AJ Glasser

So I Guess EverQuest Turns 10 Today

One of the first MMORPGs to pioneer sucking the souls out of gamers and Player versus Player interactions has just turned 10. Here’s an elf popping out of a cake to prove it. Other festivities, both virtual and real-life are planned for EverQuest — most notably, a party at Fan Faire 2009 in Las Vegas…

Burn Zombie Burn!: It Is What It Sounds Like

Typically, Friday the 13th is a day reserved for black cats, bad luck and Jason Voorhees. But this year, in which we get three Friday the 13ths, I’m willing to make an exception for zombies. Actually, there’s been a lot of zombie this month. Between Burn Zombie Burn!, the Resident Evil 5 release and a…

Resident Evil 5 Infects San Francisco

Capcom and GameStop took over Union Square in downtown San Francisco for their Resident Evil 5 launch event, which didn’t have nearly enough zombies. I guess some of the people in these pics kinda look like zombies. That soulless, glazed look and pasty skin might have had more to do with my camera’s flash settings,…

Capcom Has More HD Remixes Up Its Sleeve; Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Next?

Capcom’s VP of Business Development and Strategic Planning, Christian Svensson, says the company is far from done making high def Remixes of its old-school games. So if you liked Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, make with the jumping for joy. If you liked Marvel vs. Capcom enough to want a third one, tough…

Osaka Schools Passing Out DSs

Reports say that about 10 middle and elementary schools in Osaka will start handing out Nintendo DS consoles to students next January. Nintendo’s plan to control the world: 80% complete. The Osaka Board of Education signed off on the measure, according to Japanator, potentially restoring my faith in public education systems. Students will use “education…

Days Before Resident Evil 5 Release, Race Debate Spikes Again

Today, two articles tackle the tough issue of race in the upcoming Resident Evil 5. (Commenters beware – the ban hammer is poised at the ready.) The first article from MTV Multiplayer is an interview with RE5’s cinematic director, Jim Sonzero. He eases into the topic of race in the game by talking about his…

Hasselhoff Uses Stardom To Score A Wii — How The Mighty Have Fallen

Look, I get that the Wii is a scarce commodity — more so a year ago when actor David Hasselhoff was looking to buy one — but playing the Knight Rider card? Really? In a partially-transcribed interview with MTV Multiplayer, the ex-Baywatch star details his *ahem* harrowing struggle to obtain the coveted console for his…

Britain Jumps on Violent Video Game Tax Bandwagon

Britain’s top authority on knife crimes is telling his boss — Prime Minister Gordon Brown — to tax violent video games just after Pennsylvania legislators considered the same thing. It’s not clear that there is a connection between violent video games and knife crimes in Britain, but knife crime adviser Richard Taylor says that young…

Black Knight Producer Explains Sword-Swinging Sonic: “Preposterous”

Sonic Team Producer Tetsu Katano is the man to blame if you’re not happy with Sonic and the Black Knight. It was his idea to slap a sword in the hands of a hedgehog. …after a sequence of sleepless nights that my boss came up to me and casually dropped on me the newss [sic]…

PAX, IndieCade Will Now See Your Indie Games

Penny Arcade Expo has officially opened the PAX 10 Indie Game competition to submissions in the same time frame that IndieCade has opened their second annual indie game competition. Both competitions invite unpublished indie developers to bring any kind of game they’d care to develop to the table — shooters, casual, puzzle or whatever. PAX…

When You Wish Upon A Sim, You Get A Steel Bladder

June can’t come fast enough and EA sees fit to rub it in by dumping yet more Sims 3 screens on us. This set details the wants and desires that make up a Sim’s Lifetime Wish. Sims develop Lifetime Wishes based on what personality traits you grant them. A Sneaky, Evil Sim will be more…

Castle Crashers: The Lucha Libre Connection

Jerry Frissen’s Lucha Libre comic series is already a line of collector’s toys by Muttpop; but toymaker Bob Silva says it was almost a multiplayer game made by The Behemoth. In his blog, the Muttpop president waxes on the development process behind the Luchadores Five figures. Apparently, some of the early sketches were so inspirational…

Inafune & Suda 51 Go To Sweden

Capcom’s Keiji Inafune and Grasshopper Manufacture‘s Goichi Suda (aka Suda 51) will speak at the sixth annual Nordic Game 2009 conference this May, should you happen to find yourself there. The Nordic Game Conference pulls devs and industry pundits from all over Europe for their speakers list. As the event has grown in scope and…

Empire: Total War Ships, Will Celebrate With Upcoming Patch

Empire: Total War has been out a little over 24 hours and already Creative Assembly is planning a patch for next week. Remember when “release date” meant the game was done? Total War forum complaints call out issues with the trade route system that occur when shipping goods with some factions to some cities. There…

Play Unreal Tournament 3 For Free Right Now

Steam hosts a free Unreal Tournament 3 weekend, slashes the price down to $11.99 USD and renames it Unreal Tournament 3 Black. Spontaneous generosity, or a loud death rattle? The “Black” version of the game includes the v2.0 patch and newly released Titan Pack expansion. Titan added 16 new environments, three maps and a bunch…

Fallout 3 Patch Makes Radroaches Shinier

The latest patch for the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3 fixes specular lighting problems, giving the game a significant graphics boost. Don’t feel bad – I had to Google “specular reflection” too. The new fix makes things appear shinier and highlights textures on environments so you can actually make out ridges on radroaches or…

Velvet Assassin Gets Away With Morphine In Australia

THQ and SouthPeak convinced Australia that the ubiquitous use of morphine in a World War II game is historically accurate — scoring an MA 15+ rating. Drugs in video games don’t often fly in Australia. For a while there, THQ — the Aussie distributor — had serious worries that Velvet Assassin would be banned, since…

Utah Falls for Thompson Bill

Remember that bill Jack Thompson’s banking his post-lawyer career on? It passed by a landslide in Utah’s House of Representatives. The bill, HB 353, imposes even stiffer fines on video game retailers and movie theaters should they provide M- or R-rated products to minors in direct violation of their own store policies. Amendments to the…

Most Amazing PS3 Case Mod Ever?

If you’re an Alien fan, that is. If not, this little homemade horror may seem like the biggest waste of a PlayStation 3 ever. The tattoo artist/case modder responsible for this creation used (and burned himself with) super heated epoxy putty and Games Workshop’s Chaos Black paint for the finish. He had to settle for…

You Got Ninjas In My PSP

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins sneaks onto the PSP this month, totally wrecking my resolve to save up money for a PSP2. This was a pretty understated port. Ubisoft announced it via Twitter post this morning and Wii platform pages on various press sites were amended with tiny “PSP” tags. Two screenshots also emerged, showing comparable graphics…