Oh, so you think you're heading off into space for some distant world in September? Nope, you've got more pressing matters here at home. A public demo for Civilization 5 has been confirmed for September, "before the full game is released."

The missive can be found over on the game's official site, which promises more details on the exact nature of the demo and when rowdy road-builders can get their cultivation on, "coming soon." We'll be sure to update you all when we hear something, but in the meanwhile, you can get back to filling the coffers for that special edition you've had your eye on.

Apple's forthcoming Game Center service is alive and well in the latest iOS beta, 4.1 beta 3, and as those beta releases get more frequent, we get closer to the release of this "social gaming network" for iPhones and iPod Touches.

Unfortunately, with beta 3, we now have to further specify precisely which iPhones and iPod Touches will be supported by Game Center. Originally, Game Center was expected to run on the same iPhone / iPod Touch hardware that iOS 4 would run on, which only excluded the original iPhone and original iPod Touch. Now, perhaps in response to user complaints about the how poorly the iPhone 3G and 2nd-gen iPod Touch run on the new OS, those two (far more popular!) devices have also been stripped of Game Center compatibility in the latest beta.

Since this is getting confusing, we'll recap. You can use Game Center when it launches later this year only on one of these products: iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, 3rd-gen iPod Touch ... and that's it.

This week, Nintendo leaked the release date for Broken Rules' world-rotating WiiWare platformer And Yet It Moves before changing it back to "TBD." Today, Broken Rules sent out a press release confirming that the stylish game will be available on the Wii Shop in North America on August 23 for 1,000 Wii Points.

And Yet It Moves, already available on PC, is a side-view platformer that forces players to periodically rotate the view by 90 degrees, turning walls into floors. If you haven't seen it -- and want to be unexpectedly charmed by Wii control demonstrations -- check out the trailer after the break. Actually, even if you've already played the PC version, you should watch this trailer. It looks like a lot of work went into it.

Continue Reading

Step aside, Will Wright -- there's a new Hollywood It-Girl on the video game industry conference keynote scene. Yes, it seems event planners across the globe are trying to get Deus Ex and, more recently, Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector to come deliver their expo's keynote speech. The ghostly developer is already slated to speak at PAX Prime next month -- but according to a last-minute press release, Spector will also deliver one of the GDC Europe keynotes, titled "What Videogames Can Learn from Other Media ... What We Can't ... And What We Shouldn't," as the three-day event kicks off August 16.

The subject of the newly announced speech sounds intriguing, but of course, in an industry as fast-paced and cruel as the video game biz, we doubt Spector's going to stay on top of the keynote game for too much longer. We're betting he's got two more speeches in him before things go sour, and the industry turns its collective attention to a fresh face -- a Bleszinski or a Levine, for example.

We're not sure how it happened. We could have sworn that Too Human was the only new release on Xbox Live Games on Demand this week (it was the only one listed by Major Nelson, after all). And yet, somehow, Batman: Arkham Asylum has appropriately emerged from the shadows as well. Joining the Dark Knight is Phantasy Star Universe, which recently received a shot in the arm thanks to a new update and a free expansion. Arkham Asylum can be had for a steep $40 (the GOTY Edition costs $50 in-store), while Phantasy Star Universe is $20. As usual, pricing and availability vary by region.

---

Xbox.com: Add Batman: Arkham Asylum to your Xbox 360 download queue ($39.99)
Xbox.com: Add Phantasy Star Universe to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99)

I'm pretty sure that if I could get a peek at Castlevania: Harmony of Despair director Koji Igarashi's Netflix queue, I'd find that his most recent rental would be the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day.

Much like Bill Murray's Phil awakes every morning in Punxsutawney, PA to find that it's (spoiler alert) Groundhog Day, the characters in Igarashi's latest game -- a cast from 'Vanias past -- find themselves repeating the same trek through the same six castles over and over and over again in an attempt to find or buy better items and beat the bosses faster. Sometimes, they won't even be able to find the boss before the timer runs out. Virtually nothing is explained, it reuses background tiles and sprites from years-old games and is, frankly, not fun at all if you intend to play it alone. Save your $15. Buy this, this or this instead. (But not this.)

Played with friends, however, Harmony of Despair is actually ... kinda fun.

Continue Reading

Halo 2 might be dead and gone on Xbox Live, but its memory will live on in Halo: Reach. IGN reports that remakes of the Midship and Ivory Tower maps -- renamed Zealot and Reflection, respectively -- will be featured in Reach. Reflection is apparently a very faithful remake, right down to the sniper tower elevator (perhaps known to you as The Column of Surprise Death), though IGN notes that the new hologram armor ability makes camping much more difficult. Zealot, meanwhile, retains the overall layout of Midship, but adds a third level that features lower gravity than the rest of the map.

A new map entitled Spire was also revealed for the multiplayer Invasion mode. This time around it features Spartans ransacking the Elites and, as the name implies, they must work their way to the top of a huge tower as each section of the map is unlocked. Check out footage of all three maps after the break, and be sure to tell us what other old-school Halo 1, 2, or 3 maps you'd like to see in Reach.

Continue Reading

Famitsu recently pulled the lid off of an upcoming sequel to one of last year's ... well, one of last year's weirdest games ever, Half-Minute Hero. According to Andriasang's translation of the reveal, the game will still place a heavy emphasis on hasty adventuring -- though time will now freeze while the player is on the overworld map, giving him or her plenty of time to explore the game's five RPG scenarios.

A four-player co-op mode, a quest creation tool and an "Infinite" mode which tasks you with toppling the game's biggest bosses in succession are also new additions. The best part? The sequel is titled Hero 30 Second, which should ensure no small amount of confusion amongst future video game historians. According to Famitsu, the game's tentatively dated in Japan for November 4, and is currently 77 percent complete, which is just mind-boggling in its specificity.

The pickin's are a bit slimmer for this week's European PSN update than we would like, with the Gundemonium Collection and a demo for Modern Warfare 2 highlighting the playable releases. There's also DLC for BioShock 2, ModNation Racers and the third Marvel pack for LittleBigPlanet. Oh, and Tekken 2 gets added to the PSOne Classics storefront, in case you're filled with the kind of rage that can only be remedied by brutalizing a kangaroo.

(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Continue Reading