This week marks the launch of Windows 8, on October 26, and with it comes the deployment of Xbox SmartGlass into the fray. Running on Windows phones and tablets, later-generation iOS devices, and Android smartphones, it’ll provide experiences… well, shown above. Sure, this video doesn’t cover GAMES at all, despite being labeled an XBOX product. Sure, Microsoft recently killed off its Twitter and Facebook Xbox apps because they weren’t being used at all, but that doesn’t mean non-gaming uses for gaming products are dead, right? RIGHT?! Ahem. Anyway. Give it a gander. It’s… interesting. There’s some pretty intriguing ideas presented…
Author: RurouniQ
For subscribers to PlayStation Plus, the Public Beta for Playstation All-Star Battle Royale is now live, with plans to go live for non-subscribers on October 23. Access will continue to be available until October 30. There’s just one problem I have with this. It’s not the fact that it’s clearly drawing concept from other fighting games; this has never been enough to condemn any game as a point on its own. It’s not the lackluster, depthless fighting system; I’m a Dynasty Warriors fan, so in-depth control and design is not exactly a necessity for me. How the hell can you…
OK OK OK, stop right there. Do NOT click away. Yes, this is a video of a marching band. Trust me. Stick with me. Click play.You will not regret it. This video astounds me in multiple ways. From my experience in marching band (What? This is a video game site. Did you expect anything other than nerds?), this sort of marching is incredibly difficult to pull off. The music here is everything it should be. Marching band versions of the Pokemon and Tetris themes, among others? It’s enough to bring a tear to any band/game nerd’s eye. The crowd’s reaction.…
Mists of Pandaria has been out for a week now, and boy are my arms tired! But seriously folks, I’ve been playing so much, my arms have started to ache. So what’s the word on the internet about it? What is the general consensus, the reception, towards this newest of WoWs? The answer is: who fucking cares. It’s the internet, home to fanboy and flameboy alike. However, at the risk of contradicting myself, your friendly neighborhood Q is here to give his opinion. Now I’m still relatively early into this expansion, sitting at level 87 and a half, but have…
OMG CAN’T SLEEP PANDAS WILL GET ME. Anthropomorphic pandas haunt my dreams and my waking thoughts, steadily marching onward, never slowing in their approach. Their target is my very soul, my sense of being, and my instincts whisper to me that when their dreaded advance has reached its conclusion, I will be consumed, never to see the light of day again. That’s right, folks. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria lands tomorrow. Or tonight at midnight Pacific time, for those who are counting. For those who cannot get enough, or for those not sure what all the hubbub is about,…
Hot damn. Here’s some unexpected news. Microsoft has announced today that they have renewed the trademark for Killer Instinct, a classic fighting-game franchise that once appeared on the SNES, N64, and arcade cabinets (I don’t count the Game Boy iteration). Though the previous versions appeared on Nintendo consoles, the games and intellectual property were developed by Rare, who is now owned by Microsoft. So what does this mean exactly? There’s a few possibilities here: Re-releasing the originals on XBLA. This, however seems pretty unlikely. Though I’m certain Microsoft would looove to print money by publishing this game to its online…
And it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than Build-A-Bear, let me tell you. As in, free. If you, like myself, are having trouble waiting for next week’s Borderlands 2 release to the point of being ill (I kid you not, I am currently fighting off a sinus infection), then you may find panacea in Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 Skill Tree Calculator, now available for public consumption at the following location: http://www.borderlands2.com/us/skilltree/ Gaze into the infinite, my friends. Then come down from the dopamine ledge and plan your very future. I know that I, although in the minority, never really enjoyed the…
I’ve never really objected to the idea of DLC, as a concept. Publishers have a way of making my $60 investment last longer or more personalized, even if I have to pay a little more for it? Yeah, ok, sure. Day one DLC rankles my ire a bit, but I don’t even really object to on-disc DLC; I have no common-sense-overriding principles dictating that if something is in my possession at any given moment, I must therefore own it, and I understand that, from a programming and cost standpoint, releasing DLC that takes huge amounts of space is not really…
The day has arrived, my friends. The pre-Mists of Pandaria patch for World of Warcraft lands today, and it’s a doozy. For some of you who left the game sometime in the past, these changes may be big enough to pull you back into the fold. Some of these changes may piss you off. Some of them want to abuse you. Some of them want to be abused. Account-wide Achievements, Pets, and Mounts – Got that uber-rare pet or mount on one character, but you’ve long since moved to a new main character? Fret not! Now, nearly all of your…
THIS, folks, is how you do an ARG. Over the past few days, Valve has been teasing SOMETHING, and that something has been heavily leaning towards a new 3rd Faction for Team Fortress 2, possibly an all-robot faction. Some clues have been more subtle than others (note that on the teamfortress.com home page, the Scout, Heavy, and Spy all seem to be silently glaring in the general direction of the Engineer, and the blood spatters on the left side of the logo link to an image of a will that suggests a 3rd Mann brother), but this was only the…
Either Michael Pachter is certifiably bat-crap membrane-insane, or he is the most successful troll in the industry. In a report issued by Pachter on Wednesday regarding EA and their fiscal report, Pachter states that the move to free-to-play will revitalize the failing Star Wars: The Old Republic, to the point of bolstering its numbers to HEIGHTS NEVER BEFORE SEEN. “We believe the free-to-play option and lower retail price will combine to significantly increase the number of Star Wars players by the end of the year as the two largest barriers to entry for potential Star Wars gamers (apart from an…
