Today we honor the memory of those who lost their lives on September 11. Gone but never forgotten.

When you think about racing video games, one of the first games that come to mind would be Midnight Club. However, when conducting an investigation of Rockstar San Diego — because of the recent work condition accusations — anonymous sources (within the company, of course) spoke about Midnight Club’s future.

“Jay Panek and Mark Garone, people who were at the company for over 10 years, were fired in 2009 after the completion of Midnight Club: LA … other major people quit, as they lost hope in the company after the handling of MC:LA and didn’t want to work on Red Dead Redemption,” reported one source.

When questioned about the possibility of there being another title, a second source relayed to Joystiq that “there was going to be another”. But, soon after the team got the news, they had been outsourced. However, at the time, a small development team were still developing the title. Then, after a while, nothing happen. So anything could, and would, happen to the Midnight Club series at this point, seeing that Take-Two, its big brother, wants something soon.

Modern Warfare 2 is estimated to sell a total of 12 million units within the remaining year; that’s between the months of October and December. That said, this morning, it was revealed that Modern Warfare 2 sold over 1.23 million units in the UK in 24 hours.

According to GameSpot, using the UK sales estimation, Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter stated that the overall first day sales of Modern Warfare 2 could total 7 million units worldwide. “While the two-times week-one tally for GTA IV may seem aggressive, the bottom line is that we believe current consensus estimates of around 12 million for the December quarter may end up being conservative,” he told analyst.

I’ll explain this for those that need help understanding it how he got the total. Seeing that most UK sales portion that of those in the United States, he did a rough estimation coming to the total of 7 million units sold worldwide on its first day. However, if this estimation is true, this would mean that Modern Warfare 2 is the fastest selling video game, period. Along with that, VGChartz are reporting that the game sold 7 million units worldwide on its first day.

It shouldn’t came as any surprise that Quantic Dream would doing this after Heavy Rain’s nude scene controversy. In order to keep Heavy Rain from getting banned in other regions of the world, Quantic Dream is censoring the game, said the game’s exclusive producer.

In an interview pushing Heavy Rain towards the Japanese market, Guillaume de Fondaumiere told viewers that although Heavy Rain is designed for the mature audience, it may not be expected everywhere, and for that, the developer will be censoring it for those regions.

“We wanted to have pretty much the same game everywhere, be it Europe, in the United States, or in Japan, of course, with slight adaptions,” he said. “But I don’t think the changes we made will make a big difference; those are real modular things. We felt the need to adapt the content to the culture.”

Heavy Rain is scheduled to launch early in 2010, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

Update: The reports are incorrect. According to a picture taken of the magazine (click to view NSFW), Beyonetta didn’t actually get that “prefect score”. Instead, Beyonetta manage at total of 38 points out of 40 – 40 being the highest that any game can receive from the magazine.

Original: While we’re anticipating its release here in the United States, over in Japan, Famitsu has handed Bayonetta a “perfect score” – which isn’t a honor handed out freely by the magazine.

Until today, only eleven (well, now twelve) games have ever been given that honor by the magazine. So this kind of a big deal. However, within the last two years [2008-2009] three games have been given this honor, which leaves one to question the scoring by Famitsu.

[Famitsu Awards Bayonetta A Perfect Score via Kotaku]

With “A Crack in Time” recently turning gold, Insomniac has already revealed that it has started development on another title. The big shocker being that a billboard, spotted somewhere in Louisiana, is advertising a third installment into Insomniac’s Resistance series. Here’s the story:

When driving past the exploded Gas Station set for Battle: Los Angeles, an upcoming movie, avid NeoGAF user goldsoundz spotted a billboard advertisement (linked) of Resistance 3. However, long story short, he/she took a picture, and now it has people questioning if Insomniac is developing another Resistance title.

Here’s to why: if this Resistance 3 billboard is to be used as in film advertisement, this would suggest that we should expect to see R3 somewhere in 2011. However, Insomniac Games has yet to comment.

The world as we know it is coming to a end! You don’t believe me? Then check out the multiplayer trailer (entitled “Terror is Reality”) for Capcom‘s Dead Rising 2, and witness that this terror is actually a reality.

Dead Rising 2 is set several years after the infamous zombie invasion of Willamette. Unfortunately, the zombie virus was not contained at the conclusion of Dead Rising, spreading unchecked throughout the United States and Dead Rising 2 depicts a country where zombie outbreaks continue to strike.

Today, Nintendo confirmed that the Nintendo Wii, “the world’s most popular home video game system”, will receive a price cut. The price cut will take effect on September 27 in the United States, and, as advertised, the console will drop down to $199.99 – which is exactly $50 less then the current price of $249.99.

“Wii has reached more video game players than any game system before because it attracts everyone—both men and women, and people of all ages,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. ”Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience.”

So what! Conviction didn’t actually make its 2009 release schedule, but those who are eagerly awaiting Sam Fisher’s return won’t have to wait much longer. According to IGN, UbiSoft officially “nailed” its release date, basically, setting it up for a February 23rd release in the United States.

