Today Epic Games announced that it has teamed up with Valve Software to help integrate Valve’s free Steamworks tools into all Unreal Engine 3 licensees.

This means that in the future games that use the Unreal Engine 3, like Batman: Arkham Asylum and BioShock, will be able to utilize some of the features that make Steam so great. These include auto-updating, social networking, matchmaking and a non intrusive DRM (and we all know how important that is). Read more… »

Blood Bowl – based on the turn-based football tabletop game set in the Warhammer universe – has made its way to the Xbox 360. Longtime fans of any card or board game are the most skeptical when it comes to video game adaptations. Others look upon such games in confusion and dismay.

Think Mutant League Football meets Warhammer meets turn-based strategy. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Well, as with many intriguing ideas in video games, execution is paramount. And boy does Blood Bowl fall short in execution and almost every other area. Read on to find out why. Read more… »

It’s the news we all wanted to hear: the release date of yet another standalone band game which will no doubt cause tired pessimists of the genre to groan and followers of the band in question to rejoice. Green Day are the latest band to receive this treatment in an upcoming Rock Band spin-off, which Harmonix have today confirmed will be released worldwide for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii June 8th.

The game is set to sport 47 Green Day tracks including classic staples such as Brain Stew, Jaded and Hitchin’ a Ride as well as more contemporary offerings like Boulevard of Broken Dreams, American Idiot and Wake Me Up When September Ends. It will follow the rise of the band through a career mode akin to Beatles: Rock Band from last year and will also feature the vocal harmonising feature lifted from Beatles: Rock Band as well. Unlike Beatles: Rock Band however, all 47 tracks will be exportable to the previous installments of Rock Band.

In addition, 40 minutes of extra video material including interviews, outtakes and performances will be bundled with the release to cater for Green Day’s massive following of eyeliner-wielding fans. Hit the jump for some pricing details and a peak of the newly released box art for Green Day: Rock Band.

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Fresh from their current GDC conference, Sony have confirmed that their upcoming motion controller for the PS3 will be known as PlayStation Move and will be treated as an entirely new platform launch in the same vein as their rival, Microsoft’s Project Natal.

PlayStation Move will be available in a number of different bundles, including a package that houses a PlayStation 3 console with Move and an Eye camera, and a starter pack with Move, an Eye camera and a game for under $100. It has since been announced that SOCOM 4, LittleBigPlanet and EyePet will support the puerile product.

Today game streaming company OnLine announced that their service will be ready to roll out on June 17 for American PC and Mac owners. The company also announced that OnLive will require a $14.95 a month subscription fee.

For those of you who don’t know, OnLive is a new service (currently in beta) that allows users to play games remotely though their web browser. OnLive doesn’t require subscribers to download or install games. Instead, all the processing is handled by the OnLive servers, with the visuals being streamed to gamers. Read more… »

When I first went to sit down with the PSP version of Dante’s Inferno, I made it a personal goal, for the duration of the game, to cast aside my knowledge of and respect for the source material. I knew without doing so, my brain would fall victim to a series of aneurysms that would ultimately lead to my untimely demise.

With my mental preparations set to defend against literature genocide, I dove into hell with really no expectations whatsoever. When I resurfaced, I was damn well pleased with the outcome. Read more… »

In approximately 2 hours Sony will be streaming tonight’s press conference live on Ustream.  It’s expected that Sony will be showcasing their motion controller with demos and more!

Dubbed the Arc, it is rumored that the motion controller has dropped its name and will be called “Playstation Move” according to a trademark in Europe.  For the link to the direct Ustream feed, please proceed. Read more… »

Join Chase Cook, Shawn Evans, Paul Clark and myself as we take an in-depth look at the heated legal battle between Activision and Infinity Ward during yet another live edition of the Limitcast.

Later in the show we discuss the minutia of Bad Company 2, including class balance and changes we hope to see in upcoming patches or DLC.

 
Listen to the LimitCast | Subscribe to the Limitcast Feed | Download the Limitcast

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If all we knew about Japan was filtered to the rest of the world through their media, we’d think the Japanese is a country full of sick and twisted demented individuals.  From Tokyo gore films to the exploitation of hand drawn children, the country has a unique way of expressing itself in the most colorful art forms.

In an ironic contrast, the country has the lowest crime rate, the highest life expectancy, and is one of the most environment friendly countries in the world.  Despite being built from a bloody and violent past, Japan’s basis is centered around humbleness and respect for all things.  And maybe it’s a model nation the rest of the world can learn from.  Who knows?

Despite all the ironies, the country is taking steps to ban provocative images of “visual depictions” of characters who appear to be 18 and younger. Read more… »

Presumably to coincide with the start of the new F1 season this coming weekend, Codemasters have confirmed their plans to release F1 2010 this September. The game will be a sequel to F1 2009 which was only released on the Wii, PSP and iPhone, and will this time feature on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. As expected, it will include all of the official teams and drivers from the coming season including the return of Michael Schumacher and the Korean International Circuit.

Codemasters are renowned for their racing pedigree in the genre having developed high quality titles such as GRiD and DiRT 2, and F1 2010 is said to utilise the Ego Engine that powered these titles. As a result, we can expect a “highly advanced damage model,” along with dynamic weather and “extensive competitive multiplayer options.”

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It’s not often I get to use the term “musical platformer”. In fact, without creating some diabolical contraption to mix Mario and Musical Chairs, it seems unlikely I’ll be using it a lot in the future either.

Fret Nice accomplishes this without the use of furniture, however, as you are able to use your guitar peripheral to strum, pluck or twang your way through each level. It is certainly the first time I’ve used my guitar for anything other than the arthritis-inducing, colour matching Guitar Hero and Rock Band. However, does it measure up to other platforming stalwarts?

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Sony have announced that the PSN store will be lavished with full HD movie downloads starting from today. The video store previously only offered movies to be purchased in SD and only rented in HD, but from today you will be able to purchase  HD movies from a selection of major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.

They were also keen to point out that they are the first to offer this service and posted a list of some of the movies that will be available upon launch, including 2012, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Inglourious Basterds, Up and District 9.

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