Joystiq [Playstation]

EA: Rock Band deal with Viacom only through March 2010

by JC Fletcher { 22 hours ago }

If you're wondering where Rock Band 3 is, a year and a half after Rock Band 2 and five months after the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band, it seems EA isn't sure it's going to get to publish it. During an investor conference call, EA execs revealed that the publisher's deal with Viacom (the company that owns MTV, Harmonix, Rock Band and maybe you as well) is only active through fiscal year 2010 (which ends March 31).

Presumably the deal somehow includes the yet-to-be-released Green Day: Rock Band -- but EA's unlikely to announce any more Rock Band games until it knows it has the license locked down for another year.

Dead Space 2 and EA's Epic shooter slated for early 2011

by Griffin McElroy { 23 hours ago }

EA's tentative release schedule for Q4 of its fiscal 2011 (or, as us normal people call it, January–March 2011) contains more than a few intriguing entries. You already heard about the new Dragon Age game -- but listed just below that is an untitled "Shooter from Epic TBA." Of course, this can only mean one thing: Gears of Madden 2012 is within spitting distance of becoming a sweet reality! Wait -- what's that? Oh, right, the listing more likely points to new speculative details about that possible "Bulletstorm" project from Epic's People Can Fly studio. How ... unofficial.

Also listed under the early 2011 releases is Dead Space 2, which EA had previously promised would drop before next March. The excitement level of the remaining games drops off like the deep end of a pool: The list includes (deep breath) a new Need For Speed on consoles and PC (in addition to an apparent Holiday 2010 release), a downloadable "action" game, a new fighting game designated as a "sports" title, a new Hasbro game (more Family Game Night?), and new installments in the Sims and Spore franchises.

Crysis 2, Sims 3 on consoles, NBA Jam due Holiday 2010

by Justin McElroy { 23 hours ago }

Thanks to today's EA earnings report (EArnings?) we're starting to get an idea of how the company's holiday season is going to shape up. This is all subject to change, of course, but as of right now it would appear you can look forward to Crysis 2, NBA Jam and EA Sports MMA sometime between October and December of 2010.

Filling out the holiday quarter are some yet-to-be-formally-announced titles like The Sims 3 on consoles, a new Need For Speed game (perhaps the Criterion-developed one?) and a new Harry Potter game (likely tied to this November's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I). Want to come up with your own wild speculation? Peruse the list here.

Medal of Honor, APB dated for Summer 2010

by JC Fletcher { 23 hours ago }

According to EA's list of upcoming titles in its latest earnings report, a couple of high-profile games are going to be released this summer between July 1 and September 30: Realtime Worlds' crime-themed MMO APB (which is likely to be the "major MMO" to whose spring release John Riccitiello referred to previously), and ... a "TBA" Medal of Honor title -- possibly the one with the beard. EA did say that game would be out before March 2011! The summer release is listed for consoles, PC and handhelds.

Also due out in the quarter: the expected spate of annual sports franchises (Madden, FIFA, FIFA Online, NHL), a Monopoly game for consoles and handhelds, and a new MySims title -- we're guessing MySims Sky Heroes.

A whole mess of LittleBigPlanet Valentine's DLC coming this week

by Griffin McElroy { 1 day ago }

The world of LittleBigPlanet is scheduled to become a much more loving place this Thursday, when a few Valentine's Day-themed content packs arrive on the PlayStation Store. The PSP iteration of the game is getting a free costume (the one on the left in the above image), as well as the "Luvre Theme Pack," which adds four costumes and 15 romantically-inclined stickers for $2.99. The PS3 version of the game will see the return of last year's Valentine's Day Mini-Pack, which adds a Cupid costume and a few new materials and stickers to the game for $2.99.

Oh, Media Molecule is also making the free Chinese New Year costume pack available until February 25. Just imagine: You can finally fuse Valentine's Day and the Chinese New Year into the single, unstoppable uber-holiday they were meant to become.

Brand sparking new Rocket Knight art

by Richard Mitchell { 1 day ago }

click to rocket-size

We're going to level with you: There's not a lot of new info to be found in the latest batch of character art from Konami's upcoming reboot of Rocket Knight. The press release does mention a few of Sparkster's abilities. While most should be familiar to players -- wall ricochet jumps, etc -- one new addition is the "burst vortex," which can reflect projectiles back toward enemies. Beyond that, however, we're left only with images of Emperor Sweinhart and Sparkster's nemesis, Axel Gear, both of whom can be seen above. Konami has also released a high resolution version of Sparkster himself.

Yes, it's not much but, when it comes to Rocket Knight, we'll take what we can get.

Gallery: Rocket Knight character art

Free Realms hits 8 million players

by Justin McElroy { 1 day ago }

It's been a while since we last checked in on the user tally for Sony's Free Realms, but that all came to an end today when the company announced that the family-friendly online game had reached the eight-million user milestone.

As you may remember, Free Realms got off to a speedy start, garnering around five million players in its first three months, but as the market has become more saturated with free-to-play MMOs, growth has understandably slowed. That said, look for a big bump when the title finally makes its way to PS3 in the middle of the year.

If you're already among the Free Realms faithful, you can look forward to the Festival of Hearts, "a special month long event that celebrates love, friendship and kindness," according to Sony. ... Boy, gang, we're not going to lie -- that sounds terrible.

Joystiq set to overtake G4 in Folding@home leaderboards tonight

by Griffin McElroy { 1 day ago }

Were you aware that Folding@home (now called Life With PlayStation) isn't just an altruistic distributed computing network, but also a brutal team sport? It's true -- reader Chilly_Willy recently pointed our attention to Joystiq's ranking on the F@h leaderboard and reported the delightful news that Team 'Stiq is set to overtake fellow games media outlet G4TV within the next 24 hours. We received the news with dignity, knowing that rankings don't matter -- all we care about is contributing to the scientific community's fight against disease.

