Stoked Coming To Europe In September

Zushi has announced the European release for snowboarding title, Stoked to arrive in September.

Stoked is an open-world, back country snowboarding game exclusively on Xbox 360. Developed by BongFish and in conjunction with world-renowned snowboarding movie creator Absinthe Films, Stoked offers five huge, open-world mountains, dynamic and changing weather patterns, the participation of X Games champion Travis Rice as well as some of the most respected names in the snowboarding community worldwide.

It's already available in the US. You can check out a trailer, here.

Source

Mass Effect Galaxy Will Have Reward For Mass Effect 2

Players who complete the recently released Mass Effect Galaxy on the iPhone will unlock a reward that can be used in Mass Effect 2 when it arrives. The sequel isn't out until next year so there's a bit of a wait, but hey it's something to look forward to.

Source: AppGamer

Max Payne 3 Will Be Worked On By Several Rockstar Studios

Rockstar has released further info on Max Payne 3 and revealed the game will be a joint effort amongst several Rockstar studios with Rockstar Vancouver being the lead. Here's some new story info on the game:

Max Payne 3 begins 12 years after the events of Max Payne 2, with Max visibly older, more violent, and more world-weary from the events of his own life. Having left the NYPD, Max has been taking odd jobs in security and consulting, and when we find him he is providing personal protection for a wealthy family in Sao Paolo, one of the world’s deadliest and most crime-ridden cities. At absolute rock-bottom, Max discovers that trouble still dogs his every step, and he finds himself drawn into the brutal heart of the Brazil’s dark underworld.

Source: Internal

THQ Announces Global Restructuring Plans

THQ has announced its split its internal business into three separate units, each with a new boss. Danny Bilson will lead “Core Games,” Doug Clemmer will manage “Kids, Family and Casual Games” and Steve Dauterman will look after the “Online” sector.

International executive VP Ian Curran was promoted to executive VP of global publishing.

Source: Edge

Microsoft Did Purchase Israeli Tech Firm, 3DV

Following earlier reports, it's now been confirmed that Microsoft bought Israeli tech firm, 3DV. Microsoft’s Moshe Lichtman mentioned 3DV in a press conference relating to Microsoft’s R&D centre in Israel:

“The R&D centre helped Microsoft in buying the intellectual property of 3DV Systems, and in the wake of that dozens of the company’s employees were recruited to work at the development centre."

Why do we care? Apparently this is where the basis of Project Natal technology started from, although Microsoft say it was all conceived in-house.

Source: Globes

Analyst Doesn't Believe In Project Natal

Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz doesn't have faith in Microsoft's Project Natal and believes Sony's motion control technology is a better concept:

“Natal appeared to me to be a technological solution in search of a problem."

“I had a very hard time envisioning playing Modern Warfare 3 using Natal. By contrast, I had a very easy time envisioning it (and enjoying it) using Sony’s control/motion capture scheme.”

Prove him wrong Microsoft.

Source: Joystiq

New Summer Avatar Clothing Available

For those of you obsessed with keeping your avatar up to date with the latest clothing trends, there's some funky new summer clothing available on Xbox Live now, including:

Male

• Rashguard
• White Vest
• Swim Shorts
• Surfer Shorts

Female

• Flower Vest
• Surfer Hot Pants
• Surfer Shorts
• Surfer Skirt
• Surfer Dress

Source: MajorNelson

PS3 Title 'Agent' Will Be About Espionage And Set In 1970s

Take-Two boss Ben Feder has shed a little more light on upcoming PS3 exclusive, Agent, commenting the game is set in the 1970's and will be all about espionage:

“It’s a completely different storyline, there is completely different character development."

“It’s a game about espionage, set in the 1970s. GTA is obviously more about an urban experience, a typically rags to riches experience. Very, very different story lines, very different character development. It’s going to be very fresh for gamers.”

