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We knew we hadn’t seen the last of the LEGO Star Wars video game franchise, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, has won numerous awards, and kick-started the film-to-video game LEGO series (which now includes Batman, Indiana Jones, and the upcoming LEGO Harry Potter game.) LucasArts announced today that the next LEGO Star Wars game, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, will be coming this Fall.
If you are not familiar with the show “The Clone Wars,” then you may be slightly confused. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an animated series that airs on Cartoon Network. The events of the show take place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Traveller’s Tales is developing the game, and they promise that the game will include…
“…all the characters from both seasons of the hugely popular animated television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as some fan-favorite characters from the beloved theatrical Star Wars Saga. The game will feature brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat and an upgraded level builder, allowing the creation of customized bases and in-game battlefields. Play either as a Jedi or Separatist with all-new character abilities, such as Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups, all within a new, easy-to-navigate hub.”
The game will be released on basically every single gaming system this Fall.
No matter how you are playing them, if you’re playing an original Xbox game online, you’ll no longer be able to as of April 15th, 2010. A letter from Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten, as well as one from Larry ”Major Nelson” Hyrb, made it official.
“On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals,” said Marc Whitten.
Even if you’re playing an Xbox original game on Xbox 360, like Halo 2, it will still lose online capabilities. Both Whitten and Nelson stated that reason for ending original Xbox support is to evolve the Xbox Live service.
We hope this doesn’t upset you too much. But you know, nothing lasts forever. Try upgrading to Halo 3 or Modern Warfare 2 if you still need that online gaming fix.
Last month, Rockstar Games revealed in their newswire that we could “expect to see a long-awaited reveal via a big cover story next month” on their long-awaited title L.A. Noire. Well, it’s officially next month, and Game Informer has posted the cover for the March issue of their magazine, and the cover story just happens to be L.A. Noire. Coincidence? I think not.
It’s true. The next issue of Game Informer will be arriving in mailboxes and on newsstands soon, and somewhere inside will be a 10-page feature of the game. The feature will focus on the “astonishing reconstruction of 1947 Los Angeles” as well as the game’s facial animation. The game is suppose to make you feel like you’re inside one of those old crime/drama movies, so the advanced facial animation will probably help out with that.
We’ll also find out which platforms the game is being developed for when the issue arrives. Be sure to check back here when the details hit the web.
After receiving a delay last month because it needed more polish, Splinter Cell: Conviction has been announced for an April 13th, 2010 release date. Hopefully this date will actually stick.
Ubisoft even made sure to set this release date in stone.
Good news for fans of THQ’s Darksiders and Saint’s Row: Brian Farrell has mentioned revisiting these successful franchises, among others. The releases have been set for the fiscal year of 2012, and, according to joystiq, they’re looking at the year for “accelerated growth with three major core game titles scheduled: Warhammer 40k Space Marine, a sequel to Darksiders and the third generation of our popular Saint’s Row franchise.”
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confirmed that the next installment in the series of Zelda will be showed at this years E3.
“We will show the new Zelda title for Wii at this year’s E3,” said Iwata at Nintendo’s third quarter financial meeting.
Hopefully Nintendo can go above and beyond with this title as they have disappointed many gamers with other Wii titles.
Twelve finalists were chosen yesterday for this year’s Indie Game Challenge, six belonging to the non-professional category and six to the professional category. The competition, held every year and supported by Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), and The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University, gives amateur game-developers a chance to rake in more than $350,000 in prize money and scholarships. Winners are to be announced February 19th at the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit in Las Vegas. Adam Sessler, host of G4’s X-Play, will host the event.
The twelve finalists are as follows:
Non-Professional Category
Climb to the Top of the Castle – TwO Bros. Games
Dreamside Maroon – Terraced
Galactic Arms Race – Galactic Arms Race
Gear – Team 3
Waker – Poof Productions
zeit2 – brightside games
Professional Category
Aaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity – Dejobaan Games, LLC
Altitude – Nimbly Games
Cogs – Lazy 8 Studios
Fieldrunners – Subatomic Studios
Miegakure – Marc ten Bosch
Vessel – Strange Loop Games
Contestants will also receive
[a]n audition session with a professional game publisher (like Capcom, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, NAMCO/Bandai, Nintendo, Sony, THQ, and Ubisoft) of no more than 30 minutes in which Finalist will have opportunity to showcase game for possible publishing contract, which would be offered only at sole and unfettered discretion of participating professional game publisher.
Electronic Arts announced that its sci-fi thriller Mass Effect 2 has sold 2 million copies since its release on Tuesday of this week. It looks like this is the first big hit of the year and shows signs that even with our economic down turn video games sales are still holding through strong.
Microsoft annonced that rather than having game ratings for each individual game in its upcoming virtual video game aracade Game Room, the Game Room itself will be rated, at a rating of E10+.
This allows Microsoft to freely flow games into the arcade quicker to its users since they won’t have to wait for the ESRB to approve each game. The bad side though, some of your favorite games that include such things as strong violence and language will not be showing up in the Game Room.
EA Sports FIFA Online, a free-to-play version of the console games, is set to launch “over the next 12 to 24 month” in the U.S. and Europe, giving soccer and football fans (respectively) something to do at work. The closed beta for the game begins on February 3rd (application link), and is set to only allow 20,000 testers for the first phase, but open beta is scheduled to begin sometime in June.
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