MTV Games

Nirvana Bandmates 'Dismayed' By Kurt Cobain's Image In 'Guitar Hero 5'

Courtney Love also speaks out, but game's publisher claims she agreed to the use of Cobain's likeness.
By James Montgomery


Nirvana's Kurt Cobain
Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

To those who grew up idolizing the man and his music, the news that late, lamented Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain would appear as an unlockable character in "Guitar Hero 5" — one that strikes rock-star poses and rocks out to Bon Jovi tracks, mind you — seemed particularly disrespectful to his legacy, not to mention a tad bit ghastly.

Now, imagine how you'd feel if you were his widow, his former bandmates or his friend.

Because over the past week, all those people — Courtney Love (who, in addition to being Cobain's widow and the mother of his child, is also the arbiter of his estate), Nirvana's Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic and author/friend Everett True — have weighed in on the subject, each expressing their disgust at the way Cobain's likeness is used in the game and some even threatening legal action against its publisher, Activision.

It all started when True — author of "Nirvana: The Biography" and the man who, as legend has it, introduced Cobain to Love in 1991 at a Butthole Surfers gig — published a profanity-laced missive about the game on his blog and accused Love and Grohl of sanctioning the use of Cobain's likeness.

Love responded to True's claims via her Twitter account, writing that she "never signed of [sic]" on Activision's use of Cobain's likeness in the game and threatened to sue the publisher for "breach of contract" (she also took more than a few potshots at Grohl, writing, "If there's a hell, he's going. I'm not").

"For the record, this 'Guitar Hero' sh-- is breach of contract on a bully's part, and there will be a proper addressing of this," Love wrote. "We are going to sue the sh-- out of Activision. 'We' being the Trust, the Estate, the LLC and the various LLCs of Cobain Enterprises."

Of course, this drew a response from Activision itself, who, in a statement released Thursday (September 10), denied Love's claims and said they had attained all the necessary agreements to feature Cobain in the game.

"Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain's likeness as a fully playable character in 'Guitar Hero 5,' " the statement read.

And, in an interview with the U.K.'s Guardian, Activision Vice President Tim Riley took it one step further, saying Love was "great to work with" and "supplied us with videos and photos [of Cobain]" for use in the game.

"She picked the wardrobe and the hairstyle, which turned out to be the 'Teen Spirit' look, then we went back and forth over changes — some subtle, some not so subtle," Riley told the paper. "[Love wanted] a sort of athletic definition, but not overly so."

And finally, late Thursday night, Grohl and Novoselic waded into the fray, releasing a joint statement that said that while they were disappointed by the entire situation, they had no control over the use of Cobain's likeness in the "Guitar Hero" game. But they did ask Activision to make amends by "re-locking" the Cobain character.

"We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the 'Guitar Hero' game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate — we have no control whatsoever in that area," the statement read. "While we were aware of Kurt's image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn't know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in 're-locking' Kurt's character so that this won't continue in the future.

"It's hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists' music alongside cartoon characters," the statement continued. "Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better."

A spokesperson for Activision has not responded to MTV News' request for comment on Grohl and Novoselic's statement.

For more on "Guitar Hero 5," check out Multiplayer.MTV.com.

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'Def Jam Rapstar' Video Game Coming This Year

Game's trailer features Young Jeezy, but track list has not been announced.
By Russ Frushtick


Young Jeezy
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

Wonder how you stack up against Jay-Z, Mos Def and Dr. Dre? Good news: You'll get your chance with the upcoming release of "Def Jam Rapstar" from 4mm Games later this year.

The title will let you step behind the mic and perform karaoke hits from Def Jam recording artists.

Speaking with IGN, 4mm CEO Nicholas Perrett mentioned the goals for the game and whom they're designing it for. "I think, at the highest level, we're trying to make a game that appeals to a very broad audience of anyone who has really enjoyed hip-hop music at any point in the last 30 years."

Perrett went on to describe some of the features that will be revealed at next week's E3 Expo, saying that gamers will be able to continue the playing even after they've finished the song, and that there will be a strong community following behind the title to ensure that it has a long lifespan.

The partnership with the record label opens up a lot of possibilities, as well. "Def Jam means hip-hop. And I think it goes right to the core of why we're in partnership with Def Jam — why hasn't anyone made this game yet? — all comes back to, it's difficult, because there's only a few people who could probably pull it off."

The song list is, unfortunately, still unconfirmed, but a new trailer for "Def Jam Rapstar" on IGN featured Young Jeezy's "Put On." It's important to note that it won't just be new artists featured in the game. Perrett said, "If I had a grandma who was into a particular type of hip-hop song, I want to know that I've got that as much as the one that my 14-year-old nephew is listening to."

