All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Exclusive: The CEO wants games in the cloud, says Natal won't be right for Red Faction and confirms de Blob sequel for multiple platforms.

Exclusive: The CEO wants games in the cloud, says Natal won't be right for Red Faction and confirms de Blob sequel for multiple platforms.

Somebody had to be the first to start it up again. Last year, analysts clamored for months about the need for a Wii price drop, a din Nintendo quelled by actually dropping the price of the Wii to $200. On Industry Gamers, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey has kicked off the next round of calling for a discount, declaring that Nintendo needs to cut the price of the console to $150 to stop the declining sales and fill out as much of its install base as it can before its competitors' motion controls hit the market.

"We believe they also need to generate strong hardware sales momentum into their competitors release," Hickey said, "or face the draconian consumer perception of the Wii having a dramatically reduced entertainment value proposition over a faded technology innovation; Rock Band anyone?" In other words, with compelling motion control devices on the way from Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo needs to do something drastic to prevent the Wii from slipping from #1 to #1 by a smaller margin.

The NES classic is reborn.

New DRM title requires players to register through PSN to play online.

This was the very first Worms game I ever played, and I tackled it on the N64. I had no idea what the Worms franchise was at the time, nor did I know that it had legions of fans. My one friend decided to introduce me to the game, and I instantly became [...]

By now, you've likely dissected every frame of the new Halo: Reach trailer, mining its most precious infoz to your heart's content. Or maybe (like us) you work for a living, or have other responsibilities that keep you from busting out the microscope and going to town. That's where Digital Foundry comes in.

DF conducted a thorough breakdown of the X10 video, monitoring the frames-per-second (fups, as us cool kids call it) in all of the presented gameplay. All in all, the ViDoc seems to have spoken the truth: Halo: Reach's engine is a significant improvement over that of Halo 3's. It looks like Reach should run at a smooth 30fps, the same as its predecessor, at a higher resolution: 1152x720 over Halo 3's 1152x640. Yep, you pixel-counters just read that right. Head on over and give the video a gander.

[Via HBO]

Enough to make you scream or worthy of a gubernatorial run?

Here’s a nice little feature for Sonic Classic Collection that you might not know of. You’ll be able to quick-save your game at any time, so now you can just put the game down anywhere you want and pick it back up later on. It should make getting through the collection a little [...]

Want to know if you have a copy of Stadium Events that is worth thousands, or just tens? This helpful guide will help put you down the right path. Maybe you could hunt down a valuable copy of your own!

Depending on who you talk to, that could be a very good or a very bad thing. What’s your impression after seeing the leaked footage from earlier today?

Where in the world did cel-shading go? It was all the rage for a long time there, and then the graphical approach just seemed to disappear. It’s pretty disappointing, because cel-shading really is one of the most unique visual presentations that the industry has. I think there’s so much that can still [...]

Medics, it's been a long, hard road in MAG -- hopefully until now. The PlayStation Blog reports that a new patch -- version 1.02, the first of many coming down the pipe -- will be available for download on your console war station tonight at 1 a.m. PST / 4 a.m. EST. The central theme is medical improvements -- specifically, the elimination of the onscreen medic icon from anyone who has a Medical Kit. Now, only those who have the Resuscitation Kit will have the cross.

Also, the only soldiers who will see icons over downed players waiting for a resuscitation are those that can actually resuscitate them, which should help get some of that clutter off the screen. Finally, Zipper has added distance counters for those fallen comrades, giving medics a better idea of how far away those in need are.

If you're looking for more intel on starting out (or just some general tips on being a badass), hit up the PS Blog.

Transfer your Pokemon to the Pokewalker and link up with friends for added content.

New images of the WiiWare rebirth.

If this is really leaked off-screen footage and screenshots of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 sent in to 1UP, we're surprised to say that it really, for real looks like a Sonic game. Despite a lazy jump animation, it actually looks like something that could satisfy those of us desperate for a genuine Sonic experience. Therefore, we predict either that this stuff is an elaborate fake, or that, after the first level, Robotnik freezes Sonic solid and you spend the rest of the game as Amy Rose dragging Sonic in a little red wagon. Those are the only ways we can reconcile what we see and what we know about Sonic games.

