One part of me feels like I’ve cheated Destructoid readers and fellow Yakuza series fans by not writing up a preview of my experiences withYakuza 4lately. Wait,I think I did once. Here’s the deal, though: I’ve played it a few times now, but the fact of the matter is that nothing I write is going to increase or decrease the Yakuza fan’s desire for the game. Some of you have already played the Japanese release....
The rumor is that Sony is pushing devs to make smaller, non-gaming applications for your PSP and upcoming PSPgo. These apps will be less than 100mb in size, and will sell for less (we hear from two to six dollars) than your typical PlayStation Store title. This sounds like Apple’s App Store, doesn’t it? This also sounds a lot like a story Destructoid brokeearlier this month. WhenCNetasked about the closed-PSP clock app and whether we would see some other applications like that in the future, SCEA PR rep Al De Leon said that “significant reduction in the development tools for the PSP....
You didn’t think you were done withHalo Warsyet, did you? Microsoft has announced that the “Historic Battles” map pack will be available on July 21 for 800 points. What do you get? Four new maps of varying sizes, all of which represent key turning points in the UNSC/Covenant war — “Barrens,” “Blood River,” “Glacial Ravine,” and “Memorial Basin.” Oh, and how about some Achievements? Four new Achievements will be included with the “Historic Battles” DLC, totally 150 points....
Analysts are usually paid to talk about business things and stroke their chins while thinking about how great their pie chart looks. Not in Japan, it seems, where one particular analyst decided to sidestep the boring business stuff andtake Capcom to taskonResident Evil 5‘s control scheme. Seriously! “I thoughtResident Evil 5had very poor playability in the demo version, so I would like to hear Capcom’s opinion.” stated one analyst (clearly abiased fanboy) following the the company’s financial earnings forecast....
Sony has announced the official date forGod ofWar III, and that date will be March 16. Clear your calendars accordingly, because it promises to be epic. The official box art for the game has also been revealed, and it features a big angry Kratos face. Some things to note: dude seriously takes care of his eyebrows. I mean, there’s not a hair out of place. Where does he find the time to shape and tweeze while climbing on the back of Titans towards his ultimate showdown with Zeus?...
EA’s Origin service — and let’s not kid ourselves here — has been getting a lot of harsh criticism ever since its launch several months ago. Hell, evenSerious Sam 3: BFE‘s publishershave openly mocked the service. EA has been trying to getmore gamers interested in Originwith sales that has seen the likes ofBad Company 2&Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Boxbeing sold for just $5 each. Now they’re hoping that Origin’s pre-order bonus forBattlefield 3will bring fans en masse....
While you wait for thatCrackdowndemoto hit, Eidos has gone ahead and scheduled their upcoming World War II titleBattlestations: Midwayto come to Xbox 360 owners on Thursday via a multiplayer demo. Here’s what you’ll get for your free download: The multi-player demo will feature the Island of Solomon multi-player map where players will face-off between American and Japanese forces as they engage in massive air, sea, and undersea battles. Get first hand experience of this new action/strategy game set against a seascape teeming with aircraft carriers, fighter, torpedo, and dive bombing squadrons, naval destroyers, battleships, submarines and more!...
I was readingStuff.comthis morning and stumbled across this article lecturing readers about the difficulty of getting into the video game industry. David Hodgson, author of a little book calledPaid to Play:An Insider’s Guide to Video Game Careersshares some of his infinite wisdom with us by saying: “It’s not like working in the industry is sitting around playing video games.” He goes on to explain that the first requirement is to “know yourself....
That’s what we like to hear! The ESRBhas ratedBioShock 2, and likeso many otherESRB ratings, it has made the game sound positively splendid. Summarizing the game’s “intense acts of violence,” the ratings board has talked about drills, blood, and “fantastical” corpse harvesting. Here’s what the ESRB has to say about 2K’s upcoming underwater shooter: Intense acts of violence are as follows: players can use telekinesis to bring enemies close-up before drilling them to death—blood splatters in all directions; players can freeze enemies and allow them to shatter into pieces; players can set fire to enemies, or electrocute them in standing pools of water....
Arc System Works (Guilty Gear) knows what’s up. People have to practice at home, right? Their latest jaw-droppingly beautiful 2D fighter is the talk of the fighting game world, and soon that talk will extend into our homes. The latest issue of Famitsu reports thatBlazBlueis coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3. We all could have probably guessed that, but now we have a rough date for Japanese release: summer....
Valve has announced that the PlayStation 3 version ofPortal 2will feature Steam functionality. This is the first time Steam has ever appeared on a console, and this will also be the first time that PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to play with PC or Mac gamers. Along with cross-platform multiplayer, we can expect persistent cloud-based storage for PS3 save games and cross-platform chat. (To clarify, “cross-platform” in this context means PS3-PC/Mac, not PS3-360....
Rejoice, retro nerds: PlayStation Portable titleCapcom Classics Collection: Remixedwill be available for download tomorrow via PlayStation Network. For those of you out of the loop,Capcom Classics Collection: Remixedis acollectionofCapcom classicsthat have beenremixed. Some of these games within the game are the universally lauded arcade titleBlack Tiger, the inspiring breakout arcade gameBlock Block, and brilliant Genesis releaseMega Twins. The full listing of the games is available below the fold. It might be in your best interest to check that out — games likeFinal FightandStreet Fighterare apparently included among the aforementioned stuff....
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez doesn’t like videogames. In fact, the controversial political figurehatesthem, having named the PlayStation a “poison” that lead Venezuelan children down the “road to Hell” with its evil Capitalist ways. Oh, that wacky Chavez! “Those games they call ‘PlayStation’ are poison,” states Chavez on his weekly radio-TV show. “Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game, ‘you’ve got to find Chavez to kill him....
