Saturday, March 31, 2012

Random game facts for 3/31/12


  • If you cheated while playing the Sega 32x version of Doom, after the game ends you're taken to a fake DOS prompt. You can't quit out of it, and the only way to escape the screen is to reset the console. If you didn't cheat, you get an extra cutscene.
  • Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon, got the idea for the worldwide Game Boy phenomenon after collecting caterpillars as a child and watching them change into butterflies.
  • Duke Nukem 3D was one of the first games to employ a real-time audio effect to its sounds. If you went underwater, a calculated reverb was applied to sounds being played to make gunfire sound muffled and gurgly.





Friday, March 30, 2012

Random game facts for 3/30/12


  • The Nintendo GameCube's proprietary disc can hold 1.5 gigabytes of data - 190 times more than what an N64 game cartridge can hold.
  • The Atari Jaguar proudly boasted that it was the first 64-bit console, but in reality it was two 32-bit chips stuck together - so not truly 64-bit. Those liars.
  • It's only humanly possible to press a button on a controller 16 times per second. This record was set by Toshuyuki Takahashi, a Japanese gamer.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

700 PAGE VIEWS!!!

Thank you all who visited my blog!, here's hoping for 1000+ views

Epic Mickey 2: PC/Mac versions confirmed by Disney


Disney's confirmed that Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two will be coming to computers in a PC/Mac hybrid iteration. This week's already seen an adjunct title, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, revealed for 3DS; the Warren Spector-directed main event is due for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii in September, though no date's been given for the computer version.

We brought you initial details on Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two last week, when the game was first announced. We've also got a Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two preview with further screens and details on the upcoming multiplayer musical adventure, whose computer appearance marks a rare departure from the eponymous rodent's long string of edutainment-focused PC titles. Not that there's anything wrong with such games, but we'll admit our target audience - and that for Epic Mickey 2 - resides mainly within the "wears big-kid pants" demographic.

Source: Gamesradar

Assassin's Creed III becomes Ubisoft's most pre-ordered game


Whether you're still excited for or absolutely sick of the Assassin's Creed series, there's no denying thatAssassin's Creed III will sell boatloads come October 30.  Ubisoft certainly knows this, given the game's record-breaking pre-order figures.
According to Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed III is the company's most pre-ordered game to date, beating out its predecessors and other Ubi franchises.  According to the company, the new AC has already accumulated over 10 times the number of U.S. pre-orders that Assassin's Creed Revelations had in the same time period; reservation numbers have also exceeded Brotherhood's life-to-date U.S. pre-orders.
Granted, Assassin's Creed III won't be ousting industry giants like Call of Duty any time soon, but we're sure Ubi isn't complaining.  The newest Assassin's Creed promises a new hero (Ezio's been dead for centuries) and an entirely new world in 18th century America.

Source: Neoseeker

Street Fighter producer temporarily steps down following health concerns


There's little doubt that Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono has been passionate about restoring glory for his company's fighting games, and it's largely through his efforts that franchises like Street Fighter have become a mainstream brand for Capcom once again.  Unfortunately, one of Capcom's Street Fighter staffer blogs late last week confirmed Ono has been hospitalized for what was described as a deteriorating physical condition.
Ono has since been released from the hospital and returned to communicating with fans through tweeting, but only to reiterate the that he will not be able to resume his duties as producer at Capcom "for a while."  While he further notes that Capcom will be meeting to select an interim replacement for his position, Ono promises to return to the limelight once he recuperates.
Hopefully exhaustion is all he is suffering from, as Ono most recently tweeted that "Physical health is of paramount importance. Let's try to improve healthcare."

