Review: The Hidden

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Developer: 1st Playable Productions

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 & Up)

Official Site

Score: A- (85%)

The Hidden is a nice little surprise from developer 1st Playable Productions and Majesco Entertainment, offering up some fun ghost tracking and shooting missions while getting you up and about in the process for a bit of exercise. While the game is definitely geared toward younger players, there’s enough to like here that even “core” gamers will want to take this one for a spin. The game’s big draws are its use of augmented reality, first-person shooting sequences and the fact that each person playing the game will have a unique experience thanks to using the 3DS cameras to capture actual locations as backgrounds for the action. While there’s no multiplayer modes to speak of, the game still manages to impress and you can expect a few passers-by to ask what you’re playing as you’re walking about scanning actual locations for ghosts to bust. Continue reading

Nintendo Gives Gamers A ‘Real’ Super Mario 3D Land In NYC (Along With A Bit Of Gametime, Too)

Nintendo of America, as always, REALLY knows how to throw a party. Turn a tiny bit of Times Square into a virtual Mario Land set, invite a ton of kids and see what happens? Good times for all, no problem! All this super fun stuff was for a pre-launch Super Mario 3D Land party where gamers got to play the upcoming 3DS exclusive before its 11/13/11 street date. The weather was definitely perfect for the event and it looks as if everyone had a total blast. It looks as if there’s yet another great reason to be a 3DS owner this year and with the holiday season rolling up fast, you’ll want to absolutely add this latest Mario game to your gift list.

What Team Ico “Should”* Do Next (After The Last Guardian, That Is)…

I’ve been kicking this silly idea around for a while (over 10 years), but I’m no game developer at all, just an old gamer and sometimes “idea guy” with a lot of thoughts about how to make good games better and better games even more fun. By the way, game companies DO NOT HIRE IDEA PEOPLE (trust me, I’ve asked). So er, don’t get any wild ideas about becoming that person who thinks it’s a good idea that Nintendo or whomever will want you and your notebooks full of Mario or Metroid levels just because you and your friends think they’ve never been done before. Now, where was I? Oh, right.

Since Fumeta Ueda and company are so great at making beautiful worlds and combining them with thought-provoking stories that don’t use a ton of words to express a wide range of emotions, I’d actually love to see them remake an old favorite of mine that, while not a “classic” at all, is a very intriguing game that has a number of similarities to their work. Continue reading

The Hidden: Majesco Just May Have Something Really Awesome Here…

Remember those nifty cameras on the 3DS? Well, there’s a game that finally makes better use of them and just might be a nice surprise for gamers looking to do more than sit in one place while playing something cool. Majesco’s The Hidden, an augmented reality ghost-tracking adventure game coming to US retailers on November 8, 2011, drops you into the shoes of a Ghostly Entity Investigation and Strike Team (G.E.I.S.T.) member as you track and eliminate specters in 12 different missions. The intriguing thing about the game is in order to discover every pesky poltergeist, players will need to actually get outside in the fresh air or at least move around the house and do some actual camera work. I’m not sure how it all comes together, but if any 3DS game deserves a fair shake and a decent review, it’s this one. Color me intrigued…

Capcom’s NYCC Plans: Frights, Fights and… Football?

Since I’m a bit busy today (actually I’m working on a ton of stuff before the convention crush), I’ll be too lazy and just run the entire release below the jump. Dragon’s Dogma, Asura’s Wrath and the Resident Evil titles are all on my list of things to play, but I’ll also try out the fighters even though I’m terrible at them. And yes, if you’re bad at fighters at the Capcom booth, you’re pretty much getting beat up on screen and off. Maybe my press barge will get me some slack cut. I’m definitely staying away from that football event, but it should be amusing to watch (I hope no one gets hurt making an ass out of themselves for a prize, but hey – you can’t stop a raging fan from doing his or her thing for swag!)

Continue reading

Nintendo Plans For NYCC Blowout

Ups and downs aside, you can always count on Nintendo to give gamers what they want when it comes to showing off key first and third-party titles. At next week’s New York Comic Con, the company is rolling out the big guns and as usual, their booth will be jammed from the minute fans step inside the Javits Center. In addition, there’s a Professor Layton anime premiere at the show as well as the Pokemon Gaming Lounge located near the convention center, so there’s definitely more than enough to do if you’re a huge Nintendo fanatic. Titles they’re showing include: Continue reading

Cave Story 3D Goes Pre-order @ Nisa Online Store

Nippon Ichi Software America is finally taking pre-orders for Nicalis’ upcoming remake of one of the smartest retro platfomers ever created. Even with the updated 3D graphics, this is still a game I’d consider buying a 3DS for as a huge fan of the PC original as well as Pixel’s other games. The game ships out in November and NISA offers FREE shipping that’s fast and reliable, so definitely boogie on over to the NISA online store and while you’re there, check out their other fine products!

TGS 2011: Resident Evil Revelations Trailer

Well, the whole helpless female vibe going on here is not exactly going to make the gal gamers too happy (nor anyone who hates this particular stereotype in gaming), but here it is. Nintendo 3DS owners are in store for another great-looking Resident Evil game with hopefully much better gameplay and multiple save slots this time. I guess we’ll have to see when the game ships now, won’t we?

Nintendo 3DS Trailer Trio: Big Guns, More Motoring With Mushrooms & Slippy Is Still Annoying

Since Nintendo isn't at TGS this year, it held a pre-show event to announce a few important games, peripherals and other interesting news for the worldwide market. Items of note: a pink 3DS for the gals out there and a few game announcements to go with it (slightly sexist or clever marketing to the ladies? It's your call), a nice chunk of LOZ: Skyward Sword info (50-100 hours? Excellent – sign me up!) and the oddball 3DS Slide Pad. It's an inexpensive add-on that makes the handheld bigger and adds a second circle pad to the right of the face buttons. Hmmm. Does that mean I can expect a classic twin stick game like Libble Rabble to show up on the 3DS at some point? NO? Crap… I was hoping to see that weird as hell Namco arcade game again one day. Oh well… good thing I still have the Super Famicom port with the funky controller disc add on. All snark aside, here are three trailers to ogle. Still don't have a 3DS yet? Well, it's cheaper, there are some great games for it and more good games are coming. Some are delayed (sorry, Kid Icarus fans!), but they're on the way. Oh, Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land trailers are a click away…Read more »

Dragon Quest X Announced As A Wii & Wii U Online RPG

Holy Final Fantasy XII, Batman! Or something like that. Twitter practically fell over dead after the DQX news was dropped by andriasang a few hours ago. Rather than join the bird-buzzers out there, I’ll cut to the chase. I don’t think I’d like it (I’m not a big MMO fan) unless it has an offline mode and a decent story to play through. That said, it’ll probably do really well in Japan, as pretty much ANYTHING with a DQ logo will sell there. As for the US, well, that depends on stuff like subscription fees, gameplay and how data is shared between Wii and Wii U consoles if one upgrades down the road after buying the Wii version. Let’s see now: Akira Toriyama character designs? Check. 3D environments reminiscent of the lovely DQ VIII? Check. Interestingly enough, Square Enix seems to be developing the game in-house. While Final Fantasy XIV was pretty controversial in terms of a number of flaws in its online play, there’s little doubt that the development team is focusing on making the game a far better experience. I’d also imagine that the game is going to be programmed for multiple languages in order to get it to English-speaking gamers in as many territories as possible soon after the Japanese version ships sometime in 2012.

Everything else such as story, number of players online and other features will be announced soon (no doubt TGS will reveal more and probably some awesome DQX-related swag).



Thanks to NiNTENDOMiNATiON for posting these videos!