Feb 18

Final Fantasy X HD previewed on the PS VITA

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Square Enix has just shown off a preview of their new HD remake of Final Fantasy X. Final Fantasy X was the first game in the series to come to the PlayStation 2 and it won the hearts of many avid fans. Now to everyone’s excitement, the game will be remastered, and brought to the portable Playstation Vita. The preview doesn’t show off much, except for the main characters, Tidus and Yuna, standing alongside Bahamut and Yojimbo. While their changes seem a bit subtle, you can notice that their colors are more vibrant, and their character’s textures are much more smooth.

Final Fantasy X HD previewed for PS Vita

For those of you with a PS Vita, you can now take a trip down memory lane as you progress through the world of Final Fantasy X again. You can help Tidus find his way back to Zanarkand, you can help Yuna collect her army of Aeons, and you can help the group destroy Sin in order to bring peace to all of Spira. All of this while seeing how Square Enix has changed the game while maintaining all of the important aspects.

The remake of Final Fantasy X HD was announced around 2 years ago, and now we’re finally seeing it come to light. For those of you who don’t own a PlayStation Vita, I would suggest holding off on buying one because it seems that there are some price-cuts going around. Japan has just cut the price of its PlayStation Vita systems to only 19,980 yen, or $212. Also, if you don’t feel like playing the game on a small 5-inch screen, the remake should also be heading on over to the PlayStation 3.

We’re still not sure when Final Fantasy X HD will be released, but we may hear more about it during the PlayStation meeting on Wednesday. What I would love to hear more about in the future is if there has been any progress made for the HD remake of Final Fantasy 7. I know that that’s something fans have been looking forward to.

[via Eurogamer]


Final Fantasy X HD previewed on the PS VITA is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Feb 17

Bungie reveals Destiny: A shared-world shooter

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Bungie has just revealed its new project, titled Destiny. Destiny will be a persistent, online multiplayer game that Eric Hirshberg, Activision CEO, dubs as a “shared-world shooter”. The game will be released for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. Bungie has emphasized that there will be no subscription fee for the game. It will require a constant connection to the internet, as it is a major factor in the “persistent, online multiplayer” aspect of the game.

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Destiny has a 10-year publishing deal with Activision. Bungie has revealed that Destiny will be released as 10 “books” over the course of 10 years. Each book will have its own beginning, middle, and end. There are currently 350 developers in Bungie working on the game. There are also teams outside of Bungie that are able to co-locate with each other, which provides Bungie with the ability to rapidly create and improve every aspect of the game. Bungie also stated that the Destiny franchise will be brought to multiple devices later on, also emphasizing that there will be a mobile app that lets players track stats, quest info, and notifications from the in-game world.

While Destiny is going to be a online multi-player game, it will be different than an MMO. Destiny’s story takes place in the Earth’s solar system after a mysterious cataclysm wipes out almost all of humanity. The survivors are relocated to the ‘safe zone’, which also acts as the beginning zone for new players. There will be 3 classes; Hunter, Titan, and Warlock. The only class with a notable difference is the Warlock, who can cast spells. Bungie says that despite there only being 3 classes, each character will be unique to the player, and will grow with the player throughout the game. In the ‘safe zone’, there will be an alien sphere called ‘The Traveler’ that supplies players with weapons, magical powers, and defensive equipment. While in the ‘safe zone’, players can meet up with their friends, and/or they can use spaceships to travel and raid new territories.

The game very much emphasizes cooperative play, but you can still play the game solo. Bungie, however, says that in order for players to realize “the vision of the game”, they have to play with other players. While in public areas, such as towns, players will be paired up with other players similar to them. This is based on the levels of the players, as well as other similar aspects. Bungie emphasizes that public areas will not be overcrowded like in MMOs. There will not be thousands of people crammed into one place, but rather a controlled amount. Also, unlike other multi-player games, Destiny will not have a lobby interface or menu for tracking quests. Everything happens in real-time, where players just wander the world, meet new people, and participate in activities that appear at whim.

