While some might not consider this an actual story worth reporting, others might consider it the scoop of the century. Of course, those others are the same fiends that’ll buy whatever rubbish Activision pumps out, but still, this is the first I’ve seen of any Band Hero art or logo. Today, I went to my local GameStop to put five bucks down on Scribblenauts & Professor Layton & The Diabolical Box, and when I get there, of course I see nothing other than a bunch of colorful displays for Band Hero, a game Activision announced back in May and then, well, never mentioned again.

I expected it to be a bright & cheery logo, after hearing that the game would be the first kid-centric E10+ game in the Hero franchise, but I didn’t expect it to be so flamboyant. If you look closely, you’ll even see the multicolored outline around the Band Hero font. Luckily, there’s more to this post than gaudy logos- the displays confirm that the game will be coming to the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii, just in case we weren’t sure. Anyone that pre-orders at GameStop will also get a code for two free songs in the game.

Whoooo. Hit the jump for the second image.

Majesco is no stranger to great games. From Cooking Mama to Psychonauts to Bloodrayne, they’ve got games on the both sides of the gaming spectrum, but I think the “My Hero” series is the first series of Majesco games to have a focus on those with low self-esteem and high ambitions.

Majesco’s “My Hero” brand is a series of games that focuses on such inspirational jobs as Firefighter, Doctor, and Astronaut. To me, the game sounds like a high brow version of Ubisoft’s Imagine series for the DS, but as always, I’ll reserve my final judgement for the franchise’s release in August for $20. Hit the jump for a gallery of screenshots.

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I’ve made this point at least three times this year, but if all goes as planned, there will be 20 Guitar Hero games in existence at the end of 2009. Yes, twenty. But since RedOctane and Harmonix sold the series after three games, the other 17 seems to have come straight from Activision, even though they’ve only had the series for two and a half years. And now, with every possible sign, save for an outright announcement, proving the existence of Guitar Hero: Van Halen, it’s pretty safe to assume that this game is coming out. Unfortunately.

It’s no secret that I’m not too fond of Activision’s franchise exploiting, but it could definitely be a lot worse- and we can prove it. We here at Ripten dug deep into Activision’s trash and found a lengthy list of ideas that were cut from their lineup, but for the sake of time, we selected the best five, along with their box arts, and posted them after the jump.

5. Guitar Hero: One-Hit Wonders

THE PITCH: Guitar Hero’s back, with the songs you love from the bands you’ve never heard of! One-hit wonders from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s take you back to the time when you’d rock out to “Jesse’s Girl” in your bedroom, or when you got kicked off of the bus for playing “Who Let The Dogs Out?” too loudly, or even that time you did the “Macarena” at your 20th birthday party… and no one else did. You can dance if you want to, but all your friends will be lining up to play Guitar Hero: One-Hit Wonders! Be one of the first 99 to preorder, and you’ll recieve a red balloon!

THE SETLIST:
Rick Springfield – Jesse’s Girl
Vanilla Ice – Ice, Ice, Baby
Toni Basil – Mickey
Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance

THE PROBLEM: It’s simple- it’s a game full of songs that most people either tried to forget, or will soon try to forget once the challenge of drunkenly FC’ing the vocals for a-ha’s Take On Me comes into play. It also doesn’t leave much to the imagination with DLC. Since Activision can’t provide full-disc downloads for a one-hit wonders game, it’ll just be download pack after download pack until people start getting tired of the songs. The biggest problem? No one wants to be the guy at the party that makes everyone play Divinyls’s I Touch Myself.

4. Guitar Hero: Smash Hits: Smash Hits!

THE PITCH: Guitar Hero is back… again! This time, with the best of the best that you personally selected! Guitar Hero: Smash Hits was such a success, now we bring you the smash hits from the smash hits! With such songs as Through The Fire And Flames, Monkey Wrench, Killer Queen, and more, the fun never stops! This time, the hits are even smashier! Preorder early, and you’ll get a downloadable code redeemable for one free downloadable song!

THE SETLIST:
Well, pretty much half of Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. The rest will come in DLC.

