A trusted Wal-Mart source has sent Joystiq an image taken from the company's intranet, "The Wire," showing a listing for Halo"Blue." We've also received an unverified tip detailing Halo "Blue," though it's unclear whether that information stems from the same retail listing. With so little information available about what Blue is, we're guessing the shown Sept. 30 date is placeholder. The Microsoft press conference is in less than 12 hours, so stay tuned.
Ubisoft recently released a video explaining some of the major changes included in their upcoming free expansion to Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and we think it's a fairly safe bet that fans will be pleased. Included in said trailer is a look at the much-requested additions that should make Call of Duty 4 feel sincerely flattered, such as the new grenade indicator and post-elite ranks, as well as the three "new" (see: re-lit and re-textured) maps which will also be made available. Also included are details concerning the new "High Stakes" mode, where health regeneration will be disabled, and where players will amass extra experience points by verbally disparaging the skills of their Low Stakes brethren. We can't wait!
We all enjoy value and convenience, and a new report suggests that Sony will offer both sometime down the line by bundling the earlier released Warhawkexpansions, Omega Dawn and Operation Broken Mirror, together as a single download over PSN.
A release date for the descriptively titled Warhawk Combo Pack has not been announced. However, while we're left guessing what price the twofer will carry in North America, CVG reports that players in Europe can expect to pay just £4.99 for the bundle, a paltry sum considering each alone sold for £3.99 originally. We expect North American pricing to be announced soon, giving those players who have held off reason to dive in whenever the combo eventually comes in for a landing.
We probably shouldn't be telling you this, but updates on this site are very likely to cease tomorrow, what with the PSN update bringing us the expansion pack to Q-Games' addictive tower defense game, PixelJunk Monsters. Featuring a new island, 15 additional levels, five new music tracks and a $5.99 price tag, PixelJunk Monsters Encore will have us erecting towers for several days at least. Longer if we try to get all the rainbows.
Oh well, we suppose we'll just keep recycling all the posts about Grand Theft Auto IV.
While we doubt Oblivion will credit Reality Pump's Two Worlds as the wind beneath its wings, we still can't help but wonder if it's cold there living in the shadow of Bethesda's role-playing opus. Nevertheless, the lesser of the two open-ended RPGs continues to get love by way of downloadable content, the latest of which dropped today over Xbox Live.
Dubbed Curse of Souls, the 600 point multiplayer-focused affair is the game's second, following the already available Tainted Blood, and promises, among other things, an extra 10 hours of content spread over 35 new quests. The download also adds a player-versus-player arena throwdown in the town of Tharnburg, no doubt making for a thrilling spectacle for the handful of players still frolicking in the world of Antaloor as they wait for the game's recently confirmed sequel.
As expected, yesterday came and went without a peep regarding the first expansion to Sony and Wizards of the Coast's fourth wall-bending Eye of Judgment. March 27 was to be the date that the game's cards and required PSN download were to be released, but that was before something went awry, delaying the whole shebang, though oddly only for North America. Rather than speculate as the cause, we knocked on Sony's front door, and when Brian Keltner answered we asked him straight up, what's the deal?
According to Sony, the North American delay can be blamed on "transportation delays from the European distributor of The Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion 2 (Set 2) trading cards." Keltner added that "we have yet to set a new launch date for the software and cards but plan to do so in the near future."
It looks like players in both Japan and Europe will be getting a leg up on building decks and strategies for the upcoming expansion to Sony and Wizard's of the Coast's Eye of Judgment, as the game will not make its previously announced March 27th released in North America. If we had to guess, this probably can be traced to some sort of printing error with the cards, though Sony hasn't specified a reason for the delay, nor a new North American release date, with a post on the official PlayStation blog saying only to "stay tuned."
As previously mentioned, the expansion will require not only the original game but also the purchase of a download from the PlayStation Store (for new character models and effects we assume), though Sony adds that this download will be kept out of North American players' hands until the cards eventually make their fashionably late debut. Until that time, enjoy the expansion's latest trailer, and imagine yourself playing the game through the magic of self delusion.
It appears as if SouthPeak and developer Reality Pump have big plans for Two Worlds: The Temptation, as the previously announced release has been upgraded from mere expansion to full-on sequel status, with the game expected to ship to retail this fall for both the PC and Xbox 360. The Temptation will pick up following the events in the first game, a title mind you that was almost universally derided when it was released in 2007.
While SouthPeak remains mum on many of the sequel's specifics, the company notes that The Temptation will pack in "as much content as the original," as well as a new graphics engine, improved voice overs and "more intricate" missions. The publisher also describes the sequel's combat as "revamped," a fancy term that we hope translates to "not horribly broken."
Puzzle Quest was among our favorite titles released last year over Xbox Live Arcade, with the unlikely mix of casual puzzling and role-playing edging its way into several of our staff's toppicksfor2007. Now publisher D3 has announced that the game will soon be getting what it calls a "tremendous amount" of new content by way of an upcoming downloadable expansion. There's just one problem -- it needs a name.
