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Resistance 2 details, gameplay revealed on last night's GameTrailers TV
Don't get your hopes up -- the above video isn't particularly fresh or tantalizing, though watching Geoff Keighley get repeatedly shot down by Ted Price, president of Insomniac Games, is rather entertaining. If you're looking for new gameplay videos and information on the sequel to the PS3's well-received launch title, you'll have to watch the entirety of last night's episode of GameTrailers TV, as the individual nuggets of new information about the game have yet to be compartmentalized into easily digestible clips.There's some interesting gameplay footage spliced throughout the episode, but for those of you who don't have 22 minutes to kill, you can check out chapters one and two for details about the single player campaign, chapter three for new info about mutliplayer, and chapter four for new characters and weapons. We imagine there's enough footage of Keighley getting the silent treatment from Price to fill up at least seventeen additional chapters.
Hanshin Tigers DS probably not coming to a store near you
If there was ever a game destined to really nail a niche market in North America, it's this game. Japanese-speaking Hanshin Tigers fans, with a deep knowledge of the team's history and players, will be all over importing this bad boy. There's a new twist to this heartwarming story of an underdog title coming out to compete against the big evil team game -- it's not just trivia anymore.Along with a new batch of screens, we've discovered the inclusion of mini-games, good for letting your hair down after all that baseball question-answering work. You'll be hitting them out of the park in Home Run Contest, doing something else (we have no idea, sorry) in Lucky 7, and also enjoying a bit of karaoke ... somehow. Baseball is one popular sport, and importing Hanshin Tigers DS when it releases on August 28 will make you one popular gamer. %Gallery-24798%
Watch this Twilight Syndrome trailer before it gets dark outside
We noticed two things while watching the new trailer for Spike's horror adventure game Twilight Syndrome: Kinjiraneta Toshi Densetsu (Twilight Syndrome: The Forbidden Urban Legend) (which you can access by going to the site and clicking the button indicated above): It looks exactly like a creepy version of Gyakuten Kenji, with a schoolgirls in place of Miles Edgeworth and Dick Gumshoe Zoinks! Like, we gotta get outta here, Scoob! Seriously, we were expecting hilarity out of this trailer and, while some of the artwork looked goofy, and the actual gameplay bits looked not-scary-at-all, we got pretty freaked out. Not "get up and hide" level, or "stop blogging" level, but there was at least one heebie-jeebie involved. We know that the urgent music is designed specifically to try to get a panic response out of us.The horror genre is taking off on the DS in Japan, but the U.S. has Dementium and pretty much nothing else. Who's going to be the first to localize? Twilight Syndrome would be a good choice, as part of an existing horror series, for which a movie has just been announced.%Gallery-20543%[Via Famitsu]
More high school horrors: Twilight Syndrome
Just when you think it's safe to put on your schoolgirl uniform, Spike announces another addition to the DS's nascent horror genre -- Twilight Syndrome: Kinjiraneta Toshi Densetsu (Twilight Syndrome: The Forbidden Urban Legend).The new title has two high school girls fending off ghosts and other supernatural forces while they investigate a mysterious set of chain text messages. Making sure its game elicits the right amount of screams and squeals from you, Spike has brought in horror director Osamu Fukutani (e.g. Saigo no Bansan, Jisatsu Manyuaru) to help with the script. The initial batch of screenshots -- which you can view in the gallery below -- show the skirt-clad protagonists exploring a seemingly empty school and meddling with a ouija board, the latter likely requiring touchscreen interaction. Creepy! Expect Twilight Syndrome to hit stores in Japan and haunt your homeroom this July 26th.%Gallery-20543%[Via Siliconera]
LifeSigns: Surgical Unit has a nicely timed sale
If you're itching to unleash your inner surgeon onto your DS after all this Trauma Center brouhaha, you might want to consider picking up LifeSigns: Surgical Unit in the meantime. Since we haven't played it, we can't recommend it ourselves (although some of our readers seem to be fond of this title), but it happens to be on sale this week at GameQuest Direct. The sale will last until April 8th, giving you plenty of time to consider whether or not you need another surgery-sim-meets-soap-opera in your life, but an $11 markdown is a pretty nice deal. Also, thanks to CAG, you can use the code CAG1SHIP in the bottom left corner for free shipping.Yet, the game did end up on some worst lists of 2007, so caveat emptor.[Via CAG]
Hanshin Tigers DS: the opposite of MLB 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars
This morning, we asked about realism in games, using MLB 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars as an example of a deliberate move away from realism. Spike's Hanshin Tigers DS is in direct contrast to that title, in that it is absolutely realistic, lacking even the "fantasy" of pretending to play baseball. There's nothing more "realistic" than facts! While 2K's title is a baseball game that breaks away from accurate depictions of players and abilities, Hanshin Tigers DS is a strictly factual interpretation of baseball with no actual baseball involved.Somehow, the Japanese game market is capable of sustaining this incredibly specialized game. It's not just a trivia game -- it's a baseball trivia game. About only one team, the Hanshin Tigers (who have been honored with pinstriped Gamecubes and Neo Geo Pocket Color systems!).
