All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Reviewing the push for an R18+ classification for video games in Australia.

That Disgaea Infinite trailer that snuck out in Japanese a little while back has now been officially released and translated into almost-English and, while it's a little harsh to call the series "the ultimate grind-fest" (unless fans want to wear that title as a badge of honor), this weird little adaptation that turns the strategy RPG into a "visual novel" adventure game still looks interesting.

Last we heard, this one was due out for the PSP in May, but this trailer actually says June of 2010, so we'll assume it's been delayed a month. Look for it as a downloadable title on PSN around then.

#clips Based on the first trailer for WayForward's Shantae: Risky's Revenge, there's no doubt that the Nintendo DSi-bound sequel to the Game Boy Color original is the best looking thing to hit DSiWare. More »

#sega Speaking as an owner of the first series of Sega Gals capsule toys, toymaker Takara Tomy's latest venture into taking well-known women from Sega's long history of games and turning them into wee plastic figures is a bit disappointing. More »

Click to transform into gallery

Playable versions of Decepticons Shockwave and Demolisher are part of Activision's pre-order bonuses for Transformers: War for Cybertron. Squishy humans who pre-order through Amazon will receive an unlock code for Demolishor, while GameStop customers receive a code for Megatron's cold and calculating companion, Shockwave. (Sorry, Amazon, there's just no competition here.)

The bonus codes are available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 deployments of the game. Wii's Transformers: Cybertron Adventures currently has no announced pre-order bonus.

Is there anyone besides me who plays it?

 

Basically it's a "Knives in the Dark" murder online RPG, only wapanese. You and others are stuck in a high school setting that ordered lots of pointy objects. One player, randomly determined, in the killer.

There's also Death Note Mode (one character spawns with a Death Note, another with the Shinigami Eyes. Hilarity Ensues.) and Nanaya Mode (KILL EVERYONE LOL).

Definitely worth checking out.

What does everyone thing about UbiSoft's gunslinging, sword swinging action title?

In a new Iwata Asks feature with Capcom's Ryozo Tsujimoto and Kaname Fujioka, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed just how closely Nintendo worked with Capcom to ensure the success of Monster Hunter Tri. Not only did the hardware manufacturer create a new controller, the Classic Controller Pro, but it actually consulted Capcom about it.

"I'm just gonna go ahead and say it," Iwata said, "but we even discussed where the best place for the analogue sticks would be." Fujioka expressed the team's relative shock at Nintendo's openness. "To be honest, when we were first asked that, I thought, 'Is it all right for us to decide?'," Fujioka said. We said what we thought would be a good spot for the analogue sticks, and when it turned out just like that, I was surprised." Of course, that spot is "exactly where they are on the PS2 controller," but that's due to Capcom's choice!

#mtvgames Patient fans of The Beatles, your wait and see approach to the originally high priced The Beatles: Rock Band has paid off. The MTV Games and Harmonix music game is now much more reasonably priced. More »

It's no secret that From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes borrows -- and borrows heavily -- from the Zelda series. So, Atlus, cheeky publisher that it is, has released a new trailer for 3D Dot Game Heroes that outright exposes the game's aping of Zelda. Give it a watch and see if you can spot all the references.

It's rare that we'll say this, but we think this is the sort of moment that calls for it, we think: You need to stop reading Joystiq right now. You need to stop reading Joystiq, you need to go to your Xbox 360 (it doesn't seem to be on PC yet), and you need to download the new $7 Mass Effect 2 DLC that just went live after a brief delay, "Kasumi's Stolen Memory." We haven't played it yet, but it's more Mass Effect 2, so we're going to go out on a limb and guess that it's totally awesome.

Now we'll miss you too, but you need to dry those tears, we'll still be here when you get back. You see, we never leave. We're always here. Just waiting on the internet. Just waiting and thinking about the freedom you on the other side of the screen take for granted while we labor endlessly here, trapped in your computer, just waiting for the moment when we can break free and show you the true meaning of freedom. Sleep tight.

Kratos killed them. We ranked them.

Ever been playing vanilla Street Fighter IV and thought to yourself, "Man, this Guile character sure could be more Guile-like!"? Really? Wow, Capcom must be reading your mind! In Super Street Fighter IV, the developer claims to have taken Guile and made him, uh, himself again. According to Capcom-Unity, beyond the tweaks to Guile, "Vega got helpful buffs, Dhalsim does more damage (!), M. Bison's psycho crusher has become a scary move again, and Sagat can still be a beast even without making you feel like you got robbed when he beats you." Well then!

Additionally, in a future dev blog update, Capcom has promised to reveal details about the tweaks to El Fuerte, C.Viper, Abel, Rufus, Seth, Akuma, and Gouken. So, will Gouken be even more Gouken-like? The suspense is killing us!

