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Five New PSP Bundles For Japan
This December, Japan is getting not one, but five, count ’em five, PSP-3000 bundles. Four of them are “Value Pack” bundles that include the PSP-3000 and accessories for ¥19,800 (US$219.50). Colors include Vibrant Blue, Piano Black, Pearl White and Radiant Red. The other bundle is a Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G dealio with fewer accessories,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Shooting A Nintendo DS Through A Wall
Throwing a controller/handheld to the ground in frustration is for wussies. You really want to vent some steam, you load the offending peripheral or console into a gun and you shoot it through a wall. That’s what Amusement – the greatest gaming mag to never be published in English – did for their latest issue,…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Infinity Ward: Wii Can’t Deliver Our Multi-Platform Experience
The first Modern Warfare was truly a multi-platform release, appearing on the Xbox 360, PS3, PC/Mac and a Nintendo Wii port. Its sequel, Modern Warfare 2, isn’t getting a Wii port just yet. Whether Activision has a studio like Treyarch do a Wii port of Modern Warfare 2 remains to be seen, but developer Infinity…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Modern Warfare 2 Breaks Pre-Order Records
The game that has sent the competition scurrying into 2010 looks set to break all kinds of sales records when it’s released next week, with Modern Warfare 2 setting a new mark for pre-orders at GameStop. Speaking with USA Today, the chain’s executive vice president for merchandising and marketing, Tony Bartel, has revealed “As of…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Game Tech Now Good Enough For Hans Zimmer
Composer Hans Zimmer has standards. He likes things big. Just look at the movies he has scored: Gladiator, The Last Samurai and The Da Vinci Code. Big films! So how and why did he make the leap to games? “This is the first time I even stuck my toe into these waters,” Zimmer tells USA…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Warren Spector So Not Done With Deus Ex
Warren Spector, creator of Deus Ex, isn’t letting the fact he no longer has access to the series stop him from dreaming up more games in the series. Well, maybe not series. “Series”. Spector – currently at work on Epic Mickey – has told Variety that prior to picking up work the Disney gig, he…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Square Enix Fire Some People
It’s already been announced that the severance payouts to Taito employees has drained money from parent company Square Enix. Those were the only cuts Square Enix has made post Eidos-buyout. “There’s an ongoing process of reshuffling people, but that’s not something we do just because of integration,” Square Enix president Yoichi Wada explained to website…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis Is Bad At Video Games
Robert Zemeckis, director of Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, is good at making movies. He’s good at writing them. But he’s not very good at video games. Zemeckis tells MTV, “I love what they do in the technology, the way they move those images, I’m fascinated by the amount of code-writing…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
NCAA 10 Showcases the Charm and Bad Calls of Hoops’ Top Home Courts
NCAA Basketball 10 isn’t just about the announcing teams and pretty graphics, it still faces the tall order of presenting all the arenas of every major conference member. Another 15 screens show us what to expect. This package delivers Lousiville at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center (Big East); Michigan State at Illinois’ Assembly Hall, one of…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
World Of Warcraft “Lacks Approval” To Operate In China [Update]
Courtesy of some alleged “gross violations” of national regulations, China’s General Administration of Press and Publication have ordered that World of Warcraft be suspended in the country. According to a report on Reuters, NetEase – the company operating the game in China for publishers Activision Blizzard – have been ordered to “stop operating” the title,…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
“Margaritaville” Trademarked for Video Game Use
Another cull of patent and trademark filings turns up this gem: Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville,” the soundtrack for public drunkenness and amphitheater-humping for more than two decades, has been trademarked for use in a video game. You can see the filing here, but my bet is that this is for some mobile game. I can’t imagine…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Sony’s Mystery Science Theater-Like Interactive TV Patent Puts You In The Movies
Your PlayStation 3 may become a reasonably priced, earthbound Satellite of Love, if Sony Computer Entertainment America’s patent application for a Mystery Science Theater 3000-like interactive television becomes a real-life product. Sony’s patent for a “Method and Apparatus For Real-Time Viewer Interaction With A Media Presentation” was filed back in April, but eagle-eyed patent watcher…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Pumpkin Chop Makes Top 10 Indie Games List
Major Nelson’s got the Xbox Live numbers up for the week of October 26th and who should be in third place on the Indie list but Pumpkin Chop. I took a look at the virtual pumpkin carving sim not too long before Halloween and liked what I saw. So I’m glad to see its done…
By AJ Glasser Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
KFC Madden NFL Box Unboxing and Review
On the heels of 2008’s Guitar Hero: World Tour KFC Fully Loaded Box Meal, this year the purveyor of alleged poultry allegedly from the Bluegrass State has teamed up with EA Sports for the KFC Madden NFL Box. The meal comes in four configurations, offers four “collector’s cups” featuring NFLers rendered, interestingly, in their cartoony…
By Owen Good Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Rumored Kameo 2 Killed To Make Room For Natal Projects
Microsoft owned developer Rare won’t be returning to the world of Kameo any time soon, thanks to the studio’s shift toward multiple Project Natal titles, according to unnamed sources cited by CVG. Microsoft is reported to have canceled a sequel. CVG’s source “close to the platform holder” says that sales of action-adventure eyesore Kameo: Elements…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
New UK Gaming Addiction Center Uses 12-Step Program
The Telegraph reports that Britain has gone and opened its first computer rehab clinic Broadway Lodge in Weston-super-Mare, England. The clinic — which treats hundreds of people addicted to gambling, alcohol and drugs as well as people suffering from eating disorders and co-dependency — employs an abstinence approach to breaking addiction. Additionally, they have detox…
By AJ Glasser Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
GameStop: PS3, Borderlands & Scribblenauts Sales Are “Strong”
Post price drop sales of the PlayStation 3 in the United States appear to have giving the console “strong momentum” following a “strong surge” that should give the console a “very strong” October, according to GameStop VP Tony Bartel. The vice president of merchandising and marketing tells IndustryGamers that GameStop has seen fit to use…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Never Gonna Give You Up…
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: What You Call C3PO And R2-D2 When You Don’t Know Star Wars But I’m pretty sure I’ll be letting you down. I do that. It’s my thing. So I spent 16 minutes last week trying to carefully dismantle a old wooden crate that was singly Rick Astley in the face……
By Brian Crecente Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
$25 Million In Left 4 Dead 2 Ads Gets You At Least Two Trucks
Valve is earmarking an impressive $25 million in marketing to make sure that everyone with functioning eyes knows that Left 4 Dead 2 is coming this November. That includes at least two putrid trucks, dedicated to promoting the game. One of those trucks was spotted by Kotaku reader Britt, who not only supplied us with…
By Michael McWhertor Published November 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Losing At Video Games Makes This Man Better
Normally, throwing one’s controller into one’s pool is not recommended. But, if that action can be linked to success in non-gaming endeavors, maybe you should do it. It works for one successful person interviewed recently by The Oklahoman. The newspaper was profiling Kevin Durant, guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder has chucked his controller many…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 3, 2009