Kinecting To Millions

Microsoft's Kinect may have only just been released in Australia but it's already been out for nearly a month in the U.S. and after it's first 10 days, it had managed to sell a million units. So how does it's sales fare now? Well, apparently after 25 days on the market, Kinect has sold 2.5 million units. While it's not going to be outselling Black Ops any time soon, it certainly seems there is some interest in Kinect and hopefully this will push Microsoft (or any other studio) into making some games that aren't just shovelware. Have i played Kinect? Yes, i have, and if i stop being so slack, i might even write up a nice review for it.

Gearing Up

Epic Games are set to make an announcement at the VGA's along side the many other announcements we're waiting for (I'm looking at you, Bioware). Cliffy B has said they'll be showing new gameplay footage, but it's not what we're expecting. He might be right, unless you're up to date with the rumour mill, in which case you'll likely be expecting the reveal of the Gears of War Kinect title which IGN has been told is in the making. It's also entirely possible that there will be an announcement about the Gears 3 beta which is set to happen in early 2011. Either way, keep checking back for more news.

Lara's Back

If you're one of the people who read Gameinformer (but seriously, why would you when you can just wait for me to poach their info and put it up here for free) then you may have caught a big double page spread at the back. The picture shows a large oil tanker which seems to have run aground and the line "A Survivor Is Born". The meaning behind this will be revealed on the cover of their December issue, but allow me to jump right ahead and spoil it (oh wait, i probably already did with that title, my bad). Rumour is that next month's GI will reveal the brand new Tomb Raider game which is RUMOURED to be going back to Lara's roots and showing how she got her start in the tomb raiding business.

Super Secret-ish

A short time ago i caught a trailer for an upcoming game called Ilomilo and my thoughts after seeing it were pretty much along the line of, "0_0... What... was that?". Well the cutesy game is already available on Windows Phones, but has yet to receive a release date for the Xbox Live Arcade. A point which seems pretty redundant considering you can go to the super secret webpage found HERE, and get a free download of the trial, which then, like all arcade games, can be upgraded to the full version for 800 MS points.

Missing Your Portal

I choose to believe Valve are the second worst company in the world for sticking to release dates (second only to Blizzard who don't even bother releasing release dates till the last second) and it seems they're aware of that fact (that they miss deadlines, not that i... nevermind). They have announced that Portal 2 will slip from it's February 9th release date for a release in the week of April 18th. Joking about the situation Valve had his to say... "This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve's proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time. Though this convergence spells doom for humanity, it will not affect the new Portal 2 release date."

Mass Teasing

Bioware have been teasing a new game that might just be a Mass Effect spin-off. Check the trailer down below for the teaser, although there's not much there. Current rumour seems to be that the game will be a Mass Effect related multiplayer game... which is supported by the job listing found back in June (read the post HERE).



[UPDATE] So Bioware dropped a few other little clues that ended up leading people to the website for MI6, but the focus of this story has been stolen by the twitter account for Sony Russia who dropped a tweet saying the teaser showed first footage of Mass Effect 3... The tweet was later deleted, so whether this was a misunderstanding or an accidental spoiler, we don't know, but check back here soon.

Two Worlds Collide

Marvel vs Capcom 3 is shaping up to be the fighting game of the year (or, best fighting game since Street Fighter 4) and it looks to be aiming for a launch early next year. The official word is Spring 2011 (March-May) but Gamestop are advertising the release date as February 15th. Either way, a collectors edition has also been confirmed for the U.S. which includes:

• Steelbook Case featuring Exclusive Artwork
• Prequel Comic
• Two Character DLC-Card (Jill Valentine & Shuma Gorath)
• 1 Month Subscription to Marvel Digital Comics

The DLC will be available 4 weeks after launch and there is also a preorder bonus of some console decals. Pictures below... (and a reminder, this is all for the U.S. so it may or may not be available here in Australia)

Collectors Edition

Console Decals

Bizarre Ending

Hold onto your hats (and controllers) Project Gotham Racing fans, as Bizarre Creations time may be running out. Rumour broke out over Twitter that Activision had closed the studio down today, firing 200 people. Naturally, this wasn't true. Activision have responded to the rumour saying that since their purchase of Bizarre Creations the fundamentals of racing games has changed and despite their efforts to create a new IP (Blur) they haven't had much success with the company. As such, they ARE looking into selling the company and other alternatives, and under U.K. Statutory requirement, Activision has given the staff a 90 day notice saying some type of restructuring or closure will occur.

