All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Treyarch's David Vonderhaar has considerable emotional investment in Call of Duty: Black Ops, having served as Multiplayer Design Director. That helps explain his fiery comments regarding complaints that players had already hacked the game's online multiplayer component. On the official Black Ops forums, Vonderhaar explained that most of the videos circling the YouTubes feature older dev versions of the game, or use exploits that can be easily hotfixed or patched "just like we said we would."

Vonderhaar expressed disappointment in these complaints, saying, "What many of these people want is to be Internet nerd famous. I'm not going to make them famous and you shouldn't either." He later added, "We are disinterested in making mini-celebrities out of douche-bags."

Wow, we're actually kind of inspired by his passion, here. If everyone adopted the "no fame for douche-bags" credo, just think how much of a better place we'd be living in! There'd be no reality television at all.

First up, some news about two titles that seemed to pop up out of nowhere in Australia. With very little fanfare, both Rune Factory 2 and Ivy the Kiwi? have landed at JB Hi-Fi retail shelves. If you’re looking to get your hands on these games, it seems that JB Hi-Fi is the [...]

#science Is the flow of time constant, or can events that haven't occurred yet influence our behavior? A new paper provides scientific proof that humans can see into the future. You probably saw this coming. More »

Two Worlds 2's release drama continues, as publisher TopWare/Zuxxez's CEO Dirk Hassinger calls Sony out for missing the game's European release date. Eurogamer reports that the game recently launched in mainland Europe on Xbox 360 and PC, but the executive explains that because TopWare couldn't choose the pressing plant for the PS3 discs, the game won't be available on the platform until after Christmas.

This is just the latest incident in a string of delays, more delays and denials regarding the reasons for those delays that have plagued the title. The wait may be worth it, as Eurogamer Germany gave the game a 9/10. Two Worlds 2 is expected to launch January 2011 in the US and UK.

New studio from Starbreeze founders aquired.

New studio from Starbreeze founders aquired.

New studio from Starbreeze founders aquired.

New studio from Starbreeze founders aquired.

Makes you wonder if this rapper legally sampled Chrono Trigger, or just ganked it for his own use.

#screengrab This image of active Call of Duty: Black Ops players was snapped by reader The Dude at 11 p.m. eastern time last night. More »

Atari has gone fully old-IP-crazy, having just released a remake of Haunted House. New Asteroids, Star Raiders, and Centipede games are also on the way, not to mention direct ports of old games on DS and XBLA.

We can add Yars' Revenge, the hit shmup about shooting through a thick shield to gain access to the delicious enemy center, to the list of properties being dredged up again. Atari's first-half financial results briefing (PDF here) lists Yars' Revenge as a Q1 2011 release for PSN, XBLA, and PC. Now we'll see the destruction of that smug, well-protected Qotile in glorious high definition.

New screens from the upcoming Dungeon simulator.

#pullquote The chairman of the company that puts out everything from Civilization to BioShock to Grand Theft Auto explains why he's never rushed to try to turn his top series into the next World of Warcraft. And for that, we are thankful. More »

#bulletstormorangejuice Unlike the package of bullet-riddled rotten meat sent to my house earlier this year, this jug of Bulletstorm Orange Juice promises to deliver Amazing Bulletstorm Stories! packed with 100% PULP! More »

Major Nelson has posted a schedule of content coming to Xbox Live Marketplace this month. Some stuff we knew about -- Crazy Taxi November 24 on and the Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack to name a few -- but others, including the Deal of the Week on November 22 and a special promotion for non-Gold members of Xbox Live, are news. You can find all of the pertinent details past the break.

My name is George Weising, Producer for SCEA. The purpose of this blog is to introduce you all to Japan Studio’s upcoming title Beat Sketcher, a Move exclusive title that will be available for purchase in the PlayStation Store just in time for Thanksgiving.

So, what is Beat Sketcher? It is actually hard to call this a game, as it is more of an artistic experience that allows you to become very creative using the PlayStation Move as your virtual drawing tool or paint brush. Beat Sketcher lets you create your own masterpiece no matter what your skill level is. You can learn to draw by copying brush strokes in something called Challenge Mode or grab some friends and work together to create something magical (either cooperatively or competitively if you so choose). My favorite part is the Creation Mode, where you start with a blank canvas, so-to-speak, and unleash my imagination! If you create something you’re proud of, you can even upload it to YouTube for all your friends to see.

The basic team that created Beat Sketcher is a collaboration between JAPAN Studio, WILL Co., Ltd. (echochrome) and noisycroak Co.,Ltd. (echochrome, No Heroes Allowed series, Patchwork Heroes, Yakuza 3, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, etc…). This is the first time the team has collaborated creatively and we are pretty excited about what they’ve created!

Over the Summer we spoke with three members of the Beat Sketcher Development team (Ichiro Ebisu – Sound Creator, Yasuhiro Kawagoe – Sound Director / Composer , and Kenei Hayama – Art Director) for a little Q&A. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing videos created by each of them along with portions of their interview to give you an idea of who they are and their thoughts behind the creation of Beat Sketcher. For this weeks segment we’d like to introduce Mr. Ichiro Ebisu and show you a video that he created using Beat Sketcher.

Ichiro Ebisu – Sound Creator: “I tried to express that this game allows not just to draw, but also to generate music made with individual sounds by each stroke, which is Beat Sketcher’s unique feature. Also, I completed the artwork making full use of the ‘Auto Sound Tool Select’ feature and ‘Eyedropper Tool’, and tried not to use the Tool window as much as I could.”

We’ll be back next week with part 1 of the developer interview and introduce you to Mr. Yasuhiro Kawagoe. In the mean time, here are some sweet pictures that were drawn using Beat Sketcher, just to give you all an idea of what you can create.

Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming release of Beat Sketcher for PSN on November 23rd!

Strike before your enemies.

DSi Shop concept by Adam “Atomic” Saltsman (Canabalt) This would certainly make browsing the DSi Shop a lot easier. It really is quite dreadful to navigate, mostly due to the turtle-like speed.

It's time for Mama to retire.

Unsatisfied by their stellar performance in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, a number of characters from the Final Fantasy universe will once again show their athletic prowess in Square Enix's Mario Sports Mix. Gaming news site The Bit Block recently compiled a bunch of gameplay clips from the title's official website, featuring the special moves of the White Mage, Black Mage, Cactuar, Moogle and Ninja. The Mario Sports Mix website also references some Dragon Quest cameos -- though none of those appear in the aforementioned reel, which is posted after the jump.

Once again, the Final Fantasy characters appear to be really sportsmanlike about the whole thing. For instance, that Black Mage would have a much easier time of making a three pointer if he took out all his defenders with a well-timed Ultima, yet he takes his knocks like everyone else. Good form, Mr. Black Mage.

Wow, here I thought those pins were pretty cheap to make! Something tells me that an extra zero was thrown in there. Thanks to Popple for the heads up!

- Deals running from 10pm on November 25 until 1pm on November 26… Battle of the Giants: Dinosaur Strike (Wii) - $14.99 How to Train Your Dragon (DS) - $9.99 How to Train Your Dragon (Wii) - $14.99 iCarly 2 (Wii) - $14.99 Kung Zhu (DS) - $14.99 Megamind (DS) - $14.99 Monster Buck Hunter (Wii) - $14.99 Monster Jam 3: Path of [...]

#releasedate The bow monks have notched their arrows, the boats have been launched, and the footmen are stirring nervously in anticipation of the newly-revealed March release date for Sega's Shogun 2: Total War. More »