Here’s a cute trailer for the upcoming Toy Story 3 videogame. Buzz and Woody take a backseat in this clip, allowing Zurg — complete with maniacal laughter — to shine. The fake AC/DC music is extremely amusing; you need to hear it if you’re a fan of the band. I’m excited for the movie and interested in the game (the tech looks pretty sweet). How about you guys and gals?
Tag: Videogames
Blast From the Past: Reset Episode 9
Live from New York…it’s Reset episode nine!!! Okay, it’s not live, but two of these clips are from the excellent Digital Life conference in New York where Ruby and I got into all sorts of trouble. Closing out the show, Kat pays a visit to Planet Moon to check on an exciting PSP game.
Part 1 — Reset’s team of R&R (Ruby and Raymond) were thrilled to go to New York for Digital Life. Great games, cool gadgets, and a wonderful crowd made the expo really exciting. Now, the Reset crew understands that not everyone can make it to every show out there, so we thought we’d bring the show to you. Plus, the gang bumped into an old friend from Episode 5 (hint: she won a bikini contest, is really hot, and is now a Queen of EverQuest).
Part 2 — While Ruby and Raymond thought that Digital Life was awesome, they wanted to check with the people to see what they thought. The duo pestered a bunch of attendees to see what games caught their eye, what’s tops on their holiday wish lists, what free stuff they picked up, and what they thought of Raymond’s ex-girlfriends. Never let it be said that Reset isn’t in touch with the man on the street.
Part 3 — Kat visits Planet Moon to get the scoop on its upcoming game, Infected. One of the few truly original games for the Sony PSP, this game has it all: flesh-eating zombies, awesome weapons, breakneck action, killer multiplayer, a rocking soundtrack, and that inimitable Planet Moon humor. If you’re looking for a game that will make your hair stand on end and make your sides hurt from laughter then look no further.
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
I have to play Nier
As always, I want to know what you’re playing this weekend. Kindly share the games on your weekend playlist!
Activision and Bungie Sign 10-Year Publishing Agreement
In a tremendous move with all sorts of implications, Activision and Bungie have closed on a 10-year publishing-agreement. Here’s a snippet from the press release:
They have entered into an exclusive 10-year partnership to bring Bungie’s next big action game universe to market. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The partnership is brilliant for Activision on several levels. It helps take attention away from nasty legal battle with its former Infinity Ward employees. It also replaces the talent lost from Infinity Ward creators jumping to Respawn. Since Infinity Ward clearly isn’t going to be the powerhouse studio it once was, Activision needed to replace it with another top-notch studio. Bungie is one of the few studios that can match the quality and success that Infinity Ward brought to the table. There are many gamers that would argue that Bungie makes better games.
As for Bungie…well, it has a partner with a boatload of money and global marketing muscle. Gamers will also see its titles on multiple platforms, which will be huge.
Naturally, I want to hear your thoughts on the partnership. Let ’em fly (please)!
Coffee Talk #134: Have You Ever Quit Gaming?
I’ve quit many things over the years. At various points in my life, I’ve quit drinking, smoking, gambling, comic books, and several other things I can’t remember. (Sadly, I’ve never been treated for sex addiction like Tiger Woods, David Duchovny, and Chazz Michael Michaels.) Obviously, I have an addictive personality. One thing I’ve never given is playing games. Certainly I’ve had a lot of stretches (too many, really) where I’ve played games way more than I should have, but I’ve enjoyed the “work” excuse for my marathon sessions.
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your formidable Scrabble powers, The Neilsen Company rating the Cleveland Indians as the #1 most-hated team in baseball, or why you think Floyd Mayweather will beat Shane Mosley, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
I’ve quit many things over the years. At various points in my life, I’ve quit drinking, smoking, gambling, comic books, and several other things I can’t remember. (Sadly, I’ve never been treated for sex addiction like Tiger Woods, David Duchovny, and Chazz Michael Michaels.) Obviously, I have an addictive personality. One thing I’ve never given up is playing games. Certainly I’ve had a lot of stretches (too many, really) where I’ve played games way more than I should have, but I’ve enjoyed the “work” excuse for my marathon sessions.
