PixlBit

Square-Enix gives us an online hack-n-slash experience unlike anything we've seen before on a Nintendo handheld.

Nintendo’s struggles with their online strategy (if you can call it that) are widely known and widely reviled.  We’ve seen some slight improvements as the years click by, but it looks like Square-Enix might be the ones to teach the big N how to really do things right on the 3DS with Heroes of Ruin.  Square-Enix and design house n-Space picked the perfect sort of game to leverage the online functionality of the 3DS – a dungeon crawler.  Keeping far away from the frame-by-frame criticality of an FPS or fighting game, a game in the vein of Diablo should let Nintendo’s network stretch its legs without really angering the hardcore twitch gamers.  Although already released in Europe, Heroes of Ruin doesn’t launch in North America until July 17^th, and the online multiplayer is just one aspect that has us sharpening our swords in anticipation.

Read more »

Get your multiplayer out of my single-player games!

As wonderful and awesome as the internet is, it really fucked things up for gamers like me.  It wasn’t really an issue in the early stages – that short period of time before it was as all pervasive as it is now.  Consoles remained offline for the most part, with only a handful of games offering any kind of online component.  Online gaming was for the PC crowd, not the console kids who enjoyed a far more streamlined and simplified gaming experience. 

Read more »

AKA Nintendo Circus, depending on who you ask

Like many of you out there, I wasn’t terribly impressed by Nintendo’s press conference at this year’s E3. One of the things they touted as being a major showpiece was a game called Nintendo Land. Much like Wii Sports, the aim of this title is to introduce players to a new controller--in this case the Wii U GamePad--through a virtual theme park bursting with references to classic Nintendo franchises. At each attraction, your mii will don an appropriate costume and partake in a challenge that teaches the player a new way to use the Wii U GamePad.  Nintendo’s hope is that this game will do for the Wii U what Wii Sports did for the Wii, and explain to new players exactly what the Wii U is all about.

Read more »

Zombies take to the sea in Dead Island Riptide

After denying its existence on several occasions, Deep Silver has announced today that a sequel to the zombie killing hit, Dead Island, is in development.

Read more »

New PS3 game explores the mystery of death and the supernatural.

Beyond: Two Souls was shown off for the first time at the Sony E3 press conference today in trailer form. While it doesn’t show much, what it does show has some parallels to the impressive "Kara" tech demo from GDC. For starters, Beyond stars American actress Ellen Paige, of Juno and Hard Candy fame. You may remember that the titular Kara was played by Valorie Curry, known for her role in Twilight: Breaking Dawn. 

Read more »