All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#openthread Not many would consider a hole-in-the-wall shopfront in the middle of Chinatown, with missing letters on the sign out front and decades of grime pounded into the floor, as "welcoming." But it is. More »

Check out the videos below for a look at the scans, and then read all the details below! - Emonga: flying squirrel Pokemon, .4m tall, weighs 5kg, static ability, electric/flying type - Gigaiasu: high pressure Pokemon, 1.7m tall, weighs 260kg, sturdy ability, rock type - Giruja: fish Pokemon, water type, swift swim ability, .4m [...]

We're normally pretty down on video game software piracy, especially when the games being plundered are totally DRM-free indie darlings. However, thanks to Machinarium's outrageously high piracy rate -- Amanita Design's Jakub Dvorsky estimates only 5 to 15 percent of players actually paid for the game -- the developer is holding a "Pirate Amnesty" sale for the point-and-click adventure game, temporarily marking its price down from $20 to $5.

So, because a ton of people obtained the game through illicit channels, we can grab it legitimately for 75 percent cheaper than usual? We're happy for the bargain, but that's setting an awfully bizarre precedent, guys.

His name is actually Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, but he's better known as "Kaka." The Real Madrid midfielder will grace the cover of EA Sports' forthcoming footballer -- FIFA Soccer 11 -- in addition to being the "center-piece of global advertising, marketing, and promotional campaigns."

The train of Square Enix titles continues to barrel through the PSOne Classics storefront on the Japanese PSN, as producer Shinji Hashimoto recently revealed the next PlayStation-era title bound for the platform. You can guess if you'd like, but considering how just about all of Squeenix's PSOne games are on the PSN -- in Japan, at least -- that might take a while. According to Siliconera's translation, the game in question is the original Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, an RPG you probably never played, assuming you weren't living in Japan in late 1997.

Hashimoto didn't mention any kind of time table for the game's arrival on the Japanese PSN, but we hear it's coming to the North American store sometime in Febtober, which is a made-up month, because it's never coming to the North American store.

Firaxis has passed along the system requirements for its upcoming game, Civilization 5. Here's the good news: you won't need a Crysis-level PC to assert your dominion over others. Bad news? It's not September 21 yet.

Sega's Bayonetta will be released as a budget title in Japan on September 2 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As Andriasang (rightly) points out, the cover art for the budget release is demonically ugly, so it's a good thing that it can be reversed to reveal an awesomely artistic pink cover.

Checking with Sega about the excellent twitch-action title releasing at a budget price internationally, a company representative told us the publisher had nothing to announce at this time. Then again, Bayonetta currently retails for a budget-friendly $40, but you can certainly find it for less.

The Xbox 360 has turned into a lively destination for scrolling shooters, thanks mostly to the efforts of Cave. An Amazon Japan listing found by Siliconera suggests that Milestone is going to join the shmup party, with a port of Radilgy: Noir, released on the Wii in Japan this year. The Xbox version, according to the listing and the associated image, will be called Radilgy Noir: Massive.

Noir is itself based on the cel-shaded shmup Radilgy, which actually made it onto the Wii in North America (called Radio Allergy) as part of UFO Interactive's Ultimate Shooting Collection, after a long-delayed GameCube version was finally cancelled. Which means that UFO (who cancelled another localized Milestone shooter this year!) might have to think really hard before it decides to pick this one up.

Privates, the latest opus from British indie devs Zombie Cow Studios, creators of such irreverent adventure games as Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentlemen, Please is now available to download for free through the television station which commissioned the game, Channel 4. We've been playing it for a half hour or so, and can confidently say it's the best comedic, educational run-and-gun shooter set inside of a human vagina that we've ever played.

In all honesty, Privates is actually a fun little game with clever touches to make it a legitimate tool for teaching teens about sex -- for instance, you have to scan enemies (HPV, herpes, sperm, etc.) to learn more about them, informing you and the rest of your squad about their real-life symptoms and in-game weaknesses. It's fun, enlightening, chock-full of humorous dialogue, and, yes, it also contains a level titled "Campaign in the Arse."

