EmOneGarand: If you’re a part of the Xbox scene as we are you no doubtly seen or heard about The Darkness, a game about a cop with demonic powers. I’ve seen some of the stuff you can do to the NPC’s in the game and I have to say it’s going WAY over the top. In one picture it shows one of the demon characters sawing a mans head off while he screams, some may say “cool” but those who are trying to find a way to shut down the video game industry will find this game to be some nice fuel for their fire.

Some great shots of this game (including the forementioned shot) can be found at IGN

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scott topic: Developers need to have the freedom to push the envelope in terms of violence, horror, shock, etc. If a part of their artistic vision in creating a game is to give realistic gore to terrify the player, they should be allowed to work without any confines to their creativity. It is the market that decides what is acceptable. Moralists decry Grand Theft Auto as being too violent, but the markets disagree, making it a top seller. If players find the experience unacceptable, they will not buy the game. It is soley up to the individual consumer to decide whether the offering of a developer is too violent.
Is The Darkness “over the top?” My grandparents wouldn’t play it, but the same guys who would sit around and watch a tree attack a woman or a guy walk through a crowd holding a lawnmower would certainly find some “over the top” violence to be entertaining.

According to CVG, the XBLA release for this year is reportedly going to be the long awaited Alien Hominid, a fast paced 2d side scroller (which you may have played online when it was a flash game). Expect more on this later in the week.

Activision announced today that they have licensed the Unreal Engine 3 by Epic for use in a future action game. They join Sony, Electronic Arts and SquareEnix as Unreal Engine users. Seems like the majorly impressive Gears of War graphics have made some people notice.

Jasman Toys has announced a new partnership with Microsoft and Bungie to release laser tag weaponry based on the Halo license. These toys will be available in late 2007 (my guess is in the vicinity of Halo 3’s release). “Weapons will include the Covenant’s Plasma Rifle, Plasma Pistol and Energy Sword.” We’ve been talking over how exactly an energy sword can work in laser tag, and we haven’t really come up with anything logical just yet. Read the press release below.

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French site Xboxygen has posted a wealth of new screenshots of Namco’s upcoming RPG for Xbox360, Eternal Sonata. This game continues to impress me, and the music gameplay element is very intriguing.

Via Xbox360Fanboy

In a press release from Thursday, Microsoft announced new titles to arrive in the “Platinum Hits” category, including Call of Duty 2 and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Look for these titles and others, priced at $29.99, on store shelves in mid-March. Below is a copy of the press release. Read the rest of this entry »

For all you Oblivion fans out there, I’m sure you’ve heard of the newest chapter to unravel in Tamriel. Yes, I’m talking about The Shivering Isles which is slated to be released this spring for the Xbox 360, PC and the PS3. What exactly is this expansion gonna offer? Well Bethesda has said that we’ll be able to journey to the realm of Sheogarath, the Deadric Prince of Madness. This new realm will be nothing like anything previously seen in any of the Elder Scroll games since they’ve created this plane of Oblivion to specifically fit the personality of the Mad Prince himself. Also to be included in this expansion are enemies from the previous games inlcuding the Flesh Atronach from Daggerfall and other bizarre additions to the Elder Scroll universe. Expect to see this game in stores in March (unless they push it…).

German site cynamite.de has revealed that Microsoft will soon be releasing an update [in German, translate it here]to the Xbox360 to enable slower spin speeds on the DVD drive, reducing in quieter operation.  If this turns out to be true, I’m curious if the reduced spin will mean longer load times.  This comes hot on the heels of the announcement that upcoming 360’s will feature a new, less noisy drive from BenQ.

IGN is starting the rumor mills again, this time speculating that an updated Xbox 360 (codenamed Zephyr), with a black case, HDMI port, 120GB hard drive, and an improved 65nm processor (which should give off less heat).  The price they list is $479.99, based on some retailers having given this item an SKU.

Still no word from anybody in Redmond, but this rumor has been around for a while, and it’s not going away until we all have black first party 360 controllers in our hands.

Rather than going forward with his planned retirement, Gamasutra reports that Bethesda designer Ken Rolston will take on a new role at Big Huge Games, working on an unnamed RPG project.

“A chance to work on a Big Huge Game with Big Huge Games? Who could resist?” said Rolston. “I had planned to retire and rest on my laurels after Oblivion, but Tim and his army of visionary charmers came along with a strikingly original and cunning concept for a console RPG…so now I’m back in the harness and chomping at the bit!”

We’ll keep our eyes on this.