I was walking around the block with my daughter on my shoulders. On the street behind our house I was overtaken by a mother carrying a small dog and her little seven or eight year old son proudly carrying a dvd or game box. As they passed I noticed that it was a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4 that she …

Just for a few days though. Will be back on Thursday morning, probably all buggered from jetlag. And then the next day will be GameAxis LIVE! Joy! Authentic fish and chips ahoy!

Stay safe and don’t blow up your mouse hand!

Recently a ticking clock at a location on Square-Enix’s Japan website called CTDS gave away that Chrono Trigger was coming to Nintendo DS, a fact that the company confirmed on Thursday. Now the site has an actual number ticking down the seconds until some time next Wednesday morning, which …

Chicago regularly holds their Independence Day fireworks on the third, although this year is a weird one because Navy Pier will also be holding theirs tonight.It's hard to describe the urban density of the event, especially from Grant Park. There was a over a million people packed into a few city …

We were resigned to the fact once retailers started pushing their release dates back to mid-October, but the dev team have gone and made it official, announcing that SOCOM Confrontation has been delayed until October 14. The usual short-term delay reasons are apparent - a desire to add a little more …

Have we seen any of this kind of footage? I can't remember any. This is raw, somebody's-on-the-other-end-of-a-controller video of Mercenaries 2 in action, with lead designer Scott Warner taking the wheel to show how the game's objectives can be completed differently using the three available …

Happy Fourth of July you American readers you... and anyone else looking for an excuse to get drunk and blow stuff up. Make sure to drink your mojitos responsibly today and at some point sit down and watch this robot arm suck all of the fun out of Air Hockey. Man, I'd pay good money to see this …

The first half of this year belong to the PSP. According to Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, the PSP moved 1,964,461 units, while the Wii was hot on its heels with 1,720,263 units. Rounding out the top three was the Nintendo DS, selling 1,593,844 units. Now that Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G has been …

Game Developer magazine's Brandon Sheffield (pictured) has a thoughtful editorial on the realities of the changing video game industry. As the market continues to mushroom at a rapid rate, things are bound to change. According to Sheffield: Right now, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, and World of …

Don't forget! We've still got that copy of Civilization Revolution to give away. To you, maybe. Here's what's going on: Use each of the letters that appear in the title Civilization Revolution to spell out countries names. So, for example, "Canada", "Ireland", "Vietnam"... None of the countries can …

America, your PlayStation Store offering for the week was pretty poor, but you're excused. It's a long weekend, you're out drinking and celebrating and letting off fireworks. But Europe? July 4 means nothing, so you have no excuse. Unless you lot were hanging out for Commando 3 or (the admittedly …

Ah, it just wouldn't be an Aaron Greenberg interview without a little juice to it, would it? Xbox's director of product management has, while speaking with Gamasutra, re-iterated a common and well-worn theme amongst Microsoft (and Sony) executives that, after new gamers buy themselves a Wii, they'll …

2.40 Dojo - Yes, time to kick off another Dojo! As you'd be aware, Sony's new-fangled 2.40 firmware for the PS3 was up, then down, and now, two days on, is still down. With no word from Sony, other than that they're "working on it". Hope they can get it up soon, be nice to spend the long weekend …

Capcom's posted the original art for the Street Fighter IV Ryu anime shown at this year's Captivate. The animation trailer is up on the Capcom site, so you can see that here. To check out the art, that's in the gallery right down there. Enjoy! galleryPost('ryuanime', 3, 'SFIV …

newVideoPlayer("/Bigbangmini_kotaku.flv", 480, 380,""); It's not just a Fourth of July fireworks display, it's a Fourth of July dual-display! The game is Big Bang Mini, a sort of space shooter in which you launch fireworks at your enemies to destroy them, much like the Americans did to the British …

Two teens were apparently arguing over a Sony PSP in Jacksonville, Florida ended in a shooting. According to the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office, 17 year-old Zachary Robinson was arguing with another teenage male when he suddenly started shooting, hitting the other teen twice. The scene took place in …

Just a friendly reminder! We also have our Top Spin contest, which we will extend over the weekend 'cause of the three-day-weekend and wrap up early next week. Above is baconfrenzy's entry; Ben writes, "The attached file is muh entry, no laughs... well, maybe a chuckle." Here's what's going on: …

Once was a time Burnout was all about the cars. Then they went and brought bikes into the mix, and everything changed. Criterion got a little...crazy. Started thinking less about the vehicles and more about the pure speed. That doesn't make it any less surprising to hear Criterion is thinking about …

The recent increase of youth crime has Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher. Eighteen teenagers have been murdered this year so far in London, and the Metropolitan police have set up a dedicated task force of 75 officers to combat crime. And the cause of this crime? According to Gallagher: I was up in …

There's a feeling you get when playing Operation Flashpoint that no game since has managed to capture. Not even Oblivion. The feeling of being a real person, alone, in a dangerous place, and each step you take across the game's huge landscape could well be your last. You agree? Then be heartened by …

Filed under: Retro, Mobile While we still don't think the iPhone App Store makes the do-everything cell phone a threat to the DS, we are impressed with the growing list of big-name franchises being ported to the system. We can now amend that list to include the Bomberman series, with Hudson's with …

