Michael McWhertor

Let’s Tap! Soundtrack To Stay Japanese-y In America

Typically, when rhythm video games come across the pond, their poppy bubblegum Japanese soundtracks get amputated in favor of something more lowest common denominator. Not Sega’s Let’s Tap!, though. Its soundtrack is staying intact. The Sega America blog writes today that all Japanese music tracks from Let’s Tap! will be included in the North American…

Wii Sports Resort MIA On Nintendo’s Upcoming Games List

Nintendo’s upcoming release list for the second quarter of 2009 was packed with games, including the highly anticipated Punch-Out!! and the surprise semi-sequel Excitebots. Missing from the list, however, was Wii Sports Resort. Kind of curious, considering that Wii Sports Resort was listed as shipping “Spring 2009,” according to Nintendo of America’s Product Launch Schedule…

PlayStation Store Update: Killzone Demo, Man

This week’s North American PlayStation Store update has something for everyone, if everyone wants to play Killzone 2. And if you want to pay to learn how to play Killzone 2, you’re very well covered. While I was incredibly disappointed to mistake the Rachel Getting Married trailer for a theme (DAMN IT!!), there’s plenty of…

Scenes From A Metal Gear Online SCENE Expansion

If you’re still playing Metal Gear Online, you’re likely very excited to get your hands on the upcoming SCENE Expansion for the PlayStation 3 game. Especially if you love alliteration! Not only does the SCENE Expansion add Vamp and Raiden to the list of special characters in MGO, it adds punchily named maps like Ravaged…

Rock Band Getting A Texas Flood Next Week

Next week’s downloadable content has been a long time coming, but Stevie Ray Vaughn‘s classic 1983 blues album Texas Flood is finally coming to Rock Band and Rock Band 2. Harmonix revealed the full album’s availability via the Rock Band Music Store to subscribers of the Rock Band Community Zine, with ten tracks from Stevie…

Dead Space Gets Wii MotionPlus Support, Sexy New Genre

The Wii translation of Dead Space will do one thing right, at the very least—it will support the Wii MotionPlus peripheral for one-to-one motion tracking, making first-person shooting that much easier. That was confirmed by Electronic Arts Chief Operating Officer John Pleasants during his talk at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference 2009, who…

Square Enix Rockets To The Top Of Japan’s Sales Charts With Star Ocean

Square Enix’s Star Ocean 4 helped propel the Xbox 360 to the front of the console pack in Japan, thanks to an impressive 162,000 copies sold in just one week. That’s damn good. The new role-playing game knocked off last week’s champ, Mario & Luigi RPG3!!!, a Nintendo DS title whose fall was cushioned by…

Rumor: Silent Hill Wii-make Coming From Climax

Konami may be bringing the Silent Hill series to the Wii, giving the Nintendo faithful their first stateside taste of foggy psychological horror. The game is rumored to be a remake of the PlayStation original. According to a report from VG247, Konami’s next Silent Hill outing will be a port of the decade-old first entry…

Xbox 360 Outsells Wii, PS3 In Japan

How did Microsoft manage to sell more Xbox 360s than the competition this week in Japan? With a little help from Square Enix’s Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope. The role-playing game shot the Xbox 360 from its regular second-to-last place showing to third—it was still behind the Nintendo DSi and PSP—besting sales of both…

Brazilian Man Holds Woman Hostage For 10 Hours… With A Sega Light Gun

A man looking to collect on a debt broke into the house of 60-year-old woman in Brazil’s Federal District, holding her hostage for ten hours on the business end of a Sega Light Phaser. The Light Phaser, the light gun that shipped with the Sega Master System, must be fairly common in Brazil, considering how…

MadWorld Devs Give Behind The Scenes Studio Tour

As part of its continuing efforts to “get it,” MadWorld developers PlatinumGames give us a glimpse of something we rarely see—a behind-the-scenes tour of a Japanese video game developer. In English. PlatinumGames’ JP Kellams—who is also a swell fellow—gives the Wii-owning public an opportunity to see a typically unseen side of video game development, giving…

Xbox Live Sadly No Place For Lesbian Gamers

(Former) Xbox Live gamer Teresa found herself on the receiving end of a ban from the service for a surprising reason. She identified herself as a lesbian in her Live profile. That resulted in a ban from the service after her Xbox Live peers complained about her profile, according to a letter to the Consumerist.…

Welcome Your New PopCap Overlords In 2009

If you’re not already on board with PopCap Games‘ brand of casual thrills, you’ve never played Peggle. But you will bow before PopCap, as the publisher is expanding its casual efforts in a big way. Forbes writes of PopCap’s plans for 2009, some aspects of which we’re already aware of. It’s bringing Peggle to the…

The Onion Asks: Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Our Kids For The Apocalypse?

Video games can be beneficial. They better our children’s hand-eye coordination, spatial relationship understanding and teach the basics of strategy. But are they doing enough to prepare them for a nuclear future and zombie infestations? The Onion’s “In The Know” program touches on this extremely topical debate, questioning whether our violent video game-playing youth are…

Saints Row 2 Cameo Might Be A Good Example Of A “Don’t”

Showtime’s newest television series, United States of Tara, seems achingly desperate to court controversy. Maybe that’s why this Saints Row 2 cameo feels so inappropriate and out of place. In this clip from a recent episode, in which the son and daughter of the titular Tara—a woman with dissociative identity disorder resulting in four distinct…

Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space Taught EA Hard Lesson About Release Dates

Electronic Arts has reflected on the ups and downs of 2008, realizing that, like the movie industry, not every single title needs to ship right before the holidays. You know, like every other game does. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA Redwood Shores GM Glen Schofield says that the company may be more choosy about what it…

Home’s New Siren Lounge: A Great Place To Cabbage Patch

Sony’s giving Japanese PlayStation 3 owners a place to chill—a PlayStation Home “lounge” dedicated to the horror game Siren. Looks like a lovely place to have a Home dance party! According to my shaky translation of the Sony Computer Entertainment Japan announcement, the Siren lounge will feature title-appropriate mini-games, including a hospital that your Home…

Worms Armaggedon Decades Coming To Xbox Live Arcade

Looks like Xbox 360 owners will get to eat more worms, as Australia’s classification body has rated Worms Armageddon Decade, a release that appears to be a Live Arcade remake of the ten-year-old strategy title. While XBLA already has one Worms release, now about two-years-old, Worms Armageddon Decade represents a highlight for the series. The…

Team Fortress 2 Scout Update Live, Now Ridiculously Cheap

The newest update for Team Fortress 2 is live, bringing three new unlockables—the Sandman, Bonk! Energy Drink, and the Force-A-Nature—to the Scout class along with much, much more. The better news? The price! Team Fortress 2 is currently, like Left 4 Dead was last week, now 50% off for a limited time. That’s just $9.99…

Michael Jackson’s Arcade Collection Is Insane

You thought Michael Jackson’s arcade fetish started and ended with Sega’s R360 and Namco’s Ms. Pac-Man? You have no idea how much hardware this man owned. The gloved one had a massive arcade. While Jacko’s arcade collection was briefly touched on by the mainstream media previously, the full auction catalog provided by Julien’s Auctions reveals…