None
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. Like a warning shot across the Guitar Hero: World Tour bow, Rock Band 2 was announced this week. The new Rock Band will add more music, new online modes, and improved drum and guitar peripherals. Additionally, the original Rock Band Online Music Store passed 15 million downloads all of which will be compatible with Rock Band 2. Interestingly, Rock Band 2 will make an “exclusive debut on Xbox 360 this September.” Blizzard announced that Diablo 3 has been in development since the days of Blizzard North and the game is set twenty years after that of Diablo 2. The world will be creepy and beautiful with amazing ambience and sound effects. It will be fully rendered in 3D and will feature several, all-new characters including the Witch Doctor. Additionally, old favorites, like the Barbarian, have been tweaked and re-imagined for the new go-‘round. Top it all off with even better online play including co-op and you’ve got the sequel everyone has been dreaming of. Blizzard has not set a release date yet. For a bunch more information including the teaser trailer, click HERE: Castlevania Judgment is in development and will be released exclusively on the Wii this Fall. Castlevania Judgment will mark the series’ entry into the fighting game genre. The new Castlevania will use the motion controls of the Wii by allowing players to brandish swords, whips, and environmental armaments to best their opponents. Furthermore, players will be able to challenge the world via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and connect with Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for the Nintendo DS in order to unlock bonus content. Speculation surrounding the imminent release of Square Enix’s CHRONO TRIGGER was confirmed for the end of 2008. The RPG originally released for the SNES and featured a great storyline, cool characters, and sweet anime artwork. Now the DS version promises portability, touch screen controls, and dual screen presentation. In other words, it’s the same old game being released on a new platform. We’ll have to wait and see if any other bells and whistles are included closer to launch. Sony launched firmware update 2.40 to hungry PS3 consumers. The update contained the much ballyhooed XMB and Trophy support. Unfortunately, according to Sony, “a limited number” of consumers called customer service with issues surrounding the installation of the new system software. As such, Sony has taken firmware update 2.40 offline to ensure that there are no further problems and to isolate the issue. Sony also mentioned that consumers who have already installed the update should have nothing to worry about, as the issue comes about during installation and not during subsequent usage. Sony, as of yet, has not released an ETA for when the firmware will be put back up. As if it was a surprise to anyone, Activision’s release of Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS is a smash hit. the first seven days since the title’s launch, Activision has sold over 300,000 units. That makes the title Activision’s best selling DS game to date and ranks it in Activision’s top five across all platforms. Bungie will once again celebrate fans and reward players with a new free multiplayer map, gamer pics, dashboard theme, and Legendary Map Pack price drop for July 7th. 7/7 has long been heralded as “Bungie Day” among “Halo” players and fans of the renowned developer. This year, Bungie is celebrating this day with the release of new multiplayer map Cold Storage, as well as new gamer pics and a Bungie Day Xbox 360 dashboard theme, all for free on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The “Halo 3” Legendary Map Pack will also drop in price to 600 Microsoft points in honor of the occasion. Finally, premier development studio, Digital Extreme, has been engaged by 2K Games to Optimize BioShock for the PS3. 2K wants to create the ultimate BioShock experience by taking full advantage of the PS3’s capabilities. That includes, amazing graphics and stellar sound. Hopefully they can pull it off! Thanks so much everyone and we will see you next week! |