The Black Xbox 360 Rumour Is Back With A Vengeance

We managed to dodge this rumour a few times over the past weeks, but since it keeps returning time and again with such perseverance, and with such veridicity lately, we'll stop the press for a bit to check it out. So, last week it was a German gaming website claiming (via Joystiq) that a black Xbox 360 model was in fact coming, and this week we have the more esteemed Game Informer magazine (via Kotaku) claiming the same thing. But with a few differences where it counts the most: the price.

Going a bit further back in time, last month we mentioned about a black Xbox 360 photoed at TGS (Taipei Games Show). At that time, rumour had it that the new model would cost around $580, while last week's rumour - albeit confusing in this regard - seemed to indicate a price point situated between $466 - $600. According to the latest rumour report from Game Informer, the final price will actually be closer to the lower end of that interval, at $479.

For that kind of money, the black Xbox 360 will pack a larger 120 GB hard drive, HDMI output and an HDMI cable - all as previously speculated - and there also seems to be room for a 360 with support for the IPTV announced at CES earlier this year. No built-in HD-DVD drive, though.

Finally, another crucial piece of information confirmed by Game Informer is that Microsoft are planning to launch the black Xbox 360 at some point during April. An official press release is also expected only next month, once things cool down a bit after the imminent launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe & co. And I have a feeling that won't take too long.

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Almost everything reported by The Inquirer earlier this month from GDC 2007, with regard to the upcoming Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion pack and the Guild Wars 2 sequel (story) seems to be about right. But those are still just crumbles of info, comparing to the massive preview scored by the PC Gamer magazine in their new May issue, covering the future of the Guild Wars universe. Some of the info contained in the 11 pages long article has found its way on the Guild Wars Guru forums, so you might want to pay them a visit once you're done reading here, since their summary is being updated with ongoing quotes from developers (and in particular from ArenaNet's community manager Gaile Gray).

There are plenty of details revealed already, so we'll try to keep it brief. Unlike the standalone "campaigns" released so far (Factions, Nightfall), the following chapter - titled Guild Wars: Eye of the North - will be a true expansion pack, continuing the story and paving the way for the still-distant sequel. Its story will be split into three acts, summarized by GW Guru as follows:

- Act 1 takes you through 18 underground dungeons to help the dwarves defend against 'the fiery Destroyer', eventually taking you to the Asura and Norns (races)

- Act 2 has three story arcs ranging from exploring the Norns, to the Charr homeland, to an Asura resistance of the Destroyer

- Act 3 pits you against the Great Destroyer

Eye of the North is said to feature an underground complex of tunnels / catacombs stretching across all three 'continents', and as previously reported, it will add 40 new armor sets, 150 new skills (including 50 PvE only) and 10 new heroes. There will be no new professions this time, but the character development will be extended beyond level 20. GW:EN will be the cheapest chapter so far, but being an actual expansion (rather than a standalone campaign), it will require at least one of the previous packages.

As for Guild Wars 2, Gaile Gray insisted to make everyone aware that it will not require any monthly fee, either, so ArenaNet are sticking to their successful pricing model. The sequel will take place hundreds of years later and will introduce four new playable races - Sylvari, Asuras, Charr and Norn. You can expect some radical changes in GW2, both in terms of how the world looks like, and how the game plays like. PC Gamer's preview mentions an overhauled environment and character control system, redefined PvP play and retooled NPC companion system. As expected, Guild Wars 2 will support DirectX 10, but it will not be needed (so you don't need to worry about switching to Windows Vista).

After the release of Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet will continue to support the original as well, so the two games will continue in parallel. And if it weren't obvious enough, there will not be any option to transfer characters, gold or itmes from GW to GW2. However, players will be able to keep their character names and accomplishments for instance:

"Your character name will be reserved for you", said Gaile Gray. "If you link a Guild Wars 2 character to a Guild Wars character, the GW2 character will inherit the GW character's accomplishments, as recorded in your Hall of Monuments. The Hall of Monuments, available [via quests] through Guild Wars: Eye of the North, will provide access to unique companions, equipment, miniatures, titles, etc. that can't be obtained any other way in GW2."

The Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion is set for a holiday 2007 release, and the first Guild Wars 2 beta should begin in 2008. Don't expect the final sequel until 2009 or ever 2010, though.

