All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#pax Valve is at PAX this weekend, showing Portal 2's new multiplayer cooperative mode to the press and public. That means all-new Portal 2 media, fresh from the Penny Arcade Expo. More »

We still haven't been told the names of the two robots cooperatively making their way through an Aperture Science facility in Portal 2, but that doesn't matter -- we'll name them Red and Blue. In the screenshots below, released today by Valve, you can see our dashing nonhuman heroes hitting switches, diving into portals and just plain oozing personality.

In fact, even without seeing them move, we can already tell all sorts of things about how they act together. Red seems a little more timid and reserved, while Blue appears to be a go-getter who gets things done. Then again, look at that swan dive Red's pulling off. That's a thing of beauty right there. Curse you, Valve! You've already made us care about them so much!

November 2 was going to mark the release of not one, but two high-profile first person shooters on Wii: Conduit 2 and GoldenEye. It looks like Sega and High Voltage are taking a step back, telling Nintendojo that the Conduit sequel has been pushed back to Q1 2011.

There's no specified reason for the delay, but it's likely that Q1 offered a better release window for the Wii shooter. Sega famously released Resonance of Fate one week after Final Fantasy XIII. Presumably, Sega would want a better fate for Conduit 2.

#sports Cincinnati's Aroldis Chapman will be the second rookie to debut as the fastest thrower in all of video game baseball when he and his 103-mph heater are uploaded to MLB 2K10 sometime later this evening. More »

Amazon's been on a tear with its expanding practice of offering store credit along with the purchase of games - sometimes up to $20. GamerDeals has put together a handy list of all the current offers (a surprisingly large number). Keep reading for highlights.

#xbox360 Xbox Live's Major Nelson was roaming PAX here in Seattle, probably needing something fun to do. So I asked him to let me try the new Xbox 360 controller with transforming D-pad — oh, and the analog sticks are different. More »

The last time Namco Bandai released a Museum collection on Wii with updated versions of its classics ... it didn't really work out. Namco is trying again with Namco Museum Megamix -- sort of. In fact, many of the remixed games in this collection are the same as in the previous collection, judging from the materials released. The Galaga Remix seen in the screenshots is the same "defend Pac-Man" rail shooter seen in the 2007 game, and Pac-Motos and Pac-n-Roll Remix, described in the press release, was also present. That's right, Namco has now taken to re-releasing its remakes.

The Megamix adds at least one new rearrangement: Grobda Remix, based on a shmup you're forgiven for now knowing about. It'll also feature original (read: good) versions of Pac-Man, Mappy, Rally-X, Galaga, and more. Megamix will be out in November.

Remember a few days back when Apple made this statement? Were they talk about hardware or software? What exactly were they combining to get this information? We don’t know, and Nintendo doesn’t know either. That’s why they aren’t commenting. “It is impossible for us to comment until it is made clear which [...]

Despite popping up on GameStop and having been rated by Australia's OFLC, the so-called "Dragon Age Origins - Ultimate Edition" still hasn't been officially announced by EA. Now the British Board of Film Classification has gone ahead and listed the supposed contents of the re-release, which is "made up of a number of separate components," including:

• Dragon Age: Origins (original game)
• Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (standalone expansion)
• "The Darkspawn Chronicles" (DLC)
• "Feastday Combo Pack" (DLC)
• "The Golems of Amgarrak" (DLC)
• "Leliana's Song" (DLC)
• "Return to Ostagar" (DLC)
• "The Stone Prisoner" (lDLC)
• "Warden's Keep" (DLC)
• "Witch Hunt" (DLC)

While the GameStop listing has since been removed, the retailer had posted a $60 price and an October 12 release date for the Ultimate Edition. We'll be sure to note the official details when EA officially announces them.

A portion of an NWR review… AquaSpace’s biggest selling point was the ability to swim with your Mii character, and it is a shame that that part turned out to be such a disappointment. For just 100 Wii Points less, My Aquarium is a much more enjoyable fish tank simulator. If Paon and Nintendo had managed [...]