For those in Europe, you’ll have to wait a couple of extra days – exactly how many “extra days” is still a mystery. Also, both the Xbox 360 and PC versions will hit store selves at the same time, which is more good news. “The added few months of development time is being used for final polishing and tweaking,” added Ubisoft. More news on the European release date should be revealed soon.

During the Final Fantasy XIII premiere party, Square Enix announced the Japanese release date for Final Fantasy XIII, which is this December the 17th. However, we’re located  in America, and we want to know when we’ll be able to get our hands on the game. So here’s the question Square, what’s Final Fantasy XIII’s North American release date?

Answering the question, Yoichi Wada, president and CEO of Square Enix, told the press that they’re aiming for an “international release [next] spring”. But, seeing that he said “international”, not American. This gives hope to the Europeans that they may actually see the game at the same time as Americans, which is a very good thing. Once again, the game has been confirmed for a December 17th release in Japan and goes on sale at about ¥9240.

Update: The PlayStation 3 Slim doesn’t play PS2 games. “Note: This product is not compatible with PlayStation 2 games,” reads the release.

Original: Kaz Hirai, head of all things PlayStation, announced today, during GamesCon, that the long rumored and awaited PlayStation 3 Slim will be available in the first week of September. Hirai detailed the system stating that the system will feature a 120 GB drive. Along with that, he said that it will be 33 percent smaller, 36 percent lighter then the current PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation 3 Slim will be priced at $299 in the U.S., 299 euros, 29980 yen. Sony also announced at their GamesCom conference that it will add e-reader technology to its PSP handheld devices, introducing digital comics from Marvel and other publishers. The e-reader technology PSPs will release in December.

If you live in the United States and you have to an Xbox Live account, boy! do I have some news for you. In an information update posted by Major Nelson, he revealed that Xbox Live members can now access PayPal as a method of payment for Xbox Live Marketplace – that’s if they live in the United States.

Anyway, with this system, you can use PayPal to buy Microsoft Points without having to associate your credit card information to your account.

A couple of things to point out:

PayPal is currently supported for Xbox LIVE users in the U.S. only.
PayPal can only be used to purchase Microsoft Points on Xbox.com.
PayPal accounts are not available for purchasing Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360 console.
You can associate multiple Pay Pal accounts with your Xbox LIVE account.

Gamestop revealed today that North American pre-orders for Batman: Arkham Asylum will receive a code for the “Dem Bones” Challenge Map.

In the challenge map, “Dem Bones”, players will face off against Scarecrow’s army of skeletons. This challenge map will be one of the most challenging maps that the game has to offer, which gives Batman: Arkham Asylum high re-playability. Batman: Arkham Asylum is due out nationwide on August 25, 2009.

Activision are building a new studio in San Francisco. And, believe it or not, they need people to work there. So they have picked up two of Visceral Games’ senior staff member.

According to Kotaku, Activision got their hands on Glen Schofield, who was general manager at Visceral, and Michael Condrey, who was chief operating officer.

They both left today.  To go onto work at Activision’s new studio, whose name and purpose are a mystery. However, I bet we can rule out anything “family friendly”. Seeing that EA’s Visceral Games worked on such games as Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno.

[Dead Space Devs Jump Ship To Activision via Kotaku]

First, it was 2K Marin and 2K Australia collaborating in the development of BioShock 2. After that we learned that the sequel to BioShock will feature a competitive multiplayer mode, which will be created Digital Extremes.

Now, it seems that Arkane Studios, which developed Dark Messiah of Might and Magic for Ubisoft, will play in the development of BioShock 2.

“Today I’m proud to say that we’ve added another important developer to the mix. Under the direction and leadership of 2K Marin, Arkane is assisting in the creation of levels that embody the aesthetic and gameplay ideals that make BioShock such a unique and exciting experience,” Alyssa Finley, producer for 2K Marin, explained to GI.biz.

[Take-Two brings in fourth studio for BioShock 2 via GI.biz - thanks to TeamXbox]

During the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, Geoff Keighley and the team at Visceral Games revealed the first ever gameplay trailer for their upcoming title Dante’s Inferno. Now, enough talking about it, it’s time to show.

“The time is right for the world of interactive entertainment to adapt this literary masterpiece, and to re-introduce Dante to an audience that, until now, may have been unfamiliar with the remarkable details of this great work of art,” said Jonathan Knight, executive producer for Dante’s Inferno. “It’s the perfect opportunity to fuse great gameplay with great story.”

I know we’re a gaming blog, but somethings are just beyond the controller. If you’re watching the news, you may already know that the ‘king of pop’ himself, Michael Jackson has passed away. Mr. Jackson was one of music’s most successful and influential artists.

Jackson was taken to UCLA hospital in Los Angeles after a 911 call at 12.21 p.m. local time. When paramedics arrived at his home in Holmby Hills they performed CPR but were unable to revive him. Streets surrounding the hospital were blockaded by police with yellow tape.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II. However, the cause of death was not immediately known.

Personally, Michael was one of my favorite artist. I believe that Michael will live on in his music. RIP, Michael Jackson.

As expected by so many of us, during the Microsoft Keynote today in Los Angeles, Bungie revealed its development on the latest Halo title, Halo: Reach.

