BitSnark

After the announcement sometime ago, details have finally started to wash down to us common folk from the great EA dam, about what we can expect from the newest installment in the LOTR gaming franchise.

Firstly, the pedigree of the developer Pandemic has meant that LOTR: Conquest apparently feels a lot like a Star Wars: Battlefront game, with various objectives and side missions to be completed on each map.

Like those games also, LOTR: Conquest allows players to play pretty much all the battles of Tolkien lore as pretty much all the sides, each with their own respective classes and abilities. The obligitary online modes are also promised, with a mooted sixteen player limit possibly subject to change.

Those folks over at IGN have posted an intersting in-depth interview with the development leads on the project.

Head over and take a look:

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/872/872401p1.html

Deliverable to UK addresses only, Play.com are offering a limited edition version of MGS4 for £79.99.

Besides the game itself, the limited package includes:

– 6″ Old Snake ‘Olive Drab’ action figure
– “The Making Of Metal Gear Solid 4” documentary on Blu-ray Disc
– Official Metal Gear Solid 4 soundtrack

Hmmm, for £79.99 I was hoping for a bit more than that to be honest, but still for those MGS collect ‘o’ nuts out there (you know who you are), click the link below and burn away those pounds:

http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4-/5500791/Metal-Gear-Solid-4-Guns-Of-The-Patriots-Limited-Edition/Product.html

Downloadable from both the interweb and XBOX Live, Epic Games has released the first gameplay footage of Gears Of War 2. The video depicts a massive battle between CoG troops on a mounted convoy, hundreds of Locust soldiers and a few massive Brumak monstrosities, that were seen but not fought in the first game.

Of note is simply just how ‘busy’ the battlefield is – there are literally hundreds of enemies spilling out of the earth, missles and rockets soaring through the air, huge brumaks clashing against a convoy and of course, the obligitory cover ‘n’ shoot gameplay in full force.

New gameplay features that are noted from the relatively short trailer, include the ability to use weakened enemies as body shields and then snapping their necks quite brutally, once they are of no more use. In addition, there appear to be more chainsaw death animations and also chainsaw ‘duels’ where the player seemingly has to tap a button to win the struggle and cleave their foe.

Graphically, the game looks just as pristine as the previous game. Not much of the new tech that Epic touted for the newest game appears to be visible, as much of the visual onslaught is provided by just how much is crammed onto the screen as opposed to the finer graphical details and physics that are apparently in the sequel.

All in all, pretty darn impressive.

Take a lookie: http://www.gametrailers.com/game/6236.html

Finally, Joe Average can get a chance to try out Free Radical’s first game since Timesplitters: Future Perfect. The demo itself clocks in at around 1.6 gigs and supports up to four players.

Groovy. Impressions shortly.

Nearly three years after the release of the third in the Fight Night series, the fourth in EA’s popular boxing franchise is due to hit shelves sometime next year. It’s always striked me as strange that a sequel to Round 3 never materialised before now, especially considering the critical and commerical success that it enjoyed.

However this time it’s not the now defunct EA Chicago who developed last year’s sub-par Def Jam: Icon title and Fight Nught Round 3, but instead EA Canada.

The developer promises a completely retooled game engine with more physics based animation and a tighter focus on inside fighting.

Oh yeah, and Mike Tyson is in the game too.

More as and when folks.

A somewhat minimalist headline for a megaton announcement I grant you, but ID Software played a low key on the announcement too, when it was discovered in an employment ad for top programming and artist positions within their outfit to bolster their team for the upcoming title.

Whilst no platforms, or details for that matter have come to light, one would fairly assume that Doom 4 would be powered by the same multiplatform engine that ID Software showed last year with their original IP, Rage.

Watch this space for more on this…

With the monumental release that is GTA IV, now firmly behind us, the marketing and sales suits have very kindly chimed in with some notworthy figures from the title’s launch.

The Rockstar press release going something like this:

Take-Two Interactive Announces Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV Breaks Entertainment Launch Records

Retail Sales of Grand Theft Auto IV Top $500 Million in First Week

New York, NY – May 7, 2008 – Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), said today that Grand Theft Auto IV has surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value. Released on Tuesday, April 29th, Grand Theft Auto IV, the critically acclaimed video game, has sold through to consumers approximately 6 million units globally with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 3.6 million units on its opening day with a retail value of approximately $310 million globally.

“We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player’s experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas. Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well. Grand Theft Auto IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date. We congratulate the entire Rockstar team on creating a must-have experience that takes the legendary Grand Theft Auto franchise to a new level,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two.

“Rockstar’s goal is to make each new title in the Grand Theft Auto franchise even better than those that preceded it, and Grand Theft Auto IV is a smashing success on that score. Grand Theft Auto IV makes full use of the power of next generation technology, and offers players an experience unique in the interactive entertainment medium. This game sets a new standard in the industry, with critics hailing it as both an artistic and technological masterpiece,” said Ben Feder, Take-Two’s Chief Executive Officer. (Source: Teamxbox.com)

In addition to this it would appear that GTA IV not only managed to best Halo 3’s previous day one sales record, but also that of entertainment too, beating Pirates of The Carribean: At World’s End three day take.

Also for those interested, the XBOX360 SKU appears to have outsold the PS3 SKU by roughly 20% in the UK territory, shifting some 514,000 copies versus PS3 sales of 413,000 copies. The ratio in other territories remains unclear however, as the various figures are being interpreted and spun by their various outlets.

Not bad R*. Not bad at all.

Announced mere moments ago, THQ have gone on record to say that WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania, is now in development for the XBOX360 and PS3 platforms, no other details have been disclosed.

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/871/871968p1.html

Interesting.

More details as and when the annoucement is formally made.

Bit of a strange one this in someways. Many news outlets are picking up on the story that Activision-Blizzard (c’mon folks can’t you think of a better merged company name than that?) are withdrawing their membership from the ESA body and also their attendance at the annual E3 event, where everyone gets to show off all their new, shiny games and stuff.

Whilst I can sort of understand it from the Blizzard point of view – they already have their own trade shows (Blizzcon etc..), with Activision it strikes me as just plain odd, as they really need to get their wares out on the big stage and show them off to everyone – especially in the case of their wavering Tony Hawk’s franchise, which had it’s tail soundly kicked last year both commercially and critically, by EA’s upstart skate sim Skate.

Still, there’s more time for Activision-Blizzard to announce a seperate show for the Activision side of things, but it does beg the question – will other publishers follow?

In an not entirely unsuprising (not to mention widely rumoured) move good ol’ Blizz now officially owns the domain Diablo3.com.

This points to the obvious I guess, so hopefully its just a case of playing the waiting game until we hear something more.

Chances are we’ll probably get a peep at E3.