Our burning desire for a renovated version of timeless basketball classic NBA Jam won't be sated until the remake drops on Wii later this year. However, our similar jones for a new old football title will be catered to this Wednesday with the Xbox Live Arcade release: Tecmo Bowl Throwback. For 800 ($10), you'll get all the birds-eye pigskin action previewed in the trailer above.
Sorry, PS3 players -- Tecmo still hasn't set a firm date for the PSN version of Throwback. We'll let you know as soon as we find out!
#dsiware
Nintendo DSi owners will get their own brand of BlazBlue beat 'em up action with BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale, an adorably super-deformed spin-off based on Arc System Works' fighting game series. More »
What's the next feature to be removed from the PS3 through a firmware update? According to some posters on the Bioware forums, it's the ability to play Dragon Age: Origins. Several users have reported frequent crashes or freezes while playing the RPG after installing PS3 Firmware 3.30. "The game has crashed like 7 times in an hour just after the update," complained forum poster "scorpgul." Another poster, "eugeni_dodonov," reported that "it never ever froze before, but since 3.30 it is freezing like every 15 minutes." Players claim to be experiencing the issue on both original and "slim" PS3 models in the US and Europe.
On Friday, online producer Fernando Melo indicated that BioWare was working with Sony to correct the issue, which he called "a bit out of the blue for us." We suppose your Warden could use a couple days off anyway.
#stats
An estimated 350,000 people played last year's Madden NFL 10 once online and never played it online again, series creative director Ian Cummings recently told Kotaku. More »
Padova, Italy - April 20th, 2010 – Idoru is pleased to announce that Planet Basket 2009 2010 will be available for the PC, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ platforms in Italy at the end of the Spring 2010.
The release in Italy will take place during the playoffs of the Italian Basketball Championship and it will be [...]
Last week, I got an early look at End of Nations, the latest RTS from Petroglyph, the developer of Star Wars: Empire at War and, more recently, Universe at War: Earth Assault. Founded by some of the principals behind the original Command & Conquer at Westwood Studios, the team is pouring its experience in the genre into End of Nations for publisher Trion Worlds. Due for release in 2011, the game is being pitched as the first "MMORTS" with a persistent game world, community features and player-vs-environment gameplay with support for 50 simultaneous players "and growing," according to the developer.
End of Nations will undergo many enhancements and a lot of fine-tuning before release, but even in its current state, the game is unquestionably impressive. Specifically, the scale of the action is simply astonishing. The demo map I saw spanned many (virtual) square miles, featuring an array of locations and topography. One second I was seeing a skirmish in a burning forest, and in the next, several players were working together to bring down a massive Panzer Hulk (think: battleship with tank treads) at a heavily fortified construction facility.
Leave it to Nintendo to put out a series that involves strategy, and I actually like it. I can’t tell you how far I distance myself from strategy games, yet Nintendo has no trouble pulling me in with their Advance Wars series. There’s a reason this franchise has been around so long, and [...]
A portion of a Game Informer review…
Never in my gaming career did I ever think I’d actually play an onscreen colonoscopy, let alone have fun doing it. But that’s one of the many surprisingly enjoyable medical skills you’ll experience in Trauma Team.
I know we’ve covered this a few times in the past, but the official press release was just sent out today. Thanks to Nicky Hill for the heads up!
TARRYTOWN, NY (April 26, 2010) – Bayer Diabetes Care today announced the introduction of the DIDGET™ blood glucose monitoring system in the United States. The [...]
Sorry if we got your hopes up, but we couldn't help but highlight Sucker Punch's recent addition to the ModNation Racers universe. Using the character creator, the team was able to whip up a Mod recreation of its PS2 mascot, Sly Cooper. While he may not be thieving on PS3 quite yet, we're glad to see Sucker Punch hasn't completely forgotten about the anthropomorphic, rascally raccoon.
Of course, Sucker Punch couldn't forget to also pay homage to its PS3 hit, inFamous. A new "Artist's Spotlight" video for ModNation features a Mod version of Cole MacGrath and his lightning-themed kart. However, more impressive is Sucker Punch's track creation inspired by Empire City, complete with blast crater. With play-testing and careful attention to detail, this addition could undoubtedly be one of the most polished tracks you'll be able to play in the ModNation online community.
#valve
As promised, the new Steam client is now live, giving PC gamers the sort of shiny new and revamped features they've been craving for years. More »
Datel's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft will continue, now that a US District Court has rejected Microsoft's motion to dismiss the case. In all, five of Datel's six allegations against the Xbox 360 maker will be weighed. The court did dismiss Datel's claim that Microsoft would be blocking the company from competing in the console market, since Datel does not actually manufacture game consoles. (Find Datel's full announcement of the court's rejection posted after the break.)
The antitrust case claims that by locking out Datel's Max Memory Card with a firmware update, Microsoft used its status as the platform holder to unlawfully prevent competition. In Microsoft's motion to dismiss, it claimed that language in the "Additional Terms and Conditions" clause in the Xbox 360 product warranty barred the use of unauthorized peripherals. The company back upped its case by citing Apple's successful defense of its right to limit use of OS X to its own hardware.
The court rejected Microsoft's motion, however, finding the language in the "Additional Terms and Conditions" vague and too wide-reaching. For example, if Microsoft's interpretation of the terms was accepted, it could prevent the use of certain televisions with the console.
Since Datel's suit was first filed, of course, Microsoft has enabled the use any USB drive as a memory unit for the Xbox 360, which means that even if Datel is able to continue to sell the device, there likely won't be much demand for it. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently filed its own suit against Datel over claims that one of Datel's controllers is too similar in design to the official Xbox 360 gamepad.
Source - Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendant's Motion to Dismiss [PDF]
Datel's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft will continue, now that a US District Court has rejected Microsoft's motion to dismiss the case. In all, five of Datel's six allegations against the Xbox 360 maker will be weighed. The court did dismiss Datel's claim that Microsoft would be blocking the company from competing in the console market, since Datel does not actually manufacture game consoles. (Find Datel's full announcement of the court's rejection posted after the break.)
The antitrust case claims that by locking out Datel's Max Memory Card with a firmware update, Microsoft used its status as the platform holder to unlawfully prevent competition. In Microsoft's motion to dismiss, it claimed that language in the "Additional Terms and Conditions" clause in the Xbox 360 product warranty barred the use of unauthorized peripherals. The company back upped its case by citing Apple's successful defense of its right to limit use of OS X to its own hardware.
The court rejected Microsoft's motion, however, finding the language in the "Additional Terms and Conditions" vague and too wide-reaching. For example, if Microsoft's interpretation of the terms was accepted, it could bar the use of certain televisions with the console. Five of Datel's six allegations will proceed in court, save one that Microsoft blocked Datel from competing in the console market -- because Datel, as an accessories manufacturer, doesn't compete in the console market.
Since Datel's suit was first filed, of course, Microsoft has enabled the use any USB drive as a memory unit for the Xbox 360, which means that even if Datel is able to continue to sell the device, there likely won't be much demand for it. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently filed its own suit against Datel over claims that one of Datel's controllers is too similar in design to the official Xbox 360 gamepad.
Source - Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendant's Motion to Dismiss [PDF]
You know what I like about Wario? He has made a great living from his rather negative aspects. I don’t think anyone would call Wario a good-looking man, but he sure knows how to put those less-than-average features to great use!
