All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

With APB nearing release and the original Crackdown already an addictive note in gaming history, it looks like Realtime Worlds could be ramping up production on a third project. Superannuation points to the LinkedIn profile of Tahir Rashid, a lead artist at Realtime Worlds, who claimed to be working on "a brand new IP due for release in 2011," according to Superannuation's original discovery. The game was referred to as "Project #3" for PC in the profile. Apparently, though, these details weren't meant for the general public, and have since been removed. Rashid's profile has been edited to note that he is simply working on "a new project." Assuming the reveal was legitimate, we can only guess at what the project might be. Another urban action game, or something entirely different?

There's a temptation to lump DJ Hero in with Guitar Hero, but as the name would suggest, that's only half right. Develop recently spoke with Dan Neil at FreeStyleGames and he detailed some of the unique challenges and considerations that creating a song for the game involved. Sure, the team liked that they could tweak songs on the fly to suit their needs (a luxury not afforded to Guitar Hero, which must slavishly adhere to master recordings), but that also meant that artists were a little more hesitant to sign away their babies for some turntable jockey to play around with. As word got around though, Neil said, stars like the Black Eye Peas started to pile on. How's that for a cautionary tale about success, huh? The bigger you get, the more likely you are to attract the attention of the Black Eyed Peas.

If a recent change to Singularity's GameStop releases listing is accurate, Activision's oft-delayed shooter will see another push down the 2010 calendar. Originally slated for release in 2009, Singularity was delayed to March 2010 to help establish the game as a "must have" and distance it from Modern Warfare 2's nuclear explosion -- mostly, the latter. While a changed retailer listing is not confirmation of a delay, another bump may be absolutely necessary for Raven Software's title to have a shot at success (and Raven could use a lift). When the original delay was announced, Activision suggested that the March release window provided "fewer competitive titles" for Singularity to go up against. While Capcom has made that statement slightly more believable, Activistion is still wrong. Like, really, really, really, really, really wrong. If Singularity's new listed date of June 1, 2010 isn't what the publisher intends, perhaps Activision should consider it. [Via BigDownload]

3D gaming isn't entirely new, but will be a big focal point for Sony this year -- and what better way to show that than by turning one of 2007's bright spots into a full 3D experience. Super Stardust HD is undergoing a HD facelift right now and during an interview with Digital Foundry (via Eurogamer), engine lead Seppo Halonen and creative director Harri Tikkanen talked about adapting the game to 3D and some of the technological leaps and bounds made by Housemarque Games. What makes SSHD different than other 3D experiences -- specifically, Avatar and other 3D games like Invincible Tiger -- is that it'll be running at a native resolution of 720p at 120 frames per second, 60 frames per each eye, and doesn't use low-res buffers to create the effect. Housemarque accomplished this by having the engine render everything twice, added stereoscopic cameras and moved the vertex processing from the GPU to the SPU. This took up about 50 percent of the SPU's resources, leaving them with enough to pre-process a lot of the game, allowing things to render much faster than before. As for future Housemarque games on PS3, don't necessarily expect those titles to be in 3D. Tikkanen says that because some titles "lend themselves better to 3D than others," all future 3D compatibility will be decided "on a game by game basis."

We're ... we're just not sure we understand the reasoning behind Dante's Inferno's eighth circle, Fraud, depicted in the trailer above. See, Visceral Games has brought the concept of the circle's 10 Malebolges to life in the game in form of 10 arenas, where Dante must battle all the enemies he's fought in previous levels in succession. While doing so, he must navigate dark corridors where, according to art director Ash Huang, "you really can't see where you're going." Well, that actually sounds pretty faithful to the source material. It also sounds immeasurably frustrating. Check out the trailer above to find out where politicians go, and make sure you tune in for the final Dante's trailer in February to catch a glimpse of Mr. Beel Z. Bubb himself.

See the many ways LEGO Universe can offer your MMO avatar complete uniqueness in this CES 2010 Interview for LEGO Universe!

One of the best wrestling games of all-time gets a little more love, this time in the form of custom-made action figures. When will we get a sequel to this game?!

We’ have the video footage later tonight, but for now you’ll just have to do with a text recap. Earlier tonight on Monday Night RAW, Mike Tyson stopped by to guest host the show. John Cena also entered the ring, to tell all that he had beaten Mike Tyson. Of course, Cena only took [...]

Game Arts has another downloadable title in mind after last week's release of its self-published WiiWare puzzle adventure The Magic Obelisk. Takahiro Nishi, producer of Obelisk, told Siliconera that "Our development team is now engaged in the next downloadable game." The experiment in smaller-scale downloadable software must have been a success, then, for the Grandia developer. Nishi declined to name the platform for the new title, but in a previous Siliconera interview, he had nothing but kind words for WiiWare, praising its "easy to work with development environment" and an audience that is accepting of "unique and new concepts like ours." We thought briefly that Nishi could have been referring to the new PS3 version of Thexder Neo, but Game Arts doesn't list either the PS3 or PSP versions of Thexder Neo on its website, indicating that another developer made the updated versions of the shmup classic.

Platinum Games' Shigenori Nishikawa, the director on MadWorld for the Wii, has told Official Nintendo Magazine that he wouldn't mind taking a second crack at the violent Wii game. "I think MadWorld was very well received and was acknowledged for its innovative graphical style and gameplay," Nishikawa said in Friday's upcoming issue. "We would definitely be interested in making a sequel in the future." Of course, you might have a tough time believing that Sega would also be on board. The company has said it would probably not be interested in more mature Wii games, which means Platinum Games would have to shop around for a new publisher first. Psst, we may know a publisher that isn't afraid to put out unique, mature games on the Wii.

