Most Recent: DS

Daily Scoop: April 18, 2011 – Almost Portal 2 time!

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Portal 2 is coming out tomorrow!!! Holy crap! It’s been such a crazy long wait that it snuck up on me. It probably put a portal behind me and jumped through it and now it’s going to drop a companion cube on my head! Noooooo!!

Ahem. Excuse me. There are some good deals going on today – Amazon’s having what they’re calling Easter Savings in Video Games, which sounds sort of not all that politically correct. I mean, where are the Passover savings? I don’t judge, either way. The sale is one of those buy one, get one 50% off ones, and includes Lego Harry Potter and a bunch of other stuff. As for today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games, they’ve got a smorgasbord of Atlus games. Radiant Historia is $27.99, Demon’s Souls (with soundtrack!) is $15, and 3D Dot Game Heroes is $13.40. Don’t miss these awesome deals – these are games worth buying immediately if you don’t already own them.

No game-related t-shirts today, I’m afraid. I think the Internet wore itself out with the four t-shirts I posted about Saturday and Sunday. But I’m going to have a hard time not purchasing this one from Tee Fury:

Shiny!

Posted in Daily Scoop, DS, Etcetera, News, PS3 |

New Releases: Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4, More

Posted on April 16, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s finally here. All month long we’ve been building up to one of the biggest release weeks ever and it’s finally here.

Starting things off is Valve’s full-priced sequel to Portal, Portal 2. Coming to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, the game will include co-op play for the first time and a greatly expanded single-player campaign.

Next up is a franchise that needs no introduction, Mortal Kombat is back. The reboot takes the series back to the birth of the MK saga and gives PS3 and Xbox 360 owners their latest 2D fighter fix. And speaking of long-running franchises, Sony and developer Zipper Interactive are finally bring SOCOM to the PS3 for real with SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs.

Believe it or not, these three are just the beginning.

Sega is bringing High Voltage’s first person shooter Conduit 2 to the Wii. Square Enix is continuing to plug their huge franchises on the PSP with Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection. And Ubisoft is rewinding the clock to bring Prince of Persia Trilogy to the PS3 in stunning high definition.

Your wallet weeps. Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)

Posted in DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , ,

Pokemon Black/White dominate sales chart

Posted on April 15, 2011 by John Scalzo

The NPD Group has revealed the list of bestselling games for March and the latest Pokemon game, Pokemon Black/White, has caught the top of the chart.

Pokemon White Version came out on top with Pokemon Black Version just behind it in the number two slot. According to Nintendo, both games combined to sell nearly 2.5 million copies (over 1.3 million for White and another 1.1 million for Black).

New releases were well represented among last months bestsellers with Homefront (#3) and Dragon Age II (#4) both taking up residence in the top five. The bottom half of the top ten was also almost completely made up of new releases including Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (#6), Crysis 2 (#7), MLB 11: The Show (#9) and Fight Night Champion (#10).

Hit the jump for a complete look at the NPD Group’s top ten for March. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D leads Nintendo’s Summer schedule on June 19

Posted on April 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

The game everyone bought their 3DS for is just around the corner as Nintendo has announced a release date for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. The game is scheduled for release on June 19 and will include “new challenges not included in the original game,” newly implemented motion controls and the Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Awesome.

Also awesome is the newly released Spring/Summer game lineup for the 3DS, DS and Wii. You can check out the list of all the Nintendo-published and third party titles after the break. (more…)

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

Pokemon Global Link launching April 13 for Black & White

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Nintendo has finally announced the concrete date for Pokemon Global Link, and it’s coming at you in two days on April 13. We previously detailed the robust online, browser-based features, which include a dream world where you can collect items, a well-supported battle community, and extras Nintendo may distribute from time to time.

“The Pokémon Global Link further expands the world of Pokémon and enhances the global connectivity of Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version,” said J.C. Smith, director of Consumer Marketing for The Pokémon Company International. “Pokémon has always been about communicating and battling with others, and the Pokémon Global Link has taken that philosophy to a new and exciting level.”

While all of these features are great, you have to wonder why Nintendo is employing unorthodox, browser-based solutions for online multiplayer. From friend codes and beyond, their failure to adapt to the growing connectivity of gaming has probably contributed greatly to their machines still being seen as babysitting tools.

Posted in DS, News | Tagged ,

Art of Ink, Slingo Quest on DSi Shop today

Posted on April 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s Monday and Nintendo has added another three games to the DSiWare Shop and the Wii Shop Channel.

DSi owners will get a crack at three titles new including Art of Ink, a tattoo art simulator; Slingo Quest, the classic slots and bingo mashup; and Escape Trick: The Secret of Rock City Prison, a prison break adventure game. The lone WiiWare game available this week is Play with Birds, a bird-based minigame collection.

More information on all of these games is available after the break. (more…)

Posted in DS, News, Wii |

New Releases: Michael Jackson The Experience, Patapon 3, Rio, More

Posted on April 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Next week will be one of the biggest weeks for new releases this year, but that doesn’t mean publishers are taking this week off. Instead, they’ve put together quite possibly the oddest combination of games I’ve ever seen.

First up is the PS3 (with Move) and Xbox 360 (with Kinect) versions of Michael Jackson: The Experience. The King of Pop will be strutting through your living room with several new songs and a “Singing Mode.” If you need to feel the rhythm on the go, Sony will release the PSP rhythm game Patapon 3 this week as well.

Two big games for the kids will be in stores this week, a video game adaptation of the movie Rio (DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and the uDraw-powered SpongeBob SquigglePants (Wii).

Finally, we have two games that start with D and have been released for other platforms before: Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga (Xbox 360 this week, previously on the PC) and Dance Dance Revolution (Xbox 360 this week, previously on the PS3 and Wii).

The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , ,

SCEA CEO blasts Nintendo, calls DS a “babysitting tool”

Posted on April 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Jack Tretton is the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. If his recent interview with Fortune is anything to go by, he’s also horribly out of touch with how the PlayStation family’s fortunes are faring in the marketplace.

Tretton started off slow, knocking the Wii and Xbox 360 for their optional storage solutions and motion gaming peripherals (I guess the PlayStation Move is beyond that kind of criticism):

“They’re starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond,” [Tretton] says. “I mean, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I’m doing true accurate motion gaming?”

Tretton unleashed his true ire on the DS, playing the dreaded “kiddie” card and resorting to namecalling when referring to adult DS owners… (more…)

Posted in DS, News, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 |