Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Gamer T-shirts Store grand opening today!
Welcome to Video Games Blogger’s grand opening of our Gamer T-shirts Store!
For the past month we’ve been working hard together with Splitreason to get our very own gaming merchandise created by them, and late last week the first classic game T-shirt designs got printed. These are the first two shirts out of seven ideas we thought up, so you can look forward to many more shirts in the coming months.
If you like them, or you think a friend of family member might enjoy wearing them, please feel free to support us by buying a T-shirt. If you buy one before the Holiday Season ends, you can enter promo code ANTIGRINCH at check out for a 15% discount.
Let me introduce you to the first two shirts and the talented designers who drew them…
Title: “Joystick”
Description: “One joystick to rule them all.”
Basis: The T-shirt in our blog’s logo was turned into an actual design. A fitting homage to the retro joysticks of yesteryear.
Color: Red T-shirt
Price: $17.95 (Click here to buy “Joystick”)
Designer: Gene Kelly
Material: 100% cotton
Title: “I Believe”
Description: “He was looking for the truth in all the wrong places.”
Basis: Remember that sci-fi show that ran on TV for almost 10 years? Well, in his office there was a famous UFO poster ripe for parody. After all, it was us gamers who were really fighting off the alien invasion in arcades and living rooms the world over.
Color: Black T-shirt
Price: $17.95 (Click here to buy “I Believe”)
Designer: Steve Santiago
Material: 100% cotton
3 comments »New video game releases week 47, 2009
Here’s the list of this week’s game releases. The most popular titles are: Tekken 6 on PSP and Scene It? Twilight on Wii. On the downloadable games front we’ve got today’s Wii Shop and DSiWare titles Super Mario Kart, A Boy and His Blob, Bit Trip Void, Harvest Moon, Little Tournament Over Yonder, Castle Of Magic, MyNotebook Blue, more Electroplankton. Coming to Steam this week are: Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter (Tuesday), King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame (Tuesday) and Blood Bowl: Dark Elves Edition (Thursday). No word yet on any Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network or GameTap Gold games (updates Wednesday & Thursdays).
Monday:
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia - $5 (Wii Shop)
BIT.TRIP VOID - $6 (Wii Shop)
Castle Of Magic - $5 (DSi Shop)
Electroplankton Luminarrow - $2 (DSi Shop)
Electroplankton Sun-Animalcule - $2 (DSi Shop)
Electroplankton Lumiloop - $2 (DSi Shop)
Electroplankton Marine-Crystals - $2 (DSi Shop)
Electroplankton Varvoice - $2 (DSi Shop)
Harvest Moon: My Little Shop - $12 (Wii Shop)
Little Tournament Over Yonder - $8 (Wii Shop)
myNotebook: Blue - $2 (DSi Shop)
Super Mario Kart - $8 (Wii Shop)
Tuesday:
Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
Coldstone Creamery: Scoop It Up (Wii)
Cook Wars (Wii)
Dream Salon (Wii)
Fighting Fantasy (DS)
Hands On! Tangrams (DS)
Hello Kitty: Party (DS)
Karaoke Revolution Bundle (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360)
King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame (Steam)
Marines: Modern Urban Combat (Wii)
Rec Room Games (Wii)
Rogue Trooper: Quartz Zone Massacre (Wii)
Scene It? Twilight (Wii)
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter - $20 (Steam)
Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Sith Edition (PC, Mac)
Tekken 6 (PSP)
The Book of Unwritten Tales (PC)
Treasure Island (PC)
Winter’s Tail (DS)
Your Shape Featuring Jenny McCarthy including Motion Tracking Camera (Wii)
Thursday:
Blood Bowl: Dark Elves Edition - $50 (Steam)
On Wii Shop and DSiWare today: Super Mario Kart, A Boy and His Blob, Bit Trip Void, Harvest Moon, Little Tournament Over Yonder, Castle Of Magic, MyNotebook Blue, more Electroplankton
Nintendo downloads this week: Race-loving Mario fans will thrill to see the original Super Mario Kart make its Virtual Console debut alongside the imaginative A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia. BIT.TRIP VOID is a riveting new installment in the extraordinary retro-arcade series for the WiiWare service. You’ll also find some remarkable kid-friendly fare on WiiWare this week, including Learning with the PooYoos: Episode 1 and the for everyone immersive Harvest Moon: My Little Shop. The Nintendo DSiWare service welcomes Castle Of Magic - featuring some inventive uses for the Nintendo DSi system’s built-in cameras - as well as five delightful additions to the Electroplankton series.