There's no word yet on how the game will actually play, but we're going to be getting a closer look at the title at E3 next week, so stay tuned.

For more video game news check out our gaming blog at Multiplayer.MTV.com.

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'Beatles: Rock Band' Footage Debuts At Coachella

Visuals from the upcoming game were played on huge screens during Paul McCartney's set.
By Stephen Totilo


Paul McCartney performs at Coachella on Friday
Photo: Kevin Mazur/MPL/WireImage

In a world of shaky cams and YouTube, what happens on a rock-concert stage is going to reach the world.

Over the weekend, the first video game footage from "The Beatles: Rock Band" debuted in massive fashion as legendary Beatles bassist Paul McCartney rocked through a set with his band at California's Coachella music festival.

The footage spread across the Internet, first as a rumor that the visuals behind McCartney were a hint of this September's MTV-backed "Rock Band" spin-off. Later came confirmation on McCartney's Web site that this was, indeed, the most unusually staged debut of video game footage ever.

A post on the site read: "It was a night of firsts and was the unexpected, unannounced world premiere of the images from the coming Beatle 'Rock Band' game, which played on vast screens throughout 'Got to Get You Into My Life.' "

The footage looked like the background visuals one sees in a "Rock Band" game. The members of the Beatles sang and played with vintage instruments in their hands and period clothes on their backs. The footage probably isn't exactly what players of the game will see when they play "The Beatles: Rock Band." It did not show the signature scrolling-note highways that players need to stare at to know which buttons to press on their guitars, pads to hit on their drums or words to sing.

MTV Games and development studio Harmonix have released no official video of the game.

The Coachella footage was the second incident in two months that suggests major music game news will be breaking during concerts throughout the year. Activision's "DJ Hero," a long-rumored project, proved to be much more official in March when a banner for the game was hung behind DJ Shadow's set at South by Southwest.

"The Beatles: Rock Band" will be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii on September 9. For more information, check out the game's site.

Check out the Multiplayer blog, updated daily, for even more gaming coverage.

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Green Day Music Coming Exclusively To 'Rock Band'

Three-song pack, including 'Know Your Enemy,' will be available July 7 through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
By Russ Frushtick


Green Day
Photo: Marina Chavez

After several non-denial denials and premature band reveals, Harmonix and MTV Games announced Thursday (June 11) that Green Day music will be coming exclusively to "Rock Band."

Available July 7 through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, the first Green Day release on "Rock Band" will be a three-song pack taken from their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown. The songs will include "21 Guns," "Know Your Enemy" and "East Jesus Nowhere." Future releases are planned, but details on those remain hush-hush.

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong seems pretty pumped about the project: "We are excited to be working with MTV and Harmonix. They are leaders and visionaries in the world of music and video games, and 'Rock Band' is a really cool way for fans of all ages to experience our music."

This will be the first time Green Day songs will be playable in a music or rhythm game. Up until now, die-hard fans have been forced to create hacked versions of the songs and add them to modded versions of "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" (a practice that isn't exactly encouraged by the games' developers or artists).

This isn't the first time "Rock Band" has managed to wrangle exclusive big-name artists. "The Beatles: Rock Band," which launches in September, will be the first time music from the Fab Four will be featured in a rhythm and music game.

For more "Rock Band" news, check out Multiplayer.MTV.com.

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Is 'Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars' A Flop?

Gamers, 'GTA' publisher Take Two and GameStop weigh in on what went wrong with the DS game.
By Stephen Totilo


"Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars"
Photo: Rockstar

Sometimes it snows in July. Sometimes men bite dogs. And sometimes a new "Grand Theft Auto" appears to flop.

"Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars," the best-reviewed game in the five-year history of the Nintendo DS, is now being labeled by some gamers and critics as a sales disappointment. The game, developed by "GTA" series creators Rockstar Games, sold 89,000 units in the U.S. between its March 17 launch and April 4, the end of the first monthly reporting period for the game's sales tracked by the NPD group.

That compares to 805,000 units of "Pokémon Platinum" sold on the DS by Nintendo from its March 22 launch through April 4. It's also far lower than the 2.85 million copies that "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold, according to NPD, in that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game's first month on the market back in April 2008. The DS has sold 100 million units worldwide, including 6 million in the U.S. just since October.

What went wrong for "Chinatown Wars"?

