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2K Czech shake-up, resources shifted to US
2K Czech, home of the Mafia series, is being restructured, a fancy business term equatable to how mob movies end with a bunch of bodies and a few survivors. Eurogamer reports 2K Czech will shut down its Prague office – where Mafia 3 was rumored to be in development – with the remainder being centralized in Brno (location of the other 2K Czech studio) and "transferring some development resources" to 2K headquarters in Novato, California. "This transition will both strengthen the integration of the 2K Czech team with our award winning development teams, and better align cross-functional business practices. As part of this realignment, we are adjusting our staffing levels, resulting in the elimination of some positions," Eurogamer was told in a statement by 2K. Eurogamer also reports "10 key developers from 2K Czech are also said to have been relocated" to Novato. The obvious conclusion is it has something to do with whatever former Epic and Irrational development head Rod Fergusson is up to with his new 2K studio.
Silent Hill: Downpour studio Vatra Games 'under review' for closure, 'no decisions have yet been made'
Silent Hill: Downpour's Czech Republic-based developer Vatra Games is "under review," according to a statement from UK-based parent company Kuju Entertainment. The statement comes after a damning tweet from former 2K Czech employee David Semik stated, "Vatra Games RIP," though Kuju contends that "at this stage, no decisions have yet been made."Vatra is said to be working on a non-Silent Hill game following this year's Downpour. Eurogamer Czech was told the project is akin to Darksiders or God of War-style action games. It's unclear if that project will continue, or how long Vatra has before hearing of its fate. Downpour received mixed reactions from critics. The studio's only other game thus far has been Rush 'n Attack: Ex-Patriot. It was formed by several ex-2K Czech employees in 2009.
Mafia 2 developer 2K Czech lays off 40
Mafia 2 and Top Spin 4 developer 2K Czech has laid off up to 40 from its Brno arm and less than 10 from its Prague branch according to a report from Develop. The cuts represent a loss of between 20-25 percent for the formerly 200-strong 2K Czech. The studio told Develop the cuts are more about slimming down than changing directions, saying it "has realigned its resources to streamline the development process, reduce costs and maximize studio performance." You always hate to hear about job cuts of any kind, and you can count on staffers from 2K Czech to have plenty of colorful ways to express their frustration.
New Prague-based dev studio, Warhorse, is ready to rock your RPG world
Four eminent 2K Czech and Bohemia Interactive employees have split to form Warhorse, a new development studio in Prague, and are now working on a previously unannounced RPG. Mafia and Mafia II creator Dan Vávra is heading the team at Warhorse, co-founded with Martin Klíma, author of Dragon's Lair. Viktor Bocan, designer of Operation Flashpoint, and Mafia animator Zbynek Trávnivký complete the fearsome foursome.Combined, the Warhorse crew's games have sold more than 11 million copies. They are hiring now for work on this mysterious RPG, requesting people who are willing to move to Prague to work with talented, successful, laid-back developers, which we're sure will be nearly impossible to find.
OnLive marks Mafia 2 down to five bucks today
2K Games' 1940s crime drama Mafia 2 is no stranger to being discounted on the PC -- but never quite as cheap as this. OnLive's weekly "$5 Friday" promotion has set its sights on Mafia 2, bringing the streamable title's price down to a single Lincoln until the end of the day.
Mafia 2: Director's Cut revealed by Amazon
Some compelling evidence that we just can't fuhgeddabout has surfaced over on Amazon, suggesting a re-release of Mafia 2 impends. As you can see in the cover art above, Mafia 2: Director's Cut for PS3, PC, and Xbox 360 includes the original game and some additional DLC: three story packs and four car and clothes packs. The story packs are most likely Joe's Adventures, Jimmy's Vendetta and The Betrayal of Jimmy, while the car and clothes packs sound like those retailer pre-order exclusives that were later offered separately. We've contacted 2K Games for comment. [Thanks, No Name]
Mafia 2 is three-quarters off on Steam during midweek madness
Sales and deals no longer need to be relegated to the bookends of our working week -- Steam's breaking the mold with a "Midweek Madness" discount on Mafia 2. From today until Thursday at 4 PM PST, the open-world crime drama is 75 percent off, knocking its price to a meager $7.50.
