All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Score boosts and extra points for excellent drifts in ModNation Racers.

[motionographer.com] General Electric, of all sources, has revealed the working title "One Earth," chosen for the joint MMO / television series venture underway between Trion and the Syfy Channel. The name was disclosed in a GE report to shareholders, which makes sense as its the parent company of Syfy and is partially funding the game through its "Peacock Equity Fund." Trion CEO Lars Butler explains that the One Earth MMO and show "not only promote each other, they literally depend on each other and co-evolve." Rob Hill, the game's senior producer, says that unlike many licensed properties where "you have a game that's based off of a book or television show or movie, or a movie that's based off a game," One Earth is "completely different" and has the potential to "really be able to broaden the audience" by -- as GE promises -- "bringing viewers from the show into the game and vice versa." Only time -- and TV ratings, and the game's subscription numbers -- will tell if that's all just a sci-fi fantasy. [Via BigDownload]

The unlikely team unites as Frank West and Mega Man square off together in this Japanese gameplay for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.

Kratos moves to conquer Japan as the release date nears for the God of War Collection in the land of the rising sun.

Here’s Little Mac from the Punch-Out!! series. According to game history, he happens to weigh 107 pounds. Here’s Hitmonchan…he looks a lot like Little Mac. Hitmonchan happens to be the 107th Pokemon in the franchise. Coincidence?

It seems like the cast of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing will never cease to expand. Not only has Sega tapped almost all of its memorable characters (including Shenmue's Ryo), but its roster is also starting to encompass games outside of the Sega realm, including Banjo-Kazooie, Avatars and Miis. Today, the Sega blog reveals Space Channel 5's Ulala and Crazy Taxi's BD Joe. Check 'em both out in the new trailer above.

Do you want to be the best Monster Hunter 3 player out there? If so, you better plan on following the Twitter account of The Master Hunter, a person concocted by the big shots at Capcom. He’ll be dropping you all sorts of secrets and strategies for the big Monster Hunter 3 debut. [...]

Nintendo may not have liked it enough to put a ring on it, but the company appreciated Beyoncé enough to continue its relationship with her. Players of Style Savvy will soon be able to download five outfits from the Deréon line, created by the actress/singer/dancer/best-video-of-all-time maker and her mother, designer Tina Knowles. "Style Savvy is all about creativity and fashion, both of which are really important to me," says Beyoncé. "I love that I get to become a stylist and take over my own boutique, and it's so much fun to see some of my Deréon designs added to the mix." You thought it was all about the money, didn't you? You stupid idiot.

Have you been curious to see how Super Street Fighter IV's newly indoctrinated jailbird Cody does his titular street fighting? What about the lightning-quick Adon? Or the generically-named Guy? All three of these brawler's techniques are dissected in the three GameTrailers videos we've posted after the jump. If you're an expert SFIV player, it'll show you the new strategies you'll need to develop to succeed in the game's Super iteration. If you're like us, it'll show you the moves you'll occasionally and accidentally execute as your hands flail across the controller's surface.

In an interview with Financial Post, Microsoft president of entertainment and devices Robbie Bach said "something like 70% or 80% of the publishers in the world" are already working on Natal-based games. The interview followed Microsoft's CES 2010 keynote during which Bach announced the hands-free controller for the Xbox 360 would launch during the 2010 holiday season. Bach also respectfully outlined what he believes is the major difference between Microsoft and Nintendo's respective business models: third-party success. "Our model is certainly about third-party publishers making money. We design our system for third-party publishers," he told the Canadian news outlet. "[Nintendo makes] most of their money through first-party games that Nintendo produces. That's absolutely their business model. And it's a great business model, it's just different, but it makes it hard for third-party publishers." As for upcoming Natal-based games, Bach said Microsoft's first-party developers are focused on the hardware to help lead other developers down an "innovative" path. "We want to have a few titles from Microsoft that show the way and then we want the breadth and power of the ecosystem from our partners to bring lots of new ideas, new innovations, new concepts to the marketplace." Microsoft's Project Natal appears to be a direct response to a mainstream audience that has turned to Nintendo's hardware when spending disposable income. Considering the Xbox 360 and PS3 have effectively cracked the third-party code, Microsoft's focus continues to be set on capturing a demographic that may feel intimidated by the hardware and its core (read: jerkface) players.

The Chimera monster puts up a fight in this boss battle for Glory of Heracles.

Sea Creatures surface to do battle with Heracles and his fellow heroes in the Glory of Heracles on Nintendo DS.

The Trojan Horse arrives to deliver a sneak attack in Glory of Heracles.

Reserve Red Steel 2 and receive 2 GameStop Exclusive in-game swords. These swords are so beautifully designed that your enemies would be honored to be stabbed by one. Available online and in-store while supplies last.

MLB 10: The Show aims for a real-time flow experience to bring the players closer to the game than ever.

