All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

While Persona 3 Portable isn't quite an exact port of the original PS2 RPG, it retains most of the gameplay of the earlier release. This overview video provided by Atlus is a perfect way of understanding the mechanics of the original game, from attending school, to making friends, and eventually fighting with your Personas. Anyone that's played the original will find themselves in very familiar turf here; however, Atlus plans on releasing a follow-up video, chronicling everything new in P3P some time soon.

Both the items above are from a recent lot of promo materials for Earthbound that one lucky gamer came into. As you can see in the one picture, we learn that Nintendo spent $2 million in advertising to try and make Earthbound a hit. As we all know, the game didn’t do too [...]

That’s right, we’ll be showing off Monster Hunter Tri arena quests in Chicago at the Nintendo booth (#737) during C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo)! Be sure to stop by and say hi to Capcom’s Spung64: he’ll be there showing off his MH Tri skills! C2E2 begins tomorrow and runs until Sunday! Chicago fans [...]

[Famitsu] A handful of Lost Planet 2 screenshots from Famitsu have revealed the game will borrow the stars of two more franchises: Frank West from Dead Rising and the Scaly Knife-Gun Dude from Monster Hunter, the latter being exclusive to the PS3 version of the game. For those of you keeping track, these two join Gears of War's Marcus and Dom (who will only appear in the 360 version), Resident Evil's Wesker, and What's His Face from Lost Planet 2 in the fight against the calamitous, towering Akrid.

Though most of these crossovers seem pretty out of place, we're betting the dude from Monster Hunter will be right at home bringing down monsters the size of football stadiums. That kind of thing is right in his wheelhouse.

Who are the better players, the gaming media or the gamers who read them? Next week in San Francisco, we’ll settle this age-old question once and for all!*

The battlefield is Orson SF, and the challenge will be held on the soon-to-be-released Fat Princess: A Fistful of Cake for PSP and PSPgo.

We’ve already got the media combatants lined up. What about the gamers who’ll face them? Well we’re hoping that you’re reading this post! If you’re going to be in the San Francisco area next Wednesday, April 21st, we cordially invite you to our Fat Princess: Tournament of Cake.

Community members will be going head-to-head against members of the media for the bragging rights and fun prizes! Teams will consist of four members on each team, and losers will get eliminated down until the ultimate community and media teams are left standing – they’ll then battle it out for the grand prize the coveted title of Cake Boss (ok, never mind, that’s Buddy Valastro). At the end of the night, all community members who participate will walk away with a free downloadable voucher code for Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake!

Additionally, attendees will be able to get their hands on upcoming PSP titles ModNation Racers, Invizimals and Hot Shots Tennis PSP (working title), as well as re-visit recently released PSP titles echoshift, Patchwork Heroes, Eye of Judgment Legends, MLB 10 The Show and SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3.

Here’s what you need to know:

Wednesday, April 21, 6-9 p.m.
Orson
508 4th St.
San Francisco, CA 94107

You can RSVP on our Facebook Fanpage. Check-in desk will be on the second floor on the Mezzanine level.

Cocktails and appetizers will be served. And cake. Lots of cake :-)

All attendees must be at least 18, or be accompanied by a parent/guardian. Space is limited to 100 total attendees, so make sure you RSVP and get there early! Once the Community Bracket is locked in, no further participants may enter the tournament (but all will receive a voucher to download the game and get some game time in).

*not really

Cavemen and dinosaurs battle it out on DSi this Spring.

First it was virtual pets, now Blizzard is selling an in-game beast that actually has a function in World of Warcraft. For $25, you can buy the "Celestial Steed," which is an admittedly awesome-looking winged horse with constellations for bones. You don't really get any advantage beyond any other mount, as its performance is tied to your own riding skill -- except for the advantage of not having to take part in any bothersome gameplay to acquire it. Along with the steed, a new pet, the "Lil' XT" is available for $10.

Of course, if this is the kind of thing that interests you, you not only already know about it, but are currently in line for it. Queues in North America alone have reached 15,000, meaning that at one time, there was $375,000 waiting to be poured into Blizzard's coffers. Our friends at WoW.com note that "If queue numbers in the Store are correct, Blizzard is making over half a million dollars an hour on the Celestial Steed." In other words, it's already a resounding success. All we can do is hope that Blizzard finishes developing StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 before shifting its operations entirely into the fake horse business.

[Via WoW.com]

#wii Lightgun fans, rejoice. Sega is adding to the arcade nostalgia for Wii owners—which is already home to its Ghost Squad and The House of the Dead 2 & 3 games—with two arcade shoot 'em ups you might remember. More »

It looks like Nintendo does have plans on releasing Pokepark Wii outside of Japan. As of right now, there is only an OFLC listing, but that usually points to good things for both Europe and North America. The localized title, according to the rating, is ‘Pokepark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure’. Now here’s the weirder of [...]

#blizzard According to an image that briefly appeared in the flash rotation on top of Blizzard's online store, the Celestial Steed mount will soon be joining the World of Warcraft pet store as a purchasable in-game item. Update: They're live! More »

Well, this one might be considered a spoiler for some, so I’ll post it after the jump. This info comes from the most recent scans that we posted, but this little tidbit may have been overlooked. What’s the big deal indeed! It looks like Bowser is absolutely massive in Super Mario Galaxy 2, at [...]

Filed under: FeaturesMark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq ("LGJ"), a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:
[Flickr: DeclanTM] By now you've installed the PS3 Firmware 3.21 update that removes the "Other OS" option (more or less) from your console. (You've at least read about it.) Besides angering the PS3 users who had been enjoying the Other OS feature, this incident has had some unintended consequences in the realm of consumer protection and warranty laws, both in the US and abroad. It's certainly a bit of an unusual situation, but hopefully this column will provide you a bit of an explanation on a global scale, and answer the question, can I get a refund?

