Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

Microsoft Unveils TouchWall

We seem to keep getting closer to the computing experience Minority Report introduced with its vision of the future. Touch based computers, or machines which respond to gestures as input are all the rage these days with the software researchers.

Nintendo has put a basic form of it to use in the Nintendo Wii, with much success. Now Microsoft has unveiled another prototype in its drive to create a touch based computing experience known as TouchWall. Like Surface, Microsoft's tabletop touch based computer, TouchWall responds to user input when they touch a huge glass screen.

Microsoft's goal is make computing accessible everywhere, whether it is the kitchen, living room, or hallways. Imagine taking the laundry through a hallway and glancing at the wall to your left check if your received any ...

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The Ballad of EA and T2: denouement

When the story of Electronic Arts wanting to buy Take Two Interactive first broke a couple of months ago I made a really sweet graphic of Pac Man eating a blue ghost. Pac Man being EA and the frightened powerless blue ghost being Take Two. It was genius I say, sheer genius.

Unfortunately it seems I won't be using that image, not anytime soon in any case. Friday was the deadline for Take Two shareholders to agree to a buyout from the game publisher everyone loves to hate and Friday passed without any acknowledgment of that offer from Take Two. It seems people want to hold onto stock of companies that just released the fastest selling game of all time, go figure.This doesn't mean EA is going to give up. This morning they announced an extension of the offer until June 16th even though Tak...

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Daily Q: What is your favorite Halo franchise mome...

Halo is a powerful franchise. It is probably the most powerful franchise to have debuted in the past 7 years. Last September when Halo 3 launched no other games came out for a week before or a week after in fear of being overlooked. Some even believe that Halo is the only reason the Xbox brand still exists. Now that is power.

While the multiplayer is where the majority of the fan base spends their time these days, we shouldn't overlook the amazing single-player experience Bungie crafted. Religious themes, action packed scenarios and characters you really care about are all tied into the campaign.  With that said:

Within its single player mode, what is your favorite Halo moment?

I really want to hear story elements or encounters which have always left a memorable impression and given you...

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May 19th Virtual Console/WiiWare releases

The Big N has settled into a new routine now, updating both the Wii Virtual Console and WiiWare catalogs every Monday. Today we have a pair of new WiiWare games and one NES title hitting the little white box, down from the six new releases we saw last week.

Critter Round-Up is a puzzle game where players must fix fences in order to keep animals from escaping a virtual barnyard. Star Soldier R is a timed space shooter, featuring ship upgrades and power-ups, as well as an online leaderboard updated via the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. The lone Virtual Console game, Sky Kid, sees players assuming the role of the Red Baron, shooting down enemy planes and pulling off loop-de-loops in grand, 1986-meets-1917 style.

Here are the official details from the press release:

WiiWareCritter Round-Up (Kona...

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Red Alert 3 trailer!

I play very few games on my computer. I do, however, enjoy the Command and Conquer franchise. Red Alert 3 is coming this year and it makes me all tingley inside.

EA has just released a trailer with gameplay footage. I highy recomend you check it out. it looks to be fantastic. I. Can't. Wait.

Take a look after the jump.

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Done! Castle Crashers finished, on XBLA by 2009

My most favoritest developer blog, The Castle Crashers Development Blog of Love, has announced that the long awaited XBLA game Castle Crashers is indeed complete. The game, originally announced in 2006, looks to be reminiscent of the sidescrolling beat em ups like Turtles In Time, and River City Ransom...only with knights, and really cool art.

The Development Blog of Love says that the game is done and it is off to Microsoft certification where it will take "a couple months at the very least from this point." Knowing what little I do about the actual cert process it could be more than a couple of months. If MS doesn't like what they see it could be more than six months, and that brings us into good old 2009.

Dan Paladin was appreciative of the fanbase through this long development saying, "...

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Daily Q: What's the best controller of all time?

After yesterday's rumble, I figured I'd delve even further into the war of the videogame consoles and ask specifically about controllers.

In my opinion, Nintendo has always been the biggest innovator in videogame controllers. The Big N always seems to think something is wrong with the way we're manipulating what we see on-screen, and then creates a solution for those problems. But have they created the best controllers in videogame history? Or has someone else?

