All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#edutainment Adventure game company Legacy Interactive and the American College Of Emergency Physicians have teamed up to create Disaster Hero, a web-based game aimed at helping people keep it together while the world is falling apart. More »

EA Sports reinvents the basketball category with new hands-on control.

The first mixed martial arts game, simply Ultimate Fighting Championship, was released way back in 2000, but it took nine years (including a five-year hiatus) for the sport to emerge as a successful video game sub-genre. THQ's UFC Undisputed series has enjoyed two years of positive critical and commercial reception. Now, EA is reaching for its own slice of the pie, introducing its UFC competitor, EA Sports MMA.

In the back of EA's E3 booth, I spent some time with MMA -- I even fought a few random show floor attendees, mostly in the game -- and discovered that while EA Sports' offering is still a ways away from being a lifelike recreation of the sport, from a gameplay standpoint, it's a pretty decent game.

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA — JUNE 23, 2010 — Atlus U.S.A., Inc., the only publisher bold enough to venture into the unknown with a party made up solely of farmers, today launched a series of video shorts for the upcoming exploration RPG Etrian Odyssey™III: The Drowned City for Nintendo DS™. The series of video [...]

A portion of a Nintendo Life review… With four modes, including one quite different from the other three, and three difficulty levels, there’s something here for everyone. While it doesn’t do anything particularly interesting for the genre or the nine year old game that it emulates, it does a great job of presenting us with something [...]

World's largest live action game can now be played at home creating collision of virtual and real life.

A more approachable, affordable way to play a complex card battle game.

#podcast What do you want to know about Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds' new online cops and crooks game APB? Ask the game's lead designer, now, live! More »

Buy used, and you may have to pay to play online.

Just in time for Sonic's birthday, high-end figure company First 4 Figures is taking pre-orders on a new statue of the hedgehog hero's occasional Chaos Emerald-infused Super Saiyan form, Super Sonic. The figure depicts Super Sonic in the "classic" Genesis-era art style, sparking across a platform in Sonic 2's Chemical Plant Zone.

If you want to buy one of these 15-inch-tall figures, you'll have to dig up some Chaos Emeralds or other precious materials of your own. Two versions will ship in the first quarter next year: one for $140 and a deluxe version that lights up for twenty dollars more.

#e3 Between the trailer, these screenshots, and the advertisements on every E3 badge holder, I'm terribly sorry I missed our E3 2010 appointment with Atlus and didn't see Rock of Ages, but I had to fly home. There was cake waiting. More »

It's practically become a cliché at this point: If you want to make a good licensed game, don't base it on anything -- not a specific movie, TV show or ringtone. By being engineered from the ground up to work as games, releases like Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Batman: Arkham Asylum managed to each be the best in their respective breed, unhindered by timed releases and narratives fluffed up to match a two-hour cinematic story.

Transformers: War for Cybertron not only proves this new paradigm, it surpasses it, serving up the best use of the license since Beast Wars went off the air more than a decade ago.

#e3 Metroid: Other M is a fascinating game, one that manages to feel both like a solid retro remake and an innovative new take on a beloved series at the same time. More »

#e3 A glamorous, raven-haired beauty clad in a slinky dress wanders through a showcase of the world's most expensive vehicles, her high heels clicking on the tile floor. I'm that raven-haired beauty, and one of these cars will soon be mine. More »

I know, I know -- a preview of a tech demo? In fairness, this one kind of blew my mind. Here's the skinny: outside of games we're assigned to play, there's rarely extra time while covering the controlled madness of E3 for Joystiq writers to check out something they're personally interested in ... other than the last day, that is. So, last Thursday, several of us who had yet to check out the Nintendo 3DS sneaked in a few personal moments with the device everyone was buzzing about.

Upon first entering the 3DS area of Nintendo's E3 2010 booth, Nintendogs + Cats was available to pet, and an array of 3DSes with 3D trailers weren't too far away -- these featured everything from Mario Kart 64, which looked stunning, to a new Pilotwings title (hooray!). What impressed me the most, though, didn't star Mario or Chris Redfield or Solid Snake -- it was Pong. Alright, so, the Nintendo rep walking around the area with a 3DS chained to her waist (no joke) referred to it as "Paddle Ball," but for all intents and purposes, it was 3D Pong.

First gameplay shots of Versus XIII debut in Japan's largest magazine.

#sreengrab This little gem was being handed out to a very select crowd of people at the Capcom booth. More »

In Brink, Splash Damage has created a world of two perpetually warring sides: the Security and the Resistance. Each is fighting for its own slice of a very small pie called the Ark, a floating city that remains the last bit of "land" on a flooded Earth. It was built to safely support a few thousand, but its ranks have swelled into the tens of thousands -- overpopulation and the two warring sides naturally brought about a conflict.

Each side has four different classes. There's the Medic, the Engineer, the Soldier and the Operative. The Medic doles out health and revives downed teammates, the Operative can disguise himself as a person on the enemy team, the Soldier can replenish his teammates' ammo, while the Engineer is tasked with maintaining the hardware. Every in-game action nets you experience points, which can then be used to purchase specific abilities (things like damage buffs, extra ammunition, etc.) and customize weapon loadouts -- quests are accessed through an in-game radial menu, which allows players to choose from a set of ongoing objectives on the fly.

