As we reported a while back, Activision and Treyarch are hard at work on a new Spider-Man game that takes place outside of the realm of the movies. Creating a new storyline surely requires some dedication, but it seems to be paying off so far. A new video posted on IGN.com shows off some of the air-based combat techniques the web-slinger is bringing to the fight this time, in addition to some kick-ass scenes of Spidey sporting the black symbiote duds (SWEET!!). There’s also footage of Vulture trying his best to squash the web-head. This game keeps getting cooler and cooler.

Today saw conflicting reports from G4 and Kotaku over whether or not old downloaded content from Guitar Hero 3 will work with the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour. G4 says no, Kotaku says yes. So who can we trust? My guess is neither as of yet, since the damn game is still at least 4-5 months away, and I’m sure features like dlc and the like aren’t the most pressing issues for Activision and Neversoft at the moment. Plus, downloaded songs from GH2 didn’t transfer to GH3 (as far as I know - feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on this one), so what’s the big deal? New GH, new songs, new dlc. Seems like a simple process.
Any thoughts from you Lemon heads out there?

LucasArts announced Thursday that two new titles in the Star Wars universe will land on the Wii and DS this coming holiday. The games, based around the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and subsequent TV series, will give players new ways to control lightsaber action and the overall badassery that comes with being a Jedi.

Star War The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels will be exclusive to the Wii and feature motion sensitive lightsaber fighting that even mimicks which direction you’re swinging the Wii remote. Though the rest of the game sounds like it could potentially fall into awful movie-game territory, the idea of swinging your virtual lightsaber is enough to get even the most skeptical of fanboys panting in anticipation. We’ll have to wait and see what the rest of the game looks like.

The DS will join the action with SWTCW: Jedi Alliance, a game that looks to bring back the touch-screen controls that worked so well in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, as all of the action will take place with the stylus. The game also features drop-in/drop-out co-op play via wireless, so provided you can find a friend nearby, you’ll be able to team up to take down the Sith. Perhaps the coolest feature of the game (being a fanboy geek myself) is that it will feature an entirely new storyline within the Clone Wars era, expanding on the movie/TV series and giving players more insight into the time period in their favorite fictional history.

Check out the official press release for more information.

In their efforts to reclaim the music game genre from EA/MTV’s Rock Band, Activision is taking the Guitar Hero series in a new direction with 4-player bands featuring guitar, bass, drums, and microphone. But you probably knew all that already, so we’ll get to the new stuff.

Here’s the new guitar (Wii version, obviously, though they will probably all look very similar), with the major addition of a slide bar in the middle of the neck below the standard five colored buttons.

It looks like this not-so-friendly rock-and-roll rivalry is actually leading to some good innovations. Head on over to IGN for all of the latest details, including pics of the new drum set.

Everyone’s favorite female archaeologist (no, not Shia LeBeouf) is returning for an all-new adventure this fall. But once again, we have reason to be jealous of the lucky SOBs who get to attend E3, because Eidos is reporting that Tomb Raider: Underworld, featuring a higher-def - and thus even more sexy - Lara Croft will be shown at this year’s Expo. Eidos is bringing other games as well, but really, you know what you’re looking for here. Enjoy the tease (thanks to tombraiderchronicles.com for the pic):

edit: just came across a new shot, figured I’d share the love…

(Got that one from Lara’s MySpace page. No, I’m not joking. Yes, she’s in my top friends.)

Nintendo finally launched its WiiWare download service to some minor heralding. Gamers were unsure what the new cash-gobbler would be providing, and whether it would be worth all those Wii points and interminable downloads (I like watching 8-bit Mario run across my screen as much as the next person, but seriously, it takes me about 23 tries to actually download something).

Well, you can put those fears aside, because no matter what other useless drivel you may find for the Wii, Lost Winds will restore your faith in the tiny white trapezoid.

Lost Winds is a very cute, easily approachable tale about a boy named Toku who, while roaming his homeland of Mistralis, comes across Enril, the trapped wind spirit. She tells him of a great evil that is spreading across the land, and that she needs his help getting rid of said bad dudes. Okay, so you may think it sounds a little Zelda-ish… and you’d be right. But if you’re going to pick a formula to follow for a new IP, might as well make it one of the best, right?

