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Primrose: Passage Developer Puzzles Your iPhone
Jason Rohrer, the developer behind memorable and experimental artistic games like Passage, Gravitation and Between, has released his latest title, Primrose. It’s an unconventional—for Rohrer, anyway—puzzler, designed with the iPhone in mind. The tile-placement gameplay is mostly straightforward, using a simple color-swapping, block-deleting rule set on a 7-by-7 grid. The author describes it best, noting…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
EA Offers Up More Details On Spore Hero
Electronic Arts has plenty of Spore planned for 2009, as it revealed in January. Two Spore Hero games, one for the Nintendo DS, the other for the Wii have been under wraps until now. EA shared details on the Wii version of Spore Hero with MTV Multiplayer, pointing out that it’s not just a down-rezzed…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
Silent Hill Gets Re-Rated, Wii-make Announcement Coming Soon?
If Konami does have plans to re-release the original Silent Hill for the Wii and PSP, as previously rumored, that announcement must be coming soon, as the BBFC has just recently rated the title. Rating a ten-year-old PlayStation game isn’t typically the kind of thing the British Board of Film Classification does these days, so…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
Here’s How Rock Band 2 For The Wii Catches Up This Week
This week’s Rock Band 2 catch up session for the Wii brings an impressive fourteen new tracks to the Rock Band Music Store. Most important are Wii owners first taste of downloadable Metallica. …And Justice For All‘s “Blackened” and the title track from Ride The Lightning lead the week of Wii re-releases, further showing that…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
The Conduit’s Dropping Of Wii MotionPlus Explained
The Conduit‘s contribution to the Wii library is exciting. It’s easy on the eyes, seems like a smart publishing decision by Sega, and planned for Wii Speak and Wii MotionPlus support from the get-go. For better or worse, Wii MotionPlus support has since been dropped from The Conduit, a seemingly curious decision for a first-person…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
GamePro Is Now A Video Game Publisher Too
With GamePro magazine on the cusp of its 20-year anniversary and having already trailblazed the magazine-editor-as-action-figure space, it’s expanding its reach to actual video game publishing. Get ready for GamePro Labs. The venture, according to a report from GameDaily, will see games published for the iPhone as well as through Microsoft’s XNA initiative. Telling GameDaily…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
Rare Teases Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Expansion
Rare is planning on lifting the lid off an expansion for Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, potential downloadable content it hopes to announce sometime this week. That announcement may even herald a new promotional logo! That last part probably isn’t all that exciting, except to sales and marketing types, but Rare’s Lord of Games, the…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
US Drug Czar Targets Gaming Skills In Anti-Pot Ads
The United States government is going after gamers in its latest “Above the Influence” anti-drug ads, warning potential pot smokers that their gaming skills may suffer if they choose to get high. The ads warn that “many of the skills required for winning a background, defeating an opponent, [and] beating games” can be hindered by…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
Edge Picks “The 100 Best Games To Play Today”
The latest issue of Edge—which happens to be the magazine’s 200th—not only features 200 different magazine covers, it lists “The 100 Best Games To Play Today,” compiling the best of what’s still extremely playable. This isn’t a “These Are The Best Games Of All-Time” list, nor a rattling off of the 100 most influential. It’s…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
id: No Rage In 2009, Come Back Next Year
id Software has a lot on its plate. The developer has its fingers in Wolfenstein, Quake Live, Doom 4 and Rage, maybe even some Wii development. So it’s no surprise that Rage won’t make 2009. Todd Hollenshead, the ponytailed co-owner and CEO of id Software, drove that point home in the most recent episode of…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 9, 2009 -
Week In Games: Go Mad, Fight Evil
It’s the battle of the biceps this week, as Madworld‘s Jack takes on Resident Evil 5‘s Chris Redfield for ultimate python dominance. There’s far less violent, more milquetoast-friendly fare throughout the week, however. Leading off the list of North American releases on Monday are two new “New Play Control!” remakes for the Wii, Pikmin and…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 8, 2009 -
Reviews
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Review: Party On, Marth
Nintendo has given Western audiences a chance to experience the very first entry in the 19-year-old series with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, a remake of Fire Emblem, originally released on the Famicom. Those who haven’t followed the Fire Emblem series, now 11 iterations deep, will likely recognize the game’s lead protagonist Marth, who has guest…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 8, 2009 -
Ensemble Says Goodbye With Halo Wars Concept Art
Now that Halo Wars is out the door and Ensemble Studios has gone the way of the dinosaur, former employees of the developer have seen fit to release some of the game’s lovely concept art. There’s some spectacular stuff here, worthy of desktop wallpapering, visual inspiration for many of the game’s gorgeous cut scenes. Perhaps…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 8, 2009 -
Report: Guitar Hero: Van Halen One Of Five “Hero” Games Due In ’09
After the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits and Guitar Hero: Modern Hits, Activision has plans to release an additional five games in the series, including one based on Van Halen. Sound familiar? It should, because Activision CEO Bobby Kotick hinted this time last year that Van Halen may be one of…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009 -
Get The Whole World Of Goo In Your Hands For $5 This Weekend
Stumped for something to play this weekend? Play World of Goo! The 2D Boy developed puzzler is the current Steam Weekend Deal, marked down a ludicrous 75%. That means a paltry $5 to you. You know you want World of Goo. Everybody loved it, including us. And you don’t want to be one of those…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009 -
Rumor: Xbox 360 Elite To Become Xbox 360 Extinct
Microsoft may be putting the Xbox 360 Elite out to pasture, letting stock of its high-end version of the console slowly deplete, saving the hardware configuration for limited edition releases only. According to Fudzilla, citing retail sources, Microsoft may be making the decision to whittle down its hardware lineup to accommodate retailer concerns and as…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009 -
Analyst: Lost And Damned Sales At 1 Million, All-New GTA In 2010
Rockstar Games and Microsoft haven’t disclosed exact sales of the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Lost and Damned, only boasting that it has broken Xbox Live Arcade records. But one analyst has a guess. We’re sure it’s more of an informed estimate than a guess, really, considering the source is Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009 -
New Rock Band Band Tracks Find “Religion”
Consider this. R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” is coming to Rock Band and Rock Band 2 as downloadable content, Harmonix announced today, one of four tracks refreshing the game’s library next week. “Losing My Religion” from Out Of Time will be the second Rock Band playable offering from R.E.M. whose “Orange Crush” was available in the…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009 -
Don’t Look Back: Seriously, Don’t Look Back
If you find yourself needing an online diversion plus have the keyboard platforming skills and a heap of patience, we’d advise you to spend some of your weekend with Don’t Look Back. We don’t want to spoil too much for you, but as one may be able to glean from the title, Don’t Look Back‘s…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009 -
Guitar Hero: Modern Hits Is Totally Official
While it’s been no secret that Activision has been planning a Modern Hits sequel to its Guitar Hero: On Tour series of Nintendo DS games, the publisher has decided to make it official. Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits will pack in 25 master tracks when it ships this June (alongside Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits)…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 6, 2009
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