Weekly Releases: 5th-11th July
Click on the box art to go the the game’s Amazon page
PS3
Battlefield 1943
Xbox 360
Battlefield 1943
Wii
Tales of Monkey Island – Episode 1
PSP
DS
DICE announced that Battlefield 1943 will be available on July 8th on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and July 9th on the PlayStation Network. Battlefield 1943 is an all-new download-only action game priced for £9.99 or 1200 MS Points.
Battlefield 1943 is a First-Person Shooter (FPS) multiplayer game that puts players in the middle of a dogfight on land, sea or in the skies. The game introduces two new modes that can be played across four classic Battlefield tropical WWII maps: Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea. These maps are inspired by the Battlefield 1942 game, but have been redesigned and reengineered using the DICE destructible Frostbite engine which takes down walls, blockades and cover spots, leaving players with almost nowhere to hide.
Up to 24 players can play together online as either the US Marines or the Imperial Japanese Navy. When 43,000,000 kills on both Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network will be reached, The Coral Sea map will be unlocked as part of a worldwide community challenge.
Gordon Van Dyke, Producer on Battlefield 1943:
“Battlefield 1943 is going to change consumer expectations of what a downloadable game can be. By offering Frostbite’s next generation destruction technology with a full Vehicle Warfare FPS multiplayer experience at a mere 560MB, Battlefield 1943 sets a new standard. Our goal is to blow people away with a fully accessible, retail-calibre game for veteran Battlefield fans and shooter fans alike to enjoy for only £9.99.”
The Multiplayer Beta for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves recently ended. Those of you who were lucky enough to get in were in for a treat. Here’s our preview of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ Multiplayer.
The beta featured two game modes – Co-Op and a traditional online versus mode. Co-Op mode featured the level that we’ve seen before on the leaked footage before E3 2009. There seems to be a bit of a story with this Co-Op, which is quite different from most Co-Op modes in other games. Drake announces to the party “The treasure should be that way” and immediately after that you’re thrown into the battle, shooting and taking cover from AI enemies with two other players at your side – taking the roles of Sully and Chloe.
Co-Op mode allows you to work as a team – provide partners with a boost so they can reach higher ground – which in turn, will help you to advance. Also, if a partner falls you can quickly revive them. During one point we did come across a bug that caused half the level to disappear, but obviously this is still in beta and hopefully this will get fixed by the release of the retail version.
The traditional online mode came with two match types, Team Deathmatch and Plunder which acts basically like Capture the Flag – except you can throw the flag. Team Deathmatch feels very nice and natural – like playing the single player campaign. There were never any lag issues or poor hit detection just a constant fear of where the hell will the enemy come from next. Each player controls a character that is just as movable as Nathan Drake; no matter if you play as a random faceless character or Sully, they all feel the same. The level design is brilliant – you can duck, dive, dodge, and climb most of the map. It would probably be a nice addition to have some kind special ability for using some of the bigger characters, like in Metal Gear Online.
The medal system from the original Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune returns, awarding you for saving a buddy, punching someone out and returning the treasure to your area. The medal system will undoubtedly be integrated with the trophies system. Much like in Killzone 2’s Warfare mode objectives will change - although not as smooth as in Killzone 2. Once an objective has been achieved the match will end and the game will load a new match. Hopefully this will change in the final release to be closer to Killzone’s multiplayer rather than just a playlist of matches.
Plunder, although fun on the one and only map available, feels like it needs a much larger map in order to make the most of it. On the available map four throws or so will be enough to get the treasure (flag) back to your area and you’d feel like you’ve cheated yourself here.
Other than these few nags and snags, Uncharted’s Multiplayer is quite promising with none of that feeling like it’s tacked on just for the hell of it like other games.
Colin McRae: DiRT 2 Screenshots
2K Sports invites gamers and fans of The Bigs video game series to the Nintendo World Store in New York City on Monday, July 6 for The Bigs 2 Home Run Pinball tournament. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and get autographs from the New York Mets’ Mike Pelfrey and Alex Cora, who will help kick-off the tournament.
Participants in the The Bigs 2 Home Run Pinball tournament will have the chance to win prizes such as a Wii, an authentic Major League Baseball jersey autographed by Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers – the cover athlete and spokesman for The BIGS 2 and a variety of other prizes.
Attendees will be able to purchase The Bigs 2 for Wii a full day before the game is released in retail stores.
Eidos Interactive announced two new DLC packs shipping in July for Battlestations: Pacific.
The Mustang Pack will feature six new units and 18 new pieces of nose art. Amongst the units, players can take to the skies in the legendary US P-51 Mustang bomber escort, control the seas with the US Navy’s Alaska Class or the Super Yamato Class.
The Carrier Battles Map Pack gives gamers four new maps, playable across all five multiplayer modes.
The Mustang Pack, priced at 160 points, and the Carrier Battles Map Pack, priced at 800 points will be available to download on Marketplace from July 2nd and July 23rd.
Microsoft announced in Cannes last week that Xbox Live will be getting interactive ads, using Silverlight technology, in 2010:
“By extending support to technologies like Silverlight, Xbox Live will offer advertisers and creative designers scale and reach with their campaign creative assets, enabling them to build and deliver interactive, interconnected experiences that are unlike anything else on television, and extend these experiences across multiple screens – the TV, the PC, and Mobile.”
It seems that Xbox Live users will have to be connected to the internet in order to see them.
Do we really want to see ads on our consoles too? What do you think?
Major Nelson of Xbox Live comments on the subject:
“I need to let you know that you don’t need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard.
One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the Live community.”
According to Frozenbyte, developers of Trine, we might see an XBLA version after all.
Lauri Hyvärinen of Frozenbyte:
“An XBLA version of Trine is a possibility but nothing more at present time. We would love to have Trine on XBLA and we’ve partnered with Atlus to make it happen, but it needs Microsoft’s approval and there are other factors as well. So it may happen or it may not, that’s really the current situation. Everything else ranging from release date to features is just speculation and isn’t based on any facts.
As soon as we know more we will also inform everyone else
”
Batman Arkham Asylum – first developer diary
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video.Electronic Arts announced that starting July 9 gamers can download and compete in Skate 2’s Maloof Money Cup Pack, based on the largest pursed event in the history of professional skateboarding. The pack will be available in the PlayStation Store for $3.00 and on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 240 MS Points in North America.
Joe Maloof, President of Maloof Companies:
“Skate 2 has been embraced by the gaming and skateboarding community across the globe, making it the perfect stage for the Maloof Money Cup’s videogame debut. Now players everywhere can experience the world’s greatest skateboarding championship and revel in the high-stakes excitement of the competition for themselves.”
Skate 2’s Maloof Money Cup Pack will feature separate gameplay events both online and offline – freeskate, single player vert and street contests that put gamers against world class pros, and an online mode in which gamers will be able to compete against their friends in new activities and challenges for bragging rights. Xbox 360 gamers get an added bonus as there are 250 achievement points up for grabs.
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