The IndieCade 2010 festival, an annual event held in Culver City, California which celebrates independently-created games, is doing a couple things differently for this year's awards presentation. The first is that all 32 of the finalists are nominated for every award category, such as "Technical Innovation," "World/Story," and the slightly more obscure "Sublime Experience." Check out the full list of categories and their lengthy list of contenders just past the jump.

Oh, the second difference for this year's show? It's going to be hosted by LeVar Burton. In short, it's shaping up to be the best awards show ever.

Spinoff is precursor to what could happen later this year with Freedom 3.

#gallery We were encouraged to take as many pictures as we could of Duke Nukem Forever here at Penny Acrade Expo 2010 today. So I did. More »

Spinoff is precursor to what could happen later this year with Freedom 3.

#mmo Red 5 Studios, the developer founded by former World of Warcraft team lead Mark Kern, finally unveiled its long-in-the-making online shooter, Firefall today. The free-to-play futuristic action game also has a futuristic release date. More »

SEGA holds back shooter from High Voltage Software.

Irem is working on a new Disaster Report game, this time for the PS3. Titled Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4: Summer Memories, the first HD entry of the franchise has you escaping an earthquake-stricken city in the year 201X. (And no, Mega Man won't be making a cameo ... we think!) In addition to supporting 3D and PlayStation Move, this will be the first title in the series to add a "cleanliness" parameter. According to Andriasang, "if your character gets too dirty, your stress will rise." Thankfully, you'll be able to take care of this with the all-new "use the toilet" feature!

It's unclear if Disaster Report 4 will make it stateside. The last entry in the series, a PSP game, never found a publisher. The first two games for PS2 were released as Disaster Report and the pornographic-sounding Raw Danger (pictured above).

Do you like tons of video game references? How about some hip-hop? If so, you might want to check out ‘Give Up The Stick’ from Divine Minds & SoulKlap. It’s apparently laced throughout with multiple video game mentions. Check out more details of the project here.

Come get some background on Randy Pitchford's back-in-fashion Duke Nukem shirt, seen above:

"I moved to Texas and became a professional game maker to join Alan Blum, he created Duke Nukem 3D," the Gearbox co-founder told us at PAX. "He and Todd Replogle in Southern California, freaking invented this whole damned thing. And I moved out to Texas to join him and George Broussard and Scott Miller, and all the guys on the team, so that I could be part of Duke Nukem 3D. Because I wanted to add to that. I thought it was awesome; it was really fun and I wanted to be part of that team.

"This t-shirt I'm wearing, George gave me this t-shirt in 1996," Pitchford continued, now speaking as part of the team that now hopes to complete Duke Nukem Forever. "And we've been waiting for this game ever since. Guys like Alan didn't want to let the Duke dream die. They've worked their butts off all this time making great stuff."

It's finally, really, actually ... maybe going to happen at this point. The rumors are true: Gearbox Software and 2K Games have taken on the Herculean task of completing and releasing 3D Realms' unfinished Duke Nukem Forever. The project was officially unveiled today at PAX during a livestreamed presentation at the 2K Games booth and announced for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. "It's coming out in 2011," Gearbox president Randy Pitchford said during the presentation. (Of course, we're skeptical about any release date associated with this particular title.)

Gearbox began finishing Duke Nukem Forever in late 2009, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Clearly the game hadn't been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created," Pitchford told WSJ.

"We're in the polishing phase now. This is a game where we can not make a promise we can not fulfill," Pitchford added. "We need to get past the shock and awe and then we can go to all the retailers and first parties and work out a launch plan."

Duke Nukem Forever is a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D and will feature both a single-player campaign and multiplayer. "Aliens come and say they're going to be our friends and Duke knows this isn't going to work out," Pitchford revealed of the plot. "Duke once again is in the pivotal spot and its up to him to save the world."

[Image credit: Kurt Miller]Duke Nukem Forever coming '2011' on Xbox 360, PS3 & PC, courtesy of Gearbox