Gaming Briefs

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Konami see little impact seen in PS3 price cuts
2007-07-10 23:09:00
Konami doesn't think that the price cut for the PS3 will help much:LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp.'s $100 price cut for the PlayStation 3 is not enough to turn the fortunes of the game console, which has suffered a slow start, an executive of game software maker Konami Corp. said.Sony cut the PS3 price to $500 in the United States on Monday, in a bid to ignite demand. But it still costs twice that of Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii console, whose $250 price and motion-sensing controller have made it a best-seller despite its lack of cutting-edge graphics."I wonder if Sony can win back user support by the price cut of just $100," Kazumi Kitaue, the head of Konami's North American and European operations, told Reuters in an interview ahead of this week's E3 video game industry trade show."I don't expect a substantial impact ... With $500, you can buy a personal computer."Sony has packed its cutting-edge technology including a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player and high-performance ch...
More About: Price , Konami , Cuts , Litt , Nami

Sunset Riders recording
2007-07-10 05:22:00
A video of the wild west bounty hunter game from 1991:I know this recording was done on cheat mode, but almost all the bosses, if anyone, not firing their weapons?!? Weird.
More About: Recording , Sunset , Rider , Riders , Cord

Will cutting the price of the PS3 help sales?
2007-07-09 22:45:00
Maybe Sony's got something here, by putting the PS3 on sale next month for $100 less than what was originally planned:Sony Corp. slashed the price of its current PlayStation 3 by $100, or 16.7 percent, and introduced a high-capacity model in an effort to spur sales of the struggling video game console. Starting Monday, the current 60 gigabyte model will cost $499, down from $599.The Japanese electronics maker also said it is introducing a new version of the PlayStation 3 with a bigger hard drive for storing downloaded content such as video games and high-definition movies.The new PS3 increases the system's storage capacity to 80 gigabytes from 60 gigabytes and also includes a retail copy of the online racing title "MotorStorm," a company spokesman said. It will be priced at $599.The larger capacity machine won't be available in the United States and Canada until August.It plays into the company's upcoming strategy of eventually offering downloaded high-definition movies, video g...
More About: Sales , Price , Cutting

This year's game expo won't be a biggie
2007-07-08 20:22:00
For 2007, it's being toned down:The video game industry's annual showcase is saying goodbye to scantily clad booth babes, extravagant multimillion dollar exhibits, blaring lights and pounding music. Celebrity appearances from the likes of Paris Hilton or Snoop Dogg are a thing of the past, too.Well I don't know about the booth babes, but I do know that Hilton, with her loathsome personality, and even a horrid rapper like Dogg, can hit the trail and not darken their doorstep again, ever! Who needs them anyway?This year's version of the Electronic Entertainment Expo , renamed the E3 Media & Business Summit, will be a toned-down affair as organizers hope to have a far less flashy discussion on new and upcoming video games.The event, which starts Wednesday, looks to be more like a country club getaway, an invitation-only gathering complete with luxury beach-side hotels, sushi restaurants and meetings in private conference rooms.To put it more diplomatically, "It's about the quality ...
More About: Game , Biggie , Year

Short recording of Peter Pack-Rat
2007-07-08 17:51:00
During the early to mid-80s, when games featuring "cute" characters, whether human or animal, were all the rage, Atari 's own entry in this fad was Pete r Pack-Rat, where the player guides a funny rodent around gathering a specific amount of special objects whose shapes are usually shown at the main nest Peter maintains, all the while needing to dodge a bunch of pesky animals who can knock you out if you're not careful. You can stun some of the birds featured here and then ride on them, for example, with special throwing objects you receive. The game has at least three stages that repeat with greater difficulty as you go along.
More About: Recording , Short

Brief recording of Super Breakout
2007-07-07 21:47:00
One of the earliest puzzle games, Super Brea kout is the sequel to Atari's hugely successful Breakout, first made in 1976, and which I would've posted here first, but there don't seem to be any recordings available of that first game. However, from what I know, the first Breakout may have been a black-and-white game, whereas Super Breakout was in color.Curious thing about this game is how the bouncing bar can be narrowed (and doubled, which makes for good protection), which does make it more of a challenge, but is that something you as the player can control, or is it the computer itself that makes that decision? It's been so many years since I'd seen these games, and so I can't really remember everything about how they worked.
More About: Recording , Brief , Cord

