Gaming Revelations

Yes, we know it only seems to be all about new screens at the moment but given that we’ve only just had E3, that’s all you can really expect. Fortunately this is one we’ve been looking forward to and Unsolved Crimes is, said to be, an absorbing, enthralling, character driven adventure video game experience which integrates the thrills of an action game with the mental challenges of a 3D crime investigation.

You're a rookie detective - part of the Homicide Division. An aspiring model, Betsy Blake has disappeared. A loner is the prime suspect. But this case is a whole lot deeper than it first appears… Crime is rampant in this city, and the disappearance of Betsy Blake is the latest in unnerving series of events that are slowly bringing New York City to its knees. Can you crack the cases the regular cops can't? And can you get to the bottom of the kidnapping that's all over the news? It's up to you to disentangle the truth from lies, and try to save Betsy before it's too late.

Source: ds-x2

Even though Halo 3 may have taken over Call Of Duty 4 as the most played Xbox Live title, Infinity Ward has not given up! Infinity Ward are planning to add an additional 4 game modes. Although there is currently no set date yet as to when these new playlists will go online, but I imagine it won't be too long now.

After glancing over the list of upcoming modes it would seem that a couple are just old modes that have been redone with the good old 'Hardcore' prefix though some looks quite interesting. Be sure to read over the list of new game modes, courtest of FourZeroTwo.

Bare-bones Team Deathmatch
No more excuses. No more blaming Martyrdom or Juggernaut for your lack of skills and kills. Bare Bones Team Deathmatch eliminates the excuses and takes it back to basics with standard Team Deathmatch with no perks, no kill streak rewards. Just you, your skill, and your weapons.

Hardcore HQ
Hardcore HQ requires a lot more than just spamming the HQ position with nades and running in guns blazing. Hardcore HQ encourages more tactical gameplay and communication to win with increased damage, no HUD elements, and friendly fire on.

Multi-bomb Search and Destroy
Multi-bomb Search and Destroy starts every member of the attacking team with a bomb. So everyone has the opportunity to plant if they’re good enough.

Hardcore FFA
Even faster paced Free For Alls, where every bullet counts and playing smart is key for a solid k/d ratio. Standard Free for All rules, with Hardcore mode enabled for extra damage, no HUD, and no health re-gen.

Source: Leeds Student Gamers

Gas Powered Games finally releases a debut trailer for their upcoming title Demigod, which is being described as an amalgamation of action, RPG and RTS genres. Check it out:

Demigod is being developed exclusively for the PC.

Source: actiontrip

The official street date for the new 60GB equipped Xbox 360 — the new "Pro" model — isn't for another week, but some retailers (Target) are already selling the console. It's priced at $349, a not-quite-a-price drop replacement for the 20GB model, if you're in the market for an extra 40 gigabytes. Your mileage may vary, but if you happen to cruise by a Target on the way home, you might score.

Xbox 360 60GB already out at Target [Penny College via Gizmodo]

Source: Kotaku

Sony had a working version of their GPS package at Comic-Con to play with, but it didn’t really “work”. The PSP was tethered on the show floor and the receiver wasn’t properly getting data either since it was buried inside the convention center. Unlike the build I saw at CES the software has been updated with full US maps. Sony included a handful of 3D maps for major cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I asked if we will be able to buy maps for Europe and there are no plans for that, but Sony is considering releasing downloadable content with points of interest in North America. The GPS unit is currently scheduled to come out around this holiday season and it will be packaged with the US mapping software.

I asked if Sony has any plans to bring the camera over too. A representative felt the 1.3 MegaPixel Chotto Shot camera wasn’t powerful enough since many cell phones have cameras with a higher resolution. At this time I agree with Sony. It's too late for the Chotto Shot / Go!Cam unless Sony starts making games that work with the peripheral.

Source: Siliconera

Here is a video presentation of The Wheelman made during E3 2008 on the Midway booth. The game scheduled for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC has recently been delayed to early 2009.

Source: Gamekyo

Valve’s Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi certainly seems hopeful.

In an interview with OXM, Lombardi was asked about games currently in development at Valve including Half Life 2: Episode 3, Left 4 Dead, and Portal: Still Alive. After responding to a question about Portal DLC, he was asked about bringing old games on to the Xbox Live Arcade. And on Counter-Strike, resonded with: “We’ll certainly consider it,”

Would you think about bringing older Valve games like Counter-Strike to XBLA?
We’ll certainly consider it. If you look at what we’ve done on steam, we try to make all our games available and we’re always reviewing the prices to keep them current. We’d love to do that, but this is our first step at doing that beyond the PC.

