News

Origins '08 late but still great interview: Warhammer Online

Posted by: Nathan at 9/5/2008 2:42 AM - Comments (0)
More On: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Mythic
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning may have already gone gold but you may still be a doubter or just starving for more details about this new MMORPG.
At the Origins 08 games fair I got to talk with a representative from Mythic and ask some detailed questions about the game.
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News Roundup: Quantum Duty Call of the Lich King

by: Randy - posted: 11/19/2008 11:22 PM - Comments (0)
  • Defunct Games implores, "Don't F***ing Buy That Game!"  A non-gamers guide to getting the wrong gift.
  • The steps to take in order to get my hands on WAR's Knights of the Blazing Sun weren't so apparent, at first.
  • Massive Gamer launches into the EVE Online: Quantum Rise expansion.
  • Every MMO has its good and bad launches -- even if it's from Blizzard.  Even if it's WoW: Wrath of the Lich King.
  • For a CPU cooler that performs as good as it looks, Legit Reviews presents the 180W-capable Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler.
  • Treyarch may have recovered their sullied name with Call of Duty: World at War.
  • All in all, the Termaltake BlacX External Hard Drive Docking Station is a "fine piece of hardware."
Thanks to Defunct Games, Massive Gamer, AtomicGamer, Legit Reviews, and Tweaknews for today's news roundup.

Guitar Hero World Tour Live Weekend starting this Thursday

by: Randy - posted: 11/19/2008 11:05 PM - Comments (0)
Starting this Thursday, November 27th, Guitar Hero World Tour is kicking off a Live Weekend on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.  Online activities include:
  • Xbox All Nighter -- Thursday, 11/27, from dusk until dawn
  • Play & Win Sweepstakes -- Friday, 11/28, through Saturday, 11/30
  • Game with Developers -- Saturday, 11/30 from 2:00 - 5:00pm PST [see the list of devs after the jump]
Throughout the weekend, guitarists, drummers, and vocalists who register and play the Guitar Hero World Tour multiplayer (co-op) session can also win some sweet prizes.  Stuff like a Samsung television home theater package, collector's edition World Tour drum sticks, 1GB memory sticks, and Guitar Hero portable USB/battery powered speakers. [READ MORE]

Sins of a Solar Empire version 1.1 available now; pre-order "Entrenchment" and get in the beta

by: Randy - posted: 11/19/2008 10:46 PM - Comments (0)
Stardock is still making good on their promise to release meaningful content for their games, post-release.  Now available is a major free update to Sins of a Solar Empire, upgrading its sins to version 1.1.  Highlights to the 1.1 change log include:
  • Alloy Networking Technology -- allows for seamless multiplayer without needing to deal with port forwarding or other router settings
  • Major upgrade to the graphics engine for better performance on all systems
  • Updated/improved graphics (textures, new models, explosions, and more)
  • Mini-Underground Window -- allows you to buy/sell resources and make pirate bids on the main gameplay screen [Hallelujah! - Ed.]
  • Improved game balance
  • Improved AI
  • Bug fixes and much more
Plus!  If you pre-order the Sins of a Solar Empire expansion, "Entrenchment," that guarantees you some early-access beta time.

Cities XL "Point, Shoot -- Win 2!" contest launched

by: Randy - posted: 11/19/2008 10:34 PM - Comments (0)
It's likely that your city hall doesn't garner much of your time and attention throughout the day -- unless you're like one of my coworkers who, when Congress was sketching out the banking bailout plan, thought it was Take Your Daughter To A Protest Day and ended up standing alone in the rain with cardboard signs outside of our city hall.  Oh, and her kid got a cold that day.  What's the lesson here?  It's that Cities XL has started up their "Point, Shoot -- Win 2!" contest, and this time their accepting photos of your favorite city hall.

