If I were foolish enough to open this review with a reference to an impossibly endless debate between strongly passionate sides that could completely derail whatever I had to say about the game itself, I'd probably do it like this: Spore Hero is a pretty good argument in support of Intelligent Design. Well, at least in terms of game design, because if going from Spore to Spore Hero was entirely a process of evolution, it was one that went horribly, horribly backwards.Unlike the universe-spanning PC simulation it's spun off from, Spore Hero is a disappointingly generic third-person platformer with some very light "Metroidvania" influences. You start the game with a barely evolved creature that crash lands on an unfamiliar planet, and you then explore the different locations, help out the inhabitants in different ways to earn new creature parts, and evolve/unlock more complex -- and exploration-opening -- abilities.
Looks like cross game voice chat on the PlayStation 3 has been confirmed. A Naughty Dog developer going by the name "ReklissAbandon" accidentally confirmed the feature on the official PlayStation message boards (via Wearetheinternetz)Asked why it's possible to spectate on an opponent when it might give one side who uses Skype an unfair advantage during an Uncharted 2 clan battle, ReklissAbandon wrote, "I think they wanted people to have fun and ejoy [sic] the show since all dead players can talk to each other no matter what team you are on." "But I will suggest it anyway. Not to mention that the next PS3 firmware update is going to allow cross game chat. So if players use that instead of in-game communication then they would also be able to communicate enemies [sic] positions..."
In addition to a new single-player story to play through, Rockstar revealed today that Grand Theft Auto 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony will also add new features to the multiplayer game -- and as you can see above, one of them in particular is pretty frickin' cool. In addition to new weapons, vehicles, and kill streaks, GTA4's multiplayer will get the long-overdue inclusion of parachutes.You can check out the official Ballad of Gay Tony website for all the details, but here's the basic rundown: New weapons include the Pistol .44, Explosive Shotgun, Assault SMG, Gold SMG, Advanced MG, Advanced Sniper, and Sticky Bombs. Attack choppers and tanks will also be available in multiplayer, as well. Kill streaks of 3, 5, and 10 will now also give players health and armor bonuses, and ending a player's kill streak awards you $125 in Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes. And, of course, the coolest addition of all: parachutes. As you can see in the few additional screens below (check out our gallery for more), the parachute can naturally be used for both skydiving and basejumping.
Not long after a rumor emerged that ATI had already won the rights to supply Microsoft with the graphics processor for the next-gen Xbox, rival nVidia now has their own videogame hardware bid to tout... and also in unconfirmed rumor form. As BSN reports, "confidential sources" have told them nVidia has won the contract to supply Nintendo with their Tegra chips to power the next DS handheld.According to BSN's report, nVidia's Tegra "System-on-a-Chip" processor will supply a single-chip solution for powering the next DS (the current DS uses two "ARM" chips), and will still allow for backward compatibility with current DS games and applications. It's still unclear exactly which Tegra chip Nintendo will supposedly be using, as the second generation of chips will debut in February 2010. More interestingly, BSN's report states that Nintendo's announcement of the next-gen DS is planned to be made in late 2010, possibly at next year's Tokyo Game Show (which would make it a lot more interesting than this year's was, that's for sure).Follow over to BSN's report for some more detailed techno-babble regarding Tegra chips (which, frankly, go a little over our head), but do keep in mind: This is an unconfirmed report from anonymous sources, and we've got a feeling it'll be a while before Nintendo is spilling any next-gen DS details themselves.
Younger readers may not recognize him, but if you were a gamer or wrestling fan in the late 80s you have to know the name of Captain Lou Albano. Today we're sad to report that Albano has passed away at the age of 76. He had suffered a heart attack in 2005 and and today died under hospice care with his family present, reports Kotaku. In his time as a star, he managed more than 50 WWE champions, acted as Cyndi Lauper's father in various music videos, and portrayed Mario in the Super Mario Bros Super Show from 1989-1990. Albano is only credited for 16 episodes, but for those of us over the age of 25, it easily placed him as the most memorable live-action Mario.Check out a short bit of his work from the Super Show in the video above, and feel free to get up from your chair and dance in memory of Captain Lou. Come on, it's time to go, do the Mario.
It seems that the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott has officially come to an end. The Escapist is reporting that forrmerly unhappy fans Agent of Chaos and Walking_Target are apparently satisfied with what they've seen, and have decided to move on."We have accomplished everything we can on our manifesto," Agent of Chaos wrote on the L4D2 Boycott Steam Community."We've been dealing with Valve ever since our group started, then we met them in-person and now we're at the point of concluding our discussions. Our goal wasn't to steer people away from L4D2, it was to get Valve's attention and have them support original L4D. We succeeded and that's where our mission ends."
With Final Fantasy XIV preparing to take over Square Enix's MMORPG beat, the company is making one more big push to put Final Fantasy XI in players' hands. The company announced that "The Ultimate Collection" will be coming on November 10 for a mere $20. It will be released for the PC and Xbox 360, and include seven, pieces of additional content. That includes all the expansions and three add-on scenarios from 2009, including one ("A Shantotto Ascension") that hasn't been released yet. Of course, that $20 is the entry fee, and after a 30-day-trial players will have to pay the monthly subscription fee of about $13. It's not much, and MMO players are certainly accustomed to a regular fee, but it does mean that after 4 months you'll have paid more than a full-priced title. Still, packing in every piece of content means it's quite a bit of play time for a newbie, and may even represent a good deal for the lapsed player who's missed out on the last few scenarios.
Both reviewers and those who have sped through the single-player campaign of Uncharted 2 in less than a day noticed other developers being thanked during the end credits of the game. Among the list was Insomniac, Ready at Dawn, Sucker Punch, Infinity Ward, and Bungie. Those last two stuck out a bit, one being the maker of multi-platform games and the other a Microsoft mainstay. A thread on Giant Bomb quotes Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann on the gratitude. "We try to be quite open with our technology and our process," Druckmann explained in a live chat to promote the game. "We exchanged technology and ideas with other developers. We wanted to make sure we thanked everyone that helped us out in some way."As a high-profile platform-exclusive, Uncharted 2 is the sort of game that generally inspires forum fanboys to dig in for trench console warfare. It's nice to remember that, though developers are technically rivals, they're friendly ones. Maybe stories like this will help remind gamers to keep that in mind and treat each other with some mutual respect next time an argument crops up over whose box is better.
