All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Look, we abhor violence, but you've got to admit these shots of a burning field and the ensuing conflict between two forces in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings look quite nice. We'd never condone violence but, in this setting, we'd certainly stop and stare for a few.

#halo One of the best parts about Halo: Reach was that, for the game's all-important change of pace, the developers swapped out the awful Flood and replaced them with an enjoyable space battle sequence. More »

#callofdutyblackops Find out, as the same methodology used on TV to sort myth from busted fiction is applied to the multiplayer portion of Call of Duty: Black Ops. More »

Now that the dust has started to settle around Gran Turismo 5, EA is pulling off the sheet on its Need for Speed: Shift sequel. Simply Shift 2 Unleashed -- no "Need for Speed" in the title -- the racer represents returning developer Slightly Mad Studios' continuing effort to make players feel like they're actually driving some of the world's most powerful cars.

There isn't a googolplex of collectible vehicles. There are no gear ratios. Realistic physics? Nope. Meticulously recreated real-world racetracks? Not a chance. Instead, there are hot air balloons majestically floating thousands of feet in the air. It's your job to straddle an ATV (or motocross bike if you prefer), get some speed and jump over those balloons. If you're still reading this, there's a good chance you'll enjoy Nail'd.

#feedback Many of you are about to be on the receiving end of gifts this holiday season, many of those gifts being video games. Unfortunately, for some unlucky giftees, you'll be getting the video game equivalent of a fruitcake. More »

File this one under WTF. Square Enix opened their website for the new Final Fantasy card game today which is probably a sign of the apocalypse. The game will feature characters like Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zidan as well as various summons that a character can use when playing against a friend. Admittedly I played [...]

Lets just say it isn’t pretty. Here’s an excerpt… Naruto is a fascinating character. He can be obnoxious at times, but he just puts so much effort into everything that it’s hard not to end up rooting for him. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the new Wii action adventure he stars in, Naruto [...]

If you ever load up the Netflix app on your PS3 and suddenly feel as if you're being experimented upon, here's why: Netflix is reportedly showing off three different user interfaces to users of its service on the PlayStation 3, in order to test out the various recommendations systems and how they're both created and delivered to users. Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt says the "Play" and "Add to Queue" buttons' size, placement, and functionality can vary from build to build, and even things like load times and streaming start times are being adjusted among the various test UIs running on real-life PS3s, providing direct feedback to the company about how customers use the video streaming app.

Hunt says he can boil down what they're learning to just three words: "Simple trumps complete." We'll make it easy for you, Netflix. Make one simple UI for all of us to use.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, the "most dynamic sales weapon" publisher Capcom has ever had, has surpassed the 600,000-downloaded mark. The $5 XBLA-exclusive sold another 100,000 units in October, topping the Xbox Live Arcade sales chart and apparently making it the "fastest selling" XBLA game of the year.

The full-bodied demo/prequel to Dead Rising 2 has been an incredible success, selling nearly a half million units in its first two weeks back in early September. As for Case Zero's sales impact on the full game, it certainly didn't hurt the sequel, as Capcom announced in late October it had shipped over 2 million units of the game to retailers.

At first blush, using Kinect to control Minecraft might seem like a great idea. This latest Kinect hack, created by YouTube user leparlon, allows players to look and walk in Minecraft. It certainly looks neat, but we can already think of a problem: We're really not looking forward to using our hands to chop down trees for hours at a time. Just think about it: You're using physical motions to control a game solely about manual labor. Maybe leparlon's next Kinect project will hack in a few turbo buttons.

#naughtydog After exploring the South American jungles of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and the Himalayas in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, where will half-tucked treasure hunter Nathan Drake find himself next? According to an informed source, Drake's going to the desert. More »

I’m much more handsome than this guy. Just sayin’.

Sounds kind of like an FBI file or something. Anyway if you’re not signed up for this, check out all the DS goodness your missing out on… by looking at this picture of it. Thanks Scott!

