Posts Tagged ‘atari’
Lil Wayne has a modded Xbox?
Lil Wayne is a Grammy award winning rapper who sold over 1 million copies of Tha Carter III in its first week on store shelves. However, when he’s not busy making music, he’s apparantly an avid gamer. But he isn’t just any kind of gamer instead he is a gamer with an Xbox that plays “every game from A-Z, Atari, Nintendo, pong, movies and even porn”.
But wait, why doesn’t my Xbox 360 do that? Well, the only way this is possible is if Mr. Carter has a modded Xbox. Sure, mark it off as convenience but you would think a guy with that kind of money could afford to buy his games rather than have them all stored on one console.
via joystiq
Ghostbusters coming to PSP, first trailer released
If you were a fan of Atari’s Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 Ghostbusters: The Video Game release and happen to own a PSP, you will be happy to hear that Atari has today released the above trailer for a portable version of the game.
As you can see from the trailer, just because it’s on the PSP doesn’t mean that the developers will be skimping on visuals or gameplay as it looks like it is packed with it.
Atari says Ghostbusters PSP will be out in November of this year. Anyone else as excited as I am?
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut ships
Atari’s RPG The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut has shipped today to North American retailers. It’s basically the same thing as the original Enhanced Edition released one year ago, except without the nudity censorship made for the US release. Any Europeans who are planning to import have no need to do so.
A patch enables this nudity for all you perverts out there, so it’s you can have had all along in the first place.
The patch is at around ~300MB and can be downloaded from GamersHell.
Pong creator turns to Battleswarm
It seems that Nolan Bushnell, the mastermind behind Pong and Atari, is returning to the game scene with his latest title, Battleswarm: Field of Honor.
Bushnell describes this game as a mash-up between StarCraft and Starship Troopers in which players will choose between playing the game as an RTS or an FPS.
Below are his comments on the game attributing its creation to wanting to game with his 5 sons:
They’re all avid gamers and like first-person shooters. The problem is, as you get older, you lose some reaction time, and as a result, I’m getting slaughtered by them. A real-time strategy [RTS] game, however, is more my [preference], a good resource game is what I love. Battleswarm is both an RTS and a shooter, a mash-up between StarCraft and Starship Troopers, if you will. You can switch sides, too, if you feel like an RTS instead of a shooter, or vice-versa.
Sounds pretty awesome, can we get a release date?
Read (USA Today)
Tags: atari, battleswarm, field of honor, hybrid, nolan bushnell, Pong, rts, starcraft, starship troopers
Race Pro Game Review–Like Driving A Brick Through Wet Cement
Yes, it’s yet another in a long, long, LONG series of racing games currently available for the Xbox 360. This time, we’re talking about Race Pro, a game that breathlessly promises to be “the ultimate racing simulation experience”, and I’m sure that is the case on planets where no one has discovered driving, video games, the internal combustion engine or the wheel.
That’s the thrust of the review today, folks–this IS in fact the ultimate racing simulation experience if you’ve either never actually had a racing simulation experience before or you’ve never actually driven anything before.
Basically, the plot of the game, such as it is, is exactly that. You’re going to drive cars. No, this doesn’t exactly have the same literary quality of Ridge Racer’s young up-and-comer looking to burn his way through the ranks of the professional driving circuit, or the various underground racers where you’re out to gather pinks and impress hot chicks who like to wave flags half-naked for little or no conceivable reason. You’re just here to go fast and turn left, except for when, on occasion, you will be called upon to turn RIGHT.
You may be asking yourself at this point, hey, if that’s all I’m supposed to do, then why even bother? I mean, if I wanted to be stuck in traffic for twenty minutes while I tried to drive a car down a twisty, windy track, then why don’t I just jump in my car and actually, you know, go somewhere? At least then everybody on the Internet’ll stop calling me a basement dweller because I haven’t left the house in months.
Sadly, I don’t have much of an answer for that. Oh, sure, with Race Pro you’ll get to try out various different kinds of cars, on various different types of tracks, with various different types of options. I give Race Pro due credit for having an almost OBSCENE number of options–not only can you tweak the difficulty, you can also tweak subclasses of the difficulty as well. For instance, if you’re racing on hard mode and find the AI’s just a little TOO aggressive with the competing drivers, you can actually dial down the racers’ AI difficulty level. It’s an absolutely customizable racing experience.
Absolutely customizable, yes…but worthwhile? That’s where I’m going to have to say no. I had SERIOUS problems with the controls on this one–even something that should be video-game simple, the drift maneuver, I couldn’t manage to pull off. In fact, driving the Mini Cooper in the first level felt exactly like the headline described, like driving a brick through wet cement. I remember trying to pull off a turn, so naturally, I decelerate so I can jam on the gas after I’ve started to pitch my nose a bit. The car promptly decides that it prefers going straight, and thusly goes COMPLETELY OFF THE TRACK and into the dirt. The game then warns me that I’m “cutting track”, to which I respond with a torrent of obscenities detailing the fact that, one, I already KNOW I’m off the track and, two, that I wouldn’t have been if the game had done what it was told to do in the first place.
This is, of course, profoundly irritating, but there’s probably a workaround if you’re desperate enough for a new racing game to try. I personally say that there are better racing games out there–vastly better, in fact–but if you want a driving sim that’ll give you a huge fight, then Race Pro is the game you want.
