All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Apple's latest iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad software update is now available, bringing some of the new functionality we've enjoyed on iPhone to the iPad. Owners of the 2001-style monolith will now be able to multitask between apps: Engadget was able to "run video or music to our Apple TV (even 720p HD content) and leave enough horsepower for gaming at the same time," according to its review of the new OS.

The other biggie for iPad gaming is Game Center. Game Center-enabled apps have already shown up on the App Store, but now you'll actually be able to track your achievements. The good news is that you've had a few weeks to get way awesome at Big Bad Sudoku Book.

In Japan today, Namco Bandai took the veil off the DS's latest Dragon Ball game, and we've got first screens and some preliminary details.

More retro RPG action on PSN.

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo is giving Black Friday a splash of color with two new bundles for its hot-selling Nintendo DSi™ system. For the first time, shoppers can choose an orange or green system, which will be bundled with the Mario Party™ DS game. The new colors go on sale on Nov. 26 and will [...]

#wellplayed Motion gaming, mobile gaming, traditional gaming. More than any year before, shopping for that gamer in your life has become a minefield of games, deals and gadgets. More »

Radiant Historia, an original DS role-playing game from Atlus, came out in Japan at the beginning of this month. Atlus USA has revealed that the usually agonizing wait for localization will be shorter than expected, as it plans to release Radiant Historia in North America this February.

In Radiant Historia, "Special Intelligence Agent Stocke" uses a magical book to travel backwards and forwards through time to alter history for the better. So, it's like a fantasy Quantum Leap! Mechanically, Historia uses a grid-based battle system that allows you to move enemies around on the field to help set up combos.

It's not an Atlus DS release without "Spoils," and according to the publisher this one will include a soundtrack CD featuring piano arrangements of Yoko Shimomura's compositions from the game.

16-but RPG love coming to the Nintendo DS.

It’s been just over two weeks since HOARD released, and thousands of gamers have been getting their flame on while toasting villages, incinerating knights, crisping thieves, and kidnapping the occasional princess!

Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with many surprised at just how addictive and deep the dragon “stratecade” (strategy arcade) experience is. Ars Technica says HOARD “will keep you scorching villages for hours on end” while IGN boasts, “burninating the countryside is definitely a lot of fun.” Joystiq says it perhaps best of all: “There is a sparkling gem of gameplay here.”

However, the game was not entirely without its rough edges, and there are a few issues we’ve been monitoring which need a little tweaking. Your feedback at HOARDgame.com has been very important to us, and we’re happy to confirm that we’ll be addressing most of those issues in an upcoming patch!

The patch will include:

• Eye Strain Begone — We’ll be increasing tutorial and badge text size for less squintyness. 20/10 vision no longer required!
• Lasting Friendship — The multiplayer lobby will now be persistent. After finishing a game, you’ll return to the game setup lobby so you can easily play again with the same people. If you want to back out and de-friend them, that’s now on your conscience!
• Leaderboard Glitch No-More — Certain co-op games were not posting leaderboard scores correctly. This sometimes leads to improper scores being posted on the main HOARD Rank leaderboard. That will be fixed, and although the HOARD Rank leaderboard will be reset, you won’t lose any progress—the first time you play a new game of any type, your HOARD Rank will be reposted without delay!
• Anti-Royal Bias — This badge wasn’t reliably triggering. We fixed it. Yay!
• That One Exploit is Fixed — There was a certain little exploit involving a specific power-up that could be abused by some sneaky people, and it is now fixed! We’re not telling!
• Which Map? — During game setup, some people were getting confused about whether their map selection was confirmed or not. We modified to make it more obvious.
• A Little This, a Little That — Various tweaks and improvements throughout.

And because we love you, we’re throwing in a couple bonus goodies as well:

• Deathspin — A new HOARD map will be included, absolutely free. Try your hand at surviving in a terrible spiral of DOOOOOM! Check out Deathspiral in the video above.
• Purple Princesses — Princesses worth 3,000 gold or more will show up in a purple dress (instead of pink), so you can quickly assess which lady you’d like to pursue even in the heat of the battle.
• Friendly Competition — Sort leaderboards by your friends list, so you can always make sure you’re a step better than the rest of your social circle.

We’re finishing up the patch now and hope to see it go live within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned, and thanks for HOARDing! Oh yeah—if you aren’t playing HOARD yet, what are you waiting for? In the words of Platform Nation, “Buy this game right now. Right. NOW.”

‘Nuff said!

The FFXII hero makes his fighting game debut with an array of weapons and an Amano costume.

Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate with players at multiple stores around the world on the eve of new expansion's December 7 launch.

#clips It's amazing what a single, surprisingly-fitting piece of music can do for a game. Take Robot Unicorn Attack, for instance. The original was wonderful. The remakes? All that really changes is the art and that single song. More »

2D Boy wants you to know that its sticky puzzle game, World of Goo, is almost available on the iPad. Furthermore, the developer says it's perfectly acceptable for you to start referring to your iPad as the "WogPad," per the forthcoming release, even though the game is still pending Apple's App Store approval process.