Thanks to the very short teaser trailer that was shown during the keynote, Halo: Reach is due for release in Fall 2010. Along with the reveal, it was said that if you buy the Halo 3 expansion, Halo: ODST, you’ll get an invite to the Reach MP beta.

Advertisement: Mountain Dew is teaming up with the people over at World of Warcraft to produce two new favors for the second version of Game Fuel. Anyway, by clicking here you can win gaming gear for your PC via their promotion site.

Update: “Before they would pitch us on someone like Clinton, they may first go ask if he would do something like that. In no way, shape or form, did we say is President Clinton is who we want for this role or [tell Blindlight to] go chase him,” Pete Hines, the vice president of PR and marketing.

Original: Well, if you need someone to voice the president in Fallout 3, who would better to get than the former ex-president of these United States?

“Celebrity acquisition applies not just to celebrity actors but to sports figures, politicians – we’ve made offers to Bill Clinton for video games and gotten great responses with attorneys who have said, ‘The former president will not participate in one of your video game products, thank you very much’,” says Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of Hollywood-based Blindlight.

“We appreciated that frankness and candor – you don’t get that kind of candor from Creative Artists Agency, frankly. If the answers no, they don’t return your call for six months.”

Chapelsky wanted to snag Clinton for the very obvious role of the president in Fallout 3. “Wouldn’t that have been brilliant? You get to that point in game,” he adds, “and you hear that voice in the ether coming from off-camera and you’re like, ‘I know that guy!’”

[Bill Clinton Was Asked To Voice Fallout 3 via Kotaku]

Update: Capcoms Chris Kramer has confirmed that this is no rumor and that Tatsunoko vs Capcom will be making it’s way to the U.S.

Original: It’s about time. According to a Nintendo Power article scan, it looks like Capcom is finally ready to bring its crossover fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom to United States. A paragraph in the top right corner of the article reads:

“They said it couldn’t happen, but it is! Fighting extravaganza Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is coming to North America.”

As you can see, the scan doesn’t reveal much information about the release, but Capcom has previously stated they wanted to bring the game across seas.  ”The rights holders for Tatsunoko in Japan are one company, but in the U.S. it’s…13 companies – and some are very attentive and some are not,” Capcom community manager Seth Killian recently said.

However, for now this is just a rumor, but with E3 coming up you can never know.

It seems that the over controversial war game has been given its third strike and you all know what that means – it’s out.

According to Asahi, Konami has decided to pull a videogame that realistically reproduces the bloody street battles between U.S. forces and terrorists and insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The game is called Six Days in Fallujah.

“After seeing the reaction to the videogame in the United States and hearing opinions sent through phone calls and e-mail, we decided several days ago not to sell it,” a public relations official of Konami said. “We had intended to convey the reality of the battles to players so that they could feel what it was like to be there.”

Six Days in Fallujah was developed by U.S. company Atomic Games, and was showcased earlier this month at an event magazine specializings in the videogame industry. Konami had planned to put the game on sale in or after 2010.

Time is an aspect that passes throughout our minds even when we aren’t supposed to watch it. Speaking of time, I can’t remember how many video games I have played featuring ‘time travelling’, though I can tell you that seven times out of ten they seem to disappoint. But when we sat down with Aaron Schurman – CEO of Phantom EFX, the publishers of Darkest of Days, set for release on the PC and 360 – he gave us a new reason to believe.

GCO: Your game has recently gained some hype within the industry. Can you tell us about the setting for Darkest of Days and how it was originally conceived?

Aaron Schurman: Darkest of Days has been a dream in my head for about ten years now. Being such a huge gamer, I dreamt of a game that would allow me to visit different battles all within the same title. The game really started that simple. I wanted to visit various fantastic places, such as WWI, WWII, Little Big Horn etc. all in the same experience. Not only did I want to go to various places, I wanted to be in impossible situations: some of humanity’s darkest days in history. The places that immediately entered my mind were events like Little Big Horn, where no U.S. Cavalrymen survived the battle; places like Tannenburg where 80,000 Russians were lost; places like Antietam, the bloodiest day in American History. As I began to think of events like this, I realized there are hundreds of them from all over the world, in every culture, time, and place. Time travel was the evident way to make it happen, but knew it had to be pulled off 100% accurately. It had to make sense, it had to be engrossing, and it had to be realistic.

The exciting notion of Darkest of Days and the type of game it could become made it impossible to accomplish at that time. First of all, there was a severe lack of capital. The next biggest problem was that I envisioned a game where the events were incredibly realistic. If you are going to go back in time, I want the American Civil War to be chaotic, bloody, and terrible – not some vision where there were ten guys on the screen at once. For realism’s sake, there had to be hundreds and hundreds. This, again, made it impossible to even attempt at that time from a tech standpoint. Most importantly, I wanted to make the game myself and not sell the idea.

Years later, after we had established a working game company with great titles and a working knowledge of the development process, we set out to make our own engine, one that could support the lush, varying, detailed environments as well as the hundreds of soldiers. The engine also had to support both long-distance terrains as well as narrow cityscapes (to accurately pull off environments like Pompeii). After the amazingly talented folks at 8monkey Labs created the Marmoset engine, it was finally time to work on the most difficult era, the U.S. Civil War. We picked this area first since it was going to be the most complex to pull off; we wanted it as realistic as possible with so many men doing so many different things at the same time. Once we built it and pulled and pruned it to perfection, it was so harrowing that every time we played it everyone got goose bumps. There was no problem raising capital at that point.

