All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani brought a rather incredible historical artifact to the recent NLGD Festival of Games in the Netherlands: a notebook full of sketches from the original design of Pac-Man. The thirty-year-old sketches show that Iwatani had a pretty good idea of how the mazes and Pac-Man sprite would work even in the pen-and-paper stage of the game design (although, note that the drafted maze lacks the warps at either side). You can also see how casual Iwatani is about carrying around a priceless, irreplaceable document. (See more pictures at Control.)

After the break, for comparison, you can see what's new with Pac-Man. At last week's E3 party, Namco Bandai debuted the pilot for a new 3D computer-animated cartoon starring a child Pac-Man and an army of evil ghosts. GameTrailers recorded the footage from one of the party's TVs, so you can see it now. It's a bit blurry-looking due to the 3D effect. It also totally lacks Marty Ingels.

A major new player has been added PSP's digital comics reader. DC Comics will begin distributing its comics via the PlayStation Store starting today, with an initial selection of over 80 comics, priced from $0.99 to $2.99. Some of the offerings include: Batman: Hush, Green Lantern: Rebirth, God of War, Resistance, and Superman/Batman. A free 10-page preview of Superman #700 (pictured) will be available to download, as well.

In addition, Sony has updated the Digital Comics app to version 2.01, which adds a number of new features, such as the ability to delete comics directly from the app, and the ability to read right-to-left for Japanese manga titles. To download the update, go to the Digital Comics app from the XMB, hit triangle, and select "Version information."

Developer Dreamrift, a company formed by the creators of Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure, has partnered with Majesco for its next game, a DS title called Monster Tale, intended for younger audiences. The core Hatsworth concept of performing one action on one screen to affect the gameplay on the other screen remains, but the hyper-British Empire theme has been swapped out for an exaggerated version of childhood, complete with villainous neighborhood bullies. More importantly, the bottom screen, which hosted a falling-block puzzle game in Hatsworth, is now home to a "virtual pet" called Chomp.

At least, that's how Majesco puts it. I think the use of the term "virtual pet" does a disservice to the game. People who are into virtual pet games would likely find the interactions with Chomp too limited and the platformer on the top screen too distracting; and while those who like action-platformers would probably really like the upgrading system Chomp provides, they might never know it due to their instinctual evasion of pet sims.

As some of you may have heard, we’ve announced that DC Comics is now available through the PlayStation Network digital comics service for PSP (PlayStation Portable). Starting today, you can access DC Comic titles on PlayStation Store, directly on the PSP or via Media Go on your PC. We continue to evolve our content library on PlayStation Network and with DC Comics we now have some of the comic book world’s most iconic characters to add to our robust comic repertoire.

You’ll now have access to an initial selection of over 80 DC titles that can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store including Batman: Hush, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Fables: Legends in Exile and Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories. In addition to these launch titles, users will get exclusive DC Comics content such as Superman/Batman, Resistance, Free Realms and God of War. Lastly, we’ve also released a free 10 page story today of Superman 700, as well as free downloads of Bayou, Fringe, Mirror’s Edge, and Resistance. We will keep adding to the collection you can already enjoy today anywhere you are — over 1600 classic and new comics.

Using the PSP’s Autoflow Viewer, you can enjoy the comics frame by frame, zooming in and out, all at the touch of a button, making your comics look as good as they do in real life. This is available for all PSP models and is simple to use: just download the latest firmware (6.20) and select the “Digital Comics” icon under the “Extras” column on PSP’s XMB menu.

Be sure to check out the “free comics” category in the PlayStation Store, for a selection of comics that you can download for free. You’ll also find a great variety of titles from our partners at Marvel, IDW Publishing, Disney and more.

Enjoy superheroes across the game store, video store and comic store — when it comes to digital comics, this is the place to be! Stay tuned for more and more titles and, in the meantime, keep checking out what’s new in the PlayStation Store!

Visit www.playstationcomics.com for more information.

#rumor In an interview with Swedish news site DN, Queen guitarist Brian May seems to have let slip news of a Guitar Hero game featuring the iconic British band. More »

#sports I'm about to spend half the night playing World Cup 2010 (the video game), as I kill the time (and my nerves) between games at World Cup 2010 (the actual World Cup). Are you? More »

I usually try to avoid whirlwind preview sessions during gaming events -- hour-long booth tours that see me bouncing between a handful of titles from the same developer. However, that was the case during my recent E3 time with Tecmo Koei's suite of upcoming titles, a collection which included Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage, Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll, Quantum Theory and Warriors: Legends of Troy.