Filed under: Mac, PC, Online, MMO Blizzard has opened US registration for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. American World of Warcraft players should probably head over to this page now and register for a chance to opt in. Two helpful reminders: Registering for the beta does not guarantee you a …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3 If there's one thing that we want to know about Siren: Blood Curse it's what's it going to cost us to play. You see, while Sony is releasing the game in Japan in both downloadable and Blu-ray formats, it's straight up "episodic" on PlayStation Network for both the …

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360click for more pics of Cold Storage Confused about what exactly you need to do to play the new Halo 3 multiplayer map, Cold Storage, come Monday, Bungie Day? Let Bungie's Luke & Co. explain it all in the "On the Seven7th Day" vidoc, embedded after the break. In …

Filed under: Podcasts Hooray for America! You're having another birthday and we're celebrating with another edition of the apex of your cultural contribution to the annals of history: The Joystiq Podcast. We're talking PS3 firmware 2.40, and finally picking a winner for the You Have To Write the …

Filed under: PC, Action, Online Whether calling it out for being too colorful or even too conservative, Diablo 3 naysayers have certainly not lacked for ammunition to sling at the action RPG since it was made all official like late last month. Now pessimists can add another rock to the pile, with …

Filed under: Nintendo DS, PC, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 Oh yes, we got to play Spore. The entire thing. With Will Wright providing backseat commentary. We also got some time with the Wrath of the Lich King's Death Knight, and DS Fanboy decided to play Homie Rollerz (so you don't have to). …

Filed under: Hacks, Sony PSP, RhythmIt's not often (in fact it's never) that you see a game tagline line this: "Make music with a disc of 510 067 420 km² = the Earth." But that's what Oterp, a hombrew PSP app by Antonin Fourneau does.Oterp uses the PSP GPS add-on to track your relative …

Filed under: CultureRock star and noted media violence expert Noel Gallagher used a recent public appearance to speak out against the influence of violent video games, according to the BBC. While accepting an award at London's Silver Clef Music Awards, Professor Emeritus Gallagher mentioned games as …

Filed under: Culture, Meta (about Joystiq) You might not recognize him, but that's Captain America saving the world from what looks like cast of WALL-E. With Commodore 64 graphics, you have to use your imagination to fill in quite a few missing pieces. A happy 4th of July to all our readers (even if …

Filed under: Nintendo DS Reviews? Original content? Weird and wacky spins on DS news? We've got it all, and this week, we've even got extras. Don't fight, fanboys -- there's plenty to go around, and these are happy times. It's a holiday, we're looking at Chrono Trigger ... things are good. Community …

Filed under: Nintendo GameCube, RhythmHere at Joystiq, we've been pretty consistent in our hatred of useless plastic attachments for the Wii Remote. We might have to break our streak, though, as we're uncharacteristically excited about the maraca attachments that were recently shown as part of the …

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Joyswag Our five (non-consecutive) day long Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath Xbox 360 giveaway continues. Here's how you could win: To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling us Where in the World Bobblehead Kane is (is that Serra?) You must be …

I was talking to a colleague yesterday about going to E3. He isn’t, and he hasn’t been in a long time. Like me, he’s primarily a PC gamer, so he feels a little bit out of the loop with the new console heavy E3 schedule. So, just for kicks, I dug out the Computer Games Strategy …

The Clumsys is a hidden object game that departs from the traditional formula just enough to feel like a new experience. It's Tim's tenth birthday and his friends are over to celebrate. Grandpa Albert is working on a time machine in the barn, but when he turns his back the children discover it and …

Neon has a certain glitz to it. Whether it's glittering in the lights of Las Vegas, shining in the sign of a convenience store, or just brightening up the periodic table, neon always adds a little extra to everything it touches. It was only a matter of time, then, before someone mixed the brilliance …

Gamasutra's latest 'Producers Of The Round Table' discussion looks at team structure, with producers from Gas Powered Games, Stainless, Red Storm and Freeverse analyzing how game teams are constructed to function smoothly.

by: Charles HusemannNEWS - It's the Fourth of July here in the US, the holiday where we celebrate our independence from our (now) good friend the British.  Expect posting to be light today as most of the staff will be celebrating the holiday by grilling meat, drinking beverages, and setting off …

by: Charles HusemannNEWS - Here's the new developer diary from Pandemic that shows the different ways you'll be able to solve problems in Mercenaries 2.  There's  a tactical approach, a covert approach, and my personal favorite ...blowing stuff up. Comment

by: Charles HusemannNEWS - Sarcastic Gamer (via CVG) has a contact that has revealed that Microsoft will be unveiling a new Halo game at E3 this year.  Take this with a Scorpion sized grain of salt but it does make a bit of sense in that it would give Microsoft their tent pole game for next …

by: John YanNEWS - I admit I'm pretty skeptical about this MMO seeing as the Marvel one didn't get off the ground. I'm guessing everyone will be some new superhero for the universe rather than being able to play as an established DC hero or villain. Either way, I hope it does well as you get some …

July 4th is the day that Americans celebrate independence from England and the decision for the United States to find its own way in the world. For revenge, GirlFlash decided to host Mini LD48 #2. also, sorry if I am interrupting anybodies Independence day plans, but I’m English and this is how I …

GRID, developed and published by Codemasters.The Good: Several racing styles, flashbacks are neat without being overused, total victory not required for advancement, joining multiplayer games is generally painless, aggressive AI, nice graphics, excellent sound designThe Not So Good: Semi-arcade …

Ever wonder what really controls your car when you drive? A very creative individual hand painted a Nintendo Controller on his engine and even managed to get the proportions right despite the shape. via BestPicEver

If you saw my review of the Nintendo DS version of Insecticide, you already know how that went. If not, I’ll summarize it for you: wait for the PC version. The game was impressive in a lot of ways but fell short in others due to platform limitations. I’m pleased to announce that the …

Sony’s PSP held onto the hardware top spot in the face of increased competition from Nintendo platforms, while PS3 sales continued to fall following a Metal Gear Solid fuelled high earlier in June.

