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Report: Details and images of canned Justice League game pop up
The Justice League and its members have shown up in a variety of different games on the current-gen consoles as well as PC, but we've yet to see a straight up Justice League video game for 360 and PS3. That doesn't mean that one was never in production, of course – former Double Helix art director and lead level artist Jon Gwyn reveals one such now canceled work-in-progress on his personal portfolio site, as discovered by Superannuation."The Justice League" was apparently a tie-in with George Miller's now-defunct Justice League film. The game project continued for another two years before being shut down as well. Few details about the game itself are available, but the images show a variety of superhero locales (Gotham, Metropolis) and Gwyn describes it as a "third-person brawler." A proposed versus mode was also included which put together a quartet of half good guys / half bad guys into an arena for a street fight.Despite the cancelation, Gwyn says that "the team was brought onto another superhero project" rather than being canned – that project appears to be the Green Lantern game from Double Helix that was released in June of last year. Additionally, despite project similarities, no assets from the Justice League project transferred to the Green Lantern one.Gwyn is currently working at Rockstar San Diego as a senior artist on a "confidential AAA title." Unfortunately, between the time it took to write this piece and ping Mr. Gwyn, he's password protected the images. If you'd like to share any information or assets regarding the Justice League game, don't hesitate to get in contact with us.
Shinobi 3DS review: The Atomic Sauce Challenge
It's tough being a ninja. Every time you put your feet up and try to relax after crisscrossing the globe in battle, your master betrays you or your girlfriend gets kidnapped or your village gets torched by a rival clan. Before you know it, you're leaping from rooftops again, sword in hand, dicing up rivals and chucking shurikens at levitating magicians. As it was for Joe in Sega's 1987 arcade hit Shinobi, so it is for Jiro, his father, whose arc of the multi-generational plight we follow in Griptonite Games' 3DS prequel. Both games are conveniently titled Shinobi, and both would like nothing more than to happily accept your money and then kill you. Repeatedly. %Gallery-131247%
Shinobi 3DS clip looks back, sees ninjas
Ninja Gaiden isn't the only series about a head-scarfed sword swinger fighting off crazy beasts. Check out this Shinobi retrospective that features many silly demons from the ninja series' past.
A fistful of new Shinobi 3DS screens
Griptonite's wall crawling, kunai hurling, shuriken throwing ninja action homage Shinobi looked pretty dang good back at E3, and these new screenshots, hot from the Gamescom oven, are making us hungry for more.
Learning to play Warlords isn't as easy as you'd expect
We considered ourselves pretty good at the Atari 2600 version of Warlords, but that boast required only proficiency at swinging a paddle around to hit a ball into our opponents' corners. So we questioned the necessity for a "how to play" video for the update, until we watched it and remembered this update is ... an update. This thing's got actual strategy in it! You have to lead a "Rally Snoot" character to a control point -- a control point! -- and then have him wait for another to arrive in order to capture it. You can boost the shields around your castle, and even aim shots. In other words, there's stuff do do other than frantically moving a paddle around to deflect a single giant pixel.
Shinobi and Crush3D delay3D
Both of Sega's upcoming 3DS projects have been outfitted with new, later dates, according to a press release issued by Sega's European and American branches today. Griptonite Games' Shinobi update, initially due in September, will now be released on November 15. Crush3D, also originally to have been released in September, is now due February 21 of next year. This delay announcement confirms a statement given at a GamesIndustry.biz roundtable by Zoe Mode's Paul Mottram, who mentioned that "we had to delay the release of that because of the success of the platform." The solution to the problem of a platform that doesn't have enough games ... is to hold off on releasing games. Of course.
