Second Grand Theft Auto IV trailer: ‘Looking For That Special Someone’
Rockstar has released the second trailer for the upcoming Grand
Theft Auto IV, named ‘Looking For That Special Someone’, it is viewable
above in YouTube format, and higher res in-browser and downloadble
versions can be found at rockstargames.com.
The game is due on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 19 in Europe, and October 16 in the US, there will be exclusive episodic content for the Xbox 360.
REVIEW: Mercury Meltdown Revolution
Developer: Ignition Banbury | Publisher: Ignition | For: Wii
The
Nintendo has traditionally been the home of puzzle gaming, with titles
such as
Super Monkey Ball and Pikmin thrilling gamers for years. The simplicity
and addictive nature of most puzzle games is what lends its self so
much to Nintendos largely family friendly audiance. The latest puzzle
adventure on the Wii is Mercury
Meltdown Revolution.
The
game first appeared on the PSP in 2005 and swiftly garnered a cult following.
The idea is simple; the player must guide a blob of Mercury around a floating
platform by tilting the Wii Remote in the corresponding direction. It’s like
Super Monkey Ball only minus the animal cruelty. The simplicity of the gameplay
is what initially attracts you to it.
Anyone
familiar with the PSP version will know that there is more to the game than
simply avoiding the edge of the platform. To reach the end of a level, players
will have to change the colour of their blob, press switches, and at its worst
control multiple blobs at one time. It may sound easy enough, and initially it
is, but after an hour or so don’t blame us if you’ve launched your Wii Remote
at the television.
The
main thrust of the gamplay involves changing the colour of your blob to unlock
doors. You do this by rolling through various coloured fields. It is here that
the game takes on a slightly demented manner. To open some doors you will find
yourself splitting your blob up into for separate entities and then combining the
four different coloured blobs to create a whole new colour. Throw in the moving
blocks, platforms which seem to disappear at random, conveyor belts and you
have a game which tests not only skill but intelligence also.
The only disappointment is the lack of a multiplayer option. Had this been
included then chances are Mercury could have been the must own party game on
the Wii. As it is Mercury is a great little game which will please both puzzle
gamers old and new.
Dublin Pro Evo tournament ends
Winners of the MM’s Challenge, a Pro Evolution Soccer tournament, were revealed today in Dublin.
The organisers have said that 300 players played in what they called the Ireland’s largest ever football game tournament.
Recently at the Xbox Live Gaming Centre, 32 finalists played it out
for six hours over 200 matches resulting in a final between Michael
Stankard and Leon Gallagher.
Stankard (pictured above) from Tallaght won the match, and selected to give new kit
for 15 players to his two local football clubs Boca Seniors and St
Maelruans. He also won a projector with screen, Xbox 360, games and
Reebok sportswear.
Runner-up Leon Gallagher won a 26″ HD television, an Xbox 360, as
well as Reebok sports gear for himself, and kit for the Kildare County
Under 21s.
Brand manager at MM’s, Sarah Keenaghan, said “It has been a
huge success and we congratulate all those involved”.
“Congratulations to
both Michael Leon for winning the tournament and everyone who
played in the tournament” added Tony
Murray, MD at the Xbox Live Gaming Centre, “The MM’s Challenge 2007 was a showcase
what we can do with the Xbox Live Gaming Centre”.
MM’s Challenge 2007: Full list of winners
1st: Michael
Stankard; 2nd: Leon Gallagher; 3rd: Adrian Griffin; 4th: Naem Suhaimi; 5th - 8th: Henry Jackson, Darren Kehoe, Derrick Dowd, Ross Ryan; Last 16: Ed Quigley, Ian Mangan, Barry Bishop, Mohammed Amin, Daniel Boeving, Sean Gannon, Dave Walker, Michael Wilson.
Last 32: Nassir Hussain, Ross Ward, Tony Flynn,
Damien Burke, David Tuohy, Rob Moore, Marcos Isla, Joey Grimes, Paul
Roche, Rodrigue K. Ernest, Mark Tobin, Fariz Izwan, Aaron Wickham,
Jason Molloy, Stephen Moran, Dave Greaney; Last 50:
Stephen Walsh, Jonas Rosemond, Bartosz Slaby, Derek O’Keefe, Declan
Rooney, Wesley Costa, Robbie Maher, Mark Rose, Daryl Stone, Brian
McCarthy, Ross Nelson, Evin O’Neill, James Edwards, Shane Prunty, Craig
Sadler, Blazej Malczak, Jacek Gajczewski, Mike McKeehan.
