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MadWorld Paints the Wii Red: Hands-On Impressions
My moments spent playing MadWorld earlier this week had me recalling cult faves like Killer 7 and No More Heroes. This Platinum Games title brings way-over-the top violence and stylized visuals to the Mii-making masses and backs them with intuitive controls and tight camera work. Despite the red-heavy screens we’ve all been looking at since…
By Brian Crecente Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Tonight, I Went On A Date
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Reviewing Flawed Code For the first time since Mrs. Bashcraft delivered the new squirt, we went out to eat…with the two kids, Mini and Micro-Bash. It was at a kid-friendly buffet that had all you can eat (and drink, hey, hey) — and incidentally was near we Mrs. Bashcraft’s father…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Faith And A .45 Development Comes To A Halt
First announced early last year, Deadline Games‘ Faith And A .45 looked promising! It had biplanes, tommy guns and a sexy, ginger-haired lady. Basically, it made the Great Depression look fun! So it’s with a heavy heart that we hear tonight the game’s been put on pause. Why? Because despite featuring biplanes, tommy guns and…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
When The RZA Wants To Game, He Is Supplied With A Dev Kit
The RZA is in Wu-Tang. And the Wu-Tang Clan ain’t, if you must be reminded, nothin’ to fuck with. So when the RZA needs a 360 to game on, he doesn’t game on no 60GB. No, Bobby Digital is given, as you can hear on this clip, a dev kit. Just so the dude can…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label EXTRA Dated
Finally! After being delayed from its original Christmas Day delay, the Xbox 360 port of Cave’s arcade shooter DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label EXTRA has a release date. According to 5pb, the game will be out in Japan on February 19 for ¥7,140 (US$79).
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Just To Clear, No, That DS Game Did Not Feature An Islamic Chucky Doll
Hick news channel WTNH’s bleeding edge report on Crave’s Baby Pals for the DS had a few holes in it. One of the biggest was the fact the channel didn’t bother contacting the game’s publisher. Oops. GamePolitics, however, did, and asked Crave to deny (or confirm!) whether the bathtime baby in their kids DS game…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Any New Info About Those Philip K Dick Games?
Swedish developer Grin might be working with media company Halcyon, who own the rights to the Terminator franchise, on games based on Philip K Dick‘s works. We don’t know though — Grin’s tight lipped. When asked about the Philip K Dick Halcyon games, Grin co-founder Ulf Andersson diplomatically replied, “I really don’t have a comment…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
PAL PlayStation Store Update
Is Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix available this week on the PAL PlayStation Store? Let’s check! Hmm…no, no Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix that I can see. Again. Which leaves the PAL Store update looking a little worse for wear. Oh, except for Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. That’s probably worth looking…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Xbox 360 Lolita Arcade Shmup Gets Release Date
Xbox 360 port of Cave’s Lolita arcade shooter has finally gotten a release date. It is April 23. Hooray! As we previously posted, there’s also a limited edition of the game (priced at ¥9,240 — US$103) besides the regular edition. The limited edition version also includes a soundtrack CD as well. Amazon Japan is offering…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
EA Hit The Reset Button On Need For Speed Franchise, 3 New Games Coming
It’s official: the sheen has well and truly worn off the Need for Speed franchise. Once a guaranteed smash, recent titles have under-performed badly, leading EA to announce a total reboot for the series. Speaking with Eurogamer, EA have revealed that there’ll be three new NFS games released in 2009, the idea being to seperate…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Microsoft Talks Future of Halo Wars And Ensemble Studios
Just because Ensemble Studios is dead that does not mean the studios’ Halo Wars are gone. The game will live on! As Jason Pace, Halo Wars lead producer and MGS Halo franchise overseer, points out, Ensemble is forming a new company and will help support the game with bug patches and whatnot. When asked about…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Is The iPhone Getting A New “Premium” Games Store?
There are hundreds of games on the iPhone at the moment. Problem is, most of them are awful, little more than rubbish flash games with a $0.99 price tag. According to a report on PocketGamer, however, Apple may be looking at a way to get around this, by dividing the App Store‘s games into two…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
PlatinumGames Launches Website, Promises To “Get It”
MadWorld developer PlatinumGames sends its new English language website into orbit today. The site’s first post lays out the site’s M.O. Japanese game companies are notorious for not “getting it”. They are thought of as slow moving, orthodox, and out of touch. One of the places where Japanese companies seem to not “get it” is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Let’s Break Down Nintendo’s Biggest Selling Wii Games (Let’s!)
You’ve seen us break down Nintendo’s DS sales. Now let’s look at the Wii sales! Since this includes the Christmas quarter, sales are looking good, in both Japan and The West. These are the sales numbers for the period April 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, and include not just total Wii game sales, but…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nintendo’s 2009 Launch Schedule Includes Punch Out
Nintendo announced its “Launch Schedule of Primary NINTENDO Products by Region (Jan. 2009～)” for Japan, The United States and Europe. There’s hardware, there’s software, there’s Nintendo, and there’s Giant Reggie Face. Japan • Nintendo DS DS Uranai Seikatsu 2009/1/15 Mario and Luigi RPG 3!!! 2009/2/11 Rittai Picross 2009/3/12 Tomodachi Collection(Temp.) 2009 Famicom Wars DS2(Temp.) 2009…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Let’s Break Down Nintendo’s Biggest Selling DS Games (Let’s!)
Nintendo has released the financial findings for its Nintendo DS games sold last year. Included are the numbers for the April 1 – December 31, 2008 financial period as well as the breakdown for Japan and overseas. What’s more, there are new life-to-date totals for the games. Here’s the breakdown: Brain Age: Train Your Brain…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Survey: 47% Of PC Game Purchases Are Digital
Getting sales data for the PC market is hard. The NPD Group try, but they don’t cover digital downloads, so there are big holes in their data. Enter Rock Paper Shotgun’s ginormous reader survey. In an effort to try and get a sense of how many PC purchases are of the digital variety, the PC-focused…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Bruce Shelly And Ensemble Studios Say “Goodbye and Thanks”
Ensemble Studios is being shuttered. The studio’s Bruce Shelly leaves us with one last (and bittersweet) blog post. He writes: “My expectation is that this is the final ES blog that I will write. I have enjoyed pulling it together for the past several years and sharing with you what I could about the inside…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
This Is The New Xbox Experience That Could Have Been
Design firm Grid/plane worked with Microsoft on early design ideas for the New Xbox Experience. While the NXE we ended up with is a different beast, it’s interesting looking at what could have been. While Grid/plane’s ideas obviously centred around a new menu system, they also “dreamt up an immersive 3D environment for users to…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2009 - Uncategorized
Has “Something Big Gone Wrong” At Nintendo?
Respected analyst Hiroshi Kamide thinks so. Following Nintendo’s announcement last night of a cut in profit forecasts, Kamide thinks the revision was made because the company know “something big has gone wrong”. “Today’s revision suggests that the roaring pace of Wii growth that we’ve seen until now may be over”, Kamide told The Times. “The…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 29, 2009