Flash of the North Star
Got a few minutes to kill? Spend it killing with your fists of stylus-enhanced rage. Spike has created a Flash demo of the Fist of the North Star game and made it available at the official website, allowing you to first enjoy a tutorial that demonstrates the controls, and then, as Kenshiro, take on some enormous guy in a fight. Just click around the navigation buttons under the DS on the demo page and you'll get to all the content.The tutorial isn't terribly necessary -- click numbers in order, drag back and forth between lines pointing at each other -- but we recommend it, because it basically amounts to a little bit more game. There's a decent challenge to be found in some of the tasks, mostly because of the timer. The back-and-forth motions, for example, require some decent speed and accuracy. Of course, this is made somewhat more difficult by the substitution of a mouse for the stylus. [Via Inside-Games]
Fist of the North Star's sensitive minigame
We thought this minigame in the Fist of the North Star DS game was awesome enough to warrant its own post. As the latest screenshot update on the official website illustrates, Raoh's storyline is playable in addition to Kenshiro's.This follows outside of the main game as well, with this Raoh-spotting minigame. We've seen some weird minigames in our tenure as DS fans, but this one may manage to be the freakiest yet. Given a selection of four details from manga panels, you are asked to pick which depiction of Raoh features Raoh crying over his brother Toki. That's actually not the whole of the game; it's a wireless multiplayer trivia game, which is a neat addition. Still, for us it's always going to be the crying-Raoh game. Lest you think Raoh is weak, we should tell you why he's crying over his brother Toki: it's because he has just punched Toki almost to death, and is about to punch him all the way to death. You'd cry too.
Fist of the North Star screens precisely attack our eyeballs
There's something about stylus controls and Fist of the North Star that go so well together. Despite the animation being sub-par in the anime, we still enjoyed it very much (but don't even get us started on the live-action film) back in the day, so the prospect of being able to play it on our DS is one we've been in favor of for a bit now. Oh, how we can't wait to hit some fools with about a billion punches.These newest screens mix in a couple oldies with all of the others, so keep that in mind. For the most part, though, it's all fresh.
Fist of the North Star DS comes with neighsayer
The DS Fist of the North Star game was already an interactive manga in which you tap spots on the screen to beat up on dudes. It was already pretty bizarre. But Spike has decided to pile bizarre upon bizarre with this bonus for early purchasers.It's a keychain that plays a horse noise. Awesome, right? You could be out anywhere, and suddenly have the urge to listen to the sound of a horse, and just have a horse noise right there. In your pocket. To be fair, the horse immortalized by this keychain is not just some regular horse, but Kokuoh-Go, Raoh's giant horse who is also a king. Unfortunately, we don't know what Kokuoh-Go sounds like, but maybe his neigh is way tougher-sounding than a normal horse's.GAME Watch has some new screens of the game, in case you're as interested in extremely violent screen-tapping as we are.
New and interesting ways to bust up dudes in Fist of the North Star
Spike has updated their Fist of the North Star website with a couple of new screens showing the varied input methods in the game. The gameplay is not entirely limited to tapping things, but sometimes involves tapping and then dragging. We might not know too much about Fist of the North Star, but we know that any game involving using the stylus to cut a guy's face all criss-crossed is something we want to play.Also revealed in the latest update: you'll be able to play as characters other than Kenshiro. Raoh is mentioned by name, but there will certainly be more.[Via Ruliweb]
Gamecock sorry about crashing Ken Levine's VGA speech
If you made it to the end of the Spike VGAs (and you weren't being paid to live blog it), we're not sure if we should be proud of you or pity you. You did, however, get to see one of the more interesting parts of the evening when Gamecock staffers (complete with red capes and combs) stormed the game of year award acceptance speech. It would have been funny, except the award was being accepted by the well-respected and liked Ken Levine for BioShock. A day later, the company perhaps realized that it wasn't the smartest attention grab, with boss Mike Wilson telling us "the award acceptance they interrupted was the LAST one we would have wanted to interrupt, ("most addictive game fueled by mountain dew" would have been a wonderful choice) as we have the utmost respect and love for BioShock and all who were involved in it, and it totally sucks that Ken Levine didn't get to speak after making such a fantastic game." You can watch the video above to determine for yourself if Gamecock stepped over the line, just be aware: The video features near nudity, because the winners of all the awards were painted on actual naked women. ...No, seriously.
Afro Samurai trailer sports plenty of blood, not much else
What can we expect from the Afro Samurai video game? Based on this short trailer -- which premiered during the Spike Video Game Awards -- we'll be seeing lots of blood, and the voice talent of Samuel L. Jackson, who also provides the main character's voice in the anime series. The first announcement for this game came way back in June, and it looks like we have pretty much the same information then as we do now: expect swordfighting, acrobatics, and a blood-spattered badass voiced by the badass to end all badasses. At least now the blood is confirmed.
