Mr. Bean Stumbles Onto DS, Heads For Wii

Does oddball British comedy make a good portable game? We'll see, I guess, since Blast Entertainment released Mr. Bean for the DS, a game featuring the hapless, juvenile character played famously by actor Rowan Atkinson.

Blast Entertainment also did the PS2 Mr. Bean game last year, and points out in this new announcement that it "still sells consistently well and continues to earn a place in the Chart track top 40 PS2 budget chart each week."

What can you expect from Mr. Bean DS? 12 puzzle levels and traps to avoid, missions and "exciting 3D locations." What shouldn't you expect? Probably not high production values, as you may recall Blast Entertainment CEO's Shawn Brennan pulled no punches at a UK event last year where he fired off on high development costs, calling it "ego tripping."

You can also, Blast says, expect a Wii version "later this year." Full announcement follows the jump, Bean-fans!

The Whispered World Launches Relaxing Website

Daedalic Entertainment's upcoming fantasy adventure game The Whispered World has just launched the official website for the title, due out for the PC in Q4 2008, and I've never been more relaxed in my life. The site features wallpapers, screenshots, concept art, a story synopsis, and some confusing forums that seem to be completely in German until you click on them. All of this, along with the most relaxing background music that's ever graced a flash website. Seriously, I've had this opened in the background all morning and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was having such a pleasant Friday morning. Hit up the link below to check out the site, and be sure to check out the press section for a tiny preview of the article I wrote on the game back in February.

The Whispered World [Official Website]

Alpha Protocol Filled With Sexy Spy Sex

“It all depends on how you treat them,” Rucinski said. If you have a strong relationship with female characters, they may help with missions. However, he told me that some of them are “bats–t insane” and can get you into trouble. “One may ask you to assassinate a high-level person,” he added. “Maybe that’s not something you want to do, but she’s really hot. But there are obvious repercussions.”

Rez, Lumines Dev Bringing Peggle To DS

Peggle fans can now cement their addiction, since PopCap's now bringing the popular casual game to DS with a little help from Q Entertainment, developers of Rez, Lumines and Meteos.

Peggle DS will be hitting shelves in North America in Winter 2008 for $29.95, and Q Entertainment will be adding new features that aren't in the PC, Mac or iPod versions of the game. No details yet on what those features will be, but the announcement promises more levels than in any other version of the game, remastered input controls and "surprise additions."

Full announcement follows the jump:

Jim Lee Dishes On DC Universe Online

Sony Online Entertainment treated members of the press to a luncheon earlier today, part of the Comic-Con 08 push for DC Universe Online. The massively-multiplayer online action RPG, coming to both the PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, will be playable by the public for the first time tonight. We'll be going hands-on with the title this evening, taking part in an in-game Brainiac themed live event with other DC heroes.

We sat down with DC Comics executive creator Jim Lee earlier today to talk about the SOE-developed, DC-branded game. Lee told me that he was the one who had approached SOE after catching wind of the project, an effort which had experienced multiple starts and stops.

As a fairly serious EverQuest player — Lee played Paladin, for the record — the artist turned exec knew his stuff. He dropped MMO-isms (LFG, instances, the grind) like it was his natural language, and with a working knowledge of the DC universe, fans of the genre and the brand should feel confident that it's creatively in good hands.

E3 09 Opening Its Doors to the Public?

The only thing there was more of at E3 than games were complaints about E3's new, tidy, business-like format. Everyone from company execs to game developers to the working press seemed to have something unhappy to say about the show.

Coasting right there along with the complaints was a building buzz that next year's E3 was going to have to undergo some mammoth changes. Just how mammoth? According to a number of well connected sources I spoke with during the show, there's considerable thought going into opening the doors, this time officially, to the public at next year's big event.

Reached for comment earlier today, the Entertainment Software Association had this to say:

New York Gov Signs Video Game Law

New York Governor David Paterson signed a video game bill into law yesterday that requires parental controls on all consoles, pushes game rating enforcement and launches a state-backed study of video games and violence.

The bill takes effect in 2010.

"The state has ignored legal precedent, common sense and the wishes of many New Yorkers in enacting this unnecessary bill," said Richard Taylor, senior VP of communications and research for the Entertainment Software Association. "This government intrusion will cost taxpayers money and impose unconstitutional mandates for activities and technologies that are already voluntarily in place. It also unfairly singles out the videogame industry over all other forms of media."

David Reeves - We All Have Very Sharp Swords

Man, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss David Reeves is an analogy machine! In a recent interview with Eurogamer, he put his powers to task in summing up the current state of the console war.

"I prefer to talk about the fact that, yeah, we're competitors, but the competition really has made people so much sharper, and if I can use this analogy, if you're fighting in a war that's, say, Boeing versus Airbus, it's almost like battleship against battleship and you're fighting from 15 miles away; if you're fighting in the car war, it might be that you're fighting in tanks and you're one kilometre away; in the videogame industry, if there's a war, if there's competition, it's almost like hand-to-hand fighting, but it makes you sharper. You want to have a sharper sword, you want to have a sword that feels just about right, and everyone is very sharp, and what they're doing is they're looking for high ground, low ground where they can get an advantage."

So the console industry is like melee combat with swords...or is it like shoes?

The good news? Warhammer Online just launched its Guild Beta. The bad news? There's a bit less game for the Guilds to beta. In an interview with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs explains that in order for the game to be ready for launch, certain sacrifices had to be made, including nixing four of the six staring racial capital cities in favor of one for each faction, and getting rid of four of the classes that they just couldn't make work. On the cutting board are the Choppa (Greenskin), the Hammerer (Dwarf), the Blackguard (Dark Elf), and the Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire)...two DPS classes and two tank classes.

