Codemasters has announced that it will be releasing an off-road sequel to Colin McRae: Dirt despite McRae dying tragically in a helicopter accident last year.

“Colin McRae was all about the speed, the excitement and the entertainment of rally driving. Later his showmanship shone through in events such as the X-games, the Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions,” said the game’s executive producer Gavin Raeburn.

“He could do things with a car that no one else would and that’s where we’re taking the series with new events at the extreme edge of rally and motorsport. It will be a great tribute to an incredible champion.”

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 will be released on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP and PC in 2009. For more information head over to IGN for an interview with Gavin Raeburn.

We thoroughly enjoyed our romp in the dirt in the first game. Read our review of Colin McRae: Dirt for more about our impressions of this off-road racer.

Frontier has partnered with Square Enix to bring their popular WiiWare title Lost Winds to Japan and Asia.

Lost Winds is a platform adventure game that revolves around a young boy named Toku. Players control Toku as he embarks upon a quest to save his world from the evil Balasar with the help of the wind element Enril. Players use the elemental powers of Enril to guide and protect Toku, powering his jumps, defeating enemies and solving puzzles.

Toku and the innovative gameplay of Lost Winds charmed us so watch out for our review soon.

Post continues, click to read more…

The DS remake of the SNES platformer Kirby Super Star, Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (known as Kirby Super Star Ultra in the US), tops the Japanese software chart for a second week with 97 000 copies.

Spike’s Samuraidou 3 for the PS3 is the first of six new titles to debut in the Top 10 this week. Samuraidou 3 debuts at number 2 with 81 000 copies while Konami’s Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi for the DS enters the charts at number 3 with 72 000 copies.

At number 4 is Sega’s Fushigi no Dungeon Fuurai no Shiren DS 2: Sabaku no Majou which debuts with 45 000 copies. Sony’s Resistance 2 is new at number 5 with 33 000 copies and becomes the second PS3 title to debut in the Top 10 this week.

Post continues, click to read more…

Yesterday we brought you news of National Geographic launching its own games division. The label aims to publish and develop its own line of games for consoles in collaboration with Namco Bandai and Sony, specifically focusing on titles that encourage interest in the planet.

Tucked away at the bottom of the press release was an interesting list of titles that National Geographic Games plans to publish. On the said list is none other than Sony’s National Geographic: Africa.

Afrika is a safari sim/wildlife photography title that up until now has been released exclusively in Japan (and in Asia under the name Hakuna Matata) on the PS3. It seems that National Geographic may have spilled the beans on plans to release the popular safari game in North America.

The press release also reveals that the title will be released in November 2008, this month! This could well hint that it will be released as a downloadable title on the PlayStation Network.

What a peculiar and-simultaneously-amazing video. It features some guy on a bike with a Guitar Hero themed handlebar, riding over little coloured dots on the road to simulate the in-game Guitar Hero fret board, getting ‘star power’ and multipliers along the way, eventually finishing the song with a ‘You Rock!’ Which song? Prisoner of Society by The Living End, on Hard difficulty, of course.

Was this the work of Activision PR, or a group of people with a little too much time on their hands? Surely the former… surely. Watch below and be amazed.

Thanks to Variety for the heads up.

Midway have confirmed a release date for The Wheelman, a collaborative development effort between Midway Newcastle and Vin Diesel’s own Tigon Studios.

The Wheelman is designed to be a blockbuster car chase racing game, taking its cues from classic Hollywood car chases, aiming to deliver powerful cinematic moments to drive the game’s storyline forward. You’ll either be using your car to ram your enemies off of the road, or an array of weaponry to shoot on the go, or, if the need takes you, you can get out the car for some on-foot action, with all of your exploits set in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Vin Diesel said of the game:

“We’re designing Wheelman to play like a Hollywood blockbuster. Playing this game will be just like taking control of the greatest car chases from feature films, except this time you’re in the driver’s seat.”

Midway executive vice president Martin Spiess assured gamers of their good intentions, “Featuring Vin Diesel and set in Barcelona, Wheelman is a title with enormous sales potential. We’re making a multi-million dollar marketing investment to make sure that gamers around the world are ready when Wheelman goes on sale worldwide, which we have planned for February 2009.”

The Wheelman has a release date of February 20th next year on Xbox 360 and PS3, with a movie also in the works. You can check out some screenshots and a recent trailer to get re-acquainted below:

Post continues, click to read more…

If that heading didn’t grab your attention like the shout of ‘Boom’ does when you are trying to find cover in a gun fight, then nothing will.

We know that Gears fans are still holed up in their lounges defending the planet, killing the Locust Horde one by one, but why not do it in style? El33tonline has an awesome Gears of War 2 hamper up for grabs that is guaranteed to make you stand out in the Gears crowd. The hamper consists of a blood red Gears of War 2 T-shirt (complete with chainsaw duel between Marcus and Locust on the front and GOW2 logo on the back), black Gears of War 2 cap and “Beneath the Surface” art book.

We also have another five “Beneath the Surface” art books to giveaway as runner-up prizes because we know there are a lot of Gears fans out there. The art books take an inside look at the game complete with full colour illustrations and text written by Cliff Bleszinski.

Head over to our Gears of War 2 competition page to enter today. Thanks to Xbox for sponsoring these awesome prizes.

Here’s a picture of some cool colourful Wii Remote straps that I picked up recently. If you have ever played four player tennis or bowling on the Wii you will know how easy it is to get your Wii Remotes mixed up on timeouts.

Here is a simple solution, four different colour straps (green, blue, pink and white) guaranteed to let you know which remote is yours. Now all that is left to argue about is which colour you will get.

