For followers of the Nintendo 3DS, today was a red letter day. We not only go dates for North America and Europe, we also got prices, and a few other cool details. My personal favorite bit of news was the confirmation that Game Boy games would be available for download. Hot! Here’s all what happened today, collected for your convenience. Make sure you check out the hottest stories, which are rendered in bold:...
Graphics chipmakerNvidia, the maker of the graphics chips in the PlayStation 3 as well as many PC video cards, announced a large increase in profits, which leads to a 3-to-2 stock split to take place on August 20th. Gamespotsays that this quarter saw an net income of $172.7 million on a revenue of $935.3 million, which is up from last year’s $86.8 million on 687.5 million in revenue. Nvidia announces that on the end of the business day of August 20th, any holder of two shares will gain a third....
OK, we get it — throw United States Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps into the water and he goes fast. Having broken records left and right at this year’s Beijing Olympics, taking home eight gold medals, it’s next to impossible to see him anywhere with a shirt on. Now, according to a profile of the swimmer on60 Minutes, he’ll be getting his very own videogame. No details were given, including who would be publishing the title, but let’s just take a guess that assume that the game will be swimming-related....
When it wasrevealed last weekthat the big secret Ed Boon and the boys were clutching so close was the announcement of aMortal Kombat vs. DC Universegame, the reception here at Destructoid seemed lukewarm at best. Actually, scratch that… most of you pretty much panned it as a joke. Considering that MK was single-handedly responsible forbirthing the ESRBin the first place, that stance was somewhat understandable. Fatalities and blood are very much a staple ofMortal Kombatgames....
Pandora’s Toweris the most low profile of the three games thatOperation Rainfallis pushing Nintendo to release in the United States. That’s why I’m so pleasantly surprised to hear preliminary reports fromJapan Expo 2011that the game will be released in Europe in 2012. We already had the sense that Nintendo of Europe may pick up the game based on their decision to give it some space on the Expo’s show floor (along with the other two Operation Rainfall titles,Xenoblade ChroniclesandThe Last Story), but we’re still waiting from official word from Nintendo themselves....
Passage, created by Jason Rohrer, is an exercise in gaming minimalism. Made for korokomi’sgamma 256competition, It’s only five minutes long, it weighs in at less than 500kb, it takes place on a 100×16 field of pixels, and it only requires the arrow keys. It’s also one of the most clever, meaningful, affecting, and memorable games ever made. To say too much aboutPassagebefore you’ve played it — to describe how I played through it, and how it affected me — is to spoil it....
As if we had any doubts over the growing popularity of PAX — last year felt pretty packed — it was revealed that the passes for PAX Prime 2011 arecompletely sold out. Everything’s gone — one-day passes, weekend-long badges, etc. That’s not to say you couldn’t roll up to Seattle in late August and score yourself a badge for a premium, though. Or merely enjoy what the city has to offer from outside of the convention center, for that matter....
Yesterday, I had an opportunity that comes once, maybe twice in a lifetime — the chance to rekindle an old flame. No, not Nick Chester, we’re broken up forgood, you hear me? You only have to leavethiseditor at the altar once before he wises up. Affairs of the heart notwithstanding, ArenaNet had yours truly and a slew of others down to their Bellevue offices to get a feel for the upcomingGuild Warsexpansion,Eye of the North....
So, here’s the situation: You’re out walking, minding your own business, when you’re suddenly accosted by Paris Hilton. She wants to talk to you and there’s nothing you may do to stop it. After the nightmare is over, is there anything you can do to dull the emotional pain of such an experience? Researchers at Oxford University say that there is, and that solution isTetris. A group led by Dr. Emily Holmes from the venerable institution’s Department of Psychology undertook a study in which 40 “healthy” subjects were shown traumatic images of injuries and then half the group was handedTetristo play....
Today PopCap announces a new small games label called 4th & Battery. This experiment gives the company designers and developers free reign to create smaller, simpler games without the constraints of normal game publishing. The company is named after the cross streets where PopCap is located, in Seattle. “4th & Battery is a purely experimental, creative label with none of the typical concerns like schedules, profitability, or even target audience. It’s kind of the video game equivalent of B-sides or short films,” explained Jason Kapalka, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at PopCap....
So you likedF.E.A.R., but you would have liked less scares and more flying guts? You’re about to get happy in a way you should probably enjoy in the privacy of your own home (translation: where people cannot see you), because some new screenshots from the upcoming sequelProject Originhave surfaced, and there are copious amounts of blood flying about (although if you’re hoping forIchi The Killer-level gore, I’m afraid we aren’t quite there yet....
If, for some bizarre reason, you were looking forward toPrototype‘s multiplayer features, then now is the time to retract pre-order plans and shake your fist in the air as if to futilely reprimand God for his sunken glory. The previously planned co-op component ofPrototypehas been scrapped, leaving it a game for loners only. Radical’s Tim Bennison explained that the dev team felt they would not “be able to pull it off with the same level of quality and polish that we’re aiming for with the original single player story....
Well, this is awkward. PC players unlocked the “Operation Hastings” map inBattlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnamrecently by performing a combined 69 million team actions. Console players, on the other hand, aren’tquite there yet. Even still,DICE has opened upthe fifthVietnammap for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a gift for the new year. you’re able to play it right this very minute, if you’d like; it’s fairly open compared to the other expansion maps, and is a nice treat for the eyes....
