EA Strikes Back

Yesterday i mentioned an interview where Activision head Bobby Kotick made some rather pointed comments about EA. Well it seems EA aren't prepared to take that treatment lying down as more than a few pointed words have since been returned. Jeff Brown (EA's VP of Communications) had this to say of Koticks work, "His company is based on three game franchises – one is a fantastic persistent world he had nothing to do with; one is in steep decline; and the third is in the process of being destroyed by Kotick's own hubris." The three games mentioned are of course World of Warcraft (a game now owned by Activision Blizzard after the two companies merged), Guitar Hero (which Activision has admitted to cutting back on due to a decline in the market) and Call of Duty (do i really need to mention the Infinity Ward troubles again?). Regardless of who is right or wrong in this whole conflict, i don't imagine this will be the end of it.

Pull your Striped Sneakers On

The next chapter in the long lived story of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic 4: Episode 1) will be hitting the marketplace soon... October 13th to be exact. Sonic 4 see's the blue blur returning to his sidescrolling roots for the first time in decades. The game will set you back 1200 points, a slight markup from the recently released Sonic Adventure remake, which i should have already reviewed by now but have been a bit slack. Keep an eye out for that soon.

Activisions Business Advice

Bobby Kotick (big boss of Activision) had a lot to say in a recent interview and decided he wanted to tell the world what makes EA a bad company... No, that isn't a Battlefield joke, Kotick actually went ahead and explained why he believes Activision's management of smaller studios is better than EA and says that no-one great wants to work for EA. I won't go about copying everything he said here (instead, you can check out the interview on EDGE) but saying EA smothers its developers and doesn't know how to handle employees all sounds a little stupid when coming out of the mouth of the man who runs Activision, a company that got sued over the whole Infinity Ward debacle... or had he forgotten the 20+ people who walked out of their nice Activision jobs and sued the company for not paying them properly? Perhaps Kotick would like to hook up with Sony, it seems they have nothing better to do than attempt to put their competitors down too.

The Writer Returns

I hope everyone is prepared to jump back into the twisted nightmare world of Alan Wake, as the second and final piece of DLC (named The Writer) will be available in about 2 weeks. Hitting the marketplace on October 12th, The Writer promises to give us answers to the questions remaining from the main game. My only question now is, can we expect it to answer ALL questions, or will a few be left unanswered to keep us guessing until Alan Wake 2 comes out?

The Monkey Is Back

it would seem the two master's of bizarre comedy games will be reuniting. Tim Schafer (Brutal Legend creator) will be teaming up with ex-Monkey Island partner Ron Gilbert (Deathspank creator)on a new game that we currently know nothing about. Gilbert has been working out of the Double Fine offices lately and accepted a friendly suggestion to make his next game there, so while the team aren't ready to drop anything other than the fact it's a Gilbert game with Schafer providing input, we can probably assume it'll be full of the humour and sheer ridiculousness the two are now known for.

338 Posts Young

So this will be post number 338 here on The Arkhive, and it's widely known that i have a fascination with the number 338 for no apparent reason, so i want to use this post to quickly thank anyone who is reading this and hopefully any other posts on The Arkhive. Also thanks to Mikey and Steve for their contributions and while i don't know how many people actually bother to visit this blog anymore, i can say that i will continue writing on here even if it's for no purpose other than fending off my own boredom. Thank You.

Rock Bands Fender Arriving Fashionably Late

So i still don't honestly know if we'll even be seeing Rock Band 3 here in Australia, however if we do get it and you want to play the pro guitar mode, you'll either have to pick up the Madcatz Mustang pro-guitar controller or wait till some time in 2011 when the Fender Squier controller launches. It seems the Fender guitar will not be ready in time for the release of the game and even when it is ready, it's gonna set you back over $250, compared to the Mustangs $150+ pricetag (remembering this isn't just a controller, but also a fully functioning guitar). As for you keyboard/piano players out there, you should be prepared to pay over $100 for your instrument, and that's not even including the game. Rock Band 3 is due for a late October release in the U.S. and Europe.

A Look At The Future

Microsoft is now taking entries for the preview program for the new Xbox dashboard. According to a certain Major, several thousand entries will be accepted so there is a good chance of people getting in. If you're interested in testing out the new dashboard before it's public release (likely very early November) then head HERE to sign up, HOWEVER, be aware that once signed up, you won't be able to revert back to the old dash, and will lose all voice functionality (except in game chat, of course) with people not participating in the program. This means no voice chat, no party chat and no voice messages. The reason behind this seems to be because of an upgrade to the voice codec to increase the quality of voice chat. If none of that bothers you, then head to the above link and enter in your details to register. No wait necessary, you'll either be accepted or declined on the spot, however the dash won't be available for another week or two.