Diabolic Concept

A few job openings were noted on the Blizzard website for people with console experience to join the Diablo 3 team... Naturally everyone's mind jumped to the same conclusion. However, Blizzard has stated they're only looking into the possibility of making a Diablo-related concept for consoles and wanted to see what sort of talent would be interested in taking up the task. Oh, they also ensured complaining PC players that the PC/Mac version is their main priority and wouldn't let a console version delay or otherwise slow down the production of Diablo 3... because after waiting over a decade they're still concerned that the production might be slowed down.

Kinect of War

The latest rumour to come out of IGN is that there is a Gears of War related Kinect title in the works. Apparently it is set to be revealed at this years VGA's. This may be true, and it may not be, but one thing is for sure, it is NOT Gears of War 3. Everyone's favourite Epic employee, Cliffy B, has already confirmed that the delay of Gears 3 has nothing to do with adding Kinect to it. So if there is a Kinect product in the works, it will either have to be an entirely new game, or a remake of an older one.

Cost To Kinect

So Kinect is slowly making it's way into stores around the world (next week here in Aus) and seems to be selling pretty well. Have you ever wondered how much Microsoft is making off the product though? According to UBM TechInsights it costs Microsoft $56 U.S. to produce a device, while you pay $150 U.S. in stores ($180-$200 in Aus). Before you start thinking Microsoft is over charging though, remember that $56 is only to make the unit... It would have cost them a whole bundle more to develop it, advertise it and even ship it to all the stores across the world. Even then, I'd bet they're already sitting on a tidy little profit. Kinect will hit shelves November 18th, but be sure to keep an eye out here and over at The Gamers Pad for a review of it shortly after.

Viacom Rocking Out?

Viacom, the awesome media conglomerate it is, is apparently looking to sell Harmonix, the creator of Rock Band. Viacom have been performing well financially, but apparently Harmonix has been dragging them down a bit. Could it be people aren't willing to spend $150 just for one instrument now? Perhaps so as Rock Band 3 sales are said to be down. It'll be interesting to see who would be prepared to buy Harmonix out if Viacom IS looking to sell.

The Numbers Roll In

Activision seems to love telling us how much money we're giving them. They spammed us endlessly with the monetary figures Modern Warfare 2 was making upon launch and it looks like it will be the same with Black Ops. Activision has announced that made 360 million dollars on day 1... That's about $50 million more than MW2, and Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, is confident that Black Ops will continue to outsell Modern Warfare 2.

Sporting A New Structure

EA Sports have revealed plans to restructure their development process after NBA Elite 11 was recently cancelled. From what i understand, each studio will now report to a single supervising team, as opposed to the old system where each different game would be completely developed by a single studio.

Mini-Celebrity Douche-Bags

David Vonderhaar, Multiplayer Design Director on Call of Duty: Black Ops has struck back at people posting videos of glitches in the game. On the game's release day players had already found a number of glitches including a new version of the care package glitch. Naturally players done the first thing anyone does when they think they found something cool before the rest of the world... Post it on Youtube. Videos have now been removed by Activision/Treyarch and the care package glitch has been patched but Vonderhaar felt the need to leave a charming message on the CoD forums concerning the situation. You can read the full rant HERE but the short version involves him telling people he probably knows more about the glitches than those who have watched the videos and saying he didn't want to speak on the matter after this post because he has no interest in making mini-celebrities out of douche-bags. Douche-bags or not, maybe he needs to be reminded that the people he feels so strongly about happen to be the ones making the game such a success.

May The Force Be With You... A Little Later

So if you're one of the people looking forward to picking up Kinect for the upcoming Star Wars title that was demo'd at E3 (like me) you may want to hold off for a bit. The man who is quickly becoming the face (or should that be glasses) of Kinect, Kudo Tsunoda has recently revealed that the Star Wars Kinect title will be looking for a release around christmas... in 2011.

Moving Forwards

In case any Rock Band players out there don't know yet, ALL Rock Band DLC released from the launch day of Rock Band 3 on will ONLY be compatible with Rock Band 3. Rock Band 1/2 players can still look forward to new music fresh from the Rock Band Network however... unless you're an Australian. So if you love your Rock Band and want to keep up with the DLC, you'll need to purchase the new game, plus if you intend to play pro guitar or bass you'll need to pay an extra 80 MS Points per track (plus you'll need the pro instruments, which last time i checked, aren't available in Australia)... Oh Harmonix, how we love thee, and your obvious lack of care for the Australian market.

Back To The Slopes

When rumour broke out that Criterion Games was working on a new SSX title recently, EA Games was quick to deny the rumour, however multiple web domains including ssxdeadlydescent.com and ssxfirstdescent.com have recently been registered, giving more sign that a console return for the SSX series may be imminent. No official word from EA yet, but i'll be sure to let you know when there's more info.

