Reports are surfacing claiming that Nintendo boss, Satoru Iwata was offered the chance to sign a deal for the technology that would later become Natal.
According to a top insider at Nintendo, an Israeli called firm 3DV Systems showed an early demo of the technology to Iwata and other Nintendo bigwigs at the end of 2007. Although Iwata was impressed, he made the decision to pass on the offer because of concerns regarding gameplay latency and price issues. A source at UK magazine, Computer and Video Games (CVG), said:
“Iwata-San only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience."
“3DV showed off a camera that detected motion in 3D, and had voice recognition – but Iwata-San was unconvinced he could sell it at a Nintendo price point. He also had some worries around latency during gameplay."
“Honestly – I’ve heard Iwata describe the prototype he saw at length, and it’s definitely Natal. What we witnessed at E3 was smaller and the facial [reading] stuff had improved, but it’s the same technology."
“We remain unconvinced Natal will deliver on the more sophisticated elements of what Microsoft is promising at the price they’re aiming for.”
But will it turn out to be the right decision for Nintendo to drop Natal? We think so, because we don’t want another peripheral for our Wii.
We all knew it would happen, but EA has confirmed that they will be releasing a FIFA World Cup game to coincide with Football’s biggest event, later this year.
As you would expect, the game is being released on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PSP. Although a DS version wasn’t announced we’d bet good money that it will come out on the dual screened console as well.
All 199 teams that took part in the qualifying rounds will appear in the game, so countries like Ireland and Scotland still have a chance of winning the virtual prize. All ten South African stadiums will feature in the game as well.
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa will be out on April 30th in Europe, while American gamers can get their hands on it three days earlier. The only question that we’d like to raise is: why hasn’t this been offered as DLC for FIFA 10? Why should EA expect people to fork over £40 (because you know that it’ll be expensive) for a cut-down version of FIFA 10 with the words ‘South Africa’ slapped on the box. This is nothing more than a rip-off. Shame on you, EA.
Although it’s been out for a year and a half, Warner Bros. have revealed that Lego Batman has reached the one million sales mark in the UK.
The game, developed by Traveller’s Tales was released back in October 2008 for, practically, every console under the sun. It has since made regular appearances in the UK All Format Chart and has had steady and consistent sales.
It was also the 15th best selling game of 2009 in the UK, but most of those sales where down to various Christmas bundle deals with Xbox 360 consoles. Spencer Crossley from Warner Bros. Interactive said:
"Selling one million units of Lego Batman: The Videogame in the UK marks a great milestone for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment."
"The fact that the title continues to remain on the best-selling charts more than a year after its release is a testament to the best-in-class gameplay TT Games continues to deliver."
So is there any chance of a sequel in the near future? Well, chances are that we might, once Lego Harry Potter is finished .
Get your calendars out because Capcom has set a date for the European launch of Super street Fighter IV.
The follow-up to 2009’s brilliant Street Fighter IV will be out on April 30th in Europe, with an American release date of April 27th.
The game will have added features including new online modes, new Ultra moves, the return of Bonus Stages and new characters with the likes of Adon, Cody, Guy, Dee Jay, T. Hawk, Juri and many more.
If you want to see some of the new features for yourself then just hit the play button on the video below. Check out Ryu’s new Ultra move… simply epic.
We didn’t see this coming. Capcom have announced that the Gears of War duo, Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago will be playable characters in Lost Planet 2. While it's not been confirmed, the assumption is obviously that the two space marines will appear only as an exclusive download for the Xbox 360 version of Lost Planet 2. Because, let’s face it, Microsoft wouldn't be happy seeing their lads on a PS3.
