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The Wii Zapper, announced during Nintendo's keynote at this year's E3 Media event, will be released with a Zelda-themed pack-in title. Called Link's Crossbow Training, it will train up players on skills with the add-on before big-league titles aimed at the device are released. "Nintendo also announced that the Zapper will work with EA's Medal of Honor Heroes, which will feature an 'arcade mode' to make the game accessible to all age groups and skill levels, as well as 32-player multiplayer. Nintendo also dropped a reminder that the upcoming Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles will take advantage of the Zapper, as will Sega's Ghost Squad. The Zapper looks like it will have quite a selection of strong franchises to grab gamer interest when it launches."
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Last weekend the dark horde of nerddom descended on Seattle, entering the heart of the 'Emerald City' to gorge itself on the music, culture, and humor of gaming. The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) once again brought together fans of the influential webcomic for a festival that, without even trying, seems to be taking the place of old E3. Though they were expecting around 30,000 people, the word was that by early Sunday they'd already gone through some 40,000 badges. There were DSes everywhere, concerts at night, a packed exhibit hall, and benchmark comic strips created by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins adorned almost every wall. Despite all the people and the noise, somehow the event had a community feel to it that was hard to understand ... and even harder to describe. I'll try, though, along with impressions from games on the show floor and the incredible music of folks like Jonathan Coulton and the Minibosses. Read on, and All Hail Ball.
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TechWeb - The company is releasing a free retrofit that's designed to fix the problem. Until gamers receive it, Microsoft is advising them to use the wheel on battery power only.
AP - Microsoft will send out replacement parts for its Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel after 50 reports that the video game controllers overheated and released smoke when plugged in, the software maker said Thursday.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on
Thursday it was giving customers free retrofits to a wireless
racing wheel with its Xbox 360 video game system after hearing
of malfunctions in a wheel component.
Lucas123 writes "After three players broke their arms while wrestling with a Japanese arcade machine, the manufacturer promised to remove all 150 of the mechanized appendages. Said game maker Atlus' spokeswoman: "The machine isn't that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it.""
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Dr. Eggman writes "This past week quite whispers and rumors became fact as two FPS giants, id and Valve joined forces to bring id games back catalog to Valve's Steam. This marks a huge influx of old classics as well as opening up the possibility of bringing some of the newest, most anticipated id games to Steam. That wasn't the only news, of course. There were many announcements by the FPS veteran: Quake Wars is slated for October 2nd release. Quake 3 is coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Their next big game is called Rage , and will feature the id Tech 5 platform technology. All the details can be found in Eurogamer's full convention report. Probably the most interesting news from id was the revelation that they're working on a web-browser based version of Quake 3 . It's going to be completely free, supported by ad revenues."
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Space shooters are beyond a dying breed. They're dead. When a member of this now-rarefied genre comes lurching at you from the darkness, it's always a good idea to be wary. And a shooter with an anime flavour, evoking the memory of the Macross and Robotech series? It has to be bad, right? Yet, somehow, Square/Enix has delivered a thrill-ride of a space plane game; Ace Combat with blue hair. The frighteningly titled Project Sylpheed has a clunky menu system, an overly complicated HUD, mediocre voice acting, and an easily-skippable story. Thankfully, none of that matters. When you're in your fighter, it's so ... so good. Read on for my impressions of this quirkily appealing arcade-style shooter.
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While most of the games at the show are coming out this Holiday season, some are tantalizing glimpses of 2008. Two titles that are (most likely) coming out next year also happen to be highly anticipated follow-ups to RPGs. Bethesda's Fallout 3 has been getting the bulk of the press between the two, as the post-apocalyptic title recaptures the interest of veteran gamers looking for some nostalgia. Part Oblivion, part retro, part humor, and all Fallout , expectations still seem to be high despite the lack of hands-on experiences. Fable 2 has been an equally anticipated roleplaying title, as Peter Molyneux's promise to make us love NPCs stands as a challenge to the Lionhead team. After much discussion of other gameplay elements, the focus of presentations at this year's E3 appears to be on 'one button combat': "Imagine satisfying combat with just one button. Every movement of your weapon, every parry, thrust, and counter is controlled with a single button ... Swiping away at enemies was simple enough by just mashing away at the button, hearkening back to the simple sword combat of a game like Prince of Persia. There was far more depth to take advantage of, however. Holding down the button took a defensive stance, and parried incoming blows from all directions. That classic Hollywood swordfighting move, the behind the back parry was a piece of cake to pull off. More complex counter moves, ripostes and finishers are more difficult to pull off, requiring specific timing, but once again, it's all accomplished with a single button."
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TobyToadstool writes "Over the last few months, CNET have been quietly running a series of free video documentaries that take a look back at the history of different videogame genres. The Space Bubble show has covered everything from the history of Platformers to the origins of the Beat em up. The gaming sections are interspersed with other tech-related information, but almost every show covers one of the major genres. There's loads of footage from ancient arcade machines, and bizarre trivia, like the fact that some schools are using the Dance Dance Revolution videogame in place of traditional physical education. It's presented by an eccentric British guy floating in a little bubbleship in Space — odd but good."
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