Press Release – Page 15

Force Unleashed for Wii in 2008!

We brought you news last week that the famed lightsaber-swinging Star Wars Wii game will not be the next installation of Lego Star Wars. This left us wondering as to what LucasArts has up its sleeves. Well, it turns out that one of my predictions went right – LucasArts is porting Force Unleashed to the Wii, and the package will be released in Spring 2008!

I can immediately see the game get massive sales for the Wii, because you WILL get to control the lightsaber with your Wiimote and use force powers with the nunchuck. How friggin’ cool is that? Plus, the game will include a Wii-exclusive duel mode, which allows you and your equally geeky buddy to fight with lightsabers ‘fer rel’! This is certainly something Star Wars fans have anticipated for a long, long time.

“Wii is a great platform for The Force Unleashed, because the console’s motion-oriented controllers really bring the game to life,” said Jim Ward, the president of LucasArts. “We’ve worked hard to make the Wii version of the game unique in order to truly let you unleash the Force.”

Holy hell yeah!

Intel buys Havok – randomest acquisition of the week

Gamers will know Havok, the Irish company for their stellar physics engine, while movie buffs might know it for providing special effects from movies like The Matrix, Poseidon and so on. Well, word is that Intel has bought Havok. Why, you ask? I have no idea. Maybe they just thought it’s a nice company to buy.

But Havok’s CEO says “The acquisition will help Havok grow into new market segments,” which sounds good! Havok will continue to keep business on as usual, though. In layman’s terms, Havok’s the same – except that it might just get a little, and then a little bigger.

Havok was founded in 1998 and has created the famous Havok Physics Engine, which has been seen in dozens of games since, examples including BioShock, Half-Life 2, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Age of Empires III and many, many more.

[Via PC World]

Ninja Gaiden 2 – the teaser, the screenshots, the announcement.

Add The Pipeline: Entertainment Within a Box to your page

This whole saga starts yesterday, when several gaming sites got their filthy hands on screenshots of Ninja Gaiden 2, which was reportedly on the Xbox Japan website before it disappeared. Apparently, someone at Redmond Japan had screwed up the site, because the big anouncement was supposed to happen at the pre-Tokyo Game Show Presser. You can find the concerned screenshots at the bottom.

At the top, you can see the teaser of the game, which was shown off at the Presser. It shows the game’s protagonist, with chic graphics and stuff, but it’s just a godforsaken teaser. The screenshots, on the other hand, are full of blood, gore, decapitations and other ninja-ness.

What will it feature? A brand new engine and a “finishing blows” system have been guaranteed. There will be a sort of health regeneration feature with “semi-permanent damage restored at save points”, whatever that means. You will fight as Ryu again in Ninja Gaiden 2 for a good 30 or so hours of story-mode gameplay. Ninja Gaiden will be Xbox 360 exclusive and will come out somewhere in 2008.

Guitar Hero III for PC, Mac is for real!

Now, if you’re a PC-purist like me, you’ve probably been goaded endlessly by console fans for not possessing a Guitar Hero game. Fear no more PC enthusiast, salvation is at hand. Aspyr Media has announced that they will be churning out versions of Guitar Hero III for the PC and Mac platforms this very fall!

What will it have? Read it straight from the press release:

Being developed and published exclusively by Aspyr, the PC and Mac versions will match their console counterparts with explosive new content and features including a multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a host of exclusive unlockable content and visually stunning rock venues.

With more than 70 songs in the set list, and more original master tracks than ever before, players will be able to shred from many of the freshest and hottest artists today, along with many of the most popular rock songs ever recorded.

Expanded online multiplayer game modes will also allow PC and Mac enthusiasts to rip head-to-head against players around the world and across either platform, raising the level of competition for true legendary rock status.

Impressive, indeed! For more details, head over to Aspyr’s page!

Indiana Jones IV’s official title revealed by Shia LaBeouf

… and the title is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Yep, sounds like a perfect Indy title. A little cheesy, in my opinion, but it’s perfectly Indiana Jones. But considering the length of the title, I won’t be surprised if most people continue to call it by its working title, Indiana Jones IV.

The title was unveiled by Shia LaBeouf, who will star in the movie alongside ol’ Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford himself. The grand unveiling took place at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The movie is geared for a (mostly) international release on May 22, 2008 (May of course, in LucasArts tradition). Spielberg is directing here, with George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy serving as Executive Producers.

[Source: IndianaJones.com]

Operation Flashpoint 2 Teaser, ArmA 2’s official announcement! Military Simulations Galore!

ArmA 2 Preview

Now, if I were asked to name the most under-rated game I have ever played, it has to be Operation Flashpoint. That remarkable shooter had the capacity to blast the very foundations of FPS gameplay with its kickass GTA3-crossed-with-Battlefield 2 approach. Unfortunately, this gem from Bohemia Interactive never got big enough.

So while Codemasters went on to make a sequel to Operation Flashpoint, Bohemia took off on their own and decided to make ArmA. OF2 lingers in the air for years with only a handful of screenies sometimes, while ArmA was made, released and everything is cool. Since Bohemia wants to look even cooler, they’ve announced ArmA 2. But Codemasters isn’t far behind. They’ve proved that they are actually working on the game with the new teaser trailer they’ve made!

Hit the jump to find out all about what’s going on, as well as a bunch of screenies for ArmA 2.

Continue reading “Operation Flashpoint 2 Teaser, ArmA 2’s official announcement! Military Simulations Galore!”