All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

If you live in Australia and you’re looking for some very strange and hard-to-find DS games, you might want to check out Dick Smith Electronics. For whatever reason, they’re loading up on random DS games that no one seems to be asking for. I guess if you collect DS games, this is going [...]

Last week we offered you a preview of a brand new game known as AlphabeTees – a social trivia game exclusive to PlayStation Home. The reaction from the community was, to say the least, incredibly positive. Your overwhelming enthusiasm is the reason why it brings us such pleasure to announce that AlphabeTees will be releasing this Thursday into the wide world of PlayStation Home.

AlphabeTees takes the standard trivia game to a whole new level. Think: Scrabble (or a crossword puzzle) that requires teamwork, with you and your friends using clothing to answer VeeMee’s trivia questions. Here’s a quick overview of the AlphabeTees game play:

• Buy the AlphabeTees Game Pack from Central Plaza (or Threads in the PlayStation Home Mall).
• Look out for questions on the Central Plaza Jumbotron screen.
• Find friends who own the AlphabeTees game pack.
• Solve the question by lining up with your friends and spelling out the answer using the AlphabeTees shirts.
• Take a photo of you and your friends spelling out the answer using your PlayStation Home camera.
• Upload your photo at the AlphabeTees game point in Central Plaza (simply go to the AlphabeTees kiosk, open the browser, and upload your photo!).
• Keep your eyes on the Central Plaza Jumbotron, where the winning photos will be displayed the day after the question has been posted.

To get everyone started, VeeMee will be giving away a sample pack of 5 letters from the AlphabeTees game pack to all members of the PlayStation Home community. Get yours this Thursday, August 26th from the AlphabeTees game point in Central Plaza.

We’ve been seeing a lot of people turning into crime-fighting guardians of the community (and even a few nefarious archnemeses) ever since we released the first round of our PlayStation Home Superheroes and Supervillains costume packs last week. This week, we add some new characters into the mix – Captain Inflame-O, Sandman, and The Cyborg. Add these characters to your collection by visiting the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall this week (while you are there, be sure to check the Sodium store for updates – a full list of content can be found under the Latest Update tab in your Menu Pad come Thursday morning).

My good buddy GlassWalls has put together a list of some of the top sites, enthusiast media, podcasts, and other assorted projects that come from our most hardcore and loyal community members. When you can’t be in-world but need your PlayStation Home fix, we recommend you check out these offerings and support the efforts of your fellow community members.

PlayStation Home Today
One of the longest-running user-operated PlayStation Home sites, complete with a robust social networking feature, a PlayStation Home community news feed, and much, much more.

Gamer Indepth Podcast
One of the first podcasts focused on PlayStation Home. A fantastic resource for all PlayStation Home community members – the G.I. staff specialize in delivering relevant content, kept fresh with regular updates.

HOMEstyle Magazine
An incredible undertaking, the widely-applauded HOMEstyle magazine is affiliated with the PlayStation Home Today site and is packed from front to back with PlayStationHomeToday.com. Check out their newest issue (#7) today.

Gamer Knights
Another Home-centric podcast that is a must-listen for all PlayStation Home fanatics. Gamer Knights is connected to the mega-popular Gamer In-Depth podcast.

PS Talent
The brainchild of some of the most creative and dedicated PlayStation Home users, PS Talent is perhaps best known for their Machinima videos. These guys and gals have put a lot of effort into this site. We highly suggest taking a stroll through their Video Vault.

See you in Home!

Key developer behind Civilization II, Alpha Centauri and Rise of Nations to discuss bridging the gap between traditional and social games.

Pig popping fun coming soon as PlayStation minis game.

This is it.

Release date confirmed.

Big bucks... no Whammies... STOP! No really, stop. Don't buy this game.

#science Getting in a quick hit of gaming on the bus or in the bathroom may seem like a good thing, but playing with your portable devices could be depriving your brain of important downtime needed to process memories. More »

Fans of dungeon crawlers and tower defense, take note: a new game combining the two is on its way to XBLA, PSN and PC this fall. Created by Trendy Entertainment, Dungeon Defenders mixes the hack-and-slash, loot-driven gameplay of dungeon crawlers with the strategic decisions of tower defense. Players are faced with an oncoming horde of monsters and must protect their Eternia Crystals by both building defensive measures and taking the fight directly to the enemy.