By now, we have seen a great number of controller designs from a multitude of manufacturers, and we all have our favorites. To me, Microsoft has nailed it with the Xbox 360 controller. Its four equidistant and equal-sized face buttons, two analog triggers, two traditional shoulder buttons, an intuitive and functional dual-analo...

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OWR: Wii Sports

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.

This week's OWR is for everyone's favorite home console pack-in title, Wii Sports. With Wii Fit hitting store shelves tomorrow, we thought it only appropriate to OWR the very first "Wii ______" game. When the Wii was released, W...

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Some new Gears of War 2 info

In recent news, Cliff Bleszinksi, creator of the popular Gears of War game for the Xbox 360 has his hands all tied up with the newest installment in the series, Gears of War 2. Luckily he was cool enough to show us some sneak peaks of new gameplay from Gears of War 2.

Bleszinksi sat down with GamePro and talked about some of the features you are expected to see in this Gears of War installment that was not implemented in the previous. He confirmed that the single-player campaign in Gears of War 2 would be "longer" than the one featured in the original Gears of War, addressing one of the most common complaints about that game. He also said that the game's multiplayer mode would be "bigger and better," but held off on explaining any more details for the time being.

Expect a few new moves that ...

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Give me more: Games that need sequels

I've been thinking a lot about sequels lately, and how so many original games these days will eventually have at least one sequel somewhere down the road. It really doesn't matter if the game is good, great, mediocre, or utter crap, either, because sequels are low-cost, high-profit products. It makes a gamer really appreciate games that actually deserve a second, third, or even fourth edition.

I'm planning to spend a few weeks (maybe not all in a row) talking about sequels: games that need sequels, franchises that need to call it quits, exemplary sequels/series', and more are all on the menu. Today I'll begin with a short list of games that I feel are so worthy of sequels that it saddens me not to see them made. I hope and wish and dream that follow-ups for these gems will one day exist.

Cli...

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Daily Q: What is your favorite console of all time...

If there was ever a question that could spark a hot internet debate, this is it.

In my time as a gamer, I've seen many videogame consoles come and go, as sure as the sun rises and sets each day. The one thing that remains the same is the fan support. Every console will have its diehard followers and its bitter opponents, but in the end, each one plays games relatively the same way as the others, and it's really the software that counts. So my question to you is this:

Do you have an all-time favorite console? Which one?

I admit that I love asking these questions, yet I hate answering them. Indecision is a killer, so I'm just going to spit something out, even if I may change my mind later. I'll go with the Nintendo 64 because it introduced the third dimension to videogames in the biggest...

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"One More War to Fight" Assault Heroes 2 Contest

It's contest time again here at GamerNode, and this time around we're giving away a free Xbox Live Arcade Game (or three) to the most creative GN reader out there in internet land.

In celebration of this week's release of Vivendi Games' Assault Heroes 2, we're having you guys write us a (short) essay about something you'd like to see in a future installment in the franchise. The top three answers to either of the following questions, as determined by our panel of celebrity judges (that means jambo, Brendon, and whoever is next on the GN fame-o-meter), will receive their very own 25-character XBLA code for Assault Heroes 2.

The questions are as follows (choose one):

1) What would be the Ultimate Storyline for the next epic Assault Heroes game?2) What kind of Boss would you most like to see in...

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Are games getting shorter?

According to Gregg Mayles, head of design at Rare, games are now decreasing in size because, quite frankly, gamers do not want to be bothered with lengthy games.

Rare, the creator of Banjo Kazooie and others, would be expected to at least defend extended games given some of their titles' playing times, but Mayles simply stated that "...people are now less tolerant of really, really long games."  He went on to say that "if you're going to have a really long game it has to be structured in such a way that the majority of the players play the game up to a certain point and are happy with it, but that section is shorter and then make sure the tail-end of the game suits the people that want to carry on." 

According to Mayles, developers should shorten their games in length in order to appease ga...

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Daily Q: Which videogame character are you?

Much like characters in novels, movies, and other stories, videogame characters can resonate strongly with the playing audience, oftentimes because players identify with certain characteristics that they exhibit or circumstances surrounding them.

I'd like to think that we have all imagined ourselves as one videogame character or another at some point in our lives. At least I hope so, because I don't want to have been the only child on the block prone to such whimsy. Now I'm "all grown up," and my mind has wandered back to the question:

"If you were a videogame character, who would you be?"

