If Rockstar Games are back in the news, it means that so is Jack Thompson, attorney extraordinaire. Earlier this month we had a couple of stories about both of them - namely Rockstar's Manhunt 2 announcement, and Thompson's latest legal battle (as defendant, for a change) - and it was just a matter of time before a new connection was made between them. Well, we got that connection straight from the man himself this week, in the form of a Valentine's love letter open letter in which Thompson announces his intention to stop the distribution of Manhunt 2 in the United Kingdom:

"Miami attorney and anti-violent video game activist Jack Thompson has been asked by individuals in the United Kingdom to help stop the distribution of Take-Two / Rockstar's hyperviolent video game Manhunt 2 in that country due out this summer. The game will feature stealth murder and torture. The last version allowed suffocation of victims with plastic bags." (ed. - how jolly rude!)

Oh, so it's not actually his intention, but some individuals' who know a guy who's friend was murdered in 2004, by this other guy who Thompson & co. claims was obsessed with the original Manhunt game (which was not even found in the murderer's possession, but in the victim's... ain't that something). Oblivious to this fact, Jack's letter continues:

"The original Manhunt was responsible for the bludgeoning death of a British youth by his friend who obsessively played the game. The killer used a hammer just as in the game he played. Take-Two / Rockstar, anticipating the firestorm of criticism with the release of the murder simulator sequel, is lying to the public on both sides of the pond in stating this week that the game had nothing to do with the murder. Take-Two is also stating that the sun does not rise in the east because Take-Two makes no money from its rising in the east. Take-Two has been repeatedly found in the U.S. by the federal government to be guilty of fraud, so what would one expect it to say.

Jack Thompson has agreed to this request from the U.K. Look for this effort to begin shortly given the summer of 2007 release date."

All right then, coming soon to a courthouse near you!

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No time to mourn the loss of Clover Studio, one of Japan's most creative studios that is just a few weeks away from being completely shut down by Capcom, because some of the developers that last worked on God Hand and Okami have already started anew. Their new studio is called Seeds, and if Japanese is your thing, you're more than welcome to visit their company's website at Seeds-Inc.jp to read their start-up message and what Seed's spirit is all about. Otherwise, Kotaku's translation, interpretation and speculation will have to suffice:

"The company seems to still be in the recruiting phase and sets forth this company philosophy of creating new entertainment for people living in a new world and looking towards the future of gaming (hence, the company name "SEEDS"). States it's always considering "worldwide," because it wants more more to play its games. In the company's site there does seem to be a largely international focus and concentration on the "play" aspect of gaming. If past Clover and Capcom titles are anything to go by, whatever SEEDS does output should be anything but run-of-the-mill."

Curiously enough, it seems that Seeds was formed back in August 2006, two months ahead of Capcom's tragic announcement. It then comes as little surprise that over 50 people are already working at Seeds - including a number of prominent ex-Clover and Capcom staff (Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami) - and they're still looking to hire more. To what end? And for which platforms? That, we have absolutely no idea as of yet.

What we do know is that Seeds is headed by Clover Studio's former CEO, Atsushi Inaba, who is credited with having worked on / produced several great Capcom games, such as Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Phoenix Wright and Okami. So as a wise man once said, "Nothing is f***ed up here, Dude. Nothing is f***ed".

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A few days ago, bits and pieces of information began to surface with regard to an upcoming demo version for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, and they just kept on surfacing ever since. Initially, it was revealed that the demo would premiere - as usual - on FilePlanet, on February 20, but in the meantime they removed any indication of a solid release date from their promotional C&C3 demo page, which now simply states that it's "coming soon".

Longtime community veteran Lion from the C&C Den posted an update hinting that the new date is set for February 26, but also quoted EA Online Community Manager Predator saying that they don't have an official date for the demo's release yet:

"EA Predator: The date is not official. We will be releasing this demo in conjunction with FilePlanet as we did with BFME2, but they put the cart before the horse. We will announce the date when ready and that is hopeful for later this week."

Over on the German fansite C&C Inside (via a rough Google translation), they say that this will only be a single-player demo, and that it will include 3 maps, a tutorial and a trailer. Oh and speaking of trailers, we turn back to C&C Den, who got word from EA that "a new 'theatrical-style' trailer will premiere on Yahoo! this weekend, showcasing clips of the live action scenes in the game. (...) The new trailer (in HD) will be available on the official C&C3 website on Monday as well". So what are you waiting for? Start waiting!

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World of Warcraft's First Arena Tournament Begins Tomorrow

It's been a busy week for World of Warcraft so far, and it's only going to get busier from tomorrow! Apart from celebrating its second birthday in Europe on February 11, with a new "Love is in the Air" in-game event to coincide with Valentine's Day, plus another minor patch, Blizzard is now about to kick off the first global World of Warcraft Arena Tournament - the largest WoW competition ever held - scheduled to begin this Friday, February 16. "In this one-of-a-kind competition", they say, "Burning Crusade players will have the chance to demonstrate their prowess and vie for the title of best World of Warcraft PvP team on the planet".

