Those of you who aren't satisfied with the knowledge of Resident Evil 5 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) being set in Africa, here's a few more juicy game tidbits for you to chew on. UK magazine Xbox World 360, a sister publication of GamesRadar, wrote a preview of RE5 and revealed some very interesting features that will make it in the game. Find out what these fresh details are by clicking on the "read more" link found below.

Forget it's a sci-fi action, MMORPG. Forget that that it's being completed by the masters behind Ultima Online. Forget that Richard Garriott himself blesses this game with his talents. NCSoft's Tabula Rasa is a living, breathing, dynamic battlefield and it slaps you, the player, in the midst of the heat of conflict.

 

You fight for the Allied Free Sentients, an alliance of humans and humanoids in the defense against the Bane lightning invasion, and for each territory you run through, ships drop in, unload their men, and open fire on enemy troops on the way out.

In an interview with NCSoft's Starr Long, GamesRadar was able to dive a little deeper into what gamers should expect of the warring gameplay. Long described that Tabula Rasa will take a slice out of some MMORPGs and them some, but create a different experience than what MMORPG gamers could expect from other MMOs. He explains:

One of those key elements is having a very dynamic battlefield. In most online games the computer controlled characters (NPCs) are just standing around waiting for you to kill them. They don't really do anything and they certainly don't interact with each other. In TR the NPCs are constantly doing things whether you are there or not. They patrol around, they interact with the world and of course they constantly fight each other (there's a war going on after all).

Long also said, "Control Points are another big differentiator for Tabula Rasa, and depending on who is controlling them - the good guys or bad guys - changes the state of variables throughout the game." What waypoint teleporters are usable by you, what respawn locations are available to you, and what missions are available all depend on the current state of the war.

It's up to the player to tip the balance of the war. The very presence of a player in one segment of a battlefield could mean disaster for the enemy. But that's not to say that the Bane aren't helpless. In fact, Long explains that at any given time, a player can accomplish a certain objective for one NPC at a certain base, only to find out the base is no longer theirs. Long expounds on the scenario, stating:

For example, say you got a cool mission at one of these control points and when you complete it you return to the base only to find that the Bane may have overrun that base. Now you have to get with some other players to take back control of that base in order to finish your mission.

Getting excited? So are we. As the game already entered a closed beta stage, we're hoping it doesn't take long for everyone else to join the battle.

We've got another Square Enix Party '07 interview, and the guys working on Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War speak this time. GamesRadar sat beside Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu, Co-producer Shingo Kosuge, and Translator Tom Slattery to get juicy info about this upcoming title.

Since the release of Final Fantasy Tactics back in 1998, several spin-offs were released and Ivalice Alliance was formed. GamesRadar asks, "Have you had to make any adjustments to the game in the remake because of this?" and Kawasu replied "No, there's nothing that particularly changed because of the Ivalice Alliance."

Series fans were filled with joy when Aeris sold them flowers in FFT, while Cloud was a hidden playable character. Are there any new secret characters in the remake? "We've added two new characters, both of whom are from other Ivalice Alliance games: Balthier from Final Fantasy XII and Russo, who is the main character in Final Fantasy Tactics A2," says Kawazu.

More on the interview after the jump!

Square Enix revealed more info during their party, as the GamesRadar folks were able to interview Dragon Quest's creator Yuji Horii. They asked Horii "What sets [Dragon Quest Monsters] apart from the main DQ series, and what does it bring to the table?" and he responded:

Where Dragon Quest Monsters originated from was Dragon Quest V, where you had a monster befriending system, as a main part you could actually befriend monsters and have them fight on behalf of your party, as part of your party. So the monster collection games, particularly Dragon Quest Monsters we decided to take that element and make a whole game out of it. So from the very start you'd befriend monsters and use them to fight as your party, and the whole system is based on the original DQV system.

With that said, series fans would know that Dragon Quest Monsters ain't no Pokemon Lite. A toned down Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne might be close, but not quite.

More on the interview after the jump!

Lara is going back to her roots with the release of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Ten whole years have passed since the world first got introduced to the videogame character that Angelina Jolie further immortalized in the movies. But, with the previous release of Tomb Raider Legends, how good will this remake be?

GamesRadar had a little sit-down with Crystal Dynamics game designer Jason Botta. Today, they published the first part of the interview, and one of the interesting topics they talked about involves how the developers wanted to once again bring out the feeling of solitude that the original game had.

The original game had a feeling of solitude - do you think the new version has a similar feeling?

Yeah it does - that's one of the things that we really noted from the original when we started out to make this remake of sorts, was the fact that the original one had a sense of solitude of Lara in these environments. It was just her for long periods of time with no music and just sort of her exploring and then she would come upon animals in her environment that she'd take out, there'd be another period of no combat, no music, just her ambient sound effects, exploration - we really wanted to recapture that mood and it's definitely become one of the things that we stuck to when we were redesigning the game.

Come to think of it, he's right. Throughout the Tomb Raider franchise, Lara sort of got into a whole mix of things, and had to encounter automatic-rifle'd baddies in the strangest places. In the first game, I do remember walking through whole levels in silence. For some reason, the franchise had slightly veered away from the tomb raiding aspect and focused more on some urban action. Good thing they decided to bring Lara back to her "explorer roots."

