RipTen Videogame Blog

Nintendo Download 2/9/2012

Justin Berube — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:23:38 +0000

More titles have been added to Nintendo’s digital shops!

3DS eShop
Maru’s Mission (Game Boy Virtual Console)

Nintendo Video
Dinosaur Office: Romance (available Feb. 14 at 9 a.m. PST)

DSiWare(and 3DS eShop)
40-in-1 Explosive Megamix

WiiWare
BurgerTime World Tour

For more information on any of these titles be sure to check out the official Press Release below!

Want to stay up to date on the latest Nintendo news, information, editorials, and more? Follow me on Twitter @KingNintendoFan or Like Me on Facebook. Be sure to let me know what you think about the Nintendo Download this week!

NINTENDO DOWNLOAD HIGHLIGHTS NEW DIGITAL CONTENT FOR NINTENDO SYSTEMS – FEB. 9, 2012

Feb. 9, 2012

This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured content:

Nintendo Video™
Dinosaur Office: Romance (available Feb. 14 at 9 a.m. PST) – Craig deals with matters of the heart. Rawr! (For Nintendo 3DS™)

Nintendo eShop
Maru’s Mission™ – Play as the ninja Maru in this action-packed side-scrolling game that will take you on a journey across the world. To rescue his girlfriend, Maru must face a number of mythological monsters. (For Nintendo 3DS)

WiiWare™
BurgerTime World Tour – This new version of the arcade classic features an innovative 3D environment and elevated retro game play. Enjoy challenging platform elements, boss characters and more than 20 meaty levels. (For Wii™)

Also new this week:
• 40-in-1 Explosive Megamix (Nintendo eShop / Nintendo DSiWare™)

To view this week’s Nintendo Download in its full graphical version, please visit: http://www.news2know.net/nintendo/downloaddab83T65.php.

In addition to video games available at retail stores, Nintendo also offers a variety of content that people can download directly to their systems. Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS™ system, to the Nintendo DSi™ Shop for the Nintendo DSi system and to the Wii™ Shop Channel for the Wii console at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Thursdays.

The Nintendo eShop is a cash-based service and features games, applications and videos in both 2D and 3D. Users can add money to their virtual wallets using a credit card or by purchasing a Nintendo 3DS Prepaid Card at a retail store and entering the code from the card.

The Wii Shop Channel offers games and applications and uses Wii Points™, which can be purchased via the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo DSi Shop offers games and applications and uses Nintendo DSi Points™, which can be purchased in the Nintendo DSi Shop. A Wii Points Card™ and Nintendo DSi Points Card™ can be purchased at retail locations. All points from one card must be redeemed in either the Wii Shop Channel or the Nintendo DSi Shop, respectively. They are not transferable and cannot be divided between the two systems.

Remember that Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DSi feature parental controls that let adults manage some of the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wii, http://www.nintendo.com/3ds or http://www.nintendo.com/ds/systems/dsi.

Battleship Video Game Movie Adaptation Coming to an Ocean Grid Near You

Catherine Cai — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Video game adaptations of movies are common practice nowadays. What better way to maximize profits and advertise a movie, probably adapted from a book, than to create an adaptation of that movie with a video game? Sadly, Hollywood still hasn’t figured out what constitutes a good video game. Hence, we’ve gotten such jems as Thor: God of Thunder and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

According to Joystiq, Hollywood’s continuing down its path of video game abominations by signing on Double Helix Games to make the video game adaptation of the movie adaptation of the classic game Battleship. Yes, the same Double Helix with a shining resume for having developed classics like the Green Lantern game and the G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra game.

Expect this Battleship to sink sometime in April for Europe and May for North America. The game will be available for 360, PS3, Wii, and DS in order to maximize profits, and possibly pain.

