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Corpse Party
Review by: Matt Mirkovich
Matt's fear of elementary school is renewed thanks to a PSP game. What could a Corpse Party be? READ FULL REVIEW...
CES 2012
Preview by: The GN Staff
Dan Keener, Sean Cahill, and Ben Berry, sit down to answer some questions on what they are each expecting and look forward to the most in... READ FULL PREVIEW...
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact
Review by: Matt Mirkovich
Matt isn't feeling much 'Ultimate' or much 'Impact' from the latest game in the Naruto Shippuden universe. READ FULL REVIEW...

News Roundup - 2/10/2012

by: Jeremy - - Add a Comment

Could Kickstarter be the new way to fund old and new games?

by: John - - Add a Comment
Kickstarter and gaming came a long way few days ago when Double Fine went the crowd sourcing route in generating funds for one of their next games. How successful was Double Fine in garnering some capital to create their next game? Try $1 million in a day and counting. That's absolutely incredible..

Double Fine is using this tactic to create a brand new click and point adventure game. It's a genre that hasn't been really popular in the mainstream for a while, but here's the thing. If Double Fine went to a major publisher saying they wanted to do an old school style game, do you think they would be all in? Of course, the publisher would have a lot of reservations handing over money on something like that. Even to a very reputable development company, publishers want as much of a sure thing as possible in this day an age to recoup costs, turn a high profit, and pay shareholders.

So, Double Fine went with a new tactic to generate funds and it's become a smashing success. They initially wanted $400,000 in 30+ days. They shattered that mark in 24 hours.

Double Fine has shown that they have enough fans that believe in their venture to give them a few dollars here and there. This got me thinking on two fronts. Could Kickstarter be the next generation way to fund and purchase games and could Kickstarter also be a conduit in bringing back IPs that are beloved but have long been forgotten by the publishers?

Let's be honest, you're going to have to be a very reputable company to be able to get the funds like Double Fine has to make a new game. No one's going to hand over any money without knowing the company behind it or seeing a very polished demo of the product. That's not to say some new company couldn't go this route to try and get funds for their game. But unless you're a well known individual or development company, success stories like Double Fine's won't come easy. Still, I'd love to see companies old or new churn out new and interesting IPs with Kickstarter. We need more new and fun IPs rather than rehashes and sequels that seem to dominate the market. Kickstarter can be that way to start it all and it would be really great to see an IP hit it big starting out as a Kickstarter project from a larger studio.

Now, how about those IPs that you would love to see another installment of? For example, THQ and Volition has said they just don't see a market for another Freespace game even though fans have been clamoring for it. What if Volition did a Kickstarter project trying to fund a Freespace 3? If they went the independent route, they wouldn't have to need as much money to pay for overhead and release the title on Steam like Double Fine is. Don't you think they'd get enough capital to produce a solid sequel?

Think of all the old IPs that have a huge following, but won't get the funding from publishers because they think the risk is too great. How many great titles from the past would be brought back to life this way? Who knows until someone tries and Double Fine's experiment shows there's a market for crowd sourcing games and this could be a great way for a company to bring back a beloved IP without incurring as great of a risk.

With Kickstarter, we could be seeing the start of a new way for companies to fund gaming development. Yes, there are a lot of independent projects out there now, but bigger and bigger development companies could find this as a method to create new IPs when publishers balk at their suggestion. It could also lead to a resurrection of old IPs as well. I do hope Double Fine succeeds with their project and show to others that this is a viable way to go when developing games. If it does happen, let it be known that Double Fine was the company to be one to pull in larger studios in.

News Roundup- 2/9/2012

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News Roundup - 2/8/2012

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News Roundup - 2/7/2012

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Weekend News Roundup - 2/6/2012

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2/3/2012
2/4/2012

News Roundup - 2/3/12

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News Roundup - 2/2/12

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News Roundup - 2/1/2012

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Kaz Hirai to become President and CEO of Sony

by: John - - Add a Comment
In news that's probably not that shocking, Sony has announced that Kaz Hirai will become Sony's next President and CEO In April of this year. Kaz has been at the forefront of Sony's consumer and electronics and video games division since April of 2007, when he replaced Ken Kutaragi.

Right now, Howard Stringer is in the current position, but that'll change in June when he becomes chariman of the board.

Sony's earnings hasn't been that good in the past few years, and it hopes Kaz will help lead a turnaround. Not all of it is Sony's fault, but we'll see if Kaz can help Sony right the ship in this area.

