Developers Runestone have announced they are closing down their non-combat MMORPG Seed after running out money. From the Seed website:

For the past two months, I and a few others have attempted to sell a partnership deal to a long list of publishers and MMO companies, trying to raise the capital we needed to finish the game properly, and re-launch it in a form it, and especially you the community, deserve. While we have received a great deal of interest, we have not been able to close a deal. The harsh reality is that we have now officially run out of money, and out of options, and therefore, we cannot pay salaries, rent or hosting fees.

What this means to you, is unfortunately that you will only be able to play Seed for a very limited time. We will have a little "goodbye" ceremony this Sunday at 20 CEST. I will be there, in the garden, as Magellan. He was the first character online, and he will be the last. I hope some of you guys will be there too, even if the occasion is sad. After that day, the servers may be less stable and reliable, and AD GMs will only be online on their own free time, if at all. Same goes for Runestone Staff.

For us, it means that the dream of Seed and Runestone is over. It has been a wild, weird ride, full of frustration, triumph, joy, stress and fun, but never boredom. We have all learned incredibly much about game development, the gaming business and MMOs.
We've made some major mistakes, and some smart moves along the way, but in the end, we simply tried to do too much, with too few funds, which I guess is a typical "Rookie", and even veteran error.
I, for one, would do it all over again, although I would do a great many things differently next time around.

For the MMO community and business as such, the rise and fall of Runestone probably doesn't mean that much, but I hope MMO execs out there reading this letter will draw the *right* conclusions from Runestone and Seed, and *not* the wrong ones.
One thing I would hate to see happen as a result of our failure would be a consensus forming that the idea about a non-combat, role play-centric MMO is a bad idea.

It isn't.

I am still fully convinced that a role play-centric game is not only a good idea: It's a great idea. It just needs to be better executed. Seed has many of the right qualities for such a game, and I still firmly believe that, given sufficient funding, we could have created a great game.
Unfortunately, we will never know.

We've reached the end of the road, and to all those of you who have followed us along this wild, weird ride I say a big, big thank you. It's been a pleasure serving you our game, and your constant faith in us has been a major morale booster when times seemed tough.
I hope Seed gave you some enjoyment, some great times and some fun along the way, maybe even some new friends. I hope you will demand more from your future games in terms of role playing with other players, and in terms of player influence in the world.
'Cause that's what role playing games and role playing communities are all about. The people playing them.

Lars Kroll Kristensen
CEO, Runestone Game Development

Bethesda Softworks has announced that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be a launch title for the Playstation 3 in North America.

Bethesda Softworks announced today that its blockbuster role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, will be a launch title for the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system this November in North America, and next March in Europe when the new console is expected to be released there.

THQ have released the first downloadable content pack for Saints Row. The new content is available to buy via the Xbox Live Marketplace. On another note, there are a number of videos on the Xbox Live Marketplace demonstrating how to complete certain activities with the game.

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, THQ, Saints Row

Totally360.com has posted up their latest podcast. This week's show features an exclusive interview with Gary Conti, Associate Producer for Star Trek: Legacy. You can download the podcast via Totally360's website.

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, Star Trek: Legacy

A trailer for the highly anticipated Marvel Universe Online has appeared on the developer's website. The media was shown during an event which took place last night. To view the media head over to the official Cryptic Studios website.

Technorati Tags: Marvel Universe Online, Xbox 360, Cryptic Studios

BluesNews.com has word on a deal inked by Frogster Interactive who have secured the worldwide publishing rights to Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine. We at News0r have fond memories of these titles and you'll be experiencing them in full when they are released on the PC during 2007.

Coincidentally, you can download and buy these games for your mobile phone via MobGames.TV.


Technorati Tags: PC, The Bitmap Brothers, SpeedBall 2, The Chaos Engine, Frogster Interactive

Microsoft aren't exactly known for being able to keep secrets (thankfully for us) and once again they have shown their adeptness at being unable to keep things secret till last minute. This time the revelations are huge with a massive selection of titles being available for both visual enjoyment and hands on pleasure. Perhaps the two biggest titles that will allow journalists to go hands on are Gears of War which will be open for all invited to go hands on with and Halo 3 which is behind closed doors on a strictly invite only basis.

