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Week in Review: Prototype Delayed, Doom 4, LOTR: Conquest, and more!

Week in Review: Prototype Delayed, Doom 4, LOTR: Conquest, and more!

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The Week in Review news piece summarizes and highlights the most important gaming related news over the past week.  This weekly article, in conjunction with the Rumor Round-Up, will keep you plugged in and in-tune.

Prototype , the near-futuristic title that sends players on a gore-filled, shape-shifting journey to find out who or what infected you, needs a lot more time to develop .  In fact, Sierra is calling for another year to work out the kinks!  In other words, the beginning of April 2009 .  This pretty disappointing as the gameplay trailer that was released looks awesome.  Nevertheless, the company feels it needs a lot more time to work out all of the kinks and truly accomplish what they set out to do.

Take Two Interactive Software Inc ., the publishers of Grand Theft Auto IV, filed suit this week against the cash-strapped Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) on Monday .  The suit comes in the wake of the city pulling $300,000 worth of ads from buses, trains, depots, and stations.  Take Two is seeking the resumption of the ad campaign as well as damages in the suit.

Additionally, Take-Two confirmed that they don’t really need to sue the CTA other than on principle. Grand Theft Auto IV has surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value. Released on Tuesday, April 29th, Grand Theft Auto IV, the critically acclaimed video game, has sold through to consumers approximately 6 million units globally with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 3.6 million units on its opening day with a retail value of approximately $310 million globally.

This week we brought you a preview feature on FaceBreaker, the arcade boxer being developed by EA Canada.  In the article Mr. Marx wished for Fight Night Round 4 in addition to FaceBreaker.  Coincidentally, the very next day EA announced that FNR4 is in development and will release sometime in 2009 for the PS3 and 360 .  This time around the graphics engine is being completely overhauled, there will be more fighting styles included, and the inside game will be accentuated.  As far as featured boxers, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis, and Mike Tyson will all be playable characters.

id Software officially confirmed that the Doom franchise will get another installment .  This bit of news comes directly from id Software’s home page where they are calling out for development talent. “DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “It’s critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles.”

Casual gamers are now free to enter the sporting fray.  That’s because EA SPORTS has created a new sports brand called EA SPORTS Freestyle .  The new brand will release three titles this year including FaceBreaker and a WiiFit clone that will take a Western fitness tact.  The third title is still unknown.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss, David Reeves, confirmed that Sony is actively seeking to expand data storage capacity for the PS3. Sony wants to create a simple, first party, post-production solution that is guaranteed to work with the PS3.

In other Sony news, president of SCE Kaz Hirai, addressed the public at this year’s PlayStation Day. Mr. Hirai apologized for the delays of both Home and Killzone, but assured the faithful that Sony is committed to delivering only the highest quality products. Finally, despite all of the setbacks and mediocre start for Sony in this generation, Hirai is more than optimistic about the outlook for the PS3.  The sale of PS3 has already surpassed the Xbox in Europe and the user-driven content and social interactions the system will provide will spur growth.

Nintendo, of course, responded in kind by releasing The Nintendo Channel to North American consumers several days early. Originally, the release of the new channel was slated to coincide with the launch of WiiWare on Monday, May 12.  However, Nintendo jumped the gun and released it on Wednesday.  Consequently, the Nintendo Channel is now available and is chocked full of content.  There are tons of developer interviews, trailers, and even downloadable game demos for your DS.  The channel takes up 126 blocks of space to install and requires an additional 126 blocks of available space to access the content.

Pandemic Studios , part of the EA family and responsible for the Star Wars Battlefront Series, announced that they’re developing The Lord of the Rings: Conquest for the Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Nintendo DS. LOTR: Conquest is being developed in conjunction with the New Line Cinema license.  This time around, players will be able to fight as either the forces of good or evil.  That means players will actually be able to “conquer Middle-earth while playing as the legions of Sauron’s evil army, including Cave-trolls, Oliphaunts, the Balrog and Sauron himself.”  Look for the game to release this fall across the globe.

Gears of War fanatics will get a chance to check out the first clip of gameplay footage for Gears of War 2 on Saturday morning. Specifically, the video becomes available for download on the Xbox LIVE Video Store on Saturday May 10th at 2 am Eastern.

Last, but certainly not least, 2K Games announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement with Universal Pictures to produce BioShock the movie. The film is already attracting Hollywood talent including director Gore Verbinski who will helm the project .

Thanks so much everyone and we will see you next week!

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