P.S. Forgot to mention the preview is strictly 18+... Sorry kids.

The Revolution Begins

The latest trailer has been released for Deux Ex: Human Revolution and it continues to make the game look absolutely amazing. Check out the trailer below and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Revealing A Fable

The great people over at Lionhead Studios have provided a video of the Collectors Edition of Fable 3 being unboxed... Yeah, that's pretty much the whole point of this post, don't know what else to say. you can find my original announcement and list of contents in the collectors edition HERE, and check out the video below. If you haven't already pre-ordered then go out and do it now, as Fable 3 will be hitting shelves at the end of October.

Kittens And Knives... What Could Go Wrong?

If you've been craving a bit of sidescrolling platformer action lately (or just have a thing for catwomen) then keep an eye out for Blade Kitten, the latest arcade title from Atari and Krome Studios. Blade Kitten is part 2D platformer, part puzzle game and part action... with a little bit of anime thrown in for the fun of it. Check out the trailer below and feel free to leave your opinion via the comments section... I think it certainly looks weird and has a high potential to fail, but it's always nice to see something a bit different hitting the arcade.


Trailer courtesy of IGN, because i couldn't find the official Atari / Krome youtube channel.

Project Dark Heading Out West

From Software (the group behind the epicly difficult Demons Soul on PS3) have announced their next game, currently titled 'Project Dark', which while not a sequel to Demons Soul, is said to be a spiritual successor. While the studio will be handling the games release strictly for PS3 in Japan, it's been confirmed than Namco Bandai will take over the publishing rights for what appears to be a U.S. / European release on Xbox 360. No further information on the western release at the moment, but it IS coming.

Reaching up

Halo Reach is amazing...However today is the 17th...

It's my birthday.

That is all!

Rawr!

Reaching For Gold

Halo: Reach released today in case you didn't know... but this post isn't actually about that. Instead i just wanted to mention Xbox is running a promotion to celebrate offering a 40% saving on a 12 month gold subscription to anyone paying by credit card. You can find a panel for the deal on the Xbox dashboard, which lets you subscribe for an extra 12 months at just $47, plus you'll get a Noble 6 avatar helmet free.

Bloody Good Drive

Take any game today and you'll be able to say "well it's just like a mix of THIS and THIS"... Well what happens when you cross Twisted Metal with the zombie Freak splattering fun of Crackdown 2? That seemed to be the question on Activision's mind when they came up with Blood Drive. Heading our way in November, Blood Drive will say players take to arena settings in heavily armed cars to destroy each other and the horde of zombies walking around. Promising 4 player drop in / drop out competitive multiplayer, Blood Drive will certainly attempt to fill that hole in Xbox gamers hearts that Sony put there when they announced Twisted Metal for PS3.

Epic Puts It's Cheating Cap On

In case you don't know, Gamespot are currently running a poll to find the all time greatest villain in video games. The latest round sees Gears' General RAAM take on Half-Life baddie Dr. Breen. It's been a close battle, with RAAM lagging behind most of the way, but Epic want to change that. Earlier today, Gears Executive Producer Rod Fergusson decided it was time to call in the cavalry and laid down the terms for the next Gears of War 2 multiplayer multiplier event. "Every % pt RAAM wins over Dr. Breen = the XP multiplier for the next event. e.g. 60% vs 40% = 20x XP" tweeted Fergusson. So, if you've missed the previous events and want to get that multiplier up, then all you need to do is head HERE and put in your vote for RAAM.

UPDATE: It would seem Fergusson underestimated the power of PC gamers as General RAAM is STILL losing, so Fergusson has now said to forget about the % multiplier... If RAAM wins, it'll be a 30x XP bonus. As i write this, RAAM is down by about 1,100 votes, so if you want that XP, head on over there and get your vote in.

Multi-Platform Dreams

Let's just say for a second that you're a Sony fanboy and need to quickly name an exclusive PS3 title... you'd name Heavy Rain, right? (to be fair, MS fans would name Halo, thus proving the point that all fanboys are idiots, regardless of preferred console). Well, while the PS3 may have Heavy Rain to fall back on, David Cage (Director of Heavy Rain and founder of Quantic Dreams) has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company will be looking into going multi-platform with it's next title. While still unannounced, Quantic Dreams' next work in progress is not likely to be Heavy Rain 2, but with the companies previous works (Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit) being so similar, it wouldn't be a surprise to see another game cut from the same cloth. So Xbox and possibly even Wii players might possibly look forward to getting some hands-on time with an 'interactive drama'... or they could go back to playing Halo / Mario, which for once might actually be a better idea.

