All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

South Australian Attorneys-General Michael Atkinson resigns from the front bench.

South Australian Attorneys-General Michael Atkinson resigns from the front bench.

Get your lurch on for a great cause. Also: braaaaaains.

Get your lurch on for a great cause. Also: braaaaaains.

Get your lurch on for a great cause. Also: braaaaaains.

South Australian Attorneys-General Michael Atkinson resigns from the front bench.

Get your lurch on for a great cause. Also: braaaaaains.

#research Just a reminder that if you'd like to take part in our Census 2010, which is polling users about their video gaming likes, dislikes and secret feelings, you've only got a few hours left. More »

Sure, you've read about the always-on internet connection required for playing Assassin's Creed 2 on PC, and you may have even heard about the alleged hacker attacks on Ubisoft's authentication servers, but we'd like to offer you a chance to get right in there on the action. That's why this week's Swag Sunday is offering up one DVD copy of the game for Windows XP/Vista/7-equipped readers to win -- all you need to do is tell us what your favorite DRM solution is (an actual solution, "no DRM" will not be accepted) in the comments below. We'll choose a winner at random this week and let you know if you won through your commenter-tied email address, so keep an eye out!

• Leave a comment telling us what your favorite DRM solution is (an actual solution, "no DRM" will not be accepted).
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- due in part to Jean Charest and his friend Barry).
• Limit 1 entry per person per day.
• This entry period ends at 7:01PM ET on Monday, March 22.
• At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Assassin's Creed 2 for PC (ARV: $49.99).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

A roundup of all that was new in the most popular Facebook games this week.

#screengrab With all of those multi-colored bales of hay in Farmville why aren't more people doing this? More »

Man, what in the world happened to Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles? It never seemed to even get a chance at retail. I think most Wii owners were done with rail shooters long before this title came out. Even the mighty Resident Evil brand couldn’t escape the hatred for the genre.

* Terrain editing * Sprite editing, with over 1,200 properties available * Entrance editing * Image display for over 200 sprites * Background options, with image previews * Zone options * Zoom, [...]

#screengrab "Members of the gaming press are always working. For instance, that picture I took at the beginning of the panel? I've already uploaded it and posted it on Kotaku." The audience at my MomoCon panel on game journalism. Nice-looking bunch! More »

A portion of an Interplay interview with developers Eric Caen and Rob Stevens… Interplay.com: What was the most difficult thing during the development? Eric: DS & DSi are great consoles, but most of the games use the fact they’re handheld as an excuse to stay very basic. They underutilize the display and go with a simple [...]

#beta post What's the point of a beta test for a video game these days, other than to drum up publicity? The makers of upcoming PlayStation 3 game ModNation Racers say it got them to add a feature. More »

Rather than play that silly old full-motion video arcade game with motorbikes -- you know, that one that only exists in the trailer above? -- the latest video from developer RedLynx encourages you to pick up Trials HD instead and hop right in to the level creation tools. Beyond the initially jarring brutal crashes and eviscerations, the latter half of the clip displays the subtle elegance at players' disposal should they master the physics-based controls to the pixel-perfect precision the game asks of its users (we're especially impressed by the double front flip). And though we haven't seen any DLC for Trials HD since the last one in late December, it's good to see the developer supporting its game so long after release. But let's be honest here -- we'd could always use some more DLC.

#newreleases If you have any funds left over from the previous weeks' blockbuster video game releases, perhaps you'll be interested in what this week has to offer, namely another use for your Wii MotionPlus and Just Cause 2. More »

#clips Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver both come packed with the Pokéwalker, a nifty little device that promotes good health through Pokémon mastery. Then this lazy yet inventive individual comes along... More »

As the company itself puts it, "Want to offer your customers a scabbard for their sword? New tires? The latest in night vision goggles? Now you can!" It seems that while we were all up in arms about the added Mac client for Steam and Epic Games giving away its SDK to Steam devs, Valve also slipped out software developer support for microtransactions, not to mention a 100 fold increase in cloud storage limits (from 1MB to 100MB per game).

