Pachter: ‘Bitter’ reviewers will pick on Cod: Black Ops

Michael Pachter is many things, but a man who whines about review scores like a common  N4G user is not what I imagined he’d become. The industry analyst has joined those ranks, however, by complaining that a “hypercritical” and “bitter” gaming press will giveCall of Duty: Black Opspoor reviews. Howdarethose reviewers be critical with their criticism!? “The challenge is that Treyarch is called the ‘other’Call of Dutydeveloper for a reason; the top review scores for the franchise on gamerankings....

June 16, 2025 · 2 min · 387 words · Randy Hodges

PAX 10: Exclusive chat with the voice of Duke Nukem!

Destructoid was very privileged to be able to speak withf*ckingJon St. John, the man who has provided the voice of Duke Nukem in all of his games since 1995. Jon’s buttery smooth vocal chords return inDuke Nukem Forever, and we caught him just as he got done signing autographs at PAX Prime. In our short chat, we talk about stepping into the shoes of Duke after twelve years, the competition that the King faces and, of course, we get to hear what Duke Nukem himself has to say about Destructoid!...

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 109 words · Jordan Perkins

PAX 10: Force Unleashed 2 now with 33% less leash

Poor Starkiller — he’s got serious issues. First, he’s dead. Second, he’s now a clone. Third, he’s the latest in a long line of clones who have gone insane as the memories of the original Starkiller began to flood their consciousness. Oh yeah, there’s also that whole fealty to Darth Vader thing to cope with as well. I like to call him the Forcerer’s Apprentice. Despite his many personal problems, Starkiller always seems to find the time to whoop some arse....

June 16, 2025 · 3 min · 598 words · Michael Martin

Persona 4 sneak peek? This is not what we had in mind

Shin Megami Tensei: Personaseries fans already have their calendars marked for the first week of December, when the fourth chapter of the series will be released. It’s not like we need promotional material or “sneak peeks” to sell us, but we’ll look anyway, right? We heard that the Atlus Japan Web page had a sneak peek ofPersona 4, but after checking it out, we think that “sneak peep” is a better name....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 158 words · Michael Pearson

Plants Vs Zombies Casino?! PopCap goes URL crazy

What is this? There’s a ton of new domains that look to have been created by PopCap. I don’t know what they’re for, but some of the names are really interesting. A lot of their big franchises are represented:Bejeweled, Chuzzle, Peggle, PvZ, and my favoriteZuma. There seems to be a set for each franchise, with words likebingo, keno, lottery, lotto, poker, scratchandslotstied to them. They’re all gambing related! Hey, this could combine two of my loves: puzzle games and gambling....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 119 words · Dalton Nguyen

PlayStation Network down for maintenance this afternoon, 2.5 firmware updating

I hope you didn’t have anything pressing to do over PSN during the day today.Joystiqis reporting that the service will be offline today from 11 AM until 4 PM (Pacific time). It probably won’t impact users in the US all that much, what with people being at school and work, but it does fall right in the middle of peak gaming time over in Europe which is bound to annoy somebody today....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 154 words · James Hunter

Please do not miss Skulls of the Shogun

Maybe you’ve been paying attention. If so, good. Thank you. We’re not going to preview the game again, but we did want to make sure that everyone is paying attention.Skulls of the Shogunis too great of a game to miss. Haunted Temple Studios’ founder Jake Kazdal told us that he adores the classic tactical strategy games that came out of Japan, but that he knew he wanted to freshen up the genre a bit....

June 16, 2025 · 3 min · 555 words · Michelle Gordon

Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver has video/art

It’s no surprise that people are pumped for the release ofPokémon HeartGoldandSoulSilver, being as they are a pair of remakes for what is considered the best generation of the entire franchise. There is also a porcupine with fire on its back, which automatically makes it worthy of attention. We have a new video trailer, and artwork of the classic three starter Pokémon: Cynadquil, Totodile and Chikorita. There are also a couple of logos thrown in, just in case you’re feeling particularly insatiable this morning....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 118 words · Vicki Wright

PopCap trademarks ‘YetiTrain,’ we dig the possibilities

It appears as ifPlants vs. Zombieswon’t be the last new PopCap Games IP before the universe drops into oblivion in 2012. The casual company justslapped a trademark onYetiTrain, a name for an unknown piece of electronic software. Barring that it is announced or indeed hits before said oblivion, it could be the greatest videogame ever created. Think about it: yetis and trains — two of themetal-estthings this side of sugar-free jam and bulldogs....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 145 words · Brittney Spence

Posting Gears of War 3 spoilers online? Epic will ban you

Epic Games takes spoilers very seriously, so much so that your actions on Youtube could impact your gaming. According to the studio, it has the power to ban anybody fromGears of War 3if they’re caught posting spoiler videos. “We’re extremely diligent about getting that stuff taken down and issued a call to fans to not perpetuate it… and just keeping track of those who do,” said executive producer Rod Fergusson. “I don’t think everybody’s aware of the potential repercussions of those types of actions....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 169 words · Erik Mcdaniel

Pre-E3 09: Split/Second is looking rather insane

The hot pre-E3 trailer action isn’t stopping anytime soon, guys. The next title fromPuredeveloper Black Rock Studio was put on full display during this evening’sepisode of GTTV, and I’m happy to admit I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Split/Secondlooks similar toBurnoutat first glance, but there’s one major difference: environmental destruction. Players will be able to set off explosive events in real time, such as triggering a plane to crash right into the race track....

June 16, 2025 · 1 min · 119 words · Andrea Carney

Preview: Ether Saga Online

Entering the MMO market nowadays is always a risky venture. They’re expensive to make, expensive to keep running, and you have to attract loads of people for it to work. I mean, anything that is notWorld of Warcraftis going to struggle a bit to gain foothold in today’s crowded market. And to come out with a free-to-play MMO that intends to be as fully featured as a game likeWorld of Warcraft?...

June 16, 2025 · 5 min · 892 words · Eric Mercado

Preview: Storm

I love physics-based puzzle games to an almost inappropriate degree.And Yet It Moveswas one of my favorite games of 2010, so it should come as no shock to you that I was excited at the prospect of a game combining physics with meteorology, another one of my secret nerdy obsessions. Stormis EKO Software’s newest game and represents what may be a turning point for a company whose works have been largely marketed towardschildren....

June 16, 2025 · 4 min · 715 words · Audrey Smith