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3DS at GDC '11

 

During Nintendo magnate and happy papa Satoru Iwata's keynote at the GDC today, Linebacker-In-Chief Reggie Fils-Aime took the stage briefly to discuss some new functionality slated to arrive for the Nintendo 3DS. This includes:

  • Nintendo will be partnering with Netflix to bring streaming video to the 3DS. You'll be able to pick up watched videos on your home set if you're viewing on the go. No word yet on whether Netflix will begin offering 3D movies for the device, though I wouldn't be surprised if they do in the future.
  • 3D trailers for films such as the Green Lantern will be available for download and mobile viewing.
  • Nintendo will be offering a short-form video service where they curate content for your eyeballs, kind of like the top-level videos on services like Xbox Live. They know what is best for your viewing pleasure. Obey. Obeeeeey.
  • 3D video recording! This had been hinted at for a while by Iwata, but it has been confirmed during the talk. Record videos in 3D from your handheld, watch them right back on the screen. If you thought people uploading photos of their misshapen junk to Tiger Woods games was bad, steel yourself.
  • Nintendo will be partnering with AT&T to have 10,000 existing hotspots acting as hubs for the 3DS. You'll be able to grab content, connect with other players, browse, and access other online functionality for the 3DS through yonder hotspots. I am very confident in this, because anyone with an AT&T iPhone will tell you how much they absolutely love and appreciate the service.
  • New Shops: The 3DS will be allowing you to transfer your existing DSiWare titles to your new handheld, and will be offering 2 new shops: Virtual Console, where you can get old GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, Turbografx, and GameGear titles, and 3D Classics, where you can get similar titles newly remastered with 3D functionality. There will also be a game promotion channel for screenshots, trailers, etc.

The update in late May will allow you to transfer your DSiWare, get a web browser, and access the shops.


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World of Tanks

In just a couple of weeks, the popular PC title World of Tanks from the folks at Wargaming.net will be launching in Europe and North America. Already a massive hit in Russia, "the first and only team-based massively multiplayer online action game dedicated to armored warfare" is currently in a state of open beta to North American and European audiences. The game is free to play and supported by microtransactions, following a growing trend in MMO games like Lord of the Rings Online.

According to the representatives from Wargaming, the game has already set a Guiness World Record for the most number of players on a single server - a staggering 120,000 players in Russia. The game features tanks from the WW1 era prototypes through the models introduced worldwide through 1956, so if you have a bristling Stalin-esque mustache and a penchant for overcompensating barrel sizes, sign up for the open beta and give the game a whirl before the official launch.


Sony announced today that it will drop the price of its PlayStation Portable device by $40 to $129.99.

The price drop is effective February 27. PSP Entertainment Packs, meanwhile, will be sold for $159.99.

The company is also adding new games to its Greatest Hits and Favorites Collections. New additions to Greatest Hits, which sell for $19.99, include "Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines," "Dissidia Final Fantasy," "LittleBigPlanet PSP," "Metal Solid Gear: Peace Walker," "Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters," "Resistance: Retribution," and "Toy Story 3: The Video Game."

Click to continue reading Sony slashes price of PSP to $129.99


 

wii sales

January has just not been a pleasant month for video game sales. At least, that's according to new numbers released by NPD. Total January 2011 sales for gaming accessories, portable systems, and games for PCs and consoles fell to $1.16 billion from last year's total of $1.22 billion. And the $1.22 billion figure for January 2010 is itself a decrease from January 2009 figures, or $1.33 billion in total sales.

Breaking that number out a bit, hardware sales took the biggest year-to-year hit, dropping 8 percent from $353.7 million in January 2010 to $324 million in January 2011. NPD no longer splits this number out into publicly available data for the various console manufacturers; however, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said that Microsoft was the only big player to experience year-to-year growth on hardware sales.

According to Pachter, Microsoft sold approximately 332,800 Xbox 360 units, representing a year-to-year growth of 14.4 percent for the company. More than half of the systems sold were also bundled with Microsoft's Kinect accessory.

Nintendo, on the other hand, found its sales down 31.5 percent compared to the same period of time last year. That's a drop from 465,800 Wii consoles sold in January 2010 to 319,000 sold in January 2011. The company still leads the current console market with 34.5 million Wii units sold in the U.S., in total, with Microsoft's Xbox 360 coming in second place at 25.8 million, followed by Sony's PlayStation 3 at 15.7 million.

