If you were wondering why EA was planning to put their upcoming Beatles/Rock Band hybrid against a number Music games that would be released this year, here’s why.

According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous, who spoke at a Billboard CES session today, the company will be taking a break from the release cycle of Rock Band this year.

“We’ve actually made a choice to break out of the annual release cycle for Rock Band this year,” Rigopolous told the assembled press and industry members. “[This is] partially because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer. We’re trying to take a long term view.”

Rigopolous added that the delay was also partly so the developer could focus on the Beatles-focused game announced last October. But, I hope, the cycle will return next year.

[Harmonix’ Rigopolous: “Rock Band 3 breaking the annual cycle” via Crispy Gamer]

Apparently, a source close to the guys over at CVG proclaims that UbiSoft, known for many games in the Tom Clancy series, plans to announce two new Tom Clancy titles this year. And the source also says that they plan to release it sometime this year, but when…

According to Computer and Video Games, a source close to them says that two new Clancy games will be announced by the French publisher later this year and there’s a chance that they could release this Christmas.

They were not clear on whether, or not, the new games will be continuations of current-gen spin-offs Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Rainbow Six Vegas, or entirely new entries.

To-date it has been two-years since the last Ghost Recon entry and I wouldn’t be surprised if the next game was indeed that, but what would really surprise us is another RS Vegas title.

Some of us already knew that it was coming, but it is never good to jump the gun, even if many of us are hasty to babble, “I knew it”. “But, with time, comes great reward.” A great man once told us, and it’s about time that we gain our reward.

In a recent interview with GameTrailers, CEO and president of Level 5, Akihiro Hino, revealed that White Knight Chronicles will indeed be headed to North America. But, he wasn’t quick to give out a release date, or target.

He also said that American gamers may get the chance to play with Japanese gamers online. “We haven’t decided,” he said samply when asked about the possibility of it being region free.

But, one the other hand, if news of the games low scores in Japan spread like wild fire, they may have a problem with selling the title in the North America.

It’s truly one of the greatest things about making a video game, when you make a game that is great, and people like an aspect of the game, you are going to see someone make a game with that same style, or something like it. Now, it seems that the video game adaptation of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ with be taking a page out of the book from God of War.

When speaking to EGM, developers Raven opened up about their upcoming project ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’.

“God of War was an influence. Devil May Cry, even Super Smash Bros., to a point. When we play [games like that], we just like the simplicity. Every character has their basic set of moves — that’s simple. People get that, and mass market gets that, so we’re making sure we bring that to Wolverine,” said Raven.

“People are going to play Wolverine and then be annoyed with how slow other action games are. We’ve gone back and played highly touted action games we all love, and you’re in these attacks forever. And it’s not just the speed — it’s the ease in which you’re able to [break] out of your attacks at any time.”

Since E3 ‘08 we have known about I Am Alive and since then we haven’t known much about the game, but it looks like UbiSoft is ready to come out about the title. This news comes from the cover article of GamesTM, which is about I Am Alive. And as it turns out that, Raymond isn’t as involved the title as we where led to believe.

The article reveals that the team over at Darkworks, best known for survival horror game Cold Fear, has no idea how that rumor got started. But, in Raymond rumored place stands senior producer Alexis Goddard.

“We encourage the players to use tactics, diversion, and discretion,” said Goddard, mentioning that an empty shotgun can be very persuasive if enemies don’t realize it’s out of ammo.

As for comparisons to Mirror’s Edge that will undoubtedly be brought about by the game’s first-person platforming and use of violence as a last resort?

“We wanted the player to really feel the power of Mother Nature, to feel the danger coming from the collapsing towers and devastating rifts, feel the chaos happening all around him. There’s nothing like a first-person view to create that kind of emotion.”

[First Details on Ubisoft's I Am Alive Unearthed via 1UP]

Announced in 2005, we are still to receive an official release date for WarDevil, but what does its developers over at Digi-Guys have to planned for the title this year. After all, throughout last year there have been many tid bits on the game, including the recently announced in-game add-on WarDevil Chronicles.

Even many said website proclaimed that it was ‘one of the most anticipated games’ on the PlayStation 3, so what are they planning for this year?

