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Itagaki Bayonetta Creator Hate May Provide Game Clues
Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki has left Tecmo’s Team Ninja. He’s been away, but has returned with a new start-up, unofficially dubbed the Tokyo Vikings. He’s also back to fill the vacuum of Japanese game developer trash talk. From an excerpt of Itagaki interview with 1Up comes this bit about Platinum Games developer Hideki…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Where To Now For The Ninja Gaiden Series?
Development of the modern, 3D Ninja Gaiden games has always been overseen by one man: former Team Ninja boss/ Dark Lord Tomonobu Itagaki. But what happens now he can no longer work on the series? Well, someone else has to work on the series. And that someone else is Yosuke Hayashi, the new leader of…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Tracking The Ups & Downs Of Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference
Nintendo had some ups, and downs, during their E3 2009 press conference. So Bitmob’s Andrew Hiscock decided to do a little rough science and note just when, and how high/low they were when they occurred. Taking hardcore gaming forum NeoGAF as his subject matter, Hiscock tracked the comments on the site’s Nintendo presser thread, and…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Come With Pedometer
It’s not enough that Pokémon Gold/Silver are getting DS remakes this fall. Oh no, they’re getting remakes and a pedometer. (Think a new Pokémon Pikachu.) Dubbed the Poké Walker, the bundled item sends infrared signals to the DS and can be used to hold one Pocket Monsters as you walk around, building experience and gain…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Taking A Closer Look At Last.fm On The Xbox 360
News of a deal that brings Last.fm to the Xbox 360 was kind of lost in the flood of information coming out of Microsoft’s E3 press conference last week. So let’s go back to it. The service will be made available later this year, and will be free to all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Once…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Pirate Ban Monday!
Are you surprised? Tim Curry sure as hell is. Today is Monday. Ban Monday. No, Pirate Ban Monday. What is Pirate Ban Monday? Not sure — we just wanted to post a photo of Tim Curry. But we can tell you what Ban Monday is! While we don’t have any problem banning on regular days,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Impressions: If It’s Broke A Little, Fix It A Little
I didn’t like Ninja Gaiden II much. From what I saw of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, though, I like it a lot better. Amazing what an extra 12 months development time can do for a game, isn’t it? Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is a remake of Ninja Gaiden II, first released around a year ago…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Second Best E3 Meme Is…
Want to know what the second best meme of this year’s E3 was? Bam! Here it is. During the Sony press conference, Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi took the stage to talk Gran Turismo PSP. Since Yamauchi was giving his presentation in Japanese, there was a translator in tow. Though, this translator carried a pad of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Gran Turismo Makers Try Forza 3
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto wasn’t the only game developer checking out the competition, the folks behind Gran Turismo did as well — getting up close and personal with Forza 3. According to Forza 3‘s Turn 10 Studios Blog: Perhaps the most surprising to me was when a couple developers from Gran Turismo makers Polyphony Digital came…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Xbox Japan Ad Features Economic Recession Song
This is the latest Japanese Xbox 360 commercial — it’s for the Platinum Collection budget line of games and low priced 360 consoles. It features a yet-unreleased track from Japanese rapper Seamo. About what? The recession. The title of the tune is Fukeiki nante buttobase! — which means something like “What a recession we’re heading…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Want An Uncharted 2 Multiplayer Code?
Reader Adam S. was kind enough to drop two codes for the multiplayer beta of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on us, while Luke picked up ten while at E3. Hop on over to my twitter a bit later tonight, starting around 6 p.m. Mountain Time, to grab em. I’ll be posting them in there with…
By Brian Crecente Published June 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Dear Bethesda, I’m an Imbecile. Love, Owen
To: Luke From: Owen Re: E3: It Never Ends As painful as this is to share with the entire readership, I feel it is appropriate to take ownership of my dumbassery, because lord knows tech support managers put up with enough of it. I finally downloaded Operation: Anchorage for Fallout 3 on Friday. Had a…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Week in Games: The Shapeshift Hits the Fan
It’s starting to feel like summer, with a robust lineup of more than 40 releases led by Prototype, whose protagonist is sorta like Altair meets Plastic Man. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, mentioned at E3, will be available or download via DSiWare on Monday, when golf fans can also whack balls with Tiger…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mod Lets You Store Wii Games on HD — With Current Menu
Let’s be real here – storing your console games on a hard drive has shit to do with “backing them up.” More like “keep playing after you trade them in to GameStop.” OK, yeah, they also load and play faster. But whatever your objective, sister site Lifehacker found a new hack that allows you to…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Problem with Video Game Studies
Video game studies are inherently flawed, according to a writer for a Canadian quarterly, because in most cases researchers are making subjective appraisals of games they don’t even understand. Video game studies – especially concerning violence -are a staple of weekend fare, and every time we put one up, the reactions are pretty typical. It’s…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
An iPhone Version of Fallout Exists
After hearing about Mass Effect for the iPhone, my first thought was, “Could they put Fallout on there, too?” Apparently Bethesda had the same idea at some point. Speaking to Joystiq at E3, Todd Howard, the game director for Bethesda, said “We’ve looked into those things.” I think that the world of Fallout is unique…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009 - Uncategorized
Another Take on Tetris’ 25th
Time magazine weighs in on Tetris’ birthday, implying that it is by far the most lasting success of the Soviet Union. “Sputnik burned up in the atmosphere, Berlin is now one city,” Time writes, “but 25 years later, the Soviet-designed Tetris remains one of the most popular and ubiquitous video games ever created.” Its retrospective…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009 -
UncategorizedTF2 Children’s Book Teaches a Very Important Lesson
Even if you didn’t know the Strong Bad Email that this spoofs, the Team Fortress children’s book: “Every Class is Different,” would still be a howler. It’s only a couple minutes long, and yes, the tone is a bit pedantic. But Spy reminds us of a very important truth at the end, so pay attention.…
By Owen Good Published June 7, 2009