Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

MGS4 has 90 minute cutscenes

Have a comfy chair? Good. How about extra bags of popcorn and pop? Excellent. Because once June 12th hits, and MGS4 is spinning snuggly inside the drive of happy PS3's across the world, gamers are going to have to endure cut scenes which reach a mind boggling ninety minute mark; feature film length.

Yes, that is a plural. There is more than one cutscene of this duration.

PSW Magazine said of the scenes, "MGS4's story is massive. The videogame equivalent of all three Godfather movies on one disc. As you'd expect, you'll spend a lot of time watching cut-scenes, so if you found previous games' story exposition laborious, then you'd better find yourself a nice cushion and plenty of teabags in readiness for MGS4's." "They can be skipped, but you'll be missing out on some of the finely crafted e...

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Could Street Fighter 4 hit consoles this winter?

Flag this as a rumor, first and foremost; but a juicy one we here at GamerNode would love to see come true. Street Fighter 4 is going to be a big launch for arcades.

It has been too long since we last had a true sequel to the amazing Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and so far SF4 looks like it will deliver. The comic like 3D yet stunning graphics, the tweaked fighting mechanics, and the expanded character roster are going to make SF4, hopefully, a mainstay at arcades across the globe and hardcore competitions like Evo2k.

Despite this there is still an elephant in the room when the topic of SF4 is mentioned. The arcade appeal has dropped dramatically in the states, and many Street Fighter fans who don't have access to a local arcade are wondering how they will get to experience the next SF. I...

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XBLA getting bigger, file size follows

When the Xbox Live Arcade launched, Microsoft was pretty stingy with their file size limiting it to 50 megabytes. The reasoning for this seemed sound at the start, Microsoft wanted hard drive owners and memory unit owners to be able to store XBLA games. At the time the memory unit size was a meager 64 megs. Since those dark times, however, we have seen the introduction of 256 and the 512 megabyte cards.

Last year the file size was increased 150 megs due to the influx of larger games and Microsoft granting more 'hall passes' to developers. Now, it seems, the good people at Microsoft have decided to up the ante again. This time we're looking at a 350 megabyte file size for XBLA games.

It seems a combination of good and evil. On the one hand its kind of awesome that bigger developers are ...

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Daily Q: What is your go-to game?

I was rattling my brain trying to come up with a solid Q for today when my roommate stumbled upon an answer for me. We were discussing pick up and play games like Rayman on the Wii when he asked what games I play when there are no games to play. The kinds of games you play when you don't want to do too much but you still want to play a game. I thought it was such a good Q that I am now posing it to the community.

What is your go-to game?

My immediate thought was Geometry Wars on the 360. I throw that on every now and then. It's quick to load, there’s no searching for a disc and I’m relatively satisfied if I only play for 15 minutes.

My roommate's answer is Mario Kart on the DS. Same idea really. Quick to pickup and play, races only last about 3 minutes and you’re comple...

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Reconstruction is Red vs Blue evolved!

This message is for fans of the popular web series Red vs Blue. You will be happy to know that yesterday's episode one, of their new series, went live. Called Red vs Blue: Reconstruction, it isn't much more than a regurgitation of information setting up this series proper.

From what we learned it seems to tie in to the original Red vs Blue series and the offshoot miniseries, staring Tex, from a few months ago. If you are completely confused by what I'm saying then you need to catch up. You can buy RvB DVD's or (the poor mans way) watch entire seasons in giant clips on Google video. While I recommend supporting the cause and paying for what you watch, you should also remember that no one will know if just did a search in Google.

I am a relatively new RvB fan coming to the party during t...

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Study says guys are drawn to video games. Duh.

Sometimes, I really have to wonder what the world of academia really does with its time. We have tons of studies that seem to point to the obvious. Here's another one for you.

According to Stanford Professor Allan Reiss, in a paper published by the Journal of Psychiatric Research, he found out that guys are naturally drawn to video games. The study was conducted on males who played video games while their brain activity was monitored.

Excuse us for giving a collective "yawn."

Reiss says, "The males were just a lot more motivated to succeed. I think it's fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species."

And we might add, it doesn't take a genius, or a study for that matter, t...

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Daily Q: Could the ESA be doomed?

I am one who strongly supports the ESA and the ESRB. Having an Entertainment Software Association to act like a band of brothers when the going gets tough has done a lot for the industry. The ESA has stood up for games and the freedom that publishers have to create games in front of congress on more than one occasion.