Former Microsoft employee and Valve co-founder, Gabe Newell has always maintained a healthy relationship with the PC and looks to finally be bringing that over to the Xbox 360. Orginally being a PC developer, making the move to the Xbox console was much easier for Valve, which may be the reason for the Xbox 360 getting Valve exclusives such as Portal: Still Alive and Left 4 Dead, and this may also be the reason the Playstation 3 version of The Orange Box was seriously lacking.

Along with Portal DLC and Counter-Strike, the interview goes on to mention things such as the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead and Half Life 2: Episode 3. Lombardi also seems to reaffirm the relationship between Valve and Microsoft saying: “We don’t have any immediate plans to do this on PS3 or Nintendo.”

Click here for the full OXM interview with Doug Lombardi.

Source: casualtygamer

Confused about how to play PixelJunk Eden, now you’ve got your grubby mitts on the playable demo? Well, here’s a nice, easy cut out and keep guide. Use your eyes to see the pictures, use your brain to interpret the words, and your Dual Shock 3 to catch those pesky Spectra.

Eden’s great fun, and we’re big fans of everything PixelJunk here at TheSixthAxis. We’ll have the full review of the complete game on Monday, but until then, get swinging!

Source: thesixthaxis

Syberia, a really great PC point-and-click adventure for PC is coming to the Nintendo DS.

Microids, the developers of the franchise have now also put up a site called Syberia-Series with more details and the ability to get media, demos etc. as well. While the Syberia series of games aren’t incredibly well known, they offer the same great adventure game experience that we all think of so fondly right before we realise how old we are getting. Puzzles, mystery and adventure… I really do miss games like these sometimes.

According to Microids, they are doing all that they can to remain faithful to the original, but are going through the game piece by piece to optimize it for the DS and to also make it fun to play again even for those that have beaten the originals. If you have a DS, you really should check this game out.

I sincerely hope that this game sells well so that more companies think of bringing point-and-click adventures to the DS. I have been looking for an excuse to buy myself a DS lately and something like this is definitely starting to make my wallet cower in fear.

Source: lazygamer

One of the biggest head to head’s this year is going to be Resistance 2 vs Gears of War 2.

If both of these titles were cross platform then I don’t think anyone would be pitting them head to head as they are so different. However since Killzone dropped into next year the war of the shooters has been left to these two to decide.

Gears if getting the media hype but it seems that most people who have played both are actually falling onto the side of Resistance 2.

8 Player full co-op sounds awesome and the lack of 4 player Gears co-op is quite the let down.

The nice thing from a sales tracker point of view is that this is going to be an easy war to choose a winner. Both consoles have huge install bases and both games are being released before Christmas. The game with the most sales by the 1st of January 2009 is the winner

Source: Lazygamer

By Lore Sjöberg

SAN DIEGO -- Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman will soon be major players in the world of massively multiplayer games, at least if Sony Online Entertainment has any say in the matter. The publisher showed a pre-alpha version of DC Universe Online, the upcoming superhero MMO for PC and PlayStation 3, at San Diego Comic-Con.

The section that was up and running was a simulated world event, a pitched battle with Brainiac's minions in the middle of Metropolis. The player's job as a pre-generated demo hero was to battle mind-controlled civilians and help Superman and Green Lantern take out Bizarro and Lex Luthor as they duke it out amidst the mayhem.

The gameplay involves real-time action rather than the "select and auto-attack" approach more common in MMOs, so it plays more like a traditional shooter. The landscape offers a nice selection of improvised weapons, and some powers even allow you to use one enemy as a bludgeon to take down another.

Further details were vague, but the game will allow you to play either a hero or a villain, and some servers will have PvP enabled, while others won't. The big names of the DC Universe, whether members of the Justice League or the Legion of Doom, will be an important part of your life, sending you on missions and asking you for help.

SOE is aiming to provide a more organic leveling experience for players. The game world isn't divided into level-appropriate zones. Instead, level-appropriate challenges will spawn wherever you find yourself. Powers will be selected a la carte instead of locking you down into a tank, dps or healer role from the start.

The game looked very shiny and larger than life, suitable for the demigods of the DC universe. It's way too early to tell what sort of experience the game will eventually provide, but it certainly captures the look and feel of a pitched battle among spandex-clad titans.

Source: Wired

Here is the new Spider-Man: Web of Shadows' trailer unveiled by Activision Blizzard during the Comic-Con 08 with a little surprise at the end.

Source: gamekyo

EA will announce its second-quarter results on Tuesday and, according to an average estimate by analysts, is expected to report a loss of $111 million. Forbes reports EA had a $132 million loss the same quarter last year. Not that EA is hurting for customers, revenues are estimated to be up about $200 million this quarter despite the overall loss.

