News from the Steam Community tells us that Worms Reloaded, that new "extended" version of the old game in which sentient invertebrates do battle with rockets and/or sheep, is moving up to a worldwide beta. Previously, the game was only available for testing in Europe, but it's opening it up globally on Monday, so children of all nations will be able to throw airstrikes and ninja ropes at each other then.
The only catch? You need a key, and they've only got a few. So you'll just have to hope you come up when they spin the random numbers around. We do know that you have to be a member of the official group, so sign in over there right now ... and then begins the waiting game.
As if the thought of getting early hands-ons with Skate 3, Mafia 2, Red Dead Redemption, co-op Splinter Cell: Conviction and ... uh, well, tons of other games at PAX East wasn't enticing enough, we've just received word from Hydrophobia developer Dark Energy Digital that the game will also be available on the show floor. Moreover, the game has been announced as exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade (no word on whether the planned three-episode release will still get a retail counterpart). We'll be diving into Hydrophobia's flooded corridors this weekend and speaking with the developers, so feel free to dump a torrent of questions for us in the comment section below if you're so inclined.
#feature
As you know, the results of our little Kotaku Census are in. And while infographics are pretty, I also promised I'd give you the results in full. So here they are! More »
Filed under: Podcasts
This is the part in the post where we making some incredible introduction about how this episode -- recorded following day one of PAX East 2010 -- will change your lives. It will, but that's not the point. Forget that. We're here to tell you about two things: First, you really need to get your butts to the Joystiq Breakfast Event (brought to you Malt-O-Meal!) Saturday morning; and second, Halfbrick's Phil Larson wants to tell you all about the XBLA-exclusive Raskulls.
Phil -- a former Nintendo.Joystiq team member! -- joins an all-star cast in this brief X3F PAX Special. Actually, Richard didn't make it and although we replaced him with the sultry tones of Joystiq's Kevin Kelly, it's still not the same! Miss ya, Rich!
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
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[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Hosts: Richard Mitchell (SenseiRAM), Alexander Sliwinski (Sli Xander), Xav de Matos (Snypz), Dave Hinkle (KnifefightYaDad) and Kevin Kelly (Shazam)
#dsi
Lagging behind standards maintained by competitors Sony, Microsoft and Apple, Nintendo is launching its second portable gaming system capable of downloading video games, without letting those who downloaded games on their first DS to transfer them to the new one. More »
#crackdown
Crackdown's Pacific City sure ain't what it used to be. The buildings got crummier, and the cop's armour got better. Those delicious green orbs, however, look unchanged. Guess you can't improve on perfection. More »
#consoletaisen
The PlayStation 3 had a big week in Japan, thanks to the success of Sega's Yakuza 4, the country's bestselling game for the country's bestselling console. More »
#ubisoft
The first Assassin's Creed, much like the second, only came out on three systems: the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. But did you know that, alongside production of the original game, another was in development for the PS2 & Xbox? More »
Joystiq editors generally agree, Torchlight is one delightful little game. Anyone who enjoys a good dungeon-crawling action RPG should really give it a try, especially those looking for something to pass the time between now and Diablo 3. While it was already reasonably priced at $20, Steam has slashed the price to a ridiculously low $5 until Monday. At that price it's a definite, solid buy. Seriously, there's no need for deliberation here. Just go buy it.
#clips
If Disney's computer generated sci-fi epic appeared a few decades earlier and title sequence master Saul Bass got the job, well, it would probably look just like this, requiring a farm of PDP-1s to render. More »
It's scientific fact that racing games are roughly 200 percent more exciting when the genre's standard asphalt surfaces are replaced with good ol' H20. One of the clearest examples of this was Midway's classic arcade racer Hydro Thunder -- a franchise that's been dormant for over a decade. However, Microsoft Game Studios and developer Vector Unit today announced that they'll soon blow the proverbial dust off the series this summer with Hydro Thunder Hurricane, an Xbox Live Arcade-exclusive sequel to the arcade classic.
Hydro Thunder Hurricane will include a number of multiplayer-oriented game modes, eight super hazardous race tracks and several returning speedboats from the series' original iteration. There's support for four-player local matches, eight-player online matches and a co-operative "Rubber Ducky" mode, which just sounds so intense.
Vector Unit is showcasing the title at PAX East. We'll let you know how it handles.
