Is the gaming industry slowly shying away from World War II as a setting for their productions? Rumors about the time-tested Medal of Honor franchise, the general success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the sparse release horizon would suggest so. Such a move would be a good thing.

I am tired of World War II-based video games.

I realize that in the past, the setting has held quite an appeal for game designers.  It was marked by sprawling, gritty conflicts on land, over seas, and in the air; history has lost the names of many of those who died during the fighting, leaving room for developers to weave their own stories; there was a clear and detestable enemy in the Nazis and their allies.

Read more

Before you get too excited, the Halo movie produced by Peter Jackson is still dead in the water. This concept art, however, is from a draft of a movie based on The Fall of Reach, a prequel novel written by Eric Neylund. The movie script was written by Stuart Beetle, whose credits include Collateral and two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Everything is still very much in the preliminary stages, but at least some progress is being made.

So, what do you think? Could a Halo movie be a Star Wars style epic or would it be more of a Doom-style disappointment?

[Halo: Fall of Reach Concept Art - LationReview.com]

Just a quick little post here to make sure everyone knows that there is a very good chance that Sony will be debuting the next installment in the hit action-adventure series, God of War, at E3 this year, according to Eurogamer. And why wouldn’t they? Microsoft has already announced its AAA title, Gears of War 2, for the upcoming holiday season. Sony needs to give its fans something to put on their Christmas lists this year as well. As for me? I need to get my ass in gear and play God of War II…

[Via Kotaku]

Over at Softpedia, there are rumblings that Microsoft could announce the release of a new 360 model as well as a price cut for current models at E3 in July. Microsoft is likely hurting as the PS3 sold more units in May than the 360 (about 208,700 and 186,600, respectively according to the NPD) and this trend is expected to be the case in June, too .

Part of the reason for Sony’s success as of late is the recent run of PS3-exclusive titles on the system (MGS4, we’re looking at you) according to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich:

This is likely due to the exclusivity factor as exclusive releases on Sony’s platforms have historically shown to be a better hardware driver than that of multi-platform releases. On average, PS3 exclusive games sell 45% more, throughout their lifetime, than multi-platform titles available on the PS3. Exclusive titles for the other two systems, the Wii and Xbox 360, only boast a small increase in lifetime sales over multi-platform titles.

With E3 less than a month out, we’ll know soon enough whether this holds any water or not.

[Via Evil Avatar]

According to Kotaku, rumor has it that a new system is in the works to allow PC gamers to emulate console games on their computers.

The system, named “Trioxide,” may, as you may have well guessed, represent the three major consoles (360, PS3 and Wii) and the ability of the system to play all three consoles’ games. The only other tidbit of information that comes with this leak is the strange price range of $49 and $299, which nobody seems to be able to make anything of.

If this rumor rings true, which I highly doubt it will, it could put a major damper on console sales. Honestly, I don’t think Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo (or their respective lawyers) would ever let such a thing happen. Will this actually happen? Only time will tell.

The PAL version of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 supposedly leaked earlier today, and has shown up on torrent sites across the internet as a 6471 MB (6.32 GB if you don’t like big numbers) file released by iCON. The NFO file warns not to connect to Xbox Live until the game is released to the masses (three full times in ALL CAPS, so you better heed the warning), and even encourages people to buy the game anyway since “R* deserves it.”

Read more

I’ll give you a minute, because that image likely made your head-spin as much as it did mine.

It seems that Mortal Kombat Online recently received this teaser image from “a source within Midway” that seems to subtly indicate that a Mortal Kombat vs. DC fighting game is on the way. According to the folks over at MKO, the game is officially titled Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe which is great because if it were only superheroes, Jimmy Olsen couldn’t get a piece of the action. While the image looks real enough, this should be taken with a grain of salt until Midway makes an official announcement.

I don’t really know how this makes me feel. On the one hand, that image is a gateway to a world of sweet possibilities, each more nerdy and violent than the last. On the other hand, DC likely wouldn’t have beacons of civility and justice such as Superman getting torn apart in the kind of brutal ways that the MK series is known for. On the other, other hand (I had a rough time in middle school with the three hands and all), how could it get any better than Justice League Task Force?

[UPDATE: It's official. Check out the announcement trailer here.]

One of my contacts at Activision (I can’t say exactly who for liability’s sake) recently leaked information as well as the possible set list for the unannounced upcoming game, Guitar Hero: Fall Out Boy. The game is set to follow the escapades of lead singer Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz and guitarist Joe Trohman as they play various locations, including such venues as emo/underground pop theater CBGB & OMFUG in New York City. Rumor has it that you’ll be able to customize the make-up that each member of the band wears at each performance, choosing just exactly how much eyeshadow Pete Wentz wears on stage. Also, you can customize the design and severity of the cuts that each band member has on their forearms! Kinky!

Like Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the game will include other smash hit artists similar to the likes of Fall Out Boy, including Panic! At the Disco, Paramore, Gym Class Heroes, The All American Rejects, Linkin Park and many more!

Want to see the rumored (and probably incomplete) set list for the no doubt blockbuster hit? Hit the jump!

Read more

Word of a very pretty tech demo on the PS3 hit the internet a few days ago and a bit of buzz started swarming around it. Of course, pretty and PS3 go hand in hand as we’ve seen with plenty of games coming out for it. Good, complete, non-glitchy and best version are all totally debatable descriptions of games on the system, but pretty is something that the PS3 has down pat. Still, this tech demo was rumored to be truly impressive as all the graphics were gorgeous and totally in game. Today we get some video of it, which you can see above, courtesy of Youtube and Gametrailers, and a name to go along with it: Linger in Shadows.

As a tech demo the thing is pretty impressive. Graphically it looks strikingly good and the physics are spot on. The dog looks a bit funny but it still seems really interesting. But rumor now has it that this is more then just a tech demo and is actually a game itself. If that is the case…What!? I don’t even know what could possibly be going on here to make a game. My best guess is you’d play as one of the characters shown in the beginning of the video and that the dog and the cat were just there to show off how well the system can handle hair (a true sign of any great game). Otherwise would you be battling shadows the entire time, or just robots who can’t seem to stop bumping into things? I guess it doesn’t really matter, tech demos are set up to show stuff off not make sense and the reliability of the source for this being an actual game is a bit in question. Nothing wrong with watching a very interesting tech demo though and hoping it turns out to be a truly interesting game.

While the game hasn’t been technically announced yet, all of these delicious, high-resolution images have been found on SEGA’s ftp site. Hit the jump for all of ‘em, plus a few other details that have surfaced.
Read more