All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

The misfit of Kinect's launch lineup.

#howisthisnews I don't know why I'm bothering to even write this off-topic open thread. You guys and gals are probably waiting in line to buy your Kinects or naming your pet tiger cub Skittles by now. Right? More »

#clips So, here's Seacrest County in Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. It's got every challenge a street racer could want, but man, this place feels familiar. More »

Bloomberg News reporter Dina Bass took to Twitter to deliver a confidant recalculation from Xbox's top dude, Don Mattrick. Microsoft revised its Christmas season Kinect sales forecast from 3 million to 5 million which, according to Bass, Mattrick says "would make Kinect the biggest Xbox product launch ever in terms of sales."

It would also dwarf the Xbox 360's 2005 holiday launch in which it sold 1.5 million units worldwide from November 22nd through December 31. Not impressed? It's also considerably more than the PlayStation 3's worldwide sales figures of 1.7 million units just one year later. Last, and perhaps more telling, is that the newly revised estimate also trumps the Wii's relatively impressive 3.19 million units sold worldwide during its first holiday season.

For an accessory, 5 million is a pretty staggering number for just a few short months on shelves. That is, if Microsoft can keep it on shelves and meet demand. Each one of the aforementioned consoles was met with severe holiday season shortages; to come out on top of this numbers game, it would seem that all Kinect has to do is be available.

- find a selection of heroes and heroines to target depending on your character’s current gender - candidates include: James - trader with a poorly performing business, counts on his sister’s support, calm and composed unless he’s dealing with his sisterore talkative. Sarah - runs a general store, but often leaves work to play, gets close to anyone Electra [...]

More trouble for Ignition Entertainment -- after the recent closure of its London studio and the subsequent cancellation of WarDevil, it looks like Reich is headed for the same fate, as the company's Florida studio is now closed, according to a report from Gamasutra. Unconfirmed reports say that all of the studio's 70 employees were let go by the company and escorted off of the premises by executives and police officers. Calls to the studio went unanswered, although a rep from Ignition says that Reich is still being worked on, but that the company is "refocusing it in the right direction."

If the rumors are true, that just leaves Ignition offices in Tokyo and Los Angeles, with El Shaddai left standing as the main title in development for the company. Even if Reich is still in development, rumors say it's cost the company as much as $23 million so far. Quite the disaster indeed.

Back in August, Fangoria was told that the sequel to the Silent Hill movie was on hold following screenwriter Roger Avary's legal issues. But now that same publication has heard that the movie's back on -- Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is supposedly in preproduction, will follow the story of Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3, and yes, will be in 3D. Michael J. Bassett is attached to write and direct, with Lionsgate, Konami and Davis Films doing the production. All of this is still just rumored, but Helldescent reports that producer Don Carmody expects an official announcement "very soon."

We'll leave the pre-judgment of 3D to you guys, but we will go ahead and begin a dirge for poor James Sunderland of Silent Hill 2, whose story is apparently not good enough to make into a movie. Poor James -- not only did he get terrorized by his own sexual dysfunctions, but Hollywood hates him, too.

#rumor Bethesda (and parent company Zenimax) has gone on a major shopping spree over the past few years, expanding far beyond Oblivion and Fallout, snapping up the creators of Doom and Resident Evil. It doesn't look like they're stopping there. More »

#throwitdownbigman Dwight Howard believes his dunk rating of 8 in NBA Jam doesn't reflect reality. Neither does jumping from the three point line to eye-level with the shot clock to throw down a 720-degree behind-the-back slam, but who's counting? More »

After Keiji Inafune finally got his wish and began development of a new Mega Man Legends game ... he left Capcom. The remaining team members collectively issued a statement through Capcom-Unity to let us know that the 3DS Mega Man Legends 3 Project continues unabated. "We have been reading all of your comments from the past few days, many of them expressions of anxiety and many of encouragement," reads the open letter. "Honestly, though many of us are still a little dazed and confused about all of this, the 'can-do' fire inside us is still burning as hot as ever!"

The team also promised to reveal info soon about upgrades to the Devroom community, through which fans help decide design decisions (like the new character design). You can find the full statement after the break. And though it's not explicitly mentioned, we can assure you that Capcom will also continue making Mega Man games in other series. All the time. Forever.

Sackboy Fans! Imagine a tool that gives you and your Sackboy the power to make something out of nothing. Well now, in LittleBigPlanet 2, you’ll have…the Creatinator!

And for more Creatinator goodness, check out this walk through by our own Alex Evans from this year’s gamescom.

What will pop out of your Creatinator?

MUBI lands in homes via the PlayStation Network - and you can celebrate with free movies.

#steam Later this month, Telltale Games—makers of Sam & Max and Penny Arcade video games—will release a new poker title featuring, among others, Team Fortress 2's Heavy. That's not the only incentive luring TF2 fans to do some gambling. More »

Good news: the Avatar outfits offered by Amazon as pre-order bonuses for the Xbox 360 version of Dead Rising 2 won't be delivered after all. Why is that good news? Because who cares about Avatar clothes (even Servbot heads), when the replacement is half off a pre-order of Marvel vs. Capcom 3?

