On Gear Live: Samsung S95C: The OLED TV You Can’t Afford (to Ignore!)

Latest Gear Live Videos

September 9th marks the anniversaries of two systems that found their place nestled in the bosoms of video game culture in their own different ways. The PlayStation solidified itself as the first console to reach 100 million units sold (the PS2 has since surpassed this), while the Dreamcast remains a cult favorite among gamers. Both consoles helped to revolutionize the way that video games are played today, and we owe them a bit of gratitude on their American birthdays.

Click to continue reading The shared anniversary of Playstation and Dreamcast

Read More | Sega Forums

Advertisement

Playstation infographic

A new infographic released by Sony in honor of the 15th anniversary of the PlayStation reveals some interesting statistics about PlayStation gamers. According to the chart, six out of ten PlayStation gamers would rather give up their cell phones for a year in favor of keeping their PlayStation. While 84% would sooner deactivate their Facebook and other social networking accounts for a year. Would you sacrifice social networking and your phone in favor of playing video games?


Gran Turismo 5 Car Damage

Gran Turismo 5 attempts in-game car damage for the first time. The results? Well, lets just say that they didn’t attempt this earlier for a reason. Hopefully they’ll get it right by the time the game comes out. Have a look for yourself after the jump and let us know what you think!

Click to continue reading Screenshots of car damage in Gran Turismo 5

Read More | Photobucket

DescriptionI may not be a blood-thristy twisted Alice, but I do enjoy beautiful things. In commemoration of the original Alice, Epic Weapons, in collaboration with Electronic Arts, have created a replica of the Vorpal Blade from American McGee’s Alice. It is adorned with etched molds which replicate this weapon in all its beautiful detail. Since this is a high quality replica made from Japanese stainless steel and standing at 18 5/8 inches in length, Epic Weapons is offering only 1,000 of these commemorative Alice knifes. They are now available on the Epic Weapons website for $89.95, so get them while they are still available! Stand is not included, but available for purchase for $19.95. And while you are at it, I think you should send me one too.


Epic Citadel iPhone

While waiting to get their hands on Epic Games’ (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament) iOS only game - Project Sword - Apple gamers will be able to explore just how well the Unreal Engine runs on their iOS device. Compatible with and 3GS, 3rd and 4th gen , and the ; the Unreal Engine tech demo, dubbed Epic Citadel, lets gamers explore a castle interface with all the bells and whistles of the Unreal Engine. Such as: bump offset mapping, real time lighting, texture mapping, global illumination, and more. Epic citadel was created in eight weeks and can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

More screenshots after the jump.

Click to continue reading Epic Citadel teases Unreal Engine on iOS

Read More | Epic Citadel

VellVett performing at the 2014 Gear Live Holiday Bash

Microsoft is set to release a newly redesigned wireless controller with a transforming D-Pad this November. It’s no secret that the D-Pad on the Xbox 360 isn’t exactly popular with gamers, so the company supposedly went back to the drawing board, and came up with a D-Pad can be changed from disc-form to “plus” form just by turning the D-Pad itself. In addition to that change, the controller also has concave analog sticks, matte silver color, and gray A, B, X, Y buttons as well.

The catch? While the controller seems like it would be awesome, you can only get it as part of the new Play & Charge Kit which will be available on November 9th for $64.99. Yeah, even if you don’t need another Play & Charge Kit, that’s the only way you’ll be getting this controller, as Microsoft won’t be making it available as a standalone product. $64.99. Microsoft is definitely doing all they can to get more money out of Xbox users these days.

Gallery:


Xbox Live Price Lock

If you haven’t heard by now, Microsoft is going to be increasing the yearly cost of Xbox LIVE membership by $10 per year starting on November 1. This comes after 8 years of the service remaining at a steady $50 per year, and kills rumors that the service would actually go free sometime soon. On November 1, a year of Xbox LIVE Gold will cost you $59.99, one month will cost $9.99 (up from $7.99,) and the three-month subscriptions will go from $19.99 to $24.99. They say it’s to support new features like , ESPN, and Hulu Plus coming to Xbox LIVE (despite the fact that Hulu Plus costs $10 a month in the first place.)

The one silver lining here is that you can currently buy yourself a one-year Xbox LIVE subscription for just $39.99, locking in that $20 savings for a year. It will just get tacked on to your current subscription if you already have one. If you want multiple years of savings, you can always find Xbox LIVE discounts on Amazon.

Read More | Xbox LIVE Price Lock

gran turismo 5

Gran Turismo 5 is causing some controversy in the beautiful Italian city of Siena. How can a racing game spark controversy you ask? Does GT5 feature a new crash mode where tires fly off of vehicles and decapitate prostitutes and police officers? Nope. The reason for the controversy is GT5’s use of Siena’s city Piazza del Campo as a track in the upcoming game, and more specifically, using the flags and colors of the Palio di Siena without permission. Due to this Siena is threatening to stop the game from seeing the light of day.

Whether or not the flags will be removed is still up in the air, but Kazunori would like to see them remain as they heighten the aesthetics of the Italian course. Gran Turismo 5 designer Kazunori Yamauchi lamented via twitter his hesitation to remove them, “We can remove them in an instant…[though] erasing them is somewhat regrettable.”

Read More | Kotaku via Twitter


Metal Gear Rising

Bringing the Metal Gear Rising series to the Xbox 360 and PC in addition to the PS3 is only the start of Konami’s multi-platform approach. In a recent interview with VideoGamer.com MGR creative director Shigenobu Matsuyama stated, “I think it’s very important for the future of Japanese publishing. We see publishers — Capcom have started a little bit earlier than us — and I can say most of the Japanese studios have seen the importance of going multi-platform, and our studio as well.”

This can mean that Konami will start to embrace the Wii with less profound Metal Gear exclusives in the same vein that Capcom has done with its Resident Evil series, and continue bringing it’s more hardcore Metal Gear titles to the Xbox 360, PC, and PS3.

“I think we’re now really ready to go multi-platform at once, I mean development cycle wise. I think this will be a normal trend for Japanese studios in the future,” Matsuyama continued.

A hard blow to PS3 users hoping to keep future Metal Gears to themselves.

Read More | Kotaku via Video Gamer


Best Buy and Target

Taking a controversial page from Gamestop’s book, Best Buy and Target both are in the beginning stages of implementing a trade-in program for used videos games in exchange for store credit. Best Buy has revealed that it will start offering a trade-in program this week in 600 locations, and will begin selling used games “soon”.

Target’s Electronic Trade-In department is currently open in North Carolina, and will increase to 850 stores by December 2010. Unlike Gamestop where you can only trade in video games and their accessories to buy more video games and the like; Target comprises a much larger trade-in spectrum, allowing customers to trade in cell phones, iPods, and video games to receive store credit. This store credit can net you the many different items sold in Target, and is not just limited to digital devices.

This all comes much to the dismay of video game publishers, namely THQ CEO Cory Ledesma who recently discussed how used games “cheat” the video game industry. Despite this, it seems that Best Buy and Target intend to get away with some heavy duty cheating this holiday season.

Look for the Best Buy on Columbia Heights 3100 14th St NW to start accepting trade-ins by December.

Read More | Target

Advertisement

{solspace:toolbar}