All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

This game has always been special.

I fought a space chicken and lived to tell the tale.

Fight fans get their fix this week in VC in Brief. The lone release available for download is King of Fighters '95, a mish-mash of SNK's best fighters from its most prominent franchises. KOF '95 introduces us to Iori Yagami, who would go on to be one of the series' favorite brawlers.

• King of Fighters '95 (Neo Geo, 1 - 2 players, 900 Wii Points)

Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer VC in Brief as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.

As you may have seen on NaughtyDog.com, the developers of the 2009 smash hit UNCHARTED 2 have released details around the upcoming art book, The Art of UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves from Ballistic Publishing.

As described in Naughty Dog’s post, the Limited Folio edition is available in only 200 printed copies, but includes elite extra details beyond the standard paperback and the leather-bound Special Edition. The Limited Folio Edition of the art book is bound in black suede leather with gold-embossed cover art, and a matching hand-crafted, black suede leather-bound presentation case with a ribbon. Also included is a certificate of authenticity that have been individually numbered and hand signed by Evan, Amy, Robh and Erick. Each book is 272 pages and contains over 180 pages of concept art, and over 80 pages of production art and character models.

All three editions will be available this month and can still be pre-ordered NOW at Ballistic Publishing.

We gave Greg Miller at IGN a few of the first copies to show off and the result can be found here. For an in-depth sneak peek at the art in the book, as well as an in-depth look at each of the three print editions, visit the Ballistic Publishing site for an interactive book tour.

#multiplayer Rockstar pumped out a few more screens of Red Dead Redemption this time showing us the competitive side of its multiplayer setup. On the jump, a video also fleshes out what to expect. More »

To celebrate the arrival of its third birthday -- or, as is more accurate when describing the age of MMOs, the third year it's managed to avoid the sweet release of a global server shutdown -- Lord of the Rings Online is seeing a temporary reduction in the cost of its monthly subscription fee. From April 26 to June 30, you can grab a three, six or 12 month subscription for LotRO for just $9.99 a month, down from the standard rate of $14.99 a month.

In addition, Turbine is turning up the rare item drop rate for monsters during the birthday festivities, and is providing each player with a skill which reduces the price of vendor goods by 20 percent. That's awfully nice of the studio, but aren't birthday-havers supposed to receive presents, and not give them? We're not complaining, mind you -- we just feel like we're taking advantage.

THQ announced earlier this year that it planned to release a UFC Undisputed 2010 demo a few months prior to the game's May 25 launch. Now, according to the game's community website, it looks like certain UFC fans will be getting an early crack at the demo. The community site relaunched last week, announcing some new perks for registered members, including early access to the demo. According to a recent post, the demo is expected late this week, so you'd best get registered if you want in on the big, sweaty man-fight action.

To register, just viciously punch your mouse button on this link.

[Via Eurogamer]

It's what's on the inside that counts, right?

When the Craig is away, we 'Craigway' anyway!

D3Publisher has announced details on its upcoming batch of Despicable Me games, coming to Wii, DS, PS2 and PSP this July. Coinciding with the animated film's debut and mirroring its premise of a supervillain (voiced by Steve Carell) plotting to steal the moon, Despicable Me: The Game lets you "experience the thrill of being downright despicable" and purchasing a licensed movie game.

You'll assume the role of supervillain Gru, who must use various gadgets, weapons and an army of minions to solve puzzles, pull off "the biggest heist in history" and best his rival, Vector. (Presumably, the game is over when Vector has been beaten by, uh, Gru.)

Despicable Me: The Game will launch on the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable -- courtesy of Monkey Bar Games -- while a separate title, Despicable Me: The Game - Minion Mayhem is being cooked up (Fillet Minion joke goes here) just for DS by the increasingly visible WayForward.

I really would like to find a good solution to the battery issue in Wiimotes. I’ve actually gone through a handful of chargers, but for one reason or another, they all seem to crap out on me. Now I’d rather just buy batteries and go the traditional route. I’m always surprised at [...]

This planet is about to fall. Might as well go out with a bang.

Ready to add more genetic diversity to your Spore game collection? Amazon is offering the chance to get the latest Wii and DS variants in the franchise at a nice discount.

The action-adventure Spore Hero for Wii is $17.99, while the DS fighting game Spore Hero Arena has been knocked down to the impulse-buy price of $10.99. Don't take too much time making the natural selection about whether to buy one or both: as Amazon's Deal of the Day, these offers will be gone tomorrow.

