All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

The Final Fantasy series has been known to have some truly epic box art in the past, such as the man vs. machinery motif of the Final Fantasy VII cover, or the lovely, all-inclusive tableau featured on the front of the last entry in the core franchise. Imagine our surprise when we received the images above from Games Press -- it seems the cover for the UK version of Final Fantasy XIII will be considerably more simple than the box art of its predecessors. We've posted larger versions of the two boxes in the gallery below. Check them out, but don't let those eyes of yours wander. Yes, we know her skirt is hiked to a precarious degree. We also know that the baby Jesus is watching your every action.

Japanese gamers and eager importers will be able to start throwing hundreds of high-speed punches at giant thugs as soon as March 2010. In a video game, we mean. Specifically, in North Star Musou, the Dynasty Warriors spin-off based on the legendary, post-apocalyptic fighting manga, Fist of the North Star. Also, unfortunately, the company released the price for the upcoming brawler. We say "unfortunately" because it's ¥8,190 ($94.27), which probably marks the end of quite a few import plans. Koei has yet to announce a localized version of the game, but we don't think the publisher would allow a Warriors game to go unreleased. [Via Andriasang]

Going undertground with THQ and 4A Games' post-apocalyptic shooter.

Two hours in the Russian underground.

It may seem like an unlikely source for video game news, but pop singer Jesse McCartney's Twitter account has confirmed the localization of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Square Enix hasn't announced a US release for the PSP prequel, but considering the franchise's penchant for making money, it certainly was never in doubt. Birth by Sleep would be McCartney's third foray into the Kingdom Hearts universe, having previously voiced Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days. Kingdom Hearts Union suggests that McCartney may be voicing Birth By Sleep's "new" character, Ventus (pictured, right) -- y'know, the one that looks exactly like Roxas (pictured, left). Gallery: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Splash Damage's next to land end of 2010.

Is this stylus-based sequel superior?

D3Publisher's Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond now has a date with both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. It will arrive on January 6 and 7 on Microsoft and Sony's platforms, respectively. Playing on the same camp featured in the original retail Matt Hazard game -- which parodied other games and featured an aging video game star -- Blood Bath & Beyond is a 2D shooter in the same vein as many classics like Contra and Bionic Commando. Alongside the release date, D3 has also revealed Dexter Dare, Matt Hazard's burnt out sidekick with a sordid history -- including a prolonged "Mana abuse problem" that we're probably supposed to find hilarious. Check out some new screens and Dexter Dare character art in the gallery below.

Older readers out there might think that the 3D gaming revolution began with the advent of consoles like the PlayStation, N64 and the Sega Saturn, but the real 3D gaming revolution is just beginning, according to Ubisoft. 3D gaming doesn't refer to three dimensional graphics anymore; nowadays it means that the game jumps out of the screen and into your eye holes. Beginning with the game adaptation of James Cameron's Avatar, Ubisoft Montreal's Yannis Mallat tells the Financial Post that he sees the company becoming a "360-degree entertainment content provider." As the wording suggests, Ubisoft's future won't necessarily be restricted to games. Mallat hopes that future game consoles will be able to render photorealistic graphics, enabling Ubisoft to create games and films using the same assets -- similar to what the company did with the Assassin's Creed: Lineage short films. Of course, enjoying this "360-degree entertainment" will require a special television set. Still, Mallat is firmly behind the technology, saying that it does for images what Dolby did for sound. "No one wants to go back to mono," says Mallat. That's all well and good, but a huge number of gamers have yet to even upgrade to an HDTV at all, let alone one that can take advantage of 3D technology. [Via VideoGamer]

Sony moves nearly half a million consoles in one week.

Just a few hours after Nintendo, Sony has prepared a Black Friday sales statement of its own. SCEA's Patrick Seybold wrote in a press release: "PlayStation 3 demand was at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09." While shy of Wii's numbers, the figure is quite impressive, considering that's more than the number of systems sold in the entire month of October -- the same month that the PS3-exclusive Uncharted 2 came out.Retailers offered a number of PS3 bundles during the holiday weekend, adding a number of free games and movies to the system's standard $299 price tag. That, coupled with an ad campaign that totally doesn't creep us out, certainly helped Sony's fortunes this year.

Since the game's launch, LittleBigPlanet fans have only been able to create new levels offline. Over a year after initially promising a patch, Media Molecule is finally ready to unveil its online Create mode. Coming in the 1.21 "Leerdammer" patch, online Create works exactly as expected: you'll be able to invite friends to your Pod and work collaboratively on new levels. The most important improvement over the offline Create mode is the camera: each player gets his or her own camera, allowing them to work on different parts of the level simultaneously. For veteran creators, this should speed up the process quite significantly.In addition to the online Create mode, "Leerdammer" also rewrites LBP''s network code for improved performance and smarter matchmaking. The LBP save system has also been revamped, allowing players to store more community items than ever before. Finally, a slew of minor tweaks are also included in the patch, which you can read about after the break.[Thanks, Pumapayam!]

