Most Recent: Xbox 360

Fruit Ninja Kinect Review: I’m A Fruity Ninja

Posted on September 28, 2011 by John Llewellyn Martin

So let’s face it: you’ve always wanted to be a ninja. Perhaps you’ve sunken hours upon hours into watching reruns of Naruto in order to perfect the art of turning into a log. Maybe you’ve honed your skills by playing variations of the Ninja Slap Game and have dominated your weaker, less agile friends. You’ve gone and filled out applications for ninja positions, but your lack of the necessary tools and a lord in which to swear your fealty has always held you back. Fear not, would-be denizen of the shadows: Fruit Ninja Kinect is here to fill the void! (more…)

Posted in Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged

XBLA Today: RE Code Veronica HD, Worms Ultimate Mayhem, MLB Bobbleheads, Mercury

Posted on September 28, 2011 by John Scalzo

Just like yesterday’s PlayStation Store update, Capcom has added a high definition update of Resident Evil: Code Veronica X to the Xbox Live Marketplace today. The zombie adventure will be joined by a trio of new Xbox Live Arcade releases: Worms: Ultimate Mayhem, MLB Bobblehead Battle and Mercury Hg.

More information on those three titles can be found right here.

Worms: Ultimate Mayhem
Worms: Ultimate Mayhem is the definitive 3D Worms game! Load your weapons and experience a whole new dimension in destructive turn-based cartoon action! Taking the game into 3D creates all-new strategic and gameplay possibilities. With over 80 single-player missions and challenges, Xbox Live multiplayer for up to 4 players, 5 multi-player modes, unprecedented customization of both worms and weapons, and fully destructible environments, it’s bursting with anarchic mayhem. Battle and puzzle your way through all of the missions from both Worms 3D and Worms 4: Mayhem – it’s essentially two games in one, and is the ultimate 3D Worms™ collection. (1200 Microsoft Points/$15)

MLB Bobblehead Battle
Knock a curveball out of the ballpark with MLB Bobblehead Battle! This MLB bobblehead challenge features all of your favorite teams and players with a unique twist – it’s entirely focused on batting! Create customized fields with various obstacles such as walls and slopes while outsmarting your opponent with a dynamic card system that allows customization of players and more. (800 Microsoft Points/$10)

Mercury Hg
Mercury is back, all new and in HD! Explore 60 levels of tilting tension, color it, split it and watch the levels pulse to the beat of your own music. Can you attain the top position on the leaderboards and have the world race against your ghost? With the help of the ghost replays shave split seconds off your time and achieve higher scores. Discover the 20 bonus elements and 10 challenges as you explore the world of Mercury Hg. (400 Microsoft Points/$5)

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Skyrim’s voice cast includes multiple Oscar nominees

Posted on September 27, 2011 by John Scalzo

The Elder Scrolls series has always managed to attract respected actors to speak the thousands of lines of dialogue in a typical game in the series. But The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is going to take the star-studded cast thing further than ever before. Skyrim’s cast will feature not one, not two, but three Oscar-nominated actors. Admit it Bethesda, you’re just bragging now.

Oscar nominees Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow and Joan Allen will be joined by Lynda Carter (she was Wonder Woman people!), Claudia Christian (Ivanova from “Babylon 5”), Michael Hogan (“Battlestar Galactica”) and a whole host of others.

“It’s been incredible to have all these actors together,” said Todd Howard, Game Director. “When you start a project, you always make your wish-list of actors, and to actually hear them in the game, it’s amazing. We can’t wait for everyone to experience it.”

Hit the jump for more details on the characters these accomplished actors will be playing. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New Darkness II trailer asks “What Is The Darkness?”

Posted on September 27, 2011 by John Scalzo

What is The Darkness? It’s a quartet of tentacles that mob enforcer Jackie Estacado uses to rend the flesh from criminals big and small.

Oh, I guess it’s also a malignant force of evil that has hopped from body to body for millenia. But Jackie has kept it in check since the conclusion of the first game in the series. But in The Darkness II, the four tentacles are coming out to play with a new “quad-wielding” weapon system.

