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Developer Saber Interactive has been keeping to itself since its time-bending shooter, TimeShift, first bored critics in 2007. Employees have been spending their hours competing in weekly dance-offs doing the Time Warp, a heated competition that'll likely be put on hold now that the company has a new game to work on. Make that games -- plural -- as middleware firm Havok announced that its Havok Destruction tech is now in the hands of the company for use in "several" upcoming games.

While no games have been announced, Saber Interactive teases that Havok Destruction will help bring "a new scale and complexity to the fully destructible city" in its next title, including the ability to punch holes through walls. In addition, the developer notes that the software allowed it to realize "large-scale destruction sequences" and reduce costs, with the outfit's budget for interactive assets dropping by 40 percent or more as a result of the Havok license. Exploding barrels, is there anything you can't do?

Remember that free TimeShift DLC that dropped earlier this week? We hope you snapped it up quick, because it looks like it wasn't supposed to be free. It seems some Xbox Live Marketplace ninjas have infiltrated Microsoft HQ and changed the price of "Urban Redual" to 800 MS Points. The other piece of DLC "Futures-Past," however, remains free. We're not quite sure what happened, but it's clear that there was a mix-up somewhere. Whether or not time powers were involved has yet to be confirmed. Whether or not "takesies-backsies" was declared is also unconfirmed at this time.

Today, a second piece of downloadable content goodness has graced TimeShift, bringing with it an extra dose of achievement love as well.

Available for download for the gotta have it price of FREE are two TimeShift DLC packs called "Futures-Past" and the newly released "Urban ReDuel". And with the DLC release, TimShift received a Gamerscore bump up to 1250, adding an additional ten DLC based achievements each worth 25 Gamerscore. To recap. Free DLC, more achievements and a possible 250 Gamerscore increase. We can't complain too much.

First off, kudos to the GDC organizers for putting such different-minded people together for "The Future of Story" panel, which ended up being an insightful and vitriolic debate. The panel, hosted by indie writer Deborah Todd, included Saber 3D's Matthew Karch and Michael Hall (Time Shift), Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack (Too Human), Eidos Montreal's Mary DeMarie (previously: Myst III, IV and Dungeon Siege), Matt Costello (7th Guest) and Director of id Software Tim Willits.

A focus of the panel was the the dichotomy of story and gameplay, with both Dyack and Karch taking opposing viewponts and everyone else scattered somewhat in the middle. Early on, Karch asserted his view that some genres don't need to value story as much, citing Call of Duty 4 as a game where no one cared about the story. Later, he summed his viewpoint up best saying, "My whole argument is, it doesn't need to be a story written by Steinbeck, it needs to be someone who just keeps the game moving on."

Said Dyack, "In five to ten years, there will not be a shoter genre. It's gonna be more literative -- horror, science fiction, etc." When Karch asked if Bruckheimer would go away (referencing the "high-octane" film producer), Dyack retorted that "He's McDonald's, thats what he is. and people love McD's." The back and forth continued, culminating in the following exchange:

Dyack: "We should still aspire to this. you could have bubble gum like, Transformers [the film] for example, but in the end its what entertains."

Karch: "I'll take bubble gum."

It's the holidays and that means you must treat yourself to a new video game. That's just the way it works guys. And to help with your game purchasing endeavor, we've wrangled up some of this week's best deals. So, go ahead and take a gander, because there's a lot of clicking to do.

The only notable offer Circuit City has running this week is Two Worlds for $40. Not all that exciting, so let's move on over to Best Buy. They have Saints Row for $20, The Orange Box, TimeShift and Madden 08 for $50 and they're also offering a $5 gift card with the purchase of any family friendly or social title including Viva Pinata, Viva Pinata: Party Animals, Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, PopCap Arcade: Volume 1, Rock Band, Guitar Hero III and Scene It? Hopefully you got all that, because our linking abilities are taxed. Target is giving out free $10 gift cards with the purchase of either Madden NFL, NBA Live or FIFA 08. Finally, Kmart is offering a $25 gift card (mail in offer) with the purchase of an Xbox 360, $10 off all EA Sports games and an offer where if you can buy one game you get another for 50% off. Select games only, CoD4 and Proving Grounds included.

