GDC, Day 3

Well, not much today. Sorry. Looks likes this GDC is turning out to be nothing special, but here's hoping the next two days of the event fix this. So, let's get to the daily news. (NOTE: some news is not related to GDC directly, but is a notable event today)

February NPD's
This month's sales numbers for video games and consoles was an interesting one. For the first time in a while, an Xbox 360 game dominated the sales for February, and this game was no other than BioShock 2. Selling 563 thousand copies, the second BioShock has a very good opening month. Interestingly enough, the PS3 version was not seen on the NPD. Modern Warfare continued to inhabit the list, and both versions of Dante's Inferno made it onto the list at #8 and #9. Heavy Rain rounded out the top ten as the only PS3 exclusive on the list. Consoles sales were also a shocker, as the Xbox 360 surprisingly sold more in February than the Wii did, something almost never seen in console sales.
-BioShock 2 sold a lot of copies. A LOT. Including my copy. A well deserved spot indeed, and it just goes to show that gamers love the game and not the idea of shooting people's faces up (Shut up, Robert Bowling). Dante's Inferno was a surprise, as the reviews were less than great, and many figured God of War III in March would cause gamers to save money for that game rather than it's blatant copy. Heavy Rain is also great too. I love this. Gamers actually bought great games in February, and not just what's popular. And the Xbox selling more than the Wii? This goes to show how the console war is shaping up to be a fight to the very finish. PS3 dominates one month, Wii the next, and now the 360. It's open season, my friends.

Epic Games Conference shows off lots of tech and APB, but no Gears of War.
In a very surprising development, Epic Games did not show a new iteration of the Gears of War series at their press conference today at GDC. Many predictions stated that they would reveal Gears of War 3. This wasn't a very off prediction, either; Gears of War was revealed at GDC 06, and Gears of War 2 at GDC 08. The timeframe was correct too, as the two previous games were two years apart. Epic did show off many of the improvements they are making to the Unreal Engine, and have said that they are working on putting the engine on the iPhone and the iPad. The Realtime Worlds MMO APB was shown off also. The grand theft auto style MMO of cops versus robbers was shown a lot more in detail. All in all, a full but very dissapointing conference.
-Bummer. Gears of War III seemed to be the best bet for Epic Games for this year's GDC. Epic Games is known for their very routine nature, and this seemed to be the exact time for them to show it off. I mean, they evened showed off the new Unreal Engine. This is very dissapointing, especially with the big cliffhanger at the end of Gears of War 2. APB looks a bit interesting, but I am afraid that Star Wars: The Old Republic is way more interesting in terms of new MMOs than APB is. It was also kind of ruined once again by the absense of Gears of War 3. Here's hoping there will be an announcement at E3. It could also be that they don't want to compete with Halo: Reach on the 360, but this, in my opinion, is stretching it.

Green Day: Rock Band releasing on June 8.
The new Rock Band game will be coming out in the beginning of summer. The game was announced to be sold in two additions. A standard $60 version and a special $80 version, with the ability to export songs to other Rock Band games and to buy Green Day DLC on Rock Band. What is interesting is that this game is without plastic peripheral, a move that shocked many. The game will also include two person harmonization, a feature first including in last year's title, The Beatles: Rock Band. All songs on the game will be fully exportable to other Rock Band games also.
-There is a lot of great things about this and a lot of iffy things about this. Green Day will surely bring a little more of the current music to Rock Band. The game will follow closely with The Beatles: Rock Band by having around 50 songs and harmonization. This is also very awesome, and I hope to see this feature in Rock Band 3 with all songs. Exportability is also something very nice, and will make many more buy the game. The bad thing about this is that it pushes it more towards a track pack then a game in people's minds, making the $60 price point debatable. The lack of plastic peripheral is a great thing, and it finally confirms that EA is seeing the value in DLC and songs, not stupid plastic guitars.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC to be released same day as Modern Warfare 2 DLC.
EA today announced their unofficial cure for "Mapathy" with the second map pack for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The DLC will launch simultaneously on March 30 with Modern Warfare 2 DLC, a move that was not hidden to be a direct strike to Activision's game. EA is pushing the idea that they are the better game, and the competition continues to ensue. There has been no comment by IW or Activision.
-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love EA. They just take out the middleman. From the start of development for Battlefield: BC 2, DICE and EA stated they want to take MW2 down, and they did not lie. This was completely and utterly intentional, and it is supposed to be a competition. My bet is they probably have had this map pack ready for a while, but were waiting for a release date for MW2 DLC to put their's on the same day. This is very clever and a very ballsy move, but it could hurt them. If MW2 DLC does do well, which it probably will, it might take some players away from Battlefield. On the other hand, the same could be said for MW2. This fight is nowhere near over. Oh, and I pick Battlefield. At least it takes brains to play that game.

BioWare teases a Dragon Age sequel with the release of Dragon Age: Awakening.
The full expansion pack for Dragon Age released today, with a surprising advertisement in the box. The small piece of paper showed the classic red blood dragon, but with the date of 02.01.11. Nothing else was on the advertisement, and considering the fact that BioWare has stated a sequel will be coming sometime between January and March, a true Dragon Age sequel makes sense. The February release date also falls on a Tuesday, the normal release day for full retail games. No comment or news from BioWare, but there is sure to be something soon.
-BioWare seems to be slowly teasing the Dragon Age sequel. All of the pieces fit, and the advertisement just bleeds sequel announcement. This is interesting too, as BioWare has never released a sequel this soon to the original, especially if the original just has a 40 hour expansion pack released this year. I wouldn't be completely surprised if this is another expansion of sorts, but I think it is more likely a sequel is in order. I would love for a sequel to have much better graphics and voice acting however. Dragon Age: Origins, to me, felt too much like the old RPGs of BioWare and less like the new ones, namely the godsend of Mass Effect. I would love Dragon Age to gain a little more polish. Other than that, a sequel would be a great thing, and it would certainly sell well.

And the rest of the news.
-John Cleese of Monty Python fame to voice the player's butler in Fable III.
-Monkey Island 2: Special Edition to be released on Xbox Live and PSN with fully upgraded graphics.
-New Mass Effect 2 DLC is slated for release on April 6th, with a new character and new story missions.
-Epic Games announces a partnership with Valve to deliver Unreal Engine games on Steam.
-Sony is apparently "considering" God of War III DLC.

That's all for today. As always, stay tuned. Here's hoping the news gets better. Remember to comment on which small news you want me to feature in a small news post. Enjoy the rest of your night/day/afternoon/life.