P.S. upon spellchecking this article, it would seem 'fanboy' isn't recognised as a real word... I beg to differ.

The Hands Of Fate

If anyone was wondering, Epic Games little save/kill Carmine campaign has now officially come to an end and his fate has been sealed (although we won't know what it is until Gears of War 3 releases in April). Even if you weren't on the winning side though, you can hold your head high because the campaign in general raised over US$150,000 for the Childs Play Charity. At least you can't say gamers are selfish.

Good Times For All

If you're the type of person who likes a bit of the bizarre with their FPS experience, then keep an eye out for Ubisoft's upcoming arcade title Bloody Good Time. Set on a Hollywood movie set, the game will see players navigating levels taken from their favourite stereotypical horror movies and attempting to take each other out with a range of weapons including some more bizarre choices, like an exploding remote control rat. The game runs on the ever popular source engine and will be hitting the Xbox LIVE Arcade and Steam on October 27th. Check out the trailer below... It doesn't show you any gameplay, but you get an idea of the level of ridiculousness they're going for.



Sidenote: the copyright information along the bottom at the end mentions Kinect. Whether this game will be Kinect compatible or Microsoft has just decided to mention Kinect in all of it's copyright material is yet to be seen.

Capping It Off

With one more piece of DLC and the recently revealed Game of the Year edition of Borderlands heading our way, Gearbox have decided another raise to the level cap was required. Unexpected however is that the level cap will be free to anyone who owns the General Knoxx DLC and won't actually require you purchase the new pack. The level increase will be heading our way included in a patch with some balance changes a bit before the GotY edition releases and will add an extra 8 levels, taking the max up to 69.

Forever Is Now

Rumours have been breaking out all day, but i didnt want to say anything till i could 100% confirm it... I'm watching the live stream as i type this and can say 2K Games and Gearbox Studios have just revealed Duke Nukem Forever. Not only is it on show, but people over at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) can play it right now. Looks like we'll finally be seeing the game for real. Guess we'll need to find a new game to be a running joke. I really have to question how well Duke Nukem Forever will be able to stand up against the modern FPS franchises, but there seems to be a lot of fans still waiting for this, so in the words of Duke Nukem himself... Hail to the king, baby.

Feeling Less Kinected

It seems like Microsoft spent a little too much time creating hype for Kinect and not enough time creating the actual device. One more piece of the Kinect experience has fallen to the wayside as it comes to light that mainland European gamers (still unsure if this will affect Aus) will have Kinect's voice recognition system locked off until early-mid 2011. Currently the voice recognition system only supports British English, American English, Japanese and Mexican Spanish, and so Microsoft have decided that any regions not fully supporting these languages (including Canada) will have the voice recognition part of Kinect locked off from use until the Spring 2011 update (March - May) when they can get the full language library incorporated. In previous news it seemed like Microsoft were unsure of how well Kinect would sell upon release, and between this and Fable 3 announcing it WON'T have Kinect support at release, i think gamers are fast losing faith in Kinect too.

Xbox's Path Ahead

Today marks the end of the Xbox LIVE's Winter of Arcade promotion (which i should already have a review up for, but i'm being uber slack, sorry) but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing anything new coming to the marketplace over the next two months. In terms of Arcade games, keep an eye out for The Game Feast, which features the launch of 4 more arcade games between September 29th and October 20th. The titles will include Hydrophobia (1200 points / Sep 29), Comic Jumper (1200 points / Oct 6), Pinball FX 2 (tables purchased individually / Oct13) and Super Meat Boy (TBA / Oct 20). Plus before then you'll be able to get Plants vs Zombies for 1200 points from September 8th, and U.S. users should hit up the marketplace on September 15th to get Sonic Adventure for 800 points (not being released in Aus). If you're all arcade'd out, i can tell you that the Deal of the Week starting September 6th is a discount on various Resident Evil 5 stuff, including avatar gear and game content. Finally if you're just looking to waste some more time on a game you already have before a certain release on September 14th, keep an eye out for Crackdown 2's Toy Box expansion on September 2nd, and new content for ass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins on September 7th.