With the release of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue set to drop next week in PAL territories, Eurogamer is reporting that pre-orders of the latest game in the series are pushing nearly 1 million in Europe.
According to the article, it is the first time that a PS3 title has racked up more than 1 million sales, all but certifying that the game will reach "platinum" status before it is even released. Eurogamer also has a review posted for Prologue giving the game a respectable "8 out of 10".
As much as I am a fan of the series, I am not looking forward to Prologue as it's basically just an extended demo which you have to pay for. Knowing that the game has already reached 1 million pre-orders is both staggering and disappointing.
Lets see if SCEA can pull of those numbers before the game hits the states April 17th.
According to an article over at Next Gen, K&L has sold more than a million copies worldwide since its release back in November, all but assuring a sequel will be made.
Even though the controversy surrounding K&L was immense, SCi Entertainment (along with subsidiary Edios) went on to tout that the sales of the game have exceeded those of Hitman: Blood Money, released in 2006. They anticipate sales of K&L to continue to grow, and expect the game to become another "key franchise" of the group.
A key franchise to Edios must mean a game with an ass load of controversy, great story, and mediocre gameplay.
Over the weekend, in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, an argument over an Xbox 360 is believed to have led to a son to ask his father to shoot him in which the father, being the total dick that he is, complied to do so.
James Stanley Niedosik, 60, got into a heated argument with his 17 year old son when the young man wanted to show his father the 360 and the father declined to take a gander. During the dispute, the son pulled a Darwinian move and handed his father a rifle and asked to shoot him. Being the father of the year that he is, Niedosik pulled the trigger and fired a .22 caliber bullet into his son's head. The bullet was lodged in the boy's skull (behind the ear), but is expected to survive. He is now being treated at a near-by hospital.
Niedosik was later arrested on numerous charges including: aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child. He is now in Monroe County Prison on $250,000 bail.
While games may not be the general cause of this crime, I do believe that the father was pretty pissed off at his son for constantly cooking his grenades during their Call of Duty 4 matches.
Gravity Interactive (Ragnarok Online) announced that they are bringing an MMOG, titled Requiem: Bloodymare, stateside in early 2008.
From the press release:
"Using the Havok engine, Requiem: Bloodymare brings to life a visually stunning realm where fallout from generations of scientific and mystical warfare has polluted the natural world and given birth to horribly mutated monsters. The battles between players and these grotesque creatures are rendered with intense sequences of bloody and gory graphics."
Requiem: Bloodymare also brings several game mechanics that set it apart from the rest of the MMO market. The time of day will be an extremely important factor for players under the Nightmare System with incredibly powerful creatures awakening to terrorize the world at night. To defeat these challenges players will be able to draw upon the DNA System and the Beast Possession System. Players will use genetic engineering to modify their DNA to obtain characteristics and abilities nature never intended. The mystic arts will enable players to possess and transform into different bestial beings with extraordinary abilities.
A web site is also available which shows a teaser video for the upcoming horror MMOG, which can be found here.
While it does sound like the usual standard MMORPG fair, this game has peaked my interest as the background is pretty dark and disturbing. Here's hoping that it comes together to make a great game.
3000AD is reporting that Universal Combat, the brain child of Derek Smart, is now officially freeware as of January 2nd, 2008.
From 3000AD:
"As announced late last year, Dreamcatcher's five year rights to two of our legacy games, Battlecruiser Millennium Gold (2003) and Universal Combat (2003) expired on 12/18/07. As such, we had advised the publisher to initiate a DIF (Destroy In Field) order to its various retailers so that the games can no longer be sold. The new Dreamcatcher management (under the new Jowood owners) have complied accordingly as best we can tell.
In case you were wondering; yes, the games were still selling and generating royalty income as per the [unpaid] quarterly royalty statements from the publisher. Those [two year] accumulated and unpaid income earnings will be written off as a bad debt loss in our 2007 tax filings once we receive the Q4/07 statements which are due around the end of January '08.
That said, in keeping with the tradition of releasing my legacy games for free, I have repackaged the single player Universal Combat game and released it into the wild as freeware. Once again, our freeware game is released with no advertising, no nag screens, no expiration date, nothing. Just the full (and patched) single player game as was commercially released in Feb 2004, but with fewer music tracks (the game FAQ shows how players can add their own MP3 tracks) and no multiplayer.
The only condition under which our freeware games are released is that they not be sold under any circumstances, nor bundled as part of any commercial media (e.g. magazine cover discs) without my expressed written permission."
For those who don't remember (or never even heard of) UC, it is a hybrid space shooter and flight simulator. Basically, think Colony Wars meets Microsoft Flight Simulator. Those of us fond of the game also remember the phone book of a manual and how much of a pain in the ass it took to travel from one place to another.
Ellis Emsley may look like your typical innocent 4-year-old boy, but underneath the cuteness lies the black heart of a true video gamer. Tired of his older brother, 6-year-old Danny, constantly hogging the family's Wii console, Ellis did what every video gamer did when denied his precious video games: he got revenge, and pissed all over the Wii console. Yes, he dropped trou' and unleashed the yellow fury all over his Wii.
From the story:
Their mother Kerry, 25, said: 'It seems Ellis got fed up with Danny being obsessed with the Wii and refusing to play with him."'Danny was speechless with rage, Ellis knew he had done something wrong and went and hid under his bed.' The £250 console was bought for Christmas following months of searching by the boys' father, Darren, 33.
The family from Fleetwood, Lancashire, are now keeping their fingers crossed that the 'accident' will be covered by their home insurance.
'It must surely be counted as a leak,' Mr Emsley said."
Horrible puns aside, what Ellis did has to be the greatest video game related revenge story ever. I mean if I was pushed around and was constantly held back from playing my favorite console, I know the best course of action would be to pee all over it.
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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