All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Award-winning publisher of Tera, the world's first action MMO, announces new staff members as it builds toward launch of flagship title.

#screengrab Text message from Plants Vs. Zombies lead designer George Fan to the iPhone of PvZ studio co-founder John Vechey, asked and answered at our request — because we care about video game zombies ... and PvZ. More »

#preview Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker may be the year's biggest PSP game, but when I finally got my hands on a demo, its dated close-quarters combat tutorial felt like a relic of some bygone era of gaming, the early ‘00s. More »

Last month, Nintendo released the new DSi XL. So, of course, now it's time to promote ... the original DSi, with a new spring bundle! On April 25, Nintendo will release a bundle containing a white DSi and a copy of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, at a $169.99 price point -- which is what the DSi costs by itself. If you'd like a free copy of Mario & Luigi, we suggest you take advantage of that offer.

For whatever reason, Nintendo is no stranger to the "previous hardware bundle." A little over a month after the DSi's North American release, Nintendo offered a lime green DS Lite/Personal Trainer: Cooking bundle. Nintendo UK bundled a DS Lite with the first Professor Layton game, long after the release of the DSi and soon before the release of the second Layton. It's Nintendo -- don't try to understand it, just expect it to make money.

If at first you don't succeed, tri, tri again.

The Gears of War "trilogy" will conclude on April 5, 2011 in North America, followed by Japan and Europe on April 7 and 8, respectively. The game, announced last Friday on the Xbox Dashboard, finally had its big (delayed) coming-out trailer last night on late-night national television.

For those interested in Gears apparel for their Avatars, new items for the little scamps will be available beginning April 20, 2011. Items, like the new Gears 3 COG armor, can be picked up in the Avatar Marketplace, along with other Gears gear. Find pics of the COG armor in the gallery below.

Over the past couple of years, we've seen dribbles of information here and there about the canceled Halo MMO, but a recent conversation IncGamers had with ex-Ensemble Studios employee Dusty Monk (yep, that's his real name) revealed not only the exorbitant cost of the planned development (three years of which took place before the game was canceled), but much, much more. First and foremost, the game's development was said to cost $90 million, as you likely inferred from the headline above. Second, the game was intended to be a "WoW killer," according to Monk.

"It was absolutely going to compete against WoW. You have to remember that Ensemble came from a standpoint of being really good at competing against Blizzard Entertainment," Monk said, using the Age of Empires series as an example. Unfortunately for the folks at Ensemble working on "Titan" (the codename for the Halo MMO), the launch and subsequent blistering success of the Nintendo Wii allegedly altered the direction that Microsoft wanted to take. "Microsoft, from its gaming division, was really changing directions. They were looking really hard at the Nintendo Wii and they were really excited by the numbers that the Wii was turning. This was about the time that Microsoft decided that its Xbox platform and XBLA really needed to go more in the direction of appealing to a more casual, broader audience." Given that new direction and what Monk calls a "very expensive, very long, and very protracted" development, Microsoft eventually shut down the project.

But hey, at least we got Halo Wars, right? Right?!

#xbox360 Lots of Gears of War 3 news broke last night. Perhaps while you were sleeping. Or maybe you were doing other things. I don't know. More »

The hardcore stealth fan, the guy who's willing to attempt the same section over and over again until he can slip through undetected, is someone I've never really understood. I know it works for some people and I understand that they enjoy the methodical learning of enemy patterns, but I always just ended up frustrated. Splinter Cell provided more opportunities to fight back in its most recent iterations, sure, but it never felt like I was playing the right way. As I floundered my way through, getting spotted and clumsily battling my way out of blunders, it was hard not to feel like Hardcore Stealth Guy was right behind me, laughing into his sleeve.

But Splinter Cell: Conviction wasn't supposed to be just for that guy. This was supposed to be the Splinter Cell for all of us -- and it succeeds! ... Well, kind of. Basically. It basically succeeds.

#tragedy Chris Hu, a member of fighting game forum Shoryuken.com, lost everything in fire in New York's Chinatown. Hu and his family are now homeless, and Shoryuken.com is doing what it can to help. More »

#2k We still don't know what BioShock creator Ken Levine is working on, but we know what he's not working on, and it's not a new X-Com game. More »

#psn We know all three current-generation home video game consoles can connect to the internet, but which one is connected to the internet the most? A new study claims to have the answer. More »

#ps3 Do you know? Would you like to? More »

Hi everyone, I’m pleased to announce that since its launch in February, Heavy Rain has hit is millionth mark in sales worldwide! Congratulations Quantic Dream!

Praised by media for its gripping storyline, thought-provoking themes, innovation and engaging example of non-linear storytelling, it’s no surprise that more than a million gamers agree.

