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Apple’s Next Product Also A “Gaming Platform”?
Just like the iPhone and iPod Touch, which are becoming increasingly games-focused as they mature, so too is Apple’s next “big thing” – rumoured to be a tablet computer – getting into games in a big way. According to Barron’s, who cite an analyst that’s claiming to have already touched the device, the Apple Tablet…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 5, 2009 -
Damnit, Lucasarts, THIS Is The Indiana Jones Game We Wanted
Back at GDC in 2006, Lucasarts showed off some footage of a “next-gen” Indiana Jones game. It looked great! Fast forward three years, however, and all we ended up with was Staff of Kings on Wii. Great. No, Lucasarts! We wanted the 360/PS3 version, the one with the Euphoria animation technology and the ability to…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 5, 2009 -
The Ultimate Rock Band/Guitar Hero Instrument Compatibility Guide
A few years out from the release of Rock Band we’re still a bit confused as to what instruments work with which music game. Same goes for Guitar Hero. Fortunately, there’s now this official chart to help us out. We say “official” because it comes straight from the top: Harmonix themselves have put it together…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Valve Releasing More Team Fortress 2 SDK
Not content with releasing a software development kit for Team Fortress 2’s maps and environments, Valve will soon be releasing the SDK for the game’s character models and animations as well. What does this mean? It means modders have access to some of gaming’s finest characters and can alter their appearance and movements as they…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Namco Bandai’s Best-Selling Games Are…
Namco Bandai today released their Q1 2010 earnings report. And buried amidst the boring money stuff (net sales are down 15.8%) is something a little more interesting: game sales data. Listed were the publisher’s top five-selling games for the quarter ending June 30, 2009 (as in, only those sold during that three-month period, not lifetime…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Guy Mods Consoles, Could Do 10 Years In Prison
There are some people who modify their own consoles so they can play imported games. That’s fine. There are others, however, who do so for reasons of piracy and commercial gain. Those people are not fine. 27 year-old Matthew Crippen, who is a student at California State University, sounds like he might (might!) be one…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Sony Ramping Up PS3 Production For…Something
According to Taiwan’s DigiTimes, Sony have recently “placed significant orders for key Sony PS3 components” from local manufacturers, waaaaay above the quantities they normally source. Interesting. They say it’s enough parts to produce one million PS3 consoles in the third quarter of 2009, which is apparently twice as many as were manufactured last quarter. DigiTimes’…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Sony Scraps WipeOut HD Loading Ad
The people have spoken. Spoken angrily. And Sony have listened, removing the worst of the in-game advertising from WipeOut HD only 24 hours after it was first officially announced. “The ad has been removed from WipEout HD”, a Sony rep told Eurogamer, “and we are investigating the situation to ensure that any in-game advertising does…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
LittleBigPlanet Does The Time Warp
Media Molecule, we fully endorse this continued move away from game characters and national holidays towards making LBP content a little more unique. A little more interesting. Case in point: this "history kit". It combines “objects, decorations, music, sounds, materials and 140 (zomg!) stickers” from a number of historical styles/civilizations, including Roman, Egyptian, Arabic, Oriental,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Handmade SFIV Sticks Don’t Skimp On The Heavy Stuff
Mekishiko916 likes Street Fighter, and is handy with circuits and a soldering iron. Combining those two, he’s come up with these amazing hand-made arcade sticks that aren’t just heavy-duty, they’re wireless as well. Being a patriot, he eschews Japanese components in favour of American HAPP parts (though you can ask for Seimetsu/Sanwa parts if you’re…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Poor Old Leipzig Ain’t What It Used To Be
Last year, Leipzig was host to Europe’s premier games industry expo, which attracted over 200,000 people. This year? Leipzig’s Games Convention Online could only attract 43,000 punters. Why the decline? Well, it’s all in the name. Last year’s Leipzig Games Convention was a showcase for all things gaming, from consoles to handhelds to the PC.…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Persona 4, Explained In Pictures
Persona has one of the most unique core mechanics in all of gaming. But the series’ finer points may be lost on newcomers, or those ignorant of its enduring appeal. For those people, then, there is this comic. Artist and Persona fan Hiimdaisy has penned this amazing, loooooong comic that does a great job of…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
This Is Vegas Publishers: This Is Not Cancelled
When you don’t hear about a game for months, you start to presume the worst. Like, that it’s been cancelled. We haven’t heard about This is Vegas for months, so has it been cancelled? Surprisingly, no, it has not. Despite being caught up in the implosion of Midway (the game’s former developer/publisher) and its own…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Two More Added To PS3 Greatest Hits Line
Times are tough, and money is tight. Who has $50-60 to spend on new games? Not as many people as there used to be, that’s for sure. Now $30, that’s more like it. Which brings us to the two latest titles in Sony’s Greatest Hits range for the PS3, Saints Row 2 and WWE Smackdown…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Team Fortress 2 Gets New Closed Beta For Better Testing
I’m a casual TF2 player. So the recent “random drop” system of awarding rare items was great for me! For high-end players, though, it wasn’t so great, and they got upset. If only Valve had seen that coming! In the future, hopefully they will, with the creation of a new “closed beta” for the game.…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2009 -
Yeah, Braid Is Coming To The PS3
Those Germans know a thing or two about upcoming game releases, because no sooner do the USK display a listing for a PSN version of Braid than we get official confirmation of the game’s PS3 debut. The confirmation comes courtesy of a representative from publisher Hothead Games, who told IGN that the game is indeed…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009 -
British Sales Charts: Two Party System
Here’s what last week’s British sales charts look like: Nintendo, Nintendo, EA, EA, Nintendo, Nintendo, EA, EA, EA, Nintendo. That’s what it says in the “publisher” field next to the top ten games in the UK last week. Nintendo and EA. You have to get to #12 to find a game not published by one…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009 -
The Making Of A Video Game Cover
You may think, by looking at the state of most of them, that making a video game cover is easy. It’s not! It’s hard, hard work, and is a process that results in a lot of unused artwork. Something Fluidesign, who did some work for Sega designing the box art for House of the Dead:…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009 -
No Friend Codes For Guitar Hero 5 On Wii
Vicarious Visions, developers of the Wii version of Guitar Hero, have some good news for Nintendo’s long-suffering online gamers: Guitar Hero 5 won’t be using Friend Codes. Nope! Not at all. Instead, it’ll tap right into your Wii address book and share those contacts, cutting out a lot of frustrating data entry. Of course, that’ll…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009 -
Fat Princess Problems Detailed, Fix Coming
Fat Princess is great fun, but also – at least at the moment – a pain to play over the PSN, courtesy of some choppy online performance. Developers Titan Studios hear your pain, however, and promise a fix is on the way. The cause of the issue is the game’s matchmaking, which is accidentally pairing…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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