Halfbrick Mixes Zombies And Time TravelPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 1:01pm by KotakuAustralian developer Halfbrick attempts to stand out in the undead crowd with Age of Zombies, a time-travelling zombie-killing adventure, coming February 25th to PSP and PlayStation 3 minis. In an industry chock full of games involving zombies, how does one small developer stand out? Well I suppose this post helps. Other than that, Halfbrick is giving time travel a try, mixing brain-hungry undead horses with Egyptian mummies and Dinosaurs in order to freshen up the concept. Why not simply avoid zombies altogether? According to the official announcement, money might have something to do with it. "There's no denying it. Zombie games make money. No one has anything against a good zombie game really, it's just that there's a lot of them. So we needed to try something different. We didn't want to kill zombies in the usual way. We didn't want to survive a deadly undead army in the ruins of some scary-ass town. We wanted to travel through time and shoot zombie dinosaurs and mummies and junk. So, we created Age of Zombies!" There's a story behind the game, with hero Barry Steakfries implementing time portals to halt the nefarious schemes of Professor Brains, but what really matters is shooting zombies while trying to forget that a developer thought that Barry Steakfries was a good name for anything. Age of Zombies is due out on February 24th for $4.99.
Meet a zombie T-Rex in Age of ZombiesPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 10:10am by Destructoid
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We at Halfbrick are very happy to announce Age of Zombies – Rated T for TEEN - for the PSP and PS3 minis. We know what you are thinking – “Great, another %@&$in zombie game!” We thought about that too. After years of research at the Halfbrick Researchalogical Datafiler Department, our team discovered a unique formula which determined that: (Proximity of gamers to zombies + stupidness and stuff) x Headblast Ratio 7.4 = Increased ability to spend money. There’s no denying it. Zombie games make money. No one has anything against a good zombie game really, it’s just that there’s a lot of them. So we needed to try something different. We didn’t want to kill zombies in the usual way. We didn’t want to survive a deadly undead army in the ruins of some scary-ass town. We wanted to travel through time and shoot zombie dinosaurs and mummies and junk. So, we created Age of Zombies! To conduct field research, the development team actually journeyed back in time to experience what it meant to really blast zombie faces with guns while standing around the Pyramids and Japanese villages and such. Mr. Morowitz, the game’s lead programmer, found the entire experience fascinating:“I particularly enjoyed the artwork of the Ancient Egyptians and their ability to persevere under extreme environmental circumstances.” Creative consultant Anthony Hansen on his adventure: “I learned how to make moonshine in the 1930s.” And lead artist Murry Lancashire: “I liked shooting cavemen.” Truly an enlightening experience for the entire team! Upon returning to 2010, Halfbrick set about creating Age of Zombies, where the hero Barry Steakfries employs the use of time portals to stop the evil zombie scheme of Professor Brains. Using a huge pile of weapons and explosives, Steakfries is the real deal for blood-splattering needs. And yay, the game was. Age of Zombies, releasing on PSP and PS3 minis for $4.99 on November 25th. We hope, in the future, you do try it!
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars announcedPosted on Monday February 8th, 2010 at 7:07am by Destructoid
Did you think that Traveler's Tales had done all it could do with the LEGO Star Wars franchise? If so, you have no idea how the videogame industry works, my friend. LEGO Star Wars III has just been announced, and it's taking us to the Clone Wars. LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is coming to all the systems, obviously. DS, PSP, Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 all get their licks in. New battle modes will be included, as well as all the characters from the Clone Wars TV series. There will also be a few classic characters from the movies too. So, this is a thing that is happening. Good times.