“Of all of the news in this interview, this is the worst. Having to cut these guys out, even though it’s the right decision, I am really sorry that we have to do it. I truly am. I don’t like going to the guys and telling them ‘hey sorry, we’ve got to cut these guys out. They’re just not good enough but that was what we had to do.”

SOE Awards First G.I.R.L. Scholarship

Sony Online Entertainment has announced the first ever Gamers In Real Life (G.I.R.L.) design contest scholarship winner. Nearly 100 applicants submitted their video game concept art and essays for the contest, which kicked off in early April, and from those entries Julia Brasil of San Francisco was chosen to win a $10,000 scholarship at The Art Institute of California and a paid internship at Sony Online Entertainment.

“I am shocked and overjoyed to be the first G.I.R.L. Scholarship recipient,” said Brasil. “I’m really looking forward to my internship with SOE, and getting some hands-on experience at such a well-known company. It’s such a great opportunity.”

Shocked, Julia? You need to believe in yourself. Dreams really do come true; you're living proof.

Impressions: The Bourne Conspiracy

With Marvel Universe Online canned by Microsoft, the only hope comic book geeks like myself have to see their favorite men-in-tights in an MMO setting is Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe Online for the PC and PS3. The latest issue of Edge magazine has the scoop on the heroes versus villains title, and while you can't be Superman you might just get a chance to punch him right in his stupid Kryptonian face.

At its core it sounds very City of Heroes. Pick your alignment and powers, including movement abilities like flying and teleporting, and then run about locations like Metropolis and Gotham City (both confirmed in-game) and fight and/or cause crime. As you level up your basic power set is enhanced with further abilities to mimic the natural superhero learning curve.

I often hear longtime platformer fans complain they don't make 'em like they used to, and bemoan the perceived "selling out" of their favorite mascot franchises, when all they want is the great gap-skipping of old that they remember from their younger days.

Most of us were kids during the 3D platformer heyday. So maybe, though, just maybe, if any of those games were to be released today, we'd say they looked like children's games. Brash Entertainment's upcoming Space Chimps film tie-in platformer is a kids' game, and giving it a whirl today was what made me think about days of yore.

It doesn't look too fancy, and it's aimed to be friendly to the younger set. But it sure took me back a bit, which was a surprisingly fun experience.

Rumor: Yet Another Publisher Leaves The ESA

Bringing us to a total of five publishers who have left the industry trade group over the past few weeks. First it was Activision and Vivendi, then Lucasarts, then id, and now , according to GamePolitics, it's...Crave Entertainment. Granted, as the publisher of such titles as Brunswick Pro Bowling and Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 it's hardly as severe a blow to the group as the departure of, say, Activision, but it does at least add to the list of companies with better things to do than be part of the ESA. No official explanation has been provided by Crave as to why they've left, but if one were to turn up tomorrow citing the increasing cost of membership fees, we'd at least try and act surprised.

BREAKING: Another ESA Departure as Crave Leaves Game Publishers Trade Group [GamePolitics]

Employers Turning To Games For Training

A study released today by the Entertainment Software Association finds that seventy percent of major employers in the U.S. utilize some form of gaming technology in their training programs. From simple quizzes to complex tool manipulation, more and more employers are integrating interactive entertainment into their education regiment, with 78% of organizations not currently employing such methods stating they plan to offer it within the next five years.

Employers find that using games to train not only reduces costs and increases efficiency, employees retain training through interactive means more than they would a simple slide presentation or training videos (known in wage-slave parlance as "Nap Time").

Interesting number, for sure, but the statistics I really want to see is how much interactive gaming goes on in the workplace that employers are completely unaware of. Of course that would require cameras in the bathrooms to monitor DS and PSP usage, which is still unfortunately illegal. Hit the jump for more numbers!

Nexon's Sugar Rush Arena in Closed Beta

Korean MMO Gets Unreal Engine 3 License

T-Entertainment, creators of Korean massively multiplayer online role-playing games Laghaim and Last Chaos, licensed the Unreal Engine 3 for an upcoming MMO codenamed L2, the company announced today.

“We have a team of seasoned professionals devoted to L2 project, and we are confident that by integrating our expertise and Unreal Engine 3’s excellent performance, L2 will be a top-tier MMORPG that fascinates gamers all around the world,” said John Hong, CTO of T-Entertainment.

“T-Entertainment is a well-diversified entertainment company that is poised to launch yet another successful MMORPG worldwide,” said Jay Wilbur, vice president of Epic Games. “We are constantly improving the Unreal Engine, and look forward to providing them with cutting-edge game development tools and technology for many months to come.”

The company describes their upcoming PC game as a "futuristic fantasy with a taste of space opera" and say they're shooting for a worldwide release in 2010.

Miz: No Reason For Space Channel 5 Remake

Remakes are all the rage these days! Whether it's literally remaking a classic, or just putting out "reimaginings" of long-running franchises, we can't get enough of the good old stuff. By re-releasing Rez on XBLA, you'd think Q's Tetsuya Mizuguchi would be big on the idea of remaking more of his classic titles, right? Like...Space Channel 5, maybe? Sadly, he's not, telling Eurogamer there's no "really special reason to remake Space Channel 5 now". Reason being that Rez was an experience, which could be improved upon with HD graphics, 5:1, etc, while SC5 is "funny, like a comical TV show. I don't feel the need for much more resolution in that!". Oh dear. Just because YOU don't need to see Ulala in a higher resolution, Miz, doesn't man WE don't need to.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi Interview [Eurogamer] [Pic]