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WPG 05:47 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
- 'NASCAR SimRacing' - v1.0.2.5 Update Patch
- This update primarily addresses scoring and rule-related
problems for both single and multiplayer modes, but also includes the new
Dodge Charger for the NEXTEL Cup Series - 2005.
- Various Game Trailers
- '50 Cent: Bulletproof' (ALL) - Trailer
- 'Unreal Championship 2' (Xbox) - Trailer
MGM Foxes StarGate Mod 02:53 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(23 comments)
Word at HL Fallout is that MGM Studios has foxed the StarGate Source mod for Half-Life 2:
We are very displeased to announce that apparently MGM the huge company feels very threatened by a group of individuals spread throughout the world. We have received a letter to desist from the creation of the Stargate: Source mod. At this time we are still discussing the issue but it does appear that we are going to be shutting down. Sorry to all of our followers and those who were looking forward to this mod. Personally I will not buy a copy of their game out of protest. It is an unfortunate circumstance when the large, powerful and wealthy must attack the small and free but it happens and it is business.
Next-Gen Madden Unveiling Saturday 12:58 pm
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: Sports
(22 comments)
A 60 second TV ad for the next-gen Madden title from EA will be premiered during NFL Draft this Saturday, plus there are teaser screenshots available for a limited time only via this site:
EA's flagship football franchise, Madden NFL football, will make its next generation debut in a TV ad during the first hour of the NFL Draft broadcast on ESPN, beginning at 12noon ET. EA is deep in development on what will be the strongest next generation console line up in the videogame industry, highlighted by other hit franchise titles to be announced at a later date.
"We have had a dedicated team working on next generation Madden NFL football and we cannot wait for Madden fans to get a sneak peek at the experience that awaits them," said Frank Gibeau, Senior Vice President of North American Marketing for Electronic Arts. "An innovative and unparalleled NFL football experience is what we've promised; and that is what we are going to deliver."
Unreal Championship 2 Ships 11:39 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Consoles: Xbox
(9 comments)
Epic's Xbox exclusive Unreal Championship 2, complete with Mortal Kombat character, fatalities, and announcer, is now shipping to North American stores:
"Midway, along with the millions of people involved in the Unreal community around the world, is extremely excited about the release of Unreal Championship 2," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Our recently formed relationship with Epic Games, Inc. is one that we feel extremely thrilled about, both for Unreal Championship 2 and for future Unreal products, and we are confident that gamers will be extremely enthusiastic about our first title together. Unreal Championship 2 has been given the time over its development process to be refined to its core and, as we hope people will soon see, the outcome is one of the best-looking Xbox games on the market and one of, if not the greatest Xbox Live title ever."
"Getting a new game into consumers' hands is always an exciting time for us." said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games. "This one is especially exciting because the UC2 team was able to incorporate third-person play and melee combat, which are new features to the Unreal series, as well as a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging single player storyline. We've had some really fantastic review scores including Game Informer's 9.5 out of 10, Maxim's 5 stars out of 5 and Official Xbox Magazine's 9.3 out of 10. We think gamers will be equally enchanted with this fresh approach to the shooter genre."
Flawless victory or humiliating defeat?
Today At The Vault 11:14 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
The latest from the RPG Vault:
Best Selling U.S. PC Games 11:05 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: General News
(1 comment)
The Sims 2 expansion beats out World of Warcraft for the top spot by the slightest of margins, with all others trailing considerably behind:
1) The Sims 2 University Expansion Pack
2) World Of Warcraft
3) The Sims 2
4) Half-Life 2
5) The Sims Deluxe
6) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
7) Halo: Combat Evolved
8) Galaxy Of Games 350 JC
9) Brothers In Arms: Road To Hill 30
10) Zoo Tycoon 2
-Week ending 3/4/05
Ahoy, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 10:50 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: Action / Adventure
(1 comment)
Buena Vista has enlisted UK developer Funcom to crank out titles for all systems based on the Summer 2006 film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest:
"The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise will develop over the next few years as one of the most exciting and important initiatives BVG will spearhead," said Graham Hopper, senior vice president and general manager, Buena Vista Games, Inc. "Our upcoming games will expand the Pirates world and allow fans to take on the roles of some of the most rousing characters ever created, and experience firsthand their perilous adventures."
