Posted by Owen Johnson at 4:54 PM Feb 08, 2010
This is looking like it's going to be another rough week on my bank account, but BioShock 2 has promised me that it'll be worth it. That and Scene It? Twilight on the DS. What are you planning on picking up?
Monday, February 8th:
-Star Ocean The Last Hope: International (PS3)
-N.E.O. Online (PC)
-Link 'n' Launch (DS)
-Tomena Sanner (Wii)
-Fieldrunners (DS)
Tuesday, February 9th:
-Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity (PC)
-Dante's Inferno (360, PS3)
-Family Party: 30 Great Games Winter Fun (Wii)
-Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (Wii)
-BioShock 2 (360, PS3, PC)
-Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)
-World Cup of Pool (DS)
-Best Friends Tonight (DS)
-Scene It? Twilight (DS)
-Square Logic (PC)
-Rock Blast (Wii)
-The Daring Game for Girls (DS)
Wednesday, February 10th:
-Windchaser (PC)
-Bookworm Adventures (DS)
-Stargate Resistance (PC)
-Darwinia+ (360)
Thursday, February 11th:
-Galcon Fusion (PC, Mac)
Friday, February 12th:
-Zorro: Quest for Justice (DS)
-World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars (360)
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 2:56 PM Feb 08, 2010
As you may have figured out by now, our weekly contests are a thing of the past. I simply didn't have enough prizes to sustain that schedule. However, we still plan to have contests as frequently as possible, and we've got a fun one for our first contest of 2010. Courtesy of the iPhone App iSamJackson, we'll be giving away iPhone cases based on Sam Jackson's famous wallet from
Pulp Fiction. You know the one I'm talking about. You can see an image of the case below.
iSamJackson is a $2.99 iPhone app that spouts lines from Sam Jackson himself, and is available in both clean and explicit versions. There's even a pick-up line add-on available just in time for Valentine's Day. Check out the embedded widget for an example of what to expect.
Here's how to win: In the comments section below, I want to hear your best "Sam Jackson Playing Video Games" lines. Choose a game, and then give me what you think Sam himself would say while playing that game. "I'm sick of these motherf*cking goombas on this motherf*ucking level!" for Super Mario Bros, for example. Don't mind my self-censorship - I'm just trying to keep the contest description as clean as possible. Swear to your heart's content. Sam would.
Entries are due by
Friday, Feb. 12 at Midnight, CST. Multiple winners will be chosen at random. US Residents only, please. Check out the case and the widget below.
Read more "Contest: Win A Bad..." >>
Posted by Owen Johnson at 2:00 PM Feb 08, 2010
Strictly for health reasons, until the release of Red Dead Redemption, I need to every so often be revitalized by fresh screens or new clips. Fortunately enough I came across these enticing new shots in which our hero is performing some good old-fashioned cowboy rope work. It would seem that both humans and animals alike will feel John's wrath come April 27th; he doesn't like to discriminate. Hit the jump to see a few more of these beauties.
Consider my heart containers replenished.
Read more "Red Dead Redemption:..." >>
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:07 PM Feb 08, 2010
No video game company is as successful as Nintendo at creating memorable gaming franchises. Nintendo's cornerstone franchises are bigger than just games - even people who've never played a video game in their lives know the names Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong and Wii Sports.But not every franchise that Nintendo has published has become a household name. Many were successful enough, but simply didn't have the magic to keep going. Others may have been too strange to find an audience. These ten games and franchises are some of Nintendo's lesser-know titles, all games that aren't likely to ever see another sequel. Each entry on this list was published by Nintendo in the US and appear in roughly chronological order.
Read more "Ten Oddball Nintendo..." >>
Posted by Gus Mastrapa at 2:46 PM Feb 05, 2010
More than a few gamers believe they can see the Matrix. They'll tell you that gameplay is king and that that the other parts of games, such as plot, character, music and visual design, take a back seat to the mechanics of play. Strip away all this stuff and you'll find the pure game beneath -- one unfettered by art and plot.
And there a million games, everything from Nethack to Tetris, that seem to support this notion. Even bare-bones games can compel.
But I think the notion of gameplay is mirage, or at the very least it is being chased like one.
Read more "Pretension +1: The..." >>
Posted by Owen Johnson at 2:22 PM Feb 05, 2010
You may already know that my excitement for Splinter Cell: Conviction is off the goddamn charts. So consequently upon receiving news that Ubisoft announced a release date that is quite literally, "set in stone", I immediately started drinking dancing in celebration. I say literally because they sent an actual stone to IGN with the date 4.13.10 inscribed on it, I kid you not.
