All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Reader SL92 was doing some map comparisons for the Legend of Zelda series, and he came across some interesting findings when matching up the maps from A Link to the Past and Minish Cap. Could there actually be a connection between these two games?

Industry sales expected to decline yet again.

Halfbrick Studios, the Minis-producing development factory in Brisbane, has announced a new title: Age of Zombies. Not to be confused with the Age of Aquarius or the beloved children's film Ice Age, Halfbrick's game is decidedly more macabre -- with a pinch of cute tossed in. (We never thought we'd call zombies both those things, but there it is.)

Age of Zombies follows time-traveling protagonist (and delicious side dish) Barry Steakfries, doing his best to eradicate the hungry undead looking to get a mouthful of his tasty vittles. The debut trailer nestled above gives us a vibe akin to a cross between Robotron and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which kinda sounds like a good time. There's also the promise of zombified T-Rex dinosaurs, which hardly seems possible in the real world, but, hey, we'll take it.

Age of Zombies will be available to download from the PlayStation Store on Thursday, February 25 for $4.99. In the meantime, fight your way through a horde of new screens in our gallery below.

No, you won't learn who the stars of karate are by playing THQ's All-Star Karate. Rather than a licensed game featuring the biggest names in martial arts, All-Star Karate is a fighting game in the same casual Wii series as All-Star Cheer Squad. And though the final product may not turn out to be to everyone's tastes, there's something about a casual-oriented fighting game that sounds fascinating. Or, it would sound fascinating if not for all the minigames.

All-Star Karate uses the Wiimote and optional MotionPlus for motion-based karate moves in training. That training can then be put to the test in the Challenge Mode. Also neat (and likely to be overshadowed by the minigame-ness of the whole thing): a kata editor that lets you put together your own choreographed demonstration.

All-Star Karate will be available this spring. Beware of the stinky socks!

Mass Effect 2 has maintained the top spot on Chart-Track's UK all-formats sales chart for a second week in a row. However, there seems to be some kind of Batarian flu loose on the isles, because Mass Effect 2 sales, which dropped by 64 percent this week, were "within touching distance" (850 units, to be exact) of Wii's Just Dance. Rounding out the unchanged top three for a second week was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

EA's Dante's Inferno had one hell of a premiere on the charts, earning a somewhat sinful spot at fourth. In a good sign for MAG, the mega shooter slipped only three notches to seventh place. Meanwhile, the surprise return of other BioWare game Dragon Age: Origins to the top 40 last week has gained even more momentum, moving up another three spots to 28th.

Source - Mass Effect 2 leads an unchanged top 3 [GFK Chart-Track]
Source - Latest UK Software Charts [GFK Chart-Track]

Award-winning creative platforming with a pen coming to WiiWare, now available for PC and Mac.

Sign up for a free THQ*ICE account and enter the wish big for 2010 sweepstakes.

More ways to entertain yourself with zombies.

No, you won't learn who the stars of karate are by playing THQ's All-Star Karate. Rather than a licensed game featuring the biggest names in martial arts, All-Star Karate is a fighting game in the same casual Wii series as All-Star Cheer Squad. And though the final product may not turn out to be to everyone's tastes, there's something about a casual-oriented fighting game that sounds fascinating. Or, it would sound fascinating if not for all the minigames.

All-Star Karate uses the Wiimote and optional MotionPlus for motion-based karate moves in training. That training can then be put to the test in the Challenge Mode. Also neat (and likely to be overshadowed by the minigame-ness of the whole thing): a kata editor that lets you put together your own choreographed demonstration.

All-Star Karate will be available this spring. Beware of the stinky socks!

Just relax -- you might feel a slight pinch.

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Last updated: Monday, 12:40 PM

Brand new kind of MMO coming your way.

New details on the Old West shooter.

Click image to scare up larger screens
Hudson's banking that you'll want to sample its brand of "traditional survival-horror" in Calling. Make all of the jokes you want about the game's phoney nature; what we've seen so far is downright creepy. And in the interest of getting your week off on a frightful foot, we've rummaged around in Hudson's creepy old mansion to secure some more screens, which you can find in the gallery below.

Latest title in All Star franchise becomes first videogame on Wii to integrate karate-based play.

