Section: Gaming News, Consoles, PS3

Citing a subpar holiday season and Sony’s Playstation 3 still being the most expensive console, an article in the Wall Street Journal this week indicates there is almost no way the PS3 can catch the Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii in sales. In early results, November 2008 sales of Sony’s controversial console were down 19 percent from the same period in 2007.

During that same time, the Nintendo Wii’s sales doubled and Microsoft Xbox 360 went up 8 percent according to stats supplied by research firm NPD. That makes Sony’s corporate goal of selling 10 million PS3s by March 2009 seem like a long shot. The article also notes that at $399, the PS3 is far and away the most expensive console on the market. During a global recession, that’s not a great distinction to have. It’s hurting Sony’s overall bottom line as the company’s electronics division isn’t as profitable as it used to be. Many analysts think that prevented Sony from slashing the PS3 price for this holiday season.

These numbers may surprise economists but probably not gamers.

Nintendo has ridden its newly harvested crop of casual gamers to the top of the industry with the Nintendo Wii. That console has become a huge hit in spite of a large percentage of shovelware and lack of any big titles released since Mario Kart in the spring. Hardware shortages made the Wii a tough find again this Christmas season, earning it a great deal of publicity in mainstream media. Microsoft Xbox 360 is becoming the console of choice for the hardcore gamer as exclusives like Gears of War 2 propel its holiday sales. The 360 cut its price to $199, earning it a solid hold on second place for the time being.

One of Sony’s major selling points touts the PS3 as an inexpensive Blu-Ray player but, with customers being slow to adopt that technology, regular Blu-Ray players have dipped to $200. There’s still a lot of this console war to go, but Sony does appear to have a climb comparable to the one its game hero Kratos undertook when he climbed Mount Olympus.

Read [Wall Street Journal] Via [Joystiq]

Full Story » | Written by Brian Allen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Features, Gift Guide, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Distributors, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, FPS, Shooter, Role-Playing, Strategy

If you’re friends or family of a gamer who is big on PC gaming, you’re probably wondering what to get them for Christmas or their next birthday if it’s coming up. For those with the Steam client, there are always different sales, new releases and package deals that would help out your gamer’s repertoire.

Here are some ideas for the last minute shopper who doesn’t want to contend with the crowds in stores.

Strategy

There are a few options for the fans of the strategy genre on Steam. Some of the biggest games in the genre that you can get in ease are Defense Grid: The Awakening. The game costs $19.99 and is a more graphically appeasing of the normal castle defense flash games. Few strategy games actually have much in the way of replayability, but with the various modes and main storyline the replayability for this game is high. Some other things that are worthwhile at Steam are World in Conflict (a $29.99 strategy gaming rendition of Red Dawn), Dawn of War with all the expansions (DoW Platinum Edition $29.99 and Soulstorm for $29.99) and the complete pack for Civilization IV (One game and two expansions for $59.99). There are still other big names but these are just some examples.

Action/Adventure

If your gamer is a fan of action there are many different options. One of the main things they are currently advertising is a Rainbow 6 collection. This includes Rainbow 6 3: Gold Edition, Rainbow 6: Lockdown, Rainbow 6: Las Vegas and Rainbow 6: Las Vegas 2. This pack is going for $49.99 for all four games. It’s definitely something for the people who are a bit behind on the gaming times. For the action/adventure junkie who leans towards the darker side of life (or death) Steam also has Silent Hill Homecoming in its catalog. The game is still offered at its standard price for the other consoles but for the people without either of consoles this Silent Hill take on Jacob’s Ladder. Silent Hill Homecoming costs $49.99. These are just examples though there is a lot that can be done.

RPG

There isn’t much in the way of options. You have the option of games like Hinterland, Mount & Blade, Bioshock and other such games that blend the various lines between genres. Hinterland is part roleplaying game and part strategy game. Mount & Blade is a mostly horseback RPG that has some strategy aspects to it. Bioshock is partially survival horror and RPG while being a FPS game. Each games in the RPG section of the store runs anywhere between $19.99-49.99.