Nintendo has now added these new/classic games to the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop. The games go live at 9AM Pacific time. Users with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points or Nintendo DSi Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo DSi Points can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Nintendo Points Card can be purchased at retail locations or Amazon (see Card on the right).
Where available, we’ve included videos of each of today’s games. Either for nostalgia’s sake or so you can see if any new game is to your taste.
This week’s new Virtual Console games are:
Super Mario Kart
Original platform: Super NES
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 800 Wii Points = $8
Description: Get in, sit down, buckle up and experience frantic kart racing in the game that started it all. Select one of eight characters from the Mario series - offering a variety of driving styles - and take on three championship cups in three different kart classes. Win enough and you’ll unlock a fourth circuit: the ultra-tough Special Cup. Crossing the finish line in first place isn’t an easy task, though, as each track has unique obstacles to conquer. Racers can obtain special power-ups that boost them to victory. For a different kind of challenge, take on a friend in multiplayer races or go head-to-head in a Battle Mode arena, where the object is to pop your opponent’s balloons before you lose your own. With more than 15 tracks to master and nearly endless replay value, Super Mario Kart is classic gaming with some banana peels thrown in for good measure.
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia
Original platform: NES
Publisher: Majesco Entertainment
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points = $5
Description: Blob has come from the distant planet Blobolonia in search of an Earth boy to help him save his world. Join him on this fantastic adventure, searching for treasures in mysterious caverns beneath the earth, then traveling to Blobolonia to battle the evil emperor. Discover Blob’s amazing appetite for jellybeans and the different transformations that occur with each flavor. Use these shapes to overcome even the most outrageous obstacles. A Boy and His Blob is a fantastic journey filled with constant surprises and humorous characters.
This week’s new WiiWare games are:
BIT.TRIP VOID
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 600 Wii Points = $6
Description: The third installment in the retro-arcade BIT.TRIP saga is a synesthetic exploration of rhythm and music as they pertain to our everyday lives and moods. With a control scheme that’s new to the series yet wholly familiar to gamers, players have complete freedom to move about the screen wherever they desire, interacting with the music in brand new ways. The classic game-play aesthetic remains as color - and the absence of color - are explored to the fullest. Trip out in four-player co-op and get lost in the beat with a friend. See if you can survive the onslaught of Beats and further your own BIT.TRIP.
Harvest Moon: My Little Shop
Publisher: Natsume, Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 1,200 Wii Points = $12
Description: Welcome to Clover Town, where you’ve just taken over your grandparents’ farm and shop. The town has fallen on hard times, though. People are leaving, businesses are struggling and the magic of the Harvest Sprites is gone. Can you turn Clover Town’s fortunes around and restore its missing magic? Raise crops and animals, then use what you farm at your shop. Keep your customers happy by making wild fruit juices, towering ice cream cones and extravagantly decorated eggs in a series of fun and fast-paced activities that use the Wii Remoteâ„¢ controller to its fullest potential. Chop vegetables in midair, shake your Wii Remote controller to match your cow’s moves, roll eggs through tilting mazes and more. Use your hard-earned money to buy new crops and animals or expand and decorate your shop. Along the way, you’ll meet and befriend lots of new and interesting characters, as well as several familiar faces from the Harvest Moon series.
Little Tournament Over Yonder
Publisher: Gevo Entertainment
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points = $8
Description: In the world of Little Tournament Over Yonder, play as a young Prince or Princess and lead your team through numerous battles. Plan and deploy your units to gain strategic advantages. Launch real-time battles between units and fight hard, fast and smart. Build your team, hire new units with different powers, then groom them with battle experience to gain level. With strategic planning and real-time, fast-paced fighting, this game is for the complete warrior - one who works his mind and his muscles. Go for Single-Player Tournament glory or challenge your friend in a 2-Player Versus match.
This week’s new DSiWare games are:
Castle Of Magic
Publisher: Gameloft
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Mild Cartoon Violence
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points = $5
Description: Be prepared for anything as you try to save your friend from the clutches of the horrifying magician Nefastax. Stand up to wild monsters in environments that directly influence your movement. As you navigate this universe, the ground will make you stick, slide, sink, swim, levitate and even walk on the ceiling when gravity disappears. A never-before-seen use for the Nintendo DSi Camera application lets you transform yourself into powerful new forms. Visit an in-game Photo Cabin and search for a real-life object that matches the color of the character you want to transform into. Take a picture of a blue object with your Nintendo DSi system and…presto, you’re transformed into a swordfish. You can customize game items - from coins to enemies - with pictures of your choice. Our cute hero’s adventure is just too big and immersive for one screen, so he’ll have to jump between the top and bottom screens of your Nintendo DSi system. Ready to dive into the adventure?
myNotebook: Blue
Publisher: Nnooo
Players: 1
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points = $2
Description: myNotebook allows you to take notes wherever you are. Just pop open your Nintendo DSi system and jot down your thoughts. Make a list and cross it off or play your favorite pen and paper games (games not included). You can even personalize your notebook by drawing on the cover and changing the paper type with 18 unlockable paper styles. Use the pen or pencil to make notes or doodles, then erase the bits you don’t like. With five ink colors, you’ll always be able to make your notes and doodles look stylish.