So, here’s my problem, people. On the one hand, I am a die-hard Transformers fan. I watch the original movie multiple times a year, I’ve imported Japanese Transformers games, and I even tolerate the newer Transformers movies because they have Peter Cullen doing what he does best. On the other hand, Activision is exploiting every Transformer fanboy’s wet dream by demanding a pre-order in exchange for playing the upcoming Transformers: Fall of Cybertron as the original G1 model of Optimus Prime. It’s deliberate and exploitative, sure, but really, should we care? Sure, it’ll force people to buy the game afresh…
It’s a matter of logic: no creator or benevolent deity could allow this kind of shit to go down. That’s right, someone is making a My Little Pony fighting game. The scary thing is, it looks like it’s actually made with the intent of being an actual full-fledged fighting game. The official webpage is rife with fighting game terminology, like OTG, hitstun, wallbounce, and untechable. A quick (and viewed through sunglasses so as to not damage the naked eye) perusal of demo gameplay footage reveals a combo-heavy game reminiscent of MvC or Skullgirls. Despite what you may feel about MLP…
This year is the year of the Korean Dragon, at least when it comes to EVO. The biggest fighting game tournament in the world kicked off this weekend, culminating in a series of victories for the Koreans. Here are the victors of each event, sorted by country: Korea Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Version 2012 – Infiltration Street Fighter x Tekken – Infiltration & Laugh King of Fighters XIII – Mad KOF U.S. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 – Filipino Champ Mortal Kombat – Perfect Legend Japan Soul Calibur V – Shining Decopon Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown -…
So let me bring you up to speed. Over the weekend, one of Destructoid’s writers, one Ryan Perez, took it upon himself to not only confront an issue seeking answers, but to get them, as I’m sure he would put it, straight from the horse’s mouth. It had apparently been plaguing Mr. Perez as to why Felicia Day, of all people, was popular. He tweets (which as much subtlety as an ostrich attempting to tweet), “Does Felicia Day matter at all? I mean does she actually contribute anything useful to this industry, besides retaining a geek persona?” This apparently offered…
Are you a fan of Phantasy Star? Maybe you played on the Dreamcast. Maybe you bought the Gamecube keyboard controller just to play it on that system. Maybe you tried out the PC version. Maybe you got into Phantasy Star Universe. Maybe you even played Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution. Ok, so I fall into most of those. If you’re a huge PSO fan like me, perhaps you knew that the open beta for the Japanese version of PSO2 is going on right now? And it’s free?! NO?! Well now you do. While there is no announcement for an English release…
E3 has come and gone. With it comes the greatest hopes and dreams of the gaming public, and we all come out knowing more about how those hopes and dreams will play out in reality. Many share the same interests, so those games get covered the most. The rest… they fall through the cracks, barely- or un-touched by the masses. Today, we try to pick up those crumbs of gaming goodness before they are swept up by the Swiffer of time, and maybe a few other games we just didn’t mention here on Padinga. Code of Princess A beautiful little…
Fans of Borderlands, fear not. Well, maybe fear for your continued employment with whatever company you work for. You’re going to be missing a lot of work this fall. Anyway, back to fearing not. The reason for this is because Borderlands 2 is everything you could possibly want it to be: better graphics, tightened control, more badass enemies, the same trademark humor, and more, more, more, guns, guns, guns. (I use repetition here to not only indicate enthusiasm, but quantity therein.) Our demo was a mission in 2-player co-op, played at Level 25 to give demoers an idea of what…
When I received a closed-doors demo from Cryptic at last year’s E3 for Neverwinter, it was one of my top games of show. Then, last fall, Cryptic announced that they had been purchased by Perfect World International, and that Neverwinter would be taking a drastic turn as a free-to-play MMO. My heart immediately sank into despair, for history has shown how this sort of drastic turn for an online game usually turns out. After seeing Neverwinter at E3 2012, however, my fears have been allayed, the demons of doubt and sadness vanquished as if by a +4 Vorpal Broadsword. It’s…
Platinum Games, known for its cult hit Bayonetta, is making another splash with its unexpected Metal Gear tie-in, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. We spent some time with Revengeance today on the E3 show floor, and it’s definitely slashing its way to the top ranks for our Best of E3. If you’ve spent any time at all with Bayonetta, you’ll start out feeling at home with Revengeance, but before long new features will find their way to the fore. Dashing now also blocks bullets as long as you dash, and pulling the left trigger puts you into Blade Mode, giving you…
One Piece: Kaizoku Musou was well-received in Japan, so much so that it was recently announced for a US release as One Piece: Pirate Warriors. Of course, many “hardcore” anime fans prefer to have the option of a Japanese language track, and it was widely feared that a US release of Pirate Warriors would eschew its original language. Fear no more. Having witnessed and played One Piece: Pirate Warriors on the E3 show floor, I can confirm that Yes, Virignia, There is a Japanese Audio Track. Pirate Warriors will contain both English and Japanese language tracks, with the option for English subtitles. I imported…
Interestingly, the recently announced Sega music game, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F, has made an appearance at the Sony booth at E3 2012. Why is this so interesting? The game has not been confirmed for release outside of Asia, yet it makes an appearance at America’s biggest gaming conference. The Hatsune Miku series has been hugely popular in Asia, Japan in particular, to the point where the music is performed on-stage by an animated representation projected onto glass, yet its obviously anime- and J-Pop-influenced style makes it instantly a very niche title. So what are the odds something like this…
The general sussuration of the Internet and various members of the industry this morning is that something big is on the horizon… That Nintendo is likely to drop a BOMB on us at this morning’s press conference. There’s even been talk that there might be ANOTHER conference Wednesday night to handle all of the announcements they won’t have time to get to today. My mind is already blown. Stay tuned to the Padinga Twitter feed (@Padinga) for developments.