The game's publisher, Take Two Interactive, doesn't publicly state that there's a problem. "We're confident in the game, and we think it has long-term potential for success," company spokesman Alan Lewis told MTV News. "We're trying to pioneer mature games on the platform."

Lewis dismissed comparisons to the kid-targeted "Pokémon," instead casting "Chinatown Wars" against the handful of other M-rated games released on a system that is commonly associated with children and moms. He said "Chinatown Wars" outperformed those other M-rated DS games at launch and is already the second-best-selling M-rated game on the platform.

That may make "Chinatown Wars" a success compared to "Dementium: The Ward" or the DS version of "Resident Evil," but it doesn't compare to the performance of portable "GTA" games on Sony's PSP. The first "GTA" on that platform, "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories," sold more than a million units in its first year. Earlier this year, Sony's head of marketing for the PSP, John Koller, told MTV News that putting a "GTA" out on the DS "raises some eyebrows in a lot of areas."

MTV asked gamers why they might have refrained from buying the game. Through Twitter and our gaming blog, they blamed rampant DS piracy, the game being too big or not as visually stimulating as the Xbox 360 and PS3 "GTA" games, or simply not getting around to buying the game yet.

Among the replies was a comment from a reader posting under the name Sting Wolf, who dismissed the piracy issue and focused on marketing and development issues, which resulted in "Chinatown Wars" looking more like the less-popular original "GTA" games than the ones that have been global phenomena this decade: "It couldn't possibly have been the fact that the reason GTA completely blew up in popularity [in 2001] was its shift to 3D [graphics] in GTA3," he wrote sarcastically. "And those same people who loved that won't necessarily enjoy the 2D format of old. It also couldn't possibly have been the fact that there's little-to-no market for M-rated games on Nintendo systems anymore. ... I look forward to the day when this [piracy] excuse is removed from everyone's mind and industry execs can get back to taking blame for bad marketing decisions themselves, instead of looking for others to blame."

There are plenty of other possible reasons for the performance of "Chinatown Wars." It could be "GTA" burnout. It was released just a month after "Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned," the Xbox 360-exclusive "GTA IV" expansion that was heavily promoted on TV and looks more like the "GTA" games the public recognizes. ("I don't think one has to do with the other," Lewis said.) It could be that a 2-D "GTA" game just doesn't show well in ads and TV commercials.

The nation's biggest gaming retail chain expressed confidence in the title. " 'GTA: Chinatown Wars' is exceeding our expectations and illustrating the power of the franchise on a new platform," GameStop spokesman Chris Olivera said in an e-mail to MTV News. "We've seen a solid lift in sales of 'Chinatown Wars' following the launch of the DSi and believe that the product will continue to enjoy a long life at our stores as the buzz around the new handheld gaming experience continues to grow." Nintendo's DSi model of the DS platform was released a day after NPD's sales-tracking window for March.

The one thing no one seems to be able to knock "Chinatown Wars" for is the game's quality. It received rave reviews, including from MTV.

Last month, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, told MTV News that the DS demographics shouldn't doom the fortunes of M-rated games, including "Chinatown Wars": "We certainly believe that there's an 18-and-above consumer opportunity with DS, just as we believe there's an 18-and-above consumer opportunity with Wii."

Take Two still expects a long-term success from its "GTA" DS debut. Can it get there? For the first time in a long time, the triumph of a "Grand Theft Auto" is not a sure thing.

Check out the Multiplayer blog, updated daily, for even more gaming coverage.


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Inside Tips For 'Guitar Hero: Metallica'

Designer Alan Flores tells head-bangers how to best play the new game, in Multiplayer.


Photo: Activision

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Next 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Xbox 360 Expansion Due Out Before November

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50 Cent Proud Of 'Intense' New Video Game, Says Eminem Cheats At 'Pac-Man'

'50 Cent: Blood on the Sand' is out Tuesday on Xbox 360 and PS3.
By Stephen Totilo


50 Cent
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — This week, 50 Cent's big game is a gun-filled adventure in the desert. Next time? It could be a special G-Unit version of "Tetris."

The hip-hop icon talked to MTV News in the G-Unit offices near Madison Square Garden about "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," out today on Xbox 360 and PS3.

You may think of 50 Cent first as a rapper, but the man's life is now filled with video games, including titles of his own. First there was "50 Cent Bulletproof," then a PSP spin-off and now "Blood on the Sand." The latest takes 50 to a Middle Eastern-looking city to chase down a crystal skull that's been stolen from him and his crew. The new game has 18 unreleased 50 tracks, plus hits from several G-Unit and 50 albums and a score from Swizz Beatz.

