After the final attendees of Saturday’s Nintendo Power 20th Anniversary Party had gone home, the Nintendo World store in New York City played host to an event showcasing NHL 2K9, the first hockey game for the Wii. While it would have been cool enough to enjoy a relaxing afternoon of wrist-flicking video game hockey action, the good folks at 2K and Nintendo World held a free tournament for anyone in the store. 16 entered, and one left with an autographed Rick Nash Columbus Blue Jackets jersey. Sadly, that one was not me. (more…)
…or, the thoughts and ramblings of a hungry, sleep-deprived nerd who spent a day and a half on a New York City sidewalk.
Fans from all over flocked to New York City this weekend for a special event. Some came in groups, others traveled alone. They took buses, cars, trains, or planes, and brought tents and chairs to wait outside on the busy, rain-drenched streets for the chance to spend a few fun hours with people they had never met before. And all for one reason.
Michael Phelps was hosting Saturday Night Live.
But just one block south of the NBC Studios, another line was forming, outside Nintendo World. I got there Friday afternoon and met some folks who had been there since Thursday evening, waiting in line for another, cooler event (at least as far as we gamers are concerned) – the Nintendo Power 20th Anniversary Party. (more…)
The new LucasArts project coming out soon that’s not titled The Force Unleashed is trying to get a little more hype behind it. While the Star Wars brand has no problem with the hype meter, the other game, Fracture, has had more of a rough go. It’s been tossed around development for a while now, with a major change to the protagonist being just one of the snags that the team had to overcome. They’ve done a great job creating an alternate history, which we covered previously, and have set the stage for some awesome combat.
Now, courtesy of Wired.com’s Game|Life blog, we have new video of the game’s guns and grenades in all their terrain-deforming glory. Most of them look pretty badass, though admittedly some look a little sluggish as far as their execution - though we can hope that it’s just because it’s a demo video showing off the tech and probably not 100% of the speed it will be when we get our hands on the game. The other slightly odd feature is the stiff character movements seen when the camera does a closeup of main character Jet Brody. Again, this is demo type stuff, so I’m sure it’ll look a bit smoother when you’re actually running through the world and not just staring at a dude shooting a gun while standing still, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind as the October release date nears.
The dudes over at GameSpot have posted an absolutely massive (133 minutes to be exact!) video of their privileged selves playing through multiple levels of the upcoming The Force Unleashed on all three consoles. As you might guess, a video that long is obviously full of spoilers (plus the GameSpot guys don’t really hold back in their conversation either). So if you think having plot points revealed to you before you actually get your hands on the game might cause you to get upset and damage a pet or some rather expensive electronics, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Even in that case, though, you can still selectively flip through the video to see some of the gameplay, which admittedly looks pretty darn awesome. Even the Wii version, which has considerably fewer graphical bells and whistles seems to look rather attractive. Because of the motion sensitive controls it seems like that version is a little more difficult to play (e.g. you have to make actual motions a la Twilight Princess to control your lightsaber vs. simply pounding a button), but presumably that means that it feels a little more realistic as well (hopefully in a good way). In either case, check out the video, its pretty sweet, and should certainly take your appetite from “wet” to “drool” in anticipation of the September 16th release.
As I’m sure most of you are aware by now, Microsoft not only confirmed the price drops for the Xbox 360 earlier this week, but they went into affect at major retailers across the country this morning.
The big update for this story, though, sheds some light on the one question mark we all held with regards to the price cut - the leftover 20 gig models. They were included in the drop, though that had escaped mention in many of the leaked ads, and will now be selling for $259 msrp until they are gone. (Some places still selling the Halo version - which is freakin sweet, by the way - have also dropped the price on that model, from $399 to $349, as seen here on Walmart.com.)
So, for those of you who had been waiting for the price drop to pick up your 360s, head on out and rejoice in the nation’s favorite pastime - spending money.
As we had previously reported, thanks to the good folks over at Wired’s Game|Life blog, and as Kotaku has pointed out here (among other posts), there has been more and more information leaking about the newest price cuts for the Xbox 360. It seems that as early as this coming weekend, the Arcade version will sell for $199, according to Walmart (as shown in the above scan of the ad starting this Sunday, September 7), and based on the other reports, the 60 GB Pro will retail for $299, with the 120 GB Elite rounding out the group at $399. So yes, Microsoft will in fact be the first to break the $200 price point - if only by pennies and with the crummy Arcade system, but hey, it’s still progress. If anyone bought a 360 recently, I hope you still have your receipts!
Also, no word yet on whether the price drop will affect any remaining 20 gig units, which are currently priced at $299 and would undoubtedly continue to sit there not selling were they to remain the same price as the 60 gig.
…because now is the time to pee your pants more than you’ve ever peed before - the good people at Bethesda have revealed 5 - count ‘em - FIVE new Fallout 3 videos at PAX today, and the other good people at GameTrailers.com have laid them out in one convenient spot for your viewing and re-viewing pleasure. Here is the first one to get your drool going; once you’ve moped up, go to the url below for the other 4:
Don’t worry, you can let it out. This is definitely cause for a major “WTF?” moment.
According to the cool folks at 1up.com, via Official Xbox Magazine, rumors are circulating that Gearbox, the developers behind the Brothers in Arms series, are going to be responsible to taking Master Chief, Cortana, and the rest of the Halo universe into the NEXT next generation. (more…)
As a delighted owner of both the Wii and the robotic vacuum cleaner Roomba, I couldn’t help but “borrow” this news-bit, originally posted by the guys over at Kotaku. Here, a Japanese wiz-man (wiz-person?), Ron Tajima hooks up his Wii Fit Balance Board to his Roomba using a Bluetooth connection. The result? Vacuuming your floors by exercising, of course!
What would be even more cool, now, is to reverse the feedback to have the motions of the vacuuming Roomba transmit back to the Balance Board for a true balancing mini-game!
