detective Bryce Heinlein discovered the man had totally fabricated the carjacking and asked his two friends to beat him up to fake the attack. Stanfield confessed.

His motivation for faking the carjacking was financial: He had missed his November and December truck payments. However, during the holidays, he shelled out $500 for a PS3 for a Christmas present...for himself.

He was sentenced by Judge David De Alba to 120 days in the county jail and four years of probation for filing a false police report and fraudulent insurance claim after being convicted by a jury.

Man gets 120 days for fake police report, insurance claim [The Sacramento Bee Thanks, Yuu!] [Pic]

Street Fighter IV PC This Summer, Possibly Bundled With Sticks

PC gamers eager to get their hands on Capcom's Street Fighter IV will have to wait until this summer, with Capcom pondering the possibility of bundling the game with arcade controllers at retail.

Capcom vice president of business development and strategic planning Christian Svensson, speaking to VideoGamer.com, names summer as the target release date for the PC version of the fourth game in their venerable fighting franchise, while revealing plans to possibly deliver the game to store shelves bundled together with Mad Catz's highly sought-after arcade controllers.

"We rolled out our Mad Catz sticks and pads, and the interesting thing to note about all of those sticks and pads is they all work with PC as well. We may, and I'm in talks with Mad Catz to figure out how can we actually do some bundles of pads and Street Fighter IV PC."

Hopefully the damn sticks will actually be available once the summer rolls around.

Maybe There Was One Bright Spot In That Nintendo Release List

See anything you like in that Nintendo release list from yesterday? Yeeeaaahhh...no. Of particular disappointment wasNintendo's first-party lineup, but then like all dark clouds, even that has a silver lining.

Where? You've got to dig a little. Head down past the Wii and to Nintendo's first-party DS release list. There you'll see a game called The Legendary Starfy, due on June 8. Never heard of it? That's because the Starfy series, which has been running in Japan for around six to seven years now, has never made an appearance in the West.

Obviously, it is now. And while in Japan it's pitched at kids, take a look at this clip from Densetsu no Starfy Taiketsu! Daiiru Kaizokudan (or Legendary Starfy Confrontation! Dire Pirate Squad), the last DS game in the series (it began on the Game Boy Advance) out in Japan and presumably the title due for release in the West.

Put aside your cynicism for both Nintendo and kid's stuff for a minute and just watch the trailer...it looks kinda great, doesn't it?

Doesn't it? After all, this is just the kind of thing people normally squeal "why can't we get this in America?", etc etc.

Lost Planet 2 no quick 'n' dirty sequel, says Capcom

We could have easily gone for a more vulgar headline! Here's what Christian Svensson, Capcom's vice president of business development and strategic planning, actually said about the upcoming co-op shooter, Lost Planet 2: "Takeuchi's approach was, you know what we're not going to sit back on our laurels and just shit out a sequel, we're actually going to take it up five notches. We're not going to under invest in this, we're actually going to over invest in this, and we're going to build it bigger."

Speaking to VideoGamer.com, Svensson relayed Lost Planet 2 (and Resident Evil 5) producer Jun Takeuchi's overall vision as being one that keeps all of the original's best qualities in, while dismissing the lax ambitions of lazy sequel design. You might even catch a whiff of 2007's critically acclaimed Call of Duty 4, which Svensson says was a big hit among the Lost Planet team. "So I think you're going to see some influence from that sneaking in." 

So, to sum all this crap up: Lost Planet 2 is promised to be the shit, but won't be shit out.

Sony doesn't say 'no' to UMD-less PSP

Rumors about yet another iteration of the PlayStation Portable have been gaining momentum, some pegging it as a "PSP2," while others suggest an incremental update, a la the PSP Brite. Yesterday'sclaim by Shiny founder Dave Perry -- he knows someone who knows all about the new PSP and itdoesn't have a UMD drive -- has been presented to and waffled at by Sony itself.

Interviewed by MTV Multiplayer, John Koller, who heads up SCEA's marketing of PSP, said that he "Can't comment either way," but did add, "I will reiterate that the digital component is very important to us. That's all we can say at this point."

Perry referred to the ostensibly new PSP model as a "fully digital online device;" one that would forgo UMDs in favor of downloadable, digitally distributed software. That said, Koller's comment already has us putting together our E3 2009 bingo cards.

