The British are a bit ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to recognising the achievements of videogames in the arts field. And the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards has become the defacto videogame awards show for grownups who aren't developers. Admittedly, that's not hard when the only real competing show is over in the US, where you'll find the likes of Megan Fox amongst the nominees.
The after parties for this year's BAFTAs are in full swing, and the winners are commiserating with the losers. The big winner on the night: Batman: Arkham Asylum, which managed to snatch the best game gong from hot favourite Uncharted 2. Here's the list:
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If you've ever wanted to cruise planetary surfaces of the Mass Effect 2 universe in something a little more stylish, the Hammerhead hovertank may be just what you're looking for.
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You may well be interested in seeing what EA has to offer with their return to the Medal of Honor series. If so, you may be further interested in checking out what it actually looks like.
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Rebellion Studios recently put Aliens vs Predator out the door. Now they're showing staff out the same way. As expected, the developer has pulled the trigger on the closure of their Derby (UK) office - a process that begin in January with staff being warned of impending job cuts.
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Perhaps you've heard of Trickstar Games? The Prahan, Melbourne outfit, which describes itself as "the newest, but most experienced games development studio" only recently announced its existence to the world. The crew - which appears to be a chunk of the now-defunct Transmission Games team - are already putting their nose to the grindstone, working on International Cricket 2010 for Codemasters.
The Xbox 360 and PS3 game is in experienced hands. Trickstar head Tony Parkes claims the dev team has worked on Brian Lara and Ashes 2009 titles in the past. The big draw for the game - which has secured player, kit and ground licensing rights from Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board - is the new Action Cam feature:
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It looks like Microsoft are bowing to the inevitable and will enable Xbox 360 consoles to store and read on USB-based storage devices. Presently the console features USB ports, but does not read or make browseable USB media plugged into them.
Website Joystiq claim they've found documentation confirming the change going ahead in "Spring" (Autumn in the southern hemisphere):
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Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment has announced it's publishing a new "mature RPG" Lord of the Rings game. Titled "The Lord of the Rings: War in the North", development duties for the game have been handed to Snowblind Studios.
Online three player co-op will be part of the fun. Here's part of the pitch from Warners:
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Borderlands and downloadable content. It's been an odd relationship. But the latest pack from Gearbox/2K promises something a bit more substantial. Players finally got the level cap increase they were after, and reviewer Kozeeii seems pretty chuffed with the result:
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Remember when Modern Warfare 2 tried to make a funny video about grenade spam, only for it to backfire amongst accusations of homophobia and pandering to the more thick-headed sectors of the gaming population?
You may not have, because the company quickly pulled its tail between its legs (and the video as well), but it featured a star US baseball pitcher warning against spamming - a warning any MW2 player can tell you wasn't heeded. But yes - the short life the video enjoyed meant many may have forgotten it ever existed.
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Tradition has taught us games marketing can usually be divided into the good (Sony's Kevin Butler campaign, Rockstar's GTA efforts, Gears of War's "Mad World" trailer), the expensive-yet-standard (Modern Warfare 2), and the "what were they thinking?" (Sony's PS3 launch ads, EA's Dante's Inferno). We're still undecided on where the Sam Fisher twitter concept belongs, but if they keep this up we may have to create a new category: completely barking mad.
Here's the latest:
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