GCO: With a story this interesting, who is the “bad” guy or guys within your title? Or is that a slowly uncovering fact of the game?

Schurman: You have picked up on one of the things readers of the story have been amazed by – the story itself! I have never played a game that has this engrossing or detailed a story. So many folks tout stories in their games, but in reality there is little there. This game will really get you thinking, and that’s what we set out to do.

Time travel is such an amazing thing, with so many possibilities. It’s really a fantasy place our minds like to go to. It’s been so poorly done so many times – it seemed that folks just begged for a story that was believable and “could come true,” as a lot of testers say.

The player gets a chance to “choose where they want to go” as they begin to save folks from history that were never meant to die. As they save these people, and begin to save history, the folks who screwed it up in the first place begin to take notice, and the fight is really on. Not only will people have to deal with being dropped into a fierce environment with death all around them, they will have to deal with other time travellers trying to fit in. It’s pretty wild! It’s awesome to watch how folks have to play that next level to see what happens. I honestly have not seen testers respond like this to a game, where they literally /had/ to get that next part done, or travel to that new time frame to see what happens. It really brings back the fantasy in games. It has been incredible to watch people’s reactions as the perceived “good” and “evil” forces battle.

GCO: I have played many games that have dealt with the time aspect. Can you tell me, since you play as a time traveller, if there are any powers within the game?

Schurman: One of the biggest “powers” a player can have is to possess a weapon in a time frame that does not belong there. You are quite powerful in 1865 with a fully automatic weapon. The tricky thing in developing the game was to give the player a roller-coaster ride of situations, and face them with different weapons. You fight with all the period weapons in all of the six times you travel to – however, in each era, you get your hands on things you shouldn’t.

There is also a matter of “clean up.” As you progress through the game and you begin to accomplish your objectives, there are always repercussions of your actions. As hard as you may try, you may accidentally kill someone that was supposed to have survived the battle, triggering some events. Or, you may be too accurate with your shoulder-mounted rocket launcher in an ancient battle, single-handedly changing the entire tide of the battle. You will need to correct some mistakes, and that always calls for heavy equipment.

GCO: How long have you guys been working Darkest of Days?

Schurman: We have been on the project for just about three years. The first half of that time was spent on building the Marmoset Engine while we wrote story, invented characters, and produced concepts of locations.

GCO: At what stage of development is the game now?

Schurman: The game is in the final stages of testing and is all but complete. NVIDIA has taken great appreciation of the PC version and has been working hard with us to add some pretty incredible special effects that will benefit users. The console version is in the final stages as well.

Many are wondering just how well Killzone 2 is faring since its release in late February. Well, after Guerilla Games’ title “exceeded our expectations” – which was logged by Sony when reports appeared that the game had sold 500,000 copies in the U.S. – something like this was going to occur.

When anticipating the NPD Group’s monthly sales estimates, Sony replied with hast that their PlayStation 3 exclusive shooter Killzone 2 has sold more than 1 million copies – but not in America alone, worldwide.

SCEA boasted that “approximately 1 in every 3 PS3 titles achieve Metacritic scores of 80 or higher, which affirms PlayStation’s proven track record in delivering rich and relevant entertainment content.”

[Killzone 2 Eclipses 1 Million Sold via GameDaily]

Just when you started thinking that things couldn’t get anymore exciting, tonight at the Game Developers Conference, which is still currently taking place in San Francisco, Infinity Ward released the first teaser trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The teaser trailer doesn’t give us any details on the game, but it did reveal a release date of November 10, 2009 for the game. More information will be coming your way as soon as we get more.

Max Payne 3 is scheduled to hit the PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 this winter – which Rockstar Games announced this morning.

The game, Max Panye 3, will stars series know main character, Max Payne, in where he has now lefted New York and his job at the NYPD behind. When openning this new area in his life, he is somehow betrayed and “trapped [with]in a city full of violence” – sounds like a typical day in the life of Max Payne.

However, it now appears like if we’d be getting older Max Payne, much like what happen to Snake in Metal Gear.

“We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game. This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.”

Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate search for the truth and a way out.

Along with addressing most of the problems players had with the title, and four more multiplayer maps – which aren’t planned to release simultaneously. Gears of War 2′s newest updated experience ‘Snowblind’ features new achievements for the title. The achievements add up to a total of 250 achievement points. The update will of course be free.

The achievements are as follows:

Rookie Gear (10)
Seasoned Gear (20)
Battle-Tested Gear (30)
Battle-Hardened Gear (50)
Veteran Gear (75)
Never Eat Red Snow (20)
Icy Dead People (25)
Frigid Body Dynamics (5)
The Weather Outside Is Lethal (15)

As rumoring reports mandated yesterday, it now seems that the games developers are now hinting at the return of the popular co-op game, Army of Two.