This second-quarter loss isn't surprising as EA -- along with almost every other publisher -- "backloads" its games to cause a hellish purchasing climate during the holiday season. Analysts are uppity with EA because this is the first quarter the company hasn't provided them with guidance, causing analysts to have a huge spread on the quarterly financial expectations. EA is also waiting for the results of an FTC investigation into its buyout of Take-Two. There's probably going to be a lot more cloak and dagger as the dethroned publishing king tries to crawl its way back to #1.

Source: Joystiq

Some people might say the Playstation 3 looks like a sandwich maker or an expensive BBQ grill and I tend to agree with them. However, I do think that the PS3 does take after some retro consoles. Don’t believe me? Have a look at these sandwich maker-like video game consoles of yesteryear:

The NEC PC-Engine Duo, released way back in 1991 had Bomberman hidden in its OS and multi-regional, unlike its earlier PC-Engine models.

The Fujitsu FM Towns Marty was released in 1993 and had a PC microprocessor, a 386 running at 16 MHz to be exact, for a brain.

The Philips CD-i would probably be the sucker of this entire bunch, with only 90 games released throughout its entire product life-span. The picture above is of the CD-i 450 released in 1994.

Notice the distinctive curve on top of each console? Yup, sandwich makers were in vogue years ago.

Source: nineoverten

Well it seems and most everyone knows that during The Xbox Live Weekend event that online play is free for silver users, however. A reader over at N4G.com has stated that he has been playing his xbox online for free since July 23rd. This includes Cross platform and Exclusive platform games. The readers account has been checked and has played since then on Silver. Many people speculate that Microsoft may be opening up to free gaming. This also could unlock another big addition to their next update, Its still a guarantee that Gold will still exist and have its perks over free gaming if it occurs.

Source: consolespot - n4g - kotaku

Midway have just sent out a brand new kick ass gameplay demo talking us through the various styles etc in the game. Because my computer has decided now would be the best time to run super slowly I can only post a link to the youtube vid for now, I will have it on this page today don’t you worry.

“In a nutshell” Kick ass new gameplay demo for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Source: namelessgaming

In a beneficial turn of events for the home entertainment industry, Blu-ray sales continue to rise drastically despite the staggering U.S. economy.

As DVD sales decline, Blu-ray has been filling in the gap, generating more than $200 million in the first half of 2008. This is in stark contrast to the same point last year, where Blu-ray earnings were less than 33% of current figures.

“We are trending 8% Blu-ray sales [per title], and at the end of the year, we will be between 10% and 12%," stated Mike Dunn of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Lori MacPherson, general manager for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, North America contributed her thoughts.

“I think people are becoming pickier on what they spend their money on, but home entertainment always represents a good value. Thirty dollars for a Blu-ray movie that you can watch over and over again is still a great value,” she commented.

As Blu-ray production costs begin to drop, savings will be passed on to consumers and, in return, Blu-ray will take an even more prominent place in people's homes. With HDTV penetration higher than ever, Blu-ray may very well overtake DVD prior to 2012, the previously accepted prediction.

Source: PSU

Was Brett Favre’s decision to return influenced by his Madden 2009 Cover Photo?

As you may already heard, Brett Favre is trying to make a comeback. He currently has not reported to any camp yet, including his former team the Green bay Packers. The couple of teams that are interested are the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Bucs. Since April 24th, when Brett was announced the new cover athlete for Madden 09, minor rumblings began about his return. Could the video game football franchise influenced his return? If he DOES play this upcoming year, I say it helped! We have new screens of Madden 2009, and boy do they look good. Here are some of the new features you can expect to see this year.

Gallery: Madden 2009

New Features

Madden IQ system: players train in a holographic environment, which grants them a “Madden IQ” based on their practice in 12 different drills. The game’s difficulty adjusts itself to the player’s Madden IQ.

EA Sports Backtrack: the game analyzes the player’s playing ability and points out mistakes during gameplay a la a television-styled telestrator

Improved online leagues: server-based leagues, supporting up to 32 players, with full schedules including the playoffs and the Super Bowl as well as draft and trade support. Schedules can be played in a round-robin style as well.

Revamped graphics: Improved stadium models, new weather particle system, new lighting models, new player models, field goal nets, improved sidelines, user-controlled celebrations, clear visors, new facemask designs, and Total Control animation system.

Improved gameplay: Offensive line slide protection, smart routes, realistic fatigue, improved gang tackles, true penalty based animations, formation substitutions, new fumble system (weather affects it), new player weapon types and the ability to return short field goals.

Revamped franchise mode: Simulated stats have been improved (e.g. fewer running backs gaining 2,000+ yards in one season), rivalry games have special value and played games have more crowd and television intensity.

On-demand picture-in-picture play-call window: Picture-in-picture style interface to allow the player to see key information and call plays and formations without leaving the current window.

