This commercial has everything: grown men with ponytails, evil bikers, oversized white suits, and some of the best one liners you’re ever likely to hear in a 60-second advertisement.

“Talkin’ to you!”

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Here’s Dynasty Warriors in a nutshell: press square, square, square, square, square, triangle, repeat 10,000 times, hack some goons up, rinse and repeat. On paper, it sounds pretty terrible, but it’s actually more fun than it appears at first glance. As a fan of the series since Dynasty Warriors 2 created the “crowd combat” genre, I’ve seen good Dynasty Warriors games come and go, but ultimately, they all end up feeling the same.

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce on the PSP sought to change that preconceived notion of repetition with a whole new outlook on the series, but hosted its own set of problems; namely, the lack of online play, and the lack of AI squadmates or a scaling difficulty, making the game nearly impossible to complete on your own. Thankfully, the console version seeks to rectify these fairly huge flaws with a full-on online component, and a completely functional AI squad. But does it suffer from the same, age-old repetition issues? Read more… »

Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s director of product management for Xbox, sat down with CVG and spoke out against Natal as a “jazzed-up Eye Toy,” and hinted at a five-year lifespan for Microsoft’s motion control device.

When asked about the Eye Toy comparisons Greenberg responded:

“We obviously could have done a motion controller if we’d have wanted to do that, but we felt that would be a much more interruptive experience. We had an opportunity here to really do something that’s transformative and brings a whole new category of experiences to life.”

Read on for more quotes. Read more… »

Today strategy game developer Gas Powered Games announced a new “epic real-time strategy game” for the PC and unspecified ‘next-gen’ consoles, that is said to offer a “one-of-a-kind experience.”

Dubbed Kings and Castles, the new game puts gamers in the shoes of “one of three powerful kings who are vying for control of an all-new, original fantasy world.” Similar to Supreme Commander, Kings and Castles also boasts “the ability to zoom to any level, incredible maps, and eye-popping visuals that will run on a wide range of systems.” Read more… »

Do any of you remember years back at E3 when Microsoft first announced that Xbox LIVE would eventually be coming to cell phones.  Well it’s taken them a long time, but it appears this pipe dream will finally become a reality sooner rather than later.

Microsoft announced today that when Windows Phone 7 series launches later this year, it will come with full Xbox LIVE support.  This includes everything from viewing XBL leaderboards and achievement scores to playing turn-based multiplayer games on the go.  For a full list of all the features included, hit the jump. Read more… »

The idea of games as art has been a discussion point within the industry for a while now. We’ve had researchers claim that games are as valuable as books in terms of literary value, while Tale of Tales, developer of The Path, has outright stated that they believe that “games are not art”, and are “largely a waste of time”.

This last sentiment was expressed at the Art History Of Games conference last week. On the face of it, this is a remarkably bold statement for the developer of a number of games considered as close to literal translations of art. In fact, it seems to fly in the face of statements they have made in past interviews, where they claimed that The Path was created as a work of art. It would seem, then, that they’ve had a bit of a change of heart. So are games art? More importantly, what exactly do we mean by ‘art’?

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If you sum up Ludosity Interactive’s mission statement, their goal is to create fun, long-lasting titles that give players creative control. Well, mission accomplished.  Bob Came in Pieces is a clever 2D physics-based puzzle/adventure mixed with a bit of Lunar Lander (yeah, that’s right, an Atari reference) that does everything in its power to live up to that goal.

Players assume the role of Bob as he crash lands on an Earth-like planet. Bypassing the initial emotions of terror or isolation that one would feel on an unknown planet, Bob immediately begins his quest to retrieve his ship parts, the hyperdrive 2000,  and getting back to work. One must never be late. It’s a cute little game that focuses almost all of its attention on smart, simple gameplay. Read more… »

Welcome to the recap. I hate to do this, but I really must ask  you to keep it down this week… the missus is in the other room and thinks that I am merely taking a nap. If she were to know I was recapping on her special day, I would be in the proverbial “doghouse” and on the literal “couch” later this eve.

And, although that would facilitate my gaming much better than laying in bed, quietly playing a PSP under the sheets while she dozes next to me, the repercussions do not stop at the couch. Not the ideal situation.

So, with that taken care of, its time to bust out your bubble pipes, hit the jump, and get to it.

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There are plenty of aptly named Xbox Live Indie titles in the Marketplace: I Made a Game With Zombies In It, You Will Die, etc. However, Impossible Shoota is so far from the truth, it’s rather laughable.

The game is nothing more than a top down shooter similar to Asteroids. You’re shooting increasingly harder monsters in an attempt to kill all 500 that invade your screen at such a slow pace your 80 year old geriatric grandmother could beat it. In fact, there’s nothing impossible about Impossible Shoota at all, unless we’re counting the task of finding fun in the game,

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With its promise of battles featuring 256 online players, a feat yet to be attempted in a game, MAG’s surprise debut at E3 2008 gained instant intrigue at such ambitious scope. Exclusive to the PS3, MAG, formally known as the unassuming Massive Action Game, has since gained quite a following within the PSN community, thanks largely to its extended beta trials over the past few months. To put it simply, if there’s one game Sony wants to use to plug the PSN, this is it.

But here’s the predicament MAG faces – it’s now 2010 and the majority of PlayStation soldiers are either devoted to last year’s colossal Modern Warfare 2 pandemic or hotly anticipating the very promising Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Having been lodged into a squelching sandwich between two of the generation’s biggest first person shooters, MAG‘s release timing feels unfortunate. With this in mind, does it have the firepower to fend off its dogged opposition?

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There’s nothing like getting something for a great price, and this Valentine’s Day, you can pick up a set of great indie games for only $20. The Indie Love Bundle is a collaboration between indie game developers to bring their best titles to the masses on this day of love, for pretty damn cheap.

Titles include And Yet It Moves, Auditorium, Aztaka, Eufloria, and Machinarium. If purchases separately, all five titles would cost you over $85, so its really a no brainer, especially if you love indie games.

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Putting aside the nightmare of actually speaking that title aloud, this is sure to come as a pleasant surprise to anyone who played Real-Time Strategy games in the mid to late 1990s. The first three games in the classic series Command & Conquer have been officially released for free.

While it looks as if this is mostly to drum up interest in the upcoming Command & Conquer 4, due to release next month, there’s certainly no excuse not to wallow in a bit of nostalgia with these genre-defining classics.

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