We're kidding, of course -- we're purely in this thing for the thrill of victory. In fact, it would be great if you guys could go turn on your PS3s and lend a hand in destroying G4. We want Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb to feel absolutely crushed with defeat at some point during the day, but not know why. We want to run into Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira at PAX East, and have them be too afraid to make eye contact with us. Please, please, dear readers -- won't you help make our dream a reality?

Age of Zombies blasts onto PSP and PS3 Minis Feb. 25

by David Hinkle { 1 day ago }

Halfbrick Studios, the Minis-producing development factory in Brisbane, has announced a new title: Age of Zombies. Not to be confused with the Age of Aquarius or the beloved children's film Ice Age, Halfbrick's game is decidedly more macabre -- with a pinch of cute tossed in. (We never thought we'd call zombies both those things, but there it is.)

Age of Zombies follows time-traveling protagonist (and delicious side dish) Barry Steakfries, doing his best to eradicate the hungry undead looking to get a mouthful of his tasty vittles. The debut trailer nestled above gives us a vibe akin to a cross between Robotron and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which kinda sounds like a good time. There's also the promise of zombified T-Rex dinosaurs, which hardly seems possible in the real world, but, hey, we'll take it.

Age of Zombies will be available to download from the PlayStation Store on Thursday, February 25 for $4.99. In the meantime, fight your way through a horde of new screens in our gallery below.

Gallery: Age of Zombies (PSP and PS3 Minis)

Mass Effect 2 remains atop UK charts, Dante debuts

by Alexander Sliwinski { 1 day ago }

Mass Effect 2 has maintained the top spot on Chart-Track's UK all-formats sales chart for a second week in a row. However, there seems to be some kind of Batarian flu loose on the isles, because Mass Effect 2 sales, which dropped by 64 percent this week, were "within touching distance" (850 units, to be exact) of Wii's Just Dance. Rounding out the unchanged top three for a second week was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

EA's Dante's Inferno had one hell of a premiere on the charts, earning a somewhat sinful spot at fourth. In a good sign for MAG, the mega shooter slipped only three notches to seventh place. Meanwhile, the surprise return of other BioWare game Dragon Age: Origins to the top 40 last week has gained even more momentum, moving up another three spots to 28th.

Source – Mass Effect 2 leads an unchanged top 3 [GFK Chart-Track]
Source – Latest UK Software Charts [GFK Chart-Track]

Now Playing: February 8-14, 2010

by James Ransom-Wiley { 1 day ago }

Just relax -- you might feel a slight pinch.

Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:

Last updated: Tuesday, 4:11 PM

Continued →

Review: BioShock 2 (single player)

by Justin McElroy { 1 day ago }

BioShock didn't need a sequel.

I know it, you know it; heck, I'd bet if they were being totally honest, the staff of 2K Marin would tell you they knew it too. BioShock was that rare combination of a perfectly realized world, fresh yet refined action and a narrative that left me with no real burning questions. It didn't need a sequel.

But all that has very little to do with BioShock 2 because whether it needed to be made or not, it's here now. And the surprise isn't that someone other than Irrational had the chutzpah to make a BioShock sequel. The surprise is just how worthwhile it is.

Gallery: BioShock 2

Continued →

Keighley: L.A. Noire coming this September [update]

by Justin McElroy { 1 day ago }

Update: A representative from Game Informer confirmed to us that the LA Noire issue of the magazine does list a September 2010 release window for the game. And now, we play the waiting game.

We always assumed that Geoff Keighley's ability to secrete world exclusives only applied video games, but his power/curse seems to extend even to magazines about video games. Keighley says he got an early look at Game Informer's recently teased piece on Rockstar's L.A. Noire and let slip via his Twitter feed that the game is apparently slated to arrive in September.

According to legend, Keighley is often able to see pieces like this even before the electrical impulse makes its way from the "typing synapse" of the brain to the writer's fingers. That's our accurate, scientific way of saying we haven't seen the piece for ourselves yet, so we're going on Keighley's word at the moment. We know, we know, we dislike trusting a guy who misspells "Jeff" too.

Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars marching to multiple platforms this fall

by David Hinkle { 1 day ago }

And here we thought the well of Lego Star Wars material had dried up. Perhaps we've underestimated TT Games, which has revealed that it's constructing a new armed and fully operational entry in the series: Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. Destined for an Autumn 2010 release on the Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS and Wii, the game will focus on the events of the Cartoon Network animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Expect "brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat" and an expanded level editor, allowing potential Padawans and Seperatists the chance to construct their own "customized bases and in-game battlefields." You'll also be able to employ new tactics throughout the game, such as "Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups."

Wait, lightsaber slicing? Does that mean the obvious, or the radical ability to slice through lightsabers?

ESRB outs WWII-based opening of Bad Company 2

by Ben Gilbert { 2 days ago }

The original Bad Company spinoff in the Battlefield series kept the franchise's setting firmly in modern times, but if the Bad Company 2 ESRB description is true, you'll be seeing a return to WWII in the sequel. At the very least, the game's opening will bring players back to the Pacific side of the war, with the ESRB description saying, "In single-player mode, players conduct missions on an unnamed Japanese island during World War II and then move into the modern day through jungles, deserts, and snowy terrain."

Just like we've discovered in our way too many hours with the game's multiplayer demo, the description details the inclusion of "melee attacks with a power drill" (yes, seriously) and the characters use of profanity "during cutscenes and in the heat of battle." And yes, we're just as excited by the former as you might imagine.