General Gaming News

PopCap Games is a name synonymous with addictive online games, and Bejeweled is one of those that will stick in memory for most people as bosses see countless hours of productivity go down the drain while employees click away furiously, trying to gain that elusive high score. I myself was guilty of that during the days where I was an office drone, but I must say Bejeweled really went a long way in making those dreary hours roll by quickly and painlessly. This time round, PopCap Games will light up the scene with a new Bejeweled title known as Bejeweled Twist, bringing a new perspective to this genre. Being three years in the making would raise my expectations rather high, so hopefully PopCap Games won’t fail to deliver here.

Read the rest of this entry »

It is that time of the month again, where fanboys from all three camps (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony) get together to see just how their console has been doing in the market over the last month. The status quo for king of the hill remains, with Nintendo sitting comfortably in top spot while Microsoft and Sony jostle and tussle with one another fiercely for the distant second place. Sounds like Michael Phelps blowing everyone away at the Water Cube en route to his historic 8 gold medals in a single Olympics. Nintendo managed to move 555,000 Wii units in July, while the DS Lite did much better at 608,400 units. Of course, the latter is much cheaper than the former, and is easily found. How hard is it to get a Wii still in your area? Do leave a comment below after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Both Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and NetEase.com, Inc. have come together so that they can license Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and Battle.net platform off to Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology Limited. Guess multiplayer gaming in China will soon take on a whole new life of its own, thanks to Blizzard’s solid base and slick programming which was built up over the years.

Read the rest of this entry »

All seems to be moving along nicely when it comes to preparations for the summer Olympics in Beijing that will kick off in exactly one week from now. This can only mean one thing - a cash cow that has to be weaned to its maximum, and game developers are not lost on this fact for quite some time already. We’ve seen numerous sports titles released to date, much earlier than the event itself, and I can clearly remember Mario & Sonic at the Olympics for the DS platform as being one of the more fun titles to date. Conspiracy Entertainment has a new title for sports buffs, known as Summer Athletics. Unfortunately, it seems to be available only for the PS2 and will retail for an affordable $14.99.
players.

Read the rest of this entry »

Majesco will be releasing the hugely popular anagram game, Bananagrams, later next month (August 18 to be specific) as a free Facebook Application. It will be developed by Large Animal Games, doing away with all the rules of traditional board games in favor of an every-player-for-themselves approach that delivers lightning-fast puzzle play guaranteed to get the mind moving and drive players “bananas.” According to Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco, “Casual gaming applications have exploded on social networking sites like Facebook and Bananagrams is an ideal fit for the demographic. With its fast-paced action and addictive but simple gameplay, we believe this game has potential to become one of the most popular gaming applications on the site.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Gameloft is certainly taking the right steps in creating some hype for the upcoming football season by launching NFL 2009 as part of its mobile licensing agreement with the National Football League (NFL). This inked deal enables Gameloft to create an authentic NFL experience for fans by featuring all 32 NFL teams, NFL players, NFL stadiums and detailed stats.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fans of Rock Band, rejoice! A dozen classic songs by The Who have received a new lease of life by being released as new levels on Rock Band. Both MTV Games and Harmonix recently announced today that a sweet selection of the legendary group’s greatest hits will be included in the Rock Band catalog of downloadable content with the release of “The Best of The Who: Rock Band Edition.” According to Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, “We’re really pleased to have our songs featured in Rock Band. It allows our established fan base to interact with our music in a way that’s fresh and exciting, while also exposing our songs to new audiences.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Diablo series from Blizzard has been acclaimed to be a mouse killer for many people having played it in the past, and it is no wonder why. This highly addictive dungeon crawler just makes you feel as though you want to level up more and more each time you boot the game up, with various character classes and routes to take to complete the game. It is with great pleasure that Blizzard has just announced Diablo III, the third outing in this franchise. Once again, the sleepy hollow of Tristam is under siege by evil creatures, and it is up to you to eliminate them. I wonder just how much longer the citizens of that town must suffer, considering they have been under the evil clutches of Diablo, Mephisto and Baal for quite some time already. Surely the inhabitants are scarred psychologically beyond measure by now.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is it me or is it a generalization that deadly female Soviets tend to go by the moniker Natasha? Anyways, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is in the works and will be released sometime in the near future, featuring Natasha who not only looks good but is capable of offing you with an icy cold stare. Taking on the tradition of the Command & Conquer series, you can expect some B-grade acting in the videos that lend to an air of authenticity of a future Cold War era to the entire game.

Read the rest of this entry »

Video game sales have soared yet again this year, with Nintendo’s games and systems leading the pack in the US. Research has shown that retail sales of video games managed a phenomenal 57% jump to $1.7 billion in March, according to market researcher NPD Group. Judging by the sales figures, one could safely be forgiven to think that the US economy is nowhere under distress despite being otherwise in real life. I suppose more folks decided that spending more time at home trying to complete the latest game they purchased is way more cost effective than spending a night out - after all, a $59.90 game might last you for weeks on end as you subsist on TV meals, while going out on a date will easily cost you more than that amount in a single night.

Read the rest of this entry »