All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

A week of Atari deals.

First video game song ever nominated song featured in Video Games Live performances, CD's, DVD, Blu-Ray & PBS special.

We're still some hours away from the midnight launch of the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. It won't be long before Deathwing wrecks shop, so we thought we'd take some of this downtime to share pics of the Collector's Edition which recently made its way to our doorstep. Peruse the gallery below, and stick around for a giveaway later today.

Players now able to register for an early visit to steampunk fantasy MMO ARGO Online.

The notoriously challenging franchise is about to get a whole lot easier.

#review Mickey Mouse is no Super Mario. He's the star of a more unusual kind of game on the Nintendo Wii, a game that starts poorly but finishes as one of the best hero stories of the year. More »

In a brief announcement this morning from Shanghai, The9 revealed plans to disband operations of EA Sports FIFA Online 2 in China. The publisher is doing so via mutual agreement with FIFA Online 2's developer, Electronic Arts, saying the "license and commercial operation" of the game will end sometime in the "second calendar quarter of 2011."

No reasons were cited for the game's premature termination, though this isn't the first American company to end its contract with The9 early. Blizzard ended its relationship with The9 back in 2009, giving Chinese operating rights for World of Warcraft to competitor NetEase. Unlike that situation, however, it stands to reason that The9 won't suffer catastrophic losses this time around.

New screens from Rockstar's next big game.

According to a report this morning, OnLive is launching a subscription-based movie streaming service on an undisclosed date in 2011. The news comes from the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), who cites growing concern among media companies that Netflix has grown too large on its own and diversification is desired (read: they want a piece of the large, money-filled pie as well).

In other OnLive news, the streaming-only company released its first iPad app today (creatively dubbed "OnLive Viewer"). The application allows user to see what's available for instant streaming (on a computer, not on your iPad), see other players' "brag clips," and watch trailers. Though the app has an official page on Apple.com, we're having some issues downloading it at the moment, but that could just be release hiccups.

Then again, you're probably already watching trailers (and reading news, reviews, previews, and so much more!) on your Joystiq iPhone App, right? Good! Glad to hear it!

Update: The App is currently only available in New Zealand, which explains our downloading issues. We understand that the App goes live for US residents tonight at 11:00PM EST. Enjoy your temporary exclusivity, Kiwis!

Faithful recreation of the original arcade game could shake things up on social networks.

Check out our Flickr set for more screens/art Abylight, an independent premier video game publisher and developer, is pleased to announce that Dairojo! Samurai Defenders - its’ new tower defense game developed exclusively for the Nintendo DSiWare™ service is now available from the Nintendo DSi Shop. Developed by Japanese developer Kawamoto Industrial, Dairojo! Samurai Defenders is [...]

Lots of exciting news in the Gran Turismo world today. First, starting today, you can now register for GT Academy, the ultimate chance to become a real professional race car driver using Gran Turismo 5, now available exclusively on the PlayStation 3. In case you hadn’t heard about this exciting competition, we’re not talking about a weekend racing school here. The GT Academy winner will ultimately go on to train with elite race car drivers in actual Nissan vehicles and race as part of a professional team…the ultimate dream. The actual GT Academy competition, in collaboration with Nissan North America, will start in the US on December 20 and will continue through January 23.

In the case that you just want to have some fun playing Gran Turismo 5 online and don’t think you’ll win GT Academy, all participants will earn free GT digital content just for playing. But if you do have some serious GT skills, you have a chance to win some cool GT prizing, including Logitech Driving Force GT steering wheels, Playseat racing rigs, GT5 posters, and more. Be sure to register for GT Academy first here on the official Gran Turismo web site! For more information on GT Academy, check out the official rules here. You can also join the GT community by following GT Academy on Facebook, and get the latest news and updates on the competition.

In addition to GT Academy, we’re unveiling a new Gran Turismo 5 trailer here on the PlayStation.Blog that showcases all of the many features of the game since there’s so much to show off, including, 1,000+ jaw dropping cars (plus select NASCAR cars and karts), an all-new Course Maker, dynamic weather system, an online racing community and more.

Many of you have seen the Kevin Butler Gran Turismo TV commercial that was unveiled here on the PlayStation.Blog by Peter Dille. Well in addition, this new 15-second TV commercial starts airing today, and features “Planetary (GO!),” the track from My Chemical Romance. If you’ve seen the GT5 launch trailer, or the GT5 opening cinematic, you’ll recognize the song, which is also from the band’s fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.

Thank you to those of you who have enjoyed GT5 and also given feedback to us on the game. We definitely appreciate the comments. Polyphony Digital will be releasing a patch soon which will include improvements to damage.

Look forward to seeing you all in GT Academy come December 20!

