Posted by Patrick Klepek - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 2:00 PM
I've just had a horrible revelation. Kotaku published a summer reading list this afternoon, which includes a number of solid recommendations for video game-related reading material -- you know, reasons to leave the house the next few months. The list warped me back to riding home on the bus during grade school and reading through the series of completely awful books that were based on id Software's Doom series.
Wikipedia has reminded me just how ill-advised such reading was.
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:53 PM
Originally released in March 2006, Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed will be re-released as a digital download for the PSP tomorrow through the PlayStation Network.
The collection features 20 titles, but will only run on a PSP. This is not for your PS3!
For a list of the games, click through the break. Highlights include 1941, Bionic Commando, Final Fight, and Street Fighter!
Posted by Jake Gaskill - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:39 PM
If you’re tired of rummaging through trash cans and behaving in a generally stalker-ish way just to find out a little bit about the MMO Report’s own Casey Schreiner, then clean yourself up and take off the ski mask.
Casey was recently interviewed by the videogame blog Hardest Level, and in said interview, Casey divulges all sorts of telling details about himself, including what games meant the most to him growing up, what’s it like hosting the G4tv.com web series The MMO Report, and all things in between.
So be sure to check out the full interview to find out everything you ever wanted to know about Casey Schreiner (and perhaps a few things you never knew you wanted to know but are now glad you know).
Posted by Jake Gaskill - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:31 PM
Regardless of how you feel about PlayStation Home, the game-related spaces are pretty rad for the most part. Well. now all you inFamous fans can enjoy even more Empire City goodness thanks to Sucker Punch’s new inFamous game space, set to be released this Thursday.
The Abandoned Docks environment features all the grit and grime found in the electrified third-person action title, and includes a nice assortment of game-related content. There's a Graffiti Wall mini-game that lets players design and display customized tags that other players can then rate. Developer Sucker Punch will also be streaming exclusive media content to the space. And if that wasn’t enough, players will also have access to a shooting gallery-style mini-game called "Reaper Shock" where you shoot lightning bolts at various targets around the space. The mini-game also includes a global leaderboard, so make sure you aim straight.
Overall, the space looks great, and should provide the perfect dank home away from home for inFamous everywhere.
Anyone out there planning on checking out the inFamous space?
Fan of NARUTO? Bigger fan of the "grown-up" Shippuden storyline? Have DS will game? Well then,
Tomy unveils the first gameplay footage for their DS 3D fighter NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2. What seperates this one apart from the ocean of Naruto titles?
34 playable characters
Special jutsu moves
An all-new storyline covering more of the Shippuden story arc than any other Naruto game
and Wireless multiplayer
Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 Gameplay Trailer
Posted by Joseph Baxter - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 11:50 AM
Yet another '80s reboot is on the horizon. The network soon-to-be formerly known as The Sci-Fi Channel, will be giving us an all-new version of Alien Nation. (You remember -- the show with all the huge-headed, bald aliens covered in Mikhail Gorbachev spots, who had super-strength? Ocean water was their weakness, as it was like acid to them? Remember?)
Longtime fans of sci-fi drama may remember the short-lived, but poignant franchise. Launching with a 1988 theatrically-released film starring James Caan, it subsequently became a TV series on the Fox network. While lasting only one whole season, the show was eventually followed-up in the late 90's with five TV movies. The overall premise involved an Earth society living in the aftermath of the arrival of a giant spacecraft full of alien refugees who have escaped the oppression of their home planet with nowhere else to go. The aliens eventually assimilated themselves into American life, and set the show up to be somewhat of a vehicle for agitprop regarding a number of real life issues like immigration and inter/intra-cultural issues. (Think of it as True Blood, but with aliens.) The plot itself focused on a human detective in San Francisco named Mathew Sikes, who has been given an new alien partner named George Francisco (his taken "Earth" name.) Together, the duo fights crime (both human and alien) and adjust to each others' radically different styles and their own family issues. Despite the presence of aliens, it was as more of a police/morality drama.
GiantBomb has the tech trees for Blizzard's StarCraft IIon display. For those serious on winning the knock-down, drag-out matches for whenever this game gets released, be sure to study up on the high-res images (unlike the condensed one below).
What faction are you planning on rockin' and what will your first build order be?
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 11:16 AM
UPDATED: 2:03PM PST -- The beta has been delayed until tomorrow.
Today Tomorrow at 2PM PST, the open beta for the "There is Only War" patch for Relic's Dawn of War II will begun on Steam. All owners of Dawn of War II are eligible to participate. The beta patch includes MAJOR multiplayer balance changes as well as the World Builder map editor.
To participate, simply login to Steam and follow this picture:
The beta will run from today tomorrow until Monday July 13th. The biggest change to the game is the pacing. Tier 1 should last a lot longer, with the upgrade to Tier 2 getting a huge cost and training time increase. The patch was originally planned for release this Fall, but Relic has been working 90 hour weeks to get it out to beta. I wonder if they are feeling pressure from the impending StarCraft II beta?
UPDATE: The start of the beta has been delayed one day:
"It comes with great regret that we need to delay the launch of the ‘There is Only War’ Beta to tomorrow, Thursday, July 2nd at 2:00 PM PST (22:00 GMT). We are experiencing an unforeseen technical problem and believe it will be resolved in the next 24 hours."
For the full list of changes, click through the jump. It's a massive list.
Posted by Patrick Klepek - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 11:02 AM
Ideas of how to take advantage of Project Natal and Sony's so far unnamed motion technology are already swirling around in the head of Sega's managing director of European development, Gary Dunn. In fact, Dunn told GamesIndustry.biz he already wants to move forward on a new Virtua Tennis game taking advantage of them.