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EA Launches The Godfather On PS3 & Wii, Announces PS3 Line-up

One year after it first wreaked havoc on the PC and "last-gen" consoles, The Godfather is throwing another couple of punches this week on two more platforms, as Electronic Arts finally released the PlayStation 3 and Wii editions in North America. On the PS3, the game is titled The Godfather: The Don's Edition and costs $59.99, while Wii lovers should keep an eye out for a box reading The Godfather: Blackhand Edition and a less intimidating price tag of $49.99. Both games have been developed by EA Redwood Shores, and they should also be available worldwide tomorrow, March 23, along with the launch of the PlayStation 3 in PAL territories.

"The Godfather Blackhand Edition redesigns the motion-based Blackhand Control system specifically for the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The power is in your hands as you take down the opposition, or point directly at the screen using the Wii Remote for pinpoint firearm accuracy.

The Godfather The Don's Edition contains The Corleone Expansion Pack with new compounds to control, missions to conquer, and the new Corleone Challenges mode. The Godfather The Don's Edition also takes full advantage of the SIXAXIS controller for PlayStation 3; manhandle your controller to manhandle your opponent."

In a follow-up announcement today, Electronic Arts also announced the six games they have in store(s) for tomorrow's PS3 launch in Europe and other PAL territories. So without further ado, here they be:

- Def Jam: Icon

- The Godfather: The Dons Edition

- Need for Speed Carbon

- NBA Street Homecourt

- Fight Night Round 3

- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

These titles, they say, "usher in a world of next generation gaming experiences on the new console. Each of these stunning high definition games takes advantage of the advanced power of the CELL processor and the motion-sensitive SIXAXIS controller. Over the coming year, EA will add more than 20 titles to its PlayStation 3 portfolio with titles such as Burnout 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Skate and Army of Two."

UPDATE: Sorry for the price mix-up, the Wii edition of The Godfather is actually the cheaper one (figures). Thanks Michael for the correction.

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Would you look at that - I woke up this morning to find out that I had completely missed the European launch of the PlayStation 3! Nevermind that it was a highly unofficial launch and that it only took place in Italy: the fact is the PAL PS3 has been available in stores since yesterday, after several Italian retailers decided to step over Sony's head and break the March 23 street date by two whole days. As you can imagine, Sony is pretty pissed off right now:

"Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is deeply disappointed by the unilateral decision of some Italian retail chains to commence the sale of PlayStation 3 to consumers before this official launch date. Such decisions run counter to our policy of consumer protection which seeks to ensure that all of our consumers have an equal opportunity to purchase PlayStation 3", a Sony spokesperson told GI.biz, warning that they plan to "carefully consider all available options in relation to retailers who have commenced sale of PlayStation 3 prior to 23rd March 2007".

The madness began some days ago, when a small retail chain (Darty) began advertising in national newspapers that they'll be selling PS3s from 7 PM on March 21. Rival company Media World was quick to respond, announcing the cancellation of its planned March 23 midnight launch event, and that they would start selling earlier still on Wednesday, from 9 AM. And they did.

Even the international retail giant GameStop said that it may be forced to start selling the PS3 early, even though their long-lasting policy is not to break official street dates.

Gamers (and non-specialist retailers) are the main winners here, of course, but unfortunately for specialist retailers, they couldn't join in the "fun" early, since they "don't have any units yet and won't receive any until Friday morning", according to Davide Sher of Trade Interactive Multimedia (TIM) magazine - the leading specialist publication for Italian retailers. "This puts them at a real disadvantage", he redundantly adds.

Ironically, just yesterday Sony Europe president David Reeves was blathering something about the delay to the European launch of PlayStation 3 being beneficial in the long run:

"It's rather like taking a bottle of soda water and we've shaken it so hard over the last six months that when we take the cork off, it's just going to explode," he told Reuters.

And explode it did. Right in their faces.

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Up to its release this week, Genesis Rising was one of those games that we didn't shy away from showing our enthusiasm for. The game info and media revealed over the last months by Metamorf Studios and publisher DreamCatcher seemed to precede a majestic space game, one that every Homeworld and Nexus fan should have looked forward to. But... there's a major "but". If the first couple of Genesis Rising reviews are anything to go by, this isn't quite the "space odyssey" we were hoping for.

I myself still refuse to trust them for now (which is why I won't even mention the average score... yeah, it's that bad), until I get around to playing the newly released demo version for Genesis Rising. The 536 MB demo is available for download locally if you want to give it a try, and it includes the game's epic intro cinematic, 3 tutorial missions and 2 single-player missions.

