BitSnark

The Japanese exclusive Wii horror title, Fatal Frame IV, otherwise known as Project Zero 4 in the West, has been translated into English by a bunch of dedicated die-hard fans angered by developer Tecmo’s decision to not release the title in the West.

Pleasingly enough, the patch allows the game to be run from an SD card; thereby making it region free.

Fatal Frame IV should be available from any decent importer.

Below you can you find a link to the site of the talented folks who did the translation:

http://zero4.higashinoeden.com/

Nice work guys!

Going on from the previous news update that Nintendo had discontinued Metroid Prime Trilogy everywhere including the UK, comes word from Eurogamer that they have been informed via the Big N, that the compilation has not been discontinued in the UK.

Happy days!

While it is certainly true that God Of War III will wrap up the current trilogy as we know it, developers Sony Santa Monica have confirmed in an interview with Gamervision that the series will live on beyond God Of War III.

In the interview, director of product development for Sony Santa Monica, John Hight said:

“This is not the end of God of War. This is definitely the end of the trilogy, but we’re going to continue to do God of War games. We’re going to be very careful about what we do; we’re the keepers of the franchise and we don’t want to see it ruined or polluted.”

While more PS3 outings for the celebrated franchise seem likely, another PSP title would also be very welcome methinks.

Good news indeed.

The public multiplayer demo for the PS3 and 360 versions of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, will be available to all to download on Feburary 4th.

Those of us lucky enough to own a decent PC gaming rig, can pick up the same demo six days earlier on January 29th.

Hoo-rah.

Kent Hudson of Bioshock 2 developer 2K Marin, has confirmed that DLC is indeed on the way for the yet to be released sequel.

No details were released regarding what the content may entail, but in his interview with Australian Gamer, he had this to say regarding Bioshock 2 DLC plans:

“Absolutely! We are working on pretty aggressive plans for DLC and that’s actually something that is already under-way,”.

“That is something that is mostly being run out of the Marin studio because like I said the Australian studio is already ramping up on the next big thing.”

Rockstar today have confirmed that the iPhone version of the critically lauded GTA: Chinatown Wars is now available for the wallet pleasing price of just £5.99.

A conversion of the DS version, the iPhone edition should have all of the touch screen mini-games intact and at £5.99, represents an absolute steal.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is now available to download from the iTunes link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars/id344186162?mt=8

Former Swedish developer GRIN, coders of the less than stellar movie tie-in Wanted and more recently, Capcom’s Bionic Commando, had apparently been commissioned by Square Enix to develop a Final Fantasy title.

Prior to the demise of the studio, no details were released regarding the previously top secret project. Today however, a few details have emerged about the canned title as well as some tech demo footage.

Codenamed ‘Fortress’, the title was envisioned to be a Final Fantasy XII spin off, and would have been available on PS3, 360 and PC platforms.

A link to the tech demo video can be found below:

It’s too early to say by just looking at a tech demo whether or not Squeenix’s faith in the defunct Swedish outfit would be warranted or not. At the very least it sets a precedent of sorts, as Square Enix head honcho Yoichi Wada has said in recent weeks that he is quite open to a Final Fantasy title being developed outside of Japan.

The practice of a Japanese developer farming out their prized franchises is not an uncommon practice in itself. Too Human developer Silicon Knights produced an excellent remake of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid back in 2003 and more recently, Canadian Developer Blue Castle Studios, was given the dev duties for Dead Rising 2.

Last year Sega announced a new Sonic title, but one that ditches the 3D perspective that has plagued the series in recent years. Designed to be played in 2D with 3D graphics and backgrounds, Project Needlemouse as it is tentatively known, will hopefully reinvigorate the flagging blue mascot and his beleaguered series of games.

The first thing that they did right was to ditch the 3D perspective, essentially applying a ‘Hi-Def’ upgrade to the 2D gameplay that everyone wanted to start with. Well, the next thing that they did right was to recently announce that there would be no other playable characters in the game. That’s right, no flying foxes with dual tails, big fat cats or a Sonic that change into a werewolf.

Just sonic. In 2D.

Right, that’s two things that they have right. Hopefully, this will lead to good things, but i’m still not going to hold my breath until I get some eyes-on in regards to some in-game footage.

The BBFC has outed the fact that there is a GOTY edition of the best superhero title of all time in the works.

No details at all have been revealed regarding Batman: Arkham Asylum Game Of The Year edition, but one could easily speculate that it would include all of the DLC that has been released to date and maybe one or two items which are due to be released.

More on this as soon as the details become available.

Whoa! Hold your horses! Splinter Cell: Conviction is still coming out this year, but the delay into FY2011 means it could be anytime from April to March 2011. Don’t worry however, as the reason cited for the delay was ‘polish’, which should hopefully mean that the delay is no more than a couple of months at most.

Ubisoft unfortunately have yet to suggest a release window for the highly anticipated stealth title, but most sources are expecting an announcement soon.

Survival thriller I Am Alive however, is less fortunate with its delay. Now expected to release sometime in 2011, the title has been taken back to the drawing board in order to be ‘re-engineered’.