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Fallen Earth Lands on the Mac
Somehow the Mac went from gaming afterthought to everyone’s favorite platform in the span of a week. Now the MMO Fallen Earth is Mac compatible, beginning with today’s Beta release of the game. Icarus Studios, the co-developers of Fallen Earth, have put together a Mac-compatible xScape platform, buit on the open source software Wine. A…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Gears of War Creators’ New Tech Sure To Inspire Sequel Guesswork
What could be in a new Gears of War? Clues are always included in the major Game Developers Conference demonstrations of the Unreal Engine. Epic Games’ evolving game-making tech is shopped to developers here at GDC in San Francisco, but it also teases the potential of what Epic will do in any of its games,…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Last Chance to Win a Chance to Shop with Free Money
Just take the survey below, email the last question to [email protected], and you could be the big winner of a $150 Best Buy gift card. Your incomplete Criterion Collection Kurosawa collection (say that 3 times fast) is begging you to. [Rules.]
By Gawkercreative Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Would “Happily” Make Kid Icarus Wii
Yoshio Sakamoto, one of the creators behind popular Nintendo platformer Kid Icarus, says Nintendo hasn’t ruled out bringing a new title in the series to the Wii, they just haven’t yet figured out how to. “I don’t know personally about any project underway regarding Kid Icarus, but if so many of those people are interested…
By Brian Crecente Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Will You Be Buying God Of War III At Midnight?
GameStop just dropped a list of stores opening at midnight to make sure 24-hour Walmart stores don’t steal all of their customers when the game launches. Will you be staying up late to kill the gods? That’s what GameStop midnight launches are all about, after all. I’m sure part of it is making sure the…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Metroid Co-creator’s Romantic (And Tragic) Samus Aran Fan Fiction
How does Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto explain his Nintendo DS megahit Tomodachi Collection—still a Japan-only release—to the non-Japanese GDC attendee? By putting high-level Nintendo execs in weird Tomodachi Collection situations, including Sakamoto’s own virtual crush on Samus Aran. Sakamoto showed a quick video during his Game Developers Conference session, which he felt was critical to…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Rhode Island Bill Proposes Jail Time for Selling M-Rated Games to Kids
Well, here we go again. Rhode Island has a bill in its legislature that provides for up to $1,000 in fines and a year in jail for selling M- or AO-rated games to underage buyers. The bill may sound familiar to failed efforts in California and Utah, although I’m not sure any sought to put…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Cooking Mama Inevitably Turns To Crafting
A year after we discovered a trademark registration for it, Majesco is finally ready to make Crafting Mama official. The woman with the most free time in the world returns this fall with a whole new bag of domestic tricks. She’s taught you how to cook, helped you cultivate your garden, and now she’s going…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010 - Reviews
Transformers: G1 Awakening Review: One Shall Stand
Take Advance Wars, replace tanks with Transformers, then release it on the iPhone. Sounds like a dream, but that’s exactly what Glu Mobile has done with Transformers: G1 Awakening. In what is actually an iPhone port of a mobile game from a year or two back, Awakening is a turn-based strategy game that puts you…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Metroid: Other M Might Have Been On-Rails, If Not For Team Ninja
Yoshio Sakamoto, the Metroid co-creator and WarioWare producer, says that his latest game, Metroid: Other M, was originally planned to be an on-rails adventure. If that sounds like Metroid sacrilege to you, thank co-developer Team Ninja for changing Sakamoto’s mind. Sakamoto said at his Game Developers Conference session “From Metroid to Tomodachi Collection to WarioWare:…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
June 8 To Be A Green Day In Rock Band History
The second artist-centric Rock Band title now has a release date, with 47 tracks worth of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool coming to the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on June 8. Like The Beatles: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band doesn’t mess around with bands inspired by the California trio,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Motion Fighter: Putting Science Back Into the Sweet Science
Viewed in the hands of someone who helped make or market the game, the Playstation 3’s motion controlled Motion Fighter looks like the sort of thing everyone will want to play and watch be played. But once it was in my hands things changed, drastically. To play Motion Fighter you hold not one, but two…
By Brian Crecente Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
It’s Always The Same Old Story For Video Game Villains
It doesn’t matter if you’re Bowser, Mother Brain, Dr. Eggman, Hitler, or Mike Tyson, the motivational speech is always the same, and it always gets you absolutely nowhere, as this CollegeHumor clip readily demonstrates. I think the main problem lies in the fact that it’s only one man, generally assaulting a fortress made to withstand…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
John Cleese Voices Fable III’s Butler
Monty Python’s John Cleese will be your butler in the fall’s role-playing game Fable III. Perhaps you are wondering why you will have a butler. The top two men behind Fable III, Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux and Josh Atkins, took turns this morning at Game Developers Conference describing new and changed mechanics for the series.…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Problem: Fable Gamers Didn’t Understand Half Of Fable’s Features
Slide from Game Developers Conference entitled “What if we move Fable toward an action adventure?” Presented by Fable III creative director Peter Molyneux. Note the fourth bullet point. As a result, Molyneux promises a clearer, more streamlined sequel.
By Stephen Totilo Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Bad Company 2 Borrows Modern Warfare 2’s Marketing
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 joins Infinity Ward’s fight against “mapathy” on March 30, unlocking its second set of VIP maps on the same day that Modern Warfare 2’s first map pack drops – only Battlefield’s maps are free. That’s the point being driven home in a post on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 website titled…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
LIVE The Secret to Blizzard’s Success: The Making of Starcraft II
The Blizzard keynote at this year’s Game Developers Conference just kicked off. Dominic Filion, senior graphics engineer for Blizzard Entertainment, says they’ll be talking about the magic of hiding technology and focusing on fun when making games. Who knows, maybe we’ll learn a bit more about what’s next for the company too.
By Brian Crecente Published March 11, 2010 -
UncategorizedI’m Tryin To Tell You All, It’s Battlestar
I’ve always loved the video for Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys. I love it more, though, when its hokey 70’s cop show footage is replaced – scene for scene – with clips from Battlestar Galactica. I mean it. It’s scene for scene. Watch the Galactica clip, above, then compare it to the original, below (or,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Comcast’s Internet Usage Meter Should Drive The OCD Insane
In August of 2008, cable internet provider Comcast imposed a 250GB limit on bandwidth, scaring many of their internet gaming customers. Now the company is rolling out an internet usage meter, so customers can obsessively track every single megabyte. Great! As a Comcast customer who regularly downloads four to five games off of Steam a…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010 - Uncategorized
Splinter Cell: Conviction Preview: Either Sam Fisher Mellowed With Age Or I Have
My time with the latest preview build of Splinter Cell: Conviction transformed me from a stealth operations hater to a deadly master assassin, stalking dark corridors with deadly intent. Has the game changed, or have I? The preview build I played featured the first three levels of the game, which we’ve seen on multiple occasions,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2010