You can click the "Read" link below to head on over to GamesRadar's interview.

 

Assassin's Creed still isn't out yet and here already be stirrings of a PS3/Xbox 360 Prince of Persia title. Ah, and it's another leak dripping from Ubisoft's pipes, straight into the waiting mouths of GamesRadar. Or at least, so claims GamesRadar. In this case, they got concept art and a few details on the game's story.

With Ubisoft Montreal beefing up its numbers, we can expect work on Prince to be rather intensive. GamesRadar says that it looks like the game will "make a spiritual return" to its Middle Eastern roots, after taking a darker turn in the time-traveling arc (Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones). They also make mention of a "new love interest." Vital statistics: "not much to say here, but she does look somewhere in the region of rather foxy."

Now why didn't you post concept art of her instead, GamesRadar?

In other news GamesRadar revealed: there's also a Prince film in the works, they say, to be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. *Raised eyebrow*

 

GamesRadar reports that Paul Barnett, the creative director of Mythic Creative, says in this month's issue of "PC Gamer" magazine that game guides and walkthroughs corrupt the enjoyment of the game. Barnett explains:

A game guide is actually there to corrupt your enjoyment of the game. ...It tells you the most efficient, straightforward and dull way to increase your numbers, and in no way tells you the wonder and joy of the game you're playing.

For most games the wonder and joy is in getting there. In fact in most of life, the joy is in getting to something. ...We now have people obsessed with getting to the endgame, not realising that the greatness is in going on that journey.

If previous promotion of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is to be taken as something a bit more than hype, than Barnett's latest game is set to jolt folks who are walkthrough-reliant, grind-obsessed, and build-anal. We'll end this here, before this post starts sounding like a promotion for "PC Gamer" or Warhammer Online. But, before we go, we'll ask you guys a question.

How do you use your game walkthroughs? Do you make sure that a walkthrough is available before you purchase that US$ 50 dollar 40 plus hour, story-heavy game? Do you consider walkthrough users to be gaming equivalents of the physically handicapped?

Personally, I do my best to play through a game first as fast as I can, not minding secrets and other stuff, with the goal of just getting to see what happens next. If the experience satisfies, only then do I start looking for walkthroughs to get every secret and every hidden ultimate weapon.

What about you folks? What's your take on game guides?

 

GamesRadar reports that in a recent GameTrailers interview, when Sony exec and overseer/overlord Phil Harrison was asked about the how MotorStorm looks now compared to the now legendary E3 2005 demo footage, Harrison had this to exclaim: "You actually get a better experience in the game - more cars on screen, more physics, more dynamics than we ever did in the visualisation..."

In other words, Harrison is implying that compared to the original demo movie, Sony "over delivered" when it comes to the game's graphics. When the interviewer pointed out that there's a lot less mud in the actual game compared to the demo, Harrison responded with this: "You know what? We actually turned down the mud because it made the game impossible to play."

Harrison is so proud of Sony's baby that he goes as far as to say that MotorStorm will be the "killer app" that the PS3 needs. He believes that "it's the title which a lot of people are going to go 'Wow - that's actually what I was expecting PlayStation 3 to represent!'"

We of course would like to flat-out agree with Harrison, but some of us here at QJ are still hoping that the game offered more than 8 tracks (that's what some of the reports/reviews say: just 8 tracks). Perhaps downloadable extra content is in the making?

What about you folks? Do you agree with Mr. Harrison that MotorStorm is the needed killer app?

 

We have an entire arsenal of super spies (Ian Fleming's James Bond), super operatives (Tom Clancy endorsed Sam Fisher and MGS' Solid Snake), and counter-terrorist units (Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six) to keep us entertained. But how's about another one?

Jason Bourne from the Robert Ludlum Bourne series might just be the next one to join the ranks of save-the-world game heroes. GamesRadar saw a blip on their screens about the Bourne film series (starring Matt Damon) being developed as a game. Their general contention is that the game might be released during the time-frame of the third movie, The Bourne Ultimatum's release on the silver screen.

Most probably set for next gen consoles, GamesRadar says that Vivendi SA is a video game developer; formerly known as Vivendi Universal">Vivendi Universal might be handling the game since the films are from Universal Studios. Keep your fingers crossed.

Takaya Imamura, producer of Star Fox Command for the DS, has hinted that the Wii might be the next destination for the classic series. GamesRadar reports that in an interview with Nintendo of Europe, when asked if a Wii version of Star Fox was in the works Imamura responded:

I wonder how the adventure of Fox and friends is going to go next time?! I have come up with some idea in my mind but it is still just a small one. I will try my best so that I can deliver it to you some time!

So there you have it folks. Straight from the producer's mouth: reason for us to hold our breath and wait for Fox McCloud to head for our Wii's.

Given this bright possibility, some of us here at QJ are now wondering if working the piloting mechanism will involve the Wiimote's tilt-sensing. Of course, we do have to note that our speculation is just probably due to our inner ninty-fan-boy coercing us to get ahead of ourselves. But still, we're very much optimistic.

Oh, before we forget, if you happen to be a Club Nintendo member, and you wish to read the whole interview, you can get access it by clicking on our VIA link below.