Remember how last week, Nintendo beganteasingthat they would have “big” Pokemon news to announce sometime on January 8th? Well we now know roughly when to expect that news because today it was revealed that Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata will be hosting a “Pokemon Direct” broadcast tomorrow in Japan.
The broadcast is going to be ten minutes long and is set to start at 8:00 PM Japanese time, which makes it 6AM North America EST. As for what the news could be, many have rumored it to be either the next generation of Pokemon game for the Nintendo 3DS or perhaps yet another remake/spin-off for the company’s latest handheld.
Today the official website for the next Steins;Gate game, Steins;Gate: Senkei Kousoku no Phenogram, was updated to provide everyone with a clear release date in Japan. The title will be available for purchase on April 25th on both he Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Currently it is unknown exactly what the storyline for Steins;Gate: Senkei Kousoku no Phenogram will entail, though at the time of the game’s announcement back in November, part of the announcement read “There are as many stories as laboratory members.”
Also, gamers will have a chance to pick up a limited edition version of 5pb.’s next game which will come with a replica of Rintaro Okabe’s cell phone which will play the Japanese voices of the main cast.
Today the PlayStation Blog decided to let PlayStation Plus subscribers know what they should be expecting when the PSN updates tomorrow. First of all, the “Mega Man 9 and 10 Combo Pack” will be given away for free to all subscribers while the NCAA Football 13 Recent Winners Pack will also be available for free.
Subscribers will also be able to access the God of War: Ascension multiplayer beta where they can try out the Favor of the Gods and Team Favor of the Gods modes. Also for those looking for a minor game discount, Eufloria has been put on sale for 50% off of it’s original $5 price, making it only $2.50.
In recent years it has become the nature of the beast to scoff at anything that isn’t tied to the basic controller, whether it be touch, motion or voice commands. However when done right, these extra control methods usually make gameplay a better experience.
As such, many people are still unsure of how Dead Space 3 will handle the various voice commands that players will be using, and as such EA and Visceral have released the below trailer showing off a number of commands the player can give the Kinect, including a number of co-op specific voice commands. Obviously Kinect support is only for the 360 version of the game, and will not be usable on the PC and PS3 platforms.
If you’ve been concerned that Telltale’s venture into The Walking Dead franchise hasn’t been well received by the public, then perhaps this news will help you relax a little bit. Telltale’s CEO Dan Connors, while speaking with the Wall Street Journal, has stated that gamers have purchased more than 8.5 million episodes of The Walking Dead across every platform since it started being released.
As the WSJ points out, this totals more than $40 million in sales and around 25% of those sales happened on the iOS. Telltale states that November and December were the companies best selling months, which can be attributed to the fact that the final episode was released during this time and that the game series was given countless Game of the Year awards. With the company looking to creating a second season sometime in the future, this obviously bodes well for fans.
A new handheld gaming system will be joining the fray, with tech giants Nvidia CES announcement of their first ever handheld console. Their console will run on Android-based technology and be titled The Shield.
The console has a flip-up touch screen with the lower half of the console simply being the controller portion. The controller half of the console is oddly reminiscent of the Xbox 360 controller which should make it easy for gamers to adapt to. The Shield’s battery can last 5-10 hours on one charge. The screen has 720p capabilities in addition to it’s touch features.
No price or release date has been confirmed for Nvidia’s Shield console as of yet. We will be sure to keep you up to date as news comes to light on this device.
What do you think of The Shield? Let us know in the comments section below.
Every year for the holidays, I find a place to put my dogs up for a few days and I pack my bags. In those bags, I always pack at least one of my video game consoles. You see, every year I fly home to be with my family. It’s been that way since I moved hundreds of miles from them.
I always have to go through the rigmarole of airport security. I hate airport security. They always stop me because I keep a handheld console in my carry-on luggage. When I land at my destination, my checked luggage has always been randomly checked. Amazing. I am randomly selected every single time I fly.
This year was different. This year my brother moved near me, so the rest of my family decided to come spend the holidays with us. Something was different this year beyond that, though. Not only did I not have to pack a console to take home, but I had a new console to debut to my family this year: the Nintendo Wii U.