Sony’s PlayStation Network director lays out the firm’s 2008 roadmap, telling Next-Gen that Home’s fall launch “won’t be a 0.5 release” and reiterating the company’s commitment to delivering a PS3 movie download service this summer.

Following the announcement of Company Of Heroes Online, EA unveils its own free-to-play RTS.

Wii Play heads a Nintendo dominated Amazon.com software chart.

BLOG – Hideo Kojima rates Super Mario Bros. and his own Metal Gear Solid as two of the the most personally influential games of all time.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe says it may struggle to satisfy day one demand for the rumble-enabled DualShock 3 controller.

Robert Brent has been appointed as SCi Entertainment’s new chief financial officer.

Graphics chip maker Nvidia saw its stock tumble by 31 percent to a four-year low after it cut its second-quarter sales and profits forecasts.

Breaking radio silence. As aside, I haven't done that kind of concentrated coding in some time. It felt kinda good in that tiring don't want to do it again for some time kinda way.I've managed to spend a little more time with the full version of Bad Company's online mode. I stated earlier that …

The date for Dusmania 10 has been set: during July 19-20, 2008 keen indy game developers will be able to meet professionals from the games industry in Rodgau/Nieder-Roden, Germany.

Happy birthday to my country! I watched John Adams last weekend, it was awesome, and I'm feeling the most patriotic I've ever felt (* > 0). That is not an emoticon. Sony released a huge update to the Playstation 3 on Wednesday which would give the system an Xbox 360-like in-game cross …

Those of us in North America must wait until the end of September to play Wario Land: Shake It! for the Nintendo Wii, but considering that Japan gets the game at the end of this month, Nintendo has gone ahead...

The more people buy PS3s, the more people sign up to the the PSN. The more people sign up to the PSN, the more it costs Sony to keep the thing running. So will there come a time when Sony start charging you for the use of the PSN? Maybe! You can never rule that kinda thing out. But if they are, they …

Not that this will matter to any of you on a practical level, since we pray you won't actually pick up a copy of Guitar Hero Aerosmith, but it's good news on principle. Seems that Rock Band controllers will work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, with the G4TV team testing the 360 version and finding that …

The Xbox 360 DualShock? The PS3 Xbox 360 Controller? Over at Xbox-Scene Forums, moderator RDC has modded an Xbox 360 controller into a PS3 controller, writing: "The D-pad, Select, PS, Start, Square, Triangle, Circle, Cross, L1/R1 and L3/R3 buttons are all wired up right now and working, as are the …

For a game built upon endless repetition, Brain Training's certainly making an impression on some people, because years on from release, the two games are still selling like fancy, heated cakes. So Nintendo are surely working on more, yes? Itprintsmoney.gif and all that? No. Having most likely …

While it's calmed down a lot over the past decade, Northern Ireland is still a reasonably sensitive place politically. Not the kind of place you'll be dodging pub bombs anymmore, granted, but still not the kind of place you want to make any cultural faux pas, either. So EA Sports understandably …

WiiWare game Mega Man 9 has been dated for Japan. The game will be out this September as confirmed by this week's Famitsu. The 8-bit game hasn't yet gotten a Western release date. That's what E3 for! famitsu 20080704 [Wii@Everyday]

Something's wrong. A straight-up, side-scrolling platformer? By Nintendo? For a home console? But this is 2008, they're selling Wii Fits and Wii Plays, they wouldn't bother with something like this, would they? [via Go Nintendo]

By Kotaku Time, it's officially July 4th. So, happy July 4th! And to celebrate, we're giving away a copy of Civilization Revolution in a very, very easy contest. Use each of the letters that appear in the title Civilization Revolution to spell out countries names. So, for example, "Canada", "Ireland …

Oh, the drama. In the latest 1Up Yours podcast, Too Human creator Denis Dyack explains just why he went after the NeoGAF Too Human haters. In his own words, Denis Dyack: I was basically calling out people who had no way of assessing the game... All I wanted to point out to people is that this is so …

Five games that made an impact on the life of Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima? According to the famed game designer: • Super Mario Bros. • Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken • Xevious • Another World • Metal Gear Solid This list comes from a Yomiuri Newspaper article called "All …

Ah, and finally, the pre-E3 hype train picks up a little steam. Citing both Sarcastic Gamer and their own "sources", CVG are claiming that a new Halo game will be unveiled at E3. This Halo game might be Peter Jackson's game, it might not be, but either way, they say it won't feature the Master Chief …

Scary time! On July 24, Siren: Blood Curuse drops. The reworking on the original PS2 horror title will also be available via PlayStation Store and Blu-ray disc. According to website Eurogamer, Blood Curse will also be broken up into four downloadable chapters, each with three episodes per chapter …

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Happy Third! Actually, kinda miss the 4th. Well, the way it's done in America. People pretty much set off fireworks all summer here — like you can buy them at your local 7-11. So, they're more of a summer thing, which is nice. Not sure about the laws regarding them …