River Raid recording
2007-07-07 20:12:00
River Raid was one of Activision's first games as a third-party developer, where you control a seaplane that's battling its way down a river, and has to squeeze through some very tight spots. When I first played the game in my youth, it was an Atari version. This one is a Commodore64 version, which, as we can see in the recording here, is just as good.
More About: Recording , River , Cord

Heat stroked Xbox
2007-07-07 20:07:00
The possible answer to what went wrong with the Xbox 360:SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. won't say what went wrong inside of its Xbox 360 video game consoles that could lead to $1 billion in repairs, but bloggers and their online readers seem to have their own answer: Heat stroke.Frustrated Xbox 360 gamers have been going to blogs and forums to swap horror stories and voodoo-like solutions for problems with the consoles, which first went on sale in November 2005.Microsoft has called the seizures "general hardware failures," while some users have referred to a "red ring of death," for the three lights that illuminate on the console when a serious problem has occurred. Many have raised the possibility that something ? either the power cord, or a component inside the box ? is overheating and breaking in the units.A thread on the GameSpot.com forums from 2005 recommended suspending power cords with string in midair to keep them cool.In June 2006, a post on the blog Xbox-scene.com pointed enth...
More About: Stroke

Setback for Microsoft on Xbox
2007-07-06 12:38:00
Uh oh, looks like there's problems abound with the Xbox , something that's gonna cost Microsoft big time:SEATTLE (AP) - In another setback for Microsoft Corp.'s unprofitable entertainment and devices division, the company says it is planning to spend at least $1 billion to repair serious problems with its Xbox 360 video game console.Microsoft declined to detail the problems that have caused an onslaught of "general hardware failures" in recent months but said Thursday it will extend the warranty on the consoles to three years.The glitches, and the bad publicity, could weigh the company down as it claws for market share in the highly competitive console market. In May, the Xbox 360 ranked No. 2 in unit sales behind Nintendo's Wii, but still beat out Sony's Playstation 3, according to data from NPD Group."We don't think we've been getting the job done," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, which also makes the Zune digital music player,...

Sega's Golden Axe games
2007-07-06 10:22:00
Here's some recordings of Sega's notable games of Golden Axe, the first which they produced in 1989:The object of the game is to defeat the evil conqueror Death Adder, who's commanding all the trolls and ogres in the fantasy land this is set in to enslave and pillage everywhere. You play as either of three characters, a barbarian, an amazon, and a dwarf. An interesting aside: at least one home version of Golden Axe has an extra boss who appears the stage after Death Adder is defeated, in a secret room past the king and queen's throne room. When Sega first designed it at the time, it wasn't exactly what the head designer had thought of doing at first. Nevertheless, it was a seconsuccess, and led to a few more games. Here's the second one, from 1991 (Genesis version):Again, Death Adder is the head honcho you're up against, as you travel through a couple stages to reach his lair. He's certainly more difficult to deal with this time, as he can generate skeleton warriors to help ...
More About: Games , Ames

Breaking the slacker image
2007-07-06 00:36:00
An article about Matt Ringel, the commissioner of the World Series of Video Games:LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Matt Ringel knows there's a certain image that comes to mind when you start talking about hardcore video gamers: think teenage boys with messy hair and dark circles under their eyes from staying up all night, their eyes glued to a screen and their fingers frantically flitting about a keyboard or a controller.It's an image Ringel knows well. A passionate gamer even as he closes in on 40, Ringel has spent his fair share of long nights playing with his friends.But now as the commissioner of the World Series of Video Games, Ringel is eager to dispel the notion of gamers as soda-swilling, junk food-eating slackers with an aversion to showers and social activity.The majority of the players who will compete in one of the handful of World Series events this year have a life, Ringel said. Even better, they have personality."These guys, it's totally antithetical to 'the lazy gamer,'" ...
More About: Slacker , Image , Breaking , Lack , Brea

Revolution X recording
2007-07-05 09:20:00
A recording in two parts of Revolution X, the shooting game with digital graphics that features Aerosmith, made in 1994. Note that some parts of the game are missing in this recording, but it still features plenty:Notice the part with the bus chase in the middle east? If you fail to wreck the war bus before it reaches the end of the line, you'll have to start over again; a really hard stage. It's sort of like the reverse of what the purpose was in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which was put out by Midway three years earlier, where you had to defend John Conner's truck from enemy fire until it reached the end of its line at Skynet. But what really makes this one challenging in the mission to total the bus is that, chasing the gang in Aerosmith's car, you need to fire on the buttons for slowing down or speeding up in order to keep up properly with the enemy vehicle!
More About: Recording , Evolution X , Cord

