All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#film At one time, Microsoft was in Hollywood, meeting with movie producers and trying to make a Halo movie. It didn't happen. And while Microsoft hasn't given up, the question remains: More »

#tgs The latest challengers for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds? Spider-Man and Wesker from Resident Evil. This is certainly not the first appearance for Spider-Man in a MvC title. It is, however, for Wesker. More »

DISSIDIA 012 [duodecim] FINAL FANTASY may have a bizarre, head-scratching title, but its brand new features make a whole lot of sense. The follow-up to 2008's mash-up fighter offers the most obvious addition for a sequel: an expanded roster, including Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning and Final Fantasy VII's Tifa. However, it also includes a number of other features that make the experience more engaging for fans, and more accessible for newcomers to the franchise.

The original Dissidia met a mixed response from fans due to its rather unique combat system. Instead of copying the model of other fighters -- Nintendo's Smash Bros., or Capcom's Vs. series -- Square Enix crafted a battle system inspired by Advent Children, but still rooted in RPG mechanics. If that doesn't make much sense to you, you are not alone.

Arguably the biggest new feature for Duodecim is the addition of an "RPG Mode" that strips down the combat experience into something that might be a bit more familiar to traditional Final Fantasy players. Unlike the traditional "Action Mode," you lose direct control over your character in this mode, relegated to selecting commands. You'll be able to switch between attacking Bravery and HP, or choosing a more defensive role. It may seem like the game is simply controlling itself, and to a certain degree, it is. However, this mode lets you understand the various mechanics that are at play in Dissidia without being overwhelmed.

#tokyogameshow2010 Okamiden's Chibiterasu gets a pair of slippers, as seen at Capcom's Tokyo Game Show mini-store. They're this December (in Japan) for ¥3,150 (US$37). More »

#tgs Our past day of reporting from Tokyo Game Show saw Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, Project Dark and its demon soul, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and that suave blue PS3 above. And there's plenty more to read about as well. More »

#d3publisher D3 Publisher has made it 100% official—Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next spring, a chance to shoot bugs. Giant bugs! Thousands of them!! More »

We usually look down on special occasions that were obviously created for the profit of a particular form of big business (we're looking at you, Buccaneer Supplies Ltd.), but we've chosen to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day this year. Not by talking like pirates, mind you -- but rather, by purchasing Telltale's entire five-part Tales of Monkey Island series, which has been marked down to $5 this weekend only.

That's a whole lot of seafaring for not a whole lot of money, so we recommend jumping on the offer before it disappears this coming Monday, at which point the game will return to its standard MS-Arrrr-P.

#gameoftheweek Only 15 players have hit four home runs in a single game, a feat even more rare than a perfect game. Three of them are Phillies. If anyone would become the fourth, Chase Utley's a good candidate. More »

Nintendo of America has opened up their official website for the 25th anniversary for Super Mario, but there’s really nothing new there. We’ve seen all the content that the site has to offer, but I’m hoping that this site keeps getting updated as the weeks roll on. Surely Mario’s 25th anniversary is worth [...]

Direct link and impressions here More art here Sonic Colors DS new boss footage Finally, we have information on another control option for Sonic Colors. While Wiimote/Nunchuk, Classic Controller and GameCube controller have all been confirmed up to this point, we’ve now learned that you can play with just the Wiimote itself. The full [...]

Back in the day when systems like the ColecoVision reigned supreme, the game industry was very different. For example, Nintendo was actually releasing their games on different systems! They didn’t have a platform to call their own, which left arcade to console ports open to other manufacturers. Somehow the gang at ColecoVision [...]

#tokyogameshow2010 Today during a stage show, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima briefly mentioned MGS5. "Maybe, I'll do 5," said the game designer. More »

#clips GameTrailers got the first in-game cutscene from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Not once in 33 years have I ever seen anyone disembark a TIE Fighter, and Star Wars doesn't look like it's gonna start showing that now. More »

And Yet It Moves, created by Australia-based indie dev Broken Rules, is a wonderful little puzzle-platformer that launched on the PC last year. Now it's available through WiiWare, with updated motion-based controls and additional levels and bonus modes. And wouldn't you know? We've got ten copies of this new version to gift away!

