All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Approximately 88 employees let go.

#hollywood Super Mario Bros. The Movie may be one of the worst video game film adaptations of all time, but for those who prefer to revel in its awfulness, perhaps this King Koopa costume should be part of your collection. More »

The downloadable Yars' Revenge reboot spotted in Atari's earnings report has been officially revealed. Yar's Revenge (even the apostrophe placement has been rebooted!) is an anime-style game following one rogue Yar (an insectoid creature) fighting the evil Qotile forces that had previously brainwashed her.

Speaking to Big Download, producer Michael Fahrny said Yar's Revenge "is now a third-person arcade shooter experience in which a Yar flies through visually stunning Miyazaki-inspired landscapes while fighting a wide variety of memorable enemies." Basically, you'd have no idea it was supposed to be a remake of the 1981Yars' Revenge if it wasn't for the game title. Landscapes? Variety? Miyazaki-inspired? Quite a step from that psychedelic "neutral zone" and the single Qotile laser cannon behind a shield found in the Atari 2600 game. "If you like games like Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox," Fahrny said, "then Yar's Revenge is right up your alley."

This new Yar's is the work of Killspace Entertainment, a studio formed by EALA, Obsidian, Red 5 and Pandemic vets. Check out a trailer after the break, and try to remember, it's for Yar's Revenge.

Amazon's ramping up for the one-two thrift punch of Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a fairly handsome deal of its own -- buy any one of the many, many games on this list, get another for 40 percent off. Or, buy a new Wii and Balance Board, get a $50 Amazon gift card on the free.

If PDP's official Kinect TV mount is a bit too pricey for you, Instructables user Riffraff67 has designed a sort of shelf for the Kinect that uses about $10 worth of materials and about 15 minutes' worth of labor.

It might look, well, insane, consisting of a metal plate (in the example, a "handicap" sign), a bit of PVC pipe, and Velcro, but it appears to fulfill its function of putting a flat surface on the top of your TV. Besides, nobody'd be able to tell you had instituted such an unorthodox solution unless they peeked behind the TV, and then they'd probably just be impressed by the combination of thrift and cleverness it suggests.

A portion of an NWR review… Outside of the excellent multiplayer, there is still some fun to be had in Force Unleashed II. For all the issues I have with it, I enjoyed the basic force-fueled gameplay. It just doesn’t have enough longevity to hold up over an entire five-hour game. If you’re a Star Wars [...]

Somebody get an exorcist.

#starwars Good. Goooood. I can feel three decades worth of your Ewok anger. Take your copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II and electrocute those Endor teddy bears and your journey towards the dark side will be complete! More »

Ten reasons why you should still be excited about Nintendo's aging handheld.

The saga of Six Days in Fallujah hasn't completely ended yet -- Atomic Games' Peter Tamte admits that the game isn't actually finished (no duh), but tells VG247 that "what we need is the funding to complete it." While showing off the company's new downloadable shooter, Breach, to journalists in London, Tamte said that publishers just aren't willing to commit to telling stories like the ones told in Six Days, and that's resulting in falling industry sales. "It should be clear to them," Tamte says, "that the path we are on right now is taking us downhill. And yet when I have conversations with publishers, I still get the message back - 'No, we pretty much want to keep doing what we're doing.'"

Atomic is trying to counteract that with Breach, a full-scale military shooter that's being sold for a DLC price, designed "to disrupt the way games are priced and to create an environment where original content can flourish." Breach isn't Six Days remade -- rather, it's a re-use of the engine that Atomic developed, along with some tries at strong innovation in terms of destructible environments and cover. And it sounds like Tamte hopes that Breach will make finishing and publishing Six Days possible again. Sounds good, but of course let's get one game out there before we start promising two -- Breach is scheduled for release sometime next year.

I have decided to not post up footage of the Epic Mickey leak. I’m sure there will be a handful of videos in the next day or so showing off footage from the leaked version of the game. I’ll use my best judgment to post up legitimate videos, while keeping the pirated footage [...]

Nintendo announces that Golden Sun™: Dark Dawn will be available on Nintendo DS® from 2 December 2010! This will be the first game in the renowned Golden Sun™ video game series released specifically for Nintendo DS. Offering a planet-sized world of adventure to explore and conquer, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn puts the raw power of the [...]

Is it better down where it's wetter?

Hey all!

