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Alien Hominid HD To Hit Xbox Live Arcade
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Last week Microsoft poked Xbox Live Arcade gamers in the eye with a delay of Worms, but this week looks a little better with the upcoming release of Alien Hominid HD this Wednesday for 800 Marketplace Points ($10). The side-scrolling Flash game has already hit a number of console platforms, including the Gamecube, Playstation 2, original Xbox, and Gameboy Advance. Now, the graphics get an HD makeover to 720P and the mini-games go online along with the related Achievements and Gamerscore for XBLA titles. While Alien Hominid HD will be great for those that haven’t experienced the title on other platforms, one still can’t help wonder how long it will be for Worms to show up on the Marketplace.
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Alien Hominid HD To Hit Xbox Live Arcade
Read More 
| Gamerscoreblog
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SCEE On Backward Compatibility Changes
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
After Sony Computer Entertainment Europe dropped the bombshell that backwards compatibility for the Playstation 3 in Europe and Australia would be limited compared to the US and Japanese hardware, the company talked with Three Speech to try and justify their decision. As stated before, the company is changing the hardware to reduce costs. SCEE confirmed that the relatively expensive Emotion Engine/Graphics Synthesizer would be removed and replaced with just the graphics hardware, and Playstation 1 and 2 compatibility would be provided through a purely software emulation solution. Microsoft has taken basically the same approach with the Xbox 360, and while Microsoft supports a great number of titles, there are a number of popular titles left out. Sony still hasn’t made any announcements regarding the number of titles supported when the console launches on March 23. Sony promises nearly all PS1 titles, but PS2 title compatibility is still up in the air. A strong software compatibility list would do much to help Sony’s reputation in the territory, but one has to feel that if the emulation story was a strong one, Sony wouldn’t have raised a warning flag before launch.
Read More | Three Speech
Ocarina Of Time Now On Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii,
Highlighting this week’s Virtual Console releases is Nintendo’s classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Ocarina, of course, dealt with some controversy during its release due to the number of perfect scores the game received, and the game is still the highest ranked entry on Gamerankings.com. While gamers might dispute the “perfect” score, this entry of the franchise brought Zelda into full 3D for the first time, and is one of the best entries in the series. At 1000 Wii Points, this release is a bargain; the Wii-compatible Gamecube Ocarina releases are selling for above $30 on eBay. Two other titles hit the Virtual Console this week as well, Bio-Hazard Battle for the Genesis at 800 points, a decent side-scrolling shooter, and Chew-Man-Fu the Turbografx-16 a bizarre arcade action game with Pengo style gameplay at 600 points.
Read More | Nintendo
New “Wing Commander” is a 3rd-Person Asteroids Clone?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Retro, Screenshots, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
EA, always the master of doing something evil in the realm of videogames, has shown off a first movie of their upcoming Wing Commander: Arena game, and the results are, well, disappointing to fans of the franchise. Expecting a great space shooter along the lines of X-Wing and TIE Fighter? Well, forget it… from the looks of this movie, the new Wing Commander is going to be an arcade-y Asteroids clone that for some reason goes with a zoomed-out, 3rd-person (3rd-ship?) perspective. Oh, and no 3rd dimension for you. It looks like you’ll get to yaw and pitch your ship all you want, but the roll is decidedly missing in this 2.5-D shooter.
If the final game ends up looking like this, I expect Wing Commander will be quickly added to the list of franchises that were killed by their respective copyright holders. EA will be producing this game for Xbox Live Arcade, so it’s understandable that it looks like more of a casual gaming title. But frankly I’d be happier if they just put the original WC series up for download.
Read More | Gamevideos.com via Joystiq
Nintendo Customer Service goes “Shockingly Right”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Rumors, Wii,
The good folks at The Consumerist spend their days pointing out the variety of ways in which corporations try to screw consumers over. But they’ve also got a soft spot for really touching Customer Service experiences, and they’re quick to note when a company is doing something right.
Most recently, they tell the story of Saska, the sad owner of a broken Wii living in Redmond, WA (the location of NOA’s headquarters). When he called up Nintendo, the consumer service representative recognized the area code and basically said “Oh, why don’t you come on down and we’ll fix it right now!”. Instead of having him ship his Wii to NOA headquarters, Nintendo fixed the console on the spot, transferred over all his Wii points and virtual console games, and even reset his warranty clock - all within 30 minutes.
