WWII
Latest
Battlefield 1943 new video and screens
There's no more to say about our hands-on time with Battlefield 1943 than what's been said already ... so we thought we'd cut the chit-chat and let you soak up the new video above and screens below. Actually, we have one minor detail to correct. Previously, we reported that Battlefield would be $15 on the PlayStation Store; it's actually only $14.99. So how will you be spending that extra penny? %Gallery-63331%
Battlestations: Pacific launch trailer launches war over the Pacific
Just one day from the release of Battlestations: Pacific, the game's publisher Eidos has released the sea battle-infused launch trailer. We're not sure how much of the trailer is actual gameplay versus the game playing out, but rest assured you can find out for yourself by checking out the demo on Xbox Live and PC. You'll forgive us if we don't express heady excitement for the game as, like Treyarch's Noah Heller, we're just kinda done with World War II titles. That being said, for those of you looking to retell history on the Eastern stage, Battlestations: Pacific may very well be right for you. We'll be over here thinking about Modern Warfare 2 and sneaking around New Mombassa in the future. Can you really blame us?%Gallery-17214%
Joystiq impressions: The Saboteur
A race car driver. 1940s Paris. An Irish accent. Zeppelins. Black and white. If you tossed these items into an active blender -- and it would have to be a pretty big one, what with you chucking Paris in there -- the end result would probably resemble The Saboteur, which is more simply described as a World War II game that features no American presence. Can you believe it's been more than two years since it was announced? We spent some time with the game recently (and a slew of other EA titles -- keep your eyes open for further coverage over the next few weeks), and talked to lead designer Tom French, from Pandemic, who guided us through the streets of Paris. Check out the gallery of brand new screens below, and head past the break to read all about this innovative WWII title -- now with vintage racing cars!%Gallery-49266%
Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad announced
We're as tired as anyone of our seemingly never-ending tour of duty in the Great War, Part Deux. Still, given the unconventional road Red Orchestra has traveled we're just a teensy bit curious what developer Tripwire Interactive has tucked inside its pit helmet. The Georgia-based studio has officially made known Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad, the sequel to 2006's Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, itself based on the company's celebrated Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. And, breathe.Heroes of Stalingrad will again find players seeking shelter in gun-pits as bullets fly between German and Soviet forces, this time during the historic and bloody Battle of Stalingrad. Setting expectations, Tripwire promises "gritty, vicious combat" and "unrivaled accuracy and attention to detail." While there will of course be multiplayer, the dev also notes players will lace up in the boots of a German soldier as part of a solo campaign told from the Axis point-of-view, something Tripwire claims as a "first" for the FPS genre. No release date has been announced, though armchair soldiers can find out more in the pages of May's PC Gamer.
New Wolfenstein trailer and info exclusively from GameTrailers TV
Geoff Keighley and co. got the scoop on the newest trailer and a ton of info for the upcoming Wolfenstein game from Raven Software on last night's GameTrailers TV. The game, unsurprisingly, seeks to bring back most of what we remember from the classic id Software title, from main character B.J. Blazkowicz to the gauntlet of Third Reich baddies taking aim at B.J. along the way. This may or may not be a good thing, considering when we last saw Wolfenstein at the NY Comic Con, we were less than impressed.Additionally, the next-gen current-gen update to Wolfenstein brings with it some new weapons (a particle gun that vaporizes enemies, for instance) as well as a twist on the gameplay called "the veil," which the game's creative director, Eric Beissman, describes as, "An alternative reality that sits on top of where we live." From what we can glean from the gameplay in the video, this "veil" business seems to be Wolfenstein's version of bullet-time, as well as a means to employ various powers. To find out everything Mr. Keighley discovered, peep the interview with Beissman after the break. Oh, and yeah, no mech Hitler! Seriously?!%Gallery-27817%
New Velvet Assassin trailer misappropriates Churchill's famous speech
Velvet Assassin has been tasked with performing something rarely possible in games centered on WWII-era events: Basing the story on a real person and keeping things classy. Take, for example, the new trailer the game's publisher, SouthPeak, dropped on us today. Employing one of the most powerful and moving speeches ever given by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, we don't exactly consider the modern rock ending on this trailer keeping anything classy.Though our time spent with the game at the New York Comic Con last month left us feeling a bit less than ecstatic for the game's impending "April release window," we remain intrigued by Velvet Assassin -- even if the trailer misappropriates one of the most famous speeches in all of history.
Call of Duty: World Fails at Buying It
Or the United States does, at least. Arguably due to a lack of minigames, GameDaily noted that Call of Duty: World at War sold miserably on the Wii (and DS). The latest NPD numbers saw the Xbox 360 (1.41 million units) and PS3 (597,000) versions in second and sixth place respectively, but the Wii iteration was nowhere to be found -- something you guys also picked up on. In fact, the Wii game lagged embarrassingly far behind its high-definition cousins: according to GameDaily, the PS2, PC, DS and Wii editions sold around 200,000 units combined. This makes us genuinely fear for games like The Conduit. Call of Duty is pretty much the biggest name in the console shooter business, so if that can't shift copies on Wii, what chance a brand-new IP?
