All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Gravity Crash developer Just Add Water has announced a brand new game for PSP, PS3 and iPhone. Vektar Beat is a "rhythm/puzzle game" that will presumably feature vector-styled graphics. Taking a page from WiiWare's Bit.Trip franchise, Vektar Beat is just the first in a series of Vektar mini-games.

While details are scant, there's good reason to play close attention to the game. Just Add Water plans on charging as little as $1 for the game on the Minis service, introducing pricing parity between the App Store and the PlayStation Store for the first time. For PSP owners frustrated at overpriced Minis, Vektar Beat represents an interesting experiment.

Vektar Beat is scheduled for release in the Spring. Further details are scant for now, but tonight's episode of the PS Nation podcast should reveal much more.

Black Inc. has announced that Coreplay has released an update for its Xbox Live Arcade shooter, Ion Assault. The free update adds a new survival mode to the game which, unsurprisingly, has players fighting for their lives against waves of increasingly dangerous enemies. Additionally, the update also adds a new control scheme, which allows players to directly aim the ship using the right analog stick. Previously, the right stick rotated the ship left and right. It's not the most fluid control scheme, and was one of our only complaints about the game when it was released last year.

The new controls are available in the trial version as well as the full version, so you may want to give it a spin if the original controls put you off the first time.

Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is putting his Twitter account to good use. He’s spending his time talking about internet memes that involve himself, just like the one above. Apparently Wada has seen this image before. His Tweet about it was… “I’ve heard of ‘Imperial Hot.’ It sounds like a villain, though.” Not only does [...]

Filed under: Arcade After telling Joystiq just yesterday that it was working on a fix for unavailable original Xbox DLC, Microsoft has restored the content to Xbox Live. Major Nelson made the news known via his Twitter account. We popped a copy of Halo 2 into the ol' Xbox 360 and, sure enough, all the map packs were once again available for download. Ninja Gaiden worked as well. So, if you need any DLC for your dusty old Xbox games, you'd best get it before the original Xbox Live servers shut down permanently on April 15 (just in time for taxes!).

Also, don't forget to snag the old Halo 2 maps for Bungie's final online farewell to the game on April 14. You really should be there to play one last time. It's got dual-wielding!

Upcoming title to use skateboard peripheral.

Halfbrick Studios continues to churn out Minis for the PSP and PS3. Rocket Racing is the fourth title from the Australian studio for Sony's indie platform, following Age of Zombies, Echoes and Blast Off. Based on the Xbox Live Indie Game of the same name, Rocket Racing is one of the few games designed with the PSP Go in mind: the game can be played exclusively with the shoulder buttons, meaning Go owners can play with the system closed.

The gameplay of this top-down racer is rather unique. Each shoulder button represents a side thruster on the vehicle. Players will have to adjust each thruster to cut through corners, and make their way through the game's 24 levels. Hugging the walls won't result in a penalty; instead, the "grind" will result in a speed boost. Unfortunately, due to limitations of the Minis platform, there's no real multiplayer. Instead, gamers will have to resort to pass-around multiplayer, taking turns to go through the courses. Unfortunately, this "Party" mode seems like a rather misguided attempt to circumvent Minis' shortcoming.

Rocket Racing should appear on the PlayStation Store later this month for $4.99. Check out a trailer after the break.

Halfbrick Studios continues to churn out Minis for the PSP and PS3. Rocket Racing is the fourth title from the Australian studio for Sony's indie platform, following Age of Zombies, Echoes and Blast Off. Based on the Xbox Live Indie Game of the same name, Rocket Racing is one of the few games designed with the PSP Go in mind: the game can be played exclusively with the shoulder buttons, meaning Go owners can play with the system closed.

The gameplay of this top-down racer is rather unique. Each shoulder button represents a side thruster on the vehicle. Players will have to adjust each thruster to cut through corners, and make their way through the game's 24 levels. Hugging the walls won't result in a penalty; instead, the "grind" will result in a speed boost. Unfortunately, due to limitations of the Minis platform, there's no real multiplayer. Instead, gamers will have to resort to pass-around multiplayer, taking turns to go through the courses. Unfortunately, this "Party" mode seems like a rather misguided attempt to circumvent Minis' shortcoming.

Rocket Racing should appear on the PlayStation Store later this month for $4.99. Check out a trailer after the break.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – February 11, 2010 – Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising (Fox Licensing) today announced the North American release of the Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief video game for Nintendo DS™. The thrilling and addictive tactical role-playing game is based on Rick Riordan’s acclaimed [...]

The wildly popular children's book series and upcoming theatrical release comes to life on Nintendo DS today.

Following yesterday's Famitsu news detailing the heroic pair's inclusion in Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition's Mercenaries Reunion mode, Capcom has confirmed that Barry Burton and Rebecca Chambers will be included as playable characters in Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition. Sadly, our unbearably nerdy request for the more classic versions of these two characters was not honored, as both seem to be updates of their GameCube incarnations: Barry from REmake and Rebecca from Resident Evil Zero.

Meet the men that enforce the law of the old west in Red Dead Redemption.

Europe has been waiting patiently for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle -- except, of course, for those within Europe who imported it and had to wait only for shipping from the US. Rising Star Games has finally announced a release window for Grasshopper Manufacture's mass-assassination adventure: the end of April.

