All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#screengrab At first I thought this was a Marine CH-46 ferrying a extremely large, green hot dog. No, it's actually an Army Chinook carrying a raft. Microsoft gave out this Kinect Adventures Avatar toy to everyone at last night's Kinect event. More »

Some screens, and all-new art for the upcoming PSP title.

Initial shipment numbers reach 2.6 million units.

Worried that Dead Space 2 would be missing the gruesome deaths featured in the original game? Worry no more, because this pre-E3 teaser video from EA shows Isaac in a battle against a "puker" -- and failing miserably.

#microsoft It's Xbox 360 E3 liveblog time here in Los Angeles. And you can watch the event live yourself. Look below for all your E3 news needs, as the biggest announcements from Microsoft of the week for Xbox 360 and Kinect go live at 11 a.m. PT. More »

With well over 2 million user-created levels playable in LittleBigPlanet, it’s safe to say that Media Molecule knows what makes the gaming community tick. Recently, the Molecules did something else that proved pretty popular: they opened their doors to the top creators in that community, giving them a chance to spend a day trying out LittleBigPlanet 2’s powerful creation tools.

Our intrepid European counterpart, James Gallagher, was on hand in Guildford, England for the event, and interviewed MM’s Alex Evans and Mark Healey – presented now for your viewing pleasure.

It’s sunny! Are you sure you shot this in England, James? :D

above: last year's Microsoft keynote
While last night's gown-infused Kinect event may have revealed the new name and some of the games for the hardware formerly known as Project Natal, this morning's Microsoft keynote promises even more goodies. Xbox 360 Slim? You got us, but if there is one you can bet you'll learn more here. Clan support in Xbox Live? One can hope. Hulu? Alright, you're just being pushy now. Things get going at at 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET, so keep this post locked and come back in a little while, okay? Until then, get your bingo cards ready!

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick discussed the current state of the game industry and Activision's position within it. Regarding Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Move motion controllers, Kotick believes they will "excite" consumers, though he doesn't expect them to "rush out and buy millions of Xboxes just for Natal." Still, the novelty of the hardware combined with the impending marketing barrage will "generate new excitement for a whole new set of video games" according to Kotick.

Concerning other sectors of the industry, Kotick didn't seem afraid of social and mobile games eating into Activision's business. "I honestly don't think FarmVille or Tap Tap Revenge is having any impact on Guitar Hero," When confronted with the fact that Guitar Hero sales have seen a massive decline in the last year, however, Kotick admitted that Activision "misjudged opportunities" and noted that the company is "doing a better job now of accessing what's important to the audience in terms of features of the games, music and design of the instruments."

Kotick also brushed off the possibility that gamers may start shying away from physical retail titles in favor of cheap (or free) downloadable games. "We could go either way on Call of Duty but we can't download guitars for Guitar Hero anytime soon," said Kotick, adding that he is "not worried in the near term" about cheap iPhone games competing with retail.

The CEO isn't worried about Activision "missing the boat" on any impending downloadable transition. "In 20 years, we haven't missed the boat," said Kotick, "In fact what's made us so successful is that we know when to get on the boat." So take that, boats.

#e3 Are Nintendo's Wii remote and nunchuk controllers too big for your hands? Power A has your freakishly misshapen appendages covered with the charmingly named MiniRemote and MiniChuck. More »

As THQ CEO Brian Farrell indicated in February, de Blob's amorphous antics will be spreading to multiple platforms in de upcoming sequel, de Blob 2: the Underground. THQ has announced that de game will launch in Spring 2011 on de Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and DS. The move to HD consoles will also enable support for 3D, just in case you felt that Blob's paint-splattering antics should extend beyond your screen and into your living room.

THQ also noted that de Blob would make further appearances through a partnership with the Syfy channel and additional "de Blob-branded consumer products." Like ... squishy de Blob stress balls? You can have that one for free, THQ.

#soundtracks Eminem tweeted he'd appear in Activision's event at E3, and yesterday I joked "I don't think he's appearing on behalf of Call of Duty: Black Ops." Maybe he is. A track from his new album will be in the game. More »

Who knows what surprises await?

#profile For Bobby Kotick, it all started with a handshake in a parking garage under an Atlantic City casino. The story of Kotick is the story of video game juggernaut Activision, a tale of chance meetings and unbelievable circumstance, of Apple founder Steve Jobs and millionaire recluse Howard Hughes. More »

What more do we need to say? We'll be heading back into the future '50s world of Fallout, sculpted by Obsidian, on October 19 in the US and October 22 in Europe. In case you hadn't already seen in the recently released E3 trailer, the Las Vegas ... er, New Vegas setting is positively packed to the gills with seedy characters.

So it's a lot regular ol' Vegas then, but with more Geiger counters.

Are you anxious to get back into the Animus and step in the shoes of everyone's favorite paisano assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze? Ubisoft has announced Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's release date: November 16. The news was slapped on the end of the game's E3 trailer, which emerged on YouTube earlier today. You can watch it past the break.

Taking place years after the events of Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood tasks players with revitalizing Rome, circa 1503. Oh, and killing lots of dudes. It wouldn't be an Assassin's Creed game otherwise, right?

