All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Hudson's possibly no-longer-Wii-exclusive action-platformer Lost in Shadow has always struck us as a lovely game -- its use of light and shadow evoking the great ICO -- but until last night there was the chance it could very well hold as little substance as its silhouette hero. Good news: What started out reminding me of the original, side-scrolling Prince of Persia quickly had me grinning, as its lighting went from "a nice effect" to a creating some clever gameplay mechanics.

The premise of the game is simple: You play as the shadow of a boy that's been severed from his body. Beginning at the ground floor of a massive tower, you guide his shadow form back to the top, where the two will (hopefully) be reunited. The core gameplay is simple. The shadow boy has a sword and can run, jump, climb obstacles and duel with enemies -- again, shades of classic Prince of Persia. The twist often literally came in the form of moving physical foreground elements in the level I played in order to reach new areas, and even defeat otherwise invulnerable enemies.

EDGE scored Monster Hunter 3 a bit lower than Nintendo Power, giving it a 7 out of 10. EDGE traditionally scores much lower, but they had this nice bit to say. Duality is at the heart of Tri - it is both tourism and dungeon crawl, reconnaissance and gung-ho attacks, hunter and gatherer, new and [...]

How could Snake sell out any further? Glad you asked.

How could Snake sell out any further? Glad you asked.

How far can you expand one videogame brand? Try Halo pajamas.

#crysis In November, British sci-fi author Richard Morgan said he was hired by Electronic Arts to write stories for three upcoming titles. Today, EA revealed one of them to be Crysis 2. Morgan took the occasion to rip Modern Warfare 2. More »

After an amazing year and a half at SCEA and just shy of a decade in the videogame industry, it’s time for me to say goodbye.

I’ve met some truly amazing people throughout my 9-year career in gaming, including many life-long friends and many people that I consider family. It seems like only yesterday that I was just a bright-eyed kid, fresh out of college, ready to embark on a career in game writing. And in the blink of an eye, here I am.

I’m extremely excited to move on to the next stage of my life and career outside of gaming, but there’s no denying the saddening feeling that comes with saying goodbye to so many wonderful people, especially here at PlayStation. And then there are the journalists, the third-party publishers, developers and beyond. These are all people that made this one big, happy family.

To everyone in the PlayStation community — you truly made this job fun. When I look back on the community meet-ups, events, live chats, online games and even the quick comment exchanges…those are the little things that brought me joy on a day-to-day basis. Being a part of something that brings people happiness, and being able to go out and share that enthusiasm with you, that’s where this job truly shined. It’s what kept me going. I thank you for that, and I’ll miss you all. Yes, even those of you who thrived on pointing out my .01MB file size mistakes in the Store updates ;-)

I am leaving you in more than capable hands. Your main man Jeff, obviously, but also the newest addition to the PlayStation.Blog family, friend and former coworker Sid Shuman. Treat him well. Minimal hazing, please.

So let’s consider this farewell, but not goodbye. Cheesy? Yes. Heartfelt? Definitely. You know where to find me:

PSN: godofgwar
twitter.com/chrismorell

Best wishes,
Chris Morell, VP of PlayStation Community Awesomeness

#lists This week's batch of reviews proves that no site covers games prominently featuring women named Kasumi like Kotaku. Which Kasumi-starring experience, Mass Effect 2: Kasumi - Stolen Memory or Dead or Alive Paradise, did we dislike less? Find out! More »

Countersuit says third title is in "pre-production."

Analyst Michael Pachter says that despite a lower amount of new Netflix subscriptions lately, video game consoles will still give the movie rental service a boost this year, providing over two million new subscribers thanks to the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. Pachter suggests that the Xbox 360 will continue to provide 350,000 new subscribers, and the PS3 and the Wii will each turn in around 800,000 new subscribers this year.

But Pachter also says that future growth is limited -- the PS3 doesn't have quite the install base that the Xbox does, and while there are a lot of Wiis out there, Pachter's firm believes that most of those consoles aren't even connected to the Internet ("we estimate fewer than 35%"). So the total new subscribers estimated for 2011 drops down to 900k-1.2 million. That's still a lot of MST3K downloads -- because come on, if you're watching anything but that on Netflix, you're crazy -- but not enough to keep Netflix's estimated growth from being called "unsustainable."

The verdict you've been waiting years for.

Two free-to-play golf games are now available, but which is right for you?

#sequels The Street Fighter franchise has a reputation for tacking on inscrutable modifiers like Alpha, Super, Tournament, EX, Zero, etc. in lieu of full sequels. The game's producer says Super Street Fighter IV is as far as it goes for this generation. More »

#infinityward Mega-publisher Activision filed its counter-suit against two former top Modern Warfare game developers today, claiming that the pair purposely delayed Modern Warfare 3 and had designs to "steal the [Infinity Ward] studio." What does the other side have to say? More »

If your overactive imagination is already calling up fantasies of the next, next iteration of Street Fighter IV, you should reign that in right now. Producer Yoshinori Ono told Official Xbox Magazine (via CVG) he's "aware of the mistakes Capcom has made in the past" in relation to the numerous special editions past Street Fighter installments have received. He added, "Super Street Fighter IV should be the distinctive end" of the franchise's fourth chapter.

Capcom's not abandoning the title, though -- Ono said the company could ostensibly "upload a patch for Super Street Fighter IV 2011 edition that would have tuning and balancing." But as far as ever seeing Hyper Ultra Super Street Fighter 4: Turbo Tournament Edition EX: The New Challengers hit store shelves, Ono claims that "as a packaged product, I think this is the last."

Gushing wounds and smoke bombs? Sounds like my kind of party.

#review Mass Effect 2's first substantial piece of downloadable content since the game's release, "Kasumi - Stolen Memory," does a lot of things right as far as DLC goes. Problem is, it also does a lot of things wrong. More »

#news Intrigue, backstabbing, secret messages and double agents: Reading the world's largest game publisher's counter-suit against the top people in charge of creating the biggest video game franchise in history is like dropping into one of their Modern Warfare video games. More »

#screengrab As seen in a Stacker Large machine at the Windward Mall in Honolulu, Hawaii. - Thanks Geeq! More »

#lazysundays It's Friday, officially the kick off of the weekend for those of us at Kotaku Towers, a chance to kick and play some video games. You know, for fun. More »

#capcom If Capcom has its way, once you put Monster Hunter Tri into your Wii you'll never want to take it out, with regularly scheduled downloadable quests and events keeping the game fresh well past release. More »

#clips When it hits May 25, UFC Undisputed 2010 will introduce three new fighting styles - karate, greco-roman wrestling, and fig-leaf gourd sambo. In this video, UFC coach Mark Layman compares them to the existing styles in the MMA series. More »

#electronicarts What do you get when you combine the shoot 'em up talents of Gears of War maker Epic Games and Painkiller creators People Can Fly? You get Bulletstorm, a futuristic first-person shooter that lets you play as a drunken pirate. More »

Click to do the time warp again Was your thirst for media from LucasArts' upcoming remake of the buccaneering simulator Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge not satisfied by the small handful of screens which appeared earlier this week? Feast your eyes on the gallery below, which shows six before-and-after screenshots from the beloved adventure game. If that doesn't do the trick, then ... well, we just don't know what to tell you. You didn't used to be this hard to please.

Coming from the Megas’ Facebook page… Laying down the first track for the MM3 album… RECORDING HAS BEGUN! The Megas have put out some stellar tribute work before, and I’m sure their next Mega Man tribute will be just as good! Hopefully we’ll get to check out some tracks soon!

Dig into the details of the publisher's countersuit against Infinity Ward founders Zampella and West.