XBOX 360 CLIVE BARKER’S JERICHO DEMO NOW AVAILABLE

A demo of Codemasters Clive Barker’s Jericho for the Xbox 360 is now available for download in all regions except Germany and Asia via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Approximate file size is 885.17MB.

• Clive Barker’s Jericho – Official website

XBOX 360 NHL 2K8 DEMO NOW AVAILABLE

A demo of 2K Sports NHL 2K8 for the Xbox 360 is now available for download in all regions except Australia, New Zealand and Asia via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Approximate file size is 1.0GB.

• NHL 2K8 – Official website

DIGITALLIFE 2007: DAY TWO

As you may have well noticed, there aren’t any stories from DigitalLife ‘07 up on the site yet. Rest assured, they are coming, but I was on the show floor all day thursday and will be spending a good deal of today there as well. It just didn’t leave a lot of time for writing things up properly yesterday.

One thing I will say going into day two is that I was a little disappointed with the general lack of new games on the floor. While there were some upcoming titles such as Crysis, The Eye of Judgment, Gears of War (PC), Guitar Hero III and the like, those kiosks were few and far between.

Perhaps the biggest letdown was when I found my way to the console gaming area to find that some of the games weren’t just already released, they were released a long time ago. Imagine seeing a row of Xbox 360’s and finding that they were set up to play Oblivion, Fight Night: Round 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas and Madden NFL’08. Don’t get too smarmy yet Sony fans – the story was much the same at the kiosks set up with the PlayStation 3.

Still, there was plenty to see and plenty of companies to talk with, and over the next few days, I’ll be bringing the information learned in those sessions to you, because that’s just the kind of guy I am. So stay tuned as we now return you to your game news broadcast… already in progress.

• DigitalLife 2007 – Official website

ACTIVISION ACQUIRES BIZARRE CREATIONS

In a surprise announcement, Activision announced late wednesday that they have acquired UK based Bizarre Creations, the development house behind Microsoft’s Project Gotham Racing franchise. While the exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, the acquisition does not include the rights to the PGR series, as Microsoft is the holder for that particular intellectual property. Geometry Wars on the other hand, as you may have guessed from the upcoming Nintendo DS release of Geometry Wars: Galaxies, is another story. I’d expect to see some form of Geometry Wars finding it’s way to the PlayStation 3 some time in the near future.

"SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sep 26, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI) today announced that it has acquired U.K.-based video game developer Bizarre Creations, one of the world’s premier video game developers and a leader in the racing category, a $1.4 billion market that is the fourth most popular video game genre and represents more than 10% of the total video game market worldwide.

This acquisition represents the latest step in Activision’s ongoing strategy to enter new genres. Last year, Activision entered the music rhythm genre through its acquisition of RedOctane’s Guitar Hero franchise, which is one of the fastest growing franchises in the video game industry." - Activision press release

Obviously, Bizarre will be moved into making multiplatform games, which would virtually ensure the end of their participation in the development of the PGR franchise, though the early rumor is that Bizarre will simply move back to producing the Metropolis Street Racer series, meaning that while the name changes, little else will. One thing that many seem concerned about, is whether or not Activision will show the same kind of quality control that Microsoft has shown with Bizarre’s titles. As usual, only time will tell.

• Activision – Company website
• Bizarre Creations – Company website
• Activision Acquires U.K. Game Developer Bizarre Creations – Press release