q3-2010
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Kinect launching Nov. 18 in Australia, Foxtel TV service in October
IGN reports that two big announcements have been made at a Microsoft Open House event in Australia. First and foremost, Kinect will launch in the land down under on November 18. The unit will be bundled with Kinect Adventures for AUD $199 (USD $181). A console bundle with Kinect (presumably the 4GB Xbox bundle we've seen before) will retail for AUD $449 (USD $407). Furthermore, Foxtel's previously announced premium TV streaming service will launch in October. Pricing details for the service are expected closer to launch, though apparently it will be "fabulously affordable."
Gorge on Comic Jumper, Hydrophobia, Pinball FX 2, and Super Meat Boy in XBLA Game Feast
Major Nelson has announced the lineup for Microsoft's XBLA "Game Feast" promotion, and, well, we suggest having a metaphorical Tums on hand in anticipation of this smorgasbord. The first course, on September 29, is Hydrophobia for 1,200 Microsoft Points. Twisted Pixel's Comic Jumper follows on October 6 at the same price. Pinball FX 2 will be available October 13. It's free, and can import tables from the first Pinball FX, with each additional table purchased individually. Finally, as discovered earlier this morning, Super Meat Boy will serve as (a kind of disgusting) dessert on October 20, also for 1200 Points.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene lands on PSN and XBLA in September
The Square Enix Downloadable Games Twitter account has brought excellent news to those of us who despise UFOs and want to see them destroyed in an ever-increasing variety of ways: The company tweeted that the PSN and XBLA versions of Space Invaders Infinity Gene will arrive in September. The game's official site also features that date, both on the page itself and at the end of a brief new trailer (accessed by clicking the box labeled "The Beginning"). We can expect this date to evolve into a more specific date soon, and then an actual playable game after that.
Rock of the Dead now listed for PS3 and 360, with spinoff iOS apps
A fact sheet for Epicenter's zombie-murder/guitar music mashup (why not?) Rock of the Dead now presents the title as coming only to Xbox 360 and PS3, with a date of October 5. A Wii version was previously planned, but seems to have fallen away like the walking dead after a sweet solo. In fact, when it was first announced, the game was for Wii only! We're checking with UFO about the absent Wii game. You can see what could have been (and, on Xbox and PS3, what will be) in two new trailers after the break. UFO also announced a set of three apps for various iThings to support the release of the main game. Rock of the Dead: Zombie Pong, a free two-player Pong game with musical and undead themes, is available now for iPad. It'll be followed by Rock of the Dead: Zombie Survival, a miniature, top-down iPhone version of the "real" game, and Rock of the Dead: Whack-a-Zombie, which is exactly what it sounds like, also for iPhone.%Gallery-100419%
New Silver Lining chapter out in September, old King's Quest games on GoG now
Phoenix Online Studios announced that the second chapter of its Activision-approved(ish) free King's Quest game, The Silver Lining, will be released next month. In a post on the game's site, Phoenix's Cesar Bittar notes some of the improvements that have been made based on feedback from those who played the first game. Thanks to you, Episode 2: Two Households will have better pathfinding, the option to switch between "extended" and "short" narration, new walking animation (with a walk/run toggle), more subtitle options, and widescreen support. In terms of gameplay, there are 17 new locations, a roughly 4-hour-long quest, and "puzzles a-plenty to keep you entertained." If you want to catch up on this King's Quest business so you can understand why fans would go to the trouble of making a tribute game, GoG.com just added a King's Quest 1-3 bundle to its shop, for $9.99. You can get a pack with 4, 5, and 6 for the same price. We'll warn you now: these games look and sound quite vintage.
Big money, no Whammies! Press Your Luck coming to PSN
Classic game show Press Your Luck will have a video game incarnation available starting tomorrow, August 24, on PSN. The game features online and couch co-op for up to three people, along with solo play and over 2,500 trivia questions. The game will likely be $10, but we'll have to wait for confirmation tomorrow. Sadly, the video game based on the '80s game show does not feature announcer Rod Roddy nor host Peter Tomarken, who died in 2003 and 2006, respectively. However, it does feature the Whammy, whose lifeforce is filled through human suffering and a steady diet of $100 bills. Check out a video of the game after the break.
