Still hankering for more multi-perspective World War 2 action after Battlestations: Midway (PC, Xbox 360)?

Things appear to be looking up, as Eidos Interactive has already filed a Battlestations: Pacific trademark. Could this be the official name of the sequel? Find out after the jump!

Now up on Xbox Live is the Iowa Mission Pack for Eidos Interactive's Battlestations: Midway. Finally, after themes and pin-ups, we get to see some more World War II shooting action. Not that we have any complaints about them pin-up girls.

Anyhow, the Iowa Mission Pack is available for 400 points, so that shouldn't weigh so much on your Microsoft pockets. As promised earlier, this mission pack will be including new stuff, like the multiplayer map for the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, as well as the single player challenge mission, Raid on Truk. Also, you will find here five new exclusive units in the form of the USS Iowa battleship, P-38 Lightning (Allied) and Gekko (Japanese) fighters, the IJN Shimakaze Destroyer, and the new Japanese mini-sub.

The Iowa Mission Pack for Battlestations: Midway will not, however, be available in Japan's list of Xbox 360 games. But as for the rest of you guys, it's all good.

In case you've forgotten, the scheduled Downloadable Content">downloadable content for Battlestations: Midway will finally go live tomorrow, March 1. The download will include two new historical battle maps and five brand new vehicles. It seems that the folks over at Eidos Interactive are really making sure that fans always have something new to look forward to.

Anyway, we've already discussed the last time around the battle maps that will be included in the download. To refresh your memory though, the single player map is called "The Raid on Truk" while the multiplayer map is called "The Battle of Sibuyan Sea." But what are wars without vehicles, right?

The new battles, like what we've mentioned earlier, will feature a new set of air, sea, and undersea vehicles. These will definitely challenge any player's skills and naval strategies. Here are the newest mean machines:

• P-38 Lightning: A fast, powerful and distinctive twin-engine interceptor and one of the most important American fighters of the Second World War. Its long range and twin engines made it well suited for duty in the Pacific.
• Nakijima J1N1 Gekko: The first Japanese aircraft designed and built specifically to intercept and destroy other aircraft at night. It was deadly against Bombers and as a powerful kamikaze plane against ships.
• USS Iowa (BB-61): The lead battleship of its class. Nicknamed ”The Big Stick”, this famous flagship fought in numerous and significant battles in World War II and the Korean War.
• IJN Shimakaze: The IJN Shimakaze ("Island Wind") is considered to be the fastest and most powerful Destroyer of World War II and she was the only one of her class built.
• Type A mini-sub: The Type A mini-sub was a two-man submarine. Difficult to detect, the Type A submarines were used during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and throughout the war.

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Update: We've got info from gaming site Pro-G that the downloadable content set to be released March 1 will be delayed because of "technical issues". The content for Battlestations: Midway - both for the PC and for the Xbox 360 - will be released simultaneously later in March.

See more screenshots after the jump!

Buy: [Battlestations: Midway (Xbox 360)]

Buy: [Battlestations: Midway (Windows XP)]

 

This coming March, popular WWII title Battlestations: Midway will be getting new additions to the war in the Pacific theater, including two maps and five new vehicles. Collectively as a whole, the additional content will cost 600 Microsoft Points and will be available in the Xbox Live Marketplace (aside from the themes). The new maps will set the player in two more historical battles in the war of the Pacific: The Battle of Sibuyan Sea and The Raid on Truk.

The Battle of Sibuyan Sea, just off the Philippines, was the main naval battle in the Leyte Gulf Campaign. This battle was the single most significant battle in the Pacific, because it was the battle that left the mighty Japanese navy obliterated. In this multiplayer map, players can enter the battle in either the U.S. side or the Japanese side, pitting the Imperial fleet Kurita against the Enterprise's task force group.

