EA files trademarks and expresses interest in old IP.
by Martin Robinson, IGN UK
UK, August 12, 2009 – Classic gaming franchises such as Populous and Road Rash could be returning to the current generation of consoles, with EA filing new trademarks for the games as well as expressing an interest in reviving old franchises.
Superannuation has picked up new trademark registrations for Populous, Theme Park, Wing Commander and Road Rash.
The discovery comes shortly after EA Bright Light Studio boss Harvey Elliot, a veteran of Theme Park and Populous developer Bullfrog, didn’t rule out the possibility of the classic games returning in some form.
“I think there’s an opportunity to bring those back in the future,” he told Kikizo, “but only if it’s right for the time and not just a ‘remake’ or something. We’d need to do it in a way that’s true to the original values, but would still make a great game today.”
It won’t be the only Bullfrog game to be put through the remake machine – talented developer Starbreeze is currently lined up to revive the revered Syndicate brand in the near future.
My Take: This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as both Populous and Road Rash have been reverred as great IPs, and it would be nice to see them return but there is a dark side to this story…
Here’s what I want… Critertion to helm a new Road Rash project, can you imagine Road Rash from the makers of Burnout?!
Here’s what will probably happen: Okay, we got Theme Park, Road Rash, and Syndicate…. Let’s make them XBLA arcade ports and call it a day.. *sigh*…
What do you think? Should these games come back or are we just desperate to see old titles again?
(God help us if it’s Road Rash: Jailbreak)
Activision yesterday gave details regarding forthcoming Van Halen centric music rhythm title Guitar Hero: Van Halen.
They revealed that the title would hit stores on December 22 and will feature approximatley only 47 songs.
The game will be multi-platform and feature on the PS3, Xbox 360, PS2 and Wii.
Below is the full track list:
Van Halen Songs
“Ain’t Talkin Bout Love”
“And The Cradle Will Rock”
“Atomic Punk”
“Beautiful Girls”
“Cathedral” (solo)
“Dance The Night Away”
“Eruption” (solo)
“Everybody Wants Some”
“Feel Your Love Tonight”
“Hang ‘Em High”
“Hear About It Later”
“Hot For Teacher”
“Ice Cream Man”
“I’m The One”
“Jamie’s Cryin”
“Jump”
“Little Guitars”
“Loss Of Control”
“Mean Street”
“Panama”
“Pretty Woman”
“Romeo Delight”
“Running With The Devil”
“So This Is Love”
“Somebody Get Me A Doctor”
“Spanish Fly” (solo)
“Unchained”
“You Really Got Me”
Similar Tracks Also In The Game
Alter Bridge – “Come To Life”
Billy Idol – “White Wedding”
blink-182 – “First Date”
Deep Purple – “Space Truckin”
Foo Fighters – “Best Of You”
Foreigner – “Double Vision”
Fountains of Wayne – “Stacy’s Mom”
Jimmy Eat World – “Pain”
Judas Priest – “Painkiller”
Killswitch Engage – “The End Of Heartache”
Lenny Kravitz – “Rock And Roll Is Dead”
Queen – “I Want It All”
Queens of the Stone Age – “Sick, Sick, Sick”
Tenacious D – “Master Exploder”
The Clash – “Safe European Home”
The Offspring – “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”
Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life”
Weezer – “Dope Nose”
Yellowcard – “The Takedown”
Looking at the track list I think I may give this a miss although I like Van Halen I feel that full RRP for 47 songs is steep considering the volume of tracks on Rock Band 1/2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour/5.
What do you think? Like the tracks? Comment below now!
Game Length – About 1 hour, this shouldn’t take you too long to blaze through.
Replayability –There’s four player co-op online and leaderboards to keep you going, but the extra modes (survival, and quick play) don’t really add much more than a distraction.
Technical Aspects (Looks,Sounds,Controls) – The graphical upgrade on this game looks very good, I do wish you were able to go back to the original graphics like say, Monkey Island, but the revamp is a nice looking touch.. Sound has been mildly improved with new voice actors providing the turtles one-liners and Veronica Taylor (Ash Ketchum) as April O’Neil
Online Capabilities – Up to 4 player online co-op, a lot of fun but a bit hard to see your character admist your allies and enemies alike.
Value For Money – Thank God they didn’t go for the $15 price point or I would really feel ripped off, but this isn’t enough for the $10 you have to shell (PUN!) out.
I’ll admit it, I’m a big ninja turtles fan, growing up with the cartoon and comic books in the ‘80’s, the turtles were always a hit, and Turtles in Time was arguably the best release of the classic beat ‘em up game to date, but, sadly, all is not well in the retelling.
Turtles in Time: Reshelled is probably not what you think, you might think it’s a remake of the SNES game released several years ago, and you would be wrong.. This is a reshelling of the arcade version released in 1991, you may ask yourself what the difference is? Well, I’ll tell you. In the SNES version, you had quite a few more bosses and levels as well as (my most memorable level) the level where you throw foot soliders at the screen to beat Shredder hanging out in a giant mech that’s in your face… You get to fight the Rat King in the sewers, and Tokai and Razzar are met long before you reach the boat.
