Más Halo?

This week at the Tokyo Game Show millions of fans peed their pants in excitement for Bungie's Halo announcement.  They announced a new chapter in the Halo trilogy called Halo 3: Recon.  This game is a prologue to Halo 3 and takes place at the end of Halo 2.  In this Halo game there is a twist; you play as an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper).  These are the guys that are first on the scene in New Mombasa.  Sadly it appears that Master Chief will not be seen as he is in space fighting during this chapter.  It looks cool though and will be gladly accepted by Halo fans everywhere.  Here are some links for more answers and a look at the trailer.

Wii Copycat

Late this fall Microsoft will be releasing an update for their Xbox 360.  This will change the whole interface of the box's menu system.  Along with this new look comes avatars.  These avatars are customizable to look like you (or not).  They are even releasing games where you can use your avatars as players in these games.  Wait... this sounds familiar... oh yeah Nintendo already did that.  Supposedly this will be an improved version of the Nintendo Wii avatars.  Some of the screens Microsoft has released shows that it takes the avatar system one step further and that much cooler.

Midway sells IOU's

This past week Midway sold 40 million dollars worth in account receivables to cover manufacturing costs of some of their upcoming titles. Midway is best known for their Mortal Kombat series. Other classic hits include NBA Jam and NFL Blitz. Midway reported a $34.8 million net loss in its second fiscal quarter -hence the 40 million it needed. Hopefully they won't go anywhere because they have developed some great games; as of recent... not so much. Although things are looking up with their new game entitled Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. It looks awesome!

It knows how you move...

Euphoria is a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being sometimes exaggerated in pathological states as mania. Well NaturalMotion has created that feeling for all to see with their new game engine entitled just that, Euphoria.

With euphoria they have managed to create an artificial computer generated body. This body has a skeleton system, nervous system, muscular system, and a sense of self preservation. All of the computer animations using this engine are generated on the fly. This means none of the bodies reactions and movements were planned out before hand or made using a motion capture system. This is a monumental step forward in computer animation. This engine has already been implemented in two games(Grand Theft Auto IV and The Force Unleashed). NaturalMotion is using their own technology to make their own game, Backbreaker, using the football realm as it's setting. Check out the video below that uses in-game footage only.