From November 17 - 30, members of the Cities XL community are able to post images of their city hall in the hopes that it'll be voted as the winner.  Developer Monte Cristo then goes to work, taking the winning entry and giving it to their artists to put into the final game. [READ MORE]

Cooking Mama: "I would never put rat in my Ratatouille."

by: Randy - posted: 11/19/2008 10:17 PM - Comments (0)
Looks like PETA made enough of an impression with the Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals flash game that Majesco responded, but responded politely and in character.  Just as Cooking Mama World Kitchen was hitting store shelves this week, Mama Kills Animals ripped through the gaming community in an attempt to slander Mama and her purportedly meat-heavy menu.  Mama said, "Like any accomplished cook, I create my recipes to appeal to a broad range of tastes and preferences.  My only goas is to ensure you leave the table well fed."  Cooking Mama World Kitchen includes more than 25 vegetarian-friendly recipies spread across breakfast, dinner, dessert, and snack options.  Mama won't cop to being a vegetarian, but she fully supports the humane treatment of animals -- especially now with her canine companion, Max, who makes his debut in World Kitchen.

I'd like to congratulate PETA for blanketing a decent amount of buzz on a Wii title that would've otherwise fallen completely by the wayside this week. [READ MORE]

Evasive Space Screens Unveiled

by: Dan - posted: 11/19/2008 4:49 PM - Comments (0)

YUKE’S Company released the first look at their upcoming Space Action title for WiiWare called Evasive Space. The game will be a top-down scroller that uses the Wii remote to control your ship through 20 missions over five environments. The game will also feature four-person local multiplayer and online leaderboards. The new screens show off Acts I and II. A specific release date hasn’t been announced (Q1 2009), but when it hits WiiWare it will cost 1,000 Wii Points.

[READ MORE]

Latest Hearts of Iron 3 Dev Diary

by: Dan - posted: 11/19/2008 4:25 PM - Comments (0)
Johan Andersson, lead developer of Hearts of Iron 3, has his latest developer diary up over at GiantRealm.com. This installment in the series (no. 6) focuses on intelligence, diplomacy and convoys as well as the politics in the game. Checkout these recent screens while we wait for the game to hit the PC in late 2009.
[READ MORE]

GameTruck Coming to C-Bus

by: Dan - posted: 11/19/2008 4:22 PM - Comments (0)
GameTruck announced today that they are bringing their mobile gaming service to the Columbus, OH market, which is also the HQ of GamingNexus. Effective December 1st, central Ohio gamers can order the rolling platform for party’s or corporate events. The trucks feature four 50”Plasma TVs, surround sound and capabilities for 16 players at any given time. Columbus is the fourth franchise awarded, joining Orange County, CA, Phoenix, AZ and San Diego, CA. Check them out at GameTruckParty.com.
[READ MORE]

Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge screenies surprsingly lacking in guns or jagged edges

by: Nathan - posted: 11/19/2008 2:40 PM - Comments (0)
Trisynergy, makers of such well named titles as Limbo of the Lost and UFO:Extraterrestials, bring us screen shots from another excellently named title Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge. This is a turn based war game focusing on the action at squad level. Basically it would be Rainbow Six or Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway mixed with Civilization Revolution or Fire Emblem. This is very much a PC title as indicated by the screenies. I would wait for a demo to see if this game was worth playing but those of you who like experimenting with Strategy games may want to check it out.
[READ MORE]

Wheelman driving into stores on February 16,2009

by: Chuck - posted: 11/19/2008 12:02 PM - Comments (0)
Midway announced today that Wheelman will be hitting stores on February 16, 2009.  The game features the likeness of "action-film megastar" (their words) Vin Diesel and has players playing a professional driver for hire.  So basically it's a game based on the Transporter series but with Vin Diesel instead of Jason Statham.  [READ MORE]

Gaming Gibs for 11/19/2008

by: Chuck - posted: 11/19/2008 11:57 AM - Comments (0)
Here are a few things I missed while being passed over again for sexiest man of the year:

News Roundup: Pacific Rift Shadow Odyssey

by: Randy - posted: 11/18/2008 10:48 PM - Comments (0)
Thanks to Defunct Games, TheTechLounge, Massive Gamer, Legit Reviews, Digit-Life, Techgage, and I4U News for today's news roundup.

