Valve is 'bummed' by Australia's Left 4 Dead 2 ban

It seems Australian zombie enthusiasts aren't alone in their dismay over the OFLC's recent ban on the sale of Left 4 Dead 2 in the Land Down Under -- Valve's Doug Lombardi recently told Shacknews that the ban came as quite a surprise for the developer as well. "Obviously, everyone at Valve is pretty bummed," Lombardi explained, as a grief-wracked Gabe Newell wept openly into his shoulder.

It's a real shame that the OFLC added L4D2 to its expansive list of titles prohibited from being sold in Australia -- not only because Aussies will be robbed of one of the most promising multiplayer titles of 2009, but because it effectively invalidates the two parties' pre-existing peacemaking efforts.

Credit : www.joystiq.com

Zombie Apocalypse plaguing XBLA and PSN next week

Though it may lack the ever-catchy soundtrack of another recently released, undead-centric twin stick shooter, we're still pretty pumped for Nihilistic Software's Zombie Apocalypse. Imagine our rapture when a recent news post on the developer's blog revealed that the title will be landing on XBLA and PSN next Wednesday and Thursday (respectively) for 800 ($10). If you lack imagination, we'll clue you in -- our rapture was immeasurable.

Not only does this seem like the perfect training manual for the actual, inevitable zombocalypse, but it's a great refresher course on undead genocide before the year's more substantial zombie-action game comes out. 


Credit : www.joystiq.com

Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy XIII Novelization

Final Fantasy XIII hits Japan on December 17. But players won't have to wait until then to start sinking their teeth into the game's story.

Square Enix announced today a web novelization that will detail the events leading up to the main Final Fantasy XIII game. Titled Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero, the novelization, penned by Jun Eishima, will be split into multiple parts and will provide insights that you won't find in the main game.

The first part of the novelization, "Encounter" will hit the web (presumably via the game's official Japanese site) later this month.

As with the Japanese version of FFXIII, the web novel will likely be Japanese-only. With a game like FFXIII, however, you can probably expect fan translations to surface rather quickly. And failing that, we presume Square Enix will translate the stories for international audiences leading up to FFXIII's Spring worldwide release.

Credit : ps3.ign.com

UNCHARTED 2 First Online Reviews

Things are picking up steam for us as we head into the final weeks before UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves releases worldwide in October. It’s hard to believe that just nine months ago, we announced UNCHARTED 2 with our “Cliffhanger” trailer at the 2008 SPIKE Video Game Awards. We took the next few months to slowly tease out more information on our single-player campaign until we dropped the bomb in late April that we were including multiplayer gameplay modes in UNCHARTED 2. Everyone at Naughty Dog worked exceptionally hard to get those modes ready to provide everyone with a small preview of what we were up to when we launched our Multiplayer Beta during E3 2009. Not only did we feel great that everyone was finally getting some hands-on time with UNCHARTED 2 multiplayer, but we were equally stoked to end E3 2009 with over 20 awards, including 6 “Best in Show” awards.

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Since then, we’ve spent all our time putting the finishing touches on the game and we were able to recently announce that UNCHARTED 2 had gone gold. Since then, we’ve been eagerly waiting to see what game critics have thought about our game and we’re just now starting to see the reviews come in. Earlier this week, we were absolutely thrilled to see our first review garnering a 5 out of 5 and Editors’ Choice Award in the November 2009 issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine. Then, today, we received two more reviews – IGN had the exclusive review and gave UNCHARTED 2 a 9.5 out of 10 and GamesRadar UK chimed in with another perfect 10 out of 10. Needless to say, we can’t wait to read the rest of the reviews over the next few weeks!

Don’t forget that just because we release on October 13, 2009, doesn’t mean you can’t get some hands on time with UNCHARTED 2 before we launch – our Multiplayer Demo will be available to everyone via PlayStation Network on September 29 or, if you pre-order a copy at GameStop now, you can jump in today!

If you do play the Multiplayer Demo, keep a sharp eye out as you’re playing anytime over the next four weeks – a bunch of Naughty Dogs will be playing with you! You can spot us by the red paw next to our PlayStation Network ID in Multiplayer matches and some of us will also be using unique Naughty Dog character skins – Nathan Drake and a pirate from UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune, both wearing a Naughty Dog shirt.

Credit : blog.us.playstation.com

Motion Controller Update Part III: Deep Dive into the E3 Demo

In the third part of the motion controller Blog series, Richard Marks and Anton Mikhailov break down their E3 on-stage demo in more detail. From plasma whips and drawing, to abstract domino snakes and real time strategy-style games, you’ll see some things you’re already familiar with, as well as some never before seen applications that didn’t quite make the show. More details are included in the video below.

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Stay tuned for more exclusive motion controller updates soon. If you’re just tuning in, be sure to check out Motion Controller Update Parts One and Two as well.



Credit : blog.us.playstation.com