SNK has unveiled even more official merchandise to celebrate the Neo Geo's 20th anniversary this year: a new shirt, hoodie, and an insulated cup, all emblazoned with "The 100 Mega Shock". The shirt isn't quite as nice as the original 100 Mega Shock tee, but it will do.

Those with deep enough pockets to own an AES will recognize "100 Mega Shock" as the tag SNK used to identify games sized at over 100 megabits. I like this explanation better, though: "It was the shock that hit you back in '90 when you saw that the price for Neo Games was over 100 beans."

Online Japanese shop Dengekiya is taking preorders for the shirts (¥3,045, $36.27), hoodie (¥6,090, $75.53), and tumbler (¥2,100, $25), and will begin shipping them this November. And I think Cospa will sell them along with other SNK/Neo Geo merch at Tokyo Game Show next week.

Continue reading "The 100 Mega Shock!: 20th Anniversary Neo Geo Apparel, Cups" »

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shoot'em-up developer Cave, which has been on a roll with porting arcade titles like Espgaluda II and Dodonpachi Resurrection to iOS devices, announced a new title coming to the App Store: Mushihimesama Bug Panic.

The game doesn't look much like a shooter in this trailer, but most of the previous arcade and Xbox 360 releases from the Mushihimesama (Insect Princess) series have been bullet hell city.

Expect Cave to reveal more details for its first original iOS game as its fall release approaches. As with the studio's other App Store games, Mushihimesama Bug Panic will only be playable on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch (third generation), and iPad.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Canadian developer XGen Studios, which is mostly known for its web games but also put out the well-received Defend your Castle for Wii, is working with Amanita Design to bring acclaimed PC puzzle-adventure Machinarium to WiiWare.

Despite the game's warm reception and awards (IGF 2010's Excellence in Visual Art, AIAS' Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, and many others), Amanita has difficulties releasing Machinarium to XBLA. It's also reportedly trying to self-publish the game on PSN.

Neither XGen or Machinarium have yet revealed an expected release date or planned additions to the WiiWare version. Considering the digital download platform's 50MB size limit, the game's gorgeous artwork and soundtrack could require some serious compression.

[Via Nintendo Life]

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[This week, our partnership with game criticism site Critical Distance brings us notable game writing picks, with Ian Cheong filling in for Ben Abraham this week, and a fresh round-up spanning Morrowind, World War II games, Flower and the perennial SimCity.]

Starting our round-up of the latest and most interesting pieces of analysis and criticism from all across the gaming blogosphere, Kate Simpson at Falling Awkwardly has started a new series of articles on the metaphysics of Morrowind to remedy the dearth of critical analysis about the RPG.

While the first entry is simply a primer to the series, the second and latest piece takes an in-depth look at a piece of Morrowind's fiction, dissecting it as an attempt by its writers to explain save games in the context of the title without breaking the fourth wall. “It would appear that this Dragon Break has not been an isolated occurence. To explain the real cause of the phenomenon we need to rewind a little, to the ending of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. Or, should I say, endings.”

At The Artful Gamer, Chris Lepine tries to figure out how mastering a game is its own enjoyment, written as a response to Jamie Madigan's article at Psychology of Video Games on how gaming can be good for your mental health.

Lepine writes: “I see the “poetic imagination” as one source for the joys of play. When I imagine through the world that a story, a poem, or a game has to offer, part of me is “in the game” and part of the game “is in me”. I cannot distinguish very easily between myself and this imaginary world. In those moments, where I allow myself to imagine freely while respecting the world the place has to offer, I am at my most playful.”

Continue reading "This Week In Video Game Criticism: The Art Of Simulating Flower Cities" »

Posted by Ben Abraham at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Organizer/game consultancy firm Pixel-Lab will hold Playful, its cross disciplinary conference about "games and play – in all their manifestations", at London's Conway Hall on September 24th.

Running since 2005 (and previously known as "Sense Of Play"), the conference examines games from traditional consoles/PCs, as well as interactive experiences found in film, television, theater, installations, performance arts, and more.

Pixel-Lab explains Playful's goals and audience:

"It’s a conference for architects, artists, designers, developers, geeks, gurus, gamers, tinkerers, thinkerers, bloggers, joggers, and philosophers.

We look at what PLAY means both creatively and culturally, and put speakers on the stage who offer different perspectives on where we are currently, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.

