Section: News, Consoles, PS3, Handhelds, PSP

How does Sony say thank you for your awesome productivity and quality of digital downloads? By giving you your own storefront on the Playstation Store.

That’s what Sony has recently granted Capcom, publishers of the highly praised Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando: Rearmed. The storefront will go online in November 2008 and will catalog all of Capcom’s downloads in the one place.

“Out of all of the third-party companies making use of the digital space, [Sony] recognizes Capcom is one of the best partners for content,” said John Diamonon, product manager on all Capcom digital titles told Edge.

Christian Svensson, VP of business development and strategic planning for Capcom added that “…Sony’s taking advantage of, in a very real way, one of the benefits of digital, in that there are multiple ways to sort, search and put things in front of people. In a physical store, that physical object can only exist in one physical space. With digital, that object can be highlighted in about 20 different ways.”

This is only the first of what Sony is hoping to be many “publisher portals” that will allow users to find downloads easier by simply picking the publisher or developer. Users already have the option to search content by: Top Downloads, Genres, and New Releases. These “publisher portals” will allow shoppers to more easily find quality titles by visiting that publisher’s store where that publishers games will be allocated. As of now there is no announcement for price changes on titles.

On the subject of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade giving the same treatment to publishers, Svennsson added: “As far as Microsoft goes – how can I say this diplomatically – there are things I think they’d like to do to promote content in multiple ways, and I think they’ll get there eventually… but they’re not there yet.”

Read [Edge] Via [Joystiq]

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

Section: News, Consoles, Wii, Genres, 3D, Action

Even though it was teased at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, the collaboration between Marvelous Entertainment and Grasshopper Manufacture will not hit North American shores until early 2010.

No More Hereos 2 was only shown in a very brief trailer and pretty much the only info on it is that the series will remain on the Wii and it will have the subtitle: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. The news of the late release comes from a Japanese PDF document released by Marvelous Entertainment and picked up by Siliconera.

Siliconera reports the sequel will come to North America sometime in January 2010 and will be released later in Europe, around February or March 2010, and will receive two versions: mild (less violent) and standard (normal violence). What’s even more interesting is that Siliconera points out the lack of a Japanese release date or time frame.

The first game, No More Heroes, was received poorly in Japan only selling around 10,000 copies on it’s first day of release. While this doesn’t mean Japan won’t see a release (it’s Japan after all), it makes you wonder how much the importance of launching territories has shifted places. A running theme at this year’s TGS was how Japanese game development was falling behind Western development with many significant Japanese industry players admitting to the problem.

We’ll share the info on No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle as it is released. 

Read [Siliconera] Via [1UP]

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

I really don’t know how this happened. It has been kind of a gradual stalking of my life, where writing has been loping along silently next to me behind the trees, or hidden in a dark alley as I walked by. I knew it was there, but I didn’t realize it was going to pounce.

The Good Old Days

Back before there was this thing called “The Internet”, I would use my computer, connected to a phone line to dial up another computer and talk. This computer hosted a BBS, or Bulletin Board System. You logged on with your cool computer alias, (I’ve had many, starting with “The Weasel” at about 15, then going to “Lone Knight”, “Max Sterling”, “Stephanos”, and recently “Steve Racer.” ) I was addicted to these things; feeling obligated to respond to every single topic (even if it had nothing to do with me or I had nothing constructive to add) and soon became the #1 poster on many of these boards.

Back then the really annoying speak, AOL or Myspace talk, or however you call it, was not as prevalent. We did not compose messages like “r u at hom? wat u doin?” There were a few bad spellers, sure, but we made the attempt. Regardless, I didn’t realize it, but I was writing a lot of words.

College comes along

Then there was college. I loved college because I could schedule my classes when I wanted, which mean after 11 am because I am a night owl. The transition was wonderful from not sleeping enough to sleeping in. Regardless, in college you are required to write. We had something like two or even three required writing courses! Oh, the humanity!

Anyway, so I wrote stuff for my classes, and learned MLA style notation, which apparently you only use in college. I also discovered the Internet (hey, I’m like Columbus!) George Mason University gave us a web page on the college server – so I eventually whipped up the ugliest mess of graphics and text you could imagine. However, this being 1994, it fit right in. I put a few things on my web site, started telling stories.

Working man

“They call me the working man, I guess that’s what I am.” – Rush

Not long after I graduated I decided working a real job sucked so I became a teacher.  

And then, the rest of my blog disappeared

I dunno what happened but the document I sent myself only had half of this blog. So, here’s the rest:

Then I moved to LA and I met people who found out I could write and asked me to write scripts and even paid me so I guess now I’m a real writer. The end.

Section: Exclusives, Originals, Features, How-To, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, Role-Playing, Sim

Mabinogi doesn’t offer any in-your-face or lengthy tutorials when you first begin playing. Instead, you receive a spirit weapon which will answer any questions you have while playing, and owls will deliver scrolls with quests to your. So people familiar with RPGs or MMOs shouldn’t have any problems jumping right in.

Those who are new to the genre may need a bit help to get started. So to help you out, Gamertell has gone through the beginning of the game, to help you get accustomed and settled in, until you receive your first title. The game’s “tutorial” section can be described as consisting of five quests which send you around Tir Chonaill, performing basic tasks for people, learning a few skills and meeting some of the residents. Read More

Section: Exclusives, Originals, Features, How-To, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, MMO, Role-Playing, Web-Sites, Official-Sites

Mabinogi has two character card options. Every account starts with a basic Character Card, which allows you to create your first character. However, you can later rebirth that character, or add another character to your account, via Character Cards purchased in the Premium Shop.

Extra character cards are going to cost you real money either way. A Basic Character Card costs 7,900 NX/$7.90 and a Premium Character Card costs 9,500 NX/$9.50. Both function in the same way – each one can be used to create a new character or rebirth one of your existing characters. If you start with a Premium Character, you can use a Basic Character Card when you rebirth, and vice versa, so don’t think that once you’ve chosen an option, you always have to stick with it for that character.

Read More

When you start out, you don’t have an agent, you don’t have a manager. You have to promote yourself, get yourself jobs, get an internet presence, take classes… everything on your own. So, every time I get a new little bit of anything, a show, a movie, something I wrote — I have to promote it myself. I realize I’m starting to look like a bit of a whore.

With the help of Dictionary.com, I found this:
whore        (hôr, h?r)  Pronunciation Key
n.
1. A prostitute.
2. A person considered sexually promiscuous.
3. A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

And door number 3 is a winner. Okay, maybe I’m not so much compromising principles but advertising myself to my friends and internet neighbors to the point of annoyance. But what else can I do? Take out an ad in the Post? Read More