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EA Getting Getting Into “Visceral Games”?
Electronic Arts may have one more publishing sub-brand up its corporate sleeve, filing trademarks for the name “Visceral Games.” What EA has planned for a possible Visceral brand, we honestly don’t know. But we have guesses! It’s no secret that EA loves to slap carefully market researched labels like “All-Play,” “Freestyle” and “BIG” on its…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Empire: Total War Ships, Will Celebrate With Upcoming Patch
Empire: Total War has been out a little over 24 hours and already Creative Assembly is planning a patch for next week. Remember when “release date” meant the game was done? Total War forum complaints call out issues with the trade route system that occur when shipping goods with some factions to some cities. There…
By AJ Glasser Published March 5, 2009 -
Dawn Of War II Tops Global PC Sales
Dawn of War II didn’t just do big business in the US. It’s done big business the world over, with publishers THQ announcing that game went straight to #1 across most of the Western world. Calling upon the same global sales data that we used to get those handy worldwide sales charts from, it’s been…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 5, 2009 -
PlayStation 3 Outsells Everything Else In Japan Thanks To Yakuza Influence
The PlayStation 3 outsold the Wii and Xbox 360 in Japan this week. It also outsold the Nintendo DSi, PSP, DS Lite and PlayStation 2, not something we’ve seen happen too often. The hardware boost, propelling the PS3 out of its regular fourth place finish, can be chalked up to the release of Yakuza 3…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Play Unreal Tournament 3 For Free Right Now
Steam hosts a free Unreal Tournament 3 weekend, slashes the price down to $11.99 USD and renames it Unreal Tournament 3 Black. Spontaneous generosity, or a loud death rattle? The “Black” version of the game includes the v2.0 patch and newly released Titan Pack expansion. Titan added 16 new environments, three maps and a bunch…
By AJ Glasser Published March 5, 2009 -
Ruffian Games Concept Art Doesn’t Exactly Scream Crackdown 2
When Ruffian Games popped onto the scene, forming a new development studio comprised of ex-Crackdown staffers, the assumption was that it was hard at work on Crackdown 2. But this doesn’t look quite like Crackdown. This “goliath” piece just popped up on the Dundee-based developer’s web site, with nary a detail or hint about what…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Dance Dance Revolution Steps Over To iPhone
Konami has served iPhone gamers Dance Dance Revolution S, a portable version of its fancy footwork rhythm game that trades in frantic legwork and perspiration for lots and lots of touchscreen tapping. Gameplay is as straightforward as it gets, requiring players to tap four touchscreen arrows in time as they scroll by to the beat…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
GameStop CEO Dooms Amazon’s Used Game Biz To Failure
In a shocking turn of events, GameStop CEO Don Matteo has weighed in on Amazon.com’s new attempts to enter the used video games business, saying that the online retailer has no chance of succeeding. “I give the probability of this working at zero,” DeMatteo told Edge Online, noting that the immediacy of credit and cash…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Have You Ever Seen A Dog Smile?
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: What Makes A Quarter Pounder A Quarter Pounder? I noticed something today. When our puppy LittleFoot is really, really happy, he smiles. I don’t mean like when a dog pants. I mean his lips actually curl up into a smile. It happened twice today. He was wagging his tail so…
By Brian Crecente Published March 5, 2009 -
PlayStation Store Update: The End And The Epilogue
This week’s North American PlayStation Store cannot escape the watch of the Watchmen, as Watchmen: The End Is Nigh joins a handful of Watchmen promo videos, making you that much more Watchmen fatigued. The new Watchmen brawler is hardly the only thing PlayStation Store shoppers have to download this week, with the Prince of Persia…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Next GameTrailers TV Reveals Split Second, New World At War Downloadable Content
While first footage of new downloadable content for Call of Duty: World At War will probably draw the most viewers, it’s the first look at Split Second that makes the next GameTrailers TV enticing. The action racing game from Disney and Pure developers Black Rock Studios is given but a few seconds in the teaser…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
WordFu Makes Spelling Fun on the iPhone
I’ll admit it, I have a bit of a iPhone addiction. So I go through an unhealthy number of games on my phone every week. Often they lose my interest after a day or two. But I’m quite captivated with WordFu, a blending of Yahtzee and Scrabble with a few power-ups and plenty of silly…
By Brian Crecente Published March 5, 2009 -
Last chance to name your favorite Matt Hazard Game.
D3’s gone way out of their way to create a backstory for their fictional video game hero Matt Hazard. Now it’s your turn. Tell us the name of your favorite Matt Hazard game from years past and enter for a chance to win a copy of Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard Everyone has…
By Chrissie Lamond Published March 5, 2009 -
Xbox Live Ushering In Weeks Of “Days Of Arcade”
Microsoft is kicking off the sequel to its Xbox Live Summer of Arcade, ushering in a batch of long-promised XBLA titles starting March 18. First up? Hasbro Family Game Night. Boom goes the dynamite! Alright, that may not get many of you as psyched as the impending release of Outrun Online Arcade or Lode Runner,…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Tour Aion’s Lovely Poeta Zone
Following up last week’s tour of the Altgard Zone, NCsoft takes us on a tour of Poeta, another massive zone in their massively multiplayer online role-playing game Aion: The Tower of Eternity. I think Aion finally has me now. After seeing this video and last week’s, I haven’t wanted to explore a massively-multiplayer world this…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2009 -
News Show Looks At Death of Xbox Runaway, Dark Side of Gaming
This Friday CBC News show The Fifth Estate takes a look at the sad case of teen gamer runaway Brandon Crisp. Crisp, 15, ran away from his home on Oct. 14, 2008 after his parents took away his Xbox 360. He had been playing too much Call of Duty 4 and his grades were slipping.…
By Brian Crecente Published March 5, 2009 -
BioWare Celebrates Dragon Age Novel Release With Screenshots
BioWare celebrates the release of prequel novel Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne with a handful of screenshots from their upcoming PC role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins. See, books do not contain pictures, which some would say is part of their charm. This particular book, written by veteran video game writer David Gaider, has many words,…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2009 -
BioShock 2 Warns “There’s Something In The Sea”
Take-Two has officially set the BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams hype machine in motion, launching a new teaser web site for the game and plastering viral marketing posters linked to the online marketing effort. There’s not much to see at the “There’s Something In The Sea” site outside of photo of the Big Daddy doll…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 5, 2009 -
Rockstar Most Consistent Publisher, Ubisoft Least Consistent
Self-described Metacritic-expert Tim Sweezey over at GameQuarry.Com has a fascinating report up about the developers that are most consistent in publishing a certain quality of game. In other words, their games are consistently good, bad, mediocre, just as long as they are consistent. While on the one had you might say that’s not very worthwhile…
By Brian Crecente Published March 5, 2009 -
What Could Make The Beatles: Rock Band Worth $250?
With The Beatles: Rock Band now officially dated and priced, we take a look at what songs and instruments need to be represented in order to make the Premium Bundle worth $250. $250 is a rather large chunk of change to lay out on another bundled music game. The Premium Bundle of Harmonix’s Rock Band…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2009