All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#bioware Dragon Age II takes a page from the Mass Effect playbook, limiting player characters to a male or female human version of the game's main character, Hawke. More »

Come on ride that tank.

#ubisoft When will Assassin's Creed return once Ezio's story ends in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood? According to series associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin, a year hiatus might be in order. More »

The closed beta for Final Fantasy XIV begins this Saturday, July 10. If you've been invited to test drive the MMORPG, there should be an email waiting in your inbox. It'll point you to the official forums, where you'll have to log in and find a link to download the client. Think of it as a multi-tiered quest.

The final version of Final Fantasy 14 will hit retail on September 30 in regular and more expensive "early access" versions.

WiiWare game going Continental this summer.

#motion The Nintendo Wii launched nearly four years ago and it undoubtedly changed how we view and approach gaming. Even now, its influence is demonstrably strong on Microsoft and Sony. This fall, both companies are launching their own motion control hardware, wrangling in the remaining consumers eager to shake their dongle or their booty at the TV. More »

I’m biased, but I think last month’s E3 Blog meet-up went pretty awesomely. You may have seen the amateur video of the event (and Kojima’s suprise visit), but the Hot Shots Tennis team went a step further, producing a really cool video featuring the attendees of our meetup.

Things to look out for: Frawlz and Dave from Sarcastic Gamer, Mr. Destructoid, Hiphopgamer, longtime PS Blog commenter Delriach, Hot Shots US Producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda, Hiphopgamer’s championship belt, Rey Gutierrez’ awesome PlayStation tat, and yours truly, tired, sweaty, and hopped up on a cocktail of caffeine and adrenaline.

Were you there? Did you see yourself?

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is now available on UMD and PlayStation Store download for $19.99. In true Hot Shots form, it’s also really addictive.

You'll probably be playing this game the rest of the year.

#specialedition If there's one thing Europeans can't stand, it's all the bloody tourists. Capcom plays off this fear with the European special edition of Dead Rising 2, showing off the game's official box art alongside one ravishing ravaged high-roller. More »

Starved for more Red Dead Redemption content? Rockstar just announced four new DLC packs for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, with the first one -- dubbed "Legends and Killer" -- due to arrive in August for $10. You can expect new characters, weapons and active map locations (for both freeroaming and competitive multiplayer modes) to be added to New Austin over the coming months. Also ... zombies.

Mosey on past the break for the full rundown.

It's jump time! Plus a Blitzkrieg sale on all Close Combat titles to mark the release of this highly anticipated game.

Own one of the highest rated RPGs of all time.

Series will be getting a visual upgrade and new combat system.

#dlc There are four new expansions coming from Rockstar Games for the hit Western Red Dead Redemption. One of them will bring zombies. More »

In a new Mafia 2 developer diary, 2K Czech explores the fictional city of Empire Bay. Seen during two distinct time periods over the course of the game, the city is the product of thousands of photographs and intense bouts of wireframe modeling. There's so much to see there -- certainly more than you could process in a single drive-by.

Platinum Games' first Shinji Mikami-helmed title, Vanquish, will slide, jumpkick, and then pulverize European retail on October 22, according to a press release from Sega Europe. While no release window beyond "winter" has been nailed down for the game's North American debut, Famitsu puts an October 21 date on the game's Japanese arrival (via VG247).

It seems we won't have long to wait before hearing about our own release date, however, as Sega added that it'll be able to talk worldwide dates "shortly." While we wait for that, why not join us in watching this flippy, explosioney trailer for the game, hmm?

Sega also announced European pre-order bonuses for the stylish shooter -- a set of three downloadable guns that will be given away with pre-orders from "selected retailers."

Update: Release date and pre-order info has arrived via press release.

New strategy game out now.

More space coming to your PS3.

"I don't think there's going to be an Assassin's Creed in 2011," Ubisoft associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin told Eurogamer. "I think we're going to let it breathe a bit and really focus on bringing something new and exciting for the next time around."

Since the release of Assassin's Creed 2, we've seen the release of three Assassin's Creed games, with two more on the way. Boivin seems justified in being concerned with franchise fatigue, even citing the case of music games like Guitar Hero, whose releases Activision has pledged to curtail.

"Honestly, I think for the benefit of everybody - and business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games," Boivin said, "I believe that this license needs a breather. You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years - or once every something - you have to let it breathe." We think he's right about one thing -- that the corporate side of the company can override even the best creative decision to sell some games. Which is exactly what's going to happen in 2011.

