All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Remember the NES that was nothing special, but being auctioned for $35,000? Believe it or not, the bundle actually sold. Even more unbelievable, the bundle actually ended up selling for $50,000. I guess there are some really kind-hearted people out there! Thanks to Baseballer for the heads up!

Apple's multiplayer gaming platform for iEverything -- Game Center -- may not have arrived just yet, but it appears that it's getting a bit of a face-lift on the back-end. As seen in the image above (care of Mobile Crunch), the color palette of GC has been lightened and varied quite a bit, going from a black and blue tone to a decidedly more billiard table-flavored one.

Given that the new look also bears a striking resemblance to our friend (and yours) Kermit the Frog, we're not exactly on the fence in terms of preference of the two -- what can we say, it's a lot more welcoming! Now all we need is an actual release of the client so we can see what else (other than the frontmost loading screen) it has to offer.

#ivghof The International Video Games Hall of Fame inducts its first class in August. Located in Ottumwa, Iowa, known for its ties to the gaming's early arcade days, the Hall will enshrine more twice as many high score champions as developers. More »

Quick question for you guys. How many of you have played the original NES game above, and also picked up the Wii version? I’m not expecting a high number, as sad as that makes me!

#toys Yesterday we brought you the Mario Kart Wii Grand Prix Board Game from the Tokyo Toy Show. Just so you know, the show's still going on, and we've got video to prove it. More »

According to a recently revealed list of XBLA Achievements found over at Xbox360Achievements, it seems that the upcoming XBLA iteration of PopCap's zombie gardening game Plants vs. Zombies will be getting a new versus mode, as well as the inclusion (in some form) of co-op play. Two separate Cheevos indicate as much -- the first named "Versus vs. Versus" (fittingly enough) and the second named "ZFF's 4 Evr" (earned by bowling "a winner with a friend in Co-Op Wall-Nut Bowling").

The real question is, of course, whether or not everyone's favorite crazy gardener be a playable character -- we can only dream, folks.

#screengrab Sonic - or is it Shadow? - pimping yams for an Asian produce company, as seen by reader Justin A. in Toronto. More »

#stickjockey This past week I had so much fun tinkering around with a game that I'm almost embarrassed to go back and read my original review. Because I was very hard on Backbreaker. More »

We know you've been asking for a long time and we've been listening! Our very first iPhone / iPod Touch app is finally available to download in the iPhone App Store. Click on the image above, or go straight to the App Store with this link.

The Joystiq app brings everything you love from the site to your iPhone: the latest video game news and commentary, game videos and screenshots, reviews and previews - all presented with as much excitement, enthusiasm, insight and fun as the laws of physics allow. Notable features include: offline viewing (goodbye, boring subway ride), built-in video streaming (both in posts and a list of videos), in-app tipping (did you see someone playing Kinect sitting down?), photo galleries, and more.

If you love the idea of a Joystiq app, but are rocking another device (Android perhaps?), let us know in the comments. Most importantly, if you like the app, please leave us a review on iTunes right away. That helps other people find the app and, ultimately, helps us support this platform and hopefully others in the future.

Of course, we need to thank the team at AOL that put this app together: Andy Averbuch, Vikas B R, David Balogh, Richard Foster, Asha Indira, Stephen Kim, Rajesh Kumar, Anibal Rosado, Sun Sachs, and Eric Wedge.

#scenic Didn't know this: Red Dead Redemption has an "afk" mode - don't move the controller, and Marston and the HUD disappear, revealing a panoramic view. Digital Foundry used this mode to create startlingly lifelike time-lapse video that you may download. More »

Looking to scare some pain into your life? Seven naughty Joystiq readers will win a copy of Naughty Bear, courtesy of 505 Games. Plus, three especially naughty readers will also take home a Naughty Bear statue. Isn't it adorably murderous?

To enter this giveaway:

• Leave a comment, inventing a new sidekick for Naughty Bear. (Example: "Irritated Platypus")
• You must be 13 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• This entry period ends at 2:30PM ET on Sunday, July 18.
• At that time, we will randomly select three (3) grand prize winners to receive a copy of Naughty Bear (Xbox 360) and a Naughty Bear statue (ARV $80); and four (4) first prize winners to receive a copy of Naughty Bear (Xbox 360) (ARV $50).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition.

