GamesBloggo - Your source on game news! January 2009

It seems that a third chapter of the Max Payne game series is currently being developed, as stated on the last edition of XBOx World 360. The magazine declares that Rockstar Toronto is currently working on the game’s development. Max Payne 3, always according to the magazine, will not be ready for release at the same time as the game’s movie adaptation, but it seems to be scheduled to be launched soon after.

We’ll be tuned for more information on the matter.

Microsoft has released, through Gamerscoreblog, new details on the new XBox 360 dashboard, that is rumored to be available on November. Microsoft has named its new dashboard “New XBox Experience”, title that tries to highlight all the new contents that will be available free for the XBox 360 users.

The main new features concern themes and friend interaction. The themes used as background in the new dashboard will be dynamic and animated, and they’ll change according to the page currently being viewed. The main trait is, however, the customizable avatars. New funcions have also been added: for example, the characters will gather together when a new Live Party is organized.

The player status will also be shown by the respective avatar. For example, if the user is playing, the virtual character will invite others to be part of the same game session; if the player isn’t online, the character will sleep. The current themes will still work on the New XBox Experience and they’ll also have a better visual aspect.

Funcom has announced that the cmpany is working on merging some Age of Conan servers, both European and American ones. The reason behind this decision lies on the company’s desire in providing the players with the best gameplay experience, with more population in each of the servers. It appears that the server population is beyond what Funcom had expected at first, judging by this decision, of course.

The fifth expansion of the famous MMORPG Everquest II will be available for purchase on November 18th. The Shadow Odyssey will feature 20 new zones, objects, a new level cap (lvl 85) and a new dungeon mission system. It’ll also show a completely restyling of old locations, such as Najena and Mistmoore.

After the release date announcement, scheduled for November 27th in North America, there has been a lot of confusion regarding the payment fees to play the game. To clear any doubts, Acclaim has stated in an official press release that there will be a monthly fee, but the company explained exactly how the system will work. Soon enough, there will be a “starting zone” in which players can experience the game contents by simply registering to it. Those who enjoy the game and want to continue further, will be required to pay a monthly fee.

There has been a full event in London recently, dedicated only to Gears of War 2, the new title being developed by Epic Games. Cliff Bleszinski, the game designer famous for his work on the first episode of the game, talked a bit about the second chapter that is about to come. He didn’t spare enthusiastic words about it, either. “It’s no longer a game: it’s a platform. Each mode is huge” he said, explaining that the game has become so “thick” and with so many different options, that it can become a basis for different game possibilities. There was special attention put in to the campaign and into the game’s longevity beyond the multiplayer matches, which was the only dubious point of the first chapter. About that fact, Bleszinski affirms that the objective was to “build a package that people can play for months, if not years”. The story was put into serious consideration, and presents itself in a much more complex and developed way compared to the first Gears of War. He didn’t reveal any details, but said: ““I can’t talk about any of it without spoiling it to be honest. Let’s just say that narrative-wise we take some risks in the game that I haven’t seen a videogame ever do”. The main story was, thus, enhanced, and the narrative component has reached a new stage.

On the technical side, improvements in the graphics, due to the new possibilities offered by the new Unreal Engine 3. Bezsinski says that Rod Fergusson’s claim that the XBox 360 had reached its limit isn’t necessarily true: even if it the console is indeed limited and not freely expandable, the development team is making progress on it and there’s still room for more. He also mentions about the “host advantage” issue: Bleszinski says that it’s reduced, but not completely eradicated. “It’s reduced,” he said. “The person who’s the host in a client server game will always have an advantage. It’s an unfortunate side effect of doing a client server architecture. We’re not a peer-to-peer architecture. But we’ve optimized the back-code to reduce it as much as possible, as well as balancing the game better with things like stopping power”.

Further information can be read on VideoGaming247, who has made a very in-depth coverage of the interview. The game is scheduled to be released on November 7th.

Sony Online Entertainment’s president, John Smedley, has revealed on an interview published by MTV, that they’re thinking about the PSP as a possible platform for MMORPG titles.

““I think PSP is something that we’re definitely looking at; 34 million [sold] worldwide really opens your eyes, and they’re all connected”, he said. “We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April. And as we’ve kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we’re really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it’s a world-class device… In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP”. Another possibility would be using the portable console as an integrated device connected to existing Online games. Players could use the PSP to play mini-games connected to main MMORPG; leveling their characters in the mini-game would level your character in the real game.

We’ll be tuned for more information.

According to USA Today, the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will, like all the others, the possibility of a multiplayer option and downloadable contents. This would put the Wii version on the same level of all the others, since the limitation due to the lack of downloadable contents could make it “less entertaining” compared to the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 versions. However, the whole issue is still unclear: the original USA Today article affirmed that there were no online characteristics for Wii, but the writer corrected himself later confirming their presence in the game. Meanwhile, MTV and Harmonix do not confirm anything officially, and their last position on the matter was that it was hard to insert downloadable contents for the Wii due to the console’s poor storage data management.

We will be tuned for more information on the matter.

According what has been revealed on Famitsu, the console version of Street Fighter IV will have Gouken as an unlockable character. Gouken is Ryu’s and Ken’s martial arts trainer, and also Akuma’s ex-companion’s older brother. His presence in the game has been rumored for a while, after a series of quick appearances in the other games. In this episode, therefore, he’ll be present as a hidden character, although it’s not yet clear if players will be actually able to use him or not.

There is still no other information about any of the game’s versions or their release dates.

After working with Steven Spielberg, Electronic Arts puts their hopes again on another talent from the movie industry. The agreement between Electronic Arts and Zack Snyder, known by his directing work on 300, was announced today. Snyder will be working in three original videogames, obviously no further information about them is known yet. The director will work with EA Los Angeles, the same team that Spielberg worked with to create Boom Blox for Nintendo Wii. We’ll be tuned to see if we can find any more information about Snyder’s future creations.