THE PROBLEM:
Aside from the fact that the songs are literally recycled from the game that directly preceded it… well, no that’s pretty much the problem. If you look, you’ll notice that this box art has no console-specific label, and that’s because it’s going to every platform they can think of, regardless of generation- Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, DS, PSP, Gizmondo, N-Gage, iPhone, Android phones, TI calculators, iPod minis -even microwave LCDs. Just press the one followed by zeroes in rhythm with Freebird. Ripten cannot be liable for any food that ends up burnt in the process.

3. 8Bit Hero

THE PITCH: Bleep bloop bleep blop bleep! Grab your messenger bags and get ready for 8Bit Hero! With tracks by your favorite chiptunes artists, this game is sure to bring out the indie hipster in you! With the innovative Gameboy controller and 8bit interface, 8Bit Hero is fun for kids of all ages! Preoder now and get the limited edition NES controller for 8Bit Hero!

THE SETLIST:
Chip Hero – Chip Hero
Anamanaguchi – Power Supply
Nullsleep – Supernova Kiss
Nintendo – Mario Bros Theme
Bit.shifter – March of the Nucleotides

THE PROBLEM: First and foremost, this game would never happen. Although it’s mostly awesome, chiptunes aren’t exactly marketable. Especially with songs that most people haven’t heard of. Sure, the “8bit interface” would be done in a way much better than what you see above, but for the most part, it wouldn’t look too well. As for the Gameboy controller- innovative isn’t the word you want to use when you’ve modified someone else’s product a little. In this case, the word would be painful. And speaking of pain…

2. Guitar Hero: Dragonforce DS

THE PITCH: The most popular band from Guitar Hero 3 is back with their own game on the DS! If you’ve ever felt the need for a challenge on the go, the new five-finger Guitar Pack that comes with Guitar Hero: Dragonforce is just for you! Challenge your friends head-to-head over Nintendo WiFi, or play alone! Whether on the bus, or in the doctor’s office, Guitar Hero: Dragonforce DS is a good challenge for everybody! Preorder now and get a free Dragonforce wrist cast!

THE SETLIST:
Every single Dragonforce song ever producded.

THE PROBLEM:
Well it’s not a problem, depending on what perspective you’re looking at it from. From Activision’s position, it’s horrible. Hand cramps will lead to lawsuits, which in turn leads to bankruptcy. From a doctor’s standpoint, it’s fantastic. Not to mention that Dragonforce… kind of sucks.

1. Guitar Hero: STOMP

THE PITCH: All of the fun from the famous percussion show comes to your living room with Guitar Hero: STOMP! Rattle, shake, and roll your way across 7 different venues with the ingenious STOMP gloves, shoes, and trash-can controller for the best gameplay! With such onomatopoeic hits as “Crash“, “Bang“, and “Floom“, the fun never stops with Guitar Hero: STOMP! Preorder now and get your limited edition STOMP! V-neck!

THE SETLIST:
Boom
Plunk
Zoom
Rattle
Icky Icky Icky Pekang Zooboing Nee Won

THE PROBLEM: You’ve all undoubtedly heard about STOMP, right? I mean, it’s a great show, and if you ever get the chance to see it, by all means- do. But it’s loud. Very boisterous and raucous, and no one that lives in an apartment would ever get the chance to play it without being evicted. Banging your hands and feet against stuff would get boring very quickly, and holding a trash can over your butt won’t make it any funner. Of course, knowing the general public, this thing would sell like hotcakes, and we’d eventually see the sequel with full-fledged multiplayer.

There was always hope Heavenly Sword would give birth to a sequel that was “bigger and better than ever before.” At least that’s what we thought when we received a batch of new concept art from Ninja Theory. Not only were our hopes dashed, but they’ve now been pummeled into believing there will never be a Heavenly Sword sequel.  Nariko is dead.

Prompted by a barrage of disappointed fans over Ninja Theory’s announcement that their next game is a multiplatform new IP, IT Manager “Peonic” gave them even more bad news:

We’re not abandoning HS just on a whim because we want to go off and do something different – there’s a great huge raft of reasons behind us taking the direction we are – and it’s also the nature of the business that I’m not allowed to share any of those reasons with you

As for the ‘you’re just not doing HS2 NOW’ comments – well one thing you learn in this industry is that you never say ‘Never’. So I’m not going to say we’ll “never” go back and make HS2 – but it’s something I personally see as extremely unlikely.

