All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#newandimproved Remember that Kick-Ass video game that came out with the movie back in April? There's a "new and improved" version coming out next week that makes that one look like a beta version. Isn't the digital age grand? More »

#headset The Limited Edition Call of Duty: Black Ops ProGaming Headset comes in a slick travel case and includes spare ear pads and oodles of cables. More »

Dragon Age Legends is a Facebook-based strategy RPG launching this February. Perhaps more importantly, it's a method through which you'll be able to unlock stuff in the upcoming Dragon Age 2. Legends takes place in Kaiten, a city in the Dragon Age 2 setting of the Free Marches. Players ally themselves with a Viscount named Ravi (nephew of Khedra) in order to save Ravi's son Elton from danger and protect the Free Marches.

"Alongside their Facebook friends," according to EA, "players will take on challenging quests within an engaging storyline, earning loot, sharing rewards and growing their kingdom." EA 2D general manager Mark Spenner hopes to "raise the quality bar" of Facebook games with this offering, in order to draw traditional gamers.

While we don't know exactly how Legends' cooperative tactical combat works, we'll find out soon enough: EA will hold a beta for the title starting in January, with invitations distributed to lucky EA account holders who have Facebook accounts and subscriptions to the Dragon Age Newsletter -- and who sign up for the beta, of course.

#clips Directed by David Slade, of 30 Days of Night and X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 fame, this live-action teaser for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is kinda cool. More »

Microsoft isn't just trying to bring families together in front of the TV with Kinect, it's also doing its best to bring thousands of New Yorkers together. The official launch event for the sensor will take place at the Times Square Toys R Us, and Microsoft is giving away substantial bonuses to early buyers.

The first 3,000 people to buy Kinects at the event will receive free copies of Kinect Sports and Kinect Joy Ride, along with a free year of Xbox Live Gold membership. And then, after all those hours of standing around, they'll get to go home and ... play games while standing. Random attendees will be handed prizes while in line, as well. Basically, what we're saying is you should go right now. Preferably sooner.

Hi everyone – it’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since the PlayStation 2 launched and 11 years since I first started here at Sony Computer Entertainment America. Over the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of working on some of PlayStation’s latest and greatest – the EyeToy being one of my first big projects when I joined the company in 1999.

The EyeToy USB camera was the first of its kind to translate your body movements into game controls, map your face onto in-game characters and more. It was created to allow you to physically interact with games, such as Antigrav, EyeToy Play and Kinetic, using your body. The unencumbered feeling of no wires and feeling free (instead of connected to your television) was very important, as was the simplicity of the controls. Everyone, even non-gamers, felt like they could just jump in and play, which was great. We learned a lot from our experience creating EyeToy, and it has definitely played a significant role in the development of PlayStation Move. We’ve pulled together a quick look back at the technology that started it all in the video below.

EyeToy helped us understand that while people definitely enjoy physical interaction and movement, they also want precise control and a simple, fast, reliable way to trigger actions. We also found that some experiences just feel more natural when holding a tool, or a “prop.” Seven years later, we’ve introduced PlayStation Move, which we think is the ideal combination of both spatial and action/button input. We here at PlayStation are always looking for ways to enhance the gamers’ experience and we’re looking forward to the new experiences PlayStation Move will enable over the next 10 years.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Electronic Arts' social gaming plans march ever onward as the publisher signs a five-year "strategic relationship" with Facebook. The agreement will find Facebook Credits becoming the exclusive payment method in EA games on the platform. EA, under its Playfish brand (obtained for $300 million), currently has two of the top 10 Facebook games in Pet Society and Restaurant City.

A similar five-year deal was announced earlier this year by social gaming top dog, Zynga, after the developer had a kerfuffle about the 30 percent cut Facebook took whenever users purchased in-game items using Facebook Credits.

It turns out EA is apparently cool with the 30 percent cut, as those were the terms of the publisher's agreement with the social media platform behemoth. Electronic Arts will soon launch Monopoly and its Pogo Games brand (about 20 titles) on Facebook, so it can start raking in cash from the platform's 500 million users.

Let's be honest, it's not like that replica Spartan helmet is going to sit on your desk, right? These things were made for cats, the inevitable conclusion of the unholy tryst between feline and fandom eventually available for all to see on flickr. It's just what people do and you can now expand the contents of your cat's chiffonier with three new quarter-scale helmets: CQB, EVA and the Mark VI. Each will set you back $60.

We now have two reasons for wanting to play Ace Attorney Investigations 2 in Japanese, despite knowing full well how difficult and unfulfilling it is. Were we to pick it up from Japan, we'd be able to play it starting February 3. It hasn't been confirmed for release outside of Japan.