So what’s in the “What is The Darkness” trailer? A little bit of backstory about the malignant force of evil and a lot of mobsters getting flayed. Enjoy!

The Darkness II will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 7, 2012.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Dead Island debut trailer being turned into a movie by Lionsgate

Posted on September 27, 2011 by John Scalzo

Do you remember Dead Island‘s haunting debut trailer that was released back in February? You know, the one that made you tear up a little bit? I know, I know, there was something in your eye.

Well those three minutes will form the basis of a Dead Island movie now in development at Lionsgate. Sean Daniel (The Wolfman, The Mummy) has signed on as a Producer. He’ll be joined by post-production guru Stefan Sonnenfeld (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, POTC: On Stranger Tides, nearly every other action movie of the last decade).

While the trailer will serve as the primary inspiration for the movie, Lionsgate has promised that Dead Island: The Movie will be” an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling.” Hopefully that doesn’t include an appearance from Jigsaw.

“This is exactly the type of property we’re looking to adapt at Lionsgate – it’s sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love,” said Lionsgate’s President, Joe Drake.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Daily Scoop: September 26, 2011 – So close to Ico

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Nicole Kline

It’s been a long wait, but the day is finally here – tomorrow, we get to experience the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection. This is going to be a turning point in the lives of many gamers who missed these beautiful games the first time around. I can’t wait to play them again!

Anyway, onto the deals! Today’s Deal of the Day at Amazon in video games is Ignition Entertainment’s El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. It’s $36.99 for both PS3 and Xbox 360. There are also new weekly deals up at Amazon as well:

Added bonus: today’s shirt.w00t features Chell from Portal on it! It’s called “Curiousest,” and it’s super cute: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Crysis coming to PSN, XBLA on October 4

Posted on September 26, 2011 by John Scalzo

It looks like Crysis will be available to download from the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade very soon. EA has announced that the visually impressive PC game will be playable on consoles for the first time on October 4. And to celebrate, they’ve released a quartet of new screenshots showing off the lush jungle life, several doomed chickens and one scary alien mech.

You can check them out after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Earthquake sim I Am Alive rated by ESRB

Posted on September 26, 2011 by John Scalzo

Ubisoft’s I Am Alive struck a chord with E3-goers (OK, possibly just me) back in 2008 with an intense debut trailer that centered around a desperate hunt for a single bottle of water in a Chicago that’s been devestated by an earthquake. Flash forward three years later and besides an “It’s still in development, we swear!” teaser trailer released during E3 2010, I Am Alive has completely vanished from Ubisoft’s future game slate.

But last week the ESRB confirmed that the game may be closer to completion than we all assumed by assigning I Am Alive a Mature rating. The PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 game’s mature subject matter likely played a role in receiving the rating it did as well as the “Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes and Strong Language” the ESRB found. The Rating Summary goes a step further and describes a very bleak landscape for the game’s main character:

This is an action game in which players assume the role of a man who must find his family in a post-apocalyptic world. From a third-person perspective, players traverse through city ruins and use a machete to kill human enemies in melee-style combat. Battles are accompanied by realistic gunfire, slashing sounds, and cries of pain; characters emit brief splashes of blood when hit.

Players have the ability to kill or knock unconscious wounded/vulnerable enemies via finishing moves (e.g., throat slashing, impaling, pistol-whipping); these scenes are highlighted by close-up camera angles and increased player control (e.g., on-screen prompts with button-press sequences).

During the course of the game, players encounter women who can be saved from nearby enemies; sexual mistreatment is sometimes implied in the dialogue (e.g., “These guys kept me as their pet, or mascot, or something.”). One sequence depicts the background silhouette of a man fondling and threatening a captured female survivor; the exchange includes phrases such as “Do you hear me? Don’t touch me!” and “Don’t be like that. You know I can make your life a lot easier if you would just cooperate.” The words “p*ssy,” “f**k,” and “sh*t” can be heard in the dialogue.

Ubisoft has yet to comment publicly on I Am Alive’s new ESRB rating, but you can watch the game’s astonishing E3 2008 trailer after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged