Developer Rockstar won’t be holding back the dough on the release of their western-inspired GTA-like action adventure Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar UK general manager Neil Stephen says.

“This is our most ambitious game to date and our biggest UK release this year,” Stephen said. “We are spending a larger proportion of our TV budget pre-launch than we ever have before to ensure Red Dead Redemption is established as a massive triple-A title.”

While it’s not an uncommon sight to spot ads for a game on TV, Stephen added that “for the first time as a company, we will be running an on-screen cinema advertising campaign.” Given the cinematic nature of the game, he added that it would be a “perfect fit for the cinema” and that audiences of Robin Hood, Prince of Persia and Iron Man 2 will be targeted.

Foyer posters will also be supporting the cinema campaign, letting consumers download game content via Bluetooth. In addition to this, the developing powerhouse has signed deals with Gamespot, IGN, Microsoft, LoveFilm and YouTube for free movie downloads and Xbox Live content.

So this summer will see red, but will definitely not be dead. Red Dead Redemption is hitting shelves May 18 and 21, US and UK respectively, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

MAG, the experimental new multiplayer FPS with massive, 256-player matches (our review here), has been gaining traction in the world of PlayStation 3 gaming. In a recent post in which he thanks fans for making 2009 a flagship year for the PS3, Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton revealed some key details pertaining to MAG’s growing popularity. As Tretton writes, “Over half a million of you have already chosen your allegiance in MAG, and have played over 270,000 games in the Shadow War.” According to sales figures, the shooting game is faring better in the UK than it is in the Americas. The game failed to break the top 10 last month in the US, while it has remained a top 10 game since its launch in Britain.

Another week has passed by and that brings us another week filled with juicy MMO news updates. The news this week comes from all ranges of the spectrum: big studios, little studios, fantasy and sci-fi. But enough with the formal introductions, it’s about time we were on with it.

The MMO that’s sitting at the top of our anticipation list is Hi-Rez Studio’s Global Agenda with its sci-fi — or as others might call it “spy-fi” — setting. This week the early start and pre-order bonuses were revealed to fans’ and beta testers’ certain delight.

For those that pre-ordered the game prior to Jan 28 will be able to jump in, reserve their name, grab special head flair items, level to 10 and start their Agency aka Guild. Players will have from Jan 28 through Jan 31 to participate in the early start event, otherwise you’ll simply have to wait until the official launch. Beta testers also have the option of keeping their name from beta when moving to the live game, however the items and levels are reset.

Sticking with the whole sci-fi theme for a bit, we have patch details for EVE Online’s upcoming Dominion 1.1 update. There is obviously too much to detail here in a couple of paragraphs without the unnecessary abuse of bullet points, so we’ll just highlight a couple key changes.

Probably the change with the most impact is coming from the shift to Supercarriers from Motherships. While for the most part Supercarriers are virtually identical to Motherships, they now have more hp and can carry Fighter Bombers, hence the name. Fighter Bombers are the next big change coming in the 1.1 patch. This new ship type is directly controlled by the Carrier’s pilot and are tougher versions of Fighters with more hp and compact citadel torpedoes.

Those are the two most significant changes coming in the Dominion 1.1 update, but there are many more listed over at the official patch notes page.

One of the many things that separates MMOs and regular games is the issue of account security. This is a problem that plagues damn near every MMO in existence today and it’s something Aion developer NCSoft takes very seriously.

In an effort to keep players safe from account theft, NCSoft’s Game Surveillance Unit has launched a campaign to educate players how to keep themselves safe from the dangers lurking in the shadows of the internet. NCSoft’s Scott Jennings addressed the Aion community recently discussing what’s at stake and how to help prevent security issues.

He started off by describing how the Real Money Trading industry (RMT) is a 2 billion dollar industry that is stolen off the backs of players and the developers of the game alike. He likens the situation to that of war, it’s us versus them, the thieves. Jennings also referenced the recent cyber attacks on Google and how it was sobering for NCSoft.

“The news from Google regarding a serious, high-level attack by hackers on the most secure technology companies in the world is sobering. We continue to refine our systems to counter the various attacks that these RMT companies employ. We have a team of security professionals with years of experience in massively multiplayer games and online security in Seoul, Seattle, Austin, and Brighton that is striving to make our servers as secure as they can be. Any vulnerability that is discovered is addressed and fixed,” explained Jennings.

At the end of the address he gave some pointers on how player can protect themselves from cyber theft and told experienced players that they’re wrong if they think they’ll never get hacked.

Jennings proclaimed, “You’re wrong. I know this because I know many people who thought they knew better—people who work in the gaming industry, and have done so for years, and still tried to log in one day and found their password changed and someone else logged into their account cleaning out their inventory.”

He goes on listing off things that you shouldn’t do and things to look out for to keep yourself save. There is too much to list here, but some are obvious like, don’t share your password with anyone type of thing. Regardless, his advice and suggestions are sound so we encourage everyone who plays MMOs to go give it a read and practice what is preached.

