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New Court Ruling Could Affect Used Game Business
If it’s not the advent of digital game that could kill bricks-and-mortar game retailers, it might be the law. A recent Federal appeals court ruling could impact how used games are bought and sold. The Dallas Morning News reports that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that a software publisher can stop buyers…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010 -
A Celebration Of Low-Resolution Game Heroes
Deciding to see how minimalist he could get before iconic video game characters became unrecognisable, artist Alexander Shen limited himself to a 5×5 pixel block. As you can see, even at such low resolution, you can still pick ’em. Street Fighter, Mario, Sonic, they all shine through (though at first glance I’ll admit I thought…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
No More Heroes Developer Gets More Heroes
Earlier this year, Tokyo-based Grasshopper Manufacture snagged Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame from Konami. This month, it also signed two more “name” developers. Yasuhiro Wada, creator of farming sim Harvest Moon, has joined Grasshopper as the company’s new Chief Operating Officer. Yoshiro Kimura, who designed the role-playing game Little King’s Story, will be Grasshopper’s…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010 -
Play As A Panda, Kill All The Humans
As a kid, I loved pandas. My teddy bear was a panda. I thought they were adorable. It’s not until I got older that I found out they can be mean Panda Rampage plays to that fact, putting you in control of China’s fearsome killing machine as it goes on a rampage through London’s Hyde…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
Hollywood And Video Games Should Break Up Pronto
In July 1937, author F. Scott Fitzgerald arrived in Hollywood, California. Fitzgerald was at the tail-end of his writing career and hoped to pick up some extra scratch penning screenplays. He didn’t exactly set the town on fire. He wrote a few original scripts and did a re-write on Gone With The Wind, but only…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010 -
The 24-Hour Gran Turismo Race
Toyota’s stand at this year’s Australian International Motor Show in Sydney will be playing host to a 24-hour race of Gran Turismo 5, beginning at 3pm next Tuesday, October 19, and running until 3pm the following day. Sadly, while the race will be taking place on GT5’s rendition of Germany’s famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, that’s about…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
Pokemon Black And White Rampage Continues In Japan
On September 18, Pokemon: Black and White went on sale in Japan. Even in October, the game continues to barrel through the sales charts. Hot cakes, folks, hot cakes! In the past four weeks, the game has sold over 4 million copies in The Land of the Rising Sun. This is the fastest-selling Pocket Monster…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010 -
Awesome Things I Learned How To Do From Playing Video Games
Most video games, even the craziest ones, are about very real things. Driving. Shooting. Flying. And the more you play these games, you more you learn about those things. I’ve been playing games for 26 years now, and in that time, have flown countless aircraft, countless spacecraft, fired off millions upon millions of rounds of…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
NSFW: This Humping Peripheral Is So Laggy
Motion-sensing peripherals are all the rage. This year, both Microsoft and Sony are releasing new motion-sensing devices that put players in the game. But what about when the game is an erotic game? Japanese adult game maker Illusion Soft is working on tech that puts players in the game by having them stick their wang…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010 -
Duke Nukem Remake Receives Official Blessing From Duke’s Developers
Duke Nukem: Next-Gen, that ambitious attempt to remake the original Duke Nukem 3D using the Unreal Engine, has been granted a “personal non-commercial license” by Gearbox Studios. Meaning it may actually be released. The license means it’s completely cool for the project to not only remake the original game, but to use the Duke Nukem…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
Gran Turismo Creator Explains Delay
Driving simulator Gran Turismo 5 was penciled in for a November 2 release. Good thing that was pencil. The game has been delayed, and its creator has taken to Twitter to explain why. “Apologies for the delay,” Yamauchi tweeted. “It’s because time and labor were spent ironing the kinks out of [the game’s] complex system.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 14, 2010 -
The Prince Of Persia Movie Could Have Been Like This
The Prince of Persia movie, which was great by virtue of not sucking, could have been a little better had the production team stuck to the original script handed in by the game’s original creator, Jordan Mechner. Mechner has posted what he calls his “final draft” of the screenplay, which he pitched to Disney and…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
Drug Dealer Gets Three Years In Wii Bowling Case
A Florida man whose home was notoriously raided by undercover detectives who stopped to play Wii bowling has agreed to a plea bargain that will send him to prison for three years. Michael Difalco, of Lakeland, Fla. was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in the state pen and surrendered a ton of property under…
By Owen Good Published October 14, 2010 -
Big Fixes Coming For Civilization V
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Civilization V, but like any game, it wasn’t perfect. It was a little buggy, and there were some AI missteps. Hopefully, those two issues will be fixed in the game’s first major patch. A “laundry list” of tweaks, additions, fixes and upgrades has been posted online by developers Firaxis,…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
Steam To Introduce Digital Trade-Ins? [Update]
Right now, if you buy a game from Steam, finish it and don’t want it, well, you can…delete it. You can’t go trade it in. But there are whispers that the digital purchase giant is considering implementing such a scheme. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, taking a break from wildly speculating about the future of…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 14, 2010 -
This Week’s Madden Moments Also Are Free [Updated]
Last week’s sponsorship with Verizon Wireless carries over to this week, meaning the three latest “Madden Moments Live” for Week Four of the NFL are free. Ordinarily they’re redeemed with Madden Coins, earned in online play or purchasable outright. All three this week apply the rewrite-history mode to nailbiters from the NFL’s Week Five. They’re…
By Owen Good Published October 13, 2010 -
Ousted Tampa Bay Rays Can Get Back To We Farm Now
Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Rays succumbed to the Texas Rangers in the playoffs. We’re not blaming iPad Farmville clone “We Farm,” but David Price, who made a costly fielding misjudgment in that game, is a big fan of the game. So are fellow starting pitchers James Shields and Matt Garza, who with Price were a…
By Owen Good Published October 13, 2010 -
Mr. Campbell, Mr. Inafune; Inafune-San, Campbell-San
At last, a meeting of masterminds at Comic-Con New York. That’s Keiji Inafune, creator of Capcom’s Dead Rising series, and none other than Bruce Campbell, the iconic actor of The Evil Dead and other pillars of the zombie-film genre.
By Owen Good Published October 13, 2010