BitSnark

In what could reasonably be described as an announcement that *nobody* saw coming, Codemasters has today announced that developer GFI will revive the long dormant Cannon Fodder franchise with Cannon Fodder 3, which is due to be released on PC & 360.

Originally released way back in 1993 on pretty much every home gaming platform available at the time, the game enjoyed a huge amount of success with its cartoon stylings, satirical humour and top down viewpoint squad action.

The official press release is below:

“Cannon Fodder 3

GFI announce development of the sequel to a well-known tactical action – Cannon Fodder 3
Several military groups of Europe, Asia and Africa have made a military alliance to establish dictatorship by joint efforts. Your goal is to stop them at any cost… Even with a price of thousands lives of soldiers named “cannon fodder”, who are ready to die everywhere and every time it’s needed. ‘Cause it’s their work.

You have a small army which consists of only “cannon fodder” soldiers, who are ready to rush into fight with the enemy, sparing neither effort nor oneself. The player will have to pass several episodes full of cartoon violence among different locations, and the Earth is not the limit – it’s time to go into open space and show the enemy “who’s daddy”.

You’ll get classic isometric environment in full 3D, weather effects, change of time, destructible environment, physical water – all this and a lot more you’ll find in Cannon Fodder 3.

Cannon Fodder 3 is currently under development for PC and Xbox 360 platforms under Codemasters’ license.”

Fucking stoked I be.

EA has announced a demo for People Can Fly’s sweetly over the top FPS Bulletstorm to arrive on Xbox Live and PSN platforms on the 25th and 26th of January respectively.

The announcement mysteriously did not include news of a PC demo however.

In regards to content, the demo allows players a taste of Echo mode, a cooperative gametype that follows and compares player scores as they battle through locations contained in the campaign. In the case of the case of the demo, the location in question is a collapsed building which players must navigate, all the while dispatching enemies with the most flair possible to earn those valuable points via the Skillshot system.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the awesomeness of this concept ever-so lightly cribbed from Bizarre Creations take-it-or-leave-it third person shooter The Club, the idea behind it is that you use the Skillshot system to kill bad guys in as creative a fashion as possible and rack up points according to how stylishly you killed your foe.

For instance, while shooting a bad guy in the head might get you 50 points, leashing the guy with your magnetic leash, kicking them in the face, throwing them away, shooting them as they soar through the air and then pushing them into an overloading electric generator would score quite a bit more.

As a nice little bonus the demo also allows players to unlock upgrades specific to their platform to be utilised in the Anarchy multiplayer mode when players purchase the full game.

With the current deluge of modern first-person shooters and ‘real’ combat experiences being shoved down our throats ad-finitum, Bulletstorm seems like perhaps the most refreshing alternative available and certainly represents a throwback to the original excess of the FPS genre that got us falling in mad, violent love with it in the first place.

Ever since that sordid business with developer Infinity Ward imploding and the studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West flipping publisher Activision the finger as they went out the door, a large amount of speculation was cast over what would happen to the Call Of Duty series when developer Treyarch weren’t in charge of development.

Recently formed developer Sledgehammer Games, which includes talent from Dead Space developer Visceral Games, has put out an ad, asking for extra talent to work on the ‘next Call of Duty’.

It makes sense that the Sledgehammer Games would be working on the new Call Of Duty due this year, since not only is this Treyarch’s ‘off-year’ but also Infinity Ward is still in the midst of rebuilding and rehiring; putting them in no kind of shape to develop a new entry in the series.

According to studio head Glen Schofield, Sledgehammer’s COD will include military situations based on “real stuff”. “Working w/ military guys – their stories will blow you away. Names/locations will change but some situations going in the game – real stuff!” Schofield said.

Having been scorned by far too many cynical cut ‘n’ paste efforts where the CoD franchise has been confirmed, I can safely say that unless this does something different and worthwhile, i’ll be far too busy having gameplay orgasms with Battlefield 3 to care.

Just sayin’.

A whole bunch of reports are bubbling to the surface which are suggesting that Sony will at long last take the lid off of the successor to the PSP on Jan 27th.

Last year a fair sized clutch of developers were reported to have had PSP2 development kits, asserting claims that the device abandons physical media entirely, boasts touch controls located on the back of the unit and in terms of power, is easily comparable to the PS3.

