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.
Monday:
If you read last week's news you'll know that Microsoft is ending Xbox Live support for Xbox 1 games. Well fans of possibly the most successful franchise on the platform will be happy to hear that developer Bungie plans to give Halo 2 a proper send-off on 14th April, the day before the servers are shut down. Those of you who own the game and all DLC maps can join the makers one last time before the multiplayer support ends.
Also today: LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars has been announced, to be released this Autumn. Unlike the first two which focused on the original six films, the third game in the popular series which started the LEGO video game franchise will focus on the Clone Wars TV series. Players will be able to play as Jedi or Separatists and will see familiar faces from the TV series and films alike.
Tuesday:
Lots of game announcements made today. Ubisoft revealed that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will be released in Autumn. It will be the first game in the tactical shooter series since 2007, and promises "cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes". A multiplayer beta will be opened for owners of the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction in Summer.
EA, meanwhile, stated that the new modern Medal of Honor, GTA-style MMO All Points Bulletin and possibly FIFA 11 and FIFA Online will all be released in Q3 this year. In Q4 we can expect to see Crysis 2, a new Need For Speed game and The Sims 3 making its way to consoles. Finally, a major addition to the Mass Effect series is coming early next year. Whether this is the third game in the trilogy or something else remains to be seen.
Wednesday:
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has revealed that the publisher plans to increase the flow of games in its franchises, including Driver, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed and Ghost Recon. They will also continue to launch new intellectual properties alongside their established series. The publisher will also be including some form of multiplayer in all future titles.
Mike Griffith, boss of publishing giant Activision, has admitted that the company does not expect the success of Modern Warfare 2 to be repeated when the next Call of Duty game is released this year. Hardly surprising, considering the record-breaking impact MW2 had in November, but the new game is still sure to do very well.
Thursday:
Microsoft's X10 conference was held in San Fransisco today. Though no new games were announced, there was plenty of footage shown of upcoming titles, as well as some release dates being revealed.
The Halo: Reach beta, open to anyone who owns Halo 3: ODST, will begin on 3rd May and promises to be "the largest beta programme of its kind on any program". The full game is due in Autumn.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction will be available on 16th April. Long-awaited thriller Alan Wake will be released on 18th May on Xbox 360, but the PC version has been cancelled. Also on that day we'll be able to get our hands on Lost Planet 2. Dead Rising 2 will launch on 3rd September, and Fable III in time for Christmas.
Details were also given of the Xbox Live Arcade Block Party (Microsoft's way of saying Spring dashboard update). Action strategy game Toy Soldiers kicks off the party on 3rd March. Other XBLA titles coming in March include a HD remake of the classic shooter Perfect Dark, top-down racer Scrap Metal and the innovative Game Room, which allows gamers to buy virtual cabinets containing coin-op arcade and console classics to put in their game room and play alone or with friends on Xbox Live and Windows PCs.
Friday:
Japanese developer/publisher Square Enix has expressed its interest in creating a 3D version of Final Fantasy XIII. The game is the latest in one of the most popular and well known series of all time, and the standard version is due for release here in the UK on 9th March, though it is already out in Japan. Clearly the 3D version would take some time to develop and come out much later. Square does not yet know whether it will be possible to build the game in 3D, but they have already created a 3D trailer which is now showing in Japan only alongside 3D movie Avatar.
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