"The game is an intense experience," 50 said. It was developed by the British studio Swordfish, but it's 50 who came up with the skull bit. "The crystal skull actually exists," he said. "It's a diamond, an artifact. I saw it in a magazine in Dubai. I took it and said, 'Make this what they're after.' "

Video games are everywhere for 50. He's got video games on the tour bus, an Xbox 360 in the front and a PS3 in the back. He doesn't play them as much as the rest of the G-Unit. They're giving the PS3 more time than the 360 lately because they just got it. They're playing lots of sports games.

He's got the games he battles Eminem in. "We have different versions of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and regular Pac-Man in Detroit, in the studio where me and Em record at," 50 said. "We sit there and we pride ourselves on who actually has the higher score on those games."

Eminem has the advantage on 50 right now. "He cheats because he's developed the patterns and sh-- ... After a while you get enough time playing it and you develop these strategies and patterns in the actual game and it's kind of like cheating. I don't get as much time to play in the arcade game."

50's got a lot of video games he wants to make after "Blood on the Sand." You might be surprised at what he's thinking about: "I'd like to be a part of developing, marketing and promoting a game I'm not actually in," he said. "It could be like Tetris. It's one of my favorite games."

He's even got games in his beefs. His video for "I'll Be the Shooter" amps up his beef with Rick Ross thanks in part to the inclusion of virtual firefights from "Blood on the Sand." Gaming as part of rap-battling? It broadens the means of expression, he said.

"So it's not misinterpreted that hip-hop is a negative art-form, I'll take it to somewhere where they can see a sense of humor and where it's productive at the same time."

However, that doesn't mean that 50's going to keep tying his games into his beefs. "I'm not sure, and if I tell you now, they'll be waiting for it. My whole thing is being unpredictable when it comes to each altercation or situation."

And let's not leave this out: He's got the video game he wants to turn into a movie. "I am actually optioning the rights to 'Saints Row' to do a movie about that game," 50 said, referring to the "Grand Theft Auto"-like series from "Blood on the Sand" publisher THQ.

Oh, and 50's got a Wii — we'll have more on that tomorrow on our MTV Multiplayer blog. But today, the game 50 most cares about is "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," out on the Xbox 360 and PS3, rated M and the latest release in one of hip-hop's most powerful brands.

For more on "Blood on the Sand" and other video games, check out our gaming blog, Multiplayer.

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Kanye West, Run-DMC Featured In 'Scratch: The Ultimate DJ' Game

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Metallica 'Guitar Hero' Details Revealed

In addition to 28 Metallica tunes, game features tracks by Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, System of a Down, more.
By Tracey John


Metallica's James Hetfield
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

Metallica are so excited about their upcoming "Guitar Hero" video game that they couldn't wait to tell their fans what songs were in it.

The band's official Web site recently revealed the full set list of songs that will appear in "Guitar Hero: Metallica," due March 29, which includes 28 tracks spanning Metallica's entire career, as well as tunes from 21 other artists, such as Foo Fighters, Slayer, Queen, Alice in Chains, Lynyrd Skynyrd and System of a Down.

"Metallica gave us input on guest artists they'd like to see in their game, bands that they felt were really important to them," the game's lead designer, Alan Flores, told MTV News during a demo in New York earlier this month. "Guitar Hero: Metallica" is similar to November's full-band music game, "Guitar Hero: World Tour," but players will get to jam to songs strictly by Metallica and the musicians that inspire them.

The game's plot line is based on a true story of European fans who attended every Metallica show until they were finally invited by the band to open for them onstage. Players will take on the role of musicians trying to follow in Metallica's footsteps, but they'll also be able to play as singer James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.

"The very first thing you do is you play as Metallica," Flores explained. "We wanted to hit you hard, and we didn't want to put that off."

Flores, a longtime Metallica fan himself who's worked on past "Guitar Hero" games, said that when his company, Activision Blizzard, showed the band their work on June's "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," it was a no-brainer. "They were really impressed by it, and they basically wanted a similar treatment," he said. "So we took that as a blueprint and crammed a lot of new bonus stuff in there."

The bonus material includes virtual re-creations of the venues Metallica's played in, pop-up trivia about the band's history and lyrics, unlockable videos of live performances and exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage from their motion-capture sessions.

The biggest addition is the "expert-plus" difficulty to all the gameplay modes, which adds a second bass pedal so that "Guitar Hero" drummers can play double bass drum tracks with both feet, just like Ulrich does. The second bass pedal, compatible with the existing "Guitar Hero: World Tour" drum peripheral, will be sold in stores separately when "Guitar Hero: Metallica" is released.