New Dynamic Camera System: The new camera system moves with your receivers so they will never fall out of view during gameplay. The camera automatically pans out, zooms in, and adjusts angles to keep the receivers in screen. Once you complete that pass, if the ball carrier happens to break away from his defenders, the ActionCam will rock back and forth, zoom in and follow the ball carrier, giving you that intense feeling that you’re sprinting alongside him. And if a defender happens to really lay into the ball carrier, the Big Hit Camera will rattle the screen with the force of the crunch.

New Tackling Engine & Animations

New Running/Ball-Carrier Engine: total control system, new transition system, character grounding with foot-plant, new procedural animation system, realistic momentum, new locomotion system, improved visuals and animations, left and right stick moves, directional diving.

Source: kezins

Didn't make it to San Diego Comic-Con to pick up the convention exclusive Mirror's Edge comic book we told you about last week? Yeah, me neither.

But thanks to our friend Spencer over at Siliconera, it's like we were actually there, man. He braved the not-so-long lines at Electronic Arts' booth to pick up a copy of the comic, and then used wacky new technology to scan it for all of the world to see. Thanks, Spencer!

The comic (the first in a series that will be released by DC to coincide with the game's release) features Mirror Edge protagonist Faith jumping across rooftops and balancing on things. Hey, you can do all of the stuff in the game! Wait a minute, is this comic book a thinly veiled advertisement?

Sneaky as it might be, it's still pretty cool, and certainly doesn't make us any less excited for Mirror's Edge's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 release. Hit up Siliconera for the comic book goods.

Source: destructoid

Snagged on the showroom floor of last week's Comic-Con. It's...certainly looking a lot like Battlefront, which is mostly a good thing. Battlefront with arrows. A lot of arrows. And while everything looks quite lovely, we're still a tad unsure over the choice of levels: in RotK, that battle had thousands of bad guys. This level has a few dozen. Which makes it look like you're on mop-up duty, instead of war-winning duty.

Source: Kotaku

Update: Microsoft seem have very, very quickly taken down the date as soon as word got out.

It seems Bionic Commando Rearmed has finally got a date, and should hit XBLA on August 13th. The news comes direct from Xbox Japan as they’ve let slip the date on the games splash page on their official site. As of yet it has not been confirmed if the game will hit US and Europe on the same day, but it is very likely to happen as most big games are usually released on the same day worldwide.

No release date has been confirmed for the PSN and PC versions of the game as of yet, but it is possible the game could hit PSN the Thursday after its XBLA release.

Source: darkzero

Here's a new video of Tenchu 4 for the Wii. This new episode of the series will be released on October 23 in Japan.

Source: Gamekyo

Microsoft had a Comic-Con booth with Galaga Legions on display and a handful of limited edition Xbox 360s to giveaway. Nobody got to take home the Dark Knight themed Xbox 360 consoles, though. These were in a glass case for eyes only. Lucky winners who stopped by and scanned their badges received Xbox 360s branded with art from DC Comics, the Watchmen, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Gears of War 2.

Source: Siliconera

Bethesda comms boss Peter Hines has told VG247 that the next major milestone for Fallout 3 is to “get everything done.”

“The next milestone for us is ‘get everything done,’” he said. “From a PR standpoint, we still have lots more things to see and show and talk about and we’ll be doling that info out over the coming months.”

Hines was quick to point out, though, that a move into the final push on the anticipated RPG’s development shouldn’t be an indication that there’s nothing left to reveal.

“There is tons of stuff left to see,” he said. “Half an hour you got to see at E3 is barely scratching the surface.”

The game’s out on October 7 in the US. Still waiting on a European release date.

Source: videogaming247

Months after Perpetual Entertainment ceased its work on Star Trek Online, City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios has confirmed that it is now handling the sci-fi MMO and will be brining it to unspecified consoles in addition to the expected PC release.

It is unclear how much of Perpetual's original work will be reflected in Cryptic Studios' rendition of Star Trek Online. The project is now powered by the studio's Cryptic Engine technology, with the first gameplay footage due at this year's Star Trek Convention on August 10--suggesting many of Perpetual's assets are being re-used.

Source: shacknews

Don't get excited, this is just a fan made one. A fan with no woman in his life, presumably...

Our interest in Gears of War 2 has ramped up considerably this morning thanks to two tantalizing rumors being flung about the interweb.

The first, and considerably less juicy - but nontheless interesting - rumor is that Gears of Wars 2 will be the first Xbox 360 game to make use of special 'linked achievements'. "What in Sam hill is a linked achievement?" I hear you say. Well, apparently certain achievements -and in this case unlockable characters - will become available if Gears 2 recognises a previous Gears 1 save file that has met certain requirements.