Anway, when being interviewed by GameCyte, UTV, who owns Digi-Guys (the developer), revealed that we might finally see WarDevil in ‘09. The site follows it up with word from Digi-Guys themselves, stating that they will release new material this year, though a specific release date was eluded.

However, the studio has launched a mini-site for the game, offering new teaser content. You will have to make do with that until more information on the game shows up. But, hopefully, we will see this game in the household of PlayStation fanboys/owners by the end of the year.

[Digi-Guys: PS3’s Long-Awaited WarDevil ‘Progressing to Plan’ — This Year, Parent Company UTV Suggests Same via GameCyte]

Sony has alot of upcoming titles for their PlayStation 3 this year, but this is one game that sounds like if it’s too good to pass up.

Apparently, in the pages of the Dutch Official PlayStation Magazine they announced a ’secret’ project that Sony is planning to reveal next month to them. But, because they are beneath a ’strict embargo’ they weren’t welling to say anything about the title. But, it does sound pulpy…

“We can’t because of a strict embargo, not yet much lost (or better said entirely nothing), but next month we fly to the US to bring [a new] title for [the] PlayStation 3… [from] Los Angeles,” reads the Dutch Official PlayStation Magazine magazine.

Probably one of the most under-appreciated titles in 2008 - it even won many “Most Overlooked” Awards - it makes sense that the title would be getting a re-release in the part of the world that RPGs are most dominant. After all, there were many reports that the game was not selling well in North America.

Now, however, it looks like Sega is scheduling a budgeted re-release of Valkyria Chronicles in Japan on March 5, and the game will include the Edie Nelson mission(s), which is currently only available via download on the Japanese PlayStation Store. The price has also dropped down to 3,990 yen, which is just about $44 U.S, give or take.

There is no word on if the title will re-release in North America, but there is a strong change that they will benefit from such a move. This will also help the popularity of the title in Japan, but this time let hope that they advertise the game better.

Update: Apparently, there wasn’t an official announcement for the figures, but you will get them when you pre-order the game from GameStop and Game Crazy.

Original: Over the past few days, game retails have frequent revealed pre-order bonuses for games - such as demos, costumes and wallpapers - but this, by far, has to be one of the best they have revealed.

Today, GameStop and Game Crazy announced both the Afro Samurai pre-order action figures that will be available at there retail stores.

If you pre-order Afro Samurai from Game Stop you will receive an Afro action figure, but when you pre-order the game from Game Crazy you will get a Ninja Ninja action figure.

The Nintendo Wii is the fastest selling video game console ever made and still is continuing to grow, sale-wise, but it looks like the Nintendo Wii, itself, isn’t finished growing. As you may already know, Nintendo’s plan for its console is to generate more revenue from content.

And to help it’s reach its goal, Nintendo is planning to launch a TV program on its console called Wiinoma in Japan by the end of this year. Along with it, comes plans for an international expansion.

The program will be available to those with both a Wii console and an internet connection, and will feature cartoons, cookery programs, brain-training quizzes and lifestyle shows. The company has plans to make most of the content free, but there will also be some pay-per-view content via Wii Points.

As you can probably see, this is going to cause some worries between Japanese television executives because this is just a next step in the Wii becoming, “the centre-piece of the living room”.

After dropping ‘the most anticipated title in japan’ spot, it seems that we finally, after along time, get some new details on Final Fantasy XIII (13) and, it seems, that with this news the title will once again regain its number one title spot.

Apparently, this is all new information that can be found from screens of a low quality.

Here they are: It is possible to evade and counterattack. Lightning’s weapon can morph into other weapons in battles (example from gun to blade). You can score multiple hits on an enemy, or an enemy can have multiple targets. You can hit multiple enemies at once with specific attacks/weapons. It is possible to store multiple commands and execute them at once.

There is no MP in the game, each spell/skill has a maximum number of use or require charging to use. The game seamlessly transition between field and battle scenes. In the field you can see the enemies, warning signs appear on enemies who aware of your presence. There is a Chain Bonus and Break Bonus system in the game, details unknown. You can visually see the enemy name and the HP in battle.

