All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#blackops David Voderhaar is not a happy guy. The design director for Call of Duty: Black Ops' multiplayer is busy dealing with the baffling lag problem in the PC version, so please stop "Twit-bombing" him with video of glitches and exploits. More »

Most players have yet to meet or don the required specs necessary to enjoy Call of Duty: Black Ops in 3D. The intended-to-immerse visual effect doesn't come for free, after all -- not even for the game itself. Joystiq came away impressed with developer Treyarch's implementation of the technology across three different platforms, but our commentary lacked the technical foundation you'll find in Eurogamer and Digital Foundry's latest minute inquiry.

According to Richard Leadbetter's thorough analysis (which also pits the Xbox 360 version against the PS3 rendition), Black Ops takes a significant performance hit when played in 3D on consoles. "Away from individual perceptions and back to the cold hard realities of performance and controller response, there's little doubt that 3D impacts the core experience of playing Black Ops. What you gain (or don't gain, depending on the individual's viewpoint) from the 3D effect you lose in terms of controller response and frame-rate," Leadbetter wrote, noting the severity of the drawbacks in a franchise praised for its smooth framerate and quick controls. "On both versions of the game there's often a sense that you're wading through treacle, almost as if you're battling the control scheme to get some semblance of the response you get from playing in 2D." (Note: Black Ops does not, as far as we know, include a level set in a malfunctioning sugar refinery.)

Despite the PlayStation 3 making a hard push for 3D adoption -- next year's Killzone 3 being one of the standout titles -- Leadbetter concluded that playability on Sony's console suffered the most. "We've logged the PS3 game running as low as 20FPS - and that's just in the very first street battle in the initial Cuba level."

This lack of parity between versions is a problem unique to 3D games -- film studios need only be concerned with how well a film plays with the audience, and not how well the audience plays it. However, as new technology gains wider acceptance, the tradeoffs should become less costly. We're bound to lose a few on the frontline first.

A fresh look at Gameloft's PSN dungeon crawler, now with Move support.

The PlayStation Store is now open in Midtown Manhattan, in the lower level of the Sony Style store. We stopped by to check out what it has to offer.

#nintendo Nintendo has found a novel new way to promote the upcoming release of Donkey Kong Country Returns: Filing a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the pop-culture phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong." Oh it's on. More »

#roundup An elite force of soldiers that operates beyond the boundaries of any law. They are shadows, waiting for the perfect time to strike. They are the assembled video game critics, and this is the Call of Duty: Black Ops Frankenreview. More »

The following message comes from Mega Man community manager Uchida-san… A Canadian pro-wrestler, Kenny Omega, came to visit our Shinjuku office with a Japanese pro-wrestler, Kota Ibushita the other day. Kenny loves Capcom games so much, in particular MM, that he uses Dr. Willy Stage from MM2 as his theme song. I believe there are lots of [...]

#activision Call of Duty: Black Ops is rubbing one nation the wrong way. Cuba's state-run media has blasted Activision's latest entry in the Call of Duty series as "doubly perverse" propaganda for a story arc involving former president Fidel Castro. More »

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's new Montreal studio won't be working on triple-A console games, but will instead focus on smaller social and mobile titles, with a budget under $10 million per project. Speaking to LaPresseAffaires (Google translation), Montreal studio head Martin Carrier said that WBI-oui originally considered online games to be a secondary market, before the company realized the niche was "growing." Hmmm ... we wonder where execs got that idea?

Reportedly, some employees and recruits haven't been so peachy keen on the studio's en vogue direction. Of course, in Montreal, there are still actual places where game devs can work on big-budget games. See: Ubisoft, EA and most-recently THQ.

Hi everyone! This week sees another deluge of top-quality new releases to add to our bulging catalog of 2500+ titles, as well as 4 long-awaited new bundle collections from Marvel.

Following the recent success of Daredevil: Hell to Pay, X-Men: Blinded by the Light and Fantastic Four: Civil War Books 1 and 2 we are proud to announce the launch four more classic Marvel bundles. The Amazing Spider-Man: Back in Black, The Avengers: Red Zone, Uncanny X-Men: House of M and Wolverine: Enemy of the State are now also available to download as collected story editions, offering great value for money.

