Insomniac just confirmed via their newsletter that they will be unveiling their latest creation sometime between now and PAX Central. The newsletter also stated that it will be a “Playstation 3 project” which rules out the possibility for their multi platform game with EA partners getting a reveal. Here’s the official word -

“We’re happy to reveal that we’ll be announcing our newest game sometime between now and the Penny-Arcade Expo over Labor Day weekend. We’re really excited to finally reveal this project, and we couldn’t resist (nudge nudge…wink…wink) being the first to share the news with you.”

It further states that :

“Want to be the first members of the public to see our new game being played with your own eyes? We’re bringing our new game to a very special Penny-Arcade Expo panel on Saturday evening (September 4th), at 6:30pm in the Serpent Theatre. G4TV’s Adam Sessler will moderate a panel with key creative talent from Insomniac Games aswe discuss (and demo!) our upcoming PlayStation 3 project.

Now, it won’t take a genius to figure out what this points to. Seriously, ever heard about the game Resistance 2? You did? Good, now they couldn’t resist to share this news with us! No wonder they couldn’t, coz it’s Resistance 3 for crying out loud! Expect it to be revealed at the only major gaming event in between…at a certain place in Germany, we wouldn’t tell you the event is called Gamescom, figure it out for yourselves.

All said and done, it would be nice to see Resistance 3 getting an announcement for a change, especially after it got revealed innumerable times via unofficial sources already but if this turns out to be something else, then we will have to say, Insomniac are a smart bunch of devs….which is highly unlikely!  We will keep you updated.

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Hot Pursuit developed by Criterion will race to the store shelves this November, but before that, take a look at all these gorgeous screenshots which really impressed us a lot. Incase you don’t know November is also the month Gran Turismo 5 launches, it  will be pretty interesting to see how Hot Pursuit holds its own against the daddy of all racing games.

We are sure it will. After all you can do takedowns, reach stunning speeds and getaways and you can also take your need for speed online with your friends. You have the option of becoming the county’s top cop or most wanted racer in the game’s career mode.  We will keep you updated about this one.

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Alienware, renowned for their focus on desktops and laptops for high-performance gaming, launched their very first gaming zone in India.

Titled “Alienware Spaceship”, the exclusive Alienware Gaming Zone is going to offer a full fledged 3D gaming experience with the latest in computing technology with their 16 high-end Alienware gaming machines. Gamers also get an opportunity to  experience the latest and most advanced gaming machines such as the Alienware Aurora ALX desktop. Also to complete the “Alienware” experience, there is 3D gaming, WiFi connectivity, an integrated cafe and the latest gaming content available in India.

Simultaneously, with the gaming lounge, the gamers are also going to have India’s first ever exclusive Alienware retail store, which is going to display the latest Alienware laptop and desktop designs.

The Alienware Spaceship (store and gaming hub) is part of Dell’s (who acquired the Alienware brand) initiative to expand the gaming community in India. Said Mahesh Bhalla, Executive Editor and General Manager, Consumer, Dell India:

“Gaming is still a niche market in India and 3D gaming is still a new and exciting concept where Alienware provides cutting-edge hardware. With the Alienware Gaming Zone, gaming connoisseurs will be able to indulge in and experience Alienware’s extreme performance, stunning design and unmatched user experience while offering potential customers a great and interesting way to experience these machines.”

The Alienware Gaming Zone and exclusive Alienware retail store is located at # 644, 80 Feet Road, Koramangala 4th Block in Bangalore.

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Today, Sony posted the results of the first quarter ending June 30th and the results speak for themselves. Sony proudly says that they have sold 2.4 million PS3′s during this quarter, a massive increase from the 1.1 million of Q1 2009, Worldwide sales now stand at 38.1 million, just a few steps short of the 41.7 million of the 360. PS3 software sales also increased by a substantial 68%, 24.8 million as opposed to 14.8 million. NPS sales rose to ¥325 billion from ¥246.1 billion but the company still failed to make a profit as they suffered a loss of ¥3.8 billion this year.