For anyone who's not clear on what laws are involved, the broad areas of consumer protection and warranties both deal with protecting the purchasers of products from those who make or sell those products. The idea being that you should be entitled to purchase and own the product that you intended to buy, rather than something that's misleading, fraudulent, likely to break on its own, or broken. This is to help ensure the integrity of the marketplace, which helps secure consumer confidence. After all, aren't you more likely to buy a game console when you know it's a game console and (if new) covered by a warranty against defects, rather than an empty case or a box with bricks in it?

Dinosaurs and Cavemen battle it out on DS this Spring.

#customerservice Exploring alternative commerce models for Dungeons & Dragons Online, Turbine recently created an offer wall, where players could complete "special offers" in exchange for points. Due to tremendous negative user feedback, Turbine has now torn down that wall. More »

Well, we’ll have to be on the lookout for another Iwata Asks feature in the future. Nintendo has just added another interview, this time discussing the Game and Watch series. It’s in Japanese right now, but I’m sure a translation will come at some point down the road. Hit up the link [...]

Go nuts.

It seems that Lady Croft isn't having quite the identity crisis we once assumed, what with her new series, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, having neither "tomb" nor "raider" in the title. It's all according to plan, says Square Enix Europe CEO Phil Rogers, who told Develop, "I'm not saying this is a split - we're not driving a huge wedge through this - but we had always planned separating the two, with the Lara name in digital and the Tomb Raider brand at retail."

Aside from its method of distribution, Lara Croft and Guardian of Light is also set apart from traditional Tomb Raider games by ... well, by being an isometric co-op puzzle shooter thing. You definitely won't confuse the two.

Hello everyone. Here’s this week’s Digital Comic Store Update:

Now a major motion picture, Kick-Ass is set in a world very similar to ours, where superheroes only exist in comic books, movies and (of course) the PSP. From the Wolverine: Enemy of the State dream team of Mark Millar (Civil War) and John Romita Jr (Amazing Spider-Man, World War Hulk), 8 foul-mouthed issues of Kick-Ass arrive on the Digital Comics store today.

Other highlights this week include the fourth and final episode of Insomnia’s majestic Burke & Hare, another Vampire Hunter D from Digital Manga Publishing, and the long-awaited follow-up to Sláine: Book of Invasions from 2000AD.

If all of this seems a little too much for all you sensitive souls out there, there’s more Wallace & Gromit, more Disney, and The One Where Archie Marries Veronica :/

Here’s the full list:

• 2000AD Prog # 1675 - $1.99
• Abyss # 3 - $0.99
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 556 - $1.99
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 557 - $1.99
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 558 - $1.99
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 559 - $1.99
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 560 - $1.99
• Archie # 1 - $1.99
• Atomic Robo Vol.2 # 2 - $0.99
• Bill Willingham’s Pantheon # 2 - $1.99
• Burke & Hare # 4 - $0.99
• G.I. Joe # 13 - $1.99
• G.I. Joe: Cobra # 8 - $1.99
• G.I. Joe Origins # 13 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 1 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 2 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 3 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 4 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 5 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 6 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 7 - $1.99
• Kick-Ass (2008) # 8 - $1.99
• The Lexian Chronicles # 2 - $0.99
• Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows # 4 - $1.99
• Mickey Mouse and the Knights of the Round Table # 1 - $1.99
• Runes of Ragnan # 3 - $0.99
• Scrooge McDuck and His Hopeless Holiday # 1 - $0.99
• Scrooge McDuck and the Soft Spot - $0.99
• Sláine: Book of Invasions # 2 - $2.99
• Superduck and the Reality Show for Debts - $0.99
• Transformers: Movie Sequel: The Reign of Starscream # 4 - $1.99
• Transformers: Tales of the Fallen # 6 - $1.99
• Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 # 2 - $1.99
• We Kill Monsters # 6 - $0.99
• We Will Bury You # 2 - $1.99
• Weekly World News # 3 - $1.99
• X-Mickey # 11 - $1.99

As always you can check out the pricing on www.playstationcomics.com. Also, while you’re there, check out the forum. We’ll soon be offering you the chance to get your questions answered by the team and offer your suggestions on how we can improve the Digital Comics experience, so keep your eyes peeled.

Enjoy!

I want a new StarFox game…fans have said they want a new StarFox game…and recently Miyamoto has also confirmed that he’d love to see Fox and the gang hit the Lylat system once more. If I could have things the way I wanted, I’d make StarFox on the Wii, and it would play just [...]

#contest Our WarioWare D.I.Y. contest continues. You haven't won it yet. You haven't lost either. Details here. Prizes sitting in the proverbial vault waiting to be claimed. Details here. Just make sure, American contestants, that you prioritize paying your taxes first. More »

At Valve, we like to play games made by other people, mainly because a) we don't have to make them, and b) they're generally more fun than ours anyway. In particular, games made by other people don't have Pyros named Eric Smith, who makes our collective lives miserable on a daily basis in playtests. (If you ever wonder why features like "Pyro now gets assists for airblasting enemies into environmental hazards" keep getting added to the game, thank Eric. Not content with killing us by just holding down W+M1, he persists in finding bold new ways to get points by any means necessary.)

Pre-order “Arc Rise Fantasia” and receive a set of 12 different Amazon.com exclusive limited edition character profile cards. Available when shipped and sold by Amazon.com. The character cards will be included with your product when it ships.

Level-5 shares first concept art for its mysterious new game.