According to PlayStation LifeStyle, when you visit the Army of Two website you’ll find on the Army of Two Homepage an advertisement for the Army of Two sequel, which is  just a big old red ‘Submit’ banner. To add, there were some details given through the banners source code;

Game Name – “Army of Two: TFD”
Description – “Army to Two. The definitive third person co-op shooter is back.” [sic]
Studio Name – “EAM” (which is mostly EA Montreal)/em>

Ignition Entertainment has confirmed that King of Fighters XII will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 this Summer. The game has had its up and downs as of lately with one of the longest development cycles for any series title to date, but that is okay. Only if we can get a great game at the end.

But, with time we’ll be able to see how the game has been rebuild from the ground up – with an all new engine and a in-depth improved character sprites. Speaking of, you can view the trailer here.

Update: This is only for the European version of the game. There’s no word on if the other versions will be getting the same treatment.

Update 2: It’s still very unsure which version of the game this is for, but we all know it’s not the US version, sigh.

Update 3: This is for the Japanese version of the game following the release of the game on February 26. We are sorry about that, we had though for a second that the game was already released Japan.

Original: The game hasn’t released in the United States, yet, but it seems that SEGA has the downloadable content all figured out. When speaking on the games DLC, SEGA has confirmed its plan for releasing the future downloadable content for Yakuza 3 in a very elaborate manner.

Starting March 5, Sega will offer eight consecutive weeks of extra content for the game. Over the eight week period a total of 29 pieces of content, ranging from special missions to item packs, will make it out to players.

At the DICE ’09 conference, John Riccitiello told the attendees at the conference that the current recession has been ‘a blessing in disguise [so that] we can clear away junk’. Stating that the overall goal from this is that the developers can ‘stop sending pointless product to retail stores’. ‘Junk is hard to compete with,’ said Riccitiello. He felt that developers should shift their focus on quality and away from quantity.

‘We did get fat in too many places. It seemed like anyone who could draw a guy with a gun with a crayon could get funded. At least for EA, we got a little too fat, and a little too reliant on where things were,’ he continues. ‘I’m not pro-recession but to quote Rahm Emanuel: never waste a crisis.’

This is a great wake up call for developers atleast they can wake up before it  became too late.

The day that we’ve been waiting for is finally upon us. Today, Nintendo confirmed that the DSi will be in U.S. markets on April 5, 2009  and that it will be launching in black and BLUE - blue being a new color – for the price of $169.99.

The DSi, which has been on sale in Japan since November 2008, has only been available in black and white. And it features two 0.3 megapixel cameras, larger screens, a new SD card slot and better speakers, but, sadly, there isn’t a Game Boy Advance cartridge like the others.

“Ever since the arrival of the first Game Boy, consumers worldwide have turned to Nintendo for their portable gaming,” said NoA sales boss Cammie Dunaway. “Nintendo DSi builds on Nintendo’s commitment to bringing fun and creative entertainment to everyone, and will allow consumers to personalize and share their very own experiences.”

Remember back in 2006 when you first saw Dead Rising on the 360? Well, almost three years later it seems that the game is about to make an EPIC return because today Capcom announced its sequel, Dead Rising 2.

The game promises to ‘take the franchise to a new level of zombie-killing’ by featuring tens of thousands of zombies, in the all new gambling paradise of Fortune City, so it’s not in Vegas like previously though. The City will host new in-game objects that can be used as deadly weapons to stave off the zombie assault.

Dead Rising 2 is set several years after the infamous zombie invasion of Willamette. Unfortunately, the zombie virus was not contained at the conclusion of Dead Rising, spreading unchecked throughout the United States and Dead Rising 2 depicts a country where zombie outbreaks continue to strike.

Dead Rising 2 is being developed in partnership with up and coming Canadian developer Blue Castle Games. A number of members from the original Dead Rising team will be working alongside Blue Castle Games throughout the development process, including Capcom’s global head of research and development, Keiji Inafune, who as the game’s Producer will play an active role in the project.

Today, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, but in the eye of a Fallout 3 player, who didn’t get a chance to visit Washington D.C., it was time for them to take a trip to his Inauguration, the only way a Fallout player could.

Using the influence of the post-apoplectic Washington in Fallout 3, a player was able to visit Barack Obama’s Inauguration site, and lucky, he was nice enough to bring back some pictures of his trip.

In his very short photo tour he starts off his trip to with a glimpse of the National Mall as viewed from the top of the crumbling Washington Monument. And to end his trip he finishes with a short glimpse to ground of the mall looking up at the Washington Monument.

Ending on that note, this is a very interesting look on today’s events because it’s both a very important history and an important part of  gamers around the universe that we call world.

As of lately, I have had this wield feeling that when this downfall is over things are never going to be the same, and it looks like I’m right.

Today, according to Reuters, Take-Two Interactive has announced that its Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gary Dale, has resigned after only five months. The company proclaims that he left because of some ‘personal reasons’ and they also say that they don’t have any plans to fill Dale’s position.

Dale had been responsible for Take-Two’s publishing labels, sales activities, international expansion and business development initiatives.

Dale was named COO in August. Previously, he served as an executive vice president at Take-Two, and before that he was COO of Rockstar Games, the developer of “Grand Theft Auto.”

Anyway, what i meant by ‘downfall’ was that everything is falling, like the recent use with Circuit City and them closing hundreds of U.S. stores.