One of our favorite aspects of the Euphoria-powered football game Backbreaker has to be its innovative camera. While many focus on the game's graphics and its incredible physics animation system, it's the low-angle camera that truly separates Backbreaker from its competition. Not only does it make the game look more visceral, it drastically changes the gameplay, making it feel far more like an action game.
"One of the benefits of having this down-on-the-field camera view is that it really makes playing as the quarterback -- like the passing mechanic -- feel really natural," Rob Donald explains in the dev diary above. While we're inclined to argue that the game certainly looks more real, we wonder if the close view will make players feel like they're at a disadvantage. It's something we'll have to judge when the game comes out in May.
#bungie
Bungie is mixing up Halo: Reach multiplayer with all new rules, adding the concepts of Credits, Rank, and Commendations; it's all part of the Xbox 360 game's new "Player Investment" system, which sounds way more exciting than the name implies. More »
We have a bit of evidence now suggesting that Final Fantasy IX might be headed to the PSOne Classics selection of the PlayStation Store -- besides the fact that Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and Tactics are already available on the store. Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto Tweeted (translation by Andriasang) that "Regarding an FF9 download release, everyone is so passionate about it that I'll be proposing it at the next board meeting. Look forward to next week!"
To those of you out there constantly discussing how awesome Quina is on Twitter, in Japanese, it looks like you might be victorious. Of course, this kind of statement is more likely to make fans feel engaged in a process that is going on independent of their participation -- by which we mean this was totally going to happen anyway.
#screengrab
Origami Mega Man and Mettaur. Some 1,250 pieces were needed to construct Mega Man, another 250 for Mettaur. By DeviantArt user DreamMyst, as seen on Nintendo Everything. More »
#list
It was a week in which new Wii games were reviewed and old Nintendo 64 games were reviewed, as well as one that could've have passed for a Super NES game. It was a week's worth of Kotaku reviews. More »
The opening day of PAX East in Boston was capped by a fairly humongous presentation from PC gaming hardware manufacturer Nvidia, representatives from which introduced two new graphic cards: The XLR8 GeForce GTX 480 1536MB and XLR8 GeForce GTX 470 1280MB. The new pieces of hardware are priced at $500 and $350, respectively, and have a tentative release window of mid-April.
In addition to being capable of rendering some impressive visuals -- as seen in the presentation's 3D, multi-monitor demos of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Metro 2033 -- the two devices come loaded with some neat bonuses. Among these are a handful of download vouchers for high-def films from Sony Pictures and two tech demos titled Design Garage and Supersonic Sled. We really, really hope the latter can be fleshed out into a full-length game.
#valve
Games have "gotten away from genuinely scaring the player," and Half-Life, whenever it deploys its next episode, needs to get back to doing just that, the game's boss said More »
It's been a while since we last heard about Enslaved, the brand new IP coming from Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory and partner Namco Bandai, but IGN has broken the silence with a preview. The game sounds intriguing: Players control an Andy Serkis-modeled brawler named Monkey, who's neurologically tied to a techno-chick named Trip as they roam from a New York 150 years from now and out into a post-apocalyptic America.
The game is actually based on an old Chinese tale named Journey to the West, in which a sage and a powerful monkey go on a quest to find Buddhist wisdom, with the sage getting in all sorts of dangerous traps that the monkey (controlled via headband, just like the game) has to help him out with.
Likewise, the game offers up a set of challenges that will require Monkey to work with and defend Trip, who offers tools and advice all along. The third-person combat (against various robots and post-human bad guys) is supposed to be tough at first, but much easier with a little strategy and help from Trip. We'll keep an eye out for it at E3 -- the saga of Monkey and Trip could turn out to be one of 2010's more original endeavors.
#apple
With Apple's "magical and revolutionary" iPad hitting next week—April 3, to be exact—expect a flood of apps and video games to saturate iTunes at launch. Specifically, expect these games, unearthed from the iPad's app store. More »
- 1/10 in scale
- around 5 inches in height
- 20 points of articulation
- accessories including interchangeable buster projectiles (’normal’ and ‘charged’)
When we review a game without finishing it, we call it a Snap Judgment. Read why here. Time played: 3 hours
Portable games are often expected to be light, short-session experiences that you can jump into at any time, understand immediately, and play for minutes at a time. Infinite Space is not that at all. It is a deeply complex RPG with several interacting systems, all wrapped in a not-too-friendly interface. In fact, it's pretty much as baroque as you would expect a game about leading fleets of spaceships of your own design to be.
