All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#law A law passed in Oklahoma provides for executors to access social media accounts and, presumably, distribute their holdings. So if you don't write out that will with LegalZoom, a judge will decide who gets your Second Life counterfeit *crag* coffin. More »

Klei Entertainment's Eets, a puzzle/platformer hybrid reminiscent of Lemmings, finally has a Mac version --- and it's available via Steam. In fact, it's being discounted 75 percent in a launch promotion, meaning you can snag a copy for a paltry $2.50. It's a SteamPlay release, so you get both the Mac and PC version in one purchase.

It's a fun, totally charming game that we'd never have guessed would be the precursor to Klei's most recent release: the blood-soaked, hardcore action title Shank. They're ... what's the term? ... oh yeah, polar opposites.

#3ds There's a reason Capcom is so keen to show off its Resident Evil games on the 3DS: they're far and away the most visually impressive titles we're yet to see for Nintendo's new handheld. More »

#gta Michael "Shagg" Washington, a "backup singer" with rap act Cypress Hill, has decided in 2010 to sue Grand Theft Auto developers Rockstar for a game they released in 2004. Why? He reckons he's the star of GTA: San Andreas. More »

Ikenie no Yoru, or "Night of the Sacrifice," is a newly announced Wii horror game from Marvelous Interactive, and it's just as mysterious as the possibly-haunted mansion in which it's set. This is partly because so little has been revealed: All we have to go on is a translation of a Famitsu magazine article about the game and an accompanying trailer, also from Famitsu -- but even the trailer raises more questions.

The clip shows semi-realistic characters interacting with silhouetted, stylized Feel the Magic-esque characters. Additionally, the Famitsu article reveals that Night of the Sacrifice will somehow integrate the Balance Board, the creepiest of all Wii peripherals. How exactly will that work?

We have a lot to learn before the game's March 24 release in Japan.

EA is dropping a new version of Tetris onto PSN later this month, with a bevvy of online and offline multiplayer modes. This new trailer highlights all the competitive and cooperative multiplayer offerings, like the why-didn't-we-think-of-it "Shared Mode."

#wtf The motto of Jimmie Johnson, who clinched his fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championship last month, is "Anything With An Engine." With dumpsters, coffins and lawnmowers, this upcoming arcade racer bearing his name takes that to an illogical extreme. More »

- development studio behind The Last Story is AQ Interactive - it seems that now defunct Artoon was in on development as well - AQ’s Takuya Matsumoto says that this is the first time he’s worked with Sakaguchi since Blue Dragon - AQ is handling the system/programming side of The Last Story - Matsumoto and Sakaguchi decided to work [...]

The arguably biggest update to MMOs yet has been released, but how did the World of Warcraft handle the transition?

A recent report issued by Dublin-based firm Research and Markets states the value of the games industry in the US is estimated to be $7 billion and, naturally, dominated mainly by The Big Three[TM]: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Suddenly that $65 billion global target doesn't seem so unattainable.

Additionally, the report also talks about how video games are vying for consumer entertainment dollars as the preferred leisure activity, competing with TV and other forms of entertainment. The report itself will run you €97 ($129) and if you're interested, you can grab it right here.

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#godofwar Kratos, star of God of War games, is apparently coming to the next Mortal Kombat as a "kombatant." What does the man behind the first God of War game think Kratos should do to finish his foes? *crag* 'em, naturally! More »

Under Siege may have missed its planned November release, but at least it's one step closer to actually coming out. The PlayStation Move-enabled RTS will be available later this month for $19.99 (£11.99 in the UK and €14.99 elsewhere).

Developer Seed Studios' Filipe Pina explained the delay on the game's official Facebook page: "360,000 lines of code and almost 10,000 files can sometimes be tricky to handle." Given the game's two year development time, a few more weeks of work certainly seems like a drop in the bucket.

Under Siege has some rather lofty ambitions, utilizing nearly every feature available on the PS3: Move support, a level editor, online and split-screen multiplayer, XMB screenshots, and YouTube video recording. On top of that, Seed hired the team behind Killzone 2's intro to make the game's almost-unnecessarily impressive intro, which you can watch after the break.

