Frozen Codebase, the developer for the previously in-production Metalocalypse video game, has confirmed that the game is no more. The studio’s founder, Ben Geisler, shared in a phone call with Gamasutra that they had been developing the game for Konami, and that Konami no longer holds the license for the game.

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In an attempt to put a stop to rampant piracy, Lodndon’s High Court has ruled that the sale of R4 cards and similar products is illegal in the UK. The ruling was made against a supplier of electronic devices to the UK, Playables Ltd, who argued that the device allows users to “play homebrew software”. They also argued that the device is readily available online for as little as £10 ($15). The court disagreed saying the device must circumvent Nintendo’s security system in order for the R4 card to function.

According to gamesindustry.biz Nintendo has said that over 100,000 copying devices have been seized since 2009. I’ve spoken to someone who lives in the UK and he told me that R4 cards could be bought in a store and they would even give you instructions on how to find the Nintendo DS games and the software required for the card to work. The devices bought online would do the same and could be bought in bulk. This is obviously a huge win for Nintendo and they are coming off another big win last week in the Hague District Court against 11 retailers accused of selling piracy hardware. Will this put an end to piracy in the UK, probably not, but it’s a great start.

[Source: gameindustry.biz]

Electronic Arts and the English Premier League announced today that EA Sports has become the Official Sports Technology Partner of the Premiership. The new partnership allows EA Sports to expand on its current interaction with fans of the English Barclays Premier League by offering enhanced experiences and greater authenticity within FIFA games. The EA Sports logo will be featured on all live on-screen broadcasts of EPL matches and EA will work with broadcasters to develop match day broadcast analysis. EA will also be working on a new Player Performance Index that will bring more in depth analysis of EPL player’s statistics for “future iterations” of FIFA titles.

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For years now California has been trying to uphold a bill signed into law that would make it illegal to sell or rent “violent video games” to children, and for years judges have struck down the law stating it was unconstitutional. This week, in a final attempt to uphold the law (which is currently before the Supreme Court) Attorney General Jerry Brown has submitted the State’s written arguments on the case to prevent the sale of violent games to minors. The brief submitted to the Supreme Court reiterated the arguments made by supporters of the bill, stating the effects that violent video games have on children and that those games shouldn’t be treated any different than pornography. This is the first time the Supreme Court will be hearing a case involving violent video games.

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With E3 2010 in the books it’s now time for the Game Critics Awards to be handed out. So how does the GCA work? The nominations are given and voted on by a group of game journalists from 31 different mainstream outlets which include Wired, GameSpot and USA Today. For this years awards there weren’t too many surprises but one award, Best of Show, which normally goes to a game this year went to the Nintendo 3DS. Other notable winners include Rage for Best Action and Console Game, and EA who had the best showing for a publisher with 4 titles winning awards. Check out the complete list of winners from this year’s E3, winners are highlighted in bold.

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Earlier today, USA Today reported that Microsoft’s Project Natal is now known as Kinect. Kinect will be Microsoft’s answer the Playstation Move and Nintendo Wii and will be bringing their own set of motion-controlled games within the year. The USA Today article mentioned that the Xbox 360 controller can be intimidating to some, and thus Kinect will be targeted at a more casual demographic.

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TellTale seems to be on a roll: they’ve followed up last year’s stellar Tales of Monkey Island with the currently running Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, but they’re only just getting started. The end of this week left us adventure fans with plenty to get excited about, as the developer released a glimpse at what you can expect over the next few months.

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With E3 fast approaching, and details about the mysterious new Nintendo handheld still scarce, this bit of news sheds just a little bit of curious light on the new platform. Apparently, Nintendo of Japan has trademarked the terms “3DS,” “3DSPlay,” and “3DSWare.” This all seems to fit into line with the existing DSiWare, WiiWare, and so on. But didn’t Nintendo recently denounce the system would be called the 3DS when it finally came out? Perhaps this is just to protect the brand and prevent anyone else from releasing a 3DS named device.

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This was announced a few days ago, but apparently flew under a few radars. According to a recent press release, Activision’s internal estimates place Modern Warfare 2’s retail sales numbers at over 1 billion dollars. Normally this amount of money would be reserved for movie cliches and 10-12 of the richest people in the world, but now it can become synonymous with video games. Whether you love or hate Modern Warfare 2, or love or hate Activition, you can’t deny the potential for positive impact about something gaming-wise becoming so widespread.

According to our favorite quotable CEO Bobby Kotick, “There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark, which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game.” Right!