The full version of Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade was also released on March 20, and is available from DreamCatcher for $39.99. This is Metamorf Studios' first project, promising to incorporate the best elements of strategy and role-playing games, and casting the player in the role of a "battle-hardened fleet commander and a brilliant genetic designer" (fight clichés with clichés?), "as you control a fleet of fully customizable organic ships in an attempt to conquer the last region of the galaxy: the Universal Heart, an enigmatic entity that spawned all life and matter in the universe. At least that's what the Humans believe...".

In other sci-fi news, Stardock Entertainment and Ironclad Games sent word that 4X space strategy fans interested in the upcoming Sins of a Solar Empire can join in the beta on March 27, by pre-ordering the game for $44.95. The limited-feature beta will initially be single-player only, and will feature a single playable race. To go along with the announcement, they also sent us a couple of new screenshots, showing Sins of a Solar Empire in full 1600x1200 glory. See them in the local gallery.

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Epic Games... now there's a smart developer. There are plenty of reasons for us to say that, but the one we have in mind here has to do with Epic's deal with Microsoft, for the publishing of their insanely successful Xbox 360 game (of the year), Gears of War. Contrary to what a small-time developer would have probably done, when Epic signed with Microsoft to publish the game, they held onto all ancillary rights to the property - such as for movies or novels based on the Gears of War franchise. And by no coincidence!

A Variety story this week reveals that the Gears of War movie is more than just a fleeting thought, now that New Line Cinema has won the auction for the game-to-movie rights. The film's screenwriter will be Stuart Beattie, previously credited with writing for Collateral and Derailed, and currently also involved with another playful adaptation, based on Midway's driving game SpyHunter.

The Gears of War movie is being produced by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey (via their Temple Hill Entertainment compay), who plan to start looking for a director as soon as Beattie completes the script. Variety also reports that the game's lead designer Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski "will exec produce the film and consult on its development for Epic".

"We wanted to make an entertainment property that's not just for games but for other media," said Epic VP and co-founder Mark Rein.

"I'm not a gamer, but what blew me away about 'Gears' was how it captures the mythology of a war mission and how high the stakes are," Godfrey told Daily Variety.

For now, we can only hope that the GoW movie will have a better fate than the Halo movie, which was abandoned by Universal and Fox last autumn. All is not lost, though.

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Sega Launches Armored Core 4, After Burner And Two More

Sega is currently having a rather busy week, and just today they have bombarded our inbox with a salvo of mails announcing the release of four new tiles: Armored Core 4, Full Auto 2: Battlelines, Shining Force EXA and After Burner: Black Falcon - some of which we weren't even expecting until next month. No complaints here, though! And with the European release of the PlayStation 3 just around the corner as well, fans of the Armored Core series in particular can look forward to a great weekend.

Armored Core 4 will be in stores this Friday (March 23) for the PS3 and also for the Xbox 360, promising to deliver super-charged warfare, destructible environments and online battles for up to eight players. Some of the game's features include over 35 action-packed futuristic missions, new Boost powers, a new "Primal Armor", and, as usual, the ability to customize your Mech with an arsenal of parts.

Full Auto 2: Battlelines was previously released on the PlayStation 3 (in non-PAL territories), and this week it also became available for the PSP. The portable version offers both arena-combat and racing-combat, promising to be the most destructive combat-racing title. Well, that may be, but the first Full Auto 2 PSP review on GameSpy only gave it 3/5 stars (60%). So it's no FlatOut, that's for sure.

Moving on to Shining Force EXA, the PS2 role-playing sequel doesn't seem to be much of a hit either, with early reviews only averaging at around 66%, and one author suggesting that "it's probably more appropriate to think of it as an "expansion pack" than anything else", since it uses "the same exact engine, combat system, enemies, environments, and amateur-hour voice acting as 2005's Shining Force Neo". Ouch.

Well, finally we have After Burner: Black Falcon, a seemingly good PSP game that invites players to "experience the ultimate adrenaline rush as you engage in explosive arcade flight-combat using fully licensed jet fighters exclusively on the PSP system". Licensed jet fighters, huh? What's next, licensed nukes?

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Right, again! I know you probably heard a dozen times by now that the PlayStation 3 could get a price cut later this year, and every single time Sony refused to admit it. And they'll probably refuse to admit the latest rumour as well, given that it was stirred by an analyst based on a recent comment made by Sony America chairman and CEO, sir Howard Stringer, during a TV interview (reported on Smarthouse). When questioned about the ongoing battle between the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, Stringer admitted:

"Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the video game field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants - a home server, game device, even a computer." (ed. - our bolding)

But while the Wii is currently outselling the PS3 by 3-to-1, Sony can at least take confort in the fact that the Blu-ray is in turn outselling the HD-DVD (adopted by Microsoft for the Xbox 360), also by 3-to-1 according to Stringer's statements.

