Valve really missed a good opportunity for a bad pun here by not calling it "Meat the Sandvich," but hey, it's still pretty damned funny. What's next in the series of loony videos? Meet the Bullet? Seriously though, we'd watch them all. Heck, just throw a TF2 cartoon on the air as part of Adult Swim and we'd be glued to our sets.
Speaking at the outset of this year's Leipzig Games Convention, Crytek boss Cevat Yerli revealed that the developer's graphical tour de force, Crysis, cost an estimated $22 million to create. Yerli has previously lamented the effect piracy has had on the title, but reiterated that it's still recouped the development costs, saying, "If it wasn't profitable I wouldn't be able to stand here."
Best known for their stunning visuals, Crytek's game engines are also guilty of bringing even the mightiest of gaming PCs to their knees. While the upcoming, heavily-optimized Crysis: Warhead promises a significant performance increase even on mid-range systems, Crytek is already cooking up its next GPU melter, which Yerli says should be ready by 2012. That's when he anticipates GPU tech making the next major leap in its evolution; until then, he expects fellow developers to focus more on what they already have to work with, by means of stylized graphics and hardware accelerated physics.
Source – Crysis cost 22 million to make, IGN Source – Crytek: New engine in 2012, IGN
From making rival gangsters offers they can't refuse, to using your voice to command soldiers not to refuse orders, these fresh-off-the-editing-computer videos from EA's The Godfather II and Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's EndWar are presented for your viewing pleasure (and "Should I pre-order either of them?" evidence pool). The EndWar trailer is the same one being trotted out at the Leipzig Games Convention 2008; the first look at EA's gangster sequel was shown to the press last week at the publisher's annual Studio Showcase. But you don't have to travel to Germany (or even the Bay Area) to watch 'em – just click through after the break.
Source – Godfather II at GameTrailers Source – Tom Clancy's EndWar at GameTrailers
Replacing political and social unrest with "go-anywhere" driving, Codemasters has partnered with French dev Asobo Studios to publish the company's open world-style racer, Fuel, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC sometime next year. Asobo's track record isn't likely to relieve you of your socks anytime soon, however. The studio's recent efforts include video game adaptations of Ratatouille, Wall-E and The Mummy, so we're not expecting another GRiDor DiRTjust yet.
On top of dynamic weather and dozens of drivable vehicles, Codies boasts that Fuel will feature the "largest environment ever created" in a racing game, and that the game's absurd 5,000 square miles of weather-ravaged terrain will "revolutionize" the genre. There is that old saying about size not mattering as much as how you use it, though clearly this is not the approach being used here.
FIFA 09 cover athlete Maurice Edu has been traded to another team, meaning EA Sports will, yet again, have to change the box art on one of its games. Edu, who would have been featured on the cover wearing his Toronto FC jersey, will now wear the uniform of the US Men's National Team -- not Scotland's Glasgow Rangers, which is the team he'll actually play on. EA Sports tells IGN that the cover of the game will ship with the correct art -- no "print out" version necessary.
This would be the second time in a month that EA Sports had to dump extra resources into changing a cover due to an athlete changing teams. Earlier this month the publisher had to fix the art for perennial high-profile American football title Madden 09 when cheesehead favorite Brett Favre unretired and left for New York New Jersey.
Patrick Aiello, the producer for the upcoming film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (starring Kristin "Lana Lang" Kreuk!), believes Street Fighter IV will launch alongside the film. Aiello tells GameDaily that the "film and game release dates will coincide." According to IMDB, the Street Fighter movie currently has a release date of February 27, 2009.
Although hardcore Street Fighter fans may be upset that the game isn't coming out at the end of this year as originally announced, there's always the option of playing it in arcades at diverse locations on this little planet.
Although it was dangled in front of us like a tantalizing carrot, it looks like you won't be able to get any cross-gaming action between PS3s and PCs out of Sony's upcoming spy MMO, The Agency. Last year, designer Hal Milton told us the developer weas looking at it, but in a recent interview with Eurogamer it looks like he's closed the door on things for good. You can thank Shadowrun for ruining it all.