The game raked in $550 million in its first week, and it’s only been out for a couple months. I personally know several people who bought copies for multiple systems. It’s a phenomenon and a juggernaut and who will rise up to stop its monstrous growth? Who, I ask you? Who! I’m curious how well Blizzard can match these figures with their monthly fees for Warcraft and the five year consistency of that franchise. Given that they’re part of the same company these days, I have a nagging fear that Activision will just take over the entire industry soon. If anyone out there is starting up a resistance, let us here at Spawn Kill know about it. We’re all about the revolution. By the way, does anyone else think Activision should be paying the world military organizations some kind of royalty bonus? Methinks we could keep quite a few troops in Modern Warfare 2 quality gear with just a fraction of these profits…

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Apparently Assassin’s Creed 2 is doing even better than anyone anticipated, and better than most games can ever hope. Ubisoft released their fiscal report today and are claiming over 6 million units sold worldwide. I can only assume these numbers are a direct result of my review.

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Sega has been doing a bit of research on mature titles for Nintendo’s Wii. Sega reported low numbers for House of the Dead: Overkill and the thoroughly-publicized MadWorld, both geared towards older gamers on the Nintendo console. What has apparently has caught their attention and concern, however, is the low sales figure for EA’s Dead Space Extraction.

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Bethesda’s preliminary injunction against Interplay (the developer behind the original Fallout titles) was recently shot down by a U.S. District Court. Bethesda was suing Interplay over their Fallout 3 Trilogy, which Bethesda claims infringes on the agreement they made when the purchased the rights to the Fallout series.

A Bethesda Software PR and Marketing Representative was quoted in an e-mail to Gamasutra (who printed the original story) as saying:

The court has declined to decide the issues at a preliminary hearing, and determined that the parties should maintain the current status quo pending a trial of the case in 2010

Bethesda is seeking to deny the right for Interplay to release any versions of the previous Fallout games as well as their right to finish the work-in-progress Fallout MMO.

Stay tuned to Spawn Kill for all future details on this situation.

[Source: Gamasutra]

After a lengthy legal showdown, Bethesda’s (the developer and publisher for Fallout 3) motion for an injunction against Interplay (the publisher of the original Fallout titles) has been denied by a U.S. District Court. The court ruling allows Interplay to keep selling the Fallout Trilogy package, as well as continue work on the Fallout MMO. So far as why the court reached this decision, the details are unclear.

Bethesda had filed the suit against Interplay due to an Interplay release of the Fallout Trilogy, packing together Interplay’s Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics. Bethesda had purchased the rights to Fallout from Interplay, and in writing Interplay had agreed to have Bethesda approve any marketing materials for their previous games (as well as the Fallout MMO they were contracted for, which is another legal issue) before release. Interplay did not seek approval from Bethesda for the Fallout Trilogy, and Bethesda claims that this package will confuse consumers into thinking it contains Fallout 3, and thus cause harm.

[Source: Duck and Cover forum]

Today, in what seems more like the announcement of an award show line-up than a video game cast, Bioware and EA revealed the talent they have voicing the characters in Mass Effect 2. So who exactly do we have to look forward to hearing this time around?

Voicing the leader of Cerebus, the secretive paramilitary organization many will remember from the first game, and going by the moniker the Illusive Man, is none other than Martin Sheen, ex-leader of the free world on “The West Wing.” Joining him will be “Chuck” star Yvonne Strahovski as Cerebus operative Miranda Lawson, as well as her co-star and former “Firefly” crew member Adam Baldwin who will be voicing Kal ‘Reegar. Cylon Tricia Helfer will be playing EDI, the voice of the Normady, and Carrie-Anne Moss of Matrix fame will be playing Aria T’Loak, a crime lord who rules the planet Omega. Returning from the first Mass Effect will be Seth Green as Joker and Keith David as Admiral David Anderson, and rounding out the cast will be Shohreh Aghdashloo as Admiral Shala’Raan vas Tonbay, Michael Hogan as Captain Bailey, and our favorite Klingon Michael Dorn as Gatatog Uvenk.

While it’s not odd to have a few celebrities in a game, a cast this massive is sure to make Mass Effect 2 live up to the hype of becoming the first blockbuster of 2010. I like having professionals voicing characters in games because more often than not they actually know how to act and it comes through in their vocal work. Available on January 26, 2026 in North America and a few days later on the 29th in Europe, Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be one of the first must buy games of the new year.

The talented composer Akira Yamaoka has left Konami after working on their various soundtracks for sixteen years. Yamaoka was best known for his work on the Silent Hill series, both the internally-developed titles and those handled outside of Konami’s studios. Yamaoka also released an album of some of his original recordings shortly after working on the Silent Hill movie.

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