No coin fountains this time for the European market, either. Unlike the first game, the European release of No More Heroes 2 will be completely uncensored. In fact, Rising Star was careful to point out in the press release that the game contains "red blood. Lots and lots of red blood."

The US Army once considered purchasing a large number of Xbox 360 systems from Microsoft. Computers of equal caliber can cost around $1000 each, but an Xbox 360 starts at only $200 -- quite a considerable cost saving. The consoles could be used as virtual training tools, with games like America's Army and Full Spectrum Warrior placed in army "classrooms" stockpiled with Xbox consoles. The more cynically inclined can imagine the system as an effective tool for recruitment: join the Army, get a free Xbox.

However, Microsoft turned down the Army's offer, according to the Army's Roger Smith. He told Wired that Microsoft was concerned about the cost associated with the sale. The Army would be unlikely to buy more than one or two games for each system, thereby reducing Microsoft's chances of recouping the costs of subsidized Xbox hardware. In addition, Microsoft was afraid of a PR backlash. Smith recounts a Microsoft rep's worries: "Do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?" With games remaining an easy target for mainstream media, their concerns seem warranted.

Since then, the Army has lost interest in pursuing a deal with Microsoft. "Our initial enthusiasm when Xbox and XNA were new products has cooled. At this time we have no active or anticipated projects or R&D that are looking at using either of those products for military simulations," Smith told Wired. Perhaps the Army is pursuing a different option: buying PS3s en masse ... or maybe they're simply waiting for Halo Reach?

[Via Eurogamer]

New racing game to take on the go.

Keep the guns blazing with new content.

Partnership with world-renowned fantasy videogame includes visibility throughout the game and at NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by Adidas.

All you really need to know about Rock of the Dead is that it's -- as the developers at Epicenter (Real Heroes: Firefighters) describe -- Typing of the Dead meets Guitar Hero. Judging by the build demonstrated to IGN, the game allows you to use a Rock Band or Guitar Hero ax to chop through the legions of the undead. Obviously, a guitar peripheral will be mandatory, though the developer is preparing contingency plan should Nintendo frown upon the requirement.

There's quite a bit of nerdy star power behind the game, with Neil Patrick Harris voicing the main character and Felicia Day featuring as the love interest. Rock of the Dead, which aims for a "cheesy/campy" feel throughout, will be budget-priced between $30 and $40 when it shambles into retail "late spring or early summer."

[Via 1UP]

We're just weeks away from getting our hands on David Cage's uber-dramatic brainchild, Heavy Rain -- but as of today, European PSN surfers will be able to grab the demo for the cinematic title, free of charge (or download code). We're not sure why you'd want to do that, though. Isn't that kind of like watching a scene from the middle of the movie, turning the movie off, then coming back and watching the rest of it a couple weeks later?

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Square Enix delivers prequel to the hit science fiction franchise.

One more song from the fab four.

[SpaceQuest.net] Have you had a Time Ripping adventure lately? Or an interactive nightmare? If you're eager to experience either (and you are), GoG's latest Month of Activision offerings are for you. The online classic games store is offering some of Sierra's best adventure game classics, and also Phantasmagoria.

For just $9.99, you could be playing Space Quest IV, V, and VI, sci-fi adventure games starring everyone's favorite space janitor, Roger Wilco. Or, if your tastes run spookier, you can put your ten dollars toward Phantasmagoria, the horror game written by King's Quest creator Roberta Williams, starring some video clips.

One more song from the fab four.

The Beatles: Rock Band single "All You Need is Love" will bounce on trampolines over to Wii and PS3 on February 16 and March 4, respectively. The song was initially released exclusively on Xbox 360, with proceeds from purchases going to Doctors Without Borders. The track raised approximately $218,000 for the international relief agency before the promotion ended on January 31.

All you need to download the track and start singing along is $2, or 200 Wii Points.

We're devoted fans of the Ars Technica mole, who has nailed big stories like the PS3 Slim and the Resident Evil 5 bundle. As a result, we feel pretty comfortable getting excited about two new Xbox 360 bundles Ars highlights today. The first, a Splinter Cell: Conviction-themed bundle, will reportedly include a not-in-any-way-branded system packing a 250GB hard drive, two black controllers and the game, all for $400. The other bundle will, according to Ars, have all the same specs except with Final Fantasy XIII and white controllers.

Considering the the mole's track record, we wouldn't be surprised to see an official announcement any day now.

We've received a number of reports from readers who've been participating in BioShock 2's multiplayer component and succumbing to a variety of game-crashing bugs. The reported causes of the freezing are widespread -- some Xbox 360 players encounter it during the post-game recap, while some have reported freezing up while in their apartment hubs. We've contacted 2K to find out if anything is being done to patch whatever issue might be causing the breakdowns.

We were going to make a joke about the freezes being caused by the overzealous use of the Winter Blast plasmid, but that would have been one of the dumbest things we'd ever written.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The odd swapping of games between Ignition Entertainment and XSEED continues. First, Ignition obtained the rights to Marvelous's Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Arc Rise Fantasia, both initially to be published by XSEED. Now, XSEED has announced that it will publish Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny on Xbox 360 -- a game that we played at Ignition's E3 booth.

XSEED is publishing the fighter under the name Samurai Shodown Sen, with a release planned for sometime this spring. Along with Atlus's announcement that it's publishing Metal Slug XX, this move provides evidence that Ignition's co-publishing deal with SNK has ended.