Gaming Blog

PSP’s new avatar has finally been spotted, photographed, and described in some detail. All this has happened over the past couple of days and, needless to say, has set gamers’ nerves tingling with anticipation. That the images, and even a video, are leaks goes without saying. What’s noteworthy though is the fact that Sony’s own monthly interactive video series Qore is the source of these goodies. Anyway, PSP Go, as it is known, is seen flaunting a 3.8-inch display, which is 43% more bright than the PSP-3000. Of course, it is a sliding device with controls revealed when its screen is slid. Among the specs of PlayStation Portable Go flowing are noted:

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Mini Ninjas is all set to be a cute take on the fearsome Japanese warriors. Testified! Well, by these screens that have surfaced of late. This third-person game is centered around tiny ninjas that do all their usual karate and weave magic spells. All as Hiro and Futo try to battle the Evil Samurai Warlord. The diminutive figures of Hiro (the hero) and his companion, a bit oversized Futo, are clearly depicted for our benefit. Colorful and jolly, these screens only increase our longing to land this title. Kudos for these screenshots goes to Io Interactive, which is developing the title for PS3, Nintendo Wii, DS and Xbox 360. Eidos Interactive is, by the way, delivering this title in September 2009. Mini Ninjas will also form a part of Eidos’s lineup at E3 next week. More images follow.

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A leak is a leak! Essentially it means things are available before ‘official’ comes into picture. And frankly we are suckers for anything in the name of a leak; footage, screens, quotes, every bit. That we harp on them and they come back to bite us is quite a different matter altogether. Anyway we have found Assassin 2’s leaked footage and we are really (re-al-ly) excited about it. And of course we want to share our excitement. So without further ado here are eleven seconds of footage that could make or break your opinion of the game. Oh who are we kidding? Anyway the footage packs a lot of action in a really (re-al-ly) short span of time; jumping, climbing and running too. Wonder if Ubisoft will take the trouble to remove it from YouTube? And since we are on the topic, Assassin’s Creed 2 has been promised for Q3, 2009.

Thanks: destructoid

Looking to tweak your controls just right on Killzone 2? Ah! Pity it won’t be happening this week. You see, the good guys at Guerilla Games have delayed it. Yeah, son of a b****! Here’s what they said on their Twitter feed:

Just got official confirmation – the patch has been delayed and will not be released this week.

So the ‘Precision Controls’ option – one that tames analogue sticks a tad bit – won’t be coming after all. And neither will promised tweaks for the Skirmish mode and other online tweaks. “Join Friend” is yet another addition that players are really looking forward to. It lets players join in a friend’s faction and squad, even when faction balancing is on. When Patch 1.27 will actually go live, we have no idea as of now. More when the web reveals something. Guerilla says “it shouldn’t be much longer.”

Via: g4tv

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest is, arguably, the friendliest version of the epic, or so is the popularly held belief. Now we have a trailer as a testimony. Aragorn’s Quest represents the very first gaming activity of Warner Bros. Interactive, since it acquired the literary and film rights to Lord of the Rings. The game is currently under development for Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable, and is due this fall. The trailer starts with children gathering around fire to listen to the story of Aragorn, and then it moves on to showing glimpses of his cavalier conquests. Aragorn’s Quest is about controlling Aragorn though the events of three books. Now stream and let your path be guided by the courage of Aragorn. Elsewhere on the web you can also access some screenshots of the game.

Via: shacknews

With hundreds of MMOs sprawled all across the web, The Matrix Online never ever got to the forefront. So after four years – a time where none logged in except the very dedicated – Sony Online has had enough. The company has decided that it must plug out of The Matrix Online. On July 31st this massively multiplayer game will be gone for good. MxO was officially released on April 15, 2005, and has since many an Agent has fallen to the cause of human resistance. Game producer Daniel “Walrus” Myers posted on MxO’s official forums:

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Firefly is up to its Stronghold tricks again. This time the franchise takes shape of what Firefly Studios describes as “the world’s first castle-based MMO”. Stronghold Kingdoms is a MMORTS that’s set in (where else?) medieval world. Players can play any number of characters as they start from a humble peasant and try to promote their character to a king. Simon Bradbury, Firefly’s founder, said on Eurogamer:

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The Dark Knight’s latest adventure puts him in the twisted world of inmates at Arkham Asylum. But that much was known. Release date of Batman: Arkham Asylum, however, was not known. That has changed for good now. Eidos has confirmed that the action-adventure stealth title will be released on August 25, 2009 in North America, from where it will make way to Europe on August 28, 2009. It is further reported that the title will be out for all the three platforms – Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 – simultaneously. Having previously been delayed to late summer from its originally slated June release, Batman: Arkham Asylum hasn’t hit the drag too much. As a matter of fact, gamers will get their hands on the title as soon as E3. Eidos has announced that playable versions of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mini Ninjas will be displayed at the gaming convention. Also put on show at Booth #2422 will be a sneak peek of Just Cause 2. So we’ll wind up now and report on all that when E3 happens.

Via: shacknews

For your daily dose from the grapevine we have a little piece of hearsay about Wii Fit Plus. Macquarie Research believes that Nintendo will be going all out at this year’s E3 and will show off Wii Fit Plus. It goes on further to claim that the title will be sold both with and without the Balance Board. Macquarie Research says that Nintendo will “learn earn its lessons from last year and provide more gamer-centric announcements at E3”. Its report goes on to say that no price cuts are expected for the Wii hardware. With net abuzz with news (or rumors, whichever way you like) of Nintendo having trademarked “Wii Fit Plus,” at least one of the predictions seems to have caught everybody’s fancy. Daring? Hardly!

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Japanese have been allowed access to rhino asses for far too long I say. It is time that Afrika moves on to other destinations. On cue is therefore Natsume’s announcement that PS3’s photography-oriented title Afrika will soon be coming to North American shores. Afrika has been developed by Rhino Studios and has been doing the rounds in Japan since last August. Afrika is a realistic brother of Pokémon Snap, wherein instead of shooting some imaginary fuzz-balls, you take a camera into the wilds of Africa. You don the shoes of a budding journalist and will be given instructions at the base camp of which animal to find and shoot. Thereafter you roam around and use the Sixaxis’ motion controller to aim the camera and click. Earn money, depending on the quality that you muster, and upgrade your cameras. Afrika has three different modes to play. More details on these and release date as soon as they come out.

Via: shacknews