General Discussion

One of the most successful casual gaming companies in the industry is bringing a new slightly edgy studio into the mix. PopCap Games announced that their new studio “4th & Battery” will be situated in Seattle and that the name comes from where the studio is located. Jason Kapalka, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at PopCap Games says to “expect weirdness” from the new label that gives their designers free range. “4th & Battery is a purely experimental, creative label with none of the typical concerns like schedules, profitability, or even target audience. It’s kind of the video game equivalent of B-sides or short films. Expect weirdness.” The studio has al…

Woohoo! Happy birthday to Isabel! I hope you have a wonderful day with Rincon & Fam. Go pamper yourself! I'm sure you deserve it!!!!

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/05/bioware-sequel-celebration-brings-free-mass-effect-2-to-dragon/ Even thought I already own ME2 on the 360 I may just download it for the hell of it on my PC since i bought DA2 (which in my opinion sucks a big one).

Kameo: Elements of Power, a colorful launch title for the Xbox 360 in 2005 almost had a followup with Kameo 2, but Rare cancelled the game in 2009 before it got off the ground. Artwork has surfaced from the planned sequel that shows Kameo would have gotten a more “womanly” appearance had the game had lived to see a release. via Eurogamer Tweet This Post View the full article

All this week Sega has been teasing about “big news” coming to Sonic the Hedgehog’s Facebook page. Fans of Sega’s favorite blue chili dog eating hero start tapping your feet, because Sonic is back in a new game coming to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year. The colorful 3D teaser trailer which you can view checking out Sonic’s very own Facebook page, shows Sonic speeding along, leaping from platform to platform only to make one big jump and another blue Sonic appears beside him. Does this mean the new game will be co-op or has Sonic gotten a speedy doppleganger? via Sonic the Hedgehog’s Facebook Tweet This Post View the full article

“We weren’t an independent studio making ‘our’ games anymore – we were making games to fill slots. Although we did all believe in them, they were more the products of committees and analysts. The culture we’d worked on for so long gradually eroded just enough so that it wasn’t ‘ours’ anymore”, said the Creative Director with Bizarre Creations Martyn Chudley during an interview with Edge where regrets and the option to buy Bizarre back after Activision closed the 17 year studio in February 2011 were explained. During the interview Chudley details how it was making games for Activision and that they were just “fill slots”. ”I don’t think the atmosphere differed too much dur…

Do you love watching the sweaty bare chested men of the UFC duke it out in the Octagon splattering blood across the mat and found yourself wishing that you could do that without having to leave your living room? Thanks to THQ, now you can. THQ announced that they are launching UFC Personal Trainer for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 sometime this June. The mixed martial arts trainer was designed by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and three MMA trainers including Mark DellaGrotte, Greg Jackson and Javier Mendez who throughout their training careers have worked with top UFC fighters gave their input to the excerise based game. According to Lead Designer Troy Sheetz, i…

http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/08/youtube-announces-youtube-live/

It's crap like this that bugs me... I have Dragon Age Ultimate with all the DLC on my PC. Right now me and the thousands of others with the game cannot play it because EA's servers are down for the game. Now what the hell is the point of buying DLC if I cannot play the damn game when the servers are down? If I own the crap I should be able to play it when I want, regardless of the servers. Now that my little rant is over, what is your opinion on EA's digital content and do you feel that you rightfully own it if EA prettymuch has the ability to pull it from you if they shut down their servers?

F2P games or Free to Play games have seen much success in the world of PC gaming especially lately with social games such as Mafia Wars and Farmville where you can play the game for free, but in order to enhance your gaming experience you need to purchase special items or upgrades. How would you like F2P games to come to Xbox Live? According to IGN that might be happening very soon. A trusted source close to IGN is claiming that Xbox Live will be adding these style of games soon which will “allow publishers and developers to release games through the service for free where users can then purchase additional content, such as weapons, experience points, in-game currency, …

Published by: Beatshapers / tastyplay.com Platform: PSN Players: 1 Mix Breakout, pinball, and action-puzzling and you will get Stardrone, Beatshapers’ Playstation Move enabled (DualShock controls are available as well.) foray in to Playstation Network gaming. How does StarDrone stack up against the multitude of action-puzzlers out there? Keep reading and see what makes this one special. View the full article

Freaking settlement. No clear decision if consumers own, or 'lease' their consoles. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/11/settlement-in-george-hotz-case/ Boo.

