Activision’s Daniel Suarez has a few words with Superhero Hype about their next game, Transformers: The Game.

The game, which will launch on multiple platforms, is supposed to feature 9 playable Transformers and 7 destructable levels over 2 seperate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns. Of note is this comment:

We’re making a game that is for Transformers fans. Since the very beginning, we’ve been very conscious of the heritage of this brand and have worked hard to integrate characters, locations and even subtle acknowledgements to G1 anywhere we can. There are a lot of special surprises, unique elements and bonus features that fans will enjoy.

Considering the unlockable costumes in all of Activision’s Marvel games and the character variations in Traveler’s Tales’ LEGO Star War series, is there any chance we’ll see some alternate looks for the playable characters? I can’t very well expect full 1984 remakes of the whole cast, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Bumblebee’s goofy face returning.

See also: CVG and GameSpot‘s previews.

Thanks Dru!

Capcom released this press release just now… oh wait, can’t read that one. Here it is in English.

This is hardly surprising news, though I’m going to take this less as in indication that the PS3 is doing badly and more that the 360 is doing very well. Devil May Cry is a very popular game series and while it made perfect sense to release it to market leader PS2 the last 5 years, the next installment comes out at a time with no clear market leader.

I’d say I’m excited, but when I read “DMC coming to 360” I got really bummed that this was not the next gen debut of Darryl McDaniels.

Thanks, Mike!

It would be fair to say I’ve been mean to Sony in the past year. It would be more fair to say I’ve been mean to them for the 5 years before that. Ever since the PS2 killed my beloved Dreamcast, Sony has been on my bad side. But something changed.

Theres always been a slew of games I’ve wanted to play on Sony systems. Though I picked up a GameCube and an Xbox, it was pretty clear I was missing a LOT by not grabbing the other console. With the PS3 losing exclusives and the Xbox 360 so far ahead this time, I thought maybe I’d made a solid choice and wouldn’t be missing much. Now it looks like I’ll be missing a lot.

Watch the trailer for Ratchet & Clank. Even if graphical advances are all Insomniac has to offer in their newest game, the advances are significant. And it just looks fun.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Lets start this off with some good news on a freebie: Game|Life reports that the first ever release of a high-definition episode of South Park will hit Xbox Live Marketplace. Starting Tuesday March 6, the Season 8 classic “Good Times With Weapons” will be available to Gold members for no cost for 2 weeks. Those without Xbox 360 or Live can still get the episode: On March 20 Best Buy is giving an HD-DVD for free with the purchase of any Xbox HD DVD player or a 360.

Personally, I grabbed Alien Hominid and Ms Pac-Man on Live Arcade this week. Alien Hominid is about the hardest game I’ve ever played on XBLA, and includes a boss event I cannot pass because I have no idea what to shoot. Ms Pac-Man I cleared all 200 Achievement points in under 2 hours. Go figure. Worms HD finally drops next week for another 800 points ($10), but I’ll pass until I actually finish Alien Hominid.

Tekken finally made it to the North American Playstation Network. Which is pretty good if you have a 1080p TV, don’t own the PS2 or the PSP versions. Nah, its budget priced and worth your dollar to get it in the prettiest format available. I understand you can buy Jin a new hat in this one. The much hyped Warhawk sequel from Sony has been downgraded from a full game to a Multiplayer-only download title. Well at least they won’t charge you an arm and a leg for it now.

The best game on the download circuit this week has to go to the best game ever made, The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Nearly a decade after release, its still got the highest rating of any game released before or since. $10 is a hefty sum on Wii‘s Virtual Console, but considering how vast the game is, its a bargain. Nintendo obviously knows how awesome this is, as its been released on the GameCube twice, but if you missed those or (god forbid) the N64 original, now is the time.

The breakout release on the download circuit this week has to go to Playstation Network’s “fl0w”

Fl0w comes from Jenova Chen, the lead behind the highly creative PC game Cloud. It looks like a mash up between Katamari Damacy and Geometry Wars. You control a small organism in a vast expanse of water, and can gobble up those smaller than you, but avoid anything bigger. Naturally, with everything you eat, your microscopic character grows and you’ll be able to take on larger organisms.

Wii Virtual Console gets one of my all time favorites this week with Donkey Kong Country. I mentioned to fellow Powet Army solider Phil Bond that this game is every bit as good as Super Mario World, and I stand by that. Going in for a few levels of Co-op and then beating that giant beaver, all the platforming fun came rushing back. This was truly a special game that resides somewhere between the retro cool of the NES days and the less favorably remembered 32-bit revolution. Back when this came out, the Playstation and Saturn hype machines were getting ready to roar, then Rare and Nintendo dropped a Super NES game that looked better than anything on a CD based system! Sure it wasn’t 3D, but 3D was pretty much a disaster until Mario 64 came along, so this remains one of the great 2D games from the days when 2D was starting to fade.

Xbox Live is taking the shaft 2 weeks in a row now. Wednesday used to be the day to grab new Live Arcade games, but the most notable release to Marketplace recently has been the Borat dashboard theme and picture pack (I’ve taken Azamat as my avatar!). Team 17 hopes to have Worms ready soon, but have been frustrated by Microsoft’s constant delays. THQ announced they’re releasing in a box, much to our surprise. Tetris Evolution better be budget priced, because theres no reason that the world’s most popular puzzle game wouldn’t fit Live Arcade’s standards. An even though I own many other versions of Tetris (in arms reach, I have no less than 5 copies ready to go), I’ll probably buy this Xbox 360 version too.

