Nintendo’s Fun 3DS Trailers Let You Know It’s Still Going Strong…

With Sony launching the Vita this week to early adopters in the US and the PS3 still going strong (Twisted Metal hitting retail on Valentine’s Day is pretty hilarious in a good way), Nintendo is letting us all know they’ve got a big foot in the pool as well as a bigger head start with their portable. Granted, the Vita has a few fun features the 3Ds doesn’t as well as a whole different take on variety in their first party selections, but for me, there’s never been a direct competition between any Sony or Nintendo portable because they do what they do differently. nevertheless, you can’t go wrong with any of the titles here if you own a 3DS or are looking to pick one up…

So, Activision IS Publishing A Battleship Video Game After All. Eeek.

Wait, what? I was KIDDING when I said it was going to happen, geez. Well, here we go, courtesy of developers Double Helix and Magic Pockets: a licensed game based on the upcoming film based on the game that’s not like the original all that much (as in at all). Expect to see and play a hybrid that combines “tactical” naval battles with first-person shooting sections all against the evil space aliens that have invaded earth. Eeek. I must have been sleeping during all those Battleship games I played as a kid, as I clearly don’t recall ANY of that happening.

Except the “tactical” naval part. “A-1… MISS!”

Of course,, this could actually be pretty awesome (or at least halfway decent), so I’ll hold off a bit in my snark until May 15th when the game ships out. More on this one later – I need an aspirin.

Sleeping Dogs Trailer: Square Enix’ Hot Time In The Old Town, Hong Kong Style

When i first heard about Sleeping Dogs, I thought it was another IO Interactive project in the Kane & Lynch series (hey, I liked both games, warts and all). Then, I remembered that Square Enix had snapped up the rights to United Front’s True Crime: Hong Kong game from Activision last year and *ding!* – all we had to do was sit and wait to see what sort of introductory trailer would be popping up. Here you go, folks – a live action (and boy, does it have action) deal that has me thrilled to see what the actual game looks and plays like. If what’s here is any indication, Activision may be wishing they’d kept that IP.  Then again, I can see the skeptical message board crowd going on a rant about Square Enix maybe having a better movie than they do a game. In that case, I say just have an entire movie shot based around the game’s plot and stick it on the disc for the hell of it.  I think this one will be a hit based on the location and faxt that there are still a lot of True Crime fans out there who want to see this one on store shelves (which will be later this summer)…

As for what the game is about, a brief summary is below the jump.  Read on…

 

Continue reading

Why is I Am Alive NOT On A Retail Disc?*

*Or: Hey, Ubisoft, Here’s How To Market A Game To EVERYONE Who Wants To Play It…

Sure, I Am Alive looks amazing and yes, the idea of a realistic survival adventure set in a destroyed city has garnered tons of praise everywhere anyone has seen or played it. But Ubisoft is doing themselves no favors by only releasing this on Xbox Live Arcade in March and perhaps later on PSN,… oops SEN (sorry, Sony! Give me another week or so to get used to that change). Memo from the front: despite your current successful digital business model, there are STILL a large amount of gamers who can’t get that content dying for something different that’s NOT another FPS, zombie game, franchise update or yes, I’ll say it, ANOTHER damn digital-ONLY release that should have been disc-based.

Continue reading

Ridge Racer Unbounded Update: Behind the Game #1: “Deal With It!”

Namco Bandai rolls out the first in a series of “making of” videos about their upcoming racer set for a March release on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Hey, I didn’t name the trailer, although that’s exactly what I’d call it as there are still a bunch of overly vocal folks out there who’ve been ticked off about this one ever since it was announced. Anyway, It’s been pretty quiet on the RRU front since I played the very promising demo last year, so it’s great to see what’s been going on since. Check out what the  hard-working team at Bugbear has been up to and if you’re one of those die-hard classic RR fans still frothing at the mouth over the new game, you’ll also see that it’s not replacing your nostalgically sideways sliding fantasies at all…

ModNation Racers: Road Trip How-To Tutorial Twofer

Just about to come screaming around the corner on launch day, ModNation Racers: Road Trip is sure to be a go-to game for PS Vita gamers all over the globe. Sony’s not taking any chances with you newbies getting hung up on the possibility of creating endless amounts of tracks and sharing them over SEN (formerly PSN), so here’s a look at two videos that offer a bit of assistance for this crazy kart racer. Enjoy!

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention Vita: Here Comes The Time-Eater…

Nippon Ichi REALLY wants your money, Disgaea fans (and it looks as if they’re actually going to get it again, as usual). Yes, Indeed – April will be the cruelest month for stuff like grades, personal relationships and getting enough sleep. That and for those of you who still haven’t finished Disgaea 3 or 4 on the PS3, all this means is you’ve yet another great game to add to your pile of things to do. Then again, if you have that much time on your hands to be playing games this deep and ridiculously funny, you’re probably a VERY lazy Prinny that’s doing the most spectacular job of hiding from your taskmaster. Updates to follow, so stay tuned…

Skullgirls Story Mode Trailer: Ladies, Please!

Why all the anger and cuteness and punching and cuteness and kicking and cuteness? Ouch! There are more than enough fighting game fans out there who want to get their sweaty little hands on you gals once you’re finally released over PSN, so no need to get violent. Oh, wait… it’s a fighting game. Oops. Anyway, save some of that energy for the  steadily growing fan base you’re getting, I say.  Still, as awesome as the game looks, I actually wish it were getting the Phantom Breaker treatment (as in a retail release with a nice bunch of swag). Oh well, I guess we’ll all have to hope that the game does well enough as a digital download that it can hit the Vita as a retail and digital release, right?

Phantom Breaker Preview Trailer: The Clock Is Ticking…

It feels as if I’m trapped in a weird time warp, what with all these Phantom Breaker videos coming out and me STILL not playing the game. OK, perhaps I’m impatient or just too focused on all that 2D art flashing around or something – the wait is getting a bit tedious at this point. Anyway, you know the drill: an Amazon pre-order nets you the omake-packed  Special Edition at $39.99 (a super deal!) and if you’re feeling extra sociable, you can also pontificate on the game and the state of 2D fighters in general over at the game’s Facebook page. Oh yeah, there’s an awesome CONTEST over on the official site, so if you didn’t click that first link in the post, you might want to go ahead and do that now…

Official Max Payne 3 Website Alive & Kicking…

The new weapons trailer is posted on the other blog if you haven’t seen it already.  While you’re waiting for that coffee or tea this morning (and in case the link  aboveis busted thanks to Blogger’s crappy way of handling embed codes), you may as well boogie on over to the official site and see what Rockstar’s been up to with Max and his latest adventure. Well, “adventure” as in he gets to shoot up a lot of bad men while you make sure he doesn’t play catch with too many bullets.