GamesBloggo - Your source on game news! January 2009

Chet Faliszek from Valve has confirmed during a video podcast for Kotaku that the developing team is working on downloadable contents for Left 4 Dead.

He confirmed that the team is working on additional contents that will be available for download, and that the developing is being done contemporarily for the XBox 360 and PC versions. Although there aren’t many details on how this expansion will present itself, Faliszek has declared that it will feature “new playable contents”.

We’ll be waiting on more information on the matter.

The Volition staff has annouced the launch date for the PC version of Saints Row 2 on the game’s  official forum. The game will be finally available for PC on January 9th, 2009, bringing the wait of those players that do not have a console to an end.

In another post on the same forum, the moderator has also declared that a low-impact DRM system will be used. It should be based on Steam but mild enough not to cause any problems that have been found in other games.

The first F.E.A.R was somewhat “ruined” by the Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansions and their respective console conversions that were done by other Software Houses. At least according to Dave Matthews, from Monolith, in an interview to CVG.

“[TimeGate] took the story in a direction that we didn’t intend. We look at Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate as an alternate universe, a ‘what could have been’, and because of that it doesn’t necessarily diminish the story that we were trying to tell. F.E.A.R. was about Alma, F.E.A.R. 2 is about Alma, and we wanted to continue the story the way we originally intended”, says Matthews.

Besides criticizing the expansions, Matthews also shares some negative opinions about the technical quality for the console conversions made by Day 1 Studios, affirming that they never sold as well as the PC version.

Matthews reassures players, however, that the XBox 360 and PlayStation3  conversions of F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin will be a lot more faithful to the PC counterpart. F.E.A.R 2 will be launched on February 10, 2009 for PC, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360.

The development team for F.E.A.R 2 has released a few screenshots for the new F.E.A.R sequel that will be launched next February 10th for PC, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360.

There’s not much more to say except: enjoy some of the screenshots below!

Click on the thumbnail to see the full image.

Electronic Arts and Crytek have decided to “open” the Crysis Wars servers for ten days, from December 19th to December 28th, as a celebration of the Christmas holidays. Also, for the same occasion, a new patch has been launched, containing a series of enhancements in the customized configuration support and a surprise: two multiplayer maps, Savanna and Frost.

Crysis Wars is the online component of Crysis Warhead and allows players to challenge other players in multiplayer maps that can also be created from the Crysis editor, Sandbox 2.

Below are the some images for the two new maps included in the patch. Enjoy!

Click on the thumbnail to see the full image.

Ubisoft has officially announced a new title being developed by Immersion Games. The name is CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars, and it’s scheduled to be launched in the first months of 2009 through XBox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

The new game will feature a man against machine conflict, a battle between humanity and technology. In this FPS, players will have the opportunity of using the classic weapons, but also other type of powers such as psychokinetics, flight, telerporting, super-speed and others.

THe game will feature four multiplayer modes and a very dense single player mode, accessible with three characters. Always regarding these characters, players will be able to increase their ability and customize them as they wish.

At a first glance, the project doesn’t seem bad at all. The futuristic theme is always a very fascinating one, so we will be tuned to see how it turns out. Below, the first images released for the game.

Click on the thumbnail to see the full version.

After the new images and video about Resident Evil 5 that were published recently, Capcom has released new material about the fifth chapter on the survival-horror series.

In particular, the covers for the two versions of the game, for the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360, in which an image of the African continent can be found. The story of Resident Evil 5 will, in fact, take place in Africa.

The game should be available in stores on March, 13th 2009.

Punctual as usual, The Bethesda people have started to distribute the highly-awaited patch for Fallout 3 in the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. The corrective patch is available from today on in the USA and Great Britain, and according to Bethesda, it will be available soon everywhere else.

As for the PlayStation 3 Trophies, players will have to wait a little bit more, but it’s known that there will be a further update that will add 51 trophies in the future.

After the announcement of Metal Gear Solid Touch through the Famitsu pages, which was later officialized also on Konami’s Japanese site, there are now new details and images about the new version of Metal Gear that will be available on iPhone and iPod Touch.

Metal Gear Solid Touch will be based on the Metal Gear Solid 4 universe, taking characters and scenarios from the famous title, released this year for PlayStation 3. The game levels that will be available upon the game’s launch are 8, and further stages will be released through updates.

As it’s possible to be seen from the images in the end of the post, the gameplay will feature a third-person shooter view. Also, with the points obtained during the game, it’ll be possible to unlock several prizes that feature images and wallpapers about the Metal Gear series.

Metal Gear Solid Touch should be launched on Spring 2009, on Apple’s App Store. Below are the first images for the game. Enjoy!

It’s not a remake, a sequel or a spin-off. So what exactly is The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena? The answer comes straight from the game’s developer, Tigon Studios, that define it an “Episodic expansion”.

“”We’re not calling it a sequel; we’ve got a sequel in mind that’s a couple of years out if you guys want it, and you like this and you tell us you want more”, says Ian Stevens, Tigon Studios’ head of production.

It had been previously announced that the new campagin will guarantee extra 10 gaming hours, that added to the original title, will easily pass the 20 hours. The developers have also mentioned that the true sequel for the game will be seen in a couple of years, and it’s a rather ambitious project.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will arrive in stores on March 2009.