All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#clips We've seen off the wall knife kills before in Call of Duty multiplayer—remember this lucky Modern Warfare 2 stab?—but across the map, off the wall, off the floor and into the Achilles heel of an online opponent? More »

KONAMI today unveiled portions of the diverse song list for DanceDanceRevolution. Available for Wii™, and for the first time ever, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, DanceDanceRevolution offers up a unique and high-energy dancing experience, which has become known all across the world! This next iteration of DanceDanceRevolution boasts 50 tracks including 20 master tracks from some of [...]

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Annual Digital Entertainment Conference in New York today, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime highlighted the importance of this year's holiday season, and contrasted his company's greater reliance on the end-of-year sales boom over that of competitors.

"The holidays are more important to Nintendo than to other manufacturers," Fils-Aime said. "We have a distinct edge when it comes to gift-giving, and it's no doubt because of the familiarity and recognition of both our brand and key franchises." Nintendo's upcoming software lineup for November and December boasts some famous -- though not distinctly edgy -- brands, including Donkey Kong Country Returns and Disney Epic Mickey, but hardware has historically been the company's best performer during the holiday season. Nintendo sold over five million DS units and five million Wiis in the US through November and December last year, a two-month tally which Fils-Aime said comprised over 40% of Nintendo's annual sales.

Fils-Aime also cited NPD data, which showed that Nintendo had shifted 43.1 million DS systems and 30.4 million Wiis in the US thus far. The holidays are just as crucial for software sales, with Fils-Aime noting that 44 percent of all annual game sales were incurred during the last two months of the year (compared to 33 percent for other manufacturers). Nintendo had the top three best-selling games in December 2009 -- New Super Mario Bros., Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort -- though it conceded November to Call of Duty. It's likely to do so again this year.

With the introduction of new Mario-themed console bundles and a solid lineup of seemingly evergreen first-party sellers, Nintendo seems adequately prepared before it wades bravely into that throbbing, Black Friday consumer crowd. Perhaps Microsoft is the smart one for courting those same customers from a distance -- eight feet or so.

InstantAction, an Oregon-based web gaming and digital distribution platform, will cease operations. Gamasutra confirmed the closure, which was announced on the the company's Torque game engine site.

Director of InstantAction's Torque game engine operations Eric Preisz posted the company's statement: "Today, InstantAction informed employees that it will be winding down operations. While we are shutting down the InstantAction.com website and Instant Jam game, Torquepowered.com will continue to operate while InstantAction explores opportunities with potential buyers for Torque. We thank all of our past and current customers for their support."

The company had made several smaller games, like Instant Jam and Monkey Island, available to play using its browser-based tech. The tech's eventual promise was to make large games playable almost instantly through a browser or full screen as the title was progressively downloaded to the user's PC.

#kinect ! Chris Erickson's brother found himself without the use of his right arm following a tragic accident, but that hasn't stopped him from enjoying Xbox 360 Kinect games. More »

High Voltage certainly had ambition and vision when designing the original Conduit for Wii, hyping it as a marquee FPS title for Nintendo's console. Unfortunately, the execution wasn't there. Fast forward a year since its release, and High Voltage is working on a sequel. Although the team admits the first game didn't meet expectations, I couldn't help but get a sense of déjà vu while watching the strictly hands-off demo. This time, it's actually going to be really good -- but isn't that what you guys promised us last time?

Conduit 2 has all the features you'd expect of a sequel. More locations! This time, you'll be wandering around a variety of locales, including the mythical Atlantis. (You do make a return trip to DC, but only for one level.) More weapons! With more human, alien and Atlantian guns to use this time around. Better graphics! Or, at least, better art direction and a closer attention to detail. Each level looks very different, with an intentional focus on offering different color palettes throughout the game. Humor! In an attempt to take things a bit less seriously than in the first game, expect many more quips from Ford as he goes through his mission. The banter felt strangely reminiscent of a Duke Nukem game.

Yet, in spite High Voltage's efforts to build upon the previous game, there's one feature I still couldn't find in the hands-off demo: fun.

THQ has quietly revealed a release date for De Blob 2 (now minus "The Underground"), the multiplatform sequel to the Wii splatformer: February 22, 2011. The date was revealed on the newly launched website, along with the box art for each version, which also reveals Move compatibility for the PS3 version. Interestingly, the box art carries the "SyFy Kids" logo, suggesting that the network is partnering with THQ not just for other Blob media based on the game, but for the game as well.

After the break, check out a trailer. You can see more footage of the HD version in IGN's video preview, which reveals that special "target buildings" must be reclaimed not just by painting them, but by completing 2D challenges.

#figures The Monday Night Combat battle continues... in your home! Uber Entertainment, makers of the Xbox Live Arcade hit, have made four of the game's combatants available in resin form via the developer's online store. More »

#pc The company that let us play The Secret of Monkey Island in our browser and just started letting people play a sort of Guitar Hero on Facebook is shutting down. More »

A teaser site has revealed that a TV series based on the Stalker FPS franchise is being developed for Russian television. The site is called "KinoS.T.A.L.K.E.R." ("kino" meaning "film" in Russian), has both an English and a Russian section, and was linked to by Ukraine's GSC Game World's Facebook profile. There's also a trailer on the site, subtitled in English, though it's hard to tell what's going on with all the series standards in there -- including mutants, darkness, and explosions aplenty.