In the arcade version, you won’t fight Shredder til the very end, and even then this fight is more reminsant of the last fight in The Hyperstone Heist than it is the SNES title, Shredder just has a big sword and runs around the screen smacking you, he’s easy enough to kill and dodge but…. Epic? Far from it. You also will not be fighting the Rat King in this version, as far as the arcade is concerned, he does not exist. Who would have thought you would go to the sewer only to have *Spoiler* Shredder appear and warp you throughout time?
Now, it is not that this is a bad game, it just doesn’t live up to the TMNT legacy.. You remember the 1989 arcade game released how many years ago on XBLA? Sure, it was merely a port of the original arcade version with nothing new short of online multiplayer, but it was only $5…. A drop in the bucket considering how much I spend on that game as a kid, now I spend quite a bit on Turtles in Time in the arcade, but I spend more time on the SNES game, and, quite frankly, prefer that version to all others, more levels, more bosses, just more fun.. But there is one thing that Reshelled has that the SNES and arcade cannot recreate.
That is Online play, up to four player co-op, this is still a lot of fun playing with friends and battling the bosses, did someone say “Turtle Power!”? But when grouped with strangers expect to be battling for pizza from people who clearly don’t need it. There is no lag that I ran into in my play sessions online so it runs smoothly, but this game may merely be an excuse to get 200 more achievement points and then shelve it for life, sorry Reshelled, you missed the mark.
In conclusion, Reshelled is a fun little distraction, but the flaws (namely the price tag), outweigh the benefits of this great game, you might want to give it a try before completely shelving it, but the fact is, this may not be the TMNT: Turtles in Time game you remember.
Ok everyone, it’s time to start booking holiday off work or working on your sick voice, as EA have revealed the release date for FIFA 10 to be Friday 2nd October. Being EA, the game is of course being released on every platform imaginable, you never know you might even be able to get a copy that will run on your microwave this year, who knows!
Stick around at The Weird Pixel for a full preview and review as soon as we get our hands on a playable version.
Microsoft has just released some more details on what we can expect to see from the Xbox Live Summer Update, some of the highlights include:
On Demand Movies You will now be able to jump right into watching your favourite movies without having to wait for the whole download to finish first, putting the Xbox 360 in a much stronger position to be a contender in the online movie market.
Avatar Marketplace This has been somewhat contentious, with some people seeing it as a way to simply try and grab more money from gamers, however it certainly is a pretty cool feature, especially as games will be able to award you with avatar clothing without you having to pay extra for it. For those of you with money to burn there will be plenty of top brands, such as Adidas, Quicksilver and Roxy as well items from games such as Halo, Gears of War, Fable and loads more.
On Demand Games This is the big one. The ability to purchase with real money (no MS points here) and instantly download a variety of games for the 360. Microsoft are promising new titles for this service every week, as with Arcade, and for release they have a respectable 21 games, featuring a few very strong titles:
Assassin’s Creed
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty® 2
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Fight Night Round 3
Kameo: Elements of Power
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Mass Effect
Meet The Robinsons
MX vs. ATV Untamed
Need for Speed Carbon
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Perfect Dark Zero
Prey
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
Sega Rally
TEST DRIVE: UNLIMITED
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
Tomb Raider Legend
Viva Piñata
Viva Piñata 2: Trouble in Paradise
As for pricing we can expect to see prices “comparable to retail”, whether this means there could be some bargains to pick up we’ll have to wait and see. However don’t expect significant undercutting, Microsoft don’t want to upset their retail partners as they’re not ready for 100% digital distribution just yet.
There are a myriad of other small changes, such as sorting of friends lists and the ability to rate pretty much anything. Still no sign of Facebook or Twitter, but these updates are plenty to keep everyon going.
Look out for the update to hit your 360 sometime in the next week.
It appears as though online retailer TheHut is having a bit of a clearance sale, and Assassin’s Creed 2 is going for cheap! Here are the prices for PS3, 360 and PC versions of the game for you to preorder:
Sup, apparently there’s to be some nice-ass downloadable content for the original Left 4 Dead coming this year in the form of a new level.
Gabe Newell, Valve Studio head said of the matter:
“Since the release of Left 4 Dead last November, the design team has been excited about creating new experiences for this world and allowing players to do the same, by releasing much of our internal toolset, like the Survival Pack and Authoring Tools,”
Of course people only really care about premium downlaods, the stuff created by the developers, right? So i’m glad to hear that the new level: Crash Course, will bridge a gap in the game’s campaign between the No Mercy and Death Toll levels. Perhaps the only bit of weird news to come out of this story is the price of the content. For the PC, the download will be totally free, but if you’re a console owner, you’ll have to pay 560 MS Points to get the level. Don’t ask me why, it’s stupid, I know, but that’s the way it is, I guess.
