All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

WarioWare DIY - Kirby’s Inhale and Fire from Jeremiah Lankford on Vimeo.

Organizers for the Cologne-based gaming industry get-together, GDC Europe, have announced who will deliver this year's keynote address: Guerrilla Games managing director Hermen Hulst. According to the press release announcing Hulst's keynoting duties, his speech will focus on "how the studio has matured, which obstacles had to be overcome and what some of the ingredients behind the success of the Killzone series are."

The presser also mentions Hulst's speech "will be located somewhere in the field of tension between hardware and software." We thought we were familiar with the Cologne Congress Center, but we have no idea where that is. Is it close to the cafeteria? Maybe?

Depending on which version of Pokemon Black/White you get, you’ll walk away with a keychain that plays a sound effect for either Zekrom or Reshiram. Preorder both and you’ll get both keychains, plus the Pokeball screen cleaner. Thanks to PikaPal for the heads up!

We posted this art before, but now it’s finally made it into t-shirt form!

More screens here Mecho Wars development for WiiWare is completely wrapped up, but there’s no official release date just yet.

Most people think summer is the time to go swimming and enjoy the bounty Mother Nature has to offer. Sure, you could do that, or you could spend your summer months as we do: sitting around in the A/C, eating cold pizza and playing some games. Thus, we present the EA Summer Weekend Sale, which slashes prices on select EA games (PC only, folks!) every weekend. Until July 18, EA is offering 50% off both Crysis and Crysis Warhead.

Gamerdeals got its hands on a list of what's supposedly going to be offered throughout the promotion -- highlights include Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins and Need for Speed: Shift. We've contacted EA to confirm the list and will let you know what we hear back.

#screengrab Our Street Fighter fantasies have never been this literal before. By Genzoman, as seen in Udon's upcoming "Art of Capcom 2" book. More »

We were always put off by the character design of Voltorb. (You know, from Pokémon. Keep up, people.) Why does he look like a pokéball? Is that where pokéballs come from? Are they just hollowed-out Voltorbs? Are they unhatched Voltorb eggs? Well, we'd like to thank Brawl in the Family's Wrapup-winning strip for turning a seemingly innocent video game franchise into an animal rights nightmare in our mind's eye. Seriously, man. Thanks a ton.

Second and third place went to Penny Arcade's "The Grim Curriculum" and Nerf Now's "Id, Please," respectively. If you've got a favorite strip you'd like to see in the next Wrapup, drop a link in the comments, or send in a tip!

Mega Man is back!

#toys Yeah, we've seen our share of Bayonetta figures before. Thing is, there was always something wrong with them. Big heads, small heads, always something not quite right. This custom piece gets things right. More »

#halo When Halo: Reach is released, players will be able to choose from a wide selection of customisable armour components to get their Spartan looking just right. Here are the pieces of kit you've got to choose from. More »

On July 27, Xbox Live and PSN will play host to a demo for Madden NFL 11, featuring the playoff game between the Jets and Colts, as chosen by the fans. The demo will feature five-minute quarters and four selectable difficulties: Rookie, Pro, All-Pro and All-Madden. Players will also be able to sample the new Gameflow system and unlock the "Master Strategist" Achievement/Trophy for the full retail game.

On top of the demo details, EA also sent along a plethora of new screenshots and some new division highlight videos, akin to what you've already seen in the AFC East and West videos previously posted. These cover the rest of the NFL divisions and are available on our video hub. Madden NFL 11 hits the retail field on August 10.

#diy Don't feel like dropping a few thousand on luxury arcade cabinets? Build your own! Gamespy's thoroughly detailed look at building a custom arcade cabinet from the ground up might be a good way to spend your next fifty weekends. [Gamespy] More »

Sega is bundling downloadable missions with pre-orders of PSP's Valkyria Chronicles 2 in North America (at GameStop) and Europe. The DLC revolves around exercises against other classes in the Gallian Military Academy.