Alex Mercer may not remember if he was a hero or a villain, but do you remember the trailer that was ‘leaked’ a month ago? Well, it looks like that trailer has found its way to CES, in Las Vegas, this year and, as I digress into this matter, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

At the end of the trailer (shown below), there was a simply advert saying that newest release target for Prototype, which reads ‘Summer 2009′. That’s it. That was the newest release target for the title, but also in the trailer it revealed some powerful, and rather painful, powers that haven’t been shown before, here take a look.

Note: to view video in better quality go here and click in ‘watch in HD’.

Personally, I have mad respect for Michael Phelps, I mean the man is the best Olympian of all time and he has a hot girlfriend. But, none the less, global video game publisher, 505 Games, announced today a new partnership with Phelps to develop next generation console video games.

The first title is scheduled to release in spring 2010 and will be developed by 505 Games newly formed U.S. operations in Los Angeles, adding just one more thing to his still amazing list.

“505 Games is proud to partner with Michael Phelps to create innovative new game play experiences that celebrate active lifestyles, the spirit of competition and the inspirational dream of becoming a champion,” said Adam Kline, president of 505 Games U.S.

“Through swimming, Michael has become an international superstar and role model for people of all ages. With 505 Games’ global reach, we look forward to leveraging the powerful digital entertainment medium to bring Michael’s passion for sports and competition to new audiences around the world.”

Well, isn’t this something. Most of us already know that the 360 outsold the PS3 3-to-1 this past Thanksgiving holiday, but this is a whole other story. Today, Reuters has reported that the Nintendo Wii has meet the demand for this past Thanksgiving week and the sale have increased since last year.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told Reuters in an interview that more than 800,000 Wii systems were sold in the US during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, more than double the 350,000 units it sold in the same period a year earlier.

“When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wish list. But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list,” Iwata said. “Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list.”

Iwata also said sales of its DS handheld were up about 20 percent during the Thanksgiving holiday week in the U.S. compared with a year earlier.

Midway has really been hit by some hard times during this downward summit of the economy, it’s about $240 million in debt. And it’s changing ownership giving the publisher’s debtors a chance to call in their loans. But if the publisher can endure this beating, it may find a “hot tag” waiting for it on the other side.

A Midway representative has confirmed to GameSpot that the publisher’s 2009 slate includes not only Vin Diesel, but there is also plans for a second installment to the TNA Impact franchise. However, he did not address platforms or features for the game.

The first game was originally planned for a 2007 release but it had folded into Midway’s San Diego operations towards the end of the development cycle.

However, the first game was promised to be better then THQ’s Smackdown vs Raw series, but sadly the game couldn’t overcome it because of its almost super repetitive game-play. Anyway, speaking on it, let’s hope that this game will be better then the first. Hope to see some game-play soon.

The game was just released in the United States a few weeks ago, but European gamers had their copies weeks before and the title has been selling very well since it’s release. That’s why EA has called for celebration because their title, Fifa 09, has hit one million UK sales after enjoying most successful opening week in the series. This achievement means that the FIFA franchise has now sold 10 million units in the UK over the past five years.

“We are delighted with the success of FIFA 09,” said Dan Holman, marketing manager for EA Sports. “We have continued to listen to gamers and football fans and the result has been the fastest-selling FIFA game in franchise history.”

[EA celebrates as FIFA 09 smashes records via MVG]

Fable II outsold the software competition in the United States last month with sales of almost 800,000 copies sold. Now, Microsoft has announced that since its launch in the US on October 21, 2008, Lionhead’s Fable II has sold more than 1.5 million units worldwide. No wonder Peter Molyneux was so happy about the sales the other day. This means that this game is the fastest-selling RPG on the Xbox 360 right now.

[Fable II sales reach 1.5 million worldwide via VideoGamer]

As it was stated in many reports over the last week, Street Fighter IV will not be spending this holiday season, in Japan, under a tree. In a press event held in Tokyo, Capcom release its plans to reveal Street Fighter IV in Japan in February of ’09 on both on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The direct release date for the game is still waiting to be know in the United States, but still we can’t wait to play the game in the U.S. This news was released to the public in a fighting game press event by Capcom in Tokyo, just for you guys that missed it in my other article.

Some of us were left wondering whether any major players would be attending the upcoming Entertainment for All Expo. Now, we have learned that one of the key company’s in the console race have decided not to attend E For All. Last year at E For All we had a decent show now according to all the reports it looks like no one will be attending the event. According to GoNintendo, Nintendo was kind enough to provide a statement that tells us why they will not be attending the upcoming game event. “Nintendo has chosen not to participate in E for All, as it did not fit into our plans for the year. We wish the participants and show organizers good luck with the event.” said Nintendo. If this continues it looks like this years E For All will be very, very quiet.

The Games Conventions is over yet today we have just received news that Ubisoft has revealed that they have just opened a new office in Warsaw, Poland. The main focus of the office will be establishing and managing Ubisoft’s business relations in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe.

“Our vision is to ensure our presence in the most important markets and that we remain close to our consumers. The Eastern Europe market has the potential to become a key market for videogames and Poland represents a major part of this potential, with a rapidly growing console install base.” – Alain Corre, executive director EMEA at Ubisoft.