Given my limited time with each of the aforementioned games, I decided to arrange my initial impressions about them into a single preview. You can check out my thoughts on Tecmo Koei's lineup after the jump.

#nintendo The 3DS is an impressive piece of kit. It's similar enough to the DS to capitalise on its predecessor's familiarity, but its machined edges and glossy finish give it a more refined look. It's not, however, perfect. More »

Trust us: Civilization V is no copy-paste of the previous iteration. It's made abundantly obvious in the trailer past the break, which highlights the fifth entry's overhauled engine, multiplayer features and modding support. This time around, players will be able to access advanced modding tools, Civilization fan sites and even fan-made scenarios, all from within the game. Ambitious stuff, to say the least.

Civilization 5 builds a road to retail on September 21.

#screengrab As seen on the cover of a 2009 issue of Swedish mag Level 42. More »

Let's get this out of the way: I've never seen Top Gun nor Days of Thunder. I know, I know -- I'll turn my Man Card in at the door. The point I'm trying to make is: If there are in-jokes or sly references in either game, I wouldn't notice.

That said, Paramount Digital has recruited Jack Epps Jr., screenwriter of both films, so the company certainly seems serious about fan service. Setting aside their cultural significance -- emphasis on "cult" -- what I saw were two simple, playable arcade experiences.

#clips Tony Hawk: Ride may have been useless as video game, but that sturdy plastic controller may have a second calling as a real skateboard. All you need is your own wheels. More »

To celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 19th birthday (the American release date of the first Genesis game was June 23, 1991), Sega of America is dropping prices on downloadable games and DLC, most of which is related to Sonic. Offers on each platform have a different start date and a different duration.

The PSN sales will be active today through Tuesday, July 6, and include the PSP Sonic Rivals games ($10.99 or $13.99 for 1 or 2, respectively, or $17.99 for both) and discounted DLC for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic the Hedgehog.

iPhone sales run tomorrow through June 30, and include discounts on the iPhone's Genesis games (Streets of Rage and Golden Axe are at the magic 99-cent price at which they start to seem like a good idea) along with Super Monkey Ball ($2.99) and the iPad's Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition ($4.99).

Finally, the XBLA sale will begin -- and end -- Thursday, June 24. If you want to buy any of the Genesis Sonic games for $3 each, you'd best have your Microsoft Points ready that day.

#e32010 The Elecontric Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles is mainly an enthusiast event. The mainstream press pays it lip service, but it's dominated by flashy games for hardcore gamers. None of this Facebook stuff. Something Nintendo remembered for 2010. More »

TIGA's years-long campaign to bring tax relief to the UK video game industry has come to a rather disappointing conclusion. Chancellor George Osbourne (pictured above) revealed the nation's budget plans earlier today during a speech at Westminster, announcing that "planned tax relief for the video games industry will be canceled." According to TIGA CEO Richard Wilson, this surprising omission flies in the face of "pre-election pledges made by the Conservative Party and by the Liberal Democrats to support and introduce Games Tax Relief."
GamesIndustry.biz points out that Osbourne's proposed budget still benefits smaller, start-up developers in select parts of England, who will receive exemptions for £5,000 (about $7,400) of National Insurance contributions for each of their first 10 new hires; though this doesn't come close to the sweeping tax reform promised to the UK games industry just a little over a month ago.

[Image credit: Auto Express]

#screengrab Reader Pablo made this as a gift to the guys at Fallout developers Bethesda. Awesome job, Pablo! More »

Nintendo DSI Kids - I decide (nds, uk) - Commercial 1 - Commercial 2 Taiko no Tatsujin DS Dororon! Youkai Daikessen (nds, jpn) TV Anime Fairy Tale Gekitou! Madoushi Kessen (nds, jpn) Thanks to Cadaver for the heads up!

#nintendo The 3DS can play 3DS games, DS games, it can play 3D movies. What else can it do? How about video chat. In 3D. More »

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has seen the bottom of the pint glass of acquisitions and decided it's had enough. Speaking with Gamasutra, Samantha Ryan, senior VP of production and development, states that WBIE is going into a "settling period for a little while." She explains the company is working to integrate all its studios into the WBIE corporate biomass in order to "really focus on the games."

The menu of developers WBIE owns outright or has a majority stake in include: Monolith, TT Games, Snowblind, NetherRealm, Rocksteady and, most recently, Turbine. There are also those Midway IPs it picked up wholesale. But, that's not to say that WBIE is done buying shiny new toys, as Ryan leaves the door open to acquisitions she defines as "complementary" to the portfolio. You gotta accessorize the ensemble, after all.

RPG's mystery console at last revealed.