All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Do you like Alexey Pajitnov's timeless puzzler Tetris as much as you like succumbing to unrelenting waves of nausea? You'll probably want to check out the new Flash-based sensation, First-Person Tetris. There's not much of a learning curve, here -- it operates pretty much exactly like the block-dropping puzzler you know and love, only with a small twist. We'll let you figure it out for yourselves -- why not give it a spin, provided you've got some free time (and a strong, strong stomach).

Ubisoft confirms title has not been cancelled.

As if there was any doubt.

This perhaps shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but America still loves its boxes. As reported by Gamasutra, the NPD says that 90 percent of sales in Q3 2009 were attributed to boxed copies of games. If you're not so good with the math, that means only 1 out of 10 games was distributed digitally. That average drops to 79 percent if you lump together portables, PC/Mac, mobile, and smartphones, but that's still pretty darn impressive. We have the same preference as the rest of the country, but only because we can't hang digitally distributed games from the ceiling tiles of our dorm room to give it a hip, edgy look.

This is an English version of a Japanese Iwata Asks feature that we covered some weeks back. The information has pretty much been accounted for, but if you want to read all the little details from the developers, you can hit up the link below.

It seems Kingdom Hearts fanfare is still strong in Japan. Birth By Sleep, the franchise's latest entry, sold over 400,000 units in its first two days of sales, according to a report by Media Create. The PSP-exclusive prequel has claimed the best-performing handheld debut for the franchise so far, besting 358/2 Days' 300K and Chain of Memories' 200K. Like every other major Square Enix game before it, Birth By Sleep had an accompanying limited edition hardware bundle. Expect to see PSP sales spike during our Japanese hardware sales report later this week.

Grab yours here (as well as other goodies, like 1up earrings!)

Quests are always better with a buddy.

Take the time to prepare your team beforehand, or the battle will be lost before it even begins. Learn everything you need to know about the combat system in this walkthrough.

Chaos has broken loose as robots and undead soldiers seek the hero's death in Greed: Black Border for PC.

IGN just did the same sort of thing, but it’s nicer to see the publisher putting out the info in their own words. If anyone is going to know the full deal on Mega Man 10, I’m guessing it would be Capcom! If you’re looking to profile the Robot Masters of Mega Man [...]

Nintendo dominates hardware and software sales.

If you’ve been wondering why Sands of Destruction hasn’t been at your local Best Buy, we have the answer for you! Looks like you’ll have to try another retailer, or be willing to purchase from the Best Buy website. Thanks to MidnightScott for the heads up.

Nintendo dominates hardware and software sales.

Infiltrate one of four areas such as St. Petersburg, Russia in the Hunter mode of Splinter Cell: Conviction's Deniable Ops.

Take down enemies co-operatively or flying solo in Hunter mode

We became considerably more concerned about Project Natal's future when we learned it would be pulling its processing power from the 360 and it would seem that the development community is similarly conflicted. In a feature by Develop, probably the most important party in the peripheral's success, the developers, weighed in on the device with a mixed bag of concern and enthusiasm. Though there was a good amount of positivity and skepticism, the overwhelming sentiment is in line with Weaseltron director Adrian Hirst's wait-and-see attitude: "Microsoft need to start showing some real killer games/applications for Natal before people really start getting interested in it as a platform." So, here's your chance: What's your Natal prediction?

I know there has been a lot of confusion concerning the graphical approach of NBA Jam on Wii. That said, Nintendo Power has a feature on the game that does include screenshots. I am going to post up one lone screen so you can get a feel of what the game looks like. [...]

It's time to once again gaze into the Beyond crystal ball.

If you're someone who loves themselves some arbitrary console performance figures, Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi has you covered. Speaking to VentureBeat, the Gran Turismo creator reckons the latest game in Sony's flagship racing series taps "about 80 percent of the processing power" of the PlayStation 3," adding, "the PS3 hardware has a very high peak performance. The better you manipulate it, the better it performs." That last quote sounds more like it's about an engine than a console, which isn't surprising given the amount of time Yamauchi spends behind the wheel of the actual supercars from his oft-delayed game. We seriously hope he's not aiming to use 100 percent of the system's potential -- we'd really like GT5 to come out before a child born today is able to drive a real car.

Get a healthy dose of gameplay and story in this Japanese overview trailer for Ar Tonelico III.

As spotted by Siliconera, Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimé recently told CNBC that users streaming Netflix through the Wii aren't going to miss the HD content they won't be able to access -- free content that's available through other devices. He justified that claim with a simple argument: "over 26 million consumers have bought a Wii. The consumer is saying, for them, the quality of the visual is not nearly as important as the overall entertainment." It may irritate 360 and PS3 proponents to no end to hear him lay it out that plainly, but we're having a hard time finding a flaw in Reggie's logic.

More scenes of gameplay are revealed in this Japanese gameplay collection for Ar Tonelico III.