General gaming |
- Bastion Review
- Another Mega Man Canceled; This Time it's Legends 3
- Team Fortress 2 Demake Turns the FPS Into a Side-Scrolling Beat-Em-Up
- John Carmack Doesn't Take Kindly to "Snooty" FPS Haters
- Don't Let Tomorrow's Xbox 360 Update Get You Excited
- Child of Eden, Move Support and All, Coming to PS3 in September
- El Shaddai Slips Into August
- Activision Going After ModernWarfare3.com
- The 1UP Community's Most Anticipated Wii U Games
- PSN Goes Back to 1994 Tomorrow with the Remastered Fast Draw Showdown
| Posted: 19 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT Striking the perfect balance between story and action can be a tricky proposition; but even in these far-flung future times of 2011, developers still force players to sit patiently during lengthy cut-scenes as these tortured souls wait patiently for the chance use their controllers as God intended. While Japanese games can't seem to shake this problem, in the past decade we've seen companies like Valve give their players agency at all times, even as the talking heads surrounding them spout paragraphs of Sci-Fi exposition. Supergiant Games' Bastion approaches this specific issue in an innovative and unobtrusive way: throughout the game, a narrator describes your every action on the fly, commenting on the surroundings, enemies, and even your weapon choice. While Bastion's method of delivery could easily come off as a cheap gimmick, the narration is written with a sense of economy and sincerity, adding another layer of quality to an already stunning game. Of course, there's more to Bastion than just a well-told story; the game itself plays like an old-school Zelda clone with a deceptive amount of depth. Bastion's silent hero (simply known as "the Kid") awakes to find the world around him annihilated without explanation; from here, the game tasks him with retrieving crystal cores from each of the ruined lands and returning them to the titular Bastion, a safe place that may help our hero -- and the Stranger, the game's narrator -- restore the life they once knew. To assist the Kid in his journey, Bastion gives him access to an array of melee and projectile weaponry ranging from hammers to dual revolvers, as well as a variety of special skills for some of the trickier enemy encounters. |
| Another Mega Man Canceled; This Time it's Legends 3 Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:18 PM PDT Legends 3 was a project built upon fan suggestions. Originally announced last September, its future was soon called into question after Keiji Inafune, a producer on the first three games in the Legends series, left Capcom in October. The company reassured fans it was still coming and had plans to release a small taste of what was to come in the form of Prototype Version for the 3DS eShop. Even with the shop's launch pushed back, the game couldn't make its promised release date and was delayed. Prototype Version's success was critical as it would dictate whether or not the full version would ultimately be made. Today's announcement wasn't specific about the whys behind this decision. "From the outset the MML3 Project was intended to give gamers across the world insight and input into the development process," it reads. "Part of this process includes an assessment of whether the title will go into full production, and is based on a number of criteria with input from different sectors of the company. |
| Team Fortress 2 Demake Turns the FPS Into a Side-Scrolling Beat-Em-Up Posted: 18 Jul 2011 06:03 PM PDT His latest project, according to Piki Geek, is known as Team Fortress Arcade. It takes the characters and setting of Team Fortress 2 and turns them into a 90s-style, side-scrolling beat-em-up with guns. All nine classes are included, each with multiple weapons (including special abilities, like rocket jumping in the Soldier's case) and stats (like speed and health) based on their TF2 versions. Sound effects and music are taken right from TF2 to ensure it feels like a Team Fortress game. Arcade is playable by up to four players at once. Online multiplayer isn't currently available, although Ruth told Piki Geek it's something he has plans to eventually include. |
| John Carmack Doesn't Take Kindly to "Snooty" FPS Haters Posted: 18 Jul 2011 04:54 PM PDT Speaking with IndustryGamers, Carmack described id's upcoming FPS Rage as "not just, 'Here's your squadmates.' But that's still a proven formula that people like, and it's a mistake to [discount that]. As long as people are buying it, it means they're enjoying it. If they buy the next Call of Duty, it's because they loved the last one and they want more of it. "So I am pretty down on people who take the sort of creative auteurs' perspective. It's like 'Oh, we're not being creative.' But we're creating value for people -- that's our job! It's not to do something that nobody's ever seen before. It's to do something that people love so much they're willing to give us money for." |
| Don't Let Tomorrow's Xbox 360 Update Get You Excited Posted: 18 Jul 2011 04:05 PM PDT Major Nelson brings word on his blog that the update will instead prepare the system for various enhancements that will be delivered later this year. He didn't specify, but presumably he's referring to the (new) New Xbox Experience that will deliver live TV, UFC, YouTube, and Bing. Microsoft announced those features at its E3 press briefing early last month. Multimedia functionality like this has been a big focus for the company in recent years, having added things like Netflix, Last.fm, and Hulu support in the past. |
| Child of Eden, Move Support and All, Coming to PS3 in September Posted: 18 Jul 2011 02:53 PM PDT Ubisoft confirmed the release date earlier today with IGN. It'll carry the same $49.99 price as the Xbox 360 version, which was released last month to strong reviews but relatively quiet sales -- it sold only 34,000 copies in June. After failing to provide a definitive answer on the subject for quite some time, PlayStation Move support in the PS3 version was confirmed back in April, just as that version was delayed. |