I'm only now realizing how difficult a question this is to answer. There are many character who like, but few who I can really identify with. If I had to choose, I might say Wander from Shadow of the C...

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CBS moves to buy CNET Networks for $1.8 billion

CBS has announced that it will buy CNET Networks for $1.8 billion. CNET is the parent of the websites GameSpot, TV.com, CNET News, ZDNet, CNET, UrbanBaby, Search.com and BNET.

The deal would move CBS into the top 10 most frequently visited Internet destinations in the US. With the merger of CBS and CNET, Gamespot may possibly reap the rewards of CBS Network's extensive infrastructure of news stations and outlets. 

Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS Corporation said, "CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience."

The Board of Directors at CNET Networks approved the deal and have recommended that CNET shareholder...

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Tweaking WoW-- How to make the game look better

World of Warcraft is three years old, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear the game doesn't look the best or is the biggest drain on a normal system. Where WoW makes up for the lack of graphic fidelity is style.

To this day few games have managed to nail its appealing look. But let's assume for a moment that you are sitting with a nice gaming rig at your feet. Crysis on high barely makes the machine sweat, so World of Warcraft is a joke to your computer. Would you like some graphic tweaks that exceed those of the settings within WoW itself?

The best way to do this is setup a marco for a quick, one button change as opposed to making it one individually through the chat window. Ease of use is what we want.

/console farclip 777 /console horizonfarclip 6226 /console groundeffectdensity 2...

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Daily Q: Is GTA worthy of its review scores?

Ok, so we've all had ample time to play Grand Theft Auto 4 and I'm certain some readers have already finished the main story. I have played very little of the game. My roommate however has logged over 20 hours and I have been sitting next to him for probably 18 of them.

Here at GamerNode I have already talked about the perfect 10 review score and how four of the highest rated games ever have been released in the past ten months. Eddie has also chimed in about the review scores for GTA4, believing 10 is a little high, and I agree there.

Then you have GameSpot changing their review from a 9.5 to a 10 after all the other reviews went live. A strange practice indeed, though not an uncommon one for that particular site (Jeff Gerstmann anyone?).

Comparing GTA4 to other GTA games and giving it ...

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Kojima talks casual games, world panics

It's great when games designers can be objective in viewing the state of the industry, and don't just think it's all about their game or genre. Hideo Kojima, for example, makes games for gamers; you're grandmother isn't going to play Zone of the Enders or Metal Gear Solid. But despite this affinity for making games that suit the hardcore, he acknowledges the casual space and doesn't hate on it.

"Casual games have become mainstream in the industry. It's not just a Japanese phenomenon but also something that's happening worldwide. There are new markets and possibilities opening up thanks to the trend, which is great."

Now, you might be a little afraid at this point. Wondering if Mr. Kojima was thinking of alienating the community by making Metal Gear Island: Party Game Sensation for the Wii...

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Pro Tip: Team Fortress Two

Team Fortress Two is one of the best multiplayer games I've ever played. The team at Valve has done a fantastic job of balancing the classes, weapons and maps. They did everything in their power to ensure their multiplayer game was as good as it possibly could be, except include a party system... but that's a discussion for another feature.

My biggest problem with Team Fortress Two is on the users' end. Every time I play that game it is players that get me frustrated. And there is a quick fix to get me unfrustrated.

Pro Tip: Use a microphone

I've only played the 360 version so I'm not sure if this is an issue on the PC at all. But no one talks during TF2. This is probably more important than in any other multiplayer game because it is all objective based. How are you supposed to know h...

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Are MMOs Sony's trump card?

Consoles are known for the genre they do the best at. Currently, the Xbox 360 could be considered the shooter console, while it wouldn't be a stretch to call the Nintendo Wii the party platform. The PlayStation 3, like the PlayStation 2, has it the best since there is no definite genre the console excels at.

In reality it has or will have good games across all genres. This is something both Microsoft and Nintendo wish they had, and the only reason the PlayStation 3 is sitting in such a nice spot is thanks to the immense success of the PlayStation 2.

The president of Sony Online Entertainment, John Smedley, would like the PlayStation 3 to be known specifically for MMOs. Like anyone these days, thanks to World of Warcraft, the MMO market is opening up, and Mr. Smedley believes the PS3 sits in...

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