Newsdump

Remakes you won't be playing

Gotta love blogs. Yes, they bring us cool news really damn fast. On the other hand, they're even less reliable than IGN. Today,Wii Fanboyposted a cropped scan of a Chinese magazine with Resident Evil for Wii on its on its cover - or so it claims. The artwork, however, is taken from the Resident Evil remake for the GameCube.

Let's stop and think about this for approximately 30 seconds. Let's begin with the source. Is Game Next - a Chinese mag we've never heard of - reliable? Is Capcom likely to use it as a venue to announce its next-gen plans for the Resident Evil series? Is even Capcom dumb enough to try and sell Wii gamers a remake of a remake while Resident Evil 5 hits the PS3 and 360? Even if it is, would the company trot out four year old character art for one more go-round instead of redoing everything from scratch?

Yeah, that's what we thought.

Brothers in Arms, in your hands

Today, Ubisoft announced a PSP installment of the stalwart World War II-centric Brothers in Arms series. Subtitled D-Day, the game will be available later this year. Ubisoft (and developer Gearbox) are making a lot of promises for this version: plenty of new weapons, improved artificial intelligence as compared to the console versions, a whole new story that follows the characters through the Normandy campaign of WWII... it sounds a bit too good to be true, given the lackluster nature of a lot of PSP games, but we'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt for now. The popular series has managed to carve out a niche against the onslaught of the Call of Duty series and other comers thanks to its unusually strategic gameplay, so it's not like we're doubting the PSP version can live up to its legacy. If you'd like the full PR spiel, head over tothe official site for all of the details.

New versions of not-so-new games

Today, EA confirmed that Fight Night Round 3 - a gamewe liked more than a little bit on the Xbox 360 - will be punching up a storm on the PS3 this holiday season, complete with new features... though the company didn't let us in on what those might be, just yet. We're sure they're busy arguing with Sony about how little effort has to go into a 360 to PS3 port, so it's probably all up in the air.

When it comes to announcing existing games for new platforms, Round 3 isn't alone. Today, Ubisoft confirmed that a PC version of Assassins Creed "...will indeed see the light some day. Details will be provided at a later date." At least that one isn't out yet.

In further Ubi news, the company plans to release Hammers of Fate, an expansion for PC hit Heroes of Might and Magic V this November - complete with 15 new missions, new heroes, 5 new single-player maps and more. It's pictured above, in all its dwarful glory.

Ninjas storm Virtual Console

While details on Nintendo's industry-crushing Virtual Console for the Wii are still pretty scarce, add this one to the pile.Reportshave emerged that Tecmo, creators of football classic Tecmo Bowl and beloved actioner Ninja Gaiden - among other popular NES-era game series - will be shoveling their wares onto the retro game service "aggressively." Now, Nintendo, it's time to actually give us an idea what we'll be paying for these things... though given the company hasn't even announced a price or release date for the Wii itself yet, that's probably far too much to hope for.

Start your engines

We talked earlier about XNA Game Studio Express, a set of tools designed to let indepdent developers create new content for both Windows and Xbox Live Arcade. Today, Microsoft has launched the beta of the package - which will presently let people create games only for Windows - at itsofficial website. This is a hardcore package for those serious about breaking into the indie game market; it's hardly something you can just dick around with. Still, it's pretty cool, and we hope that we'll see the fruits of this program in the coming months on Xbox Live Arcade. Even if you don't stand a hope in hell of making your own games, you might want to head over tothe pageand read up on exactly what it's all about. There are worse ways to waste your time.

Shakin' and movin' on Wii

MTV Newshas an interesting story for you hardcore Wii fans. Inching us ever closer to the system's release, the story takes a look at this tale of how to make a game work on Wii, courtesy of one of the developers of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. To break it down quick-like: he goes into the nuts and bolts of Wii development, and specifically how creating a reliable interface for the game is the kind of challenge developers haven't faced before. While we're less than excited to play regular games with gimmicky Wii-controls (and that skepticism goes all the way up to Nintendo's own Zelda: Twilight Princess) it's something we've been wondering about... so until we can get our mitts on the actual product, articles like this will have to do. But, guys, let's shoot for some Wii-exclusive games, yeah?

August 30, 2006