Luke Plunkett

Hey Guys, There Are More Ladies Gaming Than Ever Before

Hey, lady gamers: your ranks are increasing. A study by the NPD Group has revealed that the number of female console gamers is on the rise, reaching 28% of the console userbase earlier this year. That mark represents a 5% increase over 2008, and was helped along by a 19% increase in Wii use across…

Try Getting This Devil May Cry Sword Through Customs

The delightfully-named United Cutlery make things with blades on them. Some are practical for use around the home, others are practical for use only with effeminate half-dressed demon fighters. Like this replica of “Red Queen”, from Devil May Cry 4. It’s 42 inches long, and has real steel, and real leather. Crazy. It’ll only be…

EA “Launched Too Many New IPs” In 2008

Last year, EA tried something new: they released a number of titles based off brand new intellectual property. Perhaps, in hindsight, too many. In an interview with Gamasutra, EA’s Frank Gibeau has said: I think in the spirit of your question, I think we launched too many new IPs all at once in Q3. I…

Sony Patents Method To Emulate PS2 On PS3

My single biggest problem with the PS3? The loss of backwards compatibility. It’s a gaping hole in the system’s feature set. Then again, it may also be one that’s on the way back. Some background: when the PS3 first launched, it was backwards-compatible, meaning you could play PlayStation 2 games on your new PlayStation 3.…

No LAN Play For Starcraft II

One of the reasons Starcraft is still such a big hit at LAN parties is that, like most “older” PC titles, it supports multiplayer over a local network. Starcraft II will do no such thing. A Blizzard rep has told Kotaku: We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are…

WoW Players Can Soon *Gasp* Change Sides

If you’re a WoW player, you’re one of two things. You’re Alliance, or you’re Horde. That’s it. That’s where the line is drawn. Or…it was. Pretty soon, that won’t matter anymore. Blizzard have begun work on a new service that will let players switch sides. Alliance to Horde. Or Horde to Alliance. Whichever way you…

Rolando Being Pulled From App Store [Update]

Rolando is, at the moment anyways, the perfect example of how to do an iPhone game right. Anyone who hasn’t yet sampled its delights may want to hurry, though, as the game’s about to be yanked from the App Store. With the game’s sequel Rolando 2 due out this week (July 1), publishers Ngmoco want…

Blame WoW For Starcraft II’s Late, Late Release

Blizzard’s Starcraft was released in 1998. It’s sequel, Starcraft II, won’t be out until at least 2009. Why the hold-up? Blame World of Warcraft. Rob Pardo has told Eurogamer that development on Starcraft II began in 2003, and there’s been a playable build since 2005. But then along came World of Warcraft. One of the…

Licensed Avatar Clothing Starts Rolling Out

Over the weekend, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb confirmed that the mysterious “Xbox 360 Beta” that a bunch of Microsoft employees were “testing” wasn’t a game. Wasn’t Natal. It was…licensed avatar clothing. Here, we can see what he’s talking about, as MS employee “Randy No Arms” here is fully decked out in garish Halo threads, from his…

Sony’s Exclusives Coming Up Short?

From the day of the PS3’s launch, Sony have pursued a bold strategy of constantly launching new, original IP as exclusive titles on the console. But while it’s a move that should be applauded on principle, it’s just not translating into sales. Number-cruncher Matt Matthews has, in a report over on GameSetWatch, detailed the sales…

The Making Of Earthworm Jim: Worms, Beasties, Rocky Mountain High

During the 90’s, Sega had a reputation for some fairly left-field (for the industry/time) marketing. Here’s a great example: the making of Earthworm Jim. WARNING: features John Denver. Isn’t Dave Perry’s accent kooky? What the Hell: Badical Earthworm Jim Documentary [Bitmob]

If Only These Characters Were Actually In Scribblenauts…

Scribblenauts looks amazing. 10,000 in-game items? Can’t. Wait. And yet…something tugs at the subconscious. Just like it did with LittleBigPlanet. We love creativity, yes, but we also love existing characters. The game won’t, of course, let you conjure the intellectual property of other characters. So if you’re in a pickle, you can’t just write “TRAVIS…

Nikkei: Sony To Build Gaming Phone

According to Japan’s Nikkei business daily, Sony will next month begin the process of designing a “cellphone-game gear hybrid” which it’s hoped will give Apple’s iPhone a run for its money. Apparently a “project team” will be set up next month to build an all-new device that combines the functionality of a Sony Ericsson mobile…

Sexy Ladies Do Street Fighter For…Department Store Ads

This is as unexpected as it is brilliant; the ad firm running a campaign for posh British department store Harvey Nichols have decided to sell the sale using sexy ladies in a 2D fighting game. OK, mostly sexy ladies. The last one has dudes. But they’re sharp-dressed dudes, which makes them look like King of…

Some Facts, Figures On Music Game Players

Ever wonder how many Americans played a music game during the month of April? Well, we can tell you. 25 million Americans played a music game during the month of April. The figure comes courtesy of market research firm Interpret, who can also tell us some other fun facts about music game players, like: –…

Madden 10 Screens Go West, Life Is Peaceful There

EA Sports today released a ton of new Madden 10 screenshots, focusing on the teams from the NFC West. And here they are. Fun fact: despite my antipodean residence, I’m actually a big Niners fan. Tragic, I know, but that’s how I roll.

BioWare Boss On Future Mythic Collaboration

So, EA decided to roll both their big RPG houses – BioWare and Mythic – together under the one command structure. It only took about 30 seconds before people started wondering: could the two ever work together on a game? BioWare co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka, who is now heading up the merged division, says…mmmaaayyybbeee. Anything’s…

Next Hitman Game Due “Late 2010”, Movie Sequel Will Tie In [UPDATE]

The sequel to the Hitman movie, which is still in its early stages, won’t be just a sequel to a pretty crummy movie. It’ll also be a marketing tie-in for the next Hitman game, which is due out next year. Variety reports that the movie, which we told you about yesterday, would “contain story elements…

How FIFA Became The Biggest Sports Game In The World

Madden is fine, Americans, but there’s one sports game that towers above all others, and that game is FIFA. Once the laughing stock of the football world, it’s now the biggest-selling and in many’s opinion the best sports game on the market. Here’s why. Speaking with Edge, the two men most responsible for the series’…

The PSPgo Is Expensive Because, Well, “There Is A Certain Premium”

The PSPgo had a lot of things going for it at E3. Bold digital download plan, smaller size. But then Sony announced the price. $249. Nothankyou. Here, SCEE boss Andrew House explains why it’s so damn expensive. Speaking with MCV, the new Sony Europe head man said “When you introduce a new piece of hardware…