All Entries in the "Featured" Category

StarCraft Noob Files: First 30 Minutes of Multiplayer

Hello, I’m Chad and I’ve never played StarCraft before in my life. I used to play other, older RTS games back in the day, like Deadlock. I’m also a big fan of turn-based strategy titles like the Civilization franchise. But, when it comes to StarCraft, I haven’t had the gumption to take it on. There could be many reasons behind that, but the primary of which is probably the fact that I knew the sequel was coming out and would rather just wait for that to drop than pick up a 10-year-old game and try to start from scratch.

With some forceful nudging from a couple other editors here, I went out and claimed my copy of StarCraft II yesterday, slightly unsure how my laptop would handle it. I installed it and didn’t even realize it was running some sort of monologue in the background while it was doing so until it was nearly finished. Everything looks and runs great on my machine, albeit not at the highest settings. I’m still amazed how Blizzard can make some of the best games in the world and support a very high array of computer specs, more so than most new titles these days. I mean, c’mon, if I tried to play Crysis on my laptop it would spontaneously combust, setting my apartment on fire. Then I’d have to go through the trouble of turning in an insurance claim and all that jazz. Not worth it. Thank you, Blizzard, for not destroying my apartment.

Interview: NIS America’s Nao Zook on JRPGs, Localization and Their Upcoming Lineup!

A couple weeks ago NIS America had a press event in San Francisco where they unveiled their upcoming localization plans for various titles, including the PS3 exclusives Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland and Ar Tonelico Qoga (Ar Tonelico 3 in Japan). Since these titles are right up my alley, I got in touch with NISA’s Nao Zook about them. I also tossed a few questions her way about JRPGs in general, and the process of localizing them for a North American audience.

Hit the jump to check out the questions that were asked and the answers that we received. Pay close attention for some interesting tidbits!

Win a Copy of Persona 3 Portable – Find Out How!

Recently we’ve started up a new podcast here on DualShockers – the DualCast - which relates entirely to RPGs. We’re getting some awesome feedback on it from our readers. So, to celebrate our love of RPGs and the great support from our readers and listeners, we’re giving away one of the best RPGs out there – Persona 3 Portable. (Please note this is a physical retail copy of P3P, so you’ll need a PSP with a UMD drive, which excludes the PSP Go.)

What do you have to do to win this gem? Stay tuned to the site, because later today this week’s episode of the DualCast will go live. Why should you care? Well, we hope you want to listen to it anyway, but this week we’ll let you know during the podcast what you have to do to win. So, listen to the DualCast, figure out what you have to do then get to it! Simple, right?

Stay tuned, the podcast will be up later today, in which we’ll be predominantly discussing the Final Fantasy franchise. Give it a listen!

The podcast is HERE. Post your entries in that thread. Thanks!

Cataclysm Beta Report: Let’s Play a Goblin!

I am constantly awed by the large leap forward Blizzard is taking with the upcoming Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft. Not only are they redesigning the entire world of Azeroth (sans Northrend), they are completely reimagining the level 1-60 experience. On top of that they have worked painstakingly on giving many races a fresh new starting experience. Finally, they’re giving us two new races altogether.

One of those new races are the goblins. Goblins have been around World of Warcraft as long as the game has existed, but now you can finally play as one, albeit only if you want to be horde-aligned.

Remember When?: You Would Stay Up All Night

I’m sure everyone games for their own reasons. Some do it as a distraction, some do it solely for entertainment purposes, and some just like to annoy other people in online lobbies. As for me, I do it because no matter how much older I get, it makes me feel like a kid all over again. Remember the Nintendo 64 kid – yeah, that was me. Well not in a literal sense at least, but in the sense that video games had the ability to make me more happy than a virgin at the Hustler Club. The only thing that would trump gaming, would be gaming with a best friend or family member and staying up all night to do so. Join me on this journey through one of my favorite all night gaming marathons ever.

We Get Enslaved… And We Like It.

That’s the best way to describe our experience with Enslaved, the upcoming action adventure title from Namco Bandai. At a recent press event in NYC, our very own Al Zamora had the privilege of chatting it up with Ryan Adza who is the associate producer for the title. Ryan breaks down the story for those of you who aren’t already familiar with it, as well as what to expect when the title lands on store shelves this October. One of the main characters is named “Monkey”, isn’t that enough incentive to give it a look? Check out the full video interview below and witness why you, like us, may enjoy being Enslaved. Enjoy the clip.

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Catering to the Casual Crowd: How MS failed at E3 2010

E3 has always been THE industry event prime for showcasing new hardware, services and of course games. Microsoft is not new to the showcase, remaining strong contenders since the announcement of the original Halo on Xbox in 2001. From the tech demo of Halo 2 in 2003 to the appearance of the first HD Gaming console in 2005. However, it is practically universally agreed that the Microsoft conference at E3 2010 had very little appeal to the fan base that the Xbox has worked so hard to amass. Alienation to some and sacrilege to others, the star of the show was Kinect; a motion control device.