As foretold, here are the first screens of zombie love, zombie bowling, zombie rock and roll, zombie sumo, zombie apple picking Ai sareru yori ai shitai: House of the Dead EX. The game looks more causal and more crazy. It's jammed pack with mini-games that are controlled by the gun and the foot …

Filed under: Hacks, Nintendo Wii, First Person Shooters The inventiveness of the homebrew scene never ceases to amaze us. Take for instance the above video. What you see in it is, in fact, GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 running on a Wii with the "Homebrew Channel" installed.The poster of the video …

Filed under: Culture, Online The notorious Fruit Fucker in cake form from Clever Cake Studios. (Thanks, John) Check out the highlights for today:JoystiqueryJoystiq interview: Treyarch's Jeremy Luyties on James BondTicket to Ride vs. Ticket to Ride vs. Ticket to RideX3F Week in Review: June 27, 2008 …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action "There's my steed!" Looks like we'll get to control a god of war War himself and do it with style in Vigil Games' open-world action game, Darksiders: Wrath of War. Considering that Joe "Mad!" Madureira of X-Men and Battle Chasers fame is …

Filed under: PC, Sports PC sports gamers are somewhat justifiably unhappy with Peter Moore right now. Earlier this year, the EA Sports executive announced that Madden and many other EA Sports games won't be coming to the PC market this year. But wait, you didn't give him a chance to explain! Well, …

Filed under: Hacks, Portable, Retro Our first thought upon seeing this very cool hack was "that's awesome." Our second thought was "do you have to blow on it to make it work?"BenHeck.com forum member "darkeru" created this inventive new take on a home made NES portable, which manages to squeeze all …

Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Strategy Hey, you got real-time strategy in our first-person shooter! That's the mantra we could be chanting this fall when SouthPeak and Evolved Games partner to release Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger, a new RTS/FPS hybrid, for the …

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Politics Preventing the world from plunging into economic chaos can be dirty, joyless work. Thankfully, foreign ministers of the ultra-exclusive G8 club were handed their very own perfume balls and custom DSs when they gathered in Kyoto recently to lay the groundwork for …

Filed under: Sony PSP Rumors that Devil May Cry would be theatrically shooting its way onto the PSP are about as old as the PSP itself. As far back as June 2005, Capcom discussed bringing Devil May Cry to the PSP along with nine other PSP titles; at that time, GameSpot wrote, "Devil May Cry [for the …

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox 360 EA Sports has apologized for putting "The Soldier's Song," traditionally sung at United Ireland games, in place of Northern Ireland's national anthem, "God Save the Queen," in UEFA Euro 2008. Northern Ireland's …

Filed under: Nintendo Wii Scheduled to be released later this month in Japan, Wario Land Shake has been largely invisible ... until now. A little too dramatic there? Fair enough, but we're excited is all. While Mario and his fancy blue overalls snubs his mustachioed nose at 2D console …

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Fighting We have a very clear memory of watching the video we've linked to during Captivate 08 and wishing only that we could bring it to you, the masses. Why? Well, for starters, it's lifted from Street Fighter IV, which we hear you, the …

Here on the slab of land just south of Canada and north of Mexico (including bits of land in the Pacific ocean and a whole hunk of terra firma way in the north), today is Independence Day. You know what that means, right? Fireworks, parades, barbecues, picnics, and this year, Link Dump Friday!

by: Sean ColleliNEWS - Did you just hear the collective fanboy squee?  Square Enix has announced that they are porting Chrono Trigger to the DS.  Chrono Trigger is one of the Super Nintendo's most beloved classics, and is arguably considered to be Square's finest RPG.  Fans have been …

by: John YanNEWS - For you World of Warcraft players out there, you can now sign up to beta test the next expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King. Signing up does not guarantee a spot in the test though and it's all random as to whether you get in or not.Comment

by: Charles HusemannNEWS - Elliot Bonnie Looks like I will celebrating July 4th weekend with the epic Metal Gear Solid 4. Love it or hate it... you have to respect Hideo Kojima's vision and execution. Sean Colleli The review titles are catching up to me.  I finally installed Kung Fu Panda for …

Hewlet Packard and EA have partnered together! This is a great thing for gamers who don't want to buy the full version of the "Creature Creator." Hewlet Packard is offering...

Halle lost her job as an interior designer. She'll have to start from the bottom by decorating homes on a small budget. Halle will need your help, of course! The...

Raise your hand if you have a broken Les Paul Guitar Hero III controller sitting in your closet. A few of you? A lot of you? It...

Gareth Hinds has made a name for himself in the crowded field of comic books with his intriguing adaptations of classic works of literature.So far he’s tackled “Beowulf” and Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and “The Merchant of Venice.” He’s working on a version of “The Odyssey” that …

Shortly after its release the Fourth Edition D&D PHB was number four on the Wall Street Journal best-selling books list.  And oh, by the way it was listed as non-fiction.  Does the WSJ have Jack Chick writing for them? While that looks to be an impressive accomplishment it really doesn’t say …

Last month, we had a story about Sony giving players that had left Everquest II, the opportunity to return for about a month for free.  Seems that this process may come about for all the MMORPG games that Sony Online Entertainment is handling as I just got an email today telling me my account for …

July actually has a few interesting titles coming up for Xbox 360 owners. Unreal Tournament 3 is coming out next week, but those that aren’t FPS fans have a pretty good pick with Civilization Revolution coming out, as well. Gloriously, we’re only a few months away from football season, …

