Archive for July, 2006
10,000 Mario puppets take over mans house
Brett Martin has a metric ton of video game memorabilia. By Mr. Martin’s own estimation, his collection clocks in at about 10,000 to 15,000 individual, most of which are of Nintendo’s Mario. Here I was thinking I was a big fan/nerd for having 1 
No comments »The Sims 2: Pets expansion pack focuses on pets
The Sims 2: Pets is the next expansion pack in The Sims 2 franchise as well as a stand-alone game for several console systems. On July 22nd, 2006 EA added it to its product line-up at the EA store. Maxis is making the life simulation game for EA on PC, PS2, GameCube, PSP, DS, and GBA.
Features for pets include genetics for pets to inherit, careers and tricks. Check out the entire features list below:
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Ready at Dawn working on big new IP for PSP (after Daxter)
In an interview with Ready at Dawn’s President and Co-founder Didier Malefant, he mentioned after finishing Daxter the company is currently at work on a new title for the PSP.
Question: You’ve mentioned in previous interviews you’d be curious to see what Ready At Dawn (RAD) could do with next generation hardware, have you had a chance to dabble in that at all, and what do you think of the three next generation offerings from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo?
Answer: Not yet, we’ve been pretty busy with our next game (which is also a PSP title). We’re always excited by new hardware though, it means new toys to play with and new ways to implement our ideas. As I mentioned before, we’re not the kind of developer to complain about the features of this platform rather than that one. They all have their quirks and their advantages and that’s what makes working on new platforms fun to us.
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Trauma Center: Second Opinion for Wii is improved DS remake with extras
Famitsu reports that Atlus’ announced medical drama sim Trauma Center: Second Opinion for Wii will be a DS remake of Trauma Center: Under the Knife.
Second Opinion will feature enhanced visuals (when compared to Under the Knife on DS), as well as voice acting. Additional surgeries will also be added, including heart transplants and broken bone procedures. And this time around, Atlus will offer three difficulty settings, an obvious response to complaints about Under the Knife’s inconsistent difficulty, which includes several near-impossible missions.
Via Joystiq
Brothers in Arms FPS might come to Wii
Gearbox is currently underway with the next installment in the Brothers in Arms series, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway. The title has been officially announced for Xbox 360 and PS3. However, an allegedly leaked Ubisoft release calendar that hit the Web several months ago also listed an unnamed Brothers in Arms title for Nintendo Wii.
Couple that with the following announcement from today that “Gearbox Software is enthusiastically supporting the Wii,” said company president Randy Pitchford. The company head had no comment on what Wii projects it could be working on, saying only that, “At this time, we don’t have any announcements to make about specific games we may be developing for Wii.”
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Just Cause new trailer and details
Just Cause offers the freedom to tackle your assignment however you want: play the island’s factions off against one another; incite a rebellion among the masses; or build alliances with rebel forces and drug cartels. Explore the game’s world of 1,225 square miles of mountains, jungles, beaches, cities & villages with a variety of air, land/sea craft…
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59,000 World of Warcraft accounts banned in June
Blizzard is on a roll fighting gold-farmers and cheaters. From the WoW forum:
” As part of our efforts to eliminate cheating from World of Warcraft, we recently banned approximately 59,000 World of Warcraft accounts in the month of June, and with that removed well over 22 million gold from the total economy across all realms. While we regret having to take such extreme action, these accounts were participating in activities that directly violated World of Warcraft’s Terms of Use, including the use of third-party programs to farm gold and items. Such behavior not only negatively impacts the economy of a realm, it diminishes the achievements of those who play legitimately. We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and our players from the harmful effects of cheating.
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Kane and Lynch: Dead Men to Xbox 360 and PC in 2007
Eidos had previously mentioned Kane and Lynch: Dead Men would be a co-op game for the 360 & PC with “intuitive squad tactics.” The two main characters have come in possession of a huge amount of money, but that of course has consequences…
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a violent and chaotic journey of two men (a flawed mercenary and a medicated psychopath) and their brutal attitude towards right and wrong. This volatile partnership combined with innovative technologies allow for an unparalleled gaming experience.
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PSP firmware 2.80 update features
The 2.80 PSP update was made available today. Updated features include:
Network:
* Support for video and image content downloading has been added under [RSS Channel].
* You can now register devices via a wireless LAN access point under LocationFree Player.
* Support for additional remote control data has been added under LocationFree Player.
Music:
* You can now play AAC files with the .3gp file extension.
Settings:
* [Automatic] has been added as an option under Network Settings > [Infrastructure Model]. Article continues »
Bungie new non-Halo game will be revealed at X06
Bungie will be announcing a brand new game at X06. Speaking to a Microsoft source close to the management of the entire Xbox 360 project today, Spong were told that, “As far as things stand, Halo 3 is the last game and it’s more than just ‘a thing to say’ which I know came as a surprise to everyone when it was announced. A new game from Bungie, not Halo 4, will be announced soon and pre-production has begun. So if you’re looking for what to expect at X06, you should be looking at that.”
Let’s hope Halo 3 will be last game in the current Halo Trilogy. Another Trilogy, a prequel referred to as Forerunners only so far (unofficial), will probably be announced in 2007.
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