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The Horror of Mario’s Enemies
It’s a good thing the early Mario games were so low-fi. If they’d shown your enemies in as high a resolution as they appear here, we’d have all been crapping our childhood pants. These, uh, interpretations of some of Mario’s foes were drawn by Mike Puncekar. Some of them, like Lakitu, are just cool. But…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 14, 2011 -
Watch Ezio’s Dad at Work This November
Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, the series of short, live-action films serving as a prequel to Assassin’s Creed II (and its own to “sequels”), will be out on DVD this November. To be released by New Video, they’ll be collected into the single volume on DVD and Blu-ray and released on November 15. Included with the set…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 14, 2011 -
Let’s Look at Nintendo Video. Together!
It might not be exciting, but Nintendo Video is free. And that’s all that counts, no? Nintendo recently launched a new video service cleverly called Nintendo Video. Geddit? In the above clip, I check out some of the new clips and recommend that you attend a fashion show in Tokyo. You really should. Really.
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 14, 2011 -
The Strange Studio Born of Two Rival Companies
The Ridge Racer game for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Vita will be the product of a unique studio: one that was established not by one major publisher, but as part of a partnership between two Cellius, the developer in question, is a joint venture between Sony Computer Entertainment and Namco Bandai, born of 2007 negotiations between…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 14, 2011 -
Bread. In a Can.
Mmm. Bread. Delicious (well, somewhat) canned bread. In Japan, canned bread is a tasty treat for otaku. Don’t believe me? Among the t-shirts and hug pillows being offered at an upcoming event for Xbox 360 game Dream Club, there are cans of bread. The cans feature characters from the virtual hostess game. If you’ve never…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 14, 2011 -
Yup, Another Obscure Japanese Game is Coming to the PC
Carpe Fulgur, the same guys who brought 2010 surprise hit Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale to the West, is back with another obscure Japanese game soon to be an obscure Japanese games with English language localisation. Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone will be CF’s next title, their third (the second being Chantelise) since…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 14, 2011 -
Two Million People Signed Up to Test a Call of Duty Community Feature
The beta test for Call of Duty Elite kicks off tomorrow, with invitations to be sent out to those selected for the the first run. Does that mean you? Maybe. Depends if you signed up to test something that’s not even a game! The first emails for successful applicants (of which there were around two…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 14, 2011 -
Microsoft has Rights to Make Another South Park XBLA Game
Microsoft has a two-game deal with Comedy Central for its South Park license, which implies that another Xbox Live Arcade game could be on the way, following 2009’s South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! Joystiq uncovered that nugget in a discussion with Prithvi Virasinghe of 345 Games, which is the games production arm of…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
The Big Games and the Can’t Miss Events of Comic-Con 2011
Are you going to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con? Then you must love video games, a medium that has a stronger presence than ever at the annual gathering of people passionate about comic books, toys, superheroes, sci-fi and everything nerdy enough to pack a convention center. Video games are big—really big—at this year’s show. Top…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 13, 2011 -
NBA Jam Creator Leaves EA Sports for Zynga
Mark Turmell, the creator of the NBA Jam series that saw a revival last year on modern consoles, has left EA Sports for the social games developer Zynga, Kotaku has learned. Turmell’s is the latest in a string of notable departures from EA Tiburon, one of two EA Sports studios and the production site of…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
All Mass Effect Comics are Free Until Tomorrow Afternoon
Dark Horse is offering all of its Mass Effect comics for free, over the web, for the next 24 hours, a promotional move for both an upcoming Dark Horse Mass Effect series and surely tied to a panel at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con. The promotion ends tomorrow at 3 p.m. EDT. The problem is,…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
Computer Learns to Play Civilization by Reading the Instruction Manual
Starting from nothing, a computer taught itself to read the instruction manual for Civilization and saw its rate of victory jump from 46 percent to 79 percent. That is according to researchers at University College London, who developed “meaning-inferring algorithms” that, when applied to the computer, took it from zero understanding of its task to…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
See More of Hard Reset, the PC Exclusive with Shades of Blade Runner and Painkiller
The people who teased their PC exclusive shooter with a single screen shot last month have finally unveiled the mysterious sci-fi project they’re working on. This is Hard Reset, the cyberpunk first-person shooter from people who worked on Painkiller, Bulletstorm and The Witcher 2 PC Gamer has exclusive details on this “dark sci-fi” shoot ’em…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 13, 2011 -
Angry Birds Maker Says It’s Worth More than PopCap
Whatever Electronic Arts is spending to acquire PopCap, its casual gaming rival Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, would cost more. That’s according to … well, Rovio. “The valuation from our point of view is somewhere, I dunno, maybe north of PopCap,” Ville Heijari, the vice president of franchise development, told Eurogamer. Let’s remember that…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
Cubano
Cuban Delicacies – Went to a neat Latin American restaurant around the corner and grabbed a bit to eat. They had quite a selection. Best part, though, atmosphere. (Photo by Brian Crecente) Continuity 2 Would Make Super Mario One Paranoid Plumber What if Super Mario was locked in a room and the walls kept moving…
By Brian Crecente Published July 13, 2011 -
The 10 Best Moments in Pro-Gaming History
Competitive gaming and eSports are not a new phenomenon. The act of playing games for sport has been growing in popularity since the mid 90’s. From Doom 2 deathmatch, NetQuake and Descent, to Warcraft 2 on Kali, Diablo and Ultima Online PvP—to say nothing of going down to the local arcade to spend your quarters…
Rod 'Slasher' Breslau Published July 13, 2011 -
Named Rosters Already Available for NCAA Football 12
At more than 6,000 names, all of which must be manually entered, custom rosters for NCAA Football is annually one of the biggest community projects in sports gaming. Accurately named files were available yesterday—the day of release—for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. The files are accessible by going to the Team Management menu…
By Owen Good Published July 13, 2011 -
L.A. Noire Is Japan’s Bestselling Game, Just One of Many Western Successes
Japan’s hottest game right now is not made in Japan, which doesn’t happen often. Maybe more surprising is that four of the top 10 games on the country’s bestseller list weren’t made in Japan either. Rockstar Games and Team Bondi’s L.A. Noire enjoyed first place distinction in this week’s software chart, with more than 70,000…
By Michael McWhertor Published July 13, 2011 -
Tribes: Ascend Makes Its Playable Debut at QuakeCon 2011
Fans eager to see what Atlanta-based Hi-Rez Studios is doing to the Tribes franchise should head for QuakeCon in Dallas August 4 through 7, where Tribes: Ascend will be available in playable form, with closed beta keys up for grabs.
By Mike Fahey Published July 13, 2011
