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For those that have been following the news, it looks like a select group of people were invited to the first playable demo of the much anticipated (and much maligned) Killzone 2 game. While the demo was certainly playable, no one but the developers were allowed to play the damn game, but that’s nitpicking, considering this game blows every other game at E3 out of the water. After the seemingly lackluster press conference by Microsoft a couple of hours ago, the attendees at the Killzone 2 preview could only watch with mouths agape as the developers ran through an entire level in this interactive “violent theater of war”.
Featuring fully destructible environments, a seamlessly disappearing HUD like in Gears of War, and breathtaking lighting and shadow detail, Killzone 2 seems to best its awesome predecessor on the PS3, Resistance: Fall of Man in every way. With the Helghast wielding weapons that controlled and unleashed the weather upon the players in terrifying ways, the players are well warned to watch the weather as well as the battlefield as you could find yourself facing the wrong end of a lightning bolt if you are caught unawares. Of course, with such a brilliant looking game, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind as to why the PS3 needs BluRay media. The single level was supposed to take up 2GB of data and one can see why. The game is also touted to have multiplayer components that link to home and Killzone2.com, just like the PSP version of Liberation, but more info on this aspect wasn’t forthcoming from the developers.
We can’t wait to see the HD version of the trailer hit the PlayStation Store in a couple of hours. In the meantime, for those without it, I guess they’d have to camp out at the E3 page on GameTrailers.com.
Read Kotaku’s impressions about the game >>
Hit the jump for the awesome trailer. Can’t wait to get this in HD!
Looks like Microsoft is finally waking up to the fact that its Xbox 360 almost hammered the nail into PC gaming’s coffin and now they want a piece of this big pie as well. While the recently launched Games For Windows program did good, the G4W Live service blew up big time with both Halo 2 Vista and Shadowrun doing horrendously in the markets. Not to be outdone, Microsoft is stepping up to the plate with even more bats, all of them G4W Live enabled, including:
• “The Club” (SEGA)
• “Gears of War” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights” (THQ)
• “Kane & Lynch: Dead Men” (Eidos)
• “Universe at War: Earth Assault” (SEGA)
• “Viva Piñata” (Microsoft Game Studios)
In addition, the games at E3 that will bear the Games For Windows banner include:
• “Age of Empires® III: The Asian Dynasties” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Bee Movie™ Game” (Activison)
• “BlackSite: Area 51” (Midway Games)
• “Clive Barker’s Jericho™” (Codemasters)
• “The Club” (SEGA)
• “Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts” (THQ)
• “Empire Earth® 3” (Sierra Entertainment)
• “Fallout® 3” (Bethesda Softworks®)
• “Flight Simulator X: Acceleration” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Gears of War” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Hour of Victory” (Midway Games)
• “John Woo Presents Stranglehold” (Midway Games)
• “Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights” (THQ)
• “Kane & Lynch: Dead Men” (Eidos)
• “Nancy Drew®: Legend of Crystal Skull” (Her Interactive Inc.)
• “Operation Flashpoint™ 2” (Codemasters)
• “Rise of the Argonauts” (Codemasters)
• “Rogue Warrior” (Bethesda Softworks)
• “SEGA Rally Revo” (SEGA)
• “Sid Meier’s Civilization IV®: Beyond the SwordTM” (2K Games)
• “Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Gold Edition” (2K Games)
• “Spider-Man™: Friend or Foe” (Activision)
• “Star Wars® Empire at War®: Gold Pack” (LucasArts)
• “The Witcher” (Atari)
• “Thrillville™: Off the Rails™” (LucasArts)
• “Turning Point™: Fall of Liberty” (Codemasters)
• “Universe at War: Earth Assault™” (SEGA)
• “Viva Piñata” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Zoo Tycoon® 2: Extinct Animals” (Microsoft Game Studios)
So what if Gears and UE3.0 have G4W enabled in them? I pay for Xbox Live anyway and I get this free! I don’t have any troubles. Its my sans Xbox 360 friends I am worried about.
So what else is new? Another year, another E3, another set of meaningless stats. Here is a NEW set of Xbox 360 and Xbox Live stats as outlined by the Redmond giant at today’s E3 conference. Anyone else flummoxed by this “Mine is bigger than yours” fight everyone seems to be fighting these days?
Leadership:Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are leading the charge into the future of gaming and entertainment, bringing the best games, an active community and a growing catalogue of high definition entertainment to all members of the household.
• More than 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold across the 37 countries where it is currently available. Xbox LIVE is currently available in 25 countries across the globe.
• According to NPD in the U.S., since our competitors launched in November, consumers have spent $2.4 billion on Xbox 360 consoles, games and accessories at retail; nearly as much as both of our competitors combined.
• Since our competitors launched we’ve sold more than 18 million games. That’s more than both the Wii and PS3 combined, according to NPD.
• Faster than expected, Xbox LIVE has eclipsed the 7 million member milestone and is on track to reach 10 million members by the end of June 2008 making it larger than the largest city in the U.S. In fact, in the last year we’ve added a new Xbox LIVE member every 8 seconds.
More stats after the jump
How long has it been since I’ve envied the people who bought an NTSC/J Xbox 360 just because they could play Blue Dragon and I couldn’t. Well, I still can’t get my hands on the full game, but good news, at least the demo for the Hironobu Sakaguchi masterpiece called Blue Dragon is out right now on Xbox Live, for us all to download, play and enjoy. Although the game itself wasn’t given much of a mention during the conference, the demo for this Xbox 360 exclusive RPG marks the first of a number of demos that Microsoft has promised will be available over Live over the coming week.
UPDATE: If you are here looking for more information on the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Multiplayer Beta on the Xbox 360, visit this page for the latest information, including information on signing up for the beta and other related details.
Speaking to the masses at the Microsoft E3 Conference held some time back, Project Lead Jason West from Infinity Ward and Microsoft’s Peter Moore have confirmed over an extended demo that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will have an “exclusive multiplayer beta” for the Xbox 360 later this year.
The official website of the game, http://www.charlieoscardelta.com which was temporarily swamped as the news broke, is now open, but has scant information on the upcoming beta. And here I was thinking we’ll be able to pre-sign-up or something like that. Can’t wait for the beta to open up, as long it is not tied into the purchase of another game, a la Halo 3 and Crackdown. We will have more information as it becomes available. Until then, keep watching the HD trailer over and over again!
A public beta forum is up here for registered members of the site, along with a bunch of previously released videos. Hit the jump for the official word straight from the horse’s mouth.
As we just announced some time back, during the Microsoft E3 Conference, a brand new Viva Pinata game will find its way on to the PC (and Xbox 360?) sometime later this year, we hope. Titled Party Animals, the game returns the player to the sandbox world in which cute little pinatas live, breed and (oh no) die even as we tend to this living garden of excessively sweet creatures. Although the game seems to be mini-game intensive and another attempt by MS to get more going out of the original’s success, it remains to be seen whether this can match up to the original’s charm.
Hit the jump for the streaming video / download.
E3 2007 Trailer
Manipulate the very fabric of time itself and become the ultimate weapon in any fight.
Download HD Version - MOV (32.2 MB) / WMV (30.9 MB)