via Computer and Video Games


Point your eyes to the right of this page and you'll a little square box with moving pictures in it. That's what you want. It's a pretty cool TV spot, specifically for the Wii version. Look at its cool motion controls.

Here's what NGamer says: "Quick rundown: you're Edward Carnby, a 1930's detective in 2008's Noo Yoik. Why so out of time? A mystery deserving of its own TV show, so no surprises to see Alone in the Dark chopped into episodic jaunts - complete with 'previously on' fade-ins. It's far more natter-free than any other TV show, mind.

"An opening segment sees a few words exchanged with some mysterious chaps holding you hostage before all manner of unpleasantness crashes the party, taking out limbs, floors and walls in the process. No party bag for that unpleasantness." ...

via Games Industry


God of War designer David Jaffe has launched an attack on Nintendo following the company's marketing director stating only "geeks and otaku" want more storage for the Wii.

Writing on his personal blog, Jaffe accuses Nintendo of snubbing its loyal fanbase for mainstream success, and says Laurent Fischer – who he incorrectly refers to as female – should be ashamed of his comments.

He wrote: "This statement, especially coming from a marketing person, reeks of one of two things:

A - Arrogance at a level that should make Nintendo – if this statement reflects the core of the company – very ashamed.

B - A marketing person who has no real clue about games and thinks she's being cute and coy by dissing the 'geeks' 'cause she thinks the mainstream loves them now... if this is the case, she really needs someone to sit her down and explain to her which side her f*cking toast has been buttered on for years and will eventually get back to being buttered on."

He said that although he's a big fan of Nintendo games, and admires the business and they way it has uplifted the games industry in general, Nintendo is in danger of alienating it's hardcore audience, even accusing the company of "immaturity".

"I like Nintendo. And I love old Nintendo. And both old and new Nintendo have brought so much to this industry that they should be proud and excited and even a little cocky when it comes to their amazing accomplishments.

"Anyone in our business should envy their ability to read, direct, and redirect the market. And to also – when they want to – make some world class, ground breaking games.

He added that the comments by Fischer were "really, really sad. And not so much because Nintendo seems to be telling a chunk of its loyal fanbase to go f*ck itself, but because it's just reeks of junior high school vibe immaturity bulls**t." ...

via Joystiq


Silicon Knight's controversy-fuelled Too Human is nearly finished, as company president Denis Dyack confirms on his IGN blog that the game "is likely just days away" from being completed. Writes Dyack, the team is currently working to squelch a pair of "rare crash bugs" before sending the long-in-development sci-fi Norse action game off for final approval.

The exec also notes that "there will be plenty of time for press to critique Too Human as they will receive evaluation copies well in advance of the release date." This means that when scores come rolling in this August they should not be based on rushed play throughs to meet unrealistic deadlines, at least that's the theory. We admit that part of us will miss the roller coaster ride that has been Too Human's road to retail, though we can't help but wonder what Dyack will be up to next. ...

Latest figures for Japanesse console sales are in as follows:


Playstation Portable: 62,016
Nintendo Wii: 44,639
Nintendo DS Lite: 35,020
Playstation 3: 10,856
Playstation 2: 6,279
Xbox 360: 2,280


PSP is still on top but down roughly 10,000 from last week. Wii is second, reduced by 6,000. Next the DS follows, down 3,000. PS3 is 4th in line, up about 1,700. PS2 is in 5th spot, down 1,900. Last in 5th place is the Xbox 360, up 321. ...

via Computer and Video Games


SNK has confirmed a pretty damn cool list of titles to be included in its new retro compilation title, SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1, headed for Wii as well as PS2 and PSP.

Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown and King of Fighters 94' sit at the top of our favourites list, although if you own a Wii you can already grab all three of those on the UK Virtual Console for 900 Wii Points - about £6.50.

But it's decent news for retro-loving PS2 and PSP owners. Here's the full list, and 16 nostalgic screens below.

