All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#clips At first this kill video from Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer seems unremarkable. But then they slow it down and zero in on a single grenade that lands in the most sensitive of places. More »

id Software head John Carmack has at least one very important trait in common with gangsta rap star (and gaming magnate) Ice-T: he's really fun to follow on Twitter. When he's not dropping enigmatic missives like, "Closed myself in a 1600 gallon tank for an hour. CO2 rose to 3430 ppm, humidity rose to 71%. No discomfort," he's giving his followers a taste of news before it hits anywhere else. "Rage mobile has been approved," he let his followers know this morning. "It should be on the App Store tomorrow morning!"

Rather than directly port the forthcoming FPS, Rage: Mutant Bash TV is an on-rails shooter set in the world of Rage. No price has been set for the game, but id's most expensive iPhone game to date has been the $7 Doom: Resurrection -- another on-rails shooter.

Does dangling from a frayed rope, thousands of meters beneath the earth’s crust, with lit dynamite in hand sound like your idea of a good time? I’ve got good news: Spelunker HD for PS3 is coming to the PlayStation Store for $9.99 on November 23rd!

Spelunker HD closely follows Timothy Martin’s brilliant original effort of 1983, even down to the quirky level-scrolling scheme that forces the explorer to get dangerously close to the screen edges. All of the cursed original enemies and terrain threats remain, but with so many new additions I’ve lost count. It boasts 100 all-new levels set in 10 newly designed HD worlds, plus the familiar explorer who is liable to pass out from lacing up his boots too tightly: Spelunker may have the weakest character in all of gaming!

But what this anemic explorer lacks in might, he makes up for in bravery. He’ll need it because Spelunker HD has more pits, tricks, traps and enemies than a cactus has spines. I’ve been to the lowest depths, battling through poisonous bat droppings and a plethora of creeping, crawling, jumping and flying creatures. I’ve maneuvered the flame vents, geysers, flash floods, earthquakes, rolling boulders and ice slopes all with treasure in hand! The real sticker is overcoming the ghosts of previously fallen spelunkers — every gamer who has ever climbed down into the dark cave but failed to escape is now hell bent on your demise.

While Spelunker is famous for its challenging gameplay and absurdly weak hero, the Spelunker music is famous in its own right. It isn’t uncommon to hear a street band’s rendition of the classic theme wafting through the underground tunnels while awaiting a train bound for the Tokyo Game Show. If you need more proof, check out our website and scroll down to the ‘Fan Tributes’ section where you can check out some of our favorite live performances.

Spelunker HD includes multiple levels of difficulty, assuring plenty of re-playability for ambitious explorers who survive the first pass. You should bring some friends too, just in case you get waylaid. Up to six can play together online, so join me – it’s hard to maintain sanity alone in this labyrinth, and I’ve been down here for weeks!

#gameoftheyear Spike TV's Video Game Awards show seems to improve a bit every year. This year's show kicks off on Dec. 11 with a very strong line-up of contenders for a myriad of awards. More »

#activision Perhaps you've seen the stack of Tony Hawk: Shred skateboard bundles sitting at your local video game store. You might want to get used to them, because the game's first week sales number are very, very low. More »

Spike! Oh, man, Spike. You guys have really outdone yourselves this year. Don't get us wrong, we've got high hopes for this year's installment of the annual Video Game Awards -- if you'll remember, they weren't completely unwatchable last year -- but the recently released list of nominations doesn't exactly fill us with unbridled confidence. Rather, it fills us with confusion juice, as well as a healthy portion of plain ol' anger fluid.

Our hang-ups with the list can best be identified in a fun game we like to call "Really?" We think you can probably pick out the rules to this game yourself -- feel free to play along with the full list of nominees posted after the jump!

• Danica Patrick as Herself in Blur for "Best Performance by Human Female?" Really?
• Emmanuelle Chriqui as The Numbers Lady for "Best Performance by Human Female?" REALLY?
• Hey, everything in the "Best Song in a Game" category: Really?
• Nathan Fillion as Sergeant Edward Buck in Halo: Reach? We love us some Fillion, but wasn't he in that game for like, a second? By which we mean really?
• Bear McCreary's musical accompaniment for Dark Void didn't make it into the "Best Original Score" category? Really, guys? Really? This is where we are? As a people?

