Epic's Next Gen Tech Demo, Full Game One Day?

By Mark

Remember the other day when I showed you that tech demo from Epic and their next take on the Unreal Engine? The tech demo has since been labelled the 'Samaritan' demo and Epic's Vice President, Mark Rein, doesn't discount the possibility that it will one day be a full title.

Speaking with 1up, the VP said of the demo:

"It's like, once we build a technology demo and learn how to do things a certain way, it then enables us to do more of that. So I don't want to deny that such a scenario is possible, but it's not currently [happening]"

 So there you go, there's every possibility that we'll one day see the 'Samaritan' in playable form and after watching the tech demo I certainly wouldn't be against it.

Source - 1up

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Gameplay

By Mark

The latest game in the Transformers franchise, Dark of the Moon, has had its first gameplay footage shown off. The title is being developed by the same folks who made War for Cybertron and will act as a prologue to the third Michael Bay film.

Players will be taking on the roles of a "diverse roster of everyone's favourite Transformers" and will be allowing us to use new "Stealth Force gameplay that lets players convert to a third form beyond robot and vehicle modes to defeat their enemies in more ways than ever before". 


There is also a DS//3DS/Wii version in development by Behaviour Interactive although footage of those isn't shown here.

50 Million Dollars to be Spent on Upcoming 'Dark Millennium' MMO

By Mark

A lot of money is going into upcoming MMO title Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium with THQ looking to pump around 50 million dollars into bringing the game to launch. Paul Pucino, chief financial officer of the publisher, spoke at the Wedbush Morgan conference last night and stated:

"Somewhere in the area of $50 million or so to get these games to market, certainly in that range for Dark Millennium," he said. "What you want is a game like this to be successful and the development budget gets higher.

"It can continue to generate over a long period of time - 5,6,7, 8 years of high operating margins and a significant amount of cash,"

While being coy about how many subscribers the company is looking at, with those time figures it's clear the publisher is expecting Dark Millennium Online to have quite a long lifespan. Let's hope that this is money well spent and goes to creating a quality MMO experience.

Source - GamesIndustry.biz

Saints Row 3 - No Competitive Multiplayer, Lots of Co-op

By Mark

With Saints Row 1 + 2 you had the option of playing some competitive multiplayer but it seems the player on player action is being cut from Saints Row: The Third due to lack of popularity when compared to the co-op and single player aspects.

Senior Producer of the title, Greg Donovan of Volition Inc. said that:

"The majority of people wanted the single-player and co-op experience, so we're focusing on blowing that out of the water,"

The Third is set to have full 'drop in, drop out' co-op so that every single mission in the single player campaign can be done with a friend seamlessly. He also went on to say:

"We want this cohesive experience where players walk away going 'I can't believe I'm seeing this. I can't believe I'm f***ing doing this,'" he added, specifically discussing the game's single-player missions.

Word on any release dates is hush hush for now with the title only being announced last week, you can expect it in the fourth quarter of 2011 though on the major platforms.

Source - GameInformer

Unreal Engine - What Next Gen Gaming Could/Should Look Like

By Mark

Would you like somewhat of a window into next gen gaming? Epic Games believe they can show you with the next iteration of the Unreal Engine.

The footage comes out of GDC and shows off a relatively brief video showing off incredibly nice visuals and some good, wholesome violent action. While this obviously isn't a depiction of gameplay, I can assure that this isn't pre-rendered footage. Word from the conference is that it was running real time in the engine there and then. Here's the footage and be sure to sound off in the comments.

Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Jill and Shuma-Gorath Official Trailers

By Mark

The coming downloadable characters, Jill and Shuma-Gorath, have finally gotten some offcial videos that showcase their playstyles and abilities in light of the DLC's release next week.

As you'd expect both trailers further convey the archaic 3 on 3 action that the title is known for and having more characters to choose from is never a bad thing. While Jill needs no introduction as she comes over from the Resident Evil franchise, some of you may be wondering who Shuma-Gorath is. In the Marvel universe Shuma-Gorath is often depicted as a 'demonic' enemy to Doctor Strange.

As for now though, here are the trailers.

Former Halo Devs Showcase New Game

By Mark

Meet Fallen Frontier, an upcoming stylish 2D blend of shooter and platformer. It's being developed by Moonshot Games, a team containing key members that also worked on the first three Halo titles.

As for the game itself it's going to be set in an "original hard sci-fi universe" and will let players play either on their own or with a friend in co-op. For those of you heading to PAX East next week be on the lookout for it as it'll also be playable there.

Behind The Scenes With Halo: Reach's 'Defiant' DLC

By Mark

Now that 343 Industries are in control when it comes to all things Halo, the team have decided to put out a video showing what goes on behind the scenes while they work on their "first, full direct Halo game project".

The latest addition to Halo: Reach is also being created in partnership with Certain Affinity who worked on Halo 2 maps and most recently helped out with Call of Duty: Black Ops' First Strike DLC. 'Defiant' will be landing on March 15th and is bringing four new maps as well as some achievements bundling up to 150 Gamerscore.  

Anarchy Reigns Fight to the Death Trailer

By Jonny

The developer of sexy hack ‘n ‘slash Bayonetta and adrenaline fueled shooter Vanquish have released a new trailer for their brand new ip Anarchy Reigns.

Platinum Games newest title is an interesting one, largely due to the fact  it brings something new to the multiplayer table. Online brawler Anarchy Reigns is a purely multiplayer hack ‘n’ slash to put it bluntly, taking the combat from games such as Bayonetta and Devil May Cry and adding it to the online world for pure multiplayer mayhem.

The trailer gives us a glimpse of some of the stage and environmental hazards players will have to be wary off such as giant saw blades and even a Tsunami.

Crysis 2: Multiplayer Progession - Weaponry

By Mark

Crytek and EA have put together another 'multiplayer progression' video that focuses on the weaponry aspect of the upcoming Crysis 2. You get to see how you'll be able to customise your loadouts and change up the accessories to match your playstyle.

Crysis 2  will be launching on March 22nd in North America and Marth 25th in Europe, for now though check out the video.

Homefront is THQ’s most pre-ordered title

By Jonny

The new first person shooter from Kaos Studios is off to a blinding start thanks to its record breaking pre-order numbers for publisher THQ. The core games boss of  THQ Danny Bilson has stated that around 200,000 people from the US have already snapped up a pre-order of Homefront ahead of its March 15 release date.

THQ also look set to pick up quite a few more pre-orders before the games release thanks to the announcement of a free OnLive console with every pre-order last week.

THQ and Kaos Studios seem to have hit the nail on the head with Homefront, check back closer to the games release date for more news and trailers.