Here are some leaked examples:

* Unlocking the "Completed Act 1" achievement in GoW unlocks Anthony Carmine in GoW2 multiplayer.

* Unlocking the "A Dish Best Served Cold" achievement in GoW unlocks General RAAM in GoW2 multiplayer.

* Unlocking the "Time to Remember" achievement in GoW unlocks Minh Young Kim in GoW2 multiplayer.

If this rumor is true, we for one welcome the bold new system. It's about time developers started recognising and rewarding loyal gamers who have shelled out the lettuce (dollars) to play the first game in their series. In short, it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The second rumor, and this is still very, v-e-r-y much in 'mill form', is that Epic plans to release a special edition of the game. According to nameless sources (who could well be a bunch of drunken frat boys), for 130 big ones (dollars) you can secure yourself a copy of the game and a replica of Marcus Fenix's 'Lancer gun'. For those of you unitiated with the joys of Locust logging; the ‘Lancer’ would of course be the assault rifle with the dirty big underslung chainsaw attached.

If true, this is fantastic news for lovers of extra collectibles everywhere. Personally, I've already envisioned myself wiling away the hours chasing my cat around the house using the lancer, wearing the spartan helmet, and carrying a GTA duffel bag packed full of sugar to eat.

Source: Gameplayer

The cast of LEGO Final Fantasy VII ... only Cloud is seriously lacking in the spikey hair department and Red XIII is nowhere to be found. Check out the highlights for this weekend:

Joystiquery
The Best of Big Download: July 20-26
Costumes of Comic-Con 08: Days 1 and 2
DS Fanboy Lite: July 19 - July 25
Japanese hardware sales, July 14 - July 20: Turn-based edition
Joystiq Podcast 058 - Merchant-off edition
WRUP: The Warehouse Edition
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup gets a Reality Check

News
Guitar Hero III 'Virtuoso Track Pack' now available
England, Wales prisoners lose access to 18-rated games
See first posters, date for Max Payne flick
Unlock the Uncharted Trophies beginning Aug. 22 ... or not
Marc and Dexter: Ecko making iPhone-only slasher
PlayStation 2 travels through time to kill children
Rock Band Weekly: Staind, Testament, Scars on Broadway, The New No 2
Super Street Fighter II HD beta gets time extension
Tera Patrick 'hired' as 'special' 'producer' on Saint's Row 2
Gears of War movie development soldiers on
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe adds a killing Joker
Bungie working on 'three distinct projects'
Peter Moore calls E3 'soulless,' calls for public event
Point your single oversized eyeball at this Resident Evil: Degeneration trailer
Wheelman pumps brakes, delayed until Q1 2009
EA Sports working on fixes for NCAA Football 2009 bugs
Microsoft's Frank O'Connor hints at 'HaloCon', comments on 'Bungiegate'
Warhammer Online launches Sept 23, says EA website
Cryptic Studios job listing reveals Star Trek Online
Toasty! Midway announces Mortal Kombat: Kollection for PS2
Gears of War 2 content unlocked by original Gears achievements, $130 Lancer bundle coming
Too Human demo classes unlock over time, internal clock shift makes them all available
Check out the star-studded Afro Samurai trailer
The NSFAmerica Dead Space 'Lullaby' trailer

Rumors & Speculation
Rumorong: Activision, Red Octane call shenanigans on World Tour set list
Rumor: Ratner to turn God of War film into geek tragedy
Rumor: Vader DLC bringing dark side to Xbox 360 Soul Calibur IV
Rumor: New Marvel vs. Capcom game may be coming 'sooner than you think'

Culture & Community
Rigopulos on why air drumming doesn't work

Source: Joystiq

Matt Shell, Marketing Manager at LucasArts, has sent out word that a demo of their upcoming game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will be will be hitting Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network in August.

The level available in the demo will be a reworked version of the Tie Fighter Construction Facility from the retail game and the demo will feature special force power that would not have been unlocked at that point if you were playing through the full game.

Furthermore, in a nice change from the norm LucasArts have said the the demo will actually contain a unique ending instead of just ending abruptly - like most other demo’s do. This ending will also be exclusive to the demo, and not be apart of the retail release.

Source: Darkzero

Comic Con had a larger video game presence this year with Capcom, Sony, Konami, and Electronic Arts bringing their E3 demos to the show. Lines for Street Fighter IV started sharply at 9AM. The wait for Mirror’s Edge wasn’t as long. Electronic Arts handed out tiny comic books to read to pass the time. I’m not as interested in Mirror’s Edge as Jeriaska is, but in the interest of other readers I scanned in the seven pages that highlight Faith’s saga.

