Most Recent: News

Paranormal Activity game creeps onto iPhone

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Augmented Reality’s Ogmento Inc. announced Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary for iPhone, which is a location-based “reality game.” Players can use their surrounding environments – namely public locations – to enhance the thrill of the game, which urges players to keep demons at bay by announcing their presence at any given location through the app.

Ogmento’s co-founder Brian Selzer says: “The Paranormal Activity franchise embodies the powerful psychological space between what’s real and what’s imagined; we wanted to encapsulate that feeling in an iPhone game and use augmented reality to accentuate the overall game experience in a way that has never been done before.”

Now I’m scared. No, not because of how scary Paranormal Activity was, moreso because the Paranormal Activity movies just weren’t good movies (in my opinion). And now a game? Well, alright. I shouldn’t judge it just yet. I always thought that the integration of real-life locations into “swarm-type” games were cool. Give Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary a shot, even if only because it’s a free app.

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Stacking, TNT Racers on XBLA today

Posted on February 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Microsoft is gearing up for their second annual Xbox Live Arcade House Party promotion, but they still added a pair of new games to the XBLA today.

Stacking, a puzzle platformer starring a bunch of Russian stacking dolls from Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions is definitely the highlight of the day. It’s been prriced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).

Next up is a racing game known as TNT Racers, except the TNT stands for “Tracks N Tricks.” It’s been priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

More information on both of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)

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DC signals a Batman: Arkham City comic series this May

Posted on February 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Batman won’t just be stalking the streets on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this Fall as DC Comics has announced they’ll be producing a six-issue miniseries that will bridge the gap between Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.

The miniseries will begin this May and it’ll be written by Paul Dini (the creative mind behind both games) and drawn by Arkham Asylum/Arkham City concept artist Carlos D’anda. You can spy a sneak peak of the cover to your left (a variant using in-game graphics will also be available).

Dini and D’anda will explore the yearlong gap between the games over the six issue miniseries (which will also be available as digital downloads) as well as in four “digital-first” interludes. These interludes will run eight pages and be offered exclusively as a digital download for $0.99 each. They will make their print debut as part of the Batman: Arkham City collector’s edition.

Doesn’t quite top a life-size batarang, but I’m sure WB Games will include plenty of other goodies in the Arkham City collector’s edition.

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Daily Scoop: February 9, 2011 – Sales, sales, sales

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Wednesday is here! And with it comes great responsibi- errr, some good game deals. Yeah!

First up is today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games, which is WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 by THQ. It’s just $34.99 today for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. That’s…whoa. That’s 42% off. And if you’re a geek worth anything, you know that’s got significance.

Amazon’s also having a Buy One, Get One 50% Off sale right now as well. Add to that Gamestop is having two sales right now – buy two new games (in-stock) for $39.99 or higher and get $15 off your total (with code 2SAVE15) and there’s also buy two or more new games and save 10% (with code DATENIGHT – you know, for Valentine’s Day and all). That’s a pretty good list of deals, if you ask me!

It wouldn’t be a Daily Scoop if I didn’t mention a t-shirt, and since I seem to lean towards the Star Wars ones, today’s Tee Fury shirt is a perfect way to end it:

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Stacking, Explodemon, Plants vs Zombies added to PlayStation Store

Posted on February 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Microsoft may be planning a five-week blowout of big games beginning next week with the Xbox Live House Party, but Sony has decided to dump a massive amount of cool games onto the PlayStion Store in a single day.

Leading off this week’s PlayStation Store update is Double Fine’s Stacking, perhaps the finest (AKA the only) game about Russian stacking dolls. Best of all, it’s free to PlayStation Plus subscribers. What a deal!

Also available this week is Explodemon, a platformer with an exploding hero that is totally not at all similar to last year’s XBLA game ‘Splosion Man.

Finally, Sony has made Tales From Space: About a Blob available to all PSN users and PopCap has fertilized the service with their hit game Plants vs Zombies.

More details on all of these games can be found after the break with even more game add-on news available at the PlayStation.Blog. (more…)

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Battlestar Galactica Online now in open beta

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Bigpoint, the self-proclaimed “global market leader in browser-based massively multiplayer online games” (what?) has launched the open beta of the free-to-play, browser-based, space combat euphoria that is Battlestar Galactica Online. The Massively Multiplayer Online Space Combat Game (MMOSCG trademark Mike Gutierrez) tells an untold chapter in the latter half of the second season of the SyFy series as Colonial and Cylon forces are “stranded in an uncharted area of space.”

Players choose a side, go through training for the flight controls, then can begin getting into the meat of the game: exploring space, taking on missions, gaining experience, accessing the market, and customizing your avatar and ship. The game also provides some authenticity for fans as the game incorporates Bear McCreary’s (wow I love that name) score, the likeness of various actors, and the schematics by the show’s creators have been used to recreate the ships. Heiko Hubertz, CEO of Bigpoint proudly said, “We are confident that a new standard has been achieved – no longer should browser games be considered subpar to their console or PC-installed counterparts.”

That all actually sounds pretty awesome for fans of the SyFy series. Just don’t try to convince Senior Editor Nicole Kline it’s any good. You can check out the game here.

Posted in News, PC |

Hudson Entertainment closed for business

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Maybe we shouldn’t have posted that Lost in Shadow review. The US branch of Hudson Soft, responsible for bringing their games to the states, is shutting down according to a blog post yesterday by brand manager Morgan Haro. Morgan attributes this to the incoming acquisition by Konami and its decision to incorporate Hudson’s staff into social gaming as we reported. What’s frightening though is Morgan claiming that all of their projects have been canceled, and we can’t tell if that means the existing games at their Japanese headquarters or the closing US division, as we thought their focus is localizing games, not so much making them.

Hudson was in the middle of porting TurboGrafx-16 games to the PSN, pledged to support Sony’s NGP, and even laid out a solid 3DS lineup for the end of the year. It would be a shame if Konami were to pass on Bomberman for the 3DS. Check out Morgan’s blog for more details, as well as an interesting read on the struggle for American divisions of Japanese game companies and the direction the industry is heading.

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Release dates and prices for 2011 XBLA House Party games

Posted on February 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

With just a little over a week to go before we get this party started, Major Nelson has announced the prices and release dates for all of the games in this year’s Xbox Live Arcade House Party.

We knew that Hard Corps: Uprising would lead things off on February 16, but now we know it’ll be followed by Bejeweled Blitz Live on the 23rd, Beyond Good & Evil HD on March 2nd, Torchlight on March 9th and Full House Poker on March 16th.

You can find all of the release dates in list form right here, along with each game’s price:

  • February 16: Hard Corps: Uprising (1200 Microsoft Points [$15])
  • February 23: Bejeweled Blitz Live (800 Microsoft Points [$10])
  • March 2: Beyond Good & Evil HD (800 Microsoft Points [$10])
  • March 9: Torchlight (1200 Microsoft Points [$15])
  • March 16: Full House Poker (800 Microsoft Points [$10])
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