Author: Eric Robbins

The good people at Valve has just notified us that Free to Play (F2P) games will start to appear on Steam.  Five titles: Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valliant Arms will all be playable, with each receiving exclusive in-game content for trying them out during the week on their designated day, starting Wednesday with Spiral Knights.  Full press release after the jump.

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Currently, there’s a quip from Gamepro’s interview with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto floating around that claims the Wii-U can only support one tablet at a time.  This claim would explain the multiplayer games found in Nintendo’s booth, all of which allowed only a single player to use the tablet.  In Battle Mii, two Wiimote+Nunchuck wielding players fought one tablet using player.  In Catch Mii, four players used the Wiimote to chase a single tablet user. Hopefully this is being taken out of context, with Miyamoto meaning that only the current prototypes can allow one tablet.  There are a couple of reasons…

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This is going to be short and sweet, mainly because I’m tired and don’t really have much to say about Kinect Star Wars.  Well, maybe a little to say.  Essentially, Kinect Star Wars combines several things that I have issues with in terms of both Kinect and with motion control as a whole: I like to be able to control my characters.  I’m sure you do too, considering gaming is at its core about interaction and control.  So when I do the gestures to fly quickly across the room and cut an obnoxious droid down with my lightsaber, I want…

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“It’s game time.” Today Red and I had a chance to watch a preview of Aliens: Colonial Marines.  Being developed by Gearbox, Colonial Marines is a direct sequel to James Cameron’s excellent film Aliens.  As a huge fan of the film, I’ve been chomping at the bit to see it in action.  So, did Colonial Marines nuke my site from orbit, or was it game over man?  Hit the jump to read my brief thoughts!

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Yesterday, David O. Russell, director of Three Kings and last year’s well received The Fighter, has abandoned helming the Uncharted feature film.  Though Russell is a talented director, I’m rather relieved he’s gone, as are most gamers.  Rumor is that Russell left the project over creative differences, which shocks absolutely no gamer following the project.  Quotes from Russell had shed light on his vision of Uncharted, which dealt with a powerful family that ruled the world of museums, dealing out justice and antiquities.  In other words, a film that had a character named Nathan Drake (played by Mark Wahlberg, who…

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Recently, game companies have been releasing teaser trailers for their trailers.  I’m not confusing a teaser trailer with a full trailer, I’m talking about an actual teaser for the friggin’ trailer that hits two weeks later.  Call of Duty has been one of the biggest offenders, with several trailers hinting at an actual trailer to come in a few weeks; Modern Warfare 2 started this trend for the series, but the third game is more than willing to continue it with three fifteen second trailers of nothing! Now, personal favorite Gears of War has joined the fray: What the…

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Sony announced earlier tonight that the Playstation Network (PSN) is now back online with partial functionality.  Services restored included trophies, online play, and PLAYSTATION HOME.  Pretty good step in the right direction, but the big question now is how long until the hackers get hungry?

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As you have noticed, several of us have a bad case of Gears of War 3 fever.  Break, Andrew, our behind the scenes wizard Mecha, and several Padinga friends have been playing the beta pretty consistently the last few weeks, to the extreme that I shudder to think what we’ll do over the next four months while waiting for the retail release.  Initial speculation reads like a medical textbook:  dementia, paranoia, depression, and sexual promiscuity are all anticipated. That being said, we can’t always play together as one happy-go-lucky, live life to the fullest, party of five(TM).  Sometimes, sometimes we…

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The internet is buzzing this morning with reports that a witness saw next generation development hardware from Microsoft at EA.  Essentially, the source is claiming to have seen kits that contain the hardware equivalent for Microsoft’s next console, the successor to the 360.  Additional rumors state that Microsoft is gunning for a 2012 holiday release, putting it in direct competition with Nintendo’s new console.  So what does this mean for E3?  Hit the jump for my thoughts.

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“My life was great.  Then you came along, you mute lunatic.” Portal 2 is a game that most developers would be afraid to make.  Portal was almost the definition of an under the radar launch, a side project that was put into Valve’s The Orange Box.  At the time, it was assumed it would be a fun little distraction, a side dish to Half-Life 2: Episode 2’s entree.  Fast forward a few years, and almost every gamer can tell you “the cake is a lie” or at least sing a few bits of the end credits song “Still Alive”, but…

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We’ll know in ten minutes. Valve-owned website, Aperturescience.com, has been running a countdown for the last fifteen or so hours.  It concludes in ten minutes, the theoretical end of a weird, always changing and twisting ARG campaign that started with the Steam sold “Potato Sack” pack of indie games.  Over the last week, the games have all received some variation of Portal content. Additional messages have popped up, some of which point to the equivalent of Friday being the new Tuesday. Guess we’ll know within the next ten minutes. UPDATE:  Turns out the ARG is concluded.  Now people need to…

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IGN has premiered Valve’s latest Portal 2 effort: a Valve created Portal comic! The comic details the various experiences of Portal’s enigmatic Rat Man (the wonderful creator of “The Cake is a Lie”).  There are only 14 pages available at the moment, but it is a fun read.  Check out a sample after the jump!