Ronnie2K here back again to discuss all things NBA 2K11. If you missed my last submission on the PlayStation.Blog where I discussed the Move along with a background on all the great features 2K11 has to offer, you can catch it here. If you ever have feedback on a feature, don’t hesitate to hit me up on Twitter and make sure to follow us on Facebook if you are a fan of the franchise.

Several weeks after launch, fans everywhere are still buzzing about the return of Michael Jordan to the video game basketball landscape. The extremely remarkable reviews have been pouring in calling NBA 2K11 “the greatest sports game of this generation” and getting a 9.5 from IGN. We introduced great features like The Jordan Challenge, where you can play in 10 of MJ’s most iconic games, MJ: Creating a Legend, where you can bring MJ onto any modern team, and the revamped My Career Mode where you live the life of an NBA Star, participating in Press Conferences, sign Endorsements, and so on. For those of you who don’t have a copy, this is the perfect time to get in and get an extra feature for your NBA basketball video game experience.

We are now taking the NBA 2K11 experience to a whole another level. Starting today, you can experience NBA 2K11 in 3D, for PlayStation 3 users who have a 3D television! Just hop on over to Best Buy and get your copy to experience an extra layer of depth (an extra dimension even!) to what many critics are already hailing as the deepest, most immersive, and best sports game of this generation.

A lot of people wonder what goes on behind the scenes to make 3D possible. So I got together with the dev team and asked them!

All 3-D effects come down to one simple idea: make each of a viewer’s eyes see a slightly different image and you can create the illusion of depth on a 2-D screen. Technology to create 3-D movies evolved from two-color images, called anaglyphs, into the more modern projection systems that use differently polarized light. Most of the new 3-D televisions use a technique called “alternate-frame sequencing” in which they first display the image for one eye and then display the image for the other eye, holding each image on the screen for 1/120th of a second. To make sure viewers see the correct images with each eye, glasses that cover-up one eye in exact synchronization with the television display, called active-shutter glasses, are used. What’s most exciting about the new technology is the quality of the images it produces. The new generation of active-shutter HDTVs let us make a 3-D game using full resolution HDTV images at framerates up to 120Hz.

To properly drive one of these televisions, NBA 2K11 must create two separate images every game frame–one for each eye. We create a virtual stereoscopic (two-eyed) camera and render the whole scene in full HD resolution twice, once for each eye of the camera. These two images are packaged together and delivered to the television as one “frame” which the television decodes and displays as two consecutive images, one for each eye of the viewer. Just in case anyone has a pair of the old-school 3-D glasses lying around, NBA 2K11 will render using the anaglyph method as well.

I got the opportunity to try it out last week and have played NBA 2K11 in 3D extensively. I have to say it’s absolutely amazing how the ball pops out of the screen on a pass or how you literally jump off the screen when going for a thunderous dunk. It must be witnessed to be believed so make sure to get in front of the game immediately!

If you already have NBA 2K11 on the PS3 and don’t want to buy another copy, don’t fret. All current owners of NBA 2K11 for the PlayStation 3 system will be able to download an upgrade to enable their game to play in 3D for free from the PlayStation Store, January 2011. Make sure you’re on the lookout at the turn of the year. Before that time, we will have a game update scheduled (within the next few weeks) for small fixes to look forward to.

I want to thank the people at PlayStation for giving me this time to tell you more about NBA 2K11. Let me remind you to follow us on Facebook to see the most new and exclusive info for the NBA 2K Franchise. Thanks for reading!

- Ronnie2K

We may still be unsure if Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a sequel or expansion, but the game is so good we're not gonna get too wrapped up in trying to classify it. Our assessment of the Assassin sequel seems to be in line with the sharp reviews from other outlets:

• Eurogamer (100/100): "It's one of many finishing touches to a game that started life as what sounded suspiciously like a fund-raising stopgap conceived on the back of an overdrawn chequebook and blurted out during a conference call. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is anything but that, however - it's one of the best games of 2010. "
• Game Informer (93/100): "Filled with new gameplay, storylines, mechanical improvements, and multiplayer, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is far more than an expansion. Though Brotherhood lacks some of the sense of discovery and newness that characterized Assassin's Creed II, if you look past the surface similarities you'll uncover a host of new thrills."
• 1Up (A-): "There are still so many other small details I could talk about, but they all hammer home the same point: this is a great game."
• Gamespot (85/100): "You may never have thought that Assassin's Creed begged for a multiplayer component, but Brotherhood introduces one nevertheless. ... The measured tempo won't be appealing to those who thrive on ceaseless thrills, but Brotherhood's tense tug-of-war pacing makes it an appealing alternative that rewards you for careful and clever assassinations. "
• IGN (80/100): "It also introduces an innovative multiplayer suite, for which the team(s) should be applauded. At the end of the day, it depends what you're looking for. If you're new to Assassin's Creed, this is a solid entry, but picking up the threads of the convoluted story may be a challenge. If you're an experienced assassin, on the other hand, expect to tread pretty similar ground to the last title. "

