In a recent interview with the LA Times Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister, Janie, about the future of Hendrix’s music in the face of the new album of unreleased material due out later this year, “Valleys of Neptune“.  During the interview she says that a Hendrix version of Rock Band will see the light of day before the end of this year. Before you explode with joy let me slightly deflate your bubble slightly, Joystiq did the legwork and contacted Harmonix to deny or confirm this startling announcement and got this reply:-

“While we have not made any official announcements regarding Jimi Hendrix and Rock Band, we are excited to say that we are in discussions to bring more of his music to our platform. Stay tuned.”

Seems like a no brainer to tie it into the release of the new album on March 9th if you ask me, but I guess we’ll see soon.

Sources: Joystiq & LA Times

Way back at the Eurogamer Expo ‘08 I stumbled across an interesting little game PC being demoed in the Indie Arcade section of the event, Beatnik games ‘Plain Sight’. Since then the game has spent the best part of 2 years going in and out of public betas, not normally a good sign for an indie game, but Beatnik have managed to pull themselves through the dark times and Plain Sight will finally see the light of day on March 22 exclusively on Steam for the very reasonable sum of $9.99.

Playing as your average ninja robot about town, you begin each game with a sword and a quantum of energy. Leaping across each level leaving a bright trail in your wake, you must destroy other ninja robots to steal their energy. As you get more energy you change colour and get bigger, stronger and brighter. This is where the catch comes in! You only get to convert your hard earned energy into game-winning points if you blow yourself up. The more opponents you take out in the explosion, the higher the multiplier, the higher the score!

Key Features:

• 13 multiplayer maps
• Battle up to 20 players
• 5 self-destructive gameplay modes, ‘Deathmatch’, ‘Ninja! Ninja! Ninja! Robozilla’, ‘Lighten Up’, ‘Team Deathmatch/Weakest Clink’ and ‘Capture The Flag’
• In-game power-ups
• 30 different robot upgrades to spend your experience points on
• Perfect your skills against AI ninja robots in the offline practice mode
• Dedicated server software included

See our full screenshot gallery after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Face it people, thanks to the crazy legal mess surrounding the rights to the N64 classic shooter GoldenEye, we’re never going to see it on Xbox Live Arcade. It’s a shame, because it’s a bloody good game, especially in multiplayer.

The good news is that Rare and Microsoft Game Studios have also realised this, and instead of going off for an emo cry they’ve decided on a rather sweet compromise – they’re bringing GoldenEye’s weapons and maps to their upcoming XBLA release of Perfect Dark. So said Microsot Game Studios’ very own Ken Lobb in a recent interview with Kotaku, anyway.

The details are a little vague, as some of the aforementioned GoldenEye goodies were available in Perfect Dark anyway (some renamed weapons and the Facility, Temple and Complex maps), but more GoldenEye can only ever be a good thing. Now if only someone could get those crazy-ass N64 controllers working with the Xbox we could have the full experience.

(via)

Here’s a video showing off some of the insane-o thinking behind Noby Noby Boy’s imminent iPhone release. The 3D eating-things-and-growing-long “game” by Katamari creator Keita Takahashi has proven somewhat popular on the PS3, so let’s hope the transition to the iPhone doesn’t mess everything up (apparently there’s a Katamari game on the iPhone. Did you know? No, because it sucks.)

Two more videos after the break. I’m not sure what’s going on in any of these, but I’m old and boring.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Adventures in Sex City! This educational game tries to teach teenagers about unprotected sex and the dangers of STIs, and features a cast of characters including Captain Condom, Power Pap (wat?), Willy The Kid, and, er, Wonder Vag. Our spunky superheoes have to fight the evil Sperminator and his plan for world domination, which somehow involves infecting everyone with his evil sperm.

Oh, and he also has cocks for arms.

The questions are pretty easy for anyone who isn’t retarded, but try for some “misfires” anyway. It’ll make you feel all warm and fuzzy slimy.

