Most Recent: PSP

A Eulogy For Guitar Hero: The Day the (Plastic) Music Died

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Adam Woolcott

A wise man once said that it’s far better to burn out than fade away. Apparently Activision agreed with the sentiment, as after a bit more than five years of rapid-fire releases, the company has shuttered the Guitar Hero franchise. Just 40 months ago the music gaming business was at its absolute peak – Guitar Hero III sold roughly 2.45 bazillion copies across a half-dozen platforms – but now the series is in complete shambles, what with the latest installment releasing with the authority of a farting ant. This legendary tumble from grace is no doubt why the company canceled the forthcoming Guitar Hero 7 and put the entire series on hold, perhaps permanently. Rather than harp on all that went wrong and led to its untimely demise, let’s discuss what went right – and what the future may hold if Activision dares to bring the music back. (more…)

Posted in DS, Features, Mobile, PS2, PS3, PSP, Top Story, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , ,

New Releases: Marvel vs Capcom 3, Dragon Quest VI, Hyperdimension Neptunia, More

Posted on February 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

This week it’s all about RPGs, except for the return of a favorite fighting franchise…

The Marvel and Capcom universes will be colliding in a battle for one-on-one fighting supremacy again with the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds this week for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

But every other major release will be much more enticing to RPG fans everywhere including Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation on the DS. Once Dragon Quest VI makes its way into stores on the 14th, it’ll mark the final game in the franchise’s main series to make its way across the Pacific. It just took a little over 15 years.

And speaking RPGs that are hard to find in America, Square Enix is bringing Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together to the PSP this week. Tactics Ogre has always been hard to come by in collector’s circles, so this new version means that everyone who wants to play it will finally get the chance to.

Also available this week is Hyperdimension Neptunia for the PS3. The game tells the story of the console war as if it were a typical Japanese RPG. Oh yeah, and a nearly naked girl representing “Sega” is the hero. Man, how can you not love NIS America?

Finally, Frictional’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which was originally released in 2010, will receive a retail release this week.

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 ,

AIAS names Mass Effect 2 their Game of the Year

Posted on February 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 walked away with Game of the Year honors at the Interactive Achievement Awards last night.

The game, which was just recently released on the PS3 after its PC and Xbox 360 debut last year, was given the award by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. This is the Academy’s 14th year handing out the IAAs and Mass Effect 2 beat out Call of Duty: Black Ops, God of War III, Red Dead Redemption and Angry Birds to win the prize.

But among the honorees, only Black Ops went home empty-handed. Angry Birds was named Casual Game of the Year, God of War III won Outstanding Achievement in Animation and Red Dead Redemption galloped away with five awards.

You can watch the entire ceremony at G4tv.com/DICE2011 or you can see the full list of winners after the break. (more…)

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

Activision reveals new Family Guy game, X-Men: First Class, “unprecedented” new universe

Posted on February 10, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision was very busy during their quarterly financial briefing yesterday. In addition to canceling Guitar Hero 7 and True Crime: Hong Kong, the company revealed a few details about their 2011 (and beyond) schedule.

New Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg did most of talking. He began by reiterating that Call of Duty 8 is on track for a 2011 release and officially announced a free-to-play Call of Duty game for China, which will be released in 2012.

Continuing with the Call of Duty theme, Hirshberg revealed that a new Activision in-house studio, Beachhead, will be creating an “all-new digital platform for the Call of Duty franchise.” The system sounds very similar to Halo Waypoint and promises to “support in-game integration and bring online experiences and console play together.”

Activision also has a slew of licensed games in development for 2011 including three never-before-announced games: Family Guy, X-Men: First Class and Wipeout 2.

A Family Guy game was released by 2K Games to tepid reviews in 2006. X-Men: First Class will likely launch alongside the film in June with the Silicon Knights-developed X-Men: Destiny still on track for a late 2011 release. And for those confused about Wipeout 2, it’s not the futuristic racing franchise, but a second game based on ABC’s obstacle course game show.

