Yes, that's right, Gearbox is guilty as previously charged by SEGA's marketing mix-up, for developing the upcoming Alien FPS announced a few days ago. Pretty much like Obsidian's Alien RPG, the shooter is also being developed for next generation platforms - presumably meaning the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The official confirmation (a.k.a. announcement) has just been issued by SEGA, and once again it brings absolutely no details whatsoever about the game itself. So all we know right now is what they told us on Monday: that the Alien FPS is being targeted for release in 2009. And to think that the RPG will come even later...

To fill up some space in their press release, SEGA went on to praise Gearbox's past productions, and offer some lofty comments on the deal.

Gearbox Software is a leading developer in the first-person shooter genre, producing titles for the industry's top franchises including Brothers in Arms, Halo and Half-Life. They consistently produce best-selling titles and have garnered numerous industry awards. Gearbox Software's FPS Alien title will retain the atmospheric look and feel of the original films while leveraging next-generation technology to create an entirely new interactive Alien experience.

"Gearbox Software has a storied history of bringing innovative and compelling design to the FPS category," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "Combining their design talents with the intense action of the Alien franchise ensures that gamers will have an immersive and action-packed experience."

"The Alien series has been a tremendous influence for myself, the people at Gearbox Software and the video games industry in general," said Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software. "The opportunity to work with the amazing people at SEGA and Fox to build a next generation video game in the Alien universe is one of those dream projects that is a perfect fit for our capability and our passion."

As we said before, "this is gonna be a looong wait...". But feel free to check up on SEGA's Aliens website every once in a while. You never know when it might hatch and burst a slew of juicy stuff in your face.

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Nintendo NOT Recalling Any Wii Straps, But Offers Replacement

Nintendo recently set out on an internal investigation, to try and figure out a way for calming people down while playing on the Wii, so they wouldn't injure themselves or their loved ones (i.e. TVs), due to improper (i.e. hyperactive) use of the Wii remote. While they were doing that, several more people ended up with their hand all messed up, and even with a black eye. So it seems that a solution is desperately needed, if Santa is to safely walk into our homes this Christmas.

And a solution is what Nintendo has come up with! Contrary to some misleading reports from yesterday, the company won't be recalling any of the wrist straps for its Wii Remote (accused by many for breaking too easily), but they are however offering users to replace their Wii straps, free of charge.

In a special statement issued by the company today, Nintendo says that "there is no problem with the existing wrist strap as long as the Wii Remote is used sensibly and properly in accordance with the guidelines provided by Nintendo. All parts of the wrist strap have passed product testing and quality control." They also give the following tips for "safe play" on the Wii:

- Always wear the wrist strap while playing.

- Keep a firm grip on the Wii Remote at all times.

- Make sure people and objects are out of the range of movement before play begins.

- Players should keep at least three feet/ one meter from their televisions and dry their hands if they become sweaty or wet for any other reason.

- Remember that the Wii Remote is responsive enough to detect minor movements - so excessive and forceful actions are not necessary. Therefore we recommend not to use excessively rapid, violent or wide swinging motions while using the Wii Remote during game play.

If you're the hyperactive type and have already broken your wrist strap - or even if you are simply worried about it being too thin - you are advised to contact your nearest Nintendo Service Center, where you can replace it with a more sturdy (looking) wrist strap, free of charge upon request. You can also use the Wii Remote Wrist Strap Replacement Request Form provided on the Nintendo website, if you live in North America.

If you're from Europe, you can use the following contact informations:

E-mail: wiiwriststrap@codestorm.co.uk

Address:

Wii Wrist Strap,

Nintendo Service Centre,

CoDEStorm House

Walton Road

Farlington

PO6 1TR

Telephone: 0870 60 60 247 (Calls are charged at the National Rate to the caller)

Just make sure your Wii doesn't already have the newer version of the strap before asking for a replacement (Wii consoles shipped starting in early December already utilized it).

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Gears of War Hits 2 Million, Guild Wars Tops 3 Million

A couple of games have reached new multi-million selling points this week. First of all, according to a joint announcement issued by Microsoft and Epic today, Gears of War has just made history by becoming the fastest-selling next-gen game of 2006, and the fastest-selling exclusive Xbox game of all time (couldn't they find any more complicated distinctions?). The performance comes as a result of more than 2 million copies having sold worldwide, in just six weeks since the game's release.