If you have the Burning Crusade expansion and would like to know more details about this tournament, the game's website now hosts an Arena Tournament preview, explaining about the ladders (the initial phase, from February 16 to April 15 in North America and Europe, and March 3 to April 15 in Korea), qualifiers, regionals (North America, Europe and Korea will each have a live regional event for their top 8 teams), and the global finals event.

There's not much to say about the latest World of Warcraft patch (version 2.0.7), nor about the "Love is in the Air" event (been there, done that last year). However, on the eve of the game's second anniversary in Europe, lead producer Shane Dabiri sent out an interesting letter in which he also talks about the Black Temple and its immensely powerful master, the fallen hero Illidan, who we'll eventually have to face.

"In Warcraft III we watched Illidan's transformation from controversial hero to demon. His ambition and sorcery nearly tore Azeroth apart in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Despite his efforts, he failed to destroy the Lich King and thus earned the wrath of Kil'jaeden, leader of the Burning Legion. Badly wounded, Illidan retreated to Outland and worked to solidify his base of power there. Now, in The Burning Crusade, Illidan fights to retain his grip on Outland. We hope players will look forward to venturing into the Black Temple and facing this immensely powerful fallen hero."

"You are not prepared" is in the air...

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Having created one of the best stealth-action franchises with their Hitman series, Denmark-based IO Interactive are currently hard at work on Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - a much more action-based game and, from what they have shown us so far, a much more cinematic one as well. Just take a look at last year's X06 trailer to see what we're talking about, if you haven't already. It's easy to draw parrallels between the game and several Hollywood names and titles (Michael Ironside and "Heat" come to mind, for instance), so the potential for a Kane & Lynch movie is clearly there.

And to reinforce this assumption, Variety ran a story this week revealing that Lionsgate has already bought the movie rights to IO's upcoming game - despite it being... well, upcoming. The report says that the "Kane & Lynch" movie will be produced by Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter, and co-produced by Howard Sun.

If the names ring a bell, it's probably because the same producers are the ones making the "Hitman" movie for 20th Century Fox, starring Timothy Olyphant as everyone's favorite bald, bar-coded Agent 47. And, as Variety points out, Askarieh is also producing the "Spy Hunter" movie for Universal, also based on a videogame.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - as in, the game - is currently planned for PC and Xbox 360, with a release date vaguely set in 2007. And it just so happens that our local gallery has been enriched with a new batch of screenshots, snatched from the game's updated website.

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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed About To Be Unveiled

Lo and behold, the Star Wars game based on last year's jaw-dropping tech demo is finally stepping out of the PR shadows. As I'm sure you will remember if you saw the trailer, LucasArts leaked some physics-intensive footage for a next-gen Star Wars project, which seemed to be more about abusing the Force than anything else. At the time, this was supposed to be a conceptual demo of what a Star Wars title might look and play like on next generation consoles, but obviously everyone knew (or at least hoped) that there's a real game in the making.

That same game, we believe, is about to be unveiled in the Game Informer magazine's March issue, in a world-exclusive cover story about a certain game called Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The only two platforms they mention are the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but it would be a real shame if there won't be a PC version, and of course some kind of Wii adaptation (we demand a Star Wars Wii game with lightsabers at once!).

Other than the superb cover, featuring an awe inspiring Darth Vader overseeing his Force-happy apprentice and the tagline - "Hunt down the last of the Jedi as Darth Vader's secret apprentice" - Game Informer also teases us with the following bit about the game's setting:

"In our March issue, we give you the scoop on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in our world-exclusive cover story. Players will get a chance to work for Darth Vader himself, as the man in black's new apprentice. The game fills in some of the gaps between Episode III and Episode IV, with a storyline full of loyalty, betrayal and the Force."

Need we say that we're mighty excited about this game? The Force is strong with this one!

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Fans of mindless hacking and slashing were hoping for Titan Quest to be the second coming of Diablo last year, but things didn't turn out that great for Iron Lore's action-RPG. Nevertheless, it was a good enough game to deserve an expansion pack, which as of now is Gold and ready for shipping in early March. Publisher THQ announced today that Titan Quest: Immortal Throne is entering manufacturing, and it should be available worldwide on March 5.

Titan Quest: Immortal Throne promises to bring an all-new level of action to the original game, with new quests, items and classes set within the richly-detailed underworld of Hades. Commenting on their achievement, Iron Lore president and lead designer Brian Sullivan (co-creator of the Age of Empires strategy series) had this to say:

"Titan Quest: Immortal Throne adds a new level of immersion and depth to the franchise, allowing players to delve deep into the Hades underworld. With a myriad of new class and skill combinations, and over a dozen hours of exciting story-driven content to explore, newcomers and die-hard fans alike will enjoy groundbreaking RPG action."