It looks like Sony's going to really push connected devices though so expect a lot of the new Sony products from TVs, receivers, and of course, game consoles, to all have content being pushed to them by Sony's network.

News Roundup - 1/30/2012

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Call your bookies, Madden 12 says Giants win SB by 3 points

by: Nathaniel - - Add a Comment
I love football, and I love gaming, but I've always thought the yearly Madden simulation were silly.  I remember the first time I saw it.  It was a mid-90's Superbowl broadcast on Fox.  Now, I don't know if that prediction was correct, but I do remember thinking it was awesome to see something as big as Fox's Superbowl pre-game show lending credibility to something that was still mainly considered a toy.  However, the next thing I thought was how it just confirmed my belief that Fox's coverage of football sucked.  Instead of strategy and Xs and Os, they were giving us a completely unreliable prediction based on a game that could barely get the things that are important in winning a football game correct.

Despite that, I'd say this years Madden NFL 12 prediction of a 27-24 Giants victory on a last second field goal looks pretty solid.  A simple glance at the last five predictions show that they have gotten the winner right every year, with the actual scores - that are much harder to predict - being fairly on the mark.  So call your bookies, this one's a sure thing.*
  • Super Bowl XXXVIII – Patriots 23, Panthers 20
    • Actual Score: Patriots 32, Panthers 29
  • Super Bowl XXXIX – Patriots 47, Eagles 31
    • Actual score: Patriots 24, Eagles 21
  • Super Bowl XL – Steelers 24, Seahawks 19
    • Actual score: Steelers 21, Seahawks 10
  • Super Bowl XLI – Colts 38, Bears 27
    • Actual score: Colts 29, Bears 17
  • Super Bowl XLIII – Steelers 28, Cardinals 24
    • Actual score: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23
  • Super Bowl XLIV – Saints 35, Colts 31
    • Actual score: Saints 31, Colts 17
*Neither the author nor Gamingnexus.com condones gambling, unless beer or is involved.  Always check with your significant other before blowing next months rent on frivolous bets unless you want to spend any winnings on a divorce lawyer.  And if you're still single, and are free to make such a bet, then that's probably why. 


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Weekend News Roundup - 1/30/2012

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1/27/2012
1/28/2012
1/29/2012
  • CD Projekt released a new CGI trailer for the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2
  • Steam Weekend Deal Part 2: Fear 3

News Roundup - 1/27/2012

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News Roundup - 1/26/2012

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News Roundup - 1/25/2012

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News Roundup - 1/24/2012

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Weekend News Roundup - 1/23/2012

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1/20/2012
1/21/2012
1/22/2012

Motion capture process revealed for Uncharted: Golden Abyss

by: Travis - - Add a Comment
SCEA and Bend Studio have released a couple of videos for the upcoming Uncharted: Golden Abyss that feature a glimpse behind the scenes of the motion capture process. In the first video, we get a glimpse of some characters rowing down a river, while the second features a heated exchange with a villain. Fans of Nolan North will be pleased to hear that he is featured in both videos.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss will be available on February 22 as a launch title for PlayStation Vita.

News Roundup - 1/20/2012

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CES 2012: Samsung PCs

by: Sean Cahill - - Add a Comment
Probably the most information-intensive visit of CES 2012 came with the visit to the Samsung booth to cover their new line of PC equipment, including laptops and monitors.
 
First off, let’s get this rolling with the Series 5 laptop.  The Series 5 is a solid choice for most any consumer that needs great power from their system, yet great portability as well.  Options will include up to a 1 Terabyte Hard Disk Drive with your standard optical disk drive, and a long battery life that will last over six hours, though that will more than likely depend on the power settings that the user has it set on.  While the general specifications are always eye-grabbers right out of the gate, Samsung has put a direct emphasis on mobility.  The Series 5 will be just .82” thick and weigh just a shade over four pounds, which does include the weight of the HDD.  That’s quite impressive for a laptop, even in this day in age.  The layout of the system itself sports a beautiful 14” screen, a large trackpad for mouse usage, and a fast boot that will take no more than 20 seconds.
 