It’s astonishing to see the PS2 still hold up in terms of sales while its competitors packed their bags 5 years ago. PS2 sales stand high with 1.6 million. But software sales has declined from 8.5 million to 3.4 million, but that’s expected.

The PSP has certainly seen better days as sales dropped from 1.3 million to 1.2 million. PSP software sales rose slightly up from 8.3 million to 9.2 million in the current year. And it doesn’t look like its going to get better for the PSP. With the 3DS nuke incoming, Sony has a difficult task at hand and it would be interesting to see how they prepare for the apocalypse.

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With almost no pre-release publicity, Din’s Curse, an ARPG game was unleashed upon unaware gamer folks. Developed by Soldak Entertainment, an independent gaming company, having little to no recognition previously for their RPGs like Depths of Peril and Kivi’s Underworld, Din’s Curse gave them a chance to breach the barrier of “little known” and take their work to the next level but does this game manage to create a ripple in the Hack n Slash RPG segment which is dominated mostly by the Diablo series or does it get lost among the hundreds of other Diablo clones to come before it? Time to find out!

The story of Din’s Curse is like a traditional fantasy RPG, but a lot more simplistic. A demi god Din has apparently placed you under a curse for being a bad ass in your life, so as a process of redemption and punishment alike, you are to save towns in the land of Aleria from the monsters that dwell within and gain reputation by solving quests of the townsfolk. So basically, you undertake quests, hack and slash your way through the dungeons, gather the loot, level up and lock heads with a final villain before moving on to the next town after solving all the main quests of the previous, hence one step further to fulfilling your redemption process.

But what basically separates this game from others is its frantic pace. Din’s Curse, unlike other RPGs, never gives you much respite in between quests. So forget Diablo, where you could just go on hunting lvl1 pig monsters, level up to zenith and then initiate an attack. The game world here plays out on its own via a unique Event System which gives you notices about important events like monster uprisings, plagues and attacks upon your town. So suppose, you get a notice that a particular uprising is taking place in the dungeons and you slack around and don’t do anything about it. Then what will happen is these monsters will make it to your town (as each town has a direct entry gate to the dungeon), and start wreaking havoc there. Failure to stop these monsters will result in kidnapping of townsfolk (for which you have to rescue them) and even death of important members of the town. If all of the three important people who give you your main quests, Warmaster, Steward and Apothecary are killed (Din can not be killed), you will lose your town and you won’t have any choice but to generate a new town to play. So many a times while you are deep down in the dungeon, a notice will come off that your town is under attack by monsters or assassins or a plague has been unleashed by their big boss, and then you have to rush back to the town to save the townsfolk. This pacing is what makes this game unique, as you actually feel for the world rather than leisurely idling around.

Again, unlike traditional RPGs, the quests have a dynamic pacing to themselves. Some quests are automatically cancelled if you are late in taking them up. For example, a quest of saving a certain townsfolk is failed if you didn’t heed to the quest within a given time. Certain other quests, like “Go Kill the Beast before it’s too late”, means you have to actually rush through the dungeons and kill the beast, because you never know when he manages to cause an uprising which results in the untimely failure of the quest. Again, some quests are automatically “solved” without your knowing or undertaking them. For example, if you already killed that Champion Monster while rushing through a particular dungeon, approaching the right person (who can be in the dungeon or in the town) will automatically give you the required reputation and experience points for solving the quest. That being said, the Quests have variety and even some surprises to them but traditionally range from killing that monster, collecting those objects, activating the portals etc. Once all quests are completed and the main boss bites the dust, you will get loads of loot off a chest via Din and a victory screen to determine the relative difficulty of the next town to save. So completing quests, prioritizing quests (not all quests can be rushed and completed), taking heed to the event system (protecting the town, stopping the uprising etc.) and being alert and active is the priority here.  Blindly taking quests and completing them leisurely like other Rpgs will get you nowhere but to a Game Over screen.

