Just released are a new bunch of new PS3 and 360 screenshots from Silent Hill: Homecoming. They look pretty nice, not ‘current-gen-effect-heavy-Alone in the Dark-nice’, but nice enough for fans of the series. But my question is this: Is simply polishing the graphics to a high sheen enough of a step-up now that the current-gen consoles are well into their life cycles?

I am not trying to damn Homecoming before I get any hands-on time with it, but from the screens it looks like it will play exactly the same as all the last-gen games in this series. Am I alone in wanting more from developers than a coat of polish? Even whilst playing GTA IV I have had some doubts, is it just GTA III with better graphics? On reflection I don’t think so. GTA IV does enough new things and throws up enough surprises to warrant the rave reviews that it has received, but this is not true of all games. I’m getting excited about God of War III, but as the gameplay of the first two games is so perfect how are they going to improve it other than just give it a graphical makeover? Continue reading this story..

If you’re a fan of the Dragon Ball Z series and were hotly anticipating the newest game in the series, you might want to consider where you’ll be purchasing said game. You see, when you buy the exclusive special edition of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for either the Xbox 360 or the PS3, you’ll receive an added bonus. Xbox 360 gamers will be treated to the first 7 episodes of the Dragon Ball Z animated series, while PS3 owners will enjoy the special Blu-ray edition of DBZ: Dead Zone feature. And to guide you towards reserving your copy early on, there’s a Burst Limit T-shirt in it for you as well should you wish to pre-order.

Burst Limit has already been making a few waves with its visuals, which are by far the best of the series to date, but there are a couple of other aspects of the title that may turn some heads. For starters, the game has an amazingly fast-paced style that may surprise alot of fighting game fans. Burst Limit is most certainly the most free flowing and smooth of all the DBZ games to date. Another unique feature is that in any given fight you can knock your foe so far into the air that you can actually continue the fight in an pseudo-airborne state. So, think Powerstone 2 but with a next gen make-over and DBZ flair. Ok, I’ll bite.

Atari have released a ~480MB demo on both Xbox LIVE a PSN if you feel the anime fighting urge coming on. The full game is set to release June 5th in Japan, 6th in Europe and 4 days later, on the 10th, for the US. Keep it locked here for an upcoming review and everything you need to know to keep your Dragon Ball demons at bay. And oh, KAMEHAMEHA!

[See also: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit gallery]

What do you get when you cross Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and a company that wants to prove they originated music rhythm games? You get Rock Revolution, the latest musical brain child from Konami, that’s what. The game was showed off at Konami’s Gamer’s Night 2008 and promises to be “the most innovative and realistic rock game to hit the market, that will provide a quality drum peripheral and music that players will appreciate,” according to Anthony Crouts, Konami’s Vice President of Marketing. Continue reading this story..

Online communities are all the rage these days. They allow people to share or boast about their accomplishments, personal lives, or topics they feel others will be into. This movement has successfully spilled into the world of videogames, and Disney wants a piece of the action.

Disney previously announced that their DGamer service is now available on the Nintendo DS. Though only available through The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian DS title, this online community allows players to create their own avatars, show off high scores, and even earn honors that translate into in-game achievements. The entire process will work either through the DS Wi-Fi Connection, or through DGamers website. Disney will make this service available for all their upcoming DS titles, as well as branching out internationally sometime next year. Continue reading this story..

What does the draft of the Queen’s speech and the UK games industry have in common? Nothing, according to Tiga, the national trade association that represents games developers in the UK and in Europe.

The CEO of Tiga, Richard Wilson, said today that the Queen’s speech, which is drafted by the Government and outlines their broad policy decisions for the coming year, would not enhance competitiveness of the games industry. Wilson complains that the business rates supplementary bill has the potential to disincentivise publishers from hiring and training young talent, “Giving employees the right to request training should be manageable provided that the legislation is sensibly framed. Games developers need a workforce that is typically educated to degree level. If the UK is to become the best place in the world to do games business, then the Government must make the tax environment more conducive to investment and increase the supply of highly skilled labour.”

Update: Trailer now officially released, embedded below.

Chainsaws cutting through people. Geysers of blood. Impalement. Sin City. So far, this seems to sum up the gist of MADWORLD and, believe it or not, it’s a Wii game. By now you’ve probably seen the leaked trailer for the game which has been ripped off the Internet by SEGA’s leagal team(although not entirely), but we just received a press release from SEGA that has the first details on the game. Plus IGN has even more details from an interview they did with four of the members of Platinum Studio, the studio behind the game, at a recent SEGA press event. You may not have heard of Platinum Studios, which is led by ex-Capcom and ex-Clover team members, yet if MADWORLD is any indication you will be hearing about them a lot more because it’s going to be impossible to ignore their games.

Enough about that though, what you want to know is why an entirely monochrome man is ripping a person in half with his chainsaw arm or hurling enemies into walls of spikes. Well we aren’t entirely sure about that as the game’s developers are keeping the storyline close to the chest. From what IGN can glean, the bulky protagonist’s name is Jack and he’s in a sort of situation where he’s going to be killing people under the watch of an entity called the Death Watch. What this seems to mean is that there are rules and rewards for the death of people, not to mention entertaining color commentary running over your mass murdering. The developers relate the killing spree to a game of baseball. In short, think Running Man.

Continue reading this story..

Available on PLAYSTATION Store from today is the demo for Codemasters’ Overlord Raising Hell. Originally an Xbox 360 title, the PlayStation 3 now gets what is being referred to as the ‘definitive’ version of the tactical pillage-em-up — next to additional levels that promise to take the player deeper into the crazy world of Overlord, Raising Hell will also offer online cooperative as well as split-screen head-to-head modes, plus enhanced visuals and full 7.1 surround sound. Damn it, now I have to go and buy two more speakers.