Regardless, that decisive comment about the PS3's spicy price point has led industry analysts - or at least one analyst in particular, Yuji Fujimori from Goldman Sachs - to expect a worldwide price cut of $100 later this year (Fujimori hinted at October).

"'The PS3 price has long been cited as high', Fujimori wrote, noting that cutting the price of game consoles has historically quadrupled volumes.

Fujimori sees simplification of design aiding PS3's profitability as well, noting Sony's original PS began with 700 components and concluded with 200, while the PS2 started with 2,000 parts and finished with 600. The PS3 prototype had 4,000 components but now a shift to around 2,000 is in the pipeline."

The newer PlayStation 3 models that will go on sale in Europe and Australia in a couple of days are already cheaper to make (due to replacing the hardware emulation of PS2 games with lacking software emulation), and the current PS3 microprocessor chips will also be replaced with cheaper ones in the near future. We don't expect Sony to announce a price cut just yet, though; but one can always hope...

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Devil May Cry 4 Confirmed For PS3, Xbox 360 And PC

After Mercenaries 2 last month (and Assassin's Creed last year), the PlayStation 3 has lost yet another major exclusivity today, as Capcom announces that their upcoming action sequel Devil May Cry 4 is now in development not only for the PS3, but also for the Xbox 360 and PC. This comes as a bit of a surprise, if we take into account that Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition was the only game in the series to be released on another platform (PC), and that all of the previous DMC games have been exclusive to the PlayStation 2.

Was this Capcom's intention all along, or did they decide to go multi-platform only after seeing the PS3's lacking market penetration? They didn't say. But I'm guessing their recent success on the Xbox 360 with Lost Planet and Dead Rising may have had something to do with this decision as well.

"Capcom is committed to making its titles available to as wide an audience as possible, and has been building its technology base to meet that goal", said Mark Beaumont, executive vice president, officer and head of Capcom consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe. "This announcement means that PS3, Xbox 360 and PC owners worldwide will be able to experience the latest instalment of one of Capcom's pillar franchises."

While failing to provide a release date for any of the game's versions, Capcom did mention that Devil May Cry 4 will be released simultaneously on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, tacitly implying that the PC version will follow sometime (much) later. They also claim that "each version of the game will be maximized to take advantage of the systems' strengths, leading to a breath-taking visual and gameplay experience" on each platform.

"Devil May Cry 4 immerses gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where a new protagonist clashes with a familiar hero. As the new leading man, Nero, players will unleash incredible attacks and non-stop combos using a unique new gameplay mechanic, his powerful "Devil Bringer" arm. With the advanced graphical capabilities of the next-gen systems, high definition visuals and intricate detail come to life as players explore new and exotic locales. Dynamic action and undeniable style combine with unprecedented fighting options and a gripping story to produce the incomparable experience that only a Devil May Cry game can deliver." End quote.

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Earlier this month we wrote about a group of Take-Two shareholders trying to take down the company's current CEO, Paul Eibeler (story), in a corporate battle whose outcome was to be decided this week, at Take-Two's annual stockholders meeting. But that meeting will not take place on March 23, as initially schedueled, because the company has desperately postponed it for March 29, while announcing that in the meantime they will try to find "alternative courses of action" so that the current management can keep its dubious leadership.

One surprising solution suggested in yesterday's press release is the sale of Take-Two Interactive, something that sounds pretty hard to achieve in less than ten days - and even harder afterwards, when the rebellious shareholders will likely take control of the board.

According to various reports summed up on GamePolitics, most industry analysts have serious doubts about the sale of Take-Two, even though rival publishers Ubisoft, THQ, Activision and/or Electronic Arts might be interested in (parts of) the company. One analyst from Wedbush-Morgan is even quoted as saying: "This is crazy... I can't see a sale happening, unless there is truly a 'greater fool' out there".

As if things weren't troubled enough for Take-Two, over the weekend the company also initiated a pre-emptive legal strike against Jack Thompson - who has been threatening to block the release of Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2 later this year, through an upcoming lawsuit. His similar attempt to block the sale of Bully last autumn was a complete failure, but nevertheless Thompson remains just as confident that he will single-handedly bring down the publisher:

"I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid... that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two (...) The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear [this] week when I strike back."

Join us later for Court Wars Episode V: The Miami Attorney Strikes Back.

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