Butterfly in the sky I can go twice as high Take a look It's in a book A Reading Rainbow
I can go anywhere Friends to know And ways to grow A Reading Rainbow
I can be anything Take a look It's in a book A Reading Rainbow A Reading Rainbow
Tomorrow, Mass Effect 2 is getting the "Equalizer Pack" on PC and Xbox 360. It includes three items -- the Archon Visor, the Capacitor Helmet, and the Inferno Armor -- and will cost 160 Microsoft/BioWare Points. On a related note, Reading Rainbow rocks.
Now that Gaming Heads' gorgeous Team Fortress 2 Heavy statues are available for pre-order, it's time to pick your side: RED or BLU. Although, that's going to be tricky for a few reasons.
First off, these guys remind us that you pay what you get for. A standard RED or BLU Heavy will cost you $229.99, while the exclusive versions are set at $244.99 each. Basically, many of us will never be able to comfortably afford these. Don't let anyone else see you cry!
The other setback worth mentioning is how the Gaming Heads website is only half alive. Many a Team Fortress 2 fan wanted to get a glimpse at these figures, it looks like; poor servers never stood a chance. If you manage to send an order through, expect to get your package during the fourth quarter of this year.
Frozen Codebase's Kick-Ass already has two things working against it. One, it's a movie tie in videogame. On top of that, it's not even a full retail title, instead a game in the digital download in the PlayStation Network space, where smaller games are often looked at as being of dubious quality.
But the film opened to great reviews from fans of action flicks, many of them gamers themselves. So in name alone, Kick-Ass had already caught the attention of its target audience. But does the game live up to the movie's hype? Can it take the action role-playing beat 'em up formula and make it interesting as a downloadable title?
Early last month we learned that classic RPG Final Fantasy IX was confirmed for Japan's PlayStation Network. Great news, though it's not a confirmation of a U.S. release. It's worth nothing that in only one month's time Square Enix has announced that development work on the game is done. A twitter update from Square Enix Members' Japanese account says that it's done already.
The tweet also says that fans can expect an update on the game as early as next week. Maybe Japan will get a solid release date.
I don't know how long they were working on it before, but I'd love to believe that it only takes a month to get these things wrapped up for download. If that truly is the case, then where the hell is all of my favorite PS1 games?
"ive never understood why it takes so long to port these - ive had a modded PSP for 5 years now for the sole purpose of playing my ripped PS1 discs on there - every rip i have plays perfectly on P..."more
If you haven't heard already, StarCraft IIwill drop on July 27th of this year. That's for many places, including the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Yes, Macau gamers, get ready. It hits stores on the 27th, and will be available direct from Blizzard soon after.
Blizzard's Mike Morhaime says "Thanks to our beta testers, we're making great progress on the final stages of development, and we'll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months."
Blizzard says that more details are coming soon, including deets on special pricing schemes that were previously mentioned for some territories. We told you earlier that Russian gamers could have monthly fees.
Before we part, we have to poke fun at Blizzard for the headline typo in their press release for one of their biggest games ever, as seen above. Libertyt?
We were asked to "stay tuned" for an update on Xbox LIVE Game Room's next batch of games, and tuned we certainly stayed. The games were hit with a mysterious delay, but now Major Nelson informs us that they're going out this Wednesday.
I think everyone forgot what exactly this group entailed, so here's the list again: Super Breakout, Pitfall!, Megamania, Night Stalker, Rack 'Em Up, Realsports Volleyball and Basketball. Again, Pitfall! and Super Breakout stand out as the ones most worth pursuing to me.
If nothing else, I love posting retro box art. You can thank Game Room for giving me a reason to do so.
"I grabbed a few games, played for a bit...but have moved on to bigger and better things. Especially since they delayed the new games for over a month and gave us this tiny batch of stuff not real..."more
Now going into its fifth year, game music concert Press Start - Symphony of Games has just been announced for a September 11th date. This collaboration between Famitsu and some of gaming's best composers is something I've always wanted to attend. I'm going to make special plans to be there this year for the Tokyo-based event seeing as how it's only one week before the 2010 Tokyo Game Show.
The official website for the 2010 concert has just launched, and on it you'll find a voting page, created in collaboration with Famitsu. The choices here come from previous concerts. It seems that they're letting fans pick from older tunes for the concert. That's nice of them, but let's hear some new stuff too!
"Awesome, looking forward to it. I love music getting a twist like that, even though Tokyo is even more out of reach than most other bigger western countries and towns, ever.
On an unrelated not..."more
Humans tend to perceive progression mostly in terms of notable milestones. As we age, we don't register the minute changes in our skin, our muscles, or our metabolism even though we see ourselves in great detail on a constant basis. However, when that first laugh line, or grey hair, or hangover that takes way too long to recover from (cough-personalexperience-cough) appears in our lives, you can bet we stand up and take notice.
The gaming world is no different. Ask long-time gamers about the evolution of the medium, and they might discuss the leap from 2D to 3D, the advent of online multiplayer gaming, the move from 8 to 16-bit graphics, or the structural changes in controllers from one console generation to the next. At times, it seems that we only take notice of progress when it is large or clearly labelled for us.