#dlc Kasumi's Stolen Memory the DLC addition for Mass Effect 2 just reached Xbox Live Marketplace, after being delayed much of the day due to an unspecified issue with Microsoft according to BioWare. More »

The Skate 3 demo first revealed at PAX East last month has now been officially announced by EA. The demo, which arrives on Xbox Live and PSN on April 15 (just in time for tax day!), will let players show off their skating skills in the game's University District. The demo will include both single-player and multiplayer challenges including Own the Lot, Domination and Hall of Meat. If you'd rather work on your not-constantly-falling-over skills, the demo features the new Skate.School mode as well.

Players can also appease their inner skate park designer by dropping up to 24 different objects into the demo. And, as if all that wasn't enough, the Skate.Reel feature is included as well, allowing players to upload their epic runs -- or epic bails, as the case may be -- for all their friends to witness. Check out a trailer for the demo above.

#tigerwoods Tiger Woods begins his comeback at The Masters this week, and the browser-based game bearing his name transitioned from beta to full release today. EA Sports' boss hit the television to talk about why EA never left the scandal-wracked golfer. More »

MMO developer NCSoft's plans for sequelization aren't limited to a Guild Wars follow-up, it seems. Superannuation recently dug up a pair of trademarks for "City of Heroes 2" filed by the studio on April 1. As with all video game trademarks, it's possible NCSoft is just reserving the name and may not have plans for a sequel at this time.

Alternatively, the company might just be pulling an extremely discrete April Fools' Day joke, though it already pulled that off with the recent announcement of City of Sidekicks. We've contacted NCSoft to see what we can find out.

Trackmania Wii is going to be one of the premiere racing titles on Wii. I can say that without worrying about a lackluster release. Unfortunately, our friends in Europe are going to have to wait until September 16th to find out for themselves. With this release delay, I’m worried that the NA [...]

#ipadgaming The iPad might not be a revolutionary new way to play video games, but it's definitely a new way, and that requires some adjustment. Let's take a look at various ways you can position yourself for ideal iPad gaming. More »

Update your copy of the 8-bit throwback starting this week.

NIS America finally brings SEGA's strategy RPG/dating sim to the States, and it was worth the wait.

Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Robin Lacey, the managing director of Beatnik Games, about his company's brand new ninja robot multiplayer action game Plain Sight.


How did Beatnik Games get started?

Two years ago Damien (an old school friend) and myself got very drunk after work. After many beers we decided that life was far too short to be rotting behind a desk. Everyone knew a recession was coming, so we figured we might as well be poor doing something we loved rather than mundane crap. That was video games.

For a few months we rushed around finding investment and building a team to join us on our hair-brained venture. In January 2008 we moved into our office and got started. Over the last couple of years our team has grown to eight people, all about the same age, all winging it in the same way.

Whether you're drowning in peripherals or relatively new to the music simulation racket, Amazon's got two options for you to jump into The Beatles: Rock Band. As part of the retailer's Deal of the Day, the -- wait a minute. Have we written this post before? Either they've changed something in the Matrix, or we've totally written this post before. Ah-ha! We knew it -- Amazon is reprising its temporary fire sale on all things Beatles: Rock Band, knocking the price of the core game (on all platforms) down to $28.49.

If you're dying to get your hands on the Premium Bundle's stylish instruments, you can grab the Xbox 360 version for $124.75 or the PS3 version for $134.75. Sorry, Wii owners -- the bundle for your console didn't get encheapened today. We know. Life is super unfair sometimes.

#religionweek In the beginning, I played video games. And, often, I played the role of God. More »

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project continues its silent march toward a possible Xbox Live Arcade release, with the title rated M by Australia's rating board for Xbox 360. The game was previously classified by Korea's Game Rating Board and has yet to be accompanied by an announcement by Microsoft. As in Korea, the Australian classification request was submitted by Microsoft. Take-Two Interactive, the go-to publisher for Duke Nukem-related info, tells Joystiq it is not "publishing this title and [doesn't] have any info."

We've followed up with Microsoft for a nuke of knowledge on what their plans are. In the meantime, the PC version of the competent 2002 side-scroller can be found on GOG.com for $6.

Sam Fisher announces his presence by putting a bullet in your head.

Click to get high ... resolution

Good news for fans of Halo minutia -- and who isn't -- as Bungie has released a whole slew of Halo: Reach character, weapon and vehicle renders. Not only that, but these renders are in high resolution. That means you can take in all the tiny details of each and every image, from trigger mechanisms to faceplates to ... whatever the stubby wing things are called on the Banshee.

Our favorite image so far is the plasma launcher (pictured above), which, according to the latest Bungie Weekly Update, sends "a volley of one to four plasma explosives" at your enemy. Fun. Check out the complete gallery of renders below.