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Toys R Us is running a special this week that if you buy Madden 10, you will get a $15 Gift Card for a future purchase. With so many good games coming up, that $15 will be put to good use so make sure you don’t pass this one up.

 

Captain N The Game Master – The Complete Series

 

It was the very early 90’s and Nintendo was tearing it up with the NES, SNES, and Gameboy. Why not on TV? In stepped “Kevin” who was pulled into his TV to rescue/lead some of the greatest heroes of that time. Mega Man, Simon B, and Kid Icarus joined Kevin, Duke (his dog), and the Princess in battling the likes of Mother Brain (what no Samus?) and her stooges. No matter when you jumped into the world of video games, Captain N is still a must watch for fans of gaming of all ages. Heck, even Gameboy jumped on the Captain N bandwagon soon after Kevin got things rolling. So if you haven’t seen Captain N, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy before its out of print and you miss out on some of the best video game based TV ever. If you’re lucky, you may even find some old copies of Nintendo Power/Captain N comics that had Samus Aran on the team…

 

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Captain N The Game Master – The Complete Series

 

Here are some cool pics and sprites we found across Videogame Land… er… the web.

 

 

 

 

  Yo Joe! G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra is the latest game from Electronic Arts based off new G.I. Joe movie called G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra. As COBRA unleashes its deadliest plot yet, the G.I. JOE Team is counting on you and your hand-picked team of heroes to lead the counterattack. Every mission is critical and so is every G.I. JOE character. The game picks up right where the live action movie leaves off with the main characters of Duke and Scarlett heading on a mission in the Arctic Tundra where you are investigating the Military Armaments Research Syndicate (MARS). MARS has kidnapped G.I. Joe Heavy Duty and Ripcord and one of your many missions is to get them back. Stalker and Hawk walk your characters through the area and they also relay new information to you about enemies and your surroundings. The gameplay is third-person action, and you automatically lock on to any nearby enemies. This works very well and very handy when you have multiple enemies on the screen and there is also a good covering system in place to avoid enemy fire, which is helpful for recovering your health but because cover is destructible, you'll need to keep moving. During the mission you will encounter basic enemies and advances enemies in which you will be told how to handle them either from a distance or up-close melee. Vehicles are used in selected missions and these come in great when it comes large groups of enemies because everything seems to have unlimited ammunition so you can run enemies over or blow up everything with a cluster of missiles. You even get to use a satellite to destroy enemies and vehicles. With each mission, you will be taken to a new type of area from the Arctic to the Jungle to the Desert and you’ll find and be provided with new G.I. Joes who want to join the fight and this comes in helpful because you can build your team for the mission on how you see fit or how you feel the mission is going to go. Some of the G.I. Joe characters that will join your team are Snake Eyes, Heavy Duty, Ripcord, Shipwreck and Gung Ho. Characters are classified into one of three units: Commandos who do well at close range, Heavys who possess extraordinary shooting skills but do it best from a distance and Combat Soldiers who are a balance between the two. During the course of the missions, you will have certain G.I. Joes who will communicate with you based on your surroundings and environment so expect a lot of G.I. Joes to make cameo appearances even if you don’t get to use them for action in the game. Every G.I. Joe character has their special abilities such as Duke has a grenade launcher and Scarlett has a homing-arrow crossbow. The game may have a selective set of characters, vehicles, surrounding missions and explosive gameplay but it did come across with some signs of weakness. I know the game is set as a third-person action shooter but with settings, it felt the game came across with tunnel vision. The character would look and feel about 6 inches tall and the rest of the surroundings would be huge or would look as it was a mile ahead and everything is coming at you. The camera rotation is very lacking as you can take your character and run in one direction while shooting an enemy in another direction and the camera will not rotate to see what you are shooting at. This is frustrating the most when you are blocked by cover or objects or if you try and run from something, the camera will just sit in the same direction. The aiming system can be a nice touch but it doesn’t know the difference between enemies or bonus items. Even if you switch the aiming system yourself, it doesn’t always change. The worse part of the game which frustrated me was the different level of play. The game is set for casual, advanced and hardcore and even on advanced it felt like it was hardcore. Also, if you fail a mission on advanced or hardcore, it allows you to start the mission over but from the beginning so you can be on the last part of the mission and die and you will have to do that mission all over again. Not to mention any Intel, filecards or hidden characters you may find for the mission will be taken away and you have to find them all over again. Playing the game on casual felt more comfortable but you do have to work harder to gain medal points which you use to buy unlockable characters. Overall, the game is pretty fun and has a great G.I. Joe feeling to it even if it is more based on the movie than what we might all remember from the 80’s but the gameplay, the characters, the cutscenes and the game overall will keep you and your friends playing for awhile. You may want to rent the game first to get an overall feeling for the game but if you are a die-hard G.I. Joe fan than you will definitely want to buy it.   from ENI

