All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Albion has entered its industrial age.

Not that I need the helpful, disembodied voice to tell me that in Fable 3's opening, of course. The change is evident in how the once colorful landscape seems to be covered in soot. It's clear from a single glance at the sorrowful, broken eyes of a townsperson worked to the bone.

"The Fable team hasn't changed very much, it's generally the same people and because that's the case, for us, there's a love there for the world, and there's a love there for the characters," design director Josh Atkins tells me. "We can't afford, emotionally, to be complacent."

It's a little ironic that it was the team's commitment to do right by Fable 3, to not play it safe, that forced them to make Albion such an unfortunate place in which to live.

Grab your cowl and do some good.

One away from Greatness.

One away from Greatness.

#pro First off, I am an active duty Air Force member. More »

#clips If I learned anything from Unreal Tournament, it's that two automatic pistols are better than one, and holding them sideways makes them fire faster. It's two popular handgun fallacies in one! More »

Hey everyone, James Stevenson from Insomniac Games here. We’re very excited to see you at PAX this weekend, where we have a couple of panels that we are very excited about. This will be your first opportunity to get a look at the never-before-seen extended demo of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One:

Saturday, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM, Serpent Theatre
Insomniac Games: Behind the Scenes on Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One Insomniac Games, the development team behind the critically-acclaimed Ratchet & Clank and Resistance franchises, discuss their next Playstation 3 project, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One.
Attendees will be treated to the first official U.S. demo of Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One and will also have the opportunity to ask questions during a Q&A with Insomniac.

G4TV’s Adam Sessler will be moderating a panel featuring Insomniac Games North Carolina Studio Director Chad Dezern, and Production Director Shaun McCabe. In addition, you can look forward to hearing Insomniac Games Senior Writer TJ Fixman’s wit and Jersey-accent, as he discusses not only All 4 One, but the upcoming comic series as well!

For those of you who are fans of the Full Moon Show – please join us for a live taping of our next episode on Sunday:

Sunday, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM, Unicorn Theatre
The Insomniac Games Full Moon Show LIVE

One of gaming’s most beloved and long-time developer podcasts brings the show live to PAX Prime. Join host James Stevenson (Senior Community Manager, Insomniac Games) and key leaders from Insomniac Games as they record the next episode of the Full Moon Show. Also on tap will be a special mystery guest, and a new Behind the Scenes look at Insomniac Games. The live show will also feature a segment of “I Want Your Job!” as well as plenty of time for you to ask questions – and perhaps even win some rare swag!

We are very much looking forward to seeing you in Seattle this weekend, so please make sure to drop by and say hello!

JS

Fo' rizzle, Snoop Dogg be the Rock Band DLCizzle next week. The track pack has been a long, long ... long time coming, but it's finally here to bust out flows like ... no. Sorry, no. We can't do this.

#con It's amazing, even years after getting out of the Army, how much it colors your everyday life. More »

The United States vs. Russia. That's all you need to know. Now, skip to the good part!

During a presentation at the CESA Developers Conference on Wednesday about the art of animation, Team Ico head Fumito Ueda brought up some shots from Ico as illustrations. Except the images projected don't look exactly like the PS2 game: the aspect ratio is different, the textures are better, and the character models are sharper -- and that's just what can be picked up from looking at pictures of a projector showing the images. NeoGAF's Gribbix and SolidSnakex posted direct comparisons between the CEDEC presentation and the PS2 Ico.

With the persistent rumor of a God of War Collection-style remake of Team Ico's PS2 games, and with TGS around the corner, it's tempting to take these images as evidence. It seems just as likely, however, that Ueda mocked up nice illustrations of iconic scenes for his presentation. In any case, they're lovely and can be seen at GAME Watch.

Though a European trailer for No Heroes Allowed, the third game in the What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? series, was released during Gamescom, news of a North American release remained up in the air (instead of buried in a hastily-dug dungeon, where it belonged). SCEA has revealed plans to release the game, but did not offer up a date for the God of Destruction's resurrection.

