Epic sequel already "raising eyebrows" from the press

Just a week after its first press showing, Gears of War 2 is already receiving flack from the mainstream press for its "level of gore and detail".

"[Gears of War 2] certainly attracted attention for its realistic visuals and battle scenes, but caused some pause when game designers showed off a new attack players can use in the game," the article reads.

"In the demo, the player can use the chainsaw to cut a person in half, starting at the groin and moving upwards. Also, players can pick up the corpses of fallen enemies and use them as a 'meat shield' to protect themself from enemy fire as they engage in battle from behind the corpse."

That's a "corpse" that you can clearly see Marcus snapping the neck of, even in the Xbox Live video, yes? (Though we suppose Azfamily isn't going to be much happier knowing the poor 'meat shield' is alive...)

The site hardly lays into Gears 2, but to be honest the sequel didn't look that much more shocking than the first when we saw it. But a chainsaw to the crouch - ouch.

Catch a nasty ghost in this Ghostbusters gameplay

Thanks to this fairly recent Ghostbusters gameplay footage, we certainly aren't afraid of ghosts anymore. The game looks pretty nice and we hope it jump-starts the classic franchise back to life -- a lot of lesser movies and TV series' have been getting brought back, after all. What's interesting, but not in the video, is the use of Sixaxis for the PS3: apparently, you use it to control the trajectory of your ghost-bustin' stream. Of course, crossing them is a bad idea unless you're facing the final boss, we'd imagine.

GTAIV sells like crazy, console sales neck and neck

It's that time again when corporate execs are held accountable for their actions, sales figures are calculated and the North American "digits" are revealed. It's time for April NPD! W00t!

Last month's video game competition was a heated race between Microsoft and Sony as the Xbox 360 was able to move 188,000 units narrowly beating out the PS3's 187,100. That news on top of Microsoft announcing the 360's 10 million U.S. milestone make it a pretty good month for team Microsoft. Though, Nintendo's Wii continues to dominate even without Grand Theft Auto IV's help moving an amazing 714,200 consoles. Speaking of GTAIV, it rocked the final week of April selling a jaw-dropping 1.85 million units on the 360 alone which is nearly double that of the 1 million units it sold on the PS3. And that's always good to hear. Check the break for a complete rundown of the April NPD hardware and software data.

[Via Joystiq]

April Hardware Sales
1. Wii - 714,200
2. DS - 414,800
3. PSP - 192,700
4. Xbox 360 - 188,000
5. PS3 - 187,100
6. PS2 - 124,400

April Software Sales
1. GTA IV – Xbox 360 – 1.85 million
2. Mario Kart Wii – Wii – 1.12 million
3. GTA IV – PS3 – 1.00 million
4. Wii Play w/ remote – Wii – 360,000
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Wii – 326,000
6. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – PS3 – 224,000
7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness – DS – 202,000
8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time – DS – 202,000
9. Guitar Hero III – Wii – 152,000
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Xbox 360 – 141K

Console War Update!

Winning in first place Xbox 360
Xbox 360:11,785,282
Wii:11,268,352
Ps3:4,964,793
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=America&cons2=PS3®2=America&cons3=X360®3=America&start=39040&end=39579&weekly=1

Lost Planet: Colonies Edition Screenshots

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition provides explosive action for both online and offline players. Gamers who missed the original Lost Planet will have the opportunity to experience the epic gameplay that made the original a global hit with the added bonus of fresh new content and cross platform multi-play all at a great value price. Fans of the Lost Planet’s online action will be thrilled at the inclusion of new online modes, maps, weapons and models.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition will be available for the Xbox 360, as well as Windows-based PCs that support Games for Windows – LIVE. The suggested retail price is $29.99. Capcom plans to ship the game on May 27, 2008.

New Burnout Paradise Location Revealed

Criterion Games unveiled today a new location from the upcoming Davis update for Burnout Paradise.

Here's a great video from the world team. These guys worked on the incredible game world that you'll recognise now as Paradise City.

Since we're releasing images of our new island location, we thought it would be great to give a little insight into how the Paradise City mainland came together.

Here, one of our leads, JohnL, concentrates on a single, small area - the Fish Market in the South Docks (just off Manners Ave). You'll get to see how each of it's distinct components evolved through development.
Criterion Games unveiled today a new location from the upcoming Davis update for Burnout Paradise.

Here's a great video from the world team. These guys worked on the incredible game world that you'll recognise now as Paradise City.

Since we're releasing images of our new island location, we thought it would be great to give a little insight into how the Paradise City mainland came together.

Gold Fever Hits an All Time High with the Upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company Demo (X360)

The single player and multiplayer demo hits Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store on June 5.
Official Press Release | May 9, 2008

You've been drafted to 'B' Company! DICE, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that a demo for its highly anticipated summer release, Battlefield: Bad Company will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace* and PlayStation Store* on June 5. Players will land on the battlefield as part of the 'B' or Bad Company, a wayward band of soldiers more interested in the pursuit of gold and personal financial gain than following the rules. Gamers will get a sneak peek at how tactical destruction changes the way shooters are played, both offline and online in the single player and multiplayer demo.

Players can also gain early access to the demo by pre-ordering the game through participating retailers in North America and Europe. More details on this special pre-order campaign can be found at http://www.battlefield.com/badcompany.

Players who missed their opportunity to participate in the closed beta get a second chance to experience the intense multiplayer Gold Rush mode on the Oasis map while the single player portion starts gamers at the beginning of their 'B' company career. The single player portion of the demo sets the stage for players as they're introduced to the humorous and sometimes irreverent set of characters that make up the 'B' company. As gamers embark on their quest for gold, they'll experience the same classic Battlefield gameplay including access to numerous vehicles, weapons and open maps as well as the new tactical destruction that only Battlefield: Bad Company can deliver.

In stores on June 25 in North America and June 27 in Europe, Battlefield: Bad Company is developed by Sweden-based developer DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment, www.dice.se). The game will be available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and is rated "T" by the ESRB and "16+" by PEGI. For more information about the game, please visit http://www.battlefield.com.

* INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED

Xbox 540 coming in 2009

A dramatic and perhaps visible change will happen next year: TSMC plans to begin producing the Valhalla chip, which will be the foundation of the mid-cycle refresh of the Xbox 360, thus called ‘Xbox 2.5’ or simply ‘Xbox 540’ (360+180), in fall of 2009. This new chip is apparently much more than a die-shrink and end up as a system-on-a-chip design. This change is likely to enable to redesign the Xbox 360 casing and go towards a slim-design, much like what Sony did with the Gen1 and Gen2 PS2. We believe that TSMC will use a 45 nm process for this Multi-Chip-Module package (CPU+GPU+eDRAM).

There are also some interesting pieces of information that Microsoft is shopping for a more efficient cooling solution – efficient in more ways than just one: Several people close to the cooling industry told us that Microsoft approached them and asked for better and cheaper cooling than what is used in the Xbox 360 right now. Some may claim that the current Xbox 360 cooler design is already as cheap as it gets, but we have no doubts that Microsoft will find a way to drop the cost once again.