All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

360 players must be jealous of their PC brethren no longer, as they can now finally download the "Seek and Destroy" DLC for Section 8, which PC players have been exploring since late November. Despite the passage of time, the pack, which adds three new maps -- "Devil's Backbone," "Hornet's Nest," and "Azure Basin" -- and 10 new achievements, is still priced at 560 points ($7). That seems a little steep for a game we haven't seen a lot of people playing online lately ... or ever. Don't you think?

[TRsROCKIN] The sole new downloadable game on Wii in Japan this week is the appealingly odd Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom, a first-person adventure game set in a world populated by personified fruits and vegetables. You play a heroic cucumber with a young persimmon sidekick. It really must be experienced. On DSiWare this week, there are two different kanji learning games (how does that happen?), a math training game, and -- more importantly, Q-Games's cool Breakout variant Reflect Missile. Even more importantly, because it's really funny, the Naruto photo app lets you put your face into some Naruto art. Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (Famicom,1 player, 500 Wii Points) Atama wo Yoku Suru Ansan Zou no Hana Fuusen (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Nandoku 500 Kanji Word Puzzle (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Renjuku Kanji: Shougaku 2-nensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Nari-chara: Naruto Shippuden (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Reflect Missile (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)

We've heard plenty of horror stories over the past week (as have you, we'd wager) of people trying to play the Star Trek Online beta with little success, if they can even get the client to download in the first place. It turns out that Cryptic was not, as Destiny's Child cautioned, ready for this proverbial jelly. "The actual numbers crushed our predictions," the dev said in a recent update. "So, we tore apart our logs and began doing a lot of extra optimization work even while we stumbled upon some truly bizarre crashes that can only appear with this sort of load." It sounds like Cryptic needs to boldly go where no man has gone before, and by "where no man has gone before," we mean "the store where they sell servers and stuff." If you'd like to make the developer's life even more difficult, you can grab the client from our sister site Big Download.

Could this be the next generation of console interfaces for RTS games? Find out in this developer walkthrough.

Find out what Gas Powered Games is doing to make RTS fun on consoles in the thrilling conclusion to this two-part interface walkthrough.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii maintained its launch momentum in Japan, going on to become a phenomenal hit and selling over 3 million copies in seven weeks. Famitsu reports that Mario's latest adventure is the third Wii title to sell over three million units. Ironically, the club of top-selling Wii games has Mario's tubby physique in the company of Wii Sports and Wii Fit. Mario isn't doing badly in other regions, either, with NSMBW recently surpassing 2.5 million units in Europe and 4 million in the States. Mario knows how to make coin. [Via Andriasang]

Does Capcom's shooter go straight to the top or crash and burn? Find out in the official GameTrailers review.

According to an anonymous source speaking to VG247, the PlayStation Motion Controller will officially be called "Arc" by the time it launches. It was previously codenamed "Gem," with rumors also dubbing it "Sphere" at one stage. As expected, Sony declined to comment on the story. You know what, Sony? Stop it. You may think you're building suspense here, but all you're doing is creating a lot of work for bloggers who'll have to go back and re-tag all these posts when you reveal the real name. Oh, don't you skulk away, Microsoft, we're including you on this too. If it's Natal, fine, if not, just pick something already. Both of you. Now. Choose. Go ahead. We'll wait. Hello?

Click to go-oh into the galleryEven though you guys are all going to buy them anyway, Nintendo has seen fit to offer pre-order bonuses for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the upcoming DS remakes of the Game Boy Color's Gold and Silver. Starting February 1, a pre-order for either version at "participating retailers" will earn you a figurine featuring the Legendary Pokémon on the game's cover, produced by Japanese toy company Kaiyodo (the company also responsible for Revoltech figures like the amazing Professor Layton coming soon). You'll get Lugia (left) with your SoulSilver reservation, and Ho-oh with copies of HeartGold. If you get them both (as we know many will), you'll totally be setting yourself up for some thrilling battles on your desk when nobody's around.