How about you? Have you ever played games to the point you neglected eating, sleeping, and your social life? Have you ever had to take a step back and said, “Yeah, I really need to quit gaming for a while.”? Perhaps games have made you pull and HBK and you had to leave them in order to “find your smile”. Perhaps games have made you tap out and you had to take a break in the real world to recover. I’d love to hear about your experiences. Kindly share!
Super Mario Crossover Bring Link, Mega Man, and Samus to SMB
Ever dream about playing through Super Mario Bros. levels as Simon Belmont, the dude from Contra, Mega Man, Link, or Samus Aran? Well now you can in Super Mario Crossover! This adorable Flash game takes levels from SMB and lets you play through them as heroes and heroines from other classic titles. Each character has his or her signatures moves and music. It’s cute. It’s fun. It’s familiar and new at the same time. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
Square Enix Undecided on Final Fantasy V and VI DS Remakes
Square Enix is considering remakes of the wonderful Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI games for Nintendo DS, but cites technical challenges it must overcome. Andriasang translated some tweets from producer Shinji Hashimoto, who said:
For FF5 and 6, there are technical issues as well, so at present these are also undecided.
Man, I would love remakes of FFV and FFVI. They’re two of may favorite games of all time. Versions with spruced up graphics, slightly streamlined gameplay (you don’t mess with excellence), and tighter translations would be phenomenal. While remaking these games for the Nintendo DS makes the most sense (the installed base is ridiculous), for some reason I’m wishing for iPhone versions of these games.
How about you? Are you down with improved versions of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI?
Chikara Getting into the Videogame Business
In a surprise move, Chikara Pro is getting into videogame business with Rudo Resurrection (trailer posted above). I’m guessing most of you haven’t heard of Chikara. It’s an indie-wrestling organization featuring some truly outstanding talent, including one of my personal favorite, Claudio Castagnoli.
You’d think that Chikara would try to get some television or better Internet-video exposure before delving into games, right? While I love the idea of playing as Claudio in a videogame, the whole thing seems highly unorthodox — to use a Jesse “The Body” Ventura phrase — to me. The game’s site doesn’t say what platforms Rudo Resurrection will be available for, but I’m guessing it will be a downloadable game or a Facebook title. I don’t think THQ — with its stellar writing in the SmackDown vs. Raw series — has anything to worry about just yet.
Are any of you interested in a Chikara wrestling game?
Xbox 360 “Slim” and Metal Gear Solid Natal Coming to E3 2010?
Here’s a pair of hot E3 2010 rumors: Microsoft will unveil an Xbox 360 Slim and Metal Gear Solid for Project Natal at E3 2010. According to Surfer Girl Strikes Back:
MS will reveal a slim 360 natal bundle at one of their two (yes, two) press conferences at this year’s e3.
What’s more the 360 will be getting a subtle rebrand, with a new logo and black as the new primary colour of the console. They feel that the new system needs to be black because a white Natal wouldn’t sit well next to the typical gloss black tv.
As for the MGS rumor, she teased:
And Natal? Let’s just say you’ll probably be both very surprised and very pleased by one of the games revealed… what is it?
Might Get Shot if I were to tell.
The letters M, G, and S were in red.
What do you think of these rumors? Which one excites you more?
PadCast: EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich Talks iPad, DLC, E3, and More
EEDAR vice president of analyst services Jesse Divnich is the latest RPad.tv PadCast guest. My favorite analyst in the business discusses all sorts of videogame topics, answers reader questions, and reveals the super power he covets in this clip. Here’s the laundry list of talking points:
- The Nintendo 3DS
- Whether the PSPgo is a dead system
- How awesome Sony’s E3 press conference would be if it were hosted by Kevin Butler
- How the Apple iPad impacts the gaming market
- Whether investors and venture capatilist have cooled on the console market in light of the hotness of mobile and social gaming
- Whether Sega, as we once knew and loved it, is gone forever
- DLC trends
- E3 2010 predictions
- What’s coming on 10/10/10
- What super power he would chose and why
Give it a look, give it a listen, and leave any comments you have below.