Ultimate Band releases full track list, forgets artists

by: Randy - posted: 11/18/2008 10:25 PM - Comments (0)
The official release date for the Wii's Ultimate Band is etched in stone for November 25th.  And while developer Disney Interactive Studios put out a full song list, they neglected to mention the artists.  One of the track titles is "Song 2."  Do they mean "Song 2" from Blur?  DJ Krush?  Miles Davis?  Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky?  "Whip It" is on there too.  My first guess (and probably yours) would be Devo, but it could be Inner Circle, Lil' Cyco, or the US Air Force Band of the Rockies '80s Medley version -- who knows?

Ah well.  It's not my job to teach Disney how to put together a press release.  And kidding aside, there are some pretty slick tracks on Ultimate Band:  The Killers' "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" from Hot Fuss; The Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes" from Broken Boy Soldiers; and The Who's "My Generation."  But if it turns out it's Limp Bizkit's "My Generation," I'm gonna be pissed.

Full song list for the Wii and DS versions after the jump. [READ MORE]

Afro Samurai renders not-yet-seen game characters

by: Randy - posted: 11/18/2008 8:43 PM - Comments (0)
These character renders of Afro Samurai, Namco Bandai's upcoming cut-'em'up (and which now vaguely totes a Blood is Beautiful subtitle), shows off several characters that haven't made it into previous batches of screenshots.  Along with Afro Samurai himself, we've got pics and character biographies of Daimyo, the mustachioed fellow in samurai armor; Jinno, with small black topnot and twin swords at his hip; Justice, packing two six-shooters full of it; Kuma, the bear-headed cigarette smoker; Ninja Ninja, with the Black Flys and white afro; Okiku, the female on the phone; Otsuru, the little girl clutching the teddy bear; Sasuke, with strapped-on bifocals; and Sword Master, sporting his Christopher Walken good looks.
[READ MORE]

Mirror's Edge goes 2D

by: John - posted: 11/18/2008 4:15 PM - Comments (0)
There's been some great Flash games that take a 3D concept and turn it into a fun and addicting 2D experience. Portal comes to mind as one but we have another one here. Head on over to Bourne Games and play a 2D side scrolling version of Mirror's Edge. It's very nice looking and has some awesome animation. Right now it's a beta so expect a few quirks here and there but so far I've had a blast playing it and I can't wait for the final version to be out.

The last word on Beyond Protocol

by: Nathan - posted: 11/18/2008 3:48 PM - Comments (0)
This is the last installment of Beyond Protocol stories on the site. What's next? Screen shots, user guides, and a game trailer! WooHoo! This time its Brandon Bachner telling the story from the front lines of the galactic campaign for president. Intrigued dear reader? You should be! Head on over to the next page and read how Democracy finally comes to the galaxy. [READ MORE]

Epic addresses Gears of War 2 multiplayer matchmaking issues

by: John - posted: 11/18/2008 1:28 PM - Comments (0)
I've run into a few times when trying to find folks to play in Gears of War 2 where it would just cycle or trying to a game would take about five minutes. Epic is aware of this problem and they've posted some work arounds to the issue. One of the main things is try to have more than one person with you when looking for games. Also, if you have multiple folks, make sure that you have less than four or five total. In the meantime, Epic's looking into the issue to try and remedy the problem.

National Wii Nightmare Over?

by: Chuck - posted: 11/18/2008 12:25 PM - Comments (0)
While perusing a few game stores and big box retailers like Best buy over the last few days I've noticed something I haven't seen before...piles and piles of Wii's ready to be purchased for the holiday season.  Ben was able to pick one up last week without any problem and it looks like that's the case all over the country.  No longer will people have to lurk at their neighborhood Best Buy waiting to purchase white boxes of over-hyped gaming goodness. 

This may be due to Nintendo finally shipping more units to the Us (something that the latest NPD numbers seem to indicate).  This may be because Nintendo has finally figured out how to make them in large enough numbers or is now re-allocating more supply to the US now that the dollar has strengthened against the Yen and Euro.  Either way this will hopefully end the price gouging on Ebay and other sites

Congrats Nintendo, it's only taken you two years!  I hear there are plenty of copies of Wii Music to go around as well.

