All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Come on down to South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play this week on Xbox Live Arcade for only 400 MS Points ($5). That's five extra bucks you could be spending on Cheesy Poofs. Also, the Eric Cartman version of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" has been discounted to 80 MS Points ($1) in the Rock Band store.

#dragonage Dragon Age 2 isn't pulling just one page from Mass Effect's book. It's pulling several, including the ones titled "conversation systems" and "save game continuity". More »

#rumorsmash The news that 44-year-old voice actress Ikue Otani - best known for voicing Pokémon character Pikachu - had died this morning has been spreading like wildfireonline. But has she? More »

Valve's steadfast assimilation of its catalog of games on Steam into The Mac Collective continues with Day of Defeat Source, its WWII-based mod. Thanks to Steam Play, those of you who picked it up already for Windows will be able to play it on Mac instantly.

Fear not, green horns, your itch for battle can too be scratched ... for $10 in wartime bonds. What? You thought the democratic war machine simply ran on the blood, sweat and tears of its determined populace? Nope, cash also helps. Cold, delicious cash.

#nintendo When Nintendo first unveiled the 3DS, we were told that the design shown wasn't final. Turns out that, yeah, it's now pretty final. More »

#screengrab Klax cigarettes, a curious, dangerous choice of promotional item given to Japanese gamers by Atari. As seen at Incredibly Strange Games via GameSetWatch. More »

#blizzard Sometimes irony can be delicious. In this case, it's a little bit tragic, with the ESRB publicly releasing the email addresses of people who had written to the board to protest...the revelation of private information. More »

Though a game simply titled Coma likely doesn't sound like the most engaging ludological venture, you must take a few minutes to check out Thomas Brush's beautiful little browser-based platformer. It's short and sweet, featuring hand-drawn graphics, a lovely soundtrack and a plotline that's absolutely pregnant with artistic ambiguity.

Though that last sentence was also pregnant with pretentiousness, Coma is not. It's just a pretty, simple game, and it's free to play on Newgrounds right now. If you've got a half-hour to kill, we strongly advise you go check it out.

In a stupefyingly ironic turn of events this evening, it appears that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has revealed the entire list of email addresses of people who appealed to the ESA's rating group over Blizzard's recently proposed and then retracted Real ID implementation. According to our World of Warcraft-focused sister site WoW.com, the ESRB issued a response letter to the nearly 1,000 folks who had emailed with complaints about Blizzard's decision -- unfortunately, it seems that rather than hide everyone's email addresses, someone hit "reply all."

We've dropped the letter itself beyond the break, which, as WoW.com points out, concludes with a statement espousing the ESRB's "Privacy Online" program. Whoops! All that said, mistakes will happen from time to time -- unlike Blizzard, though, the ESRB can't simply take this back.

#hacks What to do when your Japanese role-playing games take months, years or forever to get an English translation? Rip the ROM and hack-translate it yourself. 1UP takes a look at the origins and current state of the brute-force, fan-made localization. More »

Having trouble slicing those kumquats, tangerines and cherries in your standard edition of Fruit Ninja? Then you'll be pleased to know that Halfbrick is preparing an enhanced version for iPad called Fruitninja HD. But improved graphics aren't the only addition to the game, as the iPad installment will also boast input for up to eight fingers and head-to-head multiplayer battles through Classic Attack and Zen Duel modes. Look for Fruit Ninja HD in the App Store on July 14 for $4.99.

We know what you're thinking: how can any ninja, let alone one skilled in the ways of battling fruit -- an enemy with barely any defensive skills whatsoever -- wield up to eight swords at once? Frankly, we just don't know. The ways of the ninja have long been shrouded in mystery and pulp, but we have managed to secure a brief piece of communication from the ninja clans, which you can watch right after the break.

#sports Like an eclipse or an obscure comet sighting, tomorrow is the only day on the calendar you may pick up this Silver PSN trophy or 40 Gamerscore Xbox Live achievement, in MLB 2K10. So be ready when it comes. More »

The Bearded Ladies' debut PS3 game, Landit Bandit, makes its way to the North American PSN tomorrow for $9.99. While the game looks interesting - taking inspirations from titles like Crazy Taxi and Moonlander - the real story seems to be the development team itself. The team of five is comprised of "two programmers from the auto industry, a janitor, a liquor store salesman, [and] an expedition leader from Nepal" -- with no ladies or bearded people to be found.

United Front Games will make playing its DIY kart racer ModNation Racers a little easier with its next update. The PS3 game is getting a less-challenging career mode option, according to the PlayStation.blog. More »

Star Trek Online's new executive producer Daniel Stahl recently stated that he "could easily see" a hybrid free-to-play model working for Cryptic's MMO. Stahl specifically mentions (recent Warner Bros. acquisition) Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online as "interesting plans" worth taking note of. DDO went freemium last year to create a dungeon full of gold for the developer; LotRO will roll the die for the same fate this autumn.

Stahl expressed that Turbine's model creates a "robust way to demo the game" and allows those wanting more to pay for a subscription or purchase items á la carte. With Cryptic's parent-company Atari operating at a loss, ways to beam up revenue would appear logical. It's unclear if it's a sign of the future, but Cryptic did conduct a free-to-play away mission back in May.

#yoshinoriono At this weekend's Evo tournament in Las Vegas, where the world's best Tekken 6, Super Street Fighter IV and Melty Blood players battled it out, the man who made Street Fighter IV teased the unveiling of his next game. More »

#ivghof Steve Wiebe, the protagonist of the documentary The King of Kong, famous for his pursuit of Donkey Kong's all-time record, will be enshrined alongside the game's creator with the first class inducted by the International Video Games Hall of Fame. More »

Wanna beef up your virtual wardrobe? Xbox Live now has new goods from The Forgotten Sands, Monkey Island 2: Special Edition and Deadliest Warrior. Or, come July 15 for 320 MS Points ($4), you can play virtual dress-up as one of the Super Street Fighter IV fighters above. Virtual cosplay is still cosplay, right?

Looks like Nintendo got a Pokemon tribute in Dragon Quest IX. Can you name that Pokemon?!

Expect a lot more things to explode and/or fly directly into you in Killzone 3. Guerrilla is hyping up "cinematic deaths" as a new feature of its upcoming sequel, and it looks exactly as it sounds. According to a blog post on Killzone.com, "Killzone 3 is strongly influenced by Hollywood realism ... Cinematic deaths are the logical progression of this design philosophy, adding a variety of spectacular (and sometimes explosive) new ways for Helghast enemies to perish."

Valve's "cinematic physics" (utilized in Half-Life 2: Episide Two) favored drama over realism, and it appears Guerrilla is following suit; however, we'll have to agree with some of the fans' criticisms. "I don't understand how when you shoot that ship with missiles, it loses control and comes right at you," one commenter questioned. Another added that the new cinematic death animations "look really weird and fake." Would you agree?

Yes, this was an actual promotional item given out at a Japanese trade show. Of course, they were only given out to adults, but this is still one of the strangest promos I’ve ever seen for a game.

Longtime GoNintendo reader/industry participant Paul Gale has seen fit to put together an article that details our interactions over the past few years. I can’t believe that we have readers that are so caring and wonderful. Thanks to Paul for the very kind article, and thanks to all of you for supporting me [...]

#screens There's plenty you can do on a faceoff other than spam the controls and look like a fool. NHL 11 wants to give you more options this year, as shown in new screenshots released today. More »

Senator Leland Yee 'confident' court will uphold law.

Senator Leland Yee 'confident' court will uphold law.