Ah, Square-Enix.  Mother of Final Fantasy, father of Dragon Quest.  I have something of a bipolar relationship with Squenix.  I love the hell out of them, but much like other people I care about, they sometimes do things that just piss me right off.  I’m sure most of you can relate.  It’s quite the rub, so I thought I’d touch on some hot buttons. Talking about Squenix I mean, you pervs.

SOCOM 4 developer Zipper Interactive confirmed today that they’re pushing the game’s release until some time next year.  Until now, Zipper maintained that the next SOCOM would be ready in the fall:  Playable versions were up running at GDC and E3 this year, indicating that the game was on track. According to the statement, the delay will allow the team to make sure the game is perfect.  ”While we’re certainly aware that you’ve been looking forward to playing SOCOM 4 this year,” says Zipper.  ”We don’t want to take any shortcuts. Instead, we want to deliver the best and most immersive SOCOM game we possibly can and we’re going to use our extra time to do just that.”

They may not be saying it, but I blame the delay on Zipper’s decision to add Move support to the game.  A new platform means a lot of delays, especially for new games from AAA franchises.

Man, Epic is great at hiring the right people to create beautiful trailers. First “Mad World”, then “In the End” and “Ashes to Ashes” and now this. Here is the Gears of War 3 “What Have I Become” trailer, and let me assure, it is absolutely beautiful.

I remember seeing the “Mad World” trailer for the first time and just being completely overtaken by it’s artistry. This trailer comes close to rivaling that same feeling.

Oh boy, how I have messed up.

The trailer I originally posted is actually an unofficial trailer made by the guys over at The Duo Group. They also collaborated with Kootra, Treadster Media and Sound Wizardry with some pre-production help from Eric Hibbeler. The production value was so close to perfection, that I just assumed Epic had a major say in its creation. Clearly Epic had to at least approve this trailer to be published, but still: a complete gaffe by me for not double checking. But Jesus, this is one beautiful trailer. It sure as hell fooled me for something Epic made (which is especially inspiring when thinking of the previous trailers made for the Gears of War franchise). I wonder if Epic plans on showcasing this trailer at all, or at the very least, release any sort of comment on it.

With the Gears of War movie facing troubles on the monetary side of the production, today has been a Gears-centric day at DamnLag.

Nintendo has a long, proud history of having the most vicious legal team in the industry and they were able to add another notch to their belts today as London’s High Court banned R4 devices (used both for legitamite homebrew and not so legitamite piracy) in the United Kingdom.

If you’re a pirate this should put an end to your villiany forever and you will never again try to play a game for free. If you’re a homebrewer you’re shit outta luck.

Its been ten years since Starcraft.  An update has been long overdue.  Lots of people are ecstatic because Starcraft II is finally here.  That said, some are more excited than others…

New Line Cinema has deemed Gears of War not worthy of a blockbuster sized budget. The film’s development has been bogged down with ever increasing costs that reportedly once topped the $100 million mark. It also didn’t help that director Len Wiseman dumped the project to move on to other things. According to Gears game designer Cliff Bleszinski the Gears movie is still on, but New Line wasn’t cool with the idea of a R-rated film with no love story getting summer tentpole status.

I thought the whole point of Dom’s wife Whatsherface was to pretend like Gears of War had some kind of emotional backstory. Apparently not, as Bleszinski claims the studio is going for a more District 9 mentality with the movie in response to the concern.  D9 (which was only created because Peter Jackson and Neil Blomkamp couldn’t get the Halo movie greenlit; funny how that works) was a late summer sci-fi hit, rated R, and had a less than $100 million budget of $30 million dollars.

Let’s hope the Gears movie recreates that magic.

Gamestop announced today that they have purchased online game developer Kongregate, and will likely use the company to grow the company’s marketshare in the digital world.  The purchase comes just a week after Gamestop CEO Paul Raines said he hopes to transform his company into a digital “gaming platform,” expanding into online gaming and other markets.  While Gamestop is the undisputed king of the gaming retail world, their online presence is limited. Raines said of the merger; ”Kongregate advances GameStop’s digital strategy by providing a gaming platform for casual, mobile and browser games that can be promoted and played by our existing gamers.”

As an up-and-coming blog we just love unsubstantiated rumors. They’re the lifeblod of blogdom; if you’re right it’s a ticket to respectability and prestige, if not? Who cares.

So, I’m thrilled to bring this completely unsubstantiated rumor from our great source: some guy at GameFAQs. Here’s the supposed rest of the Rock Band 3 setlist:

The Mario franchise portrays a perfect world filled with bright colors, lovable characters, and cute little mushroom-skulled men skipping about. With over two-hundred million games sold, the world has seemingly bought into the illusion. But just because the world refuses to question Mario’s world, that doesn’t mean I won’t. The truth is, a lot of stones go unturned in the Mushroom Kingdom, and if you have the gall to ask a few questions, you’ll find out that it’s actually one fucked up place.

With Halo: Reach being the fourth and a half Halo FPS game (thanks for screwing up the count forever ODST), one might expect that it’s time to take Halo in a different direction.

Well 343 Industries, Halo’s new main developer, sure as hell doesn’t think so.

“We’d have to be the world’s biggest assholes not to follow through. We certainly haven’t seen the last of Master Chief,” said Frank O’Connor, Creative Director at 343. So much for finishing that fight.

So Master Chief is coming back, and the Halo 4 announcement is looking more and more inevitable.