I had the privilege of attending a special performance of Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy last night here at San Diego Comic-Con 2010. It was held outdoors, at San Diego’s Embarcadero waterfront venue, on a lovely, cool evening. The concert was completely sold out, as you’d expect at an event as large as Comic-Con, but I don’t think anyone in the audience was prepared for all the surprises the concert had in store....
Have any of you youngins out there played the originalShining Force? It’s that RPG on all those Sega collections that you keep thinking you really should play, butAltered Beastkeeps distracting you because you think it really can’t be as bad as you remember it. The entireShiningseries is a bit of a roller coaster quality wise, but it seems that Sega is bringing it back again and hopefully it will play more to its roots than recent games in the series....
Check outSeecolonslashfor what is possibly the funniest gamer t-shirt I’ve seen all year. I’m just regretful it’s too late to get them for Christmas or I would have knocked many a gift off my list. Also, the site is open to people who need an outlet to sell nerdy stuff, so this is your opportunity to sell your homemade gamer fashions. Go for it! Personally, I’m still waiting for someone to make a long clutch bag that looks like the NES controller (hint, hint....
With all these new MMOs coming out, I know it must be difficult to love with the one you’re with, but sometimes such dedication can pay off. For example, if you happen to playGuild Wars, you know that Miniature Pets are handy in towns and fun to trade with other players. The Miniature Grawl you see above, for instance, was only given out at special events such as Comic-Con, Gen-Con and the Penny Arcade Expo....
WiiWare has technically existed since the Wii launched in late ’06, but up until now the service hasn’t actually offered any, you know,games. That’s about to change, at least in Japan, where original titles for download are about to hit in a big way. The latest new title to be announced the service gets my vote for “the sluttiest game of all time” award.Tetris,the one and only,is getting all gussied up for the WiiWare coming out party, and boy does she look sexy....
We’ve seenSonic the Hedgehog 4on Xbox 360, and it looks damn good. How does it fare on Wii? According to these new screenshots, revealed by Nintendo of America, it’s not too shabby at all. According to Nintendo, the game will feature full HD resolution, so there’s a reason it looks so nice! The WiiWare version ofSonic 4will feature everything that the more powerful consoles provide, including online leaderboards. Widescreen format was also hyped as a feature, which is kind of sad that a Wii game would have to pimp that as a bonus, but there you are....
It’s been aboutfifty Internet yearssince we’ve heard anything aboutSonic 4: Episode 2. I have wondered, as I reckon some of you have, whether theSonic 4project was obsolete now thatSonic Generationsseems to be doing what the the former purported to do — bring the series back to its Genesis roots. Doesn’t seem to be the case! In speaking with VG247, Sega West CEO Mike Hayes has stated that new info regarding the second chapter should arrive any day now....
PlayStation Home is a huge part of Sony’s upcoming strategy, codenamed Operation: Don’t Go Bankrupt, and they seem to be taking a page from Nintendo’s playbook to make it happen. While Microsoft’s Live service is an anarchistic utopia filled with children exercising their birthright to call each other ffs and robotaes, Sony’s Home servicewill censor such profanityin the name of appealing to Ma and Pa Middle-America. Not only will you be forced to clean up that salty tongue of yours, but Sony doesn’t want you using any other salty bits you might have, as they will be monitoring public spaces forinappropriate behavior....
PSP Minisis an exciting venture, and something I’m looking forward to tremendously, not least because it will finally guarantee a consistent flow of affordable games on the PlayStation Portable, and that would make a nice change of pace. Sony is not in a mood to be humble about the new service either, and has launched a direct attack on Apple’s App Store,deriding the servicefor stranding developers and attracting unprofessional game creators....
I knew that there was some solid game making experience among the staff of the newly formed company The Game Bakers, but I didn’t know what to expect with their latest game, Squids. The team is made up of former Ubisoft staff, and former shipped titles includeGhost Recon, Splinter Cell, andRayman Raving Rabbids. But there’s nothing in the way of Tom Clancy seriousness in this game. Instead you’ll find cute little squids, happy little fishes and pastel colors....
It’s no secret that a fair few of us on the Destructoid staff arehuge fansof Mistwalker’s amazingly touching RPG,Lost Odyssey. While it was a sure thing that this was the beginning of a brand new RPG franchise, it should please fans that the sequel is almost definitelyin the works. Speaking ofLost Odyssey‘s 100K Japanese sales, publisher Microsoft has stated that it expects the series to grow as time goes on. Putting on my analyst’s hat for a moment, I would expect Microsoft to attempt to haveLost Odysseybecome the Xbox 360’s definitive answer toFinal Fantasy....
Valve has announcedSteam Trading, which is currently in beta. It allows you to “securely trade your in-game items for other in-game items from participating games. you’re able to also trade Steam gifts (games on Steam that you’ve purchased but not yet added to your Games Library).” To opt in, go to Steam > Settings > Account, and you’ll see a section on beta participation. You can view your own item inventory — and other people’s, if their accounts are public — by way of your Steam profile....
The current mammoth success of Nintendo’s machines has been turning the collective head of the industry for some time now, and the latest of the company’s paramours seems to beTake 2. Responding to a question from the Bank of America in regards to the publisher’s strategy, chairman Strauss Zelnick has explained that Nintendo’s vast installed user-base is something that they cannot ignore. “To be perfectly frank, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to realize what’s going on with Wii and DS....
