- Uncategorized
Crystal Chronicles Gravitates Toward Action
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers takes a couple of steps away from the CC series and a couple steps toward super hero games. In an interview with RPGamer, Producer Akitoshi Kawazu explains that the game is less about level grinding and stat min-maxing and more about action and Wii-friendly mini games. The game’s main…
By AJ Glasser Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
How Zeno Clash 2 Will Be Even Zeno Clashier
ACE Team’s well-received first-person brawler Zeno Clash has only just been released, yet already, a sequel has been announced. We know it’ll be Zeno Clashier than the first game, but just how, exactly? Carlos Bordeu, co-founder of developers ACE Team, has elaborated on his earlier comments that the game will be more “open-ended”, telling Eurogamer:…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Deceased Wrestler Loved Great Video Games
Earlier this week, tragedy struck when Japanese pro wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa was killed in a freak ring accident — suffering lethal spinal damage from a suplex. Considered one of the greatest pro wrestlers ever, Misawa’s popularity in Japan rivaled Hulk Hogan’s in the West. Besides being a fantastic wrestler, he was also a gamer. A…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Development Of Sony’s New Motion Controller Began Years Ago
Microsoft is working on the human-body-controlled Project Natal. Nintendo has the Wii Remote. Sony, well, showed a new motion controller that will be out next spring. A new, nameless controller, that is. Compared with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, Sony Europe’s Andrew House seemed much more non-fussed about the competition. I’m not unduly worried and I think…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Professor Layton & The Curious British DS Bundle
This Mother’s Day, I bought my mum a DS Lite and a copy of Brain Training. I wasn’t the only one. But what about Father’s Day? Dad’s not going to be impressed with something constantly reminding him how old he is. Nintendo and Level 5 to the rescue, then. This bundle, timed to coincide with…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Japanese Comedian To Game For 24 Hours Straight
Shinya Arino, star of reality program GameCenter CX, is set to do a live 24 hour episode of the show. From the show’s official blog: “Finally… Really… Truly… a live 24-hour broadcast has been decided.” The show hasn’t worked out the details yet and is taking requests from fans of the show. Back in fall…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
$1 Peggle “Hacked” The iPhone Store
If you took advantage of the crazy $1 Peggle sale that took place last week, congratulations. You’re not just the proud owner of one of the best casual games around. You were also part of an experiment. See, dropping the game’s price to $1 can be seen as part-experiment, part-protest on the part of developers…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Cradle Your DS With Fake Girl’s Gym Shorts
There are loads of DS holders. Here’s one that looks like girl’s athletic shorts. Those who pre-order the limited edition DS title Strike Witches will get a “bloomer” pouch. Bloomers (buruma) are the gym shorts schoolgirls in Japan typically wear. Strike Witches hits the Nintendo DS this September. DS版ストパン特典ブルマポーチ「心に染みるブルー！」って、いやいやいや！ [AkibaOS]
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Halo+ Kingdom Hearts + Metroid
Welcome to Toybox! We’ve decided to centralise most of our toy/action figure/adult collectible news into a single feature, which we’ll be running every week or two. This week, we’ve got Kingdom Hearts, a stunning custom Metroid statue and a Halo Mongoose. Halo Mongoose Due out in October, the Mongoose is built to accommodate McFarlane’s line…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Metal Gear Online Goes Icebound With Old Friend
Today, Konami is releasing a new stage and an old character for Metal Gear Online. The third expansion for MGO‘s “SCENE EXPANSION” brings Metal Gear Solid 4‘s “Old Snake” to the fight as well as a new stage “Icebound Inferno”. The stage is MGS4‘s windy blizzard Shadow Moses stage. 『メタルギアオンライン』の拡張パック”SCENE EXPANSION”に、オールド・スネークがユニークキャラとして参戦 [Famitsu]
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Obama Maybe Not So Gamer Friendly After All
In a speech to the American Medical Association, President Obama listed video games as health concern — a challenge to Entertainment Software Administration president Mike Gallagher’s statement that the Obama administration was game-friendly. The Wall Street Journal has the full text of the speech, but there’s really only one part that even mentions video games:…
By AJ Glasser Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Which Do You Want: Downloadable Game or Sammich?
Digital games might mean “short”, but does it mean “small”? Not necessarily. “For right now, there is a culture of downloadable titles being smaller and generally ‘shorter’, but I think this is destined to change,” explains ThatGameCompany programmer Rick Nelson. “Companies will always compete with each other by offering more and higher fidelity content, on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
May’s NPD Charts By Platform
While we’ve seen the month’s ten best-selling games overall, it can often be more interesting to break down game sales by platform, and see what the ten best-selling games were for each system. The NPD Group have today released that data to industry news site Gamasutra, and it shows tow key points. One, that multiplatform…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Max Payne 3 Getting New Voice Actor
Max Payne is back — with facial hair and a bald noggin. One thing that won’t be back: the first two games’ voice actor, James McCaffrey. Rockstar Vancouver thinks it needs someone older, but doesn’t plan on replacing the voice actor with an established star, and will relay on casting — something, VP of development…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
PC Sales Charts: Simoleons Rule Everything Around Me
Seeing as The Sims 2 was still all over the PC sales charts, it should surprise none of you to find that the release of The Sims 3 sees the game dominating two of the three major PC listings. It’s only the Steam charts holding out against the gibberish-speaking virtual humans, and only then because…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Pachinko Shop Readies For Slot Warefare
As seen on はちま起稿.
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 16, 2009 - Uncategorized
Why Did Bionic Commando Rearmed Outsell Bionic Commando?
You may have heard. Capcom’s Bionic Commando revamp has tanked, and tanked in a big way, selling only 27,000 units during the month of May. Which begs the question: why? After all, the same developers (Grin) released a Bionic Commando game last year that lacked the advertising, budget and horsepower of the “main” title, yet…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 15, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mulit-Platform Final Fantasy XIII Won’t Be Compromised
Final Fantasy XIII is a multi-platform game — which has some people worried about a dip in quality. Square Enix is here to ease those fears. That’s nice! “The team is targeting to create an equal experience on both the 360 and the PS3, so there are no limitations,” says Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2009 - Uncategorized
Break Xbox Live With The Push Of A Button
That button may look like a joke, an elaborate piece of stock art, or something out of Ghostbusters, but it’s not. It’s the emergency shutdown button located in a Microsoft server facility in Quincy, Washington. There’s a fascinating article over on the NY Times’ website about server warehouses, with the author taking a trip to…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 15, 2009