Guitar Hero Touring On Wii And DS, Activision Sues GH Devs

Whoa, the Guitar Hero news just keep on coming! Just last month, it was revealed that Activision-owned studio Neversoft was hiring for a new Guitar Hero project, while the series' original creators from Harmonix were rumoured to be working on an '80s Guitar Hero game. And now, we get two more stories centered around the famed rocking sim. That said, we'll cut the chase right away.

During Activision's Q3 2007 preliminary financial results conference call from February 7 (which you can listen online), CEO Mike Griffith explained that the publisher will change its strategy in order to support Nintendo's consoles more aggressively in the company's fiscal 2008 (April 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008). And among the franchises they plan to bring to the Wii and/or DS during this time-frame, Guitar Hero was also mentioned:

"The key difference in our strategy versus the prior cycle, is that in addition to full support on Sony and Microsoft platforms, we will aggressively target the Nintendo platforms consistent with our multi-platform strategy and Nintendo's expected growth. In fiscal 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero."

It was previously assumed that Neversoft was working on some kind of Guitar Hero III game, but with this new information, it's pretty safe to assume that they're making it either for the Wii or DS. Or both.

As for the second Guitar Hero story, Gamespot reports that Activision has filed suit against the Guitar Hero series' producer, brand manager, hardware group member, RedOctane's PR firm, and unlicensed peripheral manufacturer The Ant Commandos. This is not to be confused with last year's legal dispute with The Ant Commandos (over their unlicensed guitar controllers), which Activision settled in December. As Gamespot reports, the new suit is mostly centered around the following allegations:

"Activision is accusing the three [Guitar Hero devs] of copyright infringement, trademark infringement, misappropriating trade secrets and confidential information, breach of contract, interference with contractual relations, and more."

Read on for the full report, if you're into kinky bureaucratic stuff.

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Metal Gear Solid Movie In The Making At Sony Pictures

This week's 2007 D.I.C.E. Summit from Las Vegas played host to at least a couple of pleasant surprises, from a gaming standpoint, and both of them were delivered by Yair Landau (Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and President of Sony Pictures Digital), in his kick-ass kick-off keynote address preceeding the opening night party, and afterwards in a more private chat with Gamespot. The first surprise was the annoucement of a MMO espionage game, currently in development at SOE's Seattle studio. We'll get back to this spy MMO later, but for now, what interests us is Landau's second revelation.

Talking to Gamespot last night in Vegas, he revealed that Sony Pictures were the ones working with Hideo Kojima's team, to make the Metal Gear Solid movie happen.

"We're working with the Metal Gear guys," Landau told GameSpot following his D.I.C.E. summit keynote address in Las Vegas. "It's a very cinematic game, it really lends itself to movie telling. But the question is, 'How do you translate Snake's experience into a full arc that conforms to what audiences expect on the large screen?'"

This follows eight months of uncertainty over which studio had signed for the MGS movie, after last year's E3 when Kojima said that "a movie project is underway. I have finalized a Class-A contract with a party in Hollywood". Prior to that, he categorically dismissed alarming rumours linking the Metal Gear Solid movie with Uew Boll, by announcing on his blog: "It's impossible that we'd ever do a movie with him".

Aside from the MGS movie, Landau also hinted that Sony Pictures was looking to bring other games to the silver screen as well, and in particular EverQuest:

"We're working with one of my favorite producers right now on an idea for an EverQuest movie." The producer was apparently of such stature that Landau declined to name him. "I'll let him disclose that," he said cryptically.

Ahem... EverQuest? Come on, I can fully dig a World of Warcraft movie, but they're really stretching it here.

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Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar Released Early

Stardock has defied the laws of the gaming universe, by actually releasing their Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar expansion pack earlier than expected. One week earlier, to be more specific. Instead of launching it on February 14 as previously announced, the add-on became available yesterday via TotalGaming.net for fans who pre-ordered. Dark Avatar can now be purchased from TotalGaming.net for $29.95, or three TGN tokens for greater value.

