Hello Hellgaters,

I know everyone is looking for an announcement, and we’d love to make one — but right now, many things are in flux and we don’t have all the information yet. As soon as we do, we’ll post here on the forums, on the website, and anywhere else we can find you.

In the short term, please do not worry. The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance.

I’d like to ask for your patience as we try to figure it all out and chart a new course. We value your community, your commitment, and your passion for Hellgate and we will make sure that any solution that we architect will support all of you as best as we are able.

Thanks again. We hope to have a real announcement shortly.

Source

Post from: Games Industry Wire

Well look at that, Internet rumors of an Xbox 360 price cut have been circulating for quite some time and Target went ahead and made it official from a retailing standpoint earlier today. The new Xbox 360 60GB model will retail for $349, which the “old” SKU Pro previously sold for. The Elite model, which comes with a 120 GB hard drive, remains at $449, and the Arcade SKU, which has no hard drive, is still $279. I hoped for an overall price increase with additional storage but that just proves that you dont always get what you want.

“We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we’re giving it to them at no extra charge,” said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. “No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you’ll have three times the storage to manage all that great content.”

The new 60 GB model will be available in early August, Microsoft said, and the discounted Pro will only be available “while supplies last.”

Images via Gamespress.com. Copyright 2008 Microsoft.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

“So you want me to announce the game before our announcement?” he said. “No offense, but I think there’s like 300 people here, and I’ll be ripped apart by 8000 people there [at the Invitational] if I pre-announce it – but it’s going to be really exciting. I think everybody here will be really excited about the announcement.”

Blizzard is currently hard at work on the next expansion to World of Warcraft, as well as the next instalment in the Starcraft series. The Diablo franchise, for which the last title was released in 2000, is the other main entry in Blizzard’s IP log and fans have been clamouring for a new game in the series for some time.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

The team behind Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is rumored to be making a new sci-fi title. So, this is the reason why Infinity Ward aint doing COD 5?

Speaking with TalkPlayStation.com an insider said “we are currently working on a new sci-fi title, we cannot release any more information as of yet, we may or may not announce it at E3″. So what sort of sci-fi game will this be? Most likely a first person shooter, maybe its something that will rival Halo. Infinity Ward are famous for developing Call of Duty 4, they have no part in Call of Duty 5 as Treyarch are in control of it.

Source. Images via Gamespress.com. COpyright 2008 Activision.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

Fire Emblem is indeed making its way to the DS, and the latest issue of Famitsu has the first solid details following the game’s announcement last year. The new title is reportedly similar to a translation of the japanese title -> Fire Emblem: New Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light , this first DS installment in the storied series is actually a remake of the original Fire Emblem. The basics of the game wont change much from the original (or its sequels, for that matter) as players alternate between event scenes and strategic battles.

There’s one big difference here: online play. Developer Intelligent Systems is making use of Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connect service to give the title long distance multiplayer — a first for the series. You begin an online battle by first creating a team using up to five units that you’ve built up in the single player story mode. Battles take place over versus-specific maps.

Fire Emblem hits the Japanese DS on August 7 at 4,800 yen.

Source. Image from Gamespress.com Copyright 2008 Nintendo.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

In the middle of Electronic Art’s dreadfully slow takeover dance with Take-Two, it’s been speculated that the affair could ascend into a veritable ménage a trois, with Ubisoft now being marked as a potential future suitor for the Grand Theft Auto publisher if it continues to spurn the Redwood giant.

A Forbes report postulates on a possible partnership between Ubisoft and Take-Two, following Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick’s comments in the company’s second quarter call on Thursday that he’s “had and continues to have formal discussions with interested parties” over any future mergers or sales.

It’s certainly a compelling fit, and with Take-Two still proving resistant to Electronic Art’s advances – with the most recent offer standing at $25.74 and with a total value of $2 billion expiring on June 16 – it’s not wild to speculate that other companies may step into the ongoing saga. As Forbes’ report suggests, whilst Activision is effectively ruled out given its recent merger with Vivendi, Ubisoft – who is known to harbour a desire to expand its sports portfolio and would relish getting its hands on the 2K Sports brand – emerge as the most viable partner outside of Electronic Arts.

