All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Just a reminder…this is indeed a new NES game that is available for purchase. Grab your copy (when they’re back in stock!)

A portion of a Tech-Gaming review… Make no mistake- Korg DS-10 Plus isn’t for your average gamer. The title has a solid learning curve that compels non-musicians to spend some time with the cartridge before any rhythmic grooves can be generated. Along with this complexity comes a delightful amount of depth; the tool has the [...]

If you haven’t played Chrono Trigger yet, you should stop reading this article and get to it! Seriously, it’s one of the best games ever made, and this is coming from a gamer that doesn’t enjoy RPGs. Everything from the music to the storytelling is absolutely phenomenal. You really don’t have any [...]

February 22, 2010 - Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC (FADE) has released its annual report for 2009 for Nintendo’s WiiWare and Virtual Console services. FADE estimates that the two platforms combined for $125 million in revenue in 2009, with the holiday rush just giving Virtual Console the edge over WiiWare ($66 million to $59 [...]

Excerpts taken from "The Bonaparte Diaries: A Look At Me By Me" by Napoleon Bonaparte.

It's hard to believe that, after being announced in 2006, we're just now getting our first look at Subversion, the tactical action game from developer Introversion, which just released Darwinia+ on XBLA last week. The screens, recently unveiled on the Introversion forums (with some of the first gameplay details) look ... well, they don't look like a game.

Introversion says that Subversion's look (which is still unfinished) is based on 3D blueprints, and it looks quite compelling. We can't seem to get enough of games that don't look like games -- especially Excel. We've been into Excel LAN parties since way before it was cool.

[Via Big Download]

Baseball fans still have about a month before the sport returns to stadiums and televisions across the nation, but this latest footage from MLB 2K10 should at least satiate your need for a virtual recreation of America's pasttime in the meantime. 2K Sports has pitched over a nine-minute chunk of gameplay between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs, showing off the cleaner version of the pitcher's interface and the familiar fielding system of the last few iterations.

Then there's the new My Player mode, which allows you to create a player from scratch and follow his lifetime career. By completing certain goal-oriented tasks in the Minors, you'll then get called up to the Major leagues -- and once there, you'll find even more career milestones to work towards. Do well enough with your created Joe Schmoe and you'll find yourself unlocking milestones that put him on the track to be the next entrant into the Hall of Fame.

Source - Part one of My Player mode detailed
Source - Part two of My Player mode detailed

While you wait for the seventh Settlers game to arrive on March 23, Ubisoft would certainly like you to contemplate the pre-ordering of said game, nonetheless a full on pre-order of the digital-exclusive "Gold Edition." As to entice you die-hard fans to drop the extra $10 on the special edition (bringing the price to a more Modern Warfare 2-ey $59.99), the publisher has offered up an exclusive map, a handful of extra "castle forge elements" and a digital copy of the game's soundtrack.

With just over one month left until the game arrives on both PC and Mac, we suppose you could just put the trailer above on loop until the time finally comes (it does feature Bruce Shelley, after all), but that'd probably make you a lunatic. Also, you might die. And then how would you settle a vast kingdom? Hmm? Didn't think of that, did ya?

Can the gory action of Blood Bowl bring a new crowd to sports games?

Direct link and videos for Trauma Team, Ghostslayer, Mouse House, Family Go-Kart Racing, Flight Control and Flipper here (thanks NintenDaan!)

Ezio delivers his authority nautical style on a corrupt town official in the Bonfire of the Vanities DLC.

Choose from a wide array of weapons in this online MMO fighter.

Climb the ranks and navigate this little trap--how long can you survive?

I wonder how many of these trademark infringements Nintendo goes after. It seems like it might be a fruitless mission, as signs like this keep popping up every day. Stick Mario on something and it’ll sell!

The bad boys of B Company gear up for another high risk mission in Bad Company 2.

Microsoft has announced more details about its Xbox Live Arcade "Block Party," which is ... right around the corner. Next month's lead-up to the launch of the Xbox Game Room will see a promotion similar to the one offered during last year's Summer of Arcade, and then some.

For Xbox Live Silver members that purchase all three Block Party titles released next month -- Toy Soldiers, Perfect Dark and Scrap Metal -- and then download the free Game Room "client," Microsoft will credit your account 400 ($5). So, 3200 ($40) spent on the participating XBLA titles will get you back five bucks. If you're a Gold member, though, the deal gets a little sweeter: Purchase the three titles, download Game Room, and you'll get the 400 refund and a free month of Xbox Live Gold service (worth $4 and change if you're an annual subscriber) credited to your account.

