To patch or not to patch? After reportedly saying that they are currently working on a patch meant to fix Pro Evolution Soccer 2008's (for the Xbox 360 and PS3) lag woes, they now refuse to comment on the patch rumor. Could it just be a case of a broken press release date, or have we been led to hope for a non-existent patch?

Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 has been giving some unrest and discontentment to its PS3 owners in the form of existing frame rate issues and slowdown. Today, it looks like Konami has finally recognized and is taking steps to addressing the problem.
 
Upon entering the PES 2008 lobby online, players will be greeted with a notification from the developer saying that they have found "issues which can affect the online gameplay quality of PES 2008" and that they are working "full strength to find a solution as quickly as possible."

Pro-G called the UK office as a costumer to verify this and to further investigate as to just what kind of steps are they taking to remedy the issue. They were told that Konami is currently working on a patch that is supposed to improve both offline and online play (or at least attempt to).

However, you guys might hold on to those celebratory hats for now as there is still no clear timeframe as to the release of the said patch, nor is it clear how this may fix the problem for those players who do not enter games online.

After news of gamers getting copies of Halo 3 before its actual street date surfaced, Microsoft quickly moved to curtail the spread of some early Halo 3 gaming.

Earlier reports stated that the company would freeze the accounts of those caught playing Halo 3 before the game's official release date. Video game news site Pro-G, however, reports that Microsoft has backtracked on the ban. Here's a snippet from a Microsoft statement issued early this morning:

We can confirm that Microsoft is not taking any action (such as banning Xbox Live accounts) against gamers who are playing Halo 3 before the official street date. Any rumours or speculation to the contrary are false.

According to another Microsoft spokesperson who spoke to Pro-G, the ban is still in effect for Microsoft employees. Those with no connections to the company, however, are apparently free to play the game without suffering any consequences.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii will have online play at launch with Downloadable Content (DLC) to follow. This information nullifies previous announcements that the game will require future patching to be able to play online multiplayer.

The confusion was caused by a statement given by the RedOctane president Kai Huang in an interview with Pro-G. He said that "there won't be online initially for the Wii" which led many to believe that he was referring to the title's online gameplay mode.

This was later clarified by a representative from RedOctane stating that Huang was referring to DLC and not online gameplay. Currently, they are working with Nintendo on a method to implement this feature. So far there is no information on what is causing the delay or when the issues will be resolved.

Guitar Hero III is slated to be out this October 24 in Europe and October 28 in the U.S. While it might be a bummer not getting the chance to download new content when the game launches, at least we'll still be getting online play as promised.

 

It's no secret that one of the games we've been waiting for is Clive Barker's Jericho (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC). Codemasters looks to be doing a great job in translating the work of Mr. Barker into a format we all love: video games.

The Vice President of branding at Codemasters Tim Woodley was recently interviewed by Pro-G, and gave a few details on the game. However, the big bomb he did drop was the fact that the game will not have multiplayer, which has become a staple in first person shooters such as this. However, they did this due to the fact that the game is very plot driven, which reflects the style of Clive Barker. Here's what Woodley had to say about it:

Obviously the game is quite plot-driven, so it is not going to include multiplayer. We thought long and hard about first-person-shooters, and how people expect them to include multiplayer in this day and age. When you think about what Jericho is, and how the storyline delivers and provides the ability to bend time and slow down time, this creates all kinds of physical difficulties.

If you were to create a multiplayer that had any real worth you'd have to strip away all of those special things that are so crucial to the single-player. Ultimately all you'd be left with would be the maps we'd created and a bit of deathmatch and capture the flag.

Rather than put that in and get marked down for a weak multiplayer, we thought "no, we're going to concentrate on creating what is essentially a multiplayer game in a single-player world." It was an agonising decision but we feel we've made the right one.

This is probably a good decision to focus on one aspect of the game rather than coming out with another generic shooter. Judging from the trailers and the screenshots, it looks like their decision is paying off. However, we have to wait and see how the rest of the gaming community will take to the game once it's released. If you want to see the full interview, feel free to click on our read link. More updates as we get them.

Team Ninja recently mentioned that it will try to silence the PlayStation 3 critics with the help of real-life Rachel video game title Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The Nintendo Wii, to be quite frank, also has a lot of critics (ranging from weak graphics to lack of hard-hitting games).