"I was blown away by it, both systems offer us so many opportunities to do great things with videogames," said Dunn. "I immediately now want to make another Virtua Tennis. There's so many games and possibilities. I want to go away and lock myself in a dark room with some of our cleverest chaps and see what we can do with it. We've got to look in different directions to almost throw history away and it requires a whole new way of thinking."
Dunn is getting a little ahead of himself, considering Project Natal kits have only been in the hands of developers for a few weeks now and Sony's tools haven't shown up yet. Oh, and Sega just released Virtua Tennis 2009.
One of the major reveals at this year's E3 was that Konami and Metal Gear Solid developer Kojima Productions are in fact working on a reboot of Konami's iconic Castevania franchise, entitled Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. And while Hideo Kojima fans are no doubt more than a little pleased to hear about his involvement with the new title (unless your name is Raymond Padilla), don't expect to see the famed developer's influence smeared across every frame of the game.
In a recent interview with Famitsu, Kojima says that, "Kojima Productions is playing more of a support role" for the new game. In terms of his own contributions, Kojima explains he's currently playing the role of adviser, "leaving things to Dave [Cox] and the developers at Mercury Steam, having them fix things based on my objective viewpoint."
What kind of fixes, you ask? Evidently, you can thank Kojima for Lord of Shadow's main character's more "heroic" face, as that has been one of Kojima's major contributions to the game thus far. Now, given that the game is still a year away from release, there's still plenty of time for Kojima to get his fingerprints on the game if he so chooses. Of course, between Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, I'd say there's a good chance Kojima will remain in his adversarial role, at least for a little while longer. Although, the game did receive a bizarre/lame teaser site a while back, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Posted by Patrick Klepek - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:53 AM
There's blood everywhere in the Ninja Gaiden series, especially so in Ninja Gaiden 2, where players can dismember limbs from the enemies. But with the PlayStation 3 tweaking, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Tecmo is actually ratcheting back the on-screen violence, according to an interview with the game's director and producer Yosuke Hayashi over at Games Radar.
"Each game has its own concept and with Ninja Gaiden 2, the focus was on extreme violence," said Hayashi. "But with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, we really questioned whether violence is a necessity for a game, so we decided to move away from that trend. So the violence 'approach' is not the way we approached the development of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Being able to unlock higher levels of gore would be out of kilter with the concept of the game."
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:50 AM
The Palm PRE may not be beating the iPhone in terms of sales, but it is winning the hearts of old-school gamers all over the earth: Awesome Pre programmers have created a PlayStation One emulator for the machine, as well as a version of MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) so you'll be able play Contra all day, and then follow it up with a rousing game of Crazy Climber.
Zodttd is the genius behind the PlayStation emulator, and Nebula created the MAME program. Both are a bit rough around the edges. Sound, rotation, and scaling aren't quite working in the PlayStation emulator and the MAME machine has some sound issues, but, judging from the obligatory YouTube videos (embedded below the cut), the emulators are more than a little awesome, bugs and all.
Oh, and of course you'll need to jailbreak your Pre before these will work, and you'll need your phone rooted to your computer, but, I think it's only a matter of time until both are playable (and perfect) on the fly -- both the technology and the desire are in place, so there's no reason it won't happen.
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:48 AM
This picture is not pro because the Protoss player is using Scouts.
Are you in San Francisco? Do you want to be awesome at StarCraft? You're in luck! A "100% full blooded Korean" is offering lessons starting at $20/hr for Protoss sessions (the easiest race). The tutor? ByunTae, born in South Korea and "gifted with unparallel talent to master any video game, particularly, StarCraft: Brood War."
Born in Korea? You're out of luck:
"My lessons are offered to only non-Koreans or American born Koreans because they lack the blessing from the Gaming God, Norazi. Sun Tzu once said, 'Defiler becomes useless at the presences of a vessel.' You will be come the vessel against the defilers that treats you like a non-korean, laughing at your pitiful Starcraft skills...however, you will demolish them with the new profound skills."
Hilarious! Also, he claims to have taught Boxer.
Yes, I am aware this is fake, but it's funny. Well, funny if you like StarCraft. I've reached out to ByunTae to find out what his iCCup rank is and to see if he can send me a replay of his pro skills.
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:25 AM
Microsoft's Kodu Game Lab has been released for 400 MS Points ($5) today. The program, available through Xbox Live Community Games, will allow users to create their own games and environments using a robust scripting language. Raymond and I saw Kodu at GDC earlier this year and you can read Raymond's impressions of the tool.
Are you going to download Kodu? Still confused about what it is? Watch this helpful video walkthrough!
This program reminds me a lot of Logo and that friendly turtle that could draw out programs, but for 2009. I'd probably download it if I wasn't too busy playing games. I don't quite have the patience for programming at this point, but I'd recommend it for anyone trying to teach a child logic and get him or her ready for a computer science degree.
Posted by Patrick Klepek - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:21 AM
Microsoft told me at E3 there were "more details" to be revealed about the Last.fm partnership for Xbox Live, suggesting there would be a way for people who weren't paying for an annual subscription to stream music through their console. Joystiq's learned what exactly Microsoft meant by that; as it turnso ut, XBL silver users will have some access.
It's really limited, though, according to XBL general manager Christina DeRosa -- just three hours a month and supported with video advertising. Gold members will have unlimited access to Last.fm streaming, but have to wade through ads, too. For an ad-free experience, gamers have to sign up for a Last.fm subscription, which is $3-per-month.
Any silver users reading TheFeed? Is this a fair compromise?