All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#xboxlivearcade Perfect Dark keeps Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade Block Party going, with the re-release of Rare's 10-year-old first-person shooter hitting the Xbox 360 this Wednesday. Also, available, damn good deals on Xbox Originals. More »

Craig and his cohorts jump into the recording booth for some Nintendo (Sony) chat.

Click to Jabba-size LucasArts and BioWare have thus far released information for their upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, at a painfully slow pace -- the same goes for the hands-on opportunities they've offered us over the past year. When we finished our demo of the game at GDC, we were still left with a number of the same questions we had when we checked out the game back in December: Will there be space combat? What community features will be available? Can we build our own sentient, wise-cracking droids which secretly possess hearts of gold (and tin)?

Alas, these questions remain unanswered. However, our GDC demo did clarify one hang-up we've been concerned about since the game was announced: Why would anyone play as a non-Force user? The answer is now clear. It's because the Galactic Republic's Trooper class is awesome.

#trademarks Halo creators Bungie are cooking up something new, something that, despite its new name, may not actually follow in the trail blazed by id Software's John Carmack and involve shooting rockets into space. So what is Bungie Aerospace? More »

Find out what a number of IGN editors think of Sony's motion controller.

Take one part Wave Race, mix it with some Tony Hawk and Smash Cars and you get Creat Studios' next PSN game, Wakeboarding HD. The game has you snatching all sorts of collectibles while you navigate the choppy, trap-filled waters left in your jetski's wake. Stunts seem to be a crucial aspect of getting a high score, as is trying to keep an "action chain" alive throughout each race.

Wakeboarding HD will be available on March 18th in Europe and March 25th in North America for $14.99. Check out a trailer after the break.

Gallons of blood and copious amounts of cake for the road? Sign us up.

Hi Everybody!

This Thursday, March 18, is the release of Patchwork Heroes on PlayStation Network for PSP. As an Associate Producer working on the title, I’m pleased to bring you an inside look at the game from the developers to mark the occasion, enjoy!

My name is Yuki Ikeda, and I am the director of Patchwork Heroes. I am also a part of “PlayStation C.A.M.P.!”, which is short for Creator Audition Mash Up Project. For those of you who aren’t familiar with CAMP yet, it’s basically a new Sony Computer Entertainment initiative to search for people who live in Japan and have an innovative approach to bring unique games to PS3 and PSP systems. Before joining Sony Computer Entertainment, I worked on special designs and models for amusement parks, live theaters, and other fun projects.

The idea for Patchwork Heroes came from wanting to make an action game that was sort of like cutting up paper with scissors, and I ended up pairing that with something very dynamic: giant aircraft and battleships! The basic premise of the game is to use a big saw to cut giant flying battleships into pieces before they come and destroy your town. As you cut chunks off the flying gunships, there’s lots of other action in fighting and dodging enemies, and also saving friends and collecting items.

Check out the trailer to see what I’m talking about!

Having seen the video, you’re probably curious about the unique art style and graphics of Patchwork Heroes. Well, the inspiration behind the art style for the game came from a melting pot of movies that inspired me, blending together to end up with the sort of retro-anime look that you see. A designer on Patchwork Heroes, Seiichi Terashima, said that he was also inspired by the animated films of Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn, who used cut out paper as a technique.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this fun and unique game. It is an all around blast from the game play and art style, to the music and storyline. The Patchwork Heroes team hopes you enjoy it as much as we did making it!

Yuki and the team has also provided some cool concept art for everyone to check out:

This concept art portrays the world setting of the game. It shows the main character, his town, and the giant airships he’s knocked out of the sky, all done in watercolor paint.

(Left) This illustration was a concept to show what kind of battles would take place on the airships. (Right) And above, All of the characters aboard the air transport, done in colored pencil.

Titori and his ally scaling an airship, done in miniature with clay, colored with paint afterwards.

Finally, here’s the team!

(from right to left) Yuki Ikeda, director. Miwako Ikeda, character design assistant. Seiichi Terashima, character and world design. Kenta Nakatsuka, UI design and animation

Patchwork Heroes will be published to the PlayStation Store on March 18, and available by download for $9.99. Enjoy the game everyone!

We still haven’t had a confirmation of Monster Hunter 3 on PSP, but this partial scan seems to further the rumor. It honestly makes perfect sense for Capcom to do this. Put Monster Hunter 3 on Wii in Japan, grab a million in sales. Drop it down to the PSP and grab [...]

Eleven days ago, Harmonix delivered on a concept many of us had fantasized about since the very first time we ever played Rock Band: It democratized the track-making process. For the first time in the franchise's history, any schmo off the street with a bit of MIDI engineering experience and a song in their heart could put that song on the Rock Band Store for the world to see (and hopefully purchase).

At GDC, Harmonix senior sound designer Caleb Epps and Rock Band Network producer Matthew Nordhouse sat down to speak about the challenges that came with opening up the game to user-generated content, and how its dedicated community has organically evolved the song-sharing process.

Last week, we brought you the incredibly exciting news that a Splinter Cell: Conviction demo was confirmed for release on Xbox Live. That thrilling news just got too awesome to bear: the demo will be out this week. March 18, in fact, according to a new Inside Xbox video.

