#satoruiwata
Today at a Tokyo hotel, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata shot down talk of a Wii price cut anytime soon. This comes as Nintendo posted losses due to slow sales and the strong Japanese yen. More »
As if you needed any more proof that the Japanese public has more carefully manicured hands that you do, the videos we've embedded after the break of folks playing Nintendo's 3DS on Japan's MX TV feature nothing short of the prettiest thumbs we've ever seen. Also, tons of 3DS gameplay (in 2D), so there's that.
#blizzard
One of the big keys to Blizzard's success as a PC developer has been its Battle.net system for online multiplayer. Now that Blizzard is shacked up with mega-publisher Activision, could we see non-Blizzard games appear on Battle.net? More »
The official site for Donkey Kong Country Returns has now opened, but we’re still in teaser form. You’re not going to get much in the way of content right now, but at least we know where to keep an eye on for new footage and art. With the title’s November 21st release date [...]
#hybrid
5th Cell, the developer behind innovative titles like Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts, has revealed its upcoming title. The game is called Hybrid. More »
Back in the days of the NES, Nintendo wanted to make sure that companies weren’t going to release crappy games on their platform. How did they plan on making this happen? Nintendo decided to restrict the amount of titles a publisher could release per year. While most companies followed this rule, some [...]
Race the clock to find hidden objects in cleverly arranged scenes! Big John Games has partnered with Capstone to bring Spot It to DSiWare™. See how many objects you can spot in 10 different puzzles. Vibrant graphics make spotting objects fun and challenging. Exciting features include:
Hundreds of hidden objects: Spot hundreds of hidden [...]
#activision
That's according to AskMen, at any rate, who have picked the Activision boss at number 16 on their list of the 49 most influential men. More »
Cryptic Studios already enabled City of Heroes players to create their own missions from scratch successfully -- now it's planning on adding the feature to the rest of its MMO catalog. Star Trek Online players can now apply to beta test the "Foundry" toolset, which allows them to create entire Episodes, customizing mission objectives, characters and scenery, which other Captains will then be able to play through.
There's no telling how powerful the Foundry will be until we get a chance to check them out, but we've got our fingers crossed that our Captain Riker/Tribbles slash-fic masterpiece will be able to be realized using these new tools.
#japan
The Xbox never caught on in Japan. The 360 is having problems, too. Ever wonder why? There are any number of reasons why Japan won't embrace the console now, but let's go back to the very beginning. More »
#pc
Minecraft, the surprise hit of 2010, is a fairly simple title, happy to leave you to your own devices as you dig, build and die. In the months to come, that's about to change. More »
"Did ... did you hear that? That creepy noise, coming from the direction of Steam. What is that? It sounds like ... Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 for $15."
Steam's Halloween sale is upon us, and you can't hide from these terrifying deals. Actually, we suppose you can, since they're just going to sit there on the site until November 1. The inanimate, inert, pleasant, but also totally spooky deals include Worms: Reloaded and Team Fortress 2 for $9.99 each, and the Overlord pack for $7.49.
With prices this good, the only scary thing is missing out on this sale. Although there are Steam sales all the time, so it's really just slightly inconvenient if you don't get anything this time. Um, boooooooo! Ghosts!
Would the action-packed plotline of the Uncharted series be quite so thrilling without all that pesky interactivity? We'll get our chance to find out next fall, when Del Rey Books publishes Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth, a novel based on a completely original Nathan Drake adventure. We're praying that the book's title is alluding to an eventual meeting between Drake and the Goblin King.
The novel will be penned by Christopher Golden, whose work includes a handful of comic books and novelizations based on Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- he even wrote the script for the two video games based on the latter of those two franchises. He certainly sounds qualified to write an Uncharted book, though we suppose that depends entirely on how he'd fill out this sentence:
"Nathan Drake drove the [form of motor vehicle] off of the [tall surface], causing a [adjective describing size] explosion."
