All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#northkorea One son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is too busy playing video games to take over the country, according to a video game surprise found among the reams of U.S. government cables disseminated by the Wikileaks organization. More »

With over one million copies sold (according to Revolution Software), the remastered iOS Broken Sword was enough of a success to warrant a similar treatment for the sequel. Wait, did we just say an adventure game sold more than a million copies in 2010? Wow!

Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror Remastered, due on the App Store this month, features updated graphics, an "interactive digital comic" by artist Dave Gibbons, and an in-game hint system, just like its predecessor. Revolution has also come up with a clever implementation of "cloud" saving to allow you to keep your progress across multiple devices: it uses Dropbox to handle save data.

We can't think of many handheld games capable of filling us with terror whilst on-the-go, but some of the baddies seen in these screens for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and Revelations look like they'll be downright unsettling. Especially once they start, you know, walking out of the screen.

True love > Giygas.

When you think of Cypress Hill, you probably don't think of riding bicycles around the mean streets of Rockstar's fictional "San Andreas." But perhaps that's where your mind should go, argues backup singer Michael "Shagg" Washington, who's suing the developer (and its publisher, Take-Two Interactive) six years after the game's release. Washington claims he met with Rockstar in 2003 "to talk about street life for the [then] upcoming game," including a description of his "troubled life in his youth" and specifics about "how the teenagers in his gang rode around on bicycles."

IGN got its hands on a copy of the suit, which explains that Washington didn't see San Andreas in action until this past July, when his nephew was playing it. "The plaintiff had never seen the game. He did not own or play video games," the complaint admits, further explaining, "Upon examination of images of 'CJ' and comparison to his photos from that year and other evidence, it became clear that Rockstar had stolen his image and never paid him."

For Washington's claims, he's asking for 25 percent of Rockstar's profits from San Andreas -- approximately $250 million. Take-Two, unsurprisingly, says the case "is completely without merit" and the publisher "will vigorously defend itself in the matter."

Hello again PlayStation.Blog universe! Since we last stopped by to exclusively reveal the new trailer for Young Thor here back in August, we’ve been hard at work on the next game for all you Sony fans out there. We’re happy to report that it’s nearly complete and most certainly continues our tradition of delivering some of the highest quality and rewarding experiences available on the platform. So, what’s next in 2010 from Frima, the studio that brought you Zombie Tycoon, Widgets Odyssey I and II and Young Thor? The answer lies in the cosmos with A Space Shooter for Two Bucks!

With what we feel may be the most appropriate and what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) titles in gaming history, A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! is what the Frima Studio team has been working on for the last portion of 2010 and is one of the most exciting minis we’ve ever seen. For the ridiculously low price point of – yep, you guess it, $1.99 – it’s also one of the most value-rich shooters ever. And as a bonus, A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! is quite historic – when it launches on Tuesday, December 21, it will also be available absolutely FREE to all PlayStation Plus subscribers, marking the first time a game has launched to the general PSN public and also made free for Plus users on the same date!

About the game itself…well, hopefully you can guess what kind of game it is from the title. :P

We’re a big fan of the classic space shooting genre here at Frima Studio, and it’s been a real thrill to create one ourselves and being able to add everything we love about space shooters and omit everything we don’t. A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! features everything you’d expect: swarms of enemies filling the screens with hazardous bullets and missiles, heaps of upgrades for your ship and its arsenal, high-paced and constant action requiring deft reflexes, and hordes of alien baddies just waiting to be blown up by your superior space-faring skills.

A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! also contains some truly colorful characters that you’ll get to meet during gameplay and cutscenes. You’ll wipe the galaxy clean of nefarious extra-terrestrials by taking control of Commander P. Jefferson, a truly patriotic earthling who has vowed from an early age to keep the human race number one in the universe, where it belongs! His xenophobic quest is assisted by Edgar, his ship’s somewhat persnickety artificial intelligence (AI) that guides Jefferson to various galaxies and provides helpful information, but always with plenty of snobby sarcasm piled on his replies.

We’re also proud to report that A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! features a complete soundtrack of full voiceovers for Jefferson, Edgar and all the rest of the characters you’ll encounter throughout your journey, both good and evil. We’re excited to have a team with the technical expertise and experience with this platform to be able to squeeze full voiceover into a game that looks and plays fantastically and will give you hours of intergalactic enjoyment in a package under 100MB.

Again, A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! launches on Tuesday, December 21 for $1.99, so keep an eye out and stay tuned to the PlayStation.Blog for more information and assets. Happy alien hunting cadets!

#uncharted3drakesdeception Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will draw inspiration from the life of T.E. Lawrence's days as an archaeologist in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula when it hits the Playstation 3 late next year, Entertainment Weekly reports. More »

Drake heads to the desert as Naughty Dog's game is revealed.

Nintendo provides the latest look at The Last Story's development in a new Iwata Asks column.