—–
REVIEW: Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Developer: SCEE | Publisher: High Impact | Format: PS2
Ratchet and Clank sequels are as inevitable as night
following day. The fact that the franchise has improved with each passing instalment
is a testament to the love and care which goes into the continuing adventures
of two of the Playstation’s most loved creations
Platform games have had a lot of success on handheld
consoles. The simplicity of the genre lends its self to the pick up and play mentality
associated with handheld gaming.
Size Matters begins with our intrepid heroes relaxing on the
beach, taking a break from the hero lifestyle. A young girl asks Ratchet to do
some hero like activates so that she can photograph them. After some ego
massaging Ratchet agrees and from there our plucky heroes blast around the
galaxy battling an assortment of nasty characters.
The game successfully recreates the gameplay found in the console
title, with just a few slight changes. The control system is the most noticeable
change, which was necessary to compensate for the lack of a second analogue
stick. The shoulder buttons are used to control the camera. After a few minutes
of play using them becomes second nature and the developers should receive kudos
for doing such a great job.
Visually the game isn’t up there with the console version, but
it’s not far off. The unique style so abundant in the console version is kept.
Cut scenes are particularly well handled and look absolutely sublime.
Overall Size Matters is a fantastic title, and given that it
wasn’t developed by Insomniac Games is all the more impressive. High Impact
have done themselves proud. Do yourself a favour and pick up Ratchet and Clanks
latest adventure.
Manhunt 2 banned in Ireland
Manhunt 2 has come under a prohibition order by the Irish Film
Censor’s Office, effectively banning the sale of the game in
Ireland. The moves follows a ban by the British Board of Film
Classification.
“IFCO recognizes that in certain films, DVDs and video games,
strong graphic violence may be a justifiable element within the
overall context of the work” states a notice on the Censor’s website. “However, in the case of Manhunt 2, IFCO
believes that there is no such context, and the level of gross,
unrelenting and gratuitous violence is unacceptable”.
The company behind the game, Rockstar Games, issued a statement
which said that they were “Disappointed” with the UK ban, but would
respect the authority of the UK censor and abide by the rules.
“Manhunt 2 is an entertainment experience for fans of psychological
thrillers and horror. The subject matter of this game is in line with
other mainstream entertainment choices for adult consumers”, the Rockstar statement added.
The games company is owned by publisher Take Two, and have also been
involved in controversial titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Bully.
Ireland subscribes to the European age rating system PEGI, however the Video Recordings Act 1989
covers games but it is up to the publisher to submit games for rating.
The censor can class a game prohibited under section 3 (1) of the Act.
The wide-ranging section allows banning for games in which elements
could be “likely to cause persons to commit crimes…, would be likely
to stir up hatred against a group of persons…, would tend, by reason
of the inclusion in it of obscene or indecent matter, to deprave or
corrupt persons who might view it”, of where “it depicts acts of gross
violence or cruelty (including mutilation and torture) towards humans
or animals”.
Also see:
- FEATURE: Irish parents ignore age ratings on violent and obscene computer games
- Youth Council of Ireland wants boycott of “shocking” game, Canis Canem Edit
Games News Weekly (June 17)
The following is Games News Weekly, Games Toaster’s
new weekly roundup of the news about games from around the world, from
some of the largest to more off beat news stories you might have
missed…
$50 million for GTA IV exclusive content
As we reported earlier, reports are emerging that Take Two will get $50 million for the exclusive downloadable content on Xbox 360.
“It was not our intention to cause offence” says Sony
On Friday, Fox News (vie Gi.biz)
reported Sony apologised to the Church of England after controversy
over Resistance: Fall of Man depicting Manchester Cathedral, but
according to US site GamePolitics.com Cathedral officials have said the apology is not enough.
The dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev. Rogers Govender had said
“For a global manufacturer to recreate the interior of any religious
building such as a mosque, synagogue, or in this case, a cathedral,
with photorealistic quality and then encourage people to have gun
battles in the building is beyond belief and in our view highly
irresponsible”. Prime Minister Tony Blair added to the debate by
calling it “An immensely difficult area”.
Wii hype might fade quickly says Sega
“I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii
pool,” news agency Reuters quotes Sega
Sammy US vice president of marketing Scott Steinberg, “The Wii will start
to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the
360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3″.
Wii Wii Wii games sales
In the US games sales of Wii sold more then the Xbox 360 and PS3 combined in May, while in Japan Wii and DS Lite made up over 79 percent of sales last week.