Further details about staffing or activities at the office are yet to be revealed so keep an eye out for more information.

The guys over at Running With Scissor presented a early view of the upcoming game POSTAL III at the Games Convention. Which, when all the bugs are worked out, will ship between a“mid-to-late 2009.” While the game looks like it’s shaping up really nicely there’s still a few bugs that stand out and the game is still very choppy. With all the speculation it’s on track for a “M” rating on the Xbox 360 and, hopefully, PS3. Let’s just hope that when the game is release the law enforcement will chase you like they should.

Although music is a somewhat small part in a soccer video game, Electronic Arts has set it’s self to means to release at soundtrack for the next issue of the FIFA video game seires, FIFA 09. The video game publisher offered the services of many groups and artists of all genres and all walks of life, so it matches FIFA type of theme. Here is the complete song listing:

A report given by Atari revealed has that Alone In The Dark 5 will be making a debut to the PlayStation 3 this November, the official release date is still unknown at the time. While this game was releashed not to long ago on the 360 and PC, which recieved mix review from the press and many alike.

Talk about one of the greatest exclusive of the year. According to Sarcastic Gamer, this morning Bungie leaked explosive news, they revealed that this next installment in the Halo series. The game will be following the early years of Master Chief. In other words it’s a prequel that follows Master Chief’s first battlefield experience. Yeah, that exactly what it is……….

Bungie described the game: “A younger Master Chief, in the armed forces learning his way. Full of wonder, John has to come to terms with his military upbringing and being one of the newly christened Spartan warriors. John will come of age with the player. The player will be with him every step of the way. From his first day at school, to his first kiss, to prom.”

And that’s not all. Bungie promises 17 levels, 2 player co-op where the second person will play Cortana, back then a teen runaway, with a heart of gold, that joined the army before becoming the A.I. that we’ve come to know.

But, wait there’s more. Sarcastic Gamer also obtained a title for the upcoming game intitled, Halo: The Wonder Years.

I think it’s time to stop jumping around. According to a live blogging thing over at IGN , Square Enix exec Shinji Hashimoto said that “they will complete the PS3 version in Japan, then start a localization for the US and Europe while they start development on the 360 version.”

Many people many not understand that this means, it means a longer wait time in the U.S., not even a so called delay, it more feels like a super delay if you ask me. So why did they announce the game this early in it’s development? Because they think it’s a good idea for you to wait until the game comes out so that they can build the hype up.

We got some information Resistance 2 episode of GameTrailers TV.Here is the break down of information from the episode.

• Ted Price said Insomniac is doing a lot more with the story this time around.
• Hale not only fights the Chimera, he has internal issues to solve.
• The story will be told from Hale’s prespective.
• Nathan Hale knows he has 19 hours left to live, but Ted Price did not reveal if he himself predicted it. When asked if someone else told him, he couldn’t tell.
• The biggest boss in the game is 300 feet tall (91.44 meters). There are a lot of big bosses throughout the game.
• Chigaco in the game has been overrun by Chimera and is abandoned for a few years now, so it has a "ghost town" look.

• New enemy in Resistance is is the Grims, a half converted Chimera. They do not use a weapon, as they are a melee enemy.
• When we see the Chigaco sequence Hale doesn’t have a lot of time to live, so the battles there are going to be a bit wild.
• The game starts where Resistance 1 left off, but we actually begin the journy in London, where we see the opening cinematic of Nathan Hale. The story then jumps two years after the Chimera invasion began.
• The game is mostly set in the U.S., but we will get to see other locations as well. Ted Price said we will see Chimera architecture.
We don’t actually play as Nathan Hale in the co-op mode, but other characters. Up to eight people will be able to go through a unique adventure. There is a class system:

Medic – Responsible for healing.
Special Ops – Damage control.
Soldier – Responsible for the main fighting.
• The co-op mode will be played in the Red Woods, United States. It’s a location that provides contrast from the urban location.
• There is crossover between the SP and Co-op stories.
• Insomniac Games have been running 60 player games for a while now, and Ted Price said it’s feeling good.
• The multiplayer mode features a "Dynamic Objective System" that’s giving the squad you join a specific objective to accomplish.
• The battles are spread widely as not all 60 people are going into the same direction shooting people, what Insomniac Games did made sure all the squads get different objectives, and those objectives keep you in different parts of the map.
• The multiplayer mode will not feature any map from the SP, Insomniac actually design unique MP maps. We will see the American structures in the background, but in a "twisted way", Ted Price says.
• We will be able to play with fewer people in the multiplayer.
• We will see the Chimera.
• Resistance 2 is a lot more realistic from the first game.
• Another new enemy is the ‘Kamilian’, who can actually make himself totally invisible. One hit from this enemy will kill you.
• Every level in Resistance 2 will feature different enemies.
• Weapons – The XR-005 Hailstorm will not be coming back because the team needed room for more
weapons. Resistance 2 features a two weapon system.
• There are no vehicles in multiplayer mode.
• Rachel Parker and Hale will not enter a romantic relationship throughout Resistance 2. In fact, • Parker will not be in Resistance 2 at all because she’s back in England.
• GameTrailers will show the world premiere trailer of Resistance 2 right before E3. The trailer might answer some of the questions we are all asking.