As you may or may not know, Dejobaan Games has been making quality games for over 75 years. They have released several PC games full of oddball humor and wackiness, held together by smooth gameplay. These include The Wonderful End of the World, AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, and their very recently released game, 1… 2… 3… Kick It! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby). The latter two compete for alphabetical superiority in my Steam library. 1… 2… 3… Kick It! was technically released as an alpha, which can be bought and will be supported and updated over time with the aid of user feedback, much like Minecraft. It’s a music based game along the lines of Audi…

Because it's Syc's birthday! Woot! Have a great day brah!

http://www.humblebundle.com/ Supposedly at 9:30AM PST they will be releasing the new Humble Bundle. I'm definitely going to check into it!

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but Aperture Science is taking over! I have no less than three of my indie games updated with various references to AS! Amnesia, The Ball, and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2011/04/11/gog-drm-drives-gamers-piracy/1 Very good read. I totally agree with the author too.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411?page=1 This should be a non-partisan discussion. We're all screwed over equally.

The same number that LGWyant is turning today! 33!!! Happy birthday brah!

Concentrated Ebil is a live gaming channel on Justin.tv by Ebildustbunny, a multiplatform gamer, who plays games as simple looking as Minecraft to FPS shooters and the overlooked indie game. Whether its on Xbox 360, PS3 or PC… Sharing the experience is the passion of the channel. The Ebil Gamercide Astro Wave Raffle is a fundraiser to raise money for the Concentrated Ebil channel to hopefully replace her Xbox 360 which has been named the JetBox by the viewers of the channel. Concentrated Ebil hopes to keep doing what she loves and bring a little dose of mischievous fun to everyones day! Support Ebil and Enter for a chance to win HERE! http://justin.tv/ebildustbunny …

While the hardcore fans of the long time running survival horror series might not be happy with recent announcements regarding Slant Six’s take on the Resident Evil world in their entry into the series, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, a new trailer has surfaced showcasing the return and possible demise of Leon Kennedy. Confused? Don’t worry. Slant Six claims in the latest edition of OXM that depending on how you play the game you can kill fan favorite characters changing Resident Evil history and this in no way is a “numbered” Resident Evil game. via Examiner Tweet This Post View the full article

Xbox 360 users who own the motion based Kinect are in for a treat today. An update for Netflix has gone live allowing Kinect users to their hands and voice to navigate through the many menus of the popular movie and television show database. Do not get to excited yet to toss your controller aside and cuddle up on the couch with a bubbly beverage of your choice. According a Microsoft Representative who spoke with Joystiq, while all of the titles are Kinect enabled now, there are only a select number of titles that are available from the Netflix Kinect dashboard that can use both voice command and hand gestures. You can find these as “recommended” movies and shows. via J…

According to IGN, Nintendo will be revealing a new console that is more higher powered than the Xbox 360 and PS3 at this year’s E3. Game Informer is also claiming the same thing by citing mulitple sources and that the new console will be able to run games at HD resolutions. The new console is expected to get a 2012 launch and Nintendo is supposedly hoping that they can bring back third-party developers and “hardcore” fans. Tweet This Post View the full article

Is this a case of too soon? Or is it a chance for people to digitally immerse themselves into something huge that affected many on the planet? http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/218862/editorial-exploring-a-tragedy-through-games/ Take a look at the editorial, and discuss your thoughts, here.

What the future of PC and Console graphics may look like in the Next-Gen.