"It's a game that can be really hard if you're up for that challenge," Flores said. "But if you want to get in there and just play some songs, it's there for you. Even if you don't like Metallica but you like 'Guitar Hero,' the songs are just so fun to play."

The track list for "Guitar Hero: Metallica," according to Metallica's Web site:

Metallica Tracks:
• "All Nightmare Long"
• "Battery"
• "Creeping Death"
• "Disposable Heroes"
• "Dyers Eve"
• "Enter Sandman"
• "Fade to Black"
• "Fight Fire With Fire"
• "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
• "Frantic"
• "Fuel"
• "Hit the Lights"
• "King Nothing"
• "Master of Puppets"
• "Mercyful Fate (Medley)"
• "No Leaf Clover"
• "Nothing Else Matters"
• "One"
• "Orion"
• "Sad but True"
• "Seek and Destroy"
• "The Memory Remains"
• "The Shortest Straw"
• "The Thing That Should Not Be"
• "The Unforgiven"
• "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"
• "Wherever I May Roam"
• "Whiplash"

Other Artists:
• Alice in Chains - "No Excuses"
• Bob Seger - "Turn the Page"
• Corrosion of Conformity - "Albatross"
• Diamond Head - "Am I Evil?"
• Foo Fighters - "Stacked Actors"
• Judas Priest - "Hell Bent for Leather"
• Kyuss - "Demon Cleaner"
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Tuesday's Gone"
• Machine Head - "Beautiful Mourning"
• Mastodon - "Blood and Thunder"
• Mercyful Fate - "Evil"
• Michael Schenker Group - "Armed and Ready"
• Motörhead - "Ace of Spades"
• Queen - "Stone Cold Crazy"
• Samhain - "Mother of Mercy"
• Slayer - "War Ensemble"
• Social Distortion - "Mommy's Little Monster"
• Suicidal Tendencies - "War Inside My Head"
• System of a Down - "Toxicity"
• The Sword - "The Black River"
• Thin Lizzy - "The Boys Are Back in Town"

For more gaming coverage, check out our Multiplayer blog.

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Our Five Favorite iPhone Games ... So Far

We check out the latest games available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
By Patrick Klepek


"Fieldrunners"
Photo: Subatmoic Studios

There's no stopping the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple's powerful touch-screen multimedia devices are showing no signs of slowing down, which means it's increasingly likely you or someone you know will have one soon (if you all don't already).

The most popular use of each device is not Facebook or even listening to music, but playing games. Since the launch of the application store last summer, games have exploded on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

There are all kinds of games, whether you're looking for a word puzzle, an epic action adventure in ancient Greece or a million and a half different kinds of card games — there's something for everyone, but that's part of the problem.

There are literally thousands of games to choose from on iTunes right now, which can be pretty overwhelming. So, we've compiled a list of the five best games available for the iPhone and iPod Touch right now.

Each game can be purchased via iTunes or through the phone itself. Click on the game name and it will automatically open iTunes and take you to the game's page.

"Rolando"

Slowly but surely, developers are finding effective ways to combine all the features of the device to work together — "Rolando" is one of the first games to do that properly. "Rolando" tasks players with navigating a series of cartoonish creatures to an exit by tilting the phone and using their fingers to move obstacles out of the way. PSP owners will feel right at home with "Rolando," since it plays much like "Loco Roco."

"Fieldrunners"

If you've heard of "Desktop Tower Defence," you know what to expect from "Fieldrunners." For the uninitiated, "Fieldrunners" involves defending a base against endless waves of invaders by building and upgrading towers with different powers to defeat the enemy. Unlike similar games, placing your defenses is simple and accurate in "Fieldrunners." Combined with fantastically cute graphics, "Fieldrunners" is above even its (sometimes more expensive) competition.

"Edge"

With a flick of your finger, you move a cube — simple enough, right? "Edge" combines a slick futuristic look with deceptively simple game-play mechanics. Sliding a finger up or down allows you to move a cube through the game's maze environment, all while trying to collect scattered bonus cubes and beat the developer's fastest time through the level. Careful, though — it's easy to fall off!

"Scrabble"

It's the same "Scrabble" we all know and love in an easy-to-play, multiplayer-friendly format. Players compete against the computer or a friend to form words based on scrambled letters in front of them. The only downside is that "Scrabble" only supports multiplayer on the same phone (which is a huge battery drain) or over the same wireless network.