When asked if Team Ninja is also willing to silence them Wii haters, producer and director Yosuke Hayashi gave a rather ninja-esque answer. Gaming site Pro-G was at the recent Ninja Gaiden Sigma event in London and met up with Hayashi.

The exact question was if the title is going to make an outing on the Wii. Just imagining playing as Ryu Hayabusa, or Rachel for that matter, using the Wiimote sends shivers down our spine. However, Hayashi's answer was quite vague:

We would make something for the Wii if we came up with something unique that would only work on the Wii. There are several groups within Team Ninja. The PS3 group, the Xbox 360 group, and there are Wii fans in Team Ninja.

Pro-G mentioned that Hayashi told them something more but the site didn't divulge it. The only Ninja Gaiden action Wii fans can have for now are the ones coming from the Virtual Console.

Team 17 recently sat down with Pro-G UK and revealed how the latest addition to the Worms franchise, Worms Open Warfare 2, is faring, and how the team bounced back from the quite tepid response that they got from the first Worms Open Warfare game for the DS and PSP. They made sure that they listened to the opinions and criticisms that they have garnered from the past PSP and DS game, and applied what they have learned on the latest installment. Inputs from gamers have also become invaluable towards the creation of new weapons and game modes.

The team also delved in dealing with the differences between the controls on the Nintendo DS as well as the "twitchy analog nub" of the PlayStation Portable. Team 17 confirmed that the touch screen medium is just about the ideal way to play the video game,

The DS touch screen is obviously a perfect compliment to the gameplay style of WORMS and allows the player increased depth of interaction but the PSP controls are not without their merits...The analogue stick is used to control the camera's position around the landscape while the d-pad is used to control the worms' movement.

Since they already mentioned the modes of play like Deathmatch, Race, and Fort Modes, Team 17 decided to let people in on other new stuff, such as the strangely named Buffalo of Lies, the Bunker Buster, and the Sentry Gun. Basically the Bunker Buster seeks out any worms that may try to infiltrate the other team from underground while the Sentry Gun automatically fires once a worm crosses the line of sight. Pretty cool indeed.

Online gaming is now at a whole new advantage in Worms Open Warfare 2. Team 17 has now enabled inviting players to a match, regardless of "where he is in a game". Best and worst Worms players are now shown in the leaderboards as well as given Daily Awards.

Surely, Worms Open Warfare 2 will be out to command and conquer once it hits the stores this coming August.

Click on the Read link see the entire interview!

 

James Orry of UK gaming news site PRO-G reports that Ubisoft's Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions, has unfortunately been set for a delay of sorts. It's supposed spring release is now a more specific August 31.

In this iteration of the franchise, you play the leader of Operation Wildcard, an undercover and elite squad of pilots secretly created by the American government. Your mission is to stop the Nazis from creating a weapon of mass destruction. In the game itself, you get access to spy missions using some extremely hush-hush prototype aircraft, so your life as a spy isn't all that bad.

Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions is to be released for the Xbox 360, PC, and PS3. The US is set to see the game a few days earlier as the North American release date is August 28.

The third Spider-Man movie is slated for a worldwide release on May 4 (although Ryan A.'s already watched it thanks to the magic of advanced screenings). To coincide with the film's theatrical release, the multiplatform Spider-Man 3 video game will also be released on the same day for all of its target consoles.

Well, that was the plan anyway. European PS3 owners will have to wait longer to experience the game on their next gen consoles. According to Pro-G, Activision UK has confirmed that the PS3 version of Spider-Man 3 has been delayed for two weeks and is now slated for a May 18 release. No reason was given for the delay.

We'll keep you guys updated as soon as more details surface.

    
 

It seems Dante's still up to his high-flying, two-fisted gunplay antics as we present a truckload of some of the most jaw-dropping screenshots of Devil May Cry 4 for the Playstation 3, courtesy of the good folks over at PRO-G. If they're anything to go by, then this could probably be the Killer App for Sony's shiny black console, just as the original Devil May Cry sent a lot of PS2 owners packing for a copy. Just look at those details!

   

More screenshots after the jump! And we mean MORE.