I’ve never playedAngry Birds, but it’s all I hear about these days. We’ve got technology out the f*cking ass, with motion sensing capable high-definition consoles that are outputting photorealistic 3D graphics, but everyone’s playing some stupid bird game. I knew it was all over when I saw my four-year-old niece playing it the other day. That sealed the deal for me. The nonconformist in me said that I’d never play it....
We recently told you abouta new DS game from the makers of the Etrian Odyssey and Atelier series. Atlus has just launched a Japanese webpage for this game, titledNoora to Toki no Koubou. There you’ll get a taste of the very Etrian-ish art and a sample of Michiko Naruke’s score, both of which are great already. The page fleshes out the game’s story a bit more. Main character Noora is mistaken for the “misty forest witch” in a town called Temperina....
This week’s Bargain Bin Laden begins with a personal gripe: Nintendo andNSTreally crapped in my cereal withMetroid Prime: Hunters. Not because it was a bad game — quite the contrary, actually — but just because the original Prime took my favorite 2D series and sort of lodged it into a 3D environment, and was then brought to the haven for 2D gaming: a portable platform.Metroid Primeis a hell of a good time, but when I settle down with my DS, I prefer my gaming in two distinct dimensions: X and Y....
After getting my hands onBatman: Arkham Asylumat Game Developers Conference a few weeks ago, I can safely say it’s on my “must-play list.” I was a bit more forgiving than Anthony when it came to the game’s combat, something that has potential to become a wild, button-mashing-fest. I also look forward to spending more time sneaking around Arkham Asylum, using Batman’s stealth abilities to take out unsuspecting thugs. Why? Because when I was handed the controller at GDC, a few seconds didn’t pass before I had alerted every thug in the area....
This blog onConsumeristcaught my eye because I’ve experienced the very same thing. My credit card expired while I was living in Japan, and I let it go as I wouldn’t be using Xbox Live there anyway. I came home months later to find that Microsoft was still somehow charging me on a dead card. I called my bank and asked how they could do that? They weren’t sure. Consumerist calls it zombie billing....
Nerd rage can be a powerful drug, as evidenced by a 16-year-old boy in Chile who recently stabbed his brother to death for turning on the PS3 without permission. The older brother, aged 18, infuriated his sibling when he turned on the console without asking, and was allegedly stabbed in the chest with a knife obtained from the kitchen. The youth would later tell police that things “got out of control” in what could be considered the “no sh*t” statement of the week....
Today, I am proud to be a Canadian. Not only is our dollar on par with the American dollar, after 30 years, but our Wal-Mart is currently selling PlayStation 3 systems cheaper than theUS Wal-Martis. Long live the mountie! Right now, Wal-Mart is selling the 80GB Playstation 3 bundle for $549.83, which is $110 cheaper than the regular price. The bundle includes the console, a controller,MotorStorm,and a Blu-ray remote. Wal-Mart is also selling games likeResistance: Fall of Manfor $39....
Microsoft’s Cheney-esque powerhouse Steve Ballmer just announced that Kinect is getting a virtual chat service. Dubbed “Avatar Kinect,” this new Xbox Live service will allow you to communicate with friends in a virtual space using your Xbox avatar, now enabled with real-time voice chat and motion controls. Move your mouth at home, and your friends see your Avatar move its mouth on their screen. Flail your arms around like a maniac, and your avatar will do the same....
If you’ve been unable to get into theChampions Onlineclosed beta and are spectacularly patient about these things, get ready to be excited: according to fan Web siteChampions Online News, Cryptic Studios’ superhero MMO will enter open beta in mid-August. Champions Online News recently visited Cryptic’s offices, chatted with some personnel and learned the target date for the open beta. Unfortunately, the open beta appears to only be for the PC version of the game....
Not to long ago we told you that we heard that Square Enix was working on a role-playing game withWild Arms developer Media Vision for the iPhone. All of those words (except maybe “iPhone”) make my ears perk up, so I’ve been waiting for a full reveal. Now we have one: the game is calledChaos Rings, and it’s coming this year. Here’s the story: Five pairs of warriors are forced to participate in a tournament where they will fight to the death....
City of Heroes, NCSoft’s superhero MMO,has been optioned by Tom DeSanto, thesameTom DeSanto whose upcomingTransformersfilm is poised to rape the collective childhoods of the Internet this summer. DeSanto’s ultimate goal with this license, aside from painting flames oncrude facsimilies of Wolverine, is to create a live-action feature, that could then be segued into a possible television program (which, in theory, could lead to lunchboxes, latex paint and fuzzy underoos). Creating a film based on a title most notable for its robust character creation screen is certainly going to be a challenge, but if Mr....
Codemasters executives aren’t really know for their harsh industry criticisms or, indeed, anything at all, but vice president Gavin Cheshire has recently had some incredibly brutal things to say about Sony’s PSP, claiming that it was ostensibly useless, and that has put off consumers. “Well, speaking as a person who bought a PSP, the problem was that I always thought, because it was a better screen than iPod’s, that I’d be doing more with it,” he explains....
It’s possible that CD Projekt RED’sThe Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf— thecurrent generation console portof the popular PC RPGThe Witcher— has been cancelled. GameBansheeis reporting that the studio has become a victim of financial turmoil. As a result money issues, CD Projekt RED has experienced two separate rounds of layoffs and was forced to kill two projects: an unannouncedThe WitcherIP andThe Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. Rumors of the console RPG’s demise surfaced yesterday in aPolygamiareport....
