Nvidia SHIELD Featured on ABC’s Modern Family

May 15th, 2013 by

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When the Dunphy’s take a trip in an RV in this week’s episode of Modern Family called “Games People Play”, eagle-eyed viewers can spot that Luke has traded in his often-featured Aqua Blue Nintendo 3DS for Nvidia’s upcoming SHIELD.  He’s probably not streaming PC games to it in an RV on the road, unfortunately, but it’s an interesting piece of product placement none-the-less.  Those of us who aren’t in sitcoms still have to wait until June to get our hands on a SHIELD and find out if Nvidia really does have a winner on its hands or not, but it seems that Luke has made his choice in the portable console war, even if it was probably only due to a corporate deal with Nvidia to promote the system’s portability.

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Nvidia SHIELD Price and Launch Window Announced

May 14th, 2013 by

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Nvidia released some important details about their upcoming “portable” Android-based console today.  With a retail price of $350 and a launch some time in June, Nvidia is positioning SHIELD to compete directly with the less portable OUYA that sports the lower price of $99 but offers quite a bit less raw power.  Once their launches hit it will be up to the gaming market to decide which product is more useful, if any.  Our team is split between people thinking that OUYA’s portability and hacker-friendly nature will win the day and people that think SHIELD’s ability to stream PC games Wii U Off-TV play-style is its ace in the hole.  At $350, though, Nvidia may well be overstepping the price ceiling for portable systems in today’s economic climate.  We’ll keep you posted as more details surrounding the launch of these two home-centric Android devices emerge.
 

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The Bittersweetness of E3 2013

May 1st, 2013 by

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E3 media briefing invitations are rolling out making it a bit bittersweet for us as we have to reject them this year due to scheduling conflicts in our press team.  We had a blast last year (with a couple of exceptions and the fact that LA is largely horrific) and we do plan to bring you the best coverage we can from home base, but I thought I’d share the unfortunate feeling of having access to these awesome events without the ability to attend.  Rest assured that next year we are already planning to bring you the utmost first-hand game conference coverage, but we’ll have to miss out on playing all of the lovely new systems before they hit store shelves this time.

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Lego City Undercover (Wii U)

April 30th, 2013 by

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Developer: TT Fusion
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Sandbox
Players: 1
Console: Wii U
ESRB Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10+)
Progress: Completed up to Chapter 8 out of 15

Since the first Lego Star Wars game came out in 2005 the Lego games have exploded in popularity to the point where they involve some of the industry’s top licenses and have become the sole product of the developer TT Games.  The problem with a lot of the Lego series games is that if you don’t have a particular attachment to the specific license each one uses, then you won’t get as much out of the game as someone who is a big Star Wars/Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/etc. fan.  TT Games went ahead and surprised everyone with their first venture on the Wii U making not only an original IP, but also expanding the usually quite confined level structure into a full-out sandbox game.  Does Lego City Undercover fall into the snares of its ambitious premise or does it revolutionize the way the world thinks of virtual Legos?  Read on to see what dirt we were able to dig up during our time with the game.

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Next Xbox Unveiled on May 21st

April 24th, 2013 by

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Microsoft announced today that May 21st is when we can expect our first official look at the upcoming new Xbox console.  Not a lot is currently known about the new system codenamed Durango, but rumour has it it will both include and absolutely require an upgraded version of the Kinect and may need to be constantly connected to the Internet to even do simple things like launching games.

Being the last one out of the gate details-wise gives Microsoft the edge in knowing most of what its competitors will/do offer, but it also means that they have the largest expectations stacked against them.  Both Sony and Nintendo have set the bar punishingly high with a novel control method and unprecedented portability on Nintendo’s side and extremely high specs with a great focus on community on Sony’s side.  Consumer experience-wise the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live blew the competition out of the water in the current generation, but will they be able to keep this position in the next or will their complacency and thoughts that they can’t fail shoot them back down to last place? 

We’ll keep you updated if anything leaks out before-hand and will have all of the juicy details for you once the conference is over.

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SimCity (PC)

April 21st, 2013 by

simcity

Developer: Maxis
Publisher: EA Games
Genre: City Building Sim
Players: 1
Console Reviewed: PC
Also Available On: Mac
ESRB Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 and up)
Progress: 10 cities built across 4 regions

SimCity will go down in the history books as a monumental disappointment.  More than a month after its failed launch, the game remains somewhat broken.  I had picked up this game early after its release and I was plagued by the familiar server problems that you’ve probably already heard of on the Internet.  Held up as the poster child for unfettered DRM run amok, SimCity is still suffering under a diverse portfolio of problems due to poor servers, and I suspect poor programming as well.  That these issues remain unresolved to this day is incomprehensible, but as a courtesy I have waited more than a full month before publishing this review to let Maxis and EA iron out the wrinkles.  During this time and to no one’s surprise, publisher EA was once again crowned the worst company in America for the second consecutive year.  Congrats, it takes some real effort to outshine even those corrupt American bankers.

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Say whaaaaaat?, Nintendo Direct 4.17.2013

April 17th, 2013 by

Legend of Zelda 3DS Yoshi's Island 3DS

 Nintendo came out with another one of their famous Nintendo Direct presentations today and this one was a bit of a doozy.  Lots of new 3DS info with a smattering of Wii U info was released today, so here are the highlights:  (Check after the jump for the full video worth 10 Game Usagi Points if you watch it.)

  • A new Legend of Zelda game was shown off for the 3DS that is “set in the world of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” meaning that it shares more-or-less the same overworld as A Link to the Past, but features a different storyline and different dungeons. Link also gets a brand-new power this time around – the ability to become two-dimensional and stick to walls to navigate around obstacles.  Better yet, the new Zelda is due out in time for Christmas.  (You can download a 3D trailer for the game now via the 3DS eShop)
  • A new Yoshi’s Island game was also shown for the 3DS, but a launch window was not discussed.
  • The upcoming new Mario & Luigi RPG, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team has a launch date of August 11th in North America.
  • Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is due out for the 3DS on May 24.
  • Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is due out on May 9th.
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf is due out on June 9 and will also be available in a bundle with a special Animal Crossing 3DS XL for $219.99 that is exclusive to Best Buy in Canada.
  • Mario Golf: World Tour will feature full online/local multiplayer and is still due out this summer.
  • Zelda Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons will be coming to the 3DS eShop on May 30.
  • A new Mario Party game was announced for the 3DS coming this winter.
  • The 3DS RPG Bravely Default is being localized for North America and Europe and is due out in 2014.
  • The final Professor Layton game, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, is also being localized for a 2014 release.
  • Three interesting LEVEL-5 3DS eShop games are also being localized: THE STARSHIP DAMREY, BUGS vs. TANKS!, and ATTACK OF THE FRIDAY MONSTERS! A TOKYO TALE
  • Shin Megami Tensei 4 is also heading to North American 3DSs in a big Limited Edition Box Set on July 16th.
  • At long last Earthbound is headed for the North American and European Wii U eShops
  • New Super Luigi U DLC for NSMBU is still due out this summer.
  • The Spring Update for the Wii U is going live next week bringing much faster menu/app load times, the ability to boot right into Wii mode, the ability to automatically install downloaded games/dlc/etc., the ability to transfer game data between two USB drives, the ability to install games in the background while playing other games, the ability to automatically receive game updates, and the ability to download/install games/demos/etc. while the system is turned off (like on the Xbox 360).
  • Shortly after the Spring Update the Wii U Virtual Console and Panorama View app will be launched
  • Game & Wario is due out for the Wii U on June 23rd
  • Pikmin 3 launches on August 4th

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