Click to continue reading Nintendo Wii sales plummet by 31.5 percent from January 2010


Demiurge Studios released the first in-game trailer for their upcoming title, Shoot Many Robots, which is slated for a downloadble release in 2011.  This might be Demiurge Studios first original title, but they are no rookies to the business of making fun and addictive games. The company stands as one of the largest independent game developers in the Boston area, and has been lending its expertise for years to AAA franchises like Borderlands, Brothers in Arms, Mass Effect and Rock Band.

“After nine years of working on truly awesome IPs with our favorite developers and publishers, we’re thrilled to be stepping out of the shadows with an original property of our own,” said Albert Reed, co-founder and studio director at Demiurge Studios. “Shoot Many Robots is the dream game we’ve always wanted to make: a 4-player co-op action-RPG with tons of loot and great innovation on beloved run-and-gun game play. Our team created a vibrant, unique style for the game that’s beautifully rendered by Demiurge’s new game engine. Building a 'Robot Murder Simulator' has been a blast for us, and we can't wait to get it into gamers' hands.”

Shoot Many Robots look like an old school gamer's or arcade junkies dream. With a side-scroller feel, item looting, co-op, and shoot 'em up mechanics, we can assume it will be a huge success on the PSN and Xbox LIVE Arcade platforms.


 

dj hero"Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," the company said in its fourth quarter earnings report.

The move also covers "DJ Hero" games, and Activision said it will also stop development on "True Crime: Hong Kong."

"These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences," Activision said.

In a FAQ posted on its Web site, Activision said that based on current demand, the company could not profit from the "Guitar Hero" franchise because of licensing and manufacturing costs.

Click to continue reading Activision kills Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, and True Crime


Slacker Radio Plus FreeHere at Gear Live, we love us some . If you don’t know, Slacker is a fantastic radio’s streaming music service. It has millions of songs in its catalogue, and real DJs actually control their channels, which means you get a great mix of songs that go well together. While Slacker is free, they also have a service called Slacker Radio Plus, which adds the following perks:

  • Unlimited Skips
  • Unlimited Song Requests
  • No Audio or Banner Ads
  • Complete Lyrics
  • Over 2 Million Songs
  • Cache stations to smartphones for offline listening
  • ABC News and headline news updates for any station
  • "Peek Ahead" artist and album previews

We said this would be big, so here’s what we're gonna do - we are going to give away:

  • FIVE one-year subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus
  • FIVE three-month subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus
  • FIVE one-month subscriptions to Slacker Radio Plus

We are going to make it ridiculously easy to enter as well. All you need to do is become a fan of Gear Live on Facebook, and leave a comment on our wall - feel free to enter as many times as you'd like. That’s it! On Friday we will select fifteen random entrants and hit them with the goods.


Japanese newspaper Nikkei revealed some major details concerning the PSP2, reporting that the portable system will include 3G connectivity to the NTT DoCoMo network. While this particular network is exclusive to the Far East, the included 3G connectivity means we can expect the same thing for the American launch of the PSP2. With 3G connection speeds, the PSP2 would be capable of downloading data over a phone network, instead of being limited to wi-fi connections.

Also, Nikkei broke news that the PSP2 sports an OLED touch-screen, and an all-new processor for delivering cutting edge handheld performance. All will be confirmed January 27th, when Sony officially unveils the PSP2 to the world.

Read More | Kotaku via Nikkei


Louis Leterrier

French gaming site Julsa.fr posted an interview with Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans) discussing his love of video games (which he refers to as "films"), particularly Dead Space 2. The famed French director went behind the lens to document a four-part video series within the offices of Dead Space 2 creators, Visceral Games, for an in-depth look at the upcoming Dead Space 2. 

Leterrier tells Julsa that he is a "fan of the film Dead Space", going on to revel in his firm belief that "[video games] can really do things that are totally creative, totally artistic, things that provoke an emotion within the viewer/player and create something that's abosolutely visceral."

Check out Leterrier's first three parts after the jump, and look out for part four later this week.

Click to continue reading Clash of the Titans Director Films Dead Space 2 Inside Look

Read More | Collider

gran turismo 5 cars

Video games have pushed the boundaries between fantasy and reality since their creation. Each year a game comes along that suceeds in blurring these lines even further - Grand Turismo 5 is one such game. The creators of GT5 even put together a side by side comparison of the actual Nürburgring track and the video game version, and the results are stunning. Check out the comparison video after the jump.

Click to continue reading Gran Turismo 5 looks almost like real life

Read More | YouTube

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