Toki Tori developer Two Tribes intends to have Toki Tori 2 launch as one of the first downloadable games for Wii U.

The original – a colourful 2D platform adventure – was one of the first games out for Wii’s online store, WiiWare, and the developer hopes to replicate this with the sequel – which could feature a level editor.In a revealing blog post, TT says its decision was encouraged by Nintendo’s newfound focus on improving its online strategy.

“Nintendo recently released information on their online strategy, which sounds much more robust than before. The 3DS eShop has been a big step in the right direction compared to the Wii and DSi online shops, and it would be strange if they did not at least match it’s functionality on Wii U. Since Toki Tori 2 is designed to be a downloadable title, these things are vital to making the correct choice of which platforms to develop for,” said TT.

Pondering features for the game, the post continues: “We would definitely include playing on the Wii U controller directly without the need for a TV. Toki Tori 2 has been designed with minimal use for a graphical user interface, so the game should be perfectly playable on the controller’s smaller widescreen display. As for the motion controls, we don’t think Toki Tori needs those and adding them to the game as it is currently designed does not make much sense.”

More excitingly, it says: “What could be very interesting, and what’s been requested countless times from the fans, is if we could incorporate a level editor utilizing the Wii U controller. This could mean that the game runs on the TV while you make adjustments to the level on the touchscreen in real time. We think that would work really well!”

So do we. But Nintendo need to talk more about Wii U before the developer is willing to confirm it. “this is pure speculation at this point, since there is nothing known about the Wii U’s ability to share and store levels at this point. In any case, we are excited and will do everything in our power to make sure you get to play Toki Tori 2 on Wii U!”

Sweet. Above is an image the dev says shows what the game might look like on Wii U.

Source: CVG

Top sellers Battlefield 3, Batman and the highly anticipated Skyrim have been shortlisted for the BAFTA Game Awards.

It is the UK’s only publicly-voted award at the British Academy Video Game Awards.

A panel of industry experts, who remain unnamed, scratched their chins and thought up this shortlist themselves.

• Batman: Arkham City
• Battlefield 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• FIFA 12
• L.A. Noire
• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Minecraft
• Portal 2
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Cast your vote at BAFTAGAMEAWARD.com. The winner will be named at a ceremony on 16th March.

Source: Eurogamer

More from the talkative Destination PlayStation event – this time concerning True Crime.

According to a tweet by Future Shop Gamer, which attended the event, Square Enix has revealed Sleeping Dogs, due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in August.

Future Shop also published an image, which looks a lot like True Crime: Hong Kong, the game Square Enix picked up after Activision ditched it halfway through development.

Sleeping Dogs is made by Vancouver-based developer United Front Games. Square Enix London Studios is supervising – the same office that looked after Batman: Arkham Asylum and Just Cause 2.

The publisher did not buy the rights to the brand IP, so always had to rename the game before release.

“When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it,” Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton said last year.

“When we met the team at United Front Games it was a done deal in our eyes – we instantly recognised the huge potential in the game and the team.

“UFG is an incredibly talented team, who have individually worked on some of the biggest games in our industry, and this talent shines through from the moment you walk in the door.

“It’s one of those games where you don’t want to put the controller down; it’s what we call ‘sticky’.”

Back in February 2011 Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg had this to say about the just-canned project:

“Even our most optimistic internal projections show that continued investment was not going to lead to a title at, or near, the top of the competitive open world genre.

“In an industry where only the best games in each category are flourishing, to be blunt, it just wasn’t going to be good enough.”

Source: Eurogamer

Killzone 1 for PlayStation 3 has been “delayed indefinitely,” Guerrilla Games has announced.

“With regards to KZ1 for PS3, not sure what happened but I’ve been informed that it’s been delayed indefinitely,” read a post on the official Killzone Twitter account.

Then: “I have no further info about KZ1 for PS3, save for the fact that it’s delayed indefinitely. If I learn anything else, I’ll tweet it here.”

The first entry in Guerrilla Games’s Killzone FPS franchise was supposed to launch on PlayStation Network in the US on 24th January, although a European release was not confirmed.

It was expected to be the PlayStation 2 original ported over wholesale rather than a remake.

Source: Eurogamer

A generous range of Square Enix games and goodies are now available at a discount from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

If you’ve yet to try it, Lara Croft and her excellent 9/10 Xbox Live Arcade adventure Guardian of Light should be top of your menu.

Lara comes 50 per cent off – a cheap Valentines date for yourself at the price of 600 Points (about a fiver), instead of the usual 1200.

Full games Just Cause 2 and Tomb Raider: Underworld are also half price via the Xbox Games on Demand service while Deus Ex: Human Revolution add-on Missing Link is also 50 per cent off.