LONDON, UK – 8th February, 2010 – LucasArts and TT Games today announced the development of LEGO® Star Wars™ III: The Clone Wars™. The next chapter in the award-winning LEGO® Star Wars videogame franchise, LEGO® Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will combine the best elements of all previous LEGO® games while adding brand new gameplay to make it the most action-packed LEGO® videogame to date. Developed by the same team at Traveller’s Tales that created the critically acclaimed LEGO® Star Wars and LEGO® Indiana Jones™ series, the game will ship on the Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Xbox 360®videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows in the Autumn of 2010. “LucasArts continues to set the bar for next-generation family entertainment,” said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts. “The LEGO® Star Wars franchise is a massive hit with fans, bringing in sales of over 20 million units worldwide. We’re thrilled to extend this experience to LEGO® Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, delivering the humour and fun players expect from this award winning franchise.” “LucasArts is an amazing partner, and working with them on the next iteration of the LEGO® Star Wars series continues to be a great experience,” said Tom Stone, director at TT Games. “The team at TT is working hard at making this simply the best LEGO® game ever with all new gameplay and features never before seen in a LEGO® game.” LEGO® Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will include all the characters from both seasons of the hugely popular animated television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as some fan-favourite characters from the beloved theatrical Star Wars Saga. The game will feature brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat and an upgraded level builder, allowing the creation of customized bases and in-game battlefields. Play either as a Jedi or Separatist with all-new character abilities, such as Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups, all within a new, easy-to-navigate hub.
echoshift: The time puzzle-solving brother of echochromePosted on Friday February 5th, 2010 at 3:03pm by Destructoid
Oh, echochrome. I bought you gleefully, lovingly attempted to solve your puzzles, and ended up finishing less than one-third of you. To this day, I haven't gone back; probably never will, either. echoshift, on the other hand, looks to be more my style of game. The basic concept is something you've probably seen in a flash game before: using past versions of yourself (echoes), you try to solve time manipulation puzzles. The four-in-one picture above should help illustrate this idea. There's supposed to be a demo going up sometime this month, in addition to post-release downloadable content of some fashion. The PlayStation Blog has got a few more screenshots and additional details if you're in the market for that sort of thing. Introducing echoshift for PSP [PlayStation.Blog] ModNation Racers Goes PortablePosted on Friday February 5th, 2010 at 9:09am by Kotaku
With all of the same creative tools found in the PS3 version, the only thing scaled-down about ModNation PSP is the graphics. Players will still be able to create their own rides, racers, and race tracks, sharing them with the ModNation PSP community. Once their creations are complete, they can take them online, pitting their racers against up to six other player creations in an all-out battle to the death. Well, perhaps not the death, but it'll be a pretty fierce battle. So which version should you pick up? I'm sure the PS3 will have a more robust community, but my PSP needs to be filled with pretty games. They're going to make me buy this twice, aren't they? Yes, ModNation Racers is coming to the PSPPosted on Friday February 5th, 2010 at 8:08am by DestructoidSony has officially announced today that United Front Games will be bringing its PlayStation 3 "Play, Create, Share" racer, ModNation Racers, to the PlayStation Portable. The title appears to sport all of the features as its big brother -- kart customization, mod creation, full track creation, as well as single-player and online-multiplayer game modes. Impressive... if they can pull it off. The game's trailer, exclusive to GameSpot, makes it appear that they can. No word on a date, but GameStop shows it shipping during the same June timeframe as the PlayStation 3 version. Of note, this is the same GameStop listing that Sony wouldn't comment on a few months back. Be sure to check out our full preview of the PlayStation 3 version of ModNation Racers for more info. ModNation Racers karting its way to PSP [PlayStation Blog] NSFW: Absurd Queen's Blade Curves In Figure FormPosted on Friday February 5th, 2010 at 2:02am by KotakuNamco Bandai PSP game Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos features more than fighting. It features enormous boobs. And so does this Queen's Blade figure. Going on sale March 1 for ¥2,900 (US$32), curvy character Cattleya is the latest entry in the "Revoltech" poseable Queen's Blade figurines. The 1/12 scale Cattleya comes with battle damage clothes, one enormous blade and other attributes. Like glasses. Queen's Blade is originally a Lost Worlds style "combat picture book game" and has been published in Japan for the last couple of years. Queen's Blade features only female characters, and its spin-off series Queen's Gate has showcased the likes of Iroha (Samurai Shodow), Mai Shiranui (The King of Fighters) and Dizzy (Guilty Gear). Mai and Dizzy have both gotten Queen's Gate figures. Queen's Blade has also been spun off into an anime in Japan. It has also inspired a cosplay photobook with model Yuuri Morishita. Scythe wielding maid, anyone? ????????????2?????3???No.009 ?????????? [AkibaOS]
