Midway has unveiled its 2006 lineup for the PSP, announcing three titles - Mortal Kombat: Unchained, NBA Ballers: Rebound and RUSH. Details:
NBA Ballers: Rebound
For the first on PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable), experience the path from Wanna-Be-Baller to becoming one of the NBA’s elite with NBA Ballers: Rebound. To achieve celebrity status on the courts, with the sweetest rides, the hottest fashions and the biggest mansions, you have to showcase and prove your superstar skills. Create your player from hundreds of custom clothing and jewelry combinations, take on the best Ballers in the world in hot, Wi-Fi enabled 1-on-1 or 1-on-1-on-1 action and make the journey from no name to an all-time great!RUSH
For the first time ever on PSP, attempt mad jumps, high-flying stunts and arcade-style racing from the original RUSH franchise. Go head to head with a friend in a street race or cruise mission using Wi-Fi functionality, or experience Story Mode which allows you to race through 5 Los Angeles city re-creations while finding treacherous shortcuts and surviving death-defying jumps! Exclusive to the PSP is an all-new Stunt Arena, where players can fly over ramps and perform stunts in the air and drive the loop-de-loop to gain massive bursts of speed, all the while collecting golden tokens to unlock extra content. Feel the RUSH as you race more than 36 licensend rides including muscle, tuner and exotic vehicles!Mortal Kombat: Unchained
Mortal Kombat: Unchained takes the Mortal Kombat franchise to new heights with an innovative fighting system tailored for Wi-Fi functionality, unparalleled depth and brutally intense action that will appeal to long-time Mortal Kombat fans, as well as PSP gamers. The game features lightning-fast combat, new moves and combinations and PSP exclusive characters and environments.
NBA Ballers: Rebound is expected to be released this Spring, followed by MK: Unchained in Fall and RUSH during the holidays.
A new Steam Update is live, discussing the soon-to-be-released Half-Life 2: Episode One. The update talks about the add-on’s plot and how Alyx will be far more important this time around. Also, the update shows that Valve’s people were frustrated with how it took six years for them to ship the shooter sequel, and that they are now going to try the episodic approach with the franchise, stating that each episode will be designed to further enhance the story, gameplay and the latest Source technology.
There was also a wide-screen screenshot from Episode One attached with the post. It shows off Alyx and her surroundings (look at the screen for a hint).
It’s an open secret that Sony’s PS3 won’t be getting release this ‘Spring’ as the company originally intended it to. Now, it looks like Sony may be getting read to officially announce the delay, as a company spokesperson, talking to Next-Gen, stated that a delay is possible.
Apparently, Sony is having difficulties in finalizing the Blu-ray drive’s specs, which, according to the spokesperson, is the reason the Japanese PS3 launch could be delayed. Also, Hirokazu Hamamura, Famitsu president, is quoted as saying that Sony has not begun taking orders early this month, meaning that it would be “difficult” for the company to begin sales in May, the end of the Spring period.
It was previously thought that the PS3 will launch in Japan by the end of Spring, with North America getting it this Fall.
GI.biz reports that Reflections founder Martin Edmondson has received over $4 million for his “unfair dismissal” by Atari some time ago. Scoop:
Financial documents released last week by Atari, as reported by Gamasutra, reveal that Edmondson filed suit the following March, alleging “constructive unfair dismissal as a result of Reflections alleged repudiatory breach of a contract of employment that necessitated Mr. Edmondson’s resignation.”The documents state that Edmondson withdrew his claim last August after reaching a settlement agreement with Atari. The publisher agreed to issue Edmondson with 1,557,668 shares, valued at USD 2.1 million, plus a cash payment of USD 2.2 million.
A new v1.86 patch for the European edition of American Conquest: Divided Nation can be found on CDV’s website.
Midway has officially announced Stranglehold for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, after teasing gamers at E3 2005. A “spiritual sequel” to John Woo’s “Hard Boiled,” the game sees Chow Yun-Fat reprising his role as Inspector Tequila, returning to kick butt and save his family who’ve been kidnapped by the Russian mob. High-resolution (and highly impressive) screenshots can be found on VE3D; a preview can also be found on IGN. Scoop:
SIGNATURE CINEMATIC ACTION
Stranglehold allows gamers to play a John Woodirected action blockbuster movie. Dual-wielding, stunt-laden gunplay combined with massive destructible environments ensures that Stranglehold will be a true tour-de-force. The environmental interactivity and two-fisted gunplay all come online, bringing the experience to a whole new level.AMAZING GUNPLAY & STUNTS
Gamers will experience smooth flowing gameplay, such as running up railings, swinging on chandeliers and leaping onto moving objects, all without interrupting intense gun battles.BLOCKBUSTER HOLLYWOOD TALENT
Featuring the cinematic flare of acclaimed action director John Woo, Stranglehold will also benefit from Woo’s direction on storyline, camera placement and cutscenes. Starring international action-star Chow Yun-Fat as Inspector Tequila, the game’s cast is also comprised of other A-list Hollywood talent.GROUND-BREAKING TECHNOLOGY: MASSIVE D
The innovative physics engine will provide gamers with an unprecedented level of interactivity. With two huge areas to explore (Chicago and Hong Kong), the interactions will be infinite with each level offering massive amounts of destructibility.INNOVATIVE TEQUILA TIME MECHANIC
Stranglehold’s unique Tequila Time slow-motion system goes well beyond the slow-motion gameplay that typifies so many current action games and allows players to simultaneously aim and shoot at targets with a greater degree of focus. In a case of art imitating art, John Woo is the master and originator of this style of gunplay action and it’s taken to a new level in Stranglehold.UNREAL 3.0 AND HAVOK
Using a highly modified version of the Unreal 3.0 engine integrated with the Havok physics system, Stranglehold will breath new life into game envinronments and characters with stunning graphics. Incredible “Rock’n Roll” physics make it possible for everything in the world to be destructible and interactive, allowing for an ever changing battle ground depending on how players approach different situations.
