Well, hello there and welcome to Gamer Limit. If you are new round these here parts and not familiar with this particular feature, let me explain it for you like always. The Week In News basically consists of me falling out of bed on a Sunday, wading through a week’s worth of news articles and deciding which ones are worthy enough to receive a second mention. You can then easy-click your way to becoming up-to-speed.

I love having this power at my fingertips. Just don’t tell me it’s Sunday. Hit the jump for the goods.

Like all good news shows, I’m going to leave the dancing shitzu until last and head straight into some serious news. The man who voices Serious Sam is in some serious debt and is seriously offering his services to anybody serious enough to seriously consider paying him a seriously low $1 per word. But if that news wasn’t serious enough, there is word that Yakuza 3 is not going to see a western release because nobody bought the last one.

In other news, a serial killer is on the loose and is thought to be hiding within people’s iPhones. His name’s Dexter and his arrival on the device is set to cause quite a stir, just as his television series does. Speaking of stirring, there is no word yet as to whether you will ever use the waggle to stir zombie brains on the Wii, but you will be seeing more zombie faces and imagining doing so, if these Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles gameplay demos are anything to go by.

There were a few more gameplay videos and trailers this week, including the following: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer gameplay, which was nice; a Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time storyline trailer, which made me chuckle (and will therefore make you chuckle too); a couple of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance teasers, for those who enjoy being teased; a clip for the Fallout 3 DLC, of which I know nothing about; and a Halo overload, with an anime trailer and some dodgy ODST gameplay footage. On top of that, Halo 3: ODST also appeared in a video all about the characters and weapons in the game.

Sony announced that the manufacturing cost for the PlayStation 3 has been reduced by 70%, but made no mention of a price-cut, but we speculated anyway. Elsewhere, it is quickly becoming apparent that the best possible time to release a game ever is going to occur at the end of this year. You see, Dark Void is yet another game pushed back until 2010 – March, to be precise – which leaves probably about two or three left in 2009. Publishers, you heard it here first.

And finally…

Our very own Martin Bigg presented an incredible piece of work during the past week. Live For Speed: Collateral Collision is an epic car chase made from the ground up using a driving sim, some (read: lots and lots of) sound effects pulled from various sources and a lot of effort. Check it out right here.

Also, LittleBigPlanet may be getting some Marvel costumes soon and somebody has designed a device that whips you like a bitch if you can’t use a black leather boot to beat Pong. Eh? What? I don’t know, but I want one too.

Thanks for reading… stick with us here at Gamer Limit for the latest in news, reviews, features and probably a fair amount of speculation as to whether or not zombies will ever exist in real-life. (Spoiler: yes, they bloody will.) Start a blog with us here.

Whilst most people agree that Sony should consider dropping the price of the PlayStation 3, it is also widely reported that the manufacturing cost always meant a high retail price was required for the company to make any profit whatsoever on the system.

So, what happens when the manufacturing cost is reduced by 70%?

“The cost reduction since we introduced the PS3 is very substantial and this is on schedule,” Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony Corp’s CEO and Executive Vice President, revealed during a conference call for overseas investors following Q1 09 financials. “We don’t disclose how much of the PS3, specifically the cost deduction was achieved during the past two years. But that is on schedule.”

“About 70%, roughly speaking,” Oneda-san added when pressed further on the issue that is currently hounding Sony at every turn.

The question is: will Sony drop the price of the PS3 at all? If this figure is correct, it’d seem rather likely that they could afford to drop the system’s price by 50% and still make more money than before! Yes, this is highly unlikely, although a mere 20-30% drop would represent a fantastic opportunity for any would-be buyers currently on the fence as to whether they will splash out on the machine.

Source: TVG

When Henry Ford famously told consumers that, when choosing a Ford car, they could have “any colour… so long as it’s black”, his business model was prompted by a quicker drying time for black paint. In contrast, when Sony released the PlayStation 3, you got the feeling they just wanted people to feel like they had some sexy, PVC-clad rectangular gimp permanently sitting in the corner of their bedroom.

Thankfully – or not, depending on how you like it – things are about to move on with the introduction of the new DualShock 3 controllers.

Coming in October, the new “metallic blue” and “deep red” designs - a throw-back to the Nintendo 64′s liking for a bright and fun game set-up – are sure to help bring a smile to the PS3′s platinum grill.

