Hide and Geek

Most of you will have seen by now, that Hide and Geek is launching a regular video feature, currently on track to launch Wednesday. This is understandably taking up a fair amount of time, however updates should continue as usual. If you have any ideas for the show, whether it be a topic that you’d like debated or a game you’d like covered, get in touch.

Anyways, enough about that, here’s what’s happened in the world of games this week…

• Activision announce DJ Hero - quite by accident apparently. Bobby Kotick let it slip at the World Economic Forum, that DJ Hero is in development, and will release later in 2009.
• Turok sequel canned by Disney - after laying off around 70 employees at Propaganda Games, the (never announced) sequel to Turok has said to have been given the axe.
• Boom Blox sequel announced - Boom Blox Bash Party will offer 400 new levels, online multiplayer and new levels via DLC.
• EA reveal three new Need for Speed titles - proving that the NFS franchise is far from dead, EA have unveiled three new games; Need for Speed: Shift (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP), Need for Speed: Nitro (Wii, DS) and Need for Speed: World Online (PC). Vroom!
• Leipzig Games Convention is now dead- well, may as well be. Europe’s premier games expo will now only be focusing on online and mobile games. wtf.
  

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Watch this! Batman: Arkham Asylum Trailer

Listen to this! Geekbox Radio

Read this! Games journalism at its finest

Play this! Spin the Black Circle

Enjoy!

/Jamin

Here we are then, the first official round up of 2009. As with every year, January has been incredibly quiet release wise, however the news, rumours and speculation that fuel the industry are as loud as ever. To make sure you’re up to date with the best of it all, here’s the Geekly Roundup…

• BBFC Clears Madworld for UK Release - the British Board of Classification have allowed Sega’s stylish gore fest to be released in the UK with no cuts.
• Resident Evil 5 demo coming to XBox Live - Capcom have announced that the Resident Evil 5 demo will hit XBox Live on Monday 26th January. No mention of a PSN release.
• Second Life inspired movie in the works - Universal Studios and Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski are working on a film about a man who loses touch with the real world after becoming immersed in a virtual one. Might ring a bell with certain gamers.
• Looking for a job? Then ditch World of Warcraft - employers are specifically asking for employees who don’t play WoW. According to a recruitment frim, WoW players are often too tired and distracted to work efficiently.
• No GTAV for 2009 - after rumours that Rockstar North were planning on releasing the sequel to GTAIV at the end of this year, Rockstar responded stating that the game would not see a release in 2009.
  

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Watch this! So bad it had to be posted twice…

Listen to this! Episode 1 of the Videogamer.com podcast

Read this! What happened to 1UP

Play this! Fusion Fall

Enjoy!

/Jamin is struggling to finish all the games he’s halfway through from last year.

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates over the past week. Due to the fact my wallet is on the brink of suicide, I’ve had to resort to full time work over the Christmas period. Bad times indeed. Rest assured however that things will pick up again soon.

This will obviously be the last roundup before Christmas, and no better an opportunity to say a big thank you to all our readers, and more importantly, Merry Christmas!

Here’s the biggest happenings in gaming this week…

• Free Radical Design says farewell - on Thursday 18th December, the UK studio closed it’s doors. The unamed project in development that was announced in 2006, suspected to be Star Wars Battlefront 3 - has been handed over to Rebellion.
• PSP4000 to launch late 2009, PSP2 sometime after - although there are no concrete details on the successor to Sony’s handheld, games are supposedly already in development.
• Tiger Woods advert banned - the Wii advert for Tiger Woods 09 has been banned due to featuring footage from the 360 version of the game. Naughty EA.
• Konami announce Metal Gear Solid for iPhone and iPod touch - planned for Spring 2009, MGS Touch will feature characters and settings from MGS4.
• Metal Gear Solid content to hit Little Big Planet - full story

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Watch this! Sonic Obsession

Listen to this! Wild Arms 3 theme <3

Read this! Jade Raymond Profile

Play this! i made this. you play this. we are enemies

Enjoy!