Capcom also announced that Lost Planet will be available on May 18th for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Bungie have posted a series of character bios for the next instalment in there Halo franchise Halo - Reach, it seems that much like the Master Chief and the Rookie before him Noble 6 has very little in the way of personal detail so as to give you the player a sense of ownership over the character.  Noble 6 NOBLE 6
EYES ONLY
NAME (G): XXX, XXX (X)
RANK: LT
SERVICE #: S-312
BIRTH DATE: XXX/XXX/XXX
BIRTHPLACE: XXX, XXX
(P)MOS: 158A
PERFORMANCE:
N/A
COMMENTS:
What little information I have been able to glean from around all of the redaction [note—I was quite literally expecting the ONI to start redacting page numbers] gives the impression that S-312 is more akin to a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier. A lone-wolf assassin that has broken organizations and made entire militia groups disappear.
At first glance S-312 doesn’t sound like the best fit for a team environment like NOBLE. However, we’ve been down a soldier for over a month—and frankly there are hidden benefits to a XXX like S-312. Call it the luck of the draw. S-293’s 1156 has been filed since 22/04/2552, every active duty Spartan-II is on XXX for special training, and it seems that XXX wasn’t able to keep his own private grim reaper out of the pool—only time will tell if this luck is of the good or bad variety.
To view the rest of the team Noble bios head on over to Bungie.net
 Harmonix, the developer behind Rock Band, has said that the music genre hasn’t peaked and that the future of rhythm-action games lies with user created content.
In an interview with UK magazine Edge, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said:
"Of course, 2009 was a tough year with the recession, which especially affects music games given the relatively high price point of instrument bundles. But in the long term, people's passion for music isn't going away, and rhythm gaming will continue to provide people with a deeper level of engagement with the music they love. So, yes, I do think that future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation."
"User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think. To be clear, though, when I talk about 'users' in this context, I don't necessarily mean end-users or players. I'm talking about a huge community of power-users - skilled music creators - providing their music to the audience. The launch of the Rock Band Network will be our next 'defining moment'."
Brian Bright, the project director of the Guitar Hero series at Neversoft agrees that user created content is the next step forward, but also believes that the success of Guitar Hero III will never be surpassed.
"As far as sales exceeding GHIII's in the future, only time will tell, but it's a tall order," he said. "I think user-created content is key to the evolution. If you can't create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws then you're limited to pretending to play someone else's music. I think the key is to create music, but make it compelling to create, so the game is in the creation, not the playback."
Personally, we think that rhythm-action games need to take a rest for a while. Either that, or bring back Parapper the Rapper, just to liven thing up.
Sega Europe has secured a three year deal with Alton Towers to bring a Sonic the Hedgehog themed rollercoaster to the park.
The deal will see Sonic getting his own ‘ride’ at Alton Towers along with special Sonic the Hedgehog themed room. Just the one, though. No information has been given about the ride, but we’re certainly look forward to seeing what’s in store. Perhaps we’ll see giant loop-de-loops, corkscrews, sheer drops and maybe even some Green Hill-esque scenery.
The details on the room, however, have been announced. According to the theme park guests will be able to "live, sleep and even play the latest games from the Sonic franchise in a room dedicated to the famous Sonic videogame universe.". It opens on February 13th.
Sega Europe UK marketing boss, Amanda Farr said:
"I'll certainly be there at the launch of the rollercoaster to have my turn!"
We’re very tempted to try it out too, when it’s launched, if only Alton Towers was an affordable place to go.
The company behind the recent Lego games, Traveller’s Tales has compared the DS version of the upcoming Lego Harry Potter to the DS Zelda titles.
In a recent interview with lead designer, Arthur Parsons said:
"This time the DS version is a completely different game. Lego Batman was a very similar game whereas Lego Harry Potter is completely different. It's an isometric adventure-style game.”
"You use your stylus to guide your characters around. It's a bit Zelda-y. You can cast spells by drawing shapes on the touch screen." So, in terms of gameplay, it’s similar to Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks but overall, Lego Harry Potter will be exactly the same as every other Lego game since the release of Lego Star Wars.
We’ve got hold of twelve new screen shots of God of War III and they do not disappoint.
They’re mostly showing off how much of a bad-ass Kratos is, but would you want him any other way? There’s no ‘official’ release date for God of War III, but Sony has said that they they’re crossing their fingers of March 19th.
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