[News – X360] LucasArts takes The Force Unleashed to new level

Finally, a decent DLC for The Force Unleashed. A new level and new costumes were released in this DLC.

This new level will take place on Planed Coruscant, inside of a Jedi Temple, where The Apprentice searches for his father.

There are a bunch of costumes and other add-ons along with this new level.

(source: Kotaku)

[News – PC] World of Warcraft: students dropouts and restaurants

The first news is very very sad. Debora Tate, from Federal Communications Comissioner in US, said that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs is World of Warcraft. Sad!

The second one is for these drop-outs. If you’re an addict and live in Beijing, now you can have a meal in Warcraft restaurant. I don’t have to say that everything there will resemble Warcraft world.

(sources: Kotaku and CVG)

[News – Industry] Sega launched a casual games portal

Sega launched a casual gaming portal, called PlaySega, for the US and Europe. It will have several different games styles, like arcade, puzzle, sonic and others.

It will have some exclusive games and each game will have their own achievements.

Interesting to play it at work.

(source: Gamasutra)

[News – Multi] Driver 5 under development?

There are some rumors that Ubisoft will launch a new release of their Driver franchise. It seems that they intent to focus in driving action instead of walking action.

(source: Eurogamer)

[News – Industry] Midway near bankruptcy

The times are tough and with this economical crisis worldwide, videogames industry isn’t immune. Midway, one of the historical studios from this industry, is near bankruptcy. With a debt that stand $150M, they have to find money ‘til the end of the year or…goodbye!

They already started to cut in staff (25%), closing studios (like Austin one) and cancelling projects. Good luck!

(sources: Kotaku, Eurogamer and GamesIndustry)

[News – DS] DSi: hacked and US launch only in March

One major aspect of new DSi was the attempt to crack down on software piracy. However, hackers already have destroyed Nintendo’s plans.

Nintendo America said that a DSi launch in US territory won’t happen before March.

(source: TechRadar and Kotaku)

[News – PS3] Microsoft: Home is outdated

Aaron Greenberg, from Microsoft, questioned if Home isn’t a bit outdated. He feels like a second Second Life but three years after and comparing Xbox Live to Home, is a nonsense, because there is a huge gap in quality.

(source: Eurogamer)

[News – PS3] Uncharted 2

The first preview of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves have landed. There will be a new girl (Prince of Persia style?), sixaxis mechanics, etc (you can read more in our sources).

A new trailer has also been published with great visuals.

Check out our sources to know more about this promising game.

(sources: CVG, Kotaku, VideoGamer and Eurogamer)

[News – PS3] Heavy Rain: best movie ever, numbers and new details

Heavy Rain is getting hyped everyday. The incredible design and graphics mixed with a promising gameplay are the ingredients for all this hype.

You can read an interview with Heavy Rain director and know how films like Seven and Silent of the Lambs are influencing the game.

The game’s script was written in 15 months, having 40k words and achieving 2k pages. To capture the movements, they used 70 actors and took 170 days to record. In the end, 30k animations were achieved.

You can know more in our sources.

(source: GamePro, Vgchartz, GameOver and CVG)

[News – Industry] South Korean Government pledges $237M to games industry

South Korean Government decided to bet in videogames industry, raising $237M into the industry, to help its development.

(source: GamesIndustry)

[News – Industry] Spielberg: movies are getting like videogames

Steven Spielberg, one of the most successful movies producer, believes that movies are being influenced by videogames.

He believes that producers are learning with videogames. He compared them like teasers that happens before the controls regret to the gamer. He even gave some examples, like the movies Wanted and Bourne Ultimatum.

He’s working in a videogame, which project is named “LMNO”, that will be released in PS3 and X360. Nothing is known about the game, only that will be very cinematic and will give an huge focus in the story.

He confessed that he loves Rock Band and he’s a drummer specialist.

(source: Eurogamer)

[News – PS3] PS3 able to read new 400Gb Blu-ray disc

Pioneer is showing the biggest Blu-ray disc ever that can hold 400Gb of data. Hideo Kojima, now you can release MGS 5!

(source: GamePro)

[News – PS3] Sony’s PS3 Home: rewards, microtransactions, problems and Sony’s expectations

Here are some news about the new PS3 service, Home, which has begun last week.

• Now that Home has officially gone live, there are still some questions to be answered: full launch, Home’s economy, etc. Jack Buser, Home director, gave some hints about them. (source: 1UP)
• Let me share with you an article talking about the PS3 Home service, in its different dimensions, explaining how this world works. (source: Eurogamer)
• After public release, as expected, it came the problems. The main issue is the registration and login process since it’s almost impossible to enter Home sometimes. According to Sony, this is happening because there are many users trying to enter into Home for the very first time and the servers aren’t answering well to this demand. (source: Eurogamer)
• Sony’s expectations for Home are high. They want to turn Home into a system seller. Dan Hill, Home service manager for SCEE, talks more about Sony’s expectations. (source: CVG)

[News – PS3] PS3 world news: price cut, Sony’s jobs, John Kohler interview, user-generated content leadership, sales and PS3 2009

Here are some news of the last days around Sony PS3 world:

• David Reeves says again that PS3 will not suffer a price cut since it doesn’t fit on Sony’s strategy. The key, according David Reeves, is to add value to PS3 and not cut its price. In the last generations, with PSOne and PS2, they cut the price when they reduce production costs but they’re not doing this with PS3. They’re confident in industry growth and PS3 sales. (source: Gameover)
• Sony will close 10% of its manufacturing sites, including those who produce PS3. This results in a loss of 8000 jobs worldwide. (source: IGN)
• An interesting interview with Sony’s John Kohler about the burning questions about PS3. (source: GamePro)
• Sony says that they’re leading the user-generated content on consoles. With the release of games like LittleBigPlanet, Buzz and Singstar, user-generated content are growing up and these may increase the concept of game’s communities and, indeed, generate more sales. (source: GamesIndustry)
• Sony has announced that PS brand has began the holiday season with a strong growth, comparing with October. Sony’s affirmed that its consoles are in a strong holiday momentum with sales increasing from 51% to 150%, comparing with October. (source: Videogamer)
• An interesting article discussing the year 2009 for PS3, including PS3 portfolio, the best hopes, competition and the challenges that PS3 will have next year. (source: PSXExtreme)

[News – PS3] Square was interested in FF XI on PS3

You can play FF XI on X360, PS2 and PC but PS3 is not in the list. Why? This is the reason.

(source: 1UP)