Still, the site clearly states that there is a "TV series coming soon" based on the property, which itself takes influence from Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 film, as well as the old science fiction story "Roadside Picnic." Stalker fans will probably be happy to hear that the series will mutate into yet another form of media.

Howdy, PlayStation Network friends! J Devon here from TikGames-Creat Studios with an exciting announcement I know our fans have been desperately waiting for. I finally have the pleasure of telling you North Americans all about our latest game, SkyFighter, available for download next week for $9.99 on the PlayStation Network.

If you like the sound of side-scrolling aerial combat, get ready to join the elite SkyFighter airborne squadron! Prepare to defend your country against the hostile enemy fleet. Battle in any conditions—rain or shine, day or night—while mastering your flying skills in a variety of aircrafts.

SkyFighter’s fast-paced missions will enlist you to bomb the enemy’s equipment and fortifications, shoot down their fighters with your machine guns, and destroy their hostile bombers with your missiles. The action isn’t all dogfights, either. Stealth Missions require you to take cover in clouds, avoid search lights and dodge floating air mines.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “This game sounds awesome, but what about local multiplayer?!” Ask and you shall receive! Recruit a partner for 2-player Wing Mode to complete missions and shoot down enemies together. Or, if you’re the competitive type, challenge up to 7 other players in Dogfight Mode and determine who really rules the skies.

SkyFighter also supports full 1080p, custom music, and SIXAXIS controls. The coolest feature, in my opinion, is the ability to shake your controller to extinguish the flames when your plane is on fire! Oh, and did I mention how awesome the visuals are? We’re quite proud!

Everyone at TikGames and Creat Studios are incredibly excited to continue supporting the PlayStation Network with the release of our 11th title. We’re always listening, and we absolutely love chatting with our fans. Please check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to hear about our current projects and to talk to the team. Let us know what you think of SkyFighter!

No stopping Namco Bandai Monster Hunter clone. But will it reach its 500,000 unit target?

No stopping Namco Bandai Monster Hunter clone. But will it reach its 500,000 unit target?

In the latest Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 media, Nathan "Rad" Spencer takes on the Megacopter, a big vehicle with kind-of-convenient areas to grab with a bionic arm. Well, it's convenient until the jets turn on, anyway. Check out video footage after the break.

Capcom also officially announced the "retro" difficulty for Fatshark's side-scrolling sequel (first revealed earlier this week by MTV), which removes the new, and controversial, jumping ability. That should satisfy Bionic Commando purists: not only can you play through the game without jumping (and without the option to jump) -- since the levels are designed with the knowledge that players can jump, though not in a way that forces them to jump, they'll be even harder.

No stopping Namco Bandai Monster Hunter clone. But will it reach its 500,000 unit target?

No stopping Namco Bandai Monster Hunter clone. But will it reach its 500,000 unit target?

#gameface Dora the Explorer and Top Chef host and professional hamburger eater Padma Lakshmi hang together at the New York City launch party for Nickelodeon Fit for the Wii. More »

The rest of the editorial team chimes in on Starkiller's next adventure.

Team Meat has posted a rather lengthy update on all things Super Meat Boy. First, the upcoming update for the XBLA version of the game "is being submitted" to Microsoft and the team hopes it will be available by November 21. The update should fix all known bugs in the game, wipe out all 0.0 clear times from the Xbox Live leaderboards and add a new music track. It will also add 20 new levels to 'Teh Internets,' all designed exclusively for the sticky black ball of goo, Gish. Entitled "The Sewers of Dross," the levels range from "medium to soul crushing" in difficulty.

On the PC front, Team Meat has revealed the silhouette of another exclusive character. We're not sure who it is, though it kinda looks like Penny Arcade's Fruit F**ker without any legs (we'd hate to imagine what his special ability would be). Team Meat also dropped a few hints on the remaining characters: "one of them sticks, one of them dashes, one of them changes form and one of them isn't organic." Finally, the team hopes to release the PC version of Super Meat Boy in the last week of November. The level editor -- including "some kind of portal enabling players to easily view and rate user made levels" -- should follow in December.

Moogle, Cactuar and more join Miis and possible a Dragon Quest character.

New dungeon to open in Limo Desert.

A portion of a Nintendo Life review… The humour in the game is a bit embarrassing, but the real laughs will come from the people you’re playing with while you enjoy spending time together anyway. This will definitely be overshadowed by superior games in the same genre, but it’s at least worth a look at its [...]

You're a giant video game company. You've released StarCraft II this year, and Call of Duty: Black Ops is selling ridiculous amounts. Your first name's Activision, last name's Blizzard. You have a plan for the future and, today, you shared. More »

Kiss him goodbye, he's defying gravity.