JOE’s Gaming Round-up

JOE's round-up continues with a controversial Call of Duty: Black Ops level, a possible Hitman cancellation and a duo of James Bond releases.

JOE

By Emmet Purcell

Welcome to another week of JOE’s videogame round-up. As always, we’re looking to provide you with up-to-the-minute news, download reviews, weekly charts and forthcoming release dates on a weekly basis. So if thereâ€™s anything you think weâ€™re leaving out, or would like us to shine a spotlight on, feel free to leave a comment below.

News

*SPOILERS* Controversial zombie-killing team revealed for Call of Duty: Black Ops

JFK, Castro and Nixon are locked and loaded for some zombie-killing

Wait until the Daily Mail gets a hold of this. A leaked video of a secret mission in next week’s Call of Duty: Black Ops release has revealed a tabloid-baitingly controversial secret mission, in which JFK, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon and ex-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara taking on a horde of the undead.

Although the authenticity of the aforementioned video has not been confirmed by Activision, it’s either 100% real or the best user-created fake we’ve ever seen. Considering developer Treyarch’s penchant for zombie, their appearence is no such surprise but the ability to control dead US presidents could well stoke a media furore seen since… last month’s Medal of Honor, actually.

Hitman 5 cancelled? Developers IO fire up to 30 employees

Oh Agent 47, how we miss you

Where has the Hitman franchise gone? Agent 47’s exploits have been seen just once this console generation in 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money, which was itself a port of a title built for the PS2 and original Xbox. Despite being Danish developer IO Interactive’s bread and butter, the shiny head of Agent 47 has only popped up once in recent years for the appalling Hollywood 2007 release Hitman. After critical and/or commercial misfires Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days and Mini Ninjas, plans for Hitman 5 may be on the line after IO apparently fired up to 30 employees

In a statement prepared by IO’s general manager Niels JÃ¸rgensen, Niels said: “I can confirm that we have made some internal changes at IO Interactive which has regrettably resulted in the loss of some jobs.”

He added: “This is a natural part of any studio’s existence when you ramp-up and ramp-down on projects to ensure you have the right level of resource and expertise within the studio. We genuinely wish those who have been affected by this, the best of luck for the future.”Our advice? Put the Kane and Lynch license to bed and getting back to what you’re best at IO.

Friday Releases 5/11/10

Looks exciting, doesn’t it?

All told, it’s a fairly quiet week for releases this coming Friday – do you think the impending release of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Microsoft Kinect has anything to do with it? For us, the game of the week has to be Football Manager 2011, which is already recieving solid reviews for its expanded player interaction and a wealth of new features. Being truthful, however, we do think that early November is a little late in the calender to release a footbal management sim. Aside from our game of the week, James Bond fans are well catered for with 007: Blood Stone and 007: Goldeneye, with the latter clearly the more interesting of the two, considering its heritage. We at JOE can’t wait to return to the days of four-player splitscreen multiplayer and yes, the real winner of such deciders is whoever gets to ick Oddjob first.

Xbox 360

007: Blood Stone

Dragon Ball: Racing Blast 2

John Daly’s ProStroke Golf

Rugby League Live

Playstation 3

007: Blood Stone

Dragon Ball: Racing Blast 2

Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage

Monopoly Streets

Playstation Move: The Fight

Rugby League Live