#nba
Ten great games and eight great teams from the zenith of Michael Jordan's career were not enough. NBA 2K11 will feature a singleplayer mode allowing you to take the game's greatest superstar into today's league - if you're good enough. More »
#volition
Volition, the studio behind Saints Row and Red Faction Armageddon, is entering a new space. The Illinois-based developer is currently collaborating on a "new action role-playing game" with "a high-powered creative talent in the entertainment industry." Who could that be? More »
A portion of the Padinga review:
Treasure is the master at what they do. I wait with bated breath with every new release and Sin and Punishment: Star Successor in particular seems to be one of their strongest titles in the past decade. With Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, Treasure has created something fresh and exhilarating [...]
In an Iwata Asks interview about Metroid: Other M, Team Ninja head and Other M director Yosuke Hayashi classifies the game as "a NES game with the latest technology," an ideal that went on to inform much of the design. "Yes, we thought that if we could make a game that could be controlled with just one Wii Remote controller," Hayashi told Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, "we'd enable players who were put off by complex controls to enjoy 3D action games as well."
The automatic movement of perspective enabled the game to have 3D environments while maintaining simple controls, and clever Wiimote movements like pointing at the screen to explore in 3D allowed the team to avoid "resorting to the Nunchuk," as producer Yoshio Sakamoto called it.
At the same time, Sakamoto wanted the story and action to blend seamlessly, so the team worked with video production company D-Rockets. Director Ryuzi Kitaura described creating detailed storyboards to impress Sakamoto: "I think I drew more than 300 storyboards in total. The image count was over 2,000. By this stage, I was also accounting for camera work and action, so they became really elaborate production storyboards. I think I took over six months to finish them."
A portion of the paulgalenetwork review:
Overall, Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a lengthy RPG that will provide you with more than enough things to do, presented to you with nice visuals, a great amount of replayability if you want to truly maximize your experience, and be a fun title you can enjoy with a [...]
#psp
You know that PlayStation phone we've been hearing about for, well, seemingly forever? Engadget says it's finally happening in the form of Sony Ericsson-developed, Android-based hardware that's PSPgo-like in form. That long-rumored elusive PlayStation phone could even hit this year. More »
#trademarks
Rumors that Valve is planning on doing more with ultra-popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients All-Stars—or DotA—feel a lot less rumor-like now. The Half-Life developer recently trademarked "DOTA" for future use. More »
Anyone who has listended to the most recent podcast knows that I just bought a used copy of Killer7. Having just come off of a No More Heroes high, I figured I would post anything that had to do with Suda51 or his freaky games. I hope he keeps it coming because, man, [...]
Microsoft is apparently working with Chinese regulators to allow the sale of its Xbox 360 console in the country of 1.3 billion people. Shanghai Daily (subscription required) reports that Ya-Qin Zhang, a corporate VP for MS in China, stated the company is hoping to launch the console legally in the country, but there's currently no timetable on when that will happen. Gamasutra notes the only officially available console in China -- which has a healthy gray console market -- is the iQue, based on N64 hardware and released in 2003.
Neither the Nintendo Wii nor Sony's PlayStation 3 are available in the country. Ironically, both those consoles, along with the Xbox 360, are manufactured in China.
#podcast
Madden Gras was Monday, but Phil Frazier wasn't there. The Madden NFL 11 senior producer was watching the telemetry as folks chugged back from the store at midnight and went online. And this morning, he was on Kotaku Talk Radio. More »
#psp
You know that PlayStation phone we've been hearing about for, well, seemingly forever? Engadget says it's finally happening in the form of Sony Ericsson-developed, Android-based hardware that's PSPgo-like in form. That reports the elusive PlayStation phone could hit this year. More »
Our sister blog Engadget has been told by "a trusted source" that Sony Ericsson will introduce a cross between the PSP Go and an Android phone later this year. The handset (which is mocked up above -- not the actual product) is supposed to be a "landscape slider," but instead of a QWERTY keyboard like a mobile phone or regular game controls like the PSP, it will have PlayStation buttons, a d-pad and a "long touch pad" to mimic dual analog input.
Sony Ericsson's device will run Android 3.0, and games will be made available through a special section of the Android Market, with versions of God of War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and LittleBigPlanet reportedly used as examples of what sort of lineup we could expect. Additionally, games that meet certain requirements might be made available to other Android handset users and, eventually, titles might embrace other smartphone features such as augmented reality.
