NewsSpots: PS3 downloadables, Godfather 2, Full Auto PSP, Tomb Raider cartoons

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted May 17, 2007 6:23 pm PT

Sony introduces Pain and High Velocity Bowling, analyst says EA sequel is on the way, Sega lets gamers take vehicular combat racer for a test lap, and GameTap goes gaga for Lara Croft.

Sony hits the lanes, plays with rag dolls
At Sony Computer Entertainment America's media event this week, the publisher unveiled two new downloadable games for the PlayStation 3: High Velocity Bowling and Pain. As the name implies, High Velocity is an arcade-style bowling game. A less obvious fact about the game is that it relies heavily on the Sixaxis' motion-sensing abilities to control the bowlers, attempting to offer a Wii Sports-like re-creation of bowling, but with 10 different characters and allies, as well as a trick shot mode.

On the opposite end of the sadism scale (depending on one's feelings about bowling) is Pain, developed by Idol Minds (My Street, Cool Boarders 2001). Described as Burnout's crash mode with innocent bystanders instead of cars, Pain has gamers slingshot an unfortunate person into dangerous situations with the intent of causing as much suffering as possible. Rag-doll physics, monkeys, and cityscapes with signage for businesses like The Manhole, Moon River Proctology, and Hotel Coral Essex (cue Revenge of the Nerds II nostalgia) indicate the particular vibe the developers are aiming for here.

Analyst: Godfather 2 on the way
Nollenberger Capital Partners analyst Todd Greenwald sent out a note to investors this morning recapping a recent visit he paid to the publisher's Redwood Shores location. While Greenwald said the highlight of the day was getting a look at the company's upcoming Simpsons game, he also mentioned that a sequel to The Godfather is in development, although there's no telling when it would see the light of day. According to Greenwald, EA is looking to capitalize on the open-world engine it created for the first Godfather game and is using it in no fewer than five of its franchises, including The Simpsons. EA representatives declined to comment on Greenwald's note.

Full Auto 2: Battlelines gets a PSP demo
Sega has made a demo available for its PlayStation Portable vehicular combat racing game Full Auto 2: Battlelines. Interested gamers can download it from Sony's official PSP site. For more on Battlelines for the PSP, check out GameSpot's review.

Tomb Raider gets GameTapped
Online subscription rental service GameTap will be offering the PC edition of Tomb Raider: Anniversary on its site the same day Eidos' game hits stores, and it has set up a Web site to promote its connection to Eidos' flagship franchise. GameTap is offering a new documentary restrospective on the series and will release 10 animated episodes starring Lara Croft starting July 10. The various animated episodes offer a number of artists' interpretations of the character in stories such as Angel Spit and Pre-Teen Raider.

90 Comments

  • Last_One_Left

    Posted Apr 12, 2008 9:05 pm PT

    ...

  • jbseahorse

    Posted Dec 9, 2007 10:44 am PT

    oboewan9999:

    Wrong, stupid

  • theKSMM

    Posted Jun 3, 2007 7:21 pm PT

    PS3 bowing and Pain -- sound interesting

    The Godfather 2 -- no real surprise that a sequel is coming

    Full Auto 2: Battlelines -- not too excited about this game, but it's about high time that the PSP gets downloadable demos and other content; hopefully the PSP will be linked into the PlayStation store one day soon

    Tomb Raider on GameTap -- a game that I'm really looking forward to appearing for free on my favorite destination for old-school gaming; it doesn't get much better than that!

  • sdkingsht

    Posted May 30, 2007 4:38 pm PT

    sign me up for Pain and Godfather 2. Pain just looks like it'd be fun to play. lol. see how far i can get the person to fly. Godfather 1 was good. it was fun and true to the material so this one i guess would have to be all new storyline not from the movies right?

  • McnabbsPHIeagle

    Posted May 21, 2007 11:17 am PT

    godfather 2? well i ove the movies but this one better be good

  • Kbs64

    Posted May 20, 2007 10:15 pm PT

    Godfather 2, that sounds sweet I hope its not going to be just a rehash of the same game mechanics with minor differences. They better pretty up the graphics and created a more deeper interrogation option. I'd like that. Playing it over and over got kind of old but I still liked it for what it was. Maybe they could have a slow-mo interrogation option where you can have even more options to put the pressure on the NY merchants. They could even have the option to threaten the merchant's families.