Earlier this month we learned that Activision/Vivendi were leaving the ESA thinking they would be better off alone. I chalked it up to getting a big head because they are the largest publisher. But now, something strange is happening; LucasArts left two weeks ago, and now iD software has also announced they have left the ESA.

I ask you, community, Is the ESA Doomed?

The largest publisher is gone, and now it seems the smaller ones are making their way to the door. Who will...

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OWR: Mass Effect

Welcome to One Word Review, GamerNode's unique take on videogame critique. Every Sunday, we will present a single game, reviewed with but a single word from each of a handful of reviewers. You may not always find our words in your standard dictionary, but we have faith that you will catch our meaning, nonetheless. Videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion, so while some may call OWR a creative way to be lazy, we call it succinct, sincere...and fun. We love reader input at GN, so be sure to throw your own OWRs in the comments section, too.

One of last year's biggest Xbox 360 hits and recipient of second place honors in GamerNode's 2nd annual Nodie Awards, BioWare's Mass Effect will arrive on the PC this week in a slick, updated form. Lots of the guys around GN tho...

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Enough already: Worn-out franchises

Today I will be continuing my spontaneous semi-mini-quasi-series on videogame sequels. Last week I listed a a handful of sequels that don't yet exist, but definitely should be on my consoles...now. I don't think my words will be as pleasant this week, because these are the franchises that have too many sequels, and should probably just call it quits already (or change significantly).

Without further ado, my list of gaming franchises that have worn out their welcome in one way or another:

Enough already

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Daily Q: Do you play "casual" games?

One big topic in the world of videogames this particular console generation is the notion of "casual" vs "hardcore" gamers, but what does that actually mean? Lately, the gaming press generally calls anything that falls in the puzzle genre a casual game. Minigame collections are big recipients of the casual label, and about half the releases on Nintendo consoles get slapped with that distinction as well.

It seems that anything that has minimal storyline and focuses on shorter individual gameplay sessions is what people like to call "casual," so my question to the GN readers is this:

Do you play casual games? How do you define that term?

Yeah, it's two questions again, but I think the second is essential to understanding the first. As for me, I tend to gravitate towards the more complete ...

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Teenager gets highest score for Guitar Hero III

Last week a 13 year-old boy was inducted into the Guinness World Record book by trouncing the all time high score in Guitar Hero III by over 10,000 points. His final score was 890,971.

Not impressed? He did it while playing "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce on the expert level. Still not impressed? He did it on his first try.

Daniel Johnson of Dallas, Texas said, "I'm glad that I had the opportunity to break the record and help people learn about Education is Freedom."

He broke the record in a Guitar Hero 24-hour marathon sponsored by Blockbuster Video. The event was held to benefit the non-profit organization; Education is Freedom, which is dedicated to increasing the educational quality for children in Dallas.

The old record, held by Chris Chike, was 880,920 points in March 2008...

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Pro Tip: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Welcome to another evening edition of Pro Tip. I am an extremely recent PS3 owner (got one yesterday). I picked up one of the two games exclusive to the platform that I am interested in along with it. Thus far I'm only a few hours into Uncharted: Drakes Fortune but I feel compelled to talk about it.

For those not familiar with the story, we follow Nathan Drake on a whirlwind adventure on the hunt for Sir Francis Drake's 400-year-old treasure. It's very Indiana Jones but with more shooting and less whip. Actually a whip would be really cool in this game.

Thus far I've done a lot exploring of ancient Mayan (maybe?) temples and had to solve very few puzzles to make my way through. As a seasoned Zelda player I was hoping for some really cool in-depth puzzles as I explored a temple near the...

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Daily Q: Is this the start of something big?

I'm not sure if anyone else has seen the trailer for Mad World (here). I was extremely intrigued by the idea that this game is has found its home on the Wii. The Wii has been known as a party system with a library filled with minigames since its inception, but the folks over at Platinum Games look to change that in a big way.

With games like Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Okami under their belts, the team over at Platinum Games is not new to making awesome games. With games like No More Heroes and Mad World it seems at least some companies are trying to draw in the hardcore crowd to the Wii, or at least make converts out of minigame loving casual gamer

So is this the start of something big?

Could the addition of Mad World to No More Heroes and Manhunt 2 along with staples of Nintendo har...

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Square Enix Unveils new franchise for Xbox 360

Let's admit that the Xbox 360 RPG scene still isn't the best. It's certainly better than it used to be, but it's still the one area where Microsoft's console is lacking the most. Square Enix, being clever, has decided to capitalize on this weakness by being one of the premiere providers for the RPG genre on the 360. They are specifically creating an RPG franchise unique to the Xbox 360. That franchise is called Infinite Undiscovery, and will be hitting stores on Sept 2nd.

