GC 2008 Late Night Edition

Since the Game Convention started in Leipzig today there’s a lot of stuff to cover so I’m going to summarize the most noteworthy announcements and link the best trailers only in HD.
Basically this is your one-stop Leipzig newsdesk.

Noteworthy Announcements:

• New PSP 3000 will come out on October 15 and feature a better screen and built-in mic for $199
• PS3 160G Hard Drive on October for $499, the 80G one will replace the current 40G
• New 160G PS3 Uncharted Bundle featuring game, dualshock 3 and PAIN voucher for $499
• EA is going to tackle Tennis games on Wii in 2009 taking advantage of the Wii Motion Plus
• Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts will be released November 14 for $40
• Fallout 3 will come out October 28 in North America and October 31 in Europe
• Suikoden Tierkreis is a DS title
• Chrono Trigger on the DS will come out November 25
• The Sims 3 worldwide release February 20, 2009

Noteworthy Trailers and Footage:

• Shattered Horizons Trailer – Very Nice! great trailer
• Resident Evil 5 GC 2008 Trailer – Sweet! even better than before
• Shadow Harvest Trailer – Awful, Unappealing… Plain Bad
• FIFA Soccer 09 Debut Trailer – Very Nice, if you like soccer
• Bionic Commando GC 2008 Trailer – Promising. wait and see
• Dawn of War II GC 2008 Trailer – Freaking Amazing!! And I don’t even like RTS games
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Debut Teaser – Crap Music, OK Teaser. FIFA Vs. PES Round 1!
• Anno 1404 Debut Trailer – Really Nice. great game on the way
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Trailer – Sweet! E3 trailer in high quality
• Captain Blood GC 2008 Trailer – Looks Fun, could be a nice game
• Necro Vision GC 2008 Trailer – Gory, Gory and WTF?!
• Jumpgate Evolution GC 2008 Trailer – Very Nice! just my type of genre
• Red Alert 3 GC 2008 Trailer – Pure Epic! George Takei FTW!
• Prince of Persia Lengthy Footage – Voice Work OK. Still looks gorgeous and amazing
• Mad World GC 2008 Trailer – Very Original. The more I see the more intrigued i get
• Heavy Rain GC 2008 Trailer – Finally!! cam but very steady, can’t wait!

Tuesday July 29, 2008

Star Trek Online Revealed!

Originally owned by Perpetual Entertainment, which closed its door in January, the MMO based on the world-famous TV show seemed to be facing tough times. Thankfully the license was acquired by Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes/Villains) and along with the confirmation came a bunch of lovely screenshots.

Vivendi Properties Shake-Up. Who Lives and Who Dies?

After Vivendi Games merged with Activision earlier this year and subsequently formed Activision Blizzard, there had to be some changes happening. Well these past days have been a roller coaster ride of announcements.
It was revealed that Activision would be publishing Vivendi’s best selling properties: Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and Ice Age, along with the upcoming Prototype and another unknown project.
While there are other publishing arms that weren’t mention in the press conference to take care of the other franchises, it leaves several big games on the potential cutting board. Chief among these are Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
Today a Sierra representative announced that, while he couldn’t speak for other franchises, Ghostbusters is not canceled.

We can be sure to have more announcements in the coming days n the subject while Vivendi and Activision review their properties but I for one hope they do bring us Chronicles of Riddick because I’m very excited about it.

XBLA Dates, Dates and Dates

• Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved out on July 30
• Braid (which has me very excited) on August 6
• Bionic Commando Rearmed on August 13
• Galaga Legions on August 20
• Castle Crashers on August 27

Wizard 101, MMO for Beginners

KingIsle, Texas-based developer, is currently working on an MMO aimed at a broad audience. The game lets you play a Wizard in training on his way to the Ravenwood school (of Witchcraft and Wizardry). you will be able to choose a pet to accompany on your quests, learn different schools of magic through various teachers. The fighting system seems to be card-based which can be found on the ground around the world and quests will involve puzzles and mini-games.

DC Comics Acquires Rights for Resident Evil and Devil May Cry Comics

The two major Capcom franchises will join previous acquisitions of Gears of War, Prototype and just recently Mirror’s Edge and will be published under the Wildstorm banner of DC Comics.

Telltale Games Loves Wallace & Gromit

The studio that successfully relaunched the Sam & Max franchise through episodic treatment is planning to do the same with the famous English characters. The game will be called Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures and will be a classic point ‘n’ click adventure.