In BVG's upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest video games, consumers will be able to play as Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann as they explore and brawl across land and sea on a memorable quest in search of the legendary Dead Man's Chest. The games will not only feature thrilling moments from the movie, but will expand the fantasy of the franchise by offering exciting new adventures and locations inspired by the rich "Pirates of the Caribbean" universe. The handheld titles are being developed by Seattle-based Amaze Entertainment and Griptonite Games.
Somehow I doubt the PC game will be a continuation of Akella's rather good foray for the first film, sadly.
GameStop Purchases Electronics Boutique 10:41 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: General News
(17 comments)
Two of the biggest game retail chains in North America are to merge in a $1.44 billion deal:
Under the terms of the agreement, Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (Electronics Boutique) shareholders will receive $38.15 in cash, plus the equivalent of 0.78795 shares of GameStop Corp. (GameStop) Class A common stock for each share of Electronics Boutique. Based on the closing price of GameStop's Class A common stock of $21.61 on Friday, April 15, 2005, the stock component of the per share merger consideration is $17.03. The total merger consideration per share of $55.18 represents a 34.2% premium to the closing price of Electronics Boutique's stock as of Friday, April 15, 2005. The total transaction value is approximately $1.44 billion with consideration consisting of approximately 70% cash and 30% common stock. GameStop intends to fund the cash portion of the transaction through the issuance of $950 million in senior bonds and excess cash.
R. Richard Fontaine, GameStop's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "This is an exciting transaction for everyone involved - our customers, our shareholders, and our two companies. This merger, which is a very positive step for GameStop, will enable us to enter new international markets and allow us to compete more effectively in the highly competitive U.S. video game industry. We are merging these two companies from a position of strength. Each organization is performing very well now, and we will be able to do more together by extending geographic reach, improving customer service, and continuing our aggressive store growth plans. Electronics Boutique is an impressive organization with a strong management team and we look forward to sharing best practices across both of our companies. In addition, the combined company will retain a strong capital structure, which will allow us to continue to invest in our business going forward."
The new expanded GameStop brand will have an approximate 25% market share, presuming stores in areas where EB was also located aren't closed.
Game of the Year? 04:00 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(19 comments)
We're about due for a poll for best game released the first quarter of 2005, so here it goes. Vote on your right! Choices include: Act of War: Direct Action, Brothers in Arms, Jade Empire, God of War, Mercenaries, Resident Evil 4,
Star Wars Republic Commando, SWAT 4, Tekken 5 andTom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. A bit of a slow start I'll admit, but some very good games nonetheless.
Results of the Xbox what? poll can be found here. Lets just say that Xbox 360 didn't win.
The Week Ahead... 02:37 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: General News
(6 comments)
Your one-stop guide to all that is being released this week.
