via Kotaku


Holiday revellers across the UK are in full-blown party mode this week. The cause of celebration? The end of EA's Christmas reign of terror, which between FIFA and the Need for Speed series stretches back as far as living memory permits. Instead, taking the top spots for the all-important week ending December 22 are titles for - wait for it - Nintendo platforms, with both Brain Training titles taking the #1 & #2 spots, while Mario & Sonic came in at #3. EA, meanwhile, don't even crack the top ten. Ding dong, dead witches, etc etc.

1) More Brain Training
2) Brain Training
3) Mario & Sonic at the Olympics
4) Call of Duty 4 (360)
5) Wii Play
6) Assassin's Creed (360)
7) Assassin's Creed (PS3)
8) Mario Galaxy
9) Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
10) Mario Party 8 ...

via Engadget


We hear a lot of people are having problems with Xbox Live today (we're not, for the record), but if you're feeling a bit sheepish about giving the gift of a 360 + Live service to a loved one, just imagine how Microsoft must feel. The service -- which we'd like to remind everyone is paid, unlike the competition's -- has been up and down since Christmas weekend. And it's not some surprise that there would be an influx of users today, nor is it any mystery to Microsoft how many Live accounts and Xboxes were sold over the past couple of weeks -- which is precisely why this kind of thing is so annoying. Thankfully, it seems to be a bit less widespread than last weekend's outage. Feel free to shout it out in comments. ...

via Computer and Video Games


One Piece, an anime series from the popular Shonen Jump studio (who also made Naruto), is making its debut on Wii early next year with One Piece: Unlimited Adventure.

Pirates Captain Monkey (the best possible name for a captain), D. Luffy and their crew do what pirates do best in the new Wii quest; sail the seas hunting for treasure.

But things take a turn when the Straw Hat Pirates find themselves stranded in a mysterious land after a massive island rises to the ocean surface from underneath their pirate ship.

Screenshots
Trailers ...

via Computer and Video Games


A multiplayer demo of Kaos Studios' FPS Frontlines: Fuel of War will be arriving on Xbox Live Marketplace soon, the developer has told CVG.

The multiplayer tryout follows the single-player demo which arrived on Marketplace last week and don't forget if you'd like a bash at the PC version, we're currently giving away free beta downloads and keys for you to sample.

As it turns out, Kaos has been listening to fan feedback on the demo and has modified the final game thus (it tells us):

"We at Kaos Studios are very interested in your feedback on our recently released single-player demo on the Xbox 360. The community is very important to us and we make an effort to pay attention to what you have to say so we can make this the best game possible.

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Controls - We're taking the feedback on the control issues seriously and have already begun making changes. Specifically, the C4 drone controls have been improved and we've looked at the "dead zone" in the sensitivity. You should see a big improvement in the controls when we release the multiplayer demo.

Graphics - We've been optimizing the graphics and there is a dramatic increase in the framerate. The quality of the graphics also have been brought up to par with other large-scale shooters.

Popping - The popping has been reduced but there may still be some in the final game given the size of the levels (3 sq miles) and sandbox environment.

Glitches - The minor clipping issues in the demo have been resolved.

AI - There were some bugs with the AI in the demo, which have been resolved.

Pace of the game - The bigger world will make it feel like the pace of the game is slower but this is also probably related to the control and character speed issues that we are working on.

Frontlines is in the shops in February. Read our hands-on impressions right here. ...

via Computer and Video Games


One remarkable year. Where promises were tested to breaking point, where reputations were both bruised and burnished, where games had to speak for themselves instead of dazzling with mere HD sheen.

It was a year in which Nintendo remade itself with startling success. A year in which Sony started on the back foot and failed to get itself back on to its front one. A year in which Microsoft built itself a formidable collection of titles for the 360 and further consolidated Xbox Live's appeal.

It was a year of a new operating system on PCs and a (so far) faltering attempt to consolidate PC gaming software under a unified banner. It was a year in which online became even more of an indispensable part of gaming, not just for multiplayer, but for social and creative endeavor. And it was a year of three Edge 10s, with a Christmas line-up that exceeds that of almost any period in videogame history.

At first glance, this awards list may seem repetitive, with the same names appearing over and over. But this year, a few special companies have shown off a remarkable breadth of talent and expertise, creating multi-faceted games that have truly expanded the boundaries of what videogames can achieve. And only a churl would deny them their due recognition.

You can read the full awards here. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Two new 'character' trailers from Bizarre Creations' action game The Club can be viewed right here in our video player.

The Club is nothing like your ordinary shooter. At all. Coming from the developer responsible for Project Gotham Racing fame, The Club's hybrid mish-mash of different genres aims to bring "the diversity of a fighting game and the intensity of a shooter" says the studio.

Back in September Sega announced a slip for The Club to early 2008, following this up with a confirmed release date of February 8 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.


Trailer here ...

via Eurogamer


Tecmo has said that the Nintendo DS version of Ninja Gaiden will be released in March 2008, assuming you and I aren't killed in a freak news item accident where oh no oh no watch out it's fallifslddsfikdgfgfjldgfjlgfgf. It's okay. We're trapped, but we're alive. We must now form amazing bonds of friendship as the harsh reality of our situation becomes apparent and I have to eat your leg.

On the plus side, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword aims to offer a proper Ninja Gaiden experience rather than a watered-down rubbish 2D one that will get 4/10. It's been composed in 3D, with proper fighting mechanics to recall the intricacies (some would say "sintricacies", but those people are wrong, not to mention illiterate) of the Xbox version.

You can activate all sorts of movements and attacks with the stylus, including the amazing-sounding "Cicada Slash", which is presumably a move where nobody can work out where the noise is coming from but it's very annoying and everyone can remember the word "cricket" but nobody can remember "cicada" and then we decide to go indoors.

Ninja Gaiden DS doesn't appear to have a European publisher at this stage. We will let you know when someone owns up. ...

via Eurogamer


Nintendo has staggered out of the kebab shop dressed as an elf just in time to put three more games on Virtual Console this Friday, including two for the NES and one for TurboGrafx-16. So not really "including" so much as "consisting of" but there is no time we cannot go back forward forward forever never stopping paragraph.

The three games in question, which you will be able to read about in Dan Whitehead's award-evading Virtual Console Roundup tomorrow, are Blades of Steel, a popular young person's (old person's?) ice hockey game; Skate or Die, a game about not being as good as California Games; and Monster Lair, a game about a dragon who is all up in your face giving it all that.

Find out what they are really all about tomorrow. Or, if you're stupid, buy them. They cost 500 Wii Points each for the two NES games (Blades of Steel and Skate or Die - I should have explained that earlier - I've basically mentally checked out at this point), which is approximately GBP 3.50 in cold, hard, pound-symbol denying browser cash, and 800 Wii Points for the TurboGrafx-16 one, which is about 1.6 times that. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Del-Rey Books and author Drew Karpyshyn have announced the second volume in the Mass Effect series of novels, which will bridge the gap between the first game and its eventual sequel.

Mass Effect: Ascension is the name of the second read, but we wouldn't like to speculate what it might be about because we're yet to finish the massive game. No spoilers!

The first book though, Mass Effect: Revelation (a prequel to the 360 RPG) was a great read (even if it wasn't the best written book) so we're definitely going to skim through Ascension when it comes out next Summer.

Meanwhile, there's speculation that the currently 360 exclusive RPG is coming to PS3. Superstar analyst Michael Patcher said in an interview that he reckons BioWare will definitely bring it to Sony's console. Stranger things have happened (especially this year)...

Now, all we've got to do is finishing the game before January... ...