• ART OF FIGHTING - The first fighting game to introduce the then new Spirit Gauge, Super Special Moves, use of the 'zoom in/zoom out' function and battle damage to the characters faces.
• BASEBALL STARS 2 - The sequel to the very popular Baseball arcade game.
• BURNING FIGHT - Battle organised crime in the streets of New York in the side
• scrolling fighter.
• FATAL FURY - The first of SNK's fighting franchises to use the NEOGEO MVS System.
• KING OF THE FIGHTERS '94 - This is where the KOF phenomenon began.
• KING OF THE MONSTERS - Giant monsters, Destruction and mayhem in Japan.
• LAST RESORT - Take on hordes of enemies in the popular futuristic shooter.
• MAGICIAN LORD - SNK's classic platformer, pits you as the heroic wizard Elta.
• METAL SLUG
• this series has long been regarded as the bench mark of side
• scrolling purity, now see why!
• NEO TURF MASTERS - Can you get a hole in one?
• SAMURAI SHODOWN - The first title in SNK's hugely popular weapons based fighter.
• SENGOKU - Fight the undead, in feudal Japan.
• SHOCK TROOPERS - Fast paced action and lots and lots of bullets in this run and gun adventure.
• SUPER SIDEKICKS 3 - We all love football - so does SNK!
• TOP HUNTER - In this futuristic platformer, you play as Roddy or Cathy, as you protect the Colonists from the threat of the Space Pirates.
• WORLD HEROES - Take on the greatest fighters throughout time in this popular fighter.

Screenshots ...

via Kotaku


I stopped by D3Publisher's hotel suite yesterday to check out some of their stuff. I hadn't heard much about Bangai-O Spirits (remember, Dreamcast fans?) which has been out in Japan since March and is hitting here sometime in the fourth quarter, but that's because I generally don't follow shooters.

Even I sat up and took notice, though. Bangai-O Spirits, developed by Ikaruga creator Treasure, is hardcore oldschool, from what I could tell by looking, with richly-detailed 2D sprites and both horizontal and vertical scrolling. The awesome thing about it is the full realtime level editor - if you're having a hard time, you can build yourself a little wall, or plow yourself a new path.

You can also build your own levels from scratch, but even that's not the best part. The best part is the way you can share levels with your friends. No need for Nintendo Wi-Fi. No need for DS codes. Okay, so I'm easily impressed by science and technology, but I think you guys will think this is very, very cool.

You can save the levels you make as sound files, just like the way old data cassettes used to do. When you save a level, it makes a sort of rush-and-whirr sound the way a modem does. You can record it to your PC, save it as a Windows media file or whatever you want, and then put it on a website or email it to a buddy. Anyone who downloads the sound file simply plays it into their DS microphone, and voilà - your friend now has the level you made.

If your friend is with you, of course, you just play your sound file on your DS directly into your friend's mic. I know that this is actually ancient technology, but I was totally dazzled to see it repurposed like this. The wonders of human advancement! ...

via Engadget


If you're anything like us, just about everyone in your family has called you up this week to ask if you think they should get the iPhone 3G; it really doesn't help matters that there's just an absurd amount of (mis)information floating around about it right now, too. So this one's for you and your fam -- we're dishing out the straight dope on iPhone 3G, a to z, so feel free to pass it on.

So, what's with the new iPhone 3G?

Well, it's pretty much the same iPhone as before -- except now it's down to $200, and has way faster 3G data, A-GPS (which is even better than regular GPS), as well as a flush headphone jack (which is great for anyone who doesn't want to use Apple's bundled headphones). Oh, and it's also a little thinner around the edges, and a little thicker at the center. If you want to know what it was like to try out, check out our iPhone 3G hands-on.

How'd they get the price so low? The iPhone used to be crazy expensive.

Actually, depending on how you do the math it's not actually cheaper. Now, in some countries the iPhone is free when you sign up for service, and in the US you'll pay $200 for the 8GB model -- half what it was a month ago -- so you're definitely paying less up front. But the data plans cost more now, so you might wind up spending more money over the long run.