In other MMO news:

• Would you like some Guild Wars skill update notes? Well here you go then.
• DC Universe developers answer a Q&A over at that Facebook thing.
• Elder Scrolls MMO? Don’t mind if we do!
• Hellgate London coming back? What kind of crazy bizzaro world is this?

Sports Interactive and Sega Europe have announced that the latest installment of their hugely successful Football Manager series will be released on October 30th for the PC and PSP. The Football Manager series might not be hugely familiar to US readers but European Football (or Soccer) fans will no doubt recognise the title. It is the game that causes many players to forgo sleep in favour of ‘just one more game’.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly it is a football management sim enabling you to manage any one of hundreds of football teams from across the world. It’s also more commonly referred to as ‘crack’ by many of its fans with recent statistics showing that the average player has played Football Manager 2009 for 240 hours! The latest installment promises a slew of new additions to the already hugely successful formula including a new UI, a Tactics Creator and a Match Analysis tool. The Tactic Creator promises an ‘extensive array’ of pre-set as well as user-created plays that can be swapped on the fly during the match via the use of touchline shouts. The Match Analysis allows you to analyse every move that was made to ensure that you are fulfilling your potential at all times. As well as that, there will be the usual visual and AI improvements to the 3D matches, and improvements to the feedback system for post match teamtalks.

Sports Interactive promises further new information to be released regularly via their blog in the months and weeks before launch, and GamesAreEvil will keep you up to date with these developments. One thing is sure, Football Manager fans had better book a week off work ready for this launch!

Fingers crossed that they can get it to look nearly as good as the PC version

After success with PC and DS titles, the Trackmania series is set to suck precious spare time from thousands more unsuspecting gamers as they prepare to launch the next logical step in their diabolical scheme; the imaginatively titled Trackmania Wii. Trackmania Wii is in development by Firebrand Games – the smart people behind the fantastic DS entry, Trackmania DS (where do they get these names from?).

Smoke rises from the Firebrand PR machine as they crank it up to full power, gearing up for the launch with demonstrations of their latest title at German gaming event Gamescom 09, occurring at the end of this month in Cologne.  Firebrand CEO, Mark Greenshields said:

“Firebrand has always strived to develop racing engines that make the current generation of machines do things that no-one thought possible 18 months ago. Gamescom is Europe’s highest profile gathering of industry execs, and we want to take this opportunity to demonstrate to a global audience that Firebrand are still at the cutting edge of race game technology and design, and that we are ready for the challenges of 2010 and beyond… We altered people’s perception of just what the DS could do with Race Driver, GRID and TrackMania DS, and TrackMania Wii is no less jaw dropping. If you’re a publisher looking to tap into the lucrative racing genre then we can help give you a competitive advantage over your peers.”

Firebrand Games also developed Trackmania DS

Hmm… perhaps Greenshields is more geared up for blowing his own trumpet in between brown-nosing executives at this event rather than letting us plebs have a look. It’s a shame as I’ve always been a fan of the Trackmania series. It’s one of the few racing games that doesn’t take itself too seriously while also having solid pick-up-and-play gameplay aesthetics – It’s the Burnout for the casual crowd, which is funny as I always thought that Burnout was Burnout for the casual crowd. Expect a release date and snippets of information about the game to come out during the event.

At a preview event in London, Valve’s Doug Lombardi confirmed that Left 4 Dead 2 will be getting a demo before its release this November. In response to this news, a cynical, and incredibly rude, troll from deep in the internet had this to say on the subject, “Well no duh. Valve knows that everyone who bought the first game feels betrayed and will need a demo to prove it’s worth purchasing. I mean come on, $60 for what is essentially an expansi…” and then he goes on for some paragraphs about how Valve personally hates him. But enough about him, here’s what Lombardi actually said.

“With Left 4 Dead in particular we’ve found that word of mouth really is the strongest thing. With Left 4 Dead 2 we plan to do a demo before the game comes out that’ll have multiplayer in it. And hopefully we can continue the free weekends with the full game post-launch.”

By the sounds of it Lombardi is saying that Valve trusts people will be so impressed by Left 4 Dead 2 that all the remaining animosity will drain away leaving only smiling faces and open wallets. Lets wait for November when it it comes out to Xbox 360 and Steam and see.

It’s a sign of the times that EA have essentially been given the green light to launch MotionPlus – Nintendo’s latest and most important peripheral since the Wii’s launch, with both Tiger Woods 10 and Grand Slam Tennis. Typically all of Nintendo’s hardware arrives simultaneously with its own killer app designed to show the technology’s full capabilities, but in this case Wii Sports Resort is being released almost 2 whole months after the arrival of MotionPlus. So is this show of confidence in EA warranted?

When first playing Grand Slam Tennis with MotionPlus, it quickly becomes obvious that there’s a fair amount of unlearning to do. The canned flicks that have become the norm in most Wii games, including Wii Sports Tennis, simply do not work here. The game requires players to play shots similar to how they would in real life. After some initial difficulties on the practice court, adding slice, top-spin and placing the ball become far more intuitive. EA could and should have done far more to introduce gamers to this brand new control scheme – a prime example of this is their failure to clearly mention that recognition works a lot more smoothly when the player returns his racket hand to the center of his body and keeps relatively still between points. Drop shots and lobs are mapped to buttons as opposed to motions, and serves are directed using the d-pad. Serving in particular is a disappointment, and feels far too similar to Wii Sports Tennis, lacking the 1:1 feel of regular shots.

