There was going to be separate entries today for all the releases but there’s too many of them. (i.e. I’m too busy to produce a bunch of news posts.) Here we go, some releases for November 17, 2009:

• Left 4 Dead 2 (360, PC) from Valve Software and EA
• Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) from Capcom
• Naruot Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 (Wii) from Tomy
• Princess and the Frog (DS, Wii) from Disney Interactive
• God of War Collection (PS3) from SCEA
• LittleBigPlanet (PSP) from SCEA
• Tony Hawk: Ride (360, PS3, Wii) from Activision
• Assassin’s Creed II (360, PS3) from Ubisoft
• Lego Indiana Jones 2 (360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP) from LucasArts

Like there weren’t already a massive list of games to play, Rockstar throws a heavyweight onto the list when it announced today that GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace and GTA: Episodes is available at retail. For details, see below:

…Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony is now available for download exclusively from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace (for 1600 MS Points) and at retail stores everywhere as part of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City (retailing for $39.99 / £34.99 / €45) for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. For the first time ever, players are invited to experience The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, two complete games, together on a single disc as Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City. The disc-based offering does not require Internet connectivity or a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.

“We’re thrilled to share the final chapter of thisepic Liberty City tale,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games.“The team at Rockstar North has exceeded every expectation with TheBallad of Gay Tony, creating an explosive conclusion to the Grand Theft Auto IV saga.”

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I wish more companies held events like this to celebrate their accomplishments. Not only does it promote the game, it creates some excitement among genre fans anticipating a game’s release.

BioWare and Electronic Arts are hosting an international competition to mark the November 3, 2009 release of Dragon Age: Origins, which features “ten teams of four players each [that] will live, fight and explore [Dragon Age: Origins Wardens’ Quest] as the drama unfolds in their 24 hour quest to claim the grand prize. Each winning team member will receive $12,500. Official rules can be found at http://www.wardensquest.com”

The competition gets underway in two days — October 28, 2009 — at the Debating Chamber at County Hall in London, England and feature some LARPing. Here are few more details:

There will be ten participating teams representing their countries: the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and Belgium, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and a specially selected team comprised of the most loyal BioWare fans from around the world. The competition will take place in the Debating Chamber at County Hall in London, England. This space will provide a grandiose setting for the competitors to play the game, discuss strategy and battle for the grand prize as teams are eliminated throughout the day.  Around the chamber, screens will be used to display leader board stats and show highlights. BioWare staff and costumed actors will further enhance the environment, theatrics and dramatics of the day.

In Dragon Age: Origins, players take the role of a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians.  Now, as a rising evil threatens to destroy all life, it is up to players to unite the shattered lands and slay the corrupted dragon known as the Archdemon.  To restore peace, players must make ruthless decisions and be willing to sacrifice their friends and loved ones for the greater good of mankind.

There will be ten participating teams representing their countries: the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and Belgium, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and a specially selected team comprised of the most loyal BioWare fans from around the world. The competition will take place in the Debating Chamber at County Hall in London, England. This space will provide a grandiose setting for the competitors to play the game, discuss strategy and battle for the grand prize as teams are eliminated throughout the day.  Around the chamber, screens will be used to display leader board stats and show highlights. BioWare staff and costumed actors will further enhance the environment, theatrics and dramatics of the day.
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It was announced today that Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare’s anticipated role-playing game, has officially gone gold and will hit retail November 3, 2009 for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  We’ll soon see if the extensive wait was worth it! Also of note, is the release of the BioWare Social Network launching with the Dragon Age: Origins “Character Creator where players can create and customize a player character on the PC and then upload their character data and avatar to the BioWare Social Network before Dragon Age: Origins launches. ”

Origins will be available on all three platforms with several packs of downloadable content (DLC) including The Stone Prisoner, the Blood Dragon Armor and Warden’s Keep; each further enriching the gameplay experience.

“We’re excited to confirm that all three versions of Dragon Age: Origins will be available to fans on November 3 in North America,” said Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager, RPG/MMO Group of EA, and Co-Founder, BioWare. “The Dragon Age: Origins development team was able to polish the PlayStation 3 version to our high standard of quality and we are ready to deliver the richest and deepest role-playing fantasy experience across all three platforms.”

In anticipation of the game, players can begin their Dragon Age: Origins experience early by joining the BioWare Social Network — a destination to share in-game screenshots, review game data and share story information. Players can also download the free* to download Character Creator where players can create and customize a player character on the PC and then upload their character data and avatar to the BioWare Social Network before Dragon Age: Origins launches. The Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator will provide players with the tools to create a character with a nearly endless amount of options.  Players can download the character creator and get more information on the BioWare Social Network by clicking here.

In Dragon Age: Origins, players take the role of a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians. Now, as a rising evil threatens to destroy all life, it is up to players to unite the shattered lands and slay the corrupted dragon known as the Archdemon.  To restore peace, players must make ruthless decisions and be willing to sacrifice their friends and loved ones for the greater good of mankind.