No Heroes Allowed offers 100 daily dungeon design challenges, along with a new cooperative play mode that stars Badman and his daughter, Badmella. In the new addition, two players collaborate to dig a deadly, devious and dangerous dungeon.

#sega PSP game Shining Hearts, the last entry in Sega's Shining fantasy series, was slated for release on December 2. It has been delayed. More »

Team IGN UK sips on coke and rum. And plays some games and watches some movies.

#oddworld Developer Just Add Water is working on a HD remake of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. That's the good news. The bad news, at least for Xbox owners, is that for now it seems to be a PS3 exclusive. More »

#cosplay Spotted at the recent Chara Hobby expo, cosplayer Sachibudou does her best take on character Reiko Holinger, while cosplayer Punival is Gundam. More »

Hi Everyone – Here is this week’s updates on the video store.

Get ready for back to school madness with our Deal of the Week collection where you can save on Fanboy and Chum Chum, Hey Arnold, SpongeBob SquarePants, Ned’s Declassified, True Jackson VP, Drake and Josh, and more!

Visit Campus Classics under Featured Collections to brush up on all time back to school classics including Accepted, Road Trip, Hoosiers, Revenge of the Nerds, Superbad! Check out the new release of UFC 118 packed solid with some of the sport’s best and fiercest in Ultimate Fighting. Also, check out incredible action sports films from WAX formally VAS Entertainment, their new page launches this week on PSN. Don’t forget to tune in to all exclusive, never before aired episodes of Better Off Ted. Can’t get enough of comedy’s greatest dynamic duo? The laughs last longer with Date Night Extended Edition, which includes a never-before-seen scenes and added footage. Last but not least, be sure to catch a pre-theatrical release of Freakonomics, available now on the PlayStation Store!

New TV and Film arrivals hit the US and Canada stores everyday! Here’s a taste of what’s hot this weekend:

Just in TV
US Store: Futurama: Season 7, Campus PD: Season 2, Sci Fi Science: Season 1, Man vs. Wild: Season 5, The Colony: Season 2, Weird True & Freak: Season 2, Rookie Blue: Season 1, Warren the Ape: Season 1, Better Off Ted: Season 2, Rescue Me: Season 6, Louie: Season 1, Unnatural History: Season 1, Warehouse 13: Season 2, Chasing Mummies: Season 1, Dark Blue: Season 2, Ghost Hunters: Season 6, High School of the Dead: Season 1, Psych: Season 5, Masterchef: Season 1, Saving Grace: Season 4, The Universe: Season 5, Stan Lee’s Superhumans: Season 1

Canada Store: Bleach: Season 10, Psych: Season 3, TNA: iMPACT!: Season 2009, High School of the Dead: Season 1, Comedy Central Presents: Stand-Up: Season 1, DEA: Season 2, Invincible: Season 1, The Ultimate Fighter: Season 10, The Ultimate Fighter: Season Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz

Just in Movies
US Store: Marmaduke, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too, Mother, Saidoweizu, George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish, Calvin Marshall, Cemetery Junction, Happy Tears, Made: The Movie, Melali: The Drifter Sessions, Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison, The End: British Gangsters, The Lottery, Castles in the Sky

Canada Store: Marmaduke, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?, Melali: The Drifter Sessions, Hungry Hills, Barking Dogs Never Bite, Vampiro, City Island, City of Your Final Destination, The B Movie

And last but not least, be sure to check out the hilarious trailer for Marmaduke now available on both the US and Canada video store!

Top Ten TV Downloads (US only)

• Futurama | Season 7 - Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
• Jersey Shore | Season Miami - The Letter
• Naruto Shippuden Uncut | Season 1 – The Picture Book’s Story Vol. 4
• Futurama | Season 7 – The Prisoner of Benda
• The Boondocks | Season 3 – It’s Goin’ Down
• Burn Notice | Season 4 – Guilty as Charged
• Family Guy | Season 8 – Brian & Stewie  
• Mad Men | Season 4 – Waldorf Stories  
• Psych | Season 5 – Ferry Tale
• American Chopper – Senior vs. Junior – ESAB Bike  

