General gaming |
- How Mario 3D Land Marries Old and New
- Less than Famous Firsts: Your Favorite Developers' Early Efforts
- iZelda Brings Link to iPhone and iPad, Sorta
- Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Preview Sign-Ups Have Begun
- Daytona USA Confirmed for XBLA and PSN, Out This Month
- Masahiro Sakurai Plays Dark Souls
- Burnout Crash Headed to iOS, Where it Should Have Been All Along
- Splosion Man Developer Twisted Pixel Acquired by Microsoft
- Starhawk Beta Access Included With Uncharted 3
- Japan Review Check: Dead Island, Forza 4
| How Mario 3D Land Marries Old and New Posted: 12 Oct 2011 04:58 PM PDT Is Super Mario 3D Land the most original game in the Mario pantheon? Not in the least. But is it crazy fun? So far, absolutely. In fact, all the things it pulls from its predecessors may just be what we like the most about it. As you can see in the video below, a big part of Super Mario 3D Land's appeal is all the little bits and pieces that call back to previous chapters of the series. |
| Less than Famous Firsts: Your Favorite Developers' Early Efforts Posted: 12 Oct 2011 02:47 PM PDT
Feature  Less than Famous Firsts: Your Favorite Developers' Early EffortsThey may be big now, but today's superstars of game development certainly came from humble roots.By: Todd Ciolek October 12, 2011 Everyone starts somewhere in the game industry. Few would-be auteurs are handed their own big-budget projects without first doing time in smaller roles. Of course, some of those smaller roles are part of major games. Many of today's best-known game developers began their careers on important ground: Doublefine founder Tim Schafer's first gigs came with such acclaimed LucasArts adventures games as Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, while Deus Ex and Thief producer Warren Spector jumped into game development by working on the Wing Commander and Ultima series. Other major talents from today's game industry started off with humbler attempts. Their first games didn't change the market or spawn successful franchises, and some of them were clearly planned as disposable pieces of a popular license or an ongoing series. Yet in each of these seemingly minor titles, there's a hint or two of what their designers would accomplish years down the road. |
| iZelda Brings Link to iPhone and iPad, Sorta Posted: 12 Oct 2011 02:33 PM PDT There have been calls from investors for Nintendo to bring its many popular franchises to other platforms -- iPhone and iPad, in particular. Nintendo of course has no interest in this; president Satoru Iwata has admitted that such a move would increase revenue in the short-term but would be bad for the company over the long haul. So while he's made Nintendo's position very clear on the subject, that doesn't mean someone else can't do the job for them. I mean, legally they can't, but who has time for a technicality like that? Not Audio Attack LLC, a company that seems to specialize in creating iOS games that flagrantly infringe upon others' trademarks. A look at its list of iPhone apps reveals a very basic (a description that can be applied to all of its games) racing game that features a slightly modified version of the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit app icon. Then we have Ultimate MW3 Blaster, a name that's meant to bring Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to mind. |
| Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Preview Sign-Ups Have Begun Posted: 12 Oct 2011 01:28 PM PDT You can sign up here for the chance to get in. Unlike previous tests, you won't need to provide specific information about your console upfront; should you be accepted, you'll then have to register your console. To enroll you'll need to fill out a survey that asks if you're an Xbox Live Gold member, how much you play games and watch movies/TV on the system, what social networks you're a member of, and so on. It's laid out very clearly that the preview program is confidential; those who get in won't be allowed to talk about the update, share pictures or videos, or anything else of the sort. That's not to say it won't happen -- it almost always does -- but Microsoft is threatening a ban from future previews and criminal prosecution for anyone who violates the confidentiality agreement. |
| Daytona USA Confirmed for XBLA and PSN, Out This Month Posted: 12 Oct 2011 11:15 AM PDT It's not a brand-new game, as some expected, but instead an enhanced port of the original. The "enhanced" part comes in to play with the improved (but hardly modern) widescreen graphics and the addition of support for racing wheels and 8-player online multiplayer. The original soundtrack makes a return, and there will be Arcade, Survival, and Time Trial modes in addition to multiplayer and Karaoke mode. The wait for the game won't be particularly long -- Sega plans to release the game on October 25 on PlayStation Network, and October 26 on the Xbox Live Arcade. (Europe gets it on PSN in "late November). It'll cost only $9.99 or 800 Microsoft Points depending upon your platform of choice. |