You can even get a Lara Croft T-Rex avatar pet (now a third off).

The deals, listed in full below, last until next Tuesday, 14th February.

Full Games

• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light – 50% off
• Puzzle Arcade – 50% off
• Battlestations: Pacific – 25% off off
• Just Cause 2 – 25% off
• Tomb Raider: Underworld – 25% off

Add-ons

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Explosive Mission Pack – 42% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Tactical Enhancement Pack – 50% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution Missing Link – 50% off
• Just Cause 2: Black Market “Boom” Pack – 50% off
• Just Cause 2: Black Market “Ariel Pack – 50% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: All The Trappings Pack #1 – 50% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Hazardous Reunion Pack #3 – 50% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Raziel & Kain Character Pack – 50% off
• Tomb Raider: Legend – Anniversary Episodes 1 & 2 – 50% off
• Tomb Raider: Legend – Anniversary Episodes 3 & 4 – 50% off
• Tomb Raider: Underworld Beneath the Ashes – 50% off
• Tomb Raider: Underworld: Lara’s Shadow – 50% off

Themes and Avatars

• Tomb Raider: Underworld Premium theme – 36% off
• Tomb Raider: Underworld Premium theme 2 – 36% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Adam Jenson Coat F Avatar – 30% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Adam Jenson Coat M Avatar – 30% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Combat Outfit F Avatar – 30% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Combat Outfit M Avatar – 30% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Box Guard Avatar – 31% off
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: VTOL Avatar – 31% off
• Deus Ex: Human revolution Missing Link Premium Theme – 33% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Trex Pet Avatar – 33% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Shaman Costume M Avatar – 31% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Lara Classic Costume F Avatar – 33% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Lava Tomb Premium Theme – 33% off

Source: Eurogamer

The title True Crime: Hong Kong, which was held by publisher Activision has been renamed ‘Sleeping Dogs’ and picked up by a new publisher, Square Enix.

According to retailer Future Shop (via Sixth Axis), which tweeted (and then removed) an image of the logo that had an August 2012 release date, supposedly from a Destination PlayStation event in the US. The Sleeping Dogs trademark, was in fact picked up last month by Square Enix, which many mistakenly associated with a new Kane & Lynch game.

The last True Crime game was a multiformat title, so I would hope this one is coming to PC, 360, PS3 and maybe even Wii U or Vita given they have both should have enough power for a direct port of the game.

“True Crime: Hong Kong was playable from start to finish and virtually complete in terms of content before Activision canned it.” United Front Games told CVG recently. If it’s true and it all holds down for an August release, best bet would be to keep your eyes open for it at this years E3 in June.

Source: CVG

As we all know last Tuesday was the official release date for AMDs 7950 graphics cards. We’ve already taken a look at one of the offerings from XFX, but now its Sapphires turn to take centre stage and show us what they can do to spice up the reference design to their tastes.

The 7950 that Sapphire have sent us to tinker with is their Radeon HD 7950 Overclocked Edition. Fresh out of the Sapphire factories, we see this card launched with a 100Mhz overclock on the GPU core, giving it the right to display the OC label, but more crucially we see a remake of a heatpipe cooler design rather than a vapour chamber arrangement that is appearing more and more from other manufacturers.

With the 7950 OC coming to us at a slightly closer reference level when comparing to the XFX Black Edition Overclocked that we looked the other day, naturally we expect it to perform in a similar manner and being very close to reference point, which we can get a feel for what a more stock like card can do in rivalry to its bigger brother; the 7970.

Overclocking and processing performance aside, the basis behind this card is to do with the cooler and how it performs under load and more so when the end user takes it and overclocks it themselves to the next level. Its how it will perform then that matters. And that is what we are hoping to see as we go through our testing.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, EA’s all but confirmed it’s to unveil the next Medal of Honor game at a US press event next month.

Kotaku is one such outlet to receive an invite to the unveiling, which is due to happen at exactly 20:00 PST on Tuesday, March 6. That’s GDC week, chaps.Of course anyone who purchased Battlefield 3 last year – or indeed finished the last Medal of Honor – won’t be surprised to hear it’s being granted a follow-up.

An insert featuring Medal of Honor 2 artwork was included with retail copies of EA’s other triple-A FPS, featuring little more than a picture and a BBFC logo.

Medal of Honor developer Danger Close Games was also seen to be openly hiring developers for an “unannounced AAA first person shooter title” back in January 2011.

To wrap it all up in a nice package, yesterday PSM3 magazine started teasing a “mystery shooter sequel” for its next issue.

Put March 6 in your diary.

Source: CVG

Free-to-Play Mech-em-up MMO “Hawken” is now accepting beta signups on it’s official website.

