Changing culture, one gamerscore at a time.

The new DLC area; scary, evil, and apparently, higher in difficulty.

As Ubisoft were so kind to email me personally today, it would seem the latest Prince of Persia title is getting some downloadable content on Febuary 26th. As my review would indicate, I’m a big fan of the title, it was a fantastic visual achievement, nicely paced puzzle work and some interesting storytelling in points. I’m definitely looking forward to exploring the DLC, as it it includes not only a brand new area as an epilogue to a storyline that, let’s be honest, needs and deserves a continuation, but also new moves for both characters. However, the real genius comes in the form of new costumes, taken from concept designs for both characters. This is fantastic for people like me who see concept character and outfit designs and wonder “I wonder what that’d look like to play?”. Many thanks, Ubisoft, and even more thanks to the official Xbox.com site that allows me to set up downloads like this while not even having to touch a controller.

In other news today, the GDC seems to have moved, ever so slightly, to Cologne. While still in Germany, the conference will now seemingly be bigger and more streamlined. GAMEScom, the new, slightly scarily loud title for the convention hosting the new GDC, has support from SEGA, Sony and Nintendo, and hopefully in time, Microsoft as well. It runs from the 19th to the 23rd of August, and as it’s in Europe, is instantly far, far more accessible to people such as myself, who enjoy huge press events, but would prefer to avoid the cost of a week long trip to Los Angeles for E3 - if it lasts till this summer, that is.

Ensemble Studios, the wonderfully devoted team who worked on Halo Wars then got told they were being canned and liquidated because Microsoft seem to have a current fetish for firing people, have announced not only their intentions to start another company with the same staff (take note, those at 1UP), but to produce a shedload of DLC for the title they poured their heart and soul into for several years. Good on them, I say, and I’m looking forward to the title as one of my top ten of its year of release. Best of luck to them, and we’ll see how it plays out.

It seems Square Enix are getting into gear, as Star Ocean: The Last Hope is hitting shelves this spring in Europe, even though the USA and Japan get it in less than a month *grumble*. The title acts as a prequel to the series, and for those of you beginning to wonder if both the name and purpose of this is at all dissimilar to Star Wars, then yes, it is. Although it does follow a sci-fi habit of spaceship exploration, it seeks to found a base storyline to reinforce an existing franchise, a tactic which was worked as well for the Skywalker clan as it has for Vin Diesel and his Chronicles of Riddick titles. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a Japanese Mass Effect-meets-Final Fantasy experience, though it’s still open to speculation as Square Enix are, as always, a closed door when it comes to plot and game information until nearer the time of release. Which, considering they’re gracing the industry with the title’s presence within a calendar month, should be now, really.