Latest Gear Live Videos
Take that, Heptagon!! Geometry Wars Heading to Wii, DS
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Nintendo DS, Retro, Wii,
Buttonbasher brings us the scoop from the latest issue of Nintendo Power, noting that the XBLA hit Geometry Wars will be hitting Nintendo’s platforms this fall. The new game, Geometry Wars: Galaxies will feature what sounds like a quest-style single player game, in addition to multiplayer and ports of the original 2 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved XBLA titles. The Wii version will (of course) use motion controls, and the DS version plans to use the touch-screen. Personally, I’m hoping they add an option to put the dual-analogs on the classic controller to good use.
The game is expected to hit in the fall and will hopefully carry a budget-style price, given that the xbox 360 title has been out for years now.
Read More 
| Buttonbasher
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Virtual Console 4/21: I’m Blown Away By The Awesomeness
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii,
Following several weeks of overall disappointing releases, Nintendo has dropped three top-notch titles onto the Virtual Console this week. Now available are Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest, Streets of Rage 2, and Blazing Lasers. You may not be familiar with that last one, but it’s an excellent vertical-scrolling shooter – and it’s definitely worth the price tag at $6. And unless you’ve played them to death, there’s no reason to not pick up DKC2 and SoR2 for $8 apiece.
Descriptions after the break.
Click to continue reading Virtual Console 4/21: I’m Blown Away By The Awesomeness
Gaming at the Maker Faire: Huge NES, Doom3 Mods, and More
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Nintendo, PC, Puzzle,
The Maker Faire was held this past weekend at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in sunny California. For those of you who haven’t heard, it’s basically a huge collection of engineering- and creativity-inclined nerds having fun with robots, fire, accelerometers, and anything else they can get their hands on.
Well of course, any time you get that many nerds together in one place, there’s going to be some gaming involved. Here’s a quick summary of the gaming-related wackiness that could be seen at the Maker Faire, with more pictures and videos after the jump. Exhibits included:
- A huge, working 2-person-sized NES controller
- The Doom 3 Case Mod From Hell (nyuk nyuk!) with working air-locks and remote control integrated display
- Push-button LED Tetris
- A life-sized crocheted Atari 2600, complete with 2 joysticks and TV displaying Adventure **
- Microsoft reps using Wii remotes to control RC Cars (I kid you not… I asked them if this was a conflict of interests and they laughed) **
- Build-your own accelerometer-based game interface using gloves, a flyswatter, or a frying pan **
** = Not pictured. The Faire was totally overwhelming, which affected my photo-taking abilities. Sorry!
Oh, and there was a huge Tesla Coil that shot 14.7 million volts. That was OK too I guess 😉
Click the jump for more pix and movies!
Click to continue reading Gaming at the Maker Faire: Huge NES, Doom3 Mods, and More
Read More | MakerFaire 2007
Nintendo’s Megaton Morning: Metroid in Summer, Smash Bros. Live
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Trailers, Wii,
Nintendo certainly gave Wii gamers some reasons to be excited this morning. First off, we have the announcement of titles that will hit the little white box this summer. It looks like August 20th is going to belong to Nintendo - not only will Metroid Prime 3 hit, but Brain Age 2, the sequel to the smash hit for the DS, will be launching as well. The pairing of these two titles seems like a pretty strong statement that Nintendo is indeed going after both the “core” and “casual” gamers, respectively.
There’s some more great surprises in the list, but we won’t spoil it all for you here. So, click that jump for all the summer release dates!
Oh, and if you needed another reason to get excited, the Smash Bros. Dojo!! site should be going live in a matter of hours.
Click to continue reading Nintendo’s Megaton Morning: Metroid in Summer, Smash Bros. Live
Aegis Wing Impressions: Wait, Something for Xbox 360 is Free??!?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
For all of you out there distracted by, oh I don’t know, the biggest game of the year, you may have missed the little tidbit that Microsoft released a free (yes, FREE!) game, Aegis Wing, over Xbox Live Arcade yesterday. Aegis Wing, developed internally by interns at MS, is a side-scrolling shmup and is undoubtedly a bit of a ploy to attract developers to the ease of use of the XBLA developer tools. Still, it’s a fun little game with a great feature list for its $0.00 price, including Leaderboards, 4-player Xbox Live games, and voice chat.
What did we think of this bare-bones shooter? Click the jump for our impressions…
Click to continue reading Aegis Wing Impressions: Wait, Something for Xbox 360 is Free??!?
