PSN still not available in Japan

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Bret Morace

While most of the world logs back onto the PlayStation Network, the gamers of Japan are still left in the dark. The problem no longer deals with hackers, but rather the government, which refuses to let Sony continue online game services until Sony provides more information on the measures it’s taking to prevent another attack.

Kazushige Nobutani, director of the Media and Content Industry department at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, told Dow Jones Newswires, “We met with Sony on May 6 and 13, and basically we want two things from them.”

“The first is preventative measures. As of May 13, Sony was incomplete in exercising measures that they said they will do on the May 1 press conference.” The second answer they need is how Sony plans to win back consumer confidence. “There were similar cases in the past that were caused by other firms, and we are asking Sony whether their measures are good enough when compared to countermeasures taken in the past.”

Sony began restoring the PSN on Saturday after last month’s hacking nightmare that compromised the personal information of 100 million users.

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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 |

Warner Bros. announces Gotham City Impostors as a first-person shooter

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Last month, WB went on a domain-registering warpath, nailing down websites for batman titles such as Hush, Knight Fell, and Red Hood. We had a hunch at least some of them would be games, and now that’s been confirmed with Gotham City Impostors.

The game will actually be a first-person shooter, where players can create their own customizable Bats (vigilantes) and Jokerz (villains) along with homebrew gadgets in order to go head to head with each other online.

“Gotham City Impostors blows apart expectations for superhero games with an exaggerated take on first person shooters, set in a part of the DC Universe players have never seen before,” said WB Senior VP of Production and Development, Samantha Ryan.

So, do you think those other Batman domains will actually pop us as games? Will Impostors even be good? We’ll find out when it hits PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and the PlayStation Network at a later date. You can visit the official website of the game here.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Atari preparing five-game lineup for E3

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

All your favorite publishers and developers will have their chance to let the world know about their upcoming projects at next month’s E3, and Atari has narrowed down the selection it will be bringing. Their presence will consist of five games, two yet to be announced, and three of which we already know about: TERA, Warlords, and Centipede: Infestation.

TERA (PC) looks to shake up the MMO scene a little bit, bringing in a sense of urgent action combat to what is traditionally a point-and-click endeavor. The game will be powered by Unreal Engine 3.

Warlords (PSN, XBLA) will bring the arcade classic into the modern day, with both co-op and competitive modes for both local and online multiplayer.

Finally, Centipede: Infestation (3DS, Wii) will be another iteration of one of the most beloved arcade games of all time, featuring 40 levels, 20 power-ups, five boss battles, and a slew of monsters. A co-op feature will be included in this 3DS reimagining, as well as Street Pass features.

We’ll have more informtion on what the other two games are come E3.

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Ubisoft Motion Pictures details strategy for Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Earlier this month, we explored the convoluted relationship between video games and film, noting the creation of Ubisoft Motion Pictures to handle the movie adaptations for their games. Today, we learned a little more info about the three main properties being looked at for the studio’s first projects: Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon.

“We want to keep ownership, retain control over the film content, and we’re open to work with studios on the development of our projects,” said division head Jean-Julien Baronnet. “Our strategy is not to diversify but to bolster the appeal of our franchises.”

The goal seems to be staying away from all the mistakes and common criticism most mainstream adaptations have suffered under – they don’t represent the games. Instead, Ubisoft Montreal looks to keep their studios in the loop at many stages in production, from getting project members familiar with “the DNA” of the franchise, making sure the stories are consistent, and even up to working on the project itself, with Ubisoft Digital Arts and Hybride Technologies looking to lend a hand.

Ubisoft Motion Pictures claims to have already received interest from U.S. studios and screenwriters, and will be travelling to Los Angeles in June to meet with potential partners. Looking to have a script by the end of the year, hopefully this endeavor will lead to the rise of a respectable video game film culture.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Daily Scoop: Monday, May 16 – Almost L.A. Noire time!

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Tomorrow is the day many have been waiting for: the release of L.A. Noire. How many people have it pre-ordered? With so many tasty deals – especially Kmart’s – it was a hard decision to make!

Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is pretty lame, I’ll admit. It’s Atari’s Freddi Fish ABC Under the Sea for the DS. It’s $13.49 from $19.99. And it’s really boring. Amazon needs to have more consistent deals – and better customer service! I’ve been at war with them since Friday about applying promotional credit to my purchases automatically without my consent. I’m this close to cancelling my account and Amazon credit card. Don’t make me do it!

In t-shirt world, Ript has a great one up today that Minecraft fans will be hard-pressed to not purchase, called Grim Creeper:

Brilliant!

Posted in Daily Scoop |

Sony answers PSN-related questions, PS Blog back to normal tomorrow

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

We’re all back online playing our favorite multiplayer games (Black Ops w00t), but many issues still remain for the PlayStation Network. Jeff Rubenstein from the PlayStation Blog took the time to answer some of the more prevalent questions.

For one, a couple PlayStation Store updates were missed, and there was a lot of great content scheduled to go up, such as a demo for Motorstorm: Apocalypse. Rubenstein expains that once the Store becomes operational again, there will be a couple of publishes throughout the week to bring all of the missed content back. For PlayStation Plus subscribers, they’ll be picking up where they left off on the schedule of games to go up/come down, so you won’t miss your chance to get a free download before it’s unvailable. Also, Sucker Punch is working out the details on a possible InFamous 2 beta extension, and a missed Call of Duty: Black Ops double XP weekend will be made up to us very shortly.

As you can tell, I’m particularly excited about that last bit!

Also, if you’ve been following the PlayStation Blog, you’ve noticed that their regular content of interviews, previews, and features has been interrupted while Sony dealt with the PSN outage crisis. Fortunately, some new content will be coming tomorrow and we’ll all be more in touch with our favorite games, series’ and services.

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Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad to tear up XBLA, PSN this summer

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

D3 Publisher announced today that it will be bringing 2XL Games’ Jeremy McGrath: Offroad to Xbox Live Aracade this summer, with a PlayStation Network version being handled by Reverb Publishing. 2XL was founded by devleopers who have worked on the MX vs. ATV series, so that should make for a strong pedigree going into this one.

Offroad will be making its debut at the Lucas Oil Offroad Racing Series event at the Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, CA from May 21-22.

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