The Watercooler: Family Feud Trolling

Sam Naylor — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:00:29 +0000

Warning: The Watercooler is the best thing you will see on the Internet today, mainly because it is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday. Be advised that The Watercooler is not necessarily videogame related (it usually won’t be), and is often silly, controversial, and/or not safe for work (NSFW). If this type of content frequently offends you, please be aware that I just warned you — if you still click through and get offended, it will be your own stupid fault. Otherwise, please continue…

This ones not really a video so much as an ‘audio’. In fact, that’s exactly what it is. What stands before you now is a prank call, made by a man posing as being from the Family Feud gameshow (called Family Fortunes here in the UK) asking a man a gigantic number of stupid questions. Just wait until he starts talking about fish- it’s brilliant.

Via [Reddit]

Think you have something that could be Watercooler material? Send it to me via email: sam@ripten.com or on Twitter: @greeneggsnam. If your submission gets featured, you will win a prize package full of pride and accomplishment.

Geeked Out: Mapstalgia

Catherine Cai — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:30:38 +0000

This week’s Geeked Out is a little bit different. Rather than having a tangible object of mass geekery, we’ve decided to feature a gargantuan geekdom gathering of gaming ground plans.

Mapstalgia is a Tumblr dedicated entirely to hand-drawn maps of video game levels, all done from memory. The blog’s curated by Josh Millard, a jack-of-all-trades type of guy who’s not only a programmer and administrator at Metafilter, but also a musician and writer.

If you think you’ve got a game level that you think you can draw up from memory, don’t hesitate to submit it to Mapstalgia. According to Josh, he’s not worried about quality of the drawing or the text. The purpose of the blog is for sharing memories and nostalgia. Here’s one of the many examples you’ll find there. To see it up close or browse through the rest, make sure to give them a visit.

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Savvy Shopper Buys Skyrim on Steam for $20

Catherine Cai — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:00:33 +0000

Redditor screamingheebijeebis is a lucky, lucky man.

Rather than blowing the 50% off coupon for any Bethesda game he received during the Steam Great Holiday Gift Pile immediately on Skyrim, he waited…

And waited.

Eventually, his patience paid off. Skyrim‘s currently on Steam’s Midweek Madness sale for -33% off. Throwing in the additional 50% off coupon, screamingheebijeebis managed to get Skyrim for $20.

Sure, he’s a little late to the Skyrim hype. The “arrow to the knee” memes have slowly died out, but since Bethesda’s recently released the Skryim Creation Kit, there’s no doubt going to be a resurgence of people playing Skyrim (on PC, anyway) for the high-res texture pack.

My hats off to you, screamingheebijeebs, for being able to contain your Skyrim-boner until now. I’ll see you in a month.

Mass Effect 3 Info Blowout: Infiltrator and Datapad Functionality with iOS

Alex Co — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:30:18 +0000

If you’re a Mass Effect fan, you’re in luck as we have a lot of news for you today. First off, EA has revealed that Mass Effect Infiltrator will be coming to iOS devices. It will be a third-person cover-based shooter that has you playing Randall Enzo, a Cerberus soldier who specializes in doing covert ops for Cerberus but becomes disenchanted with the organization and needless to say, he helps Shepard in his mission.

What’s interesting here is that playing Infiltrator and collecting intel in the game will help get your Galactic Readiness Rating up – and in turn, help you get a better ending in Mass Effect 3. Do keep in mind that EA has confirmed that you do NOT need to get Mass Effect Infiltrator to get ME3′s best ending.

Next up is Mass Effect’s Datapad app integration with iOS devices. BioWare says that it’s their “love-letter” to their Mass Effect fans. What it does is it acts the same way as the Codex in ME1 and ME2, but to avoid spoilers, it will only show areas, species and other things that you already have encountered. The way it works is it ties in to your Origin account so it can track your in-game progress. Not bad, no?

Both Mass Effect Infiltrator and Mass Effect Datapad have not been given a release date yet; although we do know that the Datapad app will be free.

Last but not the least, a reader in Joystiq has sent a GameStop receipt showing that he was able to purchase a $10 worth DLC for Mass Effect 3 called FromDust. It’s not known whether if this is for single-player or for multiplayer; all we know now is that the game already has DLC even before it’s released.

