spring-2012
Latest
PixelJunk 4am out this spring, spectator mode detailed
Q-Games' music thing, PixelJunk 4am, will be available this spring on the PlayStation Network. It's been a rough road trying to describe the "game" to the masses, so the developer will be holding a public preview next week in San Francisco. PixelJunk 4am Art & Music Director DJ Baiyon, who was also responsible for the music in PixelJunk Eden, will be there to perform, and there'll be free play for everyone.The PlayStation Blog has also detailed how the spectator mode will work for the game. A free app will be available on the PSN for everyone, and allow them to "stream any live performances currently happening worldwide." Players will be able to follow their favorite performers and provide feedback through those fancy social networking sites, like the Twitters and Facebooks.Hopefully, the GDC performance will finally give us the audio-visual opportunity to properly encapsulate the feeling of 4am.
Microsoft's free-to-play Flight lands this spring
Flight simulator enthusiasts are a very specific, complex subsect of the gaming world. Their passion for checklists and indecipherable user interfaces places them at an almost MMO-level of dedication and persistence, and -- like the popular multiplayer RPGs -- flight sims are starting to make the leap to free-to-play. Microsoft Flight will bring affordable ailerons and aerofoils to PC pilots this spring, according to an update on Major Nelson's blog. Everyone will have access to free crashes aircraft, though those who sign in with a Games for Windows Live account will receive additional free planes, missions and access to those sweet 'chievos. The sim will also include the ICON A5, an amphibious, lightweight vehicle which doesn't enter real-world commercial production until the end of this year. Microsoft's PR describes the A5 as "the jet ski for the skies," which sounds like the most terrifying, fantastic way to die. Prospective pilots can still sign up for that closed beta we mentioned by clicking here, presumably after strapping on goggles and a dashing scarf.
XSEED inks publishing deal for Vita platformer Sumioni: Demon Arts
XSEED is one of the most doggedly prolific PSP publishers, and it's continuing the trend with the Vita, announcing plans to publish Acquire's Sumioni: Demon Arts this spring in North America. Sumioni casts the player as an "ink demon," fighting through a sumi-e landscape. It combines traditional button controls for locomotion and combat, and touchscreen-based drawing to make new platforms, summon fire and lightning, and perform other feats. It's also, like, way pretty. You don't need us to tell you that! Gawk at the above trailer and see for yourself. Thanks, XSEED, for localizing one of the more interesting Japanese Vita launch games! It's not like we can just buy it from PSN in Japan.
Capcom collects SSF2 Turbo HD Remix, seven other XBLA games on disc
Your stubborn reluctance to purchase any of Capcom's digital releases is about to pay off. The publisher is collecting eight of its XBLA games for a $40 disc dubbed "Capcom Digital Collection," out next spring. It's exclusive to Xbox 360. The set includes 1942: Joint Strike, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (not 1 ...), the two-game Final Fight: Double Impact, Flock!, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil with "It Came from Uranus" DLC, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. That's an overwhelming windfall of games to receive at once -- and it would be $100 if you bought it all digitally. If you want more than a couple of these games (and especially if you're light on hard drive space), it's a pretty appealing deal.%Gallery-141794%
Pixar's 'Rush,' new Sesame Street game coming to Kinect (for kids)
Microsoft's latest batch of kid-friendly Kinect games includes projects developed in collaboration with Disney Pixar, Sesame Workshop, National Geographic and the Games for Learning Institute. Wow. Back in our day, we had to make do with The Castle of Dr. Brain. Disney Pixar's game, codenamed "Rush," will scan and deposit you and your diminutive kin into the wonderful worlds seen in five Pixar movies: The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, Toy Story 3 and Cars 2. It sounds like you can expect some minigames while you're in there, though Microsoft prefers to call them "exciting challenges." (One of them is pictured above.) Kinect Sesame Street TV purveys basic education in the best way possible: via adorable muppets, with Sesame Street footage filmed specifically for Xbox 360. Kinect will also host Kinect Nat Geo TV, which lets you interact with the natural world as an animal (in case you've grown tired of being a hedgehog all the time), and a game tentatively called "Project Columbia." It's proposed as a way to immerse young gamers in books, pairing storytelling with interactive music and illustrations. We'll see more of these projects before they start arriving in Spring 2012. Another game, Double Fine's Happy Action Theater, is due this holiday. You'll just have to see the trailer to understand its insane exuberance.
Here come the Men in Black, in Activision's new game [update]
Someone must have flashy-thinged us recently, because we don't remember hearing the news of a new Men in Black movie coming out next spring. Activision Publishing was informed about the news, at least, with enough of a lead to get to work on a game that'll be released on "consoles and handhelds" alongside the theatrical run of the movie. Dan "One of Swords" Amrich showed a couple of small screenshots on his blog, noting "Based on those, the game could be anything, but we know this much: it will be something." It's something developed by Fun Labs, who has made a lot of Cabela's games for Activision. Educated guess: it's going to be a shooter, about shooting aliens, while wearing a black suit.%Gallery-136442% Update: added gallery and developer info.
Rumor: 3DS Tales of the Abyss coming to Europe in spring 2012
Tales fans: if you have any hopes left, don't get them up just yet, because we're working with a second-hand report here. According to 3DSTribe, the latest issue of the UK's NGamer magazine lists a European release for the 3DS port of Tales of the Abyss, due spring 2012. Though the PS2 version was one of the rare Tales games to make it to North America, it was never released in Europe. Tales is coming out in Japan on June 30. The North American release is sometime this fall. We're contacting Namco Bandai to determine the veracity of this European date -- but have your limited-edition Tales salt shaker handy.