So there you have it folks, Sam Fisher's next endeavor in bad-assery slated for April 13th, 2010. Hit the jump if you care to see a picture of the actual laser etched rock.
Read more "Splinter Cell: Conviction..." >>
Posted by Owen Johnson at 1:06 PM Feb 05, 2010
I have to admit that I have very little love for social gaming. I don't care if you saved a sick cow in Farmville, I shed no tears if your mafia is under attack and needs assistance in Mafia Wars, nor do I give two shits about how you and your pet have beautifully decorated your house in Pet Society. Now having said that this new 3D first-person "social shooter" by 3G Studios has piqued my curiosity.
Their CEO, James Kosta, has boldly declared that their new title will "bring First Person Shooter games to the masses." going on to say that "it's about fast-paced action and either competing against or forming teams with your friends. We want people to feel empowered and to share in a real video game experience."
I whole-heartedly endorse their efforts to produce a social game that steers the stereotypical casual gamer in a more hardcore direction, but I'm not too sure that it will capture the appeal of the Farmville and Mafia Wars addicts out there. I wish them the best of luck in this endeavor, and I myself have already reserved a handle for the upcoming public beta. Hit the jump if you have any interest in doing the same, and to check out a couple additional screens.
Read more "3D "Social" Shooter..." >>
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:15 AM Feb 05, 2010
Next week Microsoft is holding an event called X10 in San Francisco, where games journalists will be able to play some of biggest upcoming games for the Xbox 360. Games like Halo: Reach, Fable III and Alan Wake will be there, as will some Xbox Live Arcade Games. One XBLA game in particular should get a fair amount of attention: the new 60 frames per second port of
Perfect Dark. It's not as exciting as getting the long-rumored XBLA version of
GoldenEye, but it's a close second.
Our Bay Area correspondent Owen Johnson will be heading to X10 to play all the games on display, and if he knows what's good for him he'll bring back hands-on preview coverage of
Perfect Dark. Do you hear me, Owen? Come back with preview coverage or
don't come back at all!
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 10:30 AM Feb 05, 2010
Despite word that the recent action title
Darksiders was a
sales disappointment, THQ is pressing on with a sequel, according to the latest investor earning call. The call also revealed that a new
Red Faction game is also in the works, as is a sequel to the Wii title
de Blob. The
Red Faction and
de Blob sequels are due in the fiscal 2011 year, while
Darksiders 2 and a new
Saints Row game are due in fiscal 2012.
I haven't yet played
Darksiders, but I'm excited about this news. In the last few years, THQ has really transformed into an exciting company with a lot of interesting original franchises. I know a lot of gamers who love the
Saints Row games and I ADORED
Red Faction: Guerrilla so I happy to see that THQ will continue to fund exciting core games as part of its catalog.
Posted by Owen Johnson at 4:22 PM Feb 04, 2010
"...e's got an attitude! Soooooniiiic, HE'S THE FASTEST THING A-LIIIIII-IIIIIVE!" Oh, sorry, didn't see you there. I was just singing the theme song from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series in celebration of the announcement. You didn't hear? Well, according to Sega's Ken Balough, the new Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 will offer old-school 2D gameplay with modern 3D visuals, in addition to classic favorites like spin-dash and power sneakers! Now when asked about the episode 1 tacked on at the end there, Balough told GameSpot in an interview that:"I think the best way to view it is as a first part in a much larger adventure. When Sega released Sonic 3, ultimately it was the part 1 of a story that saw its conclusion in Sonic & Knuckles. In that same spirit, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a bigger story, and this is that first chapter. I think it's also safe to say that by the end of the episode one, fans will be very excited to see what's in store for episode two!"
Although
he didn't outright deny or confirm it, considering that S4E1 will be
delivered to the PS3, 360, and Wii via download -- combined with the glaring fact that it
says "Episode 1" in the title -- I'm going to use my investigatory
journalism skills to infer that it will in fact be episodic in nature. Now
whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is probably in the eye of the
beholder. But I for one couldn't be more excited to see Sonic going back to his 2D roots, episodic or not. Especially when you take into account that on the 360
and PS3 the beloved needlemouse will be tearing it up in full HD.
Dust off your red sneakers and
thigh-high running shorts, because Sonic's (hopefully) glorious summer release is just around the
corner.