Do keep in mind that EA has not commented on the DLC as of press time and we’ll update the situation as it develops.

Mass Effect 3 will be out for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 this coming March 12.

Starhawk Takes to the Stars with a Limited Edition

Justin Carter — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:00:06 +0000

If you like limited editions and third person shooters, you’re gonna love this. Starhawk is will have a limited edition exclusive to Gamestop. If you’ve already preordered it and want to make the switch, you can do it for free. The limited edition comes with:

a co-op map
2 multiplayer skins
the “Maw of Despair Outcast Pack”
a new “Homeworld”, along with the “Echo Scrapyard Rifter Pack”
PS3 theme featuring Starhawk concept art
the soundtrack
a PSOne Classics copy of Warhawk

Does all of this warrant a preorder? If you think so, better hurry to Gamestop now before they run out! Check out the box art and features in our gallery below.

via Joystiq

ArcheAge Debuts New Siege Warfare Video; RipTen Adds Helpful Commentary

Jensen Walker — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:30:23 +0000

While the western release date for ArcheAge still remains unknown, the official Youtube page has today been updated with a four minute video featuring the MMO’s siege warfare mechanics.

The catch is that the video is narrated in Korean, which means those of us who lack Korean comprehension skills have to create our own commentary to accompany the visuals.

Accordingly, I’ve made the following notations for the video below.

0:16 – Many letters dance on the screen, and a flower makes you feel happy.

0:23 – Everything is on fire. Hiding in a tower ends badly.

0:40 – Not to worry, some enterprising young architect has built many more towers!

0:53 – “We’re stuck in the mud, aren’t we? Again.”

1:26: – “Guys, really? I just built all these towers like 50 seconds ago.”

1:47 – “Seriously, you’re all vandals.”

2:05 – “Out of the mud now, sir!”

2:28 – Free paragliding lessons for all.

3:25 – “Everyone, follow that guy. He looks like he knows where he’s going.”

3:45 – The true definition of love is sacking someone’s city.

Enlightening! For more information about the game, you can check out the official website.

Five O’Clock Fan Art: Waluigi

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:54 +0000

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaluigi! I’ve always liked Luigi more than that arrogant prick Mario, and as such, I’m more fond of Waluigi than I am Wario. He’s tall and lanky and purple, which is exactly how I hope to look someday.

Five O’Clock Fan Art is perfect for wrapping up the work day. You don’t want to think anymore, you just want to look at awesome things. And there’s nothing more awesome than a well crafted piece of videogame fan art. If you don’t agree, what the hell are you doing at a gaming blog?

Pirate-Cashoo sounds like a delicious type of nut.

MGS HD Will Let You Touch the Vita in Different Ways

Alex Co — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:30:51 +0000

Hideo Kojima has taken to twitter to explain a few tricks up their sleeves over how the PlayStation Vita’s rear touchpad will allow players an all-new way to control Snake.

Kojima revealed that you can slice an enemy’s throat throat with a knife if you flick the rear touch pad. Not only that but the rear touchpad can also be used to control the camera. He adds, ”If you pinch out left and right on real touch panel with first person camera, you can stretch up yourself.”

We’re not sure what “stretch up yourself” means, but maybe as a zoom out option? In any case, hopefully this is just but a teaser on what Kojima has in store for the Metal Gear Solid HD PlayStation Vita version. Rear touchpads to crawl, anyone? Perhaps one-handed gestures to pick up the in-game dirty magazines? The possibilities are endless!

Source: CVG

Psychonauts 2 May Happen – Notch and Schafer are Talking

Justin Carter — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:00:13 +0000

Remember a few days ago, when we reported that Markus “Notch” Persson wanted to fund Psychonauts 2? Well, Double Fine told Giant Bomb:

”Tim and Markus are talking. Who knows what might happen?”