Capcom announced that release date today, along with a collectors edition, and two special edition packages exclusive to Capcom's Japanese online store (which is currently down) -- the other tempting reason to buy a Japanese version. The Collectors Package includes an orchestral soundtrack, a DVD featuring trailers and TGS stage show footage, and a manga booklet, all priced at ¥6,090 ($75.42).

The e-Capcom exclusive Limited Edition includes all the aforementioned items, plus a 1/10 scale figurine of Miles Edgeworth, for ¥8,000 ($99.07). If you want the game and figure, but not the limited edition stuff, e-Capcom has that for ¥7,140 ($88.42). Spending a hundred bucks on a game we can't read just to get a figurine is a pretty terrible tribute to Edgeworth -- it would just be so illogical.

The new Xbox 360 Dashboard Update makes the whole interface look smoother and cleaner, but it has rubbed one part of the community the wrong way. Xbox Live Indie Game creators are bummed over on the Microsoft Developer Network forums, as their creations have been relegated to the "Specialty Shops" section of the new Dashboard, hidden behind the Avatar Marketplace and away from most of the game and demo traffic.

Most developers actually sound resigned to their fate, admitting that, while there are a few indie game breakouts, the category in general wasn't a big moneymaker for Microsoft, so it's not surprising it didn't get the spotlight when the update came around. But other devs say it's a chicken-and-the-egg problem, that indie games won't get the sales without the exposure, and hiding them away only dooms them to more failure.

That said, there's no sales data yet off of the new Dashboard; we'll just have to wait and see what effect this new placement has.

[Thanks, Richard!]

Icefrog himself has answered a set of frequently asked questions on Dota 2's official website, clarifying and detailing a few concerns players have had since the game's official announcement. Much of the questions revolve around players leaving games -- Valve has not only implemented an AI system to take over for missing players, but players will be able to have a "friend of similar skill level" jump in and take over if necessary, or simply jump into current games that are missing players. The bots will also be customizable, so if you want to play against an AI that tests a specific part of your game, like "denying, last hitting, and harassing," there will be specific configurations to challenge those.

Replays are also mentioned -- players will be able to examine games in progress from all sorts of angles, watching charts and graphs in real time as the game goes on. There will also be "commentating and editing" features for replays, and the game will make extensive use of the Steam Cloud, keeping keyboard preferences, replay files and other settings available from any computer.

Icefrog also says that there won't be any changes for the sake of change in the actual gameplay, and that he will continue development on the original Warcraft 3 mod "for as long as the community wants," but that Dota 2 "represents the long term future for the game." In that sense, Dota 2 sounds like a very direct translation of the original game, though Valve is sparing no expense in adding metagame features to make it a smoother experience for everyone.

#ea Let's see, recently we've had Battlefield Bad Company, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield Heroes. We'll soon have Battlefield 3. But did you know there's another game in the franchise on the way? More »

Here's the problem with Comic Jumper: when you turn the game off, its awesome soundtrack remains silently imprisoned within the plastic and silicon of your console. If only there were some way to kind of take those tunes out of the game, so your ears could envelope themselves in those sultry sounds at your own leisure.

Twisted Pixel has rectified the situation by offering music and sound bites from the game, free of charge, via the official site. Now you can jam to these tunes whenever you want, whether it's during that jerk Johnson's retirement speech (we just know he stole our chicken salad sandwich from the break room fridge last week) or our personal favorite: while enjoying a nice, candle-lit bubble bath. Those days don't unwind themselves, people.

#rumor A reader sent us this promo sleeve for the PlayStation 3 Bluetooth headset earlier this week, which now appears to be sporting a slimmer, sleeker design than the original model. More »

Yesterday's Supreme Court hearing was one for the history books. The great state of California - represented here by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, ironically no stranger to media violence himself - versus the Entertainment Merchants Association, "the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $33 billion home entertainment industry," according to its website. At stake: just the future of free speech in video games, is all! ECA lawyer Jennifer Mercurio puts it succinctly, "I'd say it's clearly the most important and influential decision that the video game industry has ever faced."

To get you up to speed on yesterday's goings-on, we've prepared this handy post. We've got pictures from the ECA-organized Gamer's Rally held before the court opened yesterday morning; pictured above is Jenner and Block LLP Partner Paul M. Smith, lead counsel for the video game industry in yesterday's proceedings. For the readers out there, try the full transcription of the oral arguments and, should 72 pages be a little dense for your lunchtime reading, we've encapsulated it all for you in our handy writeup here. Give it a read and impress your coworkers over lunch. "Did you read the Supreme Court transcript from yesterday? No? Well, I did and ..."