Brain games
2007-07-05 09:19:00
Thanks to Nintendo 's Brain Age, it looks like plenty of other games with a similar premise of brain training are making their debuts, and the AP's tech reviewer Lou Kesten gives some short reviews here:The fastest growing genre in video games is "brain training," a genre no one had even heard of before last year. But it only takes one smash hit - in this case, Nintendo's "Brain Age" - to launch an armada of imitators.Nintendo's rivals have tried to hop on the "Brain Age" bandwagon with copycats like "Brain Boost," "Brain Genius," "Brain Juice," "Brain Challenge" and (for the sake of variety) "Mind Quiz." The only person who might need so many brain exercise games would be someone who was dumb enough to buy them all.The jury is still out on whether these games - consisting mostly of simple, rapid-fire math, logic and observation problems - really make you smarter. I have my doubts, and I'd be willing to bet that your brain gets more of a workout playing "The Legend of Zelda" or ...
More About: Games , Ames

Happy 4th of July
2007-07-04 17:13:00
Today is the Fourth of July , and I'd like to wish everyone a happy and joyous celebration!
More About: Happy

3-part recording of Aliens game
2007-07-04 09:24:00
Here's a recording in three parts of Konami's game based on Aliens , produced in 1990, four years after the film:It's interesting to note that when I first saw this game 17 years ago, it was the Japanese version, which has a couple notable differences from this one: for example, Newt, the girl seen in the film who's a survivor of the alien assault, is not featured in the Japanese version, nor are the parts where you're riding in the APC facing front, and the final boss, the queen alien, fires light-beam images shaped like herself that go much faster than the acidic fireballs featured in this version! But, if there's something both versions have in common, it's that you can use the power loader to grab the queen alien and throw her out into outer space when the cargo hatch opens! The game will start again one more time after you finish one, and then it ends.
More About: Recording , Game , Part , Liens

By a ratio of six to one...
2007-07-03 14:46:00
Nintendo's Wii still outsells Sony Playstation 3:TOKYO (AP) - Nintendo's Wii video game console outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 six to one in June in Japan, a Japanese publishing company said Monday.Although the Wii has been on sale since late last year, they're selling so briskly supply still hasn't caught up with demand and long lines form when shipments arrive at stores.The latest numbers suggest that Nintendo's lead is widening. Wii outsold PS3 just four to one in April and five to one in May, according to Enterbrain.Enterbrain Inc., the publisher, found that Wii also outsold Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 in Japan in June.Nintendo, the maker of "Pokemon" and "Super Mario" games, sold 270,974 Wii consoles in Japan in June, while Sony sold 41,628 PS3 machines, and Microsoft sold 17,616 Xbox 360 consoles, it said. Overseas sales were not available.The Wii, with its motion-sensitive remote control wand - called a "Wiimote" - that can be used as a sword, tennis racket or fishing rod...
More About: Nintendo

More Mugen Marvelousness!
2007-07-02 09:11:00
Well, it's that time again when we should take a look at some more amazing feats from Mugen ! So, what stupendous battles have we to view this time. Let's take a look.Fat Albert takes on Master Hand. Quite a challenging battle, I'll say.Then, we've got Fat Albert taking on Homer Simpson. Hey hey hey, now that was awesome, man.Now, we've got the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing taking on Popeye in this battle. It's clobberin' time!And then there's this awesome fight with Benny vs. the Hulk! Whoa, get a load of how Ben gives it to ol' greenskin with the help of a truck! Speaking of which, since some of the edits for the Thing are taken from the Hulk sprite, I guess that could explain why the Thing looks fairly green here himself. Hmm.But here's the grand prize, that being the Thing vs. Doctor Doom! What a wonderful finishing blow Ben hands the dastardly doctor with the truck! Once again, IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!Psylocke vs. Carnage. I guess after a battle that tough she'll be hea...
More About: Snes , Marvelous