"We've always held high hopes for Gears of War, but we never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and gamers all over the world", said Michael Capps, president, Epic Games. "I can't describe how stoked our team is right now. Our fans can absolutely count on Epic to keep delivering new gameplay through Xbox Live."

So there you have it, yet another firm promise that Epic will deliver additional content for Gears of War. And according to one recent interview, they also said that the content will be free to download via Xbox Live (whatever it will be, we still don't know).

The other multi-millionaire this week is actually a recidivist. Having already reached the 2,000,000 mark back in June, Guild Wars is now boasting over 3 million units sold, as proclaimed a couple of days ago by ArenaNet and NCsoft. Naturally, the recent release of the second expansion (Nightfall) also played a major part in boosting the sales of this subscription-free MMORPG, which first went live more than a year and a half ago.

ArenaNet used this opportunity to announce the details of the in-game Wintersday Festival (taking place between December 20 - January 1), as well as some exciting new features to be implemented in the game over the holiday season. You can find more info on this on the Guild Wars website.

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Rainbow Six: Vegas Deployed, PC Patch, Xbox 360 Update

Only the PlayStation 3 and PSP versions remain to be released early next year, now that Ubisoft has deployed the PC version of Rainbow Six: Vegas to stores this week, following the Xbox 360 version a few weeks ago (and the long-since cancelled PS2 version). Developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas is the fifth iteration of the multimillion-selling tactical shooter franchise, and the first one to take the series to the next-gen level.

The game starts out at the Mexican border, where team Rainbow is in pursuit of some international terrorists. Shortly after that, the action will obviously lead you to the sin city of Las Vegas, where you'll have to tackle explosive situations in glitzy locations.

"In the most dramatic installment of the renowned first-person shooter franchise to date Rainbow operatives take to the chaotic streets of Las Vegas as an escalating terrorist siege in "Sin City" threatens to take world terrorism to new, uncontrollable heights. The future of global security hangs in the balance as you battle to defend classic Vegas locations and environments like Fremont Street, the Strip and casinos. Experience Las Vegas like never before - through revolutionary next generation technology as you work against the clock to protect one of the world's most recognizable cities from utter devastation."

Along with the PC version comes the first patch already, promoting the game to version 1.01. The 34 MB download is available locally, and you can see the list of changes applied by this update on our download page.

And finally, an auto-update for the Xbox 360 version of Rainbow Six: Vegas was released on Xbox Live yesterday, fixing quite a lot of problems in multiplayer, mostly. You can view the lenghty list of changes on Ubi's forums.

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After taking a break in 2005 without releasing any more add-ons for their sci-fi MMORPG, Funcom is now back on track, announcing that the fourth expansion - Lost Eden - has gone live this week. Following the original Anarchy Online from 2001, The Notum Wars in 2002, Shadowlands in 2003 and Alien Invasion in 2004, Lost Eden brings "an awesome range of new features for all level ranges, offering countless more hours of action and fun for all Rubi-Ka citizens".

The new expansion is only available for purchase online, and costs $29.95 / 29.95 Euro. Pretty spicy, but only until you learn that the package also includes all the previous content - meaning the original version of Anarchy Online and all three previous expansions listed above.

Here are the main features included in Anarchy Online: Lost Eden:

- Fight the epic battle for control of Rubi-ka in space! All-new orbital battle stations take player-versus-player combat between Clan and Omni players to new heights.

- Enter the heart of the organic alien motherships! Unleash your powers inside the terrifying alien invasion fleet while exploring mysterious and challenging in-door environments.

- Go to war with missile launchers, gun turrets and call upon devastating air strikes! It's time to fight for Notum tower control in a whole new way.

- Make the war count! Add your experience points to planet-wide research and gain terrible weapons of war such as orbit-to-ground laser cannon attacks and upgraded battle-mechs.

- Master and use devastating new battle-mechs! Unleash their potential for death on massive player-versus-player battlefields, in space and on the ground.

- Conquer a whole new range of weapons and armor as you battle across Rubi-ka in its darkest hour! 'Lost Eden' brings you on a journey ever closer to Armageddon.

Word is that existing Anarchy Online players can purchase the expansion through Funcom's account pages, while new customers can order it from the Funcom shop.