"Texas Hold 'Em"

Apple became a game developer with the iPhone — a good one, too. The company's "Texas Hold 'Em" is the best version of the popular card game and comes with nine-player multiplayer over the same network. When the device is held vertically, there are real videos depicting the different card players. When held horizontally, the video is lost and the interface resembles your typical online poker site.

For continued iPhone and iPod Touch gaming coverage, check out our Multiplayer blog.


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'Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost And Damned' Details From Rockstar Games

'We're rethinking how you play the game,' Jeronimo Barrera says.
By Stephen Totilo


"GTA: The Lost And Damned"
Photo: Rockstar Games

NEW YORK — They're not calling it a "Grand Theft Auto" expansion; they're calling it a whole new game.

Rockstar Games gave MTV News a hands-on demonstration with "Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned" at the development studio's New York City headquarters yesterday.

"The Lost and Damned" is a $20 downloadable episode add-on to "GTA IV" — coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 on February 17 — that requires ownership of the "GTA IV" game disc.

How can they even suggest that it's a full game? Simple. Rockstar's vice president of product development, Jeronimo Barrera, told MTV News that the adventure could run some players as much as 20 hours and will have to be played over "several marathon sessions." It's not like other video game add-ons, he said. "This isn't a magic hole that opens up that's got some sh-- in it."

"GTA IV" protagonist Niko Bellic is just a supporting character in "Lost and Damned," with biker Johnny Klebitz taking the lead role — Niko shows up as a bit player in a few of the episode's missions, which are repurposed from "GTA IV" and played from Johnny's angle. But most of the story and action in "Lost and Damned" is new. The episode focuses on the motorcycle gang the Lost, in which Johnny serves as the vice president. Johnny had been running the gang while its president, Billy, was in jail. Johnny made truces with rival gangs but, upon Billy's return, an older order is restored and Billy guns down at least one rival gang member.

Niko Bellic's story was about an immigrant and the American Dream. According to Barrera, Johnny Klebik's story is about "themes of loyalty and brotherhood that are just as interesting."

"Lost and Damned" is set in the same Liberty City as "GTA IV." The episode uses the graphics stored on the "GTA IV" disc to render the city, but the downloadable new game provides extra gloss and grit. The game's lighting has been re-worked to appear more dramatic, and the fidelity of character models has been improved. Handling of the game's motorcycles has been tweaked to make them less treacherous (though at press time that tweak was not set to affect handling of those bikes in the core "GTA IV" game). The added grit can be seen both in new menu overlays as well as the geographic focus of "Lost and Damned" — the New Jersey-inspired sector of Alderney, which "GTA IV" players only visited in the core game's final fourth of its story line.

The game's story runs in parallel to that of "GTA IV," though Rockstar reps won't say if it goes further in time than Niko Bellic's did.

The game plays a little differently from "GTA IV." Players will have new weapons — including a sawed-off shotgun — and a new game-play mechanic that rewards players who ride Johnny's bike in formation with other members of the Lost with extra dialogue and health bonuses. There will be a hideout and friends, though no new girlfriends and no need to develop friendships to get special perks. A drop-down menu shows the biker allies' health, which seems to incentivize the player, letting the Lost gang enter missions with him and stay alive to maintain strength in numbers. (If they die, Barrera said, they are revived for the game's next mission.)

Rockstar will be offering new music and DJ chatter in the "The Lost and Damned" and new multiplayer options, but details on both are being kept quiet for now.

To access all of this content, players will pick "The Lost and Damned" from "GTA IV"'s main menu — that's just another way of Rockstar expressing that this is a standalone experience.

"People might say that we're milking it," Barrera said. "But we're not. This is not a mod. These are not re-skinned characters doing delivery missions. We're rethinking how you play the game."

"The Lost and Damned" is a whole new "GTA IV" experience and a familiar city. All Xbox 360 players with $20 to burn can see how it plays when it is released on February 17.

A second "GTA IV" episode is also coming from Rockstar for the Xbox 360, but the company isn't talking about that one yet.

That's not all the "Grand Theft Auto" news we have for you today. Check out our blow-out on "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars," the series' first DS game, at our Multiplayer gaming blog.

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The Nintendo DS And PSP Games We're Most Excited For In 2009

We can't wait to get 'Mario and Luigi RPG 3' and 'Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars' in our hands.
By Stephen Totilo


"Patapon 2"
Photo: Sony

The iPhone may prove to be big player in video games in 2009, but right now, the five games we most want to play on the go are on the Nintendo DS and PSP.