We want people walking away talking about the nature of games…what they mean to different people inside, on the periphery, outside or miles away from the industry."

Playful's scheduled speakers includes TT Games (Lego Star Wars) development director Jonathan Smith, nine-year-old gamer Beatrice Davy-Sutherland (as she "quizs [sic] MMP Games Companies on their ethics"), indie artist/game designer Richard Hogg (Poto & Cabenga), and many others.

You can purchase tickets for Playful (£50, $77) see the full list of speakers, and read more information on the conference at the event's official site.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Indie developer Mode 7 has posted a new trailer for Frozen Synapse, its Laser Squad-esque, synchronous/turn-based tactical strategy game coming to PC and Mac some time in early 2011.

In the game, you command a squad soldiers around a map, positioning them behind cover while shooting at enemies. Each turn, you and your opponent plot out moves for your entire team from an overhead perspective, then watch those moves play out.

The game will have single-player missions, but it looks like most of the fun will be found in multiplayer battles. Mode 7 recognizes that, so it gives you a free copy to give your friend when you preorder Frozen Synapse. You'll also receive beta access to the game!

[Via IndieGames.com]

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[As Summer of Arcade continued with Monday Night Combat and a new Lara Croft title, GamerBytes editor Ryan Langley offers charts and leaderboard data to get an idea of which titles are hits on the service this summer.]

With the third Summer Of Arcade now over, and following our in-depth Xbox Live Arcade stat examination for July, we take our analysis for August 2010's Xbox 360 downloadable games to new ground -- showing just how well games from prior years have done in comparison, and how these new games have fared.

We're at a point in the promotion's lifecycle where practically all developers aim to get into the Summer Of Arcade line-up for the marketing bump.

But when only five titles can be nominated, we see a spill-over of high quality content surrounding it. Can they also do great numbers without being an official part of the line-up?

This month we're looking at Castlevania HD, Monday Night Combat, Lara Croft, Shank and Scott Pilgrim, examining both the games' Leaderboard statistics in terms of unique users, and their positions in the Major Nelson Top 20 listings:

Continue reading "In-Depth: Xbox Live Arcade Sales Analysis, August 2010" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[We round up the week's top news and reviews from sister iPhone and iPad site FingerGaming, as written by editor in chief Danny Cowan and authors Tucker Dean, Jason Johnson, and Ryan Hibbeler.]

This week, FingerGaming covers notable releases like Super Mega Worm, Puzzle Agent, and Mirror's Edge. We also round up lists for top-grossing, most-downloaded free and paid Apps from Apple's store, as well as a review for The Incident.

Here are the top stories from the last seven days:

- Top-Grossing Game Apps: Sonic 2, Ultimate Spider-Man Enter Top Three
"Sonic the Hedgehog 2 climbs up to second place during a recent round of discounts from Sega, as Gameloft's licensed brawler Ultimate Spider-Man: Total Mayhem takes third in its debut week."

- Telltale's Point-and-Click Adventure Game Puzzle Agent Launches in App Store
"Stalwart adventure game developer Telltale Games (Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit) has released Puzzle Agent, the first title in its new 'Pilot Program' for proposed episodic franchises."

- Super Mega Worm: A Pixelated 'Tremors,' Minus Kevin Bacon
"Players alternately burrow underground and use their momentum to leap skyward, wreaking bloody havoc on all humans, structures, and vehicles on and above the Earth's surface."

Continue reading "Best of FingerGaming: From Puzzle Agent to Super Mega Worm" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While Nintendo of America and Seth Green are trying their best to make Dragon Quest just as popular in North America as it is in Japan by highlighting the Level-5 game's customization features, the company's UK branch is trying to attract an unexpected audience: moms.

Nintendo UK has ads targeting kids and girls hanging out at college campuses of course, but its latest commercial features a mother-of-two who was looking for more challenging experience than traditional casual titles and now likes to spend her spare hours playing the Japanese role-playing game.

The spot goes to great lengths associate Dragon Quest IX with more approachable titles the Professor Layton series (though it doesn't bring up the games outright), mentioning how you have to gather clues and "solve some sort of mystery" in each village.

It sounds like a crazy idea, but perhaps Nintendo UK will be able to reach that audience -- so far, it's managed to keep Dragon Quest IX in the country's top 20 software chart (individual formats) since its launch last July.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As we celebrate the 11th anniversary of the Dreamcast's release and the first birthday of the glorious Dreamcast 2 today, let us not forget that their are still unreleased games for Sega's beloved system that haven't made it to the public's hands yet.