Face it, TNA Impact wasn’t the best wrestling video game ever made, but one of the most fascinating aspects of the game was its use of story-mode character, Suicide. Created specifically for the game, Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has been teasing Suicide’s debut for months on its weekly television show.

When at “Final Resolution”, a pay-per-view event, Suicide made his in-ring debut and has been hunting the TNA Impact Zone ever since. On last night’s episode of TNA Impact, Suicide rappelled to the ring, disrupted a women’s match, and magically disappeared.

“Art often imitates life in the wrestling and video game world, but with the help of Midway’s TNA iMPACT!, TNA Wrestling has reversed that trend by bringing a video-game character to real-life. Based on the main storyline character in the hit TNA iMPACT! video game, Suicide will enter TNA with one thing on his mind: revenge.”

['TNA Impact's' Suicide, A Made-For-Game Character, Comes To Life via G4]

Announced back at E3 for the PlayStation Portable, Resistance Retribution looks to bring life on the PlayStation Portable with the style of Resistance. Lucky, for the fans of the ground smashing title Resistance: Fall of Man, and 2, and the upcoming title Resistance Retribution, they will get to sample the game very soon.

When you pre-order Resistance Retribution through Amazon US before January 12th, you will receive an unique code which allows you to download and play, with early access to it, the Resistance Retribution demo.

The full game will support Resistance 2, similar to what is between the Wii and Nintendo DS. Only here it’s different. Once you hook up your PSP to your PS3, you will be able to play an alternate story through the special ‘Infected Mode’.

But, sadly, the demo does count for people in North America, mainly because restrictions to regions where the Amazon US ships to.

Black is the classic color of a video game console, even back in the N64 days, but there’s another classic color for a video game console, and that color is White.

Up until this year, hopefully, the Play Station 3 has been available in only two colors and they are the traditional Black and Metal Gear Gun Metal, but it looks like Sony has plans to change that.

According to CrunchGear, when search trough some FCC filings they found that there’s a possibility that Sony is planning to release a White Play Station 3 in North America.

SCEA’s Alex Armour had commented on the very distinctive rumor:

“There are many FCC filings like this each year. We haven’t made any announcements about upcoming PS3 plans, but are comfortable with our current two SKU strategy. We are continually evaluating the market trends and consumer input to determine the appropriate PS3 models for our territory.”

For the past 15 months, or so, Famitsu, a popular gaming magazine in Japan, had polled its readers on which game they are anticipating the most.  For a long Fifteen months Final Fantasy XIII (13) dominated the results, that is until now.

According to PSU, the beloved, once Sony exclusive, Final Fantasy XII’s number one spot has been hijacked for a much, apparently, more beloved Japanese franchise for its upcoming game, Dragon Quest IX, which is on the Nintendo DS.

However, PSU says that PlayStation 3 holds 6 of the 15 spots, which is almost half of the titles on the list. So basically, the system has more titles anticipated in Japan then any other system.

But, one would come to think that this is because of the game “system hopping” onto the both the PS3 and 360, but because its lead was for so long, even after they had made the announcement, it has to be something else.

So could this mean that the Japanese public is sick of Final Fantasy, and it’s a sea on barely any information?

In 2007, EA’s Skate had proven itself to be a true competitor for Activision’s popular and long-running skate series, Tony Hawk, but what does this year hold for the title? Can EA and Black Box once again claim the crown for best skating title ever made?

Well, it looks like we are going to have to wait and see, but lucky we do not have to wait that long because according to Microsoft’s Xbox site, a Skate 2 demo will be available come January 8 via the “Download & Win” program, which is a sweepstake.

There are two ways to register for this Sweepstakes. Registering online before the close of the Promotion Period, which is between 3:01 A.M. ET on January 8 and 11:55 P.M. ET on January 15, 2009, or register for the Sweepstakes via Xbox LIVE Marketplace by downloading the free Skate 2 Demo Registration Gamer Picture. Sadly there is still no word on the PlayStation demo.

Forget about India. When the game was first revealed about a month ago, we were already given some details about the game. Like what the story was going to be about, and what treasure Drake was after, but in the latest issue of Edge magazine it gave new light on Drakes newest quest.

“Our catalyst is this man who cataloged all of his journeys — all the details of everything that happened in his life — but despite that he left one gaping hole,” said Amy Hennig to Edge magazine.

