Joystiq

According to Shock Till You Drop, the Resident Evil movies are getting a fourth installment in Resident Evil: Afterlife. A supposed internal memo at Sony Pictures seems to point to a September 17, 2010 release. Of course, this isn't the first time we've heard about a fourth Resident Evil movie, so we're considering this rumor fairly credible.

Do we really want another Resident Evil movie, though? Hasn't Milla Jovovich beaten up enough zombified dogs and dudes in rubber suits?

[Via Coming Soon]

Following up on earlier reports that Valve won't leave Left 4 Dead to die an early death, the company stated today that there should be an L4D DLC announcement before the end of summer. A company spokesperson also told CVG that about eight or nine months from now, when L4D2 has released and people see the continued support for L4D, they may finally understand the method to the madness.

We're all eagerly awaiting the epiphany.

The fate of Heroes over Europe was in question when the agreement between publisher Red Mile and developer Transmission Games dissipated, due to an unfortunate lack of money on Red Mile's part.

Ubisoft is now the hero of every prospective Heroes of Europe player, having just announced that it will publish the World War II flight simulator on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The Heroes Over the Pacific sequel, which features online play for up to 16 players, is currently scheduled for a worldwide release this September. You can check out new screens, only one of which includes a blimp, in our gallery.

Here in the States, we've grown accustomed to certain luxuries: subsidized gasoline for our free Hummers (hey, gotta stimulate that economy!); a complimentary 72oz soda with every purchase (just buy anything!); a lifetime supply of type 2 diabetes; and, of course, monthly updates from NPD charting the sales numbers of the major video game consoles. Our friends in the UK aren't so fortunate. So when we get a peek behind that curtain, we look to share it with you.

And here, courtesy of UK retailer GAME's first-half fiscal statement, we find data from GfK Chart-Track for sales up to June 27th, 2009. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo is in the lead with the DS, having sold 2.7m in the past year, bringing its total up to 9.1m units (that includes 300,000 DSi units sold since launch). The Wii is in second place with 5.4m, up 2.3 from last year. And then we get to the main attraction: 360 and PS3 sales.

You'll recall that in February, Microsoft claimed the 360 bested the PS3 in overall European sales by 1m units, citing GfK Chart-Track data again. In the UK, the Xbox is siting pretty with 3.9m units, up 1.7 from last year, while the PS3 is at 2.2m, up 900k from last year (and, coincidentally, right where Microsoft would've been a year ago). In between the "big boys" is the PSP, with 3.3m consoles sold, up 500k from last year.

It's weird: despite their genetic differences (three stomachs? gross!) the video game shopping trends of UK citizens sound an awful lot like those in the States.

Just when we were starting to get all excited about Silverlight-powered ads for Mountain Dew and Axe Body Spray littering the Xbox Dashboard, Xbox Live spokesman Major Nelson rains on our parade, telling readers that they don't need to sweat.

The Major recently posted, "One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past."

Aww, come on. Maybe just one "Get Totally Crunchatized With Doritos" ad? Something?

During an interview with GameBusiness.jp, Sony's product planning division head honcho, Naoya Matsui, commented that Sony always had plans to go UMD-less, and that the PSP Go is the fruition of all that planning. "We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning," Matsui said. He further makes his case by stating, "But if we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy. We needed to prepare the right environment for it first - things like the transferral [sic] of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as Media Go."

Matsui explains that part of the progression of the PSP to the PSP Go is that Sony had to wait until digital content was on par with physical media, and that the timing now is right. That's one of the reasons Sony is still selling the existing PSP alongside the Go. Well, that, and it's probably not a good idea to have a single handheld that costs as much as a Wii.

[Via Edge]

It appears as though recent reports were incorrect, as Midway confirmed to Joystiq this morning that the studios not picked up by Warner Bros. in the acquisition bid have 60 days until they're out of work. From Midway Newcastle (Wheelman, Necessary Force) to Midway San Diego (TNA) and various "old sports titles" (Blitz, NBA Ballers) in between, anyone looking to pick up the remaining studios has roughly two months to do so.

"We had a court hearing yesterday and the end result of that is the sale was approved and the closing will occur within the next 10 days," a Midway representative told us, continuing, "Since we didn't get any bids for the San Diego assets, we actually gave the employees a required 60-day warning." According to the US Department of Labor, employees of 100 or more person companies must be warned 60 days prior to being let go due to "plant closure" (or studio closure, in this case).

Midway remains positive on the San Diego studio, saying, "For now those employees are continuing to work and it's still entirely possible that a bidder could come in and acquire the San Diego assets." When asked what would happen to the TNA license if the studio did go under, Midway was unsure. Maybe THQ and its fancy new business plan can help a brotha out?

If you subscribe to Nintendo Power, the latest issue should be arriving at your house very soon -- Aeropause has the scoop on some details on Nintendo's upcoming lineup from the issue. Most important to folks reading this text is likely what Miyamoto had to say regarding the new Legend of Zelda game, announced back at E3: "I don't think it's going to be that radically different." But, what about the theory of the girl being the Master Sword? Surely that is radically different!

In typical Nintendo fashion, that's all Miyamoto had to say. He left us hanging to speculate, and we're sure most will be able to turn this appetizer of a quote into a five-course meal.

