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Manhunt 2 Gets Green Light for Release in North America
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Corporate News, PlayStation 2, PSP, Release Dates, Survival Horror, Take2, Wii,
Rockstar Games found itself in a bit of a pickle earlier this year when the ESRB slapped Manhunt 2 with an Adults Only rating. Most stores balk at selling AO-rated games, but more importantly, Nintendo and Sony refuse to publish them. As a result, the game’s original release date of July 10th was scrapped, and much hand-wringing ensued on the part of Rockstar executives wondering just what the hell to do next.
Well, Rockstar’s long nightmare appears to be over, as company PR has revealed that Manhunt 2 has been modified, rated M by the ESRB, and will hit North American store shelves this October 31st on PS2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii. “Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we’re glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience. We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it,” said Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games.
There has been no word yet on what content changes were made to the game in order to lock down a Mature rating. And sadly, the game is still banned over in the UK.
Read More 
| GameDaily
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Director of ‘The Cell’ Attached to Condemned Movie
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: SEGA, Survival Horror, Xbox 360,
A movie based on the game Condemned: Criminal Origins is in production and the director of the visually arresting 2000 movie The Cell, Tarsem Singh, is set to helm. The movie, which is shooting under the title ‘Unforgettable’, was written by one of the writers of the TV show The Shield, Kurt Sutter and is currently slated for 2008.
Singh hasn’t done much feature film work beyond The Cell, but while that movie didn’t exactly set any box office records, it did have a compelling atmosphere which bodes well for adapting the moody game. So far no actors have been associated with the feature, and it isn’t clear how closely Sutter’s script follows the plot of the game. However, with the movie not even bothering to try and capitalize on the brand recognition (minor though it may be), it could easily be one of those “inspired by” rather than “based on” kinds of projects.
And of course you can always count your lucky stars that so far Uwe Boll’s name hasn’t come up in association with the project in any way.
Read More | The Hollywood Reporter
Morrowind Headlines New List Of Backwards Compatible Xbox Games On Xbox 360
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, Activision, Adventure, CAPCOM, Driving, Eidos, Electronic Arts, Fighting, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Namco, Puzzle, Role Playing Games, SEGA, Simulation, Sports, Survival Horror, Third Person Shooters, THQ, Ubisoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
It’s about time – finally, Xbox 360 owners who weren’t fortunate enough to play The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on Xbox or PC can now do so on Xbox 360. The update brings the total number of back compat Xbox games to over 300. And all games are upscaled, so those who have been waiting to play NBA Live 2002 in 720p or 1080i can now do so.
Updated:
- Crash Bandicoot 5: Wrath of Cortex
- Jet Set Radio Future
- Rogue Ops
- Sega GT 2002
Check out the new games after the break.
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E3 2007: Resident Evil 5’s Spectacular Trailer
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, CAPCOM, E3, PlayStation 3, Survival Horror, Trailers, Xbox 360,
From the Microsoft press conference, we got a much welcomed look at Resident Evil 5, which will be released next year. The graphics are stunning, and the game seems to be following more in the footsteps of Resident Evil 4 as opposed to reverting back to previous entries in the series. That’s by no means a bad thing, since Resident Evil 4 was one of the best games released in the past few years, bar none. We still don’t know who this protagonist is, but he makes another appearance here. My money is on Chris Redfield, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
E3 2007: Microsoft’s Press Conference Recap And Impressions
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Accessories, Action, Activision, Adventure, Bungie, CAPCOM, Casual, Corporate News, Driving, E3, Electronic Arts, First Person Shooters, Hardware, Microsoft, Party Games, PC, Puzzle, Release Dates, Retro, Role Playing Games, SEGA, Simulation, Special Editions, Sports, Strategy, Survival Horror, Take2, Third Person Shooters, Trailers, Ubisoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend E3 this year – instead, I’m on vacation in Cape Cod, using awful hotel Wi-Fi to watch streamed press conferences. Not the most glamorous way to take it all in, but exciting announcements, great games and new details are welcome no matter how you hear about them.
Here’s my personal transcription (in very brief form) of all the announcements and showings, along with some reflection on what Microsoft had to show.
Click to continue reading E3 2007: Microsoft’s Press Conference Recap And Impressions
E3 2007: Trauma Center: New Blood Coming to Wii
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: E3, Nintendo, Simulation, Survival Horror, Wii,
For those of you that just haven’t gotten enough of carving pentagrams into people you’re operating on, Nintendo brings you Trauma Center: New Blood. The original Trauma Center on the DS was a surprise hit (although I have to say, I found certain levels ridiculously difficult - I never made it past “It Never Ends”), and the remake on the Wii met with generally favorable reviews. While this new title doesn’t exactly count as a port, it still seems like another way to milk the Wii cash cow with another cheap-to-produce game. Hopefully Nintendo’s got some other big announcements of original, not-a-port, not-a-direct-sequel games up their sleeves for E3. Or at least a hardware announcement? Come on guys, don’t let me down.
Trauma Center: New Blood will feature co-op play, new characters, and new missions, with a decidedly Trauma-Center-1-looking interface. Price and release date aren’t available yet, but we’ll keep you updated!
Read More | Famitsu
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles To Feature Co-Op Play
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, CAPCOM, Screenshots, Survival Horror, Wii,
Good news for Wii owners: the upcoming on-rails shooter, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, will feature co-op play. While it isn’t the most exciting concept for a game, Umbrella Chronicles sounds like it’ll definitely be worth picking up if you’re looking for something to play with a friend on Wii and don’t care for mini-games.
