"We can't say DARKNESS and video game sequel in the same sentence. So, DARKNESS. Wink. Sequel."

NY Comic Con '08: Top Cow Panel [The Quarter Bin via GayGamer]

PlayStation Store's passive side features trailers for Michael Clayton, Get Smart and The Game Plan. That's twice The Rock!

A Resident Evil 5 wallpaper has also been added as has a cheaper Super Rub-A-Dub. The duck steering game has dropped from $6.99 to $2.99 as of today.

Each new addition should take you no more than a few hours to download, now that the PlayStation Store data center has added a second modem.

The Darkness Demo hit the Xbox 360's Live Marketplace this morning. The demo features single-player gameplay from three early levels in the game including the Tunnel, Cemetery and Grinders Lane.

From Major Nelson:

Content: The Darkness Demo
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Asia or Germany
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD AND GORE,DRUG REFERENCE,INTENSE VIOLENCE,STRONG LANGUAGE,SUGGESTIVE THEMES] The Darkness is spreading... Experience first-hand the dark underworld of New York City with this three-level, single player demo of The Darkness. Play as Jackie Estacado, a mafia hitman who comes into an unexpected inheritance on his 21st birthday. Learn to harness the awesome and terrible powers of the Darkness, and command your Darkling army to commit unspeakable acts as you wreak terrifying havoc on your enemies. Developed by accomplished developer Starbreeze and based on the comic book created by Top Cow, prepare for extremely intense, cinematic action in this gritty, first-person shooter with a horror twist. Remember... stay out of the light.
Size: 1.27 GB (approx.)

The Darkness Demo [Major Nelson]

The rest of this week's updates are mostly trailers, with video content for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, inFamous and Heavenly Sword ready for download. Movie trailers for The Brothers Solomon, I Am Legend, Resident Evil: Extinction and The Brave One round out the list.

European PS3 owners can also download a demo for 2K Games' The Darkness. Of course, North American gamers can also get their hands on it, they'll just need to create a UK account.

Other changes to the German 360 version include removal of four of the Darkling kill methods, and the ripping out heart animation being replaced with sucking out souls via a green mist. Weak. German players could always trade or import the uncut version the rest of Europe is getting, but I wouldn't recommend it, since possessing a copy of it in Germany can carry a sentence of up to three years in jail. The Darkness expurgated version should hit Germany as soon as changes are completed.

The Darkness: Uncut-Version in Deutschland verboten [AreaGames.de - Thanks Platinum!]

bit-tech
...the shadows and interaction between player and light source [are] both radiant in its beauty and important to the gameplay...[but] we got the strange feeling that the game is a year or two late...and that it would have been better served if it had seen a release earlier in the 360's lifespan when it was a bit more fashionable to have games which used light/dark conflict...it feels a bit like it's wearing last season's clothes...

Jolt
Light is also harmful to Darklings, which are rather poorly explained creatures that can be pulled from another dimension and used as fodder against enemies, although in truth their main usefulness is the comic relief that they provide.

TeamXbox
After a little while, you'll gain the ability to send out a snake-like appendage called The Creeping Darkness. You can use this guy to sneak through vents (allowing you to open locked doors from the other side) or simply send it off to literally bite the faces off of your foes....You'll also earn a tentacle that can impale foes and smash out lights, as well as Darkness-powered pistols that actually aren't quite as cool as they sound.

Pocket-lint
...for AI, don't expect much. all the bad guys we encountered playing on medium level (there are three difficulty levels in total) weren't too clever and unlike some games where they flush you out - here they just wait for you to come charging.


Yahoo Games
...there's almost no challenge here. The battles offer a bit of variety for how many ways there are to dispatch bad guys, but there's no reason to vary your approach or develop your character a particular way. All guns and powers eventually come to you as you sweep everything out of your way. By the time the SWAT teams arrive, you couldn't care less. Just spam your black hole on the way from plot point to plot point until you get to the credits.

The reviews are odd in that they all seem to complain, but then rate the score high. I think we're supposed to take that as, the game is fun despite its issues. Mark Wilson

We received the following notice from D3 earlier today regarding the recently released advertisements for Dark Sector, a PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 release.

We recently received a ruling from the ESRB stating that the two officially released Dark Sector gameplay montages have been deemed to contain excessive or offensive content; and to this end are not to be available for download or viewing, regardless of being placed behind an age gate. In order to comply with this ruling, the ESRB has requested that the two Dark Sector gameplay montages be pulled immediately upon receipt of this notice and no longer made available for view by consumers.