Predictably, the game looks like it will go deep into the roots of the Japanese RPG genres of the past in terms of both story and gameplay. Infinite Undiscovery will tell the tale of a young boy who must save the world from an evil Dreadknight and his organization, the Order of Chains. It's not entirely original, but it ...

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BioShock Confirmed for PS3

Well PlayStation 3 owners, today is your day. After all the constantly denied rumors, rumblings on message boards, and jabs by the Xbox 360 crowd, BioShock is finally coming to the PlayStation 3. Rejoice, parades, confetti! Unfortunately, this is all we do know except that Jordan Thomas is spearheading project and it should release in time for the holidays.

Can we rule out exclusive content? Not entirely. Obviously, the PlayStation 3 version is going to have to give some incentive as to why we should fork over another sixty-plus dollars on a game from last year. Being bundled with the DLC from XBL would be a good start, but some unique levels, weapons, enemies; something is going to have to surface to appease the PS3 fan base. And there is also the issue of an install on the hard drive. Wil...

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Tim Schafer releases a sequel...to himself!

The biggest sequel of this console generation was released yesterday, May 21st. Titled Mary Schafer and weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs 10 oz, this one is sure to have a monumental impact on the gaming world.

Industry veteran and Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer has created this brand new, original IP with the help of but a single other dev team member, Rachael Schafer, and they describe the product of their efforts as being both "Excellent" and "CUTE."

Details are scant, but this journalist thinks that we may be seeing the beginnings of a franchise here. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled here at GN and will report any new developments in this groundbreaking story.

[via Double Fine]

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EA bashes Activision/Vivendi for ESA departure

EA, the righteous company that it is, had a few choice words for Activision/Vivendi, who left the Entertainment Software Association. Let the offensive attack begin!

EA's Vice President of Corporate Communication, Jeff Brown, said that it was despicable how Activision/Vivendi left the ESA. "They're a big company and we feel that when you're a big company you've got a responsibility to consumers to work on policy issues which are very, very important to consumers," Brown stated. He added that the best way to do this is trough an industry consensus.

EA also contacted the ESA and implored them to contain current members and assure that they remain a part of the ESA, and stressed that they themselves have no intentions of leaving. With LucasArts leaving, however, other companies may consider...

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Microsoft adding XNA games and increasing download...

Now that Microsoft is finally getting a little bit of competition from both the PlayStation Network and Nintendo's WiiWare, one might wonder what they plan to do to keep their edge. Game Xbox Live Arcade worldwide portfolio planner David Edery asserts that XNA-created content is next on Microsoft's plate, and will help the company "leapfrog the competition."

"I certainly think from an innovation perspective it's going to help us leapfrog the competition, effectively until they find a way to duplicate it, assuming they ever do.

To some extent it will certainly help us have more innovative content than either of them, just by definition. With all this random stuff coming from the community, every once in a while there's going to be a real gem in there that you just couldn't have found otherwi...

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Square Enix looking into merger

Seems these days more and more game companies are partnering up--the consolidation market is still alive in the game industry. If it isn't the merger of Activision and Blizzard, it is EA's attempt to take over Take-Two. Heck, even Microsoft and Yahoo are trying to partner up these days.

To some it may seem like a squandering of creativity, and others don't like the big company image. But think of the positives. By combining resources, in a merger, both companies now have access to a wealth of resources. The teams behind the games we love now have a whole new bank of tools and talent to dip into.

So it makes sense to hear a certain Japanese company wants to venture into this consolidation market. That company is Square Enix. Not a stranger to consolidation Square Enix used to be Squaresoft a...

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Daily Q: What is your dream fighting crossover?

There are lots of fighting games. The war wages on about which one is the best but we have already discussed it here at the Daily Q. Within all those fighting games come a select few crossover games. The most popular being Marvel vs Capcom and the newest being Mortal Kombat vs DC.

What is your be all, end all fighting mash up?

This really boils down to whoever you want to see fight one another. Some people may have realized their dream with Super Smash Bros Brawl finally having the ability to pit Sonic against Mario. Some may continue to hope for a Marvel vs DC game to put those age-old debates to fruition.

For me, the ultimate mash up would hark back to my childhood, Ninja Turtles vs Ghostbusters. I used to have a sewer sitting next to my firehouse and crossovers would ensue on a dai...

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