UK retailer Game has listed the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo as starting on February 4, 2010. The demo will apparently run for three weeks on both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Although these details have yet to be confirmed by EA or DICE, the information seems rather specific and comes from a major retailer. While we await a response from EA, we're going to keep watching footage of the stuff we hope to do in Battefield: Bad Company 2. Look for it on shelves in March. [Thanks, J.Diffin]

Dark Void is a great first date, but a terrible marriage. As our numerous previews will attest, this jet-pack-toting third-person shooter makes a fantastic first impression, with its breath-taking air battles and pounding score. But that just makes it all the more disappointing that even the faintest scratching at that surface reveals a wholly unsatisfying product below.

Producer James Cope lifts the lid on sequel's new orb system and more.

Grab your mason jars and pectin, because it's time to make another batch of "Mario Mulberry." Oh, right, this is about the IGDA's Global Game Jam. Specifically that the annual event -- during which individuals and teams jam for 48 hours to make a game from scratch -- is right around the corner. In fact, it was announced today that all jamming will be performed between January 29 and 31 at locations in 36 countries. You can check out last year's creations at the Global Game Jam 2010 site, or, should you want to join a jam session, there's a location finder there, too. We know it's not mentioned in the official rules, but we figured you should know that bringing your own vacuum sealing gear is generally frowned upon.

Good news for fans of openly derivative third-person shooters, as Koei Tecmo has confirmed a UK release date for Quantum Theory. The gory shooter, which features brown landscapes, beefy characters, bloody explosions and is not Gears of War 3, will hit UK shelves beginning March 26, according to CVG. Similarities to Gears of War aside, the game had its own set of problems when we got our hands on it at the Tokyo Game Show last year. Here's hoping the kinks are ironed out by release. After all, the most important thing is that it's fun, right?

Not only are publishers trying to prevent the sale and distribution of R4 game copying devices for the Nintendo DS, but illegal importers are going to jail. GamePolitics reports that UK resident Yun Can Meng was sentenced to a year in prison after he plead guilty to importing over 26,500 R4 cards for distribution. ELSPA's Director General Michael Ralinson said the organization was "pleased" with the outcome and the court's robust enforcement. If you're a UK resident in the R4 business, consider this a big flashing warning sign to find another business with lower risk -- like insurance fraud.

For many, 2009 was the year Sony started turning things around: the PS3 finally dropped to an affordable price with an ad campaign that didn't give children nightmares. However, Gamasutra's Matt Matthews points out that in terms of revenue, 2009 is one of the worst years for the company. Whereas Sony was able to generate $6.4 billion in revenue from its family of PlayStation products in 2008, the company was only able to rake in $5.1 billion in 2009 -- that's a drop of $1.3 billion, or 20 percent. While Microsoft and Nintendo also shed some revenue in the difficult economic climate, their losses seem insignificant in comparison: about $200 million each. Matthews notes that a large portion of Sony's lost revenue in 2009 comes from sagging sales of its decade-old PS2 platform. The (understandable) lack of software sales on the PS2 resulted in the loss of approximately $700 million in revenue, while hardware sales have contracted another $150 million. The PSP also had a difficult year, and it appears the PSP Go hasn't turned around Sony's fortunes. According to Gamasutra's analysis, hardware and software sales on Sony's handheld shrank by about $425 million in 2009. With the demise of the PS2, and the languishing state of the PSP, Sony's former dominance of the market seems but a memory.

Plus: release date announced.

Direct link here You might not be able to view the film anymore, but at least you can hear some of the music from that film. Maybe Nintendo will have a change of heart some time in the near future.

