Usually, the focus of Arcade Flyer Art Saturday is ton retro arcade games, but this week I actually picked a game that only just came out. Why you may ask? Read on and see…
Death Smiles was released in the middle of October 2007 by Cave. The title is a side scrolling shooter that features girls with magical powers and the ability to fly. The whole game has a macabre atmosphere with traditional gothic horror trappings such as pumpkins, witches, bats, familiars, worms etc. The game is controlled with a joystick and three buttons: One button shoots left, one shoots right and the other throws a bomb. A lock-on guided missile attack is also accessible by hitting a combo. Your regular attacks mostly consist of shooting electrical rays at your enemies or jabbing them with your demon scissors or sword. Seeing as it has just come out there’s not much more I can say about the game having not really played it (you can see a clip of it here) , but the real fun comes in the form of the flyer, or at least the back of it. More »
As I have said in the past, I am a huge proponent of archiving video game history whether it be through video or the fine work of the powers that be over at TAFA. So I present to you this video from my favourite new site on the tubes, RetroGameVideos.com.
This great Final Fantasy III commercial features a Mog auditioning monsters for the (then) upcoming game. Despite his cute outward appearance, the Mog seems to be quite the stringent employer and just a wee bit aggro. Great stuff from the Golden Age. “NEXT!” More »
Child’s Play is getting a lot of love today here on Kotaku (as well it should). Here we have a nice wireless PS2 Guitar Hero guitar for auction up on eBay to benefit Penny Arcade’s up and coming charity. But this isn’t any ordinary GH guitar, this one has been autographed by some of the biggest names to appear at PAX ’07. The (mostly) complete list of autographers includes:
* Tycho and Gabe * Wil Wheaton * Jonathan Coulton * Caitlin Glass (Winry from FMA) * Gus Sorola, Geoff Ramsey, and Burnie Burns (Simmons, Grif, and Church from RvB) * Harmonix Employees (Makers of Guitar Hero): Alex Rigopulos (Co Founder), Sean Baptiste (Community Director), Dan Teasdale (Senior Programmer) * Dave Grossman (Co-Creator of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and the new Sam and Max) * Ron Gilbert (Co-Creator of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion) * Members of Optimus Rhyme * Members of The MiniBosses * Liz Excitement from Freezepop * MC Frontalot
The item just went up and bidding starts at a modest $US 25. There are nearly ten days left to bid and I’m sure this is an item that will fetch a nice high price. 100% of the proceeds will go to Child’s Play. Just think, if you win it, you can use it to raise even more money for Child’s Play at Funde Razor!
In case you didn’t already catch a glimpse of them in this god awful commercial, here is a nice stationary photo of the new “Big Button” controllers for Scene It’s new game for the 360. I actually kind of like the Scene It games as long as they are one of the off shoots like the Turner Classic Movie one and not the horrible mainstream one where I’m forced to sit through scenes from When Harry Met Sally, but these controllers…I don’t know. Something about them leaves me feeling like I’m playing with a Fisher Price lady’s “massager” if you catch my meaning. The upside is that for the same price of a regular game ($US 60), you get all four controllers along with the game when you purchase it.
[Image courtesy Gaming Nexus] More »
It looks like the Super Mario Galaxy deals just keep on coming. First GameStop offers free two day shipping and now Toy “R” Us is getting in on the action too. Purchase your copy of the game that will make you dust off your Wii (in-store) from Toys “R” Us and you’ll be rewarded with a $US 25 dollar.gift card. Pretty sweet deal right there seeing as it’s about half off of another new game (depending on the game). That’s almost enough to make me want to get in the car, drive the ten miles to the nearest TRU and fight the hordes of screaming children to get it.
