Homebrew developers Gouky and Foxy have released a Wii port of the old Rick Dangerous platform game from Tomb Raider makers Core Design. This is the first released version of Rick Dangerous Wii, so there's no changelog yet. Check out the full article for control info and screenshots.


Download: Rick Dangerous Wii v1.0

Developer Alekmaul has released an improved version of the xRick homebrew game originally developed by GPF. This new build will carrying some bug fixes, although the developer had to disable its load/save state feature. The changelog is available over in the full article.


Download:xRick v2.0

Microsoft is quick to react to rumors about the Xbox 360 needing a hard drive to run future games. They have denied the rumors that future games will need a hard drive to run, albeit sparse on the details.

The rumor, which would have gone the wrong way with the 20% of Xbox 360 owners who own the Core if proved true, started with XF learning of the "Hard Disk Drive Required" sticker appearing on the cases of some games in the future. The appearance of the sticker follows the rumor of the Xbox 360 Core being phased out.

Two and two: the rumors imply that a new system in Xbox gaming may soon take over, and games that need a hard drive to run will be the trend as was done with the original Xbox. Microsoft squelches the rumor quickly though, saying , "Every game will work with every Xbox 360 system. But just like some games will require you to have a Memory Unit to save games, some games will require you to have a Hard Drive to experience them."

While it does assure us that the games would at least work, it's not exactly a promising statement, as they make no clarifications as to what the lack of a hard drive would actually mean for the "stickered" games. We'll have to wait for further announcements to find out.

Before the onset of this round of the console wars, developer CiRCLE Studio was mostly known for its shooter title Without Warning for the PS2 and the Xbox. Both versions were published by Capcom back in 2005.

It's interesting that since then, the company has been busy making interactive DVD games and nothing more. Now, there are rumors circulating that CiRCLE Studio is about to close down.

The reports added that CEO Jeremy Heath-Smith informed the company's staff about the bad news the other day. Also, it has been said that CiRCLE has gone into liquidation and will cease operations immediately.

Gaming site Games Industry tried to contact the CEO and its Public Relations Manager Suzie Hamilton but according to the site, the two denied the rumors.

To be quite frank though, the company hasn't been really active in coming up with releases. The last four DVD games (Blockbusters, The Price is Right, No. 1 Hits, and Now Magazine Ultimate Celeb Quiz) were released back in November of 2006. It is also worth mentioning that Jeremy Heath-Smith co-founded Core Design, the original developer of the Tomb Raider series, back in 1988.

The story so far. What's happening with Free Running? Late last year it was announced that Reef Entertainment got the rights to Free Running from Rebellion Development. Before that, Rebellion Development got the rights from Eidos Interactive, because before that, Eidos bought Core Design, and before that, it was Eidos' Core Design team that was working on Free Running - get it? Basically, the game has swapped hands, and it's now with Reef Entertainment, a game publisher based in Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom.

Ubisoft. Now comes Ubisoft Entertainment, the publisher/developer behemoth with headquarters in over 20 countries, and it's probably the third largest independent publisher in Europe and seventh largest publisher in the US. A press release announced that Ubisoft will handle the UK sales and distribution for Free Running (obviously, the United Kingdom is the biggest English-speaking market in Europe). The game will be released March 16, 2007.

What is free running? As for "Free Running," it's a sport and an art developed by Sebastien Foucan and others. It's all about running around and dealing with obstacles in your path in an acrobatic manner.

For a better idea of what the stylistic sport is about, we had an article about the website and posted a related video.

North American release? Free Running has long been expected to be released in North America. If so, it's safe to guess that publisher Ubisoft will also handle sales and distribution in the US and Canada. So it's only a matter of time that we get our hands on this "Tony Hawk, but without skateboards" game.

Meanwhile, here's another related video to get you into the spirit of free running:

We thank Sleeper for the tip. "Hi I just noticed the new Free Running PSP website! It's got a complete overhaul! And the FAQ has some new entries," he said, "The last question now says its going to be released at the start of 2007. It's now been made by Rebellion and not Core Design." Good news tip, because we've known about this game since last year. What's been happening?

