Otomedius Excellent, Konami's peculiar girls-as-spaceships shooter for Xbox 360, likely won't be making its appointed winter release date in North America. Konami announced a delay for the game in Japan, from fall 2010 to spring 2011, "due to a delay in production." If it won't be out until spring in Japan, it definitely won't be out elsewhere until at least then. GameStop lists a January date, though New Year's Day is a suspiciously placeholder-like release date.
For those of you who, like us, have a casual interest in this game, we're sorry to remind you of its existence only to let you know it's being delayed. "Hey, remember this game? You can't have it." If you have yet to be introduced to Otomedius, you can see the intro movie on the Japanese website. Keep clear of visiting family members -- or, really, anyone -- because you will be humiliated.
#arcade
Enthusiasm for Microsoft's Game Room, to be polite, well, plateaued soon after its spring debut. It'd be a shame if its 12th update is the last, because hackers say one of the best early-80s arcade games is due to hit. More »
Animator Steve Williams has made a plethora of 16-bit characters compete in a cross-cartridge race. Oh, Donald Duck, you have a turkey's chance of winning today.
Delivering a keynote speech -- entitled "Seeing is Believing: 3D a New Creative Medium for Games" -- at the Develop conference in Liverpool, Sony Computer Entertainment's Mick Hocking argued that 3D can give games more than just increased visual depth. The studio director of Sony's Liverpool studio, responsible for Wipeout HD, stated that the technology can make games seem more natural and thus more inviting to newcomers.
"Doing things like the way we've used Move combined with 3D in Tumble makes a game more natural and more accessible, which will be great for welcoming more people to your games," Hocking said. The ability to interact within a game's space makes the technology a new creative medium, he added, allowing creators to build on the player's enhanced sense of depth and spatial awareness.
Sony has claimed that over 50 3D games (20 internal) are currently in the works for PlayStation 3 -- and Hocking is willing to give developers a push if they're still on the fence. "I really would urge you to start converting your game into 3D now," he said. "We're here to help you and can help with training."
Of course, Sony's marketing department will have to train customers to make a significant investment first. Among console games, mainstream-friendly accessibility usually comes with a significant hardware cost (as with the Wii and Kinect), but even Hocking's Tumble example -- which requires a 3D television, appropriate glasses, a PlayStation Move set and a PlayStation 3 -- sticks out more than other offerings.
A portion of a Nintendo Life review…
Supermarket Mania seems like something you’d be likely to find in a free Flash game, but it adds plenty of stuff to warrant its 500 Point price tag. If you’re looking for a simple, fun game, then you might be at the right address here.
#review
Can venerable dot eater Pac-Man be modernized a second time? The spectacular light and sound show that was Pac-Man Championship Edition has been given a deluxe makeover, remixing the rules by which Pac-Man chows down on dots and runs from his ghost pursuers. More »
Donkey Kong Country Returns (wii, jpn)
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Donkey Kong Country Returns (wii, France)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong Mini-Land Mayhem (ds, jpn)
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Thanks to Cadaver for the heads up!
#move
A top engineer for the PlayStation Move backhanded Kinect's upcoming Star Wars game as "scripted," called its notorious E3 demo "faked," and said a Star Wars Move game will "be damn better than Kinect's." Such a game hasn't been announced. More »
Free-to-play in-your-face FPS news now, with Crytek's announcement of a new military shooter "especially dedicated" to Korean and other Asian markets. Powered by CryEngine 3, Warface will serve as the developer's entry into the freemium arena, and a chilling reminder of that poor kid you teased in high school about his terrible, uncontrollable acne.
That was me, by the way, and I know where you live now.
Warface is co-produced by Crytek Seoul, and will debut on PC in South Korea with class-based, player-versus-player modes, as well as "dramatic" multiplayer co-op missions. Just try to hold the tears back -- it ruins the camo face paint.
"No, Joystiq, I don't need any more games," you whisper to yourself. "I've got this huge 2010 backlog already -- heck, I haven't even played Bayonetta yet, and that came out in January."
Your plight is shared by many gamers, but there's little point in protesting. You're going to pick up one of these deals and remain excited until you receive it, play past the intro and then place it on your to-play pile. Amazon lightning deals now offer to extend your intimidating backlog with Metroid: Other M for $30 (that's one dollar off for every cutscene eye roll) and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for $15.
Upcoming lightning deals also hint at a reduced price for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (going live at 6:15PM PST), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Outside of lightning deals, you'll also find Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom for $23.
"Well, that is pretty tempting," you mutter. "Maybe I'll check those -- wait, how do you guys know what I'm saying before I've even read this post? Is this a trick? Maybe if I say something unexpected ... garlic cannonball! Flamingo scabbard! Gravity donut! Okay, stop it! I am so freaked out right now."
#videogamegiftguide
There's no faster way to somebody's heart than to buy them a great PC game. With that (and this week's Black Friday sales) in mind, here are our picks for PC games to stuff in that special someone's stocking. More »
#wii
High Voltage Software's Conduit 2 gets a chance to shine today with an all-new trailer and screen shots for Wii owners to feast upon. Get ready to set the mood, Conduit style. More »
Camelot Software Planning has been gone for a long time. Oh sure, the studio has put out more than a few Nintendo sports games over the last few years but, as far as I'm concerned, Camelot closed its doors seven years ago. That's when the last Golden Sun was released (on Game Boy Advance!), adding another title to the company's catalog of quality role-playing games, which includes Sega's excellent Shining Force series. Now, after years in Mario sports exile, Camelot has returned to its RPG roots with Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.
“Double Fine would love to make something for Nintendo’s fine machine, but it’s not up to us. It’s the publisher’s money, so they get to decide what platform to invest in. In other words, IT’S NOT OUR FAULT! I personally would have loved to make Psychonauts for the Game Cube. (Well, not literally me [...]
During a recent press conference, Polish video game developer CD Projekt discussed the possibility of its upcoming RPG sequel, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, getting a console port. Speaking to Eurogamer, CD Projekt CEO Marcin Iwiński said that while the game's technology does support multiple platforms, it'll be a matter of "we'll see" in the months following the May PC launch. "We know how many players, especially in the UK as well as in the US, play on Xbox 360," he said. "We are pretty good at maths. That's all I can say for now."
The Witcher 2 senior producer Tomasz Gop, also likely to be a math pro, explained that the porting process isn't a last-minute consideration. "We're doing a reality check every half a year or so. We take a level from the game and we try to put it inside our engine, because it's console capable on Xbox 360 and PS3," he said. "It's doable."
Gop noted that developing for consoles alongside the PC version hasn't been an option, prompting the team to exercise caution first. "Three reasons: time, people and money. We have not released any console games yet. That's why we're approaching this topic with even more caution."
#review
Some other Donkey Kong game came out from Nintendo in November 2010. Donkey Kong Country Returns, they call it. Yeah, sure. Like the essence of Donkey Kong is running to the right. The ape must stand defiant. Mario must run. More »
My favorite image of the entire year, and it’s once again time to post! Happy Thanksgiving to all of those that celebrate it. If you don’t, then have a happy Thursday!
I’ll be using a weekend update schedule today. You know those pesky family members. They want to see me on the [...]
#pokemon
Thanksgiving means family. But for Pikachu, it means being dragged through Manhattan as an inflatable balloon. And this year he'll be accompanied by some Pocket Monster cohorts. More »
This looks like it could be for some sort of translation software that helps you pronounce words correctly, syllable by syllable. No details on what the Big N is going to use this for, if they do manage to get the patent.
Full patent here