You may not be able to duplicate this experience unless you live in Redmond, but it’s still touching to see how well Nintendo treats its customers…
Read More | Fiendish Glee Club via The Consumerist
Japanese Virtual Console Shows Neo-Geo, MSX
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Wii,
Nintendo’s Japanese Virtual Console site now shows two additional emulated consoles, supposedly coming in 2007. The MSX was a popular platform in Japan; since this hardware was rarely seen in the US, the likelihood of seeing any VC titles for this platform stateside is unlikely. However, the Neo-Geo hardware hit both arcades and store shelves in the US, and has a huge library of titles that would be a great fit for the Virtual Console. No pricing appears to be set at this time for Neo-Geo releases, but MSX titles will sell for 800 points in Japan.
Read More | Nintendo Japan
PAL PS3 Backwards Compatibility Crippled
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Sony is changing the hardware specifications for the Playstation 3 in Europe and other PAL territories, according to a report by Reuters. The report, confirmed by Sony, indicates that backward compatibility for PS2 and PS1 games will now be provided by a combination of hardware and software, rather than the hardware solution in the Japanese and American Playstation 3 consoles. This move may be a cost-cutting measure for Sony; software emulation would allow the company to remove the costly Playstation 2 hardware in the console used in other territories. Sony claims that PS1 compatibility will be high, but that PS2 compatibility will be limited as Sony focuses on “developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3.” One would expect high compatibility for PS1 games; Sony’s emulator for the PSP already seems to work with a large number of games tested by PSP hackers. Without full compatibility for PS2 games, though, Sony may find itself competing against its previous generation console more than expected. Given that the European territories already face the highest adjusted price for the console, this announcement can’t be good news for Sony fans abroad.
Read More | Reuters
Warhawk PS3 Downsized, Downloadable
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, PlayStation 3, Simulation,
It looks like the rumors that Warhawk for the PS3 was in trouble might have been correct. Sam Kennedy at 1up is visiting Incognito to preview the latest developments on the follow-up to the Playstation title, and he indicates that Warhawk has been downsized from its original ambitions as a retail PS3 title. Supposedly the title is now slated to be a downloadable title with multi-player support only, a pretty drastic change from the original offering. If the title can bring a strong multi-player experience while maintaining the graphic quality at a reasonable download price, Sony might have a good reason to get on the Playstation Network, but it will still be pretty far from their original promises for the game.
Update: Sony has officially denied the rumors to Kotaku with a non-denial denial stating that they “have not made any decision with regards to distribution for Warhawk”
Read More | 1up
More Super Paper Mario Details
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
EGM’s Shane Bettenhausen has played through a full preview build of Super Paper Mario and he took some time out after completing the game to answer questions about the game at 1up. There’s some interesting ground covered in the Q & A, particularly since not a whole lot is known about the game other than some short previews and some movies of boss fights that have hit YouTube. It was known that the game would neither be a straight platformer, nor an updated version of the other RPGs in the Paper Mario franchise, but the preview gives some insight into how the combination is going to work. The game also looks to feature a lot of content, roughly 27 hours for the main game, plus more for some of the side quests and extras. From previously released screenshots, gamers know the game will support 16:9 presentation modes, but Bettenhausen also clarifies that the title will support progressive scan as well. The preview also briefly touches on the story, characters, and Wii-mote support. The preview screen shots released look great, and this update gives gamers something to look forward to on April 9th when the game releases in the US.
Read More | 1up
Sega Brings Four New Virtual Console Titles
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Retro, SEGA, Virtual Console, Wii,
Destructoid has a Sega press release indicating Beyond Oasis, Vectorman, Sonic Spinball, and Sword of Vermillion are soon to be hitting Nintendo’s Virtual Console service. There isn’t an official release date, other than “soon” from Sega PR, but there are a couple of standout titles in the list, and some from gaming history. Sword of Vermillion isn’t a great RPG by today’s standards, but it does offer an early look at some of Yu Suzuki’s work. Beyond Oasis, though, is a strong action-RPG that saw a follow-up on the Sega Saturn in Legend of Oasis. Vectorman was strong platformer using pre-rendered 3-d graphics, and was generally seen as a response to the release of Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, so its only a little ironic that the game is coming to the Virtual Console after this week’s Nintendo releases.
Read More | Destructoid
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