Activision hoping for 'two, maybe three' CoD: World at War DLC packs
And depending on how much you enjoyed Treyarch's first-person war-em-up, you might feel the same way. Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Call of Duty: World at War executive Daniel Suarez teased the game's upcoming DLC, which is to be formally announced in 2009. Activision hopes to improve on the relatively modest DLC released for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare by creating "potentially two, maybe three packs" before everyone's reeled in by the next CoD. When prodded for specifics about Codwaw dee elsee, Suarez noted, "It's not going to be what we've done traditionally. I'll leave it a little bit mysterious." Ooh! You know what would be radically untraditional? Releasing a few maps for free!We're just saying.
Call of Duty: Footage of War
Call of Duty: World at War ships in North America tomorrow, but if you want an early peek (and have the kind of job where you can get away with watching videos at work all day long), here's the first thirty minutes, starting with the Makin Island raid (and continuing after the break).Be warned: as this is a Call of Duty game, and hence Just Like The Real Thing, it's full of naughty words from the beginning, not to mention the odd stomach-churning sight. It looks great, though, and is full of the spectacular set-pieces that we love the series for. With this, The Conduit, and the amazingly-not-terrible Quantam of Solace, shooter fans have a potentially exciting few months ahead.
Answer your Call of Duty this November
Veterans Day this year will be marked by silences, parades, and a bunch of people buying the latest Call of Duty game. Previous speculation that Call of Duty: World at War would launch in November has now been confirmed -- World at War will appear on November 11th, hopefully giving Wii owners an accomplished shooter to play before The Conduit arrives on the scene.For some time, Activision has promised us that the (Zapper-compatible) Wii title will be "comparable" to versions on other consoles, based as it is on the Call of Duty 4 engine. We'll see how robustly such claims hold up a couple of months from now.
Call of Duty: World at War ships off this November
For those of you looking to get your hands (or your Zapper) dirty in the Pacific theater, know that the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty: World at War will be hitting shelves this November, according to OnlytheGames. They're claiming an Activision PR rep divulged this info to them and we're inclined to believe it. November seems to be a good month to release games.Joystiq managed to pry a statement from Activision: "we haven't made any announcement about date other than fall of 2008." Oddly enough, November falls right into that timeframe.[Via Joystiq]
Wolfenstein trailer and images are occult-tastic
Straight from QuakeCon 2008 come some piping hot Wolfenstein goodies from the upcoming game, namely the trailer and a gallery of images. It might look like The Ghostbusters Meet Hitler, or the opening scene of the first Hellboy movie, but we're excited about the supernatural side of World War II. Thank you for that, Raiders of the Lost Ark.This is a lot more footage than what we saw at Activision's "Not An E3 Event" event earlier this month, and it looks like it has some potential. The paranormal parts look decent, but why does some of it make us think of Call of Duty... 1? Hopefully we'll get some better looks in the coming months ahead, culminating in some Halloweenalicious spooky soldiers.%Gallery-28821%
WoW Rookie: What's the buzz?
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. This has been an exciting week for World of Warcraft news and rumors. Blizzard has been hosting two major events Blizzcon and the World Wide Invitational. These events are a hotbed of information about WoW and other Blizzard Entertainment games. Here at WoW Insider we work hard to keep you on top of all of the latest developments in our beloved game. I'm sure you were aware, but this past weekend saw Blizzard's World Wide Invitational in Paris, France. Let's take a look at the kinds of information that we receive. We did not get the piece of information that I was most hoping for: A release date for Wrath of the Lich King. Not even a beta date. Now there are a number of websites that have pre-order dates for Wrath, but none of them can be trusted as an actual estimation. We will get our new expansion "when it's ready." Blizzard is the only trustworthy source of this information. We will get that bit of information out as soon as it's available from the source.
Turpster at the World Wide Invitational: Meet and greet in the queue
Click To Play People are lining up out the door, down the street and around the corner at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Center in Paris, France. Our beloved Turpster visited with several of the Blizzard fans waiting in line to get into the convention in time for the opening event. This video captures the excitement in the air as WoW players and other Blizzard fans from around Europe and the United States gather in anticipation. The fans in attendance are making their own predictions for Blizzard's big announcement. Diablo 3? Lost Vikings? Wrath? All of the above? Stay tuned, Turpster and the rest of the WoW Insider staff are devoted to keeping you posted on the latest breaking news.
