Just a tiny update to show the world of Grand Theft Auto IV in more detail, than all those blurry trailers which keep appearing lately. Some of them are all right, too, I just wish they were at a much higher resolution - like these screenshots here freshly ripped reaped from the game's website. And since there will be no GTA 4 demo, screens and trailers is all we're getting.

I don't know what's more pittyful: the EGM magazine making an April Fools' joke about Lego Halo, or somebody actually buying it. Whichever it is, the bad joke quickly spread around the webs this weekend and today, because - let's face it - there's no better way to start your work on Mondays, than digging through the weekend trash. Well, that, or having a nice plastic cup of coffeee with a smoke; but I don't do either, so...

Long story short (and Lego parables aside), EGM's so-called "first look" is part of their April issue, which is known for kidding around like this in years past. So everyone's bet now is that Lego Halo is nothing more than an April Fools' joke. But at the very least, we should congrate them for going through the trouble of producing some convincing screenshots. Sigh... honestly, Lego Halo?!

Much like the Chains of Olympus teaser ad included in God of War II's retail box (if my memory serves me right), God of War III for the PlayStation 3 is also being hinted as "coming soon" inside the package of the new PSP chapter launching this week. This time, however, there's not even a vague release timeframe like that "2007" initially announced for God of War: Chains of Olympus... which, as it turns out, was completely wrong anyway. My guess is that if they didn't even bother to write "2008" on the GoW3 ad now, they sure won't manage to launch it this year. Or simply put: God of War III coming in 2009. I dare Sony to prove me wrong.

- WiiFreeloader has been released for our region-free gaming pleasure. So no matter the game's country of origin, this baby will take it for a spin, for $19.99 / £9.99. Just in time for Super Smash Bros. Brawl this March 9, which is still missing a European release date.

- There will be no GTA 4 demo. But don't worry, they're not hiding anything. Just a gangload of criminals and whores waiting to be sodomized with broken bottles of vodka. Something the whole family can look forward to this April 29. If you have 100 hours to finish it.

- And by the time the GTA fever cools out, Metal Gear Solid 4 will be coming this June 12 on the PS3, as eventually confirmed - and detailed - by Konami. European date same as US, by the way. But, alas, Blu-ray disc doesn't have enough space for MGS4! Oh well, Metal Gear Online beta begins April 21.

- Why EA rocks (and sucks) in 2008 - five reasons why Electronic Arts 'rocks', and five reasons why it 'sucks'. I could add plenty more to the latter.

- Eidos parent company SCi cancels 14 games and fires 25% of its employees, in a radical attempt to stop (or at least slow) their downfall. Tomb Raider, Deux Ex and Hitman still alive. So is Battlestations, considering last week's announcement of a sequel. Oh and Tomb Raider: Underworld "is now scheduled to launch during the 2008 Christmas season".

- THQ director blames piracy for Iron Lore closure. And hardware vendors. And reviewers. And stupid gamers. Anything but the real problem.

- 38% of gamers are female. That leaves about 60% males, and 2% emo kids?

- And finally, some new games releasing this week, including Army of Two and God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP. Oh, speaking of God of War... (cue sequel post).

Eidos' regiment of engineers blew the cover off Battlestations: Pacific, the sequel to last year's action-strategy WWII game Battlestations: Midway. Inside we found the first set of screenshots that you can see below, along with the usual game synopsis. Which goes something like this...

"The game features a massive U.S. and Japanese single player campaign that offers a unique blend of action and strategy. Players must plan their moves carefully on huge open-world arenas and fight in the air, above sea and underwater to relive some of the most hard-fought battles in WWII history. With the newly added Japanese faction, players will also gain insight into what could have been, should Japan have gained the upper hand against the United States. Battlestations: Pacific also features five new innovative multiplayer modes to strategically plan and battle against friends with all new maps and units.

 (...)

 Continue reading 'Battlestations: Pacific Announced For PC, X360'...

Heh, I can't help but chuckle at the sight of this terminal update on Iron Lore's website, announcing that the studio is shutting down, and as of February 19 it has "ceased active game development", after failing to secure funding for its next project.

Aside from Titan Quest and its Immortal Throne expansion, Iron Lore had recently finished developing another expansion, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm. Ironically, by the time this is released on March 4, Iron Lore will already be ancient history. Well, that's the way it goes in this industry, especially for companies who think they can get away with making mediocre Diablo clones.

Did Hironobu Sakaguchi's classic Final Fantasy game get any sequels?... A few, yeah. Is Blue Dragon getting a sequel?... You bet! What about Lost Odyssey?... I don't see why not. Microsoft Japan seem to be happy with the game's 100,000+ sales there so far, and Lost Odyssey is also enjoying a lukewarm success over on this part of the world. It's only been out in North America for a couple of weeks, and releasing in Europe tomorrow, so it's still too early to tell exactly how well the game is doing on a woldwide scale.

