Gamernode: Latest Game and Console News

Soul Calibur IV dated for July 29th

Soul Calibur IV has been eagerly anticipated by gamers the world over. The wait isn't over just yet, but we now know exactly how much longer we'll need to keep waiting, as Soul Calibur IV has been dated for release on July 29th in North America. The game will launch in regular and limited Premium Edition packages.

If you pick up the Premium Edition, you will also receive an art and comic book, a tournament kit, and access to extra customization content that the regular edition does not offer. Namco didn't say what the tournament kit contains but it will reportedly "give fans the opportunity to document the battle amongst friends." The Premium Edition will come in a metal case and will available for purchase at the price of $79.99

I've been planning to pick up SCIV on day one ever since its a...

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Servers being cut for Pirates of the Burning Sea

After receiving generally favorable reviews across the board, including 8.0 out of 10 from GN, the waves may have settled for Flying Lab Software's MMORPG Pirates of the Burning Sea. But according to a report on Wired's gaming blog Game | Life, troubles may be on the horizon.

Despite the reviews, Flying Labs will be closing seven of the game's 11 servers "in an effort to consolidate the PotBS fanbase." Players who made their homes on a condemned server will be given the option to move to one of the remaining servers.

According to a statement from Flying Labs, "Through feedback from our players and evaluation of our server populations, it has become clear that key game features require populations of higher density in order to function at optimum levels. When you take into account both the di...

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Majesco flames bad review of cooking mama with ema...

Uh oh, be wary fellow game reviewers--Majesco doesn't like it when you harp on their games. Gamespot's Alex Nevarro gave Majesco's Cooking Mama 2 a 6/10 in his review late last year.

Alex said, "Not long before I left my previous job writing reviews of video games, I got this little gem from someone involved in the production of a game I didn't exactly care for. Game-makers bitching about reviews is nothing new, but rarely do they do it with as much sarcastic flair as this one does."

In Majesco's own words:

"Hey Alex,I would like to thank you for your review of Cooking Mama 2 for the DS. It was fair and balanced seemed to come from a special place in your heart. I would like to thank you for your blunt honesty and telling people the game is "not worth their while" and that they could "safel...

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Infogrames wants to be Atari...

David Gardner, the CEO of Infogrames, told GamesIndustry.biz that he will be thinking about leaving the Infogrames name in favor of a switch to the Atari brand that everyone knows.

"I'd like to consider that, I think that would be the final mark of the transformation from Infogrames to Atari," said Gardner. "We have a new board of directors, a new management team that's less than a year old - so yes, it's really continuing.

"We like to think of Infogrames, instead of being the tired, old company, we like to think of it as the best-funded, best-branded, most energetic start-up in the history of computer gaming."

Phil Harrison, former head of SCEE, had this to say about the new direction of Infogrames, "[Gardner and I] had a very interesting series of dreams, of discussions, about if we were t...

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Kid vs. Mom. Kid: 0, Mom: 2

It seems that the continuing battle between parents and kids over game time is alive and well.

For your consideration: a 13-year-old boy in Virginia decided that it was a good idea to break the family vacuum cleaner in order to get out of his chores around the house and play video games. Not so fast whippersnapper. It looks like your mom won this round.

She has decided to sell her kid's Xbox 360 on eBay. But the story continues. It turns out that while his mom was going through his computer, she checked out the cookies and found that her innocent little boy was frequently checking out porn sites. So she decided to hack into his My Space page. The mom talks about the incident and states:

"My 13 year old managed to break the vacuum....thinking it would release him from that duty. He also has a...

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Guess what? A study shows games are good

So I just spent the better part of an hour looking through a study conducted by Project Tomorrow.

The study (pdf here) is all about technology and its effects on the wee ones. Not the Wii ones... just so we're clear. Basically it covers those from grades K-12 (students, teachers, and parents) and their likes and dislikes about the restrictions and freedoms of technology in and out of the classroom. Did you follow all that? Good. Lets move on.

The most interesting facts (and most relevant to this site) were the ones in the electronic gaming section. Putting aside the fact that 64% of the students said they played "online and/or electronics based games regularly" I was way more interested to learn how many students and teachers wanted to bring gaming into the classroom.

51% of students t...

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MGS4 editions abound. Gotta catch 'em all

Metal Gear Solid 4 is going to be huge; there's no question about it. So with a game of MGS4's caliber why not throw a crap-load of editions to make money from the fans?

In a nod to Sony's numerous PS3 SKU, Metal Gear Solid 4 is getting the star treatment. Needless to say fans are going to be able to buy the Metal Gear Solid 4 experience they want.

