All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

The original Gold and Silver experience is upgraded and optimized for a new Nintendo DS generation.

Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain is hitting store shelves next week, and it may be the last game of its kind from director David Cage. Speaking with Eurogamer, Cage revealed "that Heavy Rain is the end of my personal trilogy trying to tell the same type of stories with serial killers and stuff, in the thriller genre." It does appear that Cage has had a certain fixation with the morbid, with his previous works -- Omikron: The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) -- all centering around serial killers.

So what's next for Cage and crew beyond Heavy Rain? Multiplayer seems to be one consideration, with Cage calling it "the next challenge." "I have an idea of what it's going to take to make a multiplayer [game]," Cage admitted, adding it would be "very exciting."

Whatever Quantic Dream decides to pursue, it's likely to involve motion controls in some way. Considering Heavy Rain had motion controls in mind initially, it comes as no surprise that Cage continues to express his interest in PlayStation's upcoming peripheral. "We have a lot of interest in this motion controller, we start to play with it, and yeah, we definitely want to do something with it."

A portion of Gamesradar’s Review: You’ll love * Worthy ending to the series * Interesting concept * Guybrush is still great You’ll hate * Puzzles might be too easy for some people * Some annoyances remain unresolved * Character [...]

Send aerial attacks right back at your enemies with the Bomb Bouncer.

This sea-faring vessel possesses the weapons to fight multiple targets from the water.

Here we go again...

A look at the evolution of The Odd Gentlemen's first game.

A few weeks ago, Atlus demonstrated Trauma Team's forensics segments for us in a webcast. The publisher just released a new trailer focusing on that mode, so you can witness the medical crime-solving gameplay for yourself. It's like Phoenix Wright, but more medical-y, and with more revealing clothes.

Of course, it wouldn't be Trauma Center without some odd supernatural elements, and in Trauma Team's forensic missions, space virus monsters give way to phone calls from the dead. If only Dr. Naomi Kimishima had the presence of mind to ask the victims who killed them.

It seems like only yesterday we were telling you about three more confirmed characters for Super Street Fighter IV. Wait -- it was yesterday. So then, we assume you know about Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike's Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley joining the game's roster. Now would be a good time to tell you that a trailer -- in HD, no less -- has hit YouTube, showing the newcomers pulling off their special moves (as opposed to the ho-hum ones we tend to use). There's something a little odd though ... oh, right -- Capcom USA still hasn't made an official announcement about any of this. Maybe everyone there is playing the StarCraft 2 beta.

Check our the trailer after the break.

[Thanks, Jon!]

The creator of God of War and Twisted Metal reflects.

Footage of Battle.net, the Zerg and Protoss.

Make your own microgames on the Nintendo DS, and play them on Wii.

Capcom announces Street Fighter IV for the iPhone, talks Mega Man 10, and unveils new Dead Rising 2 images.

Title set for spring 2010 release.

Two weeks later, here's what we think.

Play as a Mutant in the new brand new game mode!

Two weeks later, here's what we think.

Two weeks later, here's what we think.

According to a BBFC listing, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands may include a special bonus -- Prince of Persia Classic. Unfortunately, the listing isn't enough to discern whether the classic version would be the same game now available on Xbox Live and PSN, or if it's part of some kind of special edition package.

When asked for comment, a Ubisoft representative told Joystiq it would not comment on rumors. Although our questions remain unanswered, at least we can look forward to the Sands of Time prince coming to the HD era and answering a few other questions.

[Via Destructoid]

The lid's off on Blizzard's highly anticipated sequel.

Big John Games has announced a new 2D puzzler coming to WiiWare: Mouse House; a single-screen maze game in which an adorably spheroid mouse navigates mazes full of obstacles and other mice in order to feast on delicious cheese. Though the presentation is totally "Flash game," the gameplay reminds us of Adventures of Lolo, Kickle Cubicle and other character-based NES puzzle games. (Not that we're suggesting Mouse House is that caliber of game.)