Top Movie Downloads (US only)

• The Back-up Plan
• Date Night
• Death at a Funeral
• Kick-Ass
• Clash of the Titans (2010)
• Hot Tub Time Machine (Unrated Version
• Furry Vengeance
• The Last Song
• Cop Out
• Repo Men (Unrated)  

       

#clips In this new video we get a chance to check out another "recommendation" from Need for Speed Hot Pursuit's Autolog. More »

If you found yourself particularly inspired by the quartet of southern rock troubadours prominently featured in Left 4 Dead 2's "Dark Carnival" campaign, you can now stretch your creative muscles to give one of the fictional band's hit songs some visual flair. Valve recently announced a contest to create the best music video for the Riders' chart topper "Save Me Some Sugar (This Won't Take Long)," which will make its debut in the upcoming "The Sacrifice" DLC campaign. The winner of the contest will receive a Valve "gift pack" and a guitar signed by all four members of the band.

The manner in which you create this video is entirely up to you -- will it be live action, in-game footage or a hybrid of both? Regardless of what you go with, we hope you first seek out some thematically appropriate inspiration.

#humor You may think that both Portal and Left 4 Dead are recent games, developed for contemporary game machines. Nope. Both are actually remakes of games from the 1980s! More »

#reddeadredemption Spotted by Kotaku reader Chardyll, his t-shirt isn't for Rockstar's Western Red Dead Redemption. Nope! More »

A game based on roller derby is something that never occurred to us, but it seems incredibly obvious now that someone's doing it. Frozen Codebase announced Jam City Rollergirls, a WiiWare game based on women's flat track roller derby and featuring real roller derby leagues. This is the second "official," licensed WiiWare game for an unconventional sport that we can think of, and it's far less disgusting than its contemporary.

Frozen Codebase plans to release the circular skating and violence sim in the fourth quarter of this year. Jam City Rollergirls will also be at PAX this weekend for the curious to give it a spin.

#indie You should take a look at Pirates of New Horizons. It's not a new Skies of Arcadia game, but since you probably won't ever get one of those, this might be as good as it gets! More »

#yakuza The upcoming Yakuza spin-off for the PSP, Yakuza: New Chapter Black Panther, doesn't just have bar hostesses. It has bar hostesses that smooch the screen. Pucker up, buttercup. More »

SNK's oddball bullet hell shmup, KOF Sky Stage, has finally been dated for Xbox Live Arcade -- in Japan, at least. Masochists can check it out on September 15 for 800 MS Points ($10). That's a small price to pay to see Terry Bogard and company fly around and shoot stuff. And, y' know, play a super-tough game.

The game originally launched in Japanese arcades back in January. PSP users can also access KOF Sky Stage right now in Neo Geo Heroes, while those of us in the US can likely look forward to a localized release, so says an ESRB listing. If you're looking to get an early start at finding all of those sweet hiding spots to take refuge from the impending bullet swarms, head past the break for a new trailer.

#art They're fit men and women, in the prime of their lives. There's bound to be some romantic feelings develop between the World Warriors. But no. There is no time for love. Only time for fighting. More »

#nintendo The Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo's 3D-glasses-free portable, isn't out yet. Nintendo has only said it will be out before next April. Yet, Japanese people are excited to play games on it. But which games? More »

Erin Robinson's excellent Puzzle Bots was chosen as one of the PAX 10 winners for this weekend's Seattle convention, and as a result, Wadjet Eye games has it on sale all weekend long. By entering the code "PUZZLEPAX" at checkout, you can play the cheerful little strategy puzzle title for $4.99 instead of the usual $10.

There's a free demo available if you want to try before you buy and the game will also be playable on the PAX show floor -- so if you have a friend in Seattle, ask them what they think. An excellent deal on an excellent indie title, even for those of us who aren't partying with Tycho and Gabe this weekend.

#conceptart Time for some concept art! Not for upcoming games, though. Not for old games, either. These are for old systems. More »

#gallery Whenever new hardware is released, it is common for folks to rip it apart and then take photos of the innards for the entire internet to ogle. This time is different. More »