All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

HERE WE GO by ~spunkywulf There’s something about this art style that I really like. I could see this being a Mario Saturday morning cartoon, if the animators decided to make the Mario universe a bit more ‘hip’ and ‘cool’. Thanks to Johnny2900 for the heads up!

And you thought Halo 3-themed Game Fuel was bad. A recent round of advertisements have taken Japan by storm, all of which either shill for Final Fantasy XIII, or some product based on the unflagging RPG franchise. Posted after the break are a series of videos, including a short TV spot for the game, two ads for the presumably refreshing Elixir beverage, and a commercial for a commercial (well, a behind-the-scenes documentary) which will be released shortly after the game is released in Japan. Also, they're making a perfume based off the game's main character. It's called Lightning eau de toilet. There's no video advertisement to accompany this news, but we'd have been remiss had we not mentioned it to you.

He might know if you've been bad or good, but that won't stop St. Nick from sending you on a horse-related fetch quest in new DLC for Dragon Quest IX in Japan. Released on November 27, the Mr. Claus' Horse downloadable content brings the mythical gift giver to the insanely popular Nintendo DS title.Sadly, we can only hope Square Enix plans to include this and previous Dragon Quest IX DLC when the game eventually lands in North American stores. You'd think a guy with a sleigh and a few flying reindeer could help speed-up the process, but apparently Santa's busy horse-sitting.

Have you been having fun with Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles? I haven’t even had the chance to open mine yet, but it sounds like there are some positive impressions and reviews out there. Of course, we all want to squeeze the most out of our experiences with games, and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles [...]

According to Microsoft, nearly two million Xbox Live users logged into Facebook through the console's new built-in social media applications. Based on a vague estimate provided by Microsoft, it appears that around ten percent of all Xbox Live Gold accounts used the application within its first week of availability; however, it's possible many of those users only logged in to see the new feature in action.Microsoft also stated the addition of Last.fm -- a music streaming service currently only available for US and UK gamers -- prompted nearly one million new profile activations. In its first week, Last.fm users streamed "more than 120 million minutes" of music to their Xbox 360 consoles. If we've learned one thing from these numbers, it's that people love to click on shiny new boxes.

Will we ever get to see King K. Rool harassing the likes of Donkey Kong and his family again? Sure, he has popped up in some of the spin-off games, but he really hasn’t had a presence equal to that of his Donkey Kong Country days. I’d love to see this guy return, [...]

I’m always amazed when people manage to take the Cheetahmen II theme and make it sound awesome. This Novation Launchpad version is another fine example of that.

If you're on the fence about Sony's upcoming PSP Digital Comics service, the PlayStation UK blog has a few more sampler comics to decide whether the feature piques your interest. Available for lucky users in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are two sampler comics, featuring the service's highly touted Autoflow feature -- which mimics the way your eyes read a page. Following the release of the PSP's 6.20 firmware, PlayStation released comic samples of Transformers: All Hail Megatron and Aleister Arcane. Free sample first-issues of Star Trek: Enterprise Experiment and Astro Boy: The Movie Adaptation are available until December 16. In order to grab your sample, make sure to first download the Comic App via the "Extras" section of the XMB (or through this link) for your PSP and use the redemption codes available on PlayStation's UK blog. Then prepare to use your amazing 3D hardware to ... read!

A new iPhone application entering the crowed marketplace allows all Xbox Live addicts the ability to connect to their account and do pretty much everything you can think of. Bad news, it isn't free. The $1.99 app lets you sign into your account, browse and respond to friend requests, check messages and even creep your friend's Gamercard on the go. But, before you slap your $2 on the table, we'd recommend you wait for Microsoft to respond to the app's list price. In August 2008, Microsoft mandated that all Xbox Live-related applications be free. So, it may just be a matter of time before the 360 Live app drops to the easy-to-swallow price of free.

An arena tank game that can seriously draw a crowd.

We all know Tetris Party Deluxe is coming, even though Majesco wants to pretend that no one knows. The fact sheet leaked a couple weeks back, but Majesco had that info yanked. We’ll just play pretend with Majesco, and show you the official USK rating. I’m guessing the word will come out [...]

A portion of a Nintendo Life review… Harvest Moon: My Little Shop is really good at what it does, and what it does is bring the tedium of working in the food service industry right into your home. Charming looks and an interesting time system can’t save a shallow experience that feels like work to play. [...]

Charging…charging.

Hack and slash to survive.

This isn’t the first time that Pikachu has been featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Something like this really shows you just how big of a brand Pokemon is.

Direct link here We need to see some more of New Super Mario Bros. Wii music on YouTube! I’m sure there’ll be a bunch of tributes a few months from now, and I’ll be ready to post them! Thanks to WowitsMike for the heads up!

Did you see Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li? I didn’t, as I was guessing that it was going to be a stinker. Turns out the film isn’t even getting a theatrical release in Australia. Instead, it will release on January 14th, 2009. Might be fun for a rental when you’re [...]

Are you one of these folks who don't even realize there's a "multiplayer button" in your first-person shooters? After spending hours with the single-player campaign, you shelve the game and press onward, eschewing time with multiplayer for other, more solitary experiences? Splash Damage head Paul Wedgwood wants to change your attitude, telling Eurogamer in an interview that his studio's upcoming FPS Brink will do just that. "It's our goal from the outset to incidentally teach people to be good at multiplayer shooters while they're playing our single-player shooter," he says. Apparently, Brink will offer in-game rewards (double XP, for instance) to players willing to take their game online. "At a certain point in the game we say to them, 'Why don't you just try co-op and see how you go? For this next mission we're going to give you twice the number of experience points if you play co-operatively with somebody else.'" Thankfully though, he assures the internet-less among us (how are you reading this?!) that there's plenty of game in Brink without having to go online. "Your experience through it, imagining you have no internet connection should, for us to have achieved our goal, be as compelling as any other triple-A shooter." We'll find out if his plan works when Brink arrives sometime next year.

We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Recommendation of the Week: Food, Inc. (Xbox 360/Zune Video) You cram food in your mouth every day, but do you ever really think about where it comes from? This is especially timely a day after the American holiday that's all about stuffing as much food as you possibly can down your gullet and surviving. Food, Inc. takes a hard look at the corporate food industry in America, and you'll be surprised how many different labels and brands are owned by so few companies. It'll make you think twice about buying food in the future, or even finishing what's already on your plate. Hopefully someone will make a documentary about Joel Salatin, a rancher in the film who you'll write off as a redneck at first glance, but who quickly becomes one of the sole voices of wisdom in the movie. This guy needs to take over the entire FDA. Read on for the rest of the recommendations, and as usual, we'll see you at the popcorn sta -- well, actually, we won't see you at all. But you catch our drift. Plus, be sure to tell us what you'll be watching, or what you've seen recently that bowled you over.