| Posted: 18 Jul 2011 02:32 PM PDT The delay comes as a surprise given how close it was to being out. Ignition told Destructoid the move is due to "unforeseen logistical issues," the sort of problem that doesn't sound like it should have any further impact on El Shaddai's release beyond this delay. As the game's Twitter account puts it, "Don't Worry, Everything's Fine." Its September 9 release in Europe is unaffected by the delay. El Shaddai is a third-person action game inspired by the Jewish Book of Enoch. 1UP named it one of the best-looking games of E3 2011, and with good reason -- it has a unique art style, as is to be expected, given that it was directed by Takeyasu Sawaki. He previously worked as a designer on Devil May Cry, Steel Battalion, and Okami. |
| Activision Going After ModernWarfare3.com Posted: 18 Jul 2011 01:17 PM PDT Earlier this month, ModernWarfare3.com went from hosting anti-Call of Duty content to directing visitors to the official website of the franchise's biggest competition, Battlefield 3. This was possible because the domain is owned not by Activision, publisher of the Call of Duty series, but by someone else who has used the domain registrar's privacy settings to keep his/her/their identity unknown. Battlefield publisher EA has denied it's responsible, despite initial speculation that it might be behind it all. Since then, Fusible notes the site briefly reverted to its old ways, but with the addition of a notice that a complaint (PDF) had been filed by Activision seeking it be granted the domain. It paid $2,600 (an insubstantial amount for a behemoth like Activision Blizzard) for a three-person panel to determine the validity of its accusations. |
| The 1UP Community's Most Anticipated Wii U Games Posted: 18 Jul 2011 01:12 PM PDT
Feature The 1UP Community's Most Anticipated Wii U GamesWe run down the games you want the most.By: 1UP Staff July 18, 2011 Last week we gave you our idea of what games on the Wii U might look like. Not wanting hog all the fun for ourselves, we decided to take the issue to you, the 1UP community, and see what you want to see from Nintendo's next console.
You Guys Sure Love F-Zero |
| PSN Goes Back to 1994 Tomorrow with the Remastered Fast Draw Showdown Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:42 AM PDT Showdown is essentially a light gun game where you compete in a series of Old West-style showdowns. Unlike those in Red Dead Redemption, you'll be using the PlayStation Move controller to aim, so it should feel a bit more authentic than the slow motion-laden, right analog stick affairs that are Red Dead showdowns. (Not that those weren't fun.) Fast Draw was originally an arcade title released in 1994 and was ported to WiiWare earlier this year. The PS3 version should be much better: it features support for high definition graphics (albeit only 720p), online leaderboards, Trophies, a new scoring system, and -- for those who care -- PlayStation Home rewards. |
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Is that the sound of Tap being played off in the distance? It appears that despite seeking debt restructuring and filing for bankruptcy was not enough to save Borders from its fate. The chain is 
URL shortening is pretty hot these days. All the big wigs do it. Twitter has T.co, Amazon has A.co, and Overstock has O.co. Now perhaps the biggest of the big, Google, is getting in on the fun. Google has purchased the G.co domain in order to create shortcuts to their various web services like Docs and Gmail. 
Modern desktops and laptops still hold a hefty lead over smartphones in performance as well as functionality, with features that make them suitable for server operation, home theater use, and high-end gaming. But for the mainstream user, who only uses his computer to get online, send emails, and watch the occasional YouTube video, a lot of that functionality is overkill. Herein lies the potential threat; these are all things that smartphones can already do; the biggest limitation is the awkwardly cramped interface. But even this is starting to change as new interfacing options enter the market.
Summer, with its seemingly endless hours of daylight and fun to be had, can be a great time for young children. No matter how someone might love their child, however, sooner or later, summer becomes a lousy time to be a parent. When your kid has no one to play with, you've taken the last day trip to the petting zoo that your budget can afford, and nothing you suggest turns their crank, the insanity begins. When thrown a little bit of boredom, those you once thought of as your little darlings can quickly become a rambunctious pack of hell spawn, gleefully dancing on your last nerve in an effort to entertain themselves. Fortunately, back-up has arrived in the form of our Chrome App of the Week.
Like Jennifer's Lopez's marriage, DRAM manufacturers are going through a bit of a rough patch. DRAM insiders were popping Cristal when the industry saw a 77 percent surge in revenues between 2009 and 2010, but thanks to a dramatic death-spiral in DRAM prices, those same executives could soon be snuggling up to Wall Street bankers and MD 20/20 in the gutter. Today, a report surfaced that indicates that things could get worse before they get better for DRAM manufacturers; some experts theorize that PC owners may shift away from DRAM into the open arms of NAND flash memory.
The owners of the Rustock botnet used to run one of the biggest spam operations in the world, capable of sending out over 30 billion spam messages each and every day. They also violated some of Microsoft's trademarks in those emails. Microsoft obviously didn't like that. The company teamed up with federal prosecutors and gave Rustock 
As geeks, lots of us would rather wiggle wires and alter configuration settings ourselves than call the dreaded tech support hotlines. We've got it lucky; normies (i.e., non-tech types) consider the occasional call center buzz a necessary evil of owning a computer. Dell, the second-largest PC manufacturer, is toying with the idea of using an interesting new way to connect frustrated computer owners with the company's support techs; the group video-chat power of Google+ Hangouts.
