All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Do you have what it takes to sled with the Jamaican Bobsled team?

ASEFOSAM, a Spanish labor association has announced (translation) that it plans to make Nintendo's Mario Mario an honorary member. Mario is to be presented with a silver badge, which is given to members of the association who improve the image of laborers. In celebration, a contest will be held in Madrid over the weekend to determine the best Mario Bros. player (though we're not sure exactly which of the many, many Mario games is to be played). So, yeah, it sounds like the Italian labor associations really dropped the ball on this. [Via GoNintendo]

Is it just a game?

If the recent price drop has encouraged you to hedge your bets and replace your aging, bound-to-die Xbox 360 with a quiet, new, Jasper-equipped 120GB Elite, you'll want to pay attention. As relayed to us by tipster Paolo, and confirmed by a Microsoft representative, the Hard Drive Transfer Kit - which is currently available for eligible consumers by calling 1-800-4MY-XBOX - is "out of stock at the moment" and the company does "not know when inventories will be restored." Of course, it's "working on resolving this shortage as quickly as possible" but in the interim, if you want to get data of your old 'box and you didn't buy the 120GB drive at retail (which comes with the HDD transfer kit) Microsoft Support recommends that you "use your old hard drive." Not the most elegant solution, especially if you're trying to unload that old Xbox. We've asked Microsoft to clarify when we might expect the Kits to be restocked and we'll share with you if and when we hear back.

CTA Digital is the company behind all sorts of Wii peripherals, from the bowling ball to the Wii Music kit. While we all have a laugh at this stuff, the CTA Digital guys are doing quite well for themselves. Did you know that they sold over 200,000 units of that bowling ball? [...]

Jessica Chobot takes you on a tour of Activision's big event.

You've read the review. Now find out what the rest of the squad thinks.

Free-to-play doesn't mean it comes without a cost.

It's been so long since we've heard anything about Greed Corp that the conservationist-friendly strategy game nearly qualifies as a retro classic. Fortunately, today brought us the first news about the title since it was announced. In addition to PSN, its lead platform, Greed Corp will also be coming to Xbox Live Arcade and Windows-based PCs in early 2010. Today's announcement mentions that Greed Corp is just the "first in a series of games based in the rich Mistbound universe." Considering the heavy appearance of Don't Break The Ice-esque elements present in this game, we wonder if future installments in the franchise will adopt other popular board game tropes. For the record, W!Games, if you made a Mall Madness RPG, we would buy that.

Do you have what it takes?

Yes, they're back and portable.

Filed under: X3F TV There are three games up for grabs on XBLA this week, and all of them offer something different. Encleverment Experiment (800, $10) seeks to test your brain power as well as the brain power of your friends (or random strangers on Xbox Live). Meanwhile NBA Unrivaled (1200, $15) brings arcade basketball with massive dunks (and odd character animations). Finally, 0D Beat Drop (800, $10) ... drops some rhythm-infused puzzle action onto XBLA. Watch the latest XBLA in Brief and see if any of them are up your alley. Download the trial version of Encleverment Experiment Download the trial version of NBA Unrivaled Download the trial version of 0D Beat Drop [iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes. [Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly. [RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [M4V] Download the M4V directly.

Despite being third-party leader on Wii, EA wants to push software sales harder.

A new (and free) title update, now available for the PSN-exclusive Comet Crash, introduces new levels, maps, battle settings and an "expert" difficulty mode to the Tower Defense-style game. What sets Comet Crash apart from other titles in the genre is the game's offensive gameplay, allowing players to send waves of their own forces against an ongoing alien threat. Aliens as enemies in a video game? Creativity! According to the PlayStation Blog, the 1.03 update includes: "Expert" difficulty setting for seasoned Comet Crash players. 4 new Resurgence levels -- one unlocked at the end of each comet during the Campaign. 4 new Battle maps. Battle timer setting. After the timer runs out, all mobile units generate at 8x the normal rate. Thorium setting to tweak available resources in Battle mode.

As a congratulatory message to their Microsoft peers, the Interactive Entertainment branch recently sent the Windows team the banner you see above shortly after the latter launched Windows 7. It's a cute little example of how these two companies okay enough with the crap. We need this Achievement. Do you understand us, Microsoft? We need it. Knowing "the big one" is out there, but that it will be eternally inaccessible to us? Do you know what that would do to our psyche? It would end us, Microsoft. We'll make you a deal -- we'll create our own Microsoft-branded operating system, and then you go ahead and pass one of those novelty-sized Achievements our way. How do you feel about "Doors XL?" No? How about "Glass-covered Portals 2010?" Or "Panes: Professional Edition?" Get back to us on this one, okay? We need it.

Jessica Chobot takes you on a tour of Activision's big event.

The Dante's Inferno game concept -- a totally brutal action-adventure based on Dante Alighieri's epic poem -- seems like a hard sell to us, but it was no problem getting EA on board. As it turns out, EA was all in from the very beginning, according to Visceral creative director Jonathan Knight's recollection during a PlayStation Blog interview (that you can watch after the break). He got the go-ahead "pretty much right away," as EA executives apparently saw "the potential in the mythology" glowing green before their very eyes. "Nobody's really taken on that kind of medieval Christian notion of the afterlife as a very real place that you go to, you know, just under the ground, and there's monsters and demons and rivers," Knight said. "It's just a crazy, fantastical, incredible vision that Dante Alighieri had for Hell, and my execs immediately saw the potential there for a real game." In addition to the appeal of Hell -- a concept that "everybody has some knowledge of" -- we can imagine that EA appreciated what is basically a licensed game based on a public domain property, especially these days.

A PC exclusive out in Germany. Will it make it to our shores?

Re-evaluation launches with double experience boost throughout November.

When Shonen Jump recently revealed Square Enix's intention to include a "campaign code" for something in Final Fantasy XIV with the first printing of Final Fantasy XIII, we weren't sure what to make of it. Thankfully, Famitsu's latest issue (translated by Andriasang) details the inter-franchise crossover content a bit more, calling it a "secret in-game item" and reporting it can be input before the upcoming MMO opens up to the public for a "limited edition item" of some type. It's unclear if the item will be available for use in the PC beta.Apparently, Famitsu also notes that the item is exclusive to Japan and, though limited, will be included with all FFXIII PS3 bundles (also Japan-exclusive). Since we're certain that someone reading this is currently weighing the import costs of one of those bundles against the value of an exclusive virtual goody, we hope for you and your family's sake that a friend is by your side, calling in an intervention right now. It's really for the best.

A better way to shoot aliens.

Cotto vs PacMan. Who will win?

Event celebrating the launch of Turkish language service to run from Nov 10 to Dec 1.

Check out videos for Sakura Note, Metal Fight Beyblade: Gachinko Stadium, Cooking Mama 3, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Wii/DS, Naruto Shippuden: Ryujinki, Karaoke Joysound Wii DX, Tomodachi Collection, DSi LL, Tales of Graces, Momotarou Dentetsu 2010 Senkoku Ishin no Hero Daisyuugou! No Ken, Wii no Ma, Monster Finder and SimAnimals Wii/DS [...]

- a wire is connected to the front of the bike peripheral, and then to a GameCube controller port - the bike is, for all intents and purposes, a Cube controller - the bike has two joysticks, all the Cube face buttons, and L/R on the handlebar - you can brake by either using the handbrake, or backpedaling - [...]