Electroplankton Luminarrow Article continues »
Spec Ops 3 series reboot underway at 2K
Spec Ops 3, a reboot of the series for next-gen consoles, has been revealed by 2K Games.
This is the first world-exclusive reveal of a game that we will learn more about during the Video Game Awards 2009 from SpikeTV, and was released in promotion of the upcoming awards show which will be broadcast on December 12th.
We don’t really get to see much in the teaser trailer shown below, but fans will be excited to see it I’m sure.
Here is the trailer.
VGA 2009 Mystery World Premiere #1
Via 1UP
Pilotwings, Super Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. 1 coming to Wii Virtual Console in America this holiday 2009
Nintendo is set to give gamers many classic gaming presents this holiday season, as they’ve announced that Super Mario Kart for SNES, Pilotwings for SNES, and the original Super Smash Bros. 1 for N64 are all coming to the Wii Virtual Console before Christmas.
And the love starts today, with the release of the original Super Mario Kart for Super Nintendo, which started the whole cart-racing genre and shot the Mario universe characters into racing game legendry. It, of course, was the first of MANY sequels for all Nintendo platforms, the latest two entries being Mario Kart DS to Mario Kart Wii.
Super Mario Kart will cost 800 Wii Points to download when it hits the Wii Shop today (Monday, November 23rd). A nice birthday present for me. Thanks Nintendo!
This landmark entry for the Virtual Console will be followed up by the oft-requested first SNES Piliotwings game, which was a launch title for the Super Nintendo way back in 1991. It showed off the system’s then jaw-dropping Mode-7 scaling and rotation graphical effects and spawned the even more popular Pilotwings 64 sequel, which was a launch-title for the Nintendo 64.
Following that release will be one of the most highly requested games that Nintendo Wii users wanted to see for download on the Wii Virtual Console; The original N64 Super Smash Bros.
As you can read in my Super Smash Bros. 1 review, this four-player brawler made waves when it was first released in 1999 with it’s chaotic, super fun party-style gameplay. It would go on to spawn two sequels, you can read about the first in my Super Smash Bros. Melee review of the GameCube classic. While the best-selling Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii is the latest game in the series.
Still no sign of EarthBound Wii VC . . . that better be the next big release. OR ELSE!
Via GameSpot
Gaming News you might’ve missed in week 46
Machima.com’s Inside Gaming covers game news you might’ve missed last week. They do it in a nice, brief video format. The Dead Pixel details the latest news, reviews, and trailers in his own irreverent style.
In week 46, 2009, he talked about: Brutal Legend selling 250,000 copies, BlizzCon moving, God of War HD, and then there’s more random news. I love the Dragon Age: Origins DLC rant. And they announce the Inside Gaming Awards 2009* for November 27. Coarse language ahead.
* The Machinima Inside Gaming Awards, created specifically for gamers, with 18 wide-ranging categories such as Game of the Year, Best Game Cinematography, Best Weapon, Best Multiplayer, and Best Animation. The Machinima Inside Gaming Award nominations are announced on Nov. 27th, and the event will be broadcast on December 15.
GameStop earnings top $1.8 billion for third-quarter 2009. Modern Warfare 2 is their best-selling game in history
GameStop has revealed their third-quarter numbers as well as details on the massive success that is Modern Warfare 2.
Modern Warfare 2 is officially the best-selling game in GameStop’s history, selling over 2.5 million copies worldwide in GameStop stores within the first three days! This is only the one of many records that the game smashed, as it achieved sales of over $550 million in it’s opening week, better than any move, book or game record previously attained.
The success of Modern Warfare two will come in next quarter’s financials for GameStop though, who’s third-quarter ended on Halloween, October 31st. Modern Warfare 2 didn’t release until November 10th.
Even despite that, GameStop is having a bang-up year. Their revenues hit $1.83 BILLION so far, which is an increase of over 8.2% from last year. Net income rose an even greater 11.8% to 52.2 million. Which is largely thanks to a great rise in the sale of used games, which rose 19.4% over last year.