#pc In this detailed graphic and CPU performance write-up, Tech Spot takes a look at how Call of Duty: Black Ops' single player handles on your computer. More »

Bethesda has dated the first Fallout: New Vegas add-on -- the one "exclusive" to Xbox 360 -- for December 21. Dubbed "Dead Money," the 800 points-priced (that's $10) DLC will challenge players to retrieve the "legendary" treasure of the Sierra Madre ... Casino.

Dead Money will include "new terrain, foes and choices," as well as "three other captured wastelanders" (new Companions, perhaps). There are currently no announced plans to offer the add-on for the PS3 or PC version of the game -- though you'd be a fool to bet against it.

[Pictured: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); source: IMDb]

In the world of fictitious military takeovers, the unassuming hours of March 8, 2011 will probably live on in infamy. According to an update on THQ's Facebook page, that's the day U.S. store shelves will find themselves the subjects of a hostile occupation from new FPS Homefront. That imperialistic empire will spread its control to the peaceful island of Australia on March 10, then -- making excellent time, we might add -- it will drop into Europe on March 11.

What can we possibly do to prevent this coup? We ... don't know. We're not sure our local GameStop will let us put sandbags over their doors. At least, not before the holiday shopping season kicks off. Maybe they'll acquiesce in a few months or so.

With the launch of Gran Turismo 5 set for November 24, we’ve teamed up with Swiss watchmaker Tissot, the official timekeeper of NASCAR, to bring you the Countdown to GT5 launch sweepstakes. Each day leading up to launch, we’ll be giving you a chance to win a Tissot PRS 516 watch customized for Gran Turismo. This watch, valued at $495, features a stainless steel case and rubber strap with folding clasp engraved with the GT logo. It’s a true fan collectible that won’t be sold in stores – you can only win it here.

Continuing on with the GT5 love, you can now pick-up limited edition Schick razor packs featuring Gran Turismo 5.

Each pack includes a download code that unlocks exclusive content including a dynamic theme and GT5 racing suit for Home. For more details, click here.

#xbox360 The Xbox 360 version of Fallout: New Vegas is getting a new mission pack on Dec. 21 called Dead Money, Bethesda said today. More »

#clips If id Software founder John Carmack can be believed, the iPhone version of shooter Rage is due to hit iTunes tomorrow. More »

Ewoks!

Ahem, now that we've gotten that out of the way, allow us to excitedly tell you about the forthcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 DLC that LucasArts just announced (via IGN). The DLC takes place on planet Endor -- home of the infamously adorable/annoying Ewoks -- during the events of Return of the Jedi. LucasArts Singapore executive producer Gio Corsi explains how this fits into the story by comparing it with the previous game's DLC. "We like to call this an 'infinite storyline,' much like the Hoth Bonus Mission from the first Force Unleashed game that gave us an alternate take on that iconic battle from the Empire Strikes Back."

Corsi also says that players won't be able to bring in their leveled up Starkiller from the main campaign. "We leveled Starkiller differently for the DLC since this adventure falls into the 'infinite universe.' He does have the same abilities as he did in TFU2, which allows Starkiller to start kicking ass right from the get go." No solid release date was given (it's coming "later this year") nor a price, though a forthcoming character skin pack is set to cost $1.

Coinciding with the PSN release of the Dreamcast's Crazy Taxi, a mysterious listing for a PS3/Xbox 360 "Dreamcast Collection" has been spotted on GameStop. The listing does not offer any details about the unannounced title, except a (likely placeholder) release date of February 15 and a price point of $29.99.

We can speculate just a bit based on that price. Since the two existing PSN/XBLA ports, Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi, cost $10 each to download, it seems unlikely that Sega would simply dump those two games on a disc and charge an additional $10. That effectively rules out the worst-case, most boring scenario. It could be the set of four announced PSN/XBLA ports, including Space Channel 5 Part 2 and Sega Bass Fishing. But for a definitive answer to the tricky question of "what is in the collection," we'll try asking Sega.

