All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

This new Darkspore producer diary from Maxis is all about loot -- how to find it, get it, and then strap it on your oddly-shaped appendages. The catalysts and cash-out systems look particularly interesting, mixing up the ceaseless looting with an alluring meta-game.

John Lennon's "Imagine" album will be next week's Rock Band DLC. The acclaimed set of songs joins the title track, which is one of the Rock Band 3 on-disc songs. The album's DLC launch comes about a month after the worldwide celebration of the 70th anniversary of Lennon's birthday.

No need to imagine the album's track list, it can be found after the break.

This new trailer for Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective returns us to the distinctive chicken restaurant seen previously. This time, we can see the restaurant as it was before the cops so rudely barged in (through the wall). And we meet the chef, who possibly instigates said intrusion ... by singing.

On Tuesday, November 23rd, Worms: Battle Islands will hit PSP as a PSN download, and the game is packed with great new features. At its core, it’s a traditional 2D Worms experience: a turn-based game where players use a mix of strategy and skill to move their army of worms about a landscape, and attack one another with a range of funny and surreal weapons, until the last team standing are declared the winners.

In Worms: Battle Islands, players can do battle across six distinctive environments: Nuclear, Desert, Underwater, Jungle, Chemical Plant, and Arctic (the game has a “modern conflict” theme.) There are new customization categories such as masks and backpacks, and over a hundred different items with which the player can leave their personal mark on their worms.

Multiplayer lies at the heart of the Worms franchise, and Battle Islands supports five different modes. The classic way to play Worms is Deathmatch, and is backed up with the fan-favorite Fort Mode. Introduced relatively recently to the series, the Racing Mode which sees up to four players race their worms around a circuit-like map, also makes a return for this game, and Triathlon Mode sees two players battle to be the best over three rounds.

But the brand-new Tactics Mode is what makes this game unique, and is where the “Battle Islands” name comes from. Each player takes possession of a secret island base surrounded by a number of smaller islands, each of which can be home to an item. These items allow you to implement a tactical plan before the game begins. If the player uses their abilities wisely, they should be able to lever an advantage, and when playing Tactics Mode online the winning player gets to take something from their opponent’s island, so the game means more because something is at stake. The game can be played by up to four players, either locally by sharing the same PSP, over a wireless ad-hoc network, or over the internet using an infrastructure network.

There are also over 70 single-player challenges split over the three modes: Campaign, Puzzle and the PSP-exclusive Time Attack mode. We’ve also added two new editor modes. With the Landscape Editor, the player can draw their own maps with a number of easy-to-use paint package-like tools, texture them, place items such as Sentry Guns and Land Mines, then use the maps for multiplayer matches. The player can even create their own Worms weaponry! When the player first visits the Weapon Factory they’ll find their options limited, but can unlock more functionality by collecting the blueprints scattered throughout the Campaign missions. The more blueprints there are in the player’s possession the more varied the weapons that they’re able to create.

I really hope you enjoy the game, and maybe I’ll see one or two of you online. Good luck! Worms: Battle Islands PSP is to be released digitally in the US from PlayStation Network on Tuesday, November 23rd for $24.99.

Hi everyone, it’s time for this week’s video store update!

This week, celebrate the release of The Last Airbender on the video store with an epic sale on Avatar: The Last Airbender S1 – own each episode for only $0.99! Next, check out Deal of the Week: Stand Up Comedians for hilarious stand up specials from your favorite comedians like Dane Cook, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart and more! Then, be sure to catch the latest episodes of Gundam Unicorn in the newly added Anime Channel by visiting TV shows > Anime.

Muggles rejoice! Celebrate the theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I with our Harry Potter Collection featuring your favorite Harry Potter movies, available in US and Canada.

Get excited for other great offers on PSN like a FREE episode of Trigun, available now through 11/23! Looking for ways to personalize your XMB? Then deck out your PS3 systems with Sons of Anarchy theme available this week for US users.

Before you head to the video store, check out the trailer for The Last Airbender, now available for both US and Canada users!