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So determined are the folks from Flagship Studios to have the best possible multiplayer experience in their upcoming Action-RPG, Hellgate: London, that they have established a new studio in Seattle and began work on a casual online RPG, that will be used to test their networking technology. The game is called Mythos, and as you can see from our first screenshot, it's pretty far away from Hellgate: London's graphical extravaganza.

In fact, it might remind you of another RPG released last year by WildTangent, called Fate: just compare the first Mythos screenshot with this particular Fate screenshot. And it's no coincidence that they look similar, because the new Flagship Seattle studio is led by Travis Baldree - who previously worked at WildTangent as the Lead Designer on the free-to-play role-playing game Fate. Not much more is known about Mythos at this time, apart from the fact that it will be digitally distributed by Flagship Studios subsidiary Ping0 in North America and Europe, in 2007.

As for Flagship's new satellite studio from Seattle, here's a bit more from the announcement:

The creation of Flagship Seattle plays an integral part in the company's development plans. (...) Flagship Seattle has a diverse history of game development. Other team members have worked on titles including Total Annihilation, Dungeon Siege and SWAT 3.

"We were very impressed with the work of Travis from when we were first shown Wild Tangent's Fate at E3 2005", said Phil Shenk, Creative Director of Mythos and founding member of Flagship Studios. "Both he and the Flagship Seattle team have an exceptional pedigree in games development. Their skills and expertise make them real assets."

"To be involved in the formation of Flagship Seattle is an honor", said Travis Baldree, Project Director of Flagship Seattle. "We are sure that Mythos will put Flagship Seattle on the map, and in turn will become an integral part of the Flagship Studios experience"

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Halo 3 Beta Codes Scandal, Multiplayer Team Leader Leaves Bungie

In two very distinct happenings this week, a scandal broke surrounding the European Halo 3 beta codes giveaway throughout the Xbox Community Network; and today we received a mail on behalf of Max Hoberman (the former multiplayer team lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3), announcing that he left Bungie and formed a new studio called Certain Affinity. They also revealed some of their immediate plans, but we'll get to that in a bit. First, the Halo 3 beta "cash for codes" controversy.

The story was broken by Britxbox, who was among the XCN websites picked by Microsoft to offer Europeans the chance to win beta codes for the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer beta. According to BXB's report (which has since been removed, by request of the XCN management), one of the XCN websites entrusted with Halo 3 beta codes has been abusing Microsoft's unlikely generosity, by trying to sell its beta codes, instead of giving everyone a fair chance of winning them. Upon finding out about this malpractice, Microsoft sent out a letter to all XCN websites in Europe, containing the following warning:

"If your site is found to be one of the offenders you will not receive any beta codes and will be removed from the XCN with immediate effect. We will also ensure that Microsoft will no longer have any involvement with your site"

In the meantime, over in America the registrations for the beta have been pouring from day one. In the first 24 hours alone, Microsoft says that over 140,000 people signed up for the beta on Halo3.com, obviously bringing the official website to a crawl. Keep 'em coming!

All right, now about that other thing. As I said, a new studio called Certain Affinity was formed by the ex-multiplayer team lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3, Max Hoberman. It's based in Austin, Texas, and it already has a "strategic partnership" with Bungie Studios and Microsoft Game Studios. Certain Affinity's first project is developing multiplayer maps for Halo 2, which will release this spring exclusively for the Xbox 360. The company is also creating a new Xbox 360 title to be announced at a later date. Here's a bit more from the announcement:

Founded by Max Hoberman, an industry veteran and former Halo 2 and Halo 3 multiplayer team lead, Certain Affinity is focused on creating top-tier games and content in an efficient, no-nonsense manner. The company's staff and leadership averages 12 years in the industry and draws on a wealth of experience from such companies as Origin, Digital Anvil, and Bungie. The team includes major contributors from dozens of hit titles including games in the Ultima, Wing Commander, Myth, Asheron's Call, Freelancer, and Ghost Recon series, as well as all of the titles in the Halo series.

"We're not setting out to change the industry," says Hoberman. "We're creating games by choosing strong leaders, talented and experienced developers, and solid partners. This partnership with Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios is a piece of that puzzle and we hope it's the start of a long and fruitful relationship."

12 years of average experience in the gaming industry? Not bad, and quite an impressive background they have there.