Don King is a legend in the sport of boxing.  In truth, to some, he is almost an American icon, with his trademark lexicon and passion for the country that afforded him a chance to succeed as a promoter.  With all of this charisma and boxing knowledge, you would expect Don King Presents: Prize …

As the site’s premier fan of all things Castlevania, I’ve had the recent Castlevania announcements swirling in my head for some time now. I’ll be straight with you, I didn’t expect Castlevania: Judgment to be a fighting game. In fact, when online play was tied to the game …

Image 1: Trond Giske, Norwegian minister of culture Technically we’re off topic here (unless our topic is very broad indeed) but I just realized that the near-Danes of Norway have taken a drastic approach to the lure of gaming. Distressed with the rise of gambling addiction, the Norwegian …

The June CTP 2008 version of Karvonite has been released. Karvonite is a FREE persistence framework for the .NET Platform including XNA and the compact framework that let you easily serialize/deserialize objects. http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/karvonite

SWEngine is a powerful and free 2D Game Engine. It has simple and flexible API to easily develop 2D games. It uses OpenGL, Glew, GLSL, FMod, Box2D and DirectInput in it's framework. It also has a good API doc and lots of tutorials (nearly 40). You can access SWEngine and other SWWorkshop products …

We're a bit light on the content this week but with the 4th of July around the corner, I've had to cut short the usual length of time this feature covers. Seeing as that tomorrow is a holiday for us in the US of A, here's your weekend wrap-up a day early. Enjoy the three-day weekend fellow …

Let’s see, you have lumthemad.net which used to be some ranty blog or another, and is NOT lumthemad.com, which features a blonde woman reading a newspaper and a link to stories about the female libido, and MOST DEFINITELY not lumthemad.org which is another site entirely, and it points to …

If I had to have a favorite judge, chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery William B. Chandler III would be the man. Chandler is famous for his deep understanding of the cases he rules on, from referencing 50 Cent to channeling Ray Charles for an opinion on a Coca-Cola case (baby-uh huh). …

Digital Extremes, the team behind such mediocre titles as Dark Sector, Pariah and Extreme Pinball, have signed on to help optimize Bioshock for the Playstation 3. To be fair, DE did also produce the fair to middling Unreal Tournament 2003, and they do have a way with death frisbees. The game is …

Like me, many of you folks drooled over the mere idea of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational exclusive Archangel Tyrael pet for World of Warcraft. Now we get to see the little guy who'll have players /telling the lucky recipients with "Were'd u get tht?" from now until the end of time. Blizzard just …

July is Ninja Month! So says Xbox Live, which now randomly sports a Ninja Live ad which takes you to ninja paradise. Well, not exactly ninja paradise. In ninja paradise, you'd all be dead. Instead, you get links to ninja movies and television shows, ninja games, ninja style, and this particular …

It's a real-time strategy game. It's a first-person shooter. It's both! SouthPeak Games has just announced Raven Squad, an RTS/FPS hybrid under development by Atomic Motion for the PC and Xbox 360. Unlike S2's Savage series, which allows players to chose which role they want to take, Raven Squad …

A day after taking their 2.40 firmware update for the Playstation 3 down after message boards lit up with people complaining of sporadic problems with the software, Sony Computer Entertainment says that they are now assessing the issue and will put the update back up once they have solved the …

As Luke pointed out early this morning, the report that U.S. games sales had surpassed DVD sales was bound to be misconstrued. And it was. In fact it's just plain wrong. The folks over at Entertainment Merchants Association wrote to let us know that the $18 billion for "game sales" includes software …

July is the most anxious month for the independent roster editors devoted to Electronic Arts’ NCAA Football franchise. No matter what the game adds each year, promising an ever richer pageant of college football, it falls to these writers to add in the basic identities of the game’s performers, …

I've always been of two minds regarding EA DICE's Battlefield series. While I've enjoyed countless hours finding creative ways to destroy my fellow players in gigantic military conflicts, overall the games lacked a certain charisma. The sort of personality and immersion that can only come from …

Though Portal and BioShock were largely the critical favorites among last year's crop of titles, earning numerous industry awards apiece, the Writer's Guild of America decided to bestow its newly-created Videogame Writing Award on Dead Head Fred. Nothing against that title, but many game fans were …

What are you playing this weekend? On a Thursday? Sorry, but we got some independence to celebrate. That's what we'll be doing all day tomorrow instead of hunting for game cakes, posting crazy wild speculation and bringing you the freshest of Tifa hentai. We'll be shootin' guns, lighting M-80s and …

Strong video game sales, on both console and PC, helped drive retailer HMV to a 25 percent growth in their fiscal year results. The boost, the company says, will help it speed up the rollout of some fancy new stores. Reported the UK Independent: HMV said its pre-tax profits rose by 25.2 per cent to …

You're looking at the summer street carnival in my home stomping grounds of Spanish Harlem, New York, as seen from the top of a great big ferris wheel. I've written before about how many here face challenging economic circumstances, but during the summer, the neighborhood is quite a lovely community …

Out with the old, in with the NEW. The weekly Media Create sales chart is packed with new Japanese releases, with Derby Stallion DS snatching first place from Tales of Symphonia. It's a big week for the Wii and Nintendo DS overseas, as a ton of new titles for Nintendo's hardware platforms sell and …

