Newsbriefs: PAX 2007, Duke Revealed, Forza Dated

Author: by Staff

[UPDATED: 6:00pm PST] Today's regularly updated newsbriefs include details on 2007's Penny-Arcade Expo, a new image of 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever posted to Gamasutra's own jobs page, new games for Wii and PS3 virtual shops, and a tentative release date for Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 2. - The makers of popular web comic Penny Arcade have announced details on their fourth Penny-Arcade Expo event, to take place at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center from August 24th-26th of this year, with a potential 200,000 square feet of floorspace for the event. "We conservatively expect 30,000 hardcore gamers in Seattle this summer, making us the fastest- growing and largest gamer festival in North America," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "Exhibitors and attendees keep spreading the word about PAX; it's amazing, but attendance doubles each year." - Via Gamasutra's own Jobs page, 3D Realms has revealed the first screenshot of the company's long-anticipated Duke Nukem Forever in nearly six years. The thumbnail (pictured) features a model of Nukem which, in a ShackNews forum post, 3D Realms' producer George Broussard confirmed simply as an "in-game shot." Duke Nukem Forever has famously been in production for nearly a decade, after its initial announcement in 1997. Since that time, the title has undergone numerous changes in technology, currently set on id's Doom 3 engine. No formal release date has yet to be announced. - Representatives from Microsoft Game Studios have tentatively announced that the latest game in the popular Forza franchise, Forza Motorsport 2, will be released for the Xbox 360 in May. Though light on specifics, Forza rep Che Chou posted on the game's website that the company's schedule "has us hitting Xbox certification around the middle of April and going gold soon afterwards. We want them to put the game on shelves as soon and fast as they can humanly muster. So optimistic estimates have us at retail in the first half of May -- obviously the sooner the better and that's our goal." - International console online stores have received a new shipment of downloadable games. European Wii users can now find classic Nintendo racer Mario Kart 64 available in the Wii's Virtual Console for 1000 points ($10), as well as the Turbo-Grafx 16 shooter Soldier Blade, released earlier to American Wii users. The PS3's PlayStation Store has also received new downloadable original PlayStation games for play on the PSP, including Logic Mahjong Soryu, Rally Cross, Crash Bandicoot, Spectral Force, A.IV.Evolution GLOBAL, and Vampir: Kyuuketsuki Densetsu. Hong Kong's PS3 store was also updated with A.IV.Evolution Global, Spectral Force, Logic Mahjong Soryu, U-SA, Tail Of The Sun, Global Force, and Dino Crisis. - Consumer site GameSpot has a new report of Sony's first-party platform title Loco Roco making its way to mobile phones, preloaded as part of the new Sony-Ericsson SO703i model phone. No details on the title have yet been announced or confirmed. GameSpot also notes that the SO703i model is unique in its inclusion of interchangeable "aroma sheet" faceplates, which release an odor when flipping open the phone.