Biological evolution is a fabulous parallel for the way we should look at advancement in just about any system. The changes that videogames undergo over time are the process of thousands of experiments, with a legion of failures or break-even changes measured against a much smaller pool of successful "mutations" which become part of the blueprint for the next iterations. Without this multiplicity of tiny shifts, true progress is never made. Why don't we praise and recognize small improvements? Where's the love for baby steps?
Don't get me wrong, "interrogating" (aka beating the sh*t out of people) in Splinter Cell: Conviction's single-player story was a blast. But to me, Deniable Ops and the fun that comes with two players lurking in the shadows instead of one is way more fun.
Ubisoft's Li Kuo recently posted the following message by way of Twitter: "Coop is huge hit! Good thing since some killer DLC is almost done -- details later. Meantime keep getting ur free stuff every Thurs!"
So, expect more co-op content soon? Since he goes out of his way to mention the free weekly DLC, I'm led to believe that maybe what's on the way will be substantial enough to warrant a price tag. Having recently made it through all Deniable Ops maps at least once, I'd be interested, if that's the case.
I laughed when I saw Siliconera's reaction to the new ESRB rating write-up for water life-themed side-scrolling space shooter, Dariusburst. It seems that Spencer and I think alike as he also mentions "robotic fish and Zuntata" when thinking of the game. Here's how the ESRB sees it, though:
This is an arcade-style space shooter in which players control a small craft that shoots projectiles and lasers at enemy ships, missiles, turrets, and robots. From a side-scrolling perspective, players navigate through outer space while shooting at the numerous enemy units. Ships, objects, and enemies explode when hit, sometimes with realistic or slow-motion effects.
Boring!
Anyway, now that a US trademark was filed and the ESRB has rated the PSP game, all we're waiting for now is an official date and price from Square Enix.
Metallic sea creatures FTW! Look at the above picture and tell me that's not awesome.
Modern Warfare 2's first downloadable content, a five-map set called the "Stimulus Package," finally makes its way to PlayStation Network tomorrow after remaining exclusive to Xbox LIVE for a good chunk of time.
Alongside the new maps -- Bailout, Salvage, Storm, Crash, and Overgrown -- the PS3 version of Modern Warfare 2 is getting a couple of new multiplayer playlists: Stimulus (only new maps), Stimulus Hardcore, and Team Tactical (TDM, Domination, CTF, Demolition for 6-8 players). Also, double XP on all playlists!
Last we heard, the PC version was getting this add-on on the 4th of this month as well. I haven't heard otherwise since then, so possibly be on the lookout for that too, I guess.
The BioWare and Dark Horse comics collaboration called Mass Effect: Redemption is a thing you'll want. Or are already wanting. Or already have. But if you're not able to find copies, know that Mass Effect Volume 1: Redemption is coming. The paperback compilation is listed at Amazon for a June 2nd release. Joystiq says that Dark Horse has the thing listed for June 23rd. 96 pages, $16.99. Pre-order and get.
Don't need paper? Got one of those future-devices that everyone is walking around with? Hit the App Store and you'll find issues there.
Nearly three years after its release on the PlayStation Portable, Sony has announced that Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow is coming to PlayStation 2 on June 1.
The third-person action title was a solid portable game, getting some "Game of the Year" nods from outlets like IGN. The PS2 version looks to bring the same content as the original to the home console, with slight tweaks, mostly in the controls department. The game has been fit for DualShock 2 support, including the the use of the second analog stick. Visually, the game's developer says its "up-rezed textures and effects" for the PS2, as well.
No word on pricing, but it's not hard to imagine this being sent to retail as a budget release. With so many PS2s in homes, there's no doubt a few gamers starved for some "new" content. But if Sony's going to continue to release older PSP titles as console games, they might want to consider porting them to the PlayStation Network. I can't be the only one out there thinking this would made an awesome download, right?
"I missed this, along with many other supposedly quality games simply because I hate the tiny psp screen. I just can't use it, my eyesight's not what it used to be. I'll be picking this up for s..."more
Sonic the Hedgehog's daddy, Yuji Naka, has hooked up with XSEED Games to bring out his new action-puzzle game Ivy the Kiwi?. He also breaks away from his "____ the ____" name formula with the addition of a question mark. His studio, PROPE, has created this game about a "lonely baby bird" that looks for her mother. Aww.
Here's more aww from the press release:
Players of all ages are instantly drawn to the plight of Ivy, introduced to the charming bird through an unfolding storybook style, first seen as her orange head and beak break out of her shell and cries for her mother. Receiving no response, Ivy sets off through a dreamy forest, meeting many birds but none who share her resemblance. As she wanders, she stumbles upon a single glowing red feather and the first clue of her mother’s whereabouts.
This is a Wii and DS game. Ivy will move about via vines, controlled by the Wii Remote or DS stylus. Ivy will pull over obstacles and slingshot with stretchy vines. Watch out, though, as pulling too hard will snap the vines.
There's over 100 stages in the single-player story, and up to four players can compete in multi. Expect to see Ivy the Kiwi? released this summer.
I didn't know what the hell this game was until today. I love the look of it, though. And the game play is right up my alley. I love that Ivy sheds a single tear on the title screen. Check out some Wii screens in the gallery below.
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006