Joystiq's PC-centric sister site BigDownload noticed the additions in a PDF that Valve recently released on an overview site, detailing the changes coming to the Steam digital distribution client in 2010. As for the microtransaction update, Valve promises users the ability to "buy and instantly use the items they want -- all without leaving the game," perhaps opening up the gate to free-to-play/microtransaction-based games on the service. And, maybe more interestingly, leaving open the possibility of free-to-play games based in the Source and Unreal game engines.

[Via BigDownload]

I’d like to personally thank the PlayStation community (this means you) for your staggering level of involvement this past week. Whether it was participating in the new PlayStation.Blog Share, submitting your God of War III launch pic on Twitter, or RSVPing to our PlayStation Move hands-on community events, you all have been awesome.

BTW, we’ve still got more room for New Yorkers on Tuesday and Bostonians on Thursday, so please RSVP today.

And thanks to the many God of War III reviews, PlayStation Move impressions, and lingering GDC stories, the Blog Reading List is again bursting at the seams…

See you on the East Coast!

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Week of March 15, 2010)

• The World’s Most Badass Exercise Video Game – Kotaku
• PixelJunk Expansion Channels Demon’s Souls, Of All Things – Kotaku
• ModNation Racers Was My Favorite Low-Expectation Game Of The Show – Kotaku
• The God of War Needs to Do Laundry Too – Kotaku
• Do you want to become a PlayStation Home community volunteer? – Joystiq
• Hands-on: Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake (PSP) – Joystiq
• Hands-on: PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap (PSN) – Joystiq
• Kratos And NASCAR – IGN
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker “2-Man Co-op” Footage – G4tv.com
• Echoshift Review – IGN
• IGN_Strategize: Find all ten Godly Possessions in God of War III
• Game Genealogy: God of War – Gamervision
• Interview: SCEA’s Peter Dille on PS3’s New Campaign – IndustryGamers
• Critical Reception: Sony’s God of War III – Gamasutra
• Kevin Butler shows that PlayStation Move only does time travel – Joystiq
• Interview for ModNation Racers – UGDB.com
• Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Review – IGN
• An MLB 10: The Show story to warm your heart — SCRAWL
• Nomura Keen On Dissidia: Final Fantasy Sequel – Siliconera
• Molyneux says Heavy Rain offers the ‘first glimpses of the future’ of games — Joystiq
• UFC 2010 features exclusive fights on PS3 — Joystiq
• Hands-on: ModNation Racers PSP — Joystiq
• Age of Zombies Review – IGN
• GDC 10: Creating the cinematic experience of Uncharted 2 – Destructoid
• Review: ‘God of War III’ a fitting finale – San Jose Mercury News
• Heavy Rain Review – examiner.com
• MLB 10: The Show Review – Gamervision
• Rendering God of War III’s Colossal Enemies – Popular Mechanics
• Sony shows what an epic game really is with God of War III – VentureBeat
• The Engadget Show returns this Saturday, March 20th with Nicholas Negroponte and PlayStation Move! — Engadget
• GDC 2010: The Shoot Interview — Beyond The Rail Shooter – G4tv.com
• Interview: ModNation Racers’ Dan Sochan — Joystiq
• Interview: EyePet’s Nicolas Doucet discusses Move integration — Joystiq
• GDC: The music and sound of Flower — Joystiq
• Demon’s Souls Does Well, Atlus Swimming In Profit – Siliconera
• CONTEST: Win God of War III! – Gamervision
• Flower Creators: No New Games This Year, Intrigued By PlayStation Move – Kotaku

#cosplaygallery MomoCon has filled the campus of Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta with cosplayers, and video game fans are there in force. Check out characters from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Miles Edgeworth, BioShock, Brutal Legend, and more! More »

#column This is how you make friends and influence people in the Information Age (as a writer, anyway): More »

Could Kirby: Canvas Curse be one of Kirby’s finest adventures? Not only did this title show what the DS was capable when devs stretched their imagination, it also showed how versatile the Kirby license is. I’ve wanted a sequel to this game for years now, but I don’t know that it’ll ever happen. [...]