Following CVG's report that Take-Two might close the doors on Venom Studios, its Newcastle, UK-based developer of Don King's Prizefighter and Prey, Take-Two has said in a statement that it is indeed considering layoffs, though no final decisions have been made yet. "We are assessing the role of …

Now's your chance, World of Warcraft players! The Wrath of the Lich King beta opt-in button under account management on the World of Warcraft web page is now eagerly awaiting your forceful mouse button click. Yes, just one click is all it takes to throw your name into the very large hat Blizzard …

GamesRadar got the first look at the recently-announced, retro-style Mega Man 9 that's heading exclusively to Wii Ware - here are plenty of screens, plus the news that one of the enemies is not a Something-Man, but a Splash Woman. Sweet. GamesRadar says it's just like the "maddeningly difficult" NES …

Another retailer has shown that Microsoft is planning to drop the price of the Xbox 360 20GB model — formerly known as the "Pro" — to $299, as a Best Buy employee has forwarded us (obligatorily blurry) cell phone pics of an upcoming weekly ad. The model currently retails for a suggested price of …

Oh, so here's a release date for the Xbox 360 Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise! September 5th is when the follow-up in the candy-filled franchise hits — and it strikes me, you know, what an odd idea! Who'd have ever thought that reviving fandom for piñatas, that semi-relic toy we used to …

It just looks better and better every time I see it. GameTrailers just posted their exclusive trailer for Namco Bandai's Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PlayStation 3, and I have to say that this is hands-down the best looking cell-shaded game I have ever seen. The visuals that I've seen so far …

Your weekly Rock Band update is in a little early, thanks to tomorrow's American holiday. It's a solid one — two parts Red Hot Chili Peppers, two parts Rush, with a curious re-release in the form of "Working Man." It's listed as an "alternate-take", this time a master track and with an …

I feel, as a culture, we've gotten really joyfully achievement-obsessed. We check our point scores as compulsively as we do our bank accounts, we demand to know what achievements will be available in games that aren't even out yet, and we have anticipated the launch of PS3 trophies with fervor. …

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Computer Getting Hot, Me Melting Have you ever wondered how holiday's creep? Like the Fourth of July isn't until tomorrow, of course, but people tend to try and leave a bit early from work the day before. Some people don't go in at all. Stores close early. I keep expecting …

This Monday, July 7 is Bungie Day on Xbox Live Marketplace. What does that mean to you? Free stuff! The kind of free stuff that absolutely requires an exclamation point. While free gamerpics and a gratis theme will be available that day and that day only, it's the new map, Cold Storage, that will …

UK retailer GAME told MCV that while it might not be planning a huge pipeline of holiday titles, it plans to selectively use its distribution channels to publish undiscovered titles under its own brand name. GAME was quick to reiterate it planned no threat to game publishers at all, and would …

There's little doubt that the artist line-up for Rock Band 2 is shaping up nicely. Guitar Hero is getting some nice exclusives as well. With Journey, Boston, Metallica, The Who and other top tier acts lending their tunes to the dominant rhythm games, there aren't many superstars left to cross off …

Zombie romance, zombie bowling, zombie rock and roll — all key components of the next The House of the Dead. At least, that's what we can glean from Sega's whacked out promo flyer for The House of the Dead EX, a more comedic, more casual spin-off for the light gun series that brings with a foot …

Just because Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sales are waning (finally) doesn't mean that the urge to buy PSP hardware is becoming any less intense. And even though the PSP doesn't have any software showing in the top ten for the week doesn't mean that it can't continue to rule the roost on the Media …

Well, would you? Seriously. Reason we're asking is that last week Atari sought to have their name trademarked in association with “internet protocol phones” and “residential telephone apparatus composing telephones and telephone connecting units”. Before you ask, yes, that's the gaming Atari …

As we've seen, the Spore Creature Creator is not just about making dicks. Oh no, you can make Xbox 360 controllers, Wii-motes and DualShock 3s, too! What's more, if you're really good at making stuff, like internet human evantisin is, you can create Metal Gear Solid 4 B&B Corps. members. Above is …

If you care to remember, Jim Cameron has said that the game adaptation of his upcoming sci-fi flick - Avatar - is already running in 3D, and running in 3D on a 360. Ubisoft are the guys behind that game, but they're not the only ones looking at the tech. XNA boss Chris Satchell has said Microsoft …

How many Tales games are already on their way? Dunno. We've lost count. Especially now that we know there are two more coming, one for the PSP, one for the DS. The PSP one's called Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, which will feature the same main character as the upcoming Tales of Vesperia …

Wii Fit has done big business in Japan — and pretty much everywhere, for that matter. The peripheral and game went on sale late last year in The Land of the Rising Sun, and Japanese website IT Media poses the question: Do Wii Fit owners actually still play Wii Fit everyday? Short answer: Nope …

If you're in the mood to spend your Independence Day with some Battlefield: Bad Company trailers, this update has your name written all over it. It's also got Top Gun and FREE written all over it, as Guitar Hero III owners get a track for nothin'. Rock Band owners, you get a freebie, too. There's …

Capcom has made a bold move to make Mega Man 9. Actually, Capcom making a Mega Man game period has not really been all that bold. They’ve been milking that franchise more than my local dairy sticks a vacuum tube to their cows. Mega Man 9 will be old school. Yes, it’s going to be done …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm A second partial Rock Band 2 setlist, supposedly culled from a playtest, popped up on the ScoreHero Forum recently, only to be removed and its author disciplined by a moderator. Lucky for you, a Joystiq tipster (thank you!) slipped a …