| Masahiro Sakurai Plays Dark Souls Posted: 12 Oct 2011 10:44 AM PDT Masahiro Sakurai is a Japanese game-design veteran. He created the Kirby series and the Smash Bros. series for Nintendo, and now he and his team at Sora are hard at work on Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS. A busy man, no doubt, but even he found the time to hardcore-play Dark Souls for a while, an experience he wrote about for his column in this week's Famitsu magazine. His first impression? About what you'd figure. "It's a game with the sort of difficulty level where you're killed instantly if you let your guard down," he wrote. " Every mistake causes you to pay a severe penalty. You're constantly watching out for back attacks and pincer attacks, always tapping on stone bridges before you cross them. Every corner you come across takes on vital meaning. What if there's some foe I can't defeat on the other side? Should I try not to make any sound? Am I all right on stamina? What if there are enemies on both sides? Anything behind me right now? And so on, and so on." |
| Burnout Crash Headed to iOS, Where it Should Have Been All Along Posted: 12 Oct 2011 10:14 AM PDT Burnout Crash sounded like an exciting proposition when its name first popped up. After the absence of Crash mode in Burnout Paradise, a game dedicated to the fan-favorite mode would be most welcome. More details made their way out before its official announcement, namely that it would feature a top-down camera view -- a fact that turned many people off. 1UP's review last month pointed out how the game felt out of place on consoles -- it was released as a downloadable title on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 -- but would feel right at home on iPhone or iPad. Electronic Arts apparently felt the game was a great match for iOS as well. It's now slated for a release this "holiday season" on select iOS platforms -- iPad, iPad 2, and iPhone 4 are mentioned in the press release, but we're checking on 3GS and older models with EA. It still features three game modes, 18 traffic junctions, six locations, Autolog support, and an '80s soundtrack with Vanilla Ice and Gloria Estefan, among others. |
| Splosion Man Developer Twisted Pixel Acquired by Microsoft Posted: 12 Oct 2011 09:28 AM PDT Microsoft announced its latest acquisition today, meaning TP will join with the likes of Rare, Lionhead, Turn 10, and 343 Interactive as a first-party developer. "Twisted Pixel has an incredible track record of innovative, critically acclaimed, and most importantly, fun, games," said Microsoft Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer. "Microsoft Studios is home to cutting-edge entertainment experiences, and the incredible creativity of the Twisted Pixel team will help drive further innovation around Kinect and Xbox LIVE." |
| Starhawk Beta Access Included With Uncharted 3 Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:34 AM PDT Naughty Dog has announced that access to the multiplayer public beta for Starhawk will come with retail copies of Uncharted 3. The beta isn't set to begin until "early 2012," and exact details -- how long it will last, what it entails, if everyone will be let in at some point -- are unknown. For those that need to try the Warhawk spiritual successor for themselves ahead of its release, though, a copy of Uncharted 3 will guarantee they don't miss out. According to the PlayStation Blog, you'll get a beta code from an insert that comes with the game. That may mean you don't actually need to hold onto your copy of Uncharted 3 to get into the beta, which has been the case with other betas in the past. |
| Japan Review Check: Dead Island, Forza 4 Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:30 AM PDT A quick look at the highlights among the games coming out in Japan this coming week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine: - FIFA 12 (10/10/9/10, 39 points): Famitsu has traditionally always sided with Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer in this vast, years-long soccer game competition they and EA have been fighting, but 2011 appears to be the year when even Japan's top game magazine has to admit that Japan doesn't make the best footy sim any longer. "Thanks to the new defense system, the balance between attacking and defending is more fun than ever before," one editor said. "The controls are just as complex as in previous years, but allow for a vast variety of moves, letting you engage in some pretty fantastic on-field action. The fullness of the online package is a dream for fans, too, and my impression is that this is the best soccer game you can get right now." |
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