Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Demo Set to Soar

Posted by Jeremy M. Zoss at 11:00 AM Sep 02, 2010

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Owls are kinda scary. Oh crap, did we say that out loud?
​By Ryan Winslett

I know what you're thinking: Who are these "guardians" and what the heck is a "Ga'Hoole." Is it a German delicacy? Because it sounds delicious.

Believe it or not, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is a game, based on an upcoming movie, based on a beloved children's book. With me so far? Good.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Krome Studios recently announced the demo for this new title will be hitting Xbox 360 Sept. 6 and the PlayStation 3 Sept. 8.

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The Top Ten Video Game Franchises That Need To Be Revived

Posted by James Hawkins at 10:00 AM Sep 02, 2010

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The Ten Series We Need Back
Last week, we detailed a list of video game franchises that needed to be killed off. This week, we've got a list of games that died off too soon.

They come from all eras, spanning consoles and genres -- but they all share a common trait: the video game world would benefit from their return. Some are old pioneers that shaped the way we see gaming today, while others simply had much more story to tell.

Either way, they all deserve recognition. Here's our list for the best franchises that met an early grave. Enjoy!

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Resident Evil 6 Maybe Going to Be Announced Sometime?

Posted by James Hawkins at 9:00 AM Sep 02, 2010

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Ahh I can't wait!!!
The Resident Evil series is one of our absolute favorites here at Joystick Division. You can always expect for us to make a big deal out of little news whenever the two words are mentioned together.

And this is no exception. Kotaku has reported that some information on Resident Evil 6 may be coming quite soon.

No one has any idea if it concerns release dates, consoles, characters, or development personnel, but it doesn't really matter. Just as long as they don't say it is going to take eight fucking years to make a new one, I'll be happy.

More on what we know at this point after the break.

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Puzzle Bots on Sale this Weekend

Posted by Alexander Bevier at 8:30 AM Sep 02, 2010

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We reviewed Puzzle Bots last week and said it was both cute and adorable. Now, the PAX 10 candidate is celebrating its success with a sale this weekend.

The game will be 50% ($4.99) off from now until next Monday. Think of Puzzle Bots as a way to enjoy one of the many treasures the convention holds without actually being there.

Puzzle Bots was created by indie developer Erin Robinson. It tells a story about little robots and their human creators in a way similar to Toy Story.  The game is available here. A trailer is available after the jump if you aren't yet sold on the point-and-click adventure game.

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Valve Has A Lot In Store For Us Over The Next Year, Supposedly

Posted by James Hawkins at 8:00 AM Sep 02, 2010

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Valve better make me happy.
Valve is a great resource when it comes to newsworthy stories. They are perpetually putting out strong titles, or bombarding the public with advertisements, or being generally awesome badasses.

And this time they're making headlines by just saying stuff. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell told PC Gamer that Valve has some surprises for the world over the next 12 months. Three of them, to be precise. And they are going to be "big."

And that's it. No more than that. What's on my wishlist for those? Click link to find out.

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Telltale's Back to the Future: This Is What It Looks Like

Posted by Kyle Orland at 6:00 PM Sep 01, 2010

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Or, I guess, more accurately, this is what it could look like. USA Today has the first public concept art and some minor details of Telltale's previously announced Back to the Future episodic adventure game. The biggest reveal is that Christopher Lloyd will be providing the voice of Emmett "Doc" Brown in the game, which kind of implies by omission that Michael J. Fox has not yet signed on to voice the in-game Marty McFly.

Other than that, we've apparently got a plot that's being "worked on" by Bob Gale (who wrote all three original BttF movies), a story that takes place at least partly in 1985 Hill Valley, and the Earth-shattering fact that "additional characters from the movies will crop up in the game."

That's fine as long as there aren't multiple copies of any of these additional characters. If two copies of the same character ran into each other in the game, "the encounter could create a time paradox, the result of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!" But you knew that.

Get a closer look at Marty's rosy cheeks and Doc's zombie-like pallor after the break.

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Rocket Jumps Look Even More Ridiculous in Real Life

Posted by Kyle Orland at 5:00 PM Sep 01, 2010

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I don't know what kind of twisted obsession is driving YouTube user freddiew to re-imagine all sorts of video game happenings as if they could happen in the real world, but I hope it never subsides. The prolific YouTuber has followed up last week's futuristic re-imagining of Rock Band with a fictional look at the invention of that most ridiculous of video game physics exploits, the rocket jump.

The best part of the video, besides the surreal vision of a grown man floating gently upward on an explosion shockwave, might be the pixelated, old-school thought balloon that leads to the idea of the Rocket Jump in the first place. And here I was thinking that I was the only person who imagined real-world situations in such low-resolution audio and video.

Check out the video after the break.

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Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta Set To Begin

Posted by James Hawkins at 4:00 PM Sep 01, 2010

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Already, Final Fantasy XIV is here...sort of.
By: Ryan Winslett

Well, that didn't take too long.

Yesterday, Square Enix announced that the Final Fantasy XIV open beta test for PC would be postponed due to "critical issues," much to the moaning and groaning of Chocobo riders world-wide. No estimate was given as to how long correcting said bugs might take.

The answer is: Nearly no time at all.

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Epic/Chair's Latest Game Heading to iPhone, Demo Available Now

Posted by Alexander Bevier at 3:00 PM Sep 01, 2010

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The team behind last years popular Shadow Complex are currently working on a new game for the iPhone. Announced at the latest Apple press conference, Project Swords will be developed on Epic's Unreal 3 Engine for the portable device. It will be the first portable game every made with the engine.

For those unsure of how the game will look on the iPhone, Cliff Bleszinski tweeted that the castle from the preview is already on the iTunes store ready for people to download and check it out.

Projects Swords will be both single and multiplayer, and will coincide with the launch of Apple's Game Center. The game will come out in time for this year's holiday season.

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Mortal Kombat "Shadows" Trailer Brutal, Appropriately Named

Posted by James Hawkins at 2:00 PM Sep 01, 2010

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Test your might.
By: Ryan Winslett

Who knew shadows could be so violent?

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios today revealed this new look at the upcoming Mortal Kombat re-launch, slated for a 2011 release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Set to rock band Disturbed's "Another Way to Die," this latest bit of killer kontent (you have to spell it that way. I checked.) showcases MK mainstays like Scorpion and Raiden brutalizing their opponents while cloaked in, you guessed it, shadows.

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