Fall in to the World at War website
Call of Duty: World at War has hit the intertrons! The official COD domain has always been a general-purpose website, but the latest information for the upcoming shooter has been granted its own dedicated section with a whole range of groin-grabbing goodies.The whole point of the site is the get involved with everything Call of Duty. You'll sign up and create your profile, and from there you can complete a variety of "missions" to earn points and level up. This include posting in the forums and taking part in polls, but you'll unlock more missions the further you progress within the site.Why does this sound like a video game? It's a website -- but a pretty good one at that. The Intel and Reconnaissance (that is, news and media) sections should be updated regularly, and a developer blog is up and running. Off you go, then![Via press release]
Call of Duty: World at War trailer really speaks to co-op gamers
Even though it was revealed earlier, a recent press release has confirmed co-op gameplay in the upcoming Call of Duty: World at War. While the other versions boast four-player online killfests, the Wii will have its own gimped "unique co-op mode for two players."It's not all downgrades for the Wii's World at War. Senior producer Noah Heller is confident in its capabilities, claiming "It's going to look better than any Wii game I've ever seen on the market." Also, despite the online and co-op changes, developer Treyarch says "For all intents and purposes it's the same game." Top stuff, because Call of Duty 3 wasn't entirely up to scratch.Hit that big play button up there to check out the debut trailer for World at War. Officially it's footage from the 360 and PS3 version, but since it's "the same game," the Wii shouldn't miss out on too many of the heart-beating battles in the above video.[Via press release]
Call of Duty 5: World at War starts to surface
Call of Duty is one of the biggest names in gaming today, and the hard-fightin' adventures of World War II soldiers just keep coming, ready for twitchy trigger-fingers to blast some baddies. The Wii had a taste of the action with Call of Duty 3, even though it couldn't match the super-fine graphics featured on the other consoles.In development at Treyarch, Call of Duty 5: World at War is coming to all three consoles -- but this time, the Wii gets a bit more TLC. It's being developed by a separate team, although the graphics will be much more comparable between the different versions -- apparently running the COD4 engine on the Wii. That's no slouch, folks, as the COD4 engine was stunning.We can expect vehicle and squad-based additions to the multiplayer, along with ZOMG! a full co-op mode. That's pretty hardcore, because this isn't your church-picnic Call of Duty. Apparently, the setting will be far "grittier" than anything we've seen in the series thus far, which means plenty of grizzled soldiers standing around looking badass with cigarettes, simultaneously getting their violent on. This all goes down in the Pacific theatre of WWII, where hectic battles were commonplace.We want great games to be commonplace on the Wii, and COD5 is shaping up nicely. Stay tuned for more details as they arrive!
DS Fanboy Review: Undercover: Dual Motives
The revival of adventure games on the DS is great news for gamers, but it can make things tough for developers like Austrian outfit Sproing, whose Undercover: Dual Motives will be competing with prestigious genre stablemates such as Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, and Professor Layton and the Curious Village. With the likes of Gyakuten Kenji, Jake Hunter, and more Layton on the horizon, the competition isn't about to get any easier.In other words, we DS-owning adventure fans are a spoilt bunch, which means it takes something special to impress us. And, as hard as it tries, Undercover: Dual Motives isn't it.%Gallery-19663%
Battlefield Heroes beta sign-ups begin May 6th
Battlefield Heroes is one of those titles that easily crosses a few genres. There's no question, however, that the game has a good chunk of free-to-play MMO shoved within its most gooiest bits.Eurogamer has the news that sign-ups will be handled over on the official website on May 6th for anyone interested in playing this quirky-go-lucky online shooter. If you somehow haven't seen this inspiring trailer, you really need to check it out. The character screen features plenty of hard-points for character clothing options and the required level/experience-to-next-level indicator that completes the MMO addiction trifecta.It goes without saying that we'll be tossing our hats into the beta ring. The gameplay looks exactly how you would imagine a WWII-cartoon-styled persistent online first person shooter -- or WW2CSPOFPS if you love acronyms -- would look like; strangely awesome.
Undercover: Dual Motives randomly reappears [Update 1]
After a lengthy silence stretching back to last July, Sproing's Undercover: Dual Motives has finally reemerged with a dozen or so new screenshots.If you had forgotten about this Eidos-published adventure -- and we can't blame you if you did -- then we should probably remind you that it's an adventure title set in England in 1943, and stars a pair of busybodies (researcher-turned-spy Dr. John Russell and his secretary Audrey) as they investigate a German nuclear threat. And yes, you read that right: it's a World War II game that doesn't involve one-man-army types mowing down screeching Nazis. That fact alone is enough to keep us interested.There's also a twist on the usual adventure game formula, as players have to switch between the doctor and Audrey to solve puzzles (each character gets their own screen), some of which require both characters to lend a hand (a bit like Resident Evil 0, we daresay).It's been available in German-speaking regions since last year, and we're still waiting on news of an English-language localization, but the fact that Eidos is suddenly distributing new screens gives us hope -- even if some are still in German.Update: After chatting to the good folks at Eidos, we've learned that this will be getting a 2008 release. The "end of April/beginning of May" seems most likely, but that's not official just yet.%Gallery-19663%[Via press release]
