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13 minutes of FarCry 2 footage

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 7th 2007 at 2:00PM }

Taken at the Leipzig Games Convention, this 13-minute video gives a good taste of what FarCry 2 will have to offer. If you don't know yet, FarCry 2 takes place on the African savannah in a giant sandbox environment. Obviously, Ubisoft's Montreal Studio (Crytek is off doing Crysis) don't consider the now-classic Survivor: Africa issue a problem. When the television show Survivor went to Africa something got lost (like beautiful blue water and lush green vegetation) and they never went back to anything similar. FarCry 2 continues the gaming trend of a more brown environmental color palette. It'll be interesting to see how fans react to the new environment.

And before the calls of racism start over a white man going on a shooting rampage in Africa, the people you are shooting appear to be white. At least we think they are, way too much movement in the video to be sure, but a lot of the still images in the gallery below show white people. Although that opens up a whole other set of issues.

The game does look beautiful and is still in a pre-Alpha build. The title is expected next spring on PC. With any luck we'll get some console release projections in the near future. There is also a special introduction announcement for the FarCry 2 footage after the break.

Gallery: Far Cry 2

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Games Convention can't leave Leipzig until 2009 and probably won't

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 3rd 2007 at 10:30AM }

A little more information is coming out about the rumor from early July that the Leipzig Games Convention may be moving in 2008. According to GI.biz, it couldn't even leave until 2009 anyway and would require the permission of the event's organizers -- the Leipziger Messe. The brand is owned by Leipziger Messe, so a change in location or design would require the permission of the organization.

According to a representative from Leipziger Messe, the rumor actually got started because their contract for the convention center expires in '08. They say that contracts are negotiated in terms of years, so they just have to renegotiate their contract for the grounds past '08. Unless there's something that the Leipziger Messe is hiding, it looks like they plan to stay in Leipzig with the Games Convention for years to come -- not like it hasn't been successful.

PlayTV interface makes XMB look outdated

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 29th 2007 at 11:00AM }

Europe's exclusive PVR service, called PlayTV, looks to be a winner. So much so that Americans (like a majority of the PS3 Fanboy team) are jealous of their friends across the Atlantic. If the features and services provided by PlayTV weren't incredible enough, it utilizes a genuinely sexy interface that (dare we say?) looks better than Sony's XMB. Watch this "leaked" footage from Leipzig to see for yourself.

[Via digg]

Leipzig, booth babes, video, nudity, NSFW

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 28th 2007 at 10:44AM }

The picture above is about to get NSFW in one frame ... in just one frame it goes from normal marketing cosplay to borderline furry pron. GameTrailers put together a Girls Gone Wild-esque segment of all the Leipzig booth babe fit for video (which we have placed after the break). We joke, the video is very tastefully done, as tasteful as one can get editing together flesh shots meant to titillate. On some level it's great culture context, for our puritan American eyes, public displays of boobies burns us they do.

Leipzig obviously takes a different approach to displays of the female form than E3. Although it was a moot point this year, the last "real" E3 had a ban on booth babes. We re-emphasize that the video after the break is not safe for work, don't come crying to us if your boss catches you -- although, for all we know, he might be into furries.

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Check out Nintendo's booth at Leipzig

by David Hinkle { Aug 27th 2007 at 6:00PM }

For those of us who weren't able to get ourselves out to Germany and be a part of the Leipzig show, it's nice to get a tour of Nintendo's booth at the show through pictures. And, given what Nintendo said before entering the show, we wonder if their approach worked out for them. Either way, those hammocks look comfy, so we're sure a few tired souls ended up hanging about.

LGC07: Nintendo booth tour reminds us we're not the target audience anymore

by Jem Alexander { Aug 27th 2007 at 5:57PM }

While Microsoft and Sony both held press conferences during the Leipzig Games Convention, Nintendo decided to take a more personal approach and conducted three booth tours during the official 'Business Day'. After all, telling an entire audience that they've been dumped should be done face to face, right? The booth tour served as a way to let us know that, no, we're no longer needed and, yes, we've been traded in for a different audience. An older, more mainstream demographic.

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God of War: Chains of Olympus called best of LGC07

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 27th 2007 at 5:30PM }

The Leipzig Games Convention has come and gone, and the critics agree: God of War: Chains of Olympus is the best PSP game on the show floor. The jury stated "'God of War' elevates the action genre to an art form, including on the PlayStation Portable: where other titles descend into brutish slaughter, God of War lends the battlefield a sombre beauty."

Chains of Olympus should be ready some time next year.