D3Publisher has some digital-only PSP discounts for youPosted on Thursday February 4th, 2010 at 6:06pm by Destructoid
What are you supposed to call downloadable games on the PlayStation Store that are for use on your PSP, but not your PlayStation 3? "PSN for PSP"? Bleh. I don't like it. At any rate, you hopefully know what I'm talking about. Don't blame me for the weird branding issues! D3Publisher informed us that a number of its PSP games have been discounted in price -- the digital versions, not the UMD copies. Here's the full lot of them:
I'm tempted to get Work Time Fun purely based on how unbelievably odd it is. Also, I hate myself. NSFW: Behold! The Underboob Gladiator Lady Body PillowPosted on Thursday February 4th, 2010 at 4:04am by Kotaku
Japanese developer Acquire is holding a two-part tournament for its PSP title Gladiator Begins — the first leg is at their office in Akihabara on February 11, and the second part is on February 21 at the Nakano Broadway K-Cafe. All participants will receive a photo of Gladiator Girl, Chitashichina. The hug pillow features the lady wearing her helmet on one side, and on other side, she is totally unmasked. Sony: PS3 Sales Up, PSP Sales DownPosted on Thursday February 4th, 2010 at 12:12am by Kotaku
Between October and December 2009 (Q32009), Sony sold 6.5 million PlayStation 3s worldwide. In the same quarter last year, Sony sold 4.5 million PS3 consoles, so that's a healthy increase, in large part thanks to the introduction of a cheaper, slimmer model of the machine. Sony's other two consoles, however, saw a decline in sales. For the PS2, that was to be expected, 2.5 million units being sold in Q32008 compared to 2.1 in Q32009. The company was probably hoping for a stronger outing from its PlayStation Portable handheld, however, the introduction of a new model - the PSPgo - having little effect, with sales down from 5.1 million in Q32008 compared to 4.2 million in Q32009. In terms of the company's overall business, Sony as a whole recorded its first profitable quarter in over a year, however the games division remained stagnant, Sony saying "despite a decrease in PS2 hardware and software unit sales, as well as PSP hardware unit sales, profitability was relatively unchanged mainly due to an improvement in the cost of PS3 hardware". Playing PSP Tennis On An Actual Tennis CourtPosted on Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 at 11:11pm by Kotaku
ESRB apologizes for calling Dead or Alive Paradise creepyPosted on Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 at 9:09pm by Destructoid
This morning, we brought you word that the ESRB had rated Dead or Alive Paradise on the PSP and admonished it for being "creepy voyeurism." Since that story broke, the North American game rating board has pulled its summary of the Tecmo Koei title, and apologized for its inappropriate remarks. The ESRB is supposed to remain objective in its summaries, but the rather critical tone of the original rating violated that goal. A new, less subjective rating has now been put in place -- informing us that filthy sexual escapades are afoot, but doing so in a less judgmental way. Here's what the ESRB had to say on the matter: The rating summary for Dead or Alive Paradise was posted to our website in error, and we have since replaced that version with the corrected one. We recognize that the initial version improperly contained subjective language and that issue has been addressed. Our intention with rating summaries is to provide useful, detailed descriptions of game content that are as objective and informative as possible. However they are ultimately written by people and, in this case, we mistakenly posted a rating summary that included what some could rightfully take to be subjective statements. We sincerely regret the error and will work to prevent this from happening again in the future. ESRB ratings are always hilarious, usually because of the completely impartial and dispassionate tone. It was certainly odd to see the ESRB call out a game in this manner, but it's quite classy that the board corrected itself. Good show. ESRB pulls inappropriate rating summary [GamePolitics] No, Gladiator Begins is NOT a porn moviePosted on Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 at 7:07pm by Destructoid
[As posted on Japanator] I love Acquire. Creators of the Way of the Samurai games, they put the "quirky" into "quirky Japanese game." Part of being so quirky is their willingness to insert all kinds of random, non-sequitorial items in games that, on the face of things, would seem to be quite serious. For example, Way of the Samurai 3 lets you run about feudal Japan, determining the future of a war-torn province, while dressed in a tutu with a goose-head codpiece, wearing an afro and cat-paw gloves while rocking a giant tuna fish sword. Yes. They've extended that marketing...prowess (?) to their new game Gladiator Begins, as the PSP title's promotional slip cover evokes images more reminiscent of an adult DVD than a videogame. And it's actually related to the game, too! The scantily-clad combatant on the cover (and her ridiculous helmet) is apparently the game's mascot who, as a real-life (and helmet-wearing) booth babe made a presence at the Tokyo Game Show handing out codes to download a rainbow-print catgirl costume. Yes. Oh Acquire! May you never change!