A portion of WiiLoveIt’s review… This is the fourth Need For Speed title, but the first exclusive to hit the Nintendo consoles. Moving forward, there’s no reason not to include any online features and emphasize on the current build of such a rewarding experience. Visually the game is brilliant, driving and drifting has been executed to [...]

This is the final NintendoWare Weekly update before Nintendo's E3 conference tomorrow. What kind of exciting changes will tomorrow bring? Does it even matter, now that Bejeweled 2 is on the Wii?

WiiWare

• Bejeweled 2 (PopCap, 1 Player, 1000 Wii Points)
  If you ever want to see your Wii console again, you'll make sure that your casual-gaming family do not ever, ever find out about the launch of Bejeweled 2 on WiiWare. They haven't seen this news post, have they?
• Arcade Sports (Icon, 2 Players, 800 Wii Points)
  Just in case your system didn't come with a multiplayer bowling game, this new WiiWare offering provides four sports to play: air hockey, bowling, pool and snooker.
• Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville (Konami, 1 Player, 500 Wii Points)
  As the last vampire slayer of Sunnyville (probably), you must search local yard sales on a mission to find hidden treasures and save the world.

#clips BioWare is kicking off a playable demo for Mass Effect 2 tomorrow, which comes complete with a "story so far" video for players who never played the first game. This is that video. More »

Get ready to hit the strip.

Hi, it’s William Ho here for the Pre-E3 ModNation Monday post. I’m excited to give you some updates about ModNation Racers and what’s been cookin’ at United Front Games.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we announced ModNation on stage at E3, now it’s out in the world! It’s been exciting to see the massive amounts of Racing, Creating, and Sharing going on. Our dev team couldn’t be happier to see our supporters enjoying the product of two and a half years of love and labor. We enjoy playing ModNation Racers as much as you do.

Now while there a lot of people that love the game, we know there are some issues that are affecting the fun factor of ModNation, and we just want to say-

United Front Games is with you for the long haul.

I’m always asked, “what are you guys up to now?” The answer is always the same: job number one is actively monitoring and supporting the ModNation community.

We are amazed by your published creations every day. We’re enjoying online races with you. We read your forum postings and your tweets. We discuss all of your suggestions, no matter how big or small. We watch. We play. We listen.

We are working on multiple fronts to make your ModNation Racers experience even more fun. You’ve already seen some improvements in our online racing. Our friends at Sony San Diego Studio officially launched community.modnation.com so you can stay connected to the ModNation community from just about anywhere. And there’s much more to come.

With that said, I have something exciting stats to share with you. The ModNation community has exceeded the 500,000 creation mark! We worked hard to build the most accessible, freest, and deepest sandbox for you to play in. With a half million creations and counting, I think we achieved that goal. Here’s just a few of the half million awesome creations created by the ModNation community:

Mod: Glass-eye Phil, Creator: Reavyn1

Kart: Glass Eye Television Repair, Creator: Reavyn1

Track: Modcoaster, Creator Name: hellstorm0157

Also, you’ve played more than 1,000,000 ONLINE RACES. That’s an amazing milestone for a community that’s only a few weeks young.

We can’t thank our fans enough for your support. We’ve appreciated your enthusiasm since we revealed ModNation Racers at E3 one year ago. We’re thrilled with all of the e-mails, forum postings, tweets, and fan sites, so keep ’em coming! We are dedicated to make the best possible Race, Create, Share experience possible and know we’re working hard on some rock-solid upgrades to ModNation Racers.

Look out for more information after E3, you’ll hear about it first on the PlayStation.Blog!

Microsoft still plans to invest in what made Xbox popular.

[My Yoga Online]
Among the acrobatics displayed at tonight's Cirque du Soleil Kinect event, a demonstration was given of a yoga game where players emulate the actions of an on-screen instructor performing various Tai Chi and Yoga moves. Rather than the occasionally frantic actions of Wii Fit or EA Sports Active, the actions in this games seemed much more tranquil.

The player replicates the stance of the on-screen instructor, effectively following an exercise routine. Considering an Xbox Live Avatar wasn't anywhere to be found, it would seem this is an entirely separate game from the already revealed Kinetic Sports. We'll find out more as the week goes on.

If this is old, I apologize. Still, … awesome. Direct Video Here

#preview Stuart Black was going to make a typically dreary first person shooter. Then he went to see a Lady Gaga concert. More »

When the finishing touches are placed on Bodycount, Stuart Black's follow-up to last generation's Black, it has the potential to be a fun, sexy, arcade FPS. Unfortunately, the pre-E3 demo that I played wasn't ready for the limelight.

It's refreshing to see a more light-hearted take on the genre, with a focus on the sheer fun of firing weapons. I certainly wouldn't mind a change of pace from the gravitas and machismo of games like Call of Duty and Killzone. Bodycount's colorful, spy-themed world reminds me of Monolith's No One Lives Forever series -- and that's a good thing.

The world of Bodycount is heavily influenced by TV's Alias, with the player assuming the role of a reluctant operative, thrown into unstable areas of conflict. For reasons unknown to the player, he's become a member of "The Network," an organization whose slogan -- "Your Safety is our Concern" -- comes off as more than a little disingenuous. His objectives come courtesy of an unidentified female handler, and the game promises to explore the evolving relationship between the two.

After some quality alone time with Sony's wand, we're onboard with the new controller.

Believe it: motion controls make sense.