Most Recent: News

Super Mario 3D trailer is full of raccoon magic

Posted on June 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Super Mario 3D is the first “original 3D Mario game for a handheld,” but if the trailer Nintendo showed off yesterday at their E3 Press Conference is anything to go by, it has all the classic elements of a Mario game:

Return of the Tanooki Suit? Check.
Bowser and the Koopalings? Check.
Goombas, Piranha Plants and Bloobers? Check.
Side-scrolling and overhead levels? Check.

Oh yeah, I’m in Mushroom Kingdom heaven. Super Mario 3D will be released exclusively for the 3DS by the end of the year.

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Meet Vincent Brooks in new Catherine trailer

Posted on June 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Atlus has released the latest trailer for their mind-bending “love adventure,” Catherine, and it focuses on the game’s “hero,” Vincent.

“Vincent is very far from the typical video game protagonist,” stated Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales at Atlus. “He is indecisive. He is unsure of where he wants his relationship with Katherine, his girlfriend, to go. Very often, he seems incapable of doing the right thing at the right time, allowing complications (the very things he is so keen to keep his life free of) to multiply. Learning more about Vincent and his motivations is the perfect way to gain a better understanding of Catherine’s core philosophy and narrative themes.”

Sounds rough. And that’s before the psychotic sheep show up. That’s right, psychotic sheep. Check out the trailer on Atlus’ YouTube page. Catherine will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on July 26.

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EA: “We’re actively looking at how to bring back Mirror’s Edge”

Posted on June 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Frank Gibeau, the President of Electronic Arts, sat down with GameTrailers TV during E3 and dropped a bombshell: the company is actively looking into Mirror’s Edge 2! While he doesn’t confirm development on the sequel, he very strongly hinted that the game is already in the works.

When asked if we’d ever see the Mirror’s Edge franchise married to DICE’s new Frostbite 2 engine, Gibeau responded “You’ll see that combination, I’m sure.” He continued talking and dropped more hints about Faith’s return, saying that it’d require a “big idea:”

“We haven’t killed Mirror’s Edge. We’re actively looking at how to bring it back in the right way. We love that franchise. The DICE guys really created something I think special the first time around. You’ve got to have a big idea to be able to do the next one and that’s what we’re working on,” he said.

While not a confirmation, it sounds like we got a sneak peak at E3 2012.

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Wii U controller won’t be sold separately

Posted on June 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

I’m not sure I like the sound of this. A Nintendo representative at E3 has told CVG that the Wii U’s tablet-like controller will not be sold separately from the console. “Both the controller and the console will be sold as one unit. You won’t be able to buy the controller alone,” the spokesman said.

If true, this raises some interesting questions, including what are gamers supposed to do if their Wii U controller breaks, and does this mean that only one Wii U controller can be synced to the console at a time? During the system’s debut at their press conference, Nintendo never showed more than one Wii U controller in operation at a time, and the five-player multiplayer demo Chase Mii was controlled using a single Wii U controller and four Wii Remotes.

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PixelJunk Lifelike details revealed

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Q-Games has released details on another new exclusive to the PlayStation Network, PixelJunk Lifelike. They’ve reunited with Baiyon, the artist and musician who had worked previously with them on PixelJunk Eden. The new and innovative Lifelike puts “the power of creation directly at your fingertips” with the use of the PlayStation Move controller, allowing players to use its “unique Virtual Audio Canvas to mix tracks and experiment with audio effects” in order to make “breathtaking compositions they can share and broadcast to anyone and everyone!”

I’m not sure what the hell is going on here, but they said that you can paint with sound, and that you “can move to the mellow sounds of Baiyon and create visuals organically according to each player’s movements, creating a unique experience unlike any other music visualizer.” No word yet on whether this will come with hallucinogenic drugs or if this is a game that children should not be playing due to the fact that it will trigger an acid trip. Either way, I’m sure to buy it – those geniuses could make PixelJunk Backgammon and I’d still buy it.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged ,

Daily Scoop: June 8, 2011 – all E3, all the time

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Nicole Kline

It’s the second day of E3, and watching it from afar is like pure torture! Especially seeing some random person’s video of PixelJunk SideScroller gameplay. Why is that game not playable in my living room right this very second??? Unfair.

Today’s Deal of the Day in video games at Amazon is Namco’s Tekken 6 on the PSP. It’s on sale for $14.76 from $29.99. which is more than 50% off! Not a bad deal if you’re into this genre.

Nothing else to report today, bunnies. Unless you like DINOSAURS! Rawr! Tee Fury’s “Duck and Cover” shirt rawks:

The big doom-boom is coming!

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

PS Vita getting… yep… Ridge Racer!!!

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing when SCEA President & CEO Jack Tretton took a jab at Kaz Hirai for his infamous Ridge Racer line from a past E3. Truthfully, we still love Kaz, and we love Ridge Racer as well, which makes today’s news even more juicy. Cellius, a joint venture between Namco and Sony, will be bringing a new Ridge Racer title to the PlayStation Vita. No information on title, release date, or specific features has been given, but players are promised, “high-speed drifting at break-neck speeds in high-performance racing machines with new exciting new gameplay additions.”

I was already leaning towards getting a Vita at launch due to the reasonable price and impressive software line up, but now that it has Ridge Racer? Day one purchase.

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Atlus bringing King of Fighters XIII to the US

Posted on June 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Few franchises have lasted as long as SNK’s King of Fighters franchise. The series, which first debuted in 1994 and is a spinoff of the even older Fatal Fury series, has seen 12 installments with a 13th announced this year at E3. Atlus will be bringing The King of Fighters XIII across the Pacific with a PS3 and Xbox 360 release planned for this Fall.

Developer SNK is claiming that this one is for the fans and that they plan to address many of the problems players had with The King of Fighters XII:

With the triumphant return of fan favorite characters like Mai, K’, and Vice, extensive refinement of the core fighting engine based on community feedback, and vastly improved network functionality, The King of Fighters XIII represents the HD entry in the series that fans have been waiting for.

Painstaking effort has been made to address every last concern following the last entry: fights play faster; the addition of over a half dozen play modes offers variety and replayability; the game’s beautifully rendered and animated character sprites are better distinguished from the backgrounds… which happen to be richer and more detailed; the camera perspective is less restricted; fighters have more moves, including new supers and the all-new NEOMAX supers; and much, much more!

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