SouthPeak Interactive has announced X-Blades, an anime style game where you control an acrobatic with a pair of large gunblades.  The game is slated for a release at the end of this year on Xbox 360, Windows PC and PS3.

The team, consisting of a large group of anime fans, chose to go with that visual style as it was the inspiration for the title.  They seek to breathe new life into the hack and slash genre by focusing not only on the character’s blade abilities, but on pistol action and acrobatic manuevers as well.  The game combines a very cinematic style with “endless high speed action”.

The first notable aspect about the heroine: at least her boobs are of a reasonable size.  The second: that’s not a thong, that’s a g-string.  I was a bit shocked to browse other available screenshots and come across this.  I have a theory that game developers aren’t actually a group of undersexed nerds, they just make female characters like this in anticipation of the inevitable cosplay that comes of it.

Feel free to discuss your feminist rage on the forums, or exchange your masculine cheers at more polygonal T&A.

- Chris Cesarano (Grohdinger)

The upcoming survival horror Dead Space has just been slated to be released October 31st in North America and Europe, just in time for Halloween. The game will be landing on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 platforms. More details and a new trailer available at deadspacegame.com.

- Chris Cesarano (Grohdinger)

UPDATE! New Trailer!

Sega has recently revealed some new details on their Aliens: Colonial Marines game set to come out towards the end of this year for Xbox 360, Windows-PC and PS3.  You remember that game, right?  They announced it some time last year?  It’s by Gearbox and is a squad-based first-person shooter.

The first bit of news is that the game is being scripted by Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, most well known for writing episodes for Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Makes you wonder why the games are getting better writers than the new films.

The game will feature familiar weapons from the films, such as the Pulse Rifle and Flamethrower, but also provide plenty of new weaponry and gear.  The game will take players to the U.S.S. Sulaco, the ship used by the Marines in the second film and featured briefly in the beginning of the third film.  The game will feature dark, claustrophobic and creepy environments, and many new locations for fans of the series to explore.

What will excite most gamers, however, especially in our community, is the feature of four player co-op.  Each player will control a different Marine with different specialties and skills, making for a unique co-op experience.

All we need now is some footage and a solid date and I’ll be set.

- Chris Cesarano (Grohdinger)

This is sure some incredible news to start your week. The President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios will resign on February 29. Phil has been with this branch for almost 16 years now, and he’s resigning. He says goodbye formally, by saying:

“The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far. I am grateful to all the PlayStation family for their incredible support, guidance and friendship. It has been a privilege to serve as part of the team and be inspired by them on a daily basis. I am so proud of everything PlayStation has achieved and will continue to support its future in every way I can.”

I’m in awe here. First Ken leaves, and now Phil? Makes you wonder if something’s up.

SOURCE

DISCUSS

-Thomas

We all knew HD DVD’s saga was coming to a close, and this is just adding another page to the conclusion. This is really unfortunate for anyone who went out and bought themselves a HD DVD player. Now that Microsoft has said goodbye to the format, will they move over to Blu-Ray? I figure they should, it’s potentially profitable, and cheap Blu-Ray players would be great to have around. I sure hope we see Microsoft do something soon.

“As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD. Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own.”

SOURCE

DISCUSS

-Thomas

Well this is certainly some neat information. Kim Swift has pretty much announced Portal 2 to the world on G4. While I know this isn’t exactly the place we all choose to get our news from, this is still pretty big.

So what exactly do you all expect from Portal 2? Personally, I’d like seeing the story from other test subject’s point of view. It would also be impressive to see the Portal Gun used in the outside world to solve Half Life-esque tasks. Also, if they want to sell this game for full price, it better have more meat than the original. Some more length and story would be appreciated. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling here. Go discuss this announcement in the forums.

Video Link 

-Thomas 

Too Human developer Silicon Knights has been given CAD 500,000 to help kick-start work on its psychological action thriller.

The game has no name for now, but it’s due out on “all next-generation systems” in 2010. Fellow Canadian outfit Digital Extremes (currently making Dark Sector) has also received CAD 500,000 from the Video Game Prototype Initiative.

The game will be a third-person action game for PS3, 360 and PC with an “old-school horror theme”. (more…)

So I’ve heard about some heads of Disney Interactive shifting seats and changing direction, but this is really one of the last directions I expected.  The studio has announced Pure, a new Extreme Off-Road Racing game, and no, it’s not starring any of their big name characters from television or film.

The Quad-racing title is set to take place in several real world tracks and contain “never before seen” jumps and aerial tricks, pushing the genre to the next level.  Players will be able to choose from a variety of male or female characters and then take to the mud in single player or 16-player online.

The game is being developed by Black Rock Studio, most well known for best-selling Moto GP and ATV Off-Road Fury franchises.  The game is expected to be available this Autumn for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC systems.

- Chris Cesarano (Grohdinger)

For the first time in seven years, the Command and Conquer: Red Alert franchise rears its head with the third installment of the franchise on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The game will provide the classic fun of strategy and tactics fitting for the hardcore of gamers, yet a whacky story and jump-in style of fun that even casuals can enjoy. More so, the game will be adding in a new co-operative mode for the campaign, a first for the series.

From the press release:

In Red Alert 3, the desperate leadership of a doomed Soviet Union travels back in time to change history and restore the glory of Mother Russia. The time travel mission goes awry, creating an alternate timeline where technology has followed an entirely different evolution, a new superpower has been thrust on to the world stage, and World War III is raging. The Empire of the Rising Sun has risen in the East, making World War III a three-way struggle between the Soviets, the Allies, and the Empire with armies fielding wacky and wonderful weapons and technologies like Tesla coils, heavily armed War Blimps, teleportation, armored bears, intelligent dolphins, floating island fortresses, and transforming tanks.

Red Alert 3 asks the question “What If?” What if every bizarre research project and technology experiment for the last 70 years had actually borne fruit? What if the Philadelphia Experiment, time travel theory, teleportation, invisibility, Tesla technology, and a hundred other intriguing research projects had all paid off and gone mainstream? What if the Soviet Union survived and thrived; what would it look like 10 years in the future? What if the Japanese Empire had never fallen and instead became the ultimate high-tech military superpower? The end result is an imaginative and playful vision of an alternate future filled with possibility.

No announcement yet on a release date, but information on getting into the Beta (PC only) will be made during the summer when purchasing a copy of Command and Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath.

- Chris Cesarano (Grohdinger)

Dynasty Warriors 6 has printed the golden master DVD of which all the other DVDs shall be copies of.  That is, after all, what it means when a game goes gold.  The official release date is February 19th.  The press release states that you’ll be able to find the game at Amazon.com, Best Buy, Circuit City, Game Crazy, Game Rush, GameStop, Gamefly, EB Games, and Wal-Mart retailers for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

- Chris Cesarano (Grohdinger)