A collector named Tweeg at Dreamcast-Talk, for example, recently uncovered what could be beta builds for Dreamcast editions of Looking Glass Studios' Thief II: The Metal Age and System Shock 2 (spiritual predecessor to BioShock) in a discarded development kit.

Rather than keep the files to himself or hold them for ransom, Tweeg is celebrating the Dreamcast's anniversary by releasing them online at PSO Archive! They aren't yet in a playable state, but he hopes that anyone who's able to get them running will release playable versions eventually.

[Thanks, Jess!]

Posted by Eric Caoili at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Taking a two-pronged approach in its attack plans for the iPhone, Taito is complementing its Space Invaders games on the App Store with a wave of themed cases, available in white, black, and red (each with different designs).

These limited edition cases are only releasing in Japan, but if you really have a hankering to show off your love of the classic arcade shooter (or the recently updated Space Invaders Infinity Gene), import shop NCSX has you covered.

The online store plans to ship preorders for the accessories in late November, and is asking $25.90 for each design. These are only for 3G and 3GS models, though, so if you have an iPhone 4, you'll have to settle for decorating your free case with a sharpie marker or Space Invaders stickers.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[In this analysis, attorney Mona Ibrahim examines how DigiPen and other game schools manage student-created IPs -- and why these institutions need to change their policies to ensure that students are given due credit for their work.]

In academia, students traditionally retain intellectual property rights in their term papers, artwork, screenplays, and other creative works. An unsettling trend has developed, however, in those institutions that exclusively offer game development and game design programs.

These programs, such as those offered by DigiPen and similar schools, force students to assign to the institution all rights, titles, and interests in games created during the program.

For many students, the bitter realization that they will not own their work if they attend the program is a difficult pill to swallow. On the one hand, they want to attend one of the most highly regarded and accredited game design/development schools in the country. On the other, they want attribution and compensation for their work.

Why Institutions want Ownership

The institutions themselves believe they have the best interest of their students at heart. Claude Comair, President of DigiPen, has previously asserted that DigiPen’s Intellectual Property policy is for the students’ own good.

According to Mr. Comair, the institution is ill-equipped to determine who contributes to the hundreds of games developed through the school’s various programs. If students retain their IP, this could easily lead to legal disputes concerning credit and ownership down the road when those games obtain critical acclaim. If the institution retains ownership of the game this is no longer a problem; DigiPen does not and likely never will commercially exploit its students’ works.

Continue reading "Analysis: Solutions To Student Ownership And The DigiPen IP Problem" »

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Next month, Pittsburgh will host Via 2010, a new festival that aims to showcase musicians, DJs, and producers "blurring genres of electronic music alongside artists working at the forefront of video, game design, and live music visualization."

The Iron City Brewery and satellite locations will present more than 12 hours of performances/installations from both local and international artists across three days. Via 2010 will also have an online presence with demos, forums, and a livestream of the event at its site.

Along with indie darling/rapper Freddie Gibbs and huge electronica names like Matthew Dear and Dãm-Funk, the festival will feature Canadian experimental game group Kokoromi Collective, which organizes events like the recent Gamma IV one-button challenge at GDC 2010.

Kokoromi Collective is slated to bring two games to show off at Via 2010, 3D puzzler Super HyperCube (pictured, co-developed with Fez developer Polytron/Phil Fish) and ][ Games' tro-player music title I Have Big Balls.

You can buy tickets and find more information for Via 2010, which will run October 1-3, at the festival's official site.

[Thanks, Mitch!]

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Unless you've watched experienced Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 movie The Room, this likely won't mean much to you, but Newgrounds creator and The Behemoth co-founder Tom Fulp (with help from Newgrounds artist Jeff Bandelin) has adapted the cult favorite film into an adventure game.

Former GSW guest editor Jenn Frank points out that the point-and-click tribute re-creates the movie's flower shop, the rooftop of Johnny’s apartment, and other settings with 8-bit-style environments, and it even presents environments that weren't in the movie (Denny’s apartment).

Keep in mind that like the movie, the game does include adult themes (e.g. cartoon nudity, sex). You can play The Room Tribute for free online over at Newgrounds, though seriously, you should make sure you watch the movie first to understand it all.

Posted by Eric Caoili at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)