Who says adventure games are dead? Well, Sierra for one. LucasArts for another. But not Ubisoft, oh no, as the company just dropped a press release confirming plans to bring Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, the first in Charles Cecil’s landmark adventure game series, to the Wii and DS in March 2009.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars has been ported to numerous platforms since its original PC release in 1996, including the PlayStation and GBA. Ubisoft describes this latest version, however, as ‘The Director’s Cut,’ promising a new narrative “interwoven with the first story,” as well as new puzzles designed to take advantage of each platform’s affinity for waggle and touching.
Even more interesting, the game’s more than decade old graphics have also been retouched, including new facial animation by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Consider us pointed, and our wallets collectively clicked.
The Crash Commandos land this week on the PSN, along with Penny Arcade Adventures Ep. 2. If you’re looking to whip up something a little more old-school, check out Castlevania Chronicles. There are also several pieces of new DLC for your favorite music games to keep you rockin’ through the holidays. And don’t overlook the “Complete My Game, Please” add-on pack for Super Stardust Portable. The complete North American PSN update can be found after the break.
PS3 Fanboy has the European PSN update, which adds Soldner-X Himmelssturmer. Maybe that title is easier to pronounce in Europanese?
Perhaps worse than not getting the gift you’ve asked for is getting a raincheck for it. Although we appreciate the sentiment behind 3D Realms releasing a new image containing in-game creatures from Duke Nukem Forever, the fact that another holiday season has come (and almost gone) without the game actually being released can’t be ignored.
Still, if you’d like to have a reminder of promises unfulfilled staring back at you every time you look at your monitor, the 3D Realms site has the image in all shapes and sizes. Us, we’ll pass … and celebrate the holidays the good old fashioned way.
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift [sold out!] Fallout 3is the Gold Box deal of the day for .98 (17% off). Also, if you purchase the 0 160 GB PS3 Uncharted bundle today (offer expires 2:59 am ET tomorrow), Amazon will toss in a free Blu-ray remote (). Of course, you can also score a free Blu-ray remote by purchasing any eligiblePS3 game and Blu-ray movie together. Here are today’s timed impulse buys:
9am ET – Pro-Evolution Soccer 2009 [expired]
1pm ET – Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway [sold out!]
2pm ET – Harryhausen Boxed Set [expired]
3pm ET – Tomb Raider Underworld [sold out!]
4pm ET – SingStar ABBA [sold out!]
5pm ET – Resistance 2 Collector’s Edition [sold out!]
Specifically, your SackBoys (and girls) will be able to battle enemies (and each other) using paintball guns. There are even Trophies encouraging such harmless behavior among the 11 the pack will add to the game. Another Trophy: Rexecutioner. Yes, you will be able to take on an LBP-ized version of Metal Gear REX. Sony, would you kindly announce a US date?
Microsoft Game Studios doesn’t hold back when it comes to divulging upcoming Lips DLC. It has outlined four weeks’ worth of songs coming to the iNi- developed karaoke title via Xbox Live Marketplace, beginning with tomorrow’s update. All tracks are priced from 160 () and include the original music video for the song when available. Songs for weeks 3-4 are after the break.
There will be gibs aplenty next summer as id Software and QuakeCon organizers have announced that QuakeCon 2009 will take place in Dallas, TX from August 13 through 16. For the third year running, the annual frag fest will be held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, and as usual will be free to anyone who can squeeze through the door.
As in years prior, the weekend gathering will play host to news, events, tournaments and what organizers dub as North America’s largest BYOC (Bring-Your-Own-Computer) LAN party. For those wishing to sleep at ground zero, the hotel has a special QuakeCon reservation page, and everyone can begin warming up their GPUs when online registration opens the evening of March 6, 2009. Campers beware.
As it turns out, stereoscopic 3-D technology isn’t just reserved for the fabulously bored … of making flat, .8 billion-grossing Hollywood weepies. No, 3-D, like “put on those big, goofy glasses” 3D, can be the work of mere mortals. Like these two fellers above, from Blitz Games Studios.
In what’s been billed as an MTBS exclusive (that’s: “Meant To Be Seen”), Blitz has reportedly confirmed that Sony “fully intends” to update PlayStation 3 to support stereoscopic 3-D gaming and Blu-ray watching next year (presumably, in time for Ubisoft’s 3-D Avatar game). What’s more, MTBS suggests that the ability to upgrade to 3-D via a firmware update could be unique to PS3 (the console is a 4D concept, after all) — potentially leaving current Xbox 360 owners to endure gaming life in a veritable stone age.
Blitz, famous for its trio of Burger King Xbox games, has its hands in the forthcoming movement, developing its own “BlitzTech” 3-D engine, which debuted earlier this month at the 3D Entertainment Summit in LA. Well then Blitz, we can’t wait to see it in Hell, er, Hall,Kentia Hall — next June.
I should probably let you know that when it comes to reviews I plan out myself, I usually focus on the positive. I am not the kind of guy that likes to write crushing reviews just for the thrill of the crush. Chances are, if I try out a piece of mobile software and it really sucks, I probably won’t waste any time writing out a review. That’s just how I roll. I just didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about any iPhone app reviews I write that may seem overly positive. There are plenty of apps for the iPhone that are a COMPLETE waste of time. I just don’t write about those. Instead I try to focus on the good things, while still letting you all know where I think there is room to improve.So where are we this week? Ah yes, here we go.
FOURTRACK.Sonoma Wire Works has released a sweet new app called FourTrack that, well, turns your iPhone into a four track recorder. Let me repeat–it turns your iPhone into a four track recorder. How cool is that? For the musicians of the world, it’s pretty cool. Now, it isn’t perfect and there are plenty of micro multi-trackers out there so why is this one so great? Well, I’ll list a few pros, and to be fair, cons.
Pros:
1. It looks so f***ing cool. I mean check out the interface on this thing.
2. It’s portable.
3. It syncs with you laptop to transfer tracks easily.
4. It looks so f***ing cool!
5. Great for sketching out ideas with acoustic instruments.
6. Sounds pretty good, even with the built-in mic.
7. Syncs directly with their desktop collaboration application called RiffWorks.
Cons:
1. While I experienced no crashes myself, I have read several reviews that reported crashes and lost data. So it’s still kind of a consumer model and maybe not quite as reliable as hardware based micro four-track recorders like those made by Boss ( which I have never used myself, but only heard about from friends). I am speculating here, but my guess is don’t try to use it to record paid contract work while you are doing your moonlighting gig as an engineer for Different Fur or Abbey Road studios, dig?
2. External microphone support exists, but isn’t easy.
I really think that the days of HDD are counted and that SSD is the future. And this news about Toshiba releasing a 512 GB SSD seems to confirm this idea.
Toshiba has announced its latest SSD line that includes the industry’s first 512GB SSD. That much storage capacity puts the SSD up there with some of the largest traditional HDDs aimed at notebook users. The 2.5-inch 512GB SSD is built using Toshiba’s 43nm NAND technology.
() and include the original music video for the song when available. Songs for weeks 3-4 are after the break.
