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Video: Lara Croft shows off her motorcycle skills
In the latest of a fairly steady stream of trailers, we get to see the improved motorcycle sections of Tomb Raider: Underworld. While we do know that Lara is able to use her motorcycle at any point in the game this time around, it's unclear in the trailer just how much of the action is gameplay and how much is cinematic. Still, it's nice to see that the motorcycle will be used for more than on-rails chase sequences.For instance, at one point in the trailer, Lara encounters a seemingly impassable pit (filled with spikes, naturally). Before moving on, she has to employ her acrobatic skills to solve a puzzle, thus triggering a mechanism that raises ramps into position. Sure, you might wonder what use ancient civilizations had for motorcycle ramps, but that's really beside the point, isn't it?
Eidos releases new Batman Arkham Asylum screens
Click for higher resolution We don't blame you if you forgot about the recent announcement of Batman Arkham Asylum. A lot's happened since then. Eidos is keen to keep the game fresh in your mind, however, and has released a batch of new screen shots to do just that. These shots show gameplay and art from the game, as most screenshots tend to do, including B-man himself alongside the Joker and some very moody images of the eponymous Arkham Asylum. If you're excited for this 2009 title then be sure to jump into our gallery and saturate your eyeballs in picturey goodness. %Gallery-31778%
Tomb Raider: Underworld lets you kick tigers right in the face
The renowned adventurer and acrobatic grave robber, Lara Croft, finds her lithe self on the wrong side of a PETA protest yet again in November's Tomb Raider: Underworld. Though her abhorrent antics, which include mowing down exotic panthers and posing akimbo on the perforated corpses of fuzzy bears, have been widely witnessed before, these latest anti-animal maneuvers still leave our jaws agape. Or dislocated, if you're a marauding tiger who's just been introduced to the leg-end of Lara Croft.
Eidos announces Batman: Arkham Asylum
Eidos has announced a partnership with Warner Bros to bring Batman back to consoles in 2009. Batman: Arkham Asylum is being developed by RockSteady Studios and begins with the eponymous hero escorting The Joker to the also-quite-eponymous Arkham Asylum where, allegedly, "an immersive combat gaming experience unfolds." The game will be available at some point in 2009 for the PS3, 360 and PC and, other than a load of superlative-laden PR talk, there are no real details of how the game will play. Just know that Batman, The Joker and "Gotham's worst villains" will all be present and you will have to use Batman's "intuitive detective skills and aggressive melee attacks."
Confirmed: Arkham Asylum not coming to Wii
Sorry folks, looks like the new game Batman: Arkham Asylum isn't going to be on Wii. It's purely a PS3 and Xbox 360 affair, as well as for the PC. Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams (we felt you needed the closure of knowing, rather than never mentioning the game again), but the title isn't planned for Wii as of right now. That doesn't mean we can't hold out hope that the game will one day be ported to Nintendo's console. Just don't hold your breath on that one. [Via press release]
Batman: Arkham Asylum announced, possibly for Wii?
With The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's stellar performance as the Joker still fresh in everyone's mind, who doesn't want to play a new, non-sucky Batman game? Of course, we have LEGO Batman to look forward to, but it's hard to feel like the Gotham bad-ass when you're controlling a plastic and deformed minifigure. The upcoming issue of Game Informer, due August 18th, has the scoop on publisher Eidos Interactive's forthcoming game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and though it hasn't yet been revealed which consoles the title will appear on, we have hopes that one of those systems will be the Wii. Though the game's developer, London-based Rocksteady Studios (Urban Chaos: Riot Response), hasn't yet released anything for the Wii, its founders did have a hand in creating Catwoman: The Game for the GameCube -- that has to count for something, right? According to Game Informer, Batman: Arkham Asylum is an original title following a botched prison transfer which the Joker uses to his advantage, turning the psychiatric hospital's worst patients and Batman's worst enemies against the caped crusader. The game will feature "a dark and gritty setting reminiscent of Bioshock" and a story co-written by Paul Dini, who you'll recognize from his work on Batman: The Animated Series. Jump past the post break for an alternate cover of the GI issue with the Joker!
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Tomb Raider: Underworld
click to embiggen The room is stuffed with a handful of game journalists. It's dark. Drifting from the (very nice) speaker system are the sounds of ocean waves lapping against a boat. On screen, Lara Croft stands on the wooden deck wearing scuba gear. Thrifty girl that she is, it looks like Lara didn't want to spring for a wetsuit with legs in it. Apparently not worried by the deep cold of the ocean, she dives into the water. It's time for me to play Tomb Raider Underworld. %Gallery-28391%
Tomb Raider: Underworld E3 trailer blows our minds in reverse
Based off of our explorations of the Croft manor in previous Tomb Raider installments, we can say with absolute certainty that Lara Croft has a pretty sweet pad. Or, rather, had a sweet pad -- in the latest E3 trailer for Eidos and Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider: Underworld, the titular adventurer, now sans hot pants, apparently lays waste to her extravagant dwelling. The two-minute, gameplay-less trailer is visually impressive, though our minds are racing with questions surrounding the top-heavy historian's act of residential sabotage. Is she trying to collect on her homeowner's insurance? Is she attempting to quash a rather formidable termite infestation? Perhaps she's trying to earn a visit from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? We'll be finding out when Underworld explodes onto store shelves November 18.