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter shoots up XBLA on Sept. 22
Finally, fans left hanging at the conclusion of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter can get a bit of closure on September 22, as Majesco has confirmed the launch date for Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter. If there's anything that these games are known for, it's their rich narrative and character development, so to leave us hanging like that is criminal. All jokes aside, we could all probably use a bit more of "shoot everybody and don't die" in our lives. Keeps you feeling young, you know? Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter adds three new weapons -- the Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower and Chainsaw -- and co-op support for up to four players across 12 maps, including team-based and competitive modes. No price has been announced for The Second Encounter, though we suspect pricing will be in line with the first game: 1200 MS Points ($15). %Gallery-100187%
Enter Mass Effect 2's 'Lair of the Shadow Broker' on September 7
Your Mass Effect 2 party has been waiting patiently outside of the Shadow Broker's lair for weeks now, playing the sci-fi equivalent of Pokemon (it's actually still Pokemon) on their five-screened game systems to pass the time. An announcement from BioWare reveals that you'll be let in on September 7, when the new "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC is released on PC and Xbox 360. It'll cost 800 Microsoft Points or 800 BioWare Points ($10). The announcement mentions five new achievements, new research, and the Shadow Broker intel center -- but here's where it gets interesting. The new DLC will "give fans from Mass Effect 1 the chance to continue a relationship with Liara." The Shadow Broker is going to be so upset when he finds out people are sneaking into his lair for hanky-panky.%Gallery-100178%
HP reports Q3 2010 earnings, posts $2.3 billion operating profit
And to think -- that $2.3 billion figure might have been a few million higher if not for the absurd Golden Parachute that Mark Hurd will continue to float on for centuries to come. All jesting aside, HP published its Q3 2010 financials today, reporting a healthy $2.3b in operating profit (not to be confused with net income, which deducts those massive corporate taxes) and a five percent increase year-over-year. All told, third quarter revenue was listed at $30.7 billion (an 11.4 percent uptick from last year), with a "record" amount of services signings. Interestingly, a whopping 63 percent of total HP revenue came from outside of America, though we're struggling to find any specific mentions of Hurd or Palm in the release (embedded after the break). We'll be checking in on the press call shortly -- we'll let you know if anything crazy goes down.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock takes the stage September 28
Anxious to get your hands on Activision's werething-infused rock-em-up, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock? Activision revealed a launch date for the game during its annual investors call last night: September 28 (September 24 in the UK). For those of you keeping score at home, that's a full month before the arrival of its competitor, Rock Band 3, which is set to launch on October 26. Outside of being compatible with "your existing Guitar Hero music library," Warriors of Rock adds 95 new tracks into the mix, including re-recordings from Alice Cooper and The Runaways. Additionally, if you're one of the first million to purchase the game in North America, you get a free Soundgarden album.
Ys Seven eases onto retail and PSN August 17
Finally, that 12.5" x 34" space in the "cloth map" area of your room can be filled. XSEED has announced the release date for the beautiful collector's edition of Falcom's action RPG Ys Seven -- as well as the PSN version, for those of you whose walls are already completely occupied by cloth maps.
For the last time: RUSE to deploy Sept. 7
We understand your apprehension when it comes to trusting in a launch date for RUSE, Ubisoft's oft-delayed WWII-based RTS. While befitting of the game's title, the publisher's habit of announcing a release date and then (surprise!) changing it -- numerous times over the course of the year -- has grown from a bothersome trick to just plain mean. When Ubisoft's Aymeric Evennou recently tweeted that the date was now set for September 7 (September 9 in Europe; and September 10 in the UK), we couldn't help but feel we were being set up again. However, Ubisoft has independently confirmed with Joystiq that Evennou's posted release dates were accurate and that RUSE will launch in the US on September 7 across PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. (We should note that this confirmation came without a pinky swear.)
Worms Reloaded tunneling 'exclusively' to PC on August 26
Lordy! Another Worms game already? That seems to be the case, as UK dev house Team17 just revealed a solid release date for Worms Reloaded -- August 26 -- and even handed over a rather wormey trailer, found just after the break.%Gallery-98488%
Front Mission Evolved pushed back to September 28, 2010
When we announced Front Mission Evolved's September 14th launch date we joked that Square Enix had neglected to check the calendar. You know, because September 14 is also "International Halo: Reach Day," a notable religious holiday. Also there's another video game coming out that day. Now Front Mission Evolved has been pushed back two weeks, to September 28. The funny thing is, other high-profile games are arriving on that new launch date -- sometimes you just need to mecha decision, we guess. Update: Check out pre-order bonuses after the break.
