Nathan Blades looks at the polarising RPG for PS3 & 360.
Jason Rose brings us a buyers' guide to smartphones available this Christmas.
Nathan Blades covers some console and industry-defining titles for the Sony PlayStation
Nathan Blades burns rubber in Mario kart 7.
MTV Games Goes Under
MTV Games is no more. MTV had had in Rock Band a bone fide franchise that was immensely popular. But when overall owners Viacom sold Harmonix, the development studio responsible for Rock Band, off to another company, MTV no longer had the franchise to sell. Sure enough, reports are that their London and New York studios have been closed down. This is a sad day for me, as someone who loved to fiddle around on MTV Music Generator on the original Playstation. For those unaware you could create songs and emulate rock classics, much like Cubase on the computer, but much less fiddly and time consuming. Here's an example below of the fun you could have.
More Halo Reach DLC: Halo 1 Remake
Halo Reach was the last in the genre-defining first person shooter. In its first 24 hours on sale it grossed $200 million and didn't stop there. Rumour has it now of more downloadable content (DLC) becaming available to gamers. There is no word yet of any official maps or what the content might be, but Halo 3 had 3 map packs as DLC so it seems safe to assume Halo Reach will follow in that tradition.
In addition the original Halo, which made it necessary for people to buy an Xbox merely to play the game, it is rumoured to being released and upgraded at Christmas 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of its release. I have nothing else to add except this makes me feel immensely old.
Conduit 2 Wii exclusive; also hinted for 3DS
The Conduit was a perfectly acceptable game with interesting level design that made up for a truly horrific plot. A sequel has duly been announced, but to Wii exclusively. This is a slight surprise, as such a 'serious' game seems out of place on the Wii, but it is good to see the burgeoning third party support. However game designers have spoken of moving the franchise onto the 3DS. A first person shooter in 3D would be an experience and if they could pull it off it would be quite something.
Lawsuit against unfair strategy by EA and Madden
Those of you who play American Football know there is only one game that can satisfy your needs: EA's Madden franchise. The reason is because EA have an exclusive deal with the NFL that allows them to use players and teams to the detriment of anyone else (anyone who ever played Midway's NFL Blitz will know that Madden doesn't have a monopoly on good gameplay). A lawsuit has now been brought against EA, claiming that this deal is unfair. Personally I hope it will be overturned, as the precedent it has set makes it disturbing to say the least. It will encourage improvements in gameplay and not just have a repackaged product again being sold for £50. Hopefully this mentality will make its way into the FIFA franchise as well...
You wrote: Halo Reach was the last in the genre-defining first person shooter.
Perhaps you mean that it is the latest; it's certainly not the last. When Microsoft spun off Bungie as a once-again independent studio, they retained the rights to Halo. That means that Bungie developed the games under licence but didn't own the property. Now that their run of games is done with Halo: Reach, they are moving on to develop a new property to be published by Activision. However, the rights to Halo remain with Microsoft, who will certain publish more Halo games. Why not? The franchise is a guaranteed money maker.
The first project overseen by 343 Industries, the Microsoft subdivision responsible for Halo, is apparently going to be an update of Halo: Combat Evolved at this point expected in November. A timid strategy at best, but we can hope for a continuation of Master Chief's story some time in the future.
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