It's a funny thing, Borderlands. While excitement arose during its initial 2007 announcement, it was the cel-shaded graphics that brought the game the most attention. After that, however, Borderlands sort of fell off the radar, becoming a game many people were not even thinking about, much less actively wanting to play. With games like Fallout 3 and Call of Duty 4 doing the whole shooter/RPG thing passably, it almost seemed like Borderlands was going to be late to the party. Then, of course, Gearbox Software, complete with Samba de Amigo and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, became ready to settle down and focus on Borderlands. This is when all the attention came rushing back, with outlandish claims of millions of weapons, dashing cel-shading design, and a little something about apples. Interesting game, to be sure. Hit the jump for my impressions. Borderlands (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) Developer: Gearbox Software Publisher: 2K Games To be released: October 20, 2009 As I'm sure you've heard, Borderlands is an attempt to mash-up the FPS and the RPG genres, much like Fallout 3 last year. However, Borderlands is also trying to toss in the co-op of Left 4 Dead, the team-based role assignments of high-level WoW gameplay, the random loot drops and dungeon designs of Diablo, the controls and gunplay of Call of Duty 4, the twisted sardonic attitude of BioShock, a mildly cartoonish aesthetic and humor largely based off the cyber/steampunk world of Firefly. Damn. It's the graphics that are going to first attract your eye, and the bold usage of cel-shading is pretty damn daring. Joss Whedon's world of Firefly is certainly a major influence, as well as Mad Max, and you can see the influence on the planet of Pandora. Everything is left-over scrap heaps and DIY vehicles and structures, really going far to creating a world where the low and lowly fight to survive. It's definitively a futuristic western, and while modern tools are strewn about (including obnoxious helper robots and vending machines selling everything from healing items to guns to upgrades, all wrapped up in a sickly-sweet consumerist package), the game is about people surviving in a desert world, with aliens and bandits and the environment doing all that it can to kill you. A lot has been said about the cel-shaded graphics, and I'll give my personal opinion. After five minutes, it's not noticeable, except for the occasional bold black line highlighting an object. You're too focused on playing. One great benefit of the cel-shading, however, is that it goes very far toward making the game very clean to work in. Unfortunately, the two areas I played, rusty town Firestone and “The Canyon”, suffered from a lot of rusty red and browns. However, since this game relies so much on desert worlds, having the clean bold outlines really help the player, as well as look nice. While I struggle playing a game like Gears of War, with an enemy or key item practically camouflaged in the background, the cel-shading of Borderlands makes everything very clean and clear. I found that I always knew what, where and who I needed to get to. Unfortunately, there was still some jaggies I found in the game, like in certain background flags, that could use some tightening. But overall, yeah, this game looks hot. One thing that was really disappointing in the initial areas that I visited, is that there is a major lack of NPCs. The first town had plenty of dudes to shoot, but only one NPC. He's a doctor who just stands there telling me to get batteries and stuff. Oh, and outside of town is a crotchety blind guy sitting on a porch threatening to shoot you, and there's a dumb robot helping out out. That's about it for this beginning area. Hopefully, later areas are a bit more alive and vibrant, as the lack of NPCs created a feeling of awkward isolation. Sure, one argument could be made that this is a ghost town environment, but it's hard to believe that when I killed 30 or so bad guys ten minutes in. Enemies, thankfully are proper aliens, with split-faced, dog-like skrags, giant spiders, ax-wielding dwarfs and crazy 'roided out dudes. It's properly alien and western, and shooting them in the face is always a treat. The much touted gun systems seems to be just as expected. There are millions of non-sequitur weapons that you'll find, some more effective than others, and