Lara Croft to visit the Norse underworld this November
With Tomb Raider: Underworld set to be among the quartet of titles to be shown by Eidos during next month's E3, the publisher has launched the game's official website, simultaneously slapping a November release date on Lara Croft's latest trip underground for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PS2 and PC. In addition to offering a narrowed release window, Eidos also shed a few details on the busty heroine's "exploration-based" escapade, revealing in a statement that the game will see Ms. Croft seeking "the secrets of the Norse underworld and a forgotten power." This immediatly makes us think that she'll be hunting down Thor's hammer, because really, who needs guns when you're packing Mjolnir?
Age of Conan dethrones GTA IV in Europe
With the amount of hype, advertising, positive reviews and media attention Grand Theft Auto IV has received over the past few months, we wholly expected it to remain on top of the software sales charts until our video game consoles grew sentient and attempted to purge humanity from the planet. Strangely enough, a dark horse recently overtook Rockstar's well-received crime drama in many European territories -- a horse mounted by a brawny, rippling Cimmerian. Yes, Funcom's decapitation-rich MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures recently outsold GTA IV in a number of European locations, including Germany and Sweden. Since Rockstar's latest opus is still selling like freshly baked hotcakes in North America, we can't help but wonder if GTA's themes of living the American dream and hooker brutalization got lost in translation as the title crossed the Atlantic -- or whether Age of Conan's musclebound mascot reminds German gamers of a certain pop culture icon who is quite revered in their country.
Age of Conan collector's edition is all sold out
Selling out has become a common occurrence for Funcom's upcoming MMO Age of Conan, a theme that continues this morning with news that the game's collector's edition print run of 111,000 units is "completely sold out in all markets." The announcement stings for those of us who kept putting off pre-ordering the limited edition box until tomorrow, and while Funcom notes that some boxes may still be found on retail shelves, stores will not be able to order more. Even so, Funcom adds that it is putting some 700.000 copies of Age of Conan on trucks bound for retail shelves on day one, ensuring that anyone who fancies suiting up in virtual loincloths will be able to do so when the MMO officially begins tomorrow.
Age of Conan early access 'sold out'
Those who wanted to pay extra to explore Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures' lands a little early are probably going to be upset to discover that "early access" is now sold out. A post on the MMORPG's official forums gives little explanation as to why this occurred, but eagle-eyed players who read the fine print point to Funcom having discussed limited availability. Looks like MMO players will need to find some other game to grind in until Conan officially begins next week. [Via Massively] %Gallery-6912%
Eidos closes down their marketing department
As a result of the recent deal with Warner Bros., Eidos has now announced it will close down its North American marketing, sales and PR departments completely. This coming after their parent company SCi's announcement to cut 25% of its worldwide workforce earlier this year. It hasn't been an easy year for the publisher of such successful titles as Hitman, Deus Ex and the Tomb Raider series, but this may just be the restructuring they've needed.Most importantly for us though, we wonder what this means for Age of Conan, which is handled by Eidos. SCi mentions the fact that they have discontinued development on 14 different game projects in an effort to stem the company's financial losses, including a $161 million deficit in the second half of 2007, and a refocus on high profile games likely to generate a larger return. We can only hope they're talking about Age of Conan.
Age of Conan's retail, monthly subscription prices revealed
Norwegian publisher and developer Funcom has announced the amount of money armchair barbarians can expect to shell out from beneath their loincloths to play Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, with the MMO's retail box costing $59.99 and €49.99 in North America and Europe respectively. Beyond that initial outlay of coins, swinging an axe in Hyborea will carry a monthly subscription price of $14.99 in North America and €12.99 for players on the other side of the Atlantic. However, while the oft-delayed MMO has seen a healthy influx of interest during the game's beta test, this hasn't clouded Funcom's gift for the obvious, with the company stating in an investor update that "the success of the game will depend first and foremost on the response it receives from players after several hours of playtime of the finished product." [Via Massively]
Pandemic working on Batman game
According to an IGN post that has since been removed, Pandemic Studios is hard at work at a Batman game for release alongside the upcoming movie. IGN has been on the story for a while now and they were the ones who originally got wind that (then) current owners of Pandemic (Elevation Publishers) had acquired the rights to make Batman video games. With this latest leak it seems that a tie-in game for the Dark Knight movie is all but a guarantee, and rumors are that the team in charge of the game is Pandemic Australia (the same team who worked on Destroy All Humans). The actual post has been removed, but thanks to those intrepid posters at NeoGAF we have the full text, which follows after the break.
