Late Night Consoling

As we reported earlier today, Bethesda today unveiled its full expansion pack for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Known as The Elder Scrolls IV: The Shivering Isles, the pack will be released for Xbox 360 as well as PC this spring. Interestingly, the Xbox 360 version of the expansion will be an Xbox Live Marketplace download rather than a standalone disc, meaning Xbox Live access is required. Shacknews contacted Bethesda for more details, and was assured that a free Xbox Live Silver account will work just fine. A hard drive will also of course be required to store the expansion itself.

As for PlayStation 3, which will be seeing a release of Oblivion this March, Bethesda also confirmed to us that the expansion is in the works for that system as well. The company does not have a specific release date projection, but it plans to release The Shivering Isles for PlayStation 3 some time this year. It seems likely that, given PS3's existing content download service, it will be delivered in a similar way to the Xbox 360 version.

Few details beyond a steady stream of artwork and screenshots have been released regarding Artificial Studios' cooperative Xbox 360 and PC action game Monster Madness since it was first announced in June 2005. Last year, SouthPeak Interactive announced that it would be publishing the title, and that it would be released at some point this spring, and today SouthPeak sent word that the game has received a solid launch date: April 3, 2007.

Playable cooperatively with up to four players locally or online, Monster Madness is a Gauntlet-like top-down action game featuring upgradable weapons, vehicles, and the ability to transform into monsters and gain additional abilities. It also features a 16-player competitive mode, with a variety of game types. To check out screenshots, visit our extensive Monster Madness gallery.

Last year, Take-Two Interactive without advance notice shut down Rockstar Games developer Rockstar Vienna, the studio responsible for the Xbox ports of various Rockstar games. Founded in 1993 as neo Software Produktions, it was acquired by Take-Two in 2001 and renamed Rockstar Vienna in 2003.

This week, two original founders of neo Software--Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber--along with fellow industry veteran Jurgen Goeldner announced the founding of new development studio Games That Matter. Few details are currently available beyond that the company claims to have "a visionary game production business model," but a press conference is scheduled for January 25, 2007, at which point the company's upcoming plans are expected to be revealed.

Microsoft sent word today that next week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday release will be a trio of content downloads for Q Entertainment's music-based puzzler Lumines Live!. Two of the offerings will be components that add or extend modes included in the main menu of the original game. The VS CPU Pack will add a CPU-challenging mode to the game, and includes one new main skin as well as a bonus skin, along with character designs that change with each progressive stage. From Wedneday, January 24 to Wednesday, February 21, the pack will be sold for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25), and after February 21 it will be sold for 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75).

The Puzzle/Mission Pack extends the basic game's Puzzle and Mission modes, adding 90 puzzles and 40 mission. Puzzles have the player creating an illustrated shape within a single pass, while missions require the player to clear the screen within a limited number of passes. This pack will use the same pricing strategy as that of the VS CPU pack, selling for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25) until February 21, then 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75) from then onward.

Finally, for a limited time, an HD video skin of Heavenly Star will be made available for free to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. It will consist of a standard playable game stage set over an animated sketch-like Genki Rockets music video--somewhat reminiscent of Aha's classic Take On Me video--produced by Q Entertainment founder and Lumines designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Heavenly Star will be downloadable from January 24 to February 21, after which point it will be taken off Xbox Live Marketplace.