All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Excitebike World Rally, having just been released in Japan this week, is now available in Europe, ready to delight players with online, tilt-controlled classic motorcycle racing. Final Fight 3 is also out in Europe this week, with classic dude-punching. We're starting to wonder -- is the worldwide Virtual Console release of Final Fight 3 some kind of abstract promotion for Super Street Fighter IV, which features characters and locales that originated in the Final Fight series? Or is it the Wii's equivalent of Final Fight Double Impact?

• Final Fight 3 (Virtual Console: SNES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)
• "Aha! I Found It!" Hidden Object Game (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 500 Wii Points)
• Excitebike World Challenge (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
• Snakenoid (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)

Taking shooters to new depths, or retreading water?

2K Marin makes its mark with a big, metal boot.

Lamb to the slaughter or biggest daddy yet?

Break stuff for a living in this fantastic free game.

At long last, the never-ending mystery of whether Rockstar's "gritty detective tale," L.A. Noire, will be a multiplatform release has ... well, ended. And in a pretty unspectacular way, to boot -- in the comments section of a Game Informer post teasing the magazine's in-depth print preview of L.A. Noire, editor Matthew Kato explained, "It's not a PS3-exclusive," later adding, "it was at one point, but it's coming out for the PS3 and 360." (We've contacted Rockstar to verify this apparent reveal.)

Now, we won't know whether this news is worth getting excited about until Game Informer's preview hits newsstands. We're getting tentatively pumped, though -- but that's only because of our pure, unswerving love of fedoras. Seriously, we can't get enough of 'em.

The debut of the Dragon Quest VI remake for DS proves that a Dragon Quest game doesn't have to be entirely new to sell like crazy in Japan -- just new enough. In its first week at retail, January 25-31, the new version of the classic Super Famicom RPG sold 906,458 copies, according to Media Create, making it by far the top-selling game of the week.

A pair of other newly-released RPGs also did quite well: the PS3 version of tri-Ace's shooty-RPG End of Eternity (we call it "Resonance of Fate") landed in second place on the weekly software chart with 118,088 units sold (the Xbox version charted respectably at #8, selling 27,048 units) and Ar Tonelico 3 hit #4 with 81,633 copies sold. Even the Japanese release of MAG managed to make it into the top ten!

See the complete weekly top ten sales list after the break.

SEGA's official site for the upcoming sequel has had its first update, and storyline details have emerged.

After surviving harrowing losses of ¥22.8 billion (nearly $254.8 million) during its fiscal year 2009, Sega Sammy Holdings (parent company to Sega, which you've probably sussed out) has managed to revive its faltering bottom line. According to the company's latest financial report, Sega Sammy brought in a net income of ¥16.9 billion ($189.5 million) during the first nine months of its fiscal 2010 (April-December 2009).

This income came in spite of the fact that Sega's total game sales had dropped 13 percent from the same 9-month period the previous fiscal year -- however, thanks to the company's massive restructuring last February, operating income skyrocketed to ¥28.8 billion (about $323 million), which more than softened the blow. The company's highest-selling title was, alarmingly, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, with 5.6 million units sold (and probably counting). Bayonetta, which was only available in Japan (released October 29) during the period covered by the report, came in a distant second with 1.1 million units sold.

It looks like the company's managed to recover from an extremely painful fiscal 2009 -- but at what cost?

Felt like your copy of Dragon Age: Origins was missing something, eh? Say, maybe, slugs with demonically mutated children's faces? Perfect -- we've got just the trailer for you today, care of upcoming DA:O expansion Awakening, full of creepy-crawly things called "The Children."

There's not much in the way of an explanation of exactly what or why they are, but there are some pretty awful birth pods full of (presumably) amniotic fluid -- well, y'know, evil amniotic fluid (they're bad guys, after all). Hopefully the Children aren't working in concert with that terrifying blue dragon we saw last week. Man, that'd be just the worst! Get fully creeped out by the trailer after the break.

Sony's customizable PS3 kart racer, ModNation Racers, is being shrunk down for a PSP version, to be released alongside its big brother sometime this spring. According to SCEE product manager Liam Quigley, the PSP game will have the same creative tools as the console iteration -- meaning you'll be able to mod and not just race, with the ability to create your own tracks, cars and racers. In addition, "You will also be able to upload, download, remix, and race creations by the PSP ModNation community," Quigley said.

Once you've created or downloaded your own (likely vulgar) avatar, car and racetrack, you'll be able to race on your new track with up to 6 other PSP players online. That's some pretty big functionality for a handheld game!