You can check out all the bundles and free comics currently available on this page.

Meanwhile…

• Marvel’s New X-Men from 2001 sees the start of Grant Morrison’s tenure on the title, with artist Frank Quitely redesigning the look of the team. Watch out for appearances from Cyclops, Wolverine, Phoenix, Beast, Emma Frost and Xorn.
• Find out Dark Avenger has joined the ranks of the New Avengers – and just who the interdimensional demonic threat to their existence is -with the start of Bendis & Immonen’s 2004 series from Marvel.
• DC’s Green Lantern Corps: Recharge also kicks off this week, one of two follow ups to the Green Lantern: Rebirth mini-series also available in the Digital Comics Store.
• Friends! Love! Fashion! Money! Fun! Boys! School! Shopping! Cosmetics! Shoes! Get sassy with Archie Comic’s Veronica as she celebrates her 200th issue.
• Now that Batman R.I.P. has concluded, the aftermath begins with Batman #682.
• Plus, there’s new issues of Sandman, Wonder Woman, Jurassic Park and Y: The Last Man, the first issue proper of DC’s Telara Chronicles, another helping of Transformers: Drift, and, somewhat inevitably, more Iron Man: The Inevitable.

Here’s the full list:

• 5 Days to Die - #5
• 2000AD Prog - #1705
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) : Back in Black BUNDLE
• The Avengers (1998) : Red Zone BUNDLE
• Batman - #682
• Birds Of Prey - #65
• Birds Of Prey - #66
• Boffin Boy - #7
• Boffin Boy - #8
• Boffin Boy - #9
• Danger Girl - #5
• Danger Girl - #6
• Danger Girl - #7
• Dark Man - #7
• Dark Man - #8
• Dark Man - #9
• Ex Machina - #17
• Fables - #32
• Green Lantern - #14
• Green Lantern Corps – #1
• Iron Man: The Inevitable (2005) – #6
• JLA - #18
• Jurassic Park - #4
• Justice League: Generation Lost - #13
• Midnight Kiss - #5
• New Avengers (2004) - #1
• New Avengers (2004) - #2
• New Avengers (2004) - #3
• New Avengers (2004) - #4
• New X-Men (2001) - #114
• New X-Men (2001) - #115
• New X-Men (2001) - #116
• New X-Men (2001) - #117
• Planetary - #16
• Powers (2000) - #33
• Powers (2000) - #34
• Sandman - #9
• Singularity - #2
• Smoke & Mirror – #4
• Superman/Batman - #36
• Telara Chronicles - #1
• Transformers: Drift - #3
• Uncanny X-Men (2003) BUNDLE
• Veronica - #200
• Wolverine (2003) : Enemy of the State BUNDLE
• Wonder Woman Vol. 3 - #8
• Y: The Last Man 15

Please visit www.playstationcomics.com for prices and to see the whole catalog. While you’re there, check out the Digital Comics Forum to chew the fat with other fans (you may find one or two creators there, too)

#activision Call of Duty: Black Ops is rubbing one nation the wrong way. Cuba's state-run media has blasted Activision's latest entry in the Call of Duty series as "doubly perverse" propaganda for a story arc involving former president Fidel Castro. More »

#xbox360 George W. Bush has a new book out. Dick Cheney has a new video game. But the latter is not an official product and does the strangest things with its source material. More »

- £1.2 million to be spent on advertising - ad campaign starts early December - TV ads on video-on-demand services, and channels such as Sky Sports, Five, MTV, Comedy Central, Sky 1, and ITV - special spot during The X-Factor. - ads across Facebook, YouTube, Google and Xbox Live, which should attract more than 60m unique users - radio ads - [...]

This list perfectly showcases why some devs are willing to move ahead on new IPs, while others are too afraid to move forward. We’re talking about multi-million dollar losses here, or possibly huge gains. It’s really a crap shoot, as even the most intricate market research can steer developers in the wrong direction. Article [...]