Claiming to be "one of the most ambitious expansions ever", Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar adds a plethora of new features to Stardock's self-proclaimed 2006 turn-based strategy game of the year, further extending and enhancing the gameplay for would-be galactic conquerors. Military might, diplomatic maneuvering, technological achievement and economic power all are key elements in succeeding in the game. The expansion pack includes a new story-driven campaign that starts off where Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords left off. It also adds a host of new game elements that will significantly alter the way the game is played and vastly increase re-playability.

Completing today's brief announcement, Stardock also sent the following notes of interest:

"Also, if you're interested in seeing some of the amazing spacecrafts created by fans using the integrated ship builder, check out this link. Some truly incredible creativity... and patience.



And lastly, if you need a quick rundown of what makes Dark Avatar one of the most ambitious expansions ever and how it strengthens the acclaimed GalCiv2 experience, check out Brad Wardell's walkthrough."

All that's left for us to add is the link to our local Dark Avatar preview from a couple of weeks ago.

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In a world like EVE Online, where everything is ultimately about PvP, where one corporation's gains may very well mean another one's demise, the balance of power is particularly fragile. So when someone abusively tips it one way or the other, they're definitely asking for trouble! Imagine, for instance, a game developer or GM using his power to help one of the game's massive corporations, by providing them with very rare blueprints for making advanced ships. This isn't just a meaningless random example, but, as most EVE players will tell you, it's a very grave accusation that the game's developers from CCP Games are currently facing. A "conspiracy theory", if you will, that has yet to be proven true or false.

The alleged issue is that certain CCP staff members who play the game handed out T2 BPOs (Tech 2 blueprint originals) to their fellow allies from "Band of Brothers" (BoB), the largest player corporation in EVE Online - see the massive blue areas in this EVE territory map. Even though people's animosity towards BoB goes back a long time (long story...), the current scandal may turn out to be crucial for the future of EVE Online as a whole. It all depends on how CCP will handle the situation, and so far they're doing a lousy job.

What enraged the players this week is this EVE forum thread started by community manager Kieron, in which he addresses the most unimportant of issues, while mentioning absolutely nothing about the alleged handout of blueprints by CCP staff to BoB members. The topic quickly exploded on 24 pages yesterday, before it was closed by Kieron last night. In his last post, he promised that more information and answers would be posted before the start of the weekend. So the story is far from over.

Regardless of the outcome, however, it's interesting to consider that this "conspiracy" might be twofold. As one poster (ironically) comments: "I wonder how much of this public smearing of CCP is actually an attempt to coerce CCP into taking action against BoB. Conspiracies can go both ways ya'know".

On the other hand, as one commenter points out on Shacknews, "this is exactly what EVE needs to grow beyond it's current install base. Seriously. Grab headlines. Assuming they exit gracefully. I'm betting they will".

Well, maybe they won't exit too gracefully from this crisys. But I still believe they deserve every single EVE Online player they can attract. Yes, it may be an unfair game at times, but there's nothing else quite like it.

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I'm sure that everyone has seen this one coming for weeks, or even months, since the first "Stories" variation for the PlayStation Portable - GTA: Liberty City Stories - also ended up on the PlayStation 2. And with the release of GTA: Vice City Stories on the PSP last October, it was only a matter of time before Rockstar Games acknowledged that a PS2 version is also in development. Which, as Gamespot tells us, they just did:

"Rockstar shocked very few by saying that it is porting its PSP hit Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories to the PlayStation 2. The lack of surprise came following several unconfirmed reports that an entry for the PS2 VCS had appeared on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's Web site. However, the claim was unverifiable because no such listing was in the ESRB site's database (for long, anyway). Currently, the site still only lists the PSP VCS."

The same goes for the official GTA: VCS website, actually, which only lists the PSP logo at the moment. Nevertheless, the PS2 version of Vice City Stories is just a month away from release. In North America, the game will hit retail on March 6, and in Europe on March 9. No price has yet been set for the PS2 port, but considering that history has a nasty habit of repeating itself, we can expect it to be priced as a budget game at $19.99, like the PS2 port of Liberty City Stories.

