More RPG News: Hellgate 360, Blue Dragon, Two Worlds

With all the role-playing news we already had today, there's still plenty more left to talk about. After Fallout 3, Oblivion, FF XIII and FF Versus XIII, we now turn our attention over to three more ambitious titles - Hellgate: London, Blue Dragon and Two Worlds. Up until now, Flagship Studios' shooter-RPG was only bound for release on the PC. And although "oficially" that's still the case, a recent Next-Gen.biz interview offers tangible hope of playing Hellgate: London on the Xbox 360, at some point in the future. In their discussion with Namco Bandai's director of business development Zach Karlsson, Next-Gen learned that an Xbox 360 version of the game is actually quite likely to be planned already, and that 2008 promises to be an even bigger year for Namco Bandai's games.

This year NamcoBandai has Hellgate: London, a PC RPG cum, shooter that it is co-publishing that with EA. Given the company's newfound penchant for cross-platform development, I ask if an Xbox 360 version is likely. Karlsson won't confirm it, but he admits that it's highly unlikely that such a notion is far from the company's planning calendar.

(...) Karlsson says, "We have a bunch of new stuff coming up in 2008 which is going to be our biggest year. It's indicative of our push into building new IPs and licenses."

Moving on to Blue Dragon - the one game that boosted Xbox 360 sales in Japan after it was released in December - there is finally some speculation about a western release date for Hironobu Sakaguchi's new RPG. As reported on CVG, online retailer Gamestop has listed Blue Dragon with a June 5 release in the US. They go on to assume that, even if Microsoft manages to meet this "deadline", it will still take a very long time for the game to be released in Europe - "given that all the text would have to be translated in several different languages. And we know how long that can take... Final Fantasy III STILL isn't out over here yet on DS", they argue.

Finally, the under-hyped Two Worlds role-playing game made the news a few days ago, when SouthPeak Interactive announced that their "massive, open-ended role-playing game", Two Worlds, will (also?) be released for the Xbox 360 this spring - while sending along these new Xbox 360 screenshots. The game was previously known to be in development for both the PC and Xbox 360, but this latest press release bears no mention of the PC version. However, we're still expecting it to be released this March on the PC. Until then, you can read more about the magic in Two World, in a new communique issued by Zuxxez.

P.S. If you're more into portable RPGs, you might want to stick around for another double-announcement, coming up right after the break!

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Final Fantasy XIII E3 Demo, More FF XIII And Versus Details

The PlayStation 3 may not have the largest installed user base today, but with a couple of Square Enix RPGs (and a certain Konami MGS game...), things will surely look a lot different in a year or two. The RPGs in question are obviously Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, announced exclusively for the PS3 just prior to E3 2006, and first shown through a couple of trailers (one behind closed doors) at last year's gaming Mecca.

Since then, the FF Versus XIII trailer was made available for the public last December, and just a few days ago word came through from Japan's Dengeki magazine that Square are aiming to show a Final Fantasy XIII demo at this year's E3 in July - which all of sudden doesn't sound so boring after all (unless they actually plan to show it in October at "the new E3", E for All Expo). This is what PSU reported last week:

"When questioned about the release of the demo, the Square Enix dev team stated, "'We are hoping to have a playable demo ready for E3 in 2007." Since E3 has been downsized as of this year, only invited studios, press, and retailers may attend the event, which may cause Square Enix to hold off a public showing until the Tokyo Game Show, for example, later this year."

Over the weekend, PSU returned with more details taken from Dengeki and Famitsu, about both Final Fantasy XIII's story and the Versus opus' battle system, among other aspects. Here are some:

Final Fantasy XIII

1. Motome Toriyama, Final Fantasy XIII's director said, "The intensity of the opening scene -- it's probably the most in the Final Fantasy series so far."

2. The story of Final Fantasy XIII starts with an invasion of the Cocoon World from the World Below.

3. The people of the Cocoon World are frightened of their world falling from the sky and anyone that is believed to be able to make the Cocoon world fall is exiled. Residents of Cocoon are fearful of the outside world, and regard "influence" from the outside world as something like a virus.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

1. Nomura stated due to the processing power of the PlayStation 3, players in Final Fantasy Versus XIII should be able to battle in areas with great differences in height just as in the trailer.