Last month, a group of online game developers (from companies like Turbine and Vivox, and even a board candidate for the Independent Game Developers Association) met with the FCC to argue for Internet neutrality, and against Internet Service Providers offering premium access and bandwidth to paying game publishers (here's the PDF of the meeting notes). The argument here, brought up again by a think tank called Digital Society, is about differentiating certain network connections from others -- if you allow ISPs to charge for accounts with better quality of service (QoS), then it's possible, argue these game developers, that companies or customers who don't pay will end up suffering from lag and other game-breaking problems.
It's a tough issue. As the game devs told the FCC, bandwidth is already tough to program around (especially in games like FPSes where nanoseconds count), and with the advent of bandwidth-intensive services like OnLive and "peering" rather than dedicated servers, these developers argue that ISPs charging companies for QoS would edge out entrepreneurs and actually discourage innovation in gaming. ISPs answer that a premium service doesn't mean the non-premium service is bad, just that they want to offer premium products to customers (and of course rake in the ensuing fees). Unfortunately, it's going to take more than just an FCC workshop to solve this ongoing concern.

[Stand Up For America] Your teenage daughter and/or son aren't kidding around when they say you just don't get it. You really don't. You're not a teenager. You don't know everything like they do. And one of the things they know is that video games are the bomb. The kids still say that, right?

Anyway, according to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study (via MSNBC), 80 percent of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 own a gaming console and that around 51 percent of those in the same age group own a portable gaming device. "While younger and older teens are equally likely to have a game console, boys are more likely than girls to have one," the study reads, pointing out that 89 percent of boys have a gaming console compared to 70 percent of girls.

The study itself focuses mostly on the internet and how the young are connecting (hint: they like laptops and -- wait, MySpace?), but it's a good read if you're looking to get in touch with the youngsters.

[Via Edge]

[Image: Bungie] Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Xbox Live services that still cater to the original Xbox. As of April 15th, all Xbox 1 games -- including those playable on Xbox 360 or via the Xbox Originals service -- will be severed from the online realm. "I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly," Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten said at the start of a letter to Xbox Live members, "but after careful consideration, it is clear that this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community."

Whitten added that in continuing to "evolve the service," Microsoft requires changes that are "incompatible" with the previous console's games. "We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities."

According to Major Nelson's most recent list of top Xbox 1 Live titles, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Counter-Strike players will be hardest hit. Well, sure, Halo 2 is still the most widely played game, but at least those guys will have some consolation when they leave the house and discover that two more Halo games have come out since 2004.

By the way, if you have anything terribly important to say to your clan mates, we suggest you say it now.

Grab yours here Grab yours here Thanks to B and George for the heads up!

VG247 has posted an interview with Forza Motorsport 3 director, Dan Greenwalt. Perhaps the most interesting bit is Greenwalt's explanation of why developer Turn 10 was so intent on making the game run at 60 frames per second. According to Greenwalt, racers that run at 30fps have "visual shuttering artifacts," which developers are forced to cover up with motion blur. This, he said, takes up GPU resources for other features. Beyond that, he noted that the 60fps benchmark was essential to the "feel" of the game and the responsive nature of the controls. "I'm sure you would get a similar response from Infinity Ward regarding Call of Duty," said Greenwalt.

When asked what he thought about Gran Turismo 5, and whether he was looking forward to it, Greenwalt said that "all good game developers look at what their competitors are doing." He stated that he has been "a long-time fan" of the series, though he added, "At this point, after so many missed releases, it's nearly impossible to say what GT5 will be or when it will ship." That said, Greenwalt believes that Gran Turismo 5 will be "a good racing game." Not exactly "No game competes with us," is it?

The interview also covers some interesting statistics, like the fact that players have driven over 1.1 billion miles in online Forza 3 races. Check out the full interview for more stats and insights on the game's development.

I know that Cort talked about the Japanese teaser site for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 earlier tonight, but I wanted to make sure we linked you into it. Nothing new to look at, but you never know which site (NA/Japan/Europe) is going to update with info first. This is another one to throw [...]

Have you seen Avatar? Are you still trying to understand the universe of Pandora? Battling those Avatar blues that I’ve been hearing so much about? Can’t get enough of the inner-workings of Avatar from the movie or the game? This article should help fill in all those missing holes…and then present [...]

Reader Matt came upon the motherload of GBA games at his local Burlington Coat Factory. We have one of those outlets around here, and I had no idea that they had video games! It looks like there’s a ton of GBA games for $5, and some DS games for $9. Might be [...]

Both Prope and Namco Bandai have opened up their own sites for Ivy the Kiwi. I guess since there are two versions of the game, why not promote the games at two different sites?! There’s nothing in the way of new content to check out, but at least you’ll have double the locations [...]

I have to admit, this is a great idea. Screen protecting films never quite line up properly for my OCD brain to be content. So seeing this one from Keys Factory that uses an extra wing that fits around the D-pad for accurate alignment makes me happy. Now if only I had a DSi… Check out [...]

Free demo lets gamers take on quests as a single-player or with friends online.

Get ready for more war.