It’s now even harder to avoid playing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars as Rockstar has announced that a version of the game for the iPhone will be joining the PSP version when it is released this autumn.

Rockstar president Sam Houser believes that the game is a “perfect match” for the iPhone;

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch. We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms,” (Source)

The best thing about this announcement is that the iPhone version won’t have to sacrifice the touch screen controls like the PSP version had to, so hopefully this version will be mostly similar to the DS version. I do have some reservations about how you will control Huang Lee (the main character), as some previous iPhone ports have used an on-screen d-pad which can often be a bit frustrating to use.

There are no screenshots yet (unlike the PSP version) but I expect it won’t be too long until we see some.

Rockstar is also bringing Beaterator to the iPhone (originally announced for PSN and PSP), a music mixer that has been developed in collaboration with Timbaland. Let’s hope that people will use earphones when creating their own tunes on the bus or train.

Both games will be out in autumn, with a firm release date to come at a later date.

MechWarrior fans will be pleased to know that the teaser trailer released earlier this week (see below) was indeed for a new MechWarrior game. The title is in development at Piranha Games and is said to be a “reboot” of the video game arm of the BattleTech franchise, the previous game being MechWarrior 4: Vengeance way back in 2001.

Piranha Games doesn’t need any fancy titles and has simply gone with the name of MechWarrior for the game. If that doesn’t tell the fan what it’s all about then I don’t know what does. For everyone else a giant robot on the front of the game packaging should pretty much do it.

The game will be set on the planet Deshler circa 3015 (so that’s pre-clan for those that are taking notes) during an invasion, and is planned to feature a full single-player campaign, four-player co-op player and a range of other multiplayer options. The budget is still being discussed at the moment, largely because the game hasn’t found a publisher yet. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Apparently the game will have a sense of “information warfare”, allowing the player to use unmanned drones or light scout mechs to survey the battlefield. Following this you can pound away at your targets in a variety of mechs, and sticking in one mech will reward the player through experience. This experience translates into, for example, better accuracy and damage from your mechs weapon systems. The game will also be different depending on what type of mech you choose.

The BattleTech franchise has never been that popular here in the UK, but that’s largely because most of the gaming equipment 0r books aren’t widely available. However, the games were released here so it shows there is some demand for fighting in giant robots. I was only introduced to the franchise when I was on holiday in Florida and I bought three BattleTech novels. They’re great fun if you manage to get hold of any of them.

Finally, some other good news to come out of this announcement is that MechWarrior 4: Vengeance is to be released for free alongside its expansion packs in the near future.

The game is being developed for the PC and Xbox 360, but there’s no word on a release date yet as the developer is yet to find a publisher. For more information and screenshots check out IGN’s article on the reboot.

(Image Source: IGN)

Dead Space was a freaky game, there’s no doubt about it. There’s something about pitch black corridors and multi-limbed creatures crawling across the ceiling and dropping down on you that will always freak me out. Call me a pussy, I don’t care, but ever since those zombie dogs jumped through the windows on the first Resident Evil game I’ve had a grudging respect for horror games in their ability to make me scream like a little kid. So, will an on-rails (think House of the Dead) Wii horror prequel to last year’s Dead Space carry on scaring me? Or will it be little more than a shooting gallery?

As noted Dead Space Extraction takes place before Dead Space and drops Isaac Clarke for a new female protagonist. You’re a member of a group of colonists that are fighting to escape the same infection that blighted the dark corridors of the original Dead Space. That’s about all we know of the story so far, but the video logs from Dead Space will return to add more substance to the game’s world.

The game is not a complete guided experience, as you will be able to choose what direction you wish to go in from time to time.  The new control scheme also doesn’t mean that various ways of dispatching the games horrific creatures have changed. The “strategic dismemberment” system still very much remains, along with weapons such as the plasma cutter, ripper and flame thrower.  However, one new weapon is the Arc Welder, that shoots out bolts of electricity and spreads it between enemies standing too close together.

It wouldn’t be a proper Wii game without some novel way of using the Wii remote, so EA have come up with a way of using the remote to tackle the darkness of the game. Waggling the remote will activate the faint glow of a glow stick, making sure that you won’t be caught off guard by any approaching enemy. I can see myself frantically waggling the Wii remote as the lights go out.

Finally the game will include co-op play, which is always a plus. However, it is still hard to hide the fact that Dead Space Extraction sounds like little more than the lightgun games of old. I’m not saying that it isn’t fun, but it just won’t compare to the fully-fledged game that graced other consoles. Then again, the Wii’s hardware limitations mean that the game wouldn’t stand up to its bigger brothers without a new way of looking at it; so while Wii owners won’t be sharing the exact same experiences as other gamers they still may get a pretty good on-rails shooter that seem to be climbing in popularity again lately. I guess we’ll find out near the end of this year.

More here.

If you’re looking for some on-rails shooting action for the Wii then Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, based around the events of the original Resident Evil game, may be to your tastes.