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3DS

Here it is: Padinga’s first 3DS title reviewed.  Fancy, huh?  To celebrate, this whole review is going to be rendered and posted at a later date in true stereoscopic!  That’s right, Padinga’s going 3D. So how does Pilotwings Resort, the latest entry in the rather small Pilotwings franchise, stack up against the other games available now for the 3DS?  Join me after the jump for tales of love, betrayal, and nude pictures!

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Nintendo’s latest handheld, the stereoscopic 3DS, has been released into the wild.  So, what are you going to do with yours once it is in your hands?  You could sit at home, scared and confused by the box alone, or you could utilize Padinga’s 3DS Launch Center!  Hit the jump for your own personal launch center!

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…and all you have to do is click this questionable link!  Just kidding, but there seriously is a way to get an iPad on the cheap right now.  With the launch of the shiny and fast iPad 2, Apple has been clearing out their inventory of the first iPad.  They’ve taken $100 off the original price, or $150 in the case of the refurbished units.  Personally, I find it still hard to justify a purchase, especially when you could order the new one on the same website.  Enter AT&T. AT&T sold the 3G enabled iPad, and they were the only…

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In the last few years, the first-person shooter market has been overwhelmed by not only the quantity of titles, but the similar trends the genre has been following.  World War II games gave way to “modern warfare”, which is starting to give way to Vietnam DLC (though in the case of Magicka, one can only be amused).  On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve somehow made space marines into serious business, with nearly every game forcing the fate of the free world onto the player’s shoulders.  Refreshingly, Bulletstorm takes the road less traveled, joined by few modern titles (except…

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Killzone is a series that has always confused me. It always wanted to be a Halo-killer, but it chose to have mechanics that resembled Call of Duty on paper and a garbage barge in execution.  That is, the idea of these massive combat action sequences, but your character moves with a real-world weight, an actual heft that is thrown around, rather than the frictionless world of Call of Duty.  It tried to be this tough, character driven game, but most of the characters fell flat or were just plain obnoxious (looking at you, Rico).  It has always felt, and Killzone…

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Warner Bros. just released the first trailer featuring gameplay for Batman:  Arkham City. The sequel to the surprise 2009 hit Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City sees players fighting crime in a much larger, city-like environment.  If the first game is any hint, the new title will be an excellent action/adventure game. Batman: Arkham City will be available this October for Playstation 3 and X-Box 360. Trailer compliments of IGN’s video stream.

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Naughty Dog just released a trailer for the newest entry in the Uncharted franchise.  Introducing Katherine Marlowe, who promises to be an interesting choice simply because of her gender and age.  I think most would agree that, while both are stellar entries, the villains of the first two Uncharted games were one of the weaker elements.  However, Naughty Dog has been pretty successful with female characters so far, so I’m hoping Marlowe continues that tradition. Trailer courtesy of IGN’s YouTube channel. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (ED: hmm, which Drake?) hits Playstation 3 exclusively this November.

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Sony announced yesterday that another title would be joining its “Play. Create. Share.” initiative. However, people expecting another LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, or similar creative and cute title are going to be in for a shock. inFamous 2. That’s right, the sequel to Sucker Punch’s 2009 hit. Check out the trailer and leave your thoughts!

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Yes, trailers, with a ‘s’.  Sony has release two trailers referring to Infamous 2’s implementation of the now standard Good/Bad, Light Side/Dark Side, Paragon/Renegade, Open Palm/Closed Fist, Apple/Orange system.  Again called Karma, the two trailers show incredibly different ways to assault a compound of the New Orleans New Marais.  Hit the jump to check out the evil approach!

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The last week has been a big one for Sony.  With the announcement of the NGP (Next Generation Portable, for those out of the loop), we’re finally getting a peak at Sony’s future plans.  Even more importantly, from a consumer standpoint, they’ve taken some of the thunder out of the 3DS launch.  Console fanboys may whine and moan about the other companies, but the simple fact is that this competition is good for the industry, because it keeps the developers and platform owners constantly working and innovating.

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I’m just going to keep this sucker at the top of the feed until the sale ends. Be sure to check below for new content!No one likes advertisements. Gamers, however, DO like saving money. Right now, Steam is having an incredible sale through July 4th. Some deals are daily though, but I recommend you go check it out:STEAM STOREI don’t aim to post deals here very often, but this one seemed too good to pass up. If I’ve horribly offended you, post in the comments below! UPDATE: Today’s daily deal includes Left 4 Dead 2 for $10.20. More than worth…

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