By Eli Green
October 18, 2006 - 23:59
We're back! A one night and one day trip to Madison, Wisconsin certainly does make for a good story to tell, though we won't be telling it here, in News Pop!. Instead, we'll have feature articles covering the tour of Raven Software's studio, a Q & A session between Marvel fans and the Raven team and, best of all, our Hands-On impressions of the Xbox 360 version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Expect to see these articles at the end of this week and the beginning of next week. Now, however, we've got some news to catch up on. So here's today's News Pop!, covering Tuesday, October 17th and Wednesday, October 18th.
GDC Online Contest
Mary-Margaret.com,
an international recruitment service for the interactive
entertainment industry, announced yesterday that it is celebrating
its tenth anniversary by announcing its biggest online contest ever,
Mary-Margaret.com's “Upgrade to Next Gen” online contest.
Mary-Margaret.com is giving away a huge number of prizes, including
passes to attend the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San
Fransisco, March 5th to 9th, and deluxe
software gift packs. The three prize packs are valued at over $3500
USD each and, in addition to the types of passes that come with each
prize pack, winners will enjoy a two-night stay at The Mosser Hotel
and game packs from NCSoft, THQ, Iron Lore and The Guildhall. For
more information on Mary-Margaret.com, check out the company's
website at www.mary-margaret.com,
and to check out the contest, the full prize lists and the contest
rules and regulations, go to
http://mary-margaret.com/forms/contest_nextgen.html.
Bully
is out, and only rated Teen
The
Rockstar team must have huge smiles on their faces now that Bully is
out in stores. The entire controversy surrounding the game couldn't
have been better publicity, especially after Judge Ronald Friedman of
Dade County denied attorney Jack Thompson's wish to have the game
banned from sale due to it supposedly being “too violent” and
“glorifying bullying”. The fact that the game is rated T for
Teen, not M for Mature as most people expected, may simply act as a
further kick in the face to Thompson, as even the ESRB didn't deem
the game violent enough for the higher rating. Bully began shipping
yesterday and is available for Playstation 2 for $39.99 USD/$59.99
CAD. The game will also be
available in Europe, under the name Canis Canem Edit, on October 27th
for €59.99 or £39.99
in the U.K. Unfortunately, for those of you who had been waiting to
get the game on Xbox, that version has been cancelled.
EA
game releases
EA's
list of games releases for this week includes The Sims 2 Pets and the
futuristic, ice-age war game, Battlefield 2142. The Playstation 2,
GameCube and PC version of The Sims 2 Pets are now available, while
the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and PSP versions will be releasing
in November. The Playstation 2 and GameCube versions are $39.99 USD
and the PC version is $29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD. Each version is rated T
for Teen. Battlefield 2142 is available for PC for $49.99 USD/$59.99
CAD and is also rated T for Teen.
EA
announces C&C 3 cast + Def Jam: Icon
EA
announced today some of the cast for the live action sequences that
will appear in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. The all-star
celebrity lineup will include actors from critically-acclaimed
television series such as LOST and Battlestar Galactica, blockbuster
films such as Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the
Jedi, Top Gun, Starship Troopers, and The Wedding Crashers and a
former Miss USA pageant winner. “The unparalleled, diverse
cast includes Tricia Helfer, Josh Holloway, Michael Ironside, Billy
Dee Williams, Grace Park, Ivana Bozilovic, Shauntay Hinton, and
more!“ Along with the acting
celebrities, the game will also include real life news reporters and
anchors such as John Huck and Shanon Cook. The game is set to release
in 2007 for PC. For more information on the game and to follow more
news directly from the team as it becomes available, you can check
out www.commandandconquer.ea.com.
And
finally, in today's EA news, EA, in partnership with Def Jam
Interactive, announced Def Jam: Icon will release for Playstation 3
and Xbox 360 in March 2007. “Infusing hip-hop music, culture
and lifestyle into the gameplay, EA Chicago and urban lifestyle
powerhouse Def Jam Interactive, continue to push the boundaries of
game development bringing unique and innovative content to the next
generation of gaming.” Considering that the game is a fighter,
you'd think they would want to downplay that as part of hip-hop
culture, but that's their prerogative. The development of the game
does follow two other Def Jam fighting games, Def Jam Vendetta, which
released in 2003, and Def Jam: Fight for NY, which released in
2004.The game will differ from the first two, incorporating music and
rhythm into the actual gameplay mechanics. Kudo Tsunoda, executive
producer and General Manager of EA Chicago. “In DEF JAM: ICON, we
are changing the way fighting games are played! We are completely
innovating the role of the environments in the games, moving from the
typical lifeless arenas the hip-hop celebrities are fighting in to
environments that play an instrumental part in the fight where they
will react to the music and interact with both characters like a
third fighter.” The concept certainly sounds interesting. People
will just have to wait and see before they can put their opinions on
it.
Railroads
is out
As we reported last week,
Sid Meier's Railroads was released today. The game is available in
retail stores across North America for PC for $39.99 USD/$49.99 CAD
and is rated E for Everyone.
Rockstar
announces The Warriors for PSP
Rockstar's
The Warriors, based on the 1979 cult classic Paramount Pictures film,
will be coming to the PSP this holiday season. The game is being
developer by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar Toronto. “We
have worked closely with Rockstar Toronto to maintain the extremely
high standards they’ve set for this game,” said Gordon Hall,
President of Rockstar Leeds. “The PSP system allows us to deliver
the experience in an entirely different way, while staying very
faithful to the original source material and maintaining the high
standards we set for ourselves as a developer.” No word on pricing
yet, but we'll make sure to let you know once it's available.