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Yes, it probably took me longer to upload these 48 Ninja Gaiden II screenshots (and two pieces of artwork!) than it did for me to write this post. But really, what more needs to be said about Ninja Gaiden II?
Ninjas? Check. Blood and dismemberment? Check. Boobs? Check. Werewolves? Yeah, that's right -- werewolves. But you already knew about all of this stuff, because you read my Ninja Gaiden II preview article, right? Right.
So sit back and feast your eyes on these ninja-filled, blood-soaked, boob-tastic screenshots featuring werewolves. And there you go -- Ninja Gaiden II. Xbox 360. June 3.
I don't know how or why the real Sonic fad picked up again, but I'm not complaining. Is it wrong that I want to spray paint a hedgehog blue and staple a extra tail on a fox and make them run through absurd obstacle courses and fight a giant fat man in a robotic suit at the end of each course? Probably.
Hard to pick my favorite of the punch this week. I guess I'll go with GTA Latarian just because of how timely it is. What were your favorites? Thanks to Professor Pew and CannibalCalvin as always.
By now, you’ve surely heard of the record-breaking sales performance of Rockstar’s gangster opus, Grand Theft Auto IV. According to a Take-Two press release, GTA IV set new records for sales in not only the videogame industry, but across the entire entertainment spectrum as well. Within the first 24 hours of its release at midnight on Tuesday, April 29th, approximately 3.6 million copies were sold worldwide, which amounts to about $310 million. First-week sales totaled an absurd six million copies, bringing in over half a billion dollars.
However, all is not rosy in Rockstar’s world. The first week after launch was marred by widespread reports of problems with joining multiplayer games on the PS3 version (which were remedied by a patch released yesterday), as well as persistent lockup issues on both consoles. Of course, the mainstream media and parents’ groups have a had a field day this past week, repeatedly calling for Strauss Zelnick’s head, among others, along with such things as government involvement to “save the chilluns”.
Regardless, gamers around the world have been playing GTA IV like there’s no tomorrow; it displaced Call of Duty 4 as the most-played game on Xbox Live, and over two million achievements were unlocked on the first day. Accordingly, GTA IV is a major part of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 marketing push in 2008; in fact, there was a 54% jump in 360 console sales last week. But like a freight train, Sony’s black beast has slowly been gaining steam, and the greater part of the year is still left for an epic battle of light versus dark.
As always, we’re looking for some deeper meaning in all this, such as the viewpoint of an industry higher-up. To that end, Destructoid was able to secure an exclusive interview with Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. He gave us his thoughts on GTA IV’s performance at the cash register and online, along with some perspective and confidence regarding the console wars. Hit the jump to check it out.
There is a term among the gamer community the describes a certain subsect of gamers interested only in how impressive a game looks -- "graphics whores." These are people who get excited over how a game looks more than how it plays, and will easily dismiss any title that isn't up their visual standards.
Just like there can be no smoke without fire, so too can there be no whores without pimps. These are the people that justify the shallow judgment of a title based purely on aesthetics, mainly because that is how they are selling their games. Prompted by the recent resurgence of Killzone 2 talk, I decided to voice my feelings about the "graphics pimps," and why I am sick and tired of hearing about how great a game looks.
Hit the jump as I call out the graphics pimps and all their beautiful chicanery.
TorpedoTed: I remember the joy of first playing Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, amazing visuals and a top dollar game!! (day dream)
Article is a gooden!!
Hmm ive only seen pretty pics of Metal Gear...not se... more
Killzone 2 has been surrounded by controversy for years since a trailer for the game was used to sell the graphical power of the PlayStation 3 to the masses at E3 2006. While Sony was screaming “ZOMG IN-GAME FOOTAGE,” gamers everywhere were yelling “STFU PRE-RENDERED CUTSCENE!” Ever since then, we all have been waiting to see if the real Killzone 2 could live up to the hype.
Well, if the above trailer from last week’s SCEE PlayStation Day in London is any indication, Killzone 2 may actually deliver. Yeah, it’s not as impressive as the more recent (partially in-game footage?) trailer from E3 2007, but I think it comes pretty close. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.
