Buttonbasher

Rockstar released a video reveal of the GTA IV Boxart, which is done in a cool way.

With this news Rockstar announced the next GTA IV trailer will be released on December 6, at 3PM EST. Prepare for the internet to slow down again.

KLind

This game is looking very interesting.

Famitsu describes the game as:

- Third person exploration RPG set in a post-apocalyptic era
- The main character is a boy named Set that explores abandoned city ruins in a future world
- The theme of the game is exploring lonely and empty ruins while encountering things once in a long while
- The wiimote will be used to aim the flashlight while you move around

Here’s hoping this gets localized!

Source

KLind

You can now download Halo MJOLNIR Mix for Guitar Hero 3 on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s free of charge. Rock out to Halo while the tryptophan kicks in.

Source

KLind

Announced earlier in the week during the fifth anniversary of Xbox Live, Coming with the Fall Dashboard Update this December, you will be able to download original Xbox titles over the Xbox Live Marketplace. For 1200 points (15 bucks) you can start by downloading  a handful of titles on December 4th.

Starting available titles will be:

Halo

Psychonauts

Crimson Skies

Fable

Fusion Frenzy

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

Burnout 3: Takedown 

The games will not feature any added content. That includes Achievements and online play. More info as it happens.

KLind

So I attended Patrice Desilet’s 2 hour Assassin’s Creed stage demo today. Luckily I came to the conference room early, when it began it was jammed with people.

The conference was split into 5 sections:

- Summary

- A little history on Assassin’s Creed

- What we said & how it found itself in the game

- Demo!!!

- Q&A

First of all, he brought up how the game was created. After Prince of Persia: Sands of Time’s release (December 2003), Patrice took a long vacation. A year after (January 2004) the PoP team leaned towards the creation of a new IP. The year after (September 2005) at TGS, the announcement of Assassin’s Creed.

Patrice pointed out that he also represents the 300+ team working on the game in the span of 4 years (he also pointed out that this is the only time we could see Jade Raymond.)

In 4 years, they made 3 cities, 1 kingdom, around 200 generic Characters/NPCs, about 10k animations, approx. 20 hours of gaming (for Patrice anyways), and 9.

Now comes the demo.

Taking place at a city called Acre. His target was a knight. He shows us the HUD: weapon select, map, health and a social status meter (to check if the assassin is wanted or not.)

What really caught my eye was the interactive cinematics with the game. The main one was when your target was on a horse and talking to a crowd of people.

Instead of standing around while the event is happening, you actually walk around in the crowd pushing people and blending in and try getting closer to the action, but don’t blow your cover. Later, the knight rode off somewhere else and you had to follow him but first you had to pickpocket theives (hah) for weapons.

Then later he did some building hopping and guard killing, then finally stabbed his target in mid-air with his consealed wrist-blade. After the killing, he was chased by many other guards, so more building hopping and more guard killing to escape. The easiest hiding spot was a pile of hay. Then later he decided to show off the whole landscape by climbing the tallest building (Cathedral) and show off the view.

The demo ends with a leap of faith.

Now starts the Q&A session, someone asked Patrice of the rumored DS version of game, Patrice responded that he can’t comment on rumors and speculation, and said nobody tells him nothing these days. Then later alot of: “Amazing, Congratulations and WOW!”

The conference ends, but a long poster signing begins shortly after.

DGRP

I’m not sure Valve expected Portal players to embrace a box with a heart on it as much as we all have. Starring in one Test Chamber in Portal, it has garnered a ton of fame. So much fame in fact, that Valve is adding two new products to the Valve Store.

A Weighted Companion Cube Plush, and fuzzy dice for your car.

I will not be embarrassed to have those hanging in my car. I might store the plush away when people visit though…

More info as it happens

KLind

Variety.com is reporting that Mike Newell (Harry Potter Goblet of Fire) has been offered director position for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie by Jerry Bruckheimer. An announcement will be made shortly after meetings with Disney this week.

Seems things are moving forward with the project. They could pull this off in interesting ways!

KLind

JayNo here, Previews Editor for Buttonbasher, I am recently going to the Arcadia Festival and planning some quick write-ups on the event.

What is Arcadia you ask?

Arcadia is a magical place what takes place once a year in Montreal.

A place where Guitar Hero 3 dominates the land, a place where every Les Paul is mal-functioning, a place where we probably played all of its offerings at home.

Oh and btw.

UP NEXT: PATRICE DESILET?

DGRP

Major Nelson posted that this Wednesday, Swichball will be available for download on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points.

As a fan of Marble Blast Ultra, this game looks amazing. It takes the idea of rolling your marble from one point to the other, to a whole new level. The art design is really interesting and appears dreamlike.

It also appears the game features online co-op for 2 players. If anyone else is getting this and would be interested in trying that feature out my Gamertag is in the Online page.

KLind

Looks better than ever.

KLind