Shinobi preview: The re-revenge of Shinobi
If you've heard that the new 3DS Shinobi game feels exactly like the original -- or any Shinobi game to date -- you've heard wrong. Even though it's published by Sega and it's about a ninja, Griptonite's new Shinobi is definitely a modern action game. It does take some inspiration from the series, which makes it recognizable as a descendant of those games, but it's more reimagining than remake.%Gallery-126014%
Shinobi 3DS emerging from the shadows this September
You heard about its existence earlier this week, and Nintendo Power took the liberty of confirming the title yesterday, but today Sega officially-officially unveiled the 3DS relaunch of the Shinobi series. Shinobi is a mix of original 2D side-scrolling gameplay with -- you guessed it! -- 3D occasionally mixed in. This fall's 3DS title will follow Jiro Musashi, progenitor to the original game's main character, as he "becomes a true ninja legend" in the only way he knows how: "by mastering a brand new combo system switching between melee, ranged, and acrobatic attacks." The true ninja way! Beyond announcing a September 2011 release window for Shinobi, Sega sent over a mess of new screens and a trailer with gameplay, which we've dropped after the break. Be careful to watch for shurikens as you sneak past the guards!%Gallery-124532%
Nintendo Power cover confirms Sonic Generations 3DS, new Shinobi
We've recently seen some evidence of two Sega 3DS projects that have yet to be officially announced: a 3DS (and PC) version of Sonic Generations, and a new Shinobi game. It turns out that the latest issue of Nintendo Power announces them both before Sega has a chance to fire up the press release machine. The cover of the June 2011 issue, as found on NeoGAF, specifically notes that Sonic Generations "speeds onto the 3DS" just in time for the sometimes pudgy hedgehog's 20th anniversary. Shinobi, however, is only listed as a "classic revival." Additionally, a teaser of the forthcoming Shinobi game appears to have leaked on YouTube, posted yesterday by user "greatshow482" -- the user's only upload. Beyond affirming Griptonite Games as the developer, the teaser confirms a Shinobi game "re-imagined for the Nintendo 3DS."
Resume reveals Griptonite working on 'Shinobi' for 3DS
It's been quite some time since Sega's arcade-born ninja series Shinobi sliced up fools on consoles, but a recently discovered resume listing indicates that he may be making a return on Nintendo's 3DS. Griptonite Games environmental artist Branden Brushett explains his work on the unannounced title in detail, noting he "created whole levels for 'Shinobi' on the Nintendo 3DS, including many props for use in a variety of environments." Unfortunately, aside from the news of the game existing, not much else is known -- the publishing rights holder, Sega, has yet to respond to a request for comment, nor had Mr. Brushett. And other than the news that the game will likely feature "hand painted and photo referenced textures," the resume doesn't illuminate anything else about the game. You might say that information about Shinobi 3DS is hiding in the shadows, like a ninja, waiting to strike. And considering how strong our ninja detecting skills are, we'd wager E3 is a likely time for that strike. The "strike," likely, will just be a press release, so don't worry. Update: Sega told us it isn't offering a comment at this time.
Warlords screens are fairly full of fireballs
The constituent elements in the latest batch of screenshots for Atari's Warlords remake are just what you'd expect: Castles, tiny soldiers and more fireballs than could possibly be numbered by anyone, even if they're using some kind of sophisticated fireball-counting apparatus.
DS and Wii go back to Sesame Street in Ready, Set, Grover!
(Warning: there's a monster at the end of this post.) Warner Bros. is continuing to get mileage out of its Sesame Street license, announcing a new fitness-themed game for Wii and DS. Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover! is a set of exercises designed by Grover himself, "to help his Sesame Street friends get up and go!" Kids will be able to row, jump, and play "Grover Says" along with Elmo and Abby. The Wii version comes with a Grover version of the Sesame Street Wiimote covers introduced last year, which covers all unnecessary buttons. And the DS version includes a "jumbo click stylus." The games are designed to be playable by toddlers on their own, but they also include a "Parent's Page" so parents can see what the little ones did. The Griptonite-developed games will be out this summer.%Gallery-122808%
Warlords re-remake coming to XBLA and PSN this summer
There's already an HD version of Atari's classic Warlords on XBLA, but one remake isn't enough to fully explore the possibilities of Warlords' four-player competitive Breakout concept. Atari is giving the vintage combat game a more significant upgrade for an XBLA/PSN version, due this summer. While the "Evolved" version found in the previous XBLA release was just HD window dressing for the same game, this adds new elements -- like troops, who will gather powerups and fight each other on the screen even as you're trying to bounce fireballs into enemy castle walls. So it's kind of a strategy game now. It also includes multiple local and online multiplayer moves. Honestly, if we're going to see one game remade frequently, we're happy it's this one. Now if only our modern consoles had paddle controllers.