[Insomniac Union]

Funcom is proud to announce that Age of Conan is one of the fastest selling PC games of all time. More than 400.000 gamers have entered Hyboria over the last few days, with almost half coming from the North American market. This amazing figure for a PC game shows that the positive pre-order trend has transferred into actual sales, and people from all over the world are now flocking to the most savage, sexy and brutal MMO ever created.

Over the weekend an astounding amount of concurrent gamers were logged on to the game, making Age of Conan one of the busiest MMOs in the western hemisphere. With stock flying out of several retail chains, Funcom expects the number to increase in the days to come. In addition to the many gamers logging in, there was also substantial traffic to the Age of Conan websites, with more than 2,2 million unique visitors during the last ten days.

As a result of the great launch, players and press have been raving about the unique qualities of the game, and the first 20 reviews give Age of Conan an average score above 90%. The first US reviews are also live, with Gamezone.com giving the game an Editor’ s Choice Award, a 9.4 of 10 score, while heralding Age of Conan as a “ Benchmark MMO” . Sci-Fi.com was also an early mover and gave the game a straight A, stating that “ If Robert E. Howard had been a game designer.., this is the Conan he would have invented.”

“ The initial sales and reviews are very encouraging, and it’ s great to see that so many are enjoying Age of Conan ,” said Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “ This is just the beginning, and we already look forward to massive updates and cool new features. We believe our focus on making Conan unique and groundbreaking is a key reason for the initial success. This is a focus we will keep and reinforce, and players can expect continued quality and innovation as we enter a new era for the game.”

BUSINESS WIRE

Unscripted 360 spoke with EA Montreal earlier this week and told them that fans should expect new campaign maps for Army of Two very soon. They also where told that the demo will be coming at a good price, FREE. There wasn’t many other details giving about the games DLC so just keep an eye out for more information.

[Army of Two DLC maps coming & will be FREE! via Unscripted 360]

According to Pro-gamers, Gears of War 2 will indeed have 4 player co-op, this news come’s as no surprise because in an interview with Gamespot Cliffy Bleszinski confirmed that the game will have 4 player co-op. In the news article it stated that three players will join the party at any time to help the main player in progress. The game is set for a November 2008 release in Europe and the USA.

[GOW 2 sera jouable à 4 en coop via Pro-gamers]

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that their European store will be the first to receive the Haze Demo on Tuesday (May/6/2008) the European store will also have two updates next week due to the PlayStation Day event that they will be holding. With Haze being a major part of Sony Huge Keynote this just proves that Sony is going to bring more to the table with games like Resistance 2 ,Secret Agent Clank [PSP] and SingStar Vol. 2. There is no word on the demo coming to the United States store.

According to an Inside source at 1up the entire PR, marketing, and sales department at Eidos has been laid off as part of a big deal with Warner Bros.

Warner Bros plans to get very cozy with the North American portions of SCi’s distribution chain. While it’s been understood for a while now that Time Warner has been actively seeking a way to increase the reach of its digital properties, the move comes at a very interesting time. Recently the media world has seen a lot of centralization and blurring of the lines between the games and entertainment business, with big entertainment distributors making grabs for hot properties at every turn. Maybe John Riccitello was onto something when he mused recently about Hollywood getting all nervous about the influence videogames have over the mass market?

[Layoffs at Eidos in Light of Warner Bros. Deal? 1up]

Calling all private military contractors! Electronic Arts announced today that its 3rd person co-op shooter, Army of Two, is expanding its two-man combat experience by releasing the new Security and Strategy Corporation Challenge mode and maps. The unique SSC Challenge mode has two teams of two competing in an intense obstacle course for the chance to join the SSC, the Private Military Corporation in Army of Two. The new maps will be available on April 24 in North America and Europe on Xbox Live Marketplace. The download pack will also come to the PlayStation Store on April 24 in North America and May 2008 in Europe.

"We want to support our fans with new content that delivers on the two-man gameplay but with a unique twist," says Alain Tascan, VP and General Manager of EA Montreal and Executive Producer of Army of Two. "The SSC Challenge gives players a chance to test their skills in a different setting while retaining the action packed co-op intensity that gamers have come to expect in Army of Two."

Intertwined with over-the-top combat, feverish action and challenging obstacle courses, players will work as a team to race to the finish in the four new co-op maps. The team that completes the course with the most cash will be crowned the ultimate two-man military outfit. The SSC Challenge mode and maps will be available for $7.50 in North America and €4.75 and £3.80 in Europe.

Source

Great news Army of Two Fanboys, EA has revealed the downloadable content for Army Of Two plus they also revealed the details for the upcoming demo for the game. According to a post on the EA forums Matt Turner, Assistant Producer of Army of Two, revealed some new details for the demo and the DLC for the game. In the post it states that the demo will be coming out on April 1st. Here’s what he had to say about the DLC:

“……. So there is 1 new multiplayer map arriving as well as 2 new campaign maps in the not too distant future. As well as SSC Challenge- that’s the obstacle course for mercs that I mentioned in my previous post…..”