The Raid on Truk is a single player map showcasing the United States Navy's operation under the same name. The mission pits the player against the Japanese air and naval base on Truk. The mission will require the player to play four phases of the battle, starting from the initial P-38 Lightning strikes to the Enterprise's fighter screening force.

The list of new vehicles feature the P-38 Lightning (remember the old 1942 classic on Nintendo Famicom?), a twin-turbo propeller interceptor used for long range missions in the Pacific. There is also the Nakajima J1N1 Gekko, a nocturnal anti-fighter and anti-bomber machine, also sporting twin propeller engines.

The flagship battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) and the unique IJN Shimakaze, or "Island Wind," also make a debut with the new content. And lastly, the Type A mini sub, which is a two-man submarine that was used throughout the Pacific war, including Pearl Harbor.

The Akrid-infested game has been dislodged by a World War II inspired RTS in the UK Charts. After lording over other games for UK for quite some time, Capcom's Lost Planet slipped to sixth place; the new number one game in the all-charts format this week is Eidos' Battlestations: Midway. Not far behind is Little Britain (PC, PSP), who was edged out by Battlestations by just 1,000 units. Here are the games that entered the top 10 of the UK all-format charts:

1. Battlestations: Midway (Eidos)
   
2. Little Britain (Blast Entertainment Ltd.)
   
3. FIFA '07 (EA)
   
4. Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 (Konami)
   
5. SEGA Mega Drive Collection (SEGA)
   
6. Lost Planet (Capcom)
   
7. Need for Speed: Carbon (EA)
   
8. The Sims 2: Pets (EA)
   
9. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
   
10. Cars (THQ)

As for the big movers in the chart, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is down 13 spots to number 26 while Wii Play fell from number 7 to 27. New entries for this week are Avatar: The Legend of Aang and Okami.

Eidos Interactive and game center organization iGames have something special prepared for the launch of WW II game Battlestations: Midway. According to the latter, it will be hosting special launch events at up to 100 select game centers across North America, Canada, and Mexico.

So if you don't have anything else better to do, find a game center near you. Anyway, the said event will begin with a two-week showcase from February 12 to 25 for both the PC and Xbox 360 platforms. In the said event, fans will have the chance to try the game for free for one whole hour.

After that, between February 24 to 25, Eidos will be hosting a Launch Tournament wherein teams of two will compete in a Saturday pool play tournament. The best teams that will emerge on Saturday will then advance to the Sunday single-elimination final tournament.

Prizes to be won include LCD TVs, MP3 Players, Razer Gaming Products, Corsair Flash Readout USB Drives, the Battlestations: Midway Xbox 360 game, and other gaming accessories.

As mentioned, if you have nothing else planned for those dates, you better find an iGame gaming center near you.

Buy: [Battlestations: Midway (PC)]
Buy: [Battlestations: Midway (Xbox 360)]

 

Can't get enough of them pin-up girls eh? Well, we have great news for you then. Major Nelson has announced that up for grabs on Xbox Live Marketplace are even more Battlestations: Midway pin-up girl themes and the new Turning Point trailer. Here are the details for the new Marketplace goodies:

• Turning Point Trailer (480p/720p) - available in all XBL regions except Japan and is now downloadable for free.
• Pin-up Girls (batch 3) Theme - the pin-up girls must be a huge hit with the male XBL populace because this is now the third batch of pin-up girls theme made available for downloadable. Get a fill of Carole, Diane, and Ella as they grace your screens for the price of 150 MS points. Like the trailer, this is also available in all regions except Japan.

So just in case you get tired of playing the multiplayer demo, at least you can sit back and chill with the Midway beauties in sight. Stay tuned for more Battlestations updates.

Credits go to Xbox.com for the pics.

Eidos Interactive's World War II game, Battlestations: Midway is gearing up for a US release tomorrow, while the rest of the world will get it on February 9 (Europe) and February 28 (Australia). IGN Australia recently sat down and chatted with the game's producer Klaude Thomas. Basically, he talked about the amount of research they did to replicate real WWII battles and just how hard is it to develop a game like Battlestations.

