Most Recent: Wii

Daily Scoop: October 18, 2011 – Gold Box day!

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Hey, guess who is sick again? Did you guess me? Then you guessed RIGHT! You are a brain genius. I got eight hours of sleep last night, which of course means I woke up with a headache, a fever, a brick of snot in my face, and swollen glands. My cold is coming back with a vengeance. But I am battling it with vitamins, animal crackers, and sheer will. Go me!

Anywho, Amazon’s got a lot going on today – it’s a Video Game Gold Box event! The Deal of the Day in video games is Activision’s Spider-Man: The Edge of Time. It’s $39.99 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and $29.99 for the Wii.

The Lightning Deals are:

  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Special Edition for the PS3 sold out at $27.99!
  • Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is $19.99 for the Xbox 360
  • 12:00 PDT/3:00 EST: “Everybody’s favorite swashbuckling swordfighter comes to your handheld device” (My favorite swashbuckler doesn’t have a video game, so I don’t know what this refers to!)
  • 2:00 PDT/5:00 EST: “This Nintendo DS title puts you in the shoes of a rookie defense lawyer trying to make his name. Take on intriguing, unusual cases and use your courtroom skills to unravel some of the most outrageous and funniest trials you’ve ever seen.” (I’m assuming this has to be Phoenix Wright!)
  • 5:00 PDT/8:00 EST: “Hear your PS3 games in a whole new way”
  • 8:00 PDT/11:00 EST: “Welcome to Vegas, premium version” (Do you mean New Vegas, Amazon?)

Whew. I definitely had a twitchy finger when Trails in the Sky was so cheap, but I managed to avoid buying it. I also haven’t picked up Batman: Arkham City yet, which is making me physically sweat. Or maybe that’s the fever. I’m not sure.

No gaming t-shirts today, guys. Oh, what? This isn’t enough? You aren’t satisfied?!?! If you really want to spend $10 that badly, then you should buy this adorable Star Wars/Invader Zim mashup shirt from Ript: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, DS, Etcetera, News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |

New Releases: Batman Arkham City, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, Layton and Last Specter, More

Posted on October 15, 2011 by John Scalzo

If you’re a gamer and you have a pulse, this week is a very important week for new game releases. And that’s all because Batman: Arkham City (PS3, Xbox 360) will be available in stores this Tuesday. I’d just call in sick to work now to be on the safe side.

Also available this week is Insomniac’s next Ratchet and Clank adventure, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3), as well Level-5’s next Professor Laytone puzzler, Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS).

More releases include EA’s plan to expand The Sims 3 with the The Sims 3: Pets on the 3DS, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 while Ubisoft’s Rocksmith, a “real guitar” game, will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

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

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

Madden NFL 12 blitzes the September NPD list

Posted on October 14, 2011 by John Scalzo

Boom! After taking the month of August off thanks to the NFL lockout, the debut of Madden NFL 12 has reclaimed its rightful spot at the top of The NPD Groups’s monthly rankings.

The football sim was joined at the top of the charts by other big new releases: Gears of War 3 chainsawed the second spot and Deep Silver’s Dead Island landed at #3 (behold the power of hype, folks). EA Sports claimed the rest of the top five with FIFA Soccer 12 at #4 and NHL 12 a spot below. Resistance 3 at #7 and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine at #10 round out the bevy of new releases on this NPD list.

Holdovers from previous months include Deus Ex: Human Revolution (#6), Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (#8) and Call of Duty: Black Ops (#9).

The complete top ten can be found after the break. (more…)

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

Nintendo Download: October 13, 2011

Posted on October 13, 2011 by John Scalzo

This week’s Nintendo Download features a pair of furry games and a pair of big numbers.

The furriness is provided by Catrap (3DS eShop), a maze game originally released for the Game Boy, and Furry Legends (DSiWare), a puzzle platformer based on the WiiWare title of the same name.