PC:
- Close Combat: First to Fight
- Delta Force Xtreme
- Dungeon Lords
- Laser Squad Nemesis
- Painkiller Gold
- Psychonauts
- Stolen
- Stronghold 2
Playstation 2:
- Ford Mustang Racing
- Stolen
Playstation Portable:
- ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails
- Smartbomb
Xbox:
- Ford Mustang Racing
- Psychonauts
- Stolen
- Unreal Championship 2
- WWE WrestleMania 21
GameCube:
Nintendo DS:
GameBoy Advance:
- Hugo: The Evil Mirror
- Killer 3D Pool
- Pac-Man Pinball
- Popeye: Spinach
- Scrabble Blast
DVD:
- A Love Song for Bobby Long
- Ambush Bay
- Attack on the Iron Coast
- Beach Red
- Beachhead
- Birth
- Dynasty: The Complete First Season
- Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection
- Garfield and Friends: Volume Three
- Good Neighbors: The Complete Series 1-3
- House of Flying Daggers
- House of Flying Daggers/Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (SE) 2-Pack
- Jacques Cousteau Odyssey: The Complete Series
- License to Drive
- Li'l Abner
- Meet the Fockers (Full Screen)
- Meet the Fockers (Widescreen)
- Miracles: The Series
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 7
- Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
- Primer
- Shirley Temple: Little Darling Pack
- Stephen King's Riding the Bullet
- Submarine X-1
- Teacher's Pet
- That 70's Show: The Complete Second Season
- The Four Feathers (1939)
- The Purple Plain
- The Quiet American (1958)
- XXX (Uncensored, Unrated, Director's Cut, 2 discs)
Movies - Now Showing:
- A Lot Like Love
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
- King's Ransom
- Madison
- The Game of Their Lives
- The Interpreter
Movies - Opening Friday April 29th:
- 3-Iron
- Death of a Dynasty
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- xXx: State of the Union
Close Combat: First to Fight got pushed back, but it's meant to be out this week, honest! Psychonauts looks kinda interesting, but it all rests on whether the entire game is cool, not just the small snippet found in the demo. Looking forward to Stronghold 2 myself, but contacts tell me a recent beta preview version was pretty ropey, especially in the path finding and AI areas, so once again I'll be holding out for reviews first. Other than that, Unreal Championship 2 for the Xbox is the only release of note, and that seems to be mainly multiplayer orientated. Colour me excited folks.
My hardware gremlins struck again this week - replacement motherboard that was literally a month old went (was probably a refurbished one), so I got sick of tending to the machine and started from near scratch. In now we have an A64 mobo/cpu with an ATI x850 and my still relatively new Corsair memory. Unplugged and away is a new low-powered backup system that'll come into play if the gremlins return, and away from that in the damp-free basement is a hard drive with a fresh install of Windows with various necessary apps seeing as my recurring hardware issue is corrupting HDDs, or blown motherboards, or broken graphics cards, or fried CPUs… Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm cursed, so if any of you mofos are voodoo shamans, please help me lift it.
What will you be spending your money on in the week ahead?
Random Articles 02:36 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
Interviews:
Previews:
Halo 2 Live ! Update Today 01:34 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Consoles: Xbox
(8 comments)
Console games don't need patches? Posh! Bungie plans to release a patch for the game today on Xbox Live! which fixes a few multiplayer problems. Check back later for more details.
Oddworld Leaves Gaming Biz 01:26 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(5 comments)
If you've ever sat through one of Lorne Lanning's speeches you'd know how intense the dude is, so it's a shame to see him leaving the games industry. Word is, Oddworld will be now working on some TV/movie properties. Should make for some interesting viewing if they get it off the ground.
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:00 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(0 comments)
Game Reviews 12:45 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(2 comments)
9.3 for Unreal Championship 2?
Stop the madness before it's too late!
In Other News... 12:30 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- In-House: In Other News...
(25 comments)
This weekend was pretty slow. So slow in fact that there wasn't even a Sunday update. Posting news on a regular basis isn't a friendly or forgiving mistress who can become quite jealous when real life intrudes. I'll be the first to admit that working at VE isn't exactly the most momentarily rewarding job in the world, but a lot of people do the read the site and the updates need to be consistent. I'd love to post 7 days a week 24 hours a day, but in essence this is still a 'part-time' job that I do because A) I enjoy it and B) I'm like Rain Man when it comes to being a creature of habit. Without going on a tangent, we may be be looking for some extra help to work on the site soon. So anyhow, Jade Empire was pretty cool. It wasn't a 9.9 game by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I'd slap it with a 8.7/10 score with no regret. As one forum poster said the other day, a 9.9 game should be one that even your grandmother knows about and people composed songs praising its greatness. My Grandmother hasn't ever heard of it, nor have I listened to any songs attesting to how good it is. BioWare is one of my favorite developers, but please... Reality check; Aisle five... thanks! /cracks whip in the direction of the D&D; pit. Gimmie another fantasy RPG!
Today's question: What developer has the coolest name? Keep in mind they don't have to make the best games, just have the coolest name.
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