IGN's Madden NFL 09' Preview

Nate Ahearn at IGN writes:

"Every single year Madden Football is one of the most celebrated and scrutinized releases on the calendar. It's beloved and hated for the same reason: it's the only professional football title available on today's market. There are those that say that it's simply a roster update from year to year, and then there are those that say, "It's a football game, what more do you want?" Regardless, with the announcement of the "retired" Brett Favre as the cover athlete for this year's (the 20th anniversary for the series) game, the hype train for Madden NFL 09' began to chug this weekend in New York City with a slew of pre-draft festivities, interviews, and celebrity sightings. We were on-hand to soak it all in and pry as many details out of liquored up EA developers as we possibly could".

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simExchange Got Their Numbers Wrong

NPD Group had published their sales number for video game consoles. But it seems that they have made a little mistake, the total hardware sales for the month is not 1,799,000, it is 2,149,900.

NPD February Sales:

• US Hardware in February 2008

  Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  Nintendo DS	587,600	427,300	+37.75%
  Nintendo Wii	432,000	400,700	+7.81%
  PlayStation 2	351,800	--	--
  PLAYSTATION 3	280,800	269,900	+4.04%
  Xbox 360	254,600	249,200	+2.17%
  PlayStation Portable	243,100	255,000	-4.67%
  Total Hardware Units	1,799,000	1,602,100	+12.29%

NPD Numbers

Game Informer April Issue Info, Reviews and more

Alpha Protocol

(1 player action/RPG)

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Publisher: Sega
Release: Spring 2009

"A modern day espionage focused action/RPG that takes you on a suspenseful ride in the vein of James Bond, Jack Bauer, and Jason Bourne. Take a wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn agent up through the ranks to become a bona-fide super spy."

-Main character is Michael Thorton, a fully trained but inexperienced young operative who has the world turned upside down when a mission goes wrong.

-Title "Alpha Protocol" is a phrase that is used when operatives go underground to work off the grid. Usually reserved for senior agents.

-Battle system is similar to Mass Effect but have more in common with Uncharted. It revolves around real time combat with an emphasis on gun play and high tech gadgets.

-Third person perspective, action orientated gameplay

-Close quarters combat can be a last resort or primary method of fighting depending on how you spend skill points you have earned.

-Skill system is based most closely on Fallout. It's classless, you have 10 skills and 10 ranks in each skill. Skills don't simply improve things like accuracy, they improve the way your character will perceive situations.

-The game will suit all play styles from the run and gunner to the stealth assassin.

-Extremely in depth dialog system that is a mix of Mass Effect and Indigo Prophecy. Once conversations happen, that's it, no revisiting the NPC to try to talk again and again. System is named the Dialog Stance System. You dictate your characters tone in a conversation by pressing a corresponding face button. Options can be cool and suave others can be brash/impatient.

-You can have multiple active missions in different countries and travel freely between them.

-Lots of girls and romance subplots. You'll meet tons of different girls on missions and yes you can bag them all.

-Current control scheme for selecting powers and weapons is similar to Bioshock.



Other items of interest in the April Issue

Guitar Hero Aerosmith

Final Fantasy A2: Grimoire of the RIft confirmed for release in NA this summer
PREVIEWS:

Saint's Row 2
Prototype
GTA4
The Bourne Conspiracy
Battle of the Bands
This is Vegas
Spore
Stargate Worlds
The World Ends With You
Boom Blox
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Incredible Hulk

REVIEWS: (SO = Second Opinion)

Rainbow Six Vegas 2: 9.25 (SO: 9.5)
Army of Two: 7.5 (SO: 6.75)
MLB 2K8: 8.5 (SO: 8)
Condemned 2: Bloodshot: 8.75 (SO: 8.75)
Frontlines: Fuel of War: 7.25 (SO: 7.75)
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty: 3 (SO: 3.5)
Conflict: Denied Ops: 5.75 (SO: 6)
Bully SE: 8.5 (SO: 8.5)
Lost: Via Domus: 6.75 (SO: 7.25)
Twisted Metal: Head On Extra Twisted Edition: 7.25 (SO: 8)
Lost Odyssey: 8.5 (SO: 8.75)
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements: 8 (SO: 8.25)
Sins of a Solar Empire (PC GOTM): 9 (SO: 9)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (GOTM): 9.5 (SO: 9.5)
Opoona: 5.5 (SO: 5)
Final Fantasy VII CC: 7.25 (SO: 7)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village: 7.5 (SO: 8.75)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: RoF: 6 (SO: 7)
Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles: 6 (SO: 5)

Loose Talk:

Xbox Live 2.0?

Talks about the recent job posting for a program manager.

Bionic Terminator.

Rumored that next gen Bionic Commando developer Grin is getting started on the next Terminator video game project.

What Else is EA Planning? A Console?

Speculates that EA may enter the console arena in 2010. They're waiting to see if PS3 sales pick up first.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Information from PTOM April 2008

The latest issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine (April edition) has a cover feature for LucasArts' upcoming game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Here is the information:

• Controls
• Force Jump - X
  
• Force Push - O
• Lightsaber - Square
• Force Grip - R2
• Game uses 3 physics engines (Euphoria engine, Havok engine, and DMM engine).
• Timed button presses do more damage than button mashing.
• Takes place between Episode 3 and 4.
• Huge plot twists for the entire series.
• Camera follows enemy bodies when spectacular moves are done.
• Force powers take more force the stronger they are but are usable with any amount for desperate attacks.
• You can grab flying TIE fighters and toss them into stormtroopers.
• Blocking lasers is automatic, but pressing L2 increases chance of blocking and reflecting.
• After completing missions you get points to upgrade powers and unlock new combos and skills.
• Force talents are separate and are used to upgrade health, energy, deflection chance, and lightsaber damage.
• Exploration is encouraged by finding holocrons. Sith holocrons, grant powerups, and Jedi holocrons unlock new costumes, lightsaber hilts, and crystals.
• Enemies can grab onto things like railings to stop your force grip.

Ripten Reviews Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ripten writes: "Ask anybody who had a hand in developing the original Super Smash Brothers for the N64 back in 1999, and they would have told you that they thought that the quirky brawler was destined for the bargain bin. Who knew that a game featuring a battle to the death between all of Nintendo’s famed mascots would become such a sensation? Nintendo fans, that’s who.

And make no mistake, Brawl is a phenomenon. Nintendo has done a masterful job of stoking anticipation for the sequel to the bestselling GameCube game of all time, and it’s backed up the hype with a bona fide system seller. Super Smash Brothers Brawl’s addictive mix of nostalgia, platforming and multiplayer party action is the kind of game that can keep Nintendo fans going for months, if not years".

Score 9.5 out of 10

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