The hole is somewhere in 1292, and in that time Polo left Kublai Khan’s court for Venice, commanding a fleet of 14 treasure-laden ships and a crew of 600 plus men. But, by the time he arrived home in Venice, he was down to one ship and a dozen or so survivors.”He never once said anything about what happened to him… And on his death bed, after people had called him a liar for what he had spoken about in his book, he said: ‘I didn’t say even half of what I saw,” she continued.

In Uncharted 2, the game kicks off with the search for Polo’s fleet and moves on to Polo’s real secret: the Tibetan city of Shambhala, also known as Shangri-La. Gone are the rich foliage of the first game, and in its place, snowy mountains and the war-torn urban Tibetan streets.

In the article it says that it explores the “shadier” side of hero Nathan Drake, who, as Naughty Dog points out, is sometimes “a jerk,” I really wonder what that means?

Digi-Guys says their goal is to “push beyond the confines of conventional ‘next-generation’ thinking in order to produce unique, innovative, and platform leading Videogames & Digital content across all media.” But, we don’t know what this has to with that, but as part of a New Years treat, the team over at Digi-Guys have released new content from a special side project for the upcoming game WarDevil entitled, Wardevil Chronicles.

According to the Digi-Guys, WarDevil Chronicles is an accompanying 2D Cartoon/Anime that will be used to debut various characters and scenarios throughout the life of the main WarDevil Project. There is also a Mini seek preview on the official site for the 2D Cartoon/Anime.

“We may do more - and expand the Project in many ways, as we’ve had great fun creating the 2D style - it’s designed to be very different to the high-end/CG look of the main Project,” said a DigiGuys representative to PSU.

We have all seen some people do some very “not smart” things over the holidays, but this is one story that takes the cake.

Apparently, NeoGAF member, HUELEN10, convinced some neighbors, of whom he is casually with, to buy a Nintedo Wii for there kids for Christmas, but what they didn’t know was how to buy things off the systems Virtual Market.

The parents that are unfamiliar with consoles were given a suggestion of a few retail games as well as the Sega Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. And when asked how to buy the game off the system HUELEN10 said, “put in [the] credit card when prompted on the Shop Channel, and get the amount of points [you need]”

And sadly she did. Right into the disc slot. And when one didn’t work, she went ahead and jammed two more credit cards into the console. Seems logical right.

Sometime later, the mother called her neighbor, furious that their new Wii had been broken by following his advice.

Lionhead’s latest title, Fable II did as well as we hoped, it was a very entertaining and fun experience for all that played it. But, that was for the year of 2008, so what is Lionhead planning to do next year, besides the Fable II DLC?

Peter Molyneux, who is head of the Lionhead, has told BBC that the developer is working on a “super secret” project. He goes on to tell BBC that they “might announce it next year.”

Here’s what he said word for word; “And as for Lionhead: now we’ve got Fable II out of the door we can focus on our other project - it’s super secret for now - but we might announce it next year.”

Now, do not expect the title to be released next year, and knowing the team at Lionhead they will most likely take their time with the title. So I would not be surprised if the announce it at this time next year, but I hope we see it soon.

Ubisoft has this afternoon responded to pro snowboarder, Shaun White’s apparent confirmation that a second Shaun White Snowboarding title being in the works.

White had told Reuters, in an article published yesterday, that, once again, a second Shaun White Snowboarding title is in the works. Here’s what he said word for word;

“Now that I have the knowledge and I can speak to programmers better and I understand a lot more about what’s possible and what’s not possible, this will all help with the next game.”

But, when a Ubisoft spokesperson was contacted by VideoGamer.com this afternoon, the spokesperson informed that; “[Ubisoft has] not announced any plans for future projects with Shaun.”

While this maybe true, this does not mean that the game is going to have the title “Shaun White” in it, or that it is a follow-up to the snowboarding game.

What comes to mind when you think Music based video games? Is it Rock Band or is it Guitar Hero? Or is it Singstar? Well, probably one of the most over looked downfalls in this gaming generation has to be the fixation on the casual gaming market, and sadly this game doesn’t divert from that manner. But, none the less, Lips is a party game that has one of the greatest bonding powers of getting friends and family to play with on another. However, one can only wonder if Lips is going to be just another video game face plant or an instant sensation?

