General gaming

General gaming

PlayStation Vita Release Date Set for February 22

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 05:26 PM PDT

Vita

After giving North America and European gamers nothing more specific than an "early 2012" window, Sony has finally provided those in the west with a release date for the PlayStation Vita: it'll be out on February 22, 2012 in North America and Europe.

The news was revealed at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco today by SCEA boss Jack Tretton. A Japanese release date of December 17 had already been announced.

Review: Ratchet & Clank All 4 One is Not One 4 All Ratchet Fans

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT

I live in a Ratchet household. Some folks live in Mario households, or Pokémon households, or even Master Chief households. But the mascot of choice for our family is the frisky, big-eared lombax. The sense of humor, the amazing graphics, and the outlandish weapons of the Ratchet & Clank games have always struck just the right chord for my daughters and me. Throughout the PS3's lifecycle that's meant that one person plays while the others merely watch the adventure unfold. You can well imagine the excitement at my place, then, when the girls learned we'd be able to tackle the next Ratchet & Clank game together.

Only, this isn't exactly a Ratchet & Clank game -- at least not like the ones we've come to love in this console generation. People (myself included) often refer to Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time as, "the closest thing to a Pixar movie in video games." If that's true, then Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is more or less the licensed game you'd expect to be made based on that property. That is to say, it retains a fair measure of the charm and the spirit of the source material, but there's no denying that it's a watered-down version of the real thing. That discovery raised a number of questions; not just from me, but from my young couch co-op partners.

Monster Hunter 3G Ditches Online Multiplayer on 3DS

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 03:08 PM PDT

3DS owners are getting not only Monster Hunter 3G, but Monster Hunter 4 as well. The latter is further off which will make 3G (or Tri-G) a more attractive purchase in the meantime, particularly in Japan where the series is incredibly popular. Unfortunately, while the game will support the new Frakenstick attachment for 3DS, it won't make use of the system's networking capabilities for online multiplayer.

The lack of online play was confirmed on a Japanese Capcom support page, as reported by Andriasang. It states multiplayer can only be played with those close enough for a local connection to be made, though online support is included that allows for content to be downloaded such as new event quests.

New Double Fine, Pixar, and Sesame Street Content on Their Way to Kinect

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 02:39 PM PDT


Microsoft has announced a lineup of new Kinect games for families, some of which also encourage children to learn.

These games will come from several different sources. Double Fine, best known for Psychonauts and the new (and quite good) Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, is working on a new game called Double Fine Happy Action Theater that will be out surprisingly soon. Coming this holiday on Xbox Live, it contains 18 different minigames "designed to activate gross motor skills, inspire imagination and entertain players of all ages." The press release notes there are "no rules, no menus, no instructions -- just pure fun."

A new Disney project codenamed Rush was also announced and is coming next spring. It's designed for kids and allows players to scan themselves into the worlds of five Pixar franchises and solve challenges along with the characters from The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Up, and Cars 2.

NFL Blitz Gets Revived Early Next Year

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:31 PM PDT

Midway's classic, arcade-style NFL Blitz series hasn't been heard from in some time, at least under that name. The Blitz the League games were released without the NFL license which EA has had a stranglehold on for most of the last decade, but those weren't the same. EA Sports is now bringing the old NFL Blitz series back to life early next year, complete with the NFL license.

An NFL Blitz revival from Madden developer EA Tiburon was rumored last year. It made perfect sense with one of the original Blitz creators, Mark Turmell, being employed there at the time. He then left the company over the summer, leaving the supposed project's fate unknown.

Mojang Can Keep Using the Scrolls Name (For Now)

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:30 PM PDT

Skyrim

Mojang can continue to use the Scrolls name thanks to winning an interim injunction against Bethesda. Although that may not end up being the final verdict, this first judgment in favor of Mojang is a positive sign for the Minecraft developer.

"We won the interim injunction! We can keep using the name 'Scrolls,'" announced Markus Persson on Twitter.

Bethesda feels the Scrolls name is too similar to its Elder Scrolls trademark (Skyrim is pictured above) and wants it changed. This decision alone won't stop it from trying to get its way; while it has the option of dropping the matter, more than likely it will attempt to either seek a settlement or appeal the ruling, a move that would have to be made in the next three weeks.

