All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Auction here Nintendo Service Magnet with Mario E3 swag auctions Doc Louis’s Punch-Out!!

There’s a ton of beta content within the Super Mario 64 cart. Multiple items, graphics and enemies that were never used. In the video below, you get to see one such item implemented. We’ll call them the ‘happy flowers’… Direct link here (thanks Fraz!)

The Legend of Zelda series has definitely had some stranger moments in its history. Elements of gameplay that don’t pop up in all entries of the series, but are prevalent enough to notice a trend. One such trend would have to be that of the animals that help Link on his adventure. [...]

These shirts aren’t going to hit Japan until March, and if you’re looking to get your hands on one, you’ll have to go through an importer.

Look at that quality work! This is worthy of a major publishing deal! I can’t get over how good these action figures are. It makes my pain for a new Battletoads game hurt even more!

Misa Campo is a model-in-training…at least, I think that’s what it’s called. She’s quickly gaining recognition around the net for her appearances in multiple magazines and online features. In the picture above, she takes a second to pose with her Wii. Sure…the Wii is the focal point of that picture! Thanks [...]

Anyone care to see EA’s next trademark for the MySims franchise? Looks like we’ll be traveling via air in the next MySims outing. Is this going to be an action-heavy air adventure, or something more along the lines of Pilotwings? I’m sure EA will release some details in the near future.

As spotted by Joystiq's sister site Big Download in a recent gameplay trailer, ex-Ensemble Studios co-founder Bruce Shelley is working on Ubisoft's next installment in the Settlers series, The Settlers 7. Oh, what's that? You've never heard of the Settlers franchise? That's okay, we're right there with you. Popular in Europe (like Jerry Lewis, but less obnoxious), the city-building sim developed by Blue Byte Software will apparently get Shelley's input as a "game design consultant" -- and considering the pedigree that comes with Shelley, we have to imagine that, If you're into that kind of thing, it's time to start getting totally psyched. The game is currently in beta and will be headed to PCs in "late March."

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Dante's Inferno executive producer Jonathan Knight responded curiously to a query about the possibility of upcoming adaptations of the other two installments in the Divine Comedy, Purgatorio and Paradiso. According to the Times, "Knight said his team was focused on the release of Dante's Inferno as well as on additional downloadable content for that game," though he later confessed "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that." We think Visceral's missing out on a great chance to kill two birds with one stone -- why not make Purgatorio and Paradiso DLC packs for Inferno? For instance, a few months after the game comes out, release a patch that makes the game's load times last for 49 days. Boom. Purgatorio in the bag.

See that logo portion that has been circled in the image above? Could this be related to the new Pokemon game that Mr. Iwata just confirmed a few days back? We might find out on next week’s Pokemon Sunday, which will see a special guest appearance from Gamefreak director Junichi Masuda. Sounds [...]

Wii Fit Plus Spain - Commercial 1 - Commercial 2 South Korea - commercial 1 - commercial 2 Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (South Korea) - commercial 1 - commercial 2 Nintendo DSi (Japan) Thanks to Cadaver for the heads up!

We usually don’t hear about WiiWare release dates this far in advance, unless it’s a major title from a first party. I guess JV Games feels confident enough in Dart Rage to have the release date set up far in advance. You can look forward to downloading this game in North America on [...]

According to a report on GamerBytes, Microsoft has submitted the upcoming Xbox and PC Game Room itself to the ESRB for a rating, rather than have each title re-rated by the board. The article claims that Microsoft's upcoming virtual arcade will sport a rating of E10+ -- meaning anything with a rating of Teen and higher will be left out of the Avatar hangout. Since each game release (regardless of platform or delivery method) must be rated by the ESRB, the process of rating the Game Room itself could save Microsoft time, allow the company to reach its promised goal of "over 1,000 titles," and halt leaks of future titles via the ESRB website. While the current crop of Game Room titles are too retro for the rating decision to matter, other classics like Street Fighter and SmashTV won't make the cut. (Although, both are already available on Xbox.) While the Game Room's current rating is bundled with the initial crop of 30 titles, it's unclear if the application's rating will ever change to accommodate more recent arcade releases. Joystiq has contacted Microsoft for clarification. [Via Kotaku]

Bungie sets the record straight.

We've already heard from Nintendo's Satoru Iwata on Apple's most recent handheld (spoilers: he doesn't care about it), but the Wall Street Journal recently asked Sony's John Koller how his company's reacting to the device. Rather than outright dismissing it like the Nintendo prez, though, he said he's looking to the iPad for boosted PSP sales. Seriously. "Apple's entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony ... when people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP." In fairness, it's part of Koller's job to rep Sony in these situations, but it's not exactly impossible to argue with his logic in this case -- as the WSJ points out, sales of the PSP have "nearly tripled" since June 2007 (when the iPhone first launched). This would normally be the point where we point out other mitigating factors in year-over-year sales increases (say, games like God of War: Chains of Olympus and GTA: Chinatown Wars coming out, or a new console iteration being released), but we'll leave the comments section below to handle that.

Alright, alright, you kind of already knew about the giant blue dragon in the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins 'Awakening' expansion pack, but you hadn't seen her (yes, her) in all her rage-filled majesty, scaring the crap out of those venturing into Blackmarsh. Between her and Skeletor, we're getting pretty psyched for March's DA:O content infusion. Sure, there's that other BioWare RPG that we're obsessively playing for now, but how long will that last before we feel the urge to venture back into the fantasy realm? We're guessing about two months. And hey, if nothing else, it'll give us something to talk about at PAX East during the Joystiq / Blueberry Muffintops Breakfast. Gallery: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (Retail Expansion)