Composer John Debney has just been announced as the man behind the score of Predators:

“The movie is set to open this July and follows Iron Man 2 as another high profile summer movie for the busy composer. The announcement ends speculation that Alan Silvestri might return to the franchise, as the movie is a direct sequel to the orginal Predator movie that Silvestri has scored in 1987.”

He has done quite a bit of work and has a vast list of movies behind him, including the Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City. You can check out his IMDB profile. Thanks Johnny Handsome for the news.

Sega have just released the changelog for the AvP PC patch #2, which is due to come Monday, March 1st. The patch fixes a multitude of problems recently plaguing the online multiplayer and single player experience. Further information regarding the dedicated servers closed beta will be announced on the 1st of March as well. Check out the notes below.

General:

• Stability improvements to address rare and infrequent hangs
• Implemented a workaround for missing audio issues with certain hardware (SoundBlaster X-Fi, Realtek onboard, etc.)
• Fixed save games being lost or corrupted if connection to Steam is lost or if user switches to offline play

Multiplayer:

• Fixed XP being incorrectly affected by offline play (though only in the local stats; this will be corrected next time you connect to multiplayer)
• Fixed other players sometimes appearing to have the wrong weapon or continuing to fire indefinitely after dying
• Fixed rare issue where players would be temporarily invisible
• Fixed some selection of servers and players in menus sometimes being incorrect

On a related note, you can check the changelog for the AvP PC patch #1 (16/02/2010) here.

Sega was kind enough to provide me with a copy of Aliens vs. Predator to review. I went into the review looking at the game through the eyes of a casual gamer and an AvP fan and here is what I found:

“Rebellion could have fallen into the trap of just letting the campaign be another generic shooter but if there’s one thing these guys know, it’s how to make you crap your pants. The tension and atmosphere that Rebellion injects into the marine campaign make it something special. It’s the updated Colonial Marine experience I’ve been waiting for and it delivers. Oh boy, does it deliver.”

The game isn’t without it’s faults though; an extremely thin Aliens campaign and sometimes poor multiplayer but overall I really enjoyed the game. The different gameplay styles work fantastically on the controller and it just looks so beautiful. Thanks once again to Sega for the copy and thanks to Rebellion for the game. Be sure to check out my review.

AvP has risen to the top of the UK charts for all three platforms and has become the fastest selling game of the year in the UK, beating the likes of Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2. Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley recently spoke to Develop-Online regarding that success:

“I won’t say what stage those negotiations are in, but we would love to revisit the franchise. Fox are excited about what we’re doing, and we feel we’ve added value to the franchise. We would love to work with Sega again, there were a lot of things we couldn’t fit into the original. We are trying to do all the right things to make the franchise a success now and in the future.”

I’m not sure how many units it has sold but it certainly looks like Sega and Rebellion have a commercial winner on their hands. Those of you who have played the game will know that it was left open for a sequel. I also hope the success means we’ll be getting additional DLC content. Thanks to Spic, Mr Weyland, iamu84, Remonster, Ikarop & everyone else.

Sega have just released a video where the developers speak briefly about the game. It isn’t much we don’t know but it features some cool dialogue from Lance Henriksen as Mr. Weyland:

This is the first in a series of diaries. Unfortunately we have no ETA for the second. Thanks to ikarop for the heads up.

A user over on High-Def Digest Forums has posted a leaflet that Fox are currently distributing with their Blu-Ray titles. It indicates the long-awaited Blu-Ray collection of the Alien films is coming out this Christmas. The collection was rumoured to come out at some point last year but kept getting delayed.

Thanks to jimmyboy for the news.

AvPGalaxy is offering one lucky member the chance to win a PC copy of  Aliens vs Predator via Steam, a screenshot signed by Rebellion’s Alex Moore (Lead Designer), Martin Kennedy (animator), Paul Mackman (Producer), Tim Jones (Project Lead) and Phil Gresley (Multiplayer Designer); and finally an AvPGalaxy T-shirt in the size you choose. Scattered throughout the main website of AvPGalaxy are four images that contain four numbers. They look like this:

When those four numbers are arranged in a specific order (not the American order) they will provide you with information that can help you decipher the identity of a key actor/actress from the Alien franchise. Please be aware that “5″ and “42″ are just examples of what the images look like and not a part of the competiton.

In order to stand a chance at winning the copy, all you need to do is be a member of AvPGalaxy and e-mail with your profile name and the name of the actor/actress that these numbers identify. The competition will be open for five days and be closing Monday afternoon. The winner will be picked on Tuesday. Good hunting!

Update: The competition is now closed! The winner will be announced soon!

Update: And the winner is predxeno! Congratulations to predxeno and to everyone else who took part in the competition. The numbers were the date of birth of actress Jenette Goldstein.

Sega has released the latest trailer for AvP, simply titled Launch Trailer. It advertises all the aspects of the game, single player and the various mulitplayer modes and has some amazing footage in it:

You can stream the trailer via GameSpot or download it directly onto your hard-drive. Thanks to Ikarop for the news.

Update: In the UK, Film4 will be airing Aliens tonight and during the first commercial break (around 9.20) a special 3 minute long trailer for Aliens vs Predator will be airing. It’s not like you ever need a reason to watch Aliens but if you ever have, this trailer is the reason.

The game has been out a day officially and reviews have been steadily rolling in over the past week. I thought it might be time to give a round up on the front page. Since there’s less of these, I’ll start with the:

Negative Reviews

• Game Informer 5.75/10
• GameReactor 6/10
• Gamespot 5.5/10
• GameSpy 2.5/5
• 1UP D

Positive Reviews

• OXM UK 8/10
• IGN UK 8.5/10
• Techdigest.TV 4/5
• GamingXP.com 84%
• PC Powerplay 7/10
• OXM AUS 9/10
• Gamesradar 8/10
• IGN US 7/10

There are many more reviews out. The overwhelming majority of reviews are all in the positive region, usually scoring around 7 out of 10. Ikarop has created a comprehensive list of reviews that will constantly be updated as new reviews are released.

It’s officially February 16, 2010 in the US which means for those of you there, you will be able to get your hands on Aliens vs. Predator today. AvP is available on Playstation 3, X-Box 360 and PC. Remember, you have the Standard Edition and the Hunter Edition (for PS3 & X360 only). The latter comes with downloadable multiplayer maps, as well as a posable facehugger model, a Weyland Yutani sleeve badge, a 3D lenticular postcard and a graphic novel.

Loved it? Hated it? You can post what you thought of the game in the Fan Reviews thread. I’d also check out our Aliens vs Predator Forum because I expect it’s going to be pretty busy there this week. For those of you who get the PC version, we have a Steam Group which you can join. I also wrote a couple of articles covering the Alien Abilities, Predator Weapons & Equipment and Marine Weapons & Equipment. If you get stuck in any of the campaign missions, someone on YouTube has uploaded a full video walkthrough of all the missions. AvP will be released in Australia on Thursday and in the UK on Friday.