News Roundup 2nd April

Super Meat Boy Coming to iOS

Super Meat Boy, one of the best and most challenging games available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PC, is coming to iOS devices. Speaking on the Team Meat Blog, designer Edmund McMillen says “So as some of you know, we have been playing with the idea of porting SMB on the iphone for some time…

“Sadly, there was no way of doing this without the game becoming a pile of garbage, Super Meat Boy is a twitch platformer with precision controls, there was no way in hell this would work on a touch screen with buttons all over it, Super Meat Boy isn’t a game we want to make a sub-par version of just to cash in…

“So, we decided to totally remake the whole game instead, from the ground up!

“Here is the very 1st look at… “Super Meat Boy: The Game”

McMillen promises fans that the iOS game is not just “a shitty port” for iOS, but a fully-fledged game designed specifically for touch controls.

GAME is Saved

Following on our report from last week, OpCapita has finally reached an agreement with GAME’s administrators over a buyout. Quoted in IGN.com, OpCapita managing partner Henry Jackson said “”We are pleased to have reached agreement with the Administrator, we strongly believe there is a place on the high street for a video gaming specialist and GAME is the leading brand in a £2.8 billion market in the UK.

“We have assembled a strong team of experienced industry operators to implement the programme of operational change that is needed. There is a huge amount to do but we look forward to the challenge of restoring GAME’s fortunes in partnership with its employees and suppliers.”

Rumour – PS4 to Arrive Before Next Xbox

Sony is aiming to beat Microsoft to the punch by releasing the PS4 before the Next Xbox. According to a report in VG 24/7, the plans for the console, including specifications, have been in place for over two years. The ‘source’ says that Sony are confident that the console will be on the market by next Christmas, before Microsoft’s next-gen console.

This news comes hot on the heels of the rumours of leaked specifications for the PS4, codenamed “Orbis”. Kotaku sources claimed that the PS4 will use an AMD CPU and GPU, which will be capable of output resolutions up to 4096×2160.

Xbox 360 Promotion Offers Microsoft Points for Multimedia

Xbox 360s are not just games consoles anymore, but multimedia entertainment devices, offering live TV, video streaming services, and music too. Now Microsoft are running a promotion to encourage players to take advantage of the Xbox’s functionality by offering 300 Microsoft Points to anyone who fulfils the set criteria (reported in Eurogamer):

Entertainment:

• Spend 400+ Points on any movie of TV show
• Use one of these apps for 10 hours: BBC iPlayer, blinkbox, Crackle, Last.FM, LOVEFiLM, MUZU, Netflix, Sky, VEVO or Zune

Gaming:

• Play Kinect for two hours
• Play online via Xbox Live for 10 hours
• Spend 800 Points or more on game-related items (Games on Demand, DLC, XBLA, etc.)

Social:

• Use Facebook on Xbox Live for one hour
• Use YouTube on Xbox Live for one hour
• Use Video Kinect on Xbox Live for one hour

Not bad for just using your console eh?