StarCraft 2 Beta bumped to 2010

According to a post at MTV Multiplayer, the beta test for StarCraft 2 has been pushed to early 2010. The first chapter of the game, dubbed Wings of Liberty, will not be released until sometime in Spring 2010 as well. Sad news for fans of Blizzard Entertainment’s popular sci-fi themed real-time strategy game for the PC. But this comes as no surprise given that so many publishers have simply given up on 2009 and have moved many of their high profile games in 2010. Perhaps they know something about 2010 that we do not.

When the beta does finally happen it will introduce the new Battle.net, Blizzard’s popular online matchmaking service for its games, popularized by Diablo, Diablo II, the Warcraft series and StarCraft. Blizzard is working hard on a new Cloud based system for handling multiplayer, which some describe as offering Xbox Live-like features. Sounds interesting.

Source: MTV Multiplayer

PSN version of SMT: Persona slightly delayed, says Atlus

Those of you looking to by the unfettered digital version of SMT: Persona via PlayStation Network will have to wait a few extra days. Atlus announced that the digital version of the game will now be released on October 1. No word on why the digital version would be delivered late - perhaps Atlus wants to give the retail version of the game to have a few days of unopposed sales.

The boxed retail version of the game is still set for release on September 22. The advantage of the UMD version of the game is that it comes as a special boxed collector’s edition, including 2 music CDs that feature the game’s FULL soundtrack, all at no extra cost.

Find out more about Persona at www.atlus.com/persona.

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again delayed slightly

NIS America announced today that the release date for Phantom Brave: We Meet Again has been pushed back to Friday August 14, 2009. The reason for the change, according to NIS America, is due to unexpected delays related to Wii disc manufacturing.

“Our goal is to provide good games and keep gamers happy,” said a company spokesperson. “Therefore, we will work our best to deliver Phantom Brave to the retailers before 8/14 if possible. We apologize any inconvenience we may have caused.“

Phantom Brave: We Meet Again is a turn based strategy RPG that incorporates unique battle styles and a hardcore character customization system. The game is based on the PS2 title Phantom Brave.

StarCraft II delayed until early 2010

Today Blizzard Entertainment confirmed what had been rumored for several months: that StarCraft II would not be released in 2009. The game is now scheduled for a release sometime in early 2010. Citing the new Battle.net as the major focus of the delay, Blizzard said in a statement to the public that, because Battle.net is such an essential part of StarCraft II, it need to take some more time to refine it and polish it. The extra time with Battle.net will also extend to extra polish and refinement time with StarCraft II. The full statement from Blizzard:

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.

We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.

BioShock 2 pushed to 2010

Take-Two Interactive announced that BioShock 2 has been pushed to 2010, and as a result, it has revised revenue and earnings guidance for fiscal 2009. Ain’t that a b*tch?  BioShock 2 has been moved from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2010 (FY 2010 begins in November of this year), “in order to provide additional development time for the title,” said Take-Two in a press release this afternoon. As a result, Take-Two updated third quarter and fourth quarter fiscal 2009 guidance to reflect “reduced sales of catalog products and lower than anticipated initial retailer orders of new releases.”

“We recognize that our revised outlook for the balance of fiscal year 2009, due to both internal and external factors, is a disappointment.,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two. “That said, we concluded that moving the release of BioShock 2 into fiscal year 2010 was the right decision for the product. We believe the result will be a more compelling consumer experience and a better performing product in the marketplace. At the same time, near term retail conditions have proven to be more challenging for our business than the assumptions built into our prior outlook. We remain confident in the long term potential for Take-Two’s business, and our ability to capitalize on that potential through our exceptional creative talent and solid balance sheet.”

While expectations for 2009 have been lowered, 2010 expectations are high because Take-Two has a ton of sequels coming out next year including BioShock 2, Mafia II, Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption.

Southwest Video Game Expo Postponed

The organizers of the Southwest Video Game Expo (SWGE) announced that it would postpone the event due to “economic reasons.” The show was to be the largest event of its kind in the Southwest showcasing new games for the holiday season from all the major publishers, opined Li-Fi, Inc. This expo was to be held at the Dallas Convention Center from November 20-22, 2009.

“The management deeply regrets that the expo in Texas will not be happening in 2009 as we had planned,” said Don Jennings, President of Li-Fi, Inc. “A poor economy mixed with a large number of other expos for publishers to attend has meant our show didn’t perform the way we had hoped it would. We still hope someday to bring a large event like this to the Southwest, and are determined that it will be worth the wait.”

Li-Fi cited smaller publisher budgets and the economy as the determining factors in its decision to postpone the event. No word on when the event will run, but I think it’s safe to say it will be sometime in 2010. Li-Fi, the consumer electronic side of SWGE was cancelled earlier this year.

LEGO Universe Delayed

The first of its kind online multiplayer LEGO game, LEGO Universe, will not be launched in 2009 and no definitive alternate date has been revealed, according to Kotaku. Speaking to Mark Hansen, director of business development for the LEGO Group, the report reveals that the LEGO Group wants or needs to give developer NetDevil more time to develop the game.

“Within the company we have made a strategic decision within LEGO to make a delay of LEGO Universe. It will not be coming out in 2009,” Hansen told Kotaku’s Brian Crecente this morning. “The reason is, we have a luxury right now, the business is going good. We have products launching that are not digital, the physical products, with them going so well we don’t want to take focus away from them.”

Hansen goes on to say nothing about when the game will see the light of day, shying away from even giving a date in 2010. Still, he says that the company is committed to seeing this game launch and that NetDevil may take the extra time to create new content including stuff that tie-ins with what LEGO has on store shelves. This excludes properties like Batman LEGO and  LEGO Star Wars (for obvious reasons), but Hansen believes that getting that kind of content in the game isn’t “off the table.”