The game will arrive on store shelves on June 20.

As the trailer suggests, this upcoming adventure title for the PC features the vampire we all know and love in a battle of wits against Hugh Jackman Professor Van Helsing. You play as Van Helsing as you go about your quest to hunt down and ultimately kill Dracula. Of course, there are going to be some minions you have to “liberate” along the way. The game promises to show two sides of Dracula, one being the charming individual you’d want to hang out with, and the other a blood thirsty beast that made a pact with the Devil himself. And it wouldn’t be a real adventure if you didn’t have to save a damsel in distress. But she, along with the undead, will have to wait until the game’s release on June 6.

Recently rumors have been buzzing that a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil was in the works. I, being pessimistic and grumpy, did not believe them, but I was wrong. In a recent interview with JuexVideo Magazine Michael Ancel, the creator of the original Beyond Good & Evil and Rayman, revealed that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is indeed in development at a preproduction stage and all Ancel and the dozen other people working on the project are looking for is the green light from Ubisoft. Unfortunately, getting that green light might be challenging as the original game didn’t sell so well despite being one of the best games to come out in 2003.

Ancel says in the interview that the game has been in preproduction for the past year with small teams working on research and development. The game is going to feature many of the aspects that made the original so good, like the combat system and the photography, and will be following the continuity that was set up in the first one. This time the story will involve the entire world and will feature a “large variety of stages of play, lots of emotion in the gameplay and characters you can get attached to.”

If you haven’t played Beyond Good & Evil then this is a fantastic excuse to buy it cheap and play through it. You won’t regret it and you’ll realize why the possibility of this sequel ever seeing the light of day is oh-so-incredibly exciting.

The dates for the 3rd annual London Games Festival have just been announced. This year, the week-long festival will begin on October 25, promising many events that should appeal to everyone from casual to hardcore gamers, as well as anyone looking to get a glimpse at some upcoming titles. Details are non-existent at the moment but if last year’s event is anything to go by then it’s going to be pretty huge.

In 2007, over a hundred thousand people got to take part in such diverse attractions as the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra playing some game tunes (Mario, MGS, Halo, BioShock), a celebrity-packed EA-sponsored ‘Be The One’ event that lasted two days, and a packed out Trafalgar Square, and there were even events in the Science Museum.

Organizer Keith Ramsdale said they have plenty in store and have a whole host of major partners lined up with full support from the industry, “Last year’s London Games Festival was a huge success and we were thrilled with the feedback from many of those who attended and the publishers who took part,” Ramsdale said. “We’re really looking forward to bringing the gaming industry to life in the capital again.”

Despite having Wii hot on its tail ever since it launched, the Xbox 360 still managed to reach the 10 million sold mark in the U.S. before any other current-gen console. This figure is ahead of Nintendo’s 8.8 million Wii sales as well as the 4.1 million PS3’s in consumers’ homes. Microsoft announced that their white box of dreams has paved the way for this generation of games consoles and also saw fit to remind us that the first console to 10 million “always” wins, “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle,” boasts Don Mattrick, senior VP of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division, “We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.”

Microsoft credited a couple factors in their ability to continually sell their system at a steady rate. Factors like Xbox LIVE, which according to Microsoft has seen its membership list double in the span of just one year. There was no word on whether that figure is in relation to the number of Gold members or just memberships in general, but we have to assume the latter at this point. Either way, it’s a pretty impressive number when you consider the fact that games like Gears 2 are still on the horizon. Continue reading this story..

Dylan Jobe posted information on the PlayStation Blog about a Warhawk team tournament that will officially kick off on May 27. Going up against people around the globe and absolutely destroying them is enough fun in its own right, but this particular Warhawk competition offers more than just international bragging rights.

Everyone that registers and competes in the tournament will receive the GGL Ceremonial Knife that will replace the original combat knife. It doesn’t add any extra damage, but it’s an unmistakable relic that makes people say, “Where in the world did you get that?” The winners of the tournament will get the Champion’s Blade which is like a half sword, half knife weapon that bleeds gothic influences. The winners will also receive six-inch Warhawk statues that you can place next to your console for that added ego boost when you need it. Continue reading this story..

War games with giant, gun toting mechanical monstrosities never get old. Add to that formula a classic 80s franchise like Zoids and you’ve got a game that nails its target demographic. Zoids Assault does just that and does it exclusively on the Xbox 360.

Publisher Atlus describes Zoids Assault as a “gritty militaristic strategy RPG” where players get to take command of a fleet of giant biomechanical life forms. It features advanced military tactics options and players must use all their tools and advantages to overcome vast armies and; first-class customization, with upgrades including melee weapons, rockets, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, cannons and more. Continue reading this story..

With its questionably lengthy development time, Silicon Knights’s ambitious action RPG Too Human has left many gamers cautious as to whether or not the game will actually deliver on all the things it’s been promising for many years now. And it seems Silicon Knights fully realizes that — while speaking to Eurogamer, president Denis Dyack has confirmed that gamers will be getting a sampling of the game, saying that releasing a demo is critical for the game.

“We haven’t announced a date yet. Our goal is to try to get it out obviously before the game releases, and we’ll announce the specific timing of that shortly,” Dyack said. “But a demo is absolutely planned. We think it’s critical for the game. If things go as planned, gamers should get a demo well in advance before the game’s released.” Continue reading this story..