Computer and Video Games has let us know that we’ll be seeing the official announcement of the next KOTOR game in a “matter of weeks.” We’ve reported on this before, but we’ll finally be able to (hopefully!) see a few more concrete details in the near future.

The first two games were incredibly fun to play and proved that with proper care a great RPG could be made out of the “Star Wars” universe. KOTOR II was developed by Obsidian and this new MMO — from what we’ve heard — will have the original team, Bioware, back at the helm.

Might even get this writer to finally try an MMO.

Via CVG

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Knights, KOTOR, MMO, of, Old, PC, republic, the

R3match Radio underwent some construction (read: scheduling conflicts) last week so there wasn’t a show. Hopefully, you didn’t miss us too much. But if you did, don’t fret, you can catch the latest and greatest in gaming now.

Explanation and official deets from the site:

We know. You LOVED us on Thursdays. But it’s ok, we can do Tuesdays too. A little groggy because it’s the beginning of the week, but don’t worry — we’re still the same “soon to be famous” podcast you know and love. This week Carlos, Jason, and Juan “the kid” dig into some Rock Band 2, Mega Man 9, and more Call of Duty 4 love. We give you the latest sales numbers, Xbox 360 limiting games, and a few disappointing PS3 news. Aww.

Pictorial Discussion:

Mega Man 9

Oh, and we’re gonna be doing another “Game with the Podcasters” this Saturday. We’ll be on Xbox Live from 12 (noon) to ? (question mark)…we’re thinking 2ish. (PST)

Download it at R3match and feel free to sound off on what you think.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: 9/23, podcast, r3match, radio, show 6, tuesdays

The Halo MMO That Never Happened

I recall hearing some rumors that a Halo-based MMO was in the works.  After a while, nothing else was heard about it.  Apparently the rumors were 100% correct.  Unfortunately, it was being developed by Ensemble.  Ensemble closed their doors and all of their projects were halted.  Will the Halo MMO end up being a discarded project that will eventually be forgotten?  No one really knows.  I’d assume Microsoft would take off where Ensemble left off to get some extra mileage out of the franchise but you just never know with these guys.

Screen via Ripten

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: ensemble, Halo, Microsoft, MMO

The R3match gang this week (sans a Mr. Juandrful!) recorded their latest episode yesterday and it’s quality stuff. You don’t mind quality, right?

The official word from the site:

In this week’s episode Jason and Carlos go off on how much they love Xbox Live’s Castle Crashers — enough to interrupt a few news segments. Listen in as we bring you the latest in gaming news from Microsoft’s lack of confidence in taking over Nintendo’s lead to the Call of Duty 4 Double XP Weekend. Speaking of which, we’ll be on Xbox Live this Saturday, September 13, ripping heads off left and right Noon to 4PM PST. We just want to get extra points, really.

Jason’s Gamertag:

SupReme C4

Carlos’ Gamertag:

Aduce Clean

Let us know what you think of the show here!

Take a hear and let us know what you think.

Download it here: R3match Radio Podcast - Show 5

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: 9-11, castle crashers, podcast, r3match, radio

Shacknews just posted a juicy rumor saying that “non-essential employees” have been let go at Ensemble Studios. The developer, which past success is largely attributed to The Age of Empires series, has been hard at work on Halo Wars for an Early 2009 release.

Recently, we’ve seen the same case with Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios), layoffs at LucasArts, and last year with Shadowrun (FASA Studios). This sucks for gamers, because the likelihood of a game being supported post-release becomes more of a hazy affair.

When’s the last time you heard about Shadowrun being updated? Yeah, you probably forgot all about it.

Update: Microsoft Games Studios’ Phil Spencer has confirmed the rumors, saying the following in an email sent out to the press:

“Following the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new entity and have agreed to partner with Microsoft to develop future products and provide support for Halo Wars post launch.”

Via Shacknews

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: ensemble, flagship, Halo, shadowrun, Wars

R3match just released show 4 of the “R3match Radio,” podcast for you guys to take an ear to.