The next round of MAG DLC, the Escalation pack, is set to arrive on November 2 for $9.99. The DLC adds the new Escalation mode, which some players may have tried during the recent beta. Escalation has each of the three 32-player teams attempting to take over two of three objectives. Should any team manage this feat, gameplay moves on to phase two, and said team must now defend a fourth objective for as long as possible. If the fourth objective falls, gameplay reverts back to phase one. Play continues until one team has reached a certain number of points or time runs out. In essence, Escalation sounds like a remixed version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Rush mode (which is by no means a bad thing).
The Escalation pack also adds three new maps -- Isla de Magma, Silverback Ridge and Radiant Barrens -- along with nine new weapons. To celebrate the Escalation pack, some other MAG goodies will be discounted on PSN come release day. First up, the Interdiction DLC will be reduced from $9.99 to $4.99. A $14.99 MAG starter kit will also available, bundling together the Escalation and Interdiction DLC along with a 30-day trial of two additional character slots, six PS3 avatars and three dynamic themes. Sounds like a pretty good deal for MAG newcomers.
Our favorite part of Goldeneye 007 -- the movie and N64 game -- was when James Bond, tired of his usual stealthy modus operandi, hopped into a tank and just went to town on St. Petersburg. In the video below, we get a look at this (somewhat more explosive) sequence in the game's spiritual Wiimake.
- public 3DS demo event early next year
- held on January 8, 9 and 10
- taking place at the Makuhari Messe just outside Tokyo
- Iwata says that this demo event is in response to the specific hurdles Nintendo will have marketing the 3DS
- no plans for other large scale events
- plans in place to give [...]
Adding more fuel to the "PlayStation Phone is sototallyhappening" bonfire, Sony Computer Entertainment America's senior VP of marketing, Peter Dille, has told CNN that PSP in its current state isn't reaching its full potential, due to the fact that it lacks an always-on (read: cellular data network) connection. "The PSP is a Wi-Fi device," Dille stated, adding, "People are used to having always-connected devices." Devices like ... smartphones?
Dille spoke of Sony's goal to make the PlayStation Network "always accessible," admitting that the console maker can't "fully realize that vision with a Wi-Fi device," and saying that, "If it's not connected [to a cell network] then it does sort of limit people." Perhaps we might suggest a PSP that also incorporates cellphone functionality?
In another "read between the lines" comment, Dille talked up Sony's desire to deliver console-like gaming experience on a portable, saying of games for iPhone and other smartphones, "These are largely time-killers. Gamers aren't satisfied with that." In that case, we guess Sony should probably consider showing them how smartphone gaming should really be done.
Silent Hill 8, appropriately enough, has thus far remained shrouded in mystery. Apart from a few basic plot details -- an escaped convict winds up in Silent Hill -- very little information has been revealed. Now, thanks to a developer interview posted on the Silent Hill Facebook page, some of the fog is starting to lift.
Producer Tomm Hulett -- also producer on the excellent Shattered Memories -- notes that Silent Hill 8 doesn't have the same aesthetics as previous titles, explaining that Silent Hill would become boring if every entry was the same (we're inclined to agree). While it may look different, Hulett notes that it's his job to make sure that Silent Hill 8 "is all true to the themes and the spirit" of the series.
Meanwhile, Design Director Brian Gomez adds that Czech Republic-based Vatra Games is perfectly situated to create Silent Hill 8. He explains that Vatra's headquarters in the city of Brno is actually located near an old dungeon as well as "Soviet era Gulag style buildings." There are even local catacombs that uniquely preserve the bodies within. In other words, it sounds like the team has its inspiration covered. Now let's just hope all the perspiration pays off.
#xbox360
Kotaku reader Ken was lucky enough to score an early, pre-launch copy of Kinectimals. Unfortunately, he put that copy of the Kinect cat game in his Xbox 360 to unhappy results. Learn from Ken's harrowing tale. More »
4mm Games has fired off yet another gigantic salvo of downloadable tracks for Def Jam Rapstar, all of which are available now on Xbox Live and "soon" on PSN. The 27 new sing-along songs and four Freestyle beats will run players 160 Microsoft Points ($2) a piece -- a pittance, when you consider the immeasurable joy which selections like "Rapper's Delight," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," and "Ice Cream Paint Job" will deliver unto their owners.
Check out the full list of new songs after the jump.