Source: Neoseeker

Random facts for 3/29/12 + bonus


  • The Original Devil May Cry was originally intended to be the next chapter in the Resident Evil series. The gun juggle move was a glitch, but became part of Dante's move set.
  • Final Fantasy VII was originally designed for the Nintendo 64, but Square cancelled the project and moved to the PSone because of the lack of space in the console's game cartridges. FFVII would've filled 13 cartridges.
  • To create the gruesome Necromorph monsters in their game Dead Space, the devs at EA Redwood Shores studied photos of car wreck victims. They also watched hundreds of horror movies to get ideas for in-game scares.
Today I will post 3 extra facts due to my sick leave yesterday
  • Final Fantasy got its name from the fact that it was supposed to be Square's last ever game. They were struggling to become popular with dodgy games like Rad Racer and World Runner 3D, and were going to bow out of the industry gracefully.
  • Captain Commando was a sci-fi superhero who served as Capcom's mascot in its early days, but was replaced by Mega Man after the Captain proved unpopular with gamers.Capcom's original name was Capsule Computing.
  • The first game to feature multiple endings depending on how you played the game was Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest on the NES.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Shoot Many Robots hits PC in April, pre-order for Valve goodies


Shoot Many Robots hit consoles earlier this month, and now the game is making its way to PC by way of Steam.  Set for PC debut on April 6 (next Friday), pre-orders also began today, and "reserving" the game early will net you a few Valve-themed in-game goods.
Pre-ordering Shoot Many Robots before launch will unlock the following bonuses:
  • Steam Four Pack - Buy three, get one free
  • Gear that lets you "kick butt as Gordon Freeman"
  • Portal turrets will replace some enemies
  • Chopper Bot for Team Fortress 2 - backpack for Pyro and Medic classes
The PC version is currently being handled by Demiurge Studios, the same team who worked on Mass Effect PC.  Shoot Many Robot PC promises lovelier graphics -- up to 2560 x 1600 resolution and 60 fps -- optimized controls and interfaces, fully integrated Steam matching, Facebook matchmaking, voice chat, and Achievements.

Source: Neoseeker

Random game facts for 3/27/12


  • Probably a bit late but, March 20th marked the 15th  anniversary of the japanese release of Castlevania Symphony of The Night  
  • Online gaming isn't as recent a development as you may think; in the '90s, a modem peripheral called the Satellaview was released for the Super Nintendo. It let gamers download gaming news and specially-designed games. They were mostly remakes of retro classics.
  • Guitar Hero: Aerosmith wasn't the wrinkly rockers' first videogame appearance. In 1994 they starred in an on-rails shooter called Revolution X where you had to rescue the band from kidnappers in a dystopian future. No, really.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Phantasy Star Online 2 Will Be Free To Play On Both PC And Vita


Details on Phantasy Star Online 2’s upcoming closed beta test were discussed at a media briefing today, just as promised by producer, Satoshi Sakai, last week. The closed beta for the game will commence near the end of April, and as previously reported, Sega are making room for 100,000 participants.

Other details about the game’s were discussed, too, including the most important one—pricing structure. Phantasy Star Online 2 will be a free-to-play game on both PC and PlayStation Vita, and there will be item-based micro-transactions within the game. It sounds like you’ll be able to download the game’s client for free as well, making it a very accessible game, financially.

Sega also announced that they’re developing a version of Phantasy Star Online 2 for iOS and Android smartphones. While this version will also share character data with the PC and Vita versions, it will be a simpler game with social game elements.

Phantasy Star Online 2 will see a full release in early summer. The smartphone version will follow sometime in fall, and the PlayStation Vita version will be released in 2013.


Source: Siliconera

Tales of Xillia U.S. and European trademarks may hint at localization


Tales of Xillia is more dated than the recent Tales of Graces F game that just came out this month. In fact it has been out for around a year now, and finally we see signs that it might be coming to the English market. Just a week ago, Namco Bandai filed a trademark for Tales of Xillia in Europe, and now it has done the same in the United States.

We're all hopeful it means the game will get a localization, after all not many titles in the lineup make it outside Japan. However, it's best not to let those hopes run too high until Namco Bandai makes an official statement.

