Category: DS
Spider-Man zooms around New York in this trailer
Being Spider-man has its perks, I believe. Imagine swinging about New York City, grabbing breathtaking views from skyscrapers, and getting to your destination without having to go through any gridlocks. That’s what Beenox is trying to capture in the upcoming movie tie-in The Amazing Spider-Man. They have developed a context-sensitive system dubbed ‘Web Rush’.
Activating it will slow down time and let you select a route or course of action. Spider-man then pulls a wide variety of tricks to automatically perform that. It seems like a glorified context-sensitive menu, but hey, it should be fun, right?
The game is due out on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, 3DS and DS on June 26. Check out the trailer below.
Rock Band 3 designer leaves studio, now working on “ridiculously cool project”
Announcing his departure via Twitter and a blog post, Dan Teasdale, senior designer at Harmonix and lead designer on Rock Band 3, has left the studio and taken a position at Twisted Pixel Games, which is known for Splosion Man, The Maw and the upcoming Comic Jumper.
Teasdale notes that while Rock Band 3 has not been released yet, it is “design complete and on the final path to 0 bugs, GM and distribution.”
"I want to be able to help drive the vision and direction of a game," writes Teasdale. "But at the same time be hands on and physically implement and iterate on the low level of making games in a more substantial way than time affords me when working as a lead on multi-hundred person titles."
He adds that this is nothing that can be done easily on a AAA title with more than 200 people working on it. Teasdale will now work on a “ridiculously cool new project” which will have a “close knit superteam”.
Rock Band 3 is set for release this holiday for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS.
Red Dead Redemption feels lonely at the top, beats Italian plumber and sweaty fighters
Red Dead Redemption continues its sales domination as NPD Group reveals the sales data for May 2010. The game has sold a combined 1.5 million units across the PS3 and Xbox 360. This has pushed the Italian plumber’s latest adventure down the gutter to third position.
Top Ten U.S. Console Games – Reporting May 2 to May 29, 2010
- Red Dead: Redemption (Xbox 360) – 945.9K
- Red Dead: Redemption (PS3) – 567.1K
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) – 563.9K
- UFC 2010: Undisputed (Xbox 360) – 221.1K
- UFC 2010: Undisputed (PS3) – 192.3K
- Wii Fit Plus w/ Balance Board (Wii)
- New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii)
- Alan Wake* (Xbox 360)
- Pokemon Soul Silver (NDS)
- Skate 3 (Xbox 360)
Hardware sales was quite good, though numbers were down compared to last year. The best-selling console was the DS followed by the Wii. The Xbox 360 beat out the PS3 by a rather wide margin, and the PSP languishes at the lowly bottom.
U.S. Hardware Sales – Reporting May 2 to May 29, 2010
- DS: 383.7K (down 57.1K)
- Wii: 334.8K (up 57.6K)
- Xbox 360: 194.6K (up 9.2K)
- PS3: 154.5K (down 26.3K)
- PSP: 59.4K (down 6.1K)
G-Force Game Announced
Not just any force of guinea pigs is headed our way, as Disney Interactive Studios today announced that they have enlisted an elite force of guinea pigs to star in the upcoming G-Force video game, inspired by the forthcoming Walt Disney film.
Scheduled for release this July on PC, PS2, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, DS and Wii, the action-platform game has guinea pigs use high-tech gadgets and specialized talents to complete dangerous missions. Here’s the scoop:
Players control Darwin, the G-Force team leader, and housefly surveillance commando Mooch. Darwin and Mooch team up with the rest of G-Force to use their unique high-tech gadgets, stealth mastery, and pint-sized teamwork to save the world from a robot army of evil household appliances. G-Force features innovative gameplay with a unique sense of scale and puzzle solving that requires players to manipulate environments or enemies, including evil household appliances like waffle irons, water coolers and vacuum cleaners to complete their mission.
It is being developed by Eurocom, while the DS and PSP versions are being handled by Keen Games.
Fallout 3 Game of the Year at GDC 2009
The Game Developer Choice Awards ceremony was conducted last night where they announced the winners. The game of the year award went to Bethesda’s open-world action-RPG Fallout 3. Check out the list of winners.