Good news for Halo Wars fans -- the planned shutdown of stat tracking for the game has been canceled by 343 Industries, who have decided not to kill the game's community just yet. Originally, Microsoft planned to shut down the feature on the Halo Waypoint website on December 15, but the outcry from the community (which we found completely reasonable) means they've "decided that the current plan of action was not in line with how we have always intended to support Halo games and the Halo franchise in general."

So rest assured, Halo Wars players, your stats are safe. The community itself will still be switching from game-specific forums to the Waypoint forums, but stats will still be available on HaloWars.com for the foreseeable future. And though Title Update 5 of the game will still be installed (to fix some unrelated Theater issues) your stats won't change, so go right ahead getting your Halo RTS on.

EA Games president Frank Gibeau's philosophy about the future of the games industry will probably come as a disappointment to everyone waiting on bated breath for Mirror's Edge 2: Even Edgier. Gibeau recently explained to Develop that EA is "very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay - be it co-operative or multiplayer or online services - as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you're out." He added, "I think that model is finished."

This philosophy is reflected in the multiplayer-equipped Dead Space 2, which still looks great, but ... it's still kind of a bummer, isn't it? Like, that EA-published, big-budget adventure game about tax auditors we've always dreamed about? It feels like we missed our window on that one.

Stand your ground with the discs of Tron in Multiplayer mode.

While PlayStation Plus didn't make a particularly strong debut, it's hard to argue with the value of its newly announced offerings. In addition to earning free access to Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, PlayStation Plus members can expect an even more lucrative bonus: an invite into the beta of the long-awaited DC Universe Online. While specific timing hasn't been mentioned, the offer will extend to "all" Plus subscribers, instead of the "select" members chosen in previous betas.

The update for December 21st will also include a free trial of Borderlands and discounts on Neo Geo software. Sony is certainly making the $50 asking price of Plus seem much more palpable.

Cover some ground with the lightcycle and pack some punches with the tank in Evolution!

Gamespot has posted a brand new video about the making of Dragon Age 2, and there are some nice tidbits in there for those seeking more information about the sequel to BioWare's fantasy RPG. The game's devs talk about how they began with the art style, putting together an animatic first that showed off what they wanted the look and feel of the game to be. Dragon Age: Origins had the Grey Wardens providing a strange sort of justice, but Dragon Age 2 is a little dirtier, with werewolves licking blood and heads getting smashed in.

It's also "more personal," according to the developers. Rather than DAO's create-a-character templates, BioWare wants to customize Hawke's story by showing how he affects people, so treating someone one way early in the story will have an effect on how they act later on, creating what the company hopes is its "most reactive game to date." You can watch the whole video after the break.

If you own a GameCube, odds are you probably have a copy of Smash Bros. Melee, arguably the platform's greatest game. It sold like it was, anyway -- over seven million copies were moved worldwide. Those sales were the fruit of what Sakurai says was a "grueling development cycle," very different from how he crafted the follow-up, Smash Bros. Brawl. Honestly, he's kinda underselling it.

"I worked on that game for 13 months straight, after all, without a single Sunday or holiday off that whole time," Sakurai recalls in a Famitsu interview translated by 1UP. "During parts of it, I was living a really destructive lifestyle -- I'd work for over 40 hours in a row, then go back home to sleep for four," he added. Putting himself through the grinder like this stemmed from concerns about spearheading the massive undertaking, which Sakurai called the biggest project he'd ever worked on.

Today, he looks back on it as "the sharpest game in the series," adding that it's "speedy all around and asks a lot of your coordination skills." To him, "it just felt really good to play" and was the most hardcore entry to date. As for his latest, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it was more an attempt to find some middle-ground and present a more accessible game -- and to finally help us solve one of gaming's greatest debates, of course.

#xbox360 Responding to outcry from the game's close-knit community, Microsoft has about-faced on its decision to end leaderboard and stat-tracking support for Halo Wars on Dec. 15. More »

People spend money on all sorts of protectors and cases designed to keep goo off of their shiny iPads. Next Thursday, December 16, they'll be paying to put goo on them. Ironic much?

Wish my fiancee was up for this… sigh. Congrats to the happy couple!