#ps3 Next February, tactical role-playing game Disgaea 4 will be released on the PlayStation 3. There will be a limited edition bundle. It will be cute. Very cute. More »

The issue with cute monsters that possess an insatiable hunger for candy is that they're a perpetual problem, albeit a fun one. Chillingo recognizes this and, for you millions of nurturers out there, will launch Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift, a free standalone iOS game set to arrive on the App Store sometime this month.

Holiday Gift is comprised of 25 Christmas-themed levels and incorporates a new "Christmas Sock" mechanic where players can teleport candy between socks. Then, of course, there are new menus, music tracks and achievements to check out. There isn't an exact date for the launch of Holiday Gift yet, but we'll be sure to let you know when one's announced.

#rumor There's chatter that Britain's most famous secret agent is set to star in a stealth game. This might be footage of said game. More »

#piracy Earlier this year, the US Copyright Group filed a lawsuit against 4,577 people it accused of pirating the movie Far Cry, a big screen adaptation of a 2004 PC shooter. In December, things aren't going so well. More »

#pullquote Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, travels back in time to the 1990's while defending the abysmal sales of the latest Tony Hawk game, Shred. [image: Getty] More »

Confused by Xbox Live's "Games for the Holidays" crossover bonus? Don't worry. This new video from Microsoft makes it very clear what you unlock when you buy more than one game from this seasonal promotion.

#pressplay We were tipped this trailer earlier today, which looks like it serves as a promo reel for Australian CG studio Plastic Wax. It's for/from the upcoming Warhammer 40K game Space Marine, and it enjoys a spot of the ol' fisticuffs. More »

#atlus Upcoming adult adventure game Catherine features two spicy covers: one for the PS3 and one for the Xbox 360. More »

#toys A fighting game character with wings made out of life and death? Sounds like good material for an expensive action figure! More »

#gundam In summer 2009, Bandai Namco constructed an enormous, life-sized 59-foot-tall Gundam statue in Tokyo, following with an updated version earlier this year. China is working on one of it's own, but don't tell Namco Bandai. More »

Listen here, Entertainment Software Ratings Board, if you're going to create a public service announcement for parents of young gamers starring Chicago Blackhawks players Patrick Sharp and Brian Campbell, you really can't use puns so halfheartedly. This commercial might be a noble attempt, but there are a lot of untapped hockey references you guys left hanging, like:

• "If you don't do a box check, you could find yourself in a stick-y situation."
• "Don't skate around your responsibilities as a parent, or you might end up in the penalty box."
• "Don't puck around with ratings, or else your kid might play an age-inappropriate shoot-er."
• "The icing on the cake? Something about Zambonis."

#thehorror When I reviewed EyePet last year, I really put the game through its paces. Being a kids game, though, that's where I drew the line. These guys? I don't think they even have a line. More »

#dreamclubzero Dream Club is a bar girl simulator that allows players to patron a virtual watering hole and chat up chicks. But It's not only about that for fans, it's also about the outfits and dressing up their favorite characters. More »

The Leicestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership recently published a pixelated PSA with an important message for sexually active gamers: You have to use your speed burst after hitting the Condom block on World 1-3 in order to catch it before it falls in the bottomless pit. Or something.

#art It is hundreds of screenshots, composited into recreations of artwork featuring the two stars of Nintendo's famous adventure series, Link and the Princess Zelda. More »

#level5 Today, the Nintendo DS game from Professor Layton developer Level-5 and My Neighbor Totoro creator Studio Ghibli goes on sale in Japan. How's it going to do? Well, how do you think it's gonna do? More »

WiiWare will get an unlikely combination of robots, dungeon crawling, disco, and Shaft (shut your mouth) references on December 20, when Fugazo's Frobot hits the scene. Frobot is an action game about an afro-sporting robot -- not a frozen robot, as you might have thought -- who rolls into BotBlocker's headquarters to rescue his five foxy, equally robotic girlfriends.

This is represented gameplay-wise by a top-down experience similar to The Legend of Zelda's dungeons, with the addition of pointer-based aiming. If the grouping of all those elements seems too far-fetched for you, you'll be able to get proof in the form of a demo, available the same day. We're so glad to see devs taking advantage of this demo feature, by the way. European gamers will get the game (and, presumably, the demo) in 2011.

#culturesmash Internet cafes dot the Japanese urban landscape and offer a moment of pause for regular folks. Ditto for criminals. More »

#pc While controlling shooters on the PC is made easier by the precision of the mouse, that's not enough for some people. Some people want it even easier than that. For them, there is the Dragon Gaming Speech Pack. More »

If you know your way around a pen, paintbrush or tablet, and are also filled with a surplus of fandom for the Mega Man franchise, Udon Entertainment could use your help. The company is publishing a collection of fan art featuring the Blue Bomber, and is currently accepting submissions.

#clips So many Kinect hacks have teased a "Minority Report" style interface. Picked at its edges, approached it with half steps. This clip shows it's not only possible with Microsoft's new camera, it's possible right now. More »