PopCap have announced that the next entry to the Bejeweled series, Bejeweled Twist, will be unveiled next month at a gala event at Seattle’s Experience Music Project Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame on October 27th. Co-founder and chief creative officer at PopCap, Jason Kapalka, further explained:

“As our first and most popular game, we’re particularly dedicated to Bejeweled and wanted to make sure that our next offering in the lineup delivered as much innovation, polish, and sheer pleasure as possible. We spent a long time conceiving and prototyping a totally new direction for Bejeweled Twist. The game will be immediately recognizable to Bejeweled fans, and as accessible as earlier titles in the series, but with far more depth and flexibility. Previous versions of Bejeweled appealed to a pretty broad audience, but we’re confident Bejeweled Twist will offer a compelling experience for everyone, from the novice gamer to the seriously hardcore player.” Bejeweled Twist has allegedly been in development for three years.

Why is this big news? For some amazing Bejeweled facts, click on through.

Post continues, click to read more…

“Playing the apprentice of the baddest bad guy of them all is possibly what sets this Star Wars game aside over and above any other Star Wars game franchise before this. What does stand up even more though is the way Lucasarts has made this a living breathing game that emphasizes just how strong this apprentice is with the force at his side… while Darth Vader watches on.”

Continue reading El33tonline’s Xbox 360 review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

There’s no doubt the hardcore (and even some casual) gamers among us are well aware of the Devil May Cry franchise. The series’ debut title on PlayStation 2 all those years ago single-handedly reinvigorated the console action genre, throwing in the ability to pull off some insane moves while looking awfully cool in the process.

The series has gone from strength to strength, culminating in the latest entry, Devil May Cry 4, which you are able to win right here on El33tonline. We’re giving away two Devil May Cry 4 hampers, each with an Xbox 360 copy of the game, to die-hard fans who are able to tell us, in a succinct, one paragraph answer:

Who, in a perfect world, would you rather play as - Dante or Nero - and why? Head over to El33tonlines Devil May Cry 4 competition page to enter and we will choose who gives us the best answer.

Thanks to Ster-Kinekor for sponsoring the prizes!

Wall-E, the game, is your chance to relive key moments from the Disney/Pixar film by controlling two of the main characters from the movie, the titular Wall-E as well as Eve, carrying out intense missions, dodging dangerous enemies, solving puzzles and navigating your way through a futuristic world in a non-stop action adventure! There’s even a multiplayer component and mini-games!

Do you want to win a copy of Wall-E for the PlayStation 2? Of course you do! All you need to do to stand a chance of winning Wall-E for PS2, as well as an awesome Wall-E hardcover writing pad, is send us your own drawing of Wall-E! Get creative and show some latent artistic talent by going to the El33tonline Wall-E Competition page for more details.

Thanks go to Ster-Kinekor for the great prizes!

Do the names Kurt Angle, Booker T, AJ Styles or Christopher Daniels mean anything to you? If they do, you’re a wrestling fan. Not just any wrestling fan, mind you, but a TNA Wrestling fan! If you are, you’ll definitely want to enter this competition to win TNA Impact! for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3!

TNA Impact! features all of the superstar wrestlers from the TNA franchise, as well as their signature moves. The team at Midway have spent countless hours scanning the athletes as well as capturing their moves to provide the ultimate in wrestling simulation realism!

By entering Eleetonline’s competition, you could soon be engaging in such moves as The Canadian Destroyer or The Olympic Slam, while participating in modes such as Ultimate X, King of the Mountain or simply working your way up the ranks in the story mode. Simply head on over to Eleetonline’s TNA Impact! competition page and tell us who your favourite TNA Impact! Wrestler is. Easy!

Thanks to Ster-Kinekor for sponsoring these great prizes.

If you’re going to rAge this year, you’re in for a huge Xbox 360 treat, as attendees will have access to several of the console’s banner, upcoming titles, which will be available for your ogling pleasure on the show floor.

Chief among rAge’s Xbox 360 line-up will be the limited hands-on Gears of War 2 event, Mayhem, giving gamers a chance to get to grips with the game’s multiplayer features, including content shown at E3 this year. Another huge title on the show floor at rAge will be Fable II, Lionhead and Peter Molyneux’s RPG magnum opus. Don’t miss your chance to see these titles a full month before they’ve even been released!

For fans of the development studio Rare (and there are many) you’ll be able to see two of their titles, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, as well as Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, both showcasing Rare’s unique flair and talent. For fans of social games (or, ‘games that make you look like a fool while having fun’) another three titles will be on display - Lips (a singing game with motion-controlled microphone), You’re in the Movies (a movie acting game using the Xbox Vision cam to capture footage of your movements) and Scene It? Box Office Smash (a quiz game).

rAge is a South Africa game and technology expo and is taking place this weekend (!) from the 3rd to the 5th of October at the Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate, Johannesburg. The show is open to the public, so be sure to drop by if you’re in the area, or if you’re just a massive fan of gaming!

With LucasArts’ announcement last week that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, was performing even better than they had hoped, selling 1.5 million copies in a matter of days, it’s no surprise that the game has managed to hold on to the top spot in the UK Charts from last week, this despite a 38% drop in sales.

Another unsurprising movement, or lack thereof, is that Nintendo’s Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii managed to cling to their positions from last week, at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Wii Fit, in particular, had a great week with a 75% rise in sales, while Mario Kart sales were up 26%. The only other non-mover was Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’09, which stood firm at No. 5.

Post continues, click to read more…

So, maybe you’re looking forward to Disaster: Day of Crisis, a game that pits you, the player, up against some of the meanest natural disasters known to man, while simultaneously trying to stop a terrorist group who have recently managed to get their hands on a nuclear weapon.