2. Players will be able to fight along side party members who have their own specific abilities and weapons.

3. Battles will make use of the full environment, including what is above and below the characters.

4. Nomura and his dev team said they are still testing the games battle mechanics. Although you will not be able to freely warp to any point on the battle field, Nomura discussed how you will be able to warp to the location where you place or throw your sword.

5. According to Nomura, we can expect something similar to Kingdom Hearts.

Tetsuya Nomura also mentioned that he has some ideas for the next Versus XIII trailer, which he promises will be "extremely cool". Bring it on!

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Not a year goes by without Bethesda breaking some great news, and even though 2007 has just begun, we have already witnessed the announcement of The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles expansion pack for PC and Xbox 360. Given Oblivion's planned release on the PS3 as well in a couple of months, it's only natural that we ask ourselves whether Shivering Isles will also make its way on the PlayStation 3. And another question that's always on our irradiated minds when referring to Bethesda is "whatever happened to Fallout 3?".

Regarding this last issue, the latest update on the games' status comes from the UK Official Xbox Magazine, via GamerNews.org:

Speaking to Todd Howard (Executive producer of Oblivion, Morrowind and Fallout) with regard to Bethesda's plans for 2007 and beyond, he told [OXM]; "We started work (on Fallout 3) in late 2004 with a few people. We only had about 10 people on it until Oblivion wrapped, but most of our staff is on it now." Is it wishful thinking that Fallout 3 will eventually be released on Microsoft's next-gen machine? With the game itself utilising the same Gamebryo engine as Oblivion, perhaps not. And promised to be as huge and open-ended as their multi-award winning 2006 effort, demand for Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 would be huge.

"We have pretty long preproduction phases on our stuff," continues Howard "doing concepts, design, building prototypes, and such. We should be ready soon to show it off, but we'll see."

The story was also referred by Bethesda senior producer Ashley Cheng in his blog a couple of days ago, who goes on to recall about past games in the Fallout series. And speaking of which, earlier this month there was a story claiming that Fallout 2 (&1) was the most popular torrent of 2006, having been [illegally] downloaded 1,165,564,987 times. Indeed, one freakin' billion! (ed - there's obviously a grave mistake in that report, since #2 only gathered around 2 million downloads)

Phew, but getting back to Oblivion, we find confirmation that the Shivering Isles expansion will certainly be coming to the PS3 on CVG:

The good news is that Bethesda plans on a PS3 launch but whether it'll come bundled with the original, currently due for PS3's launch, remains to be seen. "It is our intention to make it available for PlayStation this year, but no release date has been set."

Unfortunately there's still no media available for Bethesda's Fallout 3, but we do have some recent screenshots for the PS3 version of Oblivion, and for the PC version of Shivering Isles. Mix them up in your head, and you get a mental image of Shivering Isles on PS3.

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Instead of confirming the semi-official Wii version of Driver: Parallel Lines, Ubisoft is now surprising us with the announcement of Driver 76 - a new PSP game set to continue Reflections Interactive's intense driving series. Reminiscent of the kick-ass Interstate 76 (which is still likely to bring back memories...), Driver 76 will actually act as a prequel for Driver: Parallel Lines, as it follows a story that takes place two years earlier. Even more surprising is that the game is already speeding towards its nearing release date, set in March 2007.

This will be the first new Driver game to be released since Ubi acquired the franchise for a whopping $24 Million in July 2006, clearly implying that they have big plans for it in the future. Although the team from Reflections still plays a part in developing Driver 76, it appears that the game is primarily being developed by Sumo Digital - a name that should ring a bell or two, if you hold yourself as an avid fan of racing games. The most relevant games developed by Sumo so far were Outrun 2 (2004), ToCA Race Driver 2 (2005, PSP port) and Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast (2006). So there's no doubt they have what it takes to make a fun driving game, and hopefully one that will resemble the original Driver, more than any other title in Reflections' since-compromised series.

