Most Recent: News

Latest Nintendo Direct dates Fire Emblem: Awakening, Brain Age 3DS, more

Posted on December 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Another Nintendo Direct presentation is in the books and, while we didn’t get to see anything new, we did get a good idea on when some of next year’s big 3DS and Wii U titles will be available.

Hosted by Reggie Fils-Aime, the Nintendo of America President revealed that Lego City: Undercover, Game & Wario, and Wii Fit U will all be available in early 2013. They’ll be joined by a Google Maps Street View app, which will be available on the Wii U eShop.

The Big N also reiterated that Pikmin 3 is no longer a “launch window” title and will instead be released in Spring 2013. Also available next Spring will be Wii U Panorama View an entertainment app available exclusively on the Wii U eShop. A demo of the travelogue-like game will be made available to download before its release.

Over on the 3DS side of things, we’ve learned that Fire Emblem: Awakening will be released on February 4 and Brain Age: Concentration Training will be in stores less than a week later, on February 10. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is still scheduled for a Spring 2013 release.

Finally, two 3DS eShop titles were highlighted: Tokyo Crash Mobs, a Bust-A-Move-like game that involves throwing Tokyo residents into a mob of people; and Harmonite, an action platformer from Pokemon developer Game Freak that looks wild.

That’s it from this Nintendo Direct episode. If you want to see it for yourself, the video has been embedded above.

Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U | Tagged , , , , , ,

CoD Black Ops II has made a lot of money since its release

Posted on December 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Activision is in full-on brag mode when it comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The publisher previously reported that the shooter sequel set a sales record for single day sales. Now they’ve happily informed the world that Black Ops II has made more than $1 billion in sales in its first 15 days of release.

For the record, that’s one day quicker than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Of course, that’s likely due to the fact that the Black Ops II “Care Package” sold for $180 while Modern Warfare 3’s “Hardened Edition” was priced at a much more modest $100.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick used this announcement to continue to talk up Call of Duty’s dominance versus films like Star Wars, Avatar and Harry Potter. But that kind of comparison is really just ridiculous, as we saw last year.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Daily Scoop: December 5, 2012 – Recovering!

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Nicole Kline

My apologies for my absence yesterday – I was sick! Much too sick to use a computer, sadly. I am still not feeling great, but that’s not stopping me from bringing you deals and t-shirts! I think you’ll especially like the latter today.

What’s going on with deals? Well, there are a bunch of featured deals at Amazon, including some good ones in dance and fitness! Zumba Fitness Rush and Zumba Fitness 2 are $29.99 each, while Just Dance: Disney Party is only $19.99. Scoop ’em up!

I’ve got two cute t-shirts for you today… (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

XBLA Today: Guardians of Middle-Earth

Posted on December 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Guardians of Middle-Earth, the multiplayer online battle arena based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy arrives on the Xbox Live Arcade today just in time for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘s theatrical debut. If you want to bash some orcs with Gandalf, Legolas, Aragorn, and all the rest, it’ll only set you back 1200 Microsoft Points ($15):

Guardians of Middle-Earth delivers an authentic multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game set in Middle-Earth and crafted specifically for console systems. Gamers team up as the most powerful heroes from the greatest fantasy epic of all time, bringing up to 10 players together in strategic five versus five competitive multiplayer battle arenas in the epic setting of Middle-Earth.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

PSN Today: Guardians of Middle-Earth, Far Cry 3, Uncharted: Fight For Fortune, more

Posted on December 4, 2012 by John Scalzo

While the retail release pipeline has slowed to a trickle in the month of December, Sony is still soaking the PlayStation Store with a massive amount of new content.

This week’s biggest new addition to the PlayStation Network is Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3. The first person shooter is joined by WB’s Guardians of Middle-Earth MOBA, the original Mass Effect (and the Mass Effect Trilogy), the fighting game Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, and many others. Six different PSone Classics (previously only available in Japan) have also made their way onto the PlayStation Store.

Uncharted fans may want to fire up their Vitas this week as Sony also added Uncharted: Fight For Fortune, a strategy card game featuring characters from the series, to the portable’s game store.

You can read more about all of these games (and a few others) after the break. And a complete list of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, Vita | Tagged , ,

USPTO rejects Microsoft’s application for Killer Instinct trademark

Posted on December 4, 2012 by John Scalzo

Back in September, Microsoft made a big to-do about renewing the Killer Instinct trademark. Sadly, it looks like the US Patent and Trademark Office has decided to rain on their parade by rejecting the application.

According to a letter issued by the USPTO, Microsoft has six months to appeal the rejection, which was due to a previous trademark granted for a 2005 Fox television show also known as “Killer Instinct” (the show was canceled after only nine episodes). The USPTO believes that consumers could be misled and confused by the two properties because TV shows are often turned into video games. Or in lawyerspeak: “[T]he goods and services listed therein, namely providing television shows and video games, are of a kind that may emanate from a single source under a single mark.”

Killer Instinct was originally developed by Rare (now a Microsoft-owned internal team) and published by Nintendo before the company abandoned it in the late 90s. A small (but dedicated) fanbase has been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Hopefully, this rejection doesn’t impact whatever plans Microsoft has for the series.

It’s interesting to note that Nintendo’s claim on the original Killer Instict trademark wasn’t canceled until November 4, 2006, a full year after the television show stopped production. So the marks did co-exist at one time and, with any luck, probably will again.

[Source: Polygon]

Posted in News, Xbox 360 |

Sanrio X Street Fighter line expands with new toys

Posted on December 4, 2012 by John Scalzo

Do you love Street Fighter? Do you also love Hello Kitty? Do you love Street Fighter and Hello Kitty enough that you really want to see them mashed up in a new series of toys?

Then great! You’ll probably want to check this out…

Capcom and Sanrio have expanded their Sanrio X Street Fighter line of products to include PVC figures, plush toys, and coin purses. These items should be available at your favorite toy retailer soon and Capcom’s Capcom Unity blog has a few more pictures.

Final note… Plush Hello Kitty Bison is pretty awesome.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Daily Scoop: December 3, 2012 – Ugly Christmas sweaters

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Well, November came and went far too quickly. I can’t believe people are already counting down to Christmas! And I’m finally doing something I never thought I would do: I’m going Ugly Christmas sweater shopping. Though I may just wear one of the shirts listed below to the party instead. It’s ugly Christmas sweater-themed, after all!

Other than that craziness over at the Cards Against Humanity site today (they announced some special holiday cards!), the Internet has been pretty quiet. Not many deals going on, other than a few featured ones at Amazon. Lego Lord of the Rings is only $29.99, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two 2 is only $39.99, Ratchet & Clank Collection is $29.99, and Jak & Daxter Collection is just $15. The first two are for the Wii and the last two are for the PlayStation 3. Scoop up those deals!

I’ve got a couple of great shirts for you today! (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |