The hits keep coming in numbers as nine new tracks will be available in the Rock Band Music Store for the week of November 25, 2008. A three-pack from The Killers and Yngwie Malmsteen as well as two tracks from artist Soundgarden and one track from metal band Lamb of God. The Killers three-pack consists of “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” and “Spaceman.” The three-pack from Yngwie Malmsteen will include tracks “Caprici Di Diablo,” “Damnation Game,” and “Red Devil.” Soundgarden tracks “Jesus Christ Post” and “Pretty Noose” will join “Blackhole Sun” and “Spoonman” already in the Music Store. Lamb of God’s single “Laid to Rest” will also become available.
They are switching up the release dates this time around and making the new DLC available starting November 25, 2008 on Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network. Each individual track can be purchased for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) and the three-packs are priced at $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points) each. All tracks are original master recordings.
Variety reports many ex-employees from Midway say the company’s reliance on the licensed Unreal Engine weakened the struggling publisher/developer.
“The mistake we made was, instead of just taking the base Unreal 3 engine that Gears of War was made on and building games off of that, we let our tech and product development guys try to really modify the engine to add all these different things,” an ex-employee told Variety’s Ben Fritz. “It was a ton of new technology which they just weren’t capable of doing. It put all the games way behind schedule.”
Midway had to alter the UE3 engine, licensed from creator Epic Games, for every project individually, meaning its developers didn’t benefit from having shared resources. Many of Midway’s titles were delayed as a result.
Strapped for cash, Midway was forced to release games like Blacksite: Area 51 before they were ready, leading to very negative reviews and poor sales.
Released on Tuesday, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is Midway’s best hope for significant income during the holiday season. The game has received mostly average reviews so far. Football game Blitz: The League II was released in October to mediocre reviews. Wheelman, based on a Vin Diesel action movie, and open-world game This is Vegas are scheduled for release in early 2009.
Midway posted a $75.9 million loss in its 2008 third quarter. Chairman Shari Redstone resigned and the company laid off some employees from its Chicago studio. Earlier this year, Midway laid off employees from its Austin studio and closed down its Los Angeles one.
Along with Mortal Kombat, Midway’s biggest IPs include Rampage, Gauntlet and the rights to games based on TNA wrestling.
Kotaku has an interesting feature on racism and bigotry, an issue you may have personal experience with in online multiplayer games. Of particular interest are the comments from a psychologist, who offers up some advice on how to deal with those personalities when they rear their ignorant head.
Today, Rockstar announced the first downloadable expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV, titled “The Lost and Damned.” The new content will be available worldwide on February 17th via Xbox Live. Instead of picking up where Niko left off in the original game, players will now take on the role of Johnny Klebitz, a member of the biker gang called The Lost. Also expect new multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles, and music.
In an interview with Forbes, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says third-party publishers still don’t know how to take advantage of the Wii’s success.
“I will be able to say our licensees ‘get it’ when their very best content is on our platform,” he said. “And with very few exceptions today, that’s not the case.”
Fils-Aime told Forbes that while third-party publishers are taking advantage of the Wii’s motion controls in their games, they aren’t making games that satisfy the Wii’s diverse audience. He said Wii players want the same games that are popular on other consoles, but publishers haven’t been bringing them to the Nintendo system.
In the interview, Fils-Aime also said he expects production of Wii consoles will have a “good shot” of meeting demand, while admitting that Wii Fit units will likely sell out. He hinted at future plans for community features on Nintendo systems, as well. “The issue is that we define community differently than our competitors,” he said. “Our consumers do want a sense of community and we’re going to deliver that, but in a way that is unique to Nintendo.”