Activision has formally announced some of the details of the forthcoming game based on the Transformers movie. IGN reports the Xbox 360, Wii, and DS will be joined by Sony’s systems as well: PS3, PS2 and PSP. Oh and theres a PC one too. So, just about anything you’ve got.

Better yet, the console developer has been revealed as Traveler’s Tales, who are responsible for LEGO Star Wars, arguably one of the best movie games in the past few years. They’ve confirmed seperate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns, along with massive destructable environments, and on-the-fly transformations. IGN has a short interview with producer Andy Burrows, who hints that they’ll mix in some non-movie bots inspired classic Generation One characters. Confirmed playable characters right now include Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream.

Transformers on DS will be handeled by Vicarious Visions, who have a massive catalog of successful ports for Activison, including Doom 3 for Xbox, Tony Hawk and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for portables. Savage Entertainment(developer of Star Wars: Battlefront II) takes the PSP, and is promising a very different game with over 20 (!) playable Transformers spanning further into the movie’s extended universe.

A playable demo of the game will be available at Toy Fair in New York City this weekend. Since this is an industry/press affair, we’re hoping to see a video come along soon. We’ll keep an eye on the official site.

In the meantime, here is the first screenshot from the game. It’s a picture someone took of a catalog of Transformers merchandise that just happened to have a tiny page advertising the game. If you can’t make it out, it’s Bumblebee fighting the Decepticon Barricade in the first shot, and then a single shot of Barricade. Its not much, but we’re starving for info here, so give me a break.

UPDATE! IGN has added lengthy impressions of the demo, but still no screens. Read it all here.

The next gen is fully underway now and the one thing all 3 major players have in common is that they want you do download games. With content being added on a weekly basis, there’s a lot to cover…

Playstation Network
We’re still waiting for Tekken 5 to hit the US, even if it’s already available in Hong Kong and plenty of folks have set up dummy accounts to get it. fl0w is due in february, and looks like it may be the breakout hit Sony’s been waiting for. In the meantime you can always play Gran Turismo HD, though Major Nelson thinks it looks suspiciously like PGR3. The PS Network has a huge potential with the ability to download games to play on a PSP, but the very low numbers of available games keep even ecstatic supporters from being able to invest too heavily.
Full List of PS3 Network games

Wii Virtual Console
With just over 2 months in the market, they’ve got the strongest lineup, if not the most original. Last week saw the release of Legend Of Zelda III: A Link To The Past, and this coming monday we’ve got Mario Kart 64 and the Sega Genesis classic Comix Zone. Hopefully you didn’t blow your Wii Points on Urban Champion. Not suprisingly, Japan is getting quite a few more games than we are for now. This will hopefully even out as the year goes on.
List of Virtual Console titles

Xbox Live Arcade
While not in the game market as long as the competition, Microsoft has a huge lead on classic and original titles available for download. Must buys include Geometry Wars and Marble Blast Ultra, with enhanced arcade titles like Contra, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and Street Fighter II. The classic titles aren’t nearly as varied as those found on Wii’s Virtual Console, but online leaderboards and multiplayer keep you from getting bored. The ability to demo any game is also helpful since Microsoft’s point system is designed specifically to trick you into thinking you are spending less money than you are. This past week saw the release of Heavy Weapon, which I played for 40 minutes on the demo before having to take a break. It appears the only benefit to buying the game is to get the achievement points and only play. Forthcoming games include Alien Hominid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and a game based on MEGAFORCE. I’m not kidding. Megaforce.
List Of Xbox Live Arcade titles

I innocentedly rented Burnout 3 a couple years ago. I think I read on Penny Arcade that it was fun.

Something inside me changed that day. I became a firm believer in not only crashing cars but also that Xbox Live is awesome. Burnout Revenge was even better, and even though I hated the DS entry, I still looked forward to a next Burnout. The pilot episode of Powet.TV was me gushing for over 20 minutes about Revenge. Don’t look for it, I wisely never posted it. I’m a Burnout fan and when I meet people who are not Burnout fans I can only assume its because they’ve not played the game and therefore are unaware of the awesome they are missing. Or, it’s because they are stupid.

1up has a preview of Burnout 5 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The game promises to use the Revenge feature from the last game and implement it into the multiplayer in a much bigger way and also into the single player. Oh yeah, Burnout is going for an open world this time. I don’t know if I like that, but as long as the races are nuts and the crash courses are deep and I can still use non-racer traffic like ballistics, I’ll be happy. Oh, they’re also bringing back all the goofy cars and trucks from Burnout 3 instead of focusing on just race cars.

Theres very little to show from the game now, but considering how good the previous games looked on PS2, theres little doubt they’ll blow away Motorstorm. And the new physics engine controlling everything (not just your car) definitely should yeild some more interesting crashes. Release date is set for summer, which is just the kind of excuse I need to stay inside when the weather is actually hospitable in Wisconsin.

Oh, and the series will continue on PSP and PS2 since that console still has some life left in it. Burnout: Dominator will be out in March. Dominator is being developed in house by EA and not the series creators Criterion Games, so it’s hard to say if it will offer any innovation or just more tracks. Either way, anyone who didn’t make the next-gen jump will have a pretty good game to play.