Developers of MAG, Zipper Interactive, have revealed the statistics to the latest MAG Beta which took place earlier this month. Just like the statistics for the previous betas, the Beta 5 stats were astonishing, with over 1 million downloads of the beta client and over 619,000 gaining at least one experience point in the six-day window that beta was available on.
Earlier this week we reported that GT5 was being delayed in Japan, with a new release date to be announced. Well, it turns out that the game isn’t completely finished yet. Speaking in an interview with USA Today at CES earlier this month, Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi said: “About 90% of the game is done. We are just working on the last 10% and polishing up everything.”
During Ubisoft’s fiscal report from earlier this week, it was disclosed that sales of Assassin’s Creed II has broken the six million mark. The game sold over 1.6 million units worldwide in the opening week and has continued to sell well. The publisher expects Assassin’s Creed II to sell some 9 million units by the end of its current fiscal year in March.
Firmware 3.15 which came out in early December 2009 is now mandatory to install. The firmware is needed for many new and upcoming titles, though most of you probably already have it installed. If you have already installed the latest update, this new does not affect you. Gamers who haven’t updated will be prompted to download it when they boot up their PS3.
Darksiders is another hot game starting off the 2010 line-up. Darksiders is an action-adventure video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. The game takes its inspiration from the apocalypse and battle of Armageddon described in the Book of Revelation, with the player taking the role of “War”, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
A new Assassin’s Creed title is under development according to Ubisoft, and is being developed by the same studio behind AC2: Ubisoft Montreal. The new title will star Ezio and will be a “follow-up” to AC2. CVG reported yesterday that Ubisoft was hard at work on a sequel, which the company is due to release before March 2011.
This week on the US Video Store you will find I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (this came to the PlayStation Network one week prior to its DVD release), and The Hurt Locker are now available. Also, check out the newly released feature collection – Girls That Kick Butt. Finally, we’ve added a new category, Just Reduced Movies, to the Video Store under New Releases.
Sony is readying a new PS3 accessory that will let owners turn the console into a digital video recorder. The kit, dubbed “Torne”, is set to become available in Japan this March. Torne comes with a digital tuner that plugs into the PS3 via USB and the software required for viewing, browsing and recording programs. The latter comes on a Blu-ray disc and can be installed onto the PS3’s hard drive. Torne works similar to the PlayTV device that was released in Europe back in September 2008.
The creator of PS3 psychological thriller Heavy Rain and boss of development studio Quantic Dreams, David Cage, has defended the game’s sex scenes – insisting they are “definitely not porn”. In an exclusive interview with PSM3 Cage said that the game’s steamy moments were “about real characters doing what adults do when they fall in love”. “There are a couple [of sex scenes], but it’s definitely not porn,” he said.
In a message posted on the official UK Final Fantasy XIII website, Motomu Toriyama has stated that the International version of the upcoming Square Enix title is “finally complete.” Unfortunately, the game won’t be available to purchase until March 2010, when the game is officially released in Europe and North America. Currently, the developers are waiting for approval on the final version of the game before the disc goes into production.
