Well, it seems like the details regarding the release of the NBA Jam reboot on the 360 and PS3 have changed yet again. EA Sports just announced that its upcoming basketball title, NBA Elite 11, has been delayed beyond its release next month to an undisclosed launch window. You know, NBA Elite 11 -- that game that would come with a download voucher for NBA Jam, serving as "the ONLY way" players could grab Jam on Microsoft or Sony's home consoles? Seems that line's changed too.
The delay announcement also revealed that "we're going to ship NBA Jam as a standalone product on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in time for the holidays. Watch for more news soon on the exact timing of that release." We're going to hound EA to find out more about these plans -- will it be a retail release (the use of the word "ship" certainly seems to indicate as much). If so, will it carry a $60 price tag? Will NBA Elite 11 still come with a free copy of Jam, or has that offer been summarily revoked? Is this a test? Are you testing us?
#clips
With a week to go until NBA 2K11 cannonballs the pool, 2K Sports is dropping all sorts of hype and gameplay vids, highlighted by this one stitching together in-game footage from "The Jordan Challenge." Mild spoiler alert. More »
I remember a time when I could look at a girl with cat ears and whiskers and think nothing of it. Unfortunately, maturity and the internet have corrupted my view of catgirls, and now they seem at best cliched, and at worst creepy. It's a shame, because my 10-year-old self would have found Blade Kitten's Kit Ballard and the neon world she inhabits all kinds of cool.
#mmolog
As part of Kotaku's extended massively-multiplayer role-playing game review process, I spent the better part of the past week playing Final Fantasy XIV. I'm still not sure why. More »
Platform: Wii
Rating: Everyone
Content descriptors: No Descriptors
Rating summary:
This is a basketball simulation game in which players can select teams from real NBA rosters, customize players, compete in tournaments, and play through regular seasons. Players can also engage in pick-up games and street dunk contests.
#screengrab
Warhammer 40,000's oft-imitated Space Marines get the LEGO brick treatment—rivaling StarCraft II's LEGO Thor—as assembled by master builder Jarec. Seen on Flickr, via The Brothers Brick. More »
Activision's Bobby Kotick and EA's Jeff Brown engaged in a little Battlefield of Duty: Corporate Warfare 2 match this week, lobbing sound bites back and forth at each other. Kotick was first, boasting in the latest issue of Edge (via Next-Gen.biz) that his company allows its studios to maintain their independent cultures; citing Treyarch, the embattled Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games as examples. Kotick suggested that EA doesn't offer this luxury, and that's why Activision has successfully hired developers from its competitor's ranks. "We have no shortage of opportunity to recruit out of EA," he said. "That's their biggest challenge: Its stock options have no value. It's lost its way."
Of course, EA's corp comm VP Brown was quick to respond: "[Kotick's] company is based on three game franchises -- one is a fantastic persistent world he had nothing to do with; one is in steep decline; and the third is in the process of being destroyed by Kotick's own hubris." Though Brown didn't clarify which franchises he was referring to, we'll throw out three names for you -- and you can play the matching game! Here goes: Guitar Hero,Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.
The two probably had more to say to each other, but at that point the other players muted them both, and a few seconds later the actual match started up.
Did you miss out on the original Shantae? No worries, as Shantae herself is retelling the grand adventure! Just hit up the (official) Shantae Twitter address below, and check out the adventures of the first Shantae game, as told by the lead character herself!
Story here
This week we bring you our promised Spoiler Warning of Halo: Reach. Join us as we discuss our favorite -- and most disappointing -- moments in the game. If you haven't finished the game yet, enjoy the first half of the show, during which we discuss the latest news and the oncoming onslaught of October releases. Also, be sure to stick around as we pour one out for the dearly departed Milo.
(Big shout out to our buddy Chris Majewski for his excellent new Fancast art this week! Check out his other work here and feel free to contact him for commissions of your own.)
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in Zune Marketplace (MP3).
[RSS MP3] Add the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Hosts: Richard Mitchell (SenseiRAM, @senseiram), Alexander Sliwinski (Sli Xander, @xandersliwinski) and Dave Hinkle (KnifefightYaDad, @davehinkle)
Music: Intro/Outro: "Electromooq" by Uma Floresta; Break: "Can't Say No" by The Helio Sequence.
Are you anxious to finally find out what new methods of dude-hurting have been introduced in Kratos' next outing, God of War: Ghost of Sparta? Put on your angry face, friends -- PlayStation Blog has announced that a demo for that ultraviolent romp through Greek history will arrive on the PlayStation Store with tomorrow's content update.
We're not sure how many minutes of chain-swinging will be included in said demo, but we do know that it probably won't be enough to tide us over until Ghost of Sparta's November 2 release date. Unless, of course, we play it a thousand times. Man, we'd be so good at that one part.
#psp
Sony is reportedly giving more and more developers access to the successor to the soon to be six-year-old PSP, with dev kits in the hands of (or en route to) "numerous development studios." More »
#innovation
The cry goes out: Another World War II video game? Writer Rob Zacny argues that the war is not the problem. The tired perspective is. More »
#ccp
When can I be a virtual vampire? While developer CCP isn't giving out any dates for its World of Darkness MMO, EVE Online creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson tells Eurogamer the game is in a playable state. More »
Tickets for PAX East 2011 are available now: $35 for a single-day pass or $55 for the three-day pass. The successful East Coast gaming event is set to return to Boston, March 11-13; this time at the larger Boston Convention & Exhibition Center down by the harbor.
The event sold out early last year, and despite this year's larger venue, it's probably best to grab those tickets now if you know you'll attend. A list of hotels participating in a discount program for attendees should be available next week.
So, who wants a second serving of Blueberry Muffin Tops Breakfast at PAX East?
GoldenEye 007 gets all up in our face 1997-style, with a trailer featuring some of the multiplayer modifiers and combinations found in the Wii update. So, let's do "License to Kill" with "Slappers Only!" Ready? GO!
#xbox360
Breath Of Death VII is, by at least one Kotaku reader account, the best role-playing game of the year. It costs $1 and, as of last week, sold 30,000 copies. How? More »
French site Jeux Video has obtained what is believed to be box art of the unannounced Prince of Persia Trilogy and Mortal Kombat Kollection. Furthermore, it also reportedly has release date information for Splinter Cell Trilogy, Rayman Trilogy and Tom Clancy's Trilogy (Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six), all for PS3. According to the site's retail source, Mortal Kombat has an alleged launch date of November 18, while the rest are dated November 4.
Previously, the Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell trilogy packs popped up on Amazon France and a British retail site with different release dates. If this keeps up, can we just spare the publishers the effort of not announcing these bundles by supposing every major series will be HD-ified?