Created by Adhesive Games, Hawken is a online Mech game, which quite frankly is looking mind blowing, I am currently excited about the new Free-to-Play Mech Warrior game that is due out later this year, but having two Mech games, both free, both online and both trying there damn hardest to be awesome can only be a good thing. The graphics on this game are a sight to behold, 2012 is shaping up to be a fine years for Free-to-Play games.

Kotaku “According to an exclusive story over at VentureBeat, the small team at Adhesive Games will be publishing Hawken as a free-to-play title in December under its Meteor Entertainment division. Adhesive took inspiration for the free-to-play model from the success of Riot Games’ wildly popular League of Legends.”

Every screenshot or gameplay video I have seen of this game has been amazing so far, which is saying something, because I don’t really care for Mech games, now I have two I can’t wait to play, go figure!

Check out a game play video of Hawken below and lets us know what you think in the comments.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: Hawken Blog

THQ has announced a “strategic agreement” with Innovative Leisure, a mobile game startup founded by Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley.

Blackley revealed his new company last week and in an interview with VentureBeat. He said the iPhone is “the new arcade,” and that the 99¢ pricepoint is “the new quarter”.

Blackley has assembled a team of industry veterans, built of many of the minds that created Atari’s arcade games back in the 70s and 80s. Include Asteroids and Centipede co-designer Ed Logg, Battlezone creator Ed Rotberg, Owen Rubin of Major Havoc and Space Duel and Rich Adam, creator of Gravitar and co-developer of Missile Command. Also involved are Dennis Koble, Tim Skelly and Bruce Merrit. Which Blackley calls “the dream team from Atari”.

Innovative Leisure already has 30 employees and has secured funding from THQ.

Blackley “I’m lucky, because I love games and following that love has always done me well. Once we figured out iPhone is the new arcade, that games from the old days fit this new audience and their on-the-go lifestyle, we knew what to do.” he told VentureBeat, “There is already a group of people here who know how to operate and innovate in this space. They had the longest string of hit games in history. And they wanted to get back together again.”

Danny Bilson, EVP of core games at THQ, said “We are always looking to work with the best creative talent in the videogame industry and we feel this relationship with Innovative Leisure reinforces our goal. We are committed to delivering creative games through digital distribution and Innovative Leisure has the expertise to deliver remarkable and cutting-edge games for a new generation.”

The deal gives THQ first refusal on the Innovative Leisures games, should THQ choose not to publish one, Blackley is free to take it elsewhere.

Source: VentureBeat

Confrontation, the new Tactical RPG from Cyanide, creator of the upcoming, Game of Thrones. has launched it’s official website, along with some new screenshots, forums and full details about the games various factions; the Jackal, the Wolf, the Griffin and the Scorpion.

Confrontation is an RPG/Strategy game, due to be released in stores and for digital download on the pc very soon, it is created from the famous board game by Rackham. Check out the games official website for loads of new details.

There isn’t much shortage of games like this for the PC, hopefully this one will offer something new to the genre or at least a good story, you can check out the teaser trailer below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: Ghoststorm

GameStop stores across America now have Vita consoles for eager gamers to have a play with.

The retailer announced today that more than 3,300 US GameStop stores now have unit available for you to get all finger-printed, and there’s a selection of games available to play, too.Here’s the list:

UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss

Little Deviants

Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational

EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer

ModNation Racers: Road Trip

Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition

Escape Plan

wipEout 2048

Sony of America has revealed plans to reward launch-day 3G Vita buyers with additional treats for their cash, including one of those pricey memory cards for free and some free online time.

Source: CVG

The studio behind the AAA Crysis series and award winning game development software CryEngine, is to launch a social media business with their new site GFACE.

Users of the site will be able to play and share games on the cloud for free, crytek says that GFACE will be browser based and will enable gamers to stream games in a similar fashion to cloud gaming service OnLive. Crytek is also working on launching there first free-to-play game called Warface, which is a FPS set in the near future and is shaping up very nicely already. I would imagine the two will be linked in one form or another.

The site is already accepting applications for it’s closed beta at the GFACE website, although no release date has been confirmed yet. I’ve put my name down already for the beta, if I am accepted and terms and conditions allow it, you can expect a full review of the service here on eteknix.com

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli: ”GFACE enables its users to discover and experience entertainment together in real time, ‘Play. Together. Live’ encompasses our mission to re-imagine the way we play, the way we interact with each other – live in an entirely new way. We want everybody to play everywhere for free.”

I’m a big fan, but not a big user of the OnLive service, it’s an interesting alternative, but not a perfect one, although it will be interesting to see what Crytek can do with similar technology.

What are your thoughts on cloud gaming?

Source: GFACE