Hands-on preview: LittleBigPlanet Karting

8:00 AM on 05.02.2012   |   Dale North

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LittleBigPlanet Karting came power sliding in at a Sony press event last week. William Ho, design director at United Front Games, said that the development team put their experience in racing games (they also made ModNation Racers) together with their love of Sackboy to make a kart racer that would fit nicely in the LittleBigPlanet universe. And it does. With Karting, LBP's world is in 3D for the first time, and with it comes the open customization and user creation tools that made the previous games so popular. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a true sequel in every way

11:00 PM on 05.01.2012   |   Dale North

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The worst kept secret in gaming lately is that Treyarch has been working on Call of Duty: Black Ops II. You knew it, I knew it, everyone knew it. That said, they've done a pretty good job of keeping the details of the game under wraps. And now that we've seen it, I'm betting that it's probably quite a bit different from what anyone was expecting. 

Treyarch says that they didn't want to just make a sequel. They wanted to push the boundaries, knowing that they only scratched the surface of what they're capable of with Black Ops. So they took it to the future. To 2025. Get your hoverboards ready, folks.

Midnight Purple 3DS launches on May 20

9:30 AM on 04.30.2012   |   Dale North

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Midnight Purple. That sounds sophisticated and sexy, but I would have gone with the name Waluigi Purple instead. That lanky bastard gets very little love. 

The Midnight Purple 3DS will be released on May 20, the same day that Mario Tennis Open drops. It joins the currently available rainbow of colors, including Cosmo Black, Aqua Blue, Flame Red and Pearl Pink. The 3DS will be priced at $169.99.

Our first look at God of War: Ascension's multiplayer

8:00 AM on 04.30.2012   |   Dale North

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God of War goes multiplayer. It seems like a simple idea at first, but that's a pretty big goal if you really think about it. Taking the series' gameplay and cinematic style and making that work online with multiple players couldn't have been easy. And from the looks of it, Sony Santa Monica isn't planning on taking the easy way out with Ascension. They're already calling it the most ambitious God of War game they've ever made. 

Ascension is a prequel to the God of War trilogy, and it will focus on a single-player campaign, but Sony Santa Monica managed to steer clear of any details at the debut press event last week, instead focusing on the multiplayer side of the game. Well, after a bit of confusion, that is.

Our PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale wishlist

2:10 AM on 04.27.2012   |   Dale North

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Sony impressed with the first showing of their four-player PlayStation IP mashup brawler, but they only showed six characters and four stages, and gave us next to nothing in the way of details at the reveal this week. And what does the Internet do when the details aren't there? They make some up! 

We've pulled together a list of characters, features and ideas we have for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Some are obvious choices, and are expected to be announced later this year, while others are a bit of a stretch. Be sure to add your input in the comments!

Unofficial PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale trailer

2:01 AM on 04.27.2012   |   Dale North

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Bummer. There's no official trailer for the newly announced four-player brawler PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale yet, so we decided to make one especially for you, Destructoid reader. Though our time with the game was limited, we've done our best to capture our true feelings on the game with this trailer. Enjoy.

Hands-on preview: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

2:00 AM on 04.27.2012   |   Dale North

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The rumors were true, and now that I've played it, I'm glad. Sony has been working on a mashup fighting game that pits many of their first-party characters against each other in a Smash Bros. style four-player match. This brawler was shown off for the first time earlier this week at a PlayStation press event, where I got to mash buttons playing as Kratos, Parappa the Rapper, Sly Cooper and others. They call it PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and it's going to be a pretty big deal.

While All-Stars pulls from two decades of Sony game history, we were only shown six characters and four stages at this event. This means that you should probably get ready for the inevitable slow character rollout, with what's sure to be more reveals at E3 later this year. Still, this early look was enough to get a solid picture of what to expect in the final version, and from what I've seen they have a pretty good thing going on here.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale officially announced

1:25 AM on 04.27.2012   |   Dale North

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You know that PlayStation brawl game we keep hearing about? That one that people are calling Sony's Smash Bros.? It's a real thing, officially announced on tonight's episode of GameTrailers TV. The name is a mouthful: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and it's coming to the PS3 this holiday season.

All-Stars was developed by SuperBot, and will feature stars pulled right from the PlayStation universe. Old timers like Parappa the Rapper, Sly Cooper and Sweet Tooth will join newer kids like Kratos, Radec (from Killzone) and even the Fat Princess in this four-player brawler, with online support. Also expect a single-player mode and DLC. 

Stay tuned for more news on this title.

The next Call of Duty title will be revealed on May 1

12:30 PM on 04.23.2012   |   Dale North

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When Japan does a teaser site for an upcoming video, there's Flash animations, videos, grand orchestral music and freakin' laserbeams. Sometimes I have a greater emotional response to the teaser page than I do the actual game!

Activision's new teaser graphic for the next Call of Duty game is a bit less exciting, but it does give some solid details on when to expect the reveal, asking fans to tune into the NBA 2012 playoffs on TNT on May 1. If you don't do basketball, tune in here to Destructoid. BLOP!

If you close the message box on the Call of Duty webpage you'll find other "classified" blinking displays. There's one bouncing around the page says that it unlocks on April 25, the day after tomorrow. If you're a COD kind of gamer, be sure to check back then.

Preview: Dragon's Dogma is gooooood

11:45 AM on 04.22.2012   |   Dale North

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They had me at open-world where you'll travel to kingdoms as the fated one to slay the dragon and save the world. I love that sh*t, even if I've just played a few games that sounded much like that recently. But it makes sense that another Western-style RPG is being attempted, especially after the wild success of games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Kingdoms of Amalur, and The Witcher 2. There's still a bit of room left for more in this genre space, especially when new, standout ideas are involved.

These Western-style RPGs are really hot these days, so much so that Eastern developers are now trying their hand at the genre. Most recently, From Software's Souls franchise made a bloody splash, with the punishment of Dark Souls still fresh in gamers' minds. Now Capcom takes up sword and shield, suiting up members of the Devil May Cry and Resident Evil development teams to go into battle with their own open-world quest fest, called Dragon's Dogma. And it's gooooood.