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UncategorizedThere’s A Little Final Fantasy In Mario Sports Mix
The upcoming character-driven Wii sports compilation Mario Sports Mix is being developed by Square Enix, which explains how five iconic Final Fantasy characters have made it into the game’s roster. Who made the cut? You tell me, Kupo! No, it’s not Cloud and Sephiroth. Square Enix decided to go even more iconic than that for…
By Mike Fahey Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
How Square Enix Plans To Fix Final Fantasy XIV
It’s no secret that the second MMO to bear the Final Fantasy name has issues. Square Enix today lays out plans for massive patches in November, December, and early 2011 to fix the game. What’s changing? After many below average reviews and negative player feedback, Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada came out and said it:…
By Mike Fahey Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kinect And Your Kids: What Works, What Won’t
When I first unpacked the Kinect, the new controller-free motion-capture system for Xbox 360, I thought how awesome it would be to play with my daughter. She’s 2 1/2 (going on 14). So I figured Kinect Sports’ rudimentary bowling and ball kicking would be easy. And it was, when it worked. The sad fact was…
Wilson Rothman - MSNBC Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
This Car Cannot Go 88 Miles Per Hour Or Generate 1.21 Gigawatts
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Why We Don’t Do Review Events This is not mine. It’s Mini-Bash’s toy car, but I’ll tell you what, if this had gone on sale in 1985, I would have been the happiest kid ever. Instead, I’ll have to settle with being in my early thirties and watching it roll…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
MTV Owners Plan to Ditch Rock Band Creators
Viacom today said they plan to sell the company behind Rock Band, Kinect’s Dance Central and the original Guitar Hero. The mammoth company didn’t explain why they want to sell off Harmonix, but it’s likely tied to not just the slow down in gaming sales, but also what seems to be a distinct drop off…
By Brian Crecente Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Black Ops Opening Day Crushes Avatar, Halo And Everything Else
About 5.6 million people bought copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops in North America and the United Kingdom on Tuesday, when the game went on sale. That makes it the largest entertainment launch in history. And Black Ops is not just a popular game. It’s a very popular game. More popular than Modern Warfare…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Chronicles of Riddick Creators Have New Owners, New Game
The studio behind Chronicles of Riddick is working on a new “AAA title for gamers” using the technology behind upcoming titles Rage, Doom 4 and Quake, Zenimax said today. Why would the company behind Bethesda be telling us about MachineGames? Because they also confirmed this morning what we reported last week: it now owns the…
By Brian Crecente Published November 11, 2010 -
UncategorizedRussian Women: Game Developers Have Dirty Hair, Look Like Archaeologists
From “freaks with long dirty hair” and “ordinary people” to “young” and “archeologists but with computers” and “crumbs in their beards”, the women of St. Petersburg, Russia tell casual game developer Nevosoft what they think game developers look like. Freaks, sure, but archeologists?! Phew, good thing they didn’t ask them what bloggers look like! Thanks,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Plumber Is Coming Here? We Shall Double Our Efforts!
By Dave Wilson, as seen on Rampaged Reality
By Luke Plunkett Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Japanese Arcades Have The Best Prizes
This week, the 22nd Prize Fair was held in Japan. The event showcases goodies that players can win in Japanese arcades while playing crane games and their ilk. The 22nd Prize Fair? These companies must know what they’re doing. They do. Let’s have a look! Note: The lady in the first pic is not a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Valve Is Killing The PC Market, Apparently
According to a report on trade site MCV, two “big-name digital retailers” for the PC market are staring down the barrel of financial ruin, while two major British retailers are reportedly considering a ban on games that include Steam integration. “Publishers don’t give a shit, they don’t care what happens to the customer. Which is…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 11, 2010 -
UncategorizedFinnish Kid Bums Mario, Jabs Luigi Right In The Kisser
Let’s say you were on stage with Mario and Luigi during a Nintendo event at a digital entertainment fair in Helsinki. You lost the competition. Frustrated, what would you do? Dry hump Mario? That’s what one Finnish gamer did, before going on to jabbing Luigi in the face. Those poor, poor Mario Bros. They’ll never…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 -
UncategorizedThere’s A Touch Of Nintendo In This Tower Defence Game
This is Glory Days, an upcoming DSiWare strategy game from Odenis. If you think it looks like renowned Nintendo series Advance Wars, you’re not the only one. That’s where the similarities end, however, as instead of being a turn-based strategy title Glory Days is actually an innovative tower defence game, which is played by rolling…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Xbox Support’s Cryptically Depressing Message
In the West, the Xbox 360 is all about friends. Playing with buddies online, friends lists, making new pals — all of which make this Japanese Xbox Support message all the more sad. On the Japanese Xbox Support page for console set up, “View More” (もっと見る) appears under the third item, which concerns connecting the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Tales Of Vesperia’s Figure Is Not A Brooding, Menacing Monster
Tales of Vesperia, one of the best Japanese role-playing games of this hardware generation, now has one of the prettiest action figures of this hardware generation as well. And yes, I said pretty. It’s not like he’s ruggedly handsome. Or even regular handsome. So pretty it is. He’s Imperial Knight Flynn Scifo, one of the…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Metal Gear Arcade Lurches Out For Fresh Air
First revealed at 2009’s E3 gaming expo, Metal Gear Arcade is still under development. According to Konami, the game is getting one more “location test” in arcades for the general public. One more? That seems to indicate that 3D game is finally edging towards an official release in Japanese arcades. The game was originally supposed…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
A Man In The Middle Of The West vs Japan Development Divide
We hear a lot from Japanese developers (and Western pundits) about how the Japanese development scene is dead, but what about a Western developer who works for a Japanese publisher? What does he think? Julien Merceron is Global Chief Technology Officer for Square Enix, the company behind the Final Fantasy series, giving him a unique…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 11, 2010 -
UncategorizedA Tale Of Two Call Of Duty Musicians
Eminem’s “Won’t Back Down” was the soundtrack to Black Ops’ American trailer. While the hip-hop star has a following in The Land of the Rising Sun, the Japanese version gets homegrown talent. Namie Amuro’s “ROCK U” scores the game’s Japanese television ads. The Okinawa-born Amuro debuted in the early 1990s as part of the pop…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
I’ll Take Rockstar Sandbox Games For $500 Thanks, Alex
As seen on Rockstar
By Luke Plunkett Published November 11, 2010