First Star Wars: The Old Republic Comic Released

The first of a six part comic has been released for Star Wars: The Old Republic which you can check out at the source. The comic serves as a build up to the MMO title in development.

Source: Official

Howard Stringer To Become Sony President In April

Sony chairman Howard Stringer will become president of the company in April in a management reshuffle in an effort to make Sony more green, innovative and agile. Stringer commented:

“Consumers want products that are networked, multi-functional and service-enhanced utilizing open technologies, and user experiences that are rich, shared and, increasingly, green."

“This reorganization is designed to transform Sony into a more innovative, integrated and agile global company with its next generation of leadership firmly in place.”

Source: PCW

Worms PSN Will Have Holy Hand Grenade

Team17 studio boss Martyn Brown has confirmed the upcoming Worms game for Playstation Network will feature the legendary Holy Hand Grenade:

“We can confirm, before we’re besieged, that Worms PSN does have the Holy Hand Grenade. Worms PSN is… a larger, honed edition of the very successful XBLA game."

“It has additional weapons, features, more levels, more audio (no size limitations) options, runs in 1080p and plays very sweetly. We hope that will be out there sooner rather than later and will support soon with videos and full detail.”

No release date for it yet.

Source: VG247

No Lips Mics Support For Guitar Hero World Tour

Activision has confirmed there isn't a patch planned to allow use the wireless Lips Microphones in Guitar Hero: World Tour. Rock Band will be patched to support them though.

Source: VG247

Ceville Released Today On PC

Kalypso Media has announced their point and click PC title, Ceville released today and is now available from retail stores.

In Ceville you assume the role of tiny tyrant Ceville. When he's not puzzling his way through the world of Faeryanis, he's guaranteed to be found holding hilarious conversations with one of the more than 30 different inhabitants of his former realm. Later in the game Ceville is joined by two other characters which the player also controls, either one after the other or as a team. With the logical combination or use of objects players won't be able to stop grinning or laughing out loud as they puzzle their way through an epic story of the eternal war between "Evil" and... "really, really terribly Evil"!

Source: Internal

Original Operation Flashpoint Developer Pissed At Codemasters

Bohemia, the developer of the original Operation Flashpoint title have made it known they're pissed with Codemasters releasing a sequel, branding it a true sequel when they, the developer of the original aren't actually working on it.

It's all down to copyright and IP etc and since Codemasters own the rights to the name, they can release it under that name. The developer of the original game left Codemasters and set to work on their new title, ArmA which is also seeing a sequel release. Bohemia's CEO Marek Spanel commented:

"We can't stop Codemasters from releasing a game using the words ‘Operation Flashpoint, but it is not right to promote this game as the ‘official sequel to the multi-award winning Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis' or the ‘return' of Bohemia Interactive's ‘genre-defining military conflict simulator.' The awards were given for the game created by Bohemia Interactive - not to a name."

Unfortunately, even though they may be overshadowed by the sequel to their original title but not made by them, it's tough.

Source: BD

Lost And Damned DLC Smashes Xbox Live Revenue Records

Whilst no specific figures have been released Microsoft has announced their exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content; "The Lost and Damned" has smashed existing Xbox Live revenue records in the first 24 hours of sale.

The downloadable content exclusivity cost Microsoft $25 million and cost gamers 1,200 points to download.

Source: Kotaku

Ninja Blade Releasing In UK On April 3rd, Not April 7th

Bloody PR elves, looks like the announced UK release date for Ninja Blade was incorrect as we've been told it's actually releasing on April 3rd and not yesterday's announced date of April 7th. Don't complain, you get it earlier now.

Source: Internal

New GTA Chinatown Wars Screenshots

Rockstar has released new screenshots of GTA Chinatown Wars On Nintendo DS, all of which you can check out at the source.

Source: NE

Rock Band 2 Release Dated For PS3, PS2 And Wii

Harmonix and MTV Games, along with distribution partner Electronic Arts have announced that Rock Band 2 will begin shipping in Europe for the PS3 and PS2 beginning the week of 23rd March. Rock Band 2 will also ship for the Wii beginning week of 20th April.

Rock Band 2 software will retail for £49.99 on the PS3, £29.99 for the PlayStation 2 and £39.99 for the Wii. Rock Band instrument peripherals are also now available at new price points:

• Stand alone guitars will retail at £39.99
• Stand alone drums will retail for £49.99
• An “Instrument Edition” including drums, guitar and microphone will retail for £89.99

In addition to the new price points, consumers will now also be able to purchase the Rock Band Instrument Edition and Rock Band software together for £119.99 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and for £109.99 for the PlayStation 2 and Wii.

Source: Internal

New Aion: Tower Of Eternity Screenshots

NCsoft has released 16 new screenshots for their upcoming CryEngine developed MMO title, Aion: Tower of Eternity. You can check 'em all out at the source. The title is expected to arrive in the West by the end of the year.

Source: GP

GameTap Adds New Titles To Free Section

If you're a cheapskate, (and we know you are) then you may wanna go check out the latest titles GameTap has added to their free section. Games including Tomb Raider: Legend, Psychonauts, Sacred Gold and more are available to download and play for nowt.

Source: Official

Blizzard Add The Undead Screenshots And Info To Beastiary

Blizzard has updated the Beastiary on the official Diablo III website, adding the Unburied to the collection. There's background story and info at the source.

Source: Official

Patch On The Way For PC Version Of F.E.A.R 2

Monolith are planning to release a patch for the PC version of F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin. The patch is currently in development and will tweak things such as the film grain effect and increase the difficulty of the harder option. Monolith’s community manager commented:

“There are a couple other items we are also exploring which might make it into this patch, but we need to do research to evaluate the time and resources that it will take to add these changes to the patch."

The PC patch should arrive within a few weeks, no word on any patch for Xbox 360 or PS3 versions.

Source: SI

Xbox Live Has Generated 500% More Revenue Than PSN

A report at the source states Sony has made around $180 million so far from Playstation Network whereas Microsoft has earned more than $1 billion so far since its launch. More at the source.

Source: Variety

Killzone 2 Releases Today - Play With Official Playstation Magazine

Incase you didn't know, Killzone 2 releases today across Europe and the US and to celebrate, official Playstation magazine is hosting a 24hour gaming marathon. The entire magazine's staff will be online for 24 hours starting 8:00am GMT this morning, playing a variety of games throughout the day. All details at the source.

Source: VG247

New Damnation Screenshots And Release Info

CVG has a batch of new screenshots from the Blue Omega Entertainment developed third person shooter from Codemasters. Originally planned for a pre-Christmas release, the title is due for release in the second quarter of 2009. More screenshots at the source.

Source: CVG