#dreamcast The Spike Video Game Awards have Neil Patrick Harris hosting and some 13 world premieres? Big deal. German broadcast 3Sat just showed a new game for the long-dead (guess not!) Sega Dreamcast. More »

As the mercury drops and winter snow settles across the continent, going about your daily routine could be a little less appealing than it was a few weeks ago. There is one place, however, where day-to-day life is always a pleasure and never a chore! If you’re a fan of Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to [...]

Though they're not the two best-received titles on the Xbox Live Arcade platform, Polar Panic and 3-on-3 NHL Arcade seem like appropriate ways to ring in the new, blustery season. Appropriately enough, their prices have been cut in half for the current XBLM Deal of the Week.

Passwords were a huge pain in the ass. They don’t really exist at all today, but back in the early days of the NES, these babies were all over the place. Even the Big N was using them. Thankfully most devs switched over to a battery save soon thereafter…unless they wanted to [...]

TikGames (San Mateo, CA) today announced the release of Rocks N’ Rockets, the studio’s first Nintendo DSiWare™ title. Rocks N’ Rockets is now available for download in Europe in the Nintendo DSi™ Shop for 500 Nintendo DSi Points™. Rocks N’ Rockets thrusts players into the hero’s seat when civilization is threatened by a terrifying global meteor [...]

#spikevideogameawards Last year's installment of Spike's Video Game Awards didn't have a specific host. That's okay, because this year's are being hosted by a man with enough talent for two award shows. More »

Sony's new PlayStation Rewards program -- currently still in beta -- will have a new wrinkle beginning tomorrow: Quests. Quests task PlayStation Rewards members with performing certain activities, for which they will be rewarded with progress toward Select, Pro and Legendary member status. The activities mentioned on PlayStation Blog all seem geared toward getting players to check out various services that may be unfamiliar.

For example, the "Check Your Pulse" quest rewards players for watching an episode of Pulse on PSN, or you could play a specified PlayStation Move game to complete the "Move It" quest. And, of course, the "No Place Like Home" quest involves visiting the central plaza in PlayStation Home. The new quest system should go live in the PlayStation Rewards beta tomorrow. Nine quests will be available initially, with Sony promising more throughout the year.

A shell to hold a banana…and a banana plant. These press gifts are certainly among the weirder things Nintendo has handed out!

More screens here GORMLEY, Ontario, Canada – December 6, 2010 – Digital Leisure Inc. a leading developer and publisher of console and handheld games, announced today the launch of Space Ace. The follow up to Dragon’s Lair, the groundbreaking arcade game, designed exclusively for Nintendo’s DSiWare™ service. Space Ace is a fully animated classic arcade game from [...]

#clips Some bands may borrow the aesthetic of Minecraft for their songs, but I think this may be one of the first Minecraft music videos. More »

In the fall of 2006, global shortages of the Wii were met with accusations of "managed scarcity" - the polite way of saying that Nintendo was keeping inventory low to help weave a tale of unprecedented demand. Four years of steady sales (well ... let's agree on three-and-a-half) has helped clear Nintendo's good name; however, similar accusations are evidently being levied against Microsoft, which has been accused of managing shortages of the Kinect in the UK and Ireland to "stimulate demand," according to GamesIndustry.biz.

"Anyone who actually works in the business of producing new technology, especially hardware technology, will know that these things are never managed," general manager for Xbox in the UK and Ireland Neil Thompson told GI. "Everyone else loves to think that they're managed, but they will know it's not. It's a function of coming to market with a brand new innovation and you have to scale up."

With a goal of 5 million units in consumers' hands worldwide by the end of 2010, and a post-Black Friday milestone of 2.5 million already sold, Microsoft doesn't seem to be in the business of withholding inventory. Thompson said that the decision to launch in November was a "balance," and Kinect could have waited "until February, March when we could hit some bigger launch numbers but then we miss Christmas." Also to blame for any shortages at retailers: that worldwide release. Xbox UK marketing manager Stephen McGill told GI, "With Kinect we launched around the world in three weeks. That was a huge task. No region is being penalised."

As much as we want to trust a Microsoft marketing manager, we thought we'd instead conduct an entirely scientific poll to determine if there's any global concern with Kinect shortages.
View Poll

#blizzard In the Cataclysm-scarred desolation of World of Warcraft's Barrens, three old adventures tell spectacular tall tales about the day that Deathwing came. Check out one of the finest examples of traditional storytelling I've seen in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. More »

#sony Sony continues to tweak its PlayStation Rewards program, giving beta participants a new way to claw their way towards legendary status with the introduction of Quests. How many kobolds does a brother have to slay for a little customer appreciation? More »