Speaking more on the “Dynamic” nature of this game, the entire world, the towns and the various levels of dungeons are randomly generated, so no two playing experiences or dungeons are same. Each Dungeon and Town has their own layout, monsters and people. The dungeons, in particular, have a life of its own. Enter a dungeon, and you will be surprised by the monsters bickering among themselves and dropping loot in the process. Other RPGs traditionally had them monsters amassing to horde against you. In Din’s Curse, unless you attack their group or faction, chances are they will not bother about you. These monster groups sometimes declare war on each other, and often they start an uprising. This doesn’t mean they will not notice you at all. You have to fend off hordes of monsters and baddies alike whilst traversing through the treacherous levels. The dungeon always plays out for itself, with enemies actually gaining levels by killing other monsters and if undisturbed, will reach the champion status in no time. The levels have many traps and tricks aswell. You can flip that lever to let the dungeon roof fall upon on enemies, or trigger a poison trap in the dungeon to well…poison the monsters. But you have to be careful not to let yourself fall in the trap.

Now let’s talk about the actual skill and character development systems. Character development plays out like other traditional RPGs. As stated earlier, completing quests helps you gain reputation and experience points (XP). Reputation gives you access to precious items and gifts from townsfolk occasionally and XP gives enables you to gain levels and hence, gain skill points to invest in the various character attributes (Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, etc.) and also in the Skill Set in order to gain access to deadly skills. The Skill sets are deep and varied and unique for each class. Right when the game begins, you have to choose between classes. The main classes are Warrior, Rogue, Priest, Wizard, Ranger and Conjurer with an additional Hybrid Class. Usually, each class has three skill set trees, like Warrior class has Gladiator, Weapon Master and Defender skill trees. The Hybrid class however, offers combination of two classes, but only with two skill set trees rather than three present in other classes.

Next Page – Cont’d

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SOCOM fans are surely going to be disappointed. Its been 2 years since the home console release and fans are going to have to wait for some more time as on the game’s official blog, Jeremy Dunham, community manager posted a note confirming the release window for the game. Here is the official word -

“While we’re certainly aware that you’ve been looking forward to playing SOCOM 4 this year, we don’t want to take any shortcuts. Instead, we want to deliver the best and most immersive SOCOM game we possibly can and we’re going to use our extra time to do just that”.

The game will be pushed back to 2011 but there is no confirmation as to whether it will be early 2011. Damn, now what am I going to play with the PlayStation Move?

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It is commendable on the part of the publisher to dare to give Air Tight games the responsibility of handling a AAA title even after their miserable last outing. It would be interesting to see how they manage to fare this time around. We will keep you updated regarding this and let you know when there is a official announcement of this new project.

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Sorcery is turning out to be one of the best games for the Playstation Move and these screenshots just shows us why. Its E3 demo was very impressive and we truly believe that this is a killer app for the Move. Precise tracking and built from ground up for the motion controller just makes it all the more amazing.

Sorcery will enable you to pull of a lot of cool magic tricks. The hero of this adventure will have a variety of abilities which includes conjuring up a wall of flame, a tornado and a ice storm with his magic wand. He also has access to a wide selection of potions that will allow him to transform temporarily into diff creatures in order to access certain parts inaccessible in human form. We can’t wait to be part of this “magical” adventure next year. Check out the first screenshots below -

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A new cryptic site teasing the company’s latest project has been launched by Irrational Games. It has been confirmed that the title will be an FPS . The site leaves us clueless but expect the site to be constantly updated with the passage of time. What we do know, is that the project will be officially unveiled on August 11th.

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EA’s AAA horror action game Dead Space 2′s packshots were revealed today. They show Isaac wearing his threatening and cool looking helmet. The boxart looks tailor-made for the sequel to one of the most popular  survival-horror games this gen.

Dead Space 2 will launch on all major platforms PC, 360 and PS3 and we hope it turns out even better than its predecessor. We can’t wait for Dead Space 2 to release in 2011 and considering the ending of the first game, Isaac better keep his helmet on!

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