Sounds great, right? It’s about to get better. Notch has been sending out a few tweets to explain what’s going on. He and Tim Schafer have been talking over e-mail, and it sounds like they’re planning to meet up at GDC. You know, see the sights, take a nice boat ride, and possibly discuss making Psychonauts 2. Normal stuff that happens. But even though our hopes are already touching the moon, Notch warns:

“Please don’t get your hopes too high yet. Everything is extremely vague!”

Sorry, Notch. Hopes are already high. You can’t stop what’s already in motion.

via Game Informer

LittleBigPlanet Karting Announced, First Promo Image Surfaces

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:41 +0000

Yesterday, Sony announced a LittleBigPlanet Racing game at a Destination PlayStation event. Together with this announcement was a mention of a PS Move steering wheel peripheral.

Since then, it has been discovered the official name of the game to be LittleBigPlanet Karting, thanks to a leaked promotional image shown below.

It has been reported that the game will support 3D and a PS Vita version is not in the works.

Check out the full promotional image below.

Source

The NERF Lazer Tag Smart Phone System, Dorky Laser Vest Not Required

Brandon Fenty — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:00:12 +0000

NERF, the company that has been arming kids to the teeth with foam artillery for generations, is leading the way into the brave new world of tomorrow’s laser tag. Remember those dorky vests and cheap plastic guns? Well, NERF has replaced them with iPhones, iPod touches, and fancy words like augmented reality!

The NERF Lazer Tag System boasts a max range of 250 feet, and uses a gun, dubbed the Lazer Tag Blaster, that includes a mount for your iOS device. Using the device’s built in camera, it gives you a HUD complete with your power level, leaderboard progress, equipped gear, and even the trajectory of your shots. The more you play, the more you level up, and leveling up means gaining access to better virtual gear. Best of all, it supports up to 24 players at one time. That’s a lot of simultaneous blasting. No friends? No problem. The system will even allow you to shoot at virtual enemies if you’re a lonely guy in your parents basement.

The total NERF Lazer Tag System comes with somewhat of a steep price tag: $40 for one gun or $70 for two. If you aren’t turned off by the price, you can grab one starting August 1st. I know I will be.

Prepare to be Wed: Trion Releases RIFT Wedding Trailer

Jensen Walker — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:30:51 +0000

A few weeks back we reported on Trion’s attempt to secure a world record for the Most In-Game Marriages in a 24-Hour Period on February 14th.

Today, Trion released a trailer for RIFT’s new Ascended Weddings feature which showcases what players can expect in Update 1.7.

You can view the new video below, and be sure to click on the link above for more details on how to participate in the world record attempt.

UMD Passport Will Not Come To America

Chris Gravelle — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:00:15 +0000

Sony has decided that the UMD Passport will not come to America. Basically the passport allowed PS Vita owners to pay a fee to transfer their PSP games on UMD to their Vita for a fee. The fees ranged from around $7.00 to $13.00. Here is the closest thing to a press release currently available:

“SCEA will not be offering the UMD Passport program. U.S. consumers who already own digital versions of select PSP titles will be able to seamlessly transfer those games to their PS Vita system. What’s great for PS Vita owners is that they can enjoy PSP games with upscaled video quality that’s ideal for the system’s 5-inch OLED screen, along with controls that are optimized for its features such as the dual analog sticks. More than 250 PSP titles (including minis) will be available at the launch of PS Vita, and hundreds of additional titles will be available post-launch.”

See the part at the very start? That’s all you get. While I can understand that this program would only affect a small percentage of the population, it is a bit of a slap in the face to the Sony faithful. The PSP was a great system, but did not see the same success of Nintendo’s handheld systems. This may not be an issue for most Vita owners, but wouldn’t you love to put Tactics Ogre or FFIV: Complete on your new system while you wait for the library to expand? UMDs are very cheap if you find them used these days, unfortunately, unless you keep your original PSP you’ll need to start paying the digital price on them. Basically, not cheap. Still, the Vita is launching with a respectable line up of games, so how many of you are honestly upset about this?