So long as the reports pan out we should get our first look at Sony’s shiny new handheld at the end of the month along with media of the first titles that have been developed for the device.

With the advent of iOS popularity in the mobile gaming realm, the app-store business model and of course the ever looming shadow of Nintendo’s 3DS handheld, it won’t be enough for Sony to rely on high powered components to see them rule the handheld gaming arena.

They need to do more.

The seemingly forever in development Battlefield 3 will finally break cover on March 1st, when Electronic Arts and developer DICE unveil the title for the very first time at GDC 2011.

The publisher confirmed that the title will get a full media unveiling at the event which will likely mean a thoroughly pant wet worthy trailer, hands on impressions and hopefully an assortment of in-game videos and images.

Previously assumed to be a PC title only, EA/DICE announced last Summer that the highly anticipated would be coming to the 360 and PS3 home console platforms as well.

Additionally those of you who plonked down the cash for EA’s mediocre Medal Of Honor reboot back in October, actually have a silver lining in the form of a Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta invite for your chosen format. No details on the beta have been released as of yet, but like all things Battlefield 3, I would expect clarification on this at the media briefing.

Battlefield 3 is expected to ship sometime in 2011 on PC, 360 and PS3 platforms.

News has reached my earholes that Ninty is planning a press event in Holland next week for the 3DS. It’s purpose? Well, seeing as we are just two months away from the previously reported March launch window, this meeting should give us the skinny on a solid European 3DS launch date, price, launch titles and availability.

Watch this space for the deets.

Over the Christmas break, a new Soul Calibur title was unofficially announced. Team Soul director Daishi Odashima has said that composer Junichi Nakatsuru and sound effects developer Yoshihito Yano will both be working on Namco’s new Soul Calibur game.

What the game is we don’t know and ditto for the formats. One thing is for sure though, please, please, please cut back on the game-balance destroying celebrity characters.

Just face it Namco; they’re shit and they don’t add anything meaningful to the game outside of an initial knee-jerk fanboy swoon.

Oh and don’t even *think* of making a Soul Calibur: Legends 2.

That shit carries the death penalty around here you know.

With GDC rapidly approaching on our radars, Feb 28th – March 4th to be exact, the event has had some extra lustre applied to it by publisher Eidos, who have confirmed that the long-gestating and hopefully not-shit Thief 4 will get it’s first proper public unveiling.

In addition to this awesomeness, EA DICE will also be showing off the equally long in development Battlefield 3 for the first time as well as holding an addition discussion on “SPU-based Deferred Shading in Battlefield 3 for PlayStation 3″, which will be held by DICE’s Christina Coffin.

Shiny.

Boasting more shaders and graphical tomfoolery than you can possibly imagine, Crytek’s Crysis 2 looks every bit the graphical FPS blockbuster that we all think it will be.

Take a lookie at the shiny trailer that was released recently:

As far as silly little things like gameplay and longevity go, well, thats what reviews are for right?

As appears to be all the rage these days, Ms. Lara Croft is next up to embrace the great (if almost ceaselessly uninspiring) craze of origin stories.

Yep, the newest Tomb Raider title in development at Crystal Dynamics, the folks responsible for rebooting the series once already, is being tipped to arrive late next year and platforms to be determined.

Those platforms of course being PS3, 360 & PC; possibly with spin off versions likely to show up on the 3DS, DS, Wii and PSP(2).

Very little is known about the game outside of the origin story motif but US gaming mag Game Informer, intends to blow everything open with a world exclusive preview in their next issue.

In the meantime, here is a little quoatable snippet from the magazine from Crystal Dynamics head honcho Darrell Gallagher:

“In our world-exclusive cover story, we uncover a brand-new Lara Croft. Rebooting the Tomb Raider franchise through an origin story wasn’t so much a choice as an act of necessity, according to Crystal Dynamics. Drastic measures were needed. To build an entirely fresh Lara – a culturally relevant hero worth of the attention that once came so effortlessly – they must break her first. In this new adventure – simply titled Tomb Raider – a younger and inexperienced Lara Croft must endure both physical and emotional trauma to survive.”