All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Do you like adventure games in the “hidden object genre”? Then we’ve got great news: On July 6th we release the very first PlayStation mini game in the hidden object genre, a popular genre among casual gamers. Meet The Mystery of the Crystal Portal, a game that will challenge your attention and associative skills.

From the very start of the game you’re involved in an adventure. You meet the journalist Nicole Rankwist, whose archeologist father disappeared during his study of the mysterious Crystal Portal, and together with Nicole you start your search of Mr. Rankwist. During your quest you visit various locations around the world, and in each location you are required to find hidden objects and thus, unlock the next scene with more puzzling tasks. The gameplay has a twist in that hidden objects in each scene are brought together in sets, and often objects of one set will be revealed only after you find all objects of another set in the same scene. These brain-teasers keep you excited throughout the game, so that you don’t want to put it down!

The game will be available for $4.99 already next week for the PSP (it’s also compatible with the PS3). There will be six countries to visit, unique mini-games, the ability to zoom in and out and more. Check it out when it hits the PlayStation Store on Tuesday, July 6th.

Not to be outdone by Steam and its dangerously generous sale this week (you do own Torchlight by now, right?), Impluse is running its own 4th of July sale, with 68 different downloadable PC games given prices set to move, some even better than Steam. If you want some quality RTS action, the Company of Heroes pack is a great deal at $29.99, Command and Conquer 4 is $24.99 and the Sins of a Solar Empire expansions are $5 off.

Not quite as much variety as the Steam sale, but what's there is well-priced. PC gamers, you have no excuse to bother with any of the "going outside" or fireworks this July 4th weekend -- not when there are all these great cheap games to play!

#japan In The Land of the Rising Sun, electronics manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic are rolling out 3D televisions. Sony, in particular, shows great interest in 3D with its TVs and 3D-ready PlayStation 3. Japan, however, does not. More »

#crackdown2 You know, I was playing Perfect Dark the other day, and thought to myself, "Man, you know what this game needs? More Crackdown cameos". More »

We haven't seen Gretzky hit the virtual ice since Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey on the N64, so suffice it to say we're happy he's back in NHL Slapshot. If you have no idea who Gretzky is, then you've got impeccable timing. This latest trailer (available past the break) gives us a quick rundown of Gretzky's development throughout his life, from peewee puck-handler to mature mastermind of the ice rink.

In case you still don't get it: the guy's kind of a big deal in the ice hockey world. What else would you expect from somebody nicknamed "The Great One?"

#popquiz Capcom's Monster Hunter is proving to be not just one of the most successful PSP titles, but one of the most influential. More »

#clips Well, there's a headline I never thought I'd have to write. More »

10th anniversary of popular franchise yields latest iteration.

Martin's back (and crack and sack).

Martin's back (and crack and sack).

Martin's back (and crack and sack).

Martin's back (and crack and sack).

#pc We know you wouldn't buy an off-the-shelf Dell PC. You have gaming needs. But others aren't as savvy as you. They bought off-the-shelf Dell PCs. And many of those people got shafted. More »

#clips This is my son, Micro-Bash. He is one year and several months old. And he can unlock an iPhone. More »

#music It's a story that involves good intentions, booze and DJ Krush. More »

#cosplay Konami's love simulator Love Plus is causing select Japanese men to go gaga for its in-game schoolgirls. Now, they can go gaga over these uniforms. More »

Eight months to make a AAA title? Ruffian did it; here's its tale.

#beards Yesterday, I had the audacity to say that former Ubisoft man Patrice Désilets had the most beautiful beard in the video game industry. Other developers, however, disagree. More »

#sony Sigh. More »

ION has refreshed its "premium" (read: 'spensive) Drum Rocker peripheral for the upcoming Rock Band 3. The new Drum Rocker Pro includes four drums, three cymbals and the new "Pro Pedal," a kick drum pedal with "all-metal construction," plus a "dual-chain drive, adjustable beater and rubber trigger," all of which sound like they're probably very impressive.

The new kit will be available for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii this holiday season, timed with the release of Rock Band 3. The fancy new pedal will also be sold separately, for anyone with a previous ION set or regular Rock Band drums who is humiliated about the state of their kick drum pedal. No price for either item was announced, but expect to pay a premium.

#totalrecall Released in 1990 on the Atari 7800, Ninja Golf is a golf sim that has players fight to where their ball has landed. Ninjas can't make golf exciting, but ninjas fighting mud-slinging gophers, sand cobras and very large frogs can. More »

#clips The highlight (for me, anyways) of upcoming racer Gran Turismo 5 will be racing a full lap of the Top Gear Test Track. Until it's out, I'll have to make do watching this guy complete a circuit instead. More »

#nintendo Just imagine it: Like Disneyland, but with video games and Nintendo characters. During a recent meeting with investors, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata discussed the topic. More »

Also: sunflower seeds, eagles, penguins, UFOs, cows, robots, laser-shooting owls, octopi. Game Atelier's PS mini The Flying Hamster looks crazier than ever in this new trailer -- after the break -- which finally reveals the story behind the shmup.

#anime The current Pocket Monster animated series is called "Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl". That makes sense as that's what the games based on it are called. The name of the new series? More »

Getting away from the 'me too' military shooter.

#sneakers Some sneakers based on video games can be tasteful! Others, less so. These Street Fighter Dunks, rumoured to be part of an official collaboration between Capcom and Nike, are thankfully the former. More »

Ask anybody what they think about PlayStation Home and you'll likely get one of two reactions: "What is that?" and "Meh." For PlayStation Home director Jack Buser, however, it's quite the accomplishment -- a "very good business model for PlayStation, and quite profitable," he told Gamasutra.

"With numbers like we have, it goes without saying that Home has been a huge success for our company, something that we have been very proud of." The numbers he's talking about look pretty decent on paper: there are over 100 games on the service, the average user session is about 70 minutes, there are over 50 unique spaces available and 14 million people have at least stepped foot in Home once. Not bad, but it's all about the context -- do people play those games? Do people explore those unique spaces? How many of those 14 million are actual active users?

"We haven't talked too much about the platform itself, but what we have said is that every mature virtual item we have ever created has been profitable," Buser said. "We've released over 5,000 virtual items on the platform, and we know that once those items reach maturity, they are profitable. So you see us creating a tremendous amount of virtual items, because it is such a high margin business for us to be in." So it's very much a long-tail thing, then?

Look, you could probably present the numbers in any way possible and spin the service as a success, but for us, the real success is its ability to pull in new users, its effectiveness as a marketing tool and its profits from the sale of virtual goods. Log in now and you'll no doubt find a community there, passionate about Home. But is it pulling in new users? Are marketers beating down the (virtual) door to get into Home? And how much does Sony really earn from the service annually? Until we get less vague statistics and hard numbers, we might never know.