Tags: atari, Driving, driving game, Microsoft, race pro, Racing, racing game, sim, Simulation, simulation game, xbox 360
Namco Bandai picks up Dragon Ball license
Formally owned by Atari, Dragon Ball has returned to it’s original publisher, Namco Bandai. This is unfortunate for Atari especially considering their current financial situation.
Bandai says that they will have exclusive rights to the Dragon Ball license 5 years beginning in January 2010. Additionally, they will publish the upcoming titles, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast.
Does Atari losing one of it’s biggest franchises mark the end for the aging company? I guess we’ll find out.
Neverwinter Nights MMO in development
Hollywood trade magazine Variety reports that Neverwinter Nights developer Cryptic Studios is developing an MMO based on the Neverwinter Nights universe. The report also suggests that Atari’s main intention with the acquisition of the studio was the MMO, which Atari is putting all its bets on. No other details of the game were mentioned, other than that a 2011 release date was expected.
Phil Harrison steps down as president of Infogrames
Infogrames today announced that Phil Harrison is no longer the president of the company.
“Because of a shift of business operations to the US, Phil Harrison will move from the role of President to that of non-executive Director of the Group. As all Board members, he will continue to assist, support and guide the Company’s strategy.”
Harrison will still be actively engaged in the decision making process of the company. Infogrames has appointed board member Jeff Lapin to the CEO position.
Read (Kombo)
Atari pulls out of this year’s E3
With only a few weeks to got until E3, Atari has announced that the publisher has pulled out of the show. They will still be attending the show, but not exhibiting. An Atari rep told Joystiq that it will look into other marketing initiatives in order to promote upcoming games such as Ghostbusters.
It’s not a surprise that a publisher should pull out of an expensive show like E3, especially during these tough economic times.
Champions Online to Save the Day – err… Month – This July
Bring out your underwear because it’s time to put it over your pants and go out to rescue the day! Cryptic Studios’ superhero MMO Champions Online will be released on July 14 – this comes from a press event held by publisher Atari in the big, bright city of London.
The news isn’t supposed to be revealed until May 8, but with other sites reporting, who gives a damn, right?
The game for underwear perverts everywhere is set to come out on PC, though publisher Atari has noted that it would be coming to “consoles”, though no release date for it is known at the moment.
NWN Mysteries of Westgate Finally Resolved
Long-in-development Neverwinter Nights 2 adventure pack “Mysteries of Westgate” will finally arrive as a premium download on April 29, publisher Atari announced today.
Originally intended for release during fall 2007, the download will be sold through Atari’s online stores in North America and Europe for $9.99 and 9.99 GBP, respectively.
Created by the same team as the Neverwinter Nights module “Darkness Over Daggerford”, the pack will feature more than 15 hours of new content, including new quests, new voice acting and music.
Assault on Dark Athena Patch Fixes Excessive Talking
No one likes people who talk too much. Nor do the people at Atari, who have released a patch for Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, fixing a crashing bug, solving one multiplayer issue and a case of too much talking.
Below is the patch note. Grab the patch from the developers.
- Multiplayer – User is unable to join an online session hosted by a patched game or a game with downloaded content and message "Blahblah" is displayed.
- Multiplayer – User is unable to join an online session if the port is not forwarded to 30000. This causes the message "session no longer exists" to be displayed.
- Assault on Dark Athena – Game crashes on throwing the guards body into the rotating fan.
New Ghostbusters trailer showcases Rule #3
Atari has recently released the above trailer for their upcoming game Ghostbusters: The Video Game. If you’re a fan of Ghostbusters you’ll recognize the third rule, for which the trailer is appropriately named: Split up.
The trailer showcases all sorts of ghostbusting carnage all while nicely showcasing the game’s graphics and physics engines.
Ghost Busters: The Video Game is currently under development by Terminal Reality and will hit store shelves on June 16th for the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC, Wii and Nintendo DS.
Chronicles of Riddick Gone Gold
The vast majority of film tie-in games are poorly constructed efforts for a quick cash-in on a popular film series. Occasionally we’re treated to a game that does the film justice- Goldeneye comes immediately to mind. When The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay was released, reviewers and gamers alike were stunned. The film was heavy on style and did that quite well, but wasn’t a huge success. The game however was crisply polished, somewhat unusual in its blend of shooting, sneaking and hand-to-hand combat; all in the first person perspective.
Rumors are circulating regarding a second Riddick movie, though at this point it seems like the tables have turned; the film seems likely to be a cash-in on the anticipated success of the game. Atari has announced that The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena has gone gold. The game is a combination sequel and remake with the original Butcher Bay content having been remastered into HD quality and a new adventure for the burly anti-hero. This time he’ll be prowling the corridors of mercenary ship Dark Athena and fighting for his life. Throw in the new multiplayer options and you’re getting a great package for the price.
The game is releasing in North America on April 7th, Australia on April 30th and later this year in Europe.
Dark Athena Gets Release Date
You’ll be snooping around futuristic prisons in the dark come April, as Atari today announced that The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will be released in North America on April 7; Europeans will get it a few weeks later on April 24.
They additionally announced that downloadable PS3 and Xbox 360 demos will arrive next month.
The enhanced remake of the 2004 shooter features redone graphics, improved gameplay and an entirely new single-player campaign in addition to the original. There are also several multiplayer modes.