To enter this giveaway:

• Leave a comment telling us one rule that you think should never be broken.
• You must be 13 years or older and a resident of the US only (sorry Canada -- and the rest of the world!).
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• This entry period ends at 12:00PM ET on Monday, September 20.
• At that time, we'll randomly select ten (10) winners to each receive And Yet It Moves for WiiWare (ARV $10.00) via the "Gift" feature in the Wii Shop Channel. Winners must provide their Nintendo Wii friend codes and be able to connect their Wii systems to the internet to receive the prize.
• 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.

Capcom's TGS announcement of Spider-Man's addition to Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a formality. Of course Spider-Man was going to be in there. Nobody's going to put the effort into modeling X-23 and not bother to get to Spider-Man. Yes, Marvel's marquee wall-crawler is back (and we're glad to see him), with most of his moves from previous MvC games intact.

Now, Resident Evil's Albert Wesker, that's a neat surprise. He's really fast! And he teleports! And he has a really nice black trench coat! See videos of both new characters after the break, courtesy of GameSpot.

[Thanks, Paul!]

#tgs Apes go wild, again, in Furi Furi! Sarugechu—or Ape Escape Shake! Shake!, if you prefer—the first game in the monkey-snatching series to utilize Sony's new PlayStation Move controller. The goal? Grab monkeys! With the Move! More »

The one thing saving Left 4 Dead 2 from being the world's most comprehensive zombie apocalypse survival sim is its liberal use of pain meds and "health packs." In the real world, these things don't have the immediate recuperative effects they do in the video games. If you want a taste of how it'll truly be, you should probably check out this week's mutation: Healthpackalypse.

In this custom Versus play mode on both the PC and Xbox 360, the survivors get no health packs whatsoever. If you're on the Infected side, laugh maniacally as the humans try to make it through without the use of first aid. If you're on the survivor side, well -- better luck next time! It's called "the apocalypse" for a reason, muchachos.

#dealtaku The White House wants to know, is everything OK with the alien space craft from Planet 10 or should we just go ahead and destroy Russia? More »

Like a sticker book plus puzzles.

Just minutes ago, immediately following the Tougeki fighting game championship finals held during the Tokyo Game Show, Namco Bandai game director Katsuhiro Harada announced Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the first iteration in the Tekken Tag series since the 1999 debut over a decade ago. We had a chance to speak with Mr. Harada following this unveiling, and learned more about the long delay, the game's arcade destination, the current state of fighting games and what's going on with Tekken X Street Fighter.

Joystiq: How long have you been working on Tekken Tag Tournament 2?

Katsuhiro Harada: Actually there was some talk at first of doing this before Tekken 6 came out, but when we discussed it amongst ourselves and the team we felt like we first wanted to make a proper sequel to 6 to see how far we could push the limits of our graphics engine on that hardware before going to Tag.

As you've seen for yourself in the trailer, we have three or four characters on the screen at once so that's simply twice as much power needed than previously for example in Tekken 6. So obviously trying to do that right off the bat earlier on would be much more difficult.

If it's running on the same technology as 6, which came not only to arcades but to consoles, what are your console plans for Tag 2?

You've seen the CG trailer. You've read our preview. You've even watched our interview with Ken Levine. But what does BioShock Infinite's gameplay look like? This week's episode of GTTV offers a small glimpse.

#originals Two major drops - Halo: Reach on Tuesday, PlayStation Move on Friday - vied with Tokyo Game Show 2010 to dominate the past week. They may have been the biggest news, but they weren't the only news. More »

As you would expect, Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda has expressed an optimistic viewpoint on Kinect's rarely utilized ability to scan real-world objects and incorporate them into games. At a recent Tokyo Game Show demonstration of Kinect Joy Ride, he demonstrated a small example of how Microsoft-owned developer BigPark utilizes the motion-sensing camera's capture capabilities. It's not quite a scanned skateboard, but it's enough to spur some color commentary.

Kinect Joy Ride features some minor pre-race vehicle customization options, starting with your car's color. If you're dissatisfied with the selection of bold colors in the game, Kinect can take a peek at any item positioned in front of the camera (within a small, on-screen reticle) and transfer its color onto your car. You could apply a dark shade of red (apple), an uplifting purple (GameCube) or a disgusting, sickly white (game journalist arm).

It's worth noting that this technology is hardly new -- you might have used it to capture textures in LittleBigPlanet with a PlayStation Eye -- and the implementation is far removed from Kinect's promotional promises. It's not even a particularly interesting addition in the case of Joy Ride, but it's in Microsoft's best interests to shift its conversation with consumers, away from "what can't it do" onto "what can it do?"