The first thing you’ll notice about the game is its art style. For 1000 Wii Points (that’s $10 for those of you scoring at home), you’re going to get a game that looks light years better than shovelware like Carnival Games and other crap that you’d have to pay $40 (plus gas) for. The game’s action takes place in a traditional 2-D plane, but the 3-dimensional backgrounds are rendered with vivid colors and amazing wind effects that truly make the world seem fully alive.

The gameplay is what truly sets Lost Winds apart from other WiiWare titles – and, in fact, many retail Wii games as well. Using the standard two-handed Wii set-up, the nunchuck’s analog stick controls Toku’s movement to the left or right of the screen, while the remote allows you to harness Enril’s power and swoop Toku up onto ledges or across gaps. As the game progresses you can harness more of Enril’s wind skills, allowing you to reach greater heights and control water and fire against your enemies.

The combat is simplistic, as you highlight tiny black blobs and mash the A button in order to vaporize them, but the story moves with such a dramatic flourish for such a seemingly small game. The emphasis is really on exploration, as the game does not provide you with a map or much direction aside from the occasional “East” or “West” from one of the townsfolk. This does not pose any lingering problems, however, as the world is fairly condensed and easy to remember.

Releasing this game on Day 1 for WiiWare was truly a great move on Nintendo’s part. Lost Winds sets the bar for other downloadable games, with great action and pacing, remarkable graphics, and just enough of a story to keep you wanting more (don’t worry, part 2 has already been announced). Though you’ll be able to finish in about 3 or 4 hours, you’ll be highly satisfied when the end comes. Lost Winds is $10 well spent.

Grade: 9.4/10

About a month ago, we gave you a heads up to expect some big Nintendo news around the time of this year’s E3 convention in July.

Apparently the other guys are catching up with Nintendo’s recent announcement that “core gamers” will be getting some good news in the coming weeks. Could this be the next installment in the Zelda franchise? Another long-timer finally getting a Wii update? A few more weeks and our questions will (hopefully) be answered.

- Thanks to Kotaku and GamePro for the info.

P.S. In reference to the previous blog’s info on Mario Super Sluggers, obviously that has been delayed and did not come out in early June, as was suspected. The next best guess is sometime in July, but odds are we won’t get an exact date until around E3.

Now that I’m a mom, I don’t play video games as often as I used to. Not because I don’t have time (come on, what else am I going to do during nap time? Watch Oprah?*). No, I just hate going to GameSpot because the aisles are too small for the stroller. That’s why I was sooooooo psyched when the new WiiWare arrived to my WiiShop channel. Sure, I love downloading the oldie but goody (and…you know…the oldie and kind of crappy) from the virtual console, but BRAND NEW games? Just for me? Available at a wave of a Wiimote? Hoo-freaking-ray, mother fluffers! (Yes, I am trying not to swear, thanks for noticing.)

Despite my initial disappointment that the competitive eating sim was not released on May 12 as promised, I gleefully started downloading. I love RPGs and weird sims, so of course I had to get My Life as a King. For 1, it’s a weird kingdom building sim and for 2, the kingdom you build is located smack dab in the middle of Final Fantasy land. I’ll admit, I held off for a day or two because of the 15 buck price tag, but then I thought…meh, 15 bucks is nothing for a video game. I spent more than that on USED games! 

 No sooner had I finished my rationalizing and forged ahead, when the download screen warned me that I was about to download a game that was going to charge me for additional content. I paused. Eh. It’ll be fine. If I like the game, I’ll pay and if I don’t, I won’t.

 But it’s not that simple. I liked playing My Life as a King, but I’m not sure if I like the game. Sure, the game looks good, and building houses and shops and taverns and crap can get real addictive. As can building up your little army of adventures and sending them out on vague quests to kill generic monsters and whatnot (yeah, I’m going to need a warrior, a thief and and a black mage to go kill the Scorpion King…the rest of you, stay here and look for Enola’s striped bandanna…apparently she lost it.) But at a certain point you realize that all you do is run around, trying to increase the morale of your incestuous subjects (seriously, there are like 5 faces for the whole freaking kingdom), while your adventurers run around buying swords and spells and potions and cool crap before running off to explore new territories and kill stuff. Jebus Cripes! The NPCs are having more fun than me! WTF!