Titan Quest: Immortal Throne features a rich, original storyline with more than 12 hours of single-player content per difficulty level. New game-play features include an all-new skill mastery that combines with existing masteries to form eight new playable character classes. The expansion also adds dozens of terrifying new monsters, hundreds of unique weapons and an additional 10 levels of character and skill development.

In this epic quest of good versus evil, players will encounter the greatest villains of Greek mythology, brave the attacks of Cerberus, and hazard the banks of the River Styx. Along with new foes, players will fight alongside Agamemnon and Achilles, interpret the prophecies of the blind seer Tiresias, and use the wiles of Odysseus to conquer this dark new adventure.

So says the PR'ophecy.

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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Confirmed For Xbox 360 And PS3

Well, well, well, looks like the rumours from last spring were right: Quake Wars really is coming to the Xbox 360. And not only that, but also to the PlayStation 3! id Software and Activision have just confirmed these two next-gen console versions of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - one developed by Nerve Software (for Xbox 360), and the other one by Z-Axis (for PS3) - under the executive production of id. Both are also said to feature strategic team play for up to 16 players, persistent character promotions and online stats tracking.

Todd Hollenshead (id Software's CEO) is not short of "pleased" to be working with Nerve and Z-Axis, adding that... oh, sorry, actually that's all he said: "We're pleased to be working with Nerve and Z-Axis to bring the highly-anticipated gameplay from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system". The rest of the press release is just stuffed with these general notes about ET: Quake Wars:

"In this epic multiplayer-focused game, players can choose to defend humanity as a part of the Global Defense Force (GDF) or destroy it as a merciless Strogg alien invader.

(...)

Players choose to battle as one of five unique classes in either the conventionally armed GDF army or the futuristic Strogg invasion force, each outfitted with specialist weapons and combat hardware. In this adrenaline pumping fight for survival, warring forces utilize a variety of different vehicles, deployable structures, and defense systems including quad-bikes, tanks, and alien walkers for epic ground assaults; or helicopters and anti-gravity ships to unleash airborne attacks. Throughout each battle, teams establish bases, deploy defense structures, artillery, radar, and advanced forward-command systems into enemy territory while constructing and demolishing obstacles to speed progress and gain a tactical advantage over the opponent."

In the meantime, the PC version continues to be fine-tuned by the Brits from Splash Damage, as it nears its 2007 release. Well, hopefully 2007.

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It's pretty hard to imagine that two games as successful as Dead Rising and Lost Planet, both of which have sold / shipped over 1 million copies each, were nearly cancelled by Capcom early on during development. But apparently that was precisely the case, as Lost Planet executive producer Keiji Inafune recollects in an interview that was recently published on the game's official community website. Thankfully he's no rookie in the gaming industry, as he's been with Capcom for 20 years (ever since he created the Mega Man character), so he was able to convince the powers that be to keep the projects alive. Here's the story in his own words:

"Yes, with both Dead Rising and Lost Planet, management initially was very much against developing the games. Actually for a while there we were practically on the verge of having the projects cancelled. But I knew that Capcom just had to follow through with these titles, that the company needed them. So over the course of several months, I did my best to convince the decision-makers that these games have what it takes to succeed, to be hits and make money for the company. There was a time when I considered giving up on these two games, but I'm really glad I stuck with them and convinced management to let us make the games."

He does admit that both Lost Planet and Dead Rising were pretty risky projects, since they required high development costs befitting the "next-gen" nomenclature. Not to mention that both games were being made for the Xbox 360 - which we know all too well how "popular" it was in Japan.

Now that Lost Planet is also out in the open, Inafune says that there are more titles like this in store for fans: "risky, challenging games, with a lot riding on them". Does Dead Rising 2 sound risky to you?

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While marveling at Apple's presentation of the iPhone from last month, there's no doubt that many of you also thought about how games would play like on the gizmo's touch-screen. And you're not the only ones. Even though Apple hasn't shown any example of games running on the iPhone, and they're still keeping quiet on the matter, other companies are more than willing to break the silence, and gain some early media loving and public awareness.

In a recent story about Apple and casual gaming, Business Week quotes Mitch Lasky (senior vice-president of EA Mobile, formerly JAMDAT Mobile) as saying that his company is already in talks with Apple about possible iPhone games:

"We have been talking to Apple about games on (the iPhone)," Lasky says. "We see a lot of the technology that we've utilized on the iPod side being incorporated into the iPhone."

(...)

Lasky had been chief executive of JAMDAT Mobile before the takeover. He says EA saw the iPod as an attractive gaming device for a number of reasons. "The requirement for music to cache so you hear a streaming uninterrupted song, that means there's a lot of RAM," he says. "It also has remarkably good graphics."

We sure hope that they'll do more than just port the old iPod games, because the iPhone's touch-screen interface holds a lot of potential. And, if we may be so bold to suggest, it could lend itself to the kind of playful gameplay we're seeing on the Nintendo DS. They could also emulate an on-screen PSP button layout, if they so desire; or simlpy come up with completely new kinds of interfaces. We wouldn't mind either way.

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