Rubicon Games

Archive for February, 2008

The World of Warcraft has just got its ultimate battle. Blizzard has announced a series of upcoming worldwide tournaments wherein WoW player v. player contingents will have the chance to beat each other with characters that have been designed specially for a share of cash prizes amounting to more than $ 200,000.

The tournaments are scheduled to begin in April and will pit players against each other using only their wits and level 70 characters that have been specially created and equipped with the finest possible gear and “placing the focus on tactics and execution rather than normal adventuring.” Each region around the world has its own buy-in fee which is reasonable and definitely low enough to ensure a large turnout of gamers in the tournament. According to Mike Morhaime, Blizzard CEO the tournament aims at expanding World of Warcraft’s tournament options to players who prefer to focus on the competitive aspect of the game.

Since the biggest complaint that Blizzard has received about World of Warcraft is the lack of Player v. Player options, this is probably an effort on the part of the company to appease the very vociferous minority which prefers PvP. Though cash tournaments cannot replace the demand and fan following that PvP gameplay systems in games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online command, luring them with money is perhaps the only way of silencing the disgruntled masses.

For the time being it seems that the stage is set for the World of Warcraft to take over gaming all over the world and bring the WoW frenzy to never before reached heights.

There were a lot of doubts in between that Mario Kart Wii wasn’t going to meet its release date this spring. Rest assured, Nintendo has now added the game’s box art to its press assets site. This is probably as firm an indication as possible that Mario Kart Wii is indeed coming out- and its coming out sooner rather than later.

The question on everybody’s mind now is whether the game will be playable at the GDC 2008. That possibility seems kind of far off now since Nintendo seems to be backing Wii Ware, Smash Bros. and Wii Fit. So Mario Kart Wii doesn’t seem to be making that list right now.

The box seems right up with what one has come to expect from Wii. It looks like another part of the Wii Sports brand and Kart is after all one of Nintendo’s biggest hits. So I’m expecting a lot from this particular release.

The game which was officially announced at the E3 2007 Media and Business Summit has had a lot of questions raised about its release. The game will support the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service and will also support an online racing mode where players will be able to head to head with each other. There will also be online leagues and rankings.

In a move to expand gameplay the game will also involve motorcycles in addition to karts and players can choose either. The game also has new inclusions like performing tricks in the air, 10 new battle stages and 16 brand new tracks which are a remake of 16 older tracks.

The game which seems jam packed with features will now finally meet its April, 2008 release date as originally promised, something which will have many gaming enthusiasts waiting to try it out.

A game built around the legendary rock band Aerosmith has just been announced for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii. The game will feature all five members of the band namely Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer and is set to release somewhere in June of 2008.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a music rhythm game and allows players to take the place of Perry and Whitford on the guitar and Hamilton on the bass as they join Tyler and the drummer Kramer and belt out the band’s smash hit songs. The game will trace the growth of the band from the time they played small gigs to their meteoric rise which settled them as part of rock’s royalty.

The game is being developed by Neversoft for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, by Budcat for PS2 and the Wii version is being developed by Vicarious Visions.  Players get to hear Aerosmith’s greatest hits as well as songs from other musicians whom the band has either performed with or been inspired by. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the first game to be made around the band and is a great deal for both the band as well Activision which stands to gain from this collaboration with the band which has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide.

To further promote this tie up, Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock players will also get to download and rock to “Dream On”, the band’s 1973 ballad. It will be available free of cost at the Xbox live marketplace for Xbox 360 owners and at the PlayStation Store for the PS3.

This deal could potentially help bring the record industry back in business as record companies are struggling to keep up with the changing music scene. This sort of exposure to music could help improve sales again.