2K Games only requested in their media update notification for The Darkness that "2K requests an age gate limiting the access to video footage to ages 17 and up." This is standard practice for all Mature-rated games since 2005.

In a statement, reports GamesIndustry.biz, ESRB president Patricia Vance clarified by board's policy, stating that:

All trailers must still conform to ARC's Principles and Guidelines, which prohibit the display of excessively violent content or any content likely to cause serious offense to the average consumer. The notices issued recently by game publishers to third party websites are simply that - steps in a chain of publisher compliance with ARC guidelines and the ESRB enforcement system that have been occurring since their establishment seven years ago.

Following last week's news that Manhunt 2 was issued an Adults Only rating by the board, one might speculate that the ESRB is making a more publicly visible and concerted effort to ensure that its policies are more strictly enforced, keeping inappropriate content from reaching the wrong audience. Michael McWhertor

• The Darkness (X360, PS3) Gangsters and demons are a lethal combination.
• Overlord (PC, X360)
  Which side will you choose, evil or evil?
• Transformers: The Game (X360, PS3, PS2, WII)
  More than meets the eye. We hope.
• Driver: Parallel Lines (PC, WII)
  Everyone loves a good car chase.
• Pokemon Battle Revolution (WII)
  Get your Pokemon ready for the battle of the century on the Wii.
• Grim Grimoire (PS2)
  a young magician goes to a school for magicians...hmm, sounds vaguely familiar
• The BIGS (X360, WII, PS3, PS2, PSP)
  The new baseball game hits one out of the park.
• Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition (PSP)
  Get back to your RPG roots with a revamping of the game that started a franchise.
• Ratatouille (PC, X360, DS, WII, PS2, XBOX, PSP, GC, GBA, MOBILE, MAC)
  Rats in your room! Or at least your console, handheld, computer or phone. Did I miss any?
• Hour of Victory (X360)
  Another WWII epic.
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (WII, X360, PS3, PC, PS2, PSP, DS)
  Put your wand up in the air and wave it like you just don't care.
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PC)
  Battle big bugs in icy landscapes.
• Hitman Trilogy (PS2, PC)
  The entire Agent 47 saga all in one tidy box.
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (PS3)
  The game the Mayor of Vegas doesn't want you to play.

I always love posting a new bit of Darkeness footage. It never fails to impress and in this case it actually gave me a good laugh. In the multiplayer mode, you can switch back and forth between gangster and minion hellspawn. The minion form is pretty cool but I laughed out loud several time while watching the two minions going at shrieking and running around like something out of a Jim Henson movie. But, all Muppets aside, this looks like it will be a pretty interesting title although for me, I doubt I'll be playing much multiplayer mode given my terrible shooting skills. Still, the lure of gangsters and demons is hard to resist. Flynn De Marco

2K just released this new video of The Darkness to show off scenes and gameplay from the Otherworld as well as some later levels in the game. What do you think? Brian Crecente

Although I'm not really an FPS aficionado, two titles have interested me enough to want to give them a try. The first is, of course, BioShock and the second would be the star of this particular clip, The Darkness. Something about running around with netherworld demon heads and tendrily tentacles, sucking gangsters into black holes and eating their souls sounds to just too good to pass up. Hopefully by the time this one lands I'll have practiced enough on some older games to actually make it past the first level without blowing myself up. Flynn De Marco

Big time comic and game scribe Paul Jenkins, who adapted comic book The Darkness for cross-platform gaming, hates on cut-scenes. His two cents:

We should ... try to get rid of those movie-style cut scenes because they force you to interact differently with a game you've previously been playing — turning it into a film, rather than a videogame.

Then what the heck would Square Enix do? Personally, excessive cut scenes don't bother me because I can take a break. Long load screens, now those do bother me. Jenkins explains how the developers were tackling that with The Darkness:

...one of the ideas to overcome the problems of load screens was to have a character delivering a monologue to hide the fact the game was loading a new level. The monologues are important because they move the story along in what would normally be dead time for most games. I think all developers should be working to get rid of load screens.

Clever use of what is usually dead time in games. Brian Ashcraft

Jenkins Hates Cut Scenes [Spong]

I haven't really been paying too much attention to Starbreeze's The Darkness for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3, but after seeing this clip, I'll have to start. Sure, the comic book fan inside me withered into nothingness long ago, plus I'm a jaded FPS player, but extra demonic arms? C'mon. Michael McWhertor

Lots of blood and gore in the vid, but it doesn't change the fact that I remain on the line about the game. I was so unimpressed at last year's E3 and so impressed with the stuff released earlier this year. This particular video is sorta meh. Maybe I'm just moody. Brian Crecente

Brian Crecente

Top Cow's comic The Darkness is getting the hollywood treatment, according to MTV who spoke with Top Cow head Marc Silvestri.