The industry’s current infatuation with motion control gaming is openly seen as a clever (or not so clever) ploy to divert the attention of the “casual” gamer from Nintendo’s very successful Wii console. It has been common knowledge for some time now that both Sony and MS are developing their own approach to motion control gaming, the Move and Kinect respectively. But to take the world’s largest annual industry platform, at which many of gaming’s biggest showcases have occurred, and focus on this single, controversial piece of hardware as the centerpiece has left many fans, myself included, shaking their fist in the air and wondering what the heck happened.

Time Crisis: Razing Storm is Another Reason To Buy The Move

Recently we were invited to check out some of the fall lineup from Namco Bandai during their recent visit here in New York City. Upon entering the swanky Upper East Side hotel suite (which by the way had a delectable spread of fruit and pastries) there was one thing that immediately called my attention from everything else that was going on. Time Crisis was one of my favorite games growing up, whether it was at the arcades, or even importing my own gun con controller from Japan way back when I couldn’t ever get enough of the storied light gun shooter.This year Time Crisis: Razing Storm will release in the  Move launch window making the motion peripheral even more enticing. After taking with Namco Bandai brand manager and seeing how much value is in there, now I’m pre-ordering the move. Check out the clip below and find out why Time Crisis is another reason to buy the move.

Should Tekken X Street Fighter be Part of Street Fighter X Tekken?

By this time, you have certainly heard about the recently unveiled fighting mash-up that is set to give Marvel Vs Capcom 3 a run for its money. I’m talking about Street Fighter X Tekken. The mix didn’t seem viable at all; if someone had told me about it before I saw the footage, I would have been convinced they were smoking something. I mean, Tekken fights take place in three dimensions while SF’s takes place in only two. In an unprecedented union of these two genre-defining franchises, how would the gameplay go over and will these titles be released separately as two titles or should they be synthesized into one unified existence?

DualShockers StarCraft II: Collectors Edition Unboxing Video Is Sexy!

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty releases tomorrow, for those of you who have been napping under a cozy rock. With the release, a hefty and bulky Collector’s Edition will be hitting store shelves which will come with a bunch of nifty goodies for you StarCraft fans to salivate over. You guys already know that we’re a bunch of cool mofos here at DualShockers so, with that said, we’ve decided to provide you guys with an unboxing video which shows off the amazing novelties that Blizzard has blessed fans with. With my birthday being on Wednesday the 28th, I will admit that it is, by far, one of the best gifts I’ve received as of yet, unless someone decides to surprise me with an Aston Martin or a year’s supply of Chef Boyardee (best Italian food ever!).

After the jump, you’ll bear witness to one of the most anticipated games in this industry receiving its well deserved flaunts. With the game, we have a couple of “Guest Passes” which we will probably give away to those of you who haven’t gotten a taste of the beta. We haven’t determined how we’re going to distribute them yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be along the lines of a contest here in the comments section. So, if you’re not going to be able to purchase the game tomorrow, then here’s your chance to receive a couple days of playtime. Check out the video after the jump, and we hope that you enjoy it!

DualCast Level 3 – Final Fantasy Extravaganza!

It’s that time of week again! We’ve recorded a rather intense and controversal DualCast for you this week – mostly because it revolves around Final Fantasy. We get things started on the sane side with our favorite Final Fantasy games, but the fun doesn’t end there. We get down and dirty when we move onto the topic of Final Fantasy XIII. From there we move to the future of the Final Fantasy franchise and discuss what we would like to see in general, as well as in Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Square-Enix’s upcoming MMO, Final Fantasy XIV.

Also this week we’re offering you a chance to win a physical copy of Persona 3 Portable for the PSP (no PSP Go, unfortunately). What do you have to do? It’s easy – listen to this week’s DualCast (ignore me constantly calling it the ShockCast, I’m retarded) and we’ll tell you exactly what to do to win one of the hottest RPGs in recent memory. Leave your entries for the contest in the comment section of this post! After the break you’ll find the rules and the deadline. Listen to the DualCast and have at it! We’d also love to hear your comments on this episode, so feel free to leave any and all feedback.

Why the Pros Play Xbox LIVE

What games offer the best online experience? The answer: competitive games. Sure games like Resident Evil 5 and Left 4 Dead offer some great experiences, too, but online (console) gaming really thrives off of the competitive games. I can look at my Xbox LIVE friends list right now and the majority would be on Modern Warfare 2. And no, just to clear things up, they are not friends that I met on Modern Warfare 2. So now that it has been established that online gaming is tailor made for the competitive, which system has better competition? Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE, or Playstation 3 and PSN? The answer: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE.

It’s a fact that for games that are multi-platform, the big time competitors usually prefer to play on the Xbox 360. An example with this is with fighting game pro, Justin Wong. He has stated on his blog, “I personally play on xbox and the fact that PS3 lags [a lot] affects my gameplay a bit.” I’m no expert on technical stuff or why stuff like lag would even happen, but we’ll just leave it at that. The bottom line is that the pros play on Xbox LIVE, and there is no denying it. So what could possibly have them all (or at least most of them) on Xbox LIVE instead of PSN for games such as Modern Warfare 2, Super Street Fighter IV, and Bad Company 2?