Mike Fahey

Robbie Bach: Next Xbox Still Quite A Ways Away

After the first-generation came and went in a relative blink of an eye, Microsoft’s Robbie Bach says that the company isn’t in quite as much of a hurry to upgrade the Xbox 360. Speaking to The Mercury News, Bach explains that in today’s economy especially, persuading consumers to upgrade is becoming more and more difficult,…

Congressman Calls For Health Warnings On Violent Games

Do violent video games need health warning labels? California congressman Joe Baca thinks so, and he’s introduced legislation that would make them mandatory. Citing research studies that show a link between violent video games and child aggression, Baca believes that the Consumer Product Safety Commission needs to institute a rule that all games rated T…

Petric Convicted Of Halo 3 Inspired Matricide

Daniel Petric, the Ohio teen who shot and killed his mother over a dispute involving Halo 3, was convicted today of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and other charges related to the heinous crime. As reported previously, Petric had purchased a copy of Halo 3 following his parents’ Mark and Susan had forbid him to…

Nintendo: Children Afraid Of Math, Math Trainer Can Help

A survey conducted on behalf of Nintendo to help market Personal Trainer: Math for the DS finds that one in five children believe they’re more likely to become famous than excel at math. The study, conducted by Wakefield Research on Nintendo’s behalf, basically comes to the conclusion that about 20% of the nation’s school children…

Binary Tweed’s Political Puzzle Platformer Clover Looks Delightful

If you think this screenshot from Clover, a “political platform puzzler” coming soon to Xbox Live Community Games from independent developer Binary Tweed, is lovely, you should see their managing director’s mustache. One of the more promising games to come out of the Community Games program so far, Clover is a plot-driven puzzle platformer with…

Nintendo Could Have Done Worse Than “Wii”

Nick Dawson and a friend are trying to put together a web humor series, and have decided that we haven’t yet stopped beating the "Wii" horse yet. The video depicts a fictional Nintendo exec being interviewed Conan O’Brien-style by someone who for some reason is in Halo Spartan armor. The Nintendo rep introduces the next…

Weekly Wii Update: Jungle Cards, Alucards, And Laser Pachinko

It’s Monday number 2 of 2009, and Nintendo is delivering the second weekly batch of downloadable content to the Wii console, with two new WiiWare titles and one good old-fashioned vampire whip-fest. Two titles hit Nintendo’s WiWare service today, both which take time-tested concepts – card-games and pachinko – and give them a right twisting…

Developers Respond To Nintendo’s Hint System Patent

Today a Nintendo patent came to light for a hint system which would allow gamers to essentially let games play themselves. We reached out to game developers for their opinion on the patent. The patent, filed by Nintendo Creative Director Shigeru Miyamoto on June 30, 2008, outlines a gaming system more akin to DVD playback,…

Star Ocean Scoots Up A Week

North American fans eager for the next installment of the Star Ocean saga now have a week less to wait, as Square Enix pushes up the release date for Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Originally scheduled to release in North American on March 3rd, North American Xbox 360 owners can now look forward to living…

New Burnout Legendary Cars Channel KITT, Ecto-1, And The General Lee

Criterion continues to rock the 80’s as they reveal the remaining three Legendary DLC Cars for Burnout Paradise, which bear striking similarities to the most well-known vehicles of that decade. Carrying on the proud tradition of the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters is the Manhattan Spirit, a slow but stunt-friendly vehicle with a hidden secret. Then we…

Atlus Delivers Old School Tokyo Beat Down To DS

Atlus delivers old school beat ’em up gameplay with a badass 70’s cop show vibe to the palm of your hand, announcing Tokyo Beat Down, coming in March to the Nintendo DS. It’s a 3D beat ’em up with shoot ’em up tendencies, allowing players to punch, kick, shoot, stab, parley, and explode their way…

EQ 10th Aniversary Book Art Revealed By Uncomfortable-Looking Firiona Vie

A woman dressed up as elven princess Firiona Vie stood off to the side looking uncomfortable at Sony Online Entertainment’s private CES unveiling of the EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition book cover. Yes, Everquest is 10 years old, and Sony Online Entertainment is celebrating their baby with a massive hardcover book detailing the rise…

Death Knights Officially All Over The Place

As mentioned in the Test Realm patch notes we posted on last month, a blue Blizzard post confirms that they are indeed removing restrictions to allow players to create Death Knights on any server. Previously you could only create a Death Knight on a server which housed a level 55 or higher character on your…

The Electrifying InFamous CES Trailer

Sucker Punch pulls no punches in this new trailer for their upcoming PlayStation 3-exclusive free-roaming superhero game InFamous, which displays an outstanding disregard for public transportation, and the public in general. Looking just as good as it did during my time with the title at the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig, the new trailer wastes…

Phantasy Star Zero Heads West

Phantasy Star fans rejoice! The Nintendo DS entry in the series that hit Japan last month is coming to America, as Sega announces Phantasy Star Zero for U.S. and European release next winter. Phantasy Star Zero is set on an alternate Earth 200 years after a massive war called “The Great Blank” brought civilization to…

Fallout 3 Level Cap Getting Dialed Up To 30

In an interview with Eurogamer, Fallout 3 lead producer Jeff Gardiner reveals that the Broken Steel downloadable content due out in March allow players to take their character all the way to level 30. Along with the promised raise in the level cap to 30, Broken Steel also removes the ending for the game, allowing…

New Diablo III Screenshots Showcase Supersized Foe

Blizzard has updated the official Diablo III website with a set of four bits of artwork and five new screens, one featuring an opponent that could even the bravest player pee a little. We’ve seen quite a bit of Diablo III since the game was announced, so when I was first flipping through the new…

Smedley: Half Of SOE’s Business Will Be PS3

Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley is in love with the idea of massively multiplayer games on the PlayStation 3, suggesting that one day the console will account for nearly half of the company’s business. Smedley made the statement during an interview with GameDaily regarding the evolving MMO space, explaining that the PlayStation Network’s 15…

ELSPA Celebrates First Anti-Piracy Raid Of 2009

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association rings in the new year with news of their first anti-piracy raid of 2009, in which they seized computers and more than 1,000 illegally copied games. The raid occurred in Staffordshire, England, at a house that was running an illegal copied games business via online classifieds site Gumtree.com.…

Global Agenda Begins Closed Beta Signups

Atlanta-based developer Hi-Rez Studios announce today that beta sign ups have begun for their upcoming Unreal Engine 3-based action MMO Global Agenda. Global Agenda pits rival player-created agencies against each other as they strive to achieve power in the wake of a global disaster. The game features fast-paced PVP more akin to an FPS than…