Game history. Long, long ago in the UK, Core Design, the video game developer studio based in Derby, developed the Tomb Raider series. Then the staff and assets of Core was sold by Eidos to Rebellion Developments, an indie development group. This was announced May 11, 2006, so this explains why the game design is now credited to Rebellion and not to Core Design, but the website still says that the game comes from the same "internal team" of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

So there you have it. Expect this "free running" game in 2007. And for you newbies: free running (aka "cooking") is a sport (and an art) developed by Sebastien Foucan where the free runners deal with obstacles in their paths acrobatically and aesthetically. It was inspired by parkour and incorporates "tricking." See this YouTube vid below if you want to see how it's done...

She's tough - adventurous - daring - and (dare I say?) sexy to boot. Hard to believe she's only ten years old...

Tomb RaiderLara Croft came into the world a decade ago this month. Since then, she has appeared in numerous incarnations, upgrades, consoles, fan art, a feature film, and not a few adolescent boys' nighttime fantasies. (Well, the girls had Indiana Jones, after all.)

Game developer Core Design, Ltd. and publisher Eidos originally released this video as part of Lara's tenth anniversary celebration. Although its been out there a few days, the foreboding musical score, amazing sets and unbelievable cinematography make this clip is a fine representative of machinema film making. (In case you didn't know, "machinema" is a new art form in which game figures and animations are used to create visual stories - often as good or better than what Hollywood puts out, and produced at a mere fraction of the cost). I personally found this as entertaining as Indy Jones' finer moments (not to mention she's much more interesting to look at).

But, as always, you should not take my word for it. Check out this video gem for yourself:

Eidos Interactive have today confirmed that they will be bringing a 10th Anniversary edition of the legendary Tomb Raider series to the PSP, PC and PS2. Tomb Raider fans should be pleased to hear that despite the confusion, the special Anniversary edition is currently being developed by Crystal Dynamics, the same people that brought us Tomb Raider: Legend.

Earlier this week we reported that Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary edition was cancelled by developers Core Design. After the game was dropped, Eidos Interactive gave the job of producing a remake of Tomb Raider 1 and 2 to the ever-dependable Crystal Dynamics, with the reassurance being the quality of the latest Lara Croft offering, Tomb Raider: Legend.

“Our ‘10th Anniversary Edition’ of Tomb Raider, is a one-off title to celebrate both Lara and Tomb Raider, it will appeal not only to the loyal fans of the Tomb Raider series but will also attract a totally new audience.” Said Larry Sparks, Head of Brands Management at Eidos Interactive. Hopefully this game will be as big of a hit as Tomb Raider: Legend was for the PS2 and Xbox, which topped the gaming charts for a number of weeks after it's launch April.

Expectations are high for Tomb Raider, and hopefully the PSP version of Tomb Raider: Legend will turn out to be a cracker when it hits the PSP's screen on June 21st. This considered, with the time Crystal Dynamics have had to fine-tune the system used in Tomb Raider: Legend, the 10th Anniversary edition should even better. For 10 years running its seems that gaming fans cant get away from Lara Croft, who has now become one of the legendary characters of gaming by her own right.

Last week we brought you news of a canceled Tomb Raider game previously under development at Core Design. The game was rumored to be an updated compilation of Tomb Raider's 1&2 completely redone with a new proprietary engine made by Core Design specifically for the PSP, rumor also has it the game was to be titled Tomb Raider: Anniversary Edition.

Today Core Design posted a message on their official homepage clarifying things, the message reads thus:

"Following speculation on the internet, we would like to offer the following clarification.

The video of Tomb Raider: 10th Anniversary Edition that appeared on certain sites was an unauthorised release of an internal presentation of a game that was being developed by Core Design until very recently. It was running on PSP and used a Core-developed engine. However, following a recent review this project has been officially cancelled by SCi.

Core is alive and well and working on some great new projects, and we are still planning to announce some exciting news very soon!"

Dang, shoot, poop and darn! That game looked good! Hopefully we'll be hearing more from Core on just what they're up to (thev're piqued our interest). Until then I guess we'll just have to snuggle our teddy bears close at night and hold on to what would have been.

Earlier today we brought you some news about Tomb Raider: Anniversary Edition, apparently a reworked compilation of Tomb Raider 1&2 for the PSP, a title that was rumored to have been canceled.

We've done some digging and were able to come up with some interesting information that might shed a little light on the mystery.

Find out more after the jump!