Wii Sports to Sport Boxing!

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Casual, Corporate News, Fighting, Nintendo, Sports, Wii,

In the bevy of press materials Nintendo sent out today were some tasty tidbits about upcoming games for the Wii. The first one of note is that Wii Sports, which will come as a pack-in game for the $249.99 console, will now feature Wii Boxing(!!) alongside Tennis, Baseball, Golf, and Bowling.

Straight from the press materials (you read it here first!):

Boxing (1-2 players): Using the Nunchuk controller as one glove and the Wii Remote as the other, players dodge, weave and punch their opponents. Players hold their hands high to guard their faces or low to block their torsos. They punch high to hit their opponents’ faces or low to get under their guard for a body blow. Swing both arms left or right to sidestep oncoming blows and move into position for a devastating knockout.

Sounds very cool! Maybe EA will pick up on what an intuitive play mechanic this is and bring Fight Night to the Wii? Wii can only hope!

Gallery: Wii Sports to Sport Boxing!

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A New Type of Gamer?: Hardcore Casual Gamer Wins $1,000,000

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Casual, Internet, PC,

You know about the hardcore gamers, those pale ghostly figures that inhabit internet cafes late into the night, furiously dealing out death with clicks of the mouse. And you’ve heard of this new breed of “casual” gamers, folks who are more interested in short, pick-up-and-play gaming sessions. Well, we may be witnessing the birth of a new type of gamer - the hardcore casual gamer. (Maybe we should call them casual-core gamers?)

Witness Kavitha Yalavarthi, winner of the Worldwide Web Games competition, and proud recipient of a cool $1,000,000. The one million dollars was hers after beating out 70 other contestants and playing Zuma, Bejeweled 2, and Solitaire really REALLY well. 

Shortly after winning the million-dollar prize, Yalavarthi woke her parents with a late-night call to break the news. “Mom, Dad, you know those casual games that I play online?” Yalavarthi asked. “Well, they’re not so casual anymore. I just won the $1 million grand prize.”

Read More | MarketWire

Gallery: A New Type of Gamer?: Hardcore Casual Gamer Wins $1,000,000

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PopCap teams with Square-Enix to Deliver Casual Games to Japan

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Casual, Corporate News, Internet, PC, Portable/Mobile, Square Enix,

Talk about strange bedfellows… Who would’ve thought that one of the most tightly-lipped, hardcore RPG game producers would ever team up with a relatively open-sourced semi-indie casual game developer? Well, that’s exactly what’s happened thanks to a new agreement between Square-Enix and PopCap. Through the agreement, classic PopCap titles including Bejeweled 2, Chuzzle, Insaniquarium and Heavy Weapon will hit the Japanese shores via Square-Enix’s web portal.

Evidently, PopCap feels it needs a Japanese presence to truly penetrate the market. Although with the brisk sales of many recent DS titles, it’s evident that the Japanese have a taste for simple casual games.

Read More | GamesIndustry.biz

Gallery: PopCap teams with Square-Enix to Deliver Casual Games to Japan

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Pink Godzilla Dev Kit- Videogame Development For Everyone

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

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.

Read More | PinkGodzillaGames.com

Gallery: Pink Godzilla Dev Kit- Videogame Development For Everyone

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Texas Hold ‘em FREE on Xbox Live Arcade for the Next 48 Hrs only

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Casual, Hot Deals, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,

Just in case you forgot, starting tonight at 1AM Pacific time and for the next 48 hours, you will be able to download Texas Hold ‘em from the Xbox Live Arcade. After that, you have to pay 800 MS points and admit that you were a lame gamer that didn’t check Playfeed often enough. 😉

One of the cooler features in this release is the “Persistent Bankroll”, a system which should keep the betting fairly realistic:

Your virtual bankroll is tied to your gamertag and keeps a running tally of your chip count. If you lose all of your chips in a poker game, you’ll have to play lower stakes buy-in games to make back your stack and earn your way to the big tables.

This should be a great chance for all of those frugal gamers out there to break into the XBLA scene!

Read More | Xbox Official News

Gallery: Texas Hold ‘em FREE on Xbox Live Arcade for the Next 48 Hrs only

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