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Square Enix has gone into an all-out portable frenzy. Barely did they surprise us with the announcement of Dragon Quest IX for Nintendo DS yesterday (instead of PS3 or Wii, as expected), and today we learn about the existence of two new titles set in the Final Fantasy Tactics franchise, equally portable as well. Only this time, one of them is set to launch on Sony's PlayStation Portable platform, and the other one... it remains to be seen. Some kind of Nintendo device anyway (DS or GBA).

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War (for PSP) and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire (GBA / DS?) are the two games in question, revealed through the Japaneze magazine Jump - and a couple of scans from it, also appearing on the NeoGAF forums. The new FFTs will be part of a new sub-series of portable games, called "Ivalice Alliance", set to begin with the release of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (on DS). Square Enix is therefore continuing to exploit the Ivalice universe created by Yasumi Matsuno, even after he parted ways with the company, in a dubious context.

All that's known about Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War is that it will be a porting of the classic PlayStation game, enhanced with cel-shaded cinematics for telling the story, and some new jobs - including "Onion Knight". The third game in the Ivalice Alliance series is shrouded in even more mystery, and basically the only thing we know about it is the title, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire ("A2" as in "Advance 2").

Considering that Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is expected to be released late next year, it's quite unlikely for these new FFTs to come out before 2008.

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Barely had we announced on Monday that SEGA would produce new games based on the Alien movies, and now we have the official confirmation that the Alien RPG is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, creators of Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2. This was kind of predictable, if we're to remember that back in Spring it was already known that Obsidian was working on a next-gen RPG for SEGA. Except that the project in question was thought to be the first orginail game made by Feargus Urquhart's studio - and the Alien universe is anything but "original" nowdays. But let's not pick on details.

The press release issued today by SEGA mentions that Obisidian's new RPG is being developed for the PC and next generation consoles (pro'ly PS3 and Xbox 360), although it doesn't give the game any title, nor a release date. Just this:

The role playing game will build upon the distinctive look and feel of the original films while utilizing next-generation technology to create an entirely different and unique Alien experience.

"With Obsidian Entertainment's development pedigree, they were our first choice to bring the Alien franchise to the RPG universe," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "They are the only developer for us that could effectively combine the Alien mythology with compelling RPG gameplay to create the ultimate Alien experience."

"We are thrilled to be working with the great production and publishing teams at Sega to deliver the ultimate in-depth Alien experience to gamers worldwide," said Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment. "Building an epic RPG with a license as heralded as the Alien franchise is truly a great honor."

So now we're waiting to find out who will be making the Alien FPS. Or, better said, we're waiting for confirmation that it's Gearbox Software - the studio whos logo was initially listed at the bottom of the Aliens page on SEGA's website, right next to Obsidian. Shortly after the page went live, both logos were eliminated, and only Obsidian's returned today, along with the above announcement.

Gotta love those marketing mix-ups.

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PlayStation 3 To Be Delayed In Europe Until September 2007?

What's with all the crazy rumours today?! And why does Sony always get the lousiest of them? As if it weren't bad enough that the European release of the PlayStation 3 was previously set back to March 2007, some sources within the industry have recently been hinting towards April 2007 as a more realistic launch window for the console. But even that seems optimistic, now that CVG drops this huge stink bomb on us Europeans:

"A source has told CVG that a PS3 delay as far back as September 2007 is now far more likely, pointing the finger of delay at - yes you guessed it - 'component shortages'."

September 2007, you have got to be kidding me! That would be nearly one year after the PS3's debut in Japan and North America. Because, as CVG points out, no sane console maker would ever go for a summer release - the only season when hardcore gamers (well, some of them) step out in the real world for a change.

Naturally, when they contacted Sony UK, a company spokesperson told them that they are still "100 percent on track for a March release". But let's not forget that Phil Harrison (Sony's head of Worldwide Studios) recently refused to give a definitive promise on the March 2007 release, in an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine. And even though September 2007 may seem like a far-fetched delay right now, wasn't it the same in 2005, when the first rumours began dragging the PS3 launch from Spring, to Autumn 2006?

Anyway, for what it's worth, Sony does have a good news (for themselves), in that the PlayStation 3 has already sold in a month more than the Xbox 360 sold this entire year, in Japan. That's more than 187,000 PS3s in a month, versus 110,000 Xbox 360s in a year. Nice. Oh, and the first Xbox sold 11 (yes, eleven) consoles a couple of weeks ago in Japan. Somebody better tell Microsoft to give up already.

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