Our head hurts now, deal searching is mind numbingly difficult. So, if you spotted a great deal online or in-store this week feel free to share with your fellow fanboys. Just don't hurt your head, today's hunting has put us out of commission for the rest of the day.

With the long-overdue in-game XMB still a no-show as of last month's 2.00 PS3 firmware update, we were about to resign ourselves to a future that entailed exiting out of games to read messages and getting up to change the channels. Yeah, barbaric. But perhaps we're being a little too fatalistic. Included in yesterday's PSN Thursday update were some special treats: notably a custom soundtrack option in High Velocity Bowling that looks very XMB-ish, along with an in-game friends list for the Timeshift demo, available from the multiplayer screen, which also has that XMB look 'n feel.

So if we've got some of the most requested features being added straight to games, emulating the look and feel of the XMB interface, what do we need an in-game XMB for then? Maybe nothing, but we worry that if developers become responsible for implementing this functionality instead of it being a system constant, that we'll see an inconsistent experience across whichever games decide to add it. While we're not quite bowled over, it's a step in the right direction.

[Thanks, Justin]

We heard complaints from reviewers that TimeShift's single-player campaign wasn't as revolutionary as it probably could have been considering its time-bending premise. But you have to hand it to the multiplayer component of the game: It really doesn't feel like anything else out there. Now, you can get a taste for yourself with a new multiplayer demo on Xbox Live.

Basically, instead of giving everyone the ability to stop and slow time (which would have been a little too insane, we'd bet) the chrono-powers have been contained to grenades that you lob at enemies that force them to slow, stop, etc. As hectic as it sounds digitally printed here, is twice as crazy on the battlefield. Just be forewarned: You're probably going to get owned by your stoner friend Rusty: He's been playing Halo in slow-motion for years.

If you weren't sold by the previous demo of TimeShift, you may want to check out the new demo available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The new demo includes the same single player section from the previous demo, but the real meat is the addition of multiplayer. Several game modes are available, though we were unable to find a game when we tried earlier today. If you've got the hardware, system link is available, too. If you haven't tried TimeShift, you may want to give it a go, as the time control elements are also a part of its multiplayer. Then again, maybe you're too busy playing Assassin's Creed.

The flood of games isn't stopping any time soon, so it's best to pick your purchases wisely this holiday season. Sadly, unlike the main character in TimeShift, you won't be able to purchase, play, reverse time, and get something else in an endless loop for the last two months of '07. TimeShift's demo was not impressive, forcing us to call the game TimeScript because we had severe issues not being able to save characters in scripted events that could easily be saved. If the main hook in the game is about messing with time (a convention we're well versed in at this point), it better work right and bring something new to the table.

• Game Informer (78/100): "The arsenal used to dispatch these smart soldiers has some definite standouts. While the standard rifle is handicapped due to its much-too-large reticle, most players will gravitate towards two particular guns. ... While exploring your time-altering gifts will keep your attention for several levels, halfway through the game you'll start to feel déjà vu as you move through the clichéd warehouses and engineering plants. To make matters worse, the simplistic environmental puzzles feel recycled from past titles. TimeShift also isn't above the occasional laggy sequence or game freeze."
• GamePro (75/100): "Maybe if the game had actually met its original development schedule, its gameplay mechanics could have come across as innovative, but at this point in time, TimeShift comes across as derivative and a little tired. That doesn't mean the game isn't good. It definitely has its moments, especially once the time bending powers become unlocked. There's something definitely satisfying about freezing time, chucking a grenade into a pack of soldiers and watching as the hilarity ensues. But as I was playing the game, I just couldn't shake the feeling that I had done it all before."
• GameTap (60/100): "Several times you have to use time manipulation just to make platforms move around because whoever built these magical blocks of metal apparently forgot to make them logically functional. Seriously, who would build an elevator that moves so quickly that the only way you can make it from the switch that turns it on to the elevator itself is to break the flow of the space-time continuum? ... Oh yeah, and fire? Forget about it. If you don't pause time while traveling down a conveyer belt with fire spewing from both sides, you're toast. I don't necessarily hate the fact that you have to use time control to get by these obstacles, but I do dislike the fact that a good number of these obstacles are old first-person shooter standbys that have been given a thin coat of paint by the time-shifting mechanics. "

It's one of those weeks. Yes, we know there are plenty of games releasing this week -- quite a few in fact -- but this is one of those weeks with a banner game. Of course, we're talking about Guitar Hero III. Chances are, if you want this game, you picked it up over the weekend and have been rocking faces off for hours now. For those of you that have other interests, here's a list of the games releasing this week that aren't Guitar Hero III.

• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
• Bee Movie
• Cars: Mater-National
• Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
• Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition
• Timeshift
• The Simpsons Game
• Virtua Fighter 5
• Viva Piñata: Party Animals

[Via Joystiq]

Here are twenty new screenshots from the PS3 build of TimeShift. The demo, which is currently available on Xbox 360 and PC, showcases the various time shifting abilities you have: you can rewind time, slow time and pause time -- each has their own strategic benefits. This looks like a solid shooter, but will it be able to stand out in a very crowded holiday, which includes Call of Duty 4 and Haze?

[Correction: TimeShift is not currently on the PS Store.]

Violence and games tend to be uttered in the same breath all the time, and gamers like us tend to shake it off. That being said, this commercial for TimeShift is a little disturbing. The commercial depicts a convenience store robbery that is eventually thwarted by the time suit wearing hero of TimeShift. Maybe it's just because it seems entirely out of context compared to what we've seen of the game, or because it's live action, but the commercial is strangely unsettling. Of course, the idea is to show off the possibilities of time powers, but using them to kill some two-bit thugs seems a little excessive. Still, that's beside the point we suppose, as we're sure the premise will intrigue many viewers, even if the commercial uses hardly any actual game footage at all (bonus points if you can spot it).

TimeShift, in all its 4th-dimension-bending, hyper-violent glory, hits the Xbox 360 next month.

[Via Joystiq]

This commercial for TimeShift is one of those things that after watching all the kids go, "Me wants, zomg!!111!1!" And all the adults go, "Where's the game footage? That's not the game." Granted, we haven't seen past the demo, so maybe there's a convenience store robbery you thwart in the past in FMV and it'll all make sense. As a stand-alone piece this commerical is great -- but the original trailer was at least CGI and not some guy walking around in a leftover Power Rangers costume.

TimeShift is still scheduled for an Oct. 30 release on Xbox 360 and PC, PS3 owners are looking at a "December" release. We're still not over calling the game TimeScript though, based off the demo not allowing us to save friendly soldiers we clearly have the "time" to save. Who knows, maybe the game will impress while the demo didn't, that's still our hope for Heavenly Sword.

Oh, that wacky Xbox Live Marketplace. So unpredictable. A TimeShift demo mysteriously sneaked its way onto XBLM last night, unbeknownst to unsuspecting gamers. TimeShift, if you don't know, is an FPS that makes novel use of time control powers. Developed by Saber Interactive and published by Sierra, we were fairly impressed with what we played at E3 last month. Give it a go and see what its shifty gameplay does for you. If you like it, you can pick up the full game on October 30th.

[Via Joystiq]

We checked with Ziggy, and she says there's an 85% probability that we didn't know about this. We're sending in Al to make sure this isn't a mistake, but a TimeShift demo has phased into Xbox marketplace. The game is available to demo well in advance of its Oct. 30 launch.

The demo for TimeShift seems like your standard FPS fare. The location is a City 17 Half-Life 2 dystopia with propaganda blaring through the city, you have Max Payne meets F.E.A.R. powers -- except you can reverse time a little as well. One utterly obnoxious oversight is that you can't actually alter scripted history in the game. There's a scene very early on where a guy screams, "I don't want to die!" A soldier then caps the guy in the back of the head. If you reverse time, you can't kill the guy about to shoot him -- no matter how many bullets you put in his head. If you stop time, you can't take the gun out of the shooter's hands. If you slow time, you can't put your body in front of the bullet. The poor man will always die. Maybe they should have called the game TimeScript.

[Thanks Gage]