The Australia & New Zealand release of Assassin’s Creed is delayed by one week, meaning it’ll ship on Wednesday, November 21st.
The delay is “due to manufacturing and freight difficulties during this time of year, Ubisoft Australia & New Zealand were unable to receive their full allocation of Assassins Creed stock required to fulfill all Day One orders,” publisher Ubisoft said in a statement. “In an effort to treat all retailers and consumers fairly, Ubisoft will wait until the balance of stock is received in our warehouse before we ship the game.” This delay has not effected any other release dates for the game, and you can pick up Assassin’s Creed in North American stores today for Xbox 360 and PS3.
So far Assassin’s Creed has received excellent reviews across the board which is great news. For those poor souls in Australia and New Zealand though who have to wait a bit before they can get their hands on the game, this beautiful new launch trailer is for you.
Soulcalibur Legends has wrapped up development and will be hitting along with a flood of other games on November 20th (for a packed Monday & Tuesday), exclusively for the Nintendo Wii as announced today by publisher and developer Namco.
The game is the first action-adventure title in the “Soul Calibur” series and is set between the events of the original Soul Blade for the PlayStation and its sequel, Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast. The third-person hack-and-slash action follows knight-in-shining-armor Siegfried as he quests to piece together the Soul Edge, better known as the epic-size sword that he’s come to be associated with. Numerous other characters from the franchise turn up in the game, including the sultry dominatrix Ivy and the bushido-blade-wielding Mitsurugi.
As you’d expect, the game takes advantage of the Wii Remote & Nunchuck controllers for motion-sensing sword-swinging action. In addition to have a single-player mode, the game also supports split-screen co-op and competitive modes, which should be interesting. It also contains a Versus Mode, so it’s almost like you’re getting Soul Calibur IV on Wii!
Contra 4, release date November 13th (US), will be packed to the gills with extras and special features in celebration of Contra’s 20th anniversary announced Konami.
So what features will be in the latest game in the action-packed side-scrolling shooter series? Everything from unlockable characters to a Contra virtual museum with info on every game in the series to the complete NES versions of the original NES Contra and Super C! (We reported on Contra and Super C being in Contra 4 back in August actually).
Check it all out in the bulleted list below!
Bonus Features in Contra 4:
* 20th Anniversary Virtual Museum – This museum provides a virtual history of the Contra franchise since the early 80’s, including box art, screen shots and information on every version of Contra from the US, Japan and Europe. The museum also features an unlockable gallery of bonus art.
* Unlockable Games – The NES versions of the classic Contra and Super C are now unlockable.
* 5 unlockable characters, including the Probotector from the European version of the Contra games
* 2 unlockable digital comic books from longtime Contra artist, Atsushi Tsujimoto
* An interview with noted Contra Producer Nobuya Nakazato
Sounds awesome. I will DEFINITELY be getting this game as I am a huge fan of the series. Can’t wait!
If you haven’t seen footage of the new Contra 4, check it out in this gameplay video from E3 2007.
— Via AZNightBuzz
The game will be hitting in two different editions. The standard edition will cost $49.99 and the limited edition will run you $59.99. The Limited Edition, as per usual, will ship in a tin case and come with a bonus DVD.
As for the PS3 version of the game, there was no update on it and it may still be delayed till early 2008. Although now that the PC version is indeed coming, there is a chance it could still hit this year.
TimeShift comes out today for Xbox 360 and PC in the U.S. and in Europe & Australia on November 2nd, with the PS3 version releasing on November 19th in the US and December 15th in Australia (no Euro date yet).
The game is a first-person shooter that looks to fundamentally change, challenge and reinvent one of the most widely played-out conventions in modern action media . . . . altering time. Yes, just as in The Matrix and a trillion other movies, TV shows and video games.
But you have NEVER seen it been done like this before. The TimeShift Chronicles is a series of 3 behind-the-scenes making-of featurettes that take you inside the development studio and show you exactly how labor-intensive it was to create the incredible piece of gaming awesomeness that is TimeShift, a game that saw delay-upon-delay, true to it’s name, and yet came out looking better and cooler than ever could’ve been imagined when the developers first thought of the game and showed it off years ago.
In part one get introduced to the team behind the game and it’s extensive history as TimeShift was remade and improved over and over again.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has a release date of November 5th in North America and is the 10th game in the Fire Emblem series (no date for anywhere else yet, cross your fingers). The game is developed by Intelligent Systems, the same developer that made the last game, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for GameCube (they also made Super Paper Mario for Wii and many other Nintendo games throughout the years).
The game is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance and features the same cel-shaded FMV cut-scenes and an upgraded game engine.
Check out this amazing video interview to see the game in action. Looks impressive!
Storyline:
Three years have passed since the Daein-Crimea war, where the mercenary Ike led the Crimean army to defeat Daein’s mad King Ashnard. Both Daein and Crimea are still stabilizing after that war. Daein is ruled by the Begnion occupation forces, after Crimea relinquished rule over their defeated country, and they are oppressed by the imperial soldiers. In the first of the game’s four parts, a group of chivalrous thieves, which includes “the silver-haired maiden,” Micaiah, fight Begnion’s oppression and attempt to liberate Daein and bring back power to the royal family.
