General gaming

General gaming

Metal Gear Solid 2: Gaming's Greatest Con Job

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 09:14 PM PST

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Metal Gear Solid 2: Gaming's Greatest Con Job

Hideo Kojima played us all for suckers... and it was pretty cool.

By: Jeremy Parish December 10, 2011

It was one of the most striking moments in a series of intensely memorable trailers designed to build hype for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It lasted barely more than a split-second, but the potency of this single image struck fans with both promise and a desperate sense of mystery. Hero Solid Snake turned, weapon at the ready, and reacted with shock to the sight of a distinctive silhouette cast on the wall. The bulk and outline of the figure left no question in anyone's mind: This was Snake's defeated foe Vulcan Raven, come for revenge, or perhaps driven by less blatant motivations.

The mystery, of course, is how Raven could reappear at all. He hadn't simply been defeated but killed outright. Metal Gear Solid had been a glorious comic book of a video game, all hyperbolic exclamations and costumed super-villains with silly names, which meant it adhered to the comic book tradition of death -- namely, that a character isn't truly dead until you see them die. Off-panel deaths never stick, which is why Liquid Snake had managed to eject from the fiery, low-altitude, yet decidedly offscreen wreck of his surplus Soviet helicopter to fight again.

November NPDs: Xbox 360, Call of Duty, and Skyrim Come up Big

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 03:05 PM PST

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

In what was a foregone conclusion, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the top-selling game in the United States during the month of November. The NPD Group today released its report for the month of November, which tracks new, physical sales at retail. MW3's top spot was never in doubt, particularly after the game sold 6.5 million units in the United States and United Kingdom on launch day. First month sales of the game were up "about 7 percent" as compared with Black Ops.

Coming in at number two was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Despite having its fair share of bugs, including some serious issues with lag on PS3 in particular, the NPD Group reports Skyrim is about 500,000 units away from matching lifetime sales of its predecessor, Oblivion. That's an incredible feat for the game to have accomplished in just over two weeks' time. (The reporting period for for November covers October 30 through November 26; Skyrim was released on November 11.)

Review: The Adventures of Tintin is a Master Class in Failure

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 02:46 PM PST

The Adventures of Tintin: The Game is meant for kids; just make sure those kids are rabble-rousing hellspawn who deserve to be punished in cruel and unusual ways. Of course, this was to be expected -- no release of a high-profile adventure film is complete without a quick cash-grab of a video game. This turns out to be one of the few situations where Tintin completely delivers on exactly what you expected. The main story mode claims to follow the plot of the film, but the cut-scenes are so incomprehensible that it fails to spoil the plot whatsoever. From what I could piece together, you play as the titular journalist and his nautical comrade Captain Haddock. You spend time journeying through exotic locals and engaging in hijinks fit for a Eurasian buddy comedy. Think of it as a childish Indiana Jones with slightly fewer Nazis.

The game puts players through a handful of scenarios that repeat themselves over the course of the longest two and a half hours you'll ever spend. Discovering each of the five game types feels akin to Dante Alighieri experiencing new circles of suffering. The opening chapter gets billed as an "adventure" segment where you wander down the static corridors of a bazaar until the game seems to arbitrarily cut to a cinematic that signals your completion. The game's loose definition of the word "adventure" becomes indicative of the other surprises it has in store for the player throughout the duration.

Put the "Punk" in Cyberpunk with 1UP's Deus Ex Webcomic Game

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 01:42 PM PST

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Bastion Getting Free DLC; Chrome Version Now Available

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 12:35 PM PST

Bastion Stranger's Dream DLC

Bastion is among the best downloadable games of the year. If you haven't already played it on Xbox Live Arcade or PC, or you just want to play it again, you can do so right in your browser, of all places.

Provided you use Google Chrome and your computer meets the system requirements (1.7GHz dual core processor, 2GB RAM, 512MB graphics card) you'll be able to grab the game from the Chrome Web Store and start playing it almost immediately. You'll need to preload 40MB in files but are then free to play it just as if it were the PC version, complete with some additions (like No-Sweat mode) coming to other versions soon.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Developer GSC Shut Down

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST

STALKER Clear Sky

Ukrainian developer GSC Game World has reportedly been shut down today by its founder and CEO, Sergei Grigorovich.

Word of the studio's closure was first reported by a Ukrainian news website, but no reason for the move was given. The company was founded in 1995 and has developed a number of games, the best known of which being its most recent work, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. first-person shooter series. It was currently in the midst of developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, the fourth game in the series after Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat.

Miyamoto Tries to Dispel Notion That He is Retiring

Posted: 09 Dec 2011 10:28 AM PST

Shigeru Miyamoto

Following an interview published on Wednesday evening where Shigeru Miyamoto suggested he was planning to leave his current position at Nintendo for one where he could work on smaller, more personal projects, Nintendo was quick to deny this was the case. It's understandable why it would do this -- Nintendo's waning stock price took an immediate hit on the stock markets both here and in Japan out of fear the company would lose its creative leader and the man who created Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong.

In an attempt to further dispel the notion that he is retiring, he has been interviewed again, this time by the Wall Street Journal. He described how Nintendo is working to ensure his influence will be felt even after he has left the company -- but don't mistake that for him being on the verge of leaving, as he says he is healthy and doesn't have any imminent plans to leave.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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