UGO Entertainment acquired 1UP.com from Ziff Davis Media in January, but was not interested in the EGM property, and with increasing risks in the print business, Ziff Davis decided to cease publication of EGM at the same time. Any other party could have stepped in and acquired the rights, but it was the man who originally created it to be the one to get it back.
Its name is weird, but it’s potentially addictive. Yosumin! is the name of a new puzzle game from Square Enix, which has recently launched on Steam on PC and is coming soon to Xbox Live Arcade. For the occasion, the Yosumin! development teamed joined our lineup of exclusive developer blogs. Check out Norihisa Iwasaki and the rest of the Yosumin! staff’s profile now!
Yosumin! looks like typical “match three” puzzle games, but it plays very different — you must form “rectangles” of like-colored pieces to clear the game board. There’s a tiny bit more to it than that, though, and as an added bonus on the blog, Square Enix let 1UP host an exclusive English Flash demo of the game to give everybody a taste of just how Yosumin! works.
Those of you eagerly awaiting Killzone 2’s latest patch will have to wait a little longer. The patch will not be arriving this week.
“Just got official confirmation – the patch has been delayed and will not be released this week,” Guerilla Games said on Twitter (via Computer and Video Games).
When it’s release, the patch will tweak the skirmish mode, introduce a “high precision” option for controllers, and improve the overall balance. In addition, the “Join Friend” option will be chance so that players can join their friend’s faction and squad, even if faction balancing is on. No word on when the patch will go live, but hopefully it will be soon.
After limping along with a small but dedicated fanbase for four years, Sony Online Entertainment is finally pulling the plug on The Matrix Online. The massively multiplayer game will go offline on July 31st.
“It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years,” said producer Daniel Myers in a post on the official forums.
“To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.”
Activision sent word today that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will soon be able to experience the game that helped define first-person shooters in the early ’90s, Wolfenstein 3D. The formative FPS is coming to the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store next Thursday, June 4 for a price that has yet to be revealed — fingers crossed that it’s around the same $5 price point as Doom on XBLA.
Much like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, those who download Wolfenstein 3D will find in-game bonuses awaiting them when they pick up the new Wolfenstein this August. Unlike Rearmed, however, Wolfenstein 3D’s Mecha-Hitler remains very much intact.
Wondering what to expect from Microsoft’s E3 conference this Monday? Lionhead’s Twitter feed might be a good hint.
“Lionhead is off to LA for this year’s E3 and will give a big presentation at the Microsoft press conference on Monday! Watch this space,” they said in their post (via Eurogamer).
Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux has been teasing his latest project since before GDC. Word is that Fable 3 is floating around out there, but who knows? We won’t know for sure until around 10:30 am PST.
Another Trauma game is on its way to the Wii, courtesy of Atlus. This time though, it won’t be just one doctor against a nasty biological weapon, but several.
Trauma Team will let you take on the role of general surgeon, diagnostician, EMT, orthopedic surgeon, endoscope technician or medical examiner. Move over ER, Atlus says it’ll make for the “ultimate medical entertainment experience.”
Look for Trauma Team next spring.
In addition to what we thought were going to be the only three maps included in Battlefield 1943 (Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, and Wake Island), a fourth map, Coral Sea, will also ship with the game. Players won’t be able to access the level from the start, however — lest some intrepid hackers do their thing — until the community accumulates a grand total of 43 million kills. That total will be worked towards by both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live communities independently of one another; when one reaches the milestone, it’ll only unlock Coral Sea for that respective platform. At this time, there’s been no mention of a PC version, although its delayed release may have something to do with the omission.
Coral Sea won’t be just another map. Unlike the others, it’s for airplanes only and will add a new “air superiority” game mode. If nothing else, at least getting your hands on an aircraft won’t be as difficult as it can otherwise be at times.
Rock Band DLC enthusiasts can look forward to a slew of tracks from artists featured at this year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. A six-pack of summer festival-flavored rock is headed to the Xbox Live Marketplace on Tuesday, June 2, with a PlayStation 3 release planned for Thursday, June 4. They’ll set you back the usual $1.99 (160 Microsoft points) each, or $9.99 (800 Microsoft points) for the whole shebang.
Next week’s list of DLC includes the following:
That’s a pretty diverse selection queued up for next week, but compared to the ruthlessly awesome lineup planned for the actual four-day-long concert, this modest six-pack of tracks reads like an index of squandered opportunity. Over 100 bands playing at the festival, and a third of the Bonnaroo track pack is from Coheed and Cambria? No Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, or Mars Volta? What’s your ideal Bonnaroo six-pack?
E3 2009 is just days away now. We’ve given you our takes on which popular rumors will pan out, but now it’s time to take a look at what you think. We’ve scanned a thread from our message boards to find your own thoughts on the upcoming big event.
Some predictions are inevitable:
what i’m sure of those is that there will be
1. gloating from Nintendo and some pie charts
2. we are all thing to all men from Microsoft and some pie charts
3. Best bang for your buck from Sony, and more please stick with us
- papalazru
While others are more of a long shot:
personally I’m excited about playable God of War III, it would be awesome if they released the E3 demo a day or two after the event. I know that just wishful thinking but a man can dream!
- Jay_DS