 Yeah, I know. It’s not an adventure game…it’s a weird kingdom building sim. But the problem is that while it is fun and addictive in the beginning, towards the middle it just gets addictive. See, once you get all the happy incestuous subject points you can get, the highest reward is that you can get more happy points, but why in the f’n heck would I need more happy points when I’ve already gotten the highest reward? And while I can make my subject happy, there’s really nothing I can do to piss them off (yet anyways, but  I don’t think that I’m going to clear a level 40 dungeon and be rewarded with a chime and a screen that says “Citizens now have the ability to feel rage.”) so why do I run around trying to make them happy and hire people to look for their missing doo-rags? There’s no reward for doing it and no punishment for not doing it. And since I’ve built all the houses I can build and hired all the adventurers I can hire, there’s not much left to do.

 Phooey. I’ll admit, I did buy some of the add-on content (but I refused to shell out a buck so the king could change clothes…he doesn’t need new clothes…especially not the kind you can buy for a buck), but I have the feeling that I’ll end this game soon and the way I end all my crazy addictions: with  a weird mix of pride for digging my way out and shame for falling so low. Or, I might buy every bit of add-on content (about 50 bucks) including the clothes (hey, it’s only a buck!) and play every second of this evil game, hating it and myself every second. I’ll keep you posted.

*I do that, too, but sometimes it’s a re-run…or a Tom Cruise interview. 

The official website for Lucasarts’ upcoming game Fracture launched recently, giving gamers a closer look at this highly ambitious (and long-time-coming) project. Set in a dystopian (read: f$#@ed up big time) future, players are cast as a soldier from the eastern states of what used to be the good ol’ US of A.

The game’s main feature is the ability to use specialized grenades and weaponry to mess with the ground beneath your feet. Dubbed “Terrain Deformation” this power allows you to create sinkholes, hills, and fault lines seemingly at will. Proper use of the environment will be the key to outflanking your enemies and winning battles.

Lucasarts’ writers have gone all out with the backstory, too. Giving the US an incredibly detailed “future history,” Fracture could potentially have the best storyline to come out of Skywalker Ranch since The Empire Strikes Back (no mention of midichlorians in the trailers - that’s always a good start). The western states have taken a liking to genetic engineering, forming armies of superior beings that may or may not be classified as human. The eastern alliance, on the other hand, has chosen technology as the way of the future, pumping out cyborgs faster than you can say “Cyberdine.”

The action looks fast and furious, and having that heavy-duty arsenal at your fingertips sure doesn’t hurt either. Look for the game to hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 in October.

Delayed.

That single word has the power to make any gamer shudder - and subsequently light up message boards all across the internet. “OH NOES TEH GAME ISNT COMEING OUT ON TIME WTF AM I GUNNA DO NOW?!?!?!” It’s a sad sight, to be sure, but unfortunately, delayed releases are becoming more and more prevalent in today’s gaming world.

What seems to cause all of this mass-procrastination anyway? It’s hard to find answers among the gaming community. And with the latest reports that Bionic Commando Rearmed for XBL and PSN and Saint’s Row 2 are both going to be late to their respective parties, it’s hard for gamers to keep track of when to spend their hard-earned cash (or pseudo-cash, in the case of Microsoft Points).

In addition to the recent string of game delays, it’s difficult for consumers to keep track of releases even when they know a game is coming out. Working in the retail industry, I know that when I am in on Tuesday, there will be new movies and CDs on the shelves. But games? There are very few occasions when games are shipped to a store prior to release and held for a street date, something that is done nearly all of the time with movies and music. Instead, publishers use Tuesdays as a “ship” date, meaning that the product will arrive in stores at least one day later, sometimes not for two or three days. A definite New Release Day model for the gaming industry would certainly ease the minds of consumers and help add a little consistency to our hobby. It doesn’t even have to be Tuesday - let the masses spend all of their money on the new movies one day, then come back for the games the next. That way everyone wins - gamers, publishers, and retailers.

Okay, enough of my thoughts. What do you have to say? Any ideas on the delays or new releases?