The best PS3 game at Leipzig was a soccer game

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 27th 2007 at 5:30PM }

The Leipzig Games Convention has come and gone, and the critics agree: Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is the best PS3 game on the show floor. What? I guess Sony made a big deal about FIFA for no reason. The jury stated "Football is coming home: the best current football game celebrates its PS3 premiere with diving, wall building and complete online support - including leagues and rankings."

The game is apparently so good that it also won an award for being the best PS2 game at the show. We knew that Germans loved their soccer, but we didn't know that they'd prefer this game over all the other games at Games Conference! A shock victory, perhaps?

LGC07: German journalists, experts pick all-time most influential games

by Ross Miller { Aug 27th 2007 at 4:55PM }

A gathering of German journalists, publishers and "experts" met at this year's Leipzig Games Convention to pick what they felt were the most influential games of all time (via GameSetWatch). Of the reported 150 nominations, 16 titles were ultimately chosen and, of those, four were noted for being most frequently noted.

The four top-honored games are Tetris, Pong, Doom and Pac-Man. Though we agree with much of the list, we're still left feeling some titles were unfortunately overlooked (e.g. E.T., Custer's Revenge). What do you think of the list?

See Also:
10 most important video games of all time, as judged by 2 designers, 2 academics, and 1 lowly blogger

[Image credit: Senechaux]

LGC07: Lair Hands-on impressions

by Jem Alexander { Aug 27th 2007 at 12:15PM }

Ah, Leipzig Games Conference Business Day: a full nine hours of exploring the massive halls of the Leipziger-Messe convention center without a member of the 'Dreaded Public' in sight. We managed to get our hands on a number of games during this time and, after hearing mixed reviews and impressions of Lair, we made that our first priority.

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Do you want to see 25 minutes of Killzone 2?

by Justin McElroy { Aug 27th 2007 at 11:15AM }

Because we can probably hook that up for you. Ah, speak of the devil and up he jumps, here's nearly a half-hour of Killzone 2 footage straight from Leipzig. It's a hot clip, too. Thrill as the action occasionally starts after long periods of stopping! You won't believe how far the camera can zoom in and out!

...OK, so this is admittedly more of a making-of segment, with a developer explaining some of the tools that Guerrila Games has at its disposal to create the game. But if you're starved for Killzone 2 content, we imagine that you're not going to be too picky.

[Via PS3F]

A crystal clear look into Gran Turismo Prologue

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 24th 2007 at 7:30PM }

Can something look too good? That's what we're asking when we look at these brand new screenshots of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Of course the cars look good. But we're taken aback by the detail found in the drivers and the environments. The attention to detail is more than impeccable -- it's scary.

So how does it look when it's in motion? Click past the break to see. Or, watch in glorious HD.

Gallery: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue

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Lean and peek at this new Killzone footage

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 24th 2007 at 4:00PM }

Straight from Leipzig, the developers at Guerrilla demonstrated some of the gameplay features of the highly anticipated PS3 first person shooter, Killzone 2. While the game is mostly known for its graphics technology, gamers should be most curious about the way the game plays. Certainly, is the gameplay as advanced as the way it looks? Watch this new footage to see the cover and aiming system in work in this new video.

LGC07: Spore for consoles ... after PC, DS versions

by James Ransom-Wiley { Aug 24th 2007 at 10:56AM }

During a Leipzig GC closed-door demo of Spore, Maxis reaffirmed plans to develop console versions of the ever-evolving sim game, but stressed that current resources were limited to the PC and DS builds. "Not right now, but we see this as a franchise," Maxis exec Patrick Buechener told Eurogamer when asked about console releases, adding, "It just won't be at launch." So when is launch?

European PSN updates for August 23rd

by Jem Alexander { Aug 24th 2007 at 3:00AM }

Come and get these downloads while they're hot. We're a bit late with this post so they've cooled down a bit, but nevertheless the following still requires your attention. In celebration of the Leipzig Games Convention Sony yesterday released a whole load of new stuff onto the European PSN. The full list is below, but we feel we must begin with a disclaimer; the Folklore demo will only be available until the end of August. Here's the full list of new content:

Folklore demo (free)
Heavenly Sword Anime episode 3 (free)
Heavenly Sword Making-Of episode 3 (free)
3 Warhawk trailers (all free)
PSN Software Showcase video (free)
Heavenly Sword trailer (free)
Snake Ball trailer (free)
PlayStation Eye showcase video (free)
Metal Gear Solid 4 demonstration video (free)
Stranglehold trailer (free)
Unreal Tournament 3 trailer (free)

Reminder (We know how you people like to skip the blurb and jump straight to the list): The Folklore demo will be available only until the end of August. So go get it now!