Joystiq interview: Crystal Dynamics' Lindstrom talks Tomb Raider: Underworld
There are not many developers who can boast having given rise to both a vampiric anti-hero and an anthropomorphic lizard, but over the last three years San Francisco-based developer Crystal Dynamics has become more well known as the studio that single-handedly breathed new life into the dying franchise that was Tomb Raider and its top-heavy icon Lara Croft. 2006's Tomb Raider: Legend took the series that Core Design had unceremoniously driven into the ground and reminded us all why we fell in love with the franchise a decade prior. And for those still left unconvinced, Crystal Dynamics revisited the 1996 original a year later with Tomb Raider: Anniversary, demonstrating that anything Core could do, they could do better. Now the studio is at it again, this time taking Lara Croft on a new adventure in Tomb Raider: Underworld. Currently in development for multiple platforms, the game marks the eighth outing for the series, and while the game was recently pushed out from its previously expected third quarter 2008 release until the following quarter, creative director Eric Lindstrom told us that when it comes to this project -- "quality" is the team's ultimate deadline. We recently spoke with Lindstrom on the game, and he opened up to us about the project, how he feels it measures up to Naughty Dog's Uncharted, and why he finds next-gen development troubling. Hit the jump for the complete interview. %Gallery-15158%
Age of Conan MMO News
The Age of Conan MMO has been in development at Funcom on PC and 360 for some time now, and the game is starting to come out of it's shell a bit. With a demo at GDC, and impressions and interviews going up left and right, now would be a good time to discuss the shortcomings of your game right? Of course. The Funcom Product Manager Jorgen Tharaldsen told MTV Multiplayer that the game still has no release window for 360 and that the PC version will ship in May. Multiplayer even hints that the console release will not be seen until next year, a sorry state of affairs if the PC version is set to ship in a little over three months. It's easy to see why the team hasn't made much progress considering they haven't even touched what they call their largest obstacle, the controller interface. Tharaldsen even goes so far as to say that PC gamers would be unable to use their 360 controllers in the PC version, because the game was so complicated. But, if MMO's are so hard to use controllers with why do people play WoW with gamepads?
Age of Conan's violence toned down for Germany
The community manager for Funcom's upcoming MMO, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, has announced on the game's official forums that players in Germany would encounter some alterations when it (eventually) releases there. Though "full gore" will be featured, decapitation, dismemberment and "over-the-top" fatalities will be chopped out. The rest of Europe, on the other hand, won't suffer from censorship and will be able to enjoy decapitations to their hearts' content. Gore-loving Germans might want to look into obtaining the game from a neighboring country. Originally, the community manager also reported that the US version would "not see nipples." It wasn't made clear at the time whether the negative nipple mandate applied only to female mammaries or if the men would also need to wear pasties, but a correction posted later confirmed that the US would be free to see "breasts with nipples." Phew, crisis averted. [Via Shacknews]
IGN takes a look at Tomb Raider Underworld
Lady Croft may be the first true comeback kid in gaming with a return to form in recent years in Tomb Raider Legend and Tomb Raider Anniversary. IGN got its hands on a demo of Lara's latest adventure in Tomb Raider Underworld and it appears the series will continue its upward trend. A pre-alpha build of Underworld showed enemy AI actually going for cover and using squad tactics instead of just suicidally staying in the open to get picked off (which doesn't sound like much, but it's revolutionary for the series). Lara has also been given new melee abilities, including the use of a pole to whack jaguars and send them scampering. Not riddling creatures with bullets should make the animal rights people happy. Check it out and prepare yourself for the inevitable question, "Who is the cooler tomb raider? Ms. Lara Croft or Mr. Nathan Drake?"
Age of Conan's Gaute Godager explains delay, feels confident
When the Age of Conan beta community expressed concern with the combat controls and overall balance last year FunCom listened. That -- as we all remember -- was the first delay of the game from last August into this year. From what we've been seeing from the game at CES 2008 it was a wise decision. So when the announcement was made that the release date for AoC was pushed back eight weeks, we assumed there was another good reason. There was a strong suspicion that the reasons for delay were bug and polish related -- turns out that suspicion was right after all. Thankfully most people in the community seem understanding, which is good to hear. It's also good to hear that FunCom has learned their lesson from Anarchy Online's buggy launch. The first impression for an MMO is everything and we believe Gaute when he says he believes they made the right decision.