Australia's OFLC has rated 3D Space Tank, which is apparently a new title for Nintendo by PixelJunk studio Q Games. Siliconera found the listing, but, beyond a generic name (which has never stopped the studio before), details are scarce. The studio has been producing games for DSiWare, but there's no clear indication at this time what platform this latest game is for. We've contacted Q Games for any details that it would like to share, hopefully the answer will be crisp and clear, not just a bunch of pixel junk.

Shin Sengoku Tenkatouitsu: Gunyuu Tachi no Souran (DS) – 6/5/5/4 (20)

When we review a game without finishing it, we call it a Snap Judgment. Read why here. Time played: 10 hours Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is a game with seemingly no built-in audience. There aren't any Final Fantasy fans, that I can imagine, who love the series but hate all that role-playing and complexity, and there's likely a very small portion of the fanbase that love the Crystal Chronicles universe, but hate multiplayer. Because of that, because of the current climate for third-party Wii games, and because of the sizeable budget and long development time that went into this project, Crystal Bearers is a bold experiment that's unlikely to be repeated. Which is a shame, because I've really enjoyed what I've played so far, and I feel like some small tweaks in a sequel could make a truly great game out of what is currently an interesting, flawed (and very, very strange) game.

Want to see what a wall of 150+ consoles and portables looks like?

Blog link here More screens here And Shiren… Shiren so far away… Oh wait, no it’s not, the game comes out next month! That’s right, boys and girls, Shiren the Wanderer, that lovable RPG with the strategic combat and the randomized dungeons and the ultra-strong Japanese mythological influence will make its way into a Wii near you–preferably [...]

Ah, the Red Ring of Death. Most cursed malady of this console generation, maligned by the casual and the hardcore alike! But for all the frustration the Xbox 360's three lights of crimson chaos have caused, here's a little good: If it weren't for a certain RRoD in Florida, one Michael Dunbar would never have been brought to justice. Dunbar was accused of stealing the console and pawning it off to a shop, but without the serial number, police told the victim that they couldn't bring him in. Fortunately, the victim's grandmother suddenly remembered she'd sent the system in for an RRoD, and a phone call to Microsoft later, they got a serial number, Dunbar was arrested by the police, and we assume the console was returned to its rightful owner. Little consolation, we're sure, for the eight painful weeks you had to wait while your Xbox was sent back to Microsoft for repairs (two separate breakdowns for me personally). But it's good to hear that someone somewhere has been helped by Microsoft's RRoD exchange process.

Good news if you're sick of playing Tekken 6 online purely for the purpose of beating up on your friends -- come January 18, you can beat up on computer-controlled opponents together instead, thanks to an incoming patch. The title update for PS3 and Xbox 360 will add online co-op to the Scenario Campaign of the game, along with voice chat. (You know, for working out those incredibly deep strategies -- "I'll punch the guy on the left!") Mokujin's AI has also been tweaked for online versus play, causing his fighting style to change every round. He won't voice chat with you, though. Sorry.

In his latest advisory note to investors, Wedbush Morgan prognosticator and analyst Michael Pachter goes on record with his belief that we'll see "another price cut for both systems some time this year (around summer)," noting in the email that "because its manufacturing costs are lower, Microsoft has the ability to lower price as early as March or April." In lieu of a price cut on Microsoft's part so soon, Pachter feels that the company may instead introduce "a more feature-packed Xbox 360 in early 2010 (likely with a 250GB hard drive) at the same $299 price point." The great seer believes that Microsoft will only drop the price on its console before summer "if it begins to lose significant market share to Sony," adding that he anticipates last fall's price cut on PS3 will continue to help Sony gain ground on Microsoft. On the portable front, Pachter doesn't expect PSP Go (remember that?) to make much headway this year unless Sony prices it "more reasonably," and says that the biggest challenge facing Nintendo DS is "its own high installed base," stating that he anticipates sales of the handheld to steadily decline in 2010. Good thing Nintendo's started talking about a "DS2," huh?

Though they've seldom been mentioned since the fighter was announced for a North American release, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom contains a wide selection of minigames -- one for each character in the original Japanese release. While it's currently undetermined whether all the new characters added for Ultimate All-Stars will have unique extra games, Capcom has revealed at least one new one: "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Shooters," a vertically-scrolling, Commando-esque shooter starring the characters from the fighting game. The up-to-four-player minigame apparently features not only multiple stages, but branching paths, as well as special moves. It appears to be based on the Lost Planet-themed PTX-40A "AK Extermination Mission" minigame, but expanded. See a clip of Ultimate All-Shooters -- which appears to have been captured from VHS -- after the break.

The fate of Albion rests in your hands. Don't screw it up.

Microsoft has officially confirmed that the previously European-only Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer event for silver members will now also occur in the US. The promotion begins this Friday, January 15, at 9AM Pacific and runs (screaming in horror) for 72 hours. During that same time, Last.fm will also be available to silver members. Now, if one does take advantage of this event, we have a suggestion: Please put on the Morrissey station on Last.fm and contemplate why you own Left 4 Dead 2 with a silver account? No need to answer now, just take your time and listen to some introspective tunes before answering.