Origins will be available on all three platforms with several packs of downloadable content (DLC) including The Stone Prisoner, the Blood Dragon Armor and Warden’s Keep; each further enriching the gameplay experience.

“We’re excited to confirm that all three versions of Dragon Age: Origins will be available to fans on November 3 in North America,” said Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager, RPG/MMO Group of EA, and Co-Founder, BioWare. “The Dragon Age: Origins development team was able to polish the PlayStation 3 version to our high standard of quality and we are ready to deliver the richest and deepest role-playing fantasy experience across all three platforms.”

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It’s really easy to tell what time of year it is just by the pile of games hitting shelves lately.  Here’s your update for today, Tuesday, October 20, 2009:

• Borderlands (360, PS3; PC coming October 26)
• FIFA 10 (360, PS3)
• Astro Boy:  The Video Game (Wii, PS2, PSP, DS)
• Lips: Number One Hits (360)
• Tropico 3 (PC)
• Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars (PSP)
• MotorStorm Arctic Edge (PS2)
• Charm Girls Club (DS)
• Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Wii)

If there’s one thing that Peter Moore is good at it’s quotable quotes.  The “burning platform” as he calls disc-based media referred to in the headline is pretty awesome but the fact he follows it up with “do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death.”

I love visual metaphors like this but, hey, Mr. Moore, why so much doom and gloom? Things change but that doesn’t mean it’s all about death! It doesn’t help much when he refers to digital distribution as a “cloud”, which any chest-beating English major will point at as a reference to Heaven. More death or the promise of better things in the next life? You can read that however you want. Here’s the full brief from GamesIndsutry.biz:

EA Sports president Peter Moore has compared the traditional videogames sales model to a sinking ship.

“The core business model of videogames is a burning platform,” said Moore, speaking at the 5th annual PLAY Digital Media Conference.

“Look at the platform we’re on, it’s a burning platform,” said Moore. “As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution.”

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In what could possibly be the coolest contest giveaway, Capcom has teamed up with Tesla Motors Company to give away a Tesla Roadster. (The same kind of car EA big-wig John Richetello drives.)  It’s a promotion tied to the January 2010 release of Dark Void (PC, PS3, 360), which features a video game version of Nikola Tesla, hence the tie-in.  Normally I wouldn’t promote such a giveaway because it’s limited to residents of the U.S., but the Tesla Roadster is too cool to ignore:

tesla roadster

The Dark Void Tesla Roadster Giveaway is the first time that Tesla Motors has partnered with another company to give away a Roadster, the record-setting electric sports car that’s faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo and greener than a Toyota Prius. To celebrate the launch of the sweepstakes and promote Capcom’s highly anticipated action-adventure game, Dark Void, Capcom held a test drive event Monday that allowed the media and San Francisco Bay Area members of Capcom-Unity.com to experience both the car and the game.
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This one’s for our Canadian readers.  It was announced today that EA and Future Shop have teamed up for the release of NHL 10, with launch parties in Vancouver and Toronto on Monday, September 14, 2009.  Be sure to carefully check the details that follow:

What: Midnight Madness launch events celebrating the release of EA SPORTS NHL 10 at select Future Shop stores in Toronto and Vancouver.
Who – Toronto:
• Wendel Clark, former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
• Ian White, defenceman, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Xbox 360 Street Team

Who – Vancouver:
• Trevor Linden, former captain of the Vancouver Canucks
• Xbox 360 Street Team

When: Monday, September 14, 2009
• Autograph signings with NHLers:
Toronto event
o 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. – Ian White
o 10:00 p.m. – 11:45 p.m. – Wendel Clark
Vancouver event
o 9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. – Trevor Linden

• Stores are open from 12:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.

Where: Toronto – Future Shop, 325 Yonge St. (at Dundas)
Vancouver – Future Shop, 798 Granville St. (at Robson)

There’s been a lot of discussion and positive reviews generated by Shadow Complex so it’s with little surprise that it’s selling so well:

On August 19, Chair Entertainment, a subsidiary of Epic Games, Inc, and Microsoft Corp. delivered the next evolution in downloadable games with the launch of “Shadow Complex™” exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Officially recorded as the most downloaded single-player title in Xbox LIVE Arcade history to date, more than 200,000 people purchased “Shadow Complex” in the first week of its release. [In rough figures, about $4,000,000US worth of sales.]

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I think we all saw this coming, particularly in light of the recent Playstation 3 price drop, but here it is, right before the busy Holiday season Microsoft has announced a price drop for its Xbox 360. Here are the details:

As of tomorrow (Aug.28/09), the price of an Xbox 360 Elite console will drop by $70 to $329 CDN.

On top of that, the Xbox 360 Pro console will now be priced at $279 CDN, reflecting a price reduction of $20 while supplies last.

