The reason I love having this blog/vlog is because I can literally talk about whatever I want. I love that and I’m gonna exercise that right now. Last night I received some disturbing news. One of my favorite anime directors had passed away. Satoshi Kon died yesterday at 6:20 am from pancreatic cancer. He was 46.
As FanExpo 2010 reaches its final day today, yesterday we had the opportunity to drop by and talk with our friends at Microsoft about Halo: Reach as well as the Design Director for Tron Evolution, the upcoming prequel video game to this year’s Tron movie.
While Sony takes direct aim at Apple's portable device with their recent Marcus PSP campaign, and Nintendo referring to Apple as "the enemy of the future" and it's offerings to gaming as not "even a mouthful, in terms of the gaming experience you get", Apple had some numbers to share at their Fall 2010 event.
Castle Crashers finally makes its way over to the PSN with the full release as well as a game trial for those who have never experienced the game via XBLA. Japanese 3rd person shooter Vanquish and the strategy game R.U.S.E also get early demos before their respective release dates. Content for the PSP is highlighted by the digital release of the PSP exclusive Valkyria Chronicles II complimented by a new Playstation mini.
Today it was confirmed that November 4th is the day that Kinect, Microsoft's motion control peripheral, will be available in Canada. That means Kinect will release the same day it will in the U.S. with other regions like the U.K. having to wait until November 10. While it is already known that one of the highlights of the new hardware is its advanced voice command ability, it was also confirmed that Kinect will support French language but at a later date of somewhere around Spring 2011.
It’s a bit sad when my main point of interest in a weekly download update for a game format is an organizer application. For some reason my Blackberry doesn’t have a built-in notepad nor can I find a decent one on the app store, but it looks like myNotebook for the DSi will do me just fine in helping me jot down notes for things that catch my eye while I actually browse stores so that I can google them when I get home...err…the very short listing of this week’s Nintendo Download is below:
To coincide with the price drop announcements today for the camera enabled DS models in the U.S., Canada is following suit and matching the the new prices for the DSi and the DSi XL at $150 and $170 CAD respectively. Maybe a 3DS release date on the horizon? I'm just sayin....
Google has been on tear recently by acquiring companies like app developer Angstro and widget developer Slide Inc. in efforts to compete with the social networking service that is Facebook. Today they announced yet another acquisition this time in the Canadian social gaming company SocialDeck Inc.
Disney has just announced the special Collector’s Edition of TRON: Evolution, which will be availableon December 7for the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 systems.
The Persona series which has spanned 4 installments across the PSone and PS2 platforms, have always been consistent in delivering an engaging and stylish JRPG experience second to only one or two other franchises in the genre (if any). As we wait for any sort of sign of a new Persona game for the current gen systems, Atlus has begun to port the revered series to the PSP starting already with the original PSone game and now with Persona 3 Portable. Arguably the best game in the series, if the game was merely a straight up port of the original PS2 game (Persona 3 and subsequently the FES edition) I would have been happy just having the opportunity to play the same great game on the go. Luckily for everyone, P3P offers something new not only for those picking up the game for the first time, but also those who have spent countless hours with PS2 versions.
As soon as I stepped up to the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit booth the first thing that was pushed was the game’s Autolog feature. The social network element of the game allows you to track other players on your friends list and displays their best times, as well as photo and video uploads. It’s a neat little feature, but I couldn’t wait until he stopped talking about that so that I can actually try Critereon’s first venture into the Need for Speed franchise.
Platinum Games may end up garnering a reputation in North America for publsihing crazy over-the-top action games that are unabashedly Japanese. Vanquish, Platinum Game’s follow up to Bayonetta and created by the man behind the legendary Resident Evil 4 (Shinji Mikami), delivers the closest thing to a Japanese Gears of War in all it’s mech-suit glory.
As a wee Lad strolling the Arcades, the original 1999 Hydro Thunder was definitely a quarter munching thrill-ride racer known for it's goofy, over-the-top action tracks and ultra-fast speed boats, but it was also a solid racer for it's time. Keep in mind my taste for racers as a 16 year old have changed over the decade. Nonetheless, reiterations came in the form of Dreamcast, N64 and Playstation versions but not until 2010 have they released an "official", Xbox Live only, sequel to Hydro Thunder Hurricane. I've had a couple weeks with HTH now and here's an FYI on whether it should, ahem, sink or swim…
I'm writing this after having a very exciting (and exhausting) experience; my very first video game expo. At first it was a harrowing experience. I was clearly one of the youngest attendees, and I sported a wrinkled T-shirt and bulging pockets rather than the bulky camera equipment that clearly identified my fellow Console Creatures journalists as being part of the media. It seemed that the security and waitstaff looked a little more closely at my nametag than anyone else's. Maybe it was the factors I mentioned above, maybe I just looked as nervous and out-of-place as I felt. Whatever the reason, this uncomfortable start to the event soon gave way to euphoria, and eventually euphoric exhaustion.
Microsoft Canada has just announced the launch of Microsoft’s first touch mouse, Arc Touch Mouse. Featuring a scroll strip for easy navigation, the mouse also flattens down with the touch of a finger to slide easily into any laptop case without that telltale mouse bump. Read on for pricing info and more pics.
DVD Rack: NCIS: Los Angeles, Flight of the Conchords
SOME HIT TV ...for your DVD shelf.
Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Collection
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie -- a.k.a. Flight of the Conchords -- moved to New York in the hopes of forging a successful music career. Unfortunately, despite their status as “New Zealand’s 4th Most Popular Folk Parody Duo,” fame and notoriety continue to elude them.
