While I can’t understand or read Japanese, the universal message of this new trailer released by Nintendo of Japan is clear: Kirby is cute…sickingly so. 

Kirby’s Epic Yarn has received much attention since being formally announced at E3 a few months ago.  While Kirby fans have been clamoring for a new game, many surprised fans found they’re favorite character had been changed into yarn.

This new approach is remininscent of Sony’s Little Big Planet with texture fabric realistic graphics.  Kirby, while now made of yarn, ..read the full article

Take-Two is laughing all the way to the bank with Red Dead Redemption, which has led the company to it’s first profitable year without a major GTA release. The company saw net revenue for its fiscal third quarter reach $354.1 million, up significantly from the $94.9 million reported last year during the same time period. Leading the profits is Red Dead Redemption, which has shipped 6.9 million copies worldwide since the May release.

Take Two sees this as proof that they are not ..read the full article

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While it comes as no surprise to many, Take Two announced today that Rockstar’s upcoming action title L.A. Noire has in fact been delayed until next year.

L.A. Noire is now looking at a release date somewhere in the first half of 2011. That’s a whole lot of release dates, so hopefully we’ll get something more concrete soon. After blowing through Mafia II, I’m itching to take my 1940s-era action to the west coast. In the game, players will experience “an ..read the full article

Some of our older readers might remember John “Wardrox” Kershaw- well, he’s moved on from Ripten and is now spending his time creating odd web games to test your gaming blog knowledge. Can you guess which site ran which headline?

The game is playable here on John’s excellent gaming news aggregator Wire.vg.  It asks simply “What site ran this headline?” with a date and gives you a few options to choose from. When you get up to the harder difficulties you’ll ..read the full article

According to the Witcher’s Facebook Page, CDProjekt is not going to, “sacrifice” the game’s development for consoles at the moment.  They are simply focused on a great PC title … for now.

Here’s the direct quote:

To be clear – no part of The Witcher 2′s development is being sacrificed for console development. The focus is on delivering a great PC title for Q1 next year… the engine is CAPABLE of console development, but we are currently focused on the PC game ..read the full article

Rockstar, the long running developers and publishers of perhaps one of the most controversial game series ever has announced that their handheld exclusive; Chinatown Wars, will be heading to the iPad on September 9th for $9.99 (USD).

Following the dismal sales of the game on the Nintendo DS and PSP due to piracy, Rockstar is hoping that the HD installation will appeal to a broader audience. The developer said:

““In addition to the wide range of features developed specifically for the ..read the full article

At today’s Call of Duty: Black Ops live event, Treyarch showed off the new “wager” matches and four new modes of play. As somebody who pledges allegiance to Infinity Ward, I have to say that Black Ops is looking very, very good.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be Mod-Friendly Call of Duty Black Ops Collectors Edition Includes RC Car + Prestige Edition Trailer Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Teaser Revealed Call of Duty Black Ops Special Not-So-Original Editions Announced New Call of Duty: ..read the full article

Valve has promised “at least three big surprises” in the next year. However, no further details were given.

“I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn’t going to stop any time soon. I’m just laughing because… people will be shocked again,” Gabe Newell told PC Gamer.

“We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least.”

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is obviously on the minds of Valve fans but this could mean ..read the full article

“Look Out…Here Come the Spider-Men!”  The newly released trailer for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is awesome!  What especially impresses is the different styles in art and gameplay shown for the four displayed playable characters.  It looks to be a promising return to the days of pre-movie Spider-Man Game webslinging fun.   The player will be able to control four versions of Spider-Man, spanning the Amazing, Noir, 2099, and Ultimate universes.  Each character has different moves, abilities, art-style and personality.  Because of the variety and ..read the full article

Microsoft have said today that Kinect will only accept voice recognition in American English, British English, Japanese and Mexican Spanish until Spring 2011.

That means gamers in mainland Europe are not going to be able to use the voice recognition features of Kinect- even if they can speak one of the supported languages. The region-locked nature of the Xbox 360 will mean the features will be completely locked out to them anyway. Microsoft have defended their choice of Mexican Spanish over ..read the full article

Remember when you put Dead Rising in your Xbox 360 for the first time and discovered that the text was completely unreadable because of your SDTV? You’ll not have that trouble with Vanquish.

The recently released demo has revealed that the game will feature an “SDTV mode” which makes the text and icons larger and visible on a standard definition screen. That’s great news for people who don’t have an HDTV yet- although you should probably look into getting one. I ..read the full article

You had to see this one coming. Yesterday, there was a reported Kinect Beta listing on ebay for $1200. The listing didn’t stay up for long however, getting not a single bid before being taken down. Whether taken down by the seller or ebay…the world may never know.

I wasn’t one of the lucky few involved in the Kinect Beta nor have I viewed the NDA.  One can assume that somewhere in all that fine print there’s a rather large bit of ..read the full article

When THQ began to reveal info about the newest iteration in the WWE Raw vs. Smackdown series, one item of interest was that Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart would be available as a pre-order bonus for those who ordered the game from Best Buy, as well as major Canadian retailers. And today, they’ve revealed what those who patronize other stores and websites will receive.

“While supplies last,” Toys R Us pre-orders will come with an alternate ..read the full article

There is just all sorts of news coming up from Xbox LIVE Director of Programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb today. First, we learn about the upcoming Xbox 360 controller with adjustable D-pad, and now we get to learn what awaits us on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace throughout the month of September.

Already available before the start of the month is Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, which will run you but 400 Microsoft Points (around five bucks) for the ..read the full article

Yesterday, we learned of Microsoft’s impending price increase for its Xbox LIVE Gold service, much to the dismay of those who use it or had planned on joining. Today, however, we have the words of an analyst to put us in our place and explain to us why this is a good thing.

Indeed, it is the famed analyst Jesse Divinch of EEDAR who has arrived on his white horse to explain to us why paying more for ..read the full article

Microsoft improves the D-pad as Xbox’s Major Nelson releases a video detailing the new xbox controller. It looks like a really good improvement.

The new design features include a “revolutionary D-pad” that changes from a “disc to a plus” with just a simple twist. Other changes include muting of color as the xyab buttons have changed from colorful to white and differing shades of gray.

These look to be great improvements. The new raised “plus” D-pad promises to give fighting fans ..read the full article

The official Vanquish demo “Velocity Attack” is now available on Xbox Live and PSN in North America.  Vanquish, the much anticipated title from SEGA, is a Western/Japanese hybrid 3rd-person shooter which includes cover system mechanics.  The download is just under 500 mb so definitely make sure you have room.

The demo looks great with 2 levels of difficuly of frantic action onboard an orbiting space station and includes a Boss fight.  Expect the full game to blast in on October 19th.  It’s definitely ..read the full article

Ever wonder what it would be like to terrorize the streets of Liberty City from a first-person perspective?  Wonder no longer.  Thanks to a mod created for the PC version, you can experience it yourself.

From this new perspective Liberty City definitely looks more alive.  Minute details are more visable as even the inside of a Burger shot looks impressive while weapon fire effects are closer, thus more noticeable. It’s obvious from this youtube video that combat and driving are more challenging.

Instructions on how ..read the full article