For more info on our policy, click here.

#justice A Colorado Springs teen who killed a developmentally disabled man - investigators said he wanted the guy's Xbox - will spend the rest of his life in prison for it. More »

...but this game looks pretty damn fun. I mean, it looks like what WoW should've been.

Lemme set things straight: I highly disliked the first Guild Wars. Mainly because the PvE content felt gimped to me; as if the game only cared about PvP content (I LOATHE PvP in RPGs, MMO or not; to me, an RPG is about just that: role-playing. Going off on an epic adventure and exploring and questing and experiencing an interesting narrative and other shit like that; not just "HEY GUYS LET'S BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA EACHOTHER"). Well, Guild Wars 2--with its persistent world, racial variety, and (Supposedly) an actual crafting system--looks like it's going to remedy that problem.

The best thing about it is that despite all of the changes it's going to be free-to-play like the original, meaning it won't really be competing for my wallet with other big-name MMOs (Right now my "subscription fee choice trinity" is DCUO, SW:TOR, and FFXIV; still can't decide, but it's probably not going to be FFXIV, given my experience with the original game).

#demo If you've bought into PlayStation Plus, on Tuesday you can get the Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days demo shipped to your console via automatic download. Everyone else gets it July 27. More »

If you're anything like us, you'd much rather explore the future wasteland of Metro 2033 and Mars' wartorn settlements in Red Faction: Guerrilla than run around outside under that giant boiling sphere in the sky. It's trying to kill us all, you know, right? Anyway, you'll be glad to hear (like we were) that THQ is making our collective choice that much easier by dropping up to 75 percent off of a mess of titles over on its website -- the two aforementioned titles are only $12.50 and $5, respectively.

Perhaps you'd rather shoot feces onto surrounding buildings while wearing "bigass chains?" Saint's Row 2 is also only five bucks! The rest of THQ's stable is similarly on sale in a dramatic way, but the sale only lasts until Monday (and is only for US residents -- sorry!), so we'd suggest getting on that. The full list of 75 percent off titles can be found just beyond the break.

#dealtaku You spot a man's tell, you don't say a *crag*in' word. I finally spotted KGB's. And usually I'd've let him go on chewing those Oreos ‘til he was dead broke. But I don't have that kind of time. More »

#openthread News that 1 vs. 100 wouldn't see a third season was hardly shocking. That doesn't mean it wasn't disappointing. More »

#evo Last weekend, I joined a group of more than 5,000, many who had traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to compete against and witness the best fighting game players in the world at the annual EVO championship. More »

At first, we really liked the idea of Left 4 Dead 2 "mutations." They promised fun tweaks to the gameplay to keep it interesting and fresh. In practice, however, they seem more like an excuse for Valve to make the game even harder. For instance, this week's mutation is "Hard Eight," which doubles the maximum number of active special Infected from four to eight. Eight.

What's that? You just killed a Boomer? Well, don't worry, because there are seven more standing right behind you.

In real life, the Aston Martin One-77 is a gorgeous little state-of-the-art luxury coupé with a lightweight carbon fiber chassis, a production run of only 77 units, a top speed of 220 miles per hour and a price upwards of a million dollars. In Test Drive Unlimited 2, though, you'll actually be able to own and drive one.

Sure, the experience of driving this masterpiece in real life might not quite compare to pushing pixels around in a video game, but trust us, the insurance premiums are way less. Drool over these shots (and the video after the break) until the game comes out September 21.

This post is for eggheads only -- we won't be talking about how to get Xbox Live achievements, or how the system of earning Gamerscore actually works. Nope, the latest Xbox Engineering blog post gets down and dirty with the actual software and hardware behind the Xbox Live Achievements system, and not only how your Xbox actually learns from whatever game you're playing that you just earned some points, but how you friends get to know it as well.

Turns out the sound we most connect with the whole system (that "Achievement Unlocked" beep) was an afterthought -- originally, Microsoft's team wasn't planning on having any notification of point scoring at all. The idea of achievements has evolved over time as well -- they did start out with the 5-50 and 1000 Gamerscore requirements, but since launch, devs have better learned how to use Achievements and how to customize them. Apparently there's a whole bunch of code and science behind the whole thing. Go figure! We always thought it was unicorn magic of some kind.