[Source Giant Bomb]

Carrier Command Competition, Win ArmA Series And Take On Helicopters

Murray Hibble — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:00:18 +0000

The independent Czech studio of Bohemia Interactive has launched a competition in celebration of their still-developing Carrier Command. By joining the Carrier Command page on facebook and writing a witty-caption for the banner image on this page, you can win yourself 1 of 5 game-packs containing ArmA X (an anniversary collection of the entire ArmA series) and Take On Helicopters. The competition runs until Monday the 13th of February (GMT+1) so head in and enter now.

Carrier Command was originally released in the 80′s and was a welcome hybrid mix of direct first person control and strategic use of forces. While Bohemia’s foray into strategy and science fiction might seem outlandish, elements of their capability in this area can be understood though the Commander elements in the ArmA series where the player can build bases and give a wide range of orders to AI friendlies. Given the singular vision applied in their other titles (all of which are available in the prize pack) there’s no doubt they’re following a passion which ultimately means a win for the gamer.

I just hope this isn’t pulling assets from delivering ArmA 3.

Killzone Re-Release for PS3 Delayed “Indefinitely”

Sam Naylor — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:03 +0000

Killzone‘s official Twitter page has said that a re-release of Killzone for PS3 has been delayed until further notice.

It said:

With regards to KZ1 for PS3, not sure what happened but I’ve been informed that it’s been delayed indefinitely.

This news comes despite the fact that Sony has said rumours of a re-release for Killzone 1 were “false“.

It’s a shame, since I think Killzone 1 was actually a rather good game- and I didn’t really like Killzone 2.

Ridge Racer Unbounded – Behind the Game Trailer #1: Deal with it

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:30:44 +0000

Namco Bandai today released the first of a series of behind the scenes videos for Ridge Racer: Unbounded.

The video features words from a few of the members of the Unbounded team, some gameplay footage and real life drifting. Check it out below.

The first Making Of video for RIDGE RACER™ Unbounded focuses on the changes made in the new branch of the legendary franchise and includes never seen before footage of the game.

Ridge Racer: Unbounded launches this March on PS3, PC and 360.

True Crime: Hong Kong’s Successor is ‘Sleeping Dogs’ – Debut Trailer, Screens and More

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:00:48 +0000

Square-Enix today revealed Sleeping Dogs as the latest game in the True Crime series. Activision is out, Squeenix is in, and so is the new title. Dig it?

Sleeping Dogs puts players in the shoes of of undercover cop Wei Shen, tasked with taking down the criminal Triads from the inside out. It will take place on the island of Hong Kong and the story will deal with themes like loyalty and betrayal.

Much is being hyped about Sleeping Dog’s Imaginative combat system. Supposedly, combat will seem natural and players will easily be able to perform martial arts from an extensive list of moves and easily pull off other tasks such as shooting while driving.

Like previous games in the True Crimes series it will be an open world. According to Square, “every street corner, market stall, harbour dock or city skyscraper can become an opportunity for intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fuelled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat.”

Check out the live trailer and screens below. Tell me what you think, will UFG’s Sleeping Dogs have what it takes to keep up with similar games such as Saints Row: The Third and GTA 5?

Via [vg247]

Ubisoft’s PC DRM Leaves Anno 2070 and Driver: San Francisco Unplayable

Sam Naylor — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:30:19 +0000

Ubisoft recently performed a server switch which led to some of its games being rendered unplayable (to paying customers only).

Two of the games which were left unplayable were Anno 2070 and Driver: San Francisco.

The company’s twitter account has apologised for the problems the server switch caused:

We apologize for the inconvenience, it seems some of you can’t connect to games announced as playable during migration.

Before the server switch Ubisoft had said that both Anno 2070 and Driver: San Francisco would not be affected. Of course, for pirates who do not experience DRM, they were right. Those players got better treatment than the paying ones.