Over the course of three games, the Yakuza series has always yielded mixed reception in the Western market, failing to solidify itself as a third-person action powerhouse amongst stiff competition. Who would have thought that running a muck in the confines of Tokyo’s diverse criminal underground would have trouble appealing to western audiences?

Fortunately, these preconceived notions did not seem to affect developer Toshihiro Nagoshi and the Sega CS1 Team, as Yakuza 3 brutally makes its way to Western PS3s, looking to not only alter perceptions of the series, but of the genre itself. Read more… »

It’s been a long time between drinks in the Rugby League series. After the second installment won us over in 2005, there was much speculation as to whether the series had a big enough market to continue.

Well, it’s taken four years, but Rugby League 3 is finally here. And while the majority of you blockheaded league fans wouldn’t be caught dead with a Nintendo Wii in your house, the fact of the matter is that it’s all we have.

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The fine fellows at Joystiq.com have created a pretty neat walkthrough video of Microsoft’s new game service “Game Room” that went live today, which features a smörgåsbord of retro (and I mean RETRO) titles such as Centipede and Asteroids for $3 a pop.

I don’t know how you feel, but this is what I think Playstation Home should have been. Just a very simple room for playing games: not “chilling in the dance veranda”, “waiting in line to play a boring bowling match” or “watching movies in a fake movie theater”. Just straight old-school gaming with a friend – feel free to go download it now! Read more… »

After another three months of continued development, the second beta of the open source Theme Hospital remake has finally been unleashed on the unsuspecting interwebs.

The release contains 10 new diseases to deal with, additional diagnosis rooms, and a bundle of random tweaks and fixes. Be sure to check out the preview video after the jump.

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Four days, fifteen hours, as of this writing.  That’s how long until BioWare does… something.  A mysterious countdown just shown up on the official BioWare website this morning, as well as on the Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect sub-sites.

What could it be?  The appearance of the countdown across all of BioWare’s major franchises’ sites is keeping the fanboys guessing.  An announcement of DA:O2?  Mass Effect 3?  Star Wars: The Old Republic going multi-platform?  Or (fingers crossed) the unveiling of MDK3?  Okay, it’s probably not the last one.  A boy can dream, can’t he?

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From its very inception, the Supreme Commander franchise has been dedicated to one thing, fan service. Created by Chris Taylor and his team at Gas Powered Games, SupCom was considered to be the spiritual successor to 1997′s Total Annihilation. With Supreme Commander 2, it seems like the SupCom franchise it coming into its own, and I like it.

For those of you who are not too familiar with SupCom, let me fill you in. This RTS series is build on big things: big robots, big armies, big maps, and big destruction. Players take on the role of a commander represented by a giant robot called an ACU. The ACU acts as both a construction unit and a combat unit, but you have to be careful. If your ACU is destroyed, you lose. Read more… »

Robert Culp, the actor most gamers would associate with the HL2 antagonist Wallace Breen, died today at the of 79. Culp’s publicist has stated that he died from a fall in a Los Angeles park; no further details have been released as of yet.

Since the events of Episode 1, Culp’s death will have no significant impact on the HL universe, but no doubt walking the entrance to HL2 will never feel the same again.

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Today developer Cryptic Studios announced that the super hero based MMO Champion Online is no longer coming to consoles.

Cryptic originally announced an Xbox 360 and PS3 version would hit alongside the PC edition back in September 09. The developer later changed its plans stating that the console versions would arrive sometime in the future. Read more… »

I remember when Sony first announced the PSP at E3 back in 2003.  It was supposed to be the end-all, be-all of portable entertainment devices, with a brand new format called UMD that would revolutionize the industry.  When it finally came out in North America on March 24th, 2005, people quickly learned it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies like Sony promised.

Well it’s been five years to the day since it was released, and the little system with big dreams has come along way.  It’s had four different variations released, all with a plethora of color options, and there are now at least a dozen or more games worth playing.  Unfortunately, the runt of the litter, the PSPgo, is still an overpriced piece of crap.

Happy birthday Playstation Portable, and congratulations on reaching five years of mediocrity. Read more… »

Let me speak to you honestly for a moment about fashion. As much as it pains me to admit, I’ve never looked very good in retro goggles. Perhaps they just clash with the shape of my head, which is somewhere between a long rectangle, a rhombus, and a lampshade. Whatever the case, wearing them around is not only painful for me, but also for those who have to witness this fashion emergency.

But I’ve learned to live with this shortcoming, largely by sticking to a more modest style, one that is free from the restraints imposed by retro goggles. Every game I try on is a brand new experiment, and if it looks good on me, I’ll know that it’s truly a good fit and not just a pleasing pairing for my retro goggles.

So, when I tried on the throwback Perfect Dark style, I knew that could view myself honestly. And what did I find? Well, let’s just say that I might as well have gone with the Derelict style from Zoolander.

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To date, I’ve beaten Dragon Age: Origins four times. Yep, that’s four entire work weeks devoted to slaying Dragons, Mages, and evil Darkspawn.  There was something special about the way Bioware handled morality in Dragon Age that kept me hooked: it wasn’t just a simple matter of black and white. That concept inspired me to create as many characters as possible, and each time, the game played out in a completely different way.

Awakening seeks to capture the essence of Origins in the form of a $40 expansion pack. Read on to find out if Bioware’s newest offering is a simple rehash, or an entirely new game. Read more… »

It looks like Gamestop employees are trying new tactics in their everlasting “get people to buy an in-store warranty” campaign. According to a customer, a Gamestop employee claimed Microsoft was sending out kill bugs for Xbox 360 consoles to fry their motherboards, and the only way to protect against this was to buy an in-store warranty.

Check out the full customer rant below.

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