Most Recent: Vita

Tecmo Koei supporting Wii 2

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Bret Morace

During an earnings briefing, CEO Yoichi Erikawa, who took the CEO position last November, spoke on the future plans for the company. Erikawa said he would like to have launch titles for the Wii 2.

Erikawa did not end the Nintendo love there as he also noted that the 3DS is helping boost their sales. Tecmo Koei also plans to release their many series on the 3DS and Sony’s NGP.

Posted in 3DS, News, Vita, Wii U |

Putting the past behind us: Sony and George Hotz reach a settlement

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

The PlayStation Blog has released a joint statement from Sony Computer Entertainment America and George “GeoHot” Hotz that the two parties in the recent litigation have settled their dispute out of court. The statement only discloses that Hotz has consented to a permanent injunction, presumably preventing him from further tinkering with the PS3’s security. Sony claimed it only sought to protect its intellectual property and maintain a secure environment for its consumers. Hotz commented, “It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” and that he’s happy to have the litigation behind him. The statement also puts forth that Hotz has not been involved in the recent attacks on the PlayStation Network and SCEA’s websites.

Hotz was trying to have the lawsuit dismissed, claiming that California did not have personal jurisdiction over him. That argument was made moot by the agreement all PSN users must consent to, which destroys any reasonable expectation that he could not be hailed to California courts.

Now that one of the two lawsuits they took action over has been taken care of, it’ll be interesting to see what “hacktivist” group Anonymous’ next move is.

Posted in News, PS3, PSP, Vita |

F1 2011 races to stores in September; coming to 3DS, NGP

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Fans of the Formula 1 breed of motor sport can rest easy knowing that F1 2011 has narrowed its release date down to this September. Developed by Codemasters Birmingham, this comprehensive sim features every racer, team, and circuit from the 2011 Fia Formula One World Championship. The game is currently slated for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, but Codemasters also confirmed the game is in development for the Nintendo 3DS and Sony’s Next Generation Portable (NGP/PSP2). These versions may be more than gimped ports, as each will “take advantage of the new platforms’ unique capabilities.” No official date for the handhelds has been confirmed.

You can get a chance to preview the game early by uploading a video on YouTube asking a question for the development team. Tubers submitting the best questions, as judged by the team, will be invited out to Birmingham in May to check out the game and be taped for a developer diary. Sounds like a pretty great opportunity.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Weinstein Company gets into the game business

Posted on March 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Famous film brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have announced that their company, the creatively named The Weinstein Company, has started a video game division. The equally creatively named TWC Games will tap into the back catalog of The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films to develop and publish video games for mobile, social, and console platforms. Among the Weinstein/Dimension films that could get the game treatment are Scream, Hellraiser, Halloween and Children of the Corn.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if TWC Games teamed up with Freddy and Jason rightsholder Warner Bros. to create the ultimate slasher movie fighting game of Ghostface vs Pinhead vs Michael Myers vs “He Who Walks Behind the Rows” vs Freddy Kruegger vs Jason Voorhees? Considering the fact that Warner Bros. also owns Mortal Kombat maker NetherRealm Studios, it’s practically fate.

TWC Games will be working with Beefy Media, who has worked with Capcom in the past on a ton of projects, to bring their video game dreams to fruition. The consulting company will work with TWC Games to “foster relationships with publishers and create high quality games.”

Bob Weinstein, The Weinstein Company’s co-chairman, is thrilled about the announcement: “The video game marketplace is changing at such a rapid rate. With all of the digital platforms, there are so many opportunities to broaden our audience with compelling, high quality, cost-efficient, video game entertainment.”

Seriously, someone needs to convince Bob and Harvey to make that monster crossover happen.

Posted in 3DS, DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 |

Activision reveals new Family Guy game, X-Men: First Class, “unprecedented” new universe

Posted on February 10, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision was very busy during their quarterly financial briefing yesterday. In addition to canceling Guitar Hero 7 and True Crime: Hong Kong, the company revealed a few details about their 2011 (and beyond) schedule.

New Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg did most of talking. He began by reiterating that Call of Duty 8 is on track for a 2011 release and officially announced a free-to-play Call of Duty game for China, which will be released in 2012.

Continuing with the Call of Duty theme, Hirshberg revealed that a new Activision in-house studio, Beachhead, will be creating an “all-new digital platform for the Call of Duty franchise.” The system sounds very similar to Halo Waypoint and promises to “support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together.”

Activision also has a slew of licensed games in development for 2011 including three never-before-announced games: Family Guy, X-Men: First Class and Wipeout 2.

A Family Guy game was released by 2K Games to tepid reviews in 2006. X-Men: First Class will likely launch alongside the film in June with the Silicon Knights-developed X-Men: Destiny still on track for a late 2011 release. And for those confused about Wipeout 2, it’s not the futuristic racing franchise, but a second game based on ABC’s obstacle course game show.

Several previously announced 2011 games, including Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a new Spider-Man game, more Cabela’s Hunting titles and a new Bakugan game were also discussed.

Bungie’s New Universe was briefly mentioned, but only to confirm that it won’t launch until 2012 at the earliest.

Finally, Hirshberg announced that Activision will be unveiling “an all-new gaming universes that brings together the worlds of toys, video games and online play.” in two days at the New York Toy Fair. Activision will release the game based on this new universe in the second half of 2011 and calls the franchise an “unprecedented” merging of different media.

Wow. We’ll likely learn more about a lot of these titles at E3.

Posted in 3DS, DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , ,