EL33TONLINE: News archive for October, 2008
If you don’t have Devil May Cry 4 on the Xbox 360 yet, your games library is probably lacking a little something. A little something called awesome. Well, you have a chance to replace the emptiness of your collection by winning a Devil May Cry 4 bundle from El33tonline and Ster-Kinekor!
We have two Devil May Cry 4 hampers to give away, each bundled with a copy of Devil May Cry 4 for the Xbox 360. What do you have to do to stand a chance of winning one of these hampers? Easy! Simply tell us, in a nice, concise, cool as ice paragraph: Who would you rather play as - Nero or Dante?
If you’re a series fan, this won’t be a problem. For those of you who haven’t yet encountered a Devil May Cry game, you’ll need to do a little research… Once you’ve got your paragraph down, head on over to our Devil May Cry 4 competition page for entry details! Easy and awesome! You’d better hurry though! Entries close today!
Thanks to Ster-Kinekor for the prizes!
TNA Impact!, a game based on the TNA wrestling franchise, is up for the winning and all you need to do to stand a chance of grabbbing it is answer a simple question - especially simple if you’re a wrestling fan.
Simply tell us; who is your favourite TNA franchise wrestler? Easy, huh? If you win, you’ll be wrangling the meticulously recreated wrestlers in digital form in no time, as well as using all of their signature moves while progressing through the story campaign, rising through the ranks of the TNA franchise.
El33tonline has Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of TNA Impact! to give away, so be sure to tell us which console you own with your answer. You’d better hurry though! Entries close today!
Thanks go to Ster-Kinekor for the great prizes!
Fancy a chance to win Wall-E the game for the PlayStation 2, as well as a great Wall-E themed notepad? Well, you’ve come to the right place!
All you need to do to stand a chance to win Wall-E (PS2) and the notepad is draw your very own picture of Wall-E. This could be a scribbling, a doodling, a sketch, crayon drawing - whatever you think constitutes a visual representation of the titular Wall-E!
Enter the competition by scanning your picture and sending it to us. Easy! Read El33tonline’s review of Wall-E to see what we thought of it and visit our Wall-E competition page for more information! You’d better hurry though! Entries close today!
Thanks to Ster-Kinekor for the great prizes!
As far as EA’s financials go, their overall revenues for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30th was posted as $894 million, up from $640 million during the same period last year. These numbers were definitely a result of some of their strongest game launches in recent memory, including Spore, Mercenaries 2, Warhammer Online, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Madden NFL 09 and NCAA Football 09.
Up until September 30th, standout sales numbers include Spore, which has sold 2 million units, Madden NFL 09 selling 4.5 million and Warhammer Online selling 1.2 million units.
Net loss on the other hand reached $310 million compared to $195 million last year. As a cost-reduction plan, EA has announced its intention to lay off around 6 percent of its staff, which equates to about 600 employees. EA spokesperson Mariam Sughayer said of the layoffs:
“It’s a global reduction, not just focused on one studio or one location. The decisions that impact people’s jobs are always extremely tough, but all the people affected will be treated appropriately and respectfully, with the appropriate severance package based on their time at the company and other mitigating factors.” The layoffs are said to have affected EA LA as well as Pandemic, amongst others.
The PSP continues its newfound dominance in the Japanese Hardware Charts this week, as it sells through 60 467 units, although that figure is less than half of what it sold last week (159 816).
Despite this, the next set of console sales down, the Wii, manages to sell only half of the PSP’s number, with 24 292 new Wii consoles now sitting in Japanese homes. This is only slightly down from last week’s performance of 26 024 units. The DS, which has been on the slides ever since the DSi announcement, is able to sell 22 965 units for the week - down almost 7 000 units from last week.
MTV, Harmonix and Apple Corps (The Beatles rights-holder) announced during a conference call yesterday (today?) that a brand new music game featuring the music of the Beatles is in the works. MTV music, films and logo group president, Van Toffler said:
“Today we’re announcing an exclusive partnership with Apple Corps, MTV Games and Harmonix to create a brand-new video game featuring the iconic music of The Beatles. We’re not in the business of producing standalone games for every artist that’s out there… but [for] a monumental band like The Beatles, it’s the perfect confluence.”
Apple Corps CEO Jeff Jones added some further significance to the announcement, commenting that this would be the first time music from The Beatles has ever been signed for an appearance in a video game, continuing by saying, “In MTV and Harmonix, we see partners that admire The Beatles and Apple’s original spirit and vision.”
The game is only due out next Christmas and will be a completely new product, not to be viewed as an expansion to Rock Band, but as its own game not confined to the Rock Band franchise, as Harmonix’s Alex Rigopoulos enthused:
If you don’t have Devil May Cry 4 on the Xbox 360 yet, your games library is probably lacking a little something. A little something called awesome. Well, you have a chance to replace the emptiness of your collection by winning a Devil May Cry 4 bundle from El33tonline and Ster-Kinekor!
We have two Devil May Cry 4 hampers to give away, each bundled with a copy of Devil May Cry 4 for the Xbox 360. What do you have to do to stand a chance of winning one of these hampers? Easy! Simply tell us, in a nice, concise, cool as ice paragraph: Who would you rather play as - Nero or Dante?
If you’re a series fan, this won’t be a problem. For those of you who haven’t yet encountered a Devil May Cry game, you’ll need to do a little research… Once you’ve got your paragraph down, head on over to our Devil May Cry 4 competition page for entry details! Easy and awesome!
Thanks to Ster-Kinekor for the prizes!
A demo for the seemingly amazing first-person running game, Mirror’s Edge, will be made available today from the PlayStation Store and tomorrow on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. From the press release:
“The demo features the prologue of the game, a tutorial and a segment of the single-player story mode. Now is your chance to experience the action that has GameSpot saying ‘Unlike anything we’d ever played before.’”
Mirror’s Edge can best be described as a first-person runner with guns. Playing as main character, Faith, you’ll be doing more running and jumping along colour-coded rooftops and sewage systems than any amount of shooting you’d see in a typical first-person game.
The full game releases November 14th in the UK and Europe, while the US will be playing on November 11th, on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
The DS version of Guitar Hero, On Tour, went down quite a storm when it was released earlier this year, and now a follow-up to that success is to be released in the form of Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades.
El33tonline enjoyed the original, so this next one should be a treat as well. An Activision Blizzard statement for the game reveals:
“The game leverages the technology of its predecessor and expands the experience with a new progression taking players on a musical journey from the classics of the 1970’s through today’s greatest hits.” The game also features all master recording for the songs included while you’ll also be able to share songs between Decades and the original On Tour in the multiplayer mode.
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades’ set list below:
Want to see a fight between Sub-Zero and Batman? How about a battle between Superman and Raiden?
Only in the world of Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe will you get the opportunity to see such brawls taking place, one universe colliding with the other, allowing you to answer the question, “What if the DC Universe was faced with Mortal Kombat?” Find out below:
Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe releases on November 16th in North America, while Europe gets it November 21st, on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
It’s been announced that Atari has picked up the publishing and distribution rights for two of the games left in publishing limbo, after Activision Blizzard cut them from their schedule.
Both Ghostbusters and a new Riddick game, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, will be published by Atari. Ghostbusters is set for a release next year (or “early next summer”) to coincide with the Ghostbusters movie 25th anniversary. The Riddick game has a few more revelations, though.
Two new entries to the Japanese Charts this week shake things up a bit by shooting straight to the top, while three other entries shove their way into the mix as well.
Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode hits the No. 1 spot by selling 76 000 units in its debut week, while Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abaddon Ou manages a No. 2 position in its first week on the chart, selling 63 000 units. Pokémon Platinum holds tough at No. 3 with a still healthy 53 000 copies sold and a total of 1 810 000 copies in the hands of the Japanese public, although it did slide down by one place.
The legendary id Software programmer, John Carmack, and his team of intrepid aerospace and rocketry enthusiasts, Armadillo Aerospace, have won the Level One portion of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, picking up the $350 000 prize.
The competition forms part of an effort to encourage the acceleration of the development of commercial aerospace technologies, as well as assist in developing nimble vehicles for space exploration and related transportation work. What was necessary to win the prize?
“The Competition is divided into two levels. Level 1 requires a rocket to take off from a designated launch area, rocket up to 150 feet (50 meters) altitude, then hover for 90 seconds while landing precisely on a landing pad 50 meters away. The flight must then be repeated in reverse—and both flights, along with all of the necessary preparation for each, must take place within a two and a half hour period.”
If you think that’s challenging, wait till you read what’s necessary for Level 2:
In a move to make the age rating system for games more intuitive and less confusing for consumers, a new rating system is to be launched across the UK that resembles a series of traffic lights.
As you can see on the right, the wording, numbering and colours will each represent a certain age rating, with the appropriate symbol accompanying a specific game.
This new system will allow consumers to recognise the age rating ‘at a glance,’ and will apparently replace the current PEGI ratings system. The system takes a cue from the “efforts by food manufacturers and retailers to give consumers a clear and easy way to understand food content.”
Highly interesting and slightly amusing.
There seems to be a lot of great stuff on Xbox LIVE Arcade and Marketplace this week, as told by Major Nelson.
New games available now on LIVE Arcade show up in the form of the hotly anticipated Penny Arcade Adventures On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two, featuring the adventures of web comic duo, Gabe and Tycho, as they uncover further mysteries. There’s also the quiz game, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader; “Do you think you are smarter than a 5th grader? Now is your chance to prove it! Over 6,000 questions in 21 subjects that test your mental mettle.” Each game is yours for the princely sum of 1200 Microsoft Points
In addition, there new game demos to keep your attention, including Rare’s Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and the aforementioned Tomb Raider: Underworld. Even more downloadable content is available for your perusal with a free Marble it Up! Multiplayer level and an extra Achievement. The last bit of DLC for now is the new set of Rock Band songs, now on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The full list follows below:
| & Previous Entries |
- Free Skyrim DLC and Skyrim Creation Kit!
- CoD: Black Ops Double XP Weekend on Friday, vote for next 24/7 map!
- Uncharted 3: How to correct the Trophy Sync Error in multiplayer
- Friends of Design are Friends Indeed: Cape Town gamers congregate on campus
- Win one of three 3D TVs plus an awesome PS3 bundle with Afrihost and El33tonline
- UFC Undisputed 3 Hands-on Preview