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There’s a recentQ&Awith Capcom’s Director of Strategic Planning & Research, Christian Svensson, in which he discusses the company’s success in the West, talks aboutResident Evil 4on the Wii, and the simultaneous release ofPuzzle Fighteron the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. What we’d like to discuss, however, is a very interesting slice of information regarding Nintendo’s online presence, specifically with regards to offering downloadable original content. In the most straightforward of terms, it’s certainly a possiblity, one that Capcom are definitely considering....

echochromewas notable for its style and puzzle game play, and some of the visual style carries over into a related offering, calledechochrono(working title). echochronocomes from SCE Japan, and is what they’re calling a “self co-op” game. This PSP puzzler lets you play with yourself, I’d guess you’d say. You still control a mannequin-ish figure on a line art style playing field, but this time around you’re moving on a 2D plane, working to solve puzzles with ghosts of your mannequin....

Overall, the keynote was lackluster, but Microsoft did announce a couple of bombs. There’s a new Xbox 360 that features built in Wi-Fi and it’s out THIS WEEK. How Microsoft kept that under wraps is extremely impressive. The newMetal Gear Solid: Risingalso looks really rad. We may finally get a good sword based combat game thanks to Hideo and his team. So what did you think of Microsoft’s press conference?...

Sitting in a darkened theater room, Q-Games Dylan Cuthbert introduced the latest installment in thePixelJunkseries with a curious statement: “It’s been a long experimental path,” he said. “It’s not really a game.” We quickly see what he means. A squirming, vortex swirls in the center of the screen while strange electronic noises roar out of the speakers. A flick of the move controller and red lines fade in and out over the visuals....

After some teasing, Square Enix has revealedElevator Action Deluxefor the PlayStation 3. And it’s coming out in just two weeks, on August 30. The PlayStation Network title is a re-invisioning of the original, with update visuals for fancy new, high definition television. The game will also include offline multiplayer modes, including deathmatch and a mode where players race to steal secret files. Elevator Action Deluxewill run you $9.99. Was this a classic you were hoping would be remade, or are you just shrugging at the very idea?...

Thanks to some wrangling and bribery, Destructoid has managed to get its hands on some exclusive screenshots forHydrophobia, the upcoming XBLA exclusive from Dark Energy. It’s all about water. Evil, evil water. As we’ve come to expect fromHydrophobiamedia, this shots look extremely awesome. It’s almost hard to believe that it’s an XBLA, given the quality of the screens. Water effects are obviously the main point of these images, but everything else, from the characters to the fire, is looking pretty damn sweet as well....

TheFinal Fantasygames have a very rabid and diverse fanboy base. There are some who consider the games to be the pinnacle of RPGs. Some people can’t stop jizzing over the games’ music. Some people are still writing fanfiction about Cloud, Sephiroth, and an incredibly inappropriate Limit Break. Whatever aspect of the games people are obsessed with, fanboys love theirFinal Fantasy. This is why what happened a few days ago was so traumatizing....

Following theFar Cry 3presentation and demo at the Ubisoft booth at gamescom, I got to interview narrative director Jason VandenBerghe, who is without a shadow of a doubt a most amazing man. We don’t only talk about the depth of storytelling, the expansion of exploration and the importance of gamers being able to choose their own paths and methods, which is integral to Far Cry’s gameplay. But I even manage to convince Jason to let me wear his Stetson....

Just like in movies and music, different aesthetics in videogames imply different levels of commercial ambition. See a film that’s entirely in black and white with funny looking non-actors, or hear a song played with aggressive, sloppily played, distorted guitars, and you’re likely to get the feeling that artists in question are more concerned with expressing their ideas than creating something with much potential for mainstream acceptance. For a long time, “8-bit,” low-res, made-by-hand sprite artwork has occupied that space in the videogame industry....

[As originally posted onTomopop] I know, all I have to say is “twelve inches of…” and you’re all snickering behind your hands. Rest assured, though, if you try to do anything dirty with this twelve-incher, it’ll likely send you to the emergency room. First 4 Figures havedone Sonic figures before, but nothing quite this epic. This resin statue of Sonic comes out this December and will cost you $99.99. It comes with an authenticity card and is hand-numbered....

Obviously, the soundtrack in a music game can make or a break a title, and Neversoft proved they could deliver the killer tunes with their solidGuitar Hero III: Legends of Rocktrack list. Based on what we saw at a first-look press event a few weeks ago, it looks like they’re on track to impress again with the soundtrack for their multi-instrumentGuitar Hero: World Tour. While we didn’t go hands-on with the game, three songs were demonstrated live — Foo Fighter’s “Everlong,” Sublime’s “Santeria,” and Billy Idol’s near-perfect 80s rock track, “Rebel Yell....

Here’s a game that is both terrific, yet utterly short. Good job it’s free, then! Biolab Disasteris a sidescrolling game with a retro graphical style that evokes memories of good ol’ DOS gaming. I could see this sitting proudly next toCommander Keen,Captain Comic and the proper old schoolDuke Nukemgames. The only problem is that’s a mere three levels long! I highly recommend the game, because it costs nothing and is good fun....

One of the biggest love/hate elements from this generation of consoles is downloadable content. Some DLC is good (song packs forRock Bandor full-blown expansions in theFalloutgames) and some of it is bad, (unlocking things already on a disc or pre-order trinkets made up to entice gamers to pay early). However, free DLC is rarely bad. EDGEdeveloper Two Tribes has announced a big DLC add-on coming on September 28th to the Steam version of its iOS puzzle/platform title....