Filed under: Nintendo Wii The first time we all saw big headed Mii's strolling around the plaza, we imagine we all had the same thought: Animal Crossing on the Wii is a lock. But here we are, a year-and-a-half after the system's release, and we still haven't gotten to use a Wiimote to rock with KK …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Puzzle, Casual We admit that we have an obsession with Little Big Planet, bordering on addiction. It's something with which we're trying our best to cope, a therapy helped somewhat by Media Molecule co-founder and technical guru David Smith. We like to think of his …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, First Person Shooters 2K Games has announced a partnership with Dark Sector developer, Digital Extremes, to aid in the completion of the PlayStation 3 version of superb submerged shooter, BioShock. Digital Extremes is the fourth studio to join the project -- 2K Marin …

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Rhythm Activision announced this morning that Guitar Hero: On Tour is booking gigs all over and has sold 300,000 units in its first week. The publisher states that GH:OT is the company's best launch on the DS by a factor of eight; not only that, but it's also one of the top …

Filed under: BusinessFrance may not have the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, but it will soon have Capcom. The publisher is opening offices in the country that brought us such great things as champagne, escargot, and jokes about France as part of continuing efforts to increase sales of its games in …

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Online Like the rumbling of thunder in the distance, an unstoppable force is audibly and rapidly approaching us. Soon, a cacophony of clicks will ring through our ears, the reverberating result of posting an article which not only concerns Halo …

Filed under: PC, Online In an interview with GameDaily, GameTap's VP of Content, Rick Sanchez, explains that rumors of the gaming-buffet's death are "greatly exaggerated." Although he avoids divulging whether GameTap is profitable, he does say that it is hitting parent company Turner Broadcasting's …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox No sooner does Sony (briefly) improve the PS3 user interface with the much-talked-about version 2.4 firmware update, than some at the company feel cocky enough to start badmouthing the competition's interface. Speaking to Next-Gen, PlayStation Network …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3 Sony has revised a remark made by Eric Lampel that "every game" would eventually feature Trophies. What Lampel likely meant, and what he apparently relayed to GameSpot is that at some point, all new PlayStation 3 releases -- both first- and third-party -- will feature …

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action A little ninja scampered across our screen to bring news that Metanet, developer of N+, has three level packs for the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game ready and waiting. According to a post on Metanet's blog, the downloadable content has already been …

Filed under: Culture After teasing the images and announcement across the web earlier this morning, McFarlane Toys is finally sharing details of its latest licensed toy lineup: Call of Duty: World at War. Scheduled to be released this fall - alongside Treyarch's latest take on the venerable …

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, RPGs All you Nerds worried about wasting Mounds of time waiting for Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise should stop being such Airheads. The anticipated sequel will be Star-bursting onto the scene on Sept. 2 in North and Latin America and Sept. 5 in Europe and …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 With tomorrow being the day the US became independent from France ... what, England, really? Anyway, Harmonix announced its tracks for next week's Rock Band DLC a day early. We've got a couple songs from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rush. "Working …

Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii, Action Beyond some crappy scans and lots of speculation, real info on the WiiWare return of Mega Man has been scant. Well, GamesRadar just opened the flood gates with its exclusive, proper reveal of Mega Man 9, featuring a hands-on by Nintendo editor Brett Elston …

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports Just under a month after shipping Don King Presents Prizefighter for Xbox 360, UK-based Venom Games is reportedly closing up shop. Computer and Video Games cites a source at the company, who divulged that Venom staff were informed of …

Filed under: Features, Microsoft Xbox 360 Well kids, it seems like everyone is holding their cards close to their collective chests as we begin the final run up to E3. That doesn't mean we don't have a few interesting news bits to share though. For one, the Xbox 360 Mega Man 9 evidence continues to …

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Fashion "Well of course they did," you're probably saying to yourself after reading the above headline. "Practically every game on the Xbox 360 has 3D graphics. When is this news from, 1987? HA! HA! *snort*." Don't be such a smartass, hypothetical reader! …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm Guitar Hero World Tour is going to let players make their own songs, so it only stands to reason that Rock Band 2 will as well, right? Right? Not according to Alex Rigopulos, the CEO and co-founder of Rock Band developer Harmonix.Speaking …

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Online Unless the promise of spending time with our pal Ms. Veronica Belmont and another episode of Qore sounds like a nice Thursday night (there's an episode teaser after the break) it might be best to just ignore this week's PSN update. Per usual, the rhythm games …

Let’s turn The Sims into an online game! What could possibly go wrong! (Spotted at Broken Toys.)

Now through the weekend of July 4th, take 40% off all games purchased at Big Fish Games.

Slim Jim, makers of fine dry meat snacks, have a launched virtual world for "people who want to explore their spicy side." This inspired locus, dubbed Spicy Town, is a "wild place where people can create a unique alter ego that’s a little aggressive, insane, adventurous, and …

Bridger writes "Poker software called Polaris will play a rematch against human players during the 2008 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Developed by an artificial intelligence group at the University of Alberta in Canada, Polaris will be pitted against several professionals at the Rio Hotel …

Following Gamasutra's recent, much discussed article on 'quality of life', we follow up with EA_Spouse colleagues and other industry execs with a clear message - crunch doesn't have to happen.