Activision and Bungie both kept quiet about some important details, like when the game will be released, but they do have a very impressive goal in mind. It will be very interesting to see the two companies try to execute its 10-year plan, and whether or not they will succeed. Maybe if they do consider implementing eSports with the game, Destiny will have a good shot of lasting a long time.

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[via Wired]


Bungie reveals Destiny: A shared-world shooter is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Feb 17

Dragon Quest VII sells over 800k copies in one weekend

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It looks like Square Enix knows what games to re-release in order to snag the biggest amount of sales. Square Enix launched a remake of one of its popular titles, Dragon Quest VII, last weekend, and it sold well over 800,000 copies within the first few days of its launch. The period was calculated between February 7th to February 10th, meaning it only took the game 4 days to reach that sales figure. It topped the gaming charts, with Famitsu reporting that the game sold approximately 836,654 copies.

Dragon Quest VII sells over 800k copies in its first week

By now, Dragon Quest VII should be at well over a million sales. It was also speculated that thanks to the launch of Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden, Nintendo 3DS sales also increased to about 45,000 above average. On the Famitsu charts, Animal Crossing: New Leaf came behind Dragon Quest with 90,652 sales, making its total number of sales 2,857,599. It is followed by Fantasy Life and New Super Mario Bros. 2, with 12,244 and 9,099 sales respectively. All of these are Nintendo 3DS games, showcasing the huge popularity of the portable gaming system, at least in Japan.

Dragon Quest VII comes fully loaded with over 100 hours of gameplay, as well as a variety of mini-games if you want to take a break from the main story line. You’ll definitely get your money’s worth when buying the game. It retails for about 6090 yen in Japan, or $65.66. Dragon Quest VII might not make it over to the United States this year. It took Square Enix 13 months to port over Dragon Quest VI, and 7 months to port over Dragon Quest V. Considering how much more added gameplay is included in the remake of Dragon Quest VII, I would consider the time frame of Dragon Quest VI’s port to be more relevant here.

Also, alongside the Dragon Quest news, Square Enix has announced that beta testing for its revamped Final Fantasy XIV MMO is going to take place on February 25th. Considering what a train wreck the first released version of the game was, who knows whether or not Square Enix can revive it, but Square certainly is trying. Square Enix also announced the final game of the Final Fantasy XIII series, Lightning Returns:Final Fantasy XIII, last month to provide a conclusion to the saga.

[via Geeky Gadgets]


Dragon Quest VII sells over 800k copies in one weekend is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Feb 13

System Shock 2 will be available on February 14th

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Coming as a result of a lengthy series of negotiations, GOG has announced the availability of System Shock 2. Without any further adieu, they will have the game available for download on February 14th. Those interested will be able to purchase the game as of 11:00AM GMT and can expect to pay $9.99. Of course, the game coming available is only one portion of this story.

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While we suspect there are more than a few ready and waiting to begin playing, it seems that GOG had more than 34,000 users vote in hopes to see System Shock 2 released for play. The good news here, this release is said to be “the original version in all its glory.” In other words, players will be able to apply the known mods and on extending that into the future, GOG is hoping to see new mods coming out of the community.

Those worried about the game play should be able to rest easy as it was said that the game runs “pretty much flawlessly” on Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8 and that the “most recent build has gone through all of our test team PCs without a hitch.” Basically, it appears as if the only thing left to do is release the game and begin letting some (or all) of those 34,000 users get to playing.

Also worth noting, in addition to the game itself, those making the purchase can expect some extras. In fact, GOG is calling this a virtual collectors edition and are including the soundtrack as well as concept art, maps of the Von Braun, an interview with Ken Levine, the first pitch document and “much” more. So how about it, who is ready to play some System Shock 2?

