Warzone Gamer: Riddick assaults Dark Athena April 7 in North America, Europe April 24

Riddick better get all those dark, monotone soliloquies out of his system before assaulting the Dark Athena crew on April 7 in North America, and April 24 in Europe. Atari sends word that The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will be available for PC, PS3 and X360, with demos releasing in March for the console versions.

Don't forget that Dark Athena also comes with an enhanced Escape from Butcher's Bay, so there'll be plenty of Riddick packed onto the disc come April.

Update: Big Download has word that a PC demo is in the works. No word of when it'll release, though.

Gallery: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Wiikly Wares: C64 games launch an Onslaught on Wii

by David Hinkle { 11 hours ago }

Click image for more bug blastin' screens

There are plenty of new goodies to check out on Wii this week. including a whole new system on the Virtual Console! We won't bother wasting any more time here typing out words you're going to just ignore, so shoot down for the details you crave.

Virtual Console
International Karate (C64, 1 - 2 players, 500 Wii Points): Features man-vs-man karate fighting to the death. Well, not really, but it is karate sparring. Do you need to know anything else?

The Last Ninja (C64. 500 Wii Points): Armakuni is literally the last ninja ever, and takes up a quest to destroy the evil Shogun Kunitoki. You'll have to rely on all of your ninja abilities if you hope to survive this one!

Pit Stop II (C64, 1 -2 players, 500 Wii Points): Enjoy split-screen action, or merely play alone in this C64 F1 racer. It's the first game to bring racing to the home computer and features six different tracks to race on, as well as true-to-life pit stop technology.

WiiWare
Onslaught (Hudson, FPS, 1,000 Wii Points): Hudson's FPS focuses on the war between humans and space bugs. The game features wave after wave of space bug baddies and includes boss fights and leaderboard support via Nintendo WFC. Sadly, though, the game does not include Michael Ironside.

Gallery: Onslaught

Now Playing: February 22-28, 2009

by James Ransom-Wiley { 11 hours ago }

Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:

Last updated: Monday, 2:00 pm

(Note: All platform release lists are posted after the break; use "Continued" button below.)

The first rule of Killzone is: you kill the guys with red eyes. The second rule of Killzone is: you KILL the guys with red eyes! The premise is low maintenance, but Killzone 2 packs a lot of baggage. From its conspicuous debut to subsequent years of shrouded development to a confident early review strategy, it's been a long journey for the shooter-that-should, which finally arrives at its retail destination on Friday. In the meantime, you might enjoy Tuesday's releases, including Dead Rising: Wag Till You Gag, 50 Cent: I'll Stop Those Terrorists ... Or Die Tryin' and Shellshock 2: The Bargain-Priced Sequel. So then ... see you Friday?

Continued →

Kanye West once tried to sex up Mario

by Justin McElroy { 12 hours ago }

The very best (read: easiest) posts are the ones that no amount of clever presentation could make any funnier -- in fact, any effort to do so could only fail miserably. Observe:

"My game was very sexual," Kanye West told Details magazine, describing a hack he attempted to make on a home computer as a child. "The main character was, like, a giant penis. It was like Mario Brothers, but the ghosts were, like, vaginas. You'd have to draw in and program every little step. It literally took me all night to do a step, 'cause the penis, y'know, had little feet and eyes."

... What's that, it's quittin' time at the blogging factory already? Well, thank you, Mr. West.

Eidos confirms 'Beneath the Ashes' price, playable character in second DLC pack

by Alexander Sliwinski { 12 hours ago }

Eidos has finally confirmed that Tomb Raider Underworld's Beneath the Ashes pack -- releasing tomorrow -- will cost the expected 800

($10). Lara's exploration of what existed beneath her 12-room (2-bath), fully furnished wine cellar is the first piece of DLC, to be followed by Lara's Shadow, which offers a "new" playable character.

Given the disappointing sales of TRU, we're going to guess that quite a few haven't played the title yet. As this playable character is a spoiler, we'll place that info after the break.