Age: 1 day old
Location: In stores & PSN
ESRB: Teen
Players: 1

Hello, PlayStation.Blog readers. I’m a super fun and newly available (in stores and on PSN) game seeking that special person to take me home and get me going. To be clear, I’m not a casual game; I’m the real deal, a true hardcore experience, and I’m looking for a serious gamer who can commit to a mix of action, strategy, and roleplaying to delve into my campaign and unlock my secrets. My name is Knights in the Nightmare, and I’m available now on the PSP.

I vary between 2” tall and total non-corporality. I love long walks along the lakeside; fast-paced, action-packed bullet hell shooter gameplay mixed with tactical RPG goodness; and dark chocolate. I think I have a lot to offer a prospective player: over 40 missions spanning an emotionally charged narrative fraught with loss, hope, and retribution, not to mention a thrilling mix of fast-paced action and strategic roleplaying, beautiful visuals and sounds, and much more.

I’m looking for someone who can handle my uniquely involved, satisfyingly challenging mechanics. He/she must be open to a slight learning curve, but after that it’ll be non-stop innovation, a stunning array of colorful, stylized graphics, and a ton of replayability to boot.

The more time you spend with me, the more you’ll get out of me. I have three different main characters I can offer an interested player, each with their own unique take on my story’s events. Moreover, because recruiting characters throughout my adventure is a big part of the experience, and because it isn’t possible to recruit every single one in one playthrough, you’ll have plenty of cause to boot me up for a second or even third run.

Even better: for a limited time, regardless of whether you pick me up from a store or through PlayStation Store, I’ll have a friend of mine tag along, too. That’s right, get me and you’ll also get Yggdra Union (PSP). Everyone knows two is better (and more fun) than one!

Do you have what it takes to complete me?

• It’s NOT ok to contact this poster with questions/requests regarding the localization and/or release of unrelated games

Just a friendly reminder, since we're always looking out for our Internet friends' A-Team viewing capabilities: the Hulu Plus app is now available from the PlayStation Store to all PSN users in the US -- and an updated version, at that. If Hulu was the only reason you were subscribing to PlayStation Plus, well ... you can let that subscription lapse.

Did you know that an estimated 50,000 hedgehogs die each year in Great Britain, due to being run over on roads? SEGA knows, and they’re trying to lower that statistic while raising awareness for the upcoming Sonic Colors. As you can see, SEGA has set up a hedgehog crossing point to help the [...]

#gameface The UK pop singer responsible for the English theme song to Final Fantasy XIII, Leona Lewis helped launch Kinect in England yesterday during an event at the Natural History Museum. More »

Sonic Colors on DS is more than a hat delivery vector. It's also a Sonic Rush-style platformer with new powerups, like the DS-exclusive "Burst" and "Void," which turn Sonic into a bomb and a black hole, respectively. The new footage is worth enduring the erratically moving DS screens in the trailer.

If you're a fan of both The Conduit and displays of wealth, you'll be happy to know that if you buy Conduit 2 from GameStop, you can make both your copy and your in-game character look more opulent. The retailer is offering a limited-edition version of High Voltage's Wii FPS (for the same $50 price as the regular edition) that includes an art book. It's just the thing to show off the fact that you have a limited edition.

In addition to the art book, you'll get in-game bonuses including the "Eye of Ra," a version of the All Seeing Eye that finds hidden items twice as quickly, and "Gold Destroyer Armor" for multiplayer, which is like the normal armor, but golden.

#pullquote The creator of Mario and Donkey Kong explains why the plumber was better-suited to star in so many games than the ape. A win for the little guys out there. More »

#easports EA Sports is kicking off the Nintendo 3DS launch next year with a little Madden football, an off-season release that brings the NFL license into stereoscopic 3D in the palm of your hand. More »

Check out more screens in our Flickr set What: Style Lab Fashion Design Platform: Nintendo DS™ system Where: Available at retailers everywhere When: November 2, 2010 Rating: E (for Everyone) Price: $29.99 Details: Ubisoft is proud to announce the launch of its newest game-to-reality title from the innovative Style Lab brand: Style Lab Fashion Design. Now, players can design their own fashions [...]