GTA IV's 'The Lost and Damned' found by many, many people

Move over Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, because there's a new top earner on Xbox Live, and it's GTA IV's "The Lost and Damned". Rockstar's Xbox 360-exclusive DLC pack featuring Johnny and his crazy motorbiking buddies has set a record on the service, as its first-day sales revenue has eclipsed all other titles that have debuted on Xbox Live (note: at $20, The Lost and Damned is also more expensive than the previous record holders). Sadly, exact sales figures aren't given, so we don't know how much Microsoft and Rockstar have made off the DLC yet. When we know, we'll be sure to let you know.

GTA IV's "The Lost and Damned" DLC pack is available now on Xbox Live Marketplace for 1600.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years coming to Wii

It seems that Nintendo's recently discovered trademark for "The After Years" was, in fact, referencing a Wii port of the cell-phone based follow-up to the SNES role-playing classic Final Fantasy IV. AnESRB rating for the sequel confirms that the game will be hitting North American Wiis, though a time frame for its release, or even its release format (retail? WiiWare?) has yet to be revealed. The ESRBstamped the title with an E rating, as it doesn't classify the frequent usage of the word "spoony" as inappropriate for adolescent ears.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, which was released in an episodic fashion on a number of Japanese mobile platforms last year, follows the exploits of Ceodore (the progeny of FFIVprotagonists Cecil and Rosa) nearly 17 years after the events of the original game. It'll also feature appearances from other major characters from the SNES title -- well, the ones who survived, anyway. Those who played the title will recall that FFIV was somewhat Hamlet-esque in its final body count.

PlayStation Home 1.11 and Warhawk Space online

PS3-Sense writes "The European PlayStation Home 1.11 patch and Warhawk Command Center has just gone live. The patch is about 13MB to download"

Read Full Story >>

translate.google.nl

EA Confirms MotionPlus Support for 'Dead Space' Wii

Electronic Arts COO John Pleasants today confirmed that "Dead Space Extraction," a Wii-exclusive rail-shooter prequel to the survival-horror original, will support the gyroscopic Wii MotionPlus peripheral when the game debuts in fall 2009.

Read Full Story >>

gamecyte.com

Xbox 360 Outsells Wii, PS3 In Japan

How did Microsoft manage to sell more Xbox 360s than the competition this week in Japan? With a little help from Square Enix's Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope.

The role-playing game shot the Xbox 360 from its regular second-to-last place showing to third—it was still behind the Nintendo DSi and PSP—besting sales of both Nintendo and Sony's console hardware. The 360 had previously kicked its console competition to the curb thanks to strong sales of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery.

This represents the fourth week that Microsoft has managed to outsell its competition in Japan.

• Nintendo DSi - 41,839
• PSP - 29,552
• Xbox 360 - 25,334
• Wii - 16,973
• PlayStation 3 - 16,149
• Nintendo DS Lite - 9,975
• PlayStation 2 - 5,029

As you can see there was much to compete with, as weekly sales of the Wii and PS3 were on the lower end of Media Create's numbers. Still, it keeps things interesting in a regularly dull hardware race.

Rumor: Three more 'Tales of' games trademarked in Japan

Namco Bandai has trademarked three more Tales of titles in Japan -- to go along with the other three rumored titles from earlier this month -- according to Siliconera. Utilizing the insane power of Dr. Frankenstein, Namco Bandai is said to have concocted the following titles for the long running series:

• Tales of Blessia
• Tales of Startear
• Tales of Floria (Look ma! A real word!)
• Tales of SomeoneNeedsSpellCheckia
  

While it isn't out of the realm of possibility that Namco Bandai plans to release six Tales of titles, we'd just guess the mass trademarking was done to snag the names before someone else could. After all, made up words -- much like fossil fuels -- are one of the world's most sought after resources.

Punch-Out!! uppercutting Wii on May 18

Nintendo just announced a May 18 release date for Punch-Out!!, giving Little Mac plenty of time to find a pair of diminutive gloves just his size before he waggles back into the ring this Summer. The game is among the more hotly-anticipated efforts in Nintendo's coming lineup, promising a return to form as everyone's favorite underdog throws down against the likes of Soda Popinski and King Hippo. According to sources, both are downing crates of Jolt and cheeseburgers on their road to get back into fighting shape.

Ninja Blade coming to U.S. April 7

The week before the tax filing deadline can be a stressful one, thanks in no small part to the incessant ads reminding you that Uncle Sam has unhinged his mighty jaw in anticipation of your financial offering and has begun to grow ... impatient. But you'll have a secret weapon this year, as you spend every day after April 7 -- the day Ninja Blade hits our stores -- cutting things to ribbons.

Also, if you missed out on the region-free Japanese demo, an American one will arrive on Xbox Live March 9, just in case you're the sort who likes to file early.

Gallery: Ninja Blade

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•