it's always neat to see what bizarre weapon will pop out of the next baddie. While I didn't receive this particular gem, a fellow journalist received a rocket-launching shotgun, and I was jealous. I asked a Gearbox rep about an option for players to use the gun system like LEGOs, building their own weapons from the ground up, but it looks like this will not be happening. Gearbox doesn't want people to just build the best weapon that they can, and totally ignore the fun that will be had by random drops. Take it for what it's worth, alright? While the first forty minutes of play was the very beginning of single player, as the soldier-class Roland, the last half of play was the four player co-op in a canyon stage about 20 levels higher. We had the options to keep playing as Roland, or we could try out sniper Mordecai, Lilith, the siren assist class, or the brutish Brick. Finding that many of the enemies had a habit of rushing me, I picked Brick. This is where I had a chance to play with the RPG elements of the game. As you kill enemies (who have both health bars and, for every connected shot, a rising ticker of experience points) and complete objectives you'll level up. Reach a certain level, and you can assign classes and abilities to your character, with three skill trees. For example, Mordecai can gain better sniping skills or a pet eagle, Lilith can do more stat boosting skills or go invisible. My choice, Brick, can choose trees like “tank” or “berserk”. It's a fairly straight forward skill progression, and it promises to be a neat bit of customization on your path to maxing your skills out. Other things that make Borderlands feel RPG-like is the inclusion of color customizations for your characters, as well as loot drops and the hierarchy of weapon and shield drops. Certain areas are randomized, meaning each playthrough will be at least marginally different. The actual gunplay seems to be very solid. With the team behind Borderlands having made Brother in Arms: Hell's Highway and the PC port of Halo, shooting is very solid, with each weapon feeling unique in its quirks. It controls very much like Call of Duty 4, which is a good thing. However, I really wish the reticule speed can be adjusted, as it felt more than a bit chuggy for me. Also, picking up items felt off, as if you aren't in the exact position to pick up say, that necessary health pack, you enter a long reload animation instead. Then you die. Co-op multiplayer with four players is not as fast paced as a game like Left 4 Dead, but the team based mechanics, such as using characters for their support, tank (as in MMO), or specialized roles, is encouraged. Health and ammo need to be shared, so cooperation is important. Should you die, you enter a mode much like being knocked down in L4D. If you make a kill from here, you can rise up and gain a health boost. Your partners, too, can pick you up. It seems to take steps to forcing the co-op experience, and with drop-in co-op at anytime, Borderlands offers a lot of flexibility in playing with others. Hell, even versus stuff can be found in the arenas, and starting duals is as simple as both guys melee attacking each other. Standard deathmatch seems to be a little out of the picture, however. The most interesting portion of the my hands-on with Borderlands isn't even what I had hands-on with: the DLC. Coming at earliest in early 2010, the really exciting portion of DLC for Borderlands is that they can build on the most popular aspects of the game. If people are really digging the arenas, Dueling and PvP, there will be more DLC devoted to that. If the story elements are most popular, there will be more of that. If the character class system proves to be really popular, and they find room for improvement, there will be new classes to play. Basically, the parts of Borderlands that is most fun, well, that's what they want to keep working on. It's easy to say that Borderlands is trying to do a lot, and the last thing Gearbox needs is a game that is okay as a whole, but mediocre when it comes to the specifics. Thankfully, it looks like Gearbox is really pressing to make sure that each area of the game is outstanding. From very crisp graphics, to the multiplayer heavy story-mode, to the insane amount of guns, to the solid controls, Borderlands should be very interesting to check out once it releases October 20.   from destructoid