After previous failed attempts by Microsoft at trying to recreate the fun derived from group gaming, with such examples as Scene It! and You’re In the Movies, Lips is another offspring of the guys over at iNiS in Japan, which is known for games like Elite Beat Agents - another party-driven game - and many others. Opinion-wise, I really do not think that it was a great idea to name the game Lips, which brings up the games first downfall. We really don’t think we need to go into detail about that.

However, with the game having a somewhat bad name, it does differ from its predecessors. The game has a start up track of about 40 songs, all of which are master tracks including music videos and select previews. They also have different videos other than the original video made for the song that the gamer can pick from. The game has a multiplayer feature that pits you against another player, or against the computer. As for mics, Lips has two beautifully designed wireless microphones that light up as you sing.

When singing, the upcoming lyrics will be highlighted in gray, and the current lyrics will be highlighted in white. However, in two player mode, where player one is on the top and player two is on the bottom, you sometimes fix your eyes on the gray lyrics if you are player two and end up singing the wrong words, which becomes a problem. Also, when singing in the right pitch and balance, the word bars will be colored in the the color of your mic (ex. player one red, player two blue).

Luckyly, the guys over at iNiS knew that you may not be able to hit all the notes so, unlike other music games, you are unable to fail any songs, which is both its strength and weakness. It’s just like the problem that many people had with Elika from Prince of Persia in his newest adventure. It really takes away from the challenge, I mean would you really want to play a game that does nothing to challenge the gamer? I think not.

If you add all those things together it really does make for a weak single-player experience, but this game is really strong when you play it was a buddy. Which brings me to the co-op and mutliplayer part of the game. When in this mode, you can take on a song with a friend (ex. Umbrella by Rihanna). This song has a better co-op standard then other songs in the game, for example Another One Bits The Dust by Queen. But, lucky the mutliplayer works great for this game.

Closing Statements:

I really had alot of fun playing this game. It is really strong in most aspects of it and will surely keep you playing for hours on hand. The interface is remarkably easy to use, the initial track list is solid, and the microphones are outstanding. But, there is one problem, it does not push itself as being a game that a hardcore gamer would want to pick up and play. The game also has the ability for you to transfer music from your iPod, but what really makes me mad is that you can’t upload music from an iPhone or iTouch. That is one reason we couldn’t put that in our review. Also the quality of the videos are mostly in SD, which doesn’t fit this game at all.

Score: B-

Update: Anyway, Video Gamer has now found out that the “rumors of Rebellion doing the Battlefront III project aren’t wrong.” So of right now Rebellion is working on Star Wars Battlefront III.

Update 2: There are alot more screenshots

Original: In the past months retailers have hinted of this game being in development, after all there was that big mistake that Amazon had listed this game on there site. Now, it looks like an ex-Free Radical employee has apparently posted some renders for the “secret LucasArts project.”

According to the official site of Richard Smith, who is the ex-Free Radical employee, the “secret LucasArts project” is Star Wars: Battlefront III, and he even had pictures to prove it. But, sadly the pictures were removed faster then they appeared. But, lucky we were able to grab the renders before they did the hoodeney. The renders are models of Han Solo and Sahra The Bounty Hunter.

The first trailer of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li may not be able to speak to you directly in English, but trust us when we say this video needs no translation - because this video is able to speak to you in its hot kung fuey action.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li hits theaters on February 27, 2009. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and stars Kristin Kreuk, Michael Clarke Duncan, Neal McDonough, Taboo, Chris Klein, Moon Bloodgood, Edmund Chen, Cheng Pei Pei, Josie Ho and Robin Shou.

Update: We have just been informed that GameStop has revealed there pre-order goody, which gives people access to the Killzone 2 Demo. We have also learned that codes granting access to the Killzone 2 Demo will be sent via email starting on February 3rd.

Original: There have been alot of things that shocked us over the past year and well this one is not as cool as it may come on to be, it is still, by itself, a great reason why you should pick up this game.

