BitSnark

The signs on the horizon are that LucasArts may be re-releasing The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for Xbox Live Arcade at some point in the near future.

The German ratings board USK listed the game for the console yesterday, causing a little bit of a stir as not only were people going gaga to see the title possibly re-released on the service, but also what the ‘special edition’ suffix meant.

My best guess would be that it pertains to voice acting for the game’s varied and often hilarious dialogue; but with that said, I don’t ever recall the original game waaay back in 1990 ever getting a ‘Speech pack’ of sorts, meaning that any new voice overs would have to be recorded anew.

Originally created by Ron Gilbert (who went on to make a crap ton of awesome like-minded point and clickers in the 1990’s) and Tim Schafer (he of Psychonauts and upcoming Brutal Legend fame), the game was simply enjoyable to play with great side-splitting dialogue, a funny story and deviously constructed face palm worthy puzzles.

I’m not sure what’s excited me the most today, this or the Project Trico trailer.

Anyways, good times! More as and when 🙂

Hot off the heels of the revelation of the new plastic motion board-using Tony Hawks title comes the news that in the UK, the title will be an exclusive to the Xbox 360. No other details have been given such as whether or not the exclusive is a timed one, but common sense suggests that in these harsh times the game *will* come out on all formats in the UK at some point.

It’s all about the bottom line after all right?

Given the fact that the title is earmarked as a potential Christmas blockbuster, it is certainly a smart move by the platform holder to try and pull away some of that casual audience from Nintendo’s Wii, whilst at the same time depriving Sony of a big release.

Tony Hawk: Ride, is due to be shown in early June at E3 on 360, PS3 and Wii platforms.

*UPDATE*

It turns out the there is in fact no exclusivity agreements in place at all for the 360 version of Tony Hawk: Ride.

The following comes from Activision.

“Further to the erroneous information which was distributed this morning regarding Tony Hawk: RIDE, we would like to clarify that the game is due to be released on the following platforms: Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Wii home video game system.

“We apologise for the confusion caused by this morning’s mail out and we would be grateful if you could update your coverage to reflect the correct details above,” the publisher said in a statement.

Seems like someone got a little bit excited 🙂

Hot off the heels of the revelation of the new plastic motion board-using Tony Hawks title comes the news that in the UK, the title will be an exclusive to the Xbox 360. No other details have been given such as whether or not the exclusive is a timed one, but common sense suggests that in these harsh times the game *will* come out on all formats in the UK at some point.

It’s all about the bottom line after all right?

Given the fact that the title is earmarked as a potential Christmas blockbuster, it is certainly a smart move by the platform holder to try and pull away some of that casual audience from Nintendo’s Wii, whilst at the same time depriving Sony of a big release.

Tony Hawk: Ride, is due to be shown in early June at E3 on 360, PS3 and Wii platforms.

*UPDATE*

It turns out the there is in fact no exclusivity agreements in place at all for the 360 version of Tony Hawk: Ride.

The following comes from Activision.

“Further to the erroneous information which was distributed this morning regarding Tony Hawk: RIDE, we would like to clarify that the game is due to be released on the following platforms: Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Wii home video game system.

“We apologise for the confusion caused by this morning’s mail out and we would be grateful if you could update your coverage to reflect the correct details above,” the publisher said in a statement.

Seems like someone got a little bit excited 🙂

The next title by those ever-fertile minds at Sony’s Team Ico development studio, gets some top notch trailer leakage.

Amusingly entitled ‘Project Trico’, the trailer began depicting a similar visual style to Shadow Of The Colossus, the trailer shows a young lad running along a corridor being a chased by a large unknown beast which kills a fully armoured guard within seconds. Reaching the end of the tunnel, the boy slips off a ledge and hangs on for dear life before being rescued by the beast that was trailing him.

A half-cat, half-rat giant monstrosity, the detail on the beast is simplistic but the animation is simply superb, evoking memories of the Neverending Story. The interactions with the beast are impressive also as the massive behemoth uses it’s head as a platform for the boy to jump off, has a long rat tail that boy is able to climb up on and masses of fur that the boy can cling onto when the beast is running at speed.

Mysteriously, the boy was also shown throwing barrels into the maw of the monster on the trailer, yet it’s unclear what the barrels actually do (sustenance for the beast?). As mentioned previously, graphically the game is staggering; boasting environments while stylistically similar to the melancholy vistas seen in SoTC, far outstrip their older counterpart with the most intricate of details, a far larger draw distance and a much smoother framerate.

In regards to gameplay, very little was given away; however from this early glimpse the title appears to be a platform game of sorts with the aforementioned beast acting as a support mechanic for the player, allowing them to get to areas that they normally wouldn’t be able to reach and accomplish otherwise impossible tasks.

And do you know the best bit? Eurogamer are currently reporting that the footage on show here represents an internal build that was shown over a year ago.

Holy shit.

In short, my interest in Team ICO’s new project has now been resurrected in dramatic fashion, and hopefully like they did with the PS2, they will define my reasoning for owning a Sony console in the first place.

Take a look for yourself:

The next title by those ever-fertile minds at Sony’s Team Ico development studio, gets some top notch trailer leakage.

Amusingly entitled ‘Project Trico’, the trailer began depicting a similar visual style to Shadow Of The Colossus, the trailer shows a young lad running along a corridor being a chased by a large unknown beast which kills a fully armoured guard within seconds. Reaching the end of the tunnel, the boy slips off a ledge and hangs on for dear life before being rescued by the beast that was trailing him.

