Fire Emblem, the latest SRPG from Nintendo-land, has allegedly sold through 80% of their stock in the first week. For those of you who aren’t impressed, most games “ship” a large number of units, but they may lay on shelves for months on end, eventually fated for a price-cut.

This particular title sold around a quarter of a million units — and again, it sold through the vast majority of that stock. A bunch of happenings recently, including a domain name registration by Nintendo of America, seem to strongly hint towards an American release, so we can only hope that we’ll have the opportunity to reach a similar milestone later this year.

[Siliconera]

The above image easily looks like a fan creation, but make no mistake, Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale is a real game. Only six characters have been revealed so far — Kratos, Sly Cooper, Sweet Tooth, Radec [Killzone], Parappa, and Fat Princess.In addition to typical Smash Brothers-esque gameplay, each character has a super attack that is gained from in-game Action Points. For instance, Sweet Tooth has his mech, Kratos can transform and wield the Blade of Olympus.

Environmentally, just like Smash Brothers, the arenas will be taken straight from Sony franchises. Battle Royale will also feature a host of single player modes in addition to online play. So far it looks great! My only actual problem with the game is that it could have a shorter title: perhaps Sony Battle Royale or Playstation Battle Royale would roll off the tongue a bit easier. The game is set to drop this Holiday season.

For the longest time my only experience with the world of The Witcher was reading the occasional comic on Penny Arcade. But one day, console-owners rejoiced when developer CD Projekt RED announced they were bringing an expanded version of the acclaimed The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings to the Xbox 360.

This console version seemed like the perfect opportunity for those who missed out on the first two games to dive into the series, but did The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition survive its transition from PC to console?

Well, you know what they say about things that appear too good to be true…

Read more… »

Resident Evil creator and highly relevant Director/Producer Shinji Mikami has once again returned his focus to the genre of survival horror. Known only as “Project Zwei”, Mikami’s Tango Gameworks is working in conjunction with Bethesda to produce a brand new horror title which hopefully will be worthy of Mikami’s pedigree.

The  above site contains a teaser image that supposedly gives you a “feel” for what the game may entail — right now it looks like there’s going to be lots of spooky environments (of course!), with an emphasis on both outdoor and indoor horror. The key thing to note is that on the right-hand side, there’s concept art for an old European town of sorts, reminiscent of Shadows of the Damned or Devil May Cry. I like what I see so far! Read more… »

Better late than never, right? New Play Control! Pikmin 2 released over three years ago in European territories, but American fans looking forward to seeing the updated Wii version of the GameCube classic have been forced to wait. Nintendo Power says that’ll be changing later this year, with Olimar and the creatures of “Distant Planet” making their way to North American shores once again this June.

Exciting news, but one has to wonder what took so long. Following something of an unfortunate trend for the publisher’s North American office, Pikmin 2 is the latest in a long line of titles that the publisher has brought to the United States months or years after hitting other territories. On top of that, over a dozen great titles have yet to see localization – a sad fact of life for any Wii fan lamenting the console’s sparse release calendar.

If you’ve been content to enjoy Pikmin 2 in its original state and have instead been looking forward to the next entry in the franchise, Shigeru Miyamoto recently confirmed that Nintendo will be bringing that title with them to Los Angeles for E3 later this year.

Pikmin 2 Finally Reaches North American Wiis Soon [nintendolife via Siliconera]

It may simply be coincidence that my birthday’s in May and Ronimo Games’ Awesomenauts is coming to PSN on May 1st, but I choose to believe it’s a sign from the universe…an awesome sign. Better still, PlayStation Plus subscribers can get it for free throughout the entire month.

Awesomenauts is what would emerge if you mixed eighties cartoons, platforming shooters, and MOBA games into a crazy, frantic blender. The game features 3 on 3 online and offline action with 6 different characters, upgrades, turrets, and bunch of other cool things. Awesomenauts will hit PSN on May 1st for $9.99 and XBLA on May 2nd for 800 Microsoft Space Dollars.

[PlayStation Blog]

At the recent Guild Wars 2 preview event, we were able to test out a number of general mechanics, but what about the professions? At launch, the game will ship with the Guardian, Warrior, Engineer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist, Mesmer and Necromancer classes.

Although I did try out quite a few professions, the Necromancer is the one I spent most of my time with. So without further ado, onto the my discussion about the paranormal, undead, and various other terrifying creatures that go bump in the digital night. Read more… »

You guys like that Trials Evolution game, right? Well turns out you’re not alone. RedLynx’s Trials Evolution set the record for the highest grossing day-one sales on Xbox Live Arcade. How many sales did they need to break that record? Try over 100,000 in its first day after release. Hot damn!

RedLynx has to be pleased with those numbers. Demand for the game was so high that according to Gamasutra, Microsoft had to add more servers to accommodate all the users. In addition Gamasutra reports “leaderboards for Trials Evolution‘s recorded 120,000 users playing the game just a day after its release, and around 180,000 playing in its second day.”

[Source: Gamasutra]

Aion, the worldwide Korean MMO, has gone completely free to play – no more subscriptions. Starting this month, you can level from 1-60 without any sort of fee. You’ll also naturally get all of the updates the game has obtained over the years, which includes extra content, and a number of tweaks that let you level up with less grinding.

Former writer James P. loved the atmosphere and the gameplay, so we’d highly suggest giving it a chance — even if you decide it’s not for you. Personally, I’m ready to jump back in after my account has been idle for a few years.

It’s a tale as old as time — boy meets girl, boy betrays girl, boy gets chased down by a monster intent on boy’s destruction. Luckily with a trusty shotgun at his side and plenty of persistence on the player’s part, death at the hands of a swirling mass of tentacles can be avoided long enough for rComplex‘s silhouetted protagonist to run, jump and slide his way to safety.

Prepare yourself for visuals as attractive as they are simplistic, a catchy (though repetitive) soundtrack, and some of the most frustrating gameplay to land on the App Store in quite some time.

Read more… »

While I know everyone is grimacing at the thought of simulating the dysfunctional Grimes family, fear not, Walking Dead fans, as the upcoming game has nothing to do with the comic/TV show’s cast. Instead, Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead game will focus in on various other survivors in the universe, while keeping the same themes and overall ideas — additionally, it is said the game will be canon.

Each episode is priced at $4.99, but you can nab the entire project for $19.99, which will essentially buys you one bonus episode/game.  Telltale’s latest will be released on the 360, PC, and PS3 platforms — hopefully it won’t be as slow as the first half of Season 2!

Guild Wars 2 carries a lot of expectations in the gaming community. Considering Guild Wars 1 was basically a dungeon crawler and not an MMO, many gamers are skeptical whether or not ArenaNet will be able to pull off a truly persistent world. On top of that immediate concern, there other claims ArenaNet has made, that if true, will chance the face of MMOs as we know it– enhanced grouping; event driven quests; truly competitive even-ground PVP.

Even with all of my skepticism intact, after previewing the game at ArenaNet’s recent press event, it looks like the famed developer is poised to succeed with Guild Wars 2. Read more… »