Double Fine's Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster Finally Gives Kids a Real Game

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:02 PM PDT

I honestly have no idea how I got through the first few video games I played during my childhood. I'm not just talking about the NES stuff from the mid-'80s, but games like the Smurfs for the Atari 2600. Assuming my memory is correct, there's a random fence that, if you didn't jump over in precisely the right way, meant instant game over. And somehow, I had put up with that damn instant death fence -- again and again. I'm not sure whether I did so because I was a very perseverant child, or if I simply had nothing better to do than try-and-try-and-try again. Back then, video games for kids were simple, crude, and a bit on the cruel and unrelenting side.

Nowadays, kids games have dialed down the cruelty to the point where failure is not only not an option, but it's not really even acknowledged. But even though they've become easier, they have not progressed much in terms of being less janky. It sort of makes sense for some Flash game on a NickJR or Disney XD website to look like it was made in some high schooler's programming class, but when you see uninspired characters, repeated assets, and horrible glitches in a retail game meant for a home console, it's downright disheartening. So it's nice to see that while Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster still adopts the lack-of-failure motif, it's within a game that looks like people cared about its craft.

Uncharted 3 Lets You Pre-Order DLC Maps and Skins for $25

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:21 AM PDT

Uncharted 3

Uncharted 3 is up on all the latest trends -- it's got downloadable content announced before it's out, an online pass, and now it's got a season pass that entitles purchasers to a bunch of downloadable content at a discount if they're willing to pay upfront.

The Fortune Hunters' Club is the fancy name for the game's DLC pre-order program. Buyers will receive the first four multiplayer map packs and first three multiplayer skin packs as they're released. It wasn't outlined how often these would be coming, only that the first of the bunch will be out in November.

Its price is set at $24.99. To buy the DLC individually would cost "over $45" so it's not a bad investment if you're the type to buy everything -- you'll even get an exclusive Fortune Hunters' Club theme for doing so.

Review: Sideway: New York Takes Platforming to a Whole New Dimension

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:15 AM PDT

Until Super Mario 64 was released, I could never quite imagine what the Mushroom Kingdom would look like outside of a 2D plane. When you become so accustomed to flat images, it's strange to comprehend their existence in true space. This was why Sideway: New York appealed to me so much on a visual level; in it, you play the role of Nox -- a tagger who gets transported into a graffiti-based world that exists solely on the walls of buildings across the city.

The first thing you'll notice about Sideway is its clever melding of 2D platforming in a 3D world. Even though Nox may be flat, the buildings in the world are fully rendered objects. Each wall is its own plane that you must traverse using your arsenal of genre techniques. When you make it to the edge of a wall, Nox will immediately turn the corner, moving on to the next wall while continually remaining a flat character. Seamlessly moving from surface to surface provides a solid dose of old-school platforming that would feel right on home on a SNES. It's also nice to see that the designers used the flat world aesthetic as more than just a gimmick. The orientation of a plane will rotate depending on which side of it you entered, creating a nice string of logic puzzles that require you have a firm grasp on the spatial geography of the world.

Lord of the Rings Online Users Notified of Possible Forum Breach

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 10:35 AM PDT

LOTRO Turbine Account Security Notification

While security-related incidents haven't been as common in recent months as they were earlier this year, when we learned about games and game-related websites being hacked on what felt like an almost daily basis, these things do still happen. Turbine has notified The Lord of the Rings Online players that the official forums may have been hacked recently and suggested they take precautions to minimize the potential impact.

In an email sent out to users last night users were told, "Turbine is concerned that a third-party recently may have attempted to access forum account information." It says it doesn't believe accounts were modified or compromised; regardless, it would be wise for users to change their LOTRO forum passwords to one that isn't used elsewhere. (That's a tip which should be followed with every password you make, especially in light of how many things have been hacked this year.) It sounds as if this incident took place on or prior to October 11, as it notes that if you've changed your password since that date you have nothing to worry about.

The forums were taken offline in response to the discovery of "an issue with the security of our LOTRO community web applications," reads an official forum status update published yesterday. They've since been brought back online and maintenance will continue, rendering some features unavailable. Fortunately the game itself won't be affected.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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