Game of the Year
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)Best Game Design:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)Best Writing:
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)Best Technology:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)Best Visual Arts:
Prince of Persia (Ubisoft Montreal)Best Debut Game:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)Best Handheld Game:
God Of War: Chains Of Olympus (Ready at Dawn)Innovation Award:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)Best Audio:
Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores)Best Downloadable Game:
World Of Goo (2D Boy)Recipients for the evening’s special awards were:
Lifetime Achievement Award
Hideo KojimaPioneer Award
Alex Rigopulos and Eran EgozyAmbassador Award
Tommy Tallarico
Free 1000 DSi Points for Early Customers
Aching to get a Nintendo DSi in your hands? Well, if you do, then there’s a reward for you: if you purchase the console and connect it to the DSi Shop within the first six months of availability – between April and October – Nintendo will reward you with 1000 free DSi points.
These points can be redeemed in the online shop for downloadable DSiWare games and applications. Most games fall within 200-800 points, so those thousand points will allow you to pick up some stuff.
The DSi is already available in Japan and is the third revision of the familiar DS. It features a slimmer profile, bigger screens, two cameras and the ability to buy and download games online.
Gamers in the US will get it on April 5 for $169.99.
Nintendo News from GDC
A lot of Nintendo news comes our way, courtesy of the company’s press conference at GDC today.
- First up is word that the ever-popular Wii has shipped a stunning 50 million consoles worldwide since its debut in 2006. Nintendo claims it is the fastest-selling console ever.
- The DS appears to have reached a sort of gender harmony, with the company claiming that 47% of all new DS owners in 2008 were female and that women make up 27% of the platform’s life-to-date install base.
- Addressing the Wii’s lack of storage options, Nintendo today released the SD Card Menu as part of its latest system update. This download will enable Wii users to launch applications, such as WiiWare and Virtual Console titles, from an inserted SD card.
- The Wii will today extend its Shop Channel to include classic arcade games. Initial offerings will include Space Harrier, The Tower of Druaga and Star Force. Pricing will range between $5-6.
There were two game announcements, too:
- Ninty’s head honcho Satoru Iwata announced Rock n’ Roll Climber, an upcoming WiiWare game making use of the Wii Balance Board. The game will have players scale virtual rockfaces, shifting their feet on the balance board to control the climber’s feet.
- The second is a rather big one – a new Zelda game for the DS! Dubbed The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, the DS title will feature a similar visual style to The Phantom Hourglass and will see traditional gameplay in the form of combat and dungeon exploration. It is due out later this year.
Duke Nukem Coming to Handhelds, Live-action Duke Searched for
Make way for awesomeness on handhelds, as Apogee Software today announced that Critical Mass, the first entry in the new Duke Nukem trilogy, will arrive on DS and PSP this September.
Developed by Frontline Studios, the action game takes place in the future, while the latter two are respectively set in the modern day and during World War II.
The company additionally announced that it is kicking off a talent search for the “next live-action Duke Nukem actor.” Applicants will be judged on “how well they personify the character’s take-no-prisoners attitude.”
Auditions will be held in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Submissions are also being accepted in DVD, tape or Quicktime form, so if you don’t live in those areas, you can still apply.
Alyssa Milano is Love Interest in Ghostbusters
Atari today announced that Alyssa Milano will be the new love interest in the forthcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game. She is best known for her roles in “Melrose Place”, “Charmed” and “My Name is Earl”. Milano joins members of the original cast from the Ghostbusters movies.
Her character will be courted by none other than Bill Murray’s character, Dr. Peter Venkman, who will be going after Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, who is described as a “smart and sassy archaeologist”.
In the game, Milano’s character, Ilyssa Selwyn, is an expert in Sumerian and pre-Sumerian cultures and is visiting New York City as guest curator for the highly anticipated ‘World of Gozer’ exhibition opening in 1991 at the Natural History Museum. In the story line, Gozerian mythology has attracted a wide popular following since the still-unexplained events and attacks that occurred in the city in 1984. Ilyssa is working late at the museum the night before the opening when a cataclysmic force is unleashed and summons an ancient enemy back to New York City. Strange events continue to erupt around her: what secret does she know? It’s up to the Ghostbusters to help Ilyssa find the key and stop the forces of evil that threaten the balance of the universe. That’s if they can keep Peter Venkman from hitting on her every three minutes.
The game is due out in North America on June 16 and worldwide on June 19 to coincide with the 25th anniversary celebration of the film’s original theatrical release. It will be available on PS3, PS2, Wii, DS and Xbox 360.
Space Camp Coming to Wii, DS
Activision today announced Space Camp, a new mini-game compilation for the Wii and DS.
Set for release this June, the game, as the name suggests, has players performing a variety of space-related activities, including moon defense, spacecraft maneuvering and more. It is being made in partnership with the US Space & Rocket Center, which operates the real-life Space Camp.
The Wii version will offer multiplayer modes for up to four players. No mention of multiplayer was made for the DS version.
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