For those of you not lucky enough to go to the event and those of us like me who've been left behind we will be treated to a new Halo 3 trailer, most likely more of the same that we experienced at E3. However, the biggest official announcement coming out of X06 is that Halo 3 will be the first 360 title to natively play at 1080p, and is likely to put a huge dampener on Sony's party after a relatively successful TGS. And as if that wasn't enough, Bungie are aiming for between 50-64 players online.

Other revelations include the announcement of a new Killer Instinct game from Rare supporting 4 player tag matches, and as if that wasn't enough, journalists will be able to go hands on with the game come the opening of the event tomorrow. Alan Wake, the first next generation game to have been revealed will also make an appearance on the show floor in playable form. Fable 2 will be shown for the first time, and possibly even more momentous, has a multiplayer mode. More details of how it is expected to play will be revealed tomorrow.

In terms of hardware announcements a Black version of the Xbox 360 will finally become available this Christmas across the regions the Xbox 360 has already launched for the same price as the Xbox 360 currently retails. For film buffs the HD-DVD drive has also been priced at £119/€149/$199 price tag and will launch on December 1st in Europe. It will also come packaged free with the Universal Media Remote.

In addition to that the list of demo, video and picture and theme pack content has been leaked with the full list of what will be available from 27th September to midnight 29th September below:

Demos
Splinter Cell Double Agent multiplayer
Crackdown
Forza Motorsport 2
Sonic the Hedghog
Viva Pinata
Need for Speed Carbon
Call of Duty 3
Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Mass Effect
+ MORE

Videos
GOW single player and multiplayer
Halo 3 trailer
Fable 2
+ MORE

Picture Packs and Themes
Fable 2
COD3
Crackdown
X06 Community Pack

We'll be bringing you all the latest news from the event as it breaks as well as confirmation of the leaked information as X06 rolls into town.

Technorati Tags: X06, Leak, Halo 3, Gears of War, Fable, Microsoft, HD-DVD, Xbox 360, 1080p Games

The news that Virtua Tennis 3 has now joined Tony Hawks Project 8 in losing its online features for the PS3 version has prompted speculation that Sony may not have its much vaunted Xbox Live Killer online service ready for the console's launch in two months time.

While there has been no official confirmation that Sony is struggling to meet its deadlines (although it wouldn't be the first time now would it) the cancellation of yet another Xbox Live enabled PS3 online mode due to Sony being unable to supply the necessary code to program games to run on it is fuelling fears the service is nowhere near ready.

We'll bring you any word on a delay (or a non-delay as the case may well be) as soon as we hear it.

Technorati Tags: Sony, PS3, Playstation Online, Delay

Following on from the rumours we reported on yesterday, Capcom producer Masachika Kawata has told journalist asking if Resident Evil is due to announced as a platform exclusive, "Resident Evil 5 has been announced for Xbox 360 and PS3 and remains on course for release on both platforms,".

The statement follows on from suggestions that the reason the game was not at TGS is because it still in a very basic form and not currently playable hinting at the possibility the game will not make X06 which starts later today.

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, X06, Resident Evil 5, Capcom

Sega fans rejoice, the latest fruits of labour have been released upon through the grapevine that is the Xbox Live Marketplace. That's right, the first demo to be release in Day 8 of bringing it home, the first of X06 is Sonic's first next generation adventure.

The demo is only 315mb so there is little excuse not to download it and at least give it a go.

Technorati Tags: Sonic, Xbox 360, Bringing It Home, Xbox Live, Demo

With the launch of the Playstation 3 in North America now just over two months away Sony has finally revealed the amount of Playstation 3's which will be made into Demo Pods rather than being released for general sale. With only 400,000 units available on launch day Sony has decided to set aside a massive 15,000 demo units costing a staggering $30m in order to entice customers to wait instead of splashing out on an Xbox 360 or Wii this Christmas. How successful they'll be when it is parents making the decision and having to get a console this year to not disappoint little Johnny we aren't quite sure. Either way, it will be nice to see the console out in the open for once where they can't hide computers behind stands.

As for the UK, no information has been given yet. We don't expect to see any demo units until much closer to launch, most likely the other side of Christmas.

Technorati Tags: PS3, Demo Kits, Marketing

JoWooD has announced that Gothic 3 has now actually gone gold, following a mis-announcement and retraction of 'gold' status. However, JoWood, Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes are confirming that the game has reached gold status and will become available in stores from October 13th.

Technorati Tags: Gold, Gothic 3, JoWooD, PC