The phone is reportedly set to be introduced sometime this October. With the actual PSP already experimenting with phone-like functions like Skype, it's not a stretch to see Sony try and bring some of its gaming know-how to the mobile phone space in a PSP-like package.
#clips
You know, when my friend wanted Madden and a console over his wife's objections, he just bought the thing and lied about it. He didn't concoct some scenario where an all-pro tight end showed up like the magical Madden Fairy. More »
A few days after voice actor Jon St. John (best known as Duke Nukem) tweeted about doing work on Valve's unannounced Defense of the Ancients, Superannuation has noted a trademark filed by the publisher with the US Patent and Trademark Office for "DOTA."
We're following up with Valve again for an official response, but you know how this one goes. It's okay, Valve -- you can talk to us. There's no shame in working on DotA. We're okay with it, nobody is judging you -- we'll still give you bro hugs and use Steam even after you come out with it.
Our sister blog Engadget has been told by "a trusted source" that Sony Ericsson will introduce a cross between the PSP Go and an Android phone later this year. The handset (which is mocked up above -- not the actual product) is supposed to be a "landscape slider," but instead of a QWERTY keyboard like a mobile phone or regular game controls like the PSP, it will have PlayStation buttons, a d-pad and a "long touch pad" to mimic dual analog input.
Sony Ericsson's device will run Android 3.0, and games will be made available through a special section of the Android Market, with versions of God of War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and LittleBigPlanet reportedly used as examples of what sort of lineup we could expect. Additionally, games that meet certain requirements might be made available to other Android handset users and, eventually, titles might embrace other smartphone features such as augmented reality.
The phone is reportedly set to be introduced sometime this October. With the actual PSP already experimenting with phone-like functions like Skype, it's not a to see Sony try and bring some of its gaming know-how to the mobile phone space in a PSP-like package.
#kotakuvideo
There are many shops in Ubisoft's Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game, but only one is run by Scott's gay roommate Wallace Wells, and only one carries Speedy the Porcupine. This is how you get there. More »
Lionhead Studios' senior design director, Josh Atkins, recently informed CVG of yet another batch of changes the developer is incorporating into Fable 3 -- the most notable being the game's completely overhauled Will (see: Magic) system. Whenever a player learns a new spell, they'll automatically be able to charge it up to its maximum level without investing additional points into it. As a player levels up in a particular spell, they'll be able to charge it much more quickly, even to the point of "insta-cast" -- a boon for those who found Fable 2's slow-charging magic to be prohibitively unwieldy.
In addition, young mages will be able to mix and match their spells in up to 20 different combinations -- for instance, Vortex plus Fireball equals Fire Vortex, a spell that's just as delightful and destructive as it sounds. For more details on the game's overhauled arcane arts, check out Atkins' discussion with CVG.
A portion of a Dtoid review…
Viral Survival is pure arcade score attack action. What you put into it is what you get out. If that’s not your thing, that’s not your thing. However, I believe there’s just enough depth and variety to hook someone looking for quick bursts of fun. It’s challenging, addictive, and just [...]
#movies
Netflix streaming via your Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and iPad will get a big boost next month. The internet streaming movie service has struck a deal to bring movies like Iron Man 2 and Star Trek to your consoles. More »
Star Ocean: The Last Hope Internationalon PS3 is discounted to $30 as Amazon's daily deal. If you already have the 360 version, but your obsessive nature compels you to get the PS3 one for its extra content, get it now! Even if you just have a PS3 and aren't crazy, it's a good time to pick it up.
#music
You might have seen them in other rhythm games, but Queensrÿche, Tesla, Neil Young, and eight other artists are making their Guitar Hero debut in Warriors of Rock this fall. More »
Did you know that every summer in Japan, a bunch of Mega Man fans get together to celebrate everything that the Blue Bomber has offered gaming? Sounds like something I could really get into! There are even a few retailers that recognize the fan-event by stocking up on all sorts of Mega Man [...]
Nintendo announced the European release date for Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, the third game in the Professor Layton series today: October 22 (with the slightly altered title Professor Layton and the Lost Future).
If you're in Europe and want to play it sooner, you can either follow in the Professor's footsteps and use a time machine ... or just order a copy from the US, where it'll be available September 12. Of course, European Layton fans have the advantage of being able to watch the Professor Layton movie to help pass the time, so maybe the wait won't be so awful.