There are four ways fans can grab MGS4; the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Standard Edition, the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Limited Edition, the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PlayStation 3 Hardware Bundle, and the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Limited Edition PlayStation 3 Hardware Bundle. Two game SKUs and two consoles.

Those pre-ordering just the game will not only receive the Metal Gear Saga Vol. ...

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New Boom Blox screens

In case you forgot recently, EA and Spielberg are teaming up to bring you an "innovative puzzler" on the Wii, titled Boom Blox. The game is due to hit stores next month. For those who aren't "in the know," as we like to say, here's the official description of the game from EA:

"Fun for kids and the entire family, BOOM BLOX offers action-packed interactive activities that takes Wii play to a new level of creativity and fun with single player, co-op, and versus gameplay. Players can experience the visceral gameplay - perfectly suited for the Wii's interactive motion-sensitive controls - through brain-twisting challenges. They can interact with entertaining characters such as the block-laying chickens or baseball-throwing monkeys across four themed environments - Tiki, Medieval, Frontier, and...

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Pystar claims to sell Mac clones for $399

Pystar, a company from Miami, Florida, is currently selling a Mac clone called OpenMac with Leopard pre-installed for $554. A considerable amount less than what Apple charges for their offical Macs. The system comes with:

* 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, * 250 GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM), * 2 GB DDR2 667 RAM, * Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics, * DVD+/-R Optical Drive, * 4 USB ports,

If you dish out an extra $110 you can get a GeForce 8600GT thrown in. Another helping of $50 will add FireWire support to your OpenMac. What's rather funny and ironic is that the Leopard EULA states "You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so." I don't really think I need to explain the irony here.

On the subject...

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Epic hints at release date for the 360 version of ...

Epic's Mark Rein recently told VideoGaming247 that the company does have a release date in mind for the long-awaited Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3. The catch is gamers will have to wait a bit longer to hear the date for themselves.

When asked if the game had a date, Mark replied, "We do, but I don't think we put it out yet. It's kind of a when it's done thing. We have an idea of when it's coming. We have a big Midway Gamer's Day next week, in fact, in Las Vegas, where Midway's invited a whole bunch of people to come and play the game. I'm sure after that happens you'll see lots of impressions of the game."

The Epic boss added that the code is up and running smoothly. "It's in really good shape," he said. "I was playing it yesterday here in my office."

Chances are high that we'll ...

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How do you feel when playing video games?

International Hobo, a game design consultancy company, asked this very question in a survey on their website. They wanted to find out just how gamers felt while playing video games and whether they were even aware of any emotions going on during gameplay.

The questionnaire also asked if gamers actively purchased games to fulfill these emotions.

The survey received 1,040 responses and of the top 10 answers, people put "amusement" as the top emotion they get from playing video games. The word obviously could also be another word for "fun."

Chris Bateman, managing director for International Hobo said, "The fewest number of people responded that they had no experience of amusement in videogames (just 1.7 percent) while a whopping 92.6 percent gave this emotion one of the top two responses, and...

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April 14th Virtual Console releases

Another thrilling week for the Wii-kly update! This time we get two games which I vaguely recall playing back in the day, but obviously didn't enjoy enough to clearly remember. The two sidescrolling action games "invite players to blast and battle their way to a thrilling climax," so if you like battling your way to a thrilling climax (while blasting) then these may be the games for you. If not, better luck next week.

Fantasy Zone (Sega Master System, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Take command of the spaceship Opa-Opa and blast your way through various fantastical levels as you try to take out all the enemy bases in each stage. Once you've destroyed the bases, you'll have to beat the stage boss in order to move on to the next level. By using your guns and bombs wisely...

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New DS might be revealed at E3

E3 is always an exciting event for gamers -- it's when developers show what they have been working on and like to announce things that will get gamers super excited for the next year. A rumor is flying around that mentions a new version of the DS popping its undoubtedly cute head out from the woodwork this July.

Shown in the Japanese game magazine Famitsu, publisher Hirokazu Hamamura speculates that a new version of Nintendo's best-selling handheld may be revealed at this summer's E3 trade show. This information is based off what Hamamura said in Bloomberg Japan, and so far Nintendo has not commented on this announcement. You would think with such popularity that the DS has been receiving since its launch, another new version isn't very necesarry. But according to a rough translation from B...

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The Weekly Grind 2: April Showers

Welcome to The Weekly Grind, a weekly roundup of all of the important news that graced the ever-growing genre of the MMORPG. Make sure to check the end of the post to see how a reader like yourself can get involved! Sit back and relax while we take a stroll through our favorite virtual worlds.

