All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

I think that if I hadn't played Yoshio Ishii's Cursor*10, I wouldn't have had any idea what was going on in Echoshift. But because I have played both Cursor*10 and its sequel, I had no problem playing Echoshift, because the Echochrome sequel is that game, but side-scrolling. This is not a complaint. Echoshift was one of the most engrossing games at Tokyo Game Show. There's far more room for exploration in the still-fresh time-loop genre.

Sony has announced a new PSP service for designing 3D avatars and "my room" spaces, along with blog, album, and group gathering and chat support. Um ... does this sound familiar to anyone?Yes, it looks like PlayStation Home is coming to PSP ... sort of. PlayStation Room (officially spelled with an infinity symbol in place of the "oo" in Room) will be added to PSP in an upcoming firmware update this winter and can be launched directly from the PlayStation Network section of the XMB. Just like in Home, PSP owners will be able to invite other PlayStation players into their rooms to "enjoy real time communication." Is that what the kids call it these days?While anything remotely resembling PlayStation Home has us reeling with trepidation, we do think Room's stylized avatars look significantly less creepy than the Home avatars ripped from the uncanny valley. We're also hopeful that the advent of Room will mean the addition of much-needed features, like a friends list and proper messaging services. And just imagine the connectivity possibilities: PlayStation HomeRoom! ... Anybody?

How many of you guys had an e-Reader? Were you as pissed as I was that Nintendo didn’t really support the thing? It had such a fantastic commercial, and then it was nothing but wasted potential after that. I still have mine, all in the hopes that some homebrewer will come up [...]

It looks like a lot of you guys jumped on the Zelda posters at Club Nintendo, because many purchases are coming up back-ordered when you check your status. Hopefully you won’t be waiting too long if this is your fate! Thanks to BAMtendo for the heads up.

A portion of an RPGamer review… Easily the worst offender is the complete lack of originality, with the sole exception of the panel system for customization. The completely recycled soundtrack is the height of 358/2 Days’s lack of originality. Fans of Organization XIII will enjoy some insight into their favorite characters’ daily lives, but many fans [...]

The news on the third day of attendance for the Tokyo Game Show has come in, and while the first two press days saw a larger attendance than last year, the first public day has seen a major drop. The show’s first public day managed to bring in 61,138 people, while last year’s show [...]

We almost got through an entire Dragon Age: Origins trailer without crazy industrial music! Almost! Though the latest trailer for BioWare's upcoming fantasy RPG introduces us to an interesting new NPC in Zevran, we were really hoping to enjoy the video without any wildly anachronistic music. As you'll find out, Zevran appears to be a man of the ladies, both wooing them in his later life and growing up around ... um ... ladies of the night, if you will. We look forward to making his acquaintance -- preferably without inappropriately placed music -- when the game releases on October 20.

It's time for Swag Saturday once again, and this week's prize is a doozy. Up for grabs we have not one, not two, but three Guitar Hero games. We've got Xbox 360 copies of Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits and Guitar Hero 5, all for the low, low price of nothing (and all released this year, if you can believe it). And, as if that weren't enough, we're throwing in an extra bass pedal (with splitter cable) too. For your chance to rock with the best of them, follow these simple directions: Leave a comment telling us about your favorite rock and roll moment. You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec, due to a domestic dispute) Limit 1 entry per person per day This entry period ends at 8:31PM ET on Monday, September 28 At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive Guitar Hero: Metallica ($60 ARV), Guitar Hero: Smash Hits ($60 ARV), Guitar Hero 5 ($60 ARV), and a bass pedal game peripheral ($35 ARV) For a list of complete rules, click here

I’m sorry guys, but it’s things like these that will have to hold you over until the game hits WiiWare. Don’t worry, I’ll send your hatred right to Mr. Rodriguez!

Though it's been available in Japan since late May, Capcom's Phoenix Wright spin-off, Gyakuten Kenji, was playable in English form at the publisher's Tokyo Game Show hotel suite. Inefficiently dubbed Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, the game sees you ditching the spiky-haired idealist and donning a delightful cravat in service of the prosecution. In what could have been just another Phoenix Wright game, but presented from an opposing perspective, Ace Attorney Investigations diverges from tradition more than any other title in the series -- which is to say that it actually diverges from tradition just a bit. The focus is still heavily on plot, characters and clever yappin', but the sterile, first-person point-and-click investigation process has now been replaced with a third-person view. The control system is functional, but quite unnatural in one respect. You can maneuver Edgeworth through the 2D environments, displayed on the DS' top screen, by either dragging the stylus across the touch screen or simply using the d-pad (thanks for the option, Edgey!). When you've gotten him close enough to an item of interest, you tap a context-specific icon on the bottom screen to interact with it. So, it's less point-and-click and more walk-over-there-and-tap-the-button.

If you're waiting on pins, needles and mercenary machetes for the film adaptation of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Sony and Naughty Dog have come up with a pretty clever way of biding your time -- sneak previews of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will be given on the massive screens of four theaters in Bellevue, WA, Rosemont, IL, Thousand Oaks, CA and San Francisco, CA on October 5 and 6. SCEA reps and Naughty Dog developers will be around to answer your questions and give you a guided tour of the game. Tickets for the October 5 showings have already sold out -- so you'd better act quickly if you want to see what a two-story-tall half-tuck looks like. We imagine it's a life-changing experience.

Sands of Destruction has been a long time coming. After being released in Japan in September, it was announced for North America in December 2008, and then given a distant release date of January 2010. I was honestly a little surprised that the English version of Image Epoch's RPG was actually in attendance in Sega's meeting room at TGS, as that suggests it's a real game that Sega actually intends to publish. Gallery: Sands of Destruction

Ace Attorney series creator Shu Takumi's next game is Ghost Trick, a puzzle adventure game which is very different from the chronicles of Phoenix and Edgey, but carries over that series' trademarks of humorous characters and sharp, brightly colored suits. There is no English demo for the just-announced DS title yet, so I can't really say anything about the dialogue, but I understood the story in the demo quite well just through animation and gameplay.

Much like 2007's Silent Hill: Origins, the PSP version of Shattered Memories is quite capable of conveying an eerie, unsettling experience, even on a platform that might seem ill-equipped for the survival-horror genre in comparison to home consoles. The Wii re-imagining of Konami's PS1 classic is faithfully represented on Sony's portable, with only a few framerate hiccups tarnishing a very impressive visual representation. Recreating the Wii version's moody ambiance isn't the port's only major success, as it handles the absence of the motion-sensitive remote quite elegantly. Here, you manipulate Harry Mason's flashlight from a third-person perspective by holding R1 and moving the analog nub. While this removes the ability to move and peer into the terrifying town's dark recesses at the same time, the game's generally slow pace makes such multitasking more of a luxury than a necessity.