Here are our five most-anticipated portable games of 2009:

5. "Rhythm Heaven"
How do I describe this one? It's a weird music game that involves tapping and swiping the DS stylus — not just in sync to the game's music, but to characters on the screen who dance or punch or karate-chop things — or all sorts of other oddness. The Japan-only original, "Rhythm Tengoku" for the Game Boy Advance, is one of my favorite games ever. This DS sequel will hopefully be at least half as good. Nintendo says this one is coming out in the first half of the year.

4. "Loco Roco 2"
The first edition of this PSP blob-rolling game was one of the most cheerful and creatively illustrated games I had played on any platform. The blob-rolling is back and looks to be even more imaginative this time. This game is already out in other parts of the world and will be released in America in the spring.

3. "Patapon 2"
This PSP sequel follows up last year's rhythm war-strategy game. That's right — rhythm war strategy. As with the 2008 "Patapon," players control an army of soldiers that almost look like a bunch of punctuation marks, marching from left to right across the PSP's screen in a battle against birds, dragons and other beasts. The player doesn't control the army. Instead, the player taps out the drumbeats that send the army marching forward, back or into various types of attacks. Keeping the rhythm keeps the combat going. Play this one with headphones, and you'll be hooked.

2. "Mario and Luigi RPG 3"
Good things about the "Mario" role-playing game series include the frequent use of Luigi as a projectile weapon, the industry-leading comedy scripts, the exhaustive cameos of many great Mario series characters big and small — and, my favorite, the "Mario" role-playing games are big without being bulky, sporting a streamlined RPG structure that requires a lot less time spent fiddling with menus and more time in action and expanding the story. This DS game probably won't be out until the second half of 2009.

1. "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars"
Not much of a surprise, right? The folks at Rockstar have been working on this first DS "GTA" for years. It's still not clear how they can provide a "GTA"-quality soundtrack in a DS cartridge (I'm guessing they won't). But I do expect Rockstar's knack for great characters and creative chaotic gameplay to be in full force. This one is rated M and will be out in March.

Those are my five most-anticipated portable games for this year. Honorable mention has to go to Sony's upcoming "Resistance Retribution," coming out for the PSP this winter. And, certainly, those iPhone and iPod Touch games are getting better and better.

What portable games are you most excited for? Let us know below. And check out our most-anticipated Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 games from earlier this week.

For more gaming coverage, check out the MTV Multiplayer blog.

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The Xbox 360 Games We're Most Excited For In 2009

Microsoft console brings the big guns this year, with the latest from 'Halo,' 'Grand Theft Auto' and other marquee franchises.
By Stephen Totilo


"Street Fighter IV"
Photo: Capcom

After a banner year in 2008, the Xbox 360 looks like it's going to have a big 2009 as well. How do you top a year that had everything from a new "Gears of War" and "Grand Theft Auto" to the artsy "Braid" and the karaoke game "Lips"?

I'm not sure, but here are five games that I'm most excited about in the new year.

5. "Street Fighter IV"
Some of us may not be that good at "Street Fighter." But a virtual beatdown from Soulja Boy Tell'em isn't going to keep me from eagerly awaiting a chance to learn some skills with the first new, numbered "Street Fighter" game in a dozen years. Old favorites are back, and new characters jump in. But the key thing here is that we're getting 3-D graphics and 2-D gameplay. Even I, the guy who can't throw a Ryu fireball, knows that's a good thing. This game's out in February.

4. "Resident Evil 5"
This is another game being shared by Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and it's another major release. The latest in Capcom's world-famous survival horror series is coming out in just two months, on Friday the 13th, naturally. The adventure is set in Africa this time, allows for series-first two-player co-op throughout the game's campaign, and sports a modernized control scheme that allows for more nimble movement. Finally, "Resident Evil" characters won't control like tanks.

3. "Final Fantasy XIII"
Look, this game may slip to 2010, and if it does, longtime fans of Square-Enix's epic role-playing game series wouldn't be shocked. But they'd be upset, because it has been three years since the world has gotten a new "Final Fantasy." Every trailer released has promised a grand adventure with the standard mix of high-tech and high-fantasy and an overdressed and underdressed band of friends battling stylish demons. This "FF" is the first one to be released the same day on a Microsoft and Sony platform — a big development for Xbox 360 fans long envious of their PlayStation-owning friends.

2. "Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned"
This first episodic expansion to "Grand Theft Auto IV" is coming out next month only to the Xbox 360 (read: not to the PS3). Rockstar Games is putting players in control of a new protagonist, biker Johnny Klebitz. Can we get as excited about being part of a biker gang in Liberty City as people were about being Niko Bellic? I'm just excited enough about seeing what Rockstar can do with all the lessons learned from making the base "GTA IV" game.

