In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information.
Capcom’s new survival-horror opus is closer than ever, and the staff of GamePro got unprecedented access to the game.
In GamePro’s exclusive reports, we detail the shocking shifts in gameplay in a new Resident Evil 5 preview, dissect vile new Resident Evil 5 enemies, including giant bats and bloodthirsty crocodiles, and engage in desperate shoot-outs in an oil refinery and a desolate mountain pass. Also check out our new Resident Evil 5 Q&A and new Resident Evil 5 screens. Read more
Epic Games has sent out word that its Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Pack is now available for 800 Microsoft Points via Xbox Live. The pack brings three new maps to the proceedings: Flood, Gold Rush and Fuel Station.
- Flood is a very tight map that’s made extra snug when the environmental hazard of Imulsion begins creeping up around the edges. As the playing field closes in, the firefight will intensify as combat is forced to the center of the map. Teams skilled at flanking their opponents will have a powerful edge. Read more
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.* An abducted soul, a lifetime of sins, a journey to the depths of despair. Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that EA Redwood Shores, the studio behind the hit horror game Dead Space, is now working on another original property, this one based on the medieval epic poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The dark fiction gave birth to the Tuscan Italian dialect and is widely considered the work that has defined the western world’s contemporary conception of hell and purgatory. The poem tells the tale of Dante who journeys through the twisted, menacing nine circles of hell in pursuit of his beloved Beatrice. Dante’s tortured and tormented world is an ideal setting for this 3rd person action and adventure of a video game, Dante’s Inferno. Read more
Good things come to those who wait, but we’re getting more than a little impatient for any news on the first bits of downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV. Long talked about and promised in “autumn” of this year at one point, we’ve been eager to see anything about it this year, let alone play it. Now, at long last, after we’ve finished our sojourn in Liberty City months ago, comes something concrete on the 360 only DLC, with a worldwide release on February 17 next year.
Featuring a whole new set of characters, the new story, subtitled “The Lost and Damned,” seems completely unrelated to Niko and company. The story is based around Johnny Klebitz and his biker gang, the Lost, which existed in the periphery of the main game. Read more
Recent history is full of console RTS ports falling over themselves in an effort to, at best, recreate something marginally evocative of the PC experience. But Vispi Bhopti, The Creative Assembly’s Communications Manager, contends that Stormrise’s control scheme, which was designed from the get-go around a gamepad, is an honest-to-goodness improvement over the mouse and keyboard. These are big words. I don’t recall the developers of the voice-controlled EndWar’s making those presumptions, and if anyone is entitled to, it would probably be them. Read more
Not long after LucasArts loosed Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on a galaxy not so far away, the publisher said it was already melding a fresh batch of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions. Included in the pack, according to LucasArts, would be an all-new level featuring the Secret Apprentice that augments the single-player campaign. Without much of a warning this week, LucasArts said that the content is now available.
The aforementioned new mission will be set in the Jedi Temple, former center of the vanquished order’s power, on the city-world Coruscant. Playing as Darth Vader’s understudy, players will explore the ruins for clues to his origins in general–and his father in particular. The download will also include nine new character skins, letting gamers play through the single-player campaign as a variety of Star Wars staples ranging from purple-lightsaber-wielding Mace Windu to the sinister Darth Maul.
Kojima’s site teases the next Metal Gear game…with the Xbox color.
Could this be the thing we’ve been talking about since last year, even back when no one would believe us? You know, the thing that Konami said might happen, but then apparently didn’t say might happen? The thing that Microsoft has recently been talking about being able to run on its platform and hoping to see soon?
Or could it be the Xbox Live Arcade port of Metal Gear Solid that’s apparently been spotted in the past?
At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, executives from Square Enix, Capcom, and Namco Bandai engaged in a roundtable discussion about Japan’s diminished role in the gaming industry. As a result, the publisher and many of its fellow Japanese outfits are putting a greater emphasis on the West, both in selling and developing their games there.
Square Enix recently set up a development studio in Los Angeles. Capcom is “actively pursuing friendly acquisitions and partnerships” with foreign outfits, and developing games like Dead Rising and Lost Planet with a more Western audience in mind. And today Namco Bandai established Surge, a new publishing label “dedicated to providing cutting-edge, genre-defining games that are targeted at satiating the appetite of western gamers.” Surge will produce games across a variety of genres and platforms.
Harmonix has announced that thirteen of ska pop band No Doubt’s greatest hits will be making their way to Rock Band. The new song pack will be available for download on Tuesday, December 9th on Xbox Live and Thursday, December 11th on PSN.
The thirteen songs come from the “Rock Band Edition” of the band’s compilation album, The Singles 1992-2003. How’s does the “Rock Band Edition” of The Singles differ from the normal album? Well, it’s missing two songs: “New” and “Trapped in a Box.” Also, you can play it with plastic instruments. Other than that, same album. You can buy the entire bundle for 1600 Microsoft Points ($20) or scoop up individual tracks for 160 MS Points ($2).