Dungeon Defense will feature four-player cooperative action both online and off, 15 different arenas and multiple modes of play. It's also darned cute. Check out some screens below and a trailer after the break.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was another great game in the Prime series, and it had a few big changes compared to the series thus far. There was certainly a lot more in the way of voice acting, and there was also some much-wanted interaction with Samus’ ship. Add in the Wiimote controls, and [...]

You know how you've always wanted to drive an Aston Martin on ice? Well, now you can.

#column Consumer products like soap aren't risky; they have a fairly reliable recipe for success. Nobody demands innovation from soap. Are games just consumer products, too? More »

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has apologized for statements he made on the Quarter to Three forums, which PC Gamer subsequently referenced as evidence that folks should wait to purchase Elemental: War of Magic.

In the statement to Joystiq, Wardell expressed that after a "lengthy and heated debate" over issues in the pre-launch version of the game, he spoke hastily and says, "As a result, I want to apologize to our fans for speaking so harshly. It should be said that some of the issues in question from the PC Gamer UK article, in fact, did not appear in any of our beta testing. We were surprised by these issues and, after working days on end with little sleep, I was very frustrated. I should not have engaged in an online debate about these issues, as my haste to defend what we feel is a great product only served to hurt the fans who have supported us and the team who has been so dedicated to this project."

The PC Gamer piece urges its readers not to purchase Stardock's latest release. "We've held off from finishing our review because of the launch problems, but felt this warranted an early warning," PC Gamer's Tom Francis says, claiming the launch version of Elemental "on two very different machines with the latest drivers for everything ... crashed or hit a game-breaking bug every ten minutes."

It should be noted that while our staff experienced similar issues in the game's beta version, we never encountered those bugs in the retail copy. A large patch issued last night is said to have fixed the frequent crashes, though it also made tactical battles unplayable.

Additionally, multiplayer servers are said to be running, but the mode won't be turned on until sometime next week due to "team exhaustion," a rep on the game's forums said. "The early release meant a lot of people who were expecting this weekend off to rest from the grueling last few weeks had to come in. So we're going to let them get a couple of days off later this week and open up the MP next week." With that in mind, it may be a few days before another patch arrives for Elemental. We've placed Wardell's full statement to Joystiq after the break, along with a poll asking for players to let us know if they've run into these bugs.

Man, I wonder if the weirdness had anything to do with this being the last FDS commercial! This is a bit strange, even for Japanese commercials!

I like Mega Man 4. I think it’s a good, fun and somewhat challenging game. What I didn’t really like about the game was the charge shot. It pretty much made the regular buster shot useless. It took a handful of years, but Capcom finally realized that as well. At [...]

You know how you've always wanted to drive an Aston Martin on ice? Well, now you can.

Atari released a collection of classic games on DS way back in 2005. The publisher has announced a second DS collection of 2600 classics -- this time, without any "remixing." Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1, out this November, is a compilation of fifty Atari 2600 and arcade games, ranging from the legendary (Centipede, Tempest) to the somewhat obscure (the Swordquest series, Human Cannonball) to Math Gran Prix (Math Gran Prix).

Twenty of the titles (including Pong, Space Duel, and Outlaw) will have single-card multiplayer for up to four, which makes sense given how little data would need to be transmitted to send the whole game ROM out over wireless. Check out the full game list and a trailer after the break. Something tells us that the footage in the trailer isn't authentic DS gameplay. Something like the fact that the screen images are wider than actual DS screens and aligned incorrectly.

This is great news for retro gaming enthusiasts -- except for the ones releasing Intellivision Lives!, who we imagine didn't expect to be competing with the 2600 again.

I need a 1983 Casio DG-20 electric guitar, set to electric mandolin.

#squareenix A game mechanic that drops the amount of experience points earned after a set amount of play time has Final Fantasy XIV fans in an uproar. Game director Nobuaki Komoto explains the eight hour a week limit. More »

Digital Chocolate claims trademark infringement.

Check out new screens for this adorable fantasy game.

Running a store is tough, see what we mean here.

In the console versions of Rock Band 3, you'll have 83 different tracks to rock out to. In the DS game, not so much -- more like 26, actually. Relax: where the handheld game lacks quantity, it makes up for with quality. These 26 tracks culled from the console release represent great artists, like Faith No More, INXS, Queen and Night Ranger, among others. We know how much you love your Night Ranger.

Check out the full DS game track list past the break.

At the beginning, all you own is an empty field, a few pennies and a single little hen… You need to feed the hen and take care of it! Then your hen will lay eggs which can then be sold. And with this money, you can buy new animals at the Farmers’ Market and purchase equipment from [...]