All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

The moon rises and chaos reigns October 23rd through November 2nd.

Get a chance to play the season's biggest Sony games.

Critter Crunch sales haven't been all sunshine and rainbow vomit for developer Capybara Games. The Examiner took note of a post on NeoGAF in which a representative for the developer said the team was "very sad" because the game is "not selling so hot." He went on to say that next week's demo will hopefully spur more folks to gobble down the adorably disturbing puzzler.The $7 price for entry easily makes Critter Crunch one of the best values on the PSN, so what went wrong? The entire situation reminds us of a panel we attended at the Game Developers Conference this year, where several developers of downloadable titles noted that sales for digitally distributed titles drop off dramatically during the holiday season. Braid's Jonathan Blow noted that "March or June or August" are the release windows that downloadable game developers should hope for.Honestly, if Capybara wants to push some sales, it'll send us a picture of its little guy crying (no, sobbing) and we'll use it in a post to break people's hearts and guilt them into buying the game.[Via Destructoid]

Nintendo says it has a surprise in store for Wii owners who connect online.

Click to invade our gallerySpace Invaders Extreme 2 hasn't managed to build up much hype; an unfortunate circumstance that can be attributed to Square Enix mentioning the North American release of the game once, in May, and then not again until just now. In fact, had it not been for Nintendo's release calendar, we wouldn't have been certain of the release date (October 20 -- a.k.a. next Tuesday) until today, when Taito's parent company, Square Enix, confirmed it. Is it too late to pre-order?And so, we're only too happy to use this occasion to refresh your memory: Space Invaders Extreme 2 is out very soon! In fact, it's been out all month in Europe and has garnered positive reviews. Turn on a strobe light and have a look at the new screens to prepare yourself for the sequel to one of the best games of 2008.

Nintendo's peripheral gives UbiSoft's snowboarding sequel a bit of a kick.

After Uncharted the First hit Japan with the force of a thousand baby chicken feathers, we didn't think the game's sequel would have much of an impact in the region. It seems we were mistaken -- according to a gaming retailer blog called Sinobi, Uncharted 2 sold 47,000 units in its first day at retail in Japan. Sure, it's not the biggest launch ever, but it's a huge improvement over the original Uncharted's first-day sales of 7,300 units. Of course, the original Uncharted didn't have the massive install base and Sony marketing support that Naughty Dog's latest endeavor has -- nor did it possess the simply stunning box art seen above. Seriously, Japanese Uncharted 2 box art, we're gonna need that breath back. You know, that breath that you took away. [Via Andriasang; image credit]

Travel the world on a river of clouds.

Fight for your life against bloodthirsty dinosaurs.

Woo hoo, and you will feel LEGO Rock Band.

We've known for quite some time that Queen DLC was to grace Rock Band Weekly. Yes, we've dubbed it the "All The Good Ones Except for Bohemian Rhapsody" Track Pack, but that doesn't make the offering any less exciting. Next week's update will have living-room bands cringe as their respective vocalists attempt with all their might to sing like Freddie Mercury. Then again, if the kids of Glee can sing "Somebody to Love" together, then maybe everyone in the band should pitch in.Check out the full Rock Band Weekly update, along with the update for Rock Band Unplugged, after the break. Select a platform below to view complete DLC listing:

Sony Online Entertainment's online gaming catalog offers virtual trick-or-treating, holiday themed quests, spooky decorations, and ghoulish minigames.

New baseball sim hits PC's.

Six on six football with a goblin to feature as one of the many diverse co-operative gameplay elements in Allods Online.

Sega stages new collaborations for upcoming online RPG.

Time to swash your buckles.

Bakko Ryosei and Tadakatsu Honda join the cast.

The Game Informer preview of Junction Point's Epic Mickey is out, revealing not only the game's art style and Mickey's retro-inspired look, but details of the storyline and characters as well -- definitely worth picking up the mag to see, even if it means another trip into GameStop. One of the most interesting details isn't really in the game, but about the game. The antagonist, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, almost wasn't included -- kinda hard to be epic without a bad guy, you know? "Disney didn't own the rights to Oswald," designer Warren Spector explained to Game Informer. The Epic Mickey project was apparently of such importance, though, that Disney CEO Bob Iger made a deal with NBC Universal and "traded Al Michaels, a human sportscaster, for the rights to a cartoon rabbit." For what evil purpose was Universal keeping Oswald locked away? We may never know.At Game Informer's website, see the first look at Epic Mickey's environments, along with more of that wonderful concept art.

What do Undead Knights, Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising, NBA 2K10, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes and Cars: Race O Rama have in common? All of these are PSP games released on UMD after the PSP Go's October 1 launch -- and all are currently without a digital equivalent. Owners of the Go system are unable to play these games because they simply aren't unavailable on the PlayStation Store.Once again, Sony's hands-off approach to the PlayStation Network means third parties are responsible for getting their content on both UMD and the PlayStation Store. "It's up to individual third parties to decide if and when to publish their UMD releases on PSN. Most, if not all, are on board, as this is a revenue opportunity for them," we were told by Eric Lempel, SCEA's director of PlayStation Network operations. Namco, the one publisher that returned our request for comment, noted specifically that "there are currently no plans to release Akatsuki Rising on PSN right now," despite its October 6 release on UMD.We highly encourage Sony to make simultaneous digital releases of PSP games a requirement for publishers, not merely a suggestion. The company previously issued a mandate for PS3 games to include trophies in 2009 -- a similar policy must be enforced on the PSP. Without it, there's no guarantee that all future PSP games will ever be playable on the PSP Go.

Ezio must pick his fights if he wants to live through the day.

So, Gearbox and 2K may not have the pull to grant Borderlands with a nationwide mega midnight launch, but gosh-darn-it, they're gonna keep a couple GameStops open late on October 19! For those in the DFW (Dallas Fort Worth, holla!), the developers will be showing up to sign copies (at least "five guys with sharpies") -- and they'll bring some posters and T-shirts along, too. 2201 Preston Rd Plano, TX 75093-2306 6245 Rufe Snow Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76148-3321 The Plano location will have a "four-player LAN setup available to play starting around 9PM." A Gearbox representative tells us they'll "hopefully" have something set up at the Ft. Worth location as well.

See what happens when you start a game.

This week, Jack Black continued his bizarre Brütal Legend promotional tour with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, somewhat in character as Eddie Riggs. As we watched Black upturn furniture and do clap push-ups, we started to realize that he's getting rather a lot of mileage out of that muscle suit. And then we couldn't help but wonder: what do you think that suit smells like right now? And how do you even clean the inside of a foam rubber muscle suit? Do you use household cleaners of some kind, or does the film industry have a specially formulated solution just for cleaning bodysuits?... Oh, right, the Kimmel segment's after the break, in four parts.

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