The action shooter will be out this Winter from Midway’s Chicago studio.
It will come as no surprise to everyone that EA will milk The Sims series till doomsday. So, without further ado, let’s introduce the next expansion: Family Fun. Expectedly revealed in the recently released Open for Business add-on, Family Fun will offer new objects for people to traumatize their Sims with. This time around, the focus, as the name implies, will be on ‘family’ and kids, although no new features have been revelaed, neither have they been teased about. Family Fun is scheduled for release this April.
On Sierra’s site is a new product page for SWA T 4: Gold Edition, revealing plans for a Gold bundle for the tactical police shooter. As expected, the Gold Edition of the game will include the original SWAT 4 along with The Stetchkov Syndicate add-on. The bundle is dated for release this Spring.
A 630 MB demo of Sniper Elite is now available, offering the chance to sample the shooter. The demo offers three missions from the full game and can be downloaded from 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gameguru Mania and Worthplaying.
Through its Q4 2005 earnings conference call, Midway announced a “Winter 2006″ release date for Unreal Tournament 2007. However, Beyond Unreal stresses that the company is the publisher and that the decision lies in the hand of Epic itself.
IGN reports that only the Crystal White color version of the DS Lite will launch throughout Japan on March 2. As for the other two colors - Ice Blue and Navy Blue - they have been pushed back to March 11 due to “difficulties in producing the two color variations.” No details to the problem were given.
The site also reports that major Japanese retailers are not taking pre-orders - they are instead requiring interested customers to line up on launch day to ensure that they get their hands on a unit. This is being done as Nintendo has yet to give them a definite number of stocks for the system, which launches in about a week in the country.
Codemasters has announced that TOCA Race Driver 3 has been released and can now be bought.
The game offers two main game modes complete with explosive damage effects, head-to-head online multiplayer racing and a game engine supercharged for a greater degree of simulation. For true to life racing, Pro Career mode puts gamers at the center of the motorsport world, ready to embark on careers across six specialist motorsport disciplines - Open-Wheel, GT, Touring Car, Oval, Off-Road & Rally and Classics. Race gamers can also embark on a World Tour, putting them straight in the driving seat as they leap disciplines and blaze their own trail through the game!
The racing game is now available for the PS2, Xbox and PC.
EA, in its “series-milking” nature, will be making sequels to the upcoming Godfather movie, according to a BBC interview. David Demartini, Godfather executive, revealed that he plans on working on two more Godfather titles, and that he hopes to establish it as one of EA’s biggest franchises.
The giant publisher has always had a knack for milking franchises dry (and then milking them further), but Godfather, as the report puts it, is expected to sell like hot cakes once released next month, and EA isn’t one to miss out on opportunities.
The Godfather will be available for the PS2, Xbox and PC on March 21 in North America, followed by Europe on March 24. The Xbox 360 and PSP versions will be released at a later date.
Infinity Ward sent off an email to notify the Call of Duty 2 community that updates for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game are in testing and will soon be released. Here are the planned additions (and fixes) in the PC update:
- Punkbuster functionality
- Two new multiplayer maps.
- HTTP redirect in multiplayer, which adds an option for modders to send players to an external website to download their maps and mods.
- Repair of multiplayer exploits and minor bug fixes
- We’re also putting finishing touches on the map editing tools for the game and will have those out very soon as well.
- Player Lag has been addressed
- Private Game Lobbies / Reserved Slots
- Enable Live Host to set custom game options
- Map Preferences setting
- Post Game Lobbies (players at end of match will return to lobby)
- Enemy Player Name Notification
- Kick Player (host ability)
- Lobby Game Type, Map and Host Notification
A v1.02 patch for Wintersport Pro 2006 is available from Cyanide’s FTP and 3D Gamers. Meanwhile, the Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords website is host to a post-release update for the strategy title. The v1.0D1 patch includes a number of tweaks, UI changes and bug fixes, among other things.
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