Japanese hardware charts – DS goes top as 360 receives Slim boost

Another week, another win in Japan for P… hold the phone. Best sit down for this.

DSi LL’s new colour scheme has properly done the trick for Nintendo: sales of it rocketed, giving the handheld the top spot with 41,000 last week.

Lost Planet 2 patch incoming for PS3 and 360

Capcom has announced that a patch for Lost Planet 2 is to be released.

The update will include difficulty recalibration, balancing, various bug fixes, and re-spawn check points have been added to each section of a map and the boss area.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is “a fresh start on the franchise”

Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s game director Jean-Francois Dugas has said that the development team behind the game are “dedicated to re-creating” the Deus Ex experience “for a new generation of gamers” that missed out on it previously.Speaking with Gamespot, Dugas said that as action RPG, the game has a “compelling narrative”, a “great cast of characters” and will allow you to play it the way you want.

Epic gives Gears of War 3 audio tour

Gears of War 3 executive producer Rod Fergusson and design director Cliff Bleszinski have provided an audio tour of Gears of War 3 in video form.

Each video includes screens and art from the game and are rather large, so they may take a while to load. But if you are a Gears fan, it should be worth the time and effort – depending upon your perspective.

Source: games news and review

Rumor – Sonic Free Riders coming, has Natal support

Looks like SEGA has a new Sonic Racer game in the works for Natal, and it’s to be launched via XBL and announced at E3.

Mass Effect 2 getting Equalizer Pack DLC today

BioWare’s announced more additions to the Cerberus Network for Mass Effect 2 in the form of new gear.

New Vanquish screens are action incarnate

If Vanquish was a food, it’d contain 1000000% of your daily value of gunsplosion action punches.
Also, a bit of calcium.

Third Bad Company 2 map pack getting ready for release

Looks like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is getting set for the release of a third map pack, going by the listing for any VIP owners online.

Bungie: Halo: Reach almost “content complete”

Halo: Reach’s creative director Marcus Lehto has said the game is days away from being “content complete”.In the latest entry on the game’s development blog, he said the team at Bungie intends to make sure it will be “the best damn thing” that you’ll ever put in your 360 disc tray.

Police stops Splinter Cell PR stunt in New Zealand

When you start pointing fake plastic guns at civilians like you’re Sam Fisher, it’s not going to end well.

Police in New Zealand had to be called in after a man ran about the district of Viaduct Basin in Auckland pointing a weapon at people, who had to take cover as he was covering the area and aiming the weapon.

Crytek taking 3D “very seriously”, working close with Move, Natal

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has revealed that the developer is working “very closely” with Microsoft and Sony’s new motion controls. While he admitted that the firm was working with Move and Natal, an NDA forbade him from speaking further on the matter. He revealed as well that the CryEngine platform supports the technology.

Gears of War 3 formally announced

Gears of War 3 has just been formally revealed live on US TV.The announcement was made by Epic Games’ lead designer Cliff Bleszinski on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. A teaser was also shown, confirming an April 2011 release.It brings to an end nearly half a year of speculation as to when we’d see the final chapter in the Gears trilogy. Last September, Epic president Michael Capps said if Gears 3 happened, it’d be on the next-gen consoles.

Conviction started out much different than final product, says producer

Splinter Cell: Conviction’s creative director Maxime Beland has revealed that the original idea of the game was lot different than it turned out.Speaking with GamePro, Beland said that originally, the team wanted to make an “anti” Splinter Cell game.

Ubisoft drew inspiration from Uncharted, Max Payne for Conviction

Splinter Cell: Conviction’s game director, Patrick Redding, has revealed the development team’s inspiration for the game to OXM, citing games like Max Payne and Uncharted.Chatting about gameplay elements and invisibility, Redding said looking at other popular games gave the team an idea of what the player spent their time doing.

Blacklight: Tango Down has normal multiplayer modes, mini-games

Ignition Entertainment’s lead designer and project lead for Blacklight: Tango Down, Jared Gerritzen, has revealed some of the multiplayer aspects gamers can expect to delve into once the game is released.Speaking during an interview with D’toid, Gerritzen says that while the multiplayer bits should be familiar to shooter fans, the teams gave the normal offerings a bit of a fresh spin – including mini-games.

Red Dead Redemption is “our most ambitious game to date”, says Rockstar

Rockstar’s UK general manager Neil Stephen has said that Red Dead Redemption is the developer’s “most ambitious game to date” and “incredibly beautiful” at that.Speaking with MCV, Stephen revealed that game is also Rockstar’s biggest release of the year.“Red Dead Redemption is our most ambitious game to date and our biggest release this year,” said Stephen.

Rumor: Gears of War movie loses director as story, budget “scaled way back”

Remember how the Doom movie was sort of about Doom, but not really? This is probably going to be kind of like that. But worse.Or better, depending on your level of loathing for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

BioWare on lack of homosexuality in ME2: “We view it as a PG-13 action movie”

Mass Effect 2’s a game of choice. But even though your choices determine the fate of the entire galaxy, Shepard’s sexuality is firmly set in stone.

Splinter: Cell Conviction’s Mark & Execute feature detailed

Pumped for Splinter Cell: Conviction? We are, and you should too. This new video showing off its Mark & Execute feature proves it.

It shows how the concept of the feature works out in the game. Pick a weapon that has the ability to pick off more enemies or effectively have more power in a gun that has less marks? It’s up to you.

The footage is below, thanks to IGN.

Splinter Cell: Conviction releases next Tuesday in the US for Xbox 360, with a release a couple of days later on April 16.

Nelson’s announced this week’s Live Deal of the Week will be Bizarre’s very popular Arcade title, Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2.The game is half-price on Marketplace for one week only at 400 MS points, down from 800 MS points.Remember, kids: deal’s for the Golden lot only.May as well anyways: it’s Easter Monday, you’ve got nothing else and it’s not like Bizarre are going to do GW3 in the forseeable future anyways.
Source: game news and review