We had a pleasant morning checking out the Sony and Nintendo booths, getting hands-on with a few launch games and feeling up the hardware. The device really is remarkably light; you’d expect such a powerhouse to be heavy and bulky, but it’s quite petite. Unfortunately the units there were all tethered, and all their untethered units were broken. Just block out the cords with your hand and it’s almost the same. → Read More
Last night we got a live tour of the latest from Mad Catz, including this rather comprehensively-featured headset for the Xbox 360. The big “what’s new” on this one is that it’s “truly wireless,” with no cord to the controller — making it the only wireless Dolby 7.1 headset out there. That may be putting somewhat of a fine point on it (there are other “truly wireless” headsets, of course), but it’s true for now and the headset does look pretty great.
Check out our footage or read on. → Read More
Are you tired of paying for games? Me too. But the fact is that they tend to cost money, and that’s that. But that used to be the case for TV, and now we watch our favorite shows for free on Hulu and other services. Why shouldn’t we be able to play games using a similar ad-supported model? This is the question being asked by online game marketplace GamersGate, which launched back in 2009 as an alternative to established services Steam and DirectDownload.
Creating a free-to-play platform for modern games seems to present a plethora of problems, but of course other free services have presented similar problems and worked out fine. GamersGate isn’t giving up too many details yet, but here’s what we know. → Read More
As we wade again into the breach here are some great videos from yesterday’s E3 broadcast. Today we got to see the Sony and Nintendo booths but yesterday we met Firefox and the Ice Queen and a young lady who feels eminently empowered by her experience as a Rift fighter. → Read More
When I look at this odd, immersive screen, called the jDone, I’m reminded of Coleridge’s epic poem:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately jDome decree:
Where guns roared out, soldiers ran
Through caverns measureless to man
In a boot of Battlefield 3.
The J-Dome costs $1,200 and sets up in a few minutes. It fits in a package about as big as a pack ‘n’ play playpen for kids and works with any projector, creating a nearly immersive gaming experience by adding peripheral vision effects to otherwise 2D games. → Read More
It’s time for another day of live video down here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Today we’ll be covering the massive South Hall, where we’ll find the big publishing houses showing off their latest. But first, we’re dropping by the Sony booth (signal permitting) to spend a little time with the Playstation Vita, their powerful new handheld. After that, a quick tour of the Nintendo booth, then it’s off to South Hall to see what’s what. Right inside the door is EA, and then there’s Activision, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and a couple dozen other publishers who are just aching to demo their new games. We’re going live just a few minutes past 10 (once we’re past the crush at the door), so point your browsers towards the CrunchGear front page and let the liveness stream. Remember, you can always contact us by tweeting with hashtag #e3crunchgear! → Read More
Matt may think that the Wii U is the E3 champion, but I’m not convinced. It looks like a fun and versatile device, but I’m not sure it’s as accessible as the Wii, which focused on motion and a few primary buttons to make gaming as simple as possible. The Wii U is clearly powerful in some ways but not nearly the breakthrough device the Wii was.
