All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

We can see from the Nintendo Channel numbers that BBC iPlayer usage has doubled in 2 months time! We put out the BBC press release last week, and now we can see just how strong things are on the Wii. Thanks to Weeman for the heads up!

Just an Amazon listing for now. No word on what this game is all about. With Ubisoft putting out this title, it looks like the company may be taking a different approach. No more Petz games, and time for some real fun? Thanks to Supa_S for the heads up.

Doncaster, UK – 18th January 2010 BLAZE have today announced they have stock of their all new luxury sports pack for Nintendo Wii sporting titles which incorporate Wii motion plus functionality. As motion sensing technology evolves, so must the accessories that we use to enhance our games. Many of the older style sports packs in the market today [...]

Takara Tomy is going to be releasing Game and Watch reproductions in Japan come this March. As you can see, they look pretty close to the original, but they’re a bit smaller. These tinier versions are made for keychain fun, and they also use the power of the sun to give you fun [...]

You should probably click this image. I summed up the E3 demo of God of War III with this opener: "God of War, in HD." That's not a "bad" thing per se, but for a franchise that's been known for pushing the graphical envelope, it simply wasn't enough. Thankfully, my concerns were obliterated last month when I got to play the latest build of the game. It only took a minute or so before I was able to say "this is God of War III -- and what it was always meant to be." The demo was incredibly short, perhaps two or three minutes long. But that's all Santa Monica Studios needed to effectively demonstrate the scope of their vision. The graphical improvements were immediately noticeable: motion blur, depth of field, better lighting and special effects. However, it was the cinematic camera work and the incredibly inspired level design that really left an impression. Once again, this demo takes place on the Titan, making his way to the top of Mount Olympus. What the VGA trailer failed to capture effectively, though, is how dynamic battles will feel atop a moving giant. Remember how impressive Uncharted 2's dynamic set pieces were? Imagine scenes like Uncharted's collapsing building and train, and remove the scene of "reality" that Nathan Drake has to adhere to.

We know that Activision is planning a second DJ Hero game -- thanks to David Guetta and word that Activision is looking for some new talent. Now we've heard confirmation of the game from the same source that semi-officially revealed the first game: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Kotick justified the development of a sequel to the less-than-hit music game in an interview with Game Informer. "I think DJ Hero is a really innovative product," he said. "I can't wait for you to see next year's. That's the thing; we're sticking with it. We'll stick with it and get it right. But it's going to be less games, better games. That's our strategy." That's right -- somehow, Kotick managed to use an annual DJ Hero sequel as proof of a "less games, better games" strategy. We suppose it is noteworthy that Activision's only doing one DJ Hero this year, given that 2009 saw six Guitar Hero games.

Keep your eyes peeled around the 50 second mark, and I think you’ll catch a big bit of Zelda love! I need to get myself one of those! CAUTION - FOUL LANGUAGE, SEXUAL INNUENDO Direct link here (thanks Calvin!)

This is a fan-translation, not an official translation by Capcom. Still no word on a North American release at this time.

Shread your way through the Black Box Distribution Skate Park by pre-ordering your copy of Skate 3.

For nine straight weeks, the UK's gamer populace has been mesmerized by the siren's song of Modern Warfare 2. Today, that's all changed, with the latest Chart-Track data showing a new entry usurping Modern Warfare 2's top spot: Just Dance. Ubisoft's quirky dance title for the Wii has enjoyed a level of success there we would never have thought possible. Can its performance be attributed to good advertising or simply the United Kingdom's unrestrained love of Kevin Bacon? And MW2 wasn't even in the second spot, either. Wii Fit Plus managed to grab the silver, while Infinity Ward's shooter was bumped down to a respectable bronze. Newcomers Bayonetta and Darksiders also managed to stay on the list, along with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2, which stealthily secured the tenth spot.

EA has confirmed it will only be shipping its $600 AUD ($550 USD), 250GB HDD-equipped "super elite" Xbox 360 bundle (breath) to Australia, according to a report from VG247. "This is a local bundle deal that the [EA Australia] team has sorted," an EA representative explained. The bundle is said to contain two black wireless controllers (standard Microsoft issue) and a wired headset; a regular, non-fancy copy of Mass Effect 2; an Xbox 360 Elite (sans promotional artwork, unfortunately); and a 250GB HDD. Just like the Modern Warfare 2 "Super Elite" console, we imagine supplies will be limited -- to Australia, in this case.

Shepard the soldier, meet Shepard the ladies man! Just watch out for space parasites in part two of this exclusive Mass Effect 2 Sci vs Fi doc.

Sony gives us a taste of Kratos, but we're thirsty for more.

Sales of the latest Rock Band game seem to be fueled less by Beatlemania and more by Beatlemildinterest. According to the L.A. Times, the NPD estimates that The Beatles: Rock Band moved 357,000 units in December, for a total of 1.18 million in the U.S. Worldwide, the game has sold 1.7 million, the same amount Rock Band 2 sold in the U.S. alone during its first four months. A spokesperson for MTV Games said the company was pleased with the holiday sales, though "some European markets performed below the company's expectations." It's not terribly encouraging, but perhaps EA should be happy the news isn't worse: According to the NPD, the music genre is down 46% year-over-year to $1.06 billion. Though rock may be its stock-in-trade, it seems like music games spent most of 2009 singing the blues. [Via VG247]

Filed under: Mac, PC, Meta (about Joystiq) It may have been a slow week for new PC game releases, but that doesn't mean there wasn't lot of news to report and files to download on Big Download this week. Let's check how what happened in the past seven days: Exclusive Features PC Gaming at CES 2010: We examine what PC gaming related items were revealed at this month's Consumer Electronics Show -- everything from Sixsense's PC motion controller to word that Dark Void Zero is heading to PC as well. How about that?! King Arthur Review: We give our final verdict to the recent RTS-RPG game from Neocore Games (spoilers: "Meh.") Boot Disk: Our retro games feature examines the classic WWII war game Panzer General. All You Need To Know: Our 411 game feature gives you the info you need on BioShock 2. Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free PC games checks out The King, The Queen and The Jester.

A 2K Marin representative has confirmed that BioShock 2 will have DLC -- we'd have been (bio)shocked otherwise. Speaking to AustralianGamer, Senior Systems Designer Ken Hudson revealed that the studio has "pretty aggressive plans for DLC" and that it's "something that is already under-way." No further details were provided. The original BioShock was lacking in the DLC department, only providing some extra plasmids and adding challenge rooms for the PS3 port. Hopefully, the numerous studios working on the sequel will have all their Splicers in a row for the game's February 9 release date. Gallery: BioShock 2 [Thanks, Matthew; Via Xbox Insider]

If rumors of day-one DLC for Mass Effect 2 sent shivers down your wallet's spine, take heed of BioWare's soothing tweet: "BioWare will not be charging extra for any new Mass Effect 2 content on launch day." While that could mean about 50 different things depending on how you parse it, we at least feel comfortable with the idea that we won't be doling out more than $60 right at the outset. The tweet goes on to say that more details would arrive this week, so don't expect to be in the dark much longer. And yes, we did just turn a 130-character tweet into an unnecessarily elaborate news post. Thank you so much for noticing.

Avoidance tactics.

Get your feet wet with these fresh screens.

Nintendo Asks Everyone to Muscle March in Formation

Voice actor reprising Drake role this year.