As we were saying, this really doesn’t make me want to pre-order this game from Best Buy, but it’s still looks amazing. Any-how, apparently in a mailing to PlayStation Network users, Sony and Best Buy have announced the pre-order bonus for the Killzone 2. And here’s where is gets interesting, it is a “free theme”.

The theme will be, and is, exclusive to those that pre-order the game at Best Buy, but before you do that make sure to wait for the GameStop’s pre-order goody to be shown because lets gets real, would be buy a game for a theme that you can get for free?

Also there is also a pack for an outfit from Home that comes with the a Killzone 2 Amazon.com pre-order that gives you a “Exclusive Pre-order PS Home Elements Costume”. Killzone 2 will be shipping exclusively for the PlayStation 3 in February 2009.

A developer that’s best known for their hit car crashing series, once developed a shooter game that was more then amazing to look at, it was amazing to play, and the game was simply entitled, Black. And in recent reports it was indicated that Black would be getting a sequel.

And now, however, it seems that the game would not be seeing a Sequel, at least not anytime soon. According to VG247, a very “well-informed source” confirmed that the reports of a Black follow-up are “not true”.

This news comes after a reports that on the Criterion games website there was a listing stating a game for a release in 2009 on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC known as Black: Second Mission.

Back in when the first F.E.A.R. launched on the PC back in 2005, it had captured the hearts of many on the PC with it’s second to none graphics, and very intelligent AI, and creepy gameplay. But, when the game was released on consoles it was covered with the signs of a slushy port. Now, Dave Matthews, the primary art lead for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, has assured that this will not be the case with the newest game.

When speaking with CVG, Mathews said that he believes the poor console ports of the first F.E.A.R., handled by Day 1 Studios, caused the franchise to loose some potential fans.

However, Monolith is taking charge of all three platforms this time: “Now we’re handling all three versions, we’ve changed our development structure to develop all three SKUs simultaneously and there’s no lead platform. While there will be some slight variations between the different versions, so if you’re on PC you can push some things further, our main goal is to make sure the experience is synonymous across all three platforms.”

Update: We have been miss informed, apparently the original shipment was 250,000 copies and the game only sold about 132,000 copies.

Original: This is a real reason why Level-5 should be celebrating. After almost a super disappointing review score by popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, it seems that the Japanese public really knows what it wants.

According to a Japanese sales list, White Knight Chronicles has sold almost 100K copys in Japan in just one day. And because of the games popular demand in Japan an emergency shipment has been ordered.

However, because it is the holidays, Retailers have been reminded that because it the end of the year sale will most likely be slow.

As you probably can see, this is a really big marking point in the console war - mainly because games really don’t sell by that much in Japan in one day. Which makes this a very strong entry in Japan for Sony in the New Year.

Ninja Blade has always been about action and, lucky, for all its fans in Japan, they will be getting the chance to sample that action very soon.

Today, FROM Software has announced that Ninja Blade will be getting a demo, or as they like to call it, a free trial in “sequential” delivery on December 29 on the Japanese Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

The demo start off in a modern-day version Tokyo called the “SHINE-MATIKKUA-KUSHONGEMU stage”, as it was translated. At the being of the sage players will take the role of the main character, which swoop down from the high-rise buildings and fights the enemy in “dive-action”.

Anyway, there was on information given on a North American version of the demo, or any onther version of the demo.

It has been a long time since we have even heard the name, Cipher Complex, and many of us may have forgotten this very promising stealth/action title that looked alot like a bloody Splinter Cell. But, we have some very great news, which comes the day after Christmas. Apparently, the game is still in the works at its developer, Edge of Reality.

According to PS3Center.net, one of the people that worked on the game, Binu Phillip, has confirmed that Cipher Complex is indeed still in the works. And now, however, Phillip as left the team for a much bigger developer, but he didn’t say who.

As I was saying, Phillip informed that “the game is indeed still being worked on”, but for some given reason Edge of Reality can’t comment further on it “at the moment”.

Cipher Complex is a 3rd person stealth action title announced in 2006 and it’s Edge of Reality’s first big budget title. It hopes to breathe a breath of fresh air into the genre by being a more fast paced stealth action title, as opposed to the slinking and stalking MGS and Splinter Cell titles.