Developer Packages

Steam also offers quite a few different packages for gamers that cover everything that a developer might have realized that’s in the Steam stores. These usually run around $99 even though outside of Steam it would normally cost over $200. To give you some perspective, if you get the Valve complete pack, you get 22 games (including all things solid with Half Life and Half Life 2) that would normally cost you $239.81. On Steam it costs $99.99, not including tax. Another example is the THQ Collector’s Pack, which comes with 12 games (including S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, Full Spectrum Warrior and others), would normally cost you $229.88 but Steam sells it for $99.99. One of the biggest deals that you would find on Steam is if someone gets the Eidos Collector’s Pack which runs for $99.99 but elsewhere would normally cost about $389.80.

Site [Steam Store]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Gaming News, Handhelds, iPhone & iPod Touch, Genres, 2D, Action, Strategy, Updates, Apple App Store

Square Enix’s long-awaited debut to the Apple “gaming” platform has finally arrived. Crystal Defenders is up on the App Store right now for $7.99 as well as a free “lite” version of the game if you want to give it a test run.

Crystal Defenders is a strategy/defense game similar to tower defense games, except instead of towers players use units based on various Final Fantasy-related jobs (Black Mage, Archer, etc.). The goal is to protect your party’s crystals from the waves of enemies.

Based on the iTunes profile for the game, the full version will offer “over 300 stages of action in one of three different game versions.“

• In W1, players can learn game basics.
• In W2, the introduction of Power Crystals opens up new doors, allowing for deeper, more detailed strategies.
• Finally, the complex maps in W3 will challenge even the most seasoned players

.

Meanwhile, the lite version of the game offers up “20 waves” of enemies on W1 only.

Players can opt to use the virtual control pad or simply tap an area to place units. Selecting options is as easy as tapping the center button of the control pad.

I’ve been checking out the lite version and it’s a really good game so far. I’ll reserve a final judgment after I download the full game and play through it but, if you own an iPod Touch or iPhone, you owe it to yourself to at least download the lite version.

Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Kris Rosado for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Gaming News, Features, Rumors, Consoles, Xbox-360, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure

When Crackdown made its debut on the Xbox 360, reviewers both praised and criticized its interpretation of the open-world formula made popular through the successful releases of the Grand Theft Auto series.

However, regardless of any disparagements that were heaped on the game, it sold well enough commercially to raise demand for a sequel. To many gamers, the prospect of having a super-powered being leap over tall buildings in the name of justice would be the perfect means to begin their new year.

Interestingly, while the prospect of a Crackdown sequel has been shot down in the past, the likelihood of it coming to fruition has increased, thanks to a 1UP report that Microsoft is funding a start-up studio titled Ruffian Games, with the singular of working on Crackdown 2.

However, the decision to take this action did not necessarily please Real Time Worlds studio developer Colin Macdonald who remarked that he was doubtful that Microsoft would hand over the reins of one of their highly-regarded franchises to a lesser-known development company.

Macdonald also made it clear that he would be “gutted” if he was not involved in the Crackdown 2 project but emphasized his wish that the game be done justice with an established development team. This statement, when taken on its own, does not heap a great deal of praise on the developmental talents of Ruffian Games, even though its team does comprise some former Real Time Worlds staff members.

All in all, I hope that Crackdown 2 sees release sometime in the future. It remains the only game that truly encapsulated the “open-world” method of execution.

Read [1UP] Via [Videogaming247]

Full Story » | Written by Jason Townsend-Rogers for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Gaming News, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Web-Sites

Free Radical, the studio behind the recent flop Haze and the beloved TimeSplitters series, has closed it’s doors this week, according to a report by Kotaku. Unfortunately it looks like the closing is for good. The most painful part (for fans of awesome, not-so-serious FPS games, anyway) - the post states that the studio was working on a new TimeSplitters game.

Boo on the economy. Seriously. Best of luck to all the employees who are now jobless.