Source: Neoseeker

Minecraft revenues hit $80 million, Mojang approached to do TV shows


We already know Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson is probably the world's greatest boss, after that big fat bonus he gave his employees, but given how much Minecraft has made for the studio, that $3 million seems almost like a drop in the bucket. 
Since the game launched in October 2010, Minecraft has seen 25 million downloads and 5 million purchases, which adds up to $80 million in revenues.  Yeah, that's a lot of money.
Minecraft's popularity has earned Mojang quite a bit of attention from other entertainment industries as well.  Mojang's chief executive Carl Manneh says the studio has been approached by Hollywood producers interested in making TV shows out of the IP. 
"We’ve been approached by a number of high-profile Hollywood producers and asked to do TV shows.  We may do that. It’s hard when you don’t have any experience and someone comes to throw these ideas around. We have so much to focus on with just the game development and growing the business. But if the right idea comes along and the right people that we’d want to work with, we’d say why not?”
Not that they're in any hurry to expand.  When former Facebook president and Napster co-founder Sean Parker tried to woo the studio into letting him sign on as an investor, he did so by flying the entire staff to London on his private jet for a night of partying.  In the end, Mojang still turned him down.
“Generally we didn’t want to raise capital at the time and we still don’t," Manneh adds.

Source: Neoseeker

Random game facts for 3/26/12

  • The Little Sisters from BioShock didn't start their life as little girls at all, but rather tiny mole-like creatures who scuttled around Rapture collecting Adam. Early concept art also shows them as retro '50s-style robots, too. We think they made the right choice. 
  • There are currently over 100 million Game Boys in the world; both the original and the colour variant. 32 million of them are in Japan, and there are 44 million in America. 
  • GoldenEye's famously brilliant multiplayer mode originally contained three Bond actors as playable characters; Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. Their data was left on the cartridge, but you couldn't select them without using a cheat device. 
Image source: Deviantart (I think)

How Assassin's Creed III Will Play on Wii U


The first details about how Assassin's Creed 3 will play on Wii U have been reported. 

The latest issue of Nintendo Power (via NintenGen) describes how the Wii U's touch screen controller will function as a link to the Animus, the futuristic piece of technology that provides series protagonist Desmond access to the memories of his ancestors. It will also serve as a map and a navigation tool, potentially allowing players to enjoy the game without an intrusive HUD.

While playing the game, pertinent Animus details will appear on the controller's screen. And it will also serve as a kind of organic encyclopaedia, providing biographies of the game's many historical characters. 

The touch screen will also let players select weapons during combat. And if that wasn't enough, it can also be used to access 'Eagle Vision' - the heightened state of perception accessible to all assassin's - with the controller's in-built accelerometer letting players manipulate the camera. 

Source: IGN

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Sunday, March 25, 2012

3DS Epic Mickey Confirmed by Nintendo Power’s Cover


Still unofficially announced, Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is a cover subject of the April edition of Nintendo Power, which arrived in some readers' mailboxes today.
The article lists Dreamrift, developer of Monster Tale as the studio behind the 3DS Epic Mickey. It will arrive sometime in the fall, probably concurrent with Epic Mickey: The Power of Two,announced on Thursday.
Many more details are available in the latest Nintendo Power, if you're a subscriber.

Source: Kotaku

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Random video game facts for 3/24/12


  • In the early stages of its development, Half-Life 2 featured a friendly alien that would follow Gordon Freeman around, feasting on the bodies of his fallen enemies. It was taken out when Valve discovered that the AI would be too difficult to convincingly program. 
  • The famously awful E.T. game for the Atari 2600 actually sold more than its most famous game, Space Invaders. E.T. sold 1.5 million, while Invaders only shifted a million. 
  • Oscar-winning actor Marlon Brando recorded dialogue for EA's Godfather game shortly before he died, but it was deemed unusable due to the bloated thesp's ageing, mumbly voice. Instead, they hired in a sound-alike. What a waste of money, eh? 