The efforts of the Dawn Brigade are the beginning of a much larger conflict. In the next part, Crimea’s Queen Elincia fights against conspiring nobles, who plot to overthrow her. The following part sees the Greil mercenaries assist the united Laguz army as they go to war with the Begnion Empire. The consequences of this war can be seen in the fourth and final part, where the Dawn Brigade and the Greil mercenaries join forces to defeat the Begnion senate and the goddess high above at the Guiding Tower.
Culdcept DS has been confirmed for Japan and will be hitting sometime in 2008, developed as always by OmiyaSoft. Western fans will probably have to wait until mid or late 2008 before it sees release here . . . if it does, but hopefully it will due to the release of Culdcept previously on Playstation 2 in the States. Which even though it didn’t receive strong sales it has regardless built-up a strong fanbase here, which includes one of my friends who raves about the game.
Another entry in the series, called Culdcept Saga, is also set for U.S. release (it’s already out in Japan) on January 15, 2008 at the “budget” price of $39.99 (so far Culdcept Saga does not have a European or Australian release date). That game is published both in Japan and the US by Namco, who hopefully will pick up Culdcept DS for US release since they have taken an interest in the franchise.
If you’ve never heard of Culdcept, it’s an intriguing mishmash of a Monopoly-style board game, Magic the Gathering-style card game (i.e. TCG which stands for Trading Card Game) and the look of Japanese-style RPGs like Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on PS2. The game is extremely popular in Japan where Culdcept games have also been released on the PS1, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast in addition to PS2 and now Xbox 360.
The game itself is played like Monopoly, where you roll dice and move around a game board, attempting to claim spaces and assess fees against other Cepters who land there. Unlike in Monopoly, squares are claimed by summoning creatures (using cards in the deck you build) to guard them, and players who land on them can opt to challenge this creature with one of their own cards from their deck rather than pay the toll. If successful, the challenger claims ownership of the square. The winner of the game is the first player to return to the starting location after amassing a sufficient quantity of magic/mana.
Creatures are summoned from customized decks (”books”) of cards which players design ahead of time from an available pool of cards. Other cards in these decks bestow items to enhance creature abilities, or represent spells which can influence movement on the game board as you’d expect. Although there are nearly 500 different cards in total, players must earn many of these through skillful play and story mode progression before they can be used.
The Xbox 360 version, Culdcept Saga, adds support for online multiplayer play against up to three other players via Xbox Live, complete with leaderboards and rankings, in addition to card and rule tweaks and upgraded high-resolution (partially 3D) graphics. Also new in the Xbox 360 version is the ability to unlock various items that players can use to customize their in-game avatars.
Here’s a developer walkthrough of Culdcept Saga from E3 ‘07. For the DS version you can likely expect to have the same basic gameplay with stylus controls tacked on. But hopefully there will be some unique DS features as well as online play via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Burnout Paradise has received a release date of January 22, 2008 in North America. The game will be hitting both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
Paradise is the latest iteration in the extremely popular best-selling Burnout series, and the 5th game in the franchise. It features an open-world and is set in the fictional “Paradise City” where challenges will now be available at any junction. Also promised for the new title is “a new standard in online social gameplay.”
A demo for Burnout Paradise will be hitting the PS3 store and Xbox 360 Marketplace in December 2007 and included in this demo will be online support as well as the new “Stunt Mode”. — Via ShackNews
The release date of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is fast approaching. The game comes out on November 5th in the United States and four days later on November 9th in Europe. It will be available for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
From all we’ve seen so far, the game looks to be one of the most impressive, at least graphically, of all time. And while the game will likely have an awesome multiplayer mode . . . . early reviews of the modern-day first-person shooter point to a short single-player campaign as it’s major downfall.
How short is “short” you ask? According to one review from OXM UK, we’re talking about 5 to 6 hours on Normal, so while the action-packed single-player is praised, how fast it’s over is a major bummer.
So, if true, will this effect whether you purchase the game or not?
Get ready to rock sooner! The release date for Rock Band has been moved up three days to November 20th. That way it doesn’t fall on Black Friday, so you won’t be smashed, pushed, bumped, kicked, trampled or mugged while trying to get your hands on Rock Band for your preferred console (Xbox 360 or PS3, the PS2 version will be coming out on December 10th) by the swarms of blood-thirsty crowds.
The price of the full Rock Band bundle (the game with all instruments) is $169.99, in case you haven’t heard. So prepare to hurt that wallet! But I believe it’ll be worth it to rock out with your entire family/group of friends/fictitious-band-mates for the upcoming and hastily approaching holiday season.
And here’s a little tidbit of information for you. Keep in mind that the guitar controller from Rock Band WILL NOT work with Guitar Hero 2 or 3, due to the extra number of fret board buttons and an effects switch. This was only tested with the Xbox 360 version of the controllers though, not the PS3 one. — Via GS & IGN
The Australia & New Zealand release of Assassin’s Creed is delayed by one week, meaning it’ll ship on Wednesday, November 21st. 
— Via 