Read [Kotaku]

Full Story » | Written by Danielle Riendeau for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Gaming News, Consoles, GameCube, Wii, Handhelds, DS, Game-Companies, Developers, Distributors, Publishers, Updates, Wii-Virtual-Console

Nintendo promised us that the North America chapter of Club Nintendo would be available by the end of the 2008 year and sure enough, only 15 days until 2009, Club Nintendo is now officially live.

If you have already signed up for a “My Nintendo” account, you can use that login information and anything you already registered on that account will be transferred over to you Club Nintendo account, meaning you will have coins to spend from the get-go.

If you don’t already have a My Nintendo account, all you need to do is fill out your name, age, and email address (also choosing a username and password) and you’re all set to start registering those Nintendo products for coins. An “Intend to Buy” survey allows you to earn an additional 10 coins when you register your purchased (now previously intended-to-buy) game.

Coin values for Nintendo games (specific point values for systems weren’t detailed) are as follows:

• Wii games = 50 Coins
• Nintendo DS games = 30 Coins
• Wii Shop Channel games/Wii Channels = 10 Coins

As for spending your coinage, Nintendo already has a few items available for you to “purchase” although none are as sharp as that Super Famicom Wii controller Nintendo gave to the Japanese clubbers (Japanese get all the luck). There is at least one decent item on the list - the official North American version of the DS Game & Watch Collection. The Game & Watch Collection contains three Game & Watch Gallery games for 800 coins.

A poster on NeoGaf took this screen shot of all the prizes earlier today, yes they are the official prizes:

Way to finally include North America, Nintendo!

Official Site [Club Nintendo]  Read [Joystiq] Also Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Kris Rosado for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Section: Reviews, Features, Opinions, Consoles, Wii, PCs, PCs-Other

Title: Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People: 8-Bit is Enough
Price: $8.95 PC, $10 Willware
System(s): *PC, WiiWare
Release Date: December, 15, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Telltale Games (Adventure Company)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone +10? for comic mischief
Pros: You get to play games within a game. Chock full of video game clichés that will keep you laughing. See the Homestar characters as zany video game characters. Plus you get to fight Trogdor.
Cons: Seemed shorter than the other episodes, no mini games to speak of, not even searching via the metal detector.
Overall Score:Two thumbs up; 96/100; A; * * * * 1/2 out of five.

The final installment of Strong Bad’s Cool Games for Attractive People has made its way to your PC and Wii. It’ s called 8-Bit is Enough and as always you play as Strong Bad getting into all kinds of predicaments.

In this one, Strong Bad accidentally breaks the Trogdor arcade machine he has in his living room, causing it to come to life and wreak havoc all over the town. When he tries to fix it, he ends up causing the whole town to warp into a paradox, where the town’s people and the video games he plays become mixed up.

So now it’s up to you, Strong Bad, to defeat the evil dragon and restore the town back to its normal state. Uh, does anyone know how to defeat a dragon?par

And the dragon lives in the niiiight!

This is another interesting episode, seeing as you are playing a world that has basically been converted into different video games. You get to see Marzipan as Donkey Kong Girl, throwing crates at a poor hapless Bubs, and Homestar appears to you in obnoxious pop-up box giving you “advice” throughout the game. Also you get to interact with some of the classic Homestar Runner games you know and love like Peasant’s Quest and Stinkoman 20XD6.

Because you are playing a game within a game, Strong Bad will make a lot of cracks at his own game (Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People),. For example, when entering a certain game, he will say, “Man I hope this isn’t one of those lame ‘pick up item, use item, or ask someone about item picked up’ type games!”

It’s worth playing just to find all the video game clichés within the game, similar to the last episode which was packed with movie clichés. Some good ones are the item that can’t be grabbed no matter what you do, the lame licensed video game companies come out with to promote their product and the awesome use of a checkpoint.

Even powerful dragons have their weak spots

This episode seemed much shorter than the previous episodees. That may be because there was less to do in this one, due to the fact there was no side quests of any kind. You could still play the Fun Machine but it was really part of a quest you had to do.

They even got rid of the searching via metal detector since it is destroyed after its first use, likely alluding to the fact that it wasn’t a very important aspect of any of the games.</