BioWare Pondering Mass Effect DS

If you're going to make the move from PC and console epic RPGs to handheld titles, testing the waters with someone else's property is pretty smart smart way to do it. That's what BioWare is doing with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, according to the game's lead designer Miles Holmes. The Sonic RPG will launch BioWare's handheld division, which could then explore the possibility of bringing Mass Effect, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age to the handheld.

"We have a lot of big plans for Mass Effect. Having a DS version would be an awesome way to keep interest alive and keep it going in addition to the next one [Mass Effect 2]," said Holmes.

While I myself am partial to their big production numbers, having handheld versions to keep me occupied between their larger efforts is a rather attractive prospect. Plus, the Nintendo DS can only make hot alien sex that much better.

BioWare liebäugelt mit einem Mass Effect für den Nintendo DS [Eurogamer.de via GamesIndustry.biz]

Pain Trophies Detailed, The Dude Abides

Pain producer Travis Williams has once again dropped in over at the official PlayStation Blog, this time revealing some of the trophies being added to the game in the upcoming Amusement Park expansion, due out on the 4th of September. There's a nice little selection of trophies, ranging from the impossible Gold "Affliction Addiction" - Get one billion points - to the more modest (in a way) Bronze trophy "Harder Dick's Balls, which challenges you to get all of Dick's Balls in the Block Party dumpster without resetting.

My personal favorite would have to be the Silver Trophy for scoring 50 strikes in Bowling with The Dude, which they have named "The Dude Abides". Indeed he does.

PAIN Trophies [Official PlayStation Blog]

Divine Divinity Sequel Coming To PC And 360

To be honest, I never played the 2002 isometric action-RPG Divine Divinity or its first sequel, Beyond Divinity, mainly because of the game's name. I couldn't say it without bursting out laughing, which made going to a store and asking for it near impossible. Perhaps I'll do better with Larian Studios' upcoming sequel Divinity 2: Ergo Draconis. Taking place once again in the magical world of Rivellon, an uneasy peace is broken by the return of the demon. Rather than choosing a class, players will begin as a Dragon Slayer, slowly evolving into a legendary Dragon Lord.

As you can see from these first screens, the game isn't actually looking half bad. Of course looks are only about a quarter of what makes an action RPG, but they're definitely on the right track. Look for Divinity 2: Ergo Draconis for the PC and 360 in Q2 of 2009.

And The G-Phoria Winners Are...

Weren't those G-Phoria awards exciting last night? I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! Okay, I was at Walmart buying cat litter, but I did brush precariously close to some seats in the office furniture section. So what did I miss? Nintendo getting shut out of every award except best racing game for Mario Kart Wii for one...an award it really didn't deserve. Rock Band and Grand Theft Auto IV each came away with three awards, with Metal Gear Solid 4 and Call of Duty 4 taking home two each. For those keeping track, that's seven awards to games that were number four in their respective series. It was a year of damn fine sequels, wasn't it? Turok walked away with the coveted Uwe Boll Film Award, which seems far more fitting than Skate winning Best Sports Game.

Keep in mind that these awards are all voted on by viewers, so the Game of the Year Award winner should be a pretty good indicator of the sort of audience G4 has left after they hacked away most of the good bits. And the winner is...Halo 3. Really. Hit the jump for the full awards listing.

WoW Celebrates The Olympics - New Tabard, Pet

So I am playing World of Warcraft last night and my more PVP-oriented guildies start linking these Competitor's Tabards that are showing up in their mailboxes after they finish playing in the battlegrounds. No one has any idea what is going on, and then this morning I see a story over at MMO Champion explaining that the tabard is part of WoW's Olympic event, which is the only reason I know the Olympics have started.

From now until August 25th, anyone who participates in a full battleground will receive the nifty ring-themed tabard. The pet, modeled after Olympic dragon mascot Sooty the Air Pollution Dragon, who I just made up, is randomly awarded to players who are on the winning team of a battleground. Being a hordie on the Ysera server, I will never, ever get one.