/Jamin is lost in the curious village

An article written by Hide and Geek’s Woffls caused a bit of a stir in the week, whilst numerous sites seemed to miss the point entirely, gaygamer.net took the time to read the article properly and posted an insightful response to the matter. The ‘Nintendo doesn’t care about me‘ argument has got incredibly stale over the last year or so, and it should be reinforced that this was not the point of this particular article.

Anyways, here’s your roundup….

• Konami site teases ‘Next Metal Gear’ - the site hints at a Metal Gear outing for the Xbox 360, although what that might be remains to be seen.
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves revealed - the PS3 action adventure sequel will revolve around the exploits of 13th century explorer Marco Polo.
• Resident Evil 5 demo hits the Xbox LIVE marketplace - Not played it yet? Get yourself onto the marketplace for some Zombie related goodness!
• DICE reveal abstract DLC for Mirrors Edge- the new time trial maps will be released in late January for 800 Microsoft points

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Watch this! Drifting Awesomeness

Listen to this! Left 4 Bed

Read this! How to design a character SquareEnix style

Play this! Bow Street Runner (Award Winning Browser game)

Enjoy!

/Jamin

Another week over, which means it’s another week closer to Christmas. Stressing out over the Christmas shop? Fear not, Hide and Geek have a handy survival guide that caters for all the family.

We’re still looking for another blogger to join us, so if you think you’ve got what it takes, drop us a line. Other than that, not much else to report. Here’s what’s been happening in the world of games this week…

• Professor Layton film due 2010 - Factor 5’s successful DS franchise will be hitting the silver screen in 2010
• Destroy All Humans canceled on PS3 - Although the Xbox 360 version will go ahead as planned
• Mario Kart and Wii Fit sell over 1 million copies in the UK- Is it really that surprising?
• The Last Remnant DLC available throughout December - and most of it will be free. The first pack, Purgatory Sins is available December 1st.
• FFXIII work yet to begin on Xbox 360 - with PS3 development taking precedent, 360 owners could be waiting a while for SquareEnix’s RPG epic.
• Sega Dreamcast celebrates it’s 10th birthday - Gone but not forgotten. Happy birthday DC,

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Watch this! NXE Avatar struts his stuff

Listen to this! One Life Left

Read this! Shawn Elliot’s new blog

Play this! The Auditorium

Enjoy!

/Jamin is better than you at Mirrors Edge. Think otherwise? Add me on LIVE and let’s compare times!

Firstly, congratulations to our Banjo competition winner martial_loh - who managed to blag a copy of Banjo Kazooie on XBLA a whole 2 weeks prior to it’s release. Kudos to you. This is the first of many planned competitions, so check back soon.

In other news, Hide and Geek will be seeing some rather radical changes in the coming weeks, although these changes are currently shrouded in mystery, we’re confident you’ll be impressed. Check back soon to find out what we’re blabbering on about. We’re also still looking for a blogger to join us, so if you have a combined passion for writing and games, get in touch. Finally don’t forget to add us on twitter for up to date micro blogging from the HnG staff.

And here’s the biggest happenings in games this week…

• New Xbox Experience  - Microsoft’s eagerly awaited dashboard overhaul has finally launched, with mostly positive comments from the Xbox community.
• GTAIV ‘Lost and Damned’ DLC dated for Feb ‘09 - Rockstar announce first GTAIV DLC for February 2009.
• Capcom win Dead Rising Lawsuit - Court decides that Capcom did not copy George Romero’s film classic Dawn of the Dead.
  
• Harmonix faces lawsuit over Rockband 2- As one court case ends, another begins. Monte Morgan from Kansas is suing Harmonix, publisher MTV, MTV owner Viacom and distributor Electronic Arts over defective drum kick pedals.
• World of Goo Piracy rates at 90% - according to developer 2D Boy, only 1 in 10 people actually ‘bought’ the critically acclaimed puzzle game.

