All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

It's been a while since we last checked in on the user tally for Sony's Free Realms, but that all came to an end today when the company announced that the family-friendly online game had reached the eight-million user milestone.

As you may remember, Free Realms got off to a speedy start, garnering around five million players in its first three months, but as the market has become more saturated with free-to-play MMOs, growth has understandably slowed. That said, look for a big bump when the title finally makes its way to PS3 in the middle of the year.

If you're already among the Free Realms faithful, you can look forward to the Festival of Hearts, "a special month long event that celebrates love, friendship and kindness," according to Sony. ... Boy, gang, we're not going to lie -- that sounds terrible.

SEGA releases The 3rd Phantom in Europe on Nintendo DS.

There's no question: retail has a serious lack of Wii, once again. Yes, this is 2010, but you wouldn't be wrong in thinking it feels more like 2008. Following up on several tips over the past month about online and retail Wii "shortages," the best we can discover is that supply is still coming in to retailers, but that demand is exceeding it -- it's that same old Wii song we've heard for years.

"We're still getting [Wii] in, but it's just slow. We've tried getting more from other stores in our district, but we're just selling out too fast," a Best Buy employee told Joystiq. One GameStop manager claimed this supply issue happens every year after Christmas and estimated things will get better in mid-February. Other retailers echoed: supply is still coming in, but selling out fast. Online stores, like Amazon and NewEgg, aren't faring any better.

We've requested comment from Nintendo a couple times on this issue, however the House of Mario is staying mum. We've also requested official comment from all the major retailers, but have not received a response. If you know someone looking for a Wii, the best we can do is repeat the same advice we've been giving for years: just keep calling your local retailer about when they'll receive more stock.

Get into the action like no football game has before.

Check out all the rest here (thanks PD29 and iinigma7!)

This very week in 2004 marked Square’s return to Nintendo platforms with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. A 10-year spat between Nintendo and Squaresoft was finally ended, and Cube owners got an exclusive adventure that was pretty damn great…if you had all the necessary equipment. At least now we get Square-Enix support like crazy! Article [...]

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.

Though you could just buy a Chiquita banana and call it authentic Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll merchandise, Sega Europe has created some new swag that won't rot and won't result in any comedic pratfalls. The publisher has printed up some replica shirts as worn by AiAi, complete with printed backpack, as a promotional item for Step & Roll.

The only known way to get hold of one of these delightful items is through Sega's Free Stuff Friday contest (follow @sega on Twitter and message back key phrases at the right time on Fridays). Just add some cinnamon roll ears and a giant plastic bubble, and you'll be all set for Halloween!Dress like AiAi for Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll

Race to reach the ultimate dance party in Konami's new downloadable game.

Tetris Construction by Erik Johansson Another round of Tetris constructoin, an idea we’ve seen a few times over. Doesn’t make it any less interesting though!

Five screens from Hero: 108

Five screens from Hero: 108

Surreal adventure game coming to consoles.

-below is copied information straight from the article-

 

Will Sonic be touring space with his old rival?

UK magazine Ngamer has posted an interesting tweet on Twitter this afternoon, making a rather bold claim that not only comes right out of the left field and has left us all a bit dazed and confused here at Nintendo Life Towers.

We should stress this is currently deep in the realms ofrumour territory for now, with no confirmed word from Sega or Nintendo, so please take it with a rather large pinch of salt for the time being.

Here's the Tweet in question:

We've just had some shocking news from an inside source at Nintendo: Sonic will be a playable character in Mario Galaxy 2! Wha?

They sound about as surprised as we are! As always we'll keep you posted if the blue speedster and the world's favourite plumber do indeed join forces outside of the Olympics.

This video showcases how developer NaturalMotion is engineering the next generation of football.

Were you aware that Folding@home (now called Life With PlayStation) isn't just an altruistic distributed computing network, but also a brutal team sport? It's true -- reader Chilly_Willy recently pointed our attention to Joystiq's ranking on the F@h leaderboard and reported the delightful news that Team 'Stiq is set to overtake fellow games media outlet G4TV within the next 24 hours. We received the news with dignity, knowing that rankings don't matter -- all we care about is contributing to the scientific community's fight against disease.

We're kidding, of course -- we're purely in this thing for the thrill of victory. In fact, it would be great if you guys could go turn on your PS3s and lend a hand in destroying G4. We want Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb to feel absolutely crushed with defeat at some point during the day, but not know why. We want to run into Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira at PAX East, and have them be too afraid to make eye contact with us. Please, please, dear readers -- won't you help make our dream a reality?

Taking the Robot Masters from Mega Man 1 and transforming them into the ‘The Mr. Men’ line of children’s books… Thanks to Ami for the heads up!

Stars of upcoming classic action-adventure game are revealed with a next-gen makeover.

Thank the Enkindlers! Encompassing an entire galaxy's worth of alien beings, uncharted worlds and tattooed psychopaths, Mass Effect's bible doesn't exactly make for light reading. "We probably spent 6-12 months with a team of designers, artists and so on doing concepting, world building, design and character iteration, timelines, and the history of the universe," BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka recently told IGN. The "IP bible" is consulted for all Mass Effect games, he explained, comparing it to an "iceberg that's down there, giving it weight and gravity, credibility and depth."

Echoing earlier statements made by BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk, Muzyka pointed to the franchise's considerable backstory as a viable source for "future extensions, ancillary products, things like that." Things like that may include spin-offs like Mass Effect: Galaxy for iPhone, novels, further expansions to Mass Effect 2, and, obviously, Mass Effect 3.

Sadly, if there's one thing the Mass Effect bible can't teach us, it's the virtue of patience. Who wouldn't kill for the next part of the trilogy right now?

A portion of a WiiLoveIt review… The game contains a very large deal of content, lots of replay value and it’s all around good fun online or offline. For the amazing price of only 800 Points, TV Show King 2 is not only a strong WiiWare title, but it’s also one of the best trivia games [...]

We'll be honest -- we weren't too interested in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing when we first heard about it, but every time the publisher announces a new playable character, our desire to play the game intensifies. (For the record, Sega? You had us at Ryo Hazuki.)

We'll definitely be trying out the new demo -- released on Xbox Live today -- which features Sonic and Banjo as playable racers on a sample track. To accompany the demo, Sega has also released an All-Stars Racing theme for 240 ($3). However, we highly suggest checking to make sure the game's any good before proudly tattooing your Dashboard background with its logo.

Shortcuts: Add the demo / theme to your Xbox 360 download queue [via Xbox.com]Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing demo and theme now on Xbox Live

Direct link here (thanks NintenDaan!) Keep the skies safe on your Nintendo DSi Touch Screen with the infectious Nintendo DSiWare download Flight Control! In this action-packed simulation, players take on the role of an air traffic controller at an increasingly busy airport. In complete control of the airspace, the player must direct aircraft to their appropriate landing [...]

Well, folks, it's been a long wait but it's finally here. After first being rumored nearly four years ago, Darwinia+ is due to hit Xbox Live Arcade in only two more days. We're sure that the game's fans are pleased to hear the news, as is developer Introversion. After all, the company has a lot riding on Darwinia's XBLA outing.

The game features a single-player campaign, online multiplayer for four players and plenty of sweet, retro stylings. Taking cues from real-time strategy, god games and, oh, let's say Tron, Darwinia has players controlling squads of 2D sprite characters called Darwinians as they battle an evil computer virus. The original PC version of the game took home the grand prize at the 2006 Independent Games Festival.

The price of admission is 1200 ($15).

Industry sales expected to decline yet again.

Industry sales expected to decline yet again.