[Thanks, Taren.]

#granturismo5 Rumors are swirling online that the oft-delayed Gran Turismo 5 will suffer a delay once more. Not so, Sony tells Kotaku. More »

Big Sandwich Games already promised us a patch was coming to fix Hoard's text size issue, but over on the official site, it's revealed even more goodies coming in the same update. In addition to the text size fix, there will be a new option to restart the game both on the pause menu and the game over screen, allowing players to more quickly replay a map rather than having to go back through the options. There will also be a persistent multiplayer lobby (so you won't have to invite friends after every match), and there's a brand new Hoard mode map included in the patch for free.

Big Sandwich also promises that DLC is forthcoming, but we don't get much more than a hint as to what it might be, or when either it or the patch might be out. Hoard is a good game hidden in an unfortunate UI (as we said in the review) and these fixes will definitely make some of the frustrations a little easier to deal with.

A Tiger-free golf game will debut on the social network this December.

BioWare will reveal its next game at Spike's Video Game Awards this Saturday, December 11. From the one screen we received from EA and the tease after the break, we suspect it might be called Mass of Honor: Dragunov Age. Yeah, let's go with that for now.

#clips The developers behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age plan to show off their next big game during this year's SpikeTV Awards, but here's an incredibly short glimpse of it. More »

#art How old is your favourite video game character? Ten? Twenty? That's nothing. Some of Nintendo's characters are as old as the 121 year-old company itself if these old black & white photos are anything to go by. More »

The final character design for the new Mega Man Legends 3 Project character, now named "Aero," has been revealed on Capcom's Devroom site. Designer Tokiko Nakashima took Shinsuke Komaki's winning character design and altered it with the intent of making it fit into the gameworld ... which apparently means different leggings and shorter hair. Capcom plans to show off the 3D model for Aero in December.

This "progress report" coincides with the launch of the Devroom. If you want to take part in the discussion about Mega Man Legends 3's development -- and make sure nobody does anything stupid -- you can sign up now.

#conspiracy Meet Aki Higashihara. She might look like your typical Japanese pin-up with a blog and a smile, but she is anything but. This is the woman who could be killing the Nintendo Wii. More »

#pc Have you ever created a character in your own (or somebody else's) likeness in a game? Oblivion, perhaps? Or FIFA? If you have, no matter how good it looked, it suddenly looks like crap next to this. More »

Perhaps this weekend's episode of The Walking Dead got you hungry for some zombie survival? Canadian design company Analogue has cut the Romero classic, Night of the Living Dead, into a playable choose-your-own adventure game on YouTube.

#squareenix Never one to turn down a promotional event, Japanese celebrity Uno Kanda gets down and dirty for Call of Duty: Black Ops. More »

#screengrab Mario has endured many trials over the decades. Fire. Monsters. Bad mushrooms. And he's overcome them all. But racism? That's something else entirely (click through for the NSFW punchline). More »

A clean space is a rocking place, so if Rock Band peripherals are taking up precious living room real estate, perhaps one of LevelUp Gears' ottomans could be a solution. The units are solid wood, with velcro guitar loops and other touches designed to keep your plastic music peripherals tidy.

The storage units are available in two versions: Back in Black and Skull and Snakes. According to a LevelUp representative, the Back in Black version is available now at Costco for $90. The Skull and Snakes, which is considerably more expensive for no discernible reason, is $180 at Kohls.com and $200 on JCPenny.com. Of course, if you're looking for a cheap storage solution, a 20-gallon trash can should also do the trick.

#art Normal calendars show twelve months of the year, have some public holidays and pictures of either puppies, paintings or boobs. Booooring. We prefer ones that feature thousands of months, Chrono Trigger and Timesplitters. More »

#sakurawars Sega's role-playing game series Sakura Wars is apparently getting a new game. Excited? Don't be. More »

Ignorance is not only bliss, it's great fodder for Intertainment. Gaming in Public, a new web series from Normal Boots, proves this by chatting with some of the non-gamers of the world. As you'd imagine, hilarity ensues -- you have no idea how much it ensues.