If you're not worried about spoiling the demo for yourself (which, we suppose, would lead to spoiling a very tiny portion of the game by extension), you can see some of the gameplay the demo covers in the video. Or you can wait until you get to put yourself into Sam's goggles for yourself. Oh, did we say Sam's in it? And that there would be goggles? Whoops, spoilers!

[Thanks, Daniel!]

- combine two parent monsters into one child monster - child monster will inherit the abilities and strengths of the parents - the character that combines monsters is called the “Haigona” - there can be three different types of children spawned from a set of parents - the combination of monster families determines what family the possible child monster [...]

A portion of a JPS review… Overall, Sakura Wars: So Long My Love is a fun little RPG that many people will unfortunately probably miss. It’s old, it’s the fifth game in a series that has never been released in the US, and it’s on an old console and a console mainly used for casual games. Full [...]

#marchbadness A tournament simulation I did with NCAA Basketball 10 returns a believable national championship - Kentucky 88, Kansas 82 - but the rest reads like 3/4ths of the brackets in your average pool: Lots of chalk, and several WTF upsets. More »

#screengrab Photographer Jon Beard discovered an extra life in the dying light of an unprotected light bulb filament. Ghostly and gorgeous, as seen (appropriately enough) on Flickr, via Digg. More »

There are plenty of ways to cheat the Pokewalker, but this one might send the device into overdrive. The Pokewalker is set up for a human’s pace…and I think a paint can shaker might be just a tad faster than that.

Man…even when Mortal Kombat was at the height of its popularity, I can’t see how anyone would think that this is a good idea. I would love to know where this person is now, and how they feel about their body tribute. I’m thinking they might regret it just a bit.

A portion of a Game Informer review… If you’re a huge Punch-Out fan and slightly curious about Rage of the Gladiator, I’d still recommend the WiiWare download. While it doesn’t dethrone the champ, it’s got the potential to be a contender if Ghostfire Games makes some changes next time around.

The anxious social habits of the North American male, or Facebook for men who don't want to sleep with each other.

#gdc10 How does Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama explain the difference between Japanese-designed role-playing games and their western counterparts? By pointing out the divide between classic RPGs like Tomb Raider, Hitman and Final Fantasy. More »

Sony's next entry in the "Play, Create, Share" genre is drawing near. ModNation Racers is launching simultaneously on PS3 and PSP on May 25. Both versions of the game will feature a career mode, online multiplayer and a track editor. If you read our interview with United Front Games' producer Dan Sochan, you'll already know that there's even some connectivity: play both versions of the game to unlock additional content on the PSP.

In addition, Sony has announced a few pre-order incentives. Various retailers will offer extra characters, including Ratchet and Clank, Nathan Drake, and Kratos. For more details, check the PlayStation.Blog.

God of War fans -

The day you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. At 12:00 a.m. tonight, Kratos will be invading a retailer near you as the widely anticipated God of War III will be hitting store shelves! For those looking to channel your inner Spartan warrior, check out GTTV Presents God of War III: Last Titan Standing on SPIKE TV at 11:38 p.m. In this 30 minute special, action adventure comes to life as 10 of the biggest God of War fans in America get pushed to the limits, both mentally and physically.

These die-hard disciples of Kratos must shave their heads on the spot to show their allegiance, climb out of the underworld, and know their God of War trivia, as asked by game director Stig Asmussen. And, above all else, prove their physical strength across epic challenges and gameplay ability in a battle against Hades from God of War III. In the end, only one titan will be left standing – the one who best embodies the characteristics of Kratos, the God of War.

Here’s a look at the promo…

Here’s a look at the custom Kratos PS3 that the winner will be receiving…not bad!

And for those of you looking to be the first to get your hands on a copy of God of War III, we’ve teamed up with GameStop to host Midnight Launch Events at locations all around the country. Tonight, more than 3,500 stores nationwide will be welcoming Kratos faithful with various contests, challenges, and giveaways. Most participating GameStop locations will open at 10:00 p.m. local time, however, consumers should contact their local store to confirm the exact time of the event as they may vary by location.

GameCrazy and Best Buy are also holding midnight launch events. Click the corresponding links to find the nearest location.

Below are store GameStop addresses in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York to get you started. To learn more about events near you, visit a local GameStop store or go to www.gamestop.com/kratos.

In the End, There Will Be Only Chaos….

Los Angeles
Game Stop
7100 SANTA MONICA BLVD
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90046
(323) 845-9685

San Francisco
Game Stop
151 POWELL STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102
(415) 362-7601

New York City
Game Stop
1282 BROADWAY
NEW YORK, NY 10001
(212) 967-9070

#clips What is Pac-Man Battle Royale? This week's Amusement Expo in Vegas explains it all with a playable four-player Pac-Man face off that borrows from both Pac-Man Championship Edition and Super Pac-Man to interesting results. More »

#gdc One of the stories I told to a few people at the Game Developers Conference was about the bright idea I had on Tuesday about a psychological trick Microsoft could play, if they wanted to. More »

#ubisoft Third Echelon's best agent has gone rogue, and they've turned to Facebook for help tracking down Sam Fisher. Where would you go if you were a top secret government agency trying to track down a traitor? MySpace? Please. More »