There is no media available for Driver 76 at this time, and what little information is contained in Ubi's announcement, you can find below:

"Faithful to the brand spirit, Driver 76 is an action driving game that features Hollywood-style car chases while also letting the player experience the open environment on foot. The game thrusts the player into the heart of the 1970s, through 27 missions divided into six main plots. Players can take side jobs, earning cash that can be used to modify their rides. Driver 76 also offers an extensive multiplayer mode and a host of mini-games ranging from street races to all out carnage in Destruction Derby mode.

Features Include:

- All-New Content Developed Exclusively for the PSP system – Twenty-seven all-new missions created for the PSP system.

- Prequel Storyline to Driver Parallel Lines – The year is 1976, two years before Driver Parallel Lines.

- Multiplayer Games and Downloadable Content – Games include Street Racing, Destruction Derby, Pink Slip Racing and Swap Meet. Also download new paintjobs to use on your collected vehicles in the garage.

- Experience Open Environments in Authentic 1970's New York – All the architecture, music, cars and clothes of the '70s. Spans New York from Jersey to Coney Island.

- Vehicle Modification System – Collect your favorite vehicles and complete side job missions to get the cash to modify your ride.

- High-Speed Hollywood Racing Action – High-speed car races and crashes. Go even faster by customizing your car with special parts.

- Authentic '70s Soundtrack – Immerse yourself in the '70s with classic songs from the decade."

Although I'm not a PSP owner myself, I do hope that Driver 76 will mark the revival of this once-great series.

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For Bigbig Studios, the action is the juice. And they just can't get enough of it! After blowing PSP gamers away in 2005 with their debut title, they now plan to spread even more urban chaos on a couple of Sony's platforms, when they return in full force later this year, with Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice. As the title implies, this new game will continue the first Pursuit Force with even more... well, more of everything, really, and this time around they're even bringing it to the PlayStation 2.

Sony's recent announcement says that Extreme Justice will be released in Europe this summer, both on the PSP and PS2. The most prominent new feature will be the addition of multiplayer modes: four-player wi-fi in the PSP version, and two-player split screen in the PlayStation 2 version.

Joining the Convicts and Warlords in their wrongdoings from the first part, there will be two new gangs ripping Capital City apart: Raiders (professional raiders, specialising in striking hard and fast and staging ambushes) and the Syndicate (a gang of professional bank robbers looking to steal anything of value... by any means possible). You won't be fighting alone anymore, however, as you'll be joined by four new recruits - Sarah (Air Support), Gage (High Speed Pursuit), Ash (Special Operations) and Preach (Heavy Assault) - as well as an aditional (or rather rival) arm of the police - the Viper division - for the Pursuit Force to contend with.

"The chase becomes more lethal with faster and larger vehicles to jump between including gigantic tanks, trains and even the wings of an aeroplane. Bigger and better bad guys deliver epic boss battles, as the war on Capital City's gangland reaches anarchic proportions.

Versatility is key, with a variety of vehicles available, including a bike and sidecar, jet skis and a hovercraft to ensure the Pursuit Force stay one step ahead of the criminals. Switching seamlessly between vehicle and ground combat, players can take out bad guys on foot in classic Hollywood cop style, and in vehicles, including a helicopter, with mounted high calibre guns for maximum destruction."

Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice also boasts "an all new Hollywood inspired storyline", spiced up with death defying jumps from vehicle to vehicle (also shown in ultra motion), extreme modes of transport and merciless gangs.

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Crackdown Alerted As Gold, Demo Locked Up Longer // UPDATE

Overwatched by one of GTA's original creators - David Jones, now of Realtime Worlds - the new Xbox 360 action game Crackdown has gone gold over the weekend, and it should be released under the Microsoft Game Studios brand in just about a month, on February 20 in North America and February 23 in Europe. The announcement followed a slightly bad news last week, when the devs admitted that the Crackdown demo was being delayed a bit from its originally planned release on January 18:

"The demo is going through the final steps of the certification process, which has delayed the scheduled release by several days, though it is still on-track to appear before the end of January."

