All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Valve has sent over a new trailer for Portal 2 (you know how much we love those), this time highlighting the vocal talents of The Office scribe Steven Merchant in the role of Wheatley. Merchant's a wonderful match for the spherical sidekick, who's sure to win you over with his unpoised, upbeat blathering.

Just think of how sad you'll be when you inevitably drop him into a pit of fire.

CVG reports it has a "cast iron source" claiming This is Vegas has finally been buried out in the desert somewhere. The title was under development at Surreal Software for Midway before the publisher folded. The property was then scooped up by Warner Bros. Interactive, but apparently met its (inevitable) conclusion when the developer was quietly shut down in June.

The site's source estimates Midway spent around $43 million on the project before it was sold to WB, elaborating, "The title was on the schedule for release late last year - but still needed another eight months to a year to finish with a studio burn rate of $250,000 per month." We've contacted WBIE for confirmation that This is Vegas really has played its last card and busted out.

It's a great week for Xbox 360 owners who possess a great deal of pent-up aggression, as the two-week PSN exclusivity of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World comes to a halt this Wednesday, August 25. The highly stylized, chiptune-enhanced beat 'em up will run you 800 Microsoft Points ($10), which is roughly equivalent to the price of a Scott Pilgrim movie ticket -- an item apparently covered in some kind of fatal, diffusive poison.

If you're looking for a beat-'em-up with more ... well, stabbing, you'll also be able to pick up Klei Entertainment's Shank for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). That's a little bit more than the entry fee to Scott Pilgrim, but we're sure that's only because of discrepancies in the Canadian/American currency exchange rate.

#persona Catherine is the upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 game from Japanese developer Atlus. It is a spin-off of the Persona series of role-playing games. An adult one. More »

Check out more here Remember, we still don’t know if these images are faked or not. We should have the information by late tonight.

If my wedding guests had been like these, I would have eloped.

Chance to become WCG's official Shoutcaster in broadcast matches with a free trip to the WCG 2010 grand final competition in Los Angeles.

#screens Here's a closer look at Darkspore, an action game that seems to neatly blend the best bits of Diablo and Spore. More »

Special bundles and bonus items revealed.

Bungie's proclivity for advertising its seminal Halo franchise with classy, live-action advertisements was exhibited earlier today by the release of a new vignette titled "Remember," which launched alongside the official site for Halo: Reach. The trailer, posted after the jump, features footage both old and new, blended together to tell the stories of a handful of Reach inhabitants who are struggling with the decision between "fight" and "flight" in the month preceding the events of the game.

Check out the super dramatic vignette below. Also, a word of advice to the poor souls therein: Flight, you guys. Seriously, skedaddle. You do not want to be on that planet during the next few weeks.

Special bundles and bonus items revealed.

#haloreach Samsung's television commercial for its new Galaxy 5 phone has a lot of people thinking Halo when they watch it. More »

Since our recent TF2maps.net Art Pass Contest, our level designers have gone back to their default state at the TF2 offices, which is to say, doing nothing, taking naps, eating lunch, and complaining. This has become a bit of a poison pill for the rest of the TF2 team, all of whom possess strong opinions about working (against it), naps (pro), lunches (very pro) and complaining (big fans).

Valve has sent over a new trailer for Portal 2 (you know how much we love those), this time highlighting the vocal talents of The Office scribe Steven Merchant in the role of Wheatley. Merchant's a wonderful match for the spherical sidekick, who's sure to win you over with his unpoised, upbeat blathering.

Just think of how sad you'll be when you inevitably drop him into a pit of fire.

Man, does Mario ever stop to rest? He didn’t even get to enjoy his Sunshine vacation! Thanks to Joshua for the heads up.

We had a feeling that Microsoft recognized the potential in phone-to-console gaming, but during our recent hands-on time with Windows Phone 7, reps kept mum on the subject. The same can't be said for at least one rep during Microsoft's recent X10 event in Toronto -- that's in Canadia, in case you were wondering -- who confirmed the functionality to WMPoweruser during a video interview showcasing the new OS.

"So initially we're turn by turn-based," the rep said, referring to the phone-to-phone multiplayer capabilities on day one. "We are working on real-time phone-to-console, likely initially through Wi-Fi -- again, operator networks are sensitive to that. That's not on day one; day one will be turn-by-turn as well as companion-type gaming where you play a level on the phone and it may unlock a level or a weapon or some special achievement on the console game. But, uh yeah -- absolutely working on phone-to-console real-time. That is something we're working on and expect to have in the near future."

The video interview -- which you can watch just past the break -- also mentions gameplay between the PC and phone "using the Xbox Live infrastructure," where the rep references Shadow Run as an example. Skip to around 10:30 for the really juicy stuff.

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 24, 2010 — Atlus U.S.A., Inc. today announced that they have reached agreement of distribution with Tomy Corp., the licensee of Nintendo platforms in US, Canada, Latin and South America from VIZ Media for NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Dragon Blade Chronicles for Wii™ and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Naruto vs. Sasuke for Nintendo DS™. These [...]

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the fantastic sequel to Metroid Prime. Some people don’t think that Echoes is all that great, but I think that has a lot to do with the high quality of the Prime series in general. When you talk about the worst of the trilogy still averaging over 90% [...]

#novel Gears of War: Anvil Gate, the third book in the Gears of War novel series, will tell the story of what happened between the second and third video game. More »

PlayStation takes the fight to an Excel document.

Is that a gun? No, it's a gun lamp! 2K Games crafted some truly remarkable swag over the course of Mafia 2's promotion -- including a rather authentic-looking suitcase, filled with some "classified documents." One Joystiq reader will be sent the lamp, the briefcase, and a copy of the game on the platform of their choice.

To enter this giveaway:

• Leave a comment describing the most deadly furniture you own. Also, let us know what your preferred platform is!
• You must be 17 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• This entry period ends at 5:00PM ET on Thursday, August 26.
• At that time, we'll randomly select one grand prize winner to receive a limited edition Mafia 2 lamp, suitcase, and a copy of the game on either PS3, Xbox 360 or PC. (ARV $100). Two runner-ups will receive a copy of the game. (ARV $60).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition.

For more info on our policy, click here.

Company targeting hacked consoles.

Want to check out the direction GameStop plans to take their brick-and-mortar stores as the years roll on? You’ll have to take a trip out to Palo Alto, California to see their latest installation. This store is all about the digital age, as well as making sure customers are filled to the [...]