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25-Year-Old Dragon Quest Games Are Big In Japan Right Now
Japan’s love affair for all things Dragon Quest is clearly on display this week, as sales of the Dragon Quest Collection—or if you prefer its Japanese name Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I, II, III—crack a quarter million. Not too shabby! The first three Dragon Quest games for the Famicom and Super Famicom stuffed…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 21, 2011 -
In Mario and Luigi’s Case, Clothes Do Make the Man
Today we all know that Luigi is the taller of the two Mario brothers, but back in the old days the difference wasn’t quite as easy to notice. To think that Luigi was just a pair of red and blue overalls away from being the star of one of the greatest video game franchises of…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011 -
PlayStation Network Returns, Sony Apologizes for Downtime
After a few hours offline, Sony’s PlayStation Network is back in working order. Sony tweets “If you encountered issues logging in today, try logging in now. Apologies for the inconvenience!” PS3 owners, you good to go?
By Michael McWhertor Published September 21, 2011 -
How Not To Make Fun of Nintendo Fanboys
See, his attractive girlfriend thinks he’s a regular guy, but when she leaves the apartment we find out he’s really a closet Nintendo fan, which is horrible, right? As a gaming comedy video, “The Closet Nintendo Freak” fails on several different levels. For instance, the notion that in this day and age a video game…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011 -
Tweet About Bunch of Heroes or This Indie Dev Dies!
I think this is a marketing stunt. I don’t think they’re really going to kill Daniel Benmergui if we don’t collectively talk about Bunch of Heroes. But let’s play it safe, why don’t we? Bunch of Heroes, due out today for the PC, puts up to four players against an army of the undead and…
By Brian Crecente Published September 21, 2011 -
Halo Anniversary Minimates Put Cortana in Your Pocket
All I ever wanted was a clear blue curvy woman to call my own, and that’s exactly what we’re getting in Diamond Select Toys’ commemorative Halo Anniversary Minimates set. Coming this winter to a specialty toy seller near you, the Halo Anniversary Minimates set marks the debut of Cortana, Master Chief’s A.I. love interest, in…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011 -
Payday: The Heist Lets You Recreate Hollywood’s Best Capers with Three Friends
In my hour spent wearing a macabre clown mask robbing banks, looting armored vans and freeing prisoners, I rarely managed to succeed. It wasn’t because I didn’t have the tactics, or the ability, it was because I had, perhaps, a tad too much avarice. In most of the four scenarios of four-player cooperative shooter Payday:…
By Brian Crecente Published September 21, 2011 -
Metroid‘s Zero Suit Samus Given the ‘Genzoman’ Treatment
GENZOMAN created one hell of a cover illustration for Screw Attack Magazine‘s Anniversary issue. Check out the alternative piece w/ full text here Related Rampages: Fantasy Street Fighter | Zelda (More) Metroid by Gonzalo Ordonez Arias / GENZOMAN Via: svalts Need your daily fill of geek eye candy? If so, head over to Justin Page’s…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 21, 2011 -
A Speed Run Through a Gravity Defying, Laser-Shooting, Crate Throwing PS3 Game
Technically, by speed run I mean playing through a level of Rochard without dying faster than I did during my brief time with the game. The 2D platformer hits the PS3’s Playstation Network next week for $10. In it you play as the titular Rochard, a hapless space miner armed with a laser gun that…
By Brian Crecente Published September 21, 2011 -
Halo, Mass Effect 2, DC #1s and — New Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans Top This Week’s New Comics
Each Wednesday brings new comics worth reading. Some of them are about video games. This month, a lot of them are new DC super-hero comics, since that company is re-launching everything. Read on for recommendations of this week’s best stuff and for my capsule reviews of DC’s second wave of new books… Comics You Should…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 21, 2011 -
Sony’s PlayStation Network Goes Down, Now Expected to Return Today [Update: We’re Back!]
For the better part of the day, PlayStation 3 owners have been unable to take their consoles online via Sony’s PlayStation Network, a seemingly unplanned network outage that the company says it’s “working hard on restoring.” PlayStation Network service appears to have been interrupted early on Wednesday morning, with functionality still not restored. The company…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 21, 2011 -
David Hasselhoff Takes On an Ice Cream Truck in the Latest Burnout: Crash Trailer
If there’s one thing that video game trailers could use more of, it’s David Hasselhoff. So thank goodness for Criterion and EA, who conscripted the ‘Hoff to appear in the latest trailer for the just-released downloadable Xbox Kinect game Burnout: Crash. In the trailer, a swingin’ party is underway, and in its midst a dude…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 21, 2011 -
Early Dark Souls Players Thwarted in Typically Brutal Fashion
Dark Souls doesn’t launch in Japan until tomorrow, but some players have managed to get their hands on copies early and are playing away without a care in the world. That is, until From Software invades their games with level 145 Black Phantoms. Utilizing Dark Souls‘ game-invading mechanic to their advantage, the folks at From…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011 -
What It Will Take to Win the Next Console War
Veteran video game designer Soren Johnson doesn’t pick Great Motion Controls or Best Graphics as the most important weapon in the next generation of video game console wars. He picks the thing that Apple’s doing so well. Know this about Soren Johnson: he helped figure out the mathematical formula for religion (video game version). He’s…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 21, 2011 -
This is How the Diablo III Beta Ends
Last night Crecente took us through the first ten minutes of the Diablo III beta test with his Witch Doctor. Now let’s take a look at the beta’s final moments with my lovely Monk. After helping rid the town of New Tristam of various lingering undead creatures and retrieving the crown of the Skeleton King,…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011 -
Sideway: New York is Maybe Super Paper Mario on the Ceiling, and Floor, And Wall
In Sideway: New York players take on a graffiti artist turned into a piece of his own art after taking on the wrong tagger rival. It’s a shaky premise attached to some mind-twisting gameplay that has your playing as a flat bit of art sliding along the walls, ground, floors and roofs of New York’s…
By Brian Crecente Published September 21, 2011 -
NCIS Games Sure to Delight Video Game Playing Senior Citizens
This fall Ubisoft teams up with CBS to bring the award-winning NCIS series to video games, letting fans of special agent Gibbs and crew perform their own Naval criminal investigations, provided they can figure out that confounded video game system. Enjoyed by elderly people around the world, the NCIS franchise is a wellspring of introductory…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011 -
Biggie Smalls Plus Warcraft is Weirdly Amusing
The language is not safe for work and disconcerting if you’re not used to white people earnestly reciting profane rap lyrics that use a certain word… but with those warnings out of the way, check out Warning of Warcraft. This video, made by video game voice actor Oliver Vaquer, taking Biggie’s hit song Warning and…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 21, 2011 -
It’s Time To Align Your Star Wars: The Old Republic Guild
Phase one of guild creation for The Old Republic is complete, resulting in thousands of pre-game guilds just waiting to form on launch day, but what server will they launch on? That’s where phase two comes in. Let’s get aligned! Having your guild formed before the game comes out is all well and good, but…
By Mike Fahey Published September 21, 2011