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 1

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 2

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 3

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 4

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 5

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 6

Mirror’s Edge Comic Page 7

Source: Siliconera

You get a glimpse of the non-Hitleriffic Master-D around 1:30 or so of this Japanese trailer to Bionic Commando: Rearmed which, helpfully, also provides us with dubbed sing-along lyrics. No toothbrush mustache, but Master-D looks like Grand Moff Tarkin wearing a breather or a surgical mask, so there's still some traces of insane murderous despot in him. And I'm not sure what they're singing, other than Go! Go! Go! and Yeah!. But I feel strangely compelled to buy a neek.

Just to be clear, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is an update of the classic side-scroller, coming to XBLA, PSN and PC later this year. There's also a 3D third-person shooter coming to the 360 and PS3 this year.

Bionic Commando Rearmed — Sing Along Japanese Trailer [Gametrailers]

Source: Kotaku

The last Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia trailer certainly made the game look good -- but, in the form we saw (taken by pointing a camera at a screen at Konami's E3 booth), the trailer itself could have looked better. This direct-feed version of the OoE trailer corrects that single issue, leaving nothing between you and awesome monster fighting.

The trailer features a bunch of new monsters, and a bunch of monsters reused from previous Castlevanias. But that's okay, because not only do we expect it, Konami got those sprites right the first time! You can also see Shanoa doing wacky glyph-based attacks like turning into a were-panther. But enough talk -- have at you!

Source: DSFanboy

Black magic.

There’s no other explanation to how this works.

Simply grab the rar from here, unrar it, drop in onto the root of a USB stick and whack it in your PS3 (it’s under ‘video’ on the XMB). And there you have it, two player Pong just like that. Mind, it probably eats at your hard drive, voids your warranty and sends all your porn to Sony, but hey - it’s Pong.

We take no responsibility for any damage this may cause to your PS3, your car or your rabbit, although as this simply uses the Blu-ray Java language and nothing sinister you should be OK.

Source: thesixthaxis

With more and more mobile games being developed and not being necessarily bad (providing that you have a good phone), the mobile gaming market is blooming each day.

While it may not be compared to the market that the DS and PSP bring, it still is a profitable and promising future market because virtually everyone owns a cell phone, and with newer and powerful cell phones such as the iPhone and the iNSTINCT, mobile game development is also becoming easier.

One of the benefits in this area is that cell phones are becoming vast multimedia and communication machines, something that most portable consoles lack. There are also thousands of different phone models in circulation, and with a cellular phone being a necessity these days, everyone will probably be tempted to download at least one game in their phone to keep them a little busy everywhere they go.

While it may not catch up to the handeld gaming market yet, it has the potential to overcome them in a near future...

So the question is:

Do you think mobile cell phone gaming will replace standard gaming soon? Even the unparalleled market success of the DS and the PSP?!

Source: Wiipals

Game On Game’s reporting that GTA IV was listed for PC on the ESRB website briefly overnight, and has now been removed.

The game was rumoured for PC after being featured on the cover of a Malaysian magazine earlier this week, but the talk was swiftly debunked.

We’ll check with Rockstar on Monday. Again.

Source: Videogaming247

If I mention the word "Karateka" to people, a select few will say "Karate practicioner." Even fewer will say "an old video game." And most will say "Huh?" Some have seen a surreal interpretation of this game as the ninja who dances like MC Hammer to Daft Punk in YTMND's "Ninja Works It", which has since made itself a part of random avatars in various net forums.

But Jordan Mechner, the creator of the 1984 fighting action game which set the animation stage for his more famous work 1989's Prince of Persia, mentions that Karateka will be making a return. Keep reading...

At a Q & A panel at the soon-ending Comic-Con International, Mechner talks about making a sequel to the game he made while at Yale University (his first ever), 24 years after the original:

"There actually is a plan to bring back Karateka. It's a project I'm going to be involved in. I can safely say it's not going to be in the way you expect."

To leave you in anticipation, here's an anecdote from Mechner on one of the game's infamous Easter eggs/game secrets in reponse to a question from the audience:

"The programmer doing copy protection for the game figured out that by messing with the bit table, the whole game could be played upside down, which is really hard to do. We thought it would be hilarious if we burned the flipped version of the game to the other side of the disk.

We figured of all the people who buy the game, a couple of them would accidentally put the floppy in upside down. That way, when that person calls tech support, that tech support rep would once in blue moon have the sublime joy of saying, 'Well sir, you put the disk in upside down,' and that person would think for the rest of their life that's how software works.

We went do the president of Broderbund to propose this, and we didn't think they'd go for it, because it would require an assembly line change to actually burn the game onto both sides of the disk, which adds however many cents. So we went in, and he said, 'Sure. Do it.'"

All thanks and credit to Gamasutra.com.