  • rottenjoe

    Posted May 20, 2007 3:36 pm PT

    ahhh that seems pretty nice.. maybe i will download them sometime

  • rbranma

    Posted May 20, 2007 3:34 pm PT

    cartoon @lara croft? Cant imagine that.

  • 88_movement

    Posted May 20, 2007 12:05 pm PT

    BLiZZaK07 ur correct I went on IGN to check the line up for PS3 and it has loads of quality games.

  • black_ice23

    Posted May 20, 2007 3:23 am PT

    @ vulpis truer words were never spoken

  • rogerarmoo

    Posted May 19, 2007 12:01 pm PT

    I think you should be able to change the sensitivity or can you on motor storm can not remember? Any who! pain looks like fun but might get boring after about 50 plays

  • Forelli_Boy

    Posted May 19, 2007 1:31 am PT

    I've been able to race in MotorStorm with the Sixaxis in one hand, but it's a tad too sensitive.

    As for Godfather II, it'd be cool to romp around in NYC and Havana. I miss that place from Driver 2.

  • Serious

    Posted May 18, 2007 6:18 pm PT

    Pain looks like a lot of fun. And definitely my pick for games for download from the Playstation store.

  • oboewan9999

    Posted May 18, 2007 4:48 pm PT

    You cannot play Wii Bowling with a Sixaxis.
    Reason:
    You have to hold it with both hands.

  • BLiZZaK07

    Posted May 18, 2007 4:17 pm PT

    Vulpis and I wouldn't be so quick to bash Sony at least they update the system frequently and with original games which is more to my liking...and to bash them now with there lineup they have of games coming in the next 5-6 months is kinda funny...PS3 is going to have one killer holiday season there will be tooo many games to choose from for reals.

  • Vulpis

    Posted May 18, 2007 3:25 pm PT

    Oy. So many comments, so little time...

    First off--GameTap is an online gaming site where you pay a monthly fee for access to a library of games that you then download and play using their front-end program. The titles they have come from many sources, and include arcade ports, old DOS, C-64, and other older computer games, console games ranging from Atari 2600 to all of the Sega consoles except the Saturn (I think..I know they added Dreamcast games recently, as well as some 32X), as well as Windows games of various vintages--including a few *new* ones such as the Sam and Max episodic series, and Myst Online (aka Uru--in simplest terms, Myst as an MMO). Unfortunately, they're still working on their international (in this case, any place outside the US) services, and at present the only thing available outside the US is connection to Myst Online.

    PS3...kinda sad, really. Sony's in third place and *struggling* to catch up, between everything going multiplatform these days, and the fact that both Nintendo and MS have the jump on them in terms of library this time around, as compared to the incredibly varied libraries that the PS1 and 2 boasted.

    And speaking of Sony, as compared to Nintendo--the Sony fans shouldn't be bashing Nintendo too much, considering that if it weren't for Nintendo making a rather stupid mistake while trying to develop a CD attachment for the SNES, Sony wouldn't have ever gotten into the gaming biz--instead, the Wii'd be the third incarnation of the Nintendo Playstation... ;-)

    Tomb Raider...interesting release plan there. I wonder if more companies will take to 'demoing' products on GameTap and similar services, encouraging them to buy the standalone version to get rid of the resource use of the GT front-end. And as far as the animations goes...Pre-Teen Raider, I presume, stars the version of Ms Croft that my family has dubbed 'Jailbait Lara' from the TR Chronicles game. I'm not entirely sure I want to know what 'Angel Spit' is, though...

  • THE_MAN696996YA

    Posted May 18, 2007 3:09 pm PT

    LOOKS LIKE I'LL BE DOING SOME MORE DOWNLOADING TODAY

  • darren05r

    Posted May 18, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    wot is gametap, peeweeshift, never heard of it, probably because im from UK

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted May 18, 2007 2:02 pm PT

    I wanna try Pain!

  • Nemesis_x2

    Posted May 18, 2007 12:47 pm PT

    Woot..Godfather and i just brought mine PSP few hours ago to,Woot...Lol

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