A free "everyone's a Gold member" (no, not that Goldmember) weekend is also scheduled, permitting Silver members to play the three Block Party releases online (but only the Block Party releases) from 12pm ET on Friday, March 26 through 12pm ET on Monday, March 29.

Capcom passed along some screens and artwork of its upcoming Mega Man Zero Collection for DS, though the screens look suspiciously singular. Essentially, these are screenshots of the Game Boy Advance originals, without the DS's second screen. But since the screens focus on the important bit (the actual games), and because many people interested in this collection probably haven't been exposed to the original games, we're posting them anyway.

As a nice bonus, Capcom also sent out artwork featuring Zero looking pretty freaking cool. Mega Man Zero Collection arrives in stores early this summer.

BlazBlue enthusiasts eager to try out the new characters in the updated version, Continuum Shift, will be able to get their hands on the home release as early as July. That is, if they're playing it on the PS3 or have a Japanese Xbox 360. Arc System Works announced the Japanese release date, July 1, at a BlazBlue fan event. In addition to the previously announced beginner mode, legion mode and extra characters, Continuum Shift adds 300 new challenges in a "Challenge Mode."

In addition to the ¥7,140 ($78) regular edition, Arc is releasing a ¥9,660 ($106) limited edition including an art book and a Nendoroid figure of BlazBlue's Noel.

[Via Andriasang]

This is the type of support we need to see more often. If Nintendo is going to bring out DSiWare titles and not talk about them, then it’s our duty to spread the word. These are great games that deserve attention…titles that indie devs pour hours and hours into. It’s time more [...]

Set sail on the open water in the ultimate sail simulator on PC.

Gamasutra wasn't able to get its hands on year-to-date PSN sales data directly from Sony, but it has come up with some interesting conclusions based on an unscientific look at ... leaderboard stats. The site broke down January's new releases, as well as a few other games that sold well last month, and the big debut of the month appears to be Hustle Kings, which added over 39,000 players to its ranks. Assault Heroes only picked up 754 new players, but given that it's a game that actually came out in 2006 on the Xbox, that's not a big surprise. PSN also offered up its "10 for '10" sale in January, and Uno came away from that event with a whopping 87,000 new players on its leaderboards. Braid and Critter Crunch also did well, adding 20,000 and 17,000 new players to their leaderboards, respectively.

Keep in mind that these numbers are far from official, and not complete anyway -- Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, Thexder Neo and Matt Hazard were released on PSN last month, and none of those games are included in this analysis, due to unreliable or nonexistent leaderboards. But it is probably fair to say that PSN had a pretty good month in January, especially with the games featured in its "10 for '10" sale. More of that, please.

We realize that it's probably difficult to cut together a trailer for a DS game. After all, there are two screens to deal with and the system doesn't exactly sport the HD (or even 480p) pizazz of its bigger console cousins. Considering the bottom screen in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing appears to be reserved solely for a map, you'd think you could zoom in on the top screen every once in a while. Still, even in such a tiny space, the DS version of All-Stars Racing looks much the same as the console versions, minus a few polygons here and there, of course.

As Nintendo has already proven with Mario Kart DS, kart racing can be very, very enjoyable on-the-go. If All-Stars Racing plays as well as it looks, maybe gamers will finally have a new reason to chase down some power-ups and clobber their friends. Let's just hope there aren't any damned, hateful blue shell power-ups.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing hits stores this week.Squint at this Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing DS trailer

Up against the likes of the ... um ... Popcorn Hour C200 and the ... erm ... Asus O!Play (we'd better leave the gadget stuff to the folks who know what they're talking about), Sony's PlayStation 3 Slim has triumphed as the 2009 Engadget Awards winner in both "Game Console of the Year" and "Home Entertainment Device of the Year" categories. In fairness to the other game consoles, the Home Entertainment Device category didn't exactly feature Microsoft and Nintendo devices (the awards are for devices specifically released in 2009, as you might imagine), so the closest competitor (at 9.6 percent) was the HP MediaSmart Home Server -- the PS3 Slim took a commanding 54.3 percent of the vote.

In terms of the Game Console of the Year award, the margins were significantly ... slimmer, with the PS3 taking 43.3 percent of the vote, following close behind by the Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Edition at 31.2 percent. The Slim also made the Editor's Choice top pick for Console of the Year, rounding out the love fest. Also of note, Wii's MotionPlus landed on both lists as well for "Game Accessory of the Year," beating out the Modern Warfare 2 night vision goggles by just 4.7 percent. Your giant golden USB hubs will be mailed out shortly, winners! Congrats!