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• Stating The Obvious: Why FFXIII Is Coming To 360

  by Gus Lanzetta August 11th 2008 9:10 AM CDT0 Comments

  Albert Pennello, Microsoft's Global VP of Marketing recently spoke with the guys over at MundoRare and spoke about pretty much everything while not saying much. One thing he did clarify was that Microsoft did not pay Square Enix for the port of Final Fantasy XIII and that they convinced the company only with their "install base and attach rate". Believe it or not, that is the most in depth statement we ever got from any side.
  
  Watch the full interview below.
  
  
  Summit In The City - Albert Pennello interview from MundoRare on Vimeo.
• Designer Talks About Creating The Art of Braid

  by Gus Lanzetta August 9th 2008 6:09 PM CDT0 Comments

  Braid was this week's Live Arcade title and beyond the discussions over its price, there was a lot of talk about the innovative gameplay and the stunningly unique visuals of the game.
  
  Behind the art of the game is David Hellman, the Art Director of Braid, who was actually hired when the game was almost finished from a functionality stand point, but brought a lot to the table and helped make it the game that everyone is talking about.
  
  Read THIS INTERVIEW at Gamasutra to get a really in-depth description of how Hellman took the game from this:
  
  to this:
  
  
  
• New Trailer Shows CoD: World At War's Co-Op

  by Gus Lanzetta August 9th 2008 6:00 PM CDT3 Comments

  Call of Duty 4's huge success is enough to create a buzz over its sequel, but the fact that the new game is going back to Treyarch's favorite war has a lot of us (including me) skeptical of the game's overall quality.
  
  
  If you're in that same boat, the trailer below may change your mind. Online Co-Op is something I believe we all missed in Call of Duty 4 and the new game brings that great engine back with some ultra cool fire and melting skin mechanics. But those damn WWII weapons still don't do it for me, how about you? Leave a comment.
• Xbox 360 sales in Japan "soar"

  by Steve Wysowski August 9th 2008 1:22 PM CDT0 Comments

  To say the Xbox 360 hasn't kicked off in Japan would be a vast understatement. The "westerners' system": has been failing in the far east, with consoles remaining on racks and software going unsold. Ever since last year's release of Blue Dragon, the Xbox 360's unpopularity had been leveled at a steady, low point. But finally, this month, life for the 360 in Japan emerged.
  
  According Punch Jump, sales of the Xbox 360 have risen for four consecutive weeks. Three weeks ago, 3,807 units were sold, two weeks ago that rose again to 4,941, and last week the figure rose peaked to 5,359. To boot, the 360 version of Soul Calibur IV cracked the top-ten software list, with 34,786 units purchased in it's launch week. It doesn't end with today, with such games like Tales of Vesperia coming out next week, and the trio of Square Enix games coming out in the next year; there is a lot fo hope from Microsoft's side that finally, the 360 is becoming a hot commodity in Japan.
  
  There is still hope, and with Final Fantasy XIII coming out for the console at some point (regardless of whether that's after the PS3 version or not), expect a lot more news like this to be heading our way. You can't really do anything but go up in this position anyway.
  
• Crackdown 2? Maybe Later

  by Ryan Maffit August 8th 2008 1:16 PM CDT0 Comments

  
  Crackdown was an awesome, awesome game and maybe you do not realize it because of limited brain function, but those of us who really loved the game and inpatiently await for a sequel got a bit of bittersweet news from a recent article on VG247.
  
  In an interview with Videogaming247, Colin Macdonald, of Realtime Worlds (the developer of Crackdown), talked about how the team regrets not starting work on a sequel right after the release of the game.
  
