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Don’t Blame the Recession, Blame the Developers
News of game developers slashing thousands of jobs this week and shutting down studios, seems to dispute the notion of a recession-proof video game industry. But video games are indeed recession proof, it’s the developers and publishers who aren’t. “A recession is about the impact on sales, and layoffs are a function of profitability,” said…
By Brian Crecente Published January 23, 2009 -
House of the Dead Overkill – Terror, Horror, Flesh, And Ice Cream
Sega’s House of the Dead: Overkill isn’t just another House of the Dead game. It’s a House of the Dead game with one hell of a nice trailer. Can’t say the visuals in the trailer do much for me, and I’ve never really been a big fan of the House of the Dead series outside…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 -
SMB Coming To WiiWare – Super Meat Boy
Edmund McMillen, co-creator of the popular independent PC game Gish, dropped us a line to let us know that he was making the jump to WiiWare with his latest, Super Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy is a classic platformer based on the the flash game Meat Boy, which you can still play over at Newgrounds.…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2009 -
Yahoo! Auctions Japan Issues R4 Warning
Yahoo! Auctions Japan has a warning for those sellers putting R4 carts on the online auction blocks. Citing the efforts of Nintendo and third party publishers under the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, Yahoo! points out the legality of these devices themselves has still yet been disclosed by the courts. From a Yahoo! posted notice: “As…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 23, 2009 -
Mega Man Changes Things Up In Star Force 3
Mega Man returns two times to the Nintendo DS this summer, as Capcom announces two new titles in the Star Force Series – Black Ace and Red Joker. Mega Man Star Force 3 continues the Star Force saga, combining the tried and true blend of action and RPG with an all new “Noise Changes” mechanic.…
By Mike Fahey Published January 22, 2009 -
The ‘Mario Kart Love Song’ Now In New, Improved MP3 Format!
Remember mustachioed singer-songwriter Sam Hart’s lovely Mario Kart-themed ballad? Of course you do. It made grown men weep and girly knees weak—and now you can buy it, like a good person of the internet. Mr. Hart has, at the behest of his trusted circle of friends, recorded his original “Mario Kart Love Song” all professional-like…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 22, 2009 -
Cursed Mountain Screens Are Cursed, Mountainous
New screenshots for Deep Silver’s upcoming survival horror title Cursed Mountain go great lengths to showing just how cursed this particular mountain may or may not be. What the screens actually do is give us a look at Cursed Mountain’s expansive scale and some of the unique enemies you’ll come across on your journey to…
By Mike Fahey Published January 22, 2009 -
Mourn The Mature Wii Horror Game ‘Winter,’ You May Never Play it
Bemoaning the lack of mature, long-session games on the Wii? Then you might want to avoid looking at n-Space’s aborted Winter, a survival horror game for the Wii that will, quite possibly, never be released. IGN’s exclusive look at Winter, from the developer of the lukewarm Gamecube title Geist, is about as depressing for “core”…
By Michael McWhertor Published January 21, 2009 -
Wii Fit Helps Paralyzed Girl Walk Again
A 10-year-old girl left paralyzed by a virus four years ago is learning to walk again thanks to her doctors and a copy of Wii Fit, Ireland’s Herald.ie writes. The girl took her first steps in four years at a New York hospital late last year. Now, back in her home town of Wexford, Ireland,…
By Brian Crecente Published January 21, 2009 -
Governor-General Visits Afghanistan To Drop Off A Wii
Background info: Australia has a Governor-General. Read up on that here. Anyway, she was in Afghanistan today, paying a surprise visit to Australian troops stationed there. Troops who were bored. So Governor-General Quentin Bryce flew in, said hello, shook some hands, dropped off a Wii and left. Bemused troops smiled, shook hands, waved goodbye, asked…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 21, 2009 -
Wii Is The New PS2, PS3 Is The New…
…GameCube. Website VentureBeat crunched the NPD numbers and has turned up the following results: • Based on the console’s first 26 months of availability, the Wii is on its way to become the best-selling console of all time — a title currently held by the PS2. (The Wii has been outselling the PS2.) • During…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 20, 2009 -
No Photography, No Jumping, No Zombies
We already knew that Dead Rising: Chop ‘Til You Drop is lacking in the brain-eating-walking-dead department. But it’s missing more than just zombies — some of it good, some of it very bad. According to the latest Nintendo Power (via Capcom-Unity), there are the differences in Dead Rising: Chop ‘Til You Drop You ready? Cause…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 19, 2009 -
Massive Wii Game Sales Driven By Only A Handful Of Wii Games
Pareto’s Principle says 80% of effects are brought about by only 20% of causes. It’s a handy rule, and one the NPD Group are busting out to try and explain 2008’s year in software sales. See, over the last few years, video game sales have held true to Pareto’s Principle. In that 20% of games…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2009 -
Welcome To the Family: A Letter From Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway
Welcome to the Family is a series of three letters that will run this week from the heads of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. We asked each of the companies to write up a welcome letter to new owners of their consoles. They did the rest. We are running them in the order they were received.…
By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009 -
Obama Family Brings Gaming One Generation Closer to the Presidency
President elect Barack Obama’s first day in office Tuesday will bring gamers one step closer to the White House. This Christmas Obama bought his family a Wii, something he plans to have set up in the family’s main TV room on the second floor of the White House. This morning I stumbled across an fictional…
By Brian Crecente Published January 19, 2009 -
Weekly Wii Update: MUSHA And Friends
This week’s Nintendo Wii update brings with it a couple of WiiWare titles from Aksys and High Voltage Software, and MUSHA – one of the most expensive Genesis games you’re likely to find. We’ll do the Virtual Console this week first, as I am extremely excited to see MUSHA (800 points) showing up on the…
By Mike Fahey Published January 19, 2009 -
Wesley Snipes Wants To Visit Sony Wii Town
Wesley Snipes is at Sundance. Sounds surprisingly coherent, looks surprisingly law-abiding! Anyway, turns out he’s not there for the movies. He’s there for Wii Town. Where he can get a Sony Wii. And when he does get one? He can make a movie out of the whole experience. After all, like he says in the…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 19, 2009 -
Why Nintendo Won’t Conquer Russia
Sure, Nintendo might be conquering Europe, but Russia is another beast altogether. Just ask Napoleon — or Hitler. Hey, just ask both! Inna Bukatina, head of international licensing and acquisition at Russian publisher GFI, believes that Nintendo won’t take over Russia like the rest of the globe. The reason? The Wii is only a game…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 19, 2009 -
Duck Hunt for a Dollar, ’til Ninty Bags It
A Duck Hunt knockoff for the iPhone and iPod touch is available for 99 cents, but it lacks two key things: Nintendo’s approval, and the Asshole Dog. Venture Beat’s MG Siegler found the app, which calls its emulator the iPES, probably another reason Nintendo’s gonna smash it, as if the dead ripoff quality of gameplay…
By Owen Good Published January 17, 2009