#review Growing up, classic board game Risk was always a favorite. It has made the leap to Xbox Live with barfing cats. But does Risk need barfing cats? More »

Platinum Games' first Shinji Mikami-helmed title, Vanquish, will apparently slide, jumpkick, and then pulverize European retail this October, according to a Twitter message sent out from Sega's press account this morning. While no release window beyond "winter" has been nailed down for the game's North American debut, Famitsu puts an October 21 date on the game's Japanese arrival (via VG247).

It seems we won't have long to wait before hearing about our own release date, however, as Sega added that it'll be able to talk worldwide dates "shortly." While we wait for that, why not join us in watching this flippy, explosioney trailer for the game, hmm?

#bioware The first details we saw about Dragon Age 2 were not shocking. New game, new hero. The second batch of details? Consider the eyes of Kotaku raised. More »

Hi everyone, I wanted to introduce myself as the new franchise manager for SingStar with a new summer update that includes a whole array of new and exciting features for all you SingStar fans.

Along with the new support to detect your true vibrato that will have you singing like a pro, the update allows players to compete in online Battles against their friends. If you and a friend own the same song, get your mics ready, send them an invitation, and get ready to throw down for SingStar bragging rights!

Another fantastic new feature for all of you PSP owners is that you can now create playlists directly from your PSP with SingStar Remote, so that your SingStar party keeps on rockin’ without ever missing a beat.

Following its debut at E3, a lot positive buzz has been generated around SingStar Dance. My advice to all of you dancing machines is to start dusting off your best moves for its release this Holiday season! Many of you wanted to find out more about it, so we have included some frequently asked questions for you.

We’ll have more SingStar news to share with you very soon, so stay tuned! If you have any questions about the update or SingStar Dance, feel free to leave a question on this post for myself and the team to answer.

Will I have to buy all my SingStore songs again to play SingStar Dance?

You will be able to upgrade your existing SingStore songs to be compatible with SingStar Dance for less than the cost of a full song. We will be rolling out song upgrades in our regular SingStore updates. Pricing will be confirmed nearer to launch.

How many people can play SingStar Dance?

Up to four people at any time can play – two singers and two dancers.

Do I need to have the PlayStation Move motion controller to play SingStar Dance?

You can play SingStar Dance as a normal SingStar, with two microphones. You only need PlayStation Move controller for each person who wishes to dance, one Move controller per dancer.

Will SingStar Dance have the same My SingStar Online features as a regular SingStar game?

Yes, all the online features remain the same, including Online Battle. We can’t wait to see all those great videos and snapshots of the community dancing and performing, doing what they do best.

Can I buy the SingStar Dance disc and just play it like a regular SingStar game?

Yes. The foundation of SingStar is still alive and well in SingStar Dance, so players can choose to only sing.

When playing SingStar Dance do you only see the live camera feed or can you choose to have the artist video?

As with SingStar and PlayStation Eye, you can choose to display either a camera feed on-screen, or display the artist video in the background, so no change there. We have added a quick change button so that you can switch between the camera’s live feed and the artist video.

Will the features be downloadable or unlockable from the SingStore like the SingStar Video Editor, or will they be patched in?

We are always planning new features in the SingStore Extras section, so please watch this space.

#defjamrapstar Music from A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J and Ludacris are among the songs unveiled today that will be appearing on the upcoming hip hop game Def Jam Rapstar. More »

Third instalment proper some way off say Ubisoft.

If the Army can release a free video game to drum up some attention for its cause, why not NASA? That seems to be the argument behind Moonbase Alpha, a free game developed along with NASA that's now available on Steam. With up to six players at a time, the game allows you to experience the surface of the moon while trying to "repair and replace equipment in order to restore the oxygen production to the settlement," after a meteorite causes system failure.

The official page calls it a "First Person Explorer" title, and shows players fixing equipment connections and even building and controlling a Wall-E style repair robot. The graphics even look good, too -- exactly like that television studio NASA filmed those "moon landings" in. Nice try, NASA, but everybody knows it's nothing but green cheese up there.

#coverstory It may have had its cover blown yesterday, but don't let that rain on your parade: Dragon Age 2 has made its public debut today. More »

We've seen little of The Last Story since its January debut: concept art, mostly, with more revealed in a series of developer columns. Today, Nintendo released the first trailer for the Wii RPG, which Mistwalker head and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi identified as his sole project earlier this year.

The dedication appears to be paying off. We expected something turn-based from Sakaguchi, but Mistwalker seems to be delivering a real-time action RPG with surprisingly fast action. There also appears to be a cover system. The game as seen in this footage reminds us of a quicker, less daunting Demon's Souls.

Earlier this year, Nintendo of America was undecided about whether to localize this game. But, of course, that was before NOA saw this trailer.

#kinect When the PS3 launched in 2006, the SIXAXIS controller did not have rumble support. It had motion control, but like I just said, no rumble. And I found myself playing more Xbox 360 games. More »