Source: Gamasutra

Those of you with PS3s may have noticed that a demo for the latest game in Q Games’ Pixeljunk series “Eden” appeared this week as part of the weekly PSN update.

For anyone who hasn’t had a chance to download it yet, let me be the first to say that the game is absolutely gorgeous. I haven’t seen a game with such a unique visual style since Okami came out back in the PS2 days. It’s a fitting tribute to what developers can accomplish with these modern consoles even without benefit of a gigantic budget.

The game’s audio presentation is also very impressive. I expect anyone standing outside my apartment tonight while I play through the Eden demo again will think I’m having some sort of rave in here due to the game’s pounding techno soundtrack and vibrant colours.

On the gameplay side of things, Eden is sort of a tough nut to crack. The purpose of each level in Eden is quite simple. Players are tasked with collecting a spectra, which is sort of a glowing orb so they can return them to their own gardens and create a personal Eden. Simply touching the spectra will bring the level to an end, but as always, there’s a catch. The spectra will initially be well out of your character’s reach meaning players must burst floating bits of pollen which will then pollinate nearby seeds, causing plants to grow, which in turn makes another part of the level accessible. It sounds a bit confusing on paper, but in practice the game is really quite simple.

Movement is simple enough in the game, you can jump, but you have almost no control of your character once you’re airborn which caused me some frustration initially. If you only tap jump once, your character will stay attached to the surface you launched off of with a piece of silk. Any bits of pollen that happen to cross paths with your airborn avatar or with the silk you’re dragging between your launchpad and yourself will burst. Tap jump twice and your character leaps from his perch without any sort of safety harness making it possible to jump greater distances.

Fortunately it’s not really possible to die in this demo, but it can be annoying falling all the way to the ground when you’ve been climbing for a long time. I rather expected before trying the game that we would be able to launch silk strands while in the air and swing around the levels like Spiderman. That turns out not to be the case, but I suspect the game is better off for it.

Once the initial frustration wore off it wasn’t long before I found myself swinging around the levels like a pro. I think it’s fair to say, based on this demo that the full game will be very addictive as I can’t wait to finish up here and try it again.

If there’s a problem with the game it’s that I can’t quite tell what market Q Games were trying to reach. It has all the hallmarks of a casual game for casual gamers, however, the initial difficulty may be a turn off for some. The real test will come later on tonight when I sit my girlfriend down with the game and see how she fairs.

In the meantime I reccommend those of you with a PS3 give the game a try and let us know what you think. Is it a hit or a miss?

Source: Casualtygamer

On top of the linked achievement news coming from Comic-Con, a new Gears of War 2 edition was unofficially announced by the panel members. A new Halo 3 Legendary edition priced $130 Gears of War 2 bundle that is said to include a miniature replica model of a Lancer. Something we should have expected seeing that we caught word from our own source that a mini Lancer would grace some sort of Gears of War 2 edition. Microsoft has yet to confirm this $130 Gears 2 edition, what other content will be included or when it’ll be available, but we expect news to trickle in soon. And just in case you were wondering, the answer is an emphatic “yes”. A certain blogger will be plopping down his $130 come November.

[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]

Source: Lidless

Unlike NFS: Pro Street, which was heavily hyped throughout the course of 2007, the upcoming NFS: Undercover seem to trying to stay below the radar. However, it now seems EA are finally ready to start the hype-train for the game by releasing the first trailer for the title on YouTube.

Seeing as the trailer for the game is all live-action / CGI, it really does not tell us much in regards to the content of the game, and what the gameplay will be like. However, in the trailer Christina Milian makes an appearance, which pretty much confirms she will be this years poster-girl for the game. Actress Maggie Q also appears in the trailer too. The trailer ends by confirming a release date for this game, Novemeber 18th, and showing a link to a website - Whichroadtotake.com

Previously, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello stated that Undercover is taking inspiration from action films such as The Transporter to tell the games story. John Doyle, from EA Black Box also hinted that the game will have a “Most Wanted-ish” sandbox style of gameplay.

Riccitiello also previously commented that ProStreet didn’t live up to EA’s hopes for the game, which is a pretty candid statement for a CEO to make about one of his own games. As a result this game has being granted a longer period in development - 18 months instead of the usual 12.

Source: Darkzero - Kotaku

We've been talking up PAX for a few weeks now, asking our fans to mark their calendars and prepare to be showered in Bungie Love as we hunker down in our booth amidst the craziness of the show floor. We're just over a month away from the magical weekend so it's worth reminding everyone that Bungie will be there and we would love to meet you at our booth.