Olympic Tabard & Pet, WotLK Class Changes [MMO Champion - Thanks Kurt!]

Sierra's Last Game Is A Sad Way To Go Out

Ah, Sierra. So, so, so many fond memories. King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Quest For Glory, Half-Life 1, Homeworld, SWAT...so many good games, so many good times. So it's crushing to see that, as the label prepares to fade into oblivion following the Blactivision merger, its last game is...less than memorable. Hitting the printers as the ink dried on the Activision-Vivendi merger was Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, making it most likely the last game to be sold under the Sierra brand name (at least until someone digs it up, Atari style). An awful game based on an awful movie. Shame, that.

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: Sierra's sad swan song [Variety]

Yakuza 3 Features Seven Young Fashion Models As Hostesses

Once again, the Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza in the West) series add real-life females to its cast of charaters. While Ryu Ga Gotoku 2 featured adult video actress Nana Natsume and Ryu Ga Gotoku KENZAN! featured the talents of pin-up model Yinling. The upcoming Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 will feature seven models from fashion mag Koakuma Ageha in-game as night club hostesses. Included in those seven is Osaka gal Rina Sakurai, whom I interviewed earlier this spring for the arcade book I wrote. Smart kid — we talked about sticker pictures.

“小悪魔ageha”のカリスマモデルたちが『龍が如く3』にキャバクラ嬢役で出演 [Famitsu]

Batman Game Exists, But Is In Limbo, Says EA "Insider"

We already know a new Batman game is in development. IGN accidentally spilled the beans, Gary Oldman accidentally spilled the beans, that's too many spilled beans. But...if it's been in development for so long, where, uh, is it? There's been no official announcement from the rumoured publishers, EA or the rumoured developer, Pandemic. No screens, no vids, no press releases, nothing. Speaking under the condition of anonymity with the Associated Press, an "EA Manager" may have revealed why. Not only has this insider given further confirmation that the game's currently in development, but has seemingly given AP a laundry list of potential reasons for the delay, which they say range from Heath Ledger's death to "missed deadlines" to "questionable quality", amongst others. None of which sound particularly promising.

'Dark Knight' reigns not in video game [AP, via MCV]

BioWare Talk (Just A Little) On Further Mass Effect DLC

Don't know about you, but Bring Down the Sky was a little disappointing for this particular saviour of the universe. But never mind. BioWare will be bringing out more Mass Effect DLC, right? Right? Probably. Speaking with MTV, BioWare's Greg Zeschuk said "We’re also looking at some other post-release content". When pushed a little further on the topic of DLC, he replied:

We’re talking about that. You know how we are. We’re always very circumspect until we can go “Aha! There it is!” With everything we build now, we want to have this long-term relationship with the customer and always have something for them to try. So we’re definitely looking at that for “Mass Effect.”

Wonderful!

BioWare ‘Looking At’ More ‘Mass Effect’ DLC [MTV]

Carmack Respectfully NOTHANKYOU.jpgs Wii Development

Id Software's John Carmack spends his free time playing Nintendo games with his son. They're currently making their way through Super Paper Mario. And when not playing that, they have a go at Mario Kart DS. So does that mean Carmack is keen on, say, Wii development? According to Carmack:

The Wii is one of those markets where Nintendo owns both the hardware and the software, but part of that is because they make such damn good products. So it’s the toughest platform for third party developers. We don’t have a software or content base ideally suited for it. So it doesn’t really play to our strengths and we’re pretty busy with other stuff right now. I’m thrilled that Nintendo has had this kind of success because they took some risky bets, and it’s always nice some bold thinking pay off for them. But I don’t think we’ll be on the platform.

At least he's honest!

