All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#gamescom2010 Take a peek at what's going on this week at GamesCom in Germany, as Kotaku takes you on a tour of the convention grounds, with a special sneak peek at the show floor. More »

Frugal shoppers should take note of a massive Best Buy sale going on right now. It would seem everything must go, as Best Buy is not only discounting Platinum Games' excellent Bayonetta down to $20 on both the PS3 and Xbox 360, but also slashing prices across the board on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS games.

If hardware is more you thing, Best Buy has the Final Fantasy XIII and Splinter Cell: Conviction Xbox 360 bundles for $299.99 a piece, with a $50 gift card. Our strong-wristed readers will likely be interested in the DJ Hero bundle, which comes with one turntable controller -- it's only $40 right now.

Wait, what's that sound? It's as if millions of piggy banks cried out in terror, only to be silenced. I fear something -- oh, right.

We’ve been hard at work these past few months working with our partners at SUBWAY to bring you a promotion so hot, it could make Kratos sweat. It’s the Fiery Footlong Frenzy fueled by PlayStation and it starts today at SUBWAY restaurants around the U.S.

If you visit a participating SUBWAY restaurant between now and October 17th and purchase one of SUBWAY’s 32 oz. drinks, a specially marked SUBWAY breakfast sandwich or select bags of SunChips Monterey Jack and SunChips Sundried Tomato, you can collect codes that make you eligible to participate in the frenzy.

We’ll be giving away an average of one prize per minute, many before they can be purchased in stores. We have over $1 million in prizes to give away, including PlayStation Move hardware and software bundles, Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 5 Collector’s Editions, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector’s Editions, and Invizimals PSP Entertainment Packs.

The Fiery Footlong subs are so hot we had to bring one to PlayStation Home. Be sure to check out the PlayStation Home Blog post on Wednesday to find out how to get a free Turkey Jalapeno Melt sub for your avatar and other SUBWAY virtual items.

Check out all the prizing and promotion details here. For more chances to win, be on the lookout for “Fire Drills” on SUBWAY’s Facebook and Twitter, @SUBWAYFreshBuzz pages.

Take a look at the revamped world of Gothic.

Click to engraphisizeEEDAR CEO Greg Short previewed a new report today at GDC Europe, indicating that a majority of consumers want DLC one to three months after a game's launch. That detail is just one part of the company's "Deconstructing DLC Report," which should be available later this month (to those with the cash). Comparing data from 2009 and 2010 revealed a significant uptick in the percentage of those who want DLC a month after a game's release, and a decrease in those who want it at launch or a year later. Given the data, Short notes that developers need to make DLC releases "part of the build plan" for games.

Comparing when consumers check for paid vs. free DLC for a game, the figures are incredibly similar. The report indicates 35 percent never check for paid DLC, compared to 29 percent of consumers who never check for free DLC before purchase. On the other hand, an average of 20 percent check up on free or paid DLC before purchasing. As for those who check for paid or free DLC during purchase, after purchase or after finishing the game, they all have very similar percentages. It appears that DLC is important to consumers, but whether it's paid or free, they seem to go looking for it at similar times.

Cave delivers DoDonPachi Resurrection, Muchi Muchi Pork and other oddly named arcade titles.

#psp Confirming a leak last month from the U.S. games ratings board, Ubisoft confirmed today that there's a new Ghost Recon coming to PSP, a welcome addition to the platform's thinned line-up. It'll be out in November. More »

No, this isn't a glitch. Nor, is it a hack. Halo Reach is technically available on Xbox Live Marketplace right now, a full month before its official retail release. But before you load up on Microsoft Points to get early access to the game, be warned. Even with $1250 worth of MS magic money, you won't be able to download the game. Unfortunately, you'll need a special code that unlocks the game.

According to an official Microsoft Support document, "customers can see the item in the Web Marketplace but cannot purchase it unless they have the special pre-paid token ... The content is available only to users who have a special 25-character pre-paid token that enables them to download the item."

It's likely that the full version of Halo Reach is being offered to reviewers via digital distribution; however, don't expect Halo Reach to be available via the Games on Demand service. Microsoft had previously enabled early digital distribution of Crackdown 2 for reviewers -- and Crackdown 2 is still unavailable to the public via Xbox Live.

[Thanks, don!]

The announcement trailer.

The footage features an online multiplayer PvE.

While they are responsible for monitoring and apprehending malicious spirits that threaten the United States, the Ghost Recon soldiers are frequently tasked with shooting a bunch of bad guys in politically unstable circumstances. You'll be able to accompany them to Sri Lanka in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Predator for PSP, and to Norway and Moscow in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: No Subtitle for Wii. According to Ubisoft, both games are due this November.

Both promise a "true Ghost Recon experience," which implies technologically advanced weaponry, squad-based combat and probably a suitcase that is also a bomb. Ghost Recon Predator (that's the PSP game) will offer customizable squad mates and three-player ad-hoc multiplayer, while the more action-oriented Wii title promises two-player co-op with drop-in play (Ubisoft describes it more interestingly as "Co-op Hot Join").