We hypothesize what horrors are in store for the Dark Knight's next adventure.

#legal The Supreme Court's decision today to hear a case about the potential criminalizing of the sale of violent video games to children sparked divided reactions from the parties in the case and a call to gamers to get informed. More »

Whether you're in the market for a new music-rhythm game or want to get into this whole Guitar Hero thing on the late-late, Amazon has a pretty sweet deal going on today. In the "Guitar Kit" bundle, you can snag a guitar controller and a copy of Guitar Hero 5 for $38, while a new copy of the game itself will only set you back $20.

Becoming a faux-rocker has never been so cheap and just think about all of the DLC you'll be able to enjoy with that extra cash. Just saying!

[Via Cheap College Gamers]

Direct link and videos for Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, 5 Arcade Gems, DodoGo! and Don’t Feed the Animals

This may be the greatest thing to ever happen to PlayStation Home ever. To promote the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie, Paramount Pictures and Audi have partnered up to create a brand new Iron Man-themed mini-game, exclusively for PlayStation Home. Debuting on Thursday, April 29th, the Audi Space will be updated with a game that has your avatar donning an Iron Man suit, flying through an aerial obstacle course.

The best times will be recorded on a leaderboard, and the top 10 scores by the end of June will be awarded with a virtual Iron Man suit to keep, making this one of the rarest virtual items ever offered for Sony's online community.

Unfortunately, this game is exclusive to the European PSN, meaning those of you outside of SCEE's domain won't be able to partake in the fun. To see what you're missing out on, check out the trailer after the break.

#rumor Sports radio in Calgary and a team's marketing employee are saying EA Sports' NHL 11 will feature teams from the Canadian Hockey League, the top tier of junior hockey in that country. More »

#contest After much work and voting on your part, we're left with nearly a dozen mini-games created on the Nintendo DS to delight and amuse. More »

Take that, mummy!

#nintendo He may not have a mustache, proper plumbing gear or bear a remote resemblance to the Mario of Donkey Kong, but this is what the man who inspired Nintendo to name their most famous character looked like in 1952. More »

click to enlarge
Chris Metzen, Blizzard's VP of Creative Development, has a lot of things to keep in his head as the loremaster / worldbuilder / storymaster at Blizzard, and he's been busy utilizing all of those titles on the Terran-heavy StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty and its two planned expansion packs that will focus on the Zerg and Protoss races. Ensconced in an office that overlooks the bustling Blizzard campus, Metzen's office is packed with enough action heroes, statues, and toys to open his own store, which is (for some unknown reason) a requirement in the gaming industry.

We talked with Chris about how Blizzard is spreading this story out, what the expansions packs hold in store, how he feels about offending South Korea, and more. If you're done searing your retinas with the newly released game footage, then jump on by and read the full interview just after the break.

It's despicably amazing.

Hey everyone, this is Bobby King. I’m the lead designer of Brunswick Pro Bowling and undisputed bowling champion of FarSight Studios! Well, Jeff Rice, the lead programmer of our bowling game is pretty darn good too, so he might dispute my title. More than half of our studio bowls regularly in a weekly league up here in Big Bear Lake, CA so most of us are decent bowlers and huge fans of the sport.

We are all very excited to be working with Crave and Brunswick to make the definitive bowling game. A big part of that excitement has to do with the real world data we get from the PlayStation Move motion controller. For more details how perfect the PlayStation Move is for Brunswick Pro Bowling, check out the video below.

There are many different styles to bowling and thanks to accuracy of the PlayStation Move, we can mimic the technique of all types of throws. Whether you throw a huge hook or toss a straight ball at rocket speed, the PlayStation Move will track your hand movement and wrist rotation perfectly to give us the information we need to match individual bowling styles and give you the most authentic bowling experience ever.

When we were introduced to a prototype of the PlayStation Move motion controller by Sony, we fell in love instantly with the tech innovations and possibilities it offers to Brunswick Pro Bowling. Our bowling game was at an early stage back in March when we first showed it; but even with just our first pass at the PlayStation Move motion controls, the game was already fun.

Our physics and bowling controls have come a long way over the past month. We can’t wait to show off Brunswick Pro Bowling at E3 this June!

Nexon America unveils upcoming map, Kill Creek, for its popular multiplayer first-person shooter Combat Arms.