Source: Joystiq

Fans of the Halo series will be delighted to hear the news that an anime is being created based on the universe that has spawned three superb FPS games and a bold venture into the realms of RTS. Further to this, of course, there will be two new instalments of the franchise with Halo: Reach preceded by Halo 3: ODST later this year.

The latter title has been tried and tested at Comic-Con 2009, while the anime – entitled Halo Legends - has a gorgeous new trailer to gasp at. Hit the jump for the trailer and some sneaky over-the-shoulder gameplay footage from ODST.

Whether or not you are invested in this series may become irrelevant once the finished product is readily available for consumption; depending on whether it is any good, that is. If it is not up-to-scratch then I guess it will be a highlight for those who have spent hours playing the games and reading the books.

It does look rather lush though.

As for this, well, hands up who was more interested to see whether that blonde on the right would step in front of our camera guy… Just me? Ok. Well, it certainly looked like Halo, albeit played by somebody who seemed intent on not blowing things up.

With news that Bungie will be hanging up its green helmet and concentrating on new projects after ten years of service, it is certainly a relief that so much new material is on the way in the meantime.

Are you excited by either of these clips? Or have you had your fill after a decade of fraggin’?

Source: 1up and Gametrailers

Howdy! Welcome to The Week In News. This is the place to come if you are in need of a short, sharp injection of gaming news from us here at Gamer Limit.

So, if you’ve been a little too busy over the last week and haven’t had a chance to catch up with us, or if you are simply such a rude so and so that you decided to avoid us and are now crawling back with your tail between your legs, hit the jump to find out what highlights you’ve missed. Yes, we forgive you.

Let’s begin by mentioning a handful of milestones that were reached this week: Halo celebrated ten years of FPS mayhem, while Ghostbusters: The Video Game rejoiced in the glory of 1,000,000 sales! Elsewhere, Sony’s LittleBigPlanet was said to have spawned a million user-created levels and Battlefield 1943 broke all kinds of records by shifting 600,000 downloads. Woah! Lots to be happy about there.

Sam Fisher, the star of the upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive Splinter Cell Conviction, showed his appreciation by smashing some guys head through a bathroom in a tasty trailer, although Ubisoft then got all soppy and told us about why they are sticking with Microsoft, which kind of sobered everyone up and made some of us cry. Bungie got so upset that they decided to quit the Halo series forever, which made Microsoft cry.

Hal Halpin called on gamers to stop crying and stand up for themselves by refusing to bow down to negative stereotypes. Not sure he has ever played a game of Halo 3 online, however, or he may realise that some of the accusations and assumptions are all too true. There is certainly a point to be made on a more grand scale though, such as when government and press criticise games for no apparent reason.

The war of the downloads took a tasty turn this week, with XBLA receiving the royal treatment with highly-acclaimed Plants Vs. Zombies shambling on to its shelves and PS3 fans force-feeding Xbox 360 owners their own words as Behemoth told of Castle Crashers for the PlayStation Network, while simultaneously sliding their knife from Bill Gates’ back.

In handheld news, Sony reckon they toyed with the idea of a second analogue “nub” for the PSPgo, then decided against it but thought it would be fun to tell us about it anyway and The Secret Of Monkey Island was released for the iPhone and the iDon’tHaveOneEither. I also don’t have my copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed anymore, although the possibly of hunting down and killing Luke Skywalker in this new edition of the game kind of gets my Dark Side tingling for some more action.

Here’s a good idea to wind down this session: Rock Band teaming up with legendary record label Sub Pop to bring some genuinely good music to the series. Here’s a bad one: a movie based on the Warcraft universe is being directed by Sam “I have a good reputation but two of the three Spiderman films were actually shit” Raimi. I did love Drag Me To Hell though, so he gets the benefit of the doubt.

And finally…

Do you like Weezer? No? Their older stuff? OK… and do you like things that are 8-bit??? Of course you do! Well, here’s some Weezer tracks recorded in sumptuous 8-bit format. Whoop!

New to Gamer Limit? We’d love you to stick around here with us write some blogs, which have a great chance of making front page. Do so by clicking here.

One of the most highly-acclaimed showings at E3 came from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction. It was arguably the game that, more than any other, went from zero to a hundred on the “do want” scale during the conference. But, if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, perhaps you should hit the jump and watch as Sam Fisher destroys a bathroom with somebody’s head and declares war on everybody.