Arkedo, the studio behind some of the more memorable titles on Xbox Live Indie Games -- Jump! and Pixel to name a couple -- recently shared some thoughts with Edge on Microsoft's service. Thus far, according to Arkedo's Camille Guermonprez, Indie Games has served as a place for independent developers to learn and share ideas, not necessarily to make money. However, thanks to the advent of user ratings and more sorting options, Guermonprez sees new potential in the Indie Games service. Says, Guermonprez, "the [iPhone / iPod] App Store changed everything with instant access to thousands of games, and lots of great ones for less than three dollars." Guermonprez notes that Microsoft is "at a crossroads" with the service, with the potential to turn it into a real money maker or leave it as it is. He adds that he doesn't know what choice Microsoft will make -- perhaps letting more XNA developers release titles on Xbox Live Arcade, a la The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai -- but concludes that "the potential is huge." Of course, the problem with the App Store success analogy is evident: For every Rocket Fart there is at least one I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1N IT!!!1.

Another round of Gamasutra’s ridiculously in-depth feature on the latest batch of NPD numbers, with this article pertaining to the numbers that came in for December. If you want to get a headache from reading NPD numbers, the link below is the perfect place!

Direct link and videos for Glory of Heracles, Muscle March, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, The Amazing Brain Train, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle and Dark Void Zero here (thanks NintenDaan!)

Here’s the good news…Dark Void Zero has a glitch in which Rusty never dies. It sometimes happens when he takes his last bit of damage before death. The bad news is…once this happens, Rusty just stands around. You can’t control him at all. Direct link here (thanks ModestMrGreen!)

Nintendo of Europe is planning an unprecedented move to promote its downloadable games: It's going to tell people they exist. The company kicked off a three-week ad campaign in the UK this week, intended to increase awareness of the kinds of things that can be done with an internet-connected Wii or DSi. The initiative will be supplemented by leaflets in retail shops, and signage advertising the availability of Nintendo Points, and it'll all link back to Nintendo's UK site, which features more videos of the Wii and DSi's downloadables. According to MCV, a Wii-focused ad will highlight the BBC iPlayer, Band Hero DLC, and ... Bonsai Barber. Three different ads will focus on Facebook, the DSiWare Brain Ages, and Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function, the latter two of which coincidentally will come preloaded on the DSi XL.

We'll be frank -- there are quite a few JRPGs heading to consoles in the next few months. From Last Rebellion to White Knight Chronicles to Final Fantasy XIII, it's kinda hard to get excited for yet another in Resonance of Fate. That being said, the game's screens and video have thus far been unbelievably impressive (with the new gallery below serving to further that point), and our last hands-on with game was fairly positive. We'll do our best to remember all of that when the game releases on the same day as FFXIII. Seriously.

Seeing things as awesome as this make me nervous. I could see myself buying an apartment just to fill up with gaming-related merchandise like this.

Update: Comments have been closed and a winner shall be emailed expediently! Check your inboxes, dearest readers. Ahhh, nostalgia. It's quite a thing, isn't it? That old familiar feeling. We were just tots 20 years ago when the first Final Fantasy was mere months from its North American release, a game that went on to influence -- be it directly or incidentally -- many of the RPGs we've played since. Like this week's Swag Sunday, the appropriately titled Nostalgia, for instance (appropriately titled for our theme, that is). Joystiq's own JC Fletcher said in his preview that, "The winsome attitude of Nostalgia makes it a nice counterpoint to the self-importance of, say, Final Fantasy games, and the no-frills combat (and ability to make a temporary save file if you need to quit and aren't near a save point) is perfect for short-session handheld play." You see that? He even names Final Fantasy! How's that for sticking with a theme! Anyway, if you'll be so kind as to leave a comment below in the next 24 hours (once only, please) telling us about a nostalgic moment you've had while gaming, you'll be entered for a chance to win a copy of the game. Get to it! Leave a comment telling us about a nostalgic moment you've had while gaming. You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec, mostly because of the lack of sweet Fez footage as of late). Limit 1 entry per person per day This entry period ends at 7:31PM ET on Monday, January 18. At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Nostalgia for Nintendo DS ($34.99 ARV). For a list of complete rules, click here What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.