"PC guys say, 'PS3 guys have aim assist and the controls nerfed for them'. And PS3 guys say, 'PC guys have a mouse and keyboard - it's all easier for them'. Even if it's not true." Not that we're complaining, because Shadowrun made us a bit mental. But this really needs to happen in a fun way sooner or later. Which title is going to be able to nail it down and make it work? Super Mario Crossover Party Platformer 2: Now With More Fun has our money.
Congratulations! You're now a part of history ... or at least, a part of Alex St. John's alternate reality. Spend enough time with "the guy who talked Microsoft into the console business" and you might start seeing a big red countdown -- the kind that ends in KA-BOOM! -- tattooed on your gaming console, the UK's Telegraph reports. "I think we're looking at the last generation of consoles. There's not going to be an Xbox 720 or a PS4, I'll make that bet, not going to happen," St. John predicts.
Not surprisingly, St. John's grim prophecy doubles as a convincing plug for WildTangent's forthcoming virtual console: Orb. Orb will offer "enthusiast" games (BioShock and Assassin's Creed are two "possible" examples) for free on an ad-driven, session-by-session basis. In theory, this kind of digital platform could one day replace disc-based consoles, as it offers "free" gaming through an advertising model that consumers have accepted in other markets and cuts out the huge economic losses that console manufacturers can't seem to avoid (um, except for Nintendo!). "I'll take the heat if I'm wrong and don't mind being mocked in the future with people going 'Wow, was he wrong,'" St. John says of his market forecast, "But it doesn't happen to me very often."
Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's opening cinematic will premiere at the Leipzig Games Convention. The clip will be shown this Thursday, August 21, at 1PM German standard time (7AM Joystiq time).
We'd speculate about what Blizzard has in store for a big reveal at Blizzcon, but with Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and WoW in play, who knows what the company could announce. We'll see what happens on October 11.
With the sun setting on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. prequel Clear Sky's development, GSC Game World has let us know that it's finally safe to venture outside -- provided you're packing enough firepower to keep the ravenous and irrevocably irradiated hordes at bay. The anticipated FPS is finally dawn done and should be taking us for a first-person stroll through Chernobyl's utterly charming neighborhood on September 5th (yes, that counts as a minor delay).
If you're the sort who can tell your GPU from your PPU (doesn't that fit into the SKU?), you should be pleased to note that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky will feature support for both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 chipsets. You'll be wanting those hideously deformed mutants to look their best when they tear your throat out.
If you can't wait to get your hands on Warhammer Online, EA announced today that an open beta for the game will kick off Sept. 7, giving you a whole 11 days to play before the general populace sullies it on Sept. 18.
So, how do you get in? Just pre-order the game with one of EA's "select retail partners." (We don't know who they are yet, but even money says GameStop is one of them.) Also, those who are already in the closed beta will automagically be invited. So, are you getting in on the ground floor? Or have you been burned one too many times by start-up MMOs?
We've been getting some mixed signals from BioWare in recent days about Dragon Age: Origins and its fate on consoles, going so far as to make us wonder if the console versions of the game will be wholly different from the one coming to PC. BioWare took some time out to clear up the confusion with Eurogamer.
"Yes. Dragon Age: Origins will be coming to consoles in the near future, yes," Dan Tudge, director and executive producer for the game, said. So, not exactly a console-specific version, but hey, at least that means less of a wait, right?
Wow, we can't believe we finally got to type that headline. This week, we get to welcome one of the few games that's actually older than Joystiq itself: Too Human, Denis Dyack's epic story of cybernetically enhanced, Norse-inspired technogods.
Elsewhere in the gameosphere, PS3 owners can download the new Ratchet and Clank adventure, and PC players can buy Two Worlds: Epic Edition, the title of which just ripped off our Irony Meter and kicked it down three flights of stairs.
The repercussions of a Potter game delay could be bad for Electronic Arts, as both their holiday profits and fiscal 2009 revenue could take a hit without the title -- however, it could mean good news for those waiting on a truly stellar Harry Potter video game. Greenwald claims the title is "pretty much done and ready", meaning a delay would give EA an extra eight months to perfect the movie tie-in. We'll let you know what EA decides to do once they make an official statement.
We have had a busy week at the PC centric Big Download site. As we approach two big gaming events (next week's Games Convention and Labor Day weekend's Penny Arcade Expo) we should have even more to write about in the coming days. In the meantime let's look back at the week that was:
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
