New fable II dlc on May

As it turns out, Lionhead Studios is currently in full-scale production of a second add-on for Fable II, and not Fable III, as gabby BBC personality Jonathan Ross initially led many to believe. Today, the Microsoft-owned studio provided the first details on the Fable II downloadable content–titled See the Future–saying it would be available through Xbox Live this May for MSP560 ($7). For those keeping track, that dollar amount equates to $3 less than the well-received Knothole Island DLC pack, released in January.

The basic concept behind See the Future involves players lifting a curse on three items obtained by Murgo the Trader, better known as the mysterious vendor introduced during the opening childhood sequence in Fable II. According to Lionhead, those who complete the new quest line will be offered “a vision of Albion’s future and what lies ahead for those born into the heroic bloodline.”

As with the first Fable II DLC pack, See the Future will offer a variety of new characters, creatures, quests, and items. According to Lionhead, new quests include “The Ghosts of the Snowglobe,” in which players must cipher out the secret of a mysterious town locked away in a chintzy novelty, and “The Cursed Knight,” where players are tasked with assuming a variety of disguises to free an undead champion. The DLC pack will also include the Colosseum, where players can compete for prizes by besting a variety of challengers.

Many of the items and emotes contained in See the Future will also be available as a free download, allowing those who don’t purchase the premium content to play with those who have.

Source: gamespot

Sony says dsi is for children

As the DSi launches in America, it’s fielding new criticism from Sony, which claims Nintendo’s new portable underserves its audience and lacks third-party suport compared to Sony’s own PSP.

“If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the ‘kids’ market that they’ve always engaged, there isn’t much new with the DSi to support that,” SCEA director of hardware marketing John Koller said in a statement sent to media outlets including Engadget.

“Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored, and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi,” Koller said.

The statement conversely touted the PSP platform’s “many blockbuster franchises” including Rock Band Unplugged, Assassin’s Creed and Dissidia Final Fantasy, and ability to target “diverse demographics.”

As it claimed a 50 million PSP userbase, Sony recently unveiled its 2009 lineup for the handheld, including a line of casual Petz games from Ubisoft, a portable version of Media Molecule’s PS3-exclusive LittleBigPlanet, and and a Hannah Montana bundle with lilac-colored hardware.

Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23073

360 edges out PS3 in day one GTA sales

[quote]

According to ChartTrack statistics, the Rockstar title almost broke the one million unit barrier in the week (Sunday, April 28th to Saturday, May 3rd) – despite GTA only being released on the Tuesday (April 29th).

The title recorded an estimated total market figure of 926,000 sales (£39.9m) over five days.

61.2 per cent of the value of all software sold this week was for GTA IV, which itself is bigger than the total software market figure of every other week so far this year (apart from week one).

After releasing an estimated day one figure of 609,000 for GTA IV, ChartTrack can now reveal that the final estimated total market figure based on full EpoS data from all retailers actually came to 631,000 units in the first 24 hours.

In under a week GTA IV has sold more units than every other title in 2007, except FIFA 08, Brain Training and Call of Duty 4.

[quote]

site:mcvuk

plystation 3 beats xbox 360 in europian sales

[quote]

During his keynote speech at Sony PlayStation Day London ‘08, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe head David Reeves announced that the PS3 had officially overtaken the Xbox 360 in European sales.I am delighted to be able announce today that we have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 – even though they launched sixteen months before PS3.

More than 5 million PS3 systems have been sold across Europe, with PS2 and PSP numbers equally as impressive at 48 million and 12 million respectively.

These numbers are a testament to the strength of the PlayStation brand throughout our region, the ever-increasing number of titles being launched, the rich content on offer and its appeal to different demographics and cultures.

Different demographics and cultures that will likely viciously savage each other in the comments section following this news.

[quote]

site:kotaku

CNN: GTA IV ‘training our kids to kill’

[quote]

American news network CNN has broadcast an astounding attack on Rockstar’s GTA IV – in which presenter Glenn Beck says the game “is training our kids to be killers” and teaches young men to “treat women like whores”.

In the diatribe, which carries the headline ‘Grand Theft Morality’, Beck likens the training soldiers have received through the ages to the experience of playing the game – adding: “It took 75 years and countless billions of dollars to train our soldiers to kill. Today, $60 buys your kid the same thing.”

Other choice quotes from the feature, which you can view on YouTube here, include: “In Grand Theft Auto, your son, husband or boyfriend or whoever, can hire a prostitute, have sex with her and then beat her to death with a baseball bat.

“When a police officer comes after him, he can either light him on fire or cut him in half with chainsaw. This is entertainment?”

Beck signs off wit the line: “Whatever happened to Pong?”

[quote]

site:mcvuk

Valve: “We’re not PS3 developers”

[quote]

Valve’s main marketer Doug Lombardi was on hand recently to show off the latest version of the awesome looking PC, 360 zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead. But PS3 is being left out of the loop.

Lombardi told us, “We’re not PS3 developers – we’re doing PC and 360 like with Orange Box. EA came to us and said ‘Wow, Orange box was an incredible project, can we do a PS3 version?’”

So does that mean if it’s a hit someone else (EA again, maybe?) could port it over to PS3? “Left 4 Dead doesn’t have that guaranteed appeal yet – it’s a new IP,” Lombardi explained.

“If you mention a new Half-Life, people want to make as many versions of it as possible. If Left 4 Dead is big, then we may see a PS3 version later, or if and when we do a sequel, people may be more interested in that. “We’re only 150 people, so there’s only so many things we can do. But it’s one of those things with partners, wanting to take on that investment and risk. I think until L4D is proven, you’ll probably just see what we make in that franchise.”

[quote]

site:computerandvideogames

UK mother blaming nintendo for badly-behaved kids

[quote]

At the UK Daily Mail, an exasperated mother has written an excoriating screed, blaming the Nintendo DS for making her children “turn into monsters”:

Hand over the Nintendo and without any effort, you have a window of about two hours of peace, with your child doing something quietly constructive.Except, it’s not. What is constructive about playing football on a tiny screen, or washing a virtual dog, or watching a hideous pink pony trot around a pink palace decorated with shells?

Fighting to get onto the machine was bad enough, but it was worse when they were forcibly dragged from it.

Our Nintendo had taken the guise of a small but toxic drug which, little by little, was poisoning my children.

[quote]

site:kotaku