Revolutionary Title, Devolutionary PR

Square Enix Ltd recently grabbed the trademark name “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” (008862153) for decidedly game-y purposes; should the forthcoming Deus Ex 3 be subtitled as such remains unconfirmed, though, but at the time of writing, that’s as close as it gets.

The company has also started an underground advertising campaign for the game – one that might not reflect as well on the game’s profile as they might have hoped, for reasons that are rather out of the company’s hands: While Valve is going all out and wooing the games press with massive high-profile PR stunts like there was no tomorrow, all we got from Eidos was these lousy renders:

Then again, it seems almost cruel to expect the same level of commitment as we do from Valve at this point, so… in case you’re stoked to see these images, you should keep on checking out the official thread in the Eidos forums.

In the meantime, do check out our Deus Ex 3 teaser trailer image gallery which contains full captioned explanations for each subliminal image present in the trailer (It was a lot of work).

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Kane & Lynch 2

#@$%! Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days was announced a while ago, so here we go:

Kane & Lynch 2 Logo

Kane & Lynch 2™: Dog Days is inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era. Every aspect of the game has been designed to deliver a fresh perspective to the words ‘intensity’ and ‘realism’ in video games.

While Kane & Lynch may have become a suitable pariah for the gaming community (check this GameBomb review out) by exemplifying underhanded press tactics and poor decision-making – something that we also briefly discussed in an early story of ours, Kaned & Lynched – the game is not without merit, and I am one to think a sequel could redeem many of the failings of the first title. (more…)

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Square Enix Offers to Buy Eidos

Japanese giant Square Enix has made a buyout bid for Eidos, for $120 million – a 129% premium over the worth of the latter company’s stock. Eidos has been the subject of buyout rumours for some time now, with its rocky financial state over the last few years. The buyout is likely to go ahead, and what effect this will have on the development of Deus Ex 3 remains to be seen.

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Kaned & Lynched

Coming off a succesful string of Hitman games and a notch-better-than-its-reputation Hollywood adaptation, the announcement for an all-new IO Interactive IP seemed to make perfect sense; after all, it’s not difficult to imagine the whole of IO staff trying to think-tank up something (anything!!) different after having stared at virtually nothing but the back of Agent 47’s bald head for six years (from 2000 to 2006) straight…

Enter Kane & Lynch, perhaps the most controversial game release of 2007. The game’s launch was mired in a string of negative, integrity-shattering publicity: The Gerstmanngate, falsified review scores, and ultimately one middle-of-the-road game. Kane & Lynch seemed a little like a fish out of water in a post-Max Payne -world.

Then again, our collective gamer memory is very short indeed, and everything simmers down after a while. That is, until GamesRadar butts in with an attempt at handing down the microphone over to IO, in the form of a confessional interview with Game Director Jens Peter Kurup, who gets to express his feelings over the public reception of the game.

(more…)

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