10/17/05 |
PC | Shawn Rider
Midway has announced that Earth 2160 will come out for PC on November 8. They have also dropped a handful of new screens on us, as well as the info that a preorder package for Earth 2160 will feature a DVD full of goodies: maps and enhancements for 2160, as well as the full version of Earth 2150, the cult-classic predecessor. That is not a bad package for strategy fans, and so far Earth 2160 looks to be one of the more robust RTS titles set to drop this Fall. Check it out.
10/15/05 | | Shawn Rider
The GP2X is releasing this Fall in the US and worldwide, and already a homebrew community is budding. Richard Weeks sends word that he has created a community website for GP2X enthusiasts called MyGP2X.com. The site features news and coverage of developments in the GP2X community. Recent posts cover the port of the GP32 Commodore 64 emulator, Frodo, to GP2X as well as the GP2X port of Duke Nukem 3D. If you\'re curious about the GP2X and not sure where to start, we recommend MyGP2X.com as a growing node. With recently launched forums, the site is bound to become a hub for GP2X news. Check out
http://www.MyGP2X.com for more about the GP2X.
10/14/05 |
XB360 | Shawn Rider
In a great analysis of Microsoft\'s latest announcements about Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360, Joystiq\'s Vladimir Cole details how Xbox Live Arcade is a growing threat to the traditional retail chain. And that\'s not necessarily a bad thing for game publishers: \"Sure, the games on offer right now are non-threatening casual games, but it's only a matter of time until gamers are downloading entire triple-A titles and not just demos of them. With more and more retailers moving towards the sale of used games, first- and third-party publishers are going to push the direct-to-consumer channel even harder.\" Check out
the full story on Joystiq here.
10/13/05 | | Aaron Stanton
Rumors on the Internet have 2K Games announcing that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will miss the Xbox 360 launch day by two weeks, giving the much anticipated title a new release date of December 5th, 2005. How reliable this information is remains to be seen; while a number of high profile game sites have reported Oblivion\'s delay, IGN Insider is now reporting that Bethesda denies any such thing. Questions about Oblivion\'s role in the Xbox 360 launch have been floating about the Internet since it failed to make Microsoft\'s previous list of confirmed same-day launch titles. Speculation that it could be released during the system\'s launch window instead, within a month or so of the actual system, is still very much valid.
10/12/05 | | Shawn Rider
Heavy.com has expanded its machinima offerings and broken new ground in the IPTV arena with the announcement of the first-ever full season of broadband-distributed programming. The network has announced several new shows, including \"Honey, I Killed the Geezer\" (created using Atari\'s Indigo Prophecy), \"Tourettes Cowboy\" (created using Activision\'s GUN), and \"Dr. Philprah, Colossus Whisperer\" (created using Sony\'s Shadow of the Colossus). There are several more series slated to premiere this month, and each will see multiple episodes released this Fall.
10/12/05 | | Shawn Rider
The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association has released an official statement against a new California law signed into law yesterday by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who claims the law will \"require that violent video games be clearly labeled and not be sold to children under 18 years old.\" That\'s not a bad thing; in fact, games are already clearly labelled and rated for both age and content. And therein lies the problem: California\'s law does not recognize the ratings of the ESRB, and instead imposes a vague set of guidelines which retailers will be legally bound to. Needless to say, this puts retailers in a precarious position: In some way, every title must be separately re-rated in California, but the specifics of how that would work are not there. Click here to read more about the law and retailers\' statement against it.
10/11/05 |
NDS | Shawn Rider
In a shocking turn of events (and just plain weird event in general), news comes to us through several sources of a Nintendo DS Trojan. The malicious program is known as either \"hentai loader\", \"r0mloader.zip\", or \"taihen.zip\", and is designed to \'brick\' your Nintendo DS. The program promises to load either pirated game roms or hentai (a Japanese term for pornographic comics and cartoons) on your DS when loaded using a flash rom device, which makes it possible to run homebrew applications and games on the Nintendo DS.
10/11/05 | | Shawn Rider
Gamestop completed its buyout of EB Games this week, making it the single largest game retailer in the country, as reported by Game Daily Biz. The merger creates a company with 4200 retail outlets worldwide, and expected annual revenues of $5 billion. Analysts expect the merger to lead to an increase in the used game market, which has recently been attacked by game publisher organizations as being detrimental to their business. The merger may well mean lower trade-in prices for gamers, too, which might in turn lead to an increase in traffic for online game trading sites as gamers flock to more worthwhile deals. And the news can only be seen as an indication that pre-release reservations and package bundles will enjoy unbridled growth. That could be problematic for gamers expecting to preorder an already very pricey PlayStation 3.
10/09/05 | | Aaron Stanton
BBC News is reporting that sales of the GameCube have dropped substantially in the US, and while the DS and GB Micro have sold well, development costs for the Nintendo Revolution have taken a serious toll on Nintendo\'s operating profits. Pre-tax income for the company has fallen nearly 41% since June, according to BBC. This still makes them more financially stable than Sony, which has posted substantial losses over recent years. Though they\'re making less money now, they are still operating at a substantial profit. Microsoft loses money on its Xbox division, but props up the operation with profits from other business ventures.
10/09/05 | | Aaron Stanton
We here at GamesFirst are always fans of game enthusiasts showing their love in new and creative ways. You see fan art and fan fiction, but have you ever imagined there would be fan opera? Jonathan Mann has created a
Mario Opera, and quite frankly the musical performances aren\'t bad; in fact, they\'re indicative of some serious musical talent implemented in a sometimes - but not always - cheesy way. Whether or not Mario is the place to show off that talent might be in question, though. Our advice is to not bother with the preview, but instead take a moment to listen to the songs themselves. Our personal favorite? The Lizard Wizard.
Our thumb hurts.