Several previously announced 2011 games, including Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a new Spider-Man game, more Cabela’s Hunting titles and a new Bakugan game were also discussed.

Bungie’s New Universe was briefly mentioned, but only to confirm that it won’t launch until 2012 at the earliest.

Finally, Hirshberg announced that Activision will be unveiling “an all-new gaming universes that brings together the worlds of toys, video games and online play.” in two days at the New York Toy Fair. Activision will release the game based on this new universe in the second half of 2011 and calls the franchise an “unprecedented” merging of different media.

Wow. We’ll likely learn more about a lot of these titles at E3.

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

Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2, Assassin’s Creed II lead PlayStation Store update

Posted on February 1, 2011 by John Scalzo

Sony has performed their weekly update of the PlayStation Store with lots of new games and lots of discounts for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Those new games include a downloadable edition of Assassin’s Creed II: Deluxe Edition (which features all of the DLC) and Capcom’s platforming sequel Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2. Also available this week is Atari’s puzzler The UnderGarden and Tales From Space: About A Blob, another puzzler (and just for Plus users for now).

Mega Man 2 is this week’s lone addition to the PSone Classic Imports section.

The PSP Store will receive a trio of games this week, one-on-one fighter Samurai Showdown and minis versions of Wackylands Boss and the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition.

More information on all of these games can be found after the break with a full rundown of this week’s downloadables at the PlayStation.Blog. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, PSP | Tagged ,

Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection releasing April 19

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

In a big day for Square Enix PSP release dates, the company has also announced Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection will arrive at retail (again: no PlayStation Store) on April 19, 2011. The game combines Final Fantasy IV with updated graphics and sound in the style of the FFI & II PSP remakes, as well as the first retail packaging of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. It would’ve been nice to have the style and expanded story of the Nintendo DS remake of FFIV, but hopefully this version will be a little more true to the original experience.

2011 also marks the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IV, first released in 1991 for the Super Nintendo (and under the confusing name Final Fantasy II in the United States). The game is widely recognized as a milestone for storytelling in RPG’s and video games.

Posted in News, PSP | Tagged

Celebrate The 3rd Birthday on March 29, 2011

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

The long awaited third entry in the Parasite Eve franchise, The 3rd Birthday, will be coming to U.S. retailers on March 29, 2011 for the PlayStation Portable. Players will assume the role of series protagonists Aya Brea as she seeks to rid 2012 Manhattan of the hideous creatures known as the Twisted. Square Enix has also announced that Yvonne Strahovski of the NBC series “Chuck” will voice the heroine. And in other voice cast news, the mysterious Kyle Madigan will be played by Jensen Ackles of “Supernatural.”

“I was immediately interested when Square Enix approached me with the opportunity to play Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday,” said Strahovski. “I love Aya – she’s strong, driven and ready to take on the world.”

Unfortunately, no mention of a downloadable version for the PlayStation Store has been announced, leaving PSP Go owners like myself out of luck. I have no idea why Square Enix, one of the biggest partners to PlayStation in the past, releases almost none of their PSP games digitally; I guess it’s just a sign of the times.

Posted in News, PSP | Tagged

Final Fantasy Type-0 trailer released, badassity incoming

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Okay, so I watched the trailer for the Kingdom Hearts 3DS game earlier this morning, as well as the Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer… but I have to say, this Final Fantasy Type-0 preview may just embody a lot of what the latest Final Fantasy games have been missing.

It looks as though a more traditional “RPG” atmosphere returns in Type-0, with castles, heroes equipped with swords, boxy-shaped mechs, and… dare I say it… a dragon?! It is hard to tell – as always – what the battle system will exactly be, but it seems that abilities can be assigned to buttons, possibly making Type-0 more of an action-RPG.

Though most of the portable Final Fantasy excursions seem to become a general flop, Type-0 looks to have quite a bit of promise. As old advertisements would say: “But don’t take my word for it!” Check out the trailer up above.

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