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Should You Buy Batman: Arkham City? Yes
Rocksteady’s follow-up to its acclaimed 2009 Batman: Arkham City is a fantastic sequel. It’ll be out soon for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (and on PC this November). Would we say it’s worth your while? We would… Kirk Hamilton, notorious Batman previewer who finished the game last night: Arkham City is both bigger and deeper…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 14, 2011 -
The Next Superman Video Game is Excellent [UPDATE]
Superman 64 sucked. Superman Returns was bad. I’ve read plenty of great Superman comics, but, until yesterday, I never played an excellent Superman game. Yesterday morning, I didn’t even know a new Superman game was coming out. It is. It’s on the iPhone and iPad, but don’t dismiss it for those reasons! It’s the best…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 13, 2011 -
Spend Your Next Seven Minutes Watching This New Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer
Do you like Final Fantasy games? Do you like Square-Enix’s brand of role-playing game drama? Then spend seven minutes watching this new Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer. Over on YouTube, the commenters tried to derail things by demanding Kingdom Hearts 3. You wouldn’t do that here, would you? FFXIII-2 will be out in North America for…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 13, 2011 -
The Best iOS Gamer in The World
Congratulations, JeNeI_7, you are the best iPhone or iPad gamer on the planet. You’re not a machine, are you? JeNeI_7’s excellence at iOS games was a well-kept secret until yesterday. The release of iOS5 yesterday updated Apple’s still-ugly Game Center so that we can now see how any of us who play games on iPhones…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 13, 2011 -
This is What the Official Transformers MMO Will Look Like (Sort of)
We’re getting a massively multiplayer Transformers game next year—a free one—and now we finally have a hint of what it’ll look like. After eating some free sushi and looking at some tiny Star Wars figurines at a fancy hotel in midtown New York tonight, I was told that the developers of Transformers Universe were finally…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2011 -
The Vita’s Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splits Is Still in its Experimental Stage
I think the people at Sega are proud that Super Monkey Ball has joined Ridge Racer as a series that is essentially a lock to get a new game when new gaming hardware comes out. But what new stuff is there to do with each Monkey Ball roll-out? On the 3DS, they put the series…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2011 -
What Zelda Is
I got a message from a reader the other day. He noticed that I write a lot of articles about Zelda games (like this one and this one, both about the new Zelda, Skyward Sword). He needed my help. “A lot of my friends are into Zelda,” he wrote to me. “Because I don’t actually…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2011 -
Scribblenauts, the Video Game that Seems Like a Magic Trick, is Pretty Good on iOS
The premise and the promise of Scribblenauts always was extraordinary: write any noun (concrete noun, no proper names) into the game and the virtual object it represents will appear. If it can be used, your hero can use it. If it has a brain, it will act—and interact with whatever else is in the world.…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 12, 2011 -
In 10 Minutes, I’ll Show You What’s Surprisingly Cool about Aliens Infestation
They still make Nintendo DS games worth caring about, and Aliens games worth paying attention. My proof: Aliens Infestation, the brand-new DS game that merges Aliens with Metroid And it has the knife-trick thing in it as a bonus. Watch and enjoy my 10-minute video tour of a game that doesn’t just return the inspiration…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 11, 2011 -
Neal Stephenson Plays Halo 3 on Legendary to Avoid Getting Fat
Science fiction author Neal Stephenson plays Halo on its hardest difficulty setting, Legendary, while using an elliptical exercise machine, the writer of Snow Crash told an audience in Austin today. He tried the same thing with Rockstar’s Western Red Dead Redemption, but it hasn’t worked. Why would a man exercise like this? “My relationship to…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 11, 2011 -
Star Wars Xbox Delayed, Microsoft Executes 320GB Star Wars Hard Drive Plan B
For $130 this fall, owners of slim Xbox 360s can buy a 320GB hard-drive and get an excellent Star Wars game as a bonus. Microsoft said today that they’ll be selling a standalone 320GB drive this fall. Keeping with tradition, Microsoft is charging more for their Xbox 360 hard drive than other companies charge for…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 11, 2011 -
Mafia Wars 2 Hits that Annoying Wall in 39 Minutes, 30 Seconds
There comes a time while playing any Zynga game on Facebook for the first time, when the playing must stop… unless you want to ask friends for more “energy” so you can play, or unless you want to pay to keep things going. I’ve learned that you can just wait. There is fun to be…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 10, 2011 -
World’s Most Absurd Fake Diamond Ring Awarded to Bejeweled-Playing Lovebirds
Laura and Chris Sheriff will celebrate their first wedding anniversary this week. Among their favorite past-times: playing video games. He’s more of a Call of Duty person. She prefers Bejeweled He realized she was perfect for him when she got a score in Bejeweled Blitz that he couldn’t beat—even after a week of trying. If…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 10, 2011 -
The Next Zelda May Vex Lefties, But Only Briefly
At some supermarkets, the pen you can use to sign your credit card receipt to pay for your groceries is connected to a cord that is affixed to the checkout counter. Those among us who are left-handed know that that cord or string is sometimes only long enough for a right-handed person to use that…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 10, 2011 -
Talk Amongst Yourselves
Finish him! And talk here about video games, all you want. Thanks to reader Shadoroch for today’s image. Take a crack at being featured atop TAY some time this month simply by making a hilarious Photoshop or some other manipulation of the month’s image. Pull a clean version from this thread. Make sure your image…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 10, 2011 -
My Goodness, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Deserves to be Called an RPG
November’s The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword looks almost nothing like the old Nintendo Entertainment System Zelda II, but now that I’ve finished the new Wii game’s first dungeon, I can say that, folks, after more than 20 years, the wait is over. We can finally call a Zelda a role-playing game again. The last…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 7, 2011 -
We Watched them Play Max Payne 3 , and We Were Very Impressed
Rockstar Games will end an a 10-month stretch of no major new video games next March. Not with the release of the next Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, but with the shooter I saw at their New York office this past week, the unexpectedly beautiful and expectedly violent Max Payne 3 Suddenly, I’m…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 6, 2011 -
A Grand X-Men Finale, 1950’s Avengers, Sonic and More of This Week’s Comics Worth Buying
There are new comics to buy each week, and, as always, I have some suggestions… Comics You Should Consider Buying (from comics shops) Action Comics #2 Grant Morrison continues his tale of the re-booted Superman, back when Superman was young and an anti-authority super-hero activist. Morrison’s first issue was superb. Animal Man #2 One of…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 6, 2011 -
Nintendo Will be at the New York Comic-Con
We’ll be at New York Comic-Con next week, starting next Thursday. So will Nintendo, because they want to show you big fall games, including Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Booth 1538.
By Stephen Totilo Published October 5, 2011
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