[via Rock, Paper Shotgun]


System Shock 2 will be available on February 14th is written by Robert Nelson & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Feb 13

Gears of War creator promises future with “true horror games”

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Those who are fans of true horror games may like where this is going. It has been said that more “true” horror games will come when we finally make the move from disc to digital. The comments come by way of Cliff Bleszinski, who many will recognize from not only being a creative director with Epic Games, but also one of the people behind the Gears of War franchise. The interesting part here, the comment from Bleszinski came at the end of some rather normal Dead Space 3 talk.

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Basically, he has stated that when “we’re fully digital we’ll see more true horror games coming back.” The lead in to this comment deals with the current set-up and how the true horror games not ideal in the high-priced disc based market that we are seeing today. Bleszinski has said the true horror games come in better where they are played for a few days and then traded in, something that he believes EA is well aware of. Aside from giving some hope for true horror fans as we move forward, there was also some interesting comments on the topic of Dead Space 3.

He has said that while the game is “still quite a bit of fun,” he was still having a hard time getting his head wrapped around the weapon crafting and upgrading system. Noting that he could have used a bit more hand holding when it came to generating and crafting circuits. And in what seems like an effort to be fair, he went on to say that “overall game pacing is something that’s really hard to get right.” Other comments included how parts feel like Lost Planet and that there are a lack of memorable locations.

Putting the game play specifics aside, he went on to say that “this franchise feels like it’s starting as a solo experience, a solitary and confined horror game, and now it’s evolving into much more than that.” Bleszinski has said that you can either fight this or embrace it. You can likely guess where he is going — with the embracing. This brings us back to the topic of true horror games coming back as we move to digital, something we hope to see happening as we move forward.

[via Bloody-Disgusting]


Gears of War creator promises future with “true horror games” is written by Robert Nelson & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Feb 08

Voters pull the Monopoly iron out of the fire

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As far as board games go, it’s hard to get more classic than Monopoly. I’m sure most of us have spent many hours playing the board game over the years. The game has changed slightly and some iterations have gone from paper money to credit cards and such, but at its core it’s the same game of dominating your friends in the real estate market. Hasbro recently let fans of the game vote on which of the iconic, silver game pieces to toss from the game.

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I don’t know about you, but growing up starting game of Monopoly always involved the initial brawl to determine which game piece you used. Everyone wanted to be the car while no one wanted the lame shoe or iron. Not long ago Hasbro allowed users to vote on which of these game pieces to remove from the set and what to replace it with.

That boring and maligned iron was the piece that voters tossed from the game. The piece that replaced it was a kitty. The fact that voters chose a to replace the outgoing iron with the cat is no surprise giving the popularity of cat memes and videos on the Internet. While the cat was eventually chosen with 31% of the total vote, it wasn’t the only option. Other options voters could Butchoose included a robot, helicopter, diamond ring, and a guitar.

In the voting to see which game pieces continued with the set, the Scotty dog received 29% of the. The voting was also close to decide which piece would be ousted from the game with the iron only receiving 8% of the vote to save the piece and the shoe and wheelbarrow pieces not far behind the iron. Monopoly will now include a racecar, thimble, top hat, battleship, and the cat. Versions of the game with the new token will be available later this year.

[via BBC]


Voters pull the Monopoly iron out of the fire is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Feb 05

OUYA To Launch Soon, But Where Are The Games?

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With less than two months before OUYA’s launch, it’s time to tell the truth — its future doesn’t look promising. The OUYA is starting to feel like a gaming console without the games. Publishers and developers aren’t promoting OUYA games because there’s nothing to promote — nothing that was specifically developed for the launch line-up. Even worse, Final Fantasy III will be the flagship launch title, a game that has been available on countless gaming systems for years. OUYA isn’t the gaming revolution that backers expected.

Earlier today, Darrell Etherington reported that the Android-based gaming console would launch in-store in June. The more than 68,000 backers to its Kickstarter campaign will get their consoles in March. While the company is still planning to ship on time, that was only half of the launch challenge.