Visible in both the video and the screens is a menu that reveals stages called the Splash Hill Zone, the Casino Street Zone, and the Mad Gear Zone (which probably isn't a Final Fight crossover), as well as a Sonic 1-style Special Stage. Check out the video after the break and face the terrifying proposition that you may become interested in a Sonic game.

Frustratingly, this footage is as wobbly as all furtive "leaked" off-screen game footage is -- despite the fact that the person shooting it clearly had enough control to turn on the system and start the game on demand, suggesting that this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment video opportunity. Maybe the shaky-cam effect makes it look more like what people expect of a leak.

The details
Microsoft is hosting a special Game with Fame event in which a few lucky Xbox owners will be able to watch a movie with Rob Zombie over Xbox Live. That film, unsurprisingly, is the unrated version of Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects. All you have to do is rent (SD 240/$3, HD 360/$4) or purchase (SD 800/$10, HD 1440/$18) the film from Zune Marketplace and send a friend request to RobZombie GWF. The event starts on Friday, February 19 at 8:00pm ET. If you get a party invite, then you get to watch "a selected segment" of the film with Rob Zombie, who will provide "a live director's commentary on the cruel and sadistic activities of the Firefly family."

The grim reality that sets in if you win
Now you have to think of something to talk about with Rob Zombie.

The grim reality for Rob Zombie
Two hours of people asking when White Zombie is getting back together.

[Via G4TV]

By way of Eurogamer, we know exactly when in Q1 Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon will release: March 19. The game will be published across the old world via Rising Star Games. Our own time spent with the title was pretty favorable, as we enjoyed its unique approach to the genre and ability to make us feel isolated, much like protagonist Seto.

For the unaware, Fragile Dreams takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where survivors are few. Seto, now alone after his mentor's passing, must go out into the world and brave the ghosts and remnants of humanity's past that litter the landscape.

In an effort to pencil in a US release date, we pinged XSEED -- who could only say that it would arrive sometime in March. We'll let you know the date as soon as it's announced!

Walking through each one of the Blue Bomber's classic outings, in order, to see which ones have had the most impact on his upcoming tenth adventure.

Hey, you remember the Into the Pixel exhibit at last year's E3, right? Oh, no, that's right, they don't allow the plebes in. Had you been lucky enough to grace it with your stares, you'd have found a "jury-curated exhibition of video game art created by published video and computer game artists." And now that very same art can be found gracing the pages of eBay, as the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has opened up bidding on a smattering of pieces (starting yesterday and running through February 20).

Featuring art from games like Flower and Fable 2, the proceeds will help to fund the AIAS' scholarship programs. The bidding has most certainly begun, though most pieces remain at their initial $100 opening bid as of publishing. If you're looking to snap up one of these snappy pieces, we'd suggest you get bidding sooner rather than later!

Warband's Lead Designer introduces the romance feature of Mount & Blade.

According to its website (and an ESRB classification), Elefunk dev Big Head Games is bringing its The Terminator iPhone / iPod Touch game (released last summer) to PS Minis. There's no date yet for the cross-compatible PS3/PSP title (described as "run-and-gun" by the ESRB) which casts players as Kyle Reese in a prequel to the original Terminator film. iTunes users haven't exactly been kind to the mobile version of the game, but we've yet to see what changes (if any) BHG will be making for the Minis release.

Wait -- did we just write this without making a single cringe-worthy Terminator reference? Hmm. Off day, we guess.

[Via Destructoid]

What does a guy have to do to get a save point around here?

March is going to be a pretty intense month for XBLA releases. So intense, in fact, that it's all being bundled under one promotional moniker: Block Party. Microsoft recently announced specific dates and prices for each of the games therein, and boy oh boy, has its saved the best for ... um, next-to-last.

We already knew March 3 would see the release of Toy Soldiers for 1200 ($15). On March 10, we'll get our hands on Slick Entertainment's brutal racer, Scrap Metal, for 1200 ($15). On March 17, we'll be stocking up on supplies, boarding up the doors and windows, and enjoying Perfect Dark, available for 800 ($10). Things will come to a crescendo on March 24, when the Game Room hub will be released at no charge. The platform's games will run you 400 ($5) for a PC and 360-friendly version, 240 ($3) for just the 360 version, or 40 ($.50) for a single play.