The Next Level Update 09/06/08

We're here again, slightly late, for the Next Level Update.

GTA IV DLC delayed...No its not....Yes it is

News coming out of Take 2 is that the DLC has been delayed till Q1 2009, which is quite a way off yet. The details, surprisingly, have not been revealed, and also no details of which platform the DLC has been delayed for.

But, Microsoft have released a statement saying that the DLC is still on track for Autumn 2008, claiming it doesn't mean it will be released in 2009.

'The GTA IV episodic content for the Xbox 360 is still on track for release in 2008'

Well that wasn't confusing was it. So, going on that, it looks like any DLC planned for PS3 will have been pushed back, although Take 2 did come out and say it was not down to development issues.

Xbox Live Marketplace is overcrowded

Poor Microsoft, in their attempt to provide tons of content for people to download, they have managed to cram it so full with stuff. that it is impossible to find something on it. Around 17,000 items (no, I didn't count them) are on the marketplace, and its not that the servers are too full, its that the interface simply is not
designed around that much content.

Aaron Greenberg has come out saying he is unhappy with the sheer amount of stuff and the navigation difficulty, and as well as their decision to be taking poorly performing items off XBLM. With no spring update coming out, looks like development is being focused on XBLM.

Tomonobu Itagaki leave Tecmo

Ninja Gaiden creator, Tomonobu Itagaki has left Ninja Gaiden developer, Tecmo, claiming un-paid completion bonuses and is leaving his post on July 1. He filed a complaint to the Tokyo District Court that he was not paid the correct amount and sending a complaint against the president of Tecmo. He has also claimed $1.4 million in damages. Someone clearly is not very happy.

Now Tecmo have replied by claiming that this is all distortions and denied what they have been accused of. Seems not to of done enough though, as Tecmo's shares have fallen sharply following the fact possibly their most valuble employee is leaving, and even after releasing an apology to everyone related to the company, it's not gone down all too well.

Other Stuff

PS3 news

Couple of things on the PS3 front, both the Getaway (oh boo hoo) and 8 days (actually damn) have been canned, whilst it has been revealed that the Bioshock version will have quite a few updates, tweaks when it is re-developed by a mystery developer. Also, in the US, they have a online subscription based show which you download from the PSN called Qore, and possibly will be released in Europe.

Capcom Games

There was a Capcom event, which they showed off Resident Evil 5 (a pumped up version of 4 by the looks of things), Dark Void, Bionic Commando and Street Fighter IV, amongst other things. Bionic Commando even promises online mulitplayer and Resi 5 may be having co-op, have the Japanese got multiplayer!?!


Ubisoft Event

Ubisoft also showed off a few games, like Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and a teaser trailer of Beyond Good And Evil 2. For those who missed the first one, play it, as it was a good game that nobody played.

Wii stuff

The Wii now has a 100 Wii ware in developers, but apparently everyone who wants storage space for all these games are geeks according to the Managing Director of Nintendo of Europe, Laurent Fischer. Thats nice then.