Rastan recording
2007-07-01 22:42:00
Here's a game Taito produced in 1987 called Rasta n, inspired by Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian books.I remember seeing this game years ago. It's very difficult to finish without cheating, and thus requires a lot of skill in order to do so. You also need to be careful what icons and other items you take, since there are some that can diminish the player's strengths, and that certainly wouldn't help get you anywhere.I wonder if it's possible that we could ever see a 3-D rendition of this game today as well, just like there may be news that Rygar might get the 3-D treatment? It could be a worthwhile idea.
More About: Recording , Cord

IGN reviews Ninja Gaiden Sigma
2007-07-01 11:38:00
Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the Playstation 3 has just come out, and IGN is reviewing it. In this game you get to play as Rachel, the beautiful fiend hunter who'd first appeared in the 2004 game as a minor character, and in this installment, she's got a few stages where you ca play with her as well as with Ryu Hayabusa.This new take on the game, by the way, is meant to be set two years before Dead or Alive.
More About: Reviews , Ninja , Aide

Konami's Twin Bee
2007-06-30 22:55:00
Here's a recording of Twin Bee, which you could call a "cute" airplane game from an overhead view:There are about six main stages, after which the game repeats itself with greater difficulty. Not bad. We could sure use some more games like this today.
More About: Nami

Wii sales in Manhattan
2007-06-30 20:45:00
An article about all the people who went to get a copy of theirs in the Big Apple:NEW YORK (AP) - By 9 a.m., the line outside Manhattan 's Nintendo World store was snaking down the block. More than 100 hopeful Wii owners came from as far as New Jersey - some as early as 6 a.m. with kids and grandparents in tow - to get their hands on the gaming console best known for its wireless, motion-sensitive controller.It's been more than seven months since Nintendo launched the Wii, but the consoles are selling so well that supply still hasn't caught up with demand. You can get one, sure, but be prepared to call around and arrive promptly when the shipments do."I had to get permission from work," said Regina Iannuzzi, 23, in line since 6:20 a.m. on a recent morning. She'd been looking for a Wii, a 25th birthday present for her brother, for two weeks. Every place was sold out.Like sleeping in? Wiis are also available online, but at a hefty premium to the console's $250 retail price. A slig...
More About: Sales , Atta

Recording of Slap Fight
2007-06-29 15:47:00
Nope, it's not a fighting game, if that's what you might've though before, it's an overhead scrolling shoot 'em up made in 1986 by a small company called Toaplan.Interesting thing about this is how you can get power ups to provide your ship with wider firing icons and stuff like that.
More About: Recording , Fight , Cord

Video-based board games
2007-06-28 09:43:00
A couple of computerized games based on board games, or their premises, are coming out:People have been playing board games for thousands of years, while video games have only been around for a few decades. So it makes sense that designers of video games would copy their ancestors. Just about any board game you can name - from chess to Trivial Pursuit - has probably been translated into an electronic version.Sometimes the influence of board games is less obvious. Real-time strategy games like "Age of Empires" are souped-up versions of Risk or Stratego. "SimCity" owes a debt to Monopoly, while "The Sims" has roots in The Game of Life. You could probably even draw a plausible connection between "Pac-Man" and Hungry Hungry Hippos.Nintendo's "Mario Party" series shows the influence most openly, mixing digitized board games with fast-paced arcade challenges. It has become one of Nintendo's flagship franchises and a reliable option any time you need a game the whole family can play._"Ma...
More About: Video , Games , Board , Board Games , Ames

Wii now open to the indies
2007-06-28 06:15:00
Nintendo is opening things up for independent game developers:SEATTLE (AP) - Nintendo Co. has opened its blockbuster Wii game system to independent video-game developers, the company announced Wednesday.Nintendo said it will let hobbyists and game studios create and sell downloadable Wii games with a tool called WiiWare. Gamers will be able to purchase the games through the console's Wii Shop channel starting in early 2008."Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, in a statement.Nintendo may be taking a page from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s play book. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker's XNA Game Studio tools let developers design video games for its Xbox 360 console.WiiWare and XNA help lower the risk for developers of niche games that could appeal to nontraditional gamers, but wouldn't move off ...
More About: Nintendo , Open , Dies

