June 2012 Archives

Howdy everyone! The staff here at FI is about to go off into a corner and think about what we've done. In truth, we're all going on vacation, so the site will be quiet until our return in July. We won't spend the entire time in a corner, but we do promise to be vaguely introspective.

Tuesdays are always the biggest game release day of the week, and today is no exception, even at this quiet time of year. Read on for the full list of games, including a game with fetishized teenagers killing zombies and another featuring massive space battles...

It's actually been a busy day in gaming news. Sony and Nintendo executives are losing bonus money, Silicon Knights is shedding staff, Majesco reported its quarterly financials and in the year 4,000, the planet is a nuclear wasteland. Read on for links and more items...

Somewhere deep down, Lollipop Chainsaw comes from the same place as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But Buffy came from distilled camp sauced in kitsch, while Lollipop Chainsaw throws grindhouse-style violence with a barely-legal porn sensibility through a filter that's half cheery Japanese manga, half gory graphic novel.

In the opening cinematic, before I'd even gotten to the "Game Start" screen, Juliet had flashed panties, (almost) explicitly offered sex, mentioned her vagina, her love of cheerleading, and her now-18th birthday, and shoved a lollipop in her mouth. If someone catches me watching Buffy, I feel the shame of a middle-aged man watching teenage vampire hunters. But Lollipop Chainsaw is beyond embarrassment. I can't even get away with claiming "Uh... I'm reviewing this." Still, this is a game from Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda (the guy responsible for the unbelievably good, and mindbending, Killer 7), so I resolved to keep an open mind. I still doubted – Lollipop Chainsaw was developed in conjunction with James Gunn, the guy behind Slither, so I was worried it was exactly what it appeared to be.

The noteworthy item of the day is that Slant Six Games, the studio behind Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has "temporarily" laid off as many as 26 workers, confirmed by Slant Six.

Nintendo has re-released two GameCube titles for the Wii as "Nintendo Selects" titles. Mario Power Tennis and Pikmin 2, both released on the GameCube, are now in stores and available for the Wii, priced at $20.

The latest news all seems to concern 38 Studios' bankruptcy and Nexon acquiring a stake in NCsoft. Read on for the details...

Today, there are two new PC games available for download. Read on for the full list...

The week of E3 seldom sees many game releases, as all the marketing staff and many others are busy. There are, however, a few games coming out today, particularly the usual Xbox Live Arcade Update. Read on for the full list....

Despite this being the week of E3, there's just not a lot going on... unless you just want to sit around and watch game trailers all day. Perhaps the most interesting news (from a business perspective) is that Microsoft has decided to expand its program offering $99 4GB Xbox 360 consoles with a two-year-payment-contract to some Best Buy and GameStop locations. Other than that, the following games were released today:

For the time being, we're just going to give you quick summaries of the day's news. It's currently E3, so everyone is promoting or previewing games, but there's some news of significance floating around. Still, the most significant news appears to be the distinct lack of significant news coming out of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Check the summary after the jump for brief details on the announcements and possible studio closures...

by Kyle Ackerman

I'm tired of E3. Unless something radically changes, I'm just not particularly interested in what goes on at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, anymore.

Go ahead and observe the old coot alert here. If it helps, just picture me typing this in a rocking chair on the porch, sipping lemonade, with my shotgun leaning against the three-legged mangy dog.

E3 stopped being interesting in 2007, when the ESA dumped the L.A. Convention center and became a "Media and Business Summit." Since then, E3 just hasn't been the hub for interestng announcements and reveals.

Iceberg Interactive and Tripwire Interactive have released the Killing Floor Gold Edition for the PC. The game was originally released around three years ago, but this game of post-apocalyptic, co-operative survival has spawned tons of downloadable content, all of which is included in this new compilation, making for tons of fun for clone-killers.

Rockstar Games, the premier label of Take-Two Interactive, has released Max Payne 3, previously released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, for the PC through retail and digital outlets. Max Payne has come a long way in the last decade, offering another noir-(ish) single-player campaign along with multiplayer competition, combining cover-based shooting with Max Payne's signature bullet-time action. The game takes place several years after the previous games with Payne (addicted to painkillers) protecting a Brazilian mogul and his wife.