Gamers buy a new gaming system based on two key elements: launch games and who is making the console. As the OUYA is not coming from an established company, the team is facing an even harder task — selling enough good games to make the console interesting.

You may say that the OUYA is an Android-based console and that many titles will be ported to a TV screen and OUYA’s gaming controller in minutes. Yet, there is no way you could compare an Android game with what gamers expect from a traditional gaming console. Even the Nintendo Wii U with its pretty weak launch line-up could count on ZombiU, Assassin’s Creed 3 or New Super Mario Bros. U. Angry Birds (or an equivalent game) and Final Fantasy III won’t convince an experienced gamer. You don’t need a dedicated device to play Canabalt.

Moreover, Best Buy or Target customers don’t care about Android. When they’ll walk into a store and see the Android logo, it won’t mean anything to them. Normal people, those who don’t usually back projects on Kickstarter, they buy a Samsung phone, not an Android phone made by Samsung. That’s why average consumers do not line up to buy Nexus phones. Without its Kickstarter video, the OUYA is uninteresting.

When it comes to games, even though OUYA claims to launch with 200 games, most of them are just Android ports or come from inexperienced developers. There is no big system-seller that may convince undecided gamers. And if you backed the console for its emulating capacity, you’ll be part of a very tiny minority.

Vevo, XBMC or TuneIn are nice additions, but are already available on most TV boxes or support equivalent apps. The Roku, the Apple TV or even the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 have long been hooked up to everyone’s TV, ready to stream content. The OUYA will not sell en masse for these apps alone.

Before the end of the year, OUYAs will gather dust on store shelves, next to Boxee devices and other products that promised to revolutionize TV or gaming without actually achieving this status. The OUYA won’t be the first to disappoint, and there will certainly be other gaming consoles in the future that will end up in the attic in no time.

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Jan 28

Gravity-Controlled Pac-Man Is Now Available for iOS and Android—and It Looks Quite Fun

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I thought Not Pacman—a version of Pac-Man that uses gravity to control the yellow hungry monster—was awesome and needed to be ported to iOS and Android ASAP. Gizmodo reader Pierre-Yves Gatouillat agreed with that opinion and he did just that. He sent this via email: More »

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Jan 24

Neo Geo X production allegedly discontinued, additional carts to be released as planned

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Neo Geo X production allegedly discontinued, additional carts to be released as planned

The Neo Geo X was the subject of so much talk and so many renders, we thought it was destined to be vaporware. We were proved wrong and it was released in December, but if Japanese site Gamer is correct, production of the retro handheld-come-console has already been discontinued. Apparently, this isn’t due to affect the release of add-on cartridges for the platform — although not all owners are in need of more games. We reached out to Neo Geo’s PR folks and they didn’t confirm or deny the report, but said they’ll have more information for us shortly.

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Gamer

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Jan 22

Amazon adds in-app purchasing to Mac, PC and browser-based games

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Amazon adds inapp purchasing to Mac, PC and browserbased games

Have you been itching to open your wallet in the middle of some thrilling Forsaken Planet gameplay? Soon you’ll be able to build your collection of “loot coins” on the fly with a few more platforms, thanks to Amazon’s new in-app purchasing tool. Think of it as 1-Click ordering from within some of your favorite Mac, PC and browser-based games, such as FreeFall Tournament or KingsRoad. You’ll have access to all of your Amazon payment options, including saved credit cards and gift certificates, and developers will still be able to take advantage of the site’s marketing tools, including best-seller rankings and recommendations. The feature is ready to roll out now — it’s just up to devs to flip the switch. If you’re a game developer looking to beef up your own coin collection, hit up our source link to get started.

