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Sony Releases New PS3 Screenshots

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Fighting, PlayStation 3, Screenshots, Simulation, Sports,

Ahead of the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, Sony has released a ton of high resolution screen shots from some of the games they will be showing at the Tokyo Game Show, and Game Watch has them all online. Many of the screens look like 720P screen grabs. Among the new screen shots shown are a couple of shots of a game tentatively titled Afrika. Lair, the dragon-based action adventure was also updated, and apparently the game is now supporting the Playstation 3 tilt controller. Gamers can also check out screen shots of the upcoming Unknown Realms title from Game Republic and Formula One Championship. Finally, Sony also released a bunch of screens for both Heavenly Sword and MotorStorm. MotorStorm and Formula One both look remarkable well-detailed at this point, and the action shots of Heavenly Sword also show promise. Of course, one can not determine framerate from a still, but the games do look like they are in better shape than Sony’s hardware production.

Pink Godzilla Dev Kit- Videogame Development For Everyone

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Casual, Hardware, Portable/Mobile, Simulation,

Pink Godzilla Card For those out there that haven’t had the chance to make it to Seattle’s Penny Arcade Expo, you might think the event’s entirely focused on the latest and greatest videogames. Truth be told, the event’s meant to be inclusive of all forms of gaming, including table-top and card games (although these get substantially less press). I was not so excited about visiting the Magic-obsessed hordes in the card gaming area, but boy am I glad I did… for that’s where I discovered Pink Godzilla.

Pink Godzilla might just be the nerdiest concept ever - it’s a card game about developing videogames, with lots of puns and in-jokes that only hardcore gamers will get. It’s also a helluva lot of fun. The general idea is that you have to collect cards to develop videogames and thereby score points. Each game requires a title (for instance, “Pinky Gear Solid”, or my personal favorite “Dance Dance Team Ninja Supressors 2”), characters to star in the game, and accessories (like key-tars for music games or combos for fighting games). Along the way, you can add special features to your game like easter eggs or powered-up accessories, and lots of points are awarded for making the best game around!

You can purchase the Pink Godzilla Dev Kit through the link below. I for one highly recommend it - I’m not usually a cardgamer, but this one is just too much fun to ignore.

Ubisoft’s Megaton Announcement: Seven Games at Launch for Wii

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Corporate News, Driving, First Person Shooters, Nintendo, Simulation, Ubisoft, Wii,

Description Let’s just get straight to the point: Ubisoft today announced that they have been developing seven Wii games which will be available at launch for the console. The titles are:

Red Steel (previously announced)
Rayman: Raving Rabbids (previously announced)
Far Cry
Blazing Angels
Open Season
Monster 4x4: World Circuit
GT Pro Series

A huge surprise (outside of the fact that Ubisoft somehow found a way to keep 5 launch titles for the Wii secret until now) is the addition of Far Cry, a FPS which garnered a lot of praise for its stunning graphics and would seem to run counter to Nintendo’s philosophy of de-emphasising graphical power. It should be a real test of what exactly the Wii can do, given that Far Cry is fairly taxing for even high-end PCs and the Xbox.

In one last piece of news, Ubisoft also announced that they will be releasing “an accessory in GT Pro Series that will make this game a must have”. Hmmm…. Wii steering wheel anyone?

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LucasArts to Support “Every” Next-Gen Console (including Wii)

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Corporate News, Nintendo, Simulation, Wii,

Wiimote Lightsaber After using the Wiimote for sword-swinging in the Twilight Princess at E3, a lot of folks in the media began to think about how perfect Nintendo’s next-gen console would be for a lightsaber-based Star Wars game. At the time, however, LucasArts did not have any titles in development for the Wii and simply stated that they were interested in the possibility of developing for Wii.

Well, at Comic-Con 2006, LucasArts support for Wii started to sound a lot more concrete. According to sources at IGN.com:

During the Q&A session, a younger gamer took the microphone and asked if the company would be showing support for the newest motion-controlled Nintendo console. Sansweet’s responded simply by stating the likeness between the Wii controller and a lightsaber, followed by a statement that LucasArts would be supporting every next generation system.

It's too bad that Nintendo fans won't have a
Rogue Squadron come Wii launch-time, but the addition of eventual LucasArts support for their platform is more good news for the console.

Read More | IGN.com

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Exclusive Animal Crossing Gift At Toys “R” Us

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo DS, Simulation,

Animal Crossing Wild World During the week of July 23 - 30, Animal Crossing: Wild World owners will be able to download one of six virtual gifts exclusively at Toys “R” Us. It is unclear from the announcement whether the gifts will vary from day to day, or will be given out randomly. According to Nintendo, players wanting their free gift will need to do the following:

Insert your Animal Crossing: Wild World Game Card into your Nintendo DS. Power up.
Purchase Bottle Mail at Tom Nook’s Shop.
Write a message and release your Bottle Mail into the river or at the beach. Save and end your game.
Visit the specially marked Animal Crossing: Wild Word promotion in the video-game section of your nearest Toys ‘R Us July 23-30. At the main menu, tap Tag Mode.
Watch and wait for something to arrive in your town!
Restart your game and comb the beach for Bottle Mail containing a special rare item!