Zynga's newest social game FrontierVille, cousin of FarmVille, reaches 5,000,000 player mark. Facebook users show they never tire of new ways to wall spam. More »

#digitalcomics The electronic comic book movement gains momentum today, as Batman and Superman publisher DC Comics finally goers digital, offering downloadable comics for the iPad, iPhone, and Sony PSP. More »

Part two of the debut trailer for El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron has been released. Much like the first part of the trailer, it doesn't do much to explain what the heck is going on, but it's positively dripping with style. No, seriously. It's dripping. Get it away from the rug.

#clips Jimmy Fallon played Call of Duty: Black Ops on Late Night last night, proving once again that video games are much more enjoyable in front of a live studio audience. More »

#e3 Metroid: Other M is a fascinating game, one that manages to feel both like a solid retro remake and an innovative new take on a beloved series at the same time. More »

#wii The hero of the Legend of Zelda is left handed, just like Nintendo's top-designer Shigeru Miyamoto and me, right? Not in the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. More »

I played Hydrophobia for the first time this past March at PAX East and, at the time, I was fairly impressed. My feelings on the downloadable title haven't changed dramatically after trying out the game's combat in the E3 2010 build, but I did notice a handful of rough edges this time around. The new parts of the demo essentially picked up exactly where I left off at PAX -- a handful of gun-toting Neo-Malthusians stood in my way and, lucky me, I had just stumbled upon a pistol.

As it turns out, the pistol isn't equipped with live rounds -- at least initially, though the Dark Energy Digital rep talked to us about a handful of other types -- but rather "Sonic" rounds that require a charge up for full blast. The idea here is to encourage environmental attacks rather than traditional, cover-based, third-person shooting; flaming barrels, glass panes and electrical boxes littered throughout the environment certainly helped to encourage me as well.

In theory this works -- and presumably would work better had I gotten more acclimated to the concept -- but I found myself accidentally igniting exploding barrels and trying to drown foes to no avail far more often that I would've liked.

Ni no Kuni: The Another World, the DS RPG made as a collaboration between Level-5 and animation company Studio Ghibli, is expanding beyond the handheld. The latest issue of Famitsu (via Andriasang) reveals that the game is being made for PS3 in addition to DS. This must be the "another platform" mentioned in the TGS 2008 trailer! Well, that and the mobile spinoff announced last year.

According to Andriasang's report from the magazine, the new PS3 version will use cel-shaded visuals for the in-game imagery, combined with art and animation from Studio Ghibli in cutscenes. Level-5 is holding a press event this week, so hopefully we'll hear more about the release plans for both the PS3 release and the recently delayed DS game. In the meantime, you can read our impressions of last year's DS demo here.

#e3 One of the of the most important games of E3, Dance Central, may not be an Xbox 360 exclusive. More »

Hello fantastico people! E3 was so intense – I hope you found the announcements exciting! I want to recap NIS America’s E3 2010 announcements with you guys: We showed Trinity Universe and Atelier Rorona on the show floor.

Trinity Universe will be released next week on June 29th. Trinity Universe has two main characters and two stories. It is a collaboration of NIS, Gust, and Idea Factory, so you get to play familiar characters – Etna, Flonne, and Prinny (of course!) from the Disgaea series and Pamela from Atelier – in one game. These characters are animated in the event scenes, so you can really see their expressions!

The battle system is also unique. You create special moves and skill attacks by pressing certain button sequences. Each character has different sequences for their moves, and you can combine with other characters to make far more damaging attacks. Check out the trailer to see more about Trinity Universe!

I know, I know – you want to know more about Atelier Rorona! Atelier Rorona is scheduled to be released this September.

Atelier Rorona is the first Atelier series game to hit the PS3. The game has field maps with 3D graphics and battle scenes with cell-shaded characters, and it looks fantastic. You have to see it with your own eyes, so check out this E3 trailer. It’s a very short teaser trailer, but you can see how good the characters look in the world of Atelier Rorona.

Let’s go over the story a bit. Arland is a small kingdom that used to have a small, poor population. It has prospered recently thanks to newly recovered technology called the machines. Thanks to the machines, the people of Arland are able to live more convenient lives. Within the kingdom, there is a small alchemy shop where Rorona works for the owner, Astrid. The shop used to be successful, but because of the machines and Astrid’s laziness, no customers have come to the shop in a while. One day, a messenger from the kingdom visits the shop and Astrid and Rorona are hit with a dose of harsh reality. They must prove the worth of alchemy by completing all of their assignments over the next three years, or the kingdom will shut down their workshop!

“You do it, Rorona,” said Astrid. Oh right, I forgot to mention that Astrid couldn’t care less about jumping through hoops for the kingdom, even though her workshop is at risk! Does Rorona have any choice but to take up these tasks to save the shop? Of course not! Rorona now has to work extra hard to keep the shop, and you must help Rorona gain the trust of the town people.

Meet Rorona and Astrid.

I’ll be back soon to show all of you some game footage. Oh, and a quick reminder that Disgaea Infinite is out on PSP and PSN. Explore the adventure novel genre with Disgaea characters!