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Yes, Yes, We Know What You’re Going to Say Next
Maurice Lamarche is Mr. Freeze in Arkham Asylum 2, but he played The Riddler with MTV News, outing a special guest in Star Wars: STFU 2. When his agent got him the gig, I hope he said IT’S A PART! Said Maurice to MTV: I’ll just say that I have been paid to say the…
By Owen Good -
NHL 2K11‘s Winnebago is Equipped with Boom Room [Corrected]
This is a promotional vid for a Vancouver-to-New York tour of NHL 2K11, but it gives a good look at the motion control upgrades for this year’s game – including a nifty puck-juggling mechanic that is certain to be abused. Cover athlete Ryan Kesler – you might remember him from the Americans’ silver medal performance…
By Owen Good -
Iran Gets Its First MMO
With help from a national foundation for games development, Iran has published the country’s first online game, an MMO called Asmandez Asmandez – its English title is Sky Fortress – supports 5,000 users at the same time. The head of Iran’s National Foundation for Computer Games said it was developed in hopes of inspiring other…
By Owen Good -
A Glimpse of Madden’s Swagger
A brief clip gives an idea of the gameplay ramifications of Madden NFL‘s new “swagger” stat. In short, it’s not much, but at least it doesn’t seem to be limited to scoring situations. Bottom line, this is a set of animations attached to a branded stat. They do seem to be player-specific: Chad Ochocinco and…
By Owen Good -
FIFA 11 Makes Way for EA Sports MMA
Two retailers’ listings now peg FIFA 11 for an earlier North American release date – Sept. 28 – which would seem to resolve a packed October schedule for EA Sports that must now accommodate EA Sports MMA Officially, no North American release date has yet been sent up for FIFA 11 though I have contacted…
By Owen Good -
Transformers Pre-Order Codes Fetching Crazy Bids on eBay
Transformers: War for Cybertron doled out three exclusive codes with preorders through three different retailers – unlocking Jazz, Shockwave or Demolisher for play. Some people must have confused “exclusive” with “rare,” as eBay bids on these codes have touched $100. Demolisher (pictured), unlocked with the Amazon preorder, got a bid as high as $105 in…
By Owen Good -
Redbox Kiosks Now Testing Game Rentals in Three States
The kiosk-rental service Redbox began offering $2-a-day game rentals at 150 locations in Nevada, North Carolina and Texas last weekend, but the selection was disappointing to analysts examining the offerings. An analyst with a New York firm examined kiosks in Austin, Texas, finding on average 2.8 different titles on three different platforms. In other words,…
By Owen Good -
Nessler Knows Your Name in NCAA Football 11
The return of college football means the return of tradition, pageantry, and the voice of an old friend on Saturday afternoons – such as Brad Nessler welcoming you to another classic showdown between the Death Bats and the Cash Money. Eat your heart out, Keith Jackson. Following last year’s unexpected enthusiasm for NCAA Football 10‘s…
By Owen Good -
Not So Fast My Friends: Lee Corso’s Not Done with NCAA Football
In last week’s impressions of the NCAA Football 11 demo, we reported that EA Sports and the game’s longtime analyst, Lee Corso, had mutually parted ways for this year’s game. That’s not the case. Corso, 74, is not a part of the booth team in NCAA Football 11‘s PS3 or Xbox 360 versions. But he…
By Owen Good -
Kinect Marketer: Hardcore Gamers will be the First to Buy It
Microsoft’s Kinect messaging is definitely core-obsessed. First they said they didn’t want core shooters like Halo on it. Then they said it’s got casual approachability, but core depth. Now, they’re saying hardcore gamers will be first in line for it. “I think we know that hardcore gamers will be the first to go out and…
By Owen Good -
Madden‘s New ‘Swagger,’ Explained
Yesterday we heard of a rating new to Madden NFL 11, the Old Spice-sponsored “Swagger.” Rumor had it that the rating affected player attributes. Nope. It governs a player’s likelihood to celebrate, during or after a touchdown. MyMaddenPad got the score from the team itself: The “Old Spice Swagger” rating determines the likelihood of a…
By Owen Good -
Protect Your Children, the Left 4 Dead Way
Last week, The Amber Alert network released a truly WTF, fearmongering gun porn PSA tagged, “You don’t need a gun to protect your kids.” (But it does help). Because it’s four people with assault rifles, you know what’s next. YouTube user E3Vidz (for Eternal Entertainment Enterprises, not the expo) spotted the opening and ran with…
By Owen Good -
Mafia II Originally Had Four Endings
The problem is, says the game’s producer, is that only one was really good. So 2K Games had three outcomes whacked and hardwired the upcoming game for just one conclusion. Sorry, alternate endings, it’s just business. Denby Grace, the game’s senior producer, said the three dropped endings were just “OK,” so don’t lament their passing…
By Owen Good -
Madden’s Biggest Winners and Losers, Before a Game is Played
All sports games rate players, but few are watched like Madden‘s, which need a ratings czar and whose judgments can inspire petulant boycott vows from the league’s superstars. EA Sports revealed the game’s biggest overall gainers and losers today. IGN got the data from EA Sports’ Donny Moore, the guru in charge of the numbers.…
By Owen Good -
No Eye Witnessing for Tebow on NCAA 11 Cover
It is hardly a surprise that the cover of NCAA Football 11, out July 13, does not feature Tim Tebow with the Scriptures written on his eyeblack tape. That’s not to say EA Sports has never allowed similar things before. Reggie Bush, on the cover of NCAA 07 (click that picture to enlarge), gives a…
By Owen Good -
Homefront‘s Future Plans Include London
At E3, Homefront was offhandedly mentioned to me as inspired by Resistance, just without the aliens, naturally. As if to drive that point home, the man in charge of THQ’s core games portfolio already has designs on London. Homefront, written by John Milius (“Apocalypse Now,” and “Red Dawn,”) is set in Colorado, 2027, with the…
By Owen Good -
Madden‘s Newest Stat, “Swagger,” is Sponsored
In the rollout of Madden player ratings, few noticed the attribute “SWG” – for swagger. But a leaked screenshot in the EA Sports forums put it on everyone’s map today – because it’s sponsored by Old Spice. See for yourself: As for what “swagger” does for you, word has it that it’s a kind of…
By Owen Good -
Madden 11 Demo Offers 5-Minute Quarters to All
Last year’s Madden NFL 10 demo let you play four quarters just one minute long each, though a GameStop preorder did give special access to a longer game. This year, EA Sports is giving everyone five-minute quarters to try out. The reason: Madden‘s new GameFlow – in which the CPU calls plays for you like…
By Owen Good -
NBA 2K vs. NBA Elite: It’s Still Fargin’ War
A video of NBA Elite shown at the NBA draft last week did plenty to rile fans of both sides in sports gaming’s last real competition. One sent a link to NBA 2K‘s community manager, who tweet-replied “That looks awful.” “And you were worried,” Ronnie Singh, the NBA 2K community manager, said to the fan…
By Owen Good
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