New TV shows and movies arrive every week. Here’s a taste of what’s in store:

Just in TV
US Store: The Walking Dead: Season 1, Sons of Anarchy: Season 3, Blue Mountain State: Season 2A, Chuck: Season 4, Saturday Night Live: Season 36, American Dad: Season 6, Outlaw: Season 1, House: Season 7, How I Met Your Mother: Season 6, MAD: Season 1, The Event: Season 1, Glee: Season 2, No Ordinary Family: Season 1, and more.

Canada Store: The Walking Dead: Season 1, Outlaw: Season 1, Outsourced: Season 1, Parenthood: Season 1, Top Sniper: Season 1, Canaan: Season 1, The Tester: Season 2, Caprica: The Series: Season 1, Naruto Shippuden Uncut: Season 2, Vol. 1, The Naked Brothers Bands: Season 3,

New Release Movies
US Store: The Last Airbender, Lottery Ticket, Knucklehead, Howl, The Extra Man, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, The Kids Are All Right, and more.

Canada Store: Disney’s A Christmas Carol, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Ondine, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, Oceans, The Oxford Murders, Special Ops, and more.

Top TV Downloads

US:

The Walking Dead | Season 1 – Tell It To The Frogs The Walking Dead | Season 1 – Guts The Walking Dead | Season 1 – Days Gone Bye Smallville | Season 10 – Abandoned Supernatural | Season 6 – All Dogs Go To Heaven Family Guy | Season 9 – Halloween on Spooner Street Sons of Anarchy | Season 3 – Bainne Sons of Anarchy | Season 3 – Firinne South Park | Season 14 – Coon vs. Coon & Friends It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Season 6 – Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth

Canada:

The Walking Dead | Season 1 – Tell It To The Frogs The Walking Dead | Season 1 – Days Gone Bye The Walking Dead | Season 1 – Guts Ancient Aliens | Season 1 – The Mission Ancient Aliens | Season 1 – Closer Encounters Ancient Aliens | Season 1 – The Evidence The Event | Season 1 – I Haven’t Told You Everything Ancient Aliens | Season 1 – The Visitors Devil May Cry | Season 1 – Devil May Cry Family Guy | Season 8 – Road to Multi-verse

Top Movie Downloads

US:

Grown Ups Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Charlie St. Cloud Predators The Karate Kid Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam Lottery Ticket The Last Airbender Toy Story 3 Get Him to the Greek (Unrated)

Canada:

Grown Ups Scott Pilgrim vs. The World The Last Airbender Get Him to the Greek (Unrated) Predators Charlie St. Cloud The Girl Who Played with Fire How To Train Your Dragon The Karate Kid Ramona and Beezus

Power Gig: Rise of the SixString developer Seven45 confirmed to Joystiq that it had recently incurred staff layoffs. "With Power Gig already on store shelves, last week Seven45 Studios restructured the company both as a part of the natural cycle of game development and to focus on the development needs of its upcoming games projects," the company said in a statement.

One unidentified Twitter account reporting on the so-called "major" layoffs, claimed Seven45 had been "decimated." A source informs us that approximately 20 to 30 people were let go, which included most of the QA team and a bunch of full-time staff.

Power Gig didn't strike a chord with us or critics at large, averaging a Metacritic score in the mid-30s. Seven45 has yet to reveal specific details about its future projects.

If you were affected by the layoffs or have more information to share on the matter, please feel free to contact us. Seven45's full statement can be found after the break.

#china As Microsoft and Sony launch their motion peripherals, Chinese companies are demoing their own motion controls. Whether it's the Tigan Youxi or the eBox, China is mixing and matching where it seems fit. Take the i-dong, for example. More »

I’m happy to finally be able to share a US release date of February 15, 2011 for Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for PSP. But we all knew the game would come out at some point, right? Here’s something you didn’t know about:

This awesome Tarot Card Deck is illustrated by Yoshida-san himself! To find out where you can get your own set, visit the official site.

Also, one last thing! I thought this was the perfect time to ask you to submit your questions for the development team. How? Just post your questions here in the comments, we’ll get them over to the team and hope to start the New Year with the first round!

