Look, we all miss Conan. Its OK. Lets move on.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is probably the most geek friendly network TV show on the air, and they tested the limits. This week was “Video Game Week” since Jimmy couldn’t go to E3, he brought on a game demo every night. Last night for the finale he had Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Amie show of Donkey Kong Country Returns. Jimmy mentions the last DK game he played was on N64, and then Reggie tried to correct him by saying it was a Super NES game. Nintendo’s revisionist history at work.

Hit the jump for demos for Jimmy playing Killzone 3, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, Kinect, and Call Of Duty Black Ops. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Are you one of those people who think video games are, or can be art? Did you like Braid? If so, you’ll love The Path. The Path is one of those games which clearly isn’t for everyone, but it makes you think about what’s going on in ways that games such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto can’t. The Path is a retelling of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. After selecting one of several sisters, you are sent by your mother to visit your ailing grandmother. You are given one command: stay on the path. Indeed, doing so will get you to grandma’s house safe and sound, but you don’t want to do that. It’s by deviating from the path that you learn more about the game and find more of the forest’s secrets. You’ll also encounter the “wolf”. The game’s control system is simplistic, but it gets the job done as all you are doing is exploring and checking out objects. The game is very ambiguous, as you learn nothing of the girls besides their name. What’s the game’s point? Is there one? While the ambiguity will put off most players, others will enjoy trying to decipher the game’s meaning. If you want something different and have an open mind, check it out.

Over the course of E3, Halo: Reach developer Bungie did mention in interviews that the Firefight game mode would return. They even said matchmaking would be part of the experience and there would be lots of customization options.
What they didn’t show us was the game in action, so here you go. Grunts, Jackyls, Brutes, and Elites.

Also: the “BlackEye” Skull is gone. Hoorah!

Since the days of the NES, consoles have been known to receive redesigns mid-way or later in their cycle. The NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, PSone, PS2 and the rival PS3 have all received smaller, redesigns in their cycles. Given how brief the original Xbox’s life-span was, most didn’t mind that the Xbox360 was a tad smaller than the original system. However, given Microsoft’s rush to deliver the console to the market, they company seemingly cut corners in terms of design (a much discussed topic for another place and another time) to get their next-gen machine that was ahead of its time on store shelves first.

Sony and Nintendo both delivered more technically stable systems, spending an extra year to work out most of their kinks. Since release many fans wondered if Microsoft would ever re-design the Xbox360. Technically they did make many internal revisions, as the system receive HDMI standard in mid-2007 as they introduced their Elite systems as well as several revisions to disc drives and motherboards over that span. Flash forward to E3 2010, Microsoft reveals one of their best-kept secrets, their newly designed, smaller, sleeker (albeit more angular), system simply called “Xbox 360 S Console” and it was very well worth the wait..
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Blessed by the deities of ancient Olympus, Diana of Themyscrya travels to man’s world to bring peace, love, and equality as Wonder…..oh wait a sec….

The star of this week’s Lost Classic bears a bit of resemblance to a certain DC comics icon, and it’s also one of Sega’s first female protagonists. Taking control of the title character, you set out on a mission to take out a fat guy who looks like the Kingpin. Hmm, lets see, we a hero that looks like Wonder Woman, and a villain that looks like Wilson Fisk. No wonder we didn’t see more of her after this 1985 release.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

As seen on our game night last week!

Castle Crashers is a tongue-in-cheek throwback to old school beat-em-ups like Golden Axe and Double Dragon. It was developed by The Behemoth, the people behind the similarly zany Alien Hominid. Taking control of one of four characters, you (and up to three more of your friends if playing co-op) set out on a quest to defeat thousands of barbarians, sorcerers, monsters, and other baddies in your quest to save the princesses. You can stop at shops to buy special items, and you can replay stages after you beaten them. There are well over 20 unlockable characters, including several who are available as downloadable content. You can even unlock Alien Hominid if you have a save file from that game. There is also a competitive multiplayer mode which you can play with up to 3 other players. Castle Crashers is headed to PSN later this year, so PS3 owners can see what the big deal is.

Why do movie studios release international trailers? Are the ones for North America not good enough? Are we not good enough for these?

Either way, thanks to Inter-Net, we can watch the videos anyway.

And hey, as a bonus, here is the trailer of the Scott Pilgrim video game: [Read the rest of this entry…]

Its the last day of E3, and all the publishers, studios, businessmen, designers, and artists have played their best hand of the year. There is no comparison in any other industry. Imagine if Hollywood showed a trailer for every movie of the next year on the same weekend. Thats crazy! And yet its E3.

In that spirit, those of us who follow at home don’t get hands on impressions, we just get 2 minute snippets of the games we’ll be playing from now until next E3. Who had the best?
[Read the rest of this entry…]