So there you have it, Ninja Theory have abandoned Heavenly Sword and a sequel is unlikely.  This is most likely due to perceived poor sales, despite recently reaching platinum status.

The following words from Ninja Thoery founder Nina Kristensen, stated before we knew an eventural sequel was unlikely, sheds some light on the decision:

Well, with Kung-Fu Chaos, we worked exclusively with Microsoft; with Heavenly Sword, we worked exclusively with Sony. And it’s really a time for us to go cross-platform, so we ultimately turned it down. As a studio, we feel it’s the right thing to do. It makes things more commercially viable – and as an indie we have to be very commercially aware. It was great to work with Sony and get really intimate with the PS3 hardware; going forwards, that positions us to execute things properly on both PS3 and 360.

Sadly Heavenly Sword 2 can’t be a multiplatform title, since the IP is owned by SCE.  Peonic goes on to hypothise that Sony could take on the series themselves:

As to whether SCE decide to get someone else in to extend the franchise – well that, as the IP owner, would be completely up to them.

We’re sure the game wouldn’t be the same without Ninja Theory, so we’re all set to be blown away by their new IP and will reluctantly forget about the planned Heavenly Sword trilogy.

Source: Ninja Theory Forums, Next-Gen.biz

The co-founder of Maxis, Jeff Braun, has confirmed that a new Oddworld Game is in development, with the team from Oddworld Inhabitants working on it:

They’re such a talented group of people and I really trust their ability to create compelling content.

It was hinted that the next Oddworld might be released via episodic content and could even take years before the game itself ships.

For those who don’t remember Oddworld, the various editions of the franchise introduced characters such as Abe and Munch who had to escape extermination using mind control and farts.

Source: Cordweekly

After two long years since the last Fight Night, Electronic Arts recently announced that EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 is in development at EA Canada.

The game will feature a revamped gameplay engine, all-new physics-based animations and, surprisingly, the appearance of a young Mike Tyson.

“The EA SPORTS Fight Night franchise has always been synonymous with quality and innovation that raised the bar for the sports videogame genre”, said Kevin Wilkinson, Executive Producer, EA SPORTS. “EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 was a platform defining game as the industry transitioned to next generation consoles. EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 will change how boxing games are played and measured in the future.”

Fight Night Round 4 will be available for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in 2009.

Source: EA Press Release

In a recent showing of their popular PC and Xbox 360 zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead, Valve’s Marketing VP Doug Lombardi let the world know that they weren’t developing a PS3 version of the game. However, he did leave hope that the game could be ported to the PS3. 

When asked if EA would be porting the game over to the PS3, much like they did with The Orange Box, Lombardi replied,

Left 4 Dead doesn’t have that guaranteed appeal yet – it’s a new IP. If you mention a new Half-Life, people want to make as many versions of it as possible. If Left 4 Dead is big, then we may see a PS3 version later, or if and when we do a sequel, people may be more interested in that.

Lombardi went on to say,

We’re only 150 people, so there’s only so many things we can do. But it’s one of those things with partners, wanting to take on that investment and risk. I think until L4D is proven, you’ll probably just see what we make in that franchise.

It seems as though much of the concern with developing a PS3 version is the financial risk and Valve doesn’t want to have any part of it. Hopefully, Left 4 Dead does well on the PC and Xbox 360 to allow the possibility for a PS3 port.

Sources: CVG.com and PS3fanboy.com

What’s cooler than the cryogenic freezing chamber they’re going to put Stan Lee in after he dies? Stumbling upon the Konami booth and seeing that the NYC Comic Con gets the US premier of Metal Gear Online. That’s what!

Holy Revolver Ocelot, Batman!

So how did it play Zungre?

Pretty Cool Right from the Get Go.

You begin each round, as well as every time you respawn, with choosing your primary, secondary weapons and explosive items. There are multiple types of grenades and claymores, but you can also choose a magazine in this category. Strange right? I was like, “No I will not choose an issue of Cosmopolitan over 2 grenades, Kojima!” But from what I hear from Patrick is that it’s actually a dirty mag that you can use to distract other players. That’s something you won’t see unlocked when your rank up in Call of Duty 4 multiplayer.

The animation is silky smooth. I especially noticed when I was running up stairs. Very slick. I’m pretty sure his feet touched every step. And the ragdoll physics are well implemented too. Check it out.