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions DS Preview: Hand not held
At a recent preview event for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Activision had all versions of the game playable but, for the life of me, I just couldn't put the DS game down. Developed by Griptonite, the DS version is heavy on the exploration and features a light, fluid combat system. The DS game features only three different dimensions: Amazing, Noir and 2099. Lacking the Ultimate realm, the game also puts less emphasis on the differences between each dimension. Spidey's abilities at the outset of entering each dimension are a tad different, but the mix of climbing and combat remains the same. %Gallery-100781%
Review: Reiner Knizia's Poison a fun way to kill (a few minutes)
One of the criticisms launched against prolific game designer Reiner Knizia is that his games get their the theme pasted on. This means that whatever the players are trying to accomplish through the game's mechanics really doesn't have much to do with the graphics and the box description. He has at least 200 published games – and might have another one thought up by the time you're done reading this review – so we understand that they can't all be perfect matches. Knizia's card game Poison, first released for the table top in 2005, is a perfect example of this. The game could almost be played with standard cards – the deck includes three colors/suits (each with three 1s, two fours and one each of 2, 5 and 7) and eight "poison" cards worth 4 each – but the company that released the game, Playroom Entertainment, printed it with a magician/warlock/witch theme. It was later rebranded and slightly tweaked to include donuts as the game Baker's Dozen in 2008. The iPhone and iPod touch version of the game (US$2.99) uses the earlier Poison graphics, and it's a gorgeous looking little translation. The app was released 2009 by Griptonite Games and we honestly wish they'd have updated a few nagging items by now. Read on to find out what is good, and what could be improved, in this clever card game. %Gallery-85823%
Assassin's Creed 2 mistakenly leaked to App Store, then taken out
For a while last night and today, there were two ways to check out Assassin's Creed II: Discovery before its official release on the iPhone App Store: Have a Nintendo DS Download the early version that somehow made it to the App Store before the official release date The mistakenly-listed game has since been removed, with Ubisoft reps telling Touch Arcade that it not only was it an early release of Discovery, but it wasn't the final build, and thus may have had some bugs that will be ironed out by release. It was also incorrectly priced at $11.99. Just a big old whoops all around. Even if you didn't manage to snag a copy of the game, Touch Arcade did, and the site courteously recorded some footage for us all. You can see that after the break.
Impressions: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Of all the upcoming titles on display at last night's PSP showcase in San Francisco, we were most eager to check out Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines. After seeing the video from the PlayStation Blog, we just had to confirm that it really looked that amazing in person – and it does. Although our demo was hands-off, it was running on PSP Go hardware and was just about the most impressive thing we've seen on Sony's portable.It looked great, locked in at a nice, smooth 30 frames per second and featured superb character models, textures and lighting. It also seemed to play really well, which, at the end of the day, is what we all know really matters.%Gallery-68095%
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines' PS3 connectivity, new gameplay detailed
Aside from showing off a mess of impressive gameplay from Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, a recent PlayStation.Blog interview with Bloodlines producer Dominic Lefrançois and senior producer Dan McAuliffe revealed some interesting facts about the interactivity between the PSP game and its PS3 sibling. A handful of moves have transferred over from Assassin's Creed 2, though Lefrançois would only mention the ledge grab you see above. Additionally, "Templar coins" and weapons earned through assassinations in Bloodlines will transfer to AC2, while health from the codecs in AC2 will transfer to Bloodlines. It certainly sounds like a great incentive to purchase both games on both pla -- hey! We're on to you, Ubisoft!%Gallery-68095%
Here's your chance! Win The Urbz for the Nintendo DS
Just as we promised here's your chance to win a free copy of The Urbz: Sims in the City for the brand new Nintendo DS. Be the first person to comment on this post with the codeword "circular", and we'll hook you up with a little something to play on your new toy. Like we said before, remember to authenticate your comment via email, and that the contest is limited to residents and the United States and Canada (but you probably haven't read this far yet). Good luck! UPDATE: Dennis wins this one! Make sure you check back tomorrow when you'll have a chance to win Madden NFL 2005.
The Urbz: get hip now!
It's Sims in the city! Alas, after poor console sales of the Sims, EA decided it needed to get more hip with its latest offering, opting to strip away the basic Sims formula, replacing it with glitz & glamour, and of course, attitude. The Urbz is basically a popularity contest, and not unlike real life, you succeed by wearing the right clothes and telling people what they want to hear (don't worry, for you real life losers EA provides all of the right choices, all of the time). There's little here to appreciate beyond the somewhat entertaining character animations, as the entire game can be unlocked in a matter of hours. Perhaps the greatest lesson the Urbz has to offer is, when you strip away the fashion trends, all social crowds are the same. PS2 Xbox GameCube
