Yikes. Me-too products — we’re drowning in them. Go to an electronics store here in Tokyo and the first floor is flooded with tablet devices. Of course, no one cares about them. It looks like an ocean of black glass smudged with fingerprints. I suppose the market and demand is growing, but like with the portable music player market, I think Apple has the biggest ship in the sea. Sony wants to set sail on these seas....
An unnamed source has told Joystiq that the next iteration of theTony Hawkfranchise is going to incorporate snowboarding as well as skating. Powder and asphalt, together at last. Okay, seriously, this is a little ridiculous. It smacks of desperation, particularly in light ofShaun White Skateboardingbeing a thing that is happening. I’m not saying that they can’t pull it off and make a great game, but it feels wrong. Tony Hawkwas floundering in terms of design long before they had any real competition....
So far this is just a theory, but it’s something that’s beginning to come under investigation. Apparently, Japanese entertainment magazineBARKShas allegedthat a powered-on Wii emits a sound frequency which falls right into the range to which cockroaches are attracted. This could lend itself to a few uninvited roommates for gamers who are too busy waggling their remotes to invest some time in a little basic housekeeping. I wouldn’t run to the store and drop a week’s pay on insecticide just yet, and please keep in mind that this is just atheory, and one that is likely to be debunked eventually....
Got a few things in the mail today, among them a retail copy ofBorderlands Game of the Year Editionfrom 2K Games. It his shelves tomorrow, and comes bundled with a copy of the game on disc, as well as codes for every piece ofBorderlandsdownloadable content released to date. Yes, that includes “Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution.” For those looking for a little something more, also backed into the box is a huge map of the game’s world, Pandora, as well as a token to be become a member of the “Duke Nukem First Access” club....
Soulcalibur: Broken Destinyis a PlayStation Portable exclusive that’s kind of like aslimmer versionofSoulcalibur IVbut with some enhancements to the formula and aplayable Kratos. The idea of a portableSCgame is a definite hot one, so long as the load times aren’t terrible like certain other PSP fighting games. Anyway, the game iscoming out soonerthan you might think. August 27 in Japan, and September 1 in the good ol’ US of A is the dayGod of WarmeetsSoulcalibur; if you couldn’t tell, Ireallywant to play as Kratos....
Do you remember when Microsoft revealed aSouth ParkXBLA game? Cast your mind back to E3 2008. Yep, well over a year ago, Eric Cartman was screaming something during the Microsoft press conference and then … nothing. Nobody said anything, everybody forgot about it. Despite this,it’s still coming, and it’ll be shown at Comic Con. Halo 3: ODST,Alan Wake,The Beatles: Rock Band,Left 4 Dead 2,Shadow ComplexandGears of War 2: Dark Cornersare also expected to be in attendance, along with a brand new trailer forSplinter Cell: Conviction....
Just the other day I was wondering whereSpec Ops: The Linewent. It had a decent enough premise despite what its off-putting name might initially suggest, but after a couple of public showings, we’ve heard very little from 2K Games and Yager. The game is going to need more development time, it seems. Take-Two’s financial results for fiscal 2011 have an updated listing forSpec Ops,putting its releaseduring the first half of fiscal 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC....
All this week we have been providing top-notch preview coverage of Capcom’s immense lookingStreet Fighter IVby posting absurd images of the World Warriors getting punched in the nuts. We do this because of our commitment to providing you the best games journalism in the industry. Inpart three, we looked at the smashed up faces ofVega, Sagat, M Bison, Chun Li, and Blanka. We got to see what it looks like whenrealmen feelrealpain … in a completely fictional setting....
This past weekend,Team Meat showed us C.H.A.D., the boss ofSuper Meat Boy‘s second world. As it turns out, that reveal was just a tease. TheSuper Meat Boyblog’s latest post gives us the first screenshot of C.H.A.D., plus his origin story, a look at his cut scene, and more revelations on the game’s design. Sounds like Team Meat is working extra hard to fillSuper Meat Boywith secrets and random elements, in order evoke the feeling of “the unknown” that was so prevalent in gaming back in the 80’s and 90’s....
A little clickherewill take your wretched carcass over to the soon-to-launch official site forSuper Smash Bros. Brawl,the much anticipated Wii sequel to the popular Nintendo themed violence party. I’m very easily confused, so I don’t know if they’re telling us the site is due to launch in seven days, or if that little black eldritch rune next to the number is supposed to be a number itself and they’re going to make the site live in 78 days, which would be ridiculous and … let’s just say 7 days....
For those of you who are only now deciding to pay attention toPrey 2, this trailer is going to come as a shock. Gone are the Native American themes of the original, now replaced by snazzy, high-intensity bounty hunting. I’d expect nothing less from a game starring U.S. Marshal Killian Samuels. That’s really his name. I’m still not sold on the new, completely different direction, though this latest push is a good step forward....
Nora to Kaku no Koubouis a new DS fantasy RPG from a fantasy team. Producer Shigeo Komori worked onEtrian Odyssey II, III, Devil SummonerandPrincess Crown, and now he’s working on this new title. Shinichi Yoshiike ofAtelierseries fame is also on board as a character designer. Character designs are fromEO‘s Yuji Himukai. I’m especially excited about the score, which comes from Michiko Naruke, ofWild Armsfame. The latest Famitsu says that the game centers around a character named Nora....
Alright, so I’ve been to a lot of trade shows, but let’s face it: Tokyo Game Show is one of the biggest in the world (only just barely beaten in attendance by this year’s Gamescom). I figured that the tricks of the trade I was used to could work here, but on another level I wondered if I would be a tiny fish thrown into an overwhelming sea, not to mention none of the other fish speak my language....