Massive savings can be found at GameStop from now until August 2 both in store and online. A big group of games, including the console versions of Street Fighter IV, have been given a temporary price drop and are now only $19.99:

• Animal Crossing: City Folk (Game Only)
• Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
• Excitebots: Trick Racing (Game Only)
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• Lair
• MadWorld
• Mario & Sonic at Olympic Games
• Silent Hill: Homecoming
• Wanted: Weapons of Fate
• Wario Land: Shake It
• Wii Music

It's crazy to think that I haven't played most of these games, and I cannot tell you how hard it is not to give in and spend a hundred bucks right now. For now, the plan is to get MadWorld. What about the rest of you? Which of these games are all of a sudden worth playing now that they have become so inexpensive? [Thanks, SilverDragon1979!]   from destructoid

This Friday, GameStop revealed their preorder exclusive Scarecrow Challenge Maps for Batman: Arkham Asylum, and the villain's new look certainly coincides with his fear-inducing powers. Players who preorder Batman: Arkham Asylum from GameStop will gain access to the Dem Bones Scarecrow Challenge Maps for the game, which pit Batman against a horde of skeletal hallucinations courtesy of Jonathan Crane. And while skellingtons are indeed creepy, they've got nothing on the new design for Crane, who looks like he's just washed up on shore after a stint in BioShock's Rapture. See? A man in a scarecrow costume is scary. A man in a stylized scarecrow costume with hypodermic needles for fingers? Terrifying. If this is Rocksteady's Scarecrow, I'd hate to see their Mrs. King.

from kotaku

LucasArts has announced that the “Ultimate Sith Edition” of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will hit this fall on PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac, bringing with it two new levels in the Star Wars Infinitycanon. One, set on Tatooine, will see Vader’s apprentice hunting down and battling Obi-Wan Kenobi, making a stop at Jabba the Hutt’s palace along the way. For the other, which takes place on Hoth, the apprentice has become the master, and — wearing the Vader-esque armor seen above — scraps with Luke Skywalker himself.

The Hoth mission will be exclusive to the Ultimate Sith Edition of the game; the Tatooine mission, however, will be offered as paid DLC on PS3 and 360 for owners of the less-than-ultimate original game. Additionally, the new edition will include all previously released DLC for The Force Unleashedon disc, including the Jedi Temple mission and various player skins.

It may seem strange to be launching a second edition of the title (and DLC) nearly a year after it was released, but The Force Unleashed remains the fastest-selling Star Wars game of all time (and has sold move than six million copies to date). Check out the gallery below for more first screens from the Ultimate Sith Edition.

 

from joysriq

 

Imagine Roland of Gilead clenching a katana with one full-fingered hand. Now pretend our imaginary Roland fancies Asian dress and still remembers the face of his father. This Roland would look similar to the man in the header, which happens to be Red Steel 2’s protagonist and the point of the video below the fold. Earlier this morning Ubisoft released a developer diary for Red Steel 2. In the video, the devs behind the title discuss -- at length and even in French -- the unnamed protagonist and his weaponry. If you haven’t caught on, the protagonist is a cowboy with a katana. Yee-haw. Also, prepare to hear Clint Eastwood dropped one hundred percent more times than Roland of Gilead. Red Steel 2 looks pretty and by all E3 2009 indications, appears to be living up to what the original was supposed to be. We’ll keep bringing the media and the information as it comes, especially if said media or information gives this gonzo cowboy a name. (We suggest "Bob.")   from destructoid