It’s tempting to discard the Nunchuk early on and concentrate on playing shots correctly -  a sound strategy to get started,  but in order to beat the better computer opponents, the Nunchuk really is a requirement. When controlled automatically, characters occasionally run to the wrong side of the ball, turning simple forehands into risky and unnecessary backhands. When using both the Nunchuk and MotionPlus however (and after some serious practice), Grand Slam Tennis offers an unprecedented level of control and immersion.

Presentation on the whole is a mixed bag. The clean, cartoony art direction helps distinguish it from its competitors and works well on the Wii – particularly on large screens. The exaggerated expressions and animations really do capture the real-life players being represented. The static 2D crowd and officials however could use some serious work. Pat Cash’s commentary is generally engaging and occasionally witty, though it can become repetitive over time.

The career mode on offer is simple, and works around the four major tournaments of the year. Once the gamer has designed their character using the fairly basic editor, he joins the circuit and begins the process of upgrading his abilities. These are primarily gained by beating ranked players in exhibitions games before major tournaments, with famous players offering appropriate upgrades – beating Martina Navratilova for example helps improve net play. The RPG aspects of the game offer a strong incentive to really be thorough before each major to give yourself the best possible chance of winning a trophy (or even getting past the early rounds). In addition, characters also have a star ranking out of five which shows the player’s overall capability, and this improves through regular play and even in the middle of matches.

Outside of the main career mode are a selection of multiplayer games that spice things up in addition to straightforward doubles play. Modes that offer double the points for winning drop shots or lobs have an excellent risk/reward element, and King of the Court allows for quick singles play even when four players are present. In fact the biggest problems with multiplayer are the space required by four players in front of the tv and the fact that gamers will likely each be playing with different control schemes which tends to create an uneven playing field. At its best though, Grand Slam Tennis offers some of the most frantic and competitive local multiplayer gaming on the Wii.

Online, Grand Slam Tennis uses EA’s excellent EA Nation system which allows players to setup a single username and friend list for all the games from EA that use it. Players can then decide whether to play any of their friends who are currently online, or allow the game to arrange a match against a player with a similar rank. Extensive leaderboards keep track of everyone’s records, and a particular highlight is how competition between countries is encouraged – beating opponents from other countries adds to your own country’s rank. Online play is relatively lag free and seamless, and it all comes together to be one of the strongest online components of any WIi game released so far.

There seems to be a contradiction at the heart of Grand Slam Tennis. On the one hand its cartoony and expressive visuals and simplified career mode suggest a game designed primarily for the expanded audience. On the other hand, its complex controls and high level of difficulty suggest a title conceived mainly for the traditional audience. Grand Slam Tennis really does demand a lot of its players. Standing is a must if shots are to be pulled off consistently and discipline between shots to stay still and return your hands to the center is tiring business when playing for more than an hour. The game’s difficulty also seems rather unbalanced – even on easy it can be difficult register a win against even the lowliest of opponents early on. It all adds up to a rather hardcore and demanding but ultimately very rewarding experience. For those gamers dedicated and energetic enough to learn the controls, Grand Slam Tennis is an easy recommendation.

+ Remarkably well implemented online mode for the Wii
+ A refreshingly hardcore and demanding experience
+ Solid implementation of MotionPlus helps create an immersive experience

- Steep learning curve
- Difficult even on easy
- Controls can become inaccurate

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has changed his mind regarding the pricing of PSP Go. Pachter had previously gone on record saying that Sony were “ripping off” consumers over the $249 price-point for the handheld console. However, back-pedaling quicker than Lance Armstrong in reverse, Pachter’s had a rethink.

Speaking to Kotaku, Pachter said, “…Sony is right to charge what the market will bear. The fact is that Sony has been subsidizing the cost of the PS3 since launch, so to say that they are ‘ripping off’ consumers now is not really fair, and if I could retract the statement, I would do so.”

Sorry, Mr Pachter, we’re not sure if we follow you. Are you saying that because Sony are taking a hit on PlayStation 3 (like they always have with PlayStation hardware), we should overlook the steep pricing of the PSP Go? Or are you saying that if we buy a PS3 and a PSP Go, our ripped off-ness will be balanced? Your logic evades us.

Perhaps “Oh shit, let’s see if I can get myself out of this spot of bother with Sony as quick as possible,” would be a better translation?

Microsoft surprised fans of zombie survival horror co-op shooter, Left 4 Dead, by showing off a trailer for a sequel. I squealed with delight and felt myself become faint as I witnessed this video clip.

Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaw, frying pan, axe, baseball bat, and more.

Introducing the AI Director 2.0, L4D’s dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Featuring new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, and maps for Survival mode available at launch.

Left 4 Dead 2 is slated for a November 17 release on PC and Xbox 360. Check back here at GamesAreEvil for more Left 4 Dead 2 and E3 2009 coverage.