There are of course hurdles in place of any potential pairing – Ubisoft isn’t as laden with cash as Electronic Arts, so may have difficulty in raising the required funds, and the fact that Electronic Arts also purchased a 19.9% share in the French company at the tail end of 2004 in a move that was described at the time as hostile may well prove a significant barrier.

Confused? Well, brace yourself for further baffling twists as the ongoing Take-Two/EA story threatens to embroil the entire industry into one big money swilling reverie.

Source. Images from Gamespress. Copyright 2008 ubisoft.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

Microsoft’s very own Robbie Bach has shot down a fresh round of rumors that the Xbox 360 will be supporting rival Sony’s Blu-ray format in the near future, but was less quick to scotch speculation that motion controls were on their way to the console.

Bach, who heads Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, reiterated the company’s stance on the technology in an interview with SF Gate, emphasizing Microsoft’s focus on delivering content over Xbox Live. “You have to look at how fundamentally compelling the difference is between a progressive scan DVD player and the picture that it can produce and what you get on a high-definition player,” he added, “The reality is there is some difference, but most people look at it and say, “I am not going to pay extra for that.”

One persistent rumour that looks to have more credence is the possibility of motion controls coming to the 360, with Bach conceding that it’s an interesting technology whilst reiterating Microsoft’s own innovations. “Look at things that are happening in music games and the massive popularity of things like Rock Band and Guitar Hero,” said Bach, “Look at the phenomenon that is Xbox Live and what that’s done and how that is changing the game space. If you were doing a canonical of what’s new and exciting in this generation, you would put all three as the major trend of things that are happening in the marketplace. We participate in some of those and we don’t participate in others. That’s what defines the differences between us and Nintendo. We don’t have any specific plans about what we are going to do technologically.”

When further pushed on whether work was taking place on the technology, Bach said that “We have people working on all kinds of things.”

Source: IGn Images from Gamespress. Copyright 2008 Microsoft.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

LucasArts is reportedly ceasing internal development after the release of The Force Unleashed, according to speculation coming off the back of staff cuts last week. The layoffs included VP of Product Development Peter Hirschmann and Lego Indiana Jones producer Shawn Storc, and now Shacknews is now citing a source claiming that LucasArts will indeed halt internal development after the completion of The Force Unleashed, with all future development to be outsourced.

LucasArts is also known to be working on an Indiana Jones title that was last seen at E3 in 2006, which has reportedly not been affected by this turn of events.

Other high profile LucasArts products are being developed by external studios, with Day 1 taking charge of the company’s next big game Fracture.

Source. Images from Gamespress.com Copyright 2008 Lucasarts.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

Capcom producer Jun Takeuchi has previously stated that Resident Evil 5’s main development platform is on the PC. When Eurogamer asked Takeuchi why Capcom was showing the Xbox 360 build of Resident Evil 5 instead of the PlayStation 3 version at Capcom’s Captivate 08 event, Takeuchi clarified that Capcom was requested to show RE5 up and running on a console, due to their hardware similarities it was just faster to port the PC build over to the Xbox 360.

But while this will surely start rumors of the survival horror game coming to the PC, Capcom bluntly told gaming site IGN, “We’ve only confirmed Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 at this time.” Bummer.

Image source: Gamespress.com Copyright 2008 Capcom.

Post from: Games Industry Wire

The latest Official Xbox Mag is running a rumour that’s been quietly – oh so quietly – doing the rounds for a few months now. That rumour concerns just what, exactly, 2K Boston (and I presume 2K Australia as well) are up to these days. With 2K Marin confirmed as the team behind BioShock 2, what could Ken Levine and the rest of the guys behind BioShock 1 be working on? Maybe a new X-Com game. Yes, X-Com. 2K quietly bought the rights to the series in 2007, so the rumour’s at least got a solid footing, though we’re still going to recommend you increase your daily intake of salt. If only because the thought of a new, official X-Com game is too awesome to mess around with.

Source

Post from: Games Industry Wire