Gamertell

Oh Edios, will you guys ever learn?

A majority of gamers still remember the mess that was dubbed “Gerstmanngate” after former executive editor, Jeff Gerstmann, was allegedly fired over his negative review of Eidos’ Kane & Lynch game. Opinions were all over the map about the incident and it looks as though debaters will have another incident with the premise that Eidos - or at least Eidos’ PR company - is trying to get reviewers to hold negative reviews of Tomb Raider Underworld until this upcoming Monday (November 24, 2008), days after the game launch (November 21, 2008)...

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Title: Soul Bubbles
Price: $29.99
System: DS
Release Date: June 27, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Eidos (Mekensleep)
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Pros: Unique, addictive gameplay. Great use of DS touch screen. Wonderful graphics and audio.
Cons: Short. A bit too easy. No multiple saves.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 91/100; A-; 4 out 5

Soul Bubbles was developed exclusively for the DS by the French company Mekensleep. It’s their first and only game but it has the polish of a company that’s been developing games for decades. In fact, I can fault Soul Bubbles with only one major problem…

Click through for the full review.

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Eidos Interactive has announced that Soul Bubbles, a unique Nintendo DS puzzle game from developer Mekensleep, is now available exclusively at Toys ‘R’ Us. Despite what’s being claimed at some other gaming news sites, however, this doesn’t mean Soul Bubbles will only be carried at Toys ‘R’ Us. Rather, the popular toy store is simply making the game available ahead of its July 1st release date. If you’ve already placed your pre-orders at Amazon or Game Stop, don’t panic. You’ll get it, just a few days behind everyone else. Or, you know, there’s still time to cancel that order and head down to Toys ‘R’ Us.

In Soul Bubbles, players use the stylus to draw bubbles, then deflate, cut or join them to other bubbles to navigate them through over 40 levels across eight environments. The bubbles contain lost “souls,“ and you, as a young shaman, must guide safely through this series of increasingly treacherous and hostile worlds…

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The latest move in the ongoing fight to ban violent video games by non-gaming communities worldwide is pulling advertisements for upcoming video games. Besides TV commercials, the latest ads to be banned are from the sides of buses in Chicago.

One of the ads yanked from the sides of a buses and buildings is the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV ad, according to Game Daily. This occurred following a weekend of violent shootings and isn’t the first time GTA ads have been removed. It’s also not the first time any ad has been removed for being potentially too violent…

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Possibly the best entry in the Death Jr. series, Death Jr.: Root of Evil, is going to be ported to the Wii. The game, which originally appeared on the PSP in 2006, will be heading to the console before the end of summer, 2008. Added material or levels were not confirmed in the press release, however a co-op mode for levels and new moves and combination attacks designed specifically with the wiimote controls in mind were mentioned. A rating and price also weren’t announced, but since the PSP version of the game had a “Teen” rating I think we can assume that will carry over.

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On Thursday (January 31, 2008), Gamespot anointed Ricardo Torres as its newest Editor-in-Chief, a position that hasn’t been filled since previous EIC Greg Kasavin left to work at Electronic Arts in January 2007.  Upon taking the job, Torres told GameDaily, in an interview, that he wants to win back the readers who were disgusted with the site after December 2007’s infamous ousting of its Editorial Director, Jeff Gerstmann. Rumors perpetuated that Gerstmann was allegedly fired for giving a negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and drawing the ire of advertiser Eidos and CNet’s management, although CNet contends it was due to unrelated “internal reasons.“

Unfortunately for Torres, his plea doesn’t pack the…

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According to a gamasutra interview with Eidos Montreal’s general manager, Stephane D’Astous, the newly minted studio will be working on Deus Ex 3. The 3rd installment of the hugely acclaimed sci-fi shooter/RPG is still quite a ways off, as the team has just passed proof of concept.

The title ties in to the new studio’s business plan, favoring smaller teams and longer development cycles in order to put out quality titles. Eidos Montreal currently houses a Q&A team (which tests games from all of Eidos’ development teams all over the world), and the in-house dev team.

Deus Ex was doing the sci-fi shooter/RPG thing (and doing it very well) long before Mass Effect was even a glint in Bioware’s eye, so expectations will be very high for this one. Thankfully, D’Astous is promising that the development team will be given plenty of time and resources to make the game – promising a 24 month dev cycle (instead of the insanity-inducing 12-15 months that’s becoming more prevalent in AAA games).

This new paradigm sounds fantastic – its high time studios started rethinking the development cycle in this industry. Smaller teams working with more time will likely be able to create better games. Better games and more sane business practices make gamers and developers happy. Lets hope Eidos Montreal can start a trend.

Read [Gamasutra]

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SCi Entertainment Group, aka Eidos, released a statement to the London Stock Exchange that confirms speculation that it was approached by an unnamed company with an offer.

The rumors began when SCi Entertainment acquired Eidos Interactive May 2005. Since then the company admits being approached multiple times in January 2006 with Midway and Vivendi Games rumored to be among the companies making offers. Talks of a take over were believed to have ended February 2006 until, in October 2006, there where rumors of…

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Eidos New Media announced the developer’s first Xbox Live-exclusive title Thursday (July 19, 2007), titled Geon: emotions. The Strawdog studios co-developed title features psychedelic visuals, twitch gameplay, and several “emotions” to play as, and is due for release later this summer.

The arcadey game plays a bit like a mix of Marble Madness and Pac-Man on acid, with an unexpected dose of Super Princess Peach thrown in for good measure. The premise is quite unique: you play as one of eight emotional states, including rage, passion, fear, envy, rapture, courage, bliss or melancholy, as you race through the stages collecting pellets, using your “emotional” strengths and weaknesses to advance. Each emotional state has its own unique way of moving through the arena (for example, “passion” is a bright ball that moves quickly, while “courage” manifests as a cube that moves at a steady, heavy pace).

The title features three single (duel, time attack, and mini games) and three multi player (duel, team Geon, and last man standing) game modes.

Site [Eidos] Read [GamersHell]

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