Game Head out, GameTrailers TV in
Just when you were getting used to the awkward name, our good buddies at MTV Networks (hey Ed Lover!) have decided to close up Game Head HQ after 2-1/2 years and roll that show's talent into another video gaming super show: may we introduce GameTrailers TV, premiering next month on Spike TV. So, Keighley stays on board, but now his powers are augmented by those of GameTrailers' Daniel Kayser and Amanda MacKay. After purchasing Game Trailers two years ago, MTV has been steadily integrating the property across their burgeoning video game empire. One need look no further than last night's airing of the Spike Video Game Awards, which was littered with video game trailer premieres (amongst other things carefully selected to trigger base responses in the 18-34 year old male demographic).So, we'll still have the news and interviews from Game Head, but coupled with the features and trailers from GameTrailers. Apparently, like the VGAs, trailers will premiere on the show before popping up on GameTrailers.com along with the full episodes. Full episodes will later make their way to the Xbox Live Marketplace in glorious HD if you're into that sorta thing.
Iron Man's new trailer looks unexpectedly awesome
We know, we know, it's just a video clip. And yes, we know that we've been burned by sexy trailers for mediocre licensed games before. But this new trailer for Iron Man (shown during last night's Spike VGAs) is just so freaking good, we're finding it hard to keep our cynical composure.How about when Iron Man throws a fighter jet, or when it grabs a missile and redirects it? How about the original gray armor? Awesome. Everything here is. There is one thing that troubles us though: At one point, Tony Stark flies through a ring. If it's a stylish move, all's well, but if Iron Man's going to get into some Superman 64 shenannigans, things are going to get hectic.
Liveblogging the 2007 Video Game Awards
"I must have one of those Arby's subs." And with that, Griffin and I begin our live blog. Hello everyone, it's Justin McElroy, and for the next two hours my brother and I will be your guides for "Samuel L. Jackson No-So-Subtly Judges Everyone in the Room," or, as it's being advertised, "The Spike 2007 Video Game Awards." The live blog begins after the break. Come, join us.
Promotional Consideration: Why we're not watching the Spike Video Game Awards tonight
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.American cable channel Spike premieres the 2007 edition of the Spike Video Game Awards tonight at 9:00 PM (likely re-airing it a dozen times over the course of the next couple of months). Despite the scorn it received from gamers in its previous years, the show lives on, now in its fourth year. There are many reasons one could give for refusing to watch the two-hour program tonight -- the event really is as ridiculous as you'd expect a video game award show to be -- but one specific flaw brought about our decision to avoid the production ...
BioShock drowns competition at 2007 VGAs
We know you're on pins and needles, so we'll just come right out and tell you that Spike TV's latest Video Game Awards has lifted up BioShock as the year's best game, with Andrew Ryan's underwater extravaganza besting other notables such as Mass Effect, The Orange Box, and Halo 3. With Samuel L. Jackson once again at the helm, the awards show went down last night at Las Vegas' posh Mandalay Bay, and we imagine is now being carefully outfitted with extreme graphics and Mountain Dew ads for its television broadcast on Dec. 9 at 9PM. Besides its game of the year nod, BioShock also walked away with awards for being the best Xbox 360 game and having the best original score, making it also responsible for the event's most return trips to the stage. Now, for the complete list, would you kindly make with the clicking?
Dekotora roars onto the DS
Dekotora is a weird and expensive hobby in Japan, involving putting crazy, garish art and hundreds of neon lights on big trucks. It's sort of like the ground-effects/import-tuning scene, but on ridiculously enormous trucks, without the performance enhancements, and without restraint. Basically these guys end up building mobile Las Vegases. It's also the subject of a Wii game called Zenkoku Dekotora Matsuri (Nationwide Dekotora Festival), the latest in a line of console dekotora games from Jaleco. While those dealt mainly with carrying cargo on time (in order to earn money to make your truck a more disgusting spectacle) Spike is doing something different with their newly-announced DS dekotora game, Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu (Roaring Dekotora Legend), part of a different established series of dekotora games. This game is about, yes, making your truck look like Liberace's house fell on it, but also smashing rival trucks on the road.
Jawa: kinda like Caveman Crossing
Some gameplay details have come to light about Spike's Jawa: The Mammoth and the Mysterious Stone, which do a lot to continue the Tail of the Sun comparison. Of course, the simplistic (but different) graphical style and the caveman theme go a long way in that direction, as well. But the game veers from Tail of the Sun in a few ways. Like Tail of the Sun, the game centers around the survival of a small tribe of cavemen. Hunting and gathering food is important, and as you get stronger, you can expand your search area without succumbing to fatigue. However, Jawa takes more of an action-adventure game approach, putting you in control of one character and allowing you to ride animals to traverse the area. Battles use a rhythm-based Wiimote-shaking method.This game has more of an emphasis on communication and (asynchronous) multiplayer, as well. Up to four players can occupy the same settlement and send each other messages. It's just like Animal Crossing, except you hunt and eat all the animals!