The Wii's Ghost Recon seems to be quite a departure from other Tom Clancy games, though Ubisoft stresses that you'll still get "high intensity combat, tactical infiltration and WOW moments." That's probably referring to the exclamation, not the loot spilling out of a terrorist's dead body.

Find out what they're showing this year...

John Cena highlights cover athletes for this year's title.

Will the voice of Solid Snake portray Gabriel Belmont in the Japanese version of Lords of Shadow?

Will the voice of Solid Snake portray Gabriel Belmont in the Japanese version of Lords of Shadow?

#xbox360 When you think Square-Enix's Japan studios, do you think violent shooter with people wearing over-sized rabbit heads? Gun Loco, a 2011 disc-based Xbox 360 exclusive fits that bill. The game's website launches on Wednesday, so this might be a Gamescom thing. More »

Take-Two Interactive sports game developer Visual Concepts recently let go of 30 employees, according to a statement issued by the publisher. VP of corporate communications and public affairs at Take-Two Alan Lewis told Industry Gamers, "In order to properly align its resources with its current and future goals, and to continue to develop games as efficiently as possible, 2K Sports has eliminated approximately 30 positions at its Visual Concepts studio." When contacted by Joystiq, Take-Two refused to provide further information.

The next game due from Visual Concepts is NBA 2K11 on October 5, which is said to be unaffected by the layoffs. "These reductions will not affect 2K Sports' ability to create and deliver AAA titles, including its upcoming release of NBA 2K11," the statement from Take-Two claims. As always, we wish those affected the best in the future.

I think you can definitely see the influence in the images above. Just one more thing about the Earthbound series that I didn’t know, and another reason to love just how much time and care goes into the series. Even if Nintendo doesn’t love the fans here in the states.

Home of the Templars.

Hello again! This is Ollie Barder from doublesix. Since I spoke here last, the studio has been really busy with Top Gun – a new air combat game for the PlayStation Network based on the classic 80′s film. Needless to say it’s been a lot of fun making Top Gun and I’m happy to announce you can download Top Gun starting tomorrow (August 17th) on PSN. Screeching across a blue sky in a F-14 Tomcat will never get old.

For those curious as to how we’ve tackled the game we went down a more arcade focused route for air combat, more so than other games in the genre. So instead of having to micromanage finite ammunition, stalling and the vagaries of an overly complex flight model, we’ve streamlined all that down and removed as many restrictions as we possibly could. The reasoning behind this was to have the player focus on just enjoying air combat and keeping things simple while choosing either your guns or missiles. This means things like your health replenishes over time and your guns won’t ever overheat. You’ll have the freedom to fly through the blue sky and get to feel like a fighter ace.

We were also really keen on getting atmosphere and tone of the film into the game and make all of that nicely functional too. From using the same HUD elements as you see in the film (such as the missile lock), to your co-pilot spouting one liners each time you down an enemy – it’s all there to tie into the game’s functional feedback. In fact, we had Jack Epps, Jr., the original screenwriter for the Top Gun movie, write the script for the game to maintain the feel and attitude of the Top Gun property. Naturally, the game features the wonderfully nostalgic “Danger Zone” too as well the Top Gun theme.

The final element that we thought that would make all this gel was the addition of Controlled Flight Instability (or just CFI), as this acts as both a target camera and modifier to the flight model so you can pull much quicker turns mid-air. This came from that annoying habit of players in multiplayer doing loops to avoid being shot, CFI basically means the enemy has nowhere to hide now.

From 11 campaign missions, a horde mode and 16 player online multiplayer (with 5 modes) there’s quite a fair amount of content for a digital download game. You may also play as any one of six different jets: the US Navy’s F-14, F-16, or F/A-18 or the enemy’s MiG-29, MiG-31, or Su-27 We even support a custom button mapping for Saitek’s Aviator flightstick too. We all hope that people enjoy the game as much as we have had making it and always remember, you can be our wingman any day.

Make sure to download Top Gun tomorrow on the PlayStation Network for $14.99.

Finally, be sure to join Top Gun screenwriter and game author Jack Epps in PlayStation Home Central Plaza tonight for the Top Gun Troop Parade, starting at 5:00 pm PDT / 8:00 EDT. Better yet, wear your new Top Gun shirt, which you can win by watching the trailer in the theater.

Speaking to Gamasutra, 2K Marin's Jonathan Pelling discussed the state of development on the upcoming reboot of XCOM. The game has already raised something of a fuss with longtime fans, as the new game eschews the turn based strategy in favor of first-person shooting. Still, Pelling insists that the new XCOM will retain the "feeling" of the series and that it includes plenty of strategic elements.

We've heard all of this before, of course, but Pelling did reveal the interesting fact that each of 2K Marin's teams -- one in Australia, the other in California -- is focused on a different section of the game. According to Pelling, the California team is "dedicated to leading the design side of the field operations -- the FPS combat and stuff," while the Australian team is focused on the story and campaign. He added that the studio is making sure neither team diverges from the other. Still, Pelling noted that the game has "a very strong concept behind it and so it's really just a matter, at this point, of executing."

This special trailer allows you to switch between third and first person view while actually viewing. There are specific moments when you can switch to the inside-visor camera, and the trailer itself will show you when. Hit up the link below and check it out!