What are you waiting for? Hit the jump – he’ll only end up sneaking up behind you, anyway.

It looks as though revenge is on the agenda, doesn’t it? This title certainly looks to be going for a grand approach, using more elements of action than any Splinter Cell before it – perhaps even taking a few hints from the opening sequence of Casino Royale in the process.

Anybody know anywhere selling cheap sinks in bulk?

Source: Destructoid

Because we’re all curtain-twitchers who love a good bit of gossip to help us through our day, here’s one for you: Microsoft are planning to launch Project Natal next year.

Just what shape the technology will supposedly take is so far unclear, although it is possible that Natal will be built into a brand new version of the Xbox 360.

According to Digitimes, the rights have already gone out to Aptina to supply 1.3-megapixel CMOS image sensors (CIS) for a new version of the Xbox 360 console under Microsoft’s Project Natal technology. What’s more, according to their “industry sources” in Taiwan, shipments of the new Xbox 360 are slated for the second half of 2010.

“one of the world’s leading imaging-solutions company; providing CMOS image sensors, image processors and peerless technical and business acumen to customers around the globe.” (Aptina official website)

Just how reliable the source is remains unclear – Digitimes did kind of predict that Lite-On would be manufacturing internal Blu-ray drives for the 360 in 2008 – so let’s take this one with a pinch of salt, shall we?

I’m sure our wallets would breath a collective sign of relief if we did, anyway.

Source: Digitimes

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction has nothing to do with me. I don’t own an Xbox 360 and Tom Clancy isn’t my uncle. Personally, I wish both things were different, but I guess things will never change.

Conviction‘s Lead Designer Steven Masters has told Kikizo the title is very possible on PlayStation 3; it’s just a combination of business and heart that’s keeping this from happening (he made no comment on me and Tom).

“Absolutely, yeah,” Masters said on the technical chances of the title making it to PS3. “Ubisoft as a company now has a lot of experience with PS3. Our processes, tools, techniques are very well-developed – we could absolutely execute on the PS3 if we had the opportunity, but like I said it was a business decision.”

Ubisoft gave further reasoning for their decision last month, proclaiming their undying love for Microsoft in their very own forums:

“… there are no plans to have Splinter Cell Conviction on other platforms,” they crooned. “There are several reasons behind this choice. First of all, Splinter Cell games are historically linked with Microsoft platforms. The first Splinter Cell on the original Xbox was one of the first games to fully exploit the console’s technical possibilities. At that time, Microsoft really believed in the game potential and provided strong support to promote it. So, there is a “link of heart” between the franchise and the platform.”

That is something that is very nice to hear. Some brand loyalty, some gusto, some heart. This industry needs a little more of it and, although I am sickened by the fact that I probably won’t own the game when it’s released, I can say that reading that makes it rather worthwhile… *cough* Kojima *cough*.

Source: Kikizo & Videogamer

When the PSPgo was revealed “at E3″, many gamers were disappointed to see that a second analogue wasn’t included. While the PSP and its newer iterations have managed to get by this long with just one, it would perhaps be far more beneficial for gamers and developers alike to be offered what appears to be the standard for this generation’s gameplay mechanics.

So why no second nub? (who has ever called it a nub?) Hit the jump, then use the nub on your mouse to scroll down and read what Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, recently told Game Informer.

“We also felt – like many users – that we wish we had a second analogue on the PSP. But we are talking about the mid-life cycle of this platform, and the PSPgo is designed to be perfectly compatible with the PSP-3000 and all the games that released before that,” said Yoshida. “So we had a very serious discussion about this particular subject, but we decided not to add a second analogue, and some of the developers are doing quite a nice job translating the second analogue functionality to different buttons. We didn’t want to divert their efforts either.”

The key quote I will pull from this statement is this one:

“…some of the developers are doing quite a nice job translating the second analogue functionality to different buttons…”

That is a rather low blow to “most” of the companies developing for Sony’s handheld if ever I saw one. Did Yoshida just concede that the majority of developers have failed in their attempts to bring decent product to the PSP and that “some” are merely doing “quite” a nice job of it? Sounds like that to me.

Aside from that, however, he has a fair point, although perhaps a second nub could have been included but not neccessarily utilised by every title – provided they could find room for both, of course.