This week sees Harmonix reinforce their promise to bring more genres of music to rock band as we are graced with a 5 track pack from soul legend Otis Redding, including his timeless classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.  That’s about where my knowledge of Mr. Redding’s songs end, but I’m assured that the other songs in the pack are hits too, including “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)”, “I’m Sick Y’all” & “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember”.

Continuing the not-rock theme this week is “Let Forever Be” from British dance legends The Chemical Brothers, Danish popsters Alphabeat with their recent hit “Fascination” and American pop-punksters All Time Low.  Luckily there is one track flying the rock flag, Brian Setzer’s interpretation of his former band, The Stray Cats, greatest hit “Stray Cat Strut”.

The Otis Redding tracks will be available as a bundle for 680/£4.39, but if that much soul doesn’t float your boat then all of this weeks track will be available individually for the usual 160/£0.99 each when they are released on Tuesday via Xbox Live and Thursday on PSN.

Full tracklisting with video links after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember a while back when we announced that the original Red Alert had been officially released for free on the internets? Well, now my absolute favourite game in the C&C series, the highly acclaimed Tiberian Sun, has had the same treatment.

I remember buying this game from an actual shop the day it was released, and I was not disappointed. Now the young’uns (and others unfortunate enough to miss out on it the first time around) can share in my joy and play their part in the NOD vs. GDI ruckus.

Good times. Download your copy here (1.2GB RAR file).

Oh, and did I mention that the Firestorm expansion pack is also included?

In what has been a big day for release dates, Capcom have dropped another on us in the form of their own blue hero Mega Man’s next adventure, Mega Man 10.  Set for a staggered launch, the game will hit its spiritual home first with the WiiWare release launching on March 1st followed by the PSN release on March 11th and finally on XBLA on March 31st, possibly as part of the ‘XBLA Block Party‘ promotion.

Great new additions to Mega Man 10 include the option to play as fan-favorite character Proto Man from the start, as well as an all new “Easy Mode” which will allow more fans to indulge in the challenges that make the series great. Additionally, “Mega Man Challenges” mode will allow players to practice their skills and prepare for the hair-raising adventures ahead of them.

If you can’t wait until March, then pass the time by checking out out massive gallery of Mega Man 10 screenshots after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following the success of their ‘Summer of Arcade’ promotion last year Microsoft have announced their new promotion coming this March at their X10 event, the ‘XBLA Block Party’.  During the promotion we will see the long awaited release of the HD reworking of Rare’s classic FPS Perfect Dark, alongside brand new IP’s in the form of Toy Soldiers and Scrap Metal.

Also part of the block party will be MS’s retro gaming hub for the Xbox 360, Game Room, which sees classic arcade titles such as Asteroids, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Red Baron, Tempest and more with all of their original arcade cabinet artwork make their way to Microsoft’s console with 2 payment structures.  You can either use the pay-per-play setup or purchase the games outright.

See the latest screenshots of Game Room and Toy Soldiers after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

As the long awaited release of Remedy’s psychological action thriller Alan Wake draws closer, Microsoft have taken the time to detail the contents of the collectors edition version of the game, which will come beautifully packaged a linen covered, hardback case designed to resemble a book.  The CE is set to include the following:-

• Game Disc in box with unique art
• Exclusive In-Game Audio Commentary and Hints by Remedy
• “The Alan Wake Files” – a 144 page book that includes a short story written by Alan Wake and compiles the FBI dossiers investigating the events in Bright Falls, WA
• Exclusive Audio Disc with Soundtrack and Score
• Game Add-on token redeemable on Xbox LIVE for the first Alan Wake add-on content pack
• Exclusive Xbox disc with special content: Alan Wake Xbox Live Theme and Alan Wake Avatar for Xbox LIVE

In addition to this it has been confirmed that we’ll be albe to help Alan unravel the mysteries of Bright Falls from May 18th in the US and May 21st in Europe.