Top Spin 4 is Move compatible, but 'not Kinect'
When Top Spin 4 was announced in September, publisher 2K Games busted out accolades like "uncanny level of realism" and "all-new innovative controls," which certainly sounded like euphemisms for "you're going to play it with swinging motions." At the time, associate producer Michael Kelly told ESPN that support for PlayStation Move and Kinect was "something we are looking into, but I can't confirm or deny that it will be in the final product." Today, the publisher revealed Top Spin 4's box art, featuring Bald Agassi (his "Vintage" look will be available when you pre-order the game from GameStop) flanked by current stars Rafa and Serena. And the box art revealed that the PS3 version will be "PlayStation Move Compatible," which is corroborated by the Move logo's appearance in the new trailer. The Xbox 360 cover, however, is curiously devoid of any mention of Kinect, and a 2K Games representative confirmed to us that Top Spin 4 is "not Kinect ... but it is Move compatible." Considering the strong sales of both Kinect hardware and associated software since the device's launch in November, not to mention that there's no licensed tennis sim for Kinect on the market yet, 2K must have good reason for passing up this opportunity (though the company has "no further comment" at this time). Top Spin 4 is scheduled for release on March 15, 2011 for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Check out the full, 25-player roster and a new trailer after the break. %Gallery-114600%
Mafia 2 DLC 'Joe's Adventures' makes you an offer on November 23
The third DLC pack for Mafia 2, entitled "Joe's Adventures," will open up more of Empire Bay on November 23. It'll set back wannabe wiseguy types a cool $10 across the board -- $9.99 on PSN and 800 MS Points ($10) on Xbox Live and Windows PC. Now, we know what you're thinking: sorry, it's not about how Joe had a falling out with Mac, found himself frozen for centuries only to be thawed out in Empire Bay and within the employ of the mob. In fact it's about Joe Barbaro, protagonist Vito Scaletta's best friend, and follows the events of Joe's life while Vito finds himself in prison. While the former sounds amazing, if there's one thing Encino Man taught us, it's that recently thawed cavemen are too pre-occupied with wheezin' the juice to commit any crimes. %Gallery-105827%
Mafia 2 takes Guinness f-bomb record; HotD: Overkill effing dethroned
Mafia 2's rap sheet now includes a Guinness World Record for "most swearing in a video game." The mob saga surpassed House of the Dead: Overkill's 189 permutations on the word "f*ck" by ... well, they're still counting. Seriously. A representative for Guinness World Records tells Joystiq that at the moment the company has accepted that there are over 200 f-bombs in the game. He elaborated, "The number associated with the record is liable to change in the next few weeks, as 2K have promised to supply us with a copy of the game's full script under NDA so we can count the number of f-bombs ourselves and update the record with a complete figure." The company hopes to get the record into the 2011 Gamer's Edition that will be available in January. The prolific profanities were first noticed by Achievement Hunter and compiled into a video. Take a listen to the NSFW montage after the break.
Mafia 2 banned in United Arab Emirates
According to a report from ME Gamers, the United Arab Emirates National Media Council has officially banned the sale of Mafia 2 within its borders. No statement has been formally issued by the NMC regarding the ban, though a report from Arabian Business (via Gamasutra) cites "excessive violence and nudity contained in the game." Mafia 2 joins a laundry list of other titles deemed inappropriate by the UAE's media governance body, including this year's Heavy Rain and Darksiders. That said, reports in the past have pointed out the relative ease with which UAE residents can still pick up various "banned" games. Mafia 2 has been criticized by UNICO National, an Italian American organization, as a "pile of racist nonsense." The game was also criticized by Joystiq for forcing us to spend "way too much time in shallow block-counter-repeat fistfights or behind the wheel of a clunky automobile."
Mafia 2 faces Jimmy's Vendetta on September 7
After the Betrayal of Jimmy, it only makes sense that Mafia 2 players would be present for Jimmy's Vendetta. 2K Games announced today that the next piece of Mafia 2 DLC will be available on September 7 for $9.99 on PC and PS3, and 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360. "Jimmy's Vendetta" adds "more than 30 new quests and leaderboard ranking" as players step into the role of Jimmy, taking care of business left unfinished by other mobsters. As you progress through the series of assassinations and car chases, we'll find out if the storyline sets up our idea for the next content pack, "Let's Leave Jimmy Alone for a While, He's Had Kind of a Rough Couple of Days."
See Mafia 2 and get ... a haircut
We, as it turns out, are in a race with PR to the end of civilization. It goes a little like this: they keep coming up with more obstinately dumb ways to promote games and, since we too are dumb, we fall for it and write about it. Then they get dumber and we have to write about it harder. And so on. So we're going to do our part and tell you that 2K Games is offering free haircuts to gamers in the UK to entice them to check out Mafia II (full details after the jump). But we do so with the understanding that we're propagating a cycle that terminates with "Hurl Your Feces at Halo 4 as You Screech in Delight" in the not-too-distant future. So, sorry. For that. (P.S. The title of the press release literally includes the phrase "Invite You To Become A Mane Man." We didn't add that.)