The add-on, which promises a new villain in Antharg, the Lord of Plague, as well as new spells, items, and quests on top of four new hero professions (Bard, Rogue, Ranger and Warlock), is currently being dubbed " Puzzle Quest: 1.5," but that name is hardly appropriate. To this end, D3 is calling for players to submit name suggestions on the official Puzzle Quest website starting today at noon through Friday, March 21. Once a name has been decided, the expansion will be made available this spring over Xbox Live. We're already brainstorming our ideas -- might we suggest Puzzle Quest: The Addictioning?
In last year's onslaught of groundbreaking, AAA titles, there was a a good chance for smaller gems to get lost in the shuffle -- case in point: Overlord. With wallets tightened in preparation of the year's later blockbuster releases, not many people shelled out the cash to pick up this clever Pikmin-esque treat, and our hopes for the previously announced trio of downloadable expansions for the game faded as the winter months passed.
However, just as surreptitiously as the game hit American store shelves, the three Overlord DLC packs recently crept onto Xbox Live Marketplace. For 800 MS Points you can grab the "Raising Hell" expansion, which adds some new levels and challenges to the single player campaign. The "Challenge Pack" goes for 400 MS Points, and adds 7 new multiplayer maps and a new campaign difficulty. And, for the low, low price of free, you can download a split-screen multiplayer mode to enjoy with a good friend, or better yet, your most trusted minion.
With offices in Montreal and a fledgling CGI film studio in Quebec, some might say that Paris-based Ubisoft was done growing – those who say that, however, would be wrong, as the company has announced the creation of a new development studio in Singapore. Why Singapore? Says Ubisoft, the decision was fueled by the region's "excellent technological infrastructure, thriving local game development industry and quality of its universities and training institutions."
The company adds that the local government's "strong support" of the gaming industry also weighed heavily in the decision, though it's unknown if this will play out similarly to Canada's financial courtship of Ubisoft in 2005. For now, what we do know is that Ubisoft is hoping to open the new branch this summer, and eventually fill its ranks with about 300 new developers just itching grind their bones against the gears of the great Ubisoft machine "in the years to come."
The New York Times has taken a look at the NPD's list of top ten selling games in 2007, which shows mass-market games mixed in with games designed for the "young-male audience." As the industry matures and becomes more popular, the "hard-core gamers" and "old-school critics" are becoming just one small part of a very large $18 billion pie.
The NY Times makes its case by observing the absence of critically hailed single-player experiences (like BioShock or Mass Effect) from the top ten, now filled with accessible multiplayer games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. In fact, nine out of the top ten games actually have a multiplayer component (Assassin's Creed is the black sheep). The NYT concludes that people want "human contact in their entertainment" and gaming's mass acceptance comes from being able to have others join in the fun.
A reasonable conclusion, albeit one that oversimplifies matters. While the social elements of most of these games certainly form part of the appeal, the top-selling games also offered compelling solo components. Why choose between single and social gaming when you can have both?
Sure, Two Worlds may not have the best reviews or consumer confidence right now, but that doesn't make it beyond salvation (just look at the now-awesomeBoom Boom Rocket). An expansion for the game, dubbed The Temptation, is coming second quarter 2008.
According to WorthPlaying (pictures), Temptation has what you'd expect from an expansion: new areas, new baddies, new abilities and better AI. The real question is will Temptation tempt you to (re)visit Two Worlds next year?
Sony has confirmed plans for a downloadable expansion to its multiplayer-only shooter Warhawk, echoing news broken last month in Game Informer magazine. The expansion, titled Omega Dawn, will drop in December, and will add five new industrial-themed maps -- all set at night for "added impact and tension" -- which Sony claims to offer the largest combat areas in the game so far.
That's all well and good, but we need new toys as well, and here Sony will include the KT-424 Combat Dropship, inside which you will be able to cram seven soldiers, a pilot, and a ground vehicle for efficient, if not terribly comfortable combat fun. The dropship also packs a new weapon, the MBEC-3 Heavy Support Cannon, which if anything certainly sounds impressive, and the new vehicle will be usable on any of the existing or newly added maps, which incidentally will support all of Warhawk's different game modes. With December just a few short days away, Omega Dawn's price has unfortunately not yet been revealed, so in taking a page from The Price is Right -- 'How much would you pay?'
Sierra and Microsoft have revisited the grid-based fortified town of Carcassonne, as the XBLA rendition of the popular European board game has gotten a new downloadable expansion titled "The King and Baron" as part of today's regular XBLA update, which also includes block dropper Tetris Splash.
With an asking price of 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75), the download is the second such expansion following the already available "River I & II," and adds a set of five additional tiles described as 'interesting configurations of Town pieces,' as well as pair of new rules. We're not exactly sure what they mean by "interesting" ... perhaps they glow.
The new rules are designed to award those players with either the largest city or the longest road at the end of the game with a pair of icons placed next to their avatars and Gamertags. But it's not just for looks or bragging rights, no sir! With this expansion, the player with the biggest city, identified by a newly added 'portly' King icon, will receive one point for each completed city in the game, while the player with the mightiest of roads, denoted by a 'crafty' Robber Baron, will take home one point for each completed road in the game -- and you know how much we love to pile up them points.