For now, 2D Boy answered some burning questions from fans, explaining what's going on with iPhone/iPod Touch versions. "There's a lot of iGoo to pour in, and we don't want to release something if it doesn't run absolutely buttery smooth." They also detailed the iPad version's multiplayer, which "you can play two handed, with friends, an animal, anything up to eleven fleshy things touching the screen", and confirmed that, yes, you can totally wear a Goo Ball on your head while playing the forthcoming game.

Oh, right, and 2D Boy also says that a sequel to World of Goo would be "something we would enjoy working on," but it would have to "feel like a perfect and appropriate continuation of the first game." Whether it would be made for the WogPad or not, we can't say.

Don't call it a rogue-like.

Receive 50% off PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and Minis games during Thanksgiving week.

Golden Sun rises again, but not as bright as before.

Just seven short weeks after its release, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is finally a finished game on the PS3. Crystal Dynamics just announced that the title's online co-op title update has finally gone live, meaning we're just a PC patch away from the game reaching its full potential on all platforms.

It's not that we're unhappy for the update -- we are -- but it's been an exercise in frustration seeing Crystal Dynamics get so close to knocking one out of the park only to have missing features pluck it from the air at the last second.

... Oh man, did we just complete a successful sports metaphor? Don't worry, we won't get NBA Jam-style swelled heads. Holy crap, that's a double! And a double's a thing in baseball, right? So three!

Okay, two-and-a-half.

Calling all secret agents! Seek Your Own Proof encourages exploration of history and science with new online puzzle adventure game.

#graphics Our video games are in color. Even our noir video games set in 1940s Los Angeles. They don't have to be, right? This is a trailer for Rockstar Games' L.A. Noire, with one change. We made it black and white. More »

Netflix, currently available in North America on all major consoles, has officially announced a $7.99 streaming-only plan for the US (it's the only option available in the Great White North). For those who prefer their media to be disc-based, the service will be upping prices across the board for all unlimited plans by a few dollars, but you'll still get streaming included.

Netflix's streaming-only plan comes at a time when Hulu (the established DVD-by-mail service's heir apparent) begins building a base on consoles. Hulu Plus currently offers mostly TV show streaming (with commercials) on PS3 for $9.99, with other consoles expected to be supported sometime in the future.

4th anniversary heralds major update with new content for the free-to-play MMORPG.

Popular time management game finally available for Nintendo fans.

Strategic turn based modern Global Warfare now available on your PC.

The Rabbids are about to change the course of human history and you're invited to the party.

Doing his best airport security impression, SCEE blogger James Gallagher carefully inspects this "very shiny, obsidian black box," otherwise known as Europe's Signature Edition of Gran Turismo 5. Easy now, lad ... That baby'll burn a €180-size hole in your billfold!

The hardest part of the BIT.TRIP begins.

Making History II joins the Matrix Games lineup by starting off with a hefty 25% discount.

#igaming Plenty of hot new titles swamped the charts this week including id's Rage for the iPhone and iPad, LEGO Harry Potter and Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. More »

In honor of this week's consumerist holiday, colloquially known as Black Friday, Nintendo is unleashing two new colors stateside. The pumpkin orange and mint jello green DSis include a copy of Mario Party DS at a suggested retail price of $150 (and retailers seem to be taking the hint).

It may be $30 more, but we still like the Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary DSi bundle more, which comes with Mario Kart DS. 'Cause, Mario Party DS? Yikes.

Battle it out with mechs, zombies, monsters and more in this classic tactical sci-fi game.

With Thanksgiving and the winter break quickly approaching, it’s time to escape the cold and curl up with some of your favorite PSN titles. The PlayStation Network team is celebrating the holiday season with some great deals on PS3, PSP, and minis titles. But you’ll need to act quickly, as the PlayStation Network “Stock Up for Winter Sale” is only available for one week – November 23-29!

Headlining the Thanksgiving sale is highly acclaimed PlayStation exclusives, Joe Danger and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Joe Danger, developed by the four-man studio Hello Games, released earlier this summer and is what IGN calls “one of the most polished, full-featured, and downright fun games available on the PS3.” Peace Walker brought the award-winning Kojima series to the PSP and had Joystiq calling it the “best game on Sony’s handheld.” These two games are only the start of the Thanksgiving sale, so be sure to check the other PS3, PSP, and minis titles while they’re on sale beginning tomorrow!

As we said, the below limited-time offers are good through Monday, November 29 for U.S., Canada and Mexico storefronts and open to all PlayStation Network users in these regions.

PS3
PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap – $3.49 sale price; $6.99 regular price
Top Gun – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price
Gundemonium Collection – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price
DeathSpank – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price
Joe Danger – $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular price

PSP
Groovin’ Blocks – $4.99 sale price; $9.99 regular price
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake – $9.99 sale price; $19.99 regular price
Dissidia Final Fantasy – $9.99 sale price; $19.99 regular price
Dante’s Inferno – $19.99 sale price; $39.99 regular price
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker – $19.99 sale price; $39.99 regular price

Minis
Young Thor – $2.49 sale price; $4.99 regular price
Fieldrunners – $3.49 sale price; $6.99 regular price
Hero of Sparta – $2.49 sale price; $4.99 regular price
Alien Zombie Death – $1.99 sale price; $3.99 regular price
Monopoly – $2.49 sale price; $4.99 regular price