The Week In Review: June 25-29

It's been a while since we did this, so forgive me if I'm a bit rusty. However, with the newly relaunched Snackbar Games, we thought it would be as good a time as any to revisit our weekly look back at video game news, gossip, and all around happenings. So without further ado, we present... The Week in Review!

Things aren't going too well for Rockstar games. As we have previously reported, Manhunt 2 was denied an age rating by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the UK, essentially banning the game from sale in that region. Since that initial report, the as yet unreleased game was also banned from sale in Ireland, and was similarly branded with the scarlet AO (Adults Only) rating in the states.

As things went from bad to worse for the studio, Nintendo and Sony quickly responded, stating that they will not allow a game with an AO rating to be released on their consoles, a move that quickly prompted Take Two to suspend the sequel's release until things can be sorted out. We eagerly await what the higher-ups will decide. Will they waste millions of dollars and cancel the project all together, or try to edit the game?

But things were not just doom and gloom for Rockstar this week, with the company unveiling their upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition. The pack will cost a whooping $90, but in return, fan's will net a duffel bag, a customized GTA branded metal safety deposit box, a keychain (for box's keys), an art book, a soundtrack CD, and of course the game. The Special Edition will be available for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Staying with GTA IV, Rockstar has also released the second trailer for the game, and two new screens, all of which can be seen on the game's official website. The game is looking great.

Elsewhere, officials from Nintendo announced that the company plans to release downloadable games for the Wii, in a fashion seemingly not all that different from Xbox Live Arcade of the PlayStation Network. The upcoming service, called WiiWare in the US and Wii Software in Europe, is described as a "game-creation service" that will allow developers both large and small to create "smaller, more creative games" and content for sale through the console's Wii Shop Channel. This feature is expected to launch in early 2008. A few major questions remain: Where will the games be stored? Will Nintendo release a hard drive to be able to store these games? If yes, for how much? With E3 just days away, anticipation for answers to these questions and more is mounting.

Starcraft Ghost? Maybe. Rob Pardo, the studio's lead designer, commented during this week's Hollywood and Games Summit that it is entirely possible that one day Starcraft Ghost will be released, but right now, Blizzard's developers are focusing on other projects, like Starcraft 2.

EA has released the demo for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which can had here. The full game landed on just about every platform imaginable this week, while the movie will hit theaters on July 11.

Soul Calibur 4, thus far only shown via a teaser trailer, will be playable online! To add to the excitement of many, players will be able to choose to play using their own custom characters while playing online. The bad news is those same players will have to wait until the game is released, which I'm sorry to say won't happen until sometime in 2008.

And while not strictly game related, it begs to be mentioned that iPhone is out today. Unless you absolutely ignored everything tech related, or became a hermit, you can learn all about the high-tech gadget from Apple's website. Fear not, as 10 million units have been shipped worldwide, so chances are the device will be much easier to find than a Wii.

That's it for the biggest highlights of this week. See you same time, same place in 7 days!

Jun 29, 2007 - 10:14 am | 2 comments
Mate Bors