This comes way of Famitsu, which has two pages dedicated to the game - scans can be seen on NeoGAF. While you might not be able to read Japanese, you can enjoy the screenshots, some of which feature my personal favorite, Albert Wesker. He always looked so good in those sunglasses.
Read More | Famitsu via NeoGAF
GamerAndy Live! Episode 84: 100 Percent Less Andy
Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Corporate News, E3, Electronic Arts, Hot Deals, Microsoft, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 3, Politics, Release Dates, Reviews, Rumors, Square Enix, Survival Horror, Take2, Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, GamerAndy,
Yes, 100 percent less Andy this episode, as he’s in L.A. for a CoD4 event. Instead, Edie and Hawkes cover the week’s gaming news and go off on wild tangents. On the plus side, this episode may be Andy-free, but it has 100 percent MORE of Hawkes’ cat.
Topics discussed:
- The unusually large amount of games released this week, including The Darkness and The Bigs.
- Toys ‘R Us is holding a 3-for-2 sale on Nintendo DS games until this Saturday. U Bai Now!
- Microsoft sues Immersion back. If you can’t take it, don’t deal it!
- New York Times reporter plays Manhunt 2 and deems it less violent than R-rated horror movies. Hypocracy much?
- The new Hitman movie trailer… and yes, we blew it. It’s Agent 47. Stoopid internets.
- Square Enix says on one hand that it’s not releasing any games for PS3 until April 2008 at the very earliest. Then it says, baby, I’m sorry. The PS3 really is the only console it could ever love. Why does watching these two feel like family-night at Ike and Tina Turner’s place.
- A group of psychologists want to label video games as an addictive substance. Someone’s been sucking on the lead popsicles again….
- Larry Flint had hoped to fire the entire staff of Tips and Tricks magazine while they were all at E3. Too bad he fired the freelancers a week early and they told the staff. Don’t you hate when being a nice guy blows a really great evil plan? And isn’t it ironic that the guy who built his empire on other people s*cking c*ocks turns out to the the biggest c*cks*ucker of them all?
- Shadowrun for Vista has been cracked to run on XP. And there was much rejoicing. (yaaay!)
- Lyndon LaRouch, notorious conspiracy theorist and gay hater, and his merry band of crazy geezers are ticked because the final report on the Virginia Tech massacre doesn’t mention video games—despite the fact there’s been no evidence the shooter ever played games. LaRouch figures it’s… wait for it… A CONSPIRACY!!
Ed. Note: Edie apologizes to for mistaking LaRouche as a guy who was notorious for anti-gay legislation. Actually, he is the freak who tried to get anti-gay legislation passed by California voters back in the 1980s that would have quarentined gays to prevent AIDS. I knew he smelled crazy…
- The 100th episode of Red vs. Blue! Gratz, guys!
Off-topic hits include Paris Hilton, porn (again), the iPhone, how to properly prepare for a night of binge drinking, Andy’s impending move, and… did we mention Hawkes’ cat?
If you want to hear it? Go get subscibe on iTunes already… ya slacker.
The Adults Only Manhunt 2 Saga
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, PlayStation 2, PSP, Survival Horror, Take2, Wii,
Take Two is in what we call a pickle. Manhunt 2, set for release on July 10, has received a preliminary ESRB rating of Adults Only. Initially, this was believed to be a major problem due to the fact that some major retailers – such as Walmart – wouldn’t carry the game. Walmart composes a significant portion of the videogame retail market, making the AO rating a major blow.
Then came word that Nintendo doesn’t allow AO-rated games to appear on its systems. In other words, no Manhunt 2 on Wii, or at least not until the game receives a lower rating.
But as with books, television and movies, different content is meant for different audiences. That’s why the ESRB provides ratings to help consumers understand the content of a game before they purchase it. As stated on Nintendo.com, Nintendo does not allow any AO-rated content on its systems.
How about Sony, who was supposed to see the game land on both the PlayStation 2 and PSP?
Currently it’s SCE’s policy not to allow the playback of AO rated content on our systems.
So where does this leave Take Two and Rockstar? They’re left with a very limited number of options, none of which are particularly attractive.
Click to continue reading The Adults Only Manhunt 2 Saga
Rockstar, Activision jump on Wii Bandwagon w/ ManHunt, Guitar Hero
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Activision, Corporate News, Music, Survival Horror, Take2, Wii,
Even with a strong launch and a significant amount of buzz, it’s still too early to say that Nintendo will necessarily become a favorite of third-party publishers. If today’s news is any indication, though, they’ve definitely made some headway. Yesterday, Rockstar Games (yes, THAT Rockstar Games of GTA fame) announced that they will be producing Manhunt 2 for the PSP, PS2, and Wii. While Manhunt definitely isn’t the best game Rockstar’s ever produced, this might mark the company’s first baby-steps towards producing more games for Nintendo’s consoles. Similarly, Activition recently announced strong support for the Wii, including a version of Guitar Hero that will likely be tailored to take advantage of Nintendo’s motion-sensitive Wiimote. From the company conference call:
The key difference in our strategy versus the prior cycle, is that in addition to full support on Sony and Microsoft platforms, we will aggressively target the Nintendo platforms consistent with our multi-platform strategy and Nintendo’s expected growth. In fiscal 2008, we will double our offerings on the DS and the Wii, including Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero.
With production costs for “truly” next-gen titles on the Xbox 360 and PS3 skyrocketing, it’ll be interesting to see if studios decide that they can make more money producing content for Nintendo’s fledgling console.
Read More 
| Take2 Games
Update: Fixed the headline, Killzone is definitely NOT heading Wii-ward. What was I smoking…
Read More | Activision Investor Relations via The Tanooki
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