Apple posts record $3.25b profit in first full quarter of iPad sales, says more 'amazing products' coming this year
Apple just posted up its third quarter earnings -- its first full quarter selling the iPad -- and, well, it's raining cash in Cupertino. The company posted a record profit of $3.25b on record revenues of $15.7b, which is up from $1.83b and $9.73b from a year ago. The big stat? Apple sold 3.27 million iPads, nearly matching the 3.47 million Macs sold -- and Mac sales were up 33 percent from a year ago to set a new quarterly record. Yeah, damn. iPhone sales -- including the first few weeks of the iPhone 4 -- were up 61 percent from a year ago to 8.4 million, and the iPod continued its slow decline, down eight percent to 9.41 million units sold. Over half of the Apple's sales -- 52 percent -- were international, and Jobs is quoted saying "we have amazing new products still to come this year." Not a bad way to head into back-to-school and the holidays, we suppose -- we've got a feeling those iPad numbers are just going to go up. The conference call to discuss all this is at 5pm ET, we'll be covering it live right here. Update: The call is all done -- the full liveblog is after the break. We didn't learn too much apart from the fact that Apple's selling every iPhone and iPad it can make (Tim Cook repeated this over and over), and that Apple's setting aside $175 million in revenue to cover the free iPhone 4 cases. Of course, given that Apple added an additional $4.1 billion in cash to its warchest this quarter for a total of $45.8 billion, that's pretty much pocket change, but there's the number.
Reminder: Apple Q3 Financial Results at 2PT/5ET
Apple is set to announce their Q3 2010 financial results today. As usual, Apple will stream a webcast of the event at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET on Tuesday, July 20, 2010. The main device that is expected to move Q3 results is the iPhone 4, but this will also be the first full quarter of iPad sales. As always estimates vary, but the average consensus is that Apple sold 8.17 million iPhone units this quarter and 3.3 million iPad units. 9.3 million iPods are expected to have been sold and 3.2 million Macs. Apple is expected to report earnings of $3.11 per share on sales of $14.75 billion for Q3 2010. That's what's expected, but Apple has typically had a history of blowing past analyst expectations. Will this be another "best non-holiday quarter" in Apple's history? We'll find out at 2:00pm PT. Until then, tell us what you're predicting in the poll. %Poll-49795%
Apache: Air Assault launches on Xbox 360, PS3 this fall
Activision has declared war on the calm, blue and oh-so-smug skies with the announcement of Apache: Air Assault, a game where you don't fly a cool airplane because you're too busy piloting a freakin' sweet helichopter. Russian developer Gaijin Entertainment (IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey) promises several variations of Apache birds, each outfitted with sick military weaponry, "highly-detailed damage modeling" and the ability to destroy tanks who are too stupid to fly into the air and fight back. Due this fall on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Apache: Air Assault will offer an "Arcade" mode for those who want to blow things up right away, as well as a "Realistic" mode for players who to blow things up the right way. You can also expect competitive online multiplayer and a local co-op mode that has two people sitting in the same helichopter, going let's go left no let's go right oh it doesn't matter because we can fire like sixteen missiles into that guy's face this is awesome hahaha. %Gallery-97579%
Hotel Dusk sequel and ... Face Training announced for DS in Europe
[GAME Watch] In a press release announcing its European lineup for the next three months, Nintendo made sure to include a couple of surprises. Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, the DS sequel to Hotel Dusk (developed by the now-bankrupt CING), will bring the first game's unique style of sketchy noir to Europe on September 17. One week later on September 24, Nintendo of Europe is resurrecting an extremely odd title from Japan: Face Training: Facial exercises to strengthen and relax from Fumiko Inudo, a game about facial exercises designed to keep your face youthful and expressive. The original Japanese version shipped with a camera that attached to the DS through the GBA slot. The European version is for DSi and DSi XL only, and uses those systems' built-in cameras, along with an included stand. The other major new release in Nintendo's European lineup is Art Academy: Learn painting and drawing techniques with step-by-step training, out on August 8. This is a full DS game based on a series of DSiWare art education apps. More DS and Wii releases can be found in the full schedule.
Meet the detectives of Disney Guilty Party
They're not exactly an intimidating bunch -- we've got a masked brat, a soft-spoken granny and a let-himself-go gumshoe in here -- but the investigative attendees of Disney Guilty Party look like they can crack a case and hook some crooks with flair on August 31. See the new trailer after the break.
EA's FIFA Manager 11 heading to PC this fall
Did you know that EA's Football Manager franchise is developed in Germany? Did you then know that, in German, the game is titled "Fussball Manager?" 'Cause that just about made our whole year. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, you might be interested to know that EA Sports is bringing another release in the Fussball series out later this year on PC. The publisher announced the title recently alongside the release of a smattering of screens (that we've dropped into a gallery below). The tenth entry in the FIFA Manager series promises a lowered barrier of entry for new players, as well as "considerably expanded" online functionality. EA's Bright Future studio in Germany is heading up development of the annual franchise's latest installment, and the game is expected to release sometime this fall. Get your, um, pencils and paper ready? We guess? Yeah! It's Fussball time!%Gallery-96861%