A half-cat, half-rat giant monstrosity, the detail on the beast is simplistic but the animation is simply superb, evoking memories of the Neverending Story. The interactions with the beast are impressive also as the massive behemoth uses it’s head as a platform for the boy to jump off, has a long rat tail that boy is able to climb up on and masses of fur that the boy can cling onto when the beast is running at speed.

Mysteriously, the boy was also shown throwing barrels into the maw of the monster on the trailer, yet it’s unclear what the barrels actually do (sustenance for the beast?). As mentioned previously, graphically the game is staggering; boasting environments while stylistically similar to the melancholy vistas seen in SoTC, far outstrip their older counterpart with the most intricate of details, a far larger draw distance and a much smoother framerate.

In regards to gameplay, very little was given away; however from this early glimpse the title appears to be a platform game of sorts with the aforementioned beast acting as a support mechanic for the player, allowing them to get to areas that they normally wouldn’t be able to reach and accomplish otherwise impossible tasks.

And do you know the best bit? Eurogamer are currently reporting that the footage on show here represents an internal build that was shown over a year ago.

Holy shit.

In short, my interest in Team ICO’s new project has now been resurrected in dramatic fashion, and hopefully like they did with the PS2, they will define my reasoning for owning a Sony console in the first place.

Take a look for yourself:

Another countdown.

For another announcement. I kid you not. However, there is a ‘5’ or an ‘S’ in the traditional MGS (or even ZOE) font being flashed in front of the dreary picture when the lightning flashes.

So get ready for ‘OMGWTF!111!11! MGS 5 WAS ANNOUNCED!!!!’, by rabid MGS fanboys across every poor unfortunate gaming forum ever.

Thanks for that Konami.

The next ‘announcement’, is due this Thursday at around 6 PM.

http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/

Another countdown.

For another announcement. I kid you not. However, there is a ‘5’ or an ‘S’ in the traditional MGS (or even ZOE) font being flashed in front of the dreary picture when the lightning flashes.

So get ready for ‘OMGWTF!111!11! MGS 5 WAS ANNOUNCED!!!!’, by rabid MGS fanboys across every poor unfortunate gaming forum ever.

Thanks for that Konami.

The next ‘announcement’, is due this Thursday at around 6 PM.

http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/

Released just before the weekend, the Mass Effect 2; Prelude To E3 trailer gives us our first real look at the sequel to one of 2007’s best games (at least IMHO anyway).

Besides looking like all different kinds of awesome and detailing in perhaps some of the vaguest terms the improvements to the game that will be fully unveiled at E3, comes the confirmation that the bombshell that we all knew (and most would hope) would come; all characters that died last time won’t be around for the party this time.

Wow. That must be one of the few games to ever start with multiple beginnings.

Anyways, as I mentioned the trailer is drowning in awesomeness, take a look:

Released just before the weekend, the Mass Effect 2; Prelude To E3 trailer gives us our first real look at the sequel to one of 2007’s best games (at least IMHO anyway).

Besides looking like all different kinds of awesome and detailing in perhaps some of the vaguest terms the improvements to the game that will be fully unveiled at E3, comes the confirmation that the bombshell that we all knew (and most would hope) would come; all characters that died last time won’t be around for the party this time.

Wow. That must be one of the few games to ever start with multiple beginnings.

Anyways, as I mentioned the trailer is drowning in awesomeness, take a look:

Those ever so talented folks behind post apocalyptic epic Fallout 3 and the equally well received fantasy RPG series The Elder Scrolls, have revealed that they are in fact in the process of creating ‘mature’ games for Nintendo’s shovelware beleaguered console.

According to Sean Brennan, the European boss at Bethesda said it would be ‘churlish’ to ignore the huge 50 million plus userbase that the Wii enjoys, whilst ensuring that they are ‘not going to establish a new range and call it ‘My Girly Game Range’ or whatever these other companies are doing, it’s so me-too and boring’, he added.

Specifically when talking about the market share that Bethesda would be aiming at for an adult orientated title, Brennan had this to say:

“I’ve got consoles at home but I wouldn’t sit and play an 18-rated game with my family on the Wii. Is there space in the Wii market for that? I think there is, but again, it’s all about finding out how big that is. Is it five per cent? If it’s five per cent of the market and you can own that space it’s worth doing because you can achieve volume. If you can’t own it at five per cent, it’s not worth doing, quite frankly”.

So with 5% of 50 million being some 2.5 million Wii users, Bethesda would certainly have their work cut out for them. This is especially true given the fact that Sega who somewhat bravely released two mature themed titles early this year, namely House Of The Dead: Overkill and Madworld, is not even breaking 300,000 sales with those titles.

Combined.

As always, i’ll be very interested to see any mature offerings for the Wii just due to the simple fact that ‘mature’ for the Wii is also a byword for ‘different’. Amusingly, this is a somewhat ironic predicament given the fact that when ‘mature’ approaches are taken on titles for the 360 and PS3 these days, the relative saturation on the market of mature titles means that they are invariably met with the same justified groans and cynical murmurings of disinterested familiarity if they don’t bring something new or incredible to the table.

Well maybe in the Wii’s case, games absolutely cannot be mature in order to sell units and serve the bottom line.

I hope i’m wrong.