News
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Would be like catching “a falling knife”.
As speculation intensifies over the possible buyer of Rock Band developer Harmonix, Electronic Arts has cast doubt over its suitability as owner.
“There is going to be a time when perception catches up with the facts,” CEO John Riccitiello told Bloomberg.
Earlier this month MTV owner Viacom announced plans to sell Harmonix, which is currently unprofitable.
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Yarr might as well try it.
Swashbuckling MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea is now free to play.
There’s no upfront cost and no monthly subscription – the only time money changes hands is if you want to splash out on Treasure Aisle items. That’s the in-game shop, and there you can buy account upgrades, clothing, consumables, missions, pets and ships. There’s a long explanation of the Treasure Aisle and what’s on offer there on the POTBC website.
You can still subscribe to Pirates of the Burning Sea: the Captain’s Club charges $14.99 a month and offers many perks and discounts over the Free Account and Premium Account membership levels. Those three tiers of membership are explained on the game’s website.
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Platforming fun arrives next month.
A WiiWare remake of stunning platformer Cave Story will be released in the UK on 10th December.
Creator Nicalis made the announcement on Twitter. “FINALLY! Cave Story to be released in Europe on December 10 for 1000 points,” it gushed.
Cave Story was released for the US arm of Nintendo’s download service in March. Eurogamer’s import Cave Story review returned a verdict of 9/10. “If this game had been released on the NES 20 years ago, it would be recalled by a generation of players as a high point of the 8-bit era,” wrote John Teti.
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MMO’s key feature to be monetised.
Character and object customisation was a cornerstone of what APB offered, and new owner GamersFirst realises that – that’s why you’ll pay for it when the game reappears.
Specifically, if you want to save or share your customisations then you’ll need to shell out.
“Instead of limiting what you can customise as a free player, you will be allowed to customise almost anything, but you will not be able to store (and share) complex customisations above a certain level unless you are a Premium player AT THE TIME OF CUSTOMISATION,” wrote GamersFirst boss Bjorn Book-Larsson on his blog.
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New details revealed.
Controversial Xbox Live Arcade exclusive Dead Rising 2: Case West will release next month, Capcom’s announced.
The downloadable game sees photojournalist Frank West return to Fortune City to investigate Phenotrans and find proof of its involvement with the zombie outbreaks.
Epilogue Case West is set immediately after the events of Dead Rising 2, and sees Frank team up with Chuck Greene in co-op action.
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Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell says so.
Kinect and Move are hot this Christmas but they’re not as snazzy as 3DS, reckons Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell.
“When we were working on Hybrid, we [had to] decide whether we wanted to do a Kinect game or a core title. Microsoft said, ‘You can do Kinect!’ We checked it out, and decided we’d rather do this,” studio co-founder Jeremiah Slaczka told Game Informer magazine.
“Move is okay,” he added. “It’s Wii plus. It’s good for what it is.
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Science fiction shooter.
The director of Japanese gangster series Yakuza has turned his hand to the shooter genre with a new game called Binary Domain.
Toshihiro Nagoshi told Famitsu (translated by 1UP) Binary Domain is an online-focused science fiction robot game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. No release window is mentioned.
Unlike Yakuza, Binary Domain is being produced with a global audience in mind, which should make it likely for release on these shores.
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Harry Potter actor joins cast.
UTV Ignition has lined up British actor Jason Isaacs to voice the character of Lucifel in upcoming action game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.
Isaacs will be joined by Blake Ritson (Enoch), Samantha Francis (Nanna), David Rintoul (Azazel) and Nicolette McKenzie (Ezekiel), whose collective acting credits include games like Kameo, Venetica and, more importantly, TV shows Casualty and Midsomer Murders.
Isaacs, of course, is used to the silver screen, having played Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. He’s also appeared in everything from Black Hawk Down and Event Horizon to DragonHeart and The Patriot.
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They’re dead good and rising.
This year’s break-out success on Xbox Live Arcade was Dead Rising 2: Case Zero – the downloadable prologue to Dead Rising 2.
Capcom revealed that as of the end of October, the game’s total sales were over 600,000.
“Crazy! Thanks to everyone for making it a big success!” wrote Capcom’s jgonzo on his blog.
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New gameplay set for Video Game Awards.
Epic Games poster boy Cliffy B has promised Gears of War fans an unexpected Gears of War reveal at the Spike Video Game Awards next month.
“We’ll be showing off some new Gears of War gameplay. It’s going to be awesome. You’re going to love it. It’s not what you’re expecting,” says the design director in a new video.
The announcement will have “everyone talking,” apparently.