The End Of War

If you were looking forward to seeing what happens after the end of Darksiders, you may have to wait a little longer. In a recent interview, Danny Bilson, THQ's VP of Core Games, revealed that the sequel will follow a new character. He has said there is only one apocalypse, so the sequel will focus on another character with events taking place at the same time as the first game. it would make sense for the new character to be another of the 4 horsemen, so now the only question is, will it be Pestilence, Famine or Death?

Prestigious Opening

It's no secret i'm not a big fan of the Call of Duty franchise (or any realistic FPS's for that point) but my friend over at the iGooseGamer Youtube Channel loves it and upped an unboxing video of the prestige edition of Black Ops, fresh from the midnight launch... check it out below



and here's a second video of the RC car being tested (and possibly damaged)...

New Vegas Hits The Jackpot

Bethesda have been kind enough to reveal that Fallout: New Vegas has had record breaking sales since launch. NV managed to sell over 5 million units across all platforms around the world... A feat which helped put the official strategy guide as one of the top selling books on Amazon. Digital Downloads alone pulled in $300 million for the company. I guess all this goes to prove that a brand name will sell anything these days as everyone i've spoken to has labelled New Vegas as the buggiest title they've ever played.

Slowly Rising

What takes longer to complete than a Metal Gear Solid Game? The development of a Metal Gear Solid game apparently. Rumour has it that the latest Metal Gear Solid title, Rising, will be pushed back to a release date in 2012. If the rumour is true then you can still look forward to slicing enemy bodies up into tiny little chunks... you'll just have to look far onto the horizon.

Oh Behave

Artificial Mind & Movement, the studio that brought you such wonders as Wet and Naughty Bear, are rebranding themselves. To fit their shift towards original IP's and digital games, the studio will now be known as Behaviour. There are still a few games in the pipeline for Behaviour so look out for Rango (the game adaptation of an upcoming CG film), Wet 2, and Naughty Bear 2.

Down For The Count

Upcoming FPS Bodycount has been pushed back from it's early 2011 date to summer 2011 (June-August for us aussies) after the General Manager, Adrian Bolton, departed from Codemasters. He isn't the first person to walk out from the Bodycount team though as Creative Director Stuart Black and Executvie Producer Tom Gillo both left the team earlier. Codemasters have told Eurogamer the games release would be pushed back and they would not provide a more accurate release date because they're not prepared to compromise the quality of the game.

Are You In Control?

For all i've heard about Mindjack until now, it may as well have not existed... However, Square Enix's shooter is now firmly on my radar and will definitely be something i look out for next year. Mindjack sees you take control of... well some sort of floating cloud-like thing. OK, that may sound stupid but the idea seems to be that through this cloud you can take over the body of anyone you find, be it a happy civilian who was passing by, a trained soldier or what appears to be the early predecessor of the Brutes from Halo. Check out the trailer below and see if you can explain things better than me...

Kinect With Your Controller

One of the masterminds behind Kinect has confirmed in an interview that while the plan is to expand the library of Kinect games as much as possible, not every game will be completely prejudiced against buttons. Alex Kipman has confirmed that there are hybrid games in the works that will make use of both Kinect and the standard xbox control. No idea what these games might be and how they'll be implemented, but it's certainly possible they might be a little less casual than the library of Kinect launch titles. Oh, and he also confirmed that Project Milo was never going to be a product.

Marketing Black Ops

Once you've finished playing Call of Duty: Black Ops next week, you might want to consider you're always carrying a bit of Black Ops with you... How would you do that? By purchasing the soundtrack off iTunes. The soundtrack will be released via most major digital download distributors and include 30 songs from the games score. This just seems to be the next step in what i feel has been a completely over the top marketing strategy for Black Ops... Which reminds me, don't forget to stock up on V before next tuesday, and make sure your new Black Ops jeep is securely locked up and your RC Bomb Car is on charge.

Borderlands 2.0... or 1.41

The latest title update patch is available now for Borderlands. How exciting you must be thinking (and if you're not, then start). The title update applies fixes to some bugs that were stopping a few players from getting achievements in the latest piece of DLC, but the title also ups the level cap for all players and re-adjusts the game to match. Owners of plain old borderlands will now be able to raise their level from 50 to 58, with enemies and loot scaling up along with them, and owners of the General Knoxx DLC will now be able to take their character to level 69. This may be the last major patch we see for Borderlands as Gearbox continues work on other projects, so if you haven't played Borderlands or were thinking about getting back into it, now seems to be the best time.