[E309]Storpi Snacks 06/01/09

Today’s the day, Microsoft’s Pre E3 press briefing starts in just a few hours. While we wait, here’s what’s happened today, so far:

• Let’s Move to the EA Presser, shall we?
• [Update]XBOX LIVE to offer Full Game Downloads starting in August
  Like Burnout, Warhawk, and SOCOM on the PS3, XBOX LIVE will also become home to downloadable versions of disc based games. I think that’s great. Hopefully, it will take an iPod / Steam model where you can download your games as much as you want on your system. I can’t afford Microsoft’s hard drives.
  30 games are said to be ready to launch with the service. Pricing is supposed to be in line with those of the disc copies.
• Microsoft’s Up
• RUMOR Halo: Reach, Joy Ride, Shadow Complex, Alan Wake, Forza 3 for 360?
  Courtesy of some blank achievement pages showing up on Xbox.com, some games from the MS briefing may already have been revealed. Speculate away.
• RUMOR Kojima Not at Microsoft Briefing?
  If you’ve been dreading a Metal Gear announcement for XBOX 360, you might be relieved to hear that Kojima is out sightseeing and going to see the new Terminator movie. From Joystiq:
  ”When we stumbled upon him outside our hotel he told us that he’d be doing some sightseeing around (not so) sunny LA and then seeing "Dun-Dun Dun Da-Dun." We assume he means Terminator Salvation and, despite our instincts, we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell him he shouldn’t. He did say he enjoyed Star Trek, though — in fact, he gave it two thumbs up.”
  I laugh. At the quote. It’s funny.
• Digger, Mushroom Wars Coming to PSN
  New games announced from Creat Studios. Click through for pictures.
• [Update]Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition Coming to PC, XBLA
   
  In more Monkey Island news, a remake of the original, featuring HD graphics, reworked soundtrack, and full voice overs, will be making its way to XBLA and PC, courtesy of LucasArts. Release date: Summer!
• [Update]Tales of Monkey Island Episodic Game Announced for PC, WiiWare
  Woohoo! WiiWare continues to me a great place to go for the old point and click adventures as the five part Tales of Monkey Island was just announced by LucasArts at E3. The episodes will be released monthly. As for when it’ll start, it’ll start in July!
• Guitar Hero Following Rock Band to PSP, Continuing the Fight
  There are no specifics on the PSP iteration of Guitar Hero yet, but it promised to feature “a drum component.”
• RUMORS Abound: Tony Hawk and MW2 Exclusive Deals with Microsoft?
  These may just be nothing, but the moving up of the briefing start time, Tony Hawk’s presence at the show, Geoff Keighley telling Modern Warfare 2 to tune in to the 360 conference, etc, has N4G all alight for some possible exclusivity announcements in the next few hours, ranging from full exclusivity in the case of Tony Hawk Ride, to exclusive DLC for MW2. This is why the calm before the E3 storm is so fun.
  Somehow, I don’t know that Activision Blizzard can afford to alienate so many of their fans. Their goal is to make money after all, and this kind of bad blood would be damaging for years, no matter what MS could pay them.
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 – 4 Announced for 2010
  Announcement trailer here. It’s cute. No gameplay clues. Coming to all major platforms.
• Metal Gear Next Teaser Site is Now Sunny
  Mercifully, the mystery behind Kojima Productions next project will probably be revealed within the next few days. Already we know a new Metal Gear is in the works for PSP (from the PSP Go leak). However, there’s been three of those already. The exciting part is thinking that a new Metal Gear may be coming to home consoles. Check out some things I deciphered from the censored Kojima interview.
• PSP Go Leaked? Speculative Fun
  Is this really the case? We have a few moments before E3 starts. Let’s take a look.
• WipEout HD Fury DLC Expansion Announced
  PlayStation Blog just revealed that WipEout HD will be getting 8 new tracks, 13 new ships, three new game modes, more Trophies, and a new menu interface in the Fury Expansion DLC pack arriving this summer. As described at the PSBlog:
  Eliminator will forgo the racing and be completely about shooting down opponents.
  Zone Battle will force you to choose using zone energy to either go faster, or recharge your shields.
  Detonator has you piloting your ship through mine infested tracks and scoring points for taking out those mines.
  Eliminator and Zone Battle are also both playable online. First showing of the pack will be at E3, of course. No price was announced. See a trailer here.
• Tony Hawk Ride to be Demonstrated by Tony Hawk at XBOX Conference
  That’s what he tweeted, so that’s what we know. Looking at the history of XBOX conferences, it’s not really surprising that they’d have a live show of some sort.
• Fatal Frame IV Cancelled in Europe as Well
  For some reason, Temco decided not to release the Wii horror sequel in North America. Now, they’re shutting down localization of the game for a European release as well. No reasons were given as to why.
  I suspect though that once Dead Space Extraction, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles do fairly well, Tecmo might changes their minds.
• Crysis 2 Announced for PC, PS3, and 360
  "The development of Crysis 2 marks a major stepping stone for our studio," said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. "This is not only the next game in the Crysis franchise, it’s the first title we are developing for consoles and the first title being built on CryENGINE 3." – from Kotaku.
  No release date was announced, but EA will continue to be their publisher, probably for the third game as well in the planned Crysis Trilogy.