PRESS RELEASE

From pulse-pounding action to mind-bending puzzles and beyond, this week’s lineup of new downloadable games offers a dizzying variety to satisfy players of all stripes. New additions for the WiiWare service include the sci-fi adventure of BLASTER MASTER OVERDRIVE and the speedy fun of Tomena Sanner, plus a pair of family-friendly games to help parents and their kids brighten up the dog days of winter. For the Nintendo DSiWare service, new attractions include the rocket-powered puzzles of Link ‘n’ Launch and the tower-defending thrills of Fieldrunners. And lest you should think cucumbers are only good for snacking, the Virtual Console debut of Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom lets Wii owners enjoy a quirky classic from the NES era.
Read the rest of this entry…

Hot off the (virtual) press folks, LucasArts has announced the next installment in the LEGO Star Wars franchise. Check out the full press release for the deets:

PRESS RELEASE

LucasArts and TT Games today announced the development of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. The next chapter in the award-winning LEGO Star Wars videogame franchise, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will combine the best elements of all previous LEGO games while adding brand new gameplay to make it the most action-packed LEGO videogame to date. Developed by the same team at Traveller’s Tales that created the critically acclaimed LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones series, the game will ship on the Wii, Nintendo DS, PS3, PSP , Xbox 360, and Windows in the Autumn of 2010.

“LucasArts continues to set the bar for next-generation family entertainment,” said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts. “The LEGO Star Wars franchise is a massive hit with fans, bringing in sales of over 20 million units worldwide. We’re thrilled to extend this experience to LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, delivering the humour and fun players expect from this award winning franchise.”

“LucasArts is an amazing partner, and working with them on the next iteration of the LEGO Star Wars series continues to be a great experience,” said Tom Stone, director at TT Games. “The team at TT is working hard at making this simply the best LEGO game ever with all new gameplay and features never before seen in a LEGO game.”

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will include all the characters from both seasons of the hugely popular animated television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as some fan-favourite characters from the beloved theatrical Star Wars Saga. The game will feature brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat and an upgraded level builder, allowing the creation of customized bases and in-game battlefields. Play either as a Jedi or Separatist with all-new character abilities, such as Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups, all within a new, easy-to-navigate hub.

END

Of course, We’ll keep you posted on more details as they emerge.

What’s up everyone? DK here kicking off another week of Member BattleCries on EpicBattleAxe.com! If you missed out on the conversation last week, we had some really great submissions on the topic of genre defining Action/Adventure games. You can check out the post here and the featured Member BattleCries here.

Now, on to this week’s topic…With the release of BioShock 2 this week, I thought it’d be fun to step back and examine the games or franchises that deliver the deepest sense of immersion…Games dripping with atmosphere and standing apart from the crowd by being ANYTHING BUT GENERIC! The word “Atmospheric” is defined as “creating a distinctive mood”, so with that in mind, I pose the following question to you in this week’s MBC Topic Starter:

WHICH GAME OR FRANCHISE DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST IMMERSIVE OR ATMOSPHERIC AND WHY?

Of course, the discussion is open to any game, any genre, and really anything you want. Just keep it on topic and let us know your thoughts on the matter if you can pull yourself away from BioShock 2 long enough to do so. We’re also glad to hear from you if you have a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT subject you’d like to sound off on, so feel free to do that in the comments section below as well.

As always, we’ll feature a new Member BattleCry each day here on the ‘Axe and then highlight the Member BattleCry of the week on the next skirmish of the EpicBattleCry video podcast. Also, don’t forget to vote in our poll this week on the key elements that go into making a game immersive!

Alright, I’m looking forward to what you all have to say! Check back daily to see if your MBC has been featured and to see what all of the other ‘Axe Heads are saying.

Peace,
DK

Slow Monday mornings are good for lots of things…taking a little extra time to get to the office, brewing a second pot of coffee, dissecting the details of possible downloadable content for the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII…Well, with the first two out of the way, here we go with the third…

GameStop has posted the back of the box for Final Fantasy XIII’s Xbox 360 version and the image indicated that, despite some back-and-forth on behalf of Square, FFXIII will in fact have some downloadable content. Now, obviously, this could be ANYTHING, but as FinalFantasyUnion.com points out, producer Yoshinori Kitase recently went on record with the Dutch Official PlayStation Magazine to state that DLC is expected “a little later” after the game’s global launch in March and its easy to imagine a game of this magnitude being supported with additional chapters, scenarios, etc.

Since the image released via GameStop is for the 360 version, it’s left some to wonder if the DLC would be exclusive to Microsoft’s platform, but when you consider that Kitase’s quote was in the Official PlayStation Magazine, that seems rather unlikely…

Anyway, there’s nothing super solid here either way, well, except for the fact that the box art indicated DLC is confirmed for at least the 360 version, so we’ll just keep you posted as we learn more. Imma go fix another pot of coffee…

Via Joystiq

We’re all about getting out the info gamers crave, but a concerned EpicBattleAxe reader submitted a rant letting us know that Kotaku pretty much stripped the fun out of the unique marketing effort that was the Heavy Rain “Four Days” Alternate Reality Game.

In a nutshell, the ARG allowed folks to get a taste of the experience Heavy Rain would supply while rewarding those that completed the task at hand with early access to the highly-anticipated demo. Well, Kotaku decided to mass distribute the demo download method instead of encouraging folks to partake in the ARG, thusly pissing off all of those that put the time, effort, and energy into EARNING early access to the demo.
Read the rest of this entry…