Crackdown recently received a generous bosst of hype, after it was announced that pre-ordering purchasing "specially marked boxes" of Realtime Worlds' game would entitle fans to join the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer beta phase, scheduled to begin this spring.

And speaking of hype, Crackdown is listed among Gamespot's Most Wanted Games of 2007, which they proudly announced this Monday. If you're curious about the other 13 titles, below is the full list, in what Gamespot calls "alphabetical order" - you know, as in ...E, F, H (?!), G...

- BioShock (2K Games/Irrational Games - Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

- Burnout 5 (Electronic Arts/Criterion Games - Xbox 360 / PS3)

- Crackdown (Microsoft Game Studios/Realtime Worlds - Xbox 360)

- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Activision/Splash Damage - PC)

- Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft/Microsoft Game Studios - Xbox 360)

- Half-Life 2: Episode Two (Valve Software - PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

- God of War II (SCEA/ SCE Studios Santa Monica - PS2)

- Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/Bungie Software - Xbox 360)

- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo - DS)

- Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios/BioWare - Xbox 360)

- Spore (EA Games/Maxis - PC)

- Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo - Wii)

- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo/HAL Labs - Wii)

- Tomb Raider Anniversary (Eidos Interactive/Crystal Dynamics - PS2)

Curiously, there's no sign of Crysis, Hellgate: London, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or Supreme Commander, among other arguably "more wanted" titles.

P.S. 'Forgot to mention that we added some new Crackdown screenshots in our gallery over the weekend.

UPDATE: Microsoft confirmed that the Crackdown demo will be available for download on January 23, at 2:00 A.M. Pacific time. Almost there now.

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In November of last year, Steel Fury was emerging as a promising tank simulator, and arguably one of the only tank simulators currently worth waiting for. Although the game is still several months away from completion, Ukranian game developer Graviteam is ready to give us a hands-on look at two missions from Steel Fury, through a 205 MB alpha demo. One is a day-time mission at Taranovka village, and the other one a night-time mission near Lozovenka village. You can download it locally, or if you'd rather see a Steel Fury trailer first, we have that as well.

The other demo version freshly added on Playfuls is for UFO: Afterlight, Altar Games' third chapter in their series, that doesn't do much justice to the classic UFO / X-COM strategy games. But what can we say: we love them for trying so hard, and for stubbornly continuing to evolve their games for a very niche fan base.

In this UFO: Afterlight demo, you'll get to test all features of the final game for whole 10 game days. You will be able to go through all options in the strategic part and experience tactical action in a random number of randomly generated missions. Approximately five, they say.

While waiting for the download(s), you can also check out our early review of UFO: Aftermath. The final score is just 6.6, but that doesn't mean that fans of the genre won't be able to enjoy it. Like we said: it's for a very niche fan base, and if you're not in it, odds are you'll turn away long before things get interesting.

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Right after the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion went live a few days ago, we asked a similar question: was Blizzard prepared? Although the response was not entirely affirmative, the end result - as far as Blizzard is concerned - was more than satisfactory. Now, as the dust settles over the initial rush, another problem becomes apparent. And this time, we turn our scrutinizing eyes over to the game's publisher, Vivendi.

Most of you living in various parts of the civilized world probably have nothing to complain about. But some of us here in Eastern Europe are going through the same ordeal we did back when the original World of Warcraft came out. An ordeal basically caused by a huge demand for the game and pre-paid cards, and an appalling response from Vivendi. We thought they've learned their lesson by now, that there really is a demanding market around here... but, boy, were we wrong!

As if traditionally allocating very limited supplies for Eastern European countries wasn't bad enough, prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade they again reduced the number of allocated units for the territory, which eventually led to a pretty nasty crisis this week. At least in Romania, not even the online pre-orders could be satisfied by Vivendi's initial shipment (I should know, I pre-ordered the damn thing in October, yet I'm still waiting with foam at the mouth - though admitedly due to a local mix-up).

So my highly-subjective verdict is that, unlike Blizzard, Vivendi was definitely not prepared.