Rest easy, this is not a political statement. To be honest, the numbers ’99’ and ‘1’ probably aren’t accurate here, but it illustrates a concept that you, as a member of our culture, recognize and understand, regardless of your beliefs on the matter. The phrase represents the concept of an ever-increasing social divide, a growing disparity between the upper echelons and the lower strata, the Haves and the Have-Nots. With this in mind, let us recall recent events in the life of one 38 Studios, a Rhode Island start-up game company founded by former World Series-winning Boston Red Sox pitcher,…
Tomorrow’s dawn (or tonight’s midnight, for those of you who are truly desperate) brings a newness into our hearts, a Diablo-shaped hole which shall be filled. The third entry in the Diablo series reaches us with much pomp, circumstance, and tetchy gnashing of teeth, but one way or another, it is certainly anticipated. With the advent of its coming, it is time to celebrate one of the greatest gaming features that Diablo made famous: Random loot. Some of the greatest games of all time have implemented a random loot system of some kind, and some games have treated the concept…
You remember Phantasy Star Online, right? Sure you do. One of the first truly online games, especially on a console, PSO was an integral part of the evolution of online gaming, forever cementing the Dreamcast as a console ahead of its time. What’s more, the game was addictive and fun as hell, as later generations would find out on the Gamecube and PC. Then Phantasy Star Universe came out, and while the single-player severely lacked in certain areas, the multiplayer was passable, when it wasn’t hacked to hell and back. Still, it lacked a certain… PSOness. All the while, PSU…
Previous readers/listeners may recall my previous… hesitation with Sony products. Particularly attentive folks may recall statements made by me that I haven’t played any God of War game since the first one, citing that it just didn’t pull me the way other games do, at least not enough to get me to care about subsequent entries in the series. So it may come as sort of a shock to hear that I find myself very intrigued by the upcoming God of War: Ascension. Why the about face, you ask? That’s why. I saw this playing on Hulu of all things.…
So I played the Diablo 3 Open Beta over the weekend. A lot of people did, I’m sure. Maybe I went into this thing expecting more or something. I mean, I’m not usually the type; I expected Michael Bay’s Transformers to be meh and got what I expected, so I enjoyed it regardless. But this… I feel… Well I’m not angry. Just a little sad, and a little disappointed in you, Blizzard. I expect more of you. Don’t get me wrong, now. This game is fun as hell, and I’ve already digitally pre-ordered it, and I’ll be playing it on…
It’s something I haven’t really thought about much, to be honest, and I’m not sure how many of us have; there doesn’t seem to be a lot of talk about this concept on Teh Intarwebs, relatively speaking. But in my research for tonight’s interview with Jordan Weisman of Shadowrun and WizKids fame, I couldn’t help but notice that the ill-fated Shadowrun for Xbox 360 and PC (which I should point out is almost NOTHING like Mr. Weisman’s actual work) got relatively low scores, and mostly due to one fact: the reviewers felt that there was very little content present for a full-priced…
On the next episode of The Game Show, we will be interviewing industry LEGEND Jordan Weisman! Mr. Weisman is the creator of Shadowrun, MechWarrior, and the founder of WizKids (you know, that company responsible for HeroClix and Mage Knight). He is currently heading up game studio Harebrained Schemes, who has recently begun a Kickstarter project to fund Shadowrun Returns, a PC return to the Shadowrun universe of the Sixth World. Don’t miss this incredible interview, where we’ll talk about the upcoming game, Mr. Weisman’s plans for the future, and the end of the world sure to happen in December! Feel…