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Watch this! Wanted: Weapons of Fate - debut trailer

Listen to this! One Life Left

Read this! Xbox 360 funeral

Play this! fl0w

Enjoy!

Jamin

• EA plan to take on Wii Fit with ‘EA Sports Active’ - aimed primarily at ladies, the new fitness game will take a more western approach than Nintendo’s Wii Fit.
• Left for Dead gone gold - exactly what it says on the tin.
• Rockband gets some killer DLC-with a Killers song pack! Not only including Mr Brightside and Smile Like you Mean it, but a song from the new album Day and Age too.
• Street Fighter IV gets console release date - February 17, 2009 - put it in your diaries.
• NPDs released-
  • Wii - 803,000
  • Nintendo DS - 491,000
  • Xbox 360 - 371,000
  • PSP - 193,000
  • PlayStation 3 - 190,000
  • PlayStation 2 - 136,000

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Watch this! Tomb Raider Underworld launch trailer

Listen to this! Giant Bombcast

Read this! Blogger wanted!

Play this! Infocom Text Adventure

Enjoy!

/Jamin out

Not really much to report this week…

• Dead Rising 2 in development - an annonymous source tells Eurogamer that the sequel to Dead Rising is in development at Blue Castle
• Killer Instinct for XBLA? - Rare open to the possibility of bringing more classics to XBLA
  
• A Kingdom for Keflings gets avatars - Ninja Bee’s quirky building sim will be the first title to use the NXE Avatars as playable characters.
• EA to close Casual Label -Electronic Arts will be closing their Casual Label and combining it with their Sims Label to create the new Sims and Casual Label.

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Watch this! Ocarina iPod app

Listen to this! 1UP Yours

Read this! Hotness

Play this! Grey Matter

Enjoy!

/Jamin has a busy week ahead…

• DS and Wii sales reach new landmark - DS outsells GBA, Wii outsells Gamecube and N64
• NXE leaked early - although installing it will disable XBox LIVE until the official release on November 19th
  
• Elder Scrolls 5, 2010? - Speaking to gamesindustry.biz, Bethesda let slip that the next Elder Scrolls game could see it’s release in 2010.
• Quantum of Solace theme to grace GHIV -pretty self explanatory.
• Beatles Game announced - full story

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Watch this! Gears 2 Launch Trailer

Listen to this! Best song ever?

Read this! Iwata = crazy!

Play this! Physics Invader

Well that’s it for another week, many impressions from the Eurogamer Expo are still on their way, so check back soon.

/Jamin is really enjoying Fable 2

Another week has been and gone, ending on a high with the release of Fable 2, Dead Space and Farcry 2. It’s probably the best time of the year to be a gamer, and it’s not over yet. Over the next few weeks we are going to be treated to Little Big Planet, Gears of War 2 and Fallout 3. Good times. Anyway, here’s your weekly round up;

• Bioware and LucasArts announce Star Wars: The Old Republic - the highly anticipated sequel to KOTOR 2 has finally been announced in the form of an MMO.
• E for All Expo canned - the expo will not be returning next year as the focus is now firmly back on E3.
• Hellgate London servers closing January 21st - Is it really that surprising?
• Army of Two to hit the silver screen - EA have secured a deal with Universal Pictures meaning that the game is the movie treatment.
• Capcom confirm that Street Fighter IV will release this winter - Sorry Europe, only in North America.

Watch this! Guitar Hero + Zelda = Awesome.

Listen to this! 1UP Yours

Read this! Self Promotion

Play this! Dofus

And so that concludes this weeks roundup. Hide and Geek are off to the Eurogamer this week, so expect full coverage of Resident Evil 5, Prinice of Persia, Gears of War 2 and everything else from the London Games Festival later on next week.

/Jamin needs to rob a bank to afford all the amazing games out this month