I finally got my hands on Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii. It was developed by Vanilla Ware, the studio that did Odin Sphere on the PS2, and localized by Ignition Software. The game is beautifully animated and the amount of detail really shines, which showcases the amount of work that went into it. Presented in a 2D side scrolling format, the backgrounds and characters pop out at you. You have two playable characters, Kisuke (male) and Momohime (female), with whom you control using the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Read More...

Have you ever played Project Gotham Racing and thought to yourself, this would be awesome if I could get powerups and kill the other cars. Well so did Bizarre Creations and that's why they created Blur.I got a closed door meeting with Bizarre Creations' newest racing title, Blur. Incorporating real cars and locations with arcade power ups, Blur does just that, blurs the line between Project Gotham Racing's realistic physics with Mario Kart's arcade style powerups, Blur is an all new kind of racer. I got to play two tracks, a simple oval style racetrack laden with powerups and wide roadways, and a more urban track (Hackney area of England) with twisty turns and narrow avenues.Several car manufacturers, including Ford, GM, Renault, BMW, and Koeniggsegg (sp) all made appearances and we got assurance from Bizarre Creations's that there would be many more cars added. Read More...

Standing outside of the famous Abbey Road, I thought about all the artists that have passed through into stardom. The doors opened to a vintage theater seating, a stage and curtain and giant LCD monitors. The curtains drew revealing Studio 2 made famous by the Beatles. The instruments were cardboard cutouts and we were still in the Los Angeles Convention Center, but as Harmonix began to demonstrate their newest Rock Band offering, it was difficult to not be swept up in the melodies and harmonies of a band as influential as The Beatles. Releasing on September 9th, the disc will have 45 tracks with plenty of DLC to follow, beginning with "All You Need is Love" (time-released exclusive) on Xbox 360 and the entire album, Abbey Road. All proceeds from purchases of All You Need is Love will benefit Doctors without Borders. Read More...

June 16th is just a little under two weeks away and Ghostbusters fans couldn’t be more excited. The highly anticipated release of the Blu-Ray editions are almost here, but more importantly so is the upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game. You’ll all the members of the original crew as a rookie trying to help rid New York of all sorts of ghostly ghouls. Doing their part to help hype the game’s release, Gamestop, Best Buy, Wal-mart/Sam’s Club, and Amazon.com are all offering preorder bonuses. Read More...

Tony Stark is a certified genius, a billionaire, and a playboy. He was the son of Howard and Maria Stark, Howard being the founder of Stark Industries. A tragic car accident led to their deaths and Tony taking over the company at age 21. From there he continued to oversee the companies operations which would eventually bring him to Vietnam. While supervising a field test for an experimental weapon, Tony was injured by a booby trap. He was captured by a resident warlord who forced Tony to build him a weapon. Read More...

Respawning, reset, restart and resurrection, second chances all gamers know about and stand loyally with against the tides of gaming oppression.  As Binh mentioned in his story here, fans of Blizzard Entertainment are now getting a second chance to attend Blizzcon.  Fans of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and some game called World of Warcraft (you’ve probably never heard of it) will now be able to purchase tickets online tomorrow starting at 10am PDT, most likely crippling the Internet with the surge of activity as they clamor for the chance to attend the spectacle that is Blizzcon.  Battle.net is the source for your ticketing needs, but if you’re unsuccessful tomorrow, you can always watch it on Pay Per View. Read More...

12 More Iron Maiden Songs for Rock Band Just announced via their online 'zine, Harmonix just released their next wave of downloadable for Rock Band/Rock Band 2. Something which generally isn't that big of news. Generally. Except this time it is a full set of 12 Iron Maiden songs. Including one of my favorites, which was covered by Cradle of Filth, Hallowed Be Thy Name. Below is the full list as well as part of the 'zine just sent out. The only thing that kind of upsets me about this whole thing is there is no word on how it will be handled for the two tracks that have already been released. Read More...

Druids, are you tired of looking the same as all the other Druids? Would you want to change colors in your bear and cat form? Do you want to dance in bear form in style? Well now you can, as Blizzard has announced new looks for the Druids! In the next major patch for World of Warcraft, druids will be able to find color schemes for the bear and cat forms. Blizzard made the following announcement on their Under Development page: “There will be five different designs for each of these forms for the Horde and Alliance. Night elves can choose to change their cat and bear look at any time by visiting the barber shop and changing their character's hair color, while tauren will be able to change which look they use by switching skin tones in the barber shop -- a new feature for tauren in the next major content patch. Read More...

In 2006 Marvel and Activision teamed up to create Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Built on the X-men Legends engine, Ultimate Alliance featured the largest collection of comic book characters ever seen in a video game. Combining the standard roster with downloadable content, Ultimate Alliance featured nearly 40 playable characters. The game was a success and this coming fall we'll get to see the sequel Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion. Already there are 17 playable characters that will be a part of the roster with at least another dozen that have yet to be identified as playable or non-playable. Read More...

Last Thursday’s announcement that Midway Games, of Mortal Kombat fame, will be selling off its Mortal Kombat franchise along with its Chicago and Seattle studios is not shocking.  We have watched this proud company take its lumps this past year with threats of closing or being bought, having its debt purchased and ultimately filing for bankruptcy.  Having grown up in Chicago, Midway Games was always a steady force in the Windy City just off of California Ave.  I even applied and interviewed for a job there once upon a time. Read More...

4MM games is a new gaming company founded by the original co-founders of Rockstar Games Jamie King and Gary Foreman.  Best known for their creation of Grand Theft Auto, Midnight club racing, Bully and Max Payne. “I was hugely honored to be approached by talent of Jamie and Gary’s caliber to co-found 4mm Games,” said Nicholas Perrett, Chief Executive Officer of 4mm Games. Looks like this time around 4MM games will be concentrating on the "online" aspect of video games.  4MM games is looking to create new properties for mobile platforms like the iPhone before expanding to consoles. Read More...

Lunar: Silver Star Story (Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star in Japan) has been slated for a new remake, this time being released on the Sony PSP. Originally released in 1992 on the Mega CD in Japan, and then brought to the U.S. by Working Designs to the Sega CD, it eventually saw a re-release on the Sony Playstation. The new version of the game will be fully remastered with updated graphics, music and video at an unprecedented quality. There will also be new storyline content included, adding on four new scenarios for our hero. Read More...

Track listing for Rock Band: Unplugged Well for those of you who are looking forward for a way to bring your Rock Band with you when you go out traveling and don't have an easy way to carry all of you equipment, it looks like Unplugged will help you out greatly with that. Not the tacking the game, but pretty much being able to enjoy all the tracks you do on the big console version with the game. With a few exclusives, for a short time at least. Below is the full track list for the Rock Band: Unplugged. Read More...

So yesterday (5/16/09) was the big day for those who want to spend time in the World...of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. Tickets for Blizzcon went on sale yesterday and it looks like the economy has no affect, as tickets for Blizzcon sold out in 30 minutes. Apparently there is something that will get people out of the house and do something. Fortunately for us that would be Blizzcon 2009. For those who missed their chance to get into the action for the tickets, I would not worry. Read More...

The Sims 3, which is release on June 2nd 2009, is beginning a media campaign to infiltrate your Social Network! Electronic Arts is going to use three new ways to let players enter the sims world on the web! Make them hang around your browser, send you an e-mail just to see how things are going, and even enter your iPhone. Starting Friday (5/15/09) new players will be able to download a free trial available at Sims3.com and at the Sims 3 fan page on Facebook. Read More...