All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Seeing that Red Dead Redemption takes place in a primitive world predating the car stereo, Rockstar San Diego had to come up with another way of injecting music into the title. Their solution: an interactive, Spaghetti Western-inspired score -- the making of which can be seen in the video below.

Hudson officially puts a date on the brilliant Lost In Shadow, coming to the Wii on January 4, 2011. Thanks, GohanEgret! More »

Yeah, that's right: This is what the third cover for the Kane & Lynch comic, coming this October from DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint, looks like. Got a problem with that? No? Good. Drawn by Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) it can be seen in full after the break.

#music Last year we featured "No Escape," a music video done in the graphic style of the Atari 2600, by Arman Bohn, whose previous bands included Eureka Farm. He's followed that up with "Brain Games," a video animated in Flipnote Studio. More »

Some people forked over a sawbuck for Mass Effect Galaxy because they wanted to experience the backstory of characters appearing in Mass Effect 2. Some people downloaded Galaxy for the promise of in-game goods in Mass Effect 2. No matter what folks signed up for, most seem to agree that what they got could've been better -- even BioWare's Dr. Greg Zeschuk.

"Oh, I think it was very worth attempting," he told Videogamer. "Even when something's not as successful as you'd like, you can take some lessons away and apply them, right? For us, that's kind of where humility comes in, to eat the humble pie on the Mass iPhone game [laughs] and go, 'Yeeeaaah, we made a big mistake,' in the sense that we thought story could carry it." He immediately corrected himself, saying that it might not have been a mistake, but "as much as we took a guess, our guess was wrong, and we learned something in the process." The lesson? That the important part of designing for iPhone is building the game around the interface. "Unless your game is utterly designed about tactile gameplay, you shouldn't release it. That was good information for us to have."

Despite Galaxy's failing, Dr. Zeschuk isn't entirely willing to write off the potential of the iPhone just yet. "We'll explore stuff," Zeschuk said. "For us, it may be things that link into other games. It's the cross-platform nature of the potential platform, like an iPhone app able to somehow access one of the other games' universes, or something. That would be really cool."

#platinumgames Bayonetta and MadWorld developer Platinum Games is making it easier to enjoy the high-speed, third-person, run and gun thrills of its shooter Vanquish. Feel like letting the game do much of the work for you? "Casual Auto" is for you. More »

Analysts were generally unimpressed with the $150 price tag put on the Kinect hardware -- the consensus has been that Microsoft set the price too high and sales will suffer as a result. But Microsoft group marketing manager Brett Siddons disagrees. Speaking at an Amazon event in the UK, he said that once you "do the maths," Kinect is "very competitively priced."

His argument is that $150 gets you support for two players (six non-active players) and the full Kinect Adventures game, with no other accessories needed. This is compared to PlayStation Move, which comprises the main controller and a demo disc for $50. The "Navigation Controller" is $30 more, and if you want to expand the system to two players, you'll be paying even more. When you look at it that way, according to Siddons, Kinect is priced about the same given the functionality.

Still, even if that $150 buys an experience similar to what's on other consoles, there remains the question of whether or not gamers will want to write that larger check in the first place.

#visceralgames Getting my hands on a playable demo of Dead Space 2 felt like slipping into Isaac Clarke's metal plated space suit—powerful, unsettling, familiar and a little awkward. More »

Once we decided to go for the old school, side scrolling, beat ‘em up style with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Video Game, we wanted to go all in! We brought in pixel artist extraordinaire Paul Robertson.

The next step was creating an amazing soundtrack. We immediately thought of Brooklyn chiptune rockers, Anamanaguchi. They wowed us (and 5,000 others) at PAX and really captured the sound we wanted for the game. Here, the guys share their favorite songs from the game.

Ary Warnaar

“Twin Dragons”

I really enjoyed how the Twin Dragons cue came into existence. It was very unexpected. A couple months ago we were playing a show here in Brooklyn with Ok, Go. I was hanging out backstage with one of my good friends Damon who also happens to be one of the most talented chip artists I know (he goes by Starscream with his drummer George). We were kinda bored and decided to start a collaboration italo-disco song on Game Boy. He started with an awesome bass line and beat, and I started writing some melody stuff. We didn’t get past the loop that night, but the next day I couldn’t get it out of my head, and kept working on it. I don’t remember at what point I realized it would work perfectly for the game… it sort of just transformed into that cue naturally. So yeah, it’s my favorite because it really started as a song for myself that ended up being for Scott Pilgrim. That natural transition is a great example of what made the project so fun. It never really felt like writing for a video game, it felt more like composing music for life stuff we’ve all experienced – stuff that Scott Pilgrim happened to have experienced as well…

Luke Silas
“Suburban Tram”

I’m especially proud of the track we wrote for the train level – Suburban Tram. When we were working on it, Pete had brought up giving it a sort of Hot Water Music-type sound, and it actually came very naturally after that. I really love positive, uplifting punk and post-hardcore music, and it was a lot of fun to try and translate it into our distinct style. Something about the final version of this track evokes real motion, as in makes you want to move, both from the heart and on the road.. at least that’s how i hear it!

