Most Recent: Wii U

BioShock Infinite and Uncharted 3 lead Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2011 nominees

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Game Critics Awards have announced the nominees for E3 2011 and while none of them are surprising, it does give a glimpse of what the biggest games are going to be in the coming year.

BioShock Infinite and Uncharted 3 lead the pack with four nominations a piece, while fan favorites like Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City sit among the next tier with three nominations each. As far as publishers go, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment lead the industry with a commendable fourteen nominations each, while the Xbox 360 holds the most nominations on a platform, with a whopping 55 total. Ironically, the PlayStation Vita debuted with seven, while the well-established Wii only garnered two, down twelve from last year’s awards.

For the full list of nominees as well as more interesting fact breakdowns, head over to the official site here.

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

Dragon Quest X may go HD on Wii U

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Many long-time fans were disappointed to learn that neither Dragon Quest IX nor Dragon Quest X would be heading to the PlayStation 3. Given what Level-5 did for the series on the PS2, one could only salivate at the idea of a HD Dragon Quest. However, that dream just might become a reality.

Andriasang reports that Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada faced a good deal of harsh questions today, such as if Dragon Quest Collection will actually sell, given it features un-updated ports of the Famicom (NES) and Super Famicom (SNES) versions of the games. Wada responded yes, since they’re being left untouched to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary. But another question came up, asking to know the logic of releasing DQX, a flagship title, on the Wii, a console past its prime.

Wada responded by stressing the importance of considering releasing the game on both the Wii and the upcoming Wii U. He also disclosed that Square Enix is already investigating their technical options when it comes to Nintendo’s HD platform.

Warp Zoned Podcast Producer Ryan Littlefield and I were discussing the potential uses for the Wii U’s controller for RPGs specifically, and I’m thinking the map system in DQVIII could make a great move here. While your favorite podcast personalities remain speculating, we can expect to learn more details about Dragon Quest X later this year.

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

Sega exec hints at HD Sonic on Wii U

Posted on June 16, 2011 by John Scalzo

A week ago, Sega’s Executive Vice President of Marketing told GameSpot that Sonic Generations wouldn’t be coming to the Wii U. This was surely disappointing news for many Sonic fans.

Thankfully, Mike Hayes, the President of Sega West has some good news to balance it out. Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, he revealed that the company plans to bring a high definition Sonic game to the Wii U, possibly in time for the system’s launch:

“That controller is absolutely brilliant and we have to think of innovative ways to use it. We’re doing high definition Sonics, we’re doing obviously Aliens: Colonial Marines, so you can bring them across, and that’s relatively low cost, which is good news.”

So it’s not Sonic Generations, but it’s HD and it’ll be ready for release in about a year… maybe. Figuring out what’s going on with the Wii U is hard.

Posted in News, Wii U |

Mark Hamill NOT retiring as Joker after Batman: Arkham City

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Last year, Mark Hamill said, regarding his role as The Joker in the upcoming Batman: Arkham City, “this will be my last, there’s no question about that. But it’s the last hurrah.” Hamill clarified his thoughts on the matter last night on Twitter, explaining, “only said Arkham Asylum would be hard to top, not that I was quitting.”

Hamill has been voicing the character since 1992 across nearly every medium possible. Much like his counterpart Kevin Conroy’s portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne, Hamill’s performance is held to be more in line with the comics than the movies have been.

But this new announcement likely means that Rocksteady is already prepping Batman: Arkham Asylum 3 or DC is working on a new Joker-centric Batman cartoon. Either way, woohoo!

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

Devil’s Third delayed to 2013, Wii U release likely

Posted on June 14, 2011 by John Scalzo

Even though his game wasn’t playable during last week’s E3 Expo, Tomonobu Itagaki is still hard at work on his first post-Team Ninja game, Devil’s Third. Published by THQ, the game was originally targeting a 2012 release date, but Itagaki revealed that early 2013 is a much more realistic release date.

The developer also stated that his team at Valhalla Game Studios and THQ wants to bring the PS3 and Xbox 360 title to the Wii U as well. Nothing is ready to be announced yet, but the two companies are “actively looking into it.” Itagaki said that he’s very excited about the possibilities the Wii U can offer.

Finally, the developer confirmed we’ll learn more about Devil’s Third at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

[Source: Andriasang]

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

The A-Z of E3 2011

Posted on June 13, 2011 by John Scalzo

This year’s E3 Expo was probably best characterized by the nearly complete lack of surprises that emerged from the show floor. Nearly every game on display had been announced ahead of time and the ones that weren’t (like Super Smash Bros. 4 for the Wii U) are just words in a press release. And speaking of the Wii U, Nintendo’s next system lost some of its luster after the console’s entire feature set leaked online before E3… but the tablet controller certainly has potential.

And here’s a bunch of other games that have potential too. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, Features, PC, PS3, Top Story, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Sega exec reveals “Spring/Summer 2012” release for Wii U

Posted on June 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

E3 is over and we still don’t know when the Wii U will be released. All Nintendo will say for now is that the new console will be in stores sometime in 2012. But a Sega executive may have spilled the beans without even realizing it.

Alan Pritchard, Sega’s Executive Vice President of Marketing, sat down with GameSpot during the closing hours of the show to talk about Aliens: Colonial Marines, the Vita, the PSN, movie games and the Wii U. It was during that last subject of conversation that the two sides had this exchange:

GameSpot: Will Sonic Generations be released for the Wii U?

Pritchard: The timing just doesn’t work. Generations releases this November, and the Wii U is coming out next spring/summer. […] But to bring out Generations on a platform six or eight months after we release PS3, 360, and 3DS probably won’t be the best strategy.

Pritchard talks about the Wii U’s release window as falling pretty solidly within the April to June timeframe (Nintendo itself has confirmed the console won’t be released before April). And if anyone at Sega would know, it’s the guy in charge of marketing the games the publisher plans to release for the system. It’s too early to say for sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Pritchard was telling the truth.

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Wii U demo reel footage was from PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Nintendo of America’s president, Reggie Fils-Aime, admitted in an interview to GameTrailers (full interview above) that the footage used in their demo reel was from the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions of those games. “We’re talking a year away from when the system’s going to launch,” Fils-Aime said as the reason for using the footage. The footage included Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Darksiders II, and other footage shown during the press conference included Battlefield 3 (which hasn’t been formally announced for the Wii U by anyone). The games looked fantastic… but they weren’t being run on Nintendo’s hardware.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, Microsoft and Sony have bought been caught running games on other systems and showing the footage off as their own, but that still doesn’t make Nintendo’s subterfuge ok. On the other hand, this is a misleading and dishonest way to promote the new console, but at least Nintendo came right out and admitted it after the fact. The whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps a reasonable price tag on the Wii U will get rid of that.

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