The House of Ideas had an idea to take a few of its bullpen best and turn them into Sackboys. At today's "The Next Generation of Marvel Video Games" panel, three new heroic LittleBigPlanet costumes were revealed. Marvel showed off three concept renders of Sackboys that may be coming to the PlayStation 3 exclusive, but did not offer dates for the costumes, nor confirm that this would be the extent of the Marvel characters that would be licensed for LittleBigPlanet use. Considering Marvel has Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Marvel Super Hero Squad coming this year, don't be surprised if you see Captain America, Iron Man and Wolverine on your PS3 soon.
from kotaku

Before the screening of the Director’s Cut of Watchmen with Director Zach Snyder, Warner Bros. brought-out some big fan favorites to talk about the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game Saturday Night at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Moderator Ricardo Torres from Gamespy first ran a Silent Hill-esque teaser trailer for the game, composed of a series of macabre pans across the night-shrouded grounds of Arkham Asylum while a scratchy voice recording of the Asylum’s founder lamented his fate and chosen calling, finally questioning his own sanity and the seemingly intrinsic madness that embodied Gotham. Earlier Arkham Asylum Trailer After the applause died down, he called the panel out, first Rocksteady games producer Sefton Hill, the voice of Batman Kevin Conroy, whose ovation could only have been topped by the next man: Joker’s voice and sci-fi legend Mark Hamill who brought the crowd in the large panel room to their feet. Finally writer Paul Dini (Batman: Streets of Gotham, Gotham City Sirens) joined the group on stage. Hill announced that he was happy to be in San Diego and to have so much of Batman’s history to build of off to make this game. He praised the game’s depth of characterization for Batman, with its focus on not only his fighting skills but his predator skills, his use of psychology and his relationship with the Joker. Torres then asked Paul Dini about his involvement, and he realized that when he first flew to London to see the game in progress he was blown away at how much development studio Rocksteady “got” Batman. Torres asked Hill how they chose the subject of the game. Hill replied that they took the general Batman license and went though the 70 years of his history and were immediately attached to the idea of Arkham. They thought "wouldn’t it be cool if Batman was trapped there with all his enemies, along with innocents he had to rescue," and that it would even be a good idea for a movie. Torress asked about tweaks to characters, and Hill answered that Killer Croc, for example, in development he mutated away form just a big guy with a skin condition, and now he’s Godzilla in pants, lurking in Arkham’s sewer, eating the unwary. Harley Quinn is the Joker’s inside woman at the Asylum, so her outfit is a nurse’s that she’s messed up in her special way, and her mask is just dirt from around the grounds. On the topic of how they decided on the voices, Hill said to the crowds delight that there wasn’t even a choice; it was Conroy and Hamill or nothing. Hamill then welcomed the crowd in the Joker’s voice and how he’s is glad that the Joker can really cut loose now that he’s out from under the standards and practices rules of TV animation. He also said his son can’t wait to play as the Joker on the PS3 version (a feature exclusive to that system). Dini added that it could be the first step to a mayhem filled Joker game. Hamill then remarked that this might be his last shot at the Joker after 17 years, and Conroy praised him for his consistency with the character. Dini added that they couldn’t get enough Joker in the game and mentioned an in-game collectable: a series of audio tapes of Joker’s psychoanalysis sessions where he and Quinn discuss his relationship with Batman that players are really going to want to find. Hamill, who at that point had taken charge of the festivities, after noting how easy it was for he and Conroy to slip back into their rhythm for the recording session, changed the subject briefly and mentioned that he’d finished recoding an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold with some classic Batman talent: Adam West and Julie Newmar as Thomas and Martha Wayne, Conroy as the Phantom Stranger and himself as the Specter. He then, to applause, praised almost all other performances of the Joker by name with special attention to Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight. He then speculated about doing a book on tape of The Killing Joke, describing that as a dark take on the Joker like the new game. There wasn’t time for questions, but after Hamill called out to all the Harley cosplayers in the audience, he and Dini told the story of her origins in the animated series, how the character grew organically and how proud he was that she made the leap to the comics. The panel ended with a Joker laugh and a warning form Conroy that: “I am terror, I am the night, I am Batman!” http://www.newsarama.com/games/070925-sdcc-ArkhamAsylum.html