[Via Videogamer]

[INTERIOR] [SPACE STATION SORBET VII]

ENSIGN CAMEO: Sir! I'm picking up several signatures on my gamma pulse spectrum radar!
GENERAL CONSENSUS: Is it an attack? Did the Radical Space Sect find us?
ENSIGN CAMEO: No, sir, these objects are too small ... too listless and apathetic to be ships! It's like they have no particular trajectory ... they're completely unpredictable.
GENERAL CONSENSUS: Dr. Diana Fhire! What do you make of this?
DR. FHIRE: Hmm, I've never seen anything like this, possibly because I'm meant to be this film's gratuitous eye candy and thus possess highly suspect academic qualifications like Denise Richards did in that one Bond movie. Anyway, my tachyon scanner indicates that we are not dealing with biological matter. In fact, the substance seems ... no, that can't be!
GENERAL CONSENSUS: What? What are we dealing with here?
DR. FHIRE: Rocks. Big rocks. In space.
GENERAL CONSENSUS: My god. Space rocks ... but how?
DR. FHIRE: It's only a theory, but I believe coming into contact with these ... these ... "asteroids" could kill us severely.
GENERAL CONSENSUS: How ... how many of them pose a threat?

[CLOSE UP ON DR. FHIRE]

DR. FHIRE: All of them, general.

[CLOSER UP ON DR. FHIRE]

DR. FHIRE. All. Of. Them.

[INTERIOR] [ALARMS SOUND]

GENERAL CONSENSUS: Ensign! Get me gruff-but-likable washout pilot Jack Plot. He's the only one that can fly the experimental Triangulon Mark V --
DR. FHIRE: The Triangulon?! Are you crazy? That thing's still a prototype! It's not tested for --
GENERAL CONSENSUS: We don't have a choice, Diana. I'm not getting my ass kicked by these roids!

Nintendo has made a deal with UK TV station Five to fully fund one of its new shows, MCV reports. The Advertiser-Funded Programming deal means that Nintendo will pay for eight episodes of the new Britain's Best Brain show, which subjects contestants to five tasks, each designed to test a different brain function: "memory, co-ordination, numeracy, recognition and risk."

Obviously, we suspect Nintendo will use this opportunity as a promotional platform for the Brain Training series. If it were, say, Capcom looking for Britain's best brain, there would be cause for concern. MCV notes that in-show product placement is illegal, meaning that Nintendo will have to relegate the DS mentions to ads.

Battlefield 1943 is ready to let bullets fly and bombs drop on July 8th and 9th for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, respectively. The final declaration of release was made by the official Battlefield 1943 Twitter account, intriguingly named "officialbf1943."

Remember, the "Coral Sea" map can only be unlocked through community collaboration. If you won the game through our Joyswag efforts, don't forget to submit your codes!

OK, we're sure this has been floating around the tubes for a bit, but we're more than happy to devote some attention to the very cool Brotherhood of Steel costume you see above. Made out of awesome and love (probably some foam and paint in there too), the beautiful homage to Fallout 3 was apparently completed back in March.

After seeing this, we don't feel so bad about losing that auction for the 7'10" Brotherhood of Steel statue. We'd go to work wearing this costume if we could.

[Thanks, Gawk]

JAKKS is more than happy to reenter into its WWE licensing deal with THQ, but the gaming company isn't so sure it's ready to make a commitment. After JAKKS signed on the dotted line to extend its gaming agreement with the wrestling group for five years, THQ sued the toymaker, saying it wasn't ready to make a decision and that JAKKS had no right to sign the agreement without THQ's consent.

There were some reportedly shady dealings when JAKKS originally got the contract -- perhaps THQ wants to get the whole pie for itself. Who knows? Either way, the two companies have entered into arbitration, so hopefully the tiff won't have an impact on releases.

If you had your heart set on downloading Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment via XBLA or PSN this September, prepare to have it broken. Konami has confirmed to Joystiq a report by Eurogamer that the return of the company's classic strategy RPG franchise has been delayed until "winter."

No reason was provided for the postponement of the game, which we first caught a glimpse of earlier this year. Let's hope the developer's equipment wasn't ... wait for it ... vandalized. (That one was from the heart.)

Joystiq admittedly went a little crazy with stories involving Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter recently. But, how can the internet blame us? The man is such an important figure. Not only to the video game industry, but to the current state of humanity. Inspired by Harmonix's Alex Navarro, the facts of Michael Pachter's importance were spoken across the Twitterverse and compiled by one Jared Newman. A small sampling:

• When Michael Pachter gets the Red Ring of Death, he sends Microsoft a coffin.
• Publications often misrepresent Michael Pachter as a "Wedbush Morgan Analyst." No company can contain Michael Pachter.
• Michael Pachter willed the Dreamcast to its destruction. No one can cast dreams except Michael Pachter.
• There is a little-known seventh ESRB rating: P. It stands for Pachter. P-rated games can only be played by the awesome.
• Michael Pachter has learned to suppress the pon farr. He's that logical.

We hope these facts help clarify his importance. Those looking to learn more can always search Twitter for #pachterfacts. Some facts show a lack of refinement, created by jealous heathens, but many will bestow the importance of this one man. If you know more facts, please feel free to add them below. Inspiration will get you kudos, crassness will get you a one way ticket off Joys- Pachstiq.