- Uncategorized
GameStop: PSPgo Owners Will Trade In UMDs
Sony may not be ready to discuss a solution for PSPgo purchasers looking to figure out what to do with their UMD games on the upcoming no-UMD system, but GameStop has an idea… On an earnings call today to discuss GameStop’s results for its second financial quarter of 2009, the company reported that reservations for…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles On Steadier Ground
Developers recently toned down the shake of the camera in documentary-styled shooter Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles to make the upcoming Wii title a bit easier to play, Capcom developers say. “It was a bit of a trial and error, this shaky cam,” said Masachika Kawata during a meeting at this week’s Gamescom convention in…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Public Daze
To: Ash From: Crecente Today was the first day that Cologne’s Gamescom was open to the public. Mike and I stood around near the entrance to see what those crowds would look like. It was fairly impressive, but not as massive as I had expected. After watching or a few minutes I headed down the…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Wii Fit Plus: Feeling The Burn
Nintendo featured its balance board-controlled fitness game Wii Fit Plus at Gamescom this week, ensuring that there was little to no wait to go socks-on with the Wii sequel. That gave us plenty of time to burn some calories. The Gamescom demo featured nine of the fifteen mini-games promised for Wii Fit Plus, six of…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Humor Attempted During Wii Sports Resort Guest Spot
I was recently invited to appear on College Humor’s Bleep Bloop video game show to play and discuss Wii Sports Resort. They were funnier than me, but, at least I made a good point? Maybe? See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor. Bleep Bloop: Wii Sports Resort [College Humor]
By Stephen Totilo Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
A Larger DSi Install Base Needed To Justify Band Hero Development
There aren’t quite enough DSi owners around yet to justify Vicarious Visions adapting their portable version of Guitar Hero to work with Nintendo’s latest portable, the developers told Kotaku this week. While Guitar Hero: On Tour requires a “Guitar Grip” peripheral that plugs into the DS’ Game Boy Advance slot, the soon-to-be-released Band Hero also…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Tower Of Shadow Screens Are All Shadow And Light
One of most innovative looking titles shown at Konami’s Gamescom press conference was Hudson’s The Tower Of Shadow, a Wii puzzle-platformer that puts the player in control of a shadow, not the person casting that shadow. We actually never saw that person, just the silhouette of a young boy leaping across platforms, pulling switches and…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2009 -
UncategorizedPS3 Slim: The Five Senses Tests
I thought it would be a good idea to test the PS3 slim using each of the five senses. That would entail seeing, smelling, touching, tasting and hearing Sony’s new machine. How about four out of five? PS3 Slim Sight Test PS3 Slim Smell Test PS3 Slim Touch Test PS3 Slim Taste Test PS3 Slim…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
APB Impressions: Financial District In Conflict
APB: All Points Bulletin is, according to Realtime Worlds, all about “creativity, conflict and celebrity.” At Gamescom today, we got a look at the massively multiplayer online game’s second “C” during a live demo. Realtime Worlds’ cops versus criminals online game is focused far more on the flesh and blood player than a computer controlled…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
John Madden’s Version of Video Game History
Retired football broadcasting legend John Madden told the LA Times there’s no such thing as a Madden curse, because it never caused him to get injured. He also shared his take on how video games came to be. As part of reporter Alex Pham’s Q&A to coincide with the launch of Madden NFL 10, Madden…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Akihiro Hino Talks Puzzle Boot Camp And Obese Rodents
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is right around the corner and we were lucky enough to ask some questions of developer Level-5’s President & CEO, Akihiro Hino. At 2009’s Game Developers Conference, Hino talked about his marketing strategy for the Layton series and let slip the fact that Diabolical Box was heading to the…
By AJ Glasser Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Can A Bunch Of Names Sell A Game?
You might go to a movie based on the names of the people in its ensemble cast. Recently I was given reason to wonder if we might buy a game based on the roster of the talents behind it. The occasion was my interview last week at QuakeCon with Paul Wedgwood, founder of development studio…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Twice The Cammy, Twice The Thong
SOTA toys will in December be releasing two Cammy figures. Not one. Two. One in her original costume, one in her more “formal” uniform. They’ll be sold for $90 each if you want to buy them individually. And if you do, hey, that’s cool. We’re not judging. But as you can see, you might want…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Wet Preview: It All Happened So Slowly
“I should have played Stranglehold more so I could compare,” the previewer thought to himself, as he made a lady with two pistols jump over a table and shoot two guys on opposite sides of an Asian-themed room in slow-mo. If Wet isn’t going to turn out to be the game action-move master John Woo…
By Stephen Totilo Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nier Shows Square Enix’s Foul Mouthed Side
Square Enix showed the latest build of its action adventure game Nier at Gamescom and never have I heard saltier talk. At least from Square Enix, who generally doesn’t drop the F-bomb in its games. But Nier is occasionally vulgar. Technically, it’s not the eponymous Nier himself who’s offending our delicate sensibilities, nor is it…
By Michael McWhertor Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Invizimals: Whistle While You Play
Invizimals due out for the Playstation Portable this November has you running around with a camera plugged into the portable searching for invisible creatures. The game uses a form of augmented reality to locate creatures and then asks you to capture them with your PSP. But here’s the thing: Capturing them isn’t always as easy…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2009 - Uncategorized
Dante’s Inferno: Death By Bodily Fluids
On paper, adapting Dante Alighieri’s language-shaping epic poem into a button-mashing action video game sounds destined for failure, but in motion the game has a surprising amount going for it. Visceral Games’ decision to focus on the vivid imagery of hell in Dante’s Inferno and rework the story is the only way a developer could…
By Brian Crecente Published August 20, 2009