AMA doesn't feel that too much gaming is addiction yet
2007-06-27 20:22:00
Another article on the question of videogame addiction, this one citing the American Medical Association, which can't decide yet if they should argue that gaming like this is addiction:CHICAGO - The American Medical Association on Wednesday backed off calling excessive video-game playing a formal psychiatric addiction, saying instead that more research is needed.A report prepared for the AMA's annual policy meeting had sought to strongly encourage that video-game addiction be included in a widely used diagnostic manual of psychiatric illnesses.AMA delegates instead adopted a watered-down measure declaring that while overuse of video games and online games can be a problem for children and adults, calling it a formal addiction would be premature."There's no science to support it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow, an addiction medicine specialist.Despite a lack of scientific proof, Jacob Schulist, 14, of Hales Corners, Wis., says he's certain he was addicted to video games ? and that the A...
More About: Gaming , Addiction , Feel , Ming , Addict

Nintendo's market value briefly outranks Sony's
2007-06-26 11:02:00
Nintendo has been gaining strength versus Sony lately: TOKYO (AFP) - Nintendo overtook Sony Corp. briefly Monday in market value as the company that brought the world Mario and Donkey Kong cranks up the pressure on its arch-rival with its hit Wii video game console.Nintendo has long dominated portable video game machines and is now challenging Sony's crown in home consoles as the Wii outsells the PlayStation 3 several times over in key markets such as the United States and Japan.The Kyoto-based firm is also enjoying strong sales of its handheld Nintendo DS and "Brain Age" game billed as a treadmill for the mind.Nintendo's share price rose to a record high of 46,350 yen Monday morning on the Osaka Stock Exchange, giving the Kyoto-based company a market capitalisation of 6.56 trillion yen (52.9 billion dollars).Sony shares meanwhile dropped to 6,460 yen each, pushing its market value down to just shy of 6.50 trillion yen as investors fret over prospects for the iconic Japanese compa...
More About: Market , Mark , Value , Tendo , Brief

Vidgames - addiction or not?
2007-06-25 20:26:00
Reuters, in a not too surprising move, has published an article in which they present the argument that videogames are not an addiction:CHICAGO (Reuters) - Doctors backed away on Sunday from a controversial proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder akin to alcoholism, saying psychiatrists should study the issue more.Addict ion experts also strongly opposed the idea at a debate at the American Medical Association's annual meeting.They said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games -- a problem that affects about 10 percent of players -- could be considered a mental illness."There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.A committee of the influential physicians' group ha...
More About: Ames

Some recordings of Final Fight 3
2007-06-25 07:44:00
And now, here's some recordings of the third Fina l Fight . Like the second game, this too was just made for home systems, but it's still great to play.And here's a few recordings of a different game session. Note that the second part here is inexplicably missing, one of the reasons why I posted those other ones above.So, there we have another entry in the Final Fight series, one that seems to draw Haggar taller than usual! How about that.
More About: Some , Cord

Manhunt 2's release is suspended. Good
2007-06-22 14:23:00
A blow has been dealt to the cynics at Rockstar Games and Take Two:Players of the video game "Manhunt 2" would have assumed the role of a scientist with amnesia who escapes from an asylum and then goes on a bloody killing spree as he tries to remember his past. But consumers may never see it on store shelves.Following bans by Britain and Ireland, as well as a ratings predicament that would have made it nearly impossible to buy in the United States, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. decided that it might already be game over for "Manhunt 2."In a short statement Thursday evening, the New York-based company said it was temporarily suspending plans to distribute the game while it reviews its options."We continue to stand behind this extraordinary game. We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing, both of which are essential to our business of making great entertainment," the company said.Extraordinary my foot. But please, do keep going and b...
More About: Release , Good , Lease , Ease

Here's an example of a critic who loses himself on PCness
2007-06-22 03:21:00
Many times these days, I find violence worse than sex in some video games. However, there are some critics overtaken with political correctness who're quite the opposite. I found a review of the new take on Ninja Gaiden from when it came out three years ago via Game Crit ics' forum that pretty much proves my point that even game critics will waste their time blabbering over how crummy the sex appeal of a chick is in the game (here being Rachel the fiend hunter), yet they're quite okay with the violence to come in the same.Now in fairness, from what I've seen of Ninja Gaiden, this one being connected with Dead or Alive and taking place two years before it, the violence isn't the worst for a game where you've got a ninja who goes around slashing up villains with his trusty katana (and it is the baddies who're taking their lumps here, after all), but regardless of that, I certainly don't have a problem with the size of Rachel's breasts, or any problem with them at all. In fact...
More About: Himself , Critic , Xamp