1. "Halo 3: ODST"
Formerly "Halo 3: Recon," this one's a bit of a wild card, but it is a new "Halo" from series developer Bungie. That makes for a wild card that goes in the #1 slot. Players won't be controlling Master Chief. They'll play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Bungie has said this game will involve more stealth gameplay than the series has had in the past. And this game also won't quite be a full game. Serving more as an expansion but with a standalone campaign, it's still likely to be the first Bungie game any of us get to play since the original "Halo 3" came out in 2007.

Those are my top five most-anticipated Xbox 360 games, and that's without even considering possible sequels to "Splinter Cell" and "Assassin's Creed," or the announced "BioShock 2." And maybe the mysterious "Alan Wake" will finally surface?

What games are you most excited for on the Xbox 360? Let us know below. We covered the Wii and PlayStation 3 games we're most excited for on Tuesday, and check back through the rest of the week to see our most-anticipated PSP and DS games for 2009.

For more gaming coverage, check out the MTV Multiplayer blog.

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The Nintendo Wii Games We're Most Excited For In 2009

From 'MadWorld' to a new version of 'Punch-Out!!,' here's a list of games Wii is rolling out in the new year.
By Stephen Totilo


"Wii Sports Resort"
Photo: Nintendo

If you're a Wii owner, you might envy the Xbox 360 and PS3 people — fans of Microsoft and Sony's systems already have many major games announced for those consoles. Nintendo owners still have to wait to find out what the biggest games of the year are going to be. But there are at least some upcoming, announced Wii games that I expect to be amazing — here are my five most anticipated Wii games of 2009:

5. "Cave Story"
You can already play this game, for free, on your computer — but this Internet sensation is getting a visual makeover for the Wii without shedding its old-style graphics. It's an old-school 2-D game that plays a bit like a "Metroid," and it's already one of our other gaming reporter's favorite Wii games. The game is slated to be released on Nintendo's download service, WiiWare, sometime this year.

4. "MadWorld"
This game is not going to be for everyone, so be warned: It's a dark, dark comedy of over-the-top violence that will be lucky to get "only" an M rating. "MadWorld" matters not because it is a beat-'em-up action game set in a black-and-white world drenched in red blood, but because it is the first game from Platinum Games, a group of maverick Japanese developers responsible for some of the most creative titles coming from their home country in the last five years. Oh, and it features a character with a chainsaw arm.

3. "Sin and Punishment 2"
A game title like that makes the imagination run wild and is dangerous to type into Google. What is this thing? Here's some backstory: The first "Sin and Punishment" was released for the Nintendo 64 more than eight years ago, all in English, but only sold in Japan. It played liked an old-school arcade space-shooter like "Galaga" or "Space Invaders," but was set in three dimensions instead of two, starred human characters instead of spaceships and had more things to shoot down and blow up in a few seconds than those old arcade games had in a minute. Last fall, Nintendo announced that a sequel would be coming to the Wii. If it comes out in 2009, as expected, it should be something special.

2. "Wii Sports Resort"
This game isn't just the inevitable sequel to the world-famous "Wii Sports" — this is the game that upgrades the Wii remote. Each copy of the spring-scheduled "Wii Sports Resort" will come packed with a Wii MotionPlus accessory. The add-on plugs in to the base of the Wii remote, its added sensors enabling the remote to more accurately sense the controller's position in space and more sensitively interpret every gesture of the person holding it. I tried it in July and it made the Wii remote work like it always should. As for the game itself, it includes Jet-skiing, Frisbee-throwing, an excellent sword-fighting mode and other apparently resort-oriented activities.

1. "Punch-Out!!"
The Wii is getting a new "Punch-Out!!" this year. Nintendo hasn't updated this historic boxing series since the Super Nintendo sequel a decade ago. Now, no one expects Mike Tyson to be back for this one, but everyone knows that the Wii should be great for a boxing game. Consider the boxing mode in "Wii Sports" to be a rough draft. This sequel has huge potential to be one of the best Wii games of the year.

Wondering where the "Mario" and "Zelda" games are on this list? That's because Nintendo is keeping very quiet about its 2009 Wii plans. New "Mario" and "Zelda" games are in development, and the latter is due for a sequel — but until these games are announced, there's no use getting too excited for them.

What games are you most excited for on the Nintendo Wii? Let us know below. We covered the PlayStation 3 games we're most excited for on Tuesday, and check back through the rest of the week to see our most-anticipated Xbox 360, PSP and DS games for 2009.

For more gaming coverage, check out the MTV Multiplayer Blog.

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