TGIF: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword Blows, Literally

Posted April 20th, 2008

You get some pretty interesting looks on an international red eye during lights-out movie time hunched over a Nintendo DS held sidewise like a book in one hand, the other frenetically tattooing the screen with a custom sword-stylus, occasionally swearing…

U.S. Economy Slows, Games Industry Revenue Grows

Posted April 20th, 2008

No surprises to report in NPD’s official March 2008 numbers, and as predicted, Super Smash Bros. Brawl kicked Nintendo into hyperdrive, catapulting Wii sales to 31 percent of total industry dollars. It looks like Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter’s numbers…

Microsoft Claims Xbox 360 Sales Double in Europe

Posted April 20th, 2008

Coming to you from Budapest, Hungary, this story caught my eye whilst speed-scanning a few feeds in a smoke-choked coffee shop (yeah, they actually still have those over here). According to Microsoft (by way of Pocket-Lint), sales of the Xbox…

Variety: GTA IV to Break Record, Snatch $400 Million First Week

Posted April 20th, 2008

You can’t swing a Liberty City cat without hitting a story about Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV these days. The game comes out end of this month, but it’s already pretty much been reviewed — all praise, no surprise there…

The (Critically Disregarded) Evolution of Video Game Music

Posted April 20th, 2008

The other day I was driving back from the mall listening to the radio and I tuned into NPR at the part in “All Things Considered” where they run clips of readers responding to prior segments. I came in late,…

Nintendo to Smash Competition in March U.S. Sales

Posted April 20th, 2008

Make March Nintendo’s, with Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter teasing an industry sales boost of 47 percent to $850 million for March driven primarily by sales of Super Smash Bros Brawl, the Wii, and DS. As usual, industry trade site…

60 Hour Countdown to Sony Japan’s Red, Rainy Surprise

Posted April 20th, 2008

What in the name of swearing, screaming, deluging, bloody-red Flash animations could this mystery countdown on Sony Japan’s official PlayStation site be all about? Warning, if you visit and bother to listen, you’ll hear plenty of sailor talk. The answer…

The Little Big Deal About LittleBigPlanet

Posted April 20th, 2008

What’s teeny and plush and floppy, comes in twos, threes, and even fours, can heave isosceles boulders into mounds of jostling rocks, launch itself kite-like from toothy cogs, party on curling wood slats pegged to rocking trees, and whiz around…