Rainbow Six Vegas Wii?

t all started a few days ago when Dutch game and toy retailer, Bart Smit (equivalent to a Toys R Us or KB Toys here in N.America - so fairly reputable), put up a listing for Rainbow Six Las Vegas preorders.



Months back, the game was "mistakenly" listed on one of Ubi's foreign sites as being in development for Wii, only to be taken down shortly after. Here's a shot of the listing:



Since then, everyone seems to have forgotten the mixup, but this recent listing sparked more interest in our community... leading us to search out more Wii RSV preorder pages (even if they aren't the biggest name sites): test.factotus.it, www.1a-dvdshop.ch, www.2xgames.com, www.games.ine.ch, www.toppreise.ch, www.bestelspel.nl, www.dvd.it



The last of those is an Italian site with probably the best credibility, but more than that, it lists "Available: from 30-03-2007". Following this, a few of our members have contacted Bart Smit, garnering two responses to the situation... in Dutch (sorry for the poor babbelfish translations):

Dear lord/Ms,

We have received your e-mail and thank you for this.

The wii have been announced by our supplier, one expects the product January.



Kind regards,

Department customer service

and

Dear lord/Ms,



We have received your e-mail and thank you for this. The release date of the game has been postponed to March. You can reserve these by means of the web hops.



Kind regards,

Department customer service



P.S: Our ' many have already seen asked questions '? There you find the answers on much of your questions

So, if Bart Smit and the rest of these foreign retailers have anything to say on the matter, not to mention a potential slip up from Ubisoft themselves, Rainbow Six Vegas has a good shot of making it to the Wii by the end of this quarter. You can hold off on setting the money aside until the official announcement, but after looking into the matter, it's hard to not be at least a little curious as to why there are so many listings for a Wii version of the game.

Left 4 Dead - Coop Zombie killing

Let's talk about great game conventions. Let's see, there's guns. Everyone likes those. Zombies, gotta love zombies. What else? Ooh, co-op. There's nothing like good co-op. Turtle Rock Studios, the team behind Counter-Strike, looks to combine all of these things in one glorious package with their latest offering, Left 4 Dead. Left 4 Dead puts players in the middle of a contemporary setting in which an incredibly virulent strain of rabies has overtaken the general populace. So, we're not dealing with zombies per se, but definitely crazed people with a penchant for biting their neighbors. Players will create a group of four different survivors, each with different personalities and backgrounds, and fight for survival. Players will cooperate in a survival horror setting, blasting their way through several different "campaigns" which are essentially a series of connected maps that end in a final standoff as players wait for rescue.

But here's the twist: the enemies (the "infected") are playable as well. Whereas the human survivors have the same basic weapons and skills, the infected are divided into classes. Some enemies can vomit blood to attract other infected, others can reel in survivors with a long tongue, and the "tank" class can even power through concrete walls. Finally, Turtle Rock claims that their next gen AI technology will allow human players to drop in and out of the game without affecting the overall experience or restarting the scenario.

The idea of playing an online enabled, co-op survival horror game with playable enemies is positively dreamy (though not exactly original). If all that wasn't enough, the game is expected to hit the 360 by the end of 2007. Looks like we might have one more to put up on the big board.

51GB HD-DVD...1 more GB than Blu-Ray

Toshiba has announced a new 51GB HD-DVD Rom disc at this year's CES.



Beating Blu-ray by 1GB, Toshiba today said that they had successfully created a triple layer HD-DVD disc that could contain 51GB worth of data with 17GB on each layer.



"Continued improvement in disc mastering technology has achieved further minimization in the recording pit, supporting a further boost in capacity to 17GB in single layer and a full 51GB on a single-sided triple-layer disc. Toshiba has confirmed the disc structure and its successful operation." said the press release. "This time-tested physical structure offers proven volume manufacturing at little cost increment."



Toshiba has now closed the storage gab with Blu-ray, which can store 50GB on a dual-layered disc. It will be exciting to see if this has any effect on the raging format war. Stay tuned.

Ubisoft announces Enchanted Arms for the PS3

Ubisoft announced today that Enchanted Arms is being developed for the PlayStation 3 and will be available in stores this March. Enchanted Arms is being created by development studio FromSoftware in Japan and is one of the first next-generation Japanese RPG to be appearing on the PS3.

In Enchanted Arms, players will embark on an epic RPG adventure and escape to a fantasy world filled with unique and bizarre creatures. Taking the role of Atsuma, enchanter-in-training, players will transform from a naïve student into the most powerful savior in a war 1,000 years in the making. In an immersive, deep storyline filled with increasingly difficult challenges, players will meet new allies and master Atsuma’s special fighting and magic abilities.

Key Features Include:

· SIXAXIS™ Wireless Controller Integration Provides an Immersive Experience: Use the motion-sensitive controller to harness weapons, recover your EX power meter, unlock more powerful attacks and solve puzzles.

· Master the SpeedTactics Battle System: Easy-to-navigate interface, the ability to move characters in-battle and distance-dependent attacks combine to create fast-paced, hands-on gameplay.

· More Than 500 Characters, Including 130 Unlockable Creatures You Control: Find and unlock 130 controllable creatures to use in battle as part of your team. Customize your party and learn to harness their unique abilities. Includes 30 all new creatures exclusive to the PLAYSTATION 3 system.

· Includes Both the Original Japanese and an All-New English Language Track: Choose to play the game with either Japanese or English dialogue.

· More Than 50 Hours of Epic Gameplay: Delve deeper as you meet new characters and explore over 75 environments with multiple objectives and branching missions.

· Includes More Than an Hour of Anime Cinematics and Video: Including ten minutes of all-new exclusive video.

It's great to see another Xbox 360 title making it's way to the PS3.

Heavenly Sword release date revealed

The official US PlayStation 3 site has revealed the release date for one of the most anticipated games of the year.

Heavenly Sword will be exclusively available for PlayStation 3 on March 6th 2007.

The third person action title has amazed gamers ever since E3 with its slick gameplay and fantastic visuals.

Along with games such as MotorStorm and Lair, Heavenly Sword is tipped to be one of the top titles of the year for Sony's PS3.

It's developed by Ninja Theory and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

A release date for Japan is unannounced, but we hope the game will be available when the PS3 is launched in Europe this March.

The Godfather coming to PS3

The Godfather was released on the PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and other platforms last year. Many people hoped it would be released for the PS3 but EA didn’t make an official announcement, until now.


The Godfather The Don's Edition, offer brand new ways to go from Soldier to Don as you gain control of the streets of New York. Follow the path of an Enforcer or Operator; each with its own unique perks and abilities to earn. Now you can chat up specific characters to get the skinny on dirty cops, take down two additional revised compounds of rival Families, execute five new contract hits, and call in larger Corleone Hit Squads when the going gets tough. With The Godfather The Don's Edition also having the new Shipyard and Rail yard transportation hubs to explore and exploit; your path to the head of La Cosa Nostra is wrought with all new perils and excitement.

The Godfather The Don's Edition takes full advantage of the SIXAXIS controller for PS3; manhandle your controller to manhandle your opponent.

We’ll be looking forwarding to finding out more about The Godfather The Don's Edition in the near future.

-James

Gran Turismo HD updated to version 1.1

It appears Sony has released an update for Gran Turismo HD Concept which brings the game to version 1.1. Details are very scarce on what this update does but it comes at a size of 700MB.

The only information that PSU could find within the patch was a fix for the bug that would sometimes cause time to stop before the race was completed. We’ll continue to test it out until we’ve got more details for you.

Downloaders should be warned that this patch will remove your old lap times so proceed with caution.

-James