Earlier this week Rockstar broke the news in a much more surprising way, by announcing the Manhunt 2 sequel, currently in development for the Wii, PlayStation 2 And PSP.

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ArmA: Armed Assault Gets New Features For EU Launch

Publisher 505 Games and Czech developer Bohemia Interactive are building up their forces for the imminent release of Bohemia's latest military combat simulator, by announcing today the addition of new content and features in ArmA: Armed Assault - such as new vehicles, weapons, and a new mission. These are not present in the German and Eastern European versions already on sale, but the devs will make sure to patch them by the end of the month, in order to ensure "an internationally unified playing environment for all users". Here's a bit from the announcement:

"February 16th marks the launch of the world's most accurate videogame combat simulation in the UK and the rest of Europe. ArmA: Armed Assault has already been dazzling UK reviewers pre-launch, for instance scoring a massive 84 per cent and being awarded a Silver 'Recommended' medal of honour in the March issue of Future Publishing's PC Zone magazine.

ArmA: Armed Assault will feature additional content not present in the German and Eastern European versions already on sale. This exclusive content includes a raft of new weapons, two new aircraft and two motorbikes, as well as an exclusive new open-ended mission. 505 Games is also pleased to announce that SecuROM copy protection has been perfectly implemented and integrated into ArmA, with zero slow down or adverse performance effects."

If you've been out of touch with the gaming world during the holidays, there's an Armed Assault demo available for download locally, featuring a part of the game's main island, Sahrani.

For the record, the full list of countries where 505 Games will distribute ArmA: Armed Assault is (in no particular order whatsoever): United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Israel, Middle-East, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Japan.

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Half-Life 2: The Black & Orange Boxes (Episode Two) Delayed

Who would have thought, back in 2003 when Valve was driving us crazy with their development mishaps, that Half-Life 2 would ultimately end up on four consoles; not to mention the Arcades in Japan. Three years after the original PC release, and two years after the Xbox porting, the game is set to make a comeback on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms, with all the additional content to date included. By Fall 2007, this should mean Half-Life 2, Episode One, Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal - all of them stuffed together in one big retail package called The Orange Box.

For PC gamers who already went through the original Half-Life 2 and its first additional episode, Electronic Art will also release The Black Box, which will only include Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2. This Black Box will be a PC exclusive, while the full Orange Box will be released for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However, don't expect any of them this Summer, as previously announced, because EA's latest press release pushes them back to Fall 2007.

Innovative games included in The Black Box and The Orange Box include:

- Half-Life 2: Episode Two - the second installment in Valve's episodic trilogy advances the award-winning story, leading the player to new locations outside of City 17.

- Portal - a pioneering type of single player action game that rewrites the rules for how players approach and manipulate their environment - much like how Half-Life 2's Gravity Gun reinvented the way gamers interact with objects in the game.

- Team Fortress 2 - an all-new version of the legendary title that spawned team based multiplayer action games. The game's daring new art style features the most advanced graphics of any Source-based game released to date.

We still don't know when Valve plans to release these three new titles online via Steam, and whether or not Steam users will be able to pre-load them ahead of EA's retail launch. But we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

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NBA Street Homecourt Beats Virtua Tennis 3 In The 1080p Race

Having just unclenched my playful fists from my Wiimote a few minutes ago, arms still twitching in pain after another furious round of Wii Tennis, I can't help but smirck at such futile battles, as the one heating up between Sega's Virtua Tennis 3, and EA's NBA Street Homecourt. What are they fighting for anyway? Not much: to release the first Xbox 360 game that supports 1080p resolution. Whereas, until now, Microsoft's console has only received games with support for 1080i resolution. How revolutionary is that!

Nevermind what their games will actually play like: the only thing that these people care about is to have the best looking game out as soon as possible. Ney, bar that! Not even the best looking game, just the one sporting the highest resolution.