Greg LWe're very pleased to announce that Bruce Damer, a well-known virtual world pioneer who has been a guest author here (twice) has accepted our invitation to join us as a regular author. Below is a short bio about Bruce's past...

by: Dan KeenerNEWS - In addition to pushing back the release by a month, Rockstar has put out four brand new screens from Midnight Club: Los Angeles to whet our appetites until October.  Check them all out after the jump:Comment

by: Dan KeenerNEWS - Rockstar announced today that the release of Midnight Club: Los Angeles has been pushed back about a month from September 9th to October 7th. In addition, the PSP take on the game (Midnight Club: LA Remix) will also be releasing on the same day. Delays are common and usually …

by: Charles HusemannNEWS - I'm not a fan of print mags but the August issue of GamePro is tempting because it's got a ton of new info on Resistance:Fall of Man 2.  Of course there's always the new ARG they are running for the game but my plate is a bit full right now.Comment

by: John YanNEWS - Got a laptop with a NVIDIA chip? You might be taking it in for a repair as the company has announced that there seems to be a problem with some older chips that shipped in "significant quantities". An update to turn the fan on sooner has been issued to help reduce the …

by: Nathan MurrayNEWS - No the World Cyber Games are not forming their own boy band. They are partnering with Samsung making the Samsung SyncMaster Monitor the official viewing platform for the WCG Grand Finale in Cologne Germany. What does this mean exactly? This means that competitors will be …

by: Dan KeenerNEWS - 2K Games announced today that they have contracted with Digital Extremes (Unreal, Dark Sector) to assist in the development of the Playstation 3 version of BioShock. The company will join in-house developers 2K Marin, 2K Boston and 2K Australia with the conversion and addition …

by: Dan KeenerNEWS - Activision announced today that Guitar Hero: On Tour and its unique peripheral has established a new North American sales record by a "factor of eight." In the first seven days the game was on the market, over 300,000 copies were sold. So to break it down, the previous …

So here is an interesting conendrum.  What do you do when a developer closes up shop, while you are reviewing their game?  Well, the review still goes on, but there is a benefit to know that you probably don’t have to worry about DLC to purchase. Venom Games, developer of Don King Presents: …

The guys over at SarcasticGamer.com are known for their hilarious parodies and the SarcasticGamer podcasts. Interestingly, they’ve also been able to allegedly score an inside source that has some interesting claims about Halo 4. A very good and anonymous source tells us that Halo 4 is already …

Yesterday, we had the first set list leak, which came from a screen capture as a section of Rock Band 2 was being shown on G4TV.  The set list from that list includes the following songs: Panic Attack - (I’m guessing) Finger Eleven Chop Suey - System of a Down Give It Away - Red Hot Chili …

Convincing Western audiences to pay little bits of money over a wide span of time has proven difficult, but there's still plenty of hope for the microtransaction model, says ourWorld CEO Derrick Morton.

Japanese publisher Capcom has revealed plans to establish a subsidiary in France to help drive European sales of its games.

UK retailer GAME has issued a trading update, showing first half 2008 sales up 54 percent, and has announced plans to open 60 new stores ahead of the Christmas trading period, as well as the appointment of a new non executive director.

Nintendo’s Wii outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 by almost 100,000 units in Japan during June.

Sony Computer Entertainment will be launching a redesigned PS2 in European and Indian markets by late October, according to a new report.

New games took the top five places on the Japanese software chart during the week ended June 29.

Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl has entered the Australian software chart in top spot.

UPDATE - Prey and Don King's Prizefighter studio Venom Games will reportedly be closed at the end of July.

On its fifth birthday, the Nordic conference juggled regional promotion with global glitz.

After deciding not to bring Madden NFL 09 to PC, EA Sports boss Peter Moore explained the impetus behind the decision, and why he thinks the sports game market on PC is in decline.

Silverstar-owned publisher Empire Interactive will sell off internal development studio Razorworks as it bids to reduce its staff headcount by 30 percent.

Following an earlier report that Venom Games would be closed at the end of July, Take-Two has confirmed to Next-Gen that it is currently considering making layoffs at 2K Games’ only UK-based development studio.

Take-Two has entered a development partnership with London, Ontario-based Dark Sector developer Digital Extremes for the PS3 version of BioShock.

Activision's Guitar Hero: On Tour for Nintendo DS has set a new company sales record for North America.

Rockstar Games has pushed back the date of Midnight Club: Los Angeles from September to October this year.

BLOG – Infinity Ward’s ten million plus selling shooter Call of Duty 4 topped Xbox Live activity for the week ended June 29, holding off competition from the likes of Halo 3 and GTA IV.

Yesterday I talked about the value of employees and was all business. Today I want to talk about the need to earn money by offering products and services that people actually want to pay for. Bill Harris had a great write-up on the brand destruction of Guitar Hero and he accurately nails the core …

WiiWare developer Nnooo recently gave us the opportunity for a little interview. We asked Nic Watt, Creative Director, about developing for Wii, their first WiiWare title „Pop“ and whether he prefers Kylie Minogue or Hugh Jackman. Awesome! GRIND THAT AUTHORITY: First of all: Could you …

The crunch collectible card games are continuing to feel may have contributed to Fantasy Flight’s recent decision to make its Mutant Chronicles CMG non-random. Having already changed their significant CCG lines to “living card games” (read: non-random sets), making the same sort of …