[via GoNintendo] More »
Gamasutra’s Pierre Gaultier has an interesting interview up with Derek Littlewood of Free Radical on the subject of the upcoming PS3 title Haze. Narrative design and this whole question of making games compelling on a level a little deeper than ‘Oooh, shiny!’ is a hot topic, and various studios have claimed to have made great strides in realizing games that have some sort of higher purpose. Most of them have fallen short. Way, way short. Free Radical has set out to tackle the challenge, and from what I’ve read about Haze over the past couple of months, they seem to be hitting a lot of the important points in a pretty deep way – which is more than can be said for a lot of these ‘Look, look, we have a deeper purpose!’ games out there. What’s Littlewood’s take on Haze‘s place among games-with-a-purpose and games in general?
Our own fearless leader, the inimitable Crecente, is putting together an officially sanctioned Child’s Play charity fundraiser in two cities at once! On Wednesday, December 12th in Brooklyn and Denver, kind hearted and generous gamers will gather to play Guitar Hero and Rock Band, drink some beer and help raise money to benefit hospitalised children for the holidays.
The Brooklyn competition will take place at Barcade (home of the World Famous Kotaku Party 2007) and in Denver, rockers will attend at the glamorous and exciting Walnut Room. In both locations, a donation of ten dollars (either at the door or through raffle tickets depending on the location) could net you a host of currently unannounced fabulous door prizes. All proceeds from bothe events will go to benefit Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play Charity. Last year’s event raised over $US 4,200 so let’s all get out there and double, nay TRIPLE that number this year.
The charming Joel Johnson will be on hand to host the NY event so Crecente doesn’t have to go through the troublesome process of growing a clone in a jar. for all the details, check out the FÃœNDE RAZOR website. More »
I’m used to reading lots of ‘no, really?’ news on a variety of subjects, but it does seem that gaming gets the worst of the lot. In a report that Reuters describes as “shatter[ing]a widely held industry belief,’ it’s revealed that … men like casual games, too! They just don’t like to admit it. And don’t want to pay for it, thus are more likely to look for ways to obtain free copies or get around anti-piracy measures. I’m not sure why this is a shocking disclosure, considering we’re talking about games like Bejeweled, not Dash For the Manolo Blahnik Clearance Rack:
“Everyone always thought that casual games were something that only appeal to women,” Jessica Tams, managing director of the [Casual Games Association] , said in an interview. “We have always been obsessed about making games for women.”
Surveys of players showed that while nearly three-fourths of people who bought casual games were women, the players of such games were split 50-50 between the sexes.
The reason men have not been reflected in the data so far is because most males are fans of realistic, “hard-core” games, and many do not admit that they like to play simpler games involving shiny gems or lines of coloured balls.
I can’t understand why having some casual games on your laptop (or your 360, for that matter) is some shameful secret – a case of ‘real men don’t play PopCap games’?
Men also avid players of casual video games: study [Reuters via CNET] More »
Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News has his take on the comments of ESRB president Patricia Vance made yesterday in regards to the Manhunt 2 hacks and rating, which our fearless leader reported on yesterday. I’m in Takahashi’s camp, in that I don’t really get the technical differences between this and the Hot Coffee fiasco (beyond the fact that the content was disclosed in this case). Then again, it’s the sort of thing that’s never going to affect my game play, since Manhunt 2 will not be gracing any console of mine. But Takahashi raises some interesting questions on the sheer vagueness of the ESRB’s press conference/release.
I usually don’t pay too close attention to online polls, but when Kotakuite hero.of.time sent in this one I had to give a chuckle. Gamefaqs is currently running the sixth in a series of Character Battle polls wherein readers vote between four characters on who would win in a fight. After narrowing it down from a list that included the likes of Samus, Mega Man, Ryu, Sephiroth and other top contenders, only four characters will remain in the final battle. The final semi-final battle is on now and in a battle between a Tetris L-block, Solid Snake, Master Chief and Dante, the L-block is slamming the competition with a whopping 32,953 votes followed by Solid Snake with 24,497 votes. The two top characters in this battle will go on to the finals and currently Link and Cloud are in the winner’s circle awaiting their two remaining competitors. Will the L-block reign supreme? Cast your vote and decide. Is it ridiculous? Of course, but it’s Saturday and news is slow. So, sue me.
Character Battle VI [GameFaqs] More »