We'll be there in full force in booth #752, conveniently located right next to our friends from Rooster Teeth / Red vs. Blue. Visitors to our patch of real estate can expect to find some brand new Halo 3 multiplayer conent, including chances for hands-on play (crowds permitting of course). Hardcore fans will also have an opportunity to compete in multiplayer matches against Luke and Shishka for a chance to win Recon armor. In addition, many members of our team will be on hand during the three days of the show to mingle, sign stuff, draw stuff and spread Bungie Love. Of course we also plan to make it rain with prizes and swag on a daily basis.

The FanFest party that was mentioned a few weeks ago has unfortuantely fallen upon hard times. It saddens me greatly to find ourselves in this situation but we have decided to postpone the FanFest for a later date. Our plans and some dependencies leading up to this party have not materialized as expected so we've been forced to delay things for now. I realize this will come as sad news to many of you, just as our team is bummed out over this turn of events. I can say that the grand return of the Bungie FanFest will happen when the time is right and it will be glorious. I guess if there's any upside to this, it's that we now have even more loot to distribute at the actual booth.

For the record, we have no plans to make any big announcements or huge reveals at PAX this year. While we will have some Halo 3 multiplayer stuff for you to check out, this is not going to be the "big announcement" many of our fans are clamoring for. Rest assured that when the time is right, we will be making announcements and talking about the stuff we're currently working on. At the moment we do have three distinct projects underway within Bungie - some familiar, some not. Some on a closer horizon, some quite far off.

In the meantime, I encourage any Bungie fans in the area to please stop by our booth and say hello. In the coming weeks we will post a more definitive schedule of the various actitives taking place in our booth at specific times so you can plan your PAX agenda accordingly. If you have special requests, people you'd particularly love to meet or anything like that, please share your ideas in the "Discuss This" link attached to this story. Stay tuned for more updates as PAX gets closer....

Source: Bungie

NeonDS is an advanced emulator for Nintendo’s popular Nintendo DS handheld system. If you know the system you might know that it features two screens of which one can be manipulated with a stylus like pen. The mouse is emulating that stick on the computer and it works surprisingly well.

The current version 0.21 works with several homebrew games that I tested from several websites that offer games and applications for the Nintendo DS. Their main purpose is obviously to be run on the Nintendo DS but they work great on the NeonDS emulator.

The emulator is not perfect yet which is fully understandable if you look at its version. Some homebrew games crashed after loading them into the emulator and some did not display the graphics properly. The experience after all was quite good for most applications and games.

Games can be saved and keyboard shortcuts are available which are essential for most applications. To make it short, WASD moves Up, Left, Down and Right while the keys JKU IYO emulate the other six keys of the Nintendo DS. The key 1 emulates select while 2 does the same for the start button.

I was able to get 60 frames per second in most applications and games when testing the emulator, users with older systems will probably experience lower frame rates. If you are looking for a solid Nintendo DS emulator you might give NeonDS a try.

Source: Ghacks

Yes, folks, you read correctly. The teaser trailer for the sequel to one of the first, and some say best, video-game themed was shown as ComicCon, and someone grabbed it. The quality is horrid, and it is skewed and badly soundtracked, but you get the idea. Jeff Bridges, well, he looks like he means business. Check it out, all we need now is a sequel to Wargames! (Thanks, Neoimp)

TR2N cleaned up 001
by genchang2112

Source: Gamersreports

You have to love the Mortal Kombat series. You may not like all the entries (I know I don’t), but any serious gamer has fallen in-love with at least one of the titles throughout the years. Mortal Kombat 1, 2, and even 3 were my top choices. Just hearing someone say ‘get over here!’ is enough to send shivers down my spine…moments before it gets ripped out.

Check out the full list here

Source: GoNintendo

The slapping of videogame accessories over your junk fad seems to be still going strong. It all started with NESBuckle when they introduced classic old school controllers as belt buckles. Then someone had the idea of making a belt buckle out of the original fat GameBoy (among some other weird gaming/fashion hybrids). And if that wasn't big enough, NESBuckle took things one-step further by making the NES Advantage into a belt buckle.

Now, someone had the bright idea of making the actual Nintendo Entertainment System into a belt buckle. And unlike all of the other belt mods, the NES still works. As demonstrated in the above video, you can take your NES belt wherever, hook it up, and start playing games. NESBuckle is selling the NES buckle with two controllers, the A/V cable, power cord and Super Mario Bros. (actual belt sold separately) all for $300.

Save your money kids, this is way too damn much. You would think at that price that they would have at least modded the NES so it could take batteries. Or you know, use the NES 2 since it's a lot more compact. Granted, it would be pretty funny to see people wearing these at something like PAX and taking over the demo stations.

Also, GameBoy Color shoes.

Source: Destructoid

Monday, July 28, 2008

Was Brett Favre’s decision to return influenced by his Madden 2009 Cover Photo?

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Saturday, July 26, 2008

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