One thing is for sure: the next PSP in development will include two nubs (double nubble, if you will), giving consumers yet another reason to dig deep in their pockets to own one. Genius.

Source: PlayStation Lifestyle

Ah, the special edition issue raises its ugly head again… or does it? Well, no. Looking at this figurine for EA’s upcoming heavy metal action adventure Brütal Legend, however, makes us wish it had.

The statue, which measures in at 17-inches tall, was scuplted by Mark Newman and painted by Tom Vukmanic, and looks like something that deserves shelf space cleared for. The bad news: there are just 1,000 of them knocking about. The good news: they may be very easy to win.

Hit the jump for information on how to win, a photo and, just for kicks, twenty-two minutes of Tim Schafer talking over gameplay footage for the game.

To get your dirty mits on one of these Eddie Riggs figures, all you need to do is follow Brütal Legend on Twitter and keep your eye on updates from the official page over at EA.

Finally, as mentioned, this clip is twenty-two minutes in length and lets you get an insight into both the workings of the game and the kind of time Tim Schafer has when he’s chatting to a couple of dudes from Double Fine. Also, Ozzy acting pretty well! And swearing (you’ve been warned). Enjoy!

Source: Destructoid

In his latest post for Industry Gamers, Hal Halpin, the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), has called upon the gaming community to stop allowing stereotypes and common perceptions of gamers go unchallenged.

Beginning by mentioning a conversation he had with his son regarding an on-field dispute during a lacrosse match – his son the subject of some abuse from an opponent – Halpin turned his attention to gamers, suggesting that, like in his son’s case, answering back could be a good idea.

“Combating the negative stereotypes the gaming industry and gamers themselves face is becoming a daunting task. We’ve allowed people to equate gaming with everything from laziness to isolationism and antisocial behavior, when so clearly it’s the opposite,” he wrote. “Because we’ve permitted everyone from anti-games advocates (disbarred attorneys included) to the President of the United States of America to perpetuate those fallacies and said and done nothing, we need to take ownership of at least part of that blame; until and unless we speak up and do something about it. It’s time.”

It’s true that us gamers suffer a fair amount of bad press when it comes to issues such as violent games and the effects they have, or the health problems that too much playing can supposedly cause. And these labels, among many others, are all too often taken lying down.

But what can we do?

The industry could benefit from some form of body of representatives that promotes gaming in a more positive light, showing the general public how it can bring communities together and help actually stimulate the mind, rather than numb it.

There needs to be an official stance on such things like gun crime being blamed on an FPS or some kid getting obese due to playing too much, if only to attempt to bring some level of cohesiveness to these sensationalist arguments.

Of course, there are many angles that this debate could go, ie. who is criticising gaming? What is being said? The scale – playground, internet or government? But, what do you think? Do we deserve more respect?

IndustryGamers.com

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that Killzone 2 fans can expect all new DLC for Guerrilla Games’ gritty FPS this coming Thursday.

The content, entitled Napalm & Cordite, shall feature two new multiplayer maps; Suljeva Cliffside, situated on the rocky outskirts of the Suljeva mining village, and Arctower Landing, which takes players back to the Arctower defence posts of Blood Meridian. Hit the jump for more information on the weapons being introduced as part of this bundle.

Previously only available during the single-player campaign of Killzone 2, these two tools of death will no doubt bring an added sense of depth to the ever-growing title:

Napalm: The VC1 Flamethrower
Loved and loathed in surprisingly equal measure, the VC1 – found on Suljeva Cliffside – projects an ignited stream of flammable liquid at high pressure. Consisting of low-octane gasoline and an unidentified component indigenous to Helghan, this form of Napalm is extremely effective for clearing out enemy trenches and bunkers.

The sticking point for players is the way the liquid cause the flame to project the same way a water pistol would – something I personally like.

Cordite: The Boltgun 4400
Also known as “The Handyman”, the semi-automatic Boltgun 4400 will be available in the Arctower Landing map. Using Cordite to propel metal bolts at an extremely high velocity, the gun has the ability to pin targets to walls and other objects. What’s more, a time-delayed explosive charge follows up the initial shot, leaving those hit with little chance of getting out alive.

Are you thinking of getting this DLC? Are you impressed with the support this title is receiving since release?

Source: Videogamer.com