2012 Has Been a Great Year For a Little to Mean a Lot in Video Games

There isn’t much to Sound Shapes. That’s what makes it great. I’m not talking about the campaign, which is great and I certainly could’ve used more of. No, I’m talking about the experience that the new Vita game delivers. From the way you play it—pretty much just rolling and jumping—to the environments you play through,…

Walmart is was listing Assassin’s Creed 3 for $15 (preorder). Probably a pricing error, but they may honor it. [Dealzon]

The Grandest PC Strategy Game of All Returns in 2013

Civilization and Total War are often seen as the big fish in the field of PC strategy games, but for those who are a little more serious about the nuts and bolts of managing an empire, one series often stands above all others: Paradox’s Europa Universalis Dropping the player into the role of a world…

Talk Amongst Yourselves is where you should go to talk about games. And life. And cherry lime rickeys.

Playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown Was Worth The Speeding Ticket I Got Last Week

Last week, I was invited to spend some time at Firaxis to see the new XCOM. Early Wednesday morning, I hopped in the car and braved the DC morning rush to wind my way to an unassuming office building just north of Baltimore. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is many things. It is a strategy game, about…

Pesky Manufacturing Issues Could Make the Wii U a Little Late in Europe

Why has Nintendo been so reluctant to announce a release date (let alone price) for the Wii U? Sources close to UK video game website CVG suggest the company is still not sure it can make enough of the consoles in time to ensure a November release in both North America and Europe. It’s hard…

Assassin’s Creed III will hit PC for UK on November 23, Ubisoft says. The Wii U version will arrive when the Wii U does.

Control Freaks Not Needed in NBA 2K13‘s New Stick Setup

2K Sports dropped its first three screenshots of NBA 2K13 today but the real big news comes in this video: There’s a change in the control scheme. While NBA 2K‘s control set has long provided for a wide array of authentic steps, moves and shooting motions, the complexities in their execution were very difficult for…

Report: BioWare Honcho Leaving Star Wars: Old Republic Studio

Tattoos are forever! Well, sorta. Gigs at game companies? Less so. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk has apparently left BioWare Austin, the studio behind the beleaguered MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic According to Zeschuk’s LinkedIn page, he lists his BioWare Austin position as “past”, seeming to indicate that he has left the post. The move…

Dragon Quest X‘s Uphill Climb in the West

Dragon Quest X is a game perfectly tailored to bring Japanese players into the world of MMORPGs for the first time. It’s part of a big-named series, it’s very easy to pick up and play, and it’s on a system that 12.5 million Japanese already have sitting in their living rooms. However, it’s the very…

This week, the court case over the teen who sold his kidney for an iPad and an iPhone went to trial.

The PS3 and PS Vita Getting a Tamed Down Adult Tactics Game

Sexy war tactics game Eiyuu Senki (Heroine War Princess) was originally released as an 18-and-up PC game. Today, the game’s developer revealed that it was being ported to the PS3 and the PS Vita. And yes, that’s probably minus the original game’s hardcore sex scenes. The developer is also working on a social game as…

Dragon Quest X is Both Forward-Thinking and Backwards at the Same Time

In Japan, Dragon Quest is the unquestioned king of RPGs: Even the Final Fantasy series comes in a distant second. The last game in the series, Dragon Quest IX, sold over 4.3 million copies, making it the 6th best selling game on the Nintendo DS in Japan. Many speculated the next DQ game would surely…

Rebalanced arcade game Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus R beats up Japanese arcades this September.

This Collection of Old Apple Hardware Is Heroic

If you are super old like me (hello old friends!), you’ll remember using some of these Apple computers. If you are a young whippersnapper (hello young friends!), you might not—but you should still enjoy perusing the retro hardware that’s on display. You are looking at a Russian collection of Apple computers, which website English Russia…

Rumor: First “Leaked” Kinect 2 Image Shows Fingers and Head Patting

An image that allegedly shows off Kinect 2 has hit the internet. It not only shows improved depth perception, but a higher level of detail—such as being able to read people’s fingers and discern clothing. There’s head patting, too. As Kotaku first revealed, the next Xbox is codenamed “Durango”. Previously, insiders told Kotaku that the…

Does this Japanese Soccer RPG Look Better on the 3DS? Yes.

Level-5, the folks behind Professor Layton, are bringing the first three Inazuma Eleven Nintendo DS games to the 3DS with sharper graphics. Above, you can see how the original graphics stack up to the 3DS ones. As part of Inazuma Eleven‘s fifth anniversary, the three games will be out this winter as a single compilation…

Robot Children, Here Are Your Backpacks

Every Japanese grade schooler lugs around a big leather backpack called a “randoseru” (ランドセル). They’re sturdy and pricey, because they’re supposed last all six years of primary school. Girls usually get red or pink randoseru, while boys get black or blue. Robots? Well, they get randoseru from retail chain Nitori—complete with a six year warranty!…

How Dragon Quest X Could Forever Change the Gaming Landscape in Japan

MMORPGs are far from popular in Japan, especially when compared to the West. There have been a few MMO successes—e.g. Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI—but the MMO market is so small in general that even MMO juggernaut World of Warcraft has never been released here. On one level, this is because most MMOs…

Japan’s Ugliest Console Game Delayed. Again.

There are three things you can count on: Death, taxes, and Daisenryaku Perfect: Ruler of the Battlefield being delayed. A real Japanese game studio with a real office and real desks and real computers is developing this absolutely crappy-looking game. The game is slated to be released on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 for…