The Playstation Vita, on the other hand, isn’t even trying to be a breakthrough device. It’s simply an extremely powerful and versatile portable gaming system. While I have my reservations about the system, Sony convinced me today that it’s going to at least fulfill its own mission. And the price? Mwah, I kiss my fingers. Perfection. → Read More
The Old Republic is, potentially, every Star Wars-loving gamer’s dream. Own your own ship, travel the galaxy, pick a side in an epic conflict… if they pull it off. Razer’s taking the chance they won’t, though, and have put out a few peripherals customized for the Old Republic experience. → Read More
The Next-Generation Portable we’ve been hearing about for a good five months now has finally been owned up to by Sony. It is, as rumors had it, called the Playstation Vita, and the many features we’ve heard about (dual touchscreens, cameras, Near, and so on) are all official. All the specs and stuff were already detailed back in January, but we’re just now seeing the actual branding and some of the launch games. They’re showing off a new Uncharted as I write this, and it looks great. We’ll have a nice hands-on with lots of pictures after the press conference. Update: Pricing and availability! The WiFi model will be $249 with the 3G model costing $299 when the both hit this holiday season. Your move, Nintendo. → Read More
Want to experience the joy of Kinect, but happen to have a small living room? Nyko wants to help you out. They also want to help you out if you are in any way unhappy with your 3DS. Well, no, it can’t actually make the 3D “sweet spot” bigger, but their new accessories do help in other ways. → Read More
Alright, finally. Microsoft released the Kinect last year with games that turned out to be to nothing more than virtual parlor games. But today at the company’s E3 2011 presser, they took the wraps off the first round of games that finally seem to be meant for gamers — you know, gamers as in people that enjoy virtual killing and such. The headliner? Oh it must be Star Wars Kinect. → Read More
A couple of the team are in line at the Galen Center, waiting for admission to Microsoft’s big E3 press conference, but as with last year, the secrets were too big to hold for some. Or, more likely, someone got their east coast/west coast timing messed up (I’m as guilty of this as anyone) and pubbed some updates at 9:30AM Eastern time instead of Pacific. What beans were spilled? Oh, nothing. Just two Halo games and two AAA titles for Kinect. → Read More
The biggest gaming convention in the US is about to be underway here at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and we’re covering it live. We’ll have video streams, posts, and direct feed from the latest games, as well as interviews and the inevitable “bloggers at bars” footage. It can all be found at our E3 2011 tag, soon to be bursting with gaming flavor. We expect new systems from both Sony and Nintendo and hands-ons with a ton of new games. Not only that, but as with our CES and Disrupt coverage, you’ll be able to communicate with us live, sending requests, questions, kudos and jeers via Twitter. There may even be some giveaways. How is this possible and when should watch, you ask? Read on. → Read More
I’m not a fan of the dual-stick touchscreen controls in iPad games. The analog stick simulation just isn’t very intuitive to me, plus my thumbs get sweaty. So getting a physical analog stick on there, which the Fling does for the iPad (or any tablet, really), seems like a natural thing to do. But on an iPhone? Apparently people were asking for it. Did they count on the sticks taking up a third of the screen? Well, if this seems reasonable to you, feel free to preorder a pair for $24.95. [via TouchArcade] → Read More
Japanese newspaper the Nikkei has just published a story that confirms the rumors of the last couple months, namely that Nintendo’s new system (codenamed Project Cafe) will indeed use touchscreen controllers with cameras built-in. We had anonymous confirmation before, but the Nikkei has a little more credibility than “a source.” → Read More
I’ll keep this short. We reviewed Worms 2 Armageddon for the iPad a while back and found it a worthy title in the series, worth the $5 price of admission. And now that you can get it for 99 cents, that recommendation is even easier to give. Head over to the iTunes Store to pick it up. → Read More
George Plimpton, once upon a time, inexplicably flogged Intellivision and was the subject of a hilarious fake video game called George Plimpton’s Video Falconry. While the video, below, is wildly funny (if you know George Plimpton) I think the video game made by newgrounds is even funnier, featuring most of the tropes found in classic gaming including the poorly rendered scans and the bleep bloop music.
Eagle-eyed gamers will note that the sprites are a little too perfect on this game but it’s still an impressive feat of retro-engineering. Tally-ho! → Read More
It’s been a while since the last one, but Sony announced a new PS3 package for the Japanese market over the weekend. Buyers will get a special 160GB HDD model bundled with Tales Of Xillia, an RPG made by Namco Bandai (and the newest addition to their hit “Tales Of” RPG series that kicked off in 1995). → Read More
I’ve always been slightly bothered by the updated graphics in Super Mario All-Stars, but at the same time I can’t deny that it’s a fantastic cartridge to have around. Hacker Callan Brown apparently felt the same way, and decided to do a little investigation into perhaps remedying the situation. The result? A sweet megacartridge with an old-school way of selecting which game you want. → Read More