#nothingpersonnel Bizarre Creations isn't the only video game developer dealing with hard times right now. Two more developers appear to have been affected by holiday layoffs, including Star Wars game dev LucasArts and Guitar Hero studio Budcat Creations. More »

#northamerica Could this be one of the best weeks ever for the PlayStation Store? I mean, it does have a fresh serving of Peggle in it, so it starts with that advantage. What else have we got? More »

The tactical shooter makes its way to PSP, but at what cost?

Despite what you may think, it would be actually criminal to miss out on today's incredible Amazon game deals. Batman: Arkham Asylum (not the Game of the Year edition, alas) for $15? Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for just $20? Chrono Trigger for $15? It's kind of like a fire sale over there.

You can peruse the entire list for yourself right here, and read our suggestions after the break. Frankly, we're inclined to buy each person on our holiday shopping list a copy of Assassin's Creed 2. It's only $20!

Get a glimpse at the all-new version of the acclaimed Stunt Mode.

Gaming's most awesome raccoon gets the upgrade he deserves.

MonkeyPaw Games is living up to its responsibility as the single publisher (so far) for the PSN Imports Store, dropping two interesting Japanese PlayStation games on the service today. In case you're not familiar with one or both -- a totally understandable happenstance -- here's what they are.

Money Idol Exchanger is a pretty weird (but not Cho Aniki weird) Neo Geo puzzle game ported to PlayStation, in which you link up on-screen coins to combine them into higher denominations: five 1s become a 5, etc., until you match two 500s and they vanish. Also, there are idol characters in it for some reason. And Sonic Wings Special is a single game combining all three Sonic Wings shmups (known as Aero Fighters in America).

The games are both available now for $5.99 each -- less for PlayStation Plus members.

This week's PSN update delivers the first installment in the Prince of Persia trilogy HD-ified for North America. Available in Europe as a Blu-ray compilation later this week, The Sands of Time is available now for $15 in North America, with the other two installments launching in December.

The Crazy Taxi remake is ready to take you for a ride if you got $10 and there's also some refined high-quality Peggle to be found on PSP. For PlayStation Plus subscribers, check out Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus ... it's free. The rest of this week's update can be found after the break.

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Approximately 88 employees let go.

Approximately 88 employees let go.

Let's connect the dots, shall we?

• The current, November issue of Game Informer features the above two-page tease for its December issue stating, simply, "A survivor is born." An accompanying website at asurvivorisborn.com (and asurvivorisborn2012.com) mirrors the tease, though it's not clear who owns the domains.
• A NeoGAF poster pointed out that, at one point, the Google Analytics account number 6150945-XX matched that of kaneandlynch.com, minininjas.com and deusex.com -- all Eidos / Square Enix titles. If correct, it appears the current asurvivorisborn.com account number of 19668291-1 was changed after being spotted.
• The image of a crashed ocean liner recalls the leaked concept art and fact sheet spotted last year (the fact sheet description is still readable at Shacknews): "When a sudden storm destroys her research vessel, a young and inexperienced Lara Croft finds herself stranded on a mysterious and remote island hidden off the shores of Japan."
• The "survivor is born" tagline recalls the origin story description in the fact sheet: "This new Tomb Raider concept reboots the franchise by exploring the origin of Lara Croft's transformation into a hardened adventurer as you unravel the story behind the island's mysterious past."
• In a 346-page thread (!) on tombraiderforums.com concerning the potential of a December 6 reveal, forum admin Justin J. Farr wrote, cryptically, "I know something you lot don't." That could be the meaning of his middle initial "J" or it could be the identity of Game Informer's next cover ...

It's not quite a smoking gun, but it's certainly possible that next month's GI reveal will be the Tomb Raider reboot we know Crystal Dynamics - specifically the "pillar team" - has been working on alongside its excellent downloadable installment, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. After the progress the team made on the Legends, Anniversary and Underworld trilogy, all eyes are on Crystal D to keep it up with its first Tomb Raider game under the new Square Enix masthead.