Japanese Trickery! Based Gameplay

I should probably call it stealth based game play, but so much has to do with it being tricky. And yes, you can hide in a box! Which I did for a while, but then felt really lame and stopped. There were people watching and I only got to play for a few minutes!

The multiplayer is built on a lot of the same stealth concepts that the Metal Gear Solid franchise stands on. So why would walking around in a box fool anyone? Because there are freaking boxes littered everywhere throughout the multiplayer stages. So every time you approach one you don’t know if it contains a moustached stealth agent or not.

I spent a few clips shooting into a box, wondering, “Why is no one dying?” Because that’s just one of the random environment boxes, you idiot! That’s when Kojima ran up to me and gave me a DDT for being such a moron.

Check out this quick clip of box time.

You can also lie on your stomach, back or slump against a wall and play dead. I didn’t see anybody trying this technique, which is a shame, because I wonder how convincing it looks. I also wonder how long these tricks will be effective. I mean how many times can I fool someone with the dead possum thing? How long before players just start double tapping corpses for safety? And if the tricks only work early on in the multiplayer, how well is a game that is largely based on them going to work?

Controls

There’s an unusual auto-aim mechanic that locks on to your opponents if you see them and press the R1 button. The Konami rep told me that the auto aim is for new players and you can switch to manual if you want. Personally, I found the auto-aim kind of cumbersome and think I would have done better with the traditional target sites.

But you know, I always have a hard time controlling a Metal Gear Solid game at first, especially with Snake Eater. So, of course, there were times where I was trying to reload my gun, and I accidentally disarmed myself, or put myself in the box and it was pretty frustrating. I can’t help but wonder if the inventory bar that pops up that worked so well in MGS single player games, may not work so well in multiplayer. Too many things to keep track of during too many split second decisions.

Lastly, I was KO’d by an opponent’s stun knife, with stars swirling around my head and everything. I was surprised with how long it takes to regain consciousness by moving the left analogue stick back and forth. It felt much longer than regaining your shields in Halo 3 or recovering from a stun grenade in CoD4. It felt like I was out forever, and I got capped before I could regain my bearings. Yikes! That stun knife’s enough to make Dan Landis quiver (Landis doesn’t quiver easily).

The Future

The Konami Rep told me that you will be able to build a character to use in online matches. You determine what he looks like as well as what his battleground specialities are. He also talked about a mode where you can play 1 guy vs. fifteen. This must be the return of the Sneaking Mission we talked about at the begining of the month, a task only old Snake could tackle right?

All in all, it felt like a promising experience and I can’t wait to try out the different stealth tactics I didn’t have an opportunity to try, like hanging down from ledges. I bet popping out of the box to cap someone who’s run past you is a pretty satisfying experience, too. The Beta’s up tonight guys! Go grab your new patch, v1.02, to make sure you’ll be ready to stealth in time.

Mario Kart has dropped in Japan, with modest lines waiting to greet the next iteration of go-cart racing at the Shibuya Bic Camera. Supply didn’t seem to be a problem, with several large boxes still waiting to be emptied once the lines had subsided, which meant that everybody walked away happy.

Mario Kart certainly is a popular franchise, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of game that people will line up for on launch day. So how about you? Will you be waiting in line when it drops in America in a couple weeks?

Many of us have been holding our breath since EA made its initial offer to buy Take-Two, and the company’s comment, stating that they would wait until the release of Grand Theft Auto IV before discussing the offer any further, did very little to ease that sick feeling in our stomachs.

EA, who has been known to tone down the violent content of their games and splurge on in game advertising (as shown above), is set to destroy our beloved Grand Theft Auto franchise. The top secret tech demo showcasing EA’s take on the series is not for the faint of heart.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

How could Take-Two ever let something like this happen? The Grand Theft Auto franchise deserves to go down in history as one of the greatest games ever made — remembered for its controversy, not its excessive in game advertising. The horror!

Ok, you got me, this is an obvious satire piece, however it does offer a potential eerie glimpse into the future. Hopefully this crosses the desk of a few key individuals at Take-Two and makes them think twice before allowing EA to place their thumb print on such a beloved franchise.

Special thanks to Jon over at slashfilm for the Coke video suggestion.