Metareview: Mafia 2
Much like the mafioso antics of Mafia 2's Vito Scaletta and co., review scores for the game are all over the place. 2K Games probably wants people to fuhgedabout those on the lower end, but we've collected a sampling of the whole gamut for you below. And hey, if you haven't read our review yet, you should read it first -- capisce? Game Informer (90/100): "In an era when video games are moving away from relying on cinematics for storytelling, Mafia II draws on the rich mobster film history to weave a gripping drama about family, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and pragmatism. If you're fond of quoting Don Corleone and Tony Soprano, don't miss this game." GameSpot (8.5): "Mafia II is an excellent return of a franchise with great promise. Vito and his associates are memorable characters in a city bursting with subtle visual details and violent undertones ... While you might be disappointed with what Mafia II doesn't do, it's hard to be disappointed by what this excellent game does do: deliver fun shoot-outs and pockets of shocking brutality in a world you're delighted to be a part of." Giant Bomb (3/5 Stars): "Playing Mafia II gives you the feeling that the developers put more emphasis on telling a great mob story than designing a great video game, but had to split their attention too much to effectively do either one ... There are a lot of great mob stories out there already, and this one needed more focus to stand out next to all the memorable tales that came before." Eurogamer (4/10): "Mafia II gets the last word by destroying the myth that the mafia is interesting at all. It contends that the mob world is a hell of boredom populated by aggressively stupid automatons. These drones wake up each morning, carry out a series of repetitious tasks, and return home. The message: thug life is nothing more than it appears. And Mafia II is even less." %Gallery-97938%
Review: Mafia 2
There's a bit early on in Mafia 2 where war veteran and budding crook Vito Scaletta tries to go straight. He takes some grunt work at the docks, just like his late old man, loading hefty wooden crates onto a truck bed. After a few minutes of player-controlled hauling, he abandons his short-lived foray into working stiffery permanently. But after playing though the entirety of his criminal career, after seeing the gameplay and narrative drudgery he was in store for, it's hard to say for certain that he made the right choice. %Gallery-97815%
EU PlayStation Plus subscribers get Mafia 2 demo early
Sony announced this morning via its EU PlayStation Blog that the demo for Mafia 2 will be a "24-hour exclusive" to PlayStation Plus subscribers on the EU PSN (people presumably still reeling from their bonus copies of LittleBigPlanet). Non-subscribers in the EU will get the demo tomorrow. The demo went live via Automatic Download and on the PlayStation Plus section of PSN this morning. If you can patiently outlast today, you'll find the demo available to every European PS3 owner tomorrow. It's also available worldwide on the Xbox Live Marketplace right now and should be added to the US PSN later today.
See Jimmy's betrayal in these new Mafia 2 screens
Remember that famous scene in the The Godfather where Michael tells Fredo to never take sides against the family? Well, in the world of Mafia 2 -- set in post-WWII America -- that movie wasn't filmed yet, so PS3-exclusive DLC protagonist, Jimmy, never learned that lesson. Feel free to see what we mean in our gallery of fresh screens below. The Betrayal of Jimmy DLC will be free to all who pick up Mafia 2 for the PS3 new (via an included voucher) and available for download through PSN for $9.99 when the game launches on August 24.%Gallery-99004%
Mafia 2 kicking in heads with latest trailer
If you didn't know, we've got a pizza slice-shaped hole in our hearts ready to be filled by Mafia 2's mafioso charms. The latest trailer, revealed "exclusively" on the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, only helps a little to abate our excitement for the game's impending release.
Mafia 2 demo is in business August 10
Now for an offer you can't refuse: Mafia 2's demo will hit Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on August 10. Take a ride on the wise guy side and test drive the family business simulator before its August 24 launch. Although we aren't exactly sure what's in the public demo, you can check our latest preview, or the one from E3, for an idea of what to expect. So far, we haven't been disappointed of what we've seen from the game -- and, no, nobody is holding a gun to our head to say that ... maybe. [Thanks, Matthew] %Gallery-97815%
Mafia 2 adds Steam support, serves up Mafia 1 for digital pre-orders
Take-Two sent over a press release announcing a partnership between 2K Games and Valve, whose Steam platform will power the PC version of Mafia 2's online multiplayer and bestow upon those who pre-order a free copy of the original Mafia game -- available to download and play immediately prior to the sequel's August 24 launch date. Don't use Steam? No matter – the deal is good through "select digital retailers" including Steam and applies to both the standard and collector's edition, so you've got some say in the matter. Talk about an offer you can't refuse! Steamworks will help our friend Mafia 2 through its unique feature set, including auto-updates, Steam Achievements, and all of the other data provided by the latest version of Steam. %Gallery-97938%