Carmack on Doom, Rage, EA and More [Tom's Games via Go Nintendo]

More Details On New Company Of Heroes Online

Next Wolfenstein Will Be Hitler-Free

There will be Nazis, but no Hilter. As previously announced, id Software is back at work on another Wolfenstein, which is due out "when it's done". And the game won't feature Adolf Hitler. Id's lead artist Kevin Cloud explains:

No, he's [Hitler's] not in our game. We've got to save something for future Wolfensteins. We can't do him in yet! ...That's one of the cool things again about the Wolfenstein universe: we go back and we pull some of these things from real history and spin this what-if story for some of it, and some of it just kind of blows out... So like the Kreisau Circle originally is more of a group of aristocrats working behind the scenes in hopes to overthrow Hitler. Here, they're gun-toting resistance forces fighting on the streets. But it's kind of nice to take those elements, have a framework of reality, and build it out.

Well, Hitler wasn't in the last Wolfenstein. He can't be in every game, you know.

No Hitler in new Wolfenstein [Eurogamer]

Ozzy Returns To Guitar Hero, Brings Zakk Wylde With Him

Activision are intent on luring as many "big name" rock stars to the Guitar Hero brand as possible. Ozzy Osbourne, failing mind aside, is a big name rock star, and a Guitar Hero veteran to boot, providing perhaps the series' finest moment with Bark At The Moon. So it should be little surprise to hear that the ex-Sabbath frontman has been signed to appear in the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour, alongside long-time guitarist Zakk Wylde, where they'll be playing Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley in a recreation of an Ozzfest venue. Which is all well and good, but really, it's no Bark At The Moon.

Ozzy Osbourne dishes on 'Guitar Hero' and technology [USA Today]

LittleBigPlanet Launches Little Big News Site

LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule has announced it's launched a LittleBigPlanet.com News Site. Think of it as LBP Dojo!! According to the announcement:

With October right around the corner, we wanted to let you know we've launched the LittleBigPlanet News Site on LittleBigPlanet.com.

Bookmark us and get the latest word on LittleBigPlanet goodness direct from Media Molecule, Sony Computer Entertainment, or the fans. If you're in the mood to join the discussion, register and make yourself heard and be the first to hear what lies ahead with daily updates including announcements, developer interviews, video trailers, and artwork exclusive only on LittleBigPlanet.com.

Click over to the game's official site for more details.

LittleBigPlanet News [Official Site Thanks, Gene!]

New Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII And Final Fantasy Agito XIII Screens

Here are some new (and small) Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII screens from the latest issue of Shonen Jump. Not must new info here, save for the FFXIII demo will be in the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray. But we already knew that.

Final Fantasy XIII / Versus XIII 스크린샷 [VideogamerX via PS3Hyper]

Nintendo Say Hey, Third party Games Do So Sell On The Wii

It's an ages-old argument levelled against Nintendo platforms: they're driven by the success of Nintendo titles, and third-party publishers have a rough time of it. An argument Nintendo are having none of! Nintendo of America's Vice President of Corporate Affairs Denise Kaigler has told GameDaily:

There is an assumption out there that just simply isn't true... We're setting the record straight. This is fact. We are selling third-party games and they are doing very well, and better than our competitors.

In between the "this is fact" and the "we are selling" bits, she points to a chart she was carrying (pictured), with data supplied by the NPD Group. Which...doesn't prove her point at all, showing only the Wii's total software sales in the first 19 months since launch, not a breakdown of first-party v third-party sales. And while the sales are very impressive, it's a bit of a stretch to somehow say that's "fact".

Nintendo: Third-Party Games Not Selling on Wii is a False Assumption [GameDaily]

US Version Of The Last Guy Will Kick Off In Frisco

As we already expected, the various international releases of The Last Guy will feature "appropriate" cities for each region. London for the UK, LA for the US, etc etc. We can add one more city to that list, as following a playthrough of the game, MTV found that the American release of the title will start in San Francisco. Specifically, in Fisherman's Wharf, which will be the game's first level. Never been there myself, but it really brings home how great an idea this is: saving people from some other city might be fun, but saving your own kin (should the game feature your hometown) is funner.

In America, ‘The Last Guy’ Starts In San Francisco [MTV] [Pic]