He divulges that the research was done in the entire development process and they relied on videos, photos, and even original blueprints with permission from the National Maritime Museum. Now that the research part is covered, he was then asked about the challenges they had to face to create this game, he says that:

Creating an interface (including the control system) which fit seamlessly into the game and empowered players to give and set advanced tactical commands quickly and effectively was difficult. To make that work across all the different situations and unit types in a way that probably now seems simple and obvious was hard work.

He also mentions that the coolest gameplay experience that they had during development was to "to play the multiplayer mode first with four players. It was very exciting to see the game moving and alive, and also we had fun shooting at each other and trying to avoid torpedo swarms." Hopefully, future players of the game would also have fun with the multiplayer mode.

As for what's next in the series, this is what Klaude revealed:

We'd love to add more content and historical detail in the sequels, for example experimental (but real) craft, early jets and rockets, submarine-launched aircraft (and Cruiser launched FBs), interesting and forgotten battles, and of course we would like to introduce new theatres of operation...We also wanted to see the biggest US warship, the Iowa, match-up against Yamato…

For the word-per-word account of the interview, click on our read link below.

  The game from Eidos Interactive that presents massive air, sea and underwater conflicts in the setting of the Second World War, can be pre-ordered from Best Buy for US$ 59.99, and it comes with freebies, too. There's a US$ 5 gift card for non-expiring, future Best Buy discounts. Meanwhile, up at Circuit City, you can get a free poster (a pin-up like these, we're guessing) for every purchase of the game tagged at US$ 59.99 as well.

If you've been aching for Battlestations: Midway since its delay, then this is your chance to set things straight. Now it's just a choice of either a pin-up poster or five bucks...

 

Reading through IGN's tips section on Eidos Interactive's Battlestations: Midway, not to mention spending a couple of hours in the demo, we've come to understand why the game's definitely not for everyone. It is as much a team-oriented game like the more high-profile Halo and Gears of War, but it demands a different, strategic mindset as well as a trigger finger.

Some of you may have already tried the demo out and decided it's not your thing. But for those who liked it, for those who can waste an entire day playing the Axis and Allies board game, you should find the rest of this stuff useful.

Unfortunately the demo did not ship with a single-player tutorial, so unless you're a veteran of countless World War II strategy games, it's too easy to get lost in the middle of battle (handy guides are provided via the Pause menu, nonetheless). Hence, IGN decided to condense a bit of battle experience into a short field manual of sorts.

Here are the important stuff to remember before going to war (and since there's a PC version of the game, we're putting this up in the Games for Windows section, too):

• Rock-scissors-paper. Destroyer pwn Sub, Sub pwn Cruisers and Battleships, and Battleships pretty much pwn everything else on the water or on land - except subs. The aircraft should be easy: fighters pwn other fighters and attack planes, and attack planes pwn ships.
• In the demo's case, IGN advices concentrating on battleships and subs. Cruisers don't enjoy the battlewagon's firepower, and dive bombers can be used to take out subs. We take that with a grain of salt, however - nothing beats a dedicated destroyer escort, and sometimes you need to use the bombers elsewhere.
• Important controls to remember: the LB is your friend, slowly repairing damage to the ship. In a sub, since you can only fire torpedoes at periscope depth, Y raises the periscope, and the D-pad controls depth. (Obviously this applies to the 360 game; PC owners will have their own keyboard assignments to remember.)
  
• Learn how to multitask, jumping between units to take control and swing the fight in your favor. Don't forget your teammates, either.
• When your attack planes have dropped their load (bombs or torpedos), use them to strafe ground positions (dive bombers) or tangle with other fighters (torpedo bombers). As an alternative to IGN's suggestion, you could just probably swarm them over an enemy fleet or installation, draw fire, and make life heck for antiaircraft artillery there.