Don’t believe us? If you haven’t played Heavy Rain yet, then take a look at the following trailer highlighting the award-winning, critically-acclaimed, and one million unit-selling Heavy Rain!

In addition, the only true way to experience what makes Heavy Rain so unique is to download and play the PSN demo for Heavy Rain straight from the PlayStation Store.

We hope you’re enjoying Heavy Rain, and the newly released Taxidermist Level (available on PSN for $4.99). But, if you’re looking for more, continue to check back here on the PlayStation.Blog for the latest updates!

AKA 'that one with the ninja robots'.

#deadrising2 Man, Dead Rising was great. Was a little quirky, though. You could put that down to the fact it was about zombies and public bathrooms, but the game's developers have a simpler explanation. More »

#strikewitches Strike Witches is a popular anime and manga series. It is coming to the Xbox 360, complete with not-very-good graphics. A shame! More »

#rumor According to a site transcribing something from the latest of Game Informer (we know, we know), Heavenly Sword developers Ninja Theory have been put to work by Capcom on a fifth Devil May Cry game. More »

#top When asked on variety program Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Gears of War 3 would be released, designer Cliff Bleszinski replied, "probably April 8". Microsoft is giving another date for North American, however. More »

#legal In South Korea, playing sci-fi real-time strategy StarCraft is a big deal. There are professional players and televised games. Throwing StarCraft matches and illegal betting, however, is a bigger deal. More »

#nintendo Dispelling any doubt over the significance of the upcoming 3DS, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has told BusinessWeek that the console is the company's "next handheld platform". More »

#gearsofwar3 One of the most striking elements of the Gears of War 3 trailer wasn't the tentacle monster, the female soldier or even the facial hair. Instead, it was the haunting music. What was the name of that song? More »

The Fisher is king.

Let’s Tap was a pretty fun game, but it seems like it was priced too high. I know many people stay away from mini-game collections, but this one was a little something special. Since that release, it seems like SEGA has stayed far away from the ‘Let’s’ lineup of games. Could Let’s Go Golf! [...]

Hmmm…looks like Sonic’s name didn’t really help out this title. I don’t think it’s selling all that well on any platform. SEGA hyped this one up for so long, and I thought a kart racer had a good shot at racking in some nice sales, but it is apparently a tough battle on [...]

I don’t know what it was about Diddy Kong Racing, but I wasn’t a very big fan. I mean, I liked the game, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as Mario Kart 64. I certainly played a lot more of Mario Kart 64 back in the day, as did my friends. [...]

- demos will be available on the Touch! Try! DS service - kicks off this Thursday - must visit a retail kiosk to play - will not be available as a download at retail, or Nintendo Channel - demo lets you search a cave with ally monsters - use scout command make new monsters into friends - demo pertains to the [...]

Why wait for Cliff Bleszinski to debut Gears of War 3 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Here's the trailer for the "worst-kept secret in the video game industry," posted to the Late Night website ... before it's appeared on television. The trailer is prefaced by some banter with Mister B about his vintage Nintendo Power appearance and what makes a great game.

The new game has playable female soldiers in it! Take that, Crackdown 2! Don't worry, it's still jam-packed with men who look like refrigerators, and mellow music like the famous Gears of War 2 trailer (in this case, Sun Kil Moon's "Heron Blue".)

[Capcom-Unity] As weird as an 8-bit style promotional DSiWare game made for a high-end next-gen game is, the weirdest thing about Dark Void Zero is definitely the Jimmy Fallon connection. According to the fake history Capcom and Other Ocean concocted for the DSiWare game, a young Fallon won a contest in the '80s and won both placement in the fictional game and the only known copy of the title, which Capcom "tracked down" to port to DSiWare (and now iPhone and PC, as well). We assumed it was just a desperate celebrity endorsement on the part of Capcom, but the truth is actually even weirder.

Other Ocean's Mike Mika thought up the "contest winner" angle to make the game seem more authentic, but decided that having someone well-known win the prize would make it even more identifiable. Speaking to GameSetWatch, Mika said "So, in this case, we worked on a game a while ago with Jimmy Fallon back with a company I was working for before Other Ocean. He's an incredibly smart guy who knows a lot about games. He knows a lot about computer engineering. And he had this game that he wanted to get made that was actually fantastic."

The plans for Fallon's game with the other company never panned out, but Mika and Fallon kept in touch. "And I know he was a big NES fan, so when this opportunity came up, I was trying to find a way to legitimize the game a bit. I just emailed him and just said, "Hey. Do you want to be in an NES game?" I told him kind of what I wanted to do with it, and he totally went with it."

Elsewhere in the interview, MIka discusses the challenges of propagating an alternate-reality history, as well as the real origins of Dark Void Zero.