We'll find out soon enough how good it is. Mouse House's release is set for Monday, February 22.

Discover an ancient secret with this MMO!

This family-oriented trailer lets the mouse out of the house!

The good, the bad and the Trekkie.

In a new interview with Industry Gamers, SCEA's senior vice president of publisher relations, Rob Dyer, shared a candid view on platform-exclusive titles -- particularly when they're on that other platform. "Look, we're not going to get the exclusive games," he said. "The Mass Effects, Gears of Wars and Left 4 Deads aren't going to happen nearly as often. But we have our own first-party development and exclusives like Final Fantasy XIV and Agent. Exclusives just aren't as commonplace as they were during the PS2 days. What is going to be the driving force is either exclusive ad campaigns, like the Madden campaign, or exclusive content like we had with Batman."

He went on to contrast Sony's considerable first-party firepower with the "very few" developers at Microsoft Game Studios. "So rather than putting their money behind that, they've been going to Epic or Valve or BioWare to do what they did with Mass Effect, and that's where they throw their dollars." Microsoft's money lobbing appears to have paid off for EA, as the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 2 sold 572,000 copies in the U.S. within six days. Did consumers care whether its development was internal, external or bought? (Will they care when the Square Enix-developed Final Fantasy XIV arrives on PS3?)

According to Dyer, the PlayStation 3's growing install base now does "better for our publishing community than 360 does." Since the PlayStation 3's installed base grew by a greater percentage than the Xbox 360's, "particular" titles have taken the lead on Sony's system. Of course, with more PS3 owners leaping into the fray, more of them are buying games which may have already sold in to the larger Xbox 360 crowd in previous instalments (think: Guitar Hero). "As our installed base starts catching up and gaining on 360, you're going to see the publisher side much quicker get to par than even if we had the same number of [360 hardware] units," Dyer said.

That's a notable "if" -- if buying trends remain the same, if the 360 doesn't experience its own growth burst -- but it's hard to argue the PS3's improved fortunes in recent times. And who could resist all those exclusives? [Special Thanks: Michael Pachter]

You want some hard truth? Here it is: We have such a deep and abiding love for the Ace Attorney series that we almost certainly wouldn't be able to critique Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth objectively. Perhaps Capcom didn't send it our way solely because nabbing a good review from us would be almost too easy, a proverbial fish-in-a-barrel situation.

Less enamored critics have been pretty kind to the game, as you can see in some of the review snippets below. Not pictured is GamePro's 3.5 star review, omitted both for being unrepresentative of the game's average score and for being written by someone clearly incapable of experiencing joy.

• Eurogamer (8/10): "Things might be different as Edgeworth takes the helm, but this is unmistakably an Ace Attorney game. It bubbles with joy, a simmering pot of gleeful happiness. The ridiculous world of outlandish characters, crazed enthusiasm and peculiar passion continues, despite this latest game being even more heavily focused on the topic of murder."
• GameSpot (80/100): "While not much has changed from other Ace Attorney games in the way the narrative unfolds--slow paced, linear, and heavily text based--Investigations is not a clone of its predecessors."
• IGN (76/100): "You won't be stuck in the courtroom trying cases, either. You work crime scenes and interrogate suspects in the field. It's like CSI, except it uses real science like an "information reproduction" device that recreates the crime scene so you can investigate what happened when you weren't even around."
• Wired (8/10): "When everything comes together in the game's final case, and Edgeworth finally gets an opportunity to argue a case in court, it becomes evident how meticulously planned, written and executed this game really is. Compared to most other games, the interactions here may seem minimal. But that doesn't mean that Edgeworth and friends won't manage to get their hooks into you."

Godfather, Lord of the Rings, Mercenaries 2 all affected.

Sentinel's Fate finally becomes available to the EverQuest II community.

Quantic Dream suffers the a punishment that programmers dread: user tests.