August 4, 2009 – If you ask veteran PC gamers to list their favorite games of all time, odds are X-Wing or TIE Fighter (or both) are somewhere on their lists. There’s a reason for that, as both were superb action flight simulators that immersed you in the epic Star Wars conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. X-Wing was the first game in the series and TIE Fighter the sequel, so TIE Fighter is often more beloved because it was more refined. Plus, it was awesome to rise in the ranks of the Imperial Navy and become the Emperor’s most valued fighter pilot.
It’s been more than a decade since the last game in the series was released; hard to believe but X-Wing Alliance was released in February of 1999. The space sim genre that was established by the Star Wars games and Origin’s Wing Commander series then began to fade for various reasons. However, fans have longed for a sequel to TIE Fighter since then.
However, things may be changing. There’s a new president at LucasArts, Darrel Rodriguez, who seems intent on revisiting the company’s past glories. In the past few months, LucasArts has begun to release its library on Steam, and the company recently released The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition on PC and Xbox 360. The latter was a remake of the classic adventure game with improved graphics (but for those who want a nostalgic return, you could toggle the original graphics at any moment.)
Now here’s where it gets interesting. G4 recently asked Rodriguez about the possibility of X-Wing and TIE Fighter returning. His answer: “We don’t have any announcements now, but stay tuned. We will soon.”
It might be time to dust off that joystick.
My take: There’s only one word for this awesome! Wouldn’t it be cool if X-Wing vs Tie Fighter found it’s way onto XBLA or PSN? Or, possibly, even better, A new game in the series? This is merely a rumor based on a potential freudian slip but….. X-Wing vs Tie Fighter? What do you think?
It’s the final summer of arcade game and it looks to be the biggest selling of the summer. So it is of course of interest to us when Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski, Chair’s Donald Mustard, and Peter David want to dicsuss the game.
A nice little developers diary of the games well development.
Hello there everyone. You know, sometimes, in the world of video games, it’s pretty hard to be optimistic about the way in which the industry works in terms of its economy.
Today, I realized how retarded Industry leaders must think the public are, and I’ll tell you why.
My reason is simple and clear, and it goes back for generations. Hardware Upgrades.
And before you say anything, no, I don’t mean generation to generation hardware upgrades, I mean stuff like Wii Motion Plus and the 360 Elite. It’s those little iterations on hardware that we’ve put a bunch of money into which makes me think that hardware manufactorers take us for fools, and quite frankly, it’s a little bit bullshit.
Now, by no means am I some kind of anti-Capitalist who’s against buying and consuming, I’m all for it, in fact. What I don’t like, is having my intelligence insulted by companies such as Sony, who are bringing out a slim version of the PS3 sometime probably in the next year, and what will the main differences be? Well, that it’s a bit slimmer, of course. So then why not introduce the slim modle at the beginning of the console lifespan?!
Don’t give the that “well, they’re different components inside the box” bull shit either, because I personally think that a company should work their asses off to produce the best possible console they can do in their allotted period of development time and then keep it at that. Seriously guys, if the PS3 Slim launches at a price similar to the price of the original PS3 I am going to be pissed.
In a similar fashion, console upgrades such as the 360 Elite console make me want to /Rage_Quit life completely. Adding a HDMI port and a larger hard drive and painting it black do not warrent a £320.00 price point. If anything, the thing should have been sold at the price of the original 360 when it launched, which was £280.00, far more reasonable. Granted, the introduction of a HDMI port does warrant a hardware upgrade; it’s not something that you can really just pack out in a separate box… it’s sort of integral to the machine’s design. However, price point needs to be kept under control in these kinds of circumstances.
The other infuriating situation which keeps plaguing me is this “Wii HD” thing. Why, oh why Nintendo, do you persist to put out consoles half-finished?! The whole Wii Motion Plus thing is bad enough. Sure the add-on is brilliant in every single way possible, and it’s not too expensive and makes games feel great… but why wasn’t it packed in when the hardware first launched? Why promise a person something that you know you can’t achieve right from the off? So, erm, back to my original problem… Wii HD?! Say what? The idea is insane.
The Wii should have been in High Definition anyway, and it’s the only fault that I have with that system. Games look dumb on it… I’m sorry, but it’s true. If Nintendo decide to release a new Wii (which they’ve not agreed to, yet) that’s exactly the same but with high definition… buy I will be angry. Would I go out and buy the damn thing? yes! Of course I would, because I want my games in high definition, but I would feel completely insulted by Nintendo for making me spend another couple of hundred pounds on something that should have been there in the first place.
So there. I buy consoles so that I can avoid upgrading… that’s what makes PC gaming suck. Please, tell me I’m not alone in these opinions…. there’s got to be more people than just me feeling angered by the decisions of greedy hardware manufactures! Leave a comment and then head over to the forum to Vent!
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