Posts

Why game developers would pay more than they need to for celebrity voice actors is beyond me, but Hollywood actors are getting into the game business and coming away with five figure paychecks — for talking! AReutersarticle says that voice actors are paid about $760 according to Screen Actors Guild rules. That’s not bad for half a day’s work, but big name celebrities are earning much more. Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of production company that contracts screen actors to do game voice work, says that it is common for these celebs to get paychecks in the high five figures for a single session....

This video was pulled from Japanese television show Game Center CX, from a segment focusing on Square Enix’s newest PS3 epic,Final Fantasy XIII. The group plays through a bit, oohing and aahing at just about everything they see. I was oohing along with them. In this video you’ll see some exploration and battle play, as well as some huge roaming beasts. In the middle of the video, Final Fantasy’s resident bad ass, Bahamut, is summoned....

Need to carry your money in something a little more retro-chic and a little less skin-from-dead-bovines? ThenNilesZ‘s Atari wallets might be for you. If you may’t tell from the picture above, Niles makes wallets out of old, gutted Atari cartridges. Apparently, it’s taken him five years to perfect the process and he uses every component except the screws. It takes Niles about two hours to hand-make one wallet. Niles uses Atari carts because they’re about the right size and because the labels are sturdier than most — if you’re rough on your Atari wallet, the lable will start to fade in six months....

Eidos and Warner Bros. Interactive just hit us up with the final box art forBatman: Arkham Asylum, which hits shelves this summer. The box shows a beat-up-looking Batman standing in the rain, bloody leg and all. The box also features the ESRB stamp for a “T” rating, which we were unable to confirm with Warner and Eidos this afternoon. Some had previously speculated thatArkham Asylumwould be a mature title, due its dark tone....

Last week, PopCap announced that their highly-popular Facebook game,Bejeweled Blitz, would be getting a larger scale, full screen, PC version. They’re prettying it up and selling it exclusively through PopCap’s store for $19.99. Now, I’ve never playedBejeweled Blitzbecause I think Facebook isn’t made for games. It’s made for people who you haven’t spoken to for upwards of twenty years to track you down over the internet and ask how life is....

Best Buy Canada, recognizing the obscene profits to be made by reselling used games, has decided to adopt the practice at its subsidiary Future Shop stores.The Globe and Mailgoes on to tell us what we’re already intimately familiar with, that the markup on used games is enough to give any retailer an immediate, throbbing, dew-tipped erection. In spite of the fact that we all know we’re being robbed at smile-point every time we sell a used game to a brick-and-mortar store — not to mention the better options readily available — a large number of gamers continue to allow themselves to be taken advantage of....

As of two minutes ago Bethesda are only willing to offer downloadable content for the PC and Xbox 360 versions ofFallout 3. While not the traditional sort of exclusivity, consumers are more than aware that “exclusive”doesn’t carry the same weight that it used to. According to Pete Hines in anMTVMultiplayerinterview, PlayStation 3 fans need not worry about the lack of support. He contends that there is plenty ofFallout 3to go around without DLC....

Seven more tracks have been confirmed for the upcoming game that’s going to turn you into a rap superstar,Def Jam Rapstar: It’s also been revealed that producer Bangladesh will be providing instrumental beats for the game’s “Freestyle Mode,” where players can spit their own rhymes over instrumental tracks. The announced instrumental beat “Gutter” will join just revealed beats by DJ Premiere (“Go Back”) and Just Blaze (8 Bit). I make no claims that I can rap (sometimes I can barely speak), but there’s something aboutDef Jam Rapstarthat has my attention....

Capcom’s at it again. Following on from one representative’snegative commentsand thesubsequent backtrackingfrom Capcom Europe, director of communications Chris Kramer has talked about how hard it is to sell a game on the Wii. Never fear, though. He has a solution. “If you’re not Nintendo, it does seem harder to make money on the Wii today compared to the PS3 and the Xbox 360,” he explains. “It’s a very tough market to crack and is ever-shifting … Third-party publishers are having a hard time determining who the Wii audience is....

Cave has released two new videos of the side-scrolling Xbox 360 shmupAkai Katana Shin —the HD console update of Arcade shooterAkai Katana. While both of them are tutorial videos you’ll probably skip through if you can’t read Japanese or if you are impatient, the last minute or so has some gameplay footage. The above video displays ‘Akai Katana mode’ — the arcade version — and the below video shows off the ‘Akai Katana Shin’ mode that’s new for the Xbox 360 version....

We received an e-mail tonight from the creator ofCentaurian the Game, Simon Peter. We postedthe trailerto the game last night. It seems as though enough of you expressed doubt at the very realness of this thing that Peter was compelled to produce evidence. There you go. In-game screenshots and a title screen. Honestly, I’m just as shocked as all of you. I honestly don’t know where to begin. There are centaurs, viking helmets, bad wigs and laser guns....

I’d wager the majority of you picked out a handful of videogame-y elements inInception. With the DVD and Blu-ray release almost upon us (December 8), the “Will there be a game?” discussion is starting back up again. This time, however, we have some definite answers from director Christopher Nolan. Nolan, speaking to Entertainment Weekly, says “I always imaginedInceptionto be a world where a lot of other stories could take place. At the moment, the only direction we’re channeling that is by developing a videogame set in the world....

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athenahits American store shelves April 7. Since it’s merely the end of February, Atari (the publisher) has decided to ramp up the teasing. Below the fold are two freshAssault on Dark Athenatrailers featuring the new content in a spectacularly visceral way. The first trailer, “Cargo Bay,” focuses on Riddick’s stealth abilities. Shadow has always been Riddick’s favorite haunt in the fiction and it appears as ifAssault on Dark Athenawon’t be lacking dark corridors and corners....