Sierra Entertainment today announced the availability of a new map pack for the Xbox 360 version of its time-bending shooter TimeShift. Entitled “Futures-Past,” the pack features five new maps, with each map playable across the game’s extensive array of online and offline multiplayer modes.
Best of all, the map pack is entirely free. If that piqued your interest, it’s available now for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. more »
Capcom has sent forth 21 fresh screenshots from its upcoming third-person action title Lost Planet Colonies, showcasing a variety of all-new environments, the Egg Bandit Mode, and new VS mech weapons.
Colonies is scheduled to hit the Xbox 360 and PC on May 27. Check out the new screenshots after the break.
Publisher Electronic Arts sent word today that a playable demo of DICE’s forthcoming first-person shooter Battlefield: Bad Company will hit the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network next month on Thursday, June 5.
Highlighting both the single-player and multi-player aspect of Bad Company, the free demo will allow players to experience the multiplayer Gold Rush mode on the Oasis map. The solo portion of the demo starts gamers at the beginning of their “B” company career.
Battlefield: Bad Company is scheduled to hit retail shelves on June 25 in North America, with a European release following on June 27.
2K Games today announced that it has reached an agreement for Universal Studios to develop a feature film based on the hit game BioShock.
Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski will serve at the helm as producer for the upcoming film, while John Logan of Gladiator fame and Sweeney Todd is in talks to write the screenplay.
A release date for the film has yet to be announced. more »
Game blog Kotaku, citing unnamed anonymous sources, is speculating that Microsoft may unveil its long-rumored Xbox 360 motion sensing controller next week. The report suggests that the controller has been developed specifically for Banjo Kazooie 3, which makes sense, considering that previous reports mentioned Rare was behind development on the controller.
Microsoft will be showing off Banjo Kazooie 3 next week to select members of the press at a media event on Tuesday. The embargo for the event lifts on the same day, so we could have concrete info on the rumored motion-sensing capable controller very soon.
However, no one has said that the controller specifically will be on display at the press event. It is possible that Microsoft may be waiting to officially unveil the peripheral at this year’s E3 summit in July, but we’ll see. Only time will tell.
Rumor: Microsoft May Debut New Xbox 360 Motion Controller Next Week [Kotaku]
In an earnings conference call with investors today, Activision reaffirmed its position on reinventing the long-running Tony Hawk skating series from the ground up, with company CEO Michael Griffith revealing that an exclusive Nintendo DS entry in the series is currently in development.
While the developer for the title went unnamed, Griffith further noted that the new DS title will be the only Tony Hawk title released this year. A separate developer is working on a new console installment planned for release in fiscal 2010, which begins on April 1, 2009.
“For competitive reasons, we’re not going to talk about it today but we are very bullish on the kind of innovation this will bring and this won’t be your father’s Tony Hawk,” said Griffith.
Publisher Activision today released its financial figures for the 2008 fiscal year ending March 31, revealing whopping net revenues of $2.90 billion, up from $1.51 billion the previous year.
Reporting $602.5 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2008, Activision attributed the results to “strong market conditions” and the ongoing success of multi-platform software hits Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. For comparison’s sake, the company made $312.5 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
In terms of future outlook, Activision’s first quarter of fiscal 2009, which runs through April 1 to June 30, will see the release of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Kung Fu Panda, Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.
In a post on the company’s official message board, Bizarre Creations’ community manager Ben Ward confirmed that they won’t be releasing additional downloadable content for Xbox 360 title Project Gotham Racing 4.
“Sorry but you won’t see any more PGR4 DLC from Bizarre Creations,” said Ward. He added, “It’s possible that [Microsoft] may create some more content in the future, but we haven’t heard of anything in the pipeline I’m afraid.”
WILL THERE BE ANY MORE DLC FOR PGR4 [Bizarre Creations]
Electronic Arts today confirmed that Lord of the Rings: Conquest is in development at Pandemic Studios, the LA-based studio responsible for crafting the popular Star Wars Battlefront series.
According to an early preview over at IGN, the game will feature massive battlefields that allow up to 150 characters on-screen. Players will be able to assume the role of a number of characters from the series in the main campaign, which features support four player co-op via online and split-screen. Additionally, the online multiplayer component will allow up to 16 players to wage war amongst each other.
Conquest is scheduled for a release this fall on Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3. A handheld version on the Nintendo DS is also planned, although specifics were not disclosed.
Following the quiet launch of a teaser website yesterday, an Activision spokesperson has confirmed that Quantum of Solace is indeed the next James Bond video game title.
The publisher wasn’t ready to comment on specifics, such as platforms, but did say that official updates concerning the game are coming in the immediate future.
That’s just the teaser site for now. We plan to do updates about the game soon but haven’t released platform info yet.
Quantum of Solace is due for a release in fall 2008.