Pretty in Pink: Jill Stuart 'Sweet Limited' PSP bundlePosted on Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 at 9:09am by Destructoid
All the ladies! That's not to say that a pink PSP would be limited to only female owners. It's just that this new Jill Stuart Sweet Limited Package PSP bundle comes with a freakin' PSP-shaped purse to carry it around in. In this bundle, set to be released in Japan in March for 21,000 yen, comes the PSP in Blossom Pink (a PSP-3000), a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, that pretty little brand-stamped handbag, an embossed cloth, and a sample vial of the Potion of Carelessness that the people at Sony also sampled before creating this product. Jill Stuart, of course, is a fashion brand. Okay, so I didn't really know that until I Googled it. PSP Blossom Pink/popular female brand collaboration [Dengeki] ESRB: Dead or Alive Paradise is 'creepy voyeurism'Posted on Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 at 7:07am by Destructoid
The ESRB says what we all are (or should be) thinking -- Tecmo's Dead or Alive Paradise features "creepy voyeurism." This from the rating of the upcoming PlayStation Portable title which the ESRB describes as "a videogame in which users watch grown women dressed in G-string bikinis jiggle their breasts while on a two-week vacation." Beyond that, the ESRB description continues to make the game sound even stupider than it actually is, believe it or not. (And in my opinion, this game is pretty damned silly.) "Parents and consumers should know that the game contains a fair amount of 'cheesy,' and at times, creepy voyeurism," it warns, "especially when users have complete rotate-pan-zoom control." It concludes by pointing out that Paradise "contains bizarre, misguided notions of what really want" and states "Paradise cannot mean straddling felled tree trunks in dental-floss thongs." Unless your idea of "paradise" includes a UTI, then I'm inclined to agree with the ESRB on this one. Dead or Alive Paradise [ESRB via Siliconera]
- ESRB Describes "Creepy Voyeurism" And "Dental Floss Thongs" - Sony Turns PSP Into Instant Replay Device At UK Stadium - This Game Guide Cover Gets To The Points - The Cutest PSP Bundle Of 2010 - Knights in the Nightmare PSP screens are lovely - Kojima: There is 'no greater crime' than a game delay - Sega drops Vanquish hints, mentioned for PS3/PSP - Kojima Apologizes; Says 'No Greater Crime' than a Delay - Sony is ever so happy about the iPad - Disgaea Infinite to Hit North American PSPs in May - Disgaea Infinite coming to the PSP this May - Sony Pleased As Punch With Apple's iPad - Console game in handheld: SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 - Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker delayed in Japan - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Delayed in Japan |
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Like LittleBigPlanet before it, ModNation Racers, the next game in Sony's "Play Create Share" arsenal is headed to the PlayStation Portable, with the PSP version launching alongside its PlayStation 3 counterpart.
And with a former tennis pro! 