Feder was also a little elusive on just how exclusive the game would be too:

“These are all relationship matters and contractual matters. When we talk about our relationships and our exclusivity for PS3 and Agent, for example, we don’t disclose anything beyond what we’ve already said."

“But we think it’s important for us to be with Sony, and it’s important for Sony, I think, to be with us. The game promises to be one of the best games available because of who’s developing it, and because of the subject matter.”

Source: EG

Pachter: "Media Underestimated Facebook/Twitter Integration Announcement

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has commented on the announcement of Facebook and Twitter being integrated into the Xbox 360 is more important than anything else announced at E3 this year.

Pachter stated how the media and its implications of being in the living on the Xbox 360 machine, all integrated seamlessly was for more important than conceived. Pachter also compared it to Apple TV claiming the Xbox 360 has a much better head start in becoming the 'living room box' companies are aiming for:

“Microsoft appears to me to understand that it can leverage its 30 million installed base advantage if it moves quickly, and Apple will have a long way to go in order to catch up. By far, this was the most important announcement of E3.”

Source: Gama

Ride Board Will Make You Feel Like Tony Hawk Without The Danger

Activision CEO Mike Griffith has said the Ride peripheral shipping with the new Tony Hawk game will let you feel like the Birdman himself without the risk of bashing your head open:

“It’s the same analogy as Guitar Hero, where you can feel like you are a rock legend, even if you can’t play a single note; now with Ride you can skate the way a skating legend like Tony Hawk skates, but you won’t break your head open."

“It’s proving to be lots of fun, and the peripheral board, with its sensors, is very responsive. It’s a thrill.”

Until you fall through the coffee table in your living room...

Source: MCV

Rumour: Rockstar New England QA Department Staff Laid Off

Rumours are floating about that Rockstar New England’s “entire QA department” has been booted out in a series of lay-off's because the developer wants QA centralised in one studio only. It's estimated the lay-off's account for 10% of the workforce at the studio.

Source: Kotaku

PS3 Firmware Update 2.80 On The Way

Sony's announced a new firmware update is on the way for PS3 taking it to version, 2.80. It doesn't do much really but will upgrade the playback quality of some console software. Meh, we'll keep you posted.

Source: USPB

New Study States Games Are Good For American Youths

A new study called, Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children’s Learning and Health, is stating games are a good thing and can actually benefit youths in America. The report states:

“Despite their reputation as promoters of violence and mayhem, digital games have in fact been shown to help children gain content and vital foundational and 21st-century skills."

“Digital games are here to stay and offer the country a rare opportunity to leverage children’s already established enthusiasm in order to reform education and promote healthy development.”

Yeah, games for the win.

Source: GamePolitics

Final Fantasy VII Downloaded Over 100,000 Times On PSN So Far

Sony has proudly announced that Final Fantasy VII has been downloaded over 100,000 times on the US PlayStation Network in just two weeks. It's the fastest selling PS1 original title downloaded on PSN to date now.

Source: Gama

New Screenshots Of LOTR: Online Expansion

EA has released some gorgeous new screenshots for Lord of the Rings Online update, Volume 2 Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dûm for Mines of Moria which released this week on PC.

Source: GameSpot

Over 300 Exhibitors Confirmed For GamesCom 2009

Organisers of GamesCom 2009 want you to know that over 300 exhibitors have now signed up for the event in Cologne that takes place from 19th to 23rd of August this year. Names include:

Activision Blizzard, Bigben Interactive, Capcom, dtp entertainment, Electronic Arts, Funcom, GOA, Hama, Koch Media, Konami, Microsoft, Namco Bandai, NcSoft, Nintendo, Rondomedia, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Tivola, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.

Enough for you? Oh, and Cosplay is a big thing there too if you're into it.

Source: Internal

Codemasters Release New Overlord: Dark Legend Screens

Codemasters has released a few new screenshots for Overlord: Dark Legend on Wii, ahead of the game's release this week. You can check out some more at the source.

Source: GameSpot