PvP Beta Weekend for Age of Conan - This is a pretty sweet in deal with GameSpot selecting 15,000 eager players to play PvP nonstop during the April 18th - 20th weekend. Too bad you need to be a GameSpot member to sign up, though.

One Crazy Party - The Farewell to Gaile party went smoothly, and many people came by to join in the festivities. Even the infamous Frog visited the major areas of Guild Wars giving players in those zones party buffs. So if you were there, I hope you enjoyed your spirits and ...

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Remember, we have contests

Just a reminder for those of you who missed their posting last week, but GN currently has two contests running. The first involves Pauly Shore, and his totally tubular new DVD. (Does Pauly Shore use tubular? I'd like to think he does.) The other contest is for the Qmotions Xboard PS2 snowboard controller; basically it's like a snowboarding Wii controller for the PS2, according to a random review I found on the Internet.

You can find the rules and text for both of the contests by clicking the CONTESTS link in the top menu. In addition, in our forums you can find the official contest posts, where you can discuss the contests/prizes, submit your entry, and mock the entries of others.

Good luck, Nodeiacs! (That was really lame, wasn't it?)

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Final Fantasy IV DS dated for USA

Final Fantasy IV DS has been in Japanese gamer's hands since last year. A US version was never announced, much less dated, so after much waiting, fans got anxious that the title might not even make it here at all.

Well it's time to rejoice, fellow Final Fantasy fans because Final Fantasy IV DS has been given an official launch date here in North America. The hugely-anticipated remake of Final Fantasy IV will hit stores on July 22 of this year.

I'm sure this is great news for a lot of you out there, as it is for me. I simply loved the original FFIV and its recent remake on the Game Boy Advance. The DS remake will boast not only graphics and sound (voice-acting!) completely upgraded for the 21st century but it will also contain several gameplay refinements to the original FFIV formula. July 2...

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3D HDTV is here. Where are the games?

Gaming graphics have come quite a way when compared to games of yesteryear when eight bit graphics were the norm. Today graphics are pushing the realism envelope and we'll soon be playing games that will offer so much reality that it will be hard to determine what is digitally made and what is real.

With that said what is the next step for graphics and video games? The answer to that question may have been answered with a new 3D HDTV made by Hyundai. The new 46" set sports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and produces the 3-D effect by displaying two stereoscopic images at once.

But in order to see the 3-D effect a user has to wear special Polaroid glasses that can separate the two images. The technology for 3-D broadcasts is already available in Japan and the new television will set you back ap...

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Nintendo takes the lid off Mario Super Sluggers

Maybe some of you guys were fans of 2005's Mario Superstar Baseball. I myself briefly dabbled in the game once at a friend's house.

The game was functional, fun, and managed to keep me entertained for more than a few hours despite my general dislike of everything sports related. So it is with mild interest that I greet Nintendo's unveilment of Mario Super Sluggers, the Wii sequel to 2005's hit Mario/Baseball mixture.

Screenshots reveal that Mario Super Sluggers doesn't showcase much graphical fidelity. At least it doesn't when compared to its predecessor. It could be the terrible quality of the screens, but it seems to me that the two games look completely identical.

Nintendo's very own Bill Trinen demoed Mario Super Sluggers at their currently on-going Media Summit event. IGN was there to c...

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Do you practice hack-fu? Sony wants to know

Sony is not coy. In a recently released survey Sony asked its public strait up if they hack their PSP's and why. That's kind of ballsy don't you think? The survey is part of "ongoing consumer research" into why PSP owners enjoy destroying all the hard work and effort Sony employees put into building the PSP. 

Maybe it's just the Japanese translation but the survey (pictured below) has some hilarious wording. Things like "Hacking a PSP makes me feel like a rebel" and "It's my PSP, I can do whatever I want" are almost too good to come from official channels.

I'm not quite sure what Sony is hoping to gain from this kind of research. Are they just trying to get an estimation of how many PSP's are hacked? Would that change anything if they knew?

I mean even if half, no, ninety percent of PS...

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Iron Man gets some fresh looking threads

We all know that Iron Man is set for the silver screen soon, but along with the movie will be a tie-in video game scheduled for release on May 2.

We're not too sure how good the game is going to be but we do know that Tony Stark will have a wide range of nice suits to adorn himself with while fighting crime and saving the world from disaster.

The specific outfits will be for the PS3 and 360 versions of Iron Man. The armor suits look really nice and hopefully the gameplay will be just as good. Now without further ado we present a few of the Iron Man outfits.

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