The official word from the site:

We see the return of Juan, “the kid,” Perez on the show this week and we dig into the latest gaming news. Carlos talks about some of the exploitin’ he’s been doing in Pub Games, Juan’s “The Last Guy” on PSN, and Jason flies high in the remake of 1943. News is a bit Gears of War 2-flavored with some Sony updates trickled in and we end the show with a some site pimpage.

Pictorial Discussion this week (Fail?):

Halo 3’s “Mythic“

Inside you’ll find a few details on how you can get to workin’ at Kezins.com and we exchanged a few fanboy-ish words.

Download it here: R3match Radio Podcast - Show 4

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Carlos, dig, ear, exploitin, gaming, guy, Jason, Juan, Kid, news, Perez, podcast, Pub, radio, return, show, site, Week, word

The third game in the Kingdom Hearts series, which has been long overdue for a sequel, should be announced at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, according to a rumor posted on Kotaku.

Disney and Square Enix collaborated on what, at the time, seemed like a weird combination of licenses but proved to steal our hearts with its action-RPG stylings. The post makes no mention of a release date but it’s likely to be out, at the earliest, Summer 2009 and it will be exclusive to Sony’s PS3.

Via Kotaku

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: combination, Disney, Enix, game, III, Kingdom, Kotaku, Rumor, sequel, series, show, Square, TGS, time, Tokyo, year

Surprised by our own persistence and dedication to keeping a podcast up and running on a weekly basis, we bring you Show 3 of “R3match Radio.”

The word from the site:

After ONE show co-hostin’ with Jason and Carlos last week, Juan took a quick vacation out…somewhere in the East Coast. But the show must go on and the super-duo brought it this week with some Mercenaries 2 talk, Xbox 360 motion-control rumor-mongering, as well as “Red Ring of Death” reminiscing.

Pictorial Discussion: Halo Wars Box Art

We threw in the following song, from our favorite ad at the moment, for some added affect:

‘Mercenaries 2′ Ad Lyrics

Oh, nooo…
Oh, nooo…
Oh, nooo…

Yo, yo, yo.

Oh, no, you didn’t,

Sucka try to play me,
But you never paid me,
Never,

Oh, no, you didn’t,

Payback is a-comin’,
You will be runnin’ for-e-ver,

Oh, no, you didn’t,

Until I get my vengeance,
I will never end this may-hem,

Oh, no, you didn’t,

I’m a mercenary,
You ain’t got a prayer,
You owe meeee

Feel free to download the show here:

R3match Radio Podcast - Show #3

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: basis, Carlos, dedication, didn, East Coast, Jason, Juan, Mercenaries, nooo, persistence, podcast, radio, show, site, Surprised, Talk, vacation, Week, word

“Dates-wise I also discovered that the first piece of GTA downloadable content will be arriving in November as well. Very little details were given but I was assured it would be sizable bringing roughly 15 hours of additional play time.” - Chris from RPG-TV

Kotaku pointed us to the above RPG-TV blog which gives us a clearer picture of when we can hope to get some more Grand Theft Auto’ing done.

Rockstar has previously stated that it would break a few price barriers when they released the exclusive Xbox 360 DLC this fall and, if the above is accurate, it looks like gamers will get their full money’s worth.

Would you guys mind paying more than premium prices (likely above $30) for an additional 15 hours of GTA IV content?

Via RPG-TV (through Kotaku)

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: blog, bringing, Chris, Content, Dates-wise, DLC, Dropping, Grand, GTA, November, picture, piece, play, RPG-TV, RPG-TVKotaku, time

It looks like our facility has been hit with a MegaTruck (megaman cartoon lingo). We have received a trustworthy tip that MegaMan 9 WILL support rumble on 2 systems, possibly the third. To protect the victim we have replaced his name with MM9.

“…the support of rumble is something we’ve been working on since all 3 consoles now support vibration controllers. For now, we see the Wii, and Xbox 360 incorporating rumble. The Playstation3 is a possibility…

Great job on the site,

-MM9″

We’re pretty excited that she/he mentioned the PS3 as a possibilty. Until we hear an Official Public confirmation, we’re stashing this in our “most likely true, rumor bin”.

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: Add new tag, cartoon, facility, lingo, MegaMan, MegaTruck, Name, Nintendo Wii, rumble, Rumor, something, support, tip, trustworty, vibration, victim