The best-selling games for GameStop in the third quarter of 2009 were:
1. Madden NFL 10
2. Halo 3: ODST
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum
4. NBA 2K10
5. Wii Sports Resort
GameStop expects to have a better-than-expected fourth quarter 2009 due to the extremely high sales of Modern Warfare 2, and strong starts from games like Assassin’s Creed 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Via GameSpot, Modern Warfare 2 lined up at GameStop image thanks to Sina
Modern Warfare 2 outsells Call of Duty 4 on PC. Becomes best-selling PC entry in the series history
The outrage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s PC version not supporting dedicated servers in which 100,000 angry fans signed a petition against the game (which ballooned to 220,000+ in the end); telling Activision to reconsider adding dedicated server support back to the game . . . ended up not amounting to much in the grand scheme of things for Activision, as far sales are concerned.
First week sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the PC were greater than that of the original game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which makes it the most successful PC Call of Duty in the franchises history.
This is according to Activision community manager Robert “fourzerotwo” Bowling, who posted in reply to a thread about how the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 was a “flop” in the UK, due to the PC version accounting for only 3% of overall Modern Warfare 2 sales.
To the contrary, Bowling stated that this only shows how overwhelmingly successful the console edition’s are; But does not mean that the PC version was a flop in the grand scheme of things.
Modern Warfare 2 overall generated over $550 million dollars worldwide in the first five-days of release. Making it the biggest entertainment launch in history, surpassing movies like The Dark Knight, books like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and games like Grand Theft Auto 4. And, naturally, blowing sales of previous entries in the Call of Duty series out of the water in most respects.
Via GameSpot
PSN has 33 million registered users. 25 petabytes of content downloaded every month
Sony has revealed some staggering new numbers for their PlayStation Network PS3 and PSP services, which allow users to digitally download or purchase games, demos, movies, TV shows, various video content, themes, game add-ons and more.
This information was released to prove why the PSN is to be used as the basis for Sony’s upcoming SOS (Sony Online Service) initiative. Which seeks to bring all Sony online content for all devices under one umbrella via a single digital distribution platform, one that will rival (or at least challenge) Apple’s iTunes service.
The numbers revealed by Sony for the PlayStation Network are quite staggering. Here is the PSN numbers breakdown:
* As of November 16, 2009, PSN has 33 million registered users.
* An average of 5.4 million people log onto the PlayStation Network each day.
* Of those 5.4 million who log on to the PSN, 1.4 million visit the PlayStation Store.
* A beyond whopping, mind-numbing 25 PB (That’s petabytes) of content are downloaded from the PSN every month.
* 25 PB is enough content to fill up 5,000 single-layer DVDs.
* The PlayStation Network currently offers 2,417 movies, 15,042 TV shows and 10,000 “extra items” like themes and game demos, that users can purchase and download.
* Sony expects to sell $562.6 million dollars worth of content (or “goods”) via the PlayStation Network for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2010. This is a threefold increase over last year.
In addition to the above, Sony also revealed a PSN premium paid subscription service model that will go into effect next year, as well as 3D PS3 support for 2010.
Via GameSpot
Sony Online Service challenges iTunes. Puts all Sony online products and services for all devices (PS3, PSP included) under one umbrella platform
The Sony Online Service has been announced. This ambitious plan will challenge Apple’s iTunes service by taking Sony online media beyond gaming and make it uniform, under one banner and one umbrella, for all Sony devices.
This includes the PlayStation 3 and PSP Go, but reaches much further beyond Sony’s gaming platforms and includes Sony-branded PCs, TVs, Blu-ray Players, mobile devices, set-top boxes, mp3 players, E-reader electronic book handhelds and anything else that connects to an online, Sony service.
And the backbone of this entire SOS system (a temporary name that stands for “Sony Online Service) is the PlayStation Network itself.
Sony intends to use the PSN as the foundation for this new platform. They will then build on it to make it compatible with all Sony devices. Which will apparently mean that anything available on PSN that isn’t a platform-specific media, will be available instantly on any Sony device, as long as the device you are using is compatible with that content.
To understand how uniform this service will actually be, Sony has already revealed that a single user ID will be compatible across any Sony device that uses the SOS. The ultimate goal of all this is to not only connect each device to one single platform, but to encourage users to buy more content and additional Sony devices/products because of the shared SOS, a common content distribution system, that they all can tap into.
Speaking about the PSN being the SOS’ backbone, Kaz Hirai explained,
“The service will be launched economically and quickly by leveraging the PlayStation Network service platform. For example, key assets for creating a network service management system, payment system, and content distribution system will be shared with the PSN platform so that initial investment risk can be minimized. The introduction of new mobile products that are network enabled will be a key part of this process, as mobile products which users turn to throughout the day will be a key entry point to this service.”
Sony did not reveal a date or launch window for the SOS.
Via GameSpot