New title based off animated series coming this fall.

Players amass in virtual world to engage in customized gameplay experiences and share in creating user generated content.

What big Fable III announcement could have Molyneux worried about fan reaction?

We apologize for any and all spelling or grammatical errors this post may contain. We're not at our usual razor-sharp level of literary acuity this morning, due to the fact that we stayed up all night to analyze the image you see above. According to Siliconera, that silhouetted figure up there is the first new fifth-generation Pokémon, and we need to know what it is. We'll find out during the February 21 episode of Pokémon Sunday -- but we both know that we can't be expected to wait that long.

So, let's just start riffing. It looks bipedal, right? That could indicate that it's a fighting-type -- then again, look at its plumage. Kinda looks like the trappings of a fire-type, doesn't it? Then again, it could just as easily be a new evolution of Lucario! Or -- wait, you know what it actually resembles? Our shame.

And here we thought the well of Lego Star Wars material had dried up. Perhaps we've underestimated TT Games, which has revealed that it's constructing a new armed and fully operational entry in the series: Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. Destined for an Autumn 2010 release on the Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS and Wii, the game will focus on the events of the Cartoon Network animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Expect "brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat" and an expanded level editor, allowing potential Padawans and Seperatists the chance to construct their own "customized bases and in-game battlefields." You'll also be able to employ new tactics throughout the game, such as "Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups."

Wait, lightsaber slicing? Does that mean the obvious, or the radical ability to slice through lightsabers?

We always assumed that Geoff Keighley's ability to secrete world exclusives only applied video games, but his power/curse seems to extend even to magazines about video games. Keighley says he got an early look at Game Informer's recently teased piece on Rockstar's L.A. Noire and let slip via his Twitter feed that the game is apparently slated to arrive in September.

According to legend, Keighley is often able to see pieces like this even before the electrical impulse makes its way from the "typing synapse" of the brain to the writer's fingers. That's our accurate, scientific way of saying we haven't seen the piece for ourselves yet, so we're going on Keighley's word at the moment. We know, we know, we dislike trusting a guy who misspells "Jeff" too.

There's a wide selection of downloads available on Wii and DSi this week -- including stuff that people might have heard of before and/or be interested in! Two days after its reveal, the new Blaster Master game is available on WiiWare, along with Hudson's Princess Tomato, a somewhat forgotten NES oddity. And DSiWare has the iPhone hit Fieldrunners and a new puzzle game by Intelligent Systems. Read about all ten (!) new games after the break.

BioShock didn't need a sequel.
I know it, you know it; heck, I'd bet if they were being totally honest, the staff of 2K Marin would tell you they knew it too. BioShock was that rare combination of a perfectly realized world, fresh yet refined action and a narrative that left me with no real burning questions. It didn't need a sequel.

But all that has very little to do with BioShock 2 because whether it needed to be made or not, it's here now. And the surprise isn't that someone other than Irrational had the chutzpah to make a BioShock sequel. The surprise is just how worthwhile it is.

Deadly Viruses and Heroic Vegetables Make for a Memorable Week

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Amazon is now offering a special buy two, get one free deal on Xbox 360 Platinum Hits titles. The deal is fairly straightforward: just pop three Platinum Hits games into your cart and the cheapest of the three will be knocked down to the wallet-friendly price of zero dollars. It's really the perfect excuse to pick up some great games you might have missed, especially considering many of them have sequels out this year -- notably Fable II, Halo 3, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, BioShock and Dead Rising. You'd better do it quick though, as the offer is only valid through February 13 and only while supplies last.

[Thanks, Goldenchild]

Seriously.

EA wants series to be more accessible.

The plasma party may be almost over for those of you still gripping tight to your Xbox 1 and copy of Halo 2, but Bungie is looking for fans to join staff members in a last hurrah on April 14. Community manager Brian "Sketch" Jarrard proclaims on Bungie.net that, "We're all saddened at the realization that an era is coming to an end but looking back," before asking fans to "mark your calendars now - on April 14th let's all rally to go online for one last hoorah." And sure, he might not explicitly mention the emptying of various malt beverages from 40 ounce glass bottles, but that's why we read between the lines. It's right there, people!