"The Darkness," a comic book that is being turned into a video game, will "absolutely" be made into a movie as well, Silvestri promised, mentioning that a script is currently being developed, and when the game hits shelves in May, "We're anticipating that [the film will] suddenly become fast-tracked."

They question is will the movie be based on the comic or the game. Lets hope the former. Brian Crecente

Big-Screen News From NYC Comic-Con: Kevin Smith, 'Spirit' And More [MTV]

A GameTrailer user upped this cool video showing the people behind The Darkness comic at the New York Comic Con talking about the game and showing a lot of game details, including a pretty brutal torture scene. The game looks like it's really shaping up from what I saw at E3. Really. Brian Crecente

Hello, fanboys! Another small scrap of negative information about the PS3 for you to draft your anti-Sony manifestos around! Another tidbit for you to laboriously disprove in pro-Sony Excel Gant charts. The Darkness lead designer says the PS3 has less texture memory than the 360!

GI: What do you like about working on the PS3? How about the Xbox 360? Will there be any major differences between the two versions?

H gdahl: So far the two versions look pretty much the same - quite unsurprisingly, since we use the same shader source code and content for both platforms. They will be identical gameplay-wise. There will only be very minor cosmetic differences, such as the PS3 will have better quality video for the in-game TVs and on the Xbox 360 we have a bit more room for textures in memory.

What does this mean for you, the consumer? Probably almost nothing: programmers will do what they can with what they are given, and ultimately, it will come down to the games each platform provides. Of course, if one is significantly harder to develop for than the other and the marketshare doesn't make that energy worth it, that's a bona fide problem. But let's deal with that when we have any evidence to go by outside of our own wistful, soothsaying fancies. Florian Eckhardt

GI Online Interview with Starbreeze [NeoGAF]

This was camcorded at San Diego Comic Con (aka Nerd Prom) and has an irritating background patter of attendees, but is very watchable. I like the critters in this so far, but I'm not seeing anything else that's blowing me away.

Is it me, or have graphics kinda reached a plateau? There's so much work left to be done. More realistic movements, and just some little details like the main character's hair part in this. It's solid black; it looks like he's wearing a wig.

Tell me, my little droogies, are you excited for this game? Tell me why. Eliza Gauger

Originally posted here [GameVideos, thanks Redhex]

These three new The Darkness screens just landed in my bloated Inbox. That is all. Brian Crecente

Upcoming next-gen game The Darkness will be on -hand at Comic-cCon International in San Diego this weekend.
Starbreeze Studios say they will be previewing the game at the show every half hour at Platinum's booth.
Makes sense. The game, slated to hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2007, is based on TopCow's comic series of the same name.

If you're heading to Comic-Con this weekend make sure to check it out, then take pictures and send them in so we can pretend we covered it. :) Brian Crecente

Hit the jump for a gallery of the wonderfully macabre art and if you feel like getting depressed, check out what the game really looks like here. Brian Crecente

The Darkness Artwork [via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

The concept behind the game is that you're a mafia hitman who can suck power from the darkness, so you spend a lot of time in the game shooting out lights. Once in the dark you can summon up these horrible little darklings that whack people to death with oversized powertools. You can also use your darkness powers to slide through small openings and use streams of darkness to carry or throw things. The whole thing is based on the comic book of the same name and one of the book's writers helped with the storyline.

The concept behind the game has a lot of potential, but the game's AI seemed very weak. In one scene, cops bust into a building to arrest you. After siccing darklings on a couple of cops, the developer walked out to a cop who was standing with his gun raised and pointed through the door. He walked right up to the side of the guy and just started wailing on him. The cop just stood there, looking into the door way.

Later one, the developer found a cop cringing behind a trash can. The guy just squatted there cringing as he fired into him. This sort of AI drives me nuts. The game has been in development for one and a half years and isn't due out until 2007, so I hope they can work on it.

Not to be confused with "believing in a thing called love," 2k Games announced its plans to publish Starbreeze's (the company behind Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay) The Darkness, based on a long-running comic book of the same name, for next-generation consoles. This Darkness, according to the press release "will feature a distinct blend of dark modern crime drama and supernatural horror with intense first person non-linear gameplay." Sounds like Deus Ex meets CSI meets Silent Hill? There's a movie in development, too, expected in 2007. How I love the tie-ins!