Friday, March 23, 2012

A Look At Fire Emblem: Awakening’s Dual System And Class Change Features


Fire Emblem: Awakening makes you one of the game’s main characters. As previously reported, the game has a “My Unit” feature, which you can use to create your own custom male or female character, who then meets with Krom, Prince of the Iris Kingdom, who is the game’s other hero. 

Your character serves another purpose, too. Nintendo confirmed today that custom characters can be shared with other players using the Nintendo 3DS’ StreetPass function. If you receive a custom character from another player, he’ll join your party. 

Nintendo also sent out screens of the Dual System feature. Allies that you’re standing next to in battle can join you in attacking and also boost your stats. Characters can also develop ties with each other during battle. As mentioned in earlier reports, there’s also a Dual Tag mode, which is the ability to cooperate with a friend over local wireless for battles.


Fire Emblem: Awakening will be available in Japan on April 19th. Europe will see the game sometime this year, too. 

see the full article at Siliconera

Source; Siliconera

Mass Effect 3 multiplayer 'N7 Bounty Weekend' offers XP boost to all platforms


The weekend is just hours away, and BioWare has yet another Mass Effect 3 multiplayer challenge to keep you occupied the next few days.  The latest N7 challenge, "Operation: Fortress" is a lot simpler than last week's Operation: Goliath and lacks the same delicious rewards, but if you've got any characters that need leveling, this weekend should still pay off.
During the N7 Bounty Weekend, successful rounds will award an extra 25% bonus XP, against any enemy on any map and challenge level.  Oh, and this applies to all platforms too, including PS3.  The Goliath challenge was restricted to PC and Xbox 360 due to "technical limitations." 
Like the challenge last weekend, this week's multiplayer event begins at 5:00 PM PST tonight, March 23, and ends on Monday, March 26, at 5:00 AM PST. 

Source: Neoseeker.com

Beta is live for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandara, no NDA


Yesterday saw the release of a grand amount of Mists of Pandaria coverage, as press sites were able to publish their first impressions from an event in Southern California. Expert timing as usual from Blizzard, because it has led directly into the launch of the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta today.
The client is live right now, and provides access to content for the first beta phase: the level 1-10 starting area for pandarens. High level content will be added in a future patch, as certain portions are not yet content-complete and thus not ready for the beta.
So run on over the Battle.net if you're an Annual Pass holder, press, a friend or family member of a Blizzard employee, an email invitee.  Heck, does Blizzard invite everyone but me to these things? Expect Blizzard to officially release World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, "when it's ready."

Source: Neoseeker

Random game facts for 3/23/12


  • While the original Atari Football game was first created in 1973, it wasn't released until 1978. It was delayed because the game couldn't scroll the screen -- players couldn't move beyond the area shown on the monitor. When the game was finally released, it became the first game to utilize scrolling, a key part of many games today. 
  • The first color portable video game system was the Atari Lynx, introduced in 1989 and priced at $149. 
  • Mattel's Intellivison system, introduced in 1980, featured an add-on called "PlayCable," which delivered games by cable TV. 

Friday, March 16, 2012

Random Game Facts for March 16th, 2012

  • The Sega Dreamcast was the first console to implement online play over a phone line, calling the systemSega Net. 
  • The Nintendo N64 marked the first time that computer graphics workstation manufacturer Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) developed game hardware technology. 
  • The Nintendo GameCube's proprietary disc held 1.5 gigabytes of data -- 190 times more than what anN64 game cartridge could hold. 
  • The Sega Genesis featured a version of the same Motorola processor that powered the original Apple Macintosh computer. 

Skyrim 1.5 patch


A new patch for skyrim has released on the steam service. The patch adds new kill screens for projectiles and spells. 

The 1.5 patch will hit the 360 and PS3 in the near future

Welcome to my blog

This is a small blog I have made to post news regarding video games, I will also post small fun facts