30 June 2007
by Ferry

Top 5 game sales per system worldwide in week 26, 2007

What are the best-selling games in America, Japan, and Europe (UK) this week? Thanks to Amazon online sales data here are the games that are the most popular now.

Nintendo Wii
North America: 1. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo), 2. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. Pokemon Battle Revolution (Nintendo), 5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo).

Japan: 1. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 2. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race (Nintendo), 3. BioHazard 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 4. Hajimete no Wii (Nintendo), 5. Hajime no Ippo Revolution (AQ Interactive).

Europe: 1. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom), 2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo), 3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA Games), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (EA Sports).

Xbox 360
North America: 1. The Darkness (2K Games), 2. Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane), 3. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft), 4. Gears of War (Microsoft), 5. DiRT (Codemasters).

Japan: 1. Saints Row (THQ Japan), 2. Dead Rising — Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom), 3. The IdolM@ster (Namco), 4. Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume (Microsoft), 5. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter — Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Ubisoft).

Europe: 1. The Darkness (2K Games), 2. Overlord (Codemasters), 3. Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft), 4. Forza Motorsport 2: Limited Edition (Microsoft), 5. Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters).

PlayStation 3 Article continues »

30 June 2007
by Ferry

Geometry Wars: Galaxies DS and Wii video preview reveals co-op mode and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved are included

Geometry Wars: Galaxies on DS and Wii returns the series to the big (and small) screens with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved included as a bonus! Bizarre Creations hands its Geometry Wars franchise to developer Kuju, the team behind Battalion Wars. The game takes everything that made Retro Evolved the best multi-direction shooter around, and besides adding a new campaign, adds multiplayer modes. But there’s more than just an enlarged single-player experience, the four other game modes are: Co-op, Simultaneous, Versus, and Hot Seat. The developer showed off the first gameplay footage of the game in action (watch it below) in a 1UP preview.

In the interview Sierra producer, Roger Carpenter, explains: “The principle is very simple. The Galaxy is full of solar systems. The solar systems have lots of planets within them, and each one of those is a battlefield. You’ve got to do battle with each planet’s inhabitants… all in a Geometry Wars style, of course. Each of these worlds, full of angry circles, squares, and diamonds, will culminate in a boss battle of sorts, just not in the sense of ‘here’s a big thing and it’s really difficult to kill.’” Release in fall 2007. See the new weapons (like hotshot moves) in this video preview.
Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it full-screen.

30 June 2007
by Ferry

Contra 4 DS video preview

Contra 4 on DS returns the series to its co-op, side-scrolling roots with an all-new sequel that takes place two years after Contra III: The Alien Wars on SNES. Expect massive, two-screen bosses and lots of new weapons. It’s developed by WayForward and published by Konami. The developer showed off the first gameplay footage of the game in action (watch it below) in a 1UP preview.

In the interview Konami associate producer, Tomm Hulett, explains: “New Super Mario Bros. is a huge inspiration for us. Nintendo looked back and created a game that was based on the original Super Mario, not Mario 3 or Mario 64, and made a game that feels like the original. That’s exactly what we want to do here with Contra. We’ve gone back to Contra III for the controls, the weapon system, even the platforming, which is something that was lost in the later games. Even though the characters are really nicely animated, it doesn’t get in the way of the gameplay; we’ve made sure the game controls exactly like Contra III, except that the X button controls the grappling hook and L selects the weapons. Anyone who’s played Contra III on Virtual Console recently should be able to jump right into Contra 4 and feel right at home.” The release will be in 2007. Take a look at this video preview if you will.
Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it full-screen.

30 June 2007
by Josh

Shinobi 1 PS2 videos guide walks you through the entire storyline, including boss battles, and shows all cut-scenes from beginning to ending

Shinobi was given a rebirth in 2002 by Sega for the PS2 in a very difficult combo-killing action game in which you played the ninja Hotsuma. Unfortunately Shinobi was largely overlooked in the holiday shuffle of game releases.

The game is known as one of the most difficult and thus critics weren’t always so kind. Regardless, it is a cool action game with some pretty slick movie scenes (even though it’s an early PS2 title) that a lot of people missed out on.

No doubt many people played it and yet didn’t get very far due to the extreme difficulty. My brother has actually beaten the game, quite the feat, yet he has not unlocked anywhere near all the extras! So to save you the torture of playing through the game yourself, we got a video!

You’ll see all the movie scenes, from beginning to ending, as well as gameplay against both normal enemies and bosses, although it’s majorly trimmed as the focus is on the story and cut-scenes, not gameplay. Enjoy!

Article continues »

30 June 2007
by Josh

Wii DJ at the club. Versatility of Wii Remotes shown in video

You never know how many uses a simple device or mechanism or object can have until you see the crazy things people come up with! And this video is a great demonstration of that.

Showing the versatility of the Wii and the Wiimote in all things cool, a club DJ hacks the Wii Remote and uses it to control the music at the club!

And when talking to Game Trailers he goes more in-depth with all the uses they’ve found for it. But the greatest thing is how the Wii Remote literally gives these disc jockey’s a whole new way to do what they love, and control the music in ways they couldn’t before. Having the Wiimotes just opens up a whole new level of innovation and freedom. And as he states in the video, trying the same with a PS3 controller just wouldn’t be the same. If it even worked right.

30 June 2007
by Josh

Mind Quiz for DS and PSP pulled from stores by Ubisoft after woman complains of abusive word used

Mind Quiz, a “brain-training” game for the Nintendo DS (similar to Nintendo’s “Brain Age” series and part of the latest craze of DS “training games”) was pulled from store shelves in the UK after a Belfast women, the mother of a child with cerebral palsy, contacted BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show about the game using the word “spastic”, when she didn’t score well.