  To not develop a sequel "was a horrible, horribe decision that we still dwell on[...] But I don’t think the door’s closed. Obviously, right now we’re tied up with APB and everything else, but hopefully in the future we’ll have the resource and something can be worked out with Microsoft.” - Hear THAT Microsoft? Give us some free-roaming, slightly cel-shaded, free-roaming love.  More after the jump.
• Master Chief in Fable 2

  by Gus Lanzetta August 8th 2008 1:13 PM CDT1 Comments

  Just a small piece of interesting news. Looks like the Master Chief will be appearing in Fable 2, or at least his armour will be anyway. Though it's not identical, the developers have tweaked the design to fit in with the Fable 2 style and I admit it actually looks pretty cool. I don't find it cool because it's supposed to be MJOLNIR armour, but the design just looks good in its own right, except the fat ass buckle on his chest. The armour will be bundled with the collectors edition of the game, shame it's not as cool as the golden Lancer that Gears of War 2 is giving away.
  
• Gears Lancer replica revealed; Cats worldwide devastated

  by Jaleel Boone August 8th 2008 6:06 AM CDT0 Comments

  Amazon just released a batch of pics showing of their exclusive $139.99 replica lancer, and what do you know: it's full-sized. The lancer comes with a "free" standard copy of Gears, but for an extra ten bucks you can upgrade to the limited edition.
  
  Something tells me that since this is sold through Amazon you won't be eventually buying it for half of it's price like that cat-sized premium replica from that other popular shooter. Sign me up. Nothing says "disturbed youth" quite like a bloody chainsaw gun on your sidetable.
  
• EA: 'Madden Cover Won't Change'

  by Jereme Puik August 7th 2008 5:55 PM CDT0 Comments

  If any of you have clued into ESPN at all the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of drama going about betwen Quarterback Brett Farve and the Packers organization and whether or not he'll play. We'll as of this morning, Farve was traded to the New York Jets and Chad Pennington was released by the team only hours later. Big mistake or golden opportunity? We'll leave that for you to decide.
  
  Right now, however, we are here to discuss craziness and what will happen to the cover of this years Madden 09 title. MTV Multiplayer decided to find out what the deal was in this direction. Apparently EA Sports will not re-issue packaging for the game. What will they do though? Read more to find out...
  
  
• Godfather 2 Is Totally Not Like GTA

  by Gus Lanzetta August 7th 2008 5:30 PM CDT0 Comments

  Xbox World 360 magazine's has a story about the upcoming sequel to the 2005 The Godfather videogame and, apparently the game can be defined as "Scarface meets Total War".
  
  The new gameplay style will be a mix of RPG, RTS and board game elements, but still have the sandbox structure. The focus will be more on bullying store owners, managers and other contacts than on the driving aspect. Also, the game will feature six character classes: bruiser, domolitions expert, arsonist, medic, safe cracker and engineer. Each one of them will have different backstories and personalities that will play into the game.
  
  The RTS influence is really at its most noticeable when you access "Don's View", a mode where you can redistribute the mob's resources around the city, plan more criminal activities and see where your rivals are located. The regular third person mode will also be very different from the one on the original game, including a free aiming camera similar to third person shooters. The board game influence is felt while handling perks and stakes in shops you protect, handling all of the benefits that come from each type of mission.
  
  Not much was said about the game's story, except that it will take place in the 60s in Miami, Havana and New York.
  
• Warner Music wants more of a cut

  by Beau King August 7th 2008 4:20 PM CDT0 Comments

  The music industry has a pretty solid history of whiners. Normally the whining is limited to deeply emotional lyrics and squeaky pitches. Every so often, like in the early 2000's with a little known band called Metallica, a singer or producer will step up claiming lost profits and detrimented effects. Now the sobs can be heard all the way up the corporate ladder.
  
  Recently Warner Music Exec Edgar Bronfman has stood up to show that he and his company won't take the abuse any longer. Developers like Harmonix and Activision will need to pay even more for those licensed songs they acquire. Having consumers pay $5 or $10 dollars for a song pack that normally collects dust in a local music shop bargain bin is astronimically low in his eyes. Commenting on their cut, he says "The amount being paid to the music industry ... is far too small."
  
  It's a sad day when companies fume over consumers choosing to interact with and use the music they want, how they want instead of droning out to the same pop trash over and over again. They should rather try to develop the music rhythm genre and profit from that expanding business over making the fans pay for flashier cribs and houses in Boca. Cry more newb.
  
  

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