Hi Kyle, sorry to shoot the messenger but we’re tired of hearing about delays.
Sony apologizes, via some poor guy named Kyle, for more LittleBigPlanet delays. First it was late 2007, then spring 2008. Sony still hasn’t spilled the beans on an official target date, but rumors now say September’ish 2008. Take some small joy in the gameplay in the video above and a lot of joy from Kyle’s promise of a public beta “far enough ahead to implement change and fix things” . When do you guys think that is coming?
Three individual Rock Band song downloads Tuesday for Xbox 360 and Thursday for PS3. All three of these are about $2 each. All three are a bit more upbeat than last week’s update:
really sweet artwork by: RatherNotSay, Creative Commons licensed
Come get some!
“Sources” report that the release of Duke Nukem 3D as an Xbox LIVE Arcade title may happen soon. From where I sit it can’t happen soon enough, but I’ll settle for a few more months. With the multiplayer upgrades it should be a blast:
And best of all, it’ll feature a four-player online cooperative mode over Live. Insiders also allege that it will boast an eight-player online deathmatch mode.
[via IGN]
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus for the PSP looks as solid as a rock. This sequel to the original PSP release looks to preserve the first’s smooth gameplay. No press info on when it releases or how much content it will be rocking.
Xbox 360 gets the free Turok downloadable game demo today. This sequel of the classic series is a big 1.17 GB download (these things are starting to make me wish I bought the bigger drive for my 360). It’s available in Europe. Australia too. And Asia. Not for you though.
Major Nelson posted the availability. No comment from him on why it’s not available in the US, Canada, and similar places with heavy Xbox 360 ownership.
I don’t know anything about the Highlander game, but I’m already disappointed.
Unlike its main characters the game won’t last very long. All the movie fans and immortality fanboys will push this up the top-seller lists for a week or two, followed by a mercifully quick drop off. That’s to be expected when a game is only good enough to put cutscenes and no real gameplay in the trailer. And the trailer quality looks bad. Someone get the guys at Eidos who put this together a copy of iMovie. While you’re at it ask them why they released it for Xbox 360, PC, and PS2. PS2, really! Sounds like a great plan with Sony killing off backward compatibility on the PS3.
Please don’t say it: Super Smash Bros Brawl has been delayed again. This time until March 9th in the US. Maybe I’m more patient than the rest of the fanboys but I’d rather see the game finished, perfected, and shining like gold than to see another steaming heap of Wii-gameage for sale.
It feels a bit better to get a real apology from Nintendo:
Due to delays in the completion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, we�ve had to change the release date of the game to Sunday, March 9th.
I deeply apologize to the people who have looked forward to playing the game for so long and ask that you hold on just a little longer. Thank you for your patience.
Sadly SSBB has been delayed only one week in Japan. The delay in the US, from February 10 to March 9, makes me wonder what the extra time is for.
Major Nelson has been gagged. Along with every other Microsoft employee the official Xbox blogger can not talk about Xbox LIVE because of that class action lawsuit filed in Texas due to the outages over the holidays.
In his weekly podcast Major Nelson discusses how he can’t talk about the status of Xbox LIVE - and that’s about as close as he’ll get to giving us LIVE updates for a long time. As part of the lawsuit the Texas court has banned Microsoft and its employees from letting the rest of us know about Xbox LIVE until the suit is resolved. Since the Major’s Twitter stream and blog were the best source of info on LIVE during the holidays I feel like we’ve all been burned on this one, especially when you look at what the lawsuit is worth. The lawsuit is asking for $5 million in damages and Microsoft says there are 10 million LIVE subscribers. After the lawyers take their half of the $5 million there’s only a quarter left for each of us.
When a Flash game hits the front page of Digg it has to be good. This game is. I’m up way too late because of it, so now I leave it to the rest of you. Best of luck.
Jump over to Kongregate and play filler.
Investigator Ethan Thomas, still with the Serial Crimes Unit (SCU), is back and the gameplay has a whole new fighting style. Hand-to-hand fighting in the original Condemned game was a bit disappointing but the new combo system plus visceral sound effects and even more visceral killing methods (like breakig someone’s head on a toilet bowl) sounds more fun. With weapons from bricks to guns to gas canisters and anything else in the environment I’m thinking of what fun Dead Rising was, add in the criminal investigation element and this game will be a blast if the censors ever let it out to us.
Sony is discontinuing its 20GB and 60GB version of the PS3 in Japan this month, leaving only the 40GB model.
According to PC World, similar plans are also underway in the UK. North America is the only major game territory still selling more than one model (here we have a 40GB version at $399 and an 80GB at $499). So its likely the U.S. market will similarly narrow to one overpriced system instead of two.
Ah, local newspapers: Here’s an article about a hardworking couple who launched a company that remakes 1980s arcade games.
Their venture, Dream Arcades, builds classic full-cabinet arcade games such as Pac-Man, Asteroids and Tempest (“Avoid Spikes” – always good advice).
Dream Arcades caters to aging Gen Xers with disposable incomes who want to spend up to $1,799 recreating a space hogging, graphics challenged, nostalgia-tweaking, hernia inducing fiberboard crate whose games you can now get for $19.
The article says actual game system hidden inside the arcade cabinet is typically a contemporary console like the Nintendo Wii – which is sort of like sticking a 1080p Panasonic plasma monitor inside the wood cabinet of a 1981 Zenith and using it to watch old episodes of “The A-Team.”
Nothing wrong with the classics mind you, we’re just bitterly jealous we don’t likewise have $2k to blow.
Not only did Microsoft not unveil the rumored HD DVD-bundled Xbox system at CES this week, but the company announced they would begin offering TV shows and movies from ABC and MGMÂ - two companies currently aligned with Sony’s Blu-ray.
Somewhere, a Toshiba executive is sitting in a park, watching the ducks and reassessing his life.
The ABC/MGM deal adds more than 500 hour of standard and HD content from ABC Television Network, ABC Family, ABC News, Disney Channel, Toon Disney and the MGM film library. ABC hits like Lost and Grey’s Anatomy are included in the deal.
The ABC offerings should finally appease Assassins Creed players who’ve been clamoring for the latest episodes of Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, truly an underserved demographic.
Kojima Productions confirmed today that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will be out “in the Q2 launch window.” Next Generation reports a June 17th release date in the US. MGS4 will still, somehow, launch as a PS3 exclusive. Who knows how Konami will recoup the build costs. Hopefully they do or we’ll never see Metal Gear Solid 5.
Since the game is playable from start to end, entering beta testing, and on the fastest gaming system ever sold to consumers … where can we see it? Would someone in beta testing let us know how good this one is?
Bummer. All those orders for Super Smash Bros Brawl for just $19.82 were canceled by Walmart. Figures.
This certainly isn’t the first time a big retailer hasn’t honored its online prices. It won’t be the last. We all know how this works too. Someone is sure to file a class action lawsuit. That probably won’t go anywhere because of some cop-out disclaimer on Walmart’s website.
All I really want to know is what Walmart is doing about any $70 orders for Apollo Justice. You may know better but what about that poor grandmother who bought a birthday gift when it was priced too high.
[via Kotaku]
image: Urban Semiotic