Video of Halo 3 Zune Unboxing
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Bungie, Features, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
We just got our hands on one of the new Zune Halo 3 Edition units, and we thought you might like to see us do an unboxing on video. That is the goal of this episode of Unboxing Live. Peep the video, and then check out the Halo Zune unboxing gallery if you wanna take a look at the stills, yo.
Read More | Unboxing
Finish The Fight On September 25; Halo 3 Release Date Announced
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
With the Halo 3 beta just hours away from release comes this bombshell: Halo 3 will be headed to retailers on September 25 (26 if you’re unluckily living in Europe). The beta alone has caused a tremendous whirlwind of press coverage and buzz among the community, and the release of the game is only going to be bigger.
“‘Halo 3’ is much more than a video game release; it’s the biggest entertainment event of the year,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “On Sept. 25, we intend to deliver a finale that will go down in entertainment history and leave people around the world with an experience that will be shared and enjoyed for years to come.”
Previous proclamations from Microsoft and Bungie placed Halo 3’s release this fall, which September 25 certainly qualifies for. Many people, myself included, predicted the game would launch in November, as to avoid the October release of Grand Theft Auto IV, and to be on store shelves by the holidays. Apparently, Microsoft is instead opting to ride on the initial wave of sales in September and October, and then benefit from the holiday shopping season.
Halo 3 will no doubt be working in tandem with Mass Effect in order to counter the onslaught of PlayStation 3 titles that will be seeing release later this year. Expect to see plenty more Halo-branded things in the coming months, too – another Halo novel, the Halo 3 Zune and that limited edition Master Chief Mountain Dew can you see on the right.
Xbox 360 Sees New HD-DVD Player Update
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Owners of the Xbox 360’s HD-DVD add-on will be the recipients of a new auto-update next time they try watching a movie while connected to Xbox Live. The new additions (tweaks, really) are minor, but the more improvements, the better. Those without access to Xbox Live will be able to download the update from Xbox.com later this week.
The list of improvements:
- Added option for user to select from the following audio output formats via TOSLINK or HDMI: -Digital Stereo (2 channel PCM) -Dolby Digital 5.1 -DTS 5.1 -WMA Pro
- Added “Dynamic Range Control” toggle for digital audio output
- Improved HD DVD networking support
- Improved HD DVD title compatibility
- Improved performance with MPEG-4 AVC / H.264
- 1080p via HDMI is supported on the Xbox 360 Elite with HDCP compliant displays
- Improved parental controls
Read More | Major Nelson
Shane Kim Responds To Shadowrun Pricing Structure Questions
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
The upcoming Shadowrun has two price points on two different systems. That’s not all that unusual in itself – we’re used to seeing PlayStation 2 versions of games cost less than those on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. But when a game is seeing a simultaneous release on Xbox 360 and PC, and being put in a position to be the flagship cross-platform title, why are Xbox 360 owners paying $60 when the game is only $50 on PC?
Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal hunted down Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president Shane Kim to get an answer.
The $59.99 for Xbox 360 and $49.99 for Windows Vista price points are our standard pricing for each platform. This pricing structure is not uncommon in the multiplayer-only first-person shooter genre, as numerous titles have seen success at this price point and gaming model. I think it’s premature to speak to pricing for all future projects, but as of now this is our pricing structure for our marquee titles like Shadowrun. Additionally, MGS has the same development costs as other developers and publishers out there. One advantage other publishers have that we do not is that they can leverage their marketing and development costs over all platforms, while we are focused on Windows and Xbox 360 as a first party publisher.
That still doesn’t quite answer the question; is it impossible to deviate from the standard pricing scheme? This is the first real Xbox 360/PC cross-platform release, so the standard pricing being referred to is nonsensical. And that’s not to mention, of course, the fact that much of the public is in upheaval over the price already – given that there is no single player and a limited number of maps, paying a “standard” price isn’t what gamers want. The studio manager of Shadowrun developer FASA Studios, Mitch Gitelman has frequently retorted that the game offers an innovative experience that adds “verbs” to the FPS experience. We’ll just have to wait and see how gamers vote with their wallets when the game is released on May 29.
Read More | Level Up
Countdown To New Super Smash Bros. Website
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Fighting, Internet, Nintendo, Rumors, Wii,
No, not a countdown to the release of the game. The official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website has been updated with a countdown to the launch of a new official game website. Next week we’ll see its unveiling and hopefully, in the process, learn some new information about the game. Maybe some screenshots, character lists, or (crosses fingers) word on online play? Given that we’ve heard next to nothing about Brawl, any tidbit will undoubtedly be drooled over by Wii owners dying for the next big thing.
Be sure to keep your eyes open for the release of the website.
Read More | Smash Bros. Dojo
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