Xbox 360 sales seeing double.

Create your character and get rocking!

Level 2 takes the adventurers to the barren wastelands and beyond.

Work together in locations from a cold, starry night to the bowels of the planet.

The Puzzlegeddon approaches--Are you ready?

[Image Source] Erik Estavillo -- otherwise referred to as a "professional plantiff" by GamePolitics for his laundry list of legal claims -- has subpoenaed Microsoft's Bill Gates in his suit targeting the company for his run in with the Red Ring of Death. According to court documents filed in a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the subpoena demands Gates hand over paperwork that reveal the "true and relative number of actual Xbox 360 units that have been fixed by Microsoft over the past 3 years." Estavillo also seeks data pertaining to the number of broken Xbox 360 consoles and the amount of people banned from Xbox Live for "piracy" between November 28, 2008 and 2009. While Estavillo is looking for answers to questions every journalist has been seeking, his track record of legal battles places him in eccentric territory. Estavillo is also suing Activision Blizzard claiming characters in World of Warcraft walk at an intentionally slow pace in order to bilk customers of more monthly fees. In the claim, he subpoenaed actress Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode member Martin Gore. Estavillo has also filed suit against Sony for being banned from online play, stemming from comments he supposedly made during matches of Resistance: Fall of Man; and Nintendo, for issuing firmware updates that disabled his Homebrew Channel.

This week's Virtual Console update offers two delectable titles -- Solomon's Key is a very unique action/puzzler hybrid, whereas The Combatribes features a wonderfully bad story and the demon clowns of Coney Island. Life doesn't get much better than this, folks! Solomon's Key (VC Arcade, 1 - 2 players, 600 Wii Points) The Combatribes (SNES, 1 - 2 players, 800 Wii Points) Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.

The only reason there are audio issues and slowdown is due to the video recording program being used at the same time as play.

Nintendo announced that over 1.5 million of its various game systems were sold last week. Not last month, last week. Thanks to Black Friday and two new DSi bundles, Nintendo could afford all the trimmings for a resplendent company Thanksgiving. Not that we know whether or not Nintendo had one of those. The point is, Nintendo sold a bunch of stuff and made a lot of money. According to Nintendo's estimates, more than 550,000 Wii systems were sold last week, and over 1 million DS and DSi systems. The release of two new DSi bundles (along with a few crazy prices) could have had something to do with that last statistic. By selling that many handhelds, Nintendo broke its own sales record for the holiday weekend! Though the company didn't manage to beat last year's 800,000 Wiis sold, which means that, despite still selling a huge number of Wiis, and despite all those DS sales, Nintendo is completely doomed, right?

This week's Virtual Console update offers two delectable titles -- Solomon's Key is a very unique action/puzzler hybrid, whereas The Combatribes features a wonderfully bad story and the demon clowns of Coney Island. Life doesn't get much better than this, folks! Solomon's Key (VC Arcade, 1 - 2 players, 600 Wii Points) The Combatribes (SNES, 1 - 2 players, 800 Wii Points) Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.

A portion of a GamesRadar review… You’ll love * Amusing boss battles * Relatively easy learning curve * Tons of content to sift through You’ll hate * Irritating camera * Annoying cutscenes * Repetitive gameplay WireWay - full review [...]

Hold on to your helmets, soldiers, because SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 is breaching stores on January 12, 2010, and the game's dev team is excited. How excited? Excited enough to sit in front of a camera and talk about the PSP title's action-packed story and "authentic" gameplay. SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 is set to continue the series' (sadly forgettable) storyline and includes online co-op and over 70 weapons to show terrorist scum who's boss.

Are the Rabbids in rare form or should they just get lost?

Hey Canadians! Yeah, you guys and gals huddled together attempting to maintain sustainable body heat. Just a friendly reminder that big-box retailer Futureshop is currently slashing prices on a slew of new video game titles. Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, Brutal Legend and Need for Speed: Shift are all on sale for $39.99. Wait, what's this? NHL 10? Oh, Canada. You're so adorably predictable! The online and in-store sale ends on December 3, so make sure to defrost your car, dust off your skates and hit the store ASAP. And before you ask: Yes, Rock Band 2's special edition is priced at $99 and does include a free mullet kit. We don't know what that is, but we know we want it. More Canadian deals can be found after the break.