Impressed by the graphics? Bored because it looks like every other generic FPS out there? Annoyed by all the "in-game footage" talk surrounding this game? How do you think it stacks up to the E3 2007 trailer? Hit the jump for a comparison.
Demtor: Hah, that game looks sweet. A few of those scenes remind me of a few sections of Quake 4 but just on a grander scale. I don't care what the haters say, mowing people down with realistic guns in a... more
We all know by now that the Parents Television Council doesn't exactly understand what "reality" is, but unfortunately they prey upon those ignorant of the truth in order to continue their hypocrisy and express opinions based on a complete lack of fact. Recently, the PTC has been throwing around a press release about -- you guessed it -- Grand Theft Auto IV and made the mistake of showing it to journalist Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star.
Villarreal, unlike the PTC, actually plays GTA and decided to take the group's Dan Isett (not a parent) to task on some assumptions made in the press release, chief among them this idea that the notorious drunk driving feature "awards points" for engaging in the activity. Phil very kindly transcribed the most telling aspect of his conversation with the PTC member, which can be read after the jump.
naib: The drinking in GTA IV actually makes me want to put the beer down.
I may make some questionable judgment calls in real life, but I [s]seldom[/s] never want to drink in GTA IV. more
Tutorials in videogames are very strange things. They are obviously important — as players need to learn how to play somehow outside of reading their dust-covered instruction booklets — but they always seem so out of place in the context of the videogame world.
For example: Why is that random signpost in the village telling my character to hold down “A” to perform a charged sword attack? Did that NPC really just suggest I sort the items in my inventory screen to make things easier to navigate? How do these signs/characters know these things and why the heck are they talking about them? It makes no sense!
Sometimes, though, tutorials are implemented in brilliant ways; never more so than in Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Do you want to know how all videogame tutorials should be handled? Hit the jump to find out.
HiDefLoMein: There was also one audio clue that this was supposed to help you - the song these little guys sang before they started jumping. If you listen to it closely, it's the same fanfare that plays when... more
Licensing.biz -- a Web site that hurts my brain with all its crazy “acquisition” and “brand profile” talk -- is reporting that NBC Universal (which owns Bravo) has secured DSI Games to produce a Wii game based on popular reality show Top Chef.
Make fun of me if you will, but I love Top Chef. Love it. In fact, I love all reality television. Yup, I am one of those people. But a game based on Top Chef? I don’t really like the sound of that. True, putting it on the Wii is a step in the right direction (wow, I just cut that star anise myself!), but the producers need to avoid the game being just another generic Cooking Mama clone.
What do you think? Would you play a game based on Top Chef? What other reality shows would make good Wii games (Groomer Has It!)?
Char Aznable: I can't really say that I have high hopes for this, but I guess we'll see. I wonder how detailed Padma's horrible arm scar will look.
Man, there sure are a lot of annoying assholes on this seaso... more
This has been one hell of a week for me. First, I heard a multitude of really badass codecconversationsbetweenChadConcelmoandthecastofMetalGearSolid. Then, I saw several friggin' awesome illustrations of Gentleman Dinosaur (the above concept art comes courtesy of Ashley Davis, while AgentMOO actually added a GD character to AMMO). Finally, right before the show began, I had the pleasure of reading some hilariously clever dino-related poetry.
So, yeah. Good week to be a podcast host.
Anyway, this week's episode (which can be found here) was another random collection of news and skullduggery. Highlights included:
Poetry aplenty
Tiff Chow: Not Lacist
Jim makes a Mirror's Edge funny
The Guardian, Glenn beck, Cheryl Olson, and Euphoria
The MGS Podtoid Contest Winner (put your email address in the comments)!
Aaron Linde still hates everything good in the world
This week, ryanrab1 won the $25 for asking a question that made Tiff sad. She may not sound upset on the actual show, but trust me -- she was bawling afterward.
qwerty: Hey anyone from dtoid, would it be too much to ask for you guys to have a brief fade in, in the first second or too. It always hurts my ears when it starts because its louder than everthing else ... more
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