#psp The PSP screen is beautiful, and PSP games look great on it. But let's say you want to play your PSP games in HDMI on a big screen television. More »

#comics The upcoming Legend of Zelda game on the Wii will make use of a fair bit of motion control. Which should be fun, but there are perils in that amount of waggle, as seen in this cautionary tale. More »

#mods As someone who loves zombies almost as much as I love Lord of the Rings, this is certainly something: it's a Left 4 Dead map made to look like the fortress of Helm's Deep. More »

#news Foxconn assembles your Xbox 360s, your PS3s, your PSPs, your iPhones, your iPads, your Wiis and your Nintendo DS units. And some of its workers are not happy. More »

Sad news for R.U.S.E. fans, as Ubisoft has announced it won't be doing any DLC for the game at all. Just kidding! That was, in fact, a ruse -- Ubisoft is releasing a "Manhattan Project Pack" for the real-time strategy title that will add two 2v2 maps, another 3v3 map and two different brand new modes. "Total War" mode will unlock units and technology one year at a time, building up battle starting in the year 1939, and "Nuclear War" sounds much more fun, starting the game with "all prototypes, factories and upgrades" unlocked and ready to unleash on the enemy.

The pack will cost you a cool $50, almost as much as the actual game. No, that was another ruse, it'll be completely free. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait about 15 years for it, as the pack isn't due out until holiday 2025. No, just kidding again, it'll actually be out soon. We ruse-d you again! Are we doing this right?

#film In movies, there's a simple rule: if you haven't hooked the audience by the time the film's ten minutes in, you've lost them. But how can this work for video games? More »

#tellusdammit It's Friday. Did you know that? I knew that. Let's talk. More »

Oche, oche, oche, oi, oi, oi.

Whoa, Target. Slow your roll, guys. We've only got enough energy for exactly one three-day period of soul-crushing retail immersion, and that three-day period is next weekend. You can't just come in here with your "we're going to offer deals in the four days preceding Black Friday" attitude. It's not fair. It could kill us.

We're just going to post all of Target's video game-themed "Pre-Black Friday" deals -- which will be available Nov. 21 to Nov. 24 -- after the jump, and ignore their relative savoriness. Oh, $30 off the purchase of a DSi? $20 off a new Wii? DJ Hero 2 Turntable Bundle for $75? Psh. We can ... we don't need to ... we are going to run out of money.

#clips Most glitches, serious ones at least, will ruin a game. This one, encountered during a site's playthrough of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, is the opposite of ruined. More »

#cosplay Like many young Japanese males, 29-year-old Nanami Igarashi is working hard to establish his career as he lives with his girlfriend. His hobby, however, is somewhat unique. More »

#retail It's common knowledge that GameStop is reliant on the used game trade to stay afloat, but if you ever needed hard numbers to put it in perspective, here you go. More »

#gladiatorbegins Swords-and-sandals saga Gladiator Begins for the Wii quickly became known as an underboob-and-slave-girl saga at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show thanks to a model in a teeny bikini. The PSP version, however, ditched the slave girl and went all beefcake. More »

#kinect On the left of your screen, Sports Champions for the PlayStation Move. On the right, Dance Central for Kinect. And in the middle? One man trying to play both games at the same time. More »

#japan American homes can be huge castles, but Japanese homes are, and I quote, rabbit hutches. How are Japanese gamers to know if their matchbox-sized apartment can handle Kinect? This is how. Maybe. More »

Robots are adorable. And sometimes, you just want to gift them the ability to see and learn more about their human creators. That's exactly what MIT's Philipp Robbel has done with a hacked Kinect sensor and an iRobot Create Robot.

#psp Sony's PlayStation Portable, while hardly a failure, hasn't really caught on the way most were expecting it to around the time of its launch back in 2004. Why? Because, as one developer says, it was "doomed". More »

- Hakari Mikagami: “beautiful judge” who suddenly appears before main character Miles Edgeworth, believes the law to be absolute, comes down hard on anyone who breaks the law. - takes place Gourd Lake - involves an assassination involving President Outeikun - lake area was closed off following the incident - killer is still at Gourd Lake - Taro Tanaka: mysterious [...]