Dibs on blue!

What can you expect on Xbox LIVE Marketplace this week, other than the New Xbox Experience? Rock Band tracks and a new XBLA game, of course!

First the game - A Kingdom for Keflings, the first game to take advantage of the New Xbox Experience’s avatar system, is now available for 800 Microsoft Points. A city-building game from NinjaBee, A Kingdom for Keflings allows you to play either as your own avatar in giant form, or choose from a variety of other giants, to help your loyal subjects, the Keflings, build and develop a kingdom.

A variety of Rock Band tracks and track packs can also be found on Marketplace this week, a list of which follows below:

Post continues, click to read more…

National Geographic, one of the world’s largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations, has announced the launch of its very own games division, National Geographic Games (NGG).

The label, in collaboration with Namco Bandai and Sony Computer Entertainment, aims to publish and develop its own line of games for consoles, handhelds and mobiles, focussing on titles that continue the National Geographic Society’s goals of encouraging interest in the planet.

The label will be headed up by Paul Levine, taking on the role of corporate strategy and development Senior Vice President, while Chris Mate, formerly of Take-Two and Bethesda Softworks, will take the vice president and general manager reigns. Chief operating officer of National Geographic Ventures, Ted Prince said of the launch:

“The launch of our games division furthers National Geographic Venture’s cross-platform strategy of creating and distributing unique consumer experiences and content on multiple platforms and devices.”

“Paul’s strong background in cross-platform media, interactive entertainment and business building and development combined with Chris’ expertise in the video game industry and product development will ensure that National Geographic Games extends our mission globally and makes the National Geographic brand more meaningful to a broader audience.”

Major Nelson, the Xbox mouthpiece, has posted his Top Ten list for things to do on the New Xbox Experience when it’s officially unleashed into the world later today, complete with hints and bonus tips. What’s the first thing on the list?

“1) Create (or Customize) your Avatar - You can spend as much (or as little) time as you want in the Avatar Editor to personalize your little guy/girl

Bonus: When you are done with #1, be sure to take a Gamer Picture of your Avatar. In the Avatar editor, choose Gamer Picture. You can use the controls to move your avatar around, zoom in and out or even change the background color (press Y).”

Thanks Major! The full list can be viewed on his blog, which includes activities such as exploring the dashboard, installing games to the hard drive, checking out the new marketplace and ‘PAR-TAY!’ His words.

Unless you’ve been submerged at the bottom of the ocean, in a locked coffin, buried deep in the sand beneath a giant reef, you’d know that the New Xbox Experience launches today, November 19th, bringing with it a host of new features and generally making the Xbox LIVE experience that much smoother.

The merger between Koei (Dynasty Warriors) and Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive), announced earlier this year, has had some further light shed on the exact terms of the agreement.

The holy (or unholy) union between the two highly regarded Japanese developers will be worth $207 million and will result in the formation of a holding company, with official operation of this company beginning in April 2009.

Performance expectations are pretty high, with expected sales revenues to reach $727 million, on profits of $166.2 million by the end of the fiscal year March 2012. This can be compared to current figures for Koei and Tecmo, with operating profits at $88.3 million and sales of $427.9 million for both companies combined.

The merger, news of which came after Square Enix made a move for Tecmo, aims to give both companies a much needed boost in corporate value, against a slowly deteriorating Japanese development industry.

Steel Penny Games (founded in 2006 by ex-Naughty Dog veterans) has announced its first game, Bruiser and Scratch, will be heading exclusively to WiiWare in December this year. The game has yet to be priced.

Described as a “unique take on a matching puzzle game”, Bruiser & Scratch sees players controlling one of the heroes in each level as they unravel puzzles by pushing life-sized pieces around. As you match pieces they will combine and transform into other shapes until they are combined into a single winning piece at the end. The gameplay is described as “easy to grasp” but “more challenging than it seems.”

“Bruiser and Scratch is an exciting puzzle game for the whole family. As puzzle games go, this one is pretty challenging, rewarding and humorous,” said Jason Hughes, president and founder of Steel Penny Games. “It was our goal to develop a game full of character and fun that the entire family looks forward to enjoying together, a little bit at a time. Naturally, Wii is the ideal platform for this,” says Hughes.

For more information and screenshots head over to the game’s website.

Post continues, click to read more…

To celebrate the release of their new DVD, The Complete Masterworks 2, Tenacious D will be playing Rock Band 2 with Xbox LIVE Gold members on November 20th. What do you need to do to get in on the jam session?

Send a friend request to either of the following Gamertags:

• JBTenacious
• KGTenacious

Then, make sure you’re online at 8:00 PM EST (1:00 AM GMT on November 21st) for the action at 8:30 PM.

If you want in on this event, you’d better send those invites soon! For more information, head on over to the announcement on Xbox.com.

Just what has everybody been playing on Xbox LIVE over the last week? Would it surprise you to find out that Gears of War 2 wasn’t the number one most played game on the service? Sure it would, so logically it shouldn’t surprise you that it’s beaten out all of the most popular titles to become just that - the most played game on Xbox LIVE for the week of November 10th.

The battle raging between Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 for the top spot will have to be waged for No. 2, while new challengers, Call of Duty: World at War and Left 4 Dead (in demo form, but now released in the US) will make the top five games even more heavily contested. It’s going to be extremely interesting to see how it all shakes out in the coming weeks.

The full top ten most played Xbox 360 titles, XBLA titles and original Xbox titles, based on unique users, follows below:

Post continues, click to read more…