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THQ Officially Announces UFC 2009 Undisputed

Rampage Jackson knocks out Chuck Liddell at UFC 71./Photo: Josh Hedges, UFC
Today the UFC and THQ officially announced their new title, UFC 2009 Undisputed, even though the game was technically announced at last year’s E3. The new title will feature more than 80 fighters pulling from the UFC’s five weight classes and an as-yet unnamed game engine developed specifically for next-gen fighting games. The game will also allow you to create your own fighter and work your way through Career Mode. Seeing as they’re tacking on a date in the name, it makes us wonder if they’re going to go after the Madden model and rolling out a new title every year. Sharpen up your elbows and practice saying the word “gogoplata,” the game will hit shelves in spring 2009. Check out the original trailer after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Game Trailer, THQ, UFC 2009 Undisputed | No Comments »

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A Wii Bit of the Force

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is also coming out for Nintendo’s ubiquitous Wii console, which opened up a whole new interactive aspect to the development team at Krome Studios. “The biggest challenge for us was to take this massive game and make the lightsaber and all of the Force powers work as well as we could on the Wii,” said Dan Wassen, producer of the Wii game. Read the rest of this entry »

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Preview | Ghostbusters

An Inside Look At The Making Of Ghostbusters

During our preview of Ghostbusters with Sierra producer Ben Borth and Terminal Reality development director Brendan Goss we learned a few things about the upcoming game based on New York’s most famed paranormal specialists. For one thing, it’s not shaping up as the typical licensed dreck. And second, people still call William Atherton “dickless” to his face. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ghostbusters, licensed games, Sierra | 13 Comments »

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Fracture: A Nation At War With Caterpillar As The Arms Dealer

With all the hype surrounding the Fall launch of The Force Unleashed it’s almost easy to forget that LucasArts has Fracture in the pipe for this summer, a title that doesn’t have even a tangential connection to lightsabers or that shitbird Jar-Jar Binks. LucasArts teamed up with Chicago-based Day 1 Studios to create an original third-person perspective shooter built around new technology that allows players to deform the actual terrain of the playing field. If you thought taking out an enemy with an accurately targeted headshot was cool, try tossing a vortex hole his way and watch as the ground and everything else around him gets sucked into oblivion. We caught up with Danny Thorley, president of Day 1 Studios to talk about the upcoming title. Read the rest of this entry »

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Top Spin 3: Buy It For The Tennis, Love It For The Custom Grunts

The upcoming release of Top Spin 3 on next-gen consoles and the Wii brings plenty to the various consoles. Both games feature the same base roster of 16 real life players and three legends: Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker and Monica Seles. You can play for all the major titles except for Wimbledon. 2K still included a grass court (set in Dublin) but the Brits wanted too much dough for the official license.

Besides getting snazzier graphics, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners get to customize players right down to picking everything from Wild Eyes-style contact lenses to your little pro’s in-game grunt. Wii aficionados get to flail wildly with their Wiimotes while in the first tennis game for their system to feature players with legs and arms. Check out our full preview with 2K Sports product manager Ryan Hunt after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: custom grunt selection, sports, tennis, Top Spin 3 | No Comments »

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Bullets And Taunts Fly In 50 Cent Blood On The Sand

“Show me your money, bitches!” Even if there wasn’t a virtual 50 Cent pictured on the screen you’d know the voice. That particular phrase, one of many taunts built in the game and voiced by 50 Cent, came out after Curtis hosed down some terrorist-stereotypes with a 50-caliber machine gun. During Sierra’s press event yesterday I got a tour of the latest “alpha candidate” build of Blood on the Sand, Sierra’s upcoming sequel to 50 Cent’s last game, Bulletproof. Producer Aaron Blean described the action on the screen while associate producer Tim Tran handled the controls. And yes, it looks a hell of a lot better than the original. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, Sierra | 1 Comment »