All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Are you down with DBZ?

Remember the amazing water effects in the first BioShock? Those weren't stock Unreal Engine 2.5 assets, friends. Instead, since believable water was such a key part of selling the underwater city of Rapture, Irrational Games developed the game's water in-house. Despite an aging engine under the hood, the artists at Irrational were able to make BioShock look more UE3 than UE2.5. And now they're promising the same treatment leap for the UE3-powered (and still-way-off) BioShock Infinite.

"Right from the outset we realized that this was going to be a monumental undertaking on the tech side," Irrational tech director Chris Kline wrote on the dev's forums, "but decided it was a challenge that we simply had to take on in order to give gamers the kind of quality experience they've come to expect from Irrational Games and BioShock." Kline reveals that the team considered using the heavily modified Unreal Engine 2.5 they'd already invested in, but it was "too under-powered and unwieldy for the depth and complexity of the gameplay and narrative we had planned." So Irrational stepped up to Unreal Engine 3 and began modifying its base.

- ”Hyakunin Isshu” (100 people, one poem) is a term for traditional Japanese anthologies of short poems by 100 different authors, - Shigureden is a theme park where Nintendo has an interactive exhibit about the same topic - helps users memorize a particular set of 100 poems - presents mnemonics based on specific lines - based on [...]

Independent PC companies unite.

Kratos' latest adventure offers intense action, a thrilling story, and stunning graphics never before seen on the portable platform.

Team Penguin dives into Nintendo DS and DSi systems.

Time for another public service announcement from your civic-minded pals at Joystiq: If you were thinking about picking up Lego Rock Band on Xbox 360 hoping to suck its delicious track marrow from that disc-shaped skeleton, you're going to want to hold off until further notice from Harmonix. Also, you're going to want to work on that metaphor.

After a lengthy 20-page thread on the Lego Rock Band Forums, Harmonix took to the boards to assure fans - and would-be track-suckers - that the feature would be back up and running soon. You see, the process for exporting tracks from Lego Rock Band is a little cumbersome: You enter the code included in the game onto RockBand.com which, in turn, provides you with a code to "purchase" the license from the Xbox Live Marketplace. At this point, you're able to actually export the tracks for the cool asking price of $10. The snag: Harmonix has "temporarily run out of Lego: Rock Band redemption tokens" but expects to remedy the situation "soon."

If you've already been afflicted by this issue, Harmonix has some advice for you in its statement. Everyone else, sit tight until whatever licensing nightmare that's responsible for this goes away. The statement:
Due to overwhelming demand, we've temporarily run out of Lego: Rock Band redemption tokens for Xbox 360. We're really happy so many of you were excited to bring songs from LRB over into Rock Band 3 and we're doing our best to get new tokens set up for redemption as quickly as possible. Stay tuned to this thread and watch @RockBand on twitter for updates. We'll be responding to everyone via Redemption@RockBand.com shortly, but HMXcj and I will be updating this thread to reach as many people as possible. Sorry again for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience! [Thanks, Peter]

#feature There's an old translator's joke that goes something like this: If you literally translated what is said when a Japanese businessman calls another, you'd get two people constantly apologizing. Not exactly fall over funny, but it's true. More »

This Thursday, November 4th, members of the PlayStation Home community can own real estate in one of the most glamorous and exclusive zip codes in the world when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment launches the all new “Hollywood Hills House” personal space.

For just $4.99 you can live like a celebrity in a two-story mansion perched atop the Hollywood Hills. Invite up to 11 friends at a time into one of your two home theaters and watch clips from some of your favorite movies, trailers, Minisodes and exclusive content from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Releasing and Crackle. Throw a party by the sprawling infinity pool, lounge in the Jacuzzi, and take in the million-dollar views – all in the Hollywood Hills House, available this Thursday from the Estates Store in PlayStation Home.

Music lovers rejoice! This Thursday the London Pub Radio (LPR) takes to the airwaves – a free update to all London Pub owners. Every month LPR will be pumping tunes courtesy of a hand-selected group of featured artists into a radio placed in the London Pub personal space (first up from LPR are four tracks from RedderStare – an up and coming four-piece band from London, UK).

That’s not all – LPR is also launching a website where independent musicians from our community will be able to submit original music for a chance to have their tracks broadcast into London Pubs all around PlayStation Home. Head to www.veemee.com/thelondonpub/radio to upload tracks and learn more about this exciting new program!

The PlayStation Home Mall receives a large update this Thursday with items from Capcom’s Lost Planet 2 (look for the Jungle Pirate and Nevec Soldier costumes), nDreams’ “Party Props” and “Black Robe” items, and a some truly awesome additions to our line of original costumes (check out the pics below for a taste of what is in store this week).

Finally, we’ll debut a new series this week in the mega-popular PlayStation Home Community Theater. Come out and watch the premier of Replay with Doc. In episode 1, the Tester star interviews Brett Norton, lead designer of TimeGate Studios, and they discuss the upcoming Section 8: Prejudice as well as digital distribution in the gaming industry. After you watch Replay with Doc, stick around for GamerIndepth’s “Shoutouts” and learn how not to appear “N00Bish” in Central Plaza and catch an interview with the team behind Lair.

See you in Home!

Raise and nurture EyePet and watch him come to life via the camera for the PSP.

This week marks the long awaited arrival of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels on Xbox Live Arcade. It also marks the ... expected arrival of King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. Not exactly the "Game Feast" goodness we've be spoiled by as of late, but at least card game and fighting game fans have something to look forward to. Check out the latest XBLA in Brief to see if either game will light a fire under your wallet.

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House M.D. is due out in Europe on December 10th, and is being published by Mindscape.

Sunnyvale, CA – November 3rd, 2010 – Gamelion announces today that Adventure in Vegas: Slot Machine, will be released on Monday November 8th in America for 200 Nintendo DSi PointsTM. Adventure in Vegas: Slot Machine Adventure in Vegas: Slot Machine is a new casino game from Gamelion, placing slot machine gaming and gambling experience on [...]

Midwestern retailer mistakenly throws launch event for digital PlayStation Network release.

It only makes sense that after offering PlayStation Plus subscribers a free download of Abe's Oddysee, Sony would let them complete the saga by handing out Abe's Exoddus. It's just one of the handful of freebies coming in the next PS+ update, which is detailed after the jump.

Check out more screens in our Flickr set What: Petz Nursery™ 2 Platform: Nintendo DS™ family of hand-held systems Where: Available at retailers everywhere When: November 3, 2010 Price: $29.99 Details: Ubisoft is proud to announce that the sequel to one of its most successful Petz games is now available at retail. Petz Nursery 2 has also been named one of [...]

Everyday that goes by, we creep a little bit closer to virtual realism. The emphasis in that statement is on the word ‘creep’. No matter how far we push forward with graphical technology, we’re always going to have the uncanny valley to deal with. There’s never going to be a day where [...]

You never wanted these, until NOW!!!

You never wanted these, until NOW!!!

In-game autolog feature challenges friends and frenemies to compete for top spot.

You never wanted these, until NOW!!!

You never wanted these, until NOW!!!

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