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Amazon Introduces Another New Service for Game Developers: In-App Purchasing for Mac, PC and Web-based Games

Mac, PC and Web-based game developers can now increase reach and monetization by offering customers the ability to use their Amazon account to make in-app purchases of virtual goods and currencies

Amazon’s In-App Purchasing for Mac, PC and Web-based games joins a family of Amazon services that help developers move more quickly, increase engagement, sell more content and reach new customers

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 22, 2013– (NASDAQ:AMZN)-Further expanding its multi-platform, end-to-end offering for game developers, Amazon today announced a new In-App Purchasing service that enables developers to let customers use their Amazon accounts to purchase virtual goods and currencies from within Mac, PC and Web-based games. With today’s announcement, Amazon now provides In-App Purchasing services for Mac, PC and Web, Android and Kindle Fire developers, enabling them to offer Amazon’s millions of customers a convenient, trusted and secure buying experience. To get started developers can visit: http://developer.amazon.com/games/in-app-purchasing.

Benefits for developers with Amazon’s new In-App Purchasing for Mac, PC and Web-based games include:

Customers can use any credit card, gift certificate or promotional credit associated with their current Amazon account to purchase in-app items-making it simple and low friction for customers to purchase content and leading to higher sales and increased conversion.
Developers automatically have access to Amazon’s proven fraud detection technology, thereby reducing their exposure to fraud.
All transactions are supported by Amazon’s world-class, top-rated Customer Service to provide customers with the very best purchasing experience.

To help developers with game discovery and marketing, in-app items will automatically be available on Amazon.com, and in-app purchases can show up on best seller lists, recommendations and merchandising campaigns, helping customers discover new games and items, while adding another point of engagement for existing players.

“We’re passionate about making game developers successful, and we’ll continue to build services that make monetization easier and remove undifferentiated heavy lifting from developers,” said Mike Frazzini, Director Amazon Games. “Game developers build games that are used across multiple platforms and mediums. In-App Purchasing for Mac, PC and Web-based games is our latest service that helps game developers grow their business and increase their customer-base. For years, Amazon has focused on making the online shopping experience as frictionless as possible, and we are excited to share this expertise and technology so that game developers can offer customers this same great experience.”

In-App Purchasing for Mac, PC and Web-based games is a part of a larger family of end-to-end services for game developers. From Amazon Web Services (AWS) building blocks like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon Dynamo DB used for backend infrastructure, to services like Game Circle (which includes capabilities like Achievements, Leaderboards, Friends, and Whispersync for Games across devices) that enable developers to create more engaging gaming experiences, to services like A/B Testing and Game Connect (which lets developers marry the ease and security of shopping on Amazon with the convenience of having virtual goods delivered directly to customers’ game accounts), to providing distribution to millions of Amazon customers via the Amazon Appstore for Android and the Digital Games Store on Amazon.com, Amazon provides the most complete platform for game developers.

“We were excited to work with Amazon on integrating In-App Purchasing into Forsaken Planet,” said David Sterling, Vice President of Sony DADC’s LOOT Entertainment. “Giving gamers the option to buy in-game goods using their Amazon account makes it easier for them to get what they want without ever having to leave the game environment.”

“We love that Amazon will allow players of FreeFall Tournament to buy virtual items using the same login credentials and payment information they already have on file with Amazon.com. We think it will help minimize buying friction,” said Chris Scholz, CEO of Free Range Games. “We also feel good knowing Amazon is very trusted and secure, and we think it will give our players the same degree of confidence that they have when purchasing any other item on Amazon.com.”

“When we discovered that Amazon was offering In-App Purchasing for PC, Mac and Web-based games, we were eager to participate. Amazon has worked closely with our publishing platform team and gone the extra mile to make sure our implementation will be fast and easy for our upcoming action-RPG game KingsRoad,” said Mark Spenner, GM, Rumble Entertainment. “Amazon’s In-App Purchasing creates an opportunity for increased discoverability, and we are excited that our in-game items will be offered to the very large Amazon customer base.”

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Source: Amazon

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