James DeVito
“This is the End”

It was really interesting to hear ‘This is the End’ (yes, it’s for the perfect ending only!) go through many different phases as it was being written. At first it was just a straight ballad, but it needed something more… more epic and triumphant. Obviously it’s gotta be the best song ever if you have to be perfect to get there. That’s when Ary mentioned to Pete to think of it more as an epic Queen ballad, and it all came together after that. Pete absolutely nailed it. Not only will this song be extremely gratifying to the player as they perfect the game, but it also ended up being one of the last songs we wrote, and the last song we mixed, so us too were even treated to the ‘perfect’ ending of an incredibly amazing project.

Peter Berkman
“Scott Pilgrim Theme”

It’s really difficult for me to pick just one track to talk about, so I guess I’ll approach it in the big picture and discuss the theme. This was the first song we wrote for the game, I wanted the theme to be everything that epitomizes “Scott Pilgrim” to me. I wanted a melody that was both melancholy and triumphant, I wanted it to evoke a sort of nostalgic John Hughes world and the deluge of emotions and gut feelings that present themselves when you’re completely smitten, which Scott Pilgrim undoubtedly is. That’s what the second half of the song is about, the first half is about punching people, obviously.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World debuts exclusively on the PlayStation Network on August 10th.

Don’t forget to pre-order for a free Sex Bomb-Omb tee for your PlayStation Home Avatar!

You've probably noticed the new addition to IGN's nav bar, but what does it do?

Felicia Day was one of the biggest gamer stars at this year's Comic-Con -- she premiered the trailer for her Syfy movie Red, sat on a panel about "Girls Gone Geek" and made two announcements to the packed room during The Guild panel on Saturday afternoon: First, the gang has put together its second music video, dubbed "Game On" (which you can watch online or on Xbox Live); and second, Microsoft (which posts The Guild videos in HD on Xbox Live every Tuesday) will be releasing Guild-related Avatar skins this fall, so you can dress up your Xbox Live Avatar as your favorite Guild member.

In between her busy schedule of panels and signings, I caught up with Day to chat about what she's been playing, the new music video and about whether or not The Guild webseries, currently in its third season, has outgrown its gamer roots. Find our conversation posted after the break.

[Image credit: YGX]

Mega Man 2 Guess what #1 is? I’ll give you a hint… It’s Super Mario Bros. 3. Oh, c’mon. Like you didn’t already know! Check out the full list here! Via digg.

Turning Google Maps into a game.

#clips Two new maps were served up today over the free (to retail buyers) VIP service for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. VIP Map Pack No. 5 adds White Pass and Nelson Bay, shown in this here trailer. More »

You may feel the need...to buy a starter pack.

THQ has another WWE game on the way, joining its WWE Smackdown vs. Raw series and the new WWE All Stars (pictured). According to THQ's Danny Bilson, the new WWE "extension" shares All Stars' focus on accessibility over Smackdown vs. Raw's detailed ... simulation of simulated wrestling.
"Next year you'll see another new extension [of the WWE license]," Bilson told CVG, "that's just as exciting as All Stars, but a little different. We're not talking about that yet." He said that the plan was to release a WWE game every six months (presumably for many years to come), alternating between Smackdown vs. Raw, All Stars and this new series -- the latter two being "more friendly, easier and less simmy than Smackdown vs. Raw." There's a fourth franchise too, WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw Online, but that's intended solely for the Asian market.

If you're thinking that the "new" series will feature WWE wrestlers driving in cars and shooting at each other -- THQ tried that one already. Our wild guess: the new game's gonna really Kinect players to the Moves.

Though some might consider Blizzard's quickly retracted decision to adopt the "Real ID" system (which would require forum users to identify themselves using their real names) to be a failure, Blizzard exec Michael Ryder disagrees. "We were able to take that feedback, reconsider, consider all the factors, of which feedback was one," Ryder explained to Eurogamer. "Ultimately we decided we would not go in that direction for the time being, and see if there were other ways we could address the objective we had, which was to improve the forums generally."

Ryder later added, "So, all in all, the process worked. We put the word out. We got the feedback. We reconsidered. We made a change." We know exactly what he's talking about. Just the other day, we were planning on pressing our hand onto our sizzling-hot griddle, and then we told our friends about it, and then we put our hand really close to it, and then our friends were like "no, don't do it, you'll burn yourself terribly," so we didn't do it, and our hand didn't get burned. That's a victory in our books, as well.

#valve Valve is making some noteworthy changes to the way Left 4 Dead 2 plays, the way it scores and the way it can sometimes infuriate players. When Valve polled zombie apocalypse enthusiasts on their rage quitting reasons, this was way. More »

Ready for egg-matching fun?!

Dutch publisher Playlogic (Fairytale Fights, Obscure: The Aftermath)has notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it has entered into "surseance van betaling," which is closely equivalent to the States' Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company claims in the filing that "Tough market conditions, late payments by large customers and the delays in projects have forced the company to seek protection under the Dutch bankruptcy laws."

According to GI.biz, Playlogic is suing distribution partner Koch Media for €1.7 million ($2.2M) in unpaid bills as it continues hemorrhaging money, after recording a $20 million loss in its previous fiscal year. For a company that stated just yesterday that it wasn't bankrupt, it's amazing what a difference a day makes.

We play through a season with this year's rookie sensations. Fresh direct-feed inside.

The "Squaddies" return to the adventure.