In addition, for $229 CDN you can get into the game with the purchase of the Xbox 360 Arcade console.

Also coming August 28th, for a limited time is the Xbox 360 Elite Bundle that includes Halo 3 and a Wireless Network Adapter for a new low price of $329.99 CDN .
Here are the full details of what the bundles includes:

- Xbox 360 Elite Console
- Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter
- 1 Black Wireless Controller
- 120 GB Memory Storage
- Xbox LIVE Wired Headset
- Network Ethernet Cable
- 30 day Free Trial of Xbox LIVE Gold Membership
- Xbox LIVE Silver Membership*
- Halo 3

It’s official: Fable III is headed to the Xbox 360, Holiday 2010. Between now and then, developer Lionhead and publisher Microsoft will be releasing Fable II: Game Episodes, which breaks up Fable II into chunks, the first one being made available for free on September 29, 2009. If that’s enough to hook you, then the next episodes will cost you, but the press release mentions nothing about pricing.

Here’s the full release:

COLOGNE, Germany — Aug. 19, 2009 — Alexander the Great. Genghis Khan. Queen Elizabeth I. Che Guevara. Throughout history, revolutionary leaders have taken very different paths to power, bringing about prosperity and poverty, peace and sometimes anarchy to their people. Now Microsoft Corp. and Lionhead Studios will explore the journey to rule, with you in pursuit of a kingdom, in “Fable III,” the exciting new game in the critically acclaimed “Fable” franchise. The title’s debut was confirmed today at gamescom in Germany by Peter Molyneux, Lionhead’s creative director, and will be available exclusively on Xbox 360 in the 2010 holiday season.
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Shipping for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, Activision announced today that Wolfenstein (rated “M”) is now available. There are Nazi’s involved, dark experiments play into it, and sci-fi weapons available — basically, a good time for everyone.

Here’s word from the official press release:

Combining intense action and stunning graphics, Wolfenstein picks up immediately after the events of the award-winning Return to Castle Wolfenstein. In the newest chapter to the famed franchise, the Nazis’ have returned to their dark experiments and unearthed a dimension that contains amazing powers, simply known as – The Veil. With the help of the resistance faction of the town Isenstadt, players return to enlist as super OSA agent BJ Blazkowicz to uncover the Third Reich’s evil aspirations and stop them before it’s too late.
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It’s really difficult, if not impossible, to develop a video game without proper funding. That’s exactly the situation that Six Days in Fallujah developer Atomic Games found themselves in after publisher Konami pulled out of the project at the end of April 2009. Since that time Atomic has been “unable to secure full-scale funding from a major publisher.” We’ve asked Atomic how many people were let go since the press release is vague, so until we hear back, here’s a snippet of the official release:

In the words of Marine officer Chesty Puller, “We’re surrounded. That simplifies the problem.” Development at Atomic will continue with a smaller team that will be funded by our sister company, Destineer.

We wish to assure the dozens of Marine veterans who have collectively invested hundreds of hours in this project that, while we have been badly wounded, we will fight on. The stories of your brothers’ courage and sacrifice in Fallujah must be shared with the world.

All of the 75 people in the Atomic studio have stayed with us until this week. This is a testament not just to their commitment to Six Days in Fallujah, but also to their character when faced with adversity and personal financial risk. We encourage videogame development studios wishing to speak with the many talented and loyal staff who are affected by this situation to contact the jobs page on the atomic.com web site.

2K Games has released the official list of bulletpoint features of the upcomnig NHL 2K10 (releases September 15, 2009), which includes new AI, stumbles shots, small animation systems, and a host of new online and multiplayer options. It all sounds really nice, but I won’t just recap the features for you when the press release does such a great job of it:

NHL 2K10 redefines the sports gaming experience with a new emphasis on social gaming. Whether you’re a die-hard NHL fan or a casual player, NHL 2K10’s pick-up-and-play controls, true-to-life authenticity and variety of on- and off-line multiplayer modes promise hours of entertainment for any gamer. Among the new features that will make this the must-have hockey game of the season include:

New Gameplay Mechanics – Completely rewritten AI, enhanced defensive controls and stick lifts, stumble shots, a new defensive skating model and new incidental contact and small animation systems

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While the split between Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 isn’t stipulated, 600,000 digital download copies of Battlefield 1943 is still a lot. At $15US a pop with no hassels of retail channels, EA and DICE must be happy with this outcome and it likely gaurantees much additional content and tweaks as the game moves forward. Here’s a quip or two from the press release:

“We are honoured by the reception that the game has received so far,” says Gordon Van Dyke, Producer on Battlefield 1943. “Watching and participating in this non-stop multiplayer action has been a real treat for us and we can’t believe how fast our fans reached 43 million kills. We can now truly say that we have set a new standard for what can be done in the downloadable games category and gamers recognize the endless value that Battlefield 1943 provides for just $15.”

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