Amazon sent out emails to pre-orderers, offering 50% off of pre-orders of the fighter as a conciliatory gesture for the now-canceled Avatar finery. Combined with the $10 credit offered when the codes for the clothing were merely delayed, that's a $20 copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3! We'd gladly not take any Avatar clothing in exchange for those kinds of savings.

#3d NBA 2K11 will ship a 3D-enabled version for PS3 beginning Nov. 16, and a free patch enabling 3D presentation for all versions will go live in January, 2K Sports said yesterday. More »

Ubisoft has reached a deal to absorb 48 members of Longtail Studios Quebec into its own Quebec City studio, reports French-language outlet Le Soleil (Google translation). The acquisition will also result in a reported 5-6 staff layoffs and effectively closes Longtail's Quebec branch, though its New York headquarters and remaining studios are expected to remain in operation for now. Le Soleil claims that anonymous staff from the studio are pleased to now be working directly for a well-established developer -- plus they'll only have to move a few floors in their current office building, which they share with Ubisoft.

The move comes just weeks after Longtail Quebec's studio director, Andreas Mollman, abruptly departed. The studio had most recently contributed to the development of Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience and other unnamed, but "key" Kinect projects, Ubisoft clarified in a short statement.

The Quebec outfit represented about half of Longtail's total workforce, and the company will now shift the bulk of its development efforts onto its Halifax studio, director general Estelle Jacquemard confirmed. Jacquemard also denied suggestion that the company's future was in question, heralding the success of its most recent release, Dance on Broadway, and saying that ten new jobs would open up in the coming weeks. He also shot down rumor that Longtail's owner, Gerard Guillemot, has plans to get out of the games business altogether -- Gerard is indeed the brother of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and a co-founder of the mega-publisher himself.

Not much is known about THQ's downloadable Saints Row title, save for the fact that it's in development for Xbox Live and is also likely to land on Nintendo's 3DS in some form. In a new interview with Shacknews, THQ's head of core games, Danny Bilson, alluded to some changes made to the title's direction and its dependence on a larger game.

"That one is changed. It's changed," said Bilson. "It's going to be a different--we actually changed the design and are doing something more unique. This is just creative but we wound up feeling the game we were building was too much like a section of Saint's Row that you could play in Saint's Row." Bilson added that this Saints Row would feature an "original game mechanic" that would aid it in supporting the larger franchise.

THQ's approach, then, seems to diverge from the one that spawned Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, a downloadable prequel to Capcom's zombie masher, Dead Rising 2. Capcom called its $5 teaser, composed of gameplay similar to that found in the retail follow-up, its "most dynamic sales weapon" ever, having sold over 500,000 units by the middle of September.

Bilson, however, believes "you don't want to play something that you can play within the main experience." You might be inclined to agree, but only because there's another dynamic sales weapon pointing at your head.

#screengrab LittleBigPlanet Sackboys (and Sackgirl!) still in the making await their eventual appearance in Toronto's 2010 Santa Claus parade. Sony's a sponsor, so expect LittleBigPlanet 2 promotion in this year's festivities. Seen at Torontoist, thanks to Zack. More »

#clips Election Day was yesterday, but so what, none of these politicians in NBA Jam were candidates. When the game hits the Xbox 360 and PS3, it will have the same roster - and unlockables - as the Wii version. More »

John Riccitiello, the man at the top of publisher EA, has long stressed that quality is paramount under his reign at the company. But the CEO who normally loves to promote high Metacritic scores is also fine with "pretty good." More »

It's a proven scientific fact: Nursery rhymes are creepy. As evidence of this undeniable truth, we present this trailer for Dead Space 2, which uses a twisted version of "Ring Around the Rosie" as its backing track. It's almost enough to make you forget how scary the actual game looks. Almost.

Did you want to be the first person to buy Kinect? You were well beaten. The first person -- in a warm purple hoodie -- arrived on Monday, more than two days ago. Thankfully, he had some friends to keep him company. We chatted with the collective group, and asked about what compelled them to wait in the New York City cold. "The deal! It's just so good," one person shouted. "The deal is just -- that's what attracted me. You're getting $160 free and you're buying a $150 system." Certainly, being the first person on line is one way of guaranteeing access to the deal.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to waiting on line for the Kinect, other than the cold, the hunger and inconvenient bathroom breaks. Whilst standing at the entrance of the Times Square Toys R Us, you could faintly see Microsoft's extravagant dance performance (of 600 people!), a block away. "You can be first on line, but you miss everything else," one person lamented. "It's a tease."

But what about the games? "Dance Central looks good. I actually like Kinect Adventures -- that free one that they're giving? That rafting one?"

"Dash" gameplay at its best.

Join Julian in the wait for his "Dinner Date."

What is the Creatinator? It's a new tool for LittleBigPlanet 2 that lets you shoot anything. And we mean anything. As this new trailer shows, you can fire off blocks, shoes and missiles. It's a totally worthwhile upgrade from the Paintinator, don't you think?

Polish your balls and get ready for a competition.

#review Gaijin Games compromises my ability to deliver a concise game description with Bit.Trip Fate, a rhythm-based on-rails twin stick bullet hell shooter. I guess that wasn't too bad. More »