All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#clips We've already seen plenty of creative StarCraft II mods change the real-time strategy game into racers, side-scrolling shooters and more. But modder Mads Lund's injection of futuristic, zombie apocalyptic, third-person shooting may be the most promising. More »

"We thought based on the preorder trends that we saw and what we were hearing from retailers and consumers alike and we built our plans for growth in UFC this year," THQ CEO Brian Farrell said on an earnings call today. However, with 2.7 million units sold relative to last year's 2.9 million units in the same period, it's clear the sequel didn't show signs of "growth." (Was it Red Dead's fault?)

After reaffirming it as "still a top franchise" Farrell told the call, "What we're thinking about - not to necessarily reinvigorate it because it's a great franchise - but as I said in my prepared remarks, we're considering a longer development cycle. 15-, 18-, 21-months between releases rather than annually." That increased development time will, ostensibly, increase product quality and, with fewer releases, increase consumer demand. That combined with the UFC training and fitness game (not to mention PSP ports), Farrell assures analysts that "We think there's a lot of growth to be had with the UFC franchise over the next several years."

Farrell is quick to declare that there will be a UFC game in the next fiscal year. "We will have a UFC title in fiscal '12," he said directly. "The question is timing, as I said. Could it be 15-, 18-, 21-months? That depends on both the scope of the game, the window, and how we want to release that game. As I said in my prepared remarks, we thought maybe a 12-month cycle might be a little quick but it'll be somewhere around 18-months give or take a few months."

If you consider this year's UFC Undisputed 2010 on a 12-month dev cycle, an 18-month cycle would put its successor somewhere around late November 2011, smack dab in the middle of the busy holiday shopping season. Might be a tough spot for a UFC game to fight its way out of.

Not quite "sixty-fouuuuuuuur" bits of awesome. But this NES talk is still awesome.

Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga New Screens!

If an invitation provided to Joystiq by several tipsters is accurate, Microsoft will soon begin the "Xbox Live and Kinect Beta Program." Several readers claim to have received the invitation via Microsoft Connect, a Microsoft service used to gather customer feedback on its products. The invitation itself includes little information about the program, though it notes that participants will be provided with "a unique opportunity to see pre-release software."

It also notes that an "audio change" in said software will not allow participants to use individual or party chat with anyone that is not part of the preview program. This could indicate that participants will be trying out the new Kinect dashboard seen at E3, which featured a new video chat application.

The email address attached to the invites appears to be valid, and it's worth pointing out that Microsoft has used Connect in the past, notably before it launched the NXE. Microsoft has yet to respond to Joystiq's inquiries into the validity of the invitation.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

#thq We got a look at Tomonobu Itagaki and Valhalla Game Studios' next title, Devil's Third, earlier this year, but we won't actually play it for a long, long time. More »

Chronicling the slow and sad death of one of the Wii's greatest features.

Pro Evo 2011 Messi Screens

Monday Night Combat is pretty great. Listen to the latest Xbox 360 Fancast to hear us talk about it. Then listen as we lament the lack of online co-op in Lara Croft and the heartless (hopefully temporary) removal of Kinect functionality from Fable 3. Also, bad British accents make a triumphant return. Hit the download button and commence with the listening.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
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[RSS MP3] Add the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Hosts: Richard Mitchell (SenseiRAM, @senseiram), Alexander Sliwinski (Sli Xander, @xandersliwinski) and Dave Hinkle (KnifefightYaDad, @davehinkle)

Music: Intro/Outro: "Electromooq" by Uma Floresta. Break: "Endless Shovel" by Rogue Wave.

For fans: Xbox 360 Fancast Facebook group

LucasArts pulls plug on portable version.

#pacman The first class of inductees of the International Video Game Hall of Fame, at Ottumwa, Iowa included 28 real people - and one video game character. Here is Pac-Man's enshrinement during Saturday's ceremony, with a Namco representative accepting the award. More »

Publisher may not release titles on an annual basis.

Let's face it: Nobody ever reached a professional level of Street Fighter superiority without the tutelage of their forefathers. Except ... well, except for the first people who were good at the game. Regardless, you can (probably) reach the upper echelon of Super Street Fighter IV players by signing up for a few lessons being offered by pros such as Justin Wong and Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez.

Of course, these lessons come at a price ranging from $40 to $50 for one hour of help, and are delivered over Xbox Live and PSN. If those prices sound reasonable, you can find more info how to sign up on EventHubs. Or, you could just give us $50, and we'll tell you to Hadouken over and over again until the fight is over. You can't go wrong with the Just Keep Hadoukening[TM] strategy!

And old game with new ideas, all for free.

#thq After a long, money and talent-bleeding period, publisher THQ had a pretty damn good last year. The Darksiders and Red Faction maker thanked UFC Undisputed and Red Faction for that. This year is not off to the same great start. More »

We hope you’ve had a chance to check out all the casting video submission we’ve received for Season 2 of The Tester. We’re down to the Top 100 and there’s only 5 more days of voting until we make the cut to the Top 10.