While the Series 5 is a solid system to start at, it only gets better from there.  The Series 7 Chronos builds upon the power and portability of its little brother by bulking up to a whopping 17.3” display, a dual storage system that features a 64GB Solid State Drive to go along with a 1 Terabyte Hard Disk Drive, a powerful nVidia Geforce GT 650M graphics card that boasts 2 Gigabytes dedicated to the card itself.  The Fast Boot takes no longer than 14 seconds (only with systems that have dual storage) along with a start speed of just one second.  There will be no more waiting around for your system to boot up and seemingly take forever to get to the desktop.  On top of these wonderful specifications comes the addition of premium JBL Speakers with a built-in sub-woofer for exceptional sound quality.  The keyboard itself is back lit with a sensor and the battery boasts a life span of 1500 cycles for three years of performance.
 
If we stopped there, it would certainly be a strong showing for Samsung.  However, we aren’t even close to finishing this off.  The Series 9 laptop is arguably the best laptop Samsung has put out for the consumer market.  Measuring in at just half an inch thickness, this notebook got every possible upgrade to assure that its state of the art.  With a fast boot of just 9.8 seconds, the Series 9 laptop is guaranteed to put the competition on notice.  The 13.3” screen boasts a 1600x900 resolution and is incredibly vivid.  Outside of that, we don’t know specifications just yet, so you will have to wait for more information from Samsung before rushing out to make your decision on your next laptop.
 
These three laptops are guaranteed to offer every possible solution for the everyday computer user, but Dan and I had to ask the question that was obvious to us:  What about a laptop for the gamers?  Samsung answered our question quite easily, taking us to the Series 7 Gamer.  This laptop is nothing short of a beast.  I was able to demo this great system with a test run of Battlefield 3 at its peak graphics performance, which is easily switched to by a knob that is on the hinge of the screen and the base.  There are four modes to switch between for whatever type of usage you need out of the laptop, with the gamer mode giving you great eye candy once the system launches it into the heavy graphics intensive mode.  Sporting a powerful AMD Radeon HD6970M Graphics Card and a second generation Intel Quad Core i7 processor, every gamer will want to at least give this a tryout.  The CPU is optimized not only for heavy game use, but is sure to keep the system cool with a turbo cooling system built into the system.
 
Finishing off our tour in Samsung’s PC world, we come to the Series 9 PC monitors for home use.  While we don’t know a lot of the internal specifications of the monitors themselves, we can tell you that these beautiful monitors sport a top resolution of 2560x1440 and offer a 178 degree viewing angle.  Trust me when I tell you that the picture quality on these monitors was absolutely crystal clear.  The amount of space that they take up is limited directly to the monitor size itself, thanks to the sleek design of the base and support for the unit.
 
Samsung has shown us that they are not only a top player in the television market, but are quite serious about becoming a top player in the PC world as well, and their line of laptops and monitors are certain to make an impact in the coming year.

News Roundup - 1/19/2012

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Weekend News Roundup - 1/17/2012: +1 Edition

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1/13/2012 1/14/2012 1/15/2012 1/16/2012

CES 2012: Ubisoft - I Am Alive

by: Sean Cahill - - Add a Comment
A surprise visit was made to the Microsoft booth on Thursday morning to check out an upcoming title from Ubisoft called I Am Alive that will hit the XBLA servers soon.
 
I Am Alive is a great twist on the survival/horror genre.  The twist comes in that this is realistic.  You are not going to find a single zombie, mutated monster, or a vast amount of weaponry.  In fact, this is probably what a post-apocalyptic world would really look like in smaller towns.  You play as a character who is attempting to return home and find his family one year after an unnamed event has occurred and destroyed life as you know it.  At this point, the similarities between most post-apocalyptic games and this one pretty much come to an end.
 
Your character is an average, run of the mill man.  He is not a superhuman, nor does he have an endless amount of strength or weapons.  He has only a camera, a couple of survival goods, and an unloaded gun to start out.  He is limited by stamina, which you must be careful not to expend, or else you will be in a load of trouble as you progress throughout the game.  Interactions with hostile NPCs is going to be based on picking and choosing your fights as well as the intimidation factor, judged by the type of weapons that your enemies have in comparison to you.  Sneak attacks are vital, while saving any bullets that you accumulate is also extremely vital.
 
Release is slated for Q1 of 2012 with no hard date set.  If you’re interested in this game, be sure to check out the video of gameplay offered below to see what survival-style games look like without zombies or superpowers.
 

CES 2012: Ben's Journal Day 3

by: Ben Berry - - Add a Comment
I took a different tack from my usual planning in that I made no appointments on Thursday, instead using the morning to catch up on writing and recover from the late night at the Monster party. There are just too many things at the show to know everything that is going on and book time with all the people you want to see.

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