If you are looking forward to Disaster: Day of Crisis, then the box art to the right will help you identify the game, amongst all of the other Wii games, when it’s released on October 24th. You can check out some screenshots to discover what kinds of shenanigans you’ll be engaged in or, if you want some more media to massage your eyeballs, click through for some great Disaster: Day of Crisis footage.

Post continues, click to read more…

After £600 000 worth of games were stolen from the truck of a resting driver in Northampton, England, the pilfered goods were located in Leeds when police noticed fake number plates of another truck transporting the ill-gotten loot. That truck was then taken to the police impound, only to be stolen again hours later.

The same truck was then relocated after a few days, only without the prized games it was carrying. 16 000 copies of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway for PS3, as well as miscellaneous other games, are now missing. The police have begun the search for the pinched games, turning to eBay transactions and postings. Several arrests have already been made in connection with the theft.

Ubisoft, the publishers of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, are quick to reveal that replacement copies are already on the way, but Gearbox head, Randy Pitchford, can’t be too happy about all this.

Source: The Sun

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift looks like it’s set to be a thrilling, off-road romp through a tropical, volcanic island. How thrilling? The trailer speaks for itself:

If that doesn’t get your “Excite ‘O Meter” ticking, not much else will. MotorStorm: Pacific Rift releases November 14th in the UK and Europe, while North Americans get it October 28th.

Just in case anyone was wondering, the Xbox LIVE service is currently down for some routine maintenance. A note from Major Nelson:

“As I mentioned earlier in the week, tomorrow (Monday, 9/29/2008) from 12:01 AM PST for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, Xbox LIVE and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.) The remainder of Xbox.com will be available with limited interruptions. When the service returns, you will not have any new features and you will not have the new Xbox experience update. That will happen later this Fall. I will update my Twitter when the service returns.”

Surely there are other things you could be doing while you wait? Surely? Hint: How’s the weather in your part of the world?

As open-world games go, the original Saints Row was thought to be a fun cut above the rest (excluding that ‘other’ open-world series). Now, with Saints Row 2, Volition and THQ are promising to deliver a game that “sets the standard”, according to THQ executive vice president of sales and marketing, Scott Guthrie:

“Saints Row set the bar for next-gen open-world development, earning praise for its unmatched customization, controls, and the genre’s first-ever online multiplayer. The team at Volition, Inc. is leveraging invaluable experience gained on Saints Row to build Saints Row 2 into a game that sets the standard for combat, player freedom, customization, vehicle game-play, team-based co-op and the most compelling online open world experience to date.”

For fans of the original, Saints Row 2 will expand many of its predecessor’s most laudable features, including customisation options, an expanded city, new vehicles, the obligatory ‘sandbox’ abilities as well as online and co-operative multiplayer. Including a “darker and more sinister” story this time around, lead producer at Volition, Greg Donovan says the features in Saints Row 2, coupled with the story “promises a gaming experience that will offer players the perfect balance of gripping narrative and compelling gameplay options.”

Well, if the game lives up to the promises, we’re in for a treat! Saints Row 2 releases on PS3 and Xbox 360 in the UK and Europe on October 17th while the US gets their grubby mitts on it October 14th. Go check out El33tonline’s review of the original Saints Row to get acquainted with the series.

Pssst! Want to know if you won the biggest, bestest prize that we at El33tonline have ever given away? Check it out below, we are holding thumbs for you!

If your name is Timothy King, you are probably cracking open a bottle of bubbly right now because you just won a Nintendo Wii console plus Wii Fit, three extra Wii Remotes and three extra Nunchuks! We packaged the prize last night, after taking this quick snap of it, and have finally talked ourselves into parting with it. If you want to see what ecstatic looks like, look out for a picture of our jubilant winner soon.

Ann Fraser was the runner-up and can look forward to getting into a new workout regime with her very own copy of Wii Fit soon.

Thanks to everyone who entered, your enthusiasm and great sponsors like Core Gaming make these competitions possible.

Over the past four weeks El33tonline has been running a Nintendo DS Lite competition with two great prizes up for grabs. Each week we posted a pixelated image of a famous Nintendo character and each week our readers got the chance to enter this awesome competition.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and special thanks to those of you who showed your true Nintendo colours by maximising this opportunity and submitted four entries each.

We are pleased to say that we have a winner, and it is…drum roll…Dumidu Surasinghe. Congratulations to Dumidu who won himself a white Nintendo DS Lite and a copy of Brain Training, looks like Christmas really did come early for this avid gamer. Our second place prize winner is Thys van Zyl who walks away with a copy of Brain Training.

Thanks to Core Gaming for sponsoring these terrific prizes and visit us again soon to see pictures of the happy winners.

You can check out who the Nintendo characters were after the jump.

Post continues, click to read more…

At the rAge Expo this year, Call of Duty 4 teams will compete to win a chance to represent South Africa at the prestigious international PC gaming competition, DreamHack, being held in Sweden.

The Intel-sponsored competition at rAge will act as the South African qualifier for DreamHack. Not only will the winning team jet off to Sweden, but Intel will supply them with over R100 000 worth of equipment, including Intel processors and motherboards. Second and third-place teams will receive Intel processors, to the value of R26 000 and R19 000 respectively.

rAge Expo, a South African gaming convention, runs from the 3rd to the 5th of October at The Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate, Johannesburg. Intel’s Call of Duty 4 competition takes place at 14H00 on October 5th on the Intel stage at rAge, so go support the teams if you’re there!