Things were different when the Wii launched back in 2006. I was a poor college student with a job as a resident assistant. It didn’t afford me much, but it covered the cost of my housing and gave me some extra spending money over the semester. I had heard about all the new consoles coming out, but given the budget I was on, I knew I was going to opt for Nintendo’s offering. I’d preordered and picked it up with a couple of launch titles, then I was able to head home to experience it with my family.
In 2006, motion controls were all the rage. It had never really been done very successfully before. The most amazing thing was that Nintendo nailed it. Not only did they get the motion controls down, but they included the best examples of it with the system in the form of Wii Sports.
Everyone in the family was excited to try Wii Sports out. My dad wanted to play baseball with me. My mom was excited about bowling. My grandfather was even interested in getting in on the action. The Wii was a smash success with my family all around. The problem is that beyond that, it just collected dust.
Now we flash forward to Christmas of 2012. The Wii has been around for over half a decade without much love for the core gamer. It got a few excellent twilight offerings in The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles, but it has been otherwise stagnant. It’s now that Nintendo has chosen to release the successor to the Wii: the Wii U.
With family in for the holidays, I had a chance to see how it would hold up compared to its predecessor years ago. I wasn’t really surprised, but I think the result was interesting anyway. No one was really that intrigued in the Wii U. Mom went about her business without even asking what we were playing. My dad was interested in using it to watch movies on the Gamepad while we played Xbox. Otherwise, the only use it got was some New Super Mario Bros. U with my siblings. Interesting, considering that my parents were also excited for the PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect.
I think this speaks volumes to how Nintendo is focusing their business in this upcoming generation. There’s obviously a focus shift back to the core gamer. Games like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, Batman Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed 3, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 attest to that. While that is good for the core gamers like myself, this seems like it could hurt Nintendo’s bottom line.
Either way, it’s interesting to see history change.
What do you think? Are you a fan of the Wii U? Did you like the Wii and its library? What about friends and family? Let us know in the forums!
Yet another famous fairy tale from our childhood has been appropriated and adapted for a more mature cinema-going audience. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 3D is releasing on February 7th here in Australia and we’ve got a brand new trailer for you.
Along with the new trailer comes the updated one sheet that you can see on the right…”Candy Coated Carnage” sounds like a tagline for Lollipop Chainsaw!
There’s also a newly released Facebook/Web game called “Waves of Witches”, in which you choose where to place your wire traps before shooting approaching witches with a myriad of weapons.
The trailer can be viewed at the bottom of the article. We’ve also included the recent Red Band trailer directly below.
This is the busiest time of the year for the sport of Tennis in Australia. We’ve just had the Hyundai Hopman Cup in Perth and the Australian Open is starting in Melbourne next week. The tennis craze doesn’t stop there however, as Tennis Australia and award-winning Milipede Creative Development have released Tennis Hot Shots Galaxy, for FREE, for the iOS.
Tennis Hot Shots Galaxy is an action-sports game targeted at kids and was designed to help make them aware of Tennis Australia’s MLC Hot Shots program, of which Australian tennis superstar Alicia Molik is the official ambassador. The program encourages youth to pick up a racquet and play tennis with their friends at their local tennis/sports club. The Tennis Hot Shots Galaxy app has a built-in pedometer feature to help promote this initiative for a healthy, active childhood.
The game itself is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and features three fantasy tournaments based on Jurassic, Spooky and Galactic themes. The game is stylised and colourful, and allows players to pull off devastating power moves whilst avoiding random environmental hazards and challenging their friends to beat their score. Download Tennis Hot Shots Galaxy from the app store here, and for more information on Tennis Australia’s MLC Hot Shots program, visit the official website.
Ever wondered what the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime theme would sound like if it were on a Sega Genesis game? Yeah, neither have I. It seems however that one bizarre fan was intrigued by this prospect, so much so that he went out and created a Sega Genesis remix of the second JoJo theme ‘Bloody Stream’.
The Sega Genesis remix of ‘Bloody Stream’ can be seen below. It’s bizarre yet awesome, much like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in general. What can I say? It’s a perfect fit!
Check it out below and let us know what you think of this bizarrely awesome remix in the comments section.
Yet another famous fairy tale from our childhood has been appropriated and adapted for a more mature cinema-going audience. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 3D is releasing on February 7th here in Australia and we’ve got a brand new trailer for you.
