All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Draw a line in the sand with these new pics.

The man known as Major Nelson has been so kind as to remind us all that child accounts for Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm have now been enabled for US Xbox 360 users. Once granted parental permission, Xbox Live child account holders over the age of 13 will be able to access these applications. The Major reminds everyone to make sure to select automatic logins for all the applications, otherwise you will be prompted for parental permission every time an app is launched. We'd have to agree with his advice. After all, Mom coming in to give you and your friends Tang and lemon squares: Cool. Mom coming in to log you into Facebook: Not cool.

Developer patching things up. Again.

It looks like the PSP is quickly becoming the new destination for tower defense games. Savage Moon joins the growing list of tower defense games on Sony's handheld, such as PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe and Fieldrunners; however, unlike the other games listed here, the handheld Savage Moon isn't a port, it's a brand new game, adding "two new species, a new interface and the ability to unlock vengeance mode for each Imoon." Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store next week, December 22, for $9.99. See a trailer after the break.

As rumored last week, LittleBigPlanet will receive a massive chunk of DLC just before Christmas -- the "Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit." This pack includes the highly anticipated Water update, along with the tools Sackboy will need to navigate said fluids (scuba tanks, air ducts and the like). In addition, the pack includes five pre-made Pirates-themed levels, four new audio tracks, a new background, a free "Cannibal" costume, and a whole mess of decorations, stickers and materials to collect. The pack will land on the PSN alongside a six-pack of Pirates costumes, which include Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Will Turner and other characters from the movie, on December 22 for $5.99 each. Check out the pack's aquatic, buccaneering offerings in the trailer above. [Thanks, Casder.]

The 7th annual X-Play best of 2009 awards premieres TONIGHT, Tuesday, December 15 at 6:00PM on G4. We’ve already posted up a list of the categories and nominees, but just incase you missed them, you can check out the full list here.

William Luxemburg from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands managed to save over $500 on a project that involved measuring evaporation. How did he manage to do that? He ignored the extremely expensive senors that would normally be used, and instead just tinkered around with the Wiimote until it did what [...]

Publisher not sad to see Carmack's title go.

Pirates of the Caribbean is set to invade Sackboy's world.

Though SingStar may not possess the massive community base of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Sony recently unveiled a PS3 application which offers a great deal of social networking capabilities to the karaoke game's players. Titled SingStar Viewer, the app (which appears under the Games folder of the XMB) allows users to browse and purchase songs from the SingStore, as well as view and vote on videos, photos and profiles uploaded by members of the MySingStarOnline community. This impressive functionality is totally free, and accessible even when the SingStar disc is absent from the PS3's drive. The PlayStation.Blog post, which announced the software, didn't give a firm release date for the app, but suggested you "check the PlayStation Store over the coming weeks." Check out the video after the jump to get a brief demo of the services offered by the application. Then wonder if you're confident enough in your karaoke chops to place videos of you and your friends singing in front of the cruel, cruel internet.

Build the city of your dreams.

Fight for survival through destroyed Shanghai streets.

Magnetis has one kick-ass soundtrack, and now it can be yours for the low-price of zero dollars! The composer behind the game has released the official soundtrack for free, and you can grab it right now! Download here (thanks Joeshabadoo!)

But not as Spock.

16th expansion invites players to journey into the undiscovered depths of Norrath.

Killer 7 Killer 7 is one hell of a weird game, and I mean that in a good way. The not-so-cookie-cutter gameplay and story mesh perfectly with the unique visual presentation. It’s cel-shaded artwork for those that thought cel-shading was past its prime. I wish more developers would take unique visual approaches to [...]

US 'The Mystery of Whiterock Castle' will be available for download in 1st Quarter 2010.

We think the redesigned PS3 is small enough. However, Sony's Japanese designers, in their continuing desire to shrink things, noted that the PS3 Slim "could have been made even smaller." Sony's executive VP of technology Masayuki Chatani spoke with Japanese newspaper Nikkei about the challenges of designing a slimmer PS3. The goal was not only to cut costs, but to expand its attractiveness to "an even wider range of users." Considering the Japanese penchant for small electronics, the original PS3's girth was certainly a limiting factor. However, certain sacrifices would have been necessary for Sony to pursue an even smaller box. One option was to place "the power supply on the outside," much like Microsoft's Xbox 360 power brick. Taking yet another page from Microsoft, an even more drastic option considered was to remove the hard drive altogether. The alternatives -- Flash memory or virtual network storage -- proved to be too expensive, and too unreliable. Ultimately, the Sony team chose function over form. "One of the best features of the PS3 is that people can download games to the internal local storage unit and play comfortably." That reminds us -- we need a bigger couch. [Via IGN]

Mother creator Shigesato Itoi has an online music shop where consumers can visit and grab all sorts of different music types. This virtual shop has just had a new floor open, with music dedicated to the band Moonriders. One of the band’s members is Keiichi Suzuki, which happens to be one of the [...]

Rockstar keeps to the best Wild West traditions in Red Dead Redemption.

Riding wild on the American West.

New details on how this sequel will take you higher than ever before.

Just in time for the holiday season, RedOctane has kicked off yet another Guitar Hero deal. In exchange for $99.99, patrons of the Guitar Hero Store can snag a copy of Guitar Hero 5, plus two wireless guitar controllers, on either Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. And if you're thinking about this as a gift for someone special this holiday season, be sure to check out of our gift guides, which are chock full of ideas for gaming gifts.

Ferocious beasts and timeless mysteries invade Hoth.

The classic laser disc game hits digital download next week.