If a recent change to Singularity's GameStop releases listing is accurate, Activision's oft-delayed shooter will see another push down the 2010 calendar. Originally slated for release in 2009, Singularity was delayed to March 2010 to help establish the game as a "must have" and distance it from Modern Warfare 2's nuclear explosion -- mostly, the latter. While a changed retailer listing is not confirmation of a delay, another bump may be absolutely necessary for Raven Software's title to have a shot at success (and Raven could use a lift). When the original delay was announced, Activision suggested that the March release window provided "fewer competitive titles" for Singularity to go up against. While Capcom has made that statement slightly more believable, Activistion is still wrong. Like, really, really, really, really, really wrong. If Singularity's new listed date of June 1, 2010, isn't what the publisher intends, perhaps Activision should consider it. [Via BigDownload]

Metroid: Other M is still such a mystery right now. I want to be really excited for it…and I am, but I’m still a little nervous. I need to know more before I can feel safe about the situation. Hopefully Nintendo will let loose with some info soon.

The Nintendo DS game gets ported to Wii. Almost completely unchanged.

Man, now that’s how you get people to buy a game. That makes Ninja Gaiden II look just as cool as it actually is! Why don’t we have more awesome game ads like these?

Two in a row. Let's keep this party going.

The developer of Fable series has something new brewing.

Get schooled in the high-flying quickness of Adon in Super Street Fighter IV from CES 2010.

Break the chains of conventional gameplay and master the forms of Cody with Super Street Fighter IV from CES 2010!

Direct link and videos for, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, Chronos Twins DX, ShadowPlay, The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, Puzzler World, and Fast Food Panic (thanks NintenDaan!)

Now that the definitive source on these here vidya games has weighed in on the intense debate regarding the quality of Darksiders, it's time we opened up the floor to other opinions and thoughts. Below, in our usual style, we've organized several viewpoints for your perusing. The majority of reviews laud Vigil's title as a genuinely fun time, so check out the links below and be sure to wage war with your own opinions in the comments section below! GameInformer (85/100): "Even without a clear narrative purpose, Darksiders never wavers from being an enjoyable adventure. I had a blast playing it, and strangely enough, the obvious nods to other games added to the fun. Despite a lame last boss fight, the setup planted for the sequel has me counting the days until it arrives." GameTrailers (84/100): "Darksiders has a lot of staples in its stable. And, yes there's even a horse. And a flying section. And even some gun segments. They're all fun, but nothing to blog home about. It's able to emulate its idols very well, so whatever War is doing, it's bound to be enjoyable. But anyone who's attracted to this sort of game, or action games in general, is going to feel more familiar than floored." GameSpot (80/100): "Darksiders unapologetically borrows gameplay ideas and mechanics from all over the spectrum and is constantly cramming new ones in all the way up to the very end. While it's not innovative by any stretch of the imagination, neither is it entirely derivative, as these myriad features not only gel together surprisingly well, but when put together even feel fresh again. Though it's hobbled by a disappointing story and excessively complex controls (as well as some technical issues on the Xbox 360), Darksiders is a fun and entertaining adventure with a host of fair but challenging puzzles, a lengthy single-player campaign, and an engaging combat system." Eurogamer (80/100): "Still, while on the surface of it Darksiders feels like a game with a lot of good ideas but only a few of its own, where even a brief flying section on an angelic mount owes rather a lot to Panzer Dragoon, overall the silly old story and wonderful art style give terrific heft to the universe, and the clockwork of the puzzles and game systems are precision-engineered in a manner that you come to trust implicitly. It may be a game of betrayal and redemption, but you won't feel hard done by if you choose to begin 2010 in its company." IGN (78/100): "Just as War is on a quest to alter how he's perceived, it seems Darksiders itself is on a quest for its own identity. It draws heavily from mechanics established in the 3D Legend of Zelda games and mixes in a forgiving combat system along with elements from a host of other popular titles. It's a goulash of collection mechanics, exploration, and combat we've all seen before, but to Vigil's credit all these elements are adeptly combined in the same product and executed well overall. While the game world could have been developed more, the boss fights leave a lot to be desired, and more interesting things could have been done with the combat and puzzles, the game as it stands is still thoroughly entertaining. If it's successful and a sequel is eventually produced, it'd be great to see a game filled with terrors wielding powers of unknowable strength take a few more risks and step into territory less well-traveled. In the meantime, we should just enjoy the solid puzzle and combat mechanics Vigil is offering, as well as the opportunity to stomp demons as a Horseman of the Apocalypse." GameDaily (70/100): "All of this amounts to a game that, while entertaining, falls short of being a triple A experience. Darksiders has an engaging story, beautiful visuals and plenty of badass characters, but THQ/Vigil Games' reliance on tired concepts prevent it from being a must buy." Source - Darksiders reviews (Xbox 360) Source - Darksiders reviews (PS3)

Bittos puzzle action makes its way to PC!

It's less likely than you think!

Being a parent isn't easy, and Sony isn't helping.

Activision has announced that it will publish the video game based on the upcoming film Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which is itself based on the children's book of the same name. Being unfamiliar with the book, we assumed the story centered around a young, inexperienced pimp and his band of gymnastic prostitutes. Activision has announced that the game will be a tactical RPG for the DS and, frankly, the prospect of a portable pimping RPG is positively delightful. Upon further research, however, it turns out that the movie and game center around a young man with godly powers. Alongside his godly friends, he searches for "Zeus' master lightning bolt." Not quite as intriguing as a pimping RPG, but we suppose it'll have to do ... for now. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief strikes the DS on February 9.

Begin your card collectin'.

State of Play: A simple guide to separating the junk from the jewels.

State of Play: A simple guide to separating the junk from the jewels.