Top Hot Games

Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Microsoft couldn’t let the gory, highly-anticipated launch of Gears of War 2 (chainsaw duels! Rhhhahaararggg!) pass without bloodying a Zune or three in the process, Halo 3-style. Specifically, Microsoft has laser-etched that pesky little “Crimson Omen” onto a glossy black Zune 120, pre-loaded the device with 244 pieces of “Gears of War” media — the soundtrack, concept art, behind-the-scenes vids and so forth, nothing you won’t be able to find elsewhere — and squeezed it all into some “collectible” Gears packaging, featuring our testosterone-addled protagonist pondering the meaning of life. The whole kit will run you $280, with pre-orders at Walmart.com and Amazon.com (and a whole mess of Canadian shops) starting at 3AM PT / 6AM ET. It’ll start shipping on November 7th. And still can’t sync to your Xbox. Close-ups after the break.

Continue reading Gears of War 2 canvasses special-edition Zune

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nobi Nobi Boy, the new game from Katamari Damacy auteur Keita Takahashi, will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show late next week.

Though the game was unveiled last summer, virtually nothing has been heard about the game. Takahashi himself has remained silent about the game, only expressing his desire to do something new after the wacky rolling-everything-up sim Katamari Damacy became a cult classic worldwide–and a lucrative franchise for publisher Namco Bandai.

Nobi Nobi Boy is known to be a PlayStation 3 title featuring a worm-like protagonist. According to Siliconera, who spotted the news, the game will not be playable during next week’s expo.

Kotaku reports that Tiberium, EA’s Command & Conquer flavored first-person shooter, has been canceled. An internal memo cited quality issues as a reason for the termination of the project, and an EA spokesperson confirmed it. “It is with a heavy heart that I announce an end to all work on Tiberium effective immediately. I’ve consulted with Nick Earl and Frank Gibeau at the EA Games Label and together we have reached the conclusion that given the time and resources remaining, we will not be able to deliver this product to an appropriate level of quality. The game had fundamental design challenges from the start. We fought to correct the issues, but we were not successful; the game just isn’t coming together well enough to meet our own quality expectations as well as those of our consumers.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Here’s an interesting one. That red / black Xbox 360 controller that was showcased back in July is now available to any ole consumer in the US, Canada, Latin America New Zealand and Asia, and it comes bundled with a Play & Charge Kit and red rechargeable battery for $64.99. For whatever reason, Microsoft’s totally missing a golden opportunity to cash in on the holiday shopping season by reserving the green counterpart as some “promotional item.” C’mon guys, is it really that hard to understand how irresistible a red and green gamepad tandem would be in late December?

[Via IGN]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

So we’re shifting things around a little bit with your hype meter stuff that will be
integrating in to news items around here soon. It only makes sense that you guys can also rate
down how terrible a particular game looks. It may just make for some fun results.
Hopefully we’ll see in the next few weeks just how much hate you guys really have!

• EU looking for universal
  broadband
• Movie studios vs
  Real Networks
• Punch shark to save dog
• Even Wal-Mart ditching
  DRM. Yay!

As for the the videogame news around these parts:

• Wall Str…
  

“Sony has begun considering in earnest using the Cell architecture for the PlayStation 4,” says a report on Japanese-language site Impress Watch. The report goes on to say that Sony is currently seeking input from developers on the idea.

Using the Cell would cut production costs on the PS4–a much-needed step for Sony, which loses money on every console–and enable PlayStation 3 developers to more quickly produce games for the PlayStation 4. The PS3 is renowned among developers for its unconventional internal architecture, making game production more challenging.

According to the report, Sony had planned to continue using the Cell architecture after the PS3 since the system’s conception. The PS4 may run on an enhanced version of the 45nm chip already in production for the PS3…

Epic’s upcoming 360-exclusive Gears of War 2 will get five DLC remakes of popular multiplayer maps from the original via a voucher in the sequel’s package–if a post on the Evil Avatar forums are to be believed.

“There will be release day DLC that will contain [Gridlock, Subway], Canals, Mansion, and Tyro Station. These five maps will be free of charge but the only way to get them is if you receive a voucher, which every NEW copy of the game will have,” says a user who claims to have received that information–and mountains more–from an exclusive preview in a coming issue of GamePro magazine.

<…