#microtransactions Sharp-eyed DLC watchers today spotted the month-early upload of more than 90 player attribute enhancements for NHL 11, offering three tiers of created-player boosts ranging from 80 to 160 Microsoft points. Update: There are now 156 boosts on Xbox Live. More »

#mcfarlane McFarlane Toys ensures that no Halo fan will want for Halo: Reach action figures this fall. Nor will they starve for bad-ass plastic Halo vehicles in which to stuff the entire Noble Team. It's gonna be all "Boooosh!!" and "Pew-pew-pew!!" More »

Remember that famous scene in the The Godfather where Michael tells Fredo to never take sides against the family? Well, in the world of Mafia 2 -- set in post-WWII America -- that movie wasn't filmed yet, so PS3-exclusive DLC protagonist, Jimmy, never learned that lesson. Feel free to see what we mean in our gallery of fresh screens below.

The Betrayal of Jimmy DLC will be free to all who pick up Mafia 2 for the PS3 new (via an included voucher) and available for download through PSN for $9.99 when the game launches on August 24.

We heard a while ago that Defense of the Ancients creator Icefrog had been hired by Valve to work on something that would make DotA fans excited, and now voiceover artist Jon St. John - better known as the voice of Duke Nukem - has tweeted that he visited Valve in Seattle to do some "recording for DotA." Interesting. There have been a few DotA-style games released already, including the popular League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, but if Valve's collaboration with Icefrog is actually called Defense of the Ancients, it could be even closer to the classic game than any of the full-scale competitors.

Of course, the original DotA was a WarCraft 3 mod based on an original StarCraft map, but with Valve on board, this would presumably be a standalone title with plenty of Icefrog insight. We've contacted Valve to see what's up and just how close that announcement might be, and we'll let you know if and when we hear back.

[Thanks, Mark B.]

#piracy The people who the beautiful adventure game Machinarium estimate that only about 5 to 15% of the people who played their game actually paid for it. They don't seem too pissed. In fact, they're offering those thieves a sweet deal. More »

#screengrab As seen on Zero Lives By Das Chupa. More »

If you're raring to get your hands on Madden NFL 11, Best Buy is advertising a great incentive to do so at one of its stores. For buying EA's latest pigskin sim for Xbox 360 or PS3 at the retailer next week, you'll be able to get another game (from a list of select titles) for half off its usual price. Heck, even if you don't like football, this deal's enough to convince a friend who does to let you tag along on their purchase.

Spy the full list of price-slashed titles -- Alan Wake for $20? Yes, please! -- after the break.

#rumor It looks like the recently released Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is set to expand (and soon) with a new downloadable chapter and at least one Belmont ready to join the team. More »

#microtransactions Sharp-eyed DLC watchers today spotted the month-early upload of more than 90 player attribute enhancements for NHL 11, offering three tiers of created-player boosts ranging from 80 to 160 Microsoft points. More »

[Image credit: Rgourley] We seek cooling beverages to pass these hot summer days. Of course, turning on the air conditioning would help, but blasting the AC leads to a $300 electric bill at the end of the month. We'd prefer using that money on the incoming onslaught of Q4 games. Anyway, drinks: Iced tea is quite American, frappés are Greek, what are other regional non-alcoholic refreshments to try? Recipes appreciated.

What's everyone playing?

How does Apple's all-in-one computer fare as a gaming machine?

Just a few short days after the game launched on Xbox Live Arcade, a GameFAQs forumite by the name of Bonovox_40 claims to have discovered a few pieces of DLC planned to expand Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. This content includes two additional characters to be added to the game's roster -- Maria Renard from Rondo of Blood and Julius Belmont from Aria of Sorrow -- and a new level inspired by Portrait of Ruin's pyramid stages.

The poster's proof comes in the form of a handful of off-screen pictures and two videos showing Maria in action. These photos also include a look at the DLC files, which show up individually on the hard drive, possibly indicating they'll come as separate downloads rather than a smaller bundle. We've contacted Konami to get a comment on these potential newcomers.

#mobile Last year, Madden hit the iPhone more than a month after the main title's release. This year EA Sports' mobile version will arrive the same day as the big boys drop for the console, which is Tuesday. More »

More NBA Jam News & Previews More NBA Jam Info NBA Jam at IGN.com - new Remix Mode called Domination - Dr. J confirmed - Remix Mode features 91 challenges that are divided into different tiers (gold, silver, bronze) of difficulty - Domination features a hot-spot style of gameplay (viewed in the footage above) - objective is to turn every spot on [...]