The women, who’s name is Nicola, was having a traumatic time already due to the recent loss of her three-year old son Logan, who died from contracting pneumonia as a result of his cerebral palsy which left him severely brain damaged.

While in the hospital for the birth of her second son Austin, she was passing the long hospital hours by playing Mind Quiz on the DS, when she saw the offensive word. Obviously, she was shocked by what the game called her.

“I thought it was absolutely appalling that a word like this should be used to describe someone who has not achieved very well. My daddy also has cerebral palsy and he is in his mid-50s and this is a word that really offends my dad,” she said.
Article continues »

30 June 2007
by Josh

New TurboGrafx-16 games on Wii Virtual Console for America in July, while Europe & Australia get Kirby’s Dream Course

A number of new TurboGrafx-16 titles are heading to the Wii Virtual Console in the US for the month of July.

A total of five to be exact, and they are: Dragon Spirit (a vertical-scrolling shooter), Air Zonk (A spin-off of Bonk’s Adventure), Devil’s Crush (an cult-classic pinball game), Silent Debuggers (Data East’s Early First-person shooter) and Drop Off (A puzzle game). And, as always, they will cost U.S. gamers $6, or the equivalent of 600 Wii points.

And also this Friday, both Europe and Australia got a nice little present in the form of Kirby’s Dream Course (SNES), a game which hasn’t been released in the US yet, as well as the TG-16 title Bloody Wolf (already released in the U.S. & only came to the EU). Kirby will run gamers 800 Wii Points (Or €8) while Bloody Wolf will cost you 600 (€6) Wii Points.

Kirby’s Dream Course was released on the Super Nintendo in 1995 (US) and is an isometric golf game where you use Kirby, as the ball, to destroy enemies on 8 various courses. The player must set the power, angle, and spin to connect with various enemies (and power-ups). Once all but one enemy remains, that enemy will transform into the hole. The player can win medals on all the courses to unlock extra features. Watch a Kirby’s Dream Course gameplay video.

29 June 2007
by Josh

Universe At War: Earth Assault, upcoming RTS by Sega, is first 3rd-party Windows Vista Live title with crossplatform gaming for PC & Xbox 360

Sega has announced that their upcoming RTS title, Universe At War: Earth Assault, which we previewed back in February, will be the first 3rd party “Windows Vista - Live” title. What this means is that PC players, playing the game on Windows Vista, will be able to battle in online multiplayer with their counterparts playing the game on Xbox 360. Including in a persistent style “Conquer the World” mode across both formats.

Hopefully this means that more third-party companies will jump on the bandwagon and make their online titles cross-platform between PC and Xbox 360. Other Windows Vista games that support this feature include Halo 2, Shadowrun and the upcoming Uno.

Universe At War: Earth Assault was first announced last February exclusively for PC, but following the success of EA’s console RTS titles for 360, Battle For Middle Earth II and Command & Conquer 3, Sega decided to also bring the game to Xbox 360, which is a new trend as of late.

I’m looking forward to this game cause it’s made by Petroglyph, a team of ex-Westwood guys, who are the people that made Command & Conquer. –via Gamasutra

29 June 2007
by Ferry

Destroy All Humans 3 coming to Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and PSP. THQ also announce The Blob PC port for Wii

German games magazine Man!ac has revealed some new THQ projects. The third instalment in the Destroy All Humans series will be released on Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP. Destroy All Humans 3 will be released before the end of 2007.

The magazine also mentions THQ will be bringing The Blob game exclusively to Wii. The Blob is based on the free PC game The Blob. The Blob is a physics-based puzzle game.

According to Joost van Dongen, the lead programmer of the PC game: “It is a 3D game in which the player controls a ball of paint rolling through the city. The ball can absorb coloured NPC’s to become larger and change its colour. With the paint, the player can then proceed to paint the entire city. Almost everything is paintable: buildings, trees, cars and using the paint trace even the ground. The main goal of the game is to paint all 17 landmark buildings. Hardcore fanatics can also try to collect all 50 coins that are hidden around the level.” Expect it in 2008. — Translated by Neurope

29 June 2007
by Ferry

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s songs all revealed before its July 24th release date

RedOctane and Activision today showed the full list of songs included in the July 24th (U.S. release date) semi-sequel Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s on PlayStation 2.

You’ll be able to rock out with your jock out in this 1980s edition of the blockbuster music franchise. After playing to mass audiences at sold out shows around livingrooms worldwide in Guitar Hero II, fans will once again be able to whip out their Gibson-shaped SG guitar controllers and shred to new favorite rock tracks with new characters. The rhythm-action game has 30 awesome new songs let you experience the ultimate rock star fantasy.

We’ve been keeping track of the newly announced Guitar Hero Encore songs weekly, so in this full list we’ll mark the last revealed unknown tracks with “new”.

These are all 30 songs:
1. Caught in a Mosh (as made famous by Anthrax) *NEW*
2. Balls to the Wall (as made famous by Accept) *NEW*
3. Electric Eye (by Judas Priest) *NEW*
4. Los Angeles (as made famous by X) *NEW*
5. Police Truck (as made famous by Dead Kennedys) *NEW*
6. We Got the Beat (as made famous by The Go Go’s) *NEW*
7. (I Think I’m) Turning Japanese (as made famous by Vapors) *NEW*
8. Seventeen (as made famous by Winger) *NEW*
9. Because, it’s Midnite (by Limozeen) *NEW*
10. Hold On Loosely (as made famous by .38 Special)
11. No One Like You (as made famous by Scorpions)
12. Only a Lad (as made famous by Oingo Boingo)
13. Ballroom Blitz (as made famous by Krokus)
14. The Warrior (by Scandal)
15. What I Like About You (as made famous by The Romantics) Article continues »