Right, now that I got that off my chest, let's change the subject to something more cheerful. For those of you who are still not piping at the gates of Outland, we have a new WoW: TBC gameplay trailer waiting to be viewed online or downloaded. And for those who just like to collect stuff, FiringSquad has word about some upcoming World of Warcraft action figures made by DC:

"The first six action figures based on Blizzard's MMORPG are due out this fall and will include Illidan, Dwarf Warrior, Orc Shaman, Draenei Paladin, Blood Elf Rogue and Undead Warlock."

I'll wait for the female Blood Elf stripper, thank you.

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Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike Booster Pack Details And Trailer

Looks like the recent rumours stirred by some in-game ads, about new vehicles being added to Battlefield 2142, were right: there's a booster pack on the way, and EA holds nothing back: details, screenshots and a first trailer, we have them all. The pack is being titled Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike, and it's developed by the good Swedish folks at the [EA] Digital Illusions (DICE) studio. Set for release in March 2007, the Northern Strike pack adds three new maps, new vehicles, badges, ribbons, and other gameplay features, and it will naturally require the full version of Battlefield 2142 to play. Here's a bit more about it:

"Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike drops gamers deep into a desperate conflict for control of Earth’s last scraps of inhabitable land following the onset of a cataclysmic new ice age. The Pan-Asian Coalition (PAC) has secretly moved into mainland Europe, using abandoned urban areas to establish new strongholds in a last-ditch push for superiority. The European Union must quickly mobilize north to dislodge PAC forces from a series of urban strongholds and regain the upper hand.

Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike features three new maps, including the infamous WWII battle scene at the Bridge at Remagen, an Alpine Titan docking harbour in Port Bavaria and a claustrophobic showdown in the Liberation of Leipzig. The booster pack also features new vehicles including the EU’s heavily armed IFV Goliath and the PAC’s hovering light IFV Hachimoto in addition to new unlocks, new badges and ribbons, new gameplay and more."

For even more details, you can check out the new Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike page on Electronic Arts' website, as well as an in-house interview with the booster pack's producer Kristoffer Bergqvist, who talks about the back story, the new vehicles, increased persistence and more.

Our local gallery has already been set up for your brief viewing pleasure, and speaking of which, we also have the first Northern Strike trailer ready for streaming and downloading.

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I guess you could say that we've been waiting for this moment ever since Total Annihilation 2 was announced, many, many years ago by the former Cavedog studio. But after Chris Taylor's departure and later Cavedog's demise, we were left with little hope of ever playing anything as majestic as the first Total Annihilation. Fortunately enough, Chris Taylor held on to his dream of making a successor - be it even spiritual - for his real-time strategy game, and now his dream is real.

Along with his new comrades at Gas Powered Games, and their publishing partner THQ, they can finally celebrate Supreme Commander's gold status. As of January 18, the game (minus patches) is complete, and Supreme Commander is currently entering manufacturing, to be released worldwide on February 20.

"Supreme Commander delivers the first-ever full Theatre of War zoom function, adding tremendous depth to the three story-driven campaigns and highly addictive multiplayer," said Chris Taylor, creative director and CEO, Gas Powered Games. "We've taken RTS gameplay to a whole new level and I can't wait for fans to get their hands on it."

In case you've been too busy drooling over the Supreme Commander trailers to bother checking on the game's story and basic features, here's a brief summary provided by THQ:

"In the 37th century the galaxy has been ripped apart by three warring factions, each vying to eradicate the universe of all opposition and end the 1000 year Infinite War. The next generation world of Supreme Commander brings an all new level of scope and scale to the RTS genre, establishing a new benchmark in strategic and tactical RTS gaming. Experience a new level of control over countless land, sea and air units, and use the innovative zoom function - scrolling outward to see the entire Theatre of War or inward to focus on the action - to command your forces to victory. Developed by legendary RTS developer Chris Taylor, Supreme Commander offers a unique storyline, innovative gameplay and infinite online multiplayer battles."

Now, of course, we're waiting for GPG to announce their future games. It would be about time!

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