But don't take it from us. Take it from the H&E Head of Microsoft Japan, what's-his-name, interviewed by Nikkei (loose Google translation, via AllRPG). He's the one claiming they're happy with the game sales in the territory, and he also says that the Lost Odyssey series will grow in time. Meaning one or more sequels are coming. Hardly shocking, but still nice to get an "official hint" on this.

Which would explain why the vast majority of MMOs in recent years were relative failures, and why the situation won't change much for those upcoming hot-shots, either (I'm not giving names... *cough*). After all, who on Earth is so filthy rich to afford spending up to $1 billion, just to make a WoW-killer MMO, instead of buying a couple of African countries and playing a real-life war-game.

The billion-dolar figure was estimated by Activision's CEO, Bobby Kotick speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium 2008 Conference this Tuesday, as reported by GI.biz.

"We don't think that even if we made the USD 500 million or billion-dollar investment to get a product out [to compete with WOW] that we would even be successful doing it. (...) When you... Look at all the money that's already gone to these businesses that have failed (ed. - EA, Microsoft, Sony & co.), there didn't seem a likelihood that even a well-managed company like Activision would have the prospect for profit any time soon in this category."

When you look at it that way, Activision were really the smartest guys around. Honestly, why spend a crapload of money and waste people's time trying to develop a WoW-killer, when you can just merge with Vivendi-aka-Blizzard-aka-WoW itself. Kind of makes you wonder how much Funcom is investing in Age of Onan...

Could be Star Wars: KOTOR III, could be a Star Wars MMO... could be anything, really, even a four-years old project which never saw - and maybe never will see the light of day. But for the sake of clix0rz, you'd be surprised to see how many people are willing to believe that these images are concept arts for Knights of the Old Republic 3, despite the fact that some of them seem to have been drawn back in 2004.

The artist behind them is James Zhang, a long-time collaborator of LucasArts, including on the previous KOTOR game, whose website is said to be the source of these concept arts. We've only selected the ones worth seeing below, but if you insist on checking all the uncovered sketches, you can start your journey from here.



Update: Gladius 2 was also spotted on James Zhang's website, before being removed from his list of past-and-present projects. So that makes two unconfirmed LucasArts sequels...

Yes, I admit, I've been shamelessly (though strategically) slacking for the past week, leaving my comrade to face the GDC madness on his own, while I turned my perverted eye to our flat-chested sister-website Animekon (some great new stuff there lately, by the way). But all good things must come to an end, so... back to gaming.

- Chief among our bypassed GDC news was the announcement of Gears of War 2, coupled with this teaser trailer teasing at a november 2008 release. CliffyB proclaimed that it's "going to be bigger, better and far more badass than the first one", with chainsaw duels and stuff. But no Gears of War comic after all.

- More recently, Motorstorm 2 was also revealed in a BBC article. It's "due out in time for Christmas and moves the action away from the desert locale of the original. Gamers will be able to race around a lush island environment, full of interactive vegetation". Interactive... vegetation. That's super. At least it will have 4-player split-screen.

- Still, the hottest topic these days remains EA's $2 billion bid on Take-Two, which was rejected, but will be taken under consideration once again on April 30, right after the release of GTA IV (not by coincidence). Meanwhile - new Take-Two details revealed.

- This year's Leipzig Games Convention might be the last one, as from September 2009 it could effectively be replaced by a new event called GAMESCom, to be held in Cologne, Germany. The Leipzig organizers are not amused, but still hope for a GC 2009.

- Telltale has just sent along the trailer for Sam & Max episode 204: Chariots of the Dogs, which is hereby officially unravelled. But where in the world is Carmen Sandiego Bosco? Find out in mid-March.

- The next Indiana Jones action game has gone into production. Yeah, just now. But you won't see me complain, since LucasArts spent more time with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which looks so cool in this GDC 2008 trailer.

- Offset Software, the guys who blew our mind with their Project Offset tech demos a couple of years ago (but kept mostly silent ever since) have been acquired by Intel. Five bucks to whoever can say what this will mean for their potential game. I'm clueless.

- Molyneux despairs at the "tragic" state of PC gaming, because "The Sims and World of Warcraft [are] sucking all the air out of the PC market". And I feel like I'm right in the ventilation duct, what with patch 2.4 coming up and everything... By the way, "Cliff's an idiot!".

- As of tomorrow, February 29, Phil Harrison is no longer the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. This week he resigned from Sony after 15 frustrating years with the company, leaving his warm chair to Kaz “Riiiidge Racer!” Hirai (who also remains President and Group CEO of SCEI). Where to next, Phil boy?