Rather than taking the route of something like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Capcom's Blue Bomber is making his return in the same way he kicked things off back on NES: 2D, and hard as hell.
The development team went all out in making Mega Man 9 look, act, and truly feel like a classic game, adding in extras like downloadable content, a ranking system for time trials, and achievement-like challenges into the mix.
Mega Man 9 will send you on a trip down memory lane, but it's also one of the best of the traditional set, rivaling Mega Man 2 in many respects.
On the presentation side of things, you're going to get exactly what you expected with Mega Man 9. There's a classically done intro, complete with ridiculous pixel art to tell the story, text that wraps incorrectly from screen to screen, and an interface that's mainly made up of two colors and really simple lists of options and modes.
Should you have the classic options turned on (def... More »
March 23rd 2007. This was the date that many Europeans had been anxiously awaiting, counting down to the day that they would get their shiny piece of the future. Expecting to find graphics that blew away the competition, and features that left all before it in the dust, many early adopters fired up the latest iteration of the Playstation only to be met with a system that lacked support, and had only a handful of exclusive features.
It is true that on launch day the PS3 did not seem to be the powerhouse, or gamer’s choice machine that it promised to be. Despite having great launch titles such as Motorstorm and Resistance, the PS3 was a victim of its own hype, delivering nothing more than a standard console launch with only a handful of killer titles. This was to continue, as time went on the entry 20GB system was axed, leaving the 60GB as the only option for those who wanted to enter the next gen... More »
Last we heard, it was still up in the air somewhat as to whether upcoming PlayStation 3 consoles would house the elusive 65-nanometer RSX graphics processor.
According to couch21, a curious buyer of Sony's newest 80GB unit, there is a smidgen of data that hints at a 65nm chip actually being under the hood. By using the oh-so-scientific Kill-A-Watt, he discovered that his older 40GB PS3 sucked down 125.8-watts when idle, while the fresh 80GB edition ate up just 111.9-watts.
The findings were similar when looking at power draw during DVD playback and while spinning Metal Gear Solid 4. Unfortunately, this mighty fine fellow is planning to return the new unit after being disappointed by the minimal energy savings, so he's not apt to rip the thing open and prove once and for all what kind of GPU is in there.
Meanwhile, we heartily suggest that someone do just that and put... More »
With Final Fantasy XIII coming to the Xbox 360, is Sony concerned that it lost a major exclusive? Nope. Speaking in a recent interview, SCEA senior vice president Peter Dille shared his thoughts on the announcement, comparing it to Grand Theft Auto IV.
He believes that since FFXIII is now a cross-platform title, it will not move consoles in the same way that exclusive titles do, like Metal Gear Solid 4 for instance.
To quote: What you have with “Final Fantasy XIII” is a lot like what they’ve paid for with “GTA.” It’s not an exclusive on their platform. It’s now a cross-platform game. And I think if you look at how “GTA” behaved in the marketplace and how it drove — or didn’t drive — either console, that’s what I’m talking about. Consumers responded to “GTA” on the PS3 just as they did on the 360.
He’s probably right. After seeing the effect of GTA IV on both consoles, many are expecting a very similar situ... More »
Ben Ingram has released NeoDS, a Neo-Geo AES/MVS emulator for the Nintendo DS. Although certain hardware features such as FM audio and raster effects are not fully emulated as of yet, compatibility is quite good and most titles have been reported to run at a playable speed with minimal to no slowdown.
Note that a DLDI compatible flash card is required. Additional installation and usage instructions can be found in the included readme file.
N'Gai Croal of Level Up recently pointed to an interesting development factoid from EA CEO John Riccitiello's 3rd quarter earnings call. A Cowen & Company analyst noted that many publishers have had difficulty in completing PS3 titles quickly and asked whether or not EA had made progress in narrowing the development times between PS3 and 360 games.
The answer appears to be that meeting technical specifications is no longer an issue for games where development led on the PS3 – but where development was either parallel or started on the 360, there's still a notable lag in speed and quality.
Croal e-mailed EA with an obvious follow-up question: If that delay can be eliminated by starting with the PS3, would EA consider mandating that development begin there? Director of Communications Jeff Brown responded that no, the company doesn't provide such edicts and that a number of factors are considered when selecting a game's development path. Why might this... More »
Electronic Arts today announced that it has proposed to acquire Take-Two in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $2.0 billion.
The news follows weeks of rumors that Take-Two would be the subject of an acquisition bid, with Viacom touted as a possible suitor at $1.5 billion. EA has, it turns out, attempted to buy Take-Two for $25 a share, and, after being rebuffed, has upped the ante by a buck. But the firm has warned shareholders that they won't get a better price.
EA's proposal of $26 per share in cash represents a premium of 64 percent over Take-Two's closing stock price prior to the company's bid.
EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello said "Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two's game designers would also benefit from EA's financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and stro... More »
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