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Massive Gundam Pod Arcade Game Getting PSP Version
Japanese arcade title Gundam Senjou no Kizuna is rumored to be getting a PSP version. Interesting (odd, even) as the original has pod-shaped networked arcade cabinets with panoramic screens. Nothing’s been confirmed by Namco Bandai or the arcade game’s site, this PSP reboot is apparently slated for next March. If this is true, this does…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
New Dragon Quest IX Screens
Dragon Quest IX is coming. Japan shall quake upon its release. While we wait out these last few months before it’s out, then, let’s take a look at about a gazillion new screenshots! Oh, and some new details as well. The game’s main character starts off as an angel. And that tanned girl? She’s tanned…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
Resident Evil 5 Producer: “Japan Is Target Of Western Developers”
Watch out, Japan! Western game developers are out to getcha. This concerns Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi a bunch. But should it? Takeuchi confesses to Japanese magazine Famitsu: “I’m worried about the movements of Western developers. Japan is now their target — it’s the last big marketplace. The truth is that Western studios are…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
Where Bad Games Go To Die (RIP Tabula Rasa)
Upon their death, great men are afforded a sending off befitting of their stature. Pity Tabular Rasa, then, as EB Games in Canada seems more content to roll its lifeless corpse into the nearest ditch. Reader Shane sends these pics of a dumpster behind his local outlet. Those aren’t display copies. They’re sealed, retail ones.…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
Square Enix President Sends New Years Greeting In Poetic Prose (No, Really)
Doom! Gloom!! Bittersweet optimism!!! Square Enix president Yoichi Wada rallies the troops with a New Years message titled “Riding The Current.” It’s corporate poetry. Riding the Current Season’s Greetings to everyone and a Happy New Year. This year has begun with a torrent of economic difficulty. A continuous cycle of recession will accelerate the process…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
These Were The Most-Played Games Over Xbox Live In 2008
Don’t you go thinking just because it’s January we’re done with the “best of 2008” lists. Because we are so not. Latest comes courtesy of Microsoft’s Larry Hryb, and charts the years top Xbox Live games. First, we have the twenty most popular full-price games. Note the two games whose demos made the cut, but…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
Famitsu Editor-In-Chief Makes Lofty Dragon Quest IX Sales Estimate
Famitsu Editor-in-Chief Hirokazu Hamamura has looked into his crystal ball and has opinions about how Dragon Quest IX will do in 2009. And it’ll do mega, he forecasts. According to Hamamura, “March [DQIX‘s launch month] will be bigger than the year-end sales war. Even side-stories (such as Dragon Quest Monsters) have sold a million copies,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
Japan’s Best And Worst Sellers By Platform
The best of the best! The best of the worst! Here’s a look at the sales tallies for the biggest sellers (and not sellers) in Japan broken down by platform. Oh, the suspense. Eds Note: This sales data appears crunched from Enterbrain and Famitsu source data. We’ve marked this story as a “rumor” since the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 5, 2009 - Uncategorized
Gamestop Not Accepting Xboxes Feb. 9
We got tipped by an anonymous Gamestop employee that the chain won’t accept original Xbox games, consoles and accessories as of Feb. 9. Looks like this is officially it for the console. Says our tipster: “The Marketing kit for this coming Sunday has a sign that says Gamestop will no longer be accepting Xbox games,…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
The Hunt Begins
To: Luke From: Owen Re: Rain Delay Well the search for full-time work will be officially under way this week, now that we’re past the holidays and into the first quarter of the new year. Pretty much everyone I asked said no one would be looking to make moves until after January. So that justified…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Week in Games: Gone to the Dogs
The first multiplatform drop of 2009 goes out Tuesday, but man, I’d walk around it like it was a swamp. Hotel for Dogs, based on a movie of the same name, smells a smidge shovel-y. Also this week, PC gamers get Saint’s Row 2. The rest of the haul? Not our kind, dear. All told,…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Modder Building a Better D-Pad
The limitations of the 360’s D-pad are well known (and well trolled). This modder’s building a D-pad with eight individual switches so that when he hits a diagonal, dammit, he hits a diagonal. John, the modder, wrote us directly about this. While he acknowledges that sanding down the casing that surrounds the circular pad may…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 -
UncategorizedTheremin Hero Nails “Still Alive”
This gentleman goes after Portal’s “Still Alive” in Rock Band 2 using a rather novel approach: a theremin. How’d he do? Much better than you might expect. “Theremin Hero” doesn’t look like a mod per se, he just outputs the instrument to a set of headphones and rests the RB2 mike in the cups. So…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Mixing Music in a Video Game for the Blind
Video, of course, takes its root from the Latin word for “see.” So a “video game” for those who have lost their sight might look like a paradox, but it doesn’t sound like one. Gambit Game Lab, a collaboration of developers at MIT and Singapore, have developed AudiOdyssey as a proof-of-concept that games can be…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Gamer Kid Gets Hedgehog Legalized in Kansas
Judson King 11, looooooves him some Sonic. He asked his mom for a real hedgehog. Unfortunately, Mom said, they were banzored under city code. So he worked for three years to get it changed. It’s a heartwarming tale of a child’s love and determination, and learning about things like government and how to lobby it…
By Owen Good Published January 4, 2009 - Uncategorized
Make a Laser Out of Sort-of-Essential 360 Parts
Want to build a super cool James Bond laser that burns shit, but don’t have a blue diode? Well, they cost about $50 here – nah, screw it, let’s trash this $200 Xbox 360 instead. Click to view Seriously, after watching this, I can’t figure out why exactly the 360’s blue diode, and not any…
By Owen Good Published January 3, 2009 -
UncategorizedSome Things You Can’t Unsee (or Unhear)
The other day I was playing Left 4 Dead and I said to myself, “Self, I really wish this game had more obese zombie asscrack.” Lo and behold, FPSBanana heard my silent plea. One of its users, DarkSider1972, uploaded this thong skin, which puts the boomer in a “Sexy Beast” thong. He attaches this droll…
By Owen Good Published January 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Illinois Legislates Out of Existence Something That Doesn’t Exist
Alcopops are a huge concern for fear-addled parents, because they’re sweet, alcoholic, and a gateway drug to total douche behavior. So Illinois is taking a courageous stand by banning alcopop ads from video games. That’s right, Illinois, home of Senate seat firesales and previously abortive (and unconstitutional) efforts to regulate game content, made sure that…
By Owen Good Published January 3, 2009 -
UncategorizedA Look at the Cancelled, Never-Announced “Stormbirds”
Before THQ shuttered Juice Games, the studio was working on a H.A.W.X.-esque game called Stormbirds. A Juice artist put out and then pulled back some pics and a video, but cat’s outta the bag now. The team working on this were “made redundant” (i.e., fired) on Dec. 1 because THQ made the decision Stormbirds was…
By Owen Good Published January 3, 2009 - Uncategorized
Steve Wiebe Explains His Stampede Score
If you saw this week’s King of Stampede, you might have wondered “Why the hell was Steve Wiebe getting a certified score on that game?” In this outtake, I asked, and he answered. Steve also explains how he ended up with a cameo in “Four Christmases” (as “Jim”, the husband-who-never-talks, playing Donkey Kong on the…
By Owen Good Published January 3, 2009