The two bonus missions are:

• Exercise vs. Class E - "A clean-up war exercise against rival class E, which will take place in all of the areas of Leanbluff forest."
• Exercise vs. Class F - Break through Class F's stonewalling defense and take over their encampment to win.

If you were a fan of the original cult darling, it appears you'll be in store for a similarly epic saga with the sequel. Prepare to protect Gallia again when Valkyria Chronicles 2 releases online and on UMD this August 31 and September 3 in North America and Europe, respectively.

Here's the first trailer for Square Enix's Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light, which appears to be some type of footracing game, in which four challengers jog across a vast landscape in a never-ending battle to see who can lose the most weight and become the lightest hero of all.

Wait, what? It's a throwback RPG for the DS, and this trailer shows off the game's exploration? Ah, that makes more sense. Plus, it explains why the new screenshots below show off heroes' levels and stats on the top screen. Wait, unless HP and AP actually mean hamstring points and ab power? We're so confused.

#freegames The Alien Swarm Unreal Tournament 2004 mod becomes a full, Source-powered four-player co-op tactics game, available for free on Steam this Monday, courtesy of the nice folks at Valve. More »

So you just spent $600 on an iPad. How better to show off the capabilities of your state-of-the-art gadget than with ... Space Invaders? Taito released an iPad version (for $5) of its iPhone Space Invaders app worldwide -- and thanks to common iPad naming conventions, Taito thought it was a good idea to call it Space Invaders HD.

The iPad game offers, of course, a larger-scale presentation of both the 1978 game and Space Invaders Part II, as well as some promotional flyers and other vintage artifacts. It also has a rather cool new feature: a two-player mode that flips the screen so that players sitting across from one another can take turns. It's modeled on the classic cocktail-style arcade machines, and Taito even went so far as to demonstrate the game on iPads sitting on those arcade machines at an event in Japan.

#atari Earlier this week, Atari revealed an unexpected retro-revival, a new game based on the original Haunted House for the Atari 2600. Atari's plans for breathing new life into old brands may not stop there. More »

PlayStation Plus is set to bear some exclusive fruit next week, with the arrival of a demo for Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days. The demo will be available exclusively to PlayStation Plus subscribers from July 20 until July 27, at which time it will be made available to all PSN users. The PlayStation Blog reminds PS+ users that the demo will be delivered automatically to those who have set up the automatic delivery function. Of course, if you'd rather just open up the PS Store and download the demo the old fashioned way, that's okay too.

The demo itself will contain a portion of the single-player game as well as the "Fragile Alliance" online multiplayer mode.

Ninja Gaiden Whenever anyone talks about Ninja Gaiden, I automatically assume that they’re talking about the original NES games. I am very aware of the newer Ninja Gaiden games, and I even own them. Still, I can’t help but appreciate the original series run a bit more. 9 game references that show your age - [...]

Between the May and June NPDs -- along with the UK weekly sales -- it's quite clear that Take-Two CEO Ben Feder wasn't exaggerating when he said Red Dead Redemption "sucked the oxygen out of the room" at retail since its release. Alan Wake, along with several high-profile racing games, were just a few of the obvious victims. If you've got names of other games that were casualties of RDR's collateral damage, and you think they deserve some sales love, drop their names in the comments below.

What's everyone playing this weekend?

What does everyone talk about come E3 time? They talk about all the games that will be on display, of course! What’s the second thing that everyone talks about? That would have to be the awesome mounds of swag that publishers give away. There has been a ton of industry swag [...]

#consoletaisen The XL sized Nintendo DSi LL continues its streak as the bestselling piece of hardware in Japan this week, helping to give Nintendo more than half the pie. But the super-sized Nintendo DS's lead is starting to wane. More »

#screengrab Mega Man, reimagined in one of 12 old-school ads by Brian Miggels and Brian Altano of IGN. Zelda, Pac-Man, Solid Snake and more are at the link. [IGN] More »

Just a reminder that the first bit of DLC is up for Dragon Quest IX. I’m sure you guys have plenty of in-game content left at this point, but the DLC is waiting for you! Thanks to Kodax for the heads up!