More Ace Combat PSP Screens Take Flight

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PSP, Screenshots, Simulation,

GameWatch Japan has new screenshots from the upcoming Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception release for Sony’s PSP. Some of the screen captures of the new release from Bandai Namco include new combat areas, mission types, and a new stealth aerial fortress. Four playable fighter aircraft are also shown from the game. Players will be able to select the F-22 Raptor, the F-15S/MTD, the Grumman X-29A, and the Russian prototype S-32. The game was previously targeted for release in September in Japan; however this has been changed to a more generic fall release, making the US release date more uncertain. Still, the single player game modes look to be shaping up, and the new environments look particularly good for a PSP game.

The Birth Of Grand Theft Auto

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Culture, PC, Retro, Simulation,

GTA Original Map The original Grand Theft Auto has been credited for largely defining the “sandbox game.” Edge UK has a retrospective on its development, and it is interesting to note the combination of will and serendipity that enabled the game to come about.

The origins of the game tie to their attempts to build out a living city; originally this was to be represented in a 3D isometric view, similar to the concurrent game Syndicate Wars. However, performance problems would force the developers away from this view. The top-down view, interestingly, would be inspired by the side-scrolling Clockwork Knight from Sega.

Gamers can clearly see the core of the original game in the sequels. However, DMA wanted the original to be much more of a city simulation, with “buses following routes, people getting on and off, traffic lights working properly, a rail network.” While a number of the items made it into the game, others would have to wait for future technology, or would be dropped altogether. One of the dropped ideas was too make the game more horror themed, which would have truly changed the complexion of the series.

Other travails include rebuilding the game tiles for the Playstation version of the game, and convincing publishers to take a chance on its release. The article is an interesting rundown on one of the most influential game series of the past decade.

Warhawk Developer Video Documentary Online

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Fighting, PlayStation 3, Simulation,

For those of you looking forward to tilting your next-gen controller sans Wii, Kikizo has posted a video with the developers of Warhawk (for the Playstation 3) in which they discuss how the Cell processor is being used even to help design the only announced PS3 tilt-sensitive game.

Straight from the article:

David Wright, the game’s lead modeller, also makes an appearance to explain that the level of variation in detail across the expansive game world wasn’t possible to be hand-placed by a human designer, and that the team was able to “devise a method to have the Cell processor place this stuff dynamically for us, and it was a very good result. I don’t have to worry about any of that, which is nice!”

Okay, so the Cell isn’t making games from scratch yet, but it certainly sounds like developers are learning some nifty tricks to deal with the levels of detail required in next-gen gaming. Still, some users at ArsTechnica noted the less-than-stellar graphics, comparing the feel to current Xbox 360 offerings and noting “bland” land-based missions in the game. It will be interesting to see how this title fares, as it’s one of the flagship games for demonstrating the utility of the PS3 controller’s motion sensing capabilities.

New Ace Combat X PSP Screenshots

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PSP, Screenshots, Simulation,

GameWatch Japan has a new preview of Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception for the PSP. The PSP continuation of the fighter jet series is scheduled to hit Japan in Fall 2006, and the new screenshots look exceptional for a PSP game. As previously announced, the game will support multi-player combat utilizing ad hoc wireless networking. GameWatch has new screens of the multi-player interface. The screen-shots show off six possible base multi-player modes, with a “random” setting for quick play. Drilling down into the game modes shows a large set of configurable options for each basic online play mode, so the PSP should provide a large selection of battle types. Furthermore, it looks like a combination of 4 live players and 4 AI bots can be combined into two teams for battle, and plane type and ammunition payloads can be configured individually as well.

The fictional plane XFA-27, featured in Ace Combat 2, will make its appearance in the PSP release, and it will be joined by another Namco creation, the XFA-24A Apalis. Real-life planes shown in the preview include the Su-27 Flanker, the Eurofighter Typhoon , the F-5E Tiger II, and the Mitsubishi F-1.

With the large selection of planes, the abundance of multi-player modes (though sadly, infrastructure mode support has not been announced), and great graphical detail, this looks to be a worthy addition to the Ace Combat franchise.

Press Play and Exercise

Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Culture, Simulation,

Thanks to some new videogame/exercise equipment, gamers don’t have to choose between playing games and exercising. Kilowatt Pro, which is compatible with most videogames, connects to a television or to a videogame console, and requires players to physically interact in order to play the games. The intensity of the workout is misleading, as players don’t realize they are exercising. But the resistance and levels built into the machine insures players will use core muscles. There is also a Kilowatt system for kids. Current pricing varies by model and ranges between $500 and $1,600.

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