Until yesterday, Sega was claiming that it would receive this shallow distinction in March, with the release of Virtua Tennis 3 on Xbox 360 (as well as on PlayStation 3, PC and PSP). However, Electronic Arts was quick to respond to Sega's challenge, as they now claim that their NBA Street Homecourt game also supports 1080p resolution on the Xbox 360. And, most important of all, they plan to release NBA Street Homecourt on February 20, a full month ahead of Virtua Tennis 3.

So now that that's cvasi-settled, you can take a look past the cheap glitz and read about the two games' features, either in our local gamespaces (see the related links below), or on Gamasutra's stories linked above. Now if you'll pardon me, my arms have just stopped twitching, and that means it's time for a wiimatch!

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Jade Empire: Golden Edition Ready For PC, New Trailer

Remember how long it took Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to make the journey from Xbox to PC back in 2003? Four months. And how long ago was the Xbox version of Jade Empire released? Almost two years. And, just out of curiosity, how many new games have they released during this time? Oh, right, none! Yet despite all these facts, BioWare cleverly kept themselves in the spotlight, as they continue to be one of the best and most respected RPG developers on Earth. Surely, we can forgive them for not churning out crappy games on a seasonal basis, and for working on just a few huge projects at the moment - including (but certainly not limited to) Mass Effect, Dragon Age and that mystery MMO game they're making down South in Austin.

And we'll also forgive them if the PC version of Jade Empire doesn't turn out to be what some may have hoped for. It is, after all, the same last-gen game they made for the Xbox (you know, the one that received scores of mostly 90% and up), only with updated graphics and PC-friendly interface, improved combat A.I., an additional difficulty level called "Jade Master", as well as new monsters, NPCs and new fighting styles.

All these, ladies and gents, shall be yours for the playing in a few weeks, as BioWare and 2K Games have announced today that Jade Empire: Special Edition went Gold. The North American release is set for February 27, while Europeans will need to wait a bit longer, until March 2.

"In the ancient, mysterious world of the Jade Empire, players choose to act as a noble hero or treacherous villain by following the path of the "Open Palm" or the "Closed Fist". Players will face powerful human and supernatural foes, learn magical martial arts and weapons styles, and discover the darkest secrets of the world. Jade Empire: Special Edition engages users with its rich story line and optimizes the gaming experience for PC gamers with an additional difficulty level, graphical upgrades, enhanced resolution and ultra-crisp visuals. In addition, the PC version features an exclusive art book and poster."

Completing this annoucement is a new Jade Empire: Special Edition trailer, available locally for streaming / download.

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Wii Crushed The PS3 By 3:1 In Japan Last Month, GTA Rules

A number of reports from the past few days have shed a peculiar light on Japan's current gaming trends, regarding both hardware and software sales. Whereas a couple of weeks ago Microsoft made it to the top 10 with Gears of War, their Xbox 360 hit has completely vanished from the top 50 by now. Just as strange is that the only PS3 title currently in the top 50 is Enchanted Arms (at #29), but that's still nothing compared to the spectacular debut of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game's PS2 version was finally released in Japan last week and, against all odds, it sold over 227,000 copies, thus shooting its way straight to #1!

Other than that, the top 20 is clearly dominated by 14 DS games, with just a couple of Wii titles making it to the top 10 (Wii Sports and Wii Play, go figure). Another weird thing is that there's no trace of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in this chart, even though Nintendo's top Wii game is still selling like crazy in North America and Europe. For further reference, you can view the entire Japanese top 20 on GI.biz.

And speaking of which, the British specialist website also has another story now, in which they outline Nintendo Wii's staggering dominance over Sony's PlayStation 3, in terms of units sold in Japan last month. Although their headline boldly reads "Four Wii units sold for every PlayStation 3 in Japan", this only refers to the week of January 22-28 (over 80,000 Wiis vs. 20,000 PS3s, based on estimates by Media Create). For the entire month of January 2007, the sales ratio is less than 3:1 for Wii vs. PS3 (around 405,000 Wiis vs. 148,000 PS3s), and just over 2:1 for the total time the two console have been available in Japan.

If you read these figures backwards, you can clearly see that Nintendo's Wii console is gaining more market share against Sony's PlayStation 3, with each passing week. So GG Nintendo!

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