PSOne games for the PS3 online store
According to Eurogamer,
Crash Bandicoot, Wipeout, Medievil, Jumping Flash and Syphon Filter are
to be on the PlayStation Store from this coming Friday. One user buy
and download the games they can be played on the PS3 or transfered to
PSP for use.
Halo 3 viral marketing confusing
Kotaku.com outlines how the Halo 3 viral marketing campaign has started in the US and has started to confuse people. Britxbo.co.uk also the online elements of the campaign.
Sam Max are to Steam
The recent episodic Same Max series from Telltale Games are to be made available on the Steam
download system. Bundles of episodes one to three and four to six are
priced at $19.95 each, or per episode at $8.95 each. There’s a 10
percent off before June 22.
Wii Blaster coming soon
Destructoid.com has a screen shot online US GameStop advert showing a “Wii Blaster” to be released next month.
PS3 to rumble after all?
Spong reports
the rumour that Sony may include rumble into the PS3 controller, they
quote a game developer blog Inner bits as saying “Officially, the
corporate line is still “no comment”. Unofficially, Sony is facing some
difficulties with battery life; ie Between the rumble and the wireless
support, the batteries are draining too fast to be acceptable for
consumers”.
Beautiful Katamari previews… 360 exclusive?
GameSpot and 1up.com both have previews of the new Katamari game, Beautiful Katamari. Kotaku meanwhile gets on the rumor that the game will be an Xbox 360 exclusive.
Machinima talk in Dublin film festival
The
Darklight Film Festival will feature a talk on Machinima, the process
of film making in computer games, it will replace a lecture on
interactive writing for games as Guy Miller of EA Games has fallen ill.
Friedrich Kirschner of machinimag.com will host the hour long event on June 22 at 4.45pm.
Darklight will also feature a forum on animating for film and games, as well as a workshop on Second Life, for more see darklight.ie.
$50 million for GTA IV exclusive content
Exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV content for the Xbox 360 is so
important to Microsoft that they are willing to pay $50 million to
publisher Take Two. Reports emerging today are based on a transcript of
a Take Two conference call between executives at the publisher and
analysts.
“The first 25 [million] is for the first episodic content package
that’s supposed to go out and that is in March of ‘08: The second 25
will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be later in
fiscal ‘08″ Take Two chief financial officer Lainie Goldstein is quoted
as saying responding to a question on revenues relating to episodic
content on Xbox 360.
Exclusive high profile games are highly valued by the console makers
as they can are the central point in many gamers decision on what
console to buy, but whether or not consumers will have to pay extra for
the content is currently unclear.
After much confusion from both Microsoft and Take Two over the
exclusive content first announced at the trade show E3 last year, a
Take Two spokesperson confirmed on Friday to games website GamesIndustry.biz that “The Grand Theft Auto IV episodic content is exclusive to Xbox 360″.
The Take Two conference call transcript can be found at the stock market opinion and analysis website seekingalpha.com.
Meanwhile, the Rockstar the games studio behind GTA are due to
release the second teaser trailer for the GTA IV, ‘Looking for that
special something’, in just over two weeks time on Thursday June 28.
The game is set for release on October 19 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox
360.
World Cyber Games Irish qualifiers set
Irish qualifiers for the World Cyber Games Festival 2007 in Seattle are due to take place in Dublin later this year.
The Irish qualifiers will be held at the Digital Hub on September 15 and 16, 2007.
The main Irish competition will be proceeded by regional finals, the
first to be announced will take place in Streete Community Centre,
Streete, Westmeath from Friday July 20 to Sunday July 22 - for more see
midlans.net.
Games to be played are Counter Strike 1.6 on PC with a team of five,
Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox, and FIFA 07 on PC. There is a wider
selection of games in the Seattle event, but funding and sponsorship
only allows for so many teams and players to be sent over to the US.
For more see worldcybergamesireland.com and the LAN Party section of boards.ie.
INTERVIEW: PlayStation nation
launch of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) was a success, the boss of Sony’s
Irish PlayStation division told this publication in a wide-ranging
interview (This article was first published last month in Slant magizine, which was distributed in Dublin city center).
Niall O’Hanrahan the managing director at Sony Computer
Entertainment Ireland told us that the launch was “Very good”, even
thought he admitted — unlike another cheaper console — the PS3 was
not a sellout. The cheaper Nintendo Wii launched here before Christmas
was a sellout.
“We’ve shipped 20,000 and of that 17,500 are sold”, O’Hanrahan said.
He put the left over stock down to planned over supply “It was planned,
that was enough stock”.
He also robustly defended the high price of the