Finally! That’s what a bunch of DSi owners said when they realized that there’s a bunch of new games to download. You can pick up the following. 200 DSi Points - Spot it! Challenge 200 DSi Points - Frenzic 500 DSi Points - Airport Mania: First Flight 1,000 DSi Points - Cave Story 1,000 DSi Points - HB [...]

Either Nintendo has figured out a submit their games for review with code names or they’ve just gotten extremely uninventive with naming. The games, which are listed as multiplatform popped up on the Australian Classification Board’s website today with the titles “001,” “002,” and “003.” My prediction? Sesame street is making a [...]

We got a brief demonstration last week of the three new Halo: Reach battlefields present in the Noble Map Pack -- however, don't you want a tour from the sage minds who created said arenas? Well, then, look no further than the three Bungie video tours posted just after the jump.

The Kinect launch was pretty much dominated by one third-party publisher: Ubisoft. Despite plenty of announcements at TGS and that Star Wars game, there isn't much on the docket from the bigger third-party devs. THQ's Danny Bilson promised on Twitter earlier today that would change.

"We will be announcing one Core Kinect game soon," Bilson wrote in a missive. This followed an earlier tweet where Bilson promised a "big game announcement" at the upcoming VGAs, but it's likely he's referring to the Guillermo Del Toro game (again) and not this Kinect title. Regardless, we've followed up with Bilson for comment and will let you know what we find out.

Can Ubisoft pick up the slack in sports games for the Kinect?

#nintendo Booker Prize-winning author and famous fatwa target Salman Rushdie has a simple solution for how one should liberate Iran, the country whose former Supreme Leader once issued a death sentence against the novelist. Rushdie puts his faith in Nintendo. More »

Interested in pages of thorough analysis on the technical proficiency of Gran Turismo 5? Of course you are! We all want to see how GT5 compares to previous entries of the franchise and learn how effective the game's other neat features work -- including 3D integration and head-tracking through PlayStation Eye -- right?

DigitalFoundry once again did its due diligence and broke down Polyphony Digital's latest in the only way it knows how: through extensive testing. While the massive tech report is best left read in full, we will offer a brief summary for all of you aspiring turismoers out there: basically, Gran Turismo 5 is quite the feat ... but you already knew that, right?

We know, we know -- Fur Town is getting kind of lonely these days. All your Kinectimals have been petted and played with so many times and, well, you're getting kinda bored of them. Thankfully, according to an announcement from Jakks Pacific this morning, Microsoft has plans to release "five unique plush animals" in the first wave of Kinectimals stuffed animals coming out in Spring 2011.

Like the King Cheetah and Maltese Tiger included in the game's collector's editions, the plush animals can be scanned into Fur Town and be played with in-game to heart's content. No pricing was given in the announcement -- but can you even put a price on cuteness?

#itsadate Shadow Complex creator Chair Entertainment brings its Unreal Engine powered action game Infinity Blade (formerly "Project Sword") to a finite number of iOS device on December 9th, bringing very pretty sword fighting games to iPads and iPods everywhere. More »

Your gaming grafitication has been delayed. Find out when you'll get it back.

Donkey Kong Country Returns developer Retro Studios doesn't just have a knack for successfully rebooting beloved Nintendo franchises, it's also got a wicked eye for bold fashion statements. For instance, the star-spangled signature necktie of Donkey Kong high-score contender Billy Mitchell (pictured right; from The King of Kong film) must have ensnared the attention of somebody at Retro, as the familiar pattern managed to sneak its way into DKC Returns, hidden in the backdrop of World 3-2 (pictured left).

Now, if only the developer could have found a way to sneak in Mitchell's undying admiration of hot sauce, or, you know, his overall winning personality.

Your gaming grafitication has been delayed. Find out when you'll get it back.

Your gaming grafitication has been delayed. Find out when you'll get it back.

Your gaming grafitication has been delayed. Find out when you'll get it back.

The Dark Descent developer talks puzzles and future plans.

Shadow Complex developer Chair Entertainment is delivering its first stab at games for Apple's iOS, the sharp-looking Infinity Blade, on December 9. The Unreal Engine-powered action-RPG will be a universal app for iPhone 3GS / 3rd-gen iPod Touch forward and iPad, priced at $5.99.