So, get busy and vote for your favorites before the deadline this Friday at 11:59:59 PM EST.

Thanks again to everybody who’s participating either as a contender or a fan with your votes, comments, and interest in The Tester Season 2.

And make sure to check out thetester.com next week to see who’s in the Top 10.

While THQ may be rebounding in terms of brand and product quality, that doesn't mean it can simply take the express bus to Money Town. There's more to running a successful entertainment business than simply making well-received games.

For its fiscal 2011 first quarter ended June 30, 2010, the publisher reported net sales of $149.4m driven primarily by UFC Undisputed 2010. While that sounds like a lot of scratch, that's compared with last year's sales for the quarter of $243.5m, driven by UFC 2009 Undisputed and Red Faction: Guerrilla. The earnings report explains, "No title comparable to Red Faction: Guerrilla was released during the first quarter of fiscal 2011." With sales down, losses are up, with a net loss of $30.1m for the quarter compared with a net income of $6.4m for the same period last year.

So with all bets on UFC 2010 for the quarter, and despite a stronger Metacritic score, it managed to move just 2.7m units compared with 2.9m units for its predecessor last year. "We built our plans for growth in UFC this year," Farrell told investors.

Though no new major titles are planned for the company's upcoming Q2 period, the remainder of the fiscal year holds releases for both Homefront and Red Faction: Armageddon, and THQ expects non-GAAP net sales "in the range of $845 million to $865 million" and "roughly breakeven" earnings for the year. The focus is very much on fiscal 2012, which includes major releases like Warhammer 40000: Space Marine and Darksiders 2. "We also delivered our most critically acclaimed E3 showing ever with a strong line-up of games in development, several of which are based on proven long-term franchises," Farrell says. "Our goal this fiscal year continues to be to position THQ for growth in fiscal 2012 and beyond."

Change the world one frontside nosegrind at a time.

Previously only hinted in a slide on an investor presentation, we know have a somewhat clear idea of at least the year of release for Tomonobu Itagaki's new game, Devil's Third. "The game is currently scheduled for release in THQ's fiscal year ending March 31, 2013," according to publisher THQ's latest earnings release.

Perhaps Valhalla Game Studios would be able to get the game done before then, but the kind of quality that justifies Itagaki-level boasting takes time. Besides, there are trains to build.

#legalmatters Fred Bobrow, owner of the Retro Arcade Museum in Beacon, New York, might not look like a criminal to you, but he has broken Beacon Law, and paid the price. More »

#nintendo One August ago, we showed you a Mario made of boxes of Pepsi soda cans. One year later, we are showing you Super Mario Made Of Soda Can Boxes 2. More »

#playstationplus Hardcore PixelJunk brand fans may have a convincing reason to become PlayStation Plus members as of now. PlayStation 3 owners who subscribe to Sony's premium service will be the first to get access to PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap starting Tuesday. More »

While our Madden NFL 11 review needs another day in the oven before it's just right, I wanted to share my experiences from an early access event EA held last month. For starters: I'm a huge NFL fan. On Sundays, I obsess over my fantasy football team, wear a jersey, microwave nachos and watch guys wearing pads smash into each other for eleven straight hours. Don't ask me to go shopping or meet up for brunch, because any and all such requests will be met with a resounding no and a flag on the play. All games will be watched, stats analyzed and a decently sized butt print will be left in the sofa.

That said, I'm not a smart Madden player. On third and short, I'll throw the ball almost every time, and on fourth and long, I'll go for it like Patriots coach Bill Belichick, meaning: I'll fail miserably. That probably explains why I lose 44 to 14, but hey, I don't have a high football IQ. Throw a playbook in front of me and I'll know which says to pass and which to run, but the intricacies are lost on me.

For the first time ever an officially licensed T-Virus and Anti-Virus from Resident evil are available! Each vial measures just over 5” long and is an accurate replica of this quintessential Resident Evil prop. Constructed from aluminum and Plexiglas, each vial has internal LED’s so that they can be independently illuminated. They come complete with an Umbrella [...]

Finally, a Facebook game that just lets you play without heckling you to buy things.

Leading video game accessory manufacturer BLAZE is delighted to announce the endorsement of global superstar Mel B for their latest Fitness First licensed health and exercise range for the Nintendo Wii. Now synonymous with exercise, fitness and wellbeing, Mel B has teamed up with BLAZE and Fitness First to bring a whole new, innovative [...]

Surely, out of pity for the helpless masses returning to academia (because that march up the ivory tower is a long one), EA Mobile is slashing prices for its "Back to School" sale. For the Europeans, PocketGamer has listed all the titles, prices in the promotion. For the Americans, y'all can check out the titles and prices after the break.