The big numbers are provided by 101-in-1 Explosive Megamix (WiiWare), a massive collection of minigames, and 1001 BlockBusters (DSiWare), a brick-breaking game that promises… you guessed it… 1001 levels.

More details on all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo Download can be found in their weekly newsletter.

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii |

Here come the Men in Black (in a new game)

Posted on October 13, 2011 by John Scalzo

Here come the Men In Black // Galaxy defenders // Here come the Men In Black // They won’t let you remember.

After lodging that little ditty in your ear for the rest of the day, I can now use the rest of this post to talk about the new Men In Black game just announced by Activision.

Launching for “consoles and handhelds” alongside Men In Black III‘s Spring 2012 theatrical opening, the Men In Black game will be a standalone story that builds on the universe established in the movies to “bring back familiar faces, while also introducing new foes.” We have also been promised “action-packed, yet light-hearted gameplay mixed with edge-of-your-seat shooting excitement from the universe’s most elite peacekeeping force.”

“The Men In Black franchise is an unbeatable starting point to deliver a genre-bending gaming experience with a level of production value on par with Hollywood,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President of Activision Publishing.

Activision has promised to reveal more gameplay details and characters (hopefully that means Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith) in the future, so don’t forget about the Men In Black!

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

New Wii bundle includes NSMBWii, music CD; doesn’t include GameCube support

Posted on October 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

Nintendo is readying a new Wii bundle for this Fall that includes some new items, but subtracts one thing we’ve come to expect with the Wii system.

The bundle will be available on October 23 all decked out in black with a Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuk, and Wii system. The package will also include a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack CD. The bundle price is the now standard $149.99 you’d expect to pay for a Wii.

But under the hood the console will be slightly different. This Wii system has been modified to operate in a horizontal position only. It’ll also be lacking GameCube support:

The newly configured black Wii console sits horizontally rather than vertically and is designed exclusively for Wii game play and entertainment experiences (GameCube software and accessories are not supported).

In case you haven’t bought a Wii yet and need backwards compatibility, the original Wii console with support for GameCube games and peripherals will still be available in stores priced at $149.99 (and including Mario Kart Wii).

Posted in News, Wii | Tagged ,

Netflix kills Qwikster, “still considering” game rentals

Posted on October 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sat down to a nice dinner of crow yesterday before composing a post on the company’s official blog that doubles as the obituary of Qwikster.

The ridiculously unpopular site split (Netflix would have been streaming-only, while Qwikster would have handled the DVD rentals) was announced just three weeks ago, but like the New Coke debacle, it has been quickly reversed. Hastings wrote in his post that, due to user demand, all DVD rentals and streaming services would stay under the Netflix name.

“This means no change: one website, one account, one passwor… in other words, no Qwikster,” he said. The July price increase will stay in place, however.

During the initial announcement, Hastings also revealed that Qwikster Netflix would be adding PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 games to its rental options. This plan appears to be on the backburner for the time beings as Steve Swasey, the Netflix Vice President of Corporate Communications, told GameSpot the company is “still considering” how to proceed with game rentals.

Qwikster may be dead, but hopefully our favorite Twitter user will keep the name alive for a good, long time.

Posted in News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |

New Releases: Forza 4, Dead Rising 2 Off the Record, Skylanders, More

Posted on October 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Several very different types of games will drive onto store shelves this week and Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 4 is leading the way. Turn 10’s racing simulator is back for more and now it’s packing a bunch of Kinect-exclusive features as well.

Also available this week is Capcom’s retelling of Dead Rising 2 (from Frank West’s perspective): Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (PC, PS3, Xbox 360). If you ever wanted to see Mr. I’ve Covered Wars You Know as an overweight wrestler fighting zombies, now’s your chance.

Activision’s ambitious action figure/video game mashup Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is also being released this week. The package (which touts its use of “smart toys”) is a bit pricey, but it’ll be available for the 3DS, PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

Finally this week, we get some new air adventures in Namco Bandai’s Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (PS3, Xbox 360) and some old west adventures in Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition (PS3, Xbox 360).

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

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