Um, ok.

Look, gadgets only get cheaper as time goes on, and Apple's sold enough iPhones to continue to lower their cost to manufacture each unit. But more importantly, Apple's re-arranged its business deals to get carrier subsidies. Basically, what that means for Apple is they've decided to stop asking their carrier-partners for a cut of your monthly service fees. In exchange, the carriers have agreed to pay a significant chunk of the cost of your new iPhone 3G in order to get you to sign up.

So everybody supposedly wins: Apple sells more devices and still makes good money, AT&T gets more subscribers, and you get a cheaper iPhone. But there is a financial toll to this: AT&T estimates that helping you pay for your new iPhone will actually cost them $600 million through 2010. But clearly the numbers indicate that the short term cost will be worth it for them the long run.

Does that mean Apple doesn't make as much money per phone?

For all we know Apple might actually be making more money per phone now. With the original iPhone 3G, you paid "full price" for an iPhone -- $600 at its high point. Now you'll be paying no more than $200 (and as little as nothing in some countries) for the 8GB model, so we don't really know exactly how much of Apple's price the carriers are knocking off. We think it's fair to assume it'd still be in the $400-450 retail range, though, if it wasn't subsidied. Which it is.

What's up with the data and SMS pricing?

Well, Apple will be in 70 countries (and counting) this year, so you'll get different plans from region to region. But in the US, users will have to sign up for a minute plan that includes an extra $30 rate for 3G data access (and has no bundled text messages). This is $10 more than the original iPhone's rate plan, which was $20 for data and 200 included SMSs. Matching voice plans start at $40 per month, so you'll basically be able to get started at $70 per month. (We've also got a bit more on AT&T's new plans here.)

I heard you can't activate the iPhone at home anymore, is that true?

This is still a little fuzzy. Here's the deal: with the first iPhone, Apple used to let you buy it in the store and take it home to activate. This process is unlike almost every other phone on the market, but since it's Apple, and because you were paying full price for the device, if you never activated it with AT&T or just unlocked it and sent it to your friend in China or whatever, it wasn't a big deal. Apple made their money on the device, and AT&T didn't lose anything.

But since now AT&T is basically picking up a huge portion of the cost of your iPhone 3G, they want to make damn sure you aren't going to unlock it or send it to a friend. From what we've heard, you'll likely have to start the activation process in-store (so Apple and AT&T knows exactly who's buying the device), and then you might be able to finish it off at home. It's definitely not ideal, but it's the only way they can prevent people from basically walking away with a few hundred dollars of AT&T's money. And at the end of the day, it probably won't be WORSE than buying any other kind of phone though -- anyone who's bought a phone from a US carrier in the last 10 years will be well acquainted with the process.

I heard you have to turn over your iPhone when you upgrade, is that true?

Naw, you bought it, it's yours to hang on to. But if you ...

via Joystiq


In case you were thinking of skipping the approximately 8-minute install (which also translates to 4 or 5 cigarettes for our aged hero) and making a sandwich, consider the little bit of humor you'd be missing. If you're still undeterred and plan to ignore the game while it installs, check out our gallery for the sagacious and spoiler-free advice.

While some of it is a bit mundane, there are some rather humorous tidbits scattered about. For instance, how does one take a break every 15-minutes when cut-scenes run longer than that?


Photo shots of each screen during game install here ...

via Computer and Video Games


A note inside Midway's press release for the European release date of Unreal Tournament III on 360 has revealed what we can expect to see from the exclusive Gears of War 2 video included on the disc.

In addition to the actual UTIII game, the disc will feature an exclusive video preview of Gears of War 2. The video "will include never-before-seen footage of the game's multiplayer modes featuring new maps, new modes, new weapons and new gameplay elements. The video is narrated by design director, Cliff Bleszinski, and producer, Rod Fergusson."

Just in case you missed it, Unreal Tournament III will ship on July 4 across Europe and July 7 in the US. ...