If you're looking for some background on what exactly Schwarzenegger vs. EMA could mean for consumers, look no further than our interview with the ECA's Jennifer Mercurio. If you're more interested in how the game industry sees itself in this mess, then you need to read our interview with ESA General Counsel Kenneth Doroshow. If you're curious about how things went for the ol' game industry, read ESA prez Michael Gallaghers comments following the Supreme Court session. "The argument today was very lively, the justices were very informed and the dialogue clearly established that video games are entitled to the same treatment as movies, music, books and other forms of entertainment."

There's one final option, though. You could skip all that and simply read our highlight reel of SCOTUS quotes featuring additional commentary from the NBA Jam guy and well, that's fine too.

#clips Don't judge this clip on its awkward, shirtless intro. Judge it on the pitch-perfect camera angles (GRAB THAT PEANUT BUTTER!!!) and choreography as God of War's Kratos engages in his deadliest QTE battle yet. More »

One of the most frustrating things about the WiiWare service -- other than The Incredible Maze -- is that there aren't playable demos. Even more frustrating is that Nintendo did offer a series of demos last year, but made it a limited-time initiative for no good reason, going so far as to remove the few demos that were available.

Nintendo of Europe announced that the demo program is returning this Friday, November 5. Encouragingly, it's referred to as an "ongoing" demo program, suggesting that the whole thing won't disappear in a month. However, the individual demos will be rotated out regularly, which is back to being a bit frustrating. The latest demos will be listed here after the program starts up.

The first set of demos includes Furry Legends, Jett Rocket, ThruSpace, and Zombie Panic in Wonderland. We're checking with Nintendo of America about the prospect of a similar program here.

#pc I didn't put much time into the console versions of Battlefield 1943 because I was waiting for the PC edition. Thing is, nearly a year-and-a-half later, I'm still waiting. What's up with that? More »

#clips The materials used to make a console mod like this are fairly simple: some mirrors and some LED lights. But the effect is fantastic. More »

We now have two reasons for wanting to play Ace Attorney Investigations 2 in Japanese, despite knowing full well how difficult and unfulfilling it is. Were we to pick it up from Japan, we'd be able to play it starting February 3. It hasn't been confirmed for release outside of Japan.

Capcom announced that release date today, along with a collectors edition, and two special edition packages exclusive to Capcom's Japanese online store (which is currently down) -- the other tempting reason to buy a Japanese version. The Collectors Package includes an orchestral soundtrack, a DVD featuring trailers and TGS stage show footage, and a manga booklet, all priced at ¥6,090 ($75.42).

The e-Capcom exclusive Limited Edition includes all the aforementioned items, plus a 1/10 scale figurine of Miles Edgeworth, for ¥8,000 ($99.07). If you want the game and figure, but not the limited edition stuff, e-Capcom has that for ¥7,140 ($88.42). Spending a hundred bucks on a game we can't read just to get a figurine is a pretty terrible tribute to Edgeworth -- it would just be so illogical.

#northamerica Well, well, well. Nice of you to show up, North American PlayStation Store update! And thanks for bringing all that God of War with you. More »

#halloween Starcraft II developers Blizzard held a little competition over the Halloween weekend to see which of their fans could come up with the best pumpkin carving. To say this guy "won" would be selling his achievement short. More »

I will only go over details that we haven’t already reported on the game… - due out in Japan on 11/18 - ¥4,800 - “Big” power up that makes Poko larger - find/collect medals to clear stages - 8 worlds - each world has multiple themed stages - co-op play for stages and boss fights - co-op partner must have MotionPlus - unlock bonus [...]

Man, you guys snatched those up fast! They were only made available earlier today! I guess Nintendo underestimated the love that Nintendo fans have for messenger bags! Thanks to KnucklesSonic for the heads up!

If you can't make it to the Times Square launch of the Microsoft Kinect this Wednesday evening, perhaps your local GameStop will be offering a similarly scintillating launch experience? This morning, the nation's largest game retailer announced plans for "more than 2,000" GameStops to re-open at 10PM (local time) on November 3 for "launch-night activities," as well as sale of the device at the strike of midnight. A list of participating locations can be found here.

Furthermore, GameStop plans on hosting a "Kinect demo day" this coming Saturday (Nov. 6) at 330 outlets, in case you're still not convinced (participating locations found here). Nothing quite says "sold!" like demoing touchy motion technology in a crowded retail store!

Clear some space on the hard drive -- this is a big one.

#pressplay You know how the cutscenes in the LEGO Star Wars games are funnier and more charming than the actual movies they're based on (especially the prequels)? Here's one long LEGO Star Wars cutscene, re-telling the story of episodes IV-VI. More »