Continued →

Funcom CFO quits after $23.3 million loss

by Justin McElroy { 12 hours ago }

Mongol General: Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good. And what's second best?
Conan: Well, I guess it's looking at a company with a $23.3 million operating loss in the fourth quarter and being able to say to yourself, "Hey, you know what? As the CFO, I'm gonna go ahead and deploy the old life raft and try to reach shore, or, barring that, a promising web 3.0 start-up that would benefit from an experienced hand." It's tough to throw in the towel, but sometimes it's just the sound fiscal decision.
Mongol General: ... Yeah, well, I guess that's pretty good too.

VentureBeat: Microsoft buying 3D camera company

by Justin McElroy { 13 hours ago }

A story from Haaretz was circulating last week claiming that Microsoft was in talks to purchase 3DV, maker of a camera-based motion sensing technology. Now, VentureBeat has supported the claim, saying that its sources confirm that a deal is in the works.

Assuming Microsoft has gaming in mind and not creepy, Minority Report-style desktop navigation, our feelings are mixed on it. It could be a giant leap forward if 3DV's tech were bundled with a new console, but we're not sure we'll be ponying up for another stand-alone camera while still under the watchful, dusty eye of our Xbox Live Vision. What about you?

Street Fighter IV ships two million units worldwide

by Alexander Sliwinski { 13 hours ago }

Street Fighter IV has come out of its corner with a Hundred Hand Slap, as worldwide shipments of the title have reached two million units. Publisher Capcom did not provide any regional information to IGN about where all those little boxes went, but we're sure the company used a few to replenish the stock in Japan, following reports that the game sold out during its launch week.

The good news is that retailers purchased a couple million copies and now Capcom doesn't have SF IV just sitting in a warehouse somewhere. Are two million (and more) of you ready to buy our favorite fighting game this generation?

NPD study says that gamers prefer retail

by Justin McElroy { 14 hours ago }

We've long worried that we were the only ones who would gladly trade the convenience of downloaded games for the visceral, ritualistic thrill of slicing open a new game case and burying our snouts inside to take a luxuriously long pull of that "new game smell." According to a new study by the NPD, 75 percent of players share our preference for retail (though not necessarily our fetishistic odor hang-ups). Group analyst Anita Frazier revealed the findings at DICE last week.

More surprisingly, 58 percent of those surveyed say they've never so much as downloaded a game. Guys, we love new game smell too, but not being able to give it up even once? Not to pass judgment on alternative lifestyles, but that's a little much even for us.

Capcom announces Lost Planet 2 [update]

by Ludwig Kietzmann { 15 hours ago }

Okay, so the planet's not nearly as lost this time around, what with people having settled on it long enough to start shooting at each other. But "Slightly Misplaced Planet 2" or "Somewhat Unfamiliar Orb 2" doesn't have the succinct strength of a "Lost Planet 2," so let's just call it a day -- and a sequel to Capcom's frenetic and famously frigid Xbox 360, PS3 and PC shooter.

We'll be putting up the video trailer soon, but in the meantime, you can view it on the Xbox Live Marketplace or have a look at some stills captured by Gamersyde. We trust you'll be able to notice the new forest environment, as well as the return of mechs, monsters and machine guns.

Update: You can watch the full trailer above, which demonstrates the game's new cooperative action. The trailer also notes that Lost Planet 2 is running on MT-Framework 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in the original Lost Planet as well as other Capcom releases like Dead Rising and Devil May Cry 4.

GTA Chinatown Wars commercial shows off game, zings government

by JC Fletcher { 15 hours ago }

In addition to some timely humor about current events, this GameStop/Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars ad features the first footage of Rockstar's DS game in motion. While there may only be a few seconds of actual gameplay visible (actually a bunch of different windows, each showing a few seconds of gameplay), it's enough to make us take notice.

Chinatown Wars is breathtakingly smooth in motion, especially for a DS game! The lighting looks great, and the semi-cel-shaded style works perfectly to make everything look clear and vivid. Of course, there's always the chance that the game won't look quite as good in reality as it does in ads!

The commercial highlights the GameStop-exclusive (until the first buyer gets home and logs into GameFAQs) code for an extra in-game $10,000, which should be an attractive prospect to those of you not interested in using the regular cheat codes included in every GTA.