Gaming Gibs for 11/18/2008

by: Chuck - posted: 11/18/2008 12:18 PM - Comments (0)
Here are a few things I missed while being transfixed by the puppy cam:
  • Age of Conan to get dungeons and DirectX 10 support in next release, finally
  • More people don't get why Ensemble was closed, this may become one of the next great gaming mysteries
  • Raph Koster talks about why corpse runs suck in MMOs
  • Looking for deals on Black Friday?  Here's a full list of all of the know deals.
  • Lips microphone won't work with any other music games, hopefully this gets fixed
  • Mirrors Edge will make you puke, but in a good way, learn what proprioception means while you're there
  • Video games now in danger of the yo-ho-ho type of pirates
  • Ubisoft to make a Massive move towards MMOs...yes it's a horrible, horrible pun

New Prince of Persia screenshots

by: John - posted: 11/18/2008 10:46 AM - Comments (0)
Here's some brand new screenshots for the new Prince of Persia game. I think they actually look really good and the details in the monsters are nice. I know cell shading's not everyone's cup of tea but it looks like it works here.
[READ MORE]

Nintendo launches Animal Crossing City Folk, try to be excited

by: Sean Colleli - posted: 11/18/2008 9:30 AM - Comments (0)
The latest game in Nintendo's esoteric Animal Crossing sim, City Folk, is now available for the Wii.  Per usual Nintendo is talking it up and all of its casual appeal, with all the "community building" and endless items to collect.  The unfortunate truth is that City Folk is the only thing approaching a hardcore game that Nintendo has this holiday, and it's basically a rehash at that.  The general consensus is that it's pretty much the GameCube and DS games with a few new features, like the WiiSpeak peripheral.  It doesn't really take advantage of the Wii's features in any respect, from graphics to music to controls.  Nintendo can talk about community all they want but it's kind of hard to build one with those fiddly little friend codes.

I know I'm pretty down on this game but it's a huge disappointment, considering how long Nintendo's had to work on it.  It doesn't even feel like a real Wii game, more of a port actually.  They had the opportunity to create a PS3 Home-like application and they didn't capitalize on it at all.  If this is what we can expect from Nintendo in terms of hardcore games, then I'm glad I bought a 360.  If you've never played an Animal Crossing game before you'll probably really enjoy City Folk, but if you're expecting any other big games from Nintendo this holiday prepare to be let down. [READ MORE]

Check out the finishing moves for Liu Kang, Batman, and Baraka

by: Chuck - posted: 11/18/2008 9:19 AM - Comments (0)
It looks like Midway really did tone down the violence to get the DC license as these fatalities aren't quite up to the level as previous Mortal Kombat games.  That said I do like what they've done with some of the ones in this video for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe as they are on the clever side.  I'm not sure what Heroic Brutalities are but they are a bit different.

Hendrix won't be on Guitar Hero World Tour on the Wii

by: John - posted: 11/18/2008 8:57 AM - Comments (1)
Sorry Wii folks. You're going to miss out on some DLC. Speficially, Jimi Hendrix DLC won't be making the rounds to the Nintendo system as explained in this entry in MTV Multiplayer Blog. Nintendo doesn't allow for duplicates and it doesn't allow for anything other than singles. The Hendrix songs will only be available as a track pack so that essentially leaves out the Wii. Rock on Wii folks.

NXE now available for those who applied

by: Chuck - posted: 11/18/2008 8:37 AM - Comments (0)
If you "successfully" applied for the NXE beta and didn't get in last week check your Xbox because Microsoft has opened the preview to everyone who applied to get in.  This is actually a fairly cool move by Microsoft as it allows people to sample the NXE ahead of time and it should distribute the load a bit so that people don't kill Xbox Live when the update is officially released tomorrow.  If you want to see what the install process looks like here's a video that Microsoft released last week.

MLB Superstars trailer shows baseball players playing some kind of golf/baseball mash-up

by: Chuck - posted: 11/18/2008 8:27 AM - Comments (0)
Here's the latest trailer for MLB Superstars that shows a few of the games biggest names playing some kind of weird golf/baseball hybrid mini-game.  It's kind of an interesting twist on baseball mechanics and gives you some flavor of what you can expect from the final game.