Soul Calibur Hitting iPhone, iPad & iPod touch Next Week
As the hardware finesse of the iPhone and its iOS touting brethren increases so do the number of high quality games available for the platform. For example, come next week, Soul Calibur will be makings its debut on iOS. Apparently this particular version is a port of the Dreamcast game with the developers managing to retain all 19 original characters.
Furthermore, modes that will made an appearance in the game are as follows:
- Arcade Battle
- Time Attack
- Survival
- Extra Survival
- Practice
- Museum
We’ve yet to be notified as to how much the price tag will be but once we figure it out we’ll let you know.
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PS Vita Sales Surpass 500,000 Units
There has been a lot of talk circulating regarding the PlayStation Vita. This device features very high end specs including a quad-core processor, front/rear touch panels and dual analog sticks. However, with the emergence of high tech smartphones complete with thousands of low priced games many have wondered if the PS Vita has any chance. Things didn’t look very good qwhen a ton of different reports sufrfaced saying that the PS Vita was posting less than stellar sales.
However, in the grand scheme of the things, the PS Vita isn’t doing too bad. Sony has just come forth during CES to let us know that their brand new portable gaming console has managed to sell 500,000 units. Seeing how the console is still very new and hasn’t yet shipped in North America things are sure to get better from here.
Do you plan on getting a PS Vita? Why or why not.
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Minecraft Pocket Edition Getting Update in February
Mojang’s Minecraft has grown to be one of the most popular indie titles of all time. Not only has the game sold a massive amount of copies with little to no promotion but it’s also made its way onto additional platforms. For example, Minecraft eventually made the jump to Android as Minecraft Pocket Edition.
While the game does allow you to build things to your hearts extent it’s not as full featured as the PC game. Luckily, it’s just been announced that the game will be seeing an update come February that will surely set off a string of massive updates. This new update will bring with it animals and new blocks but the developers assure us that in the future we will be seeing monsters, crafting and much more.
No official date has been set for the update but we’ll keep you posted as it is made known.
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Mario Creator Shigeru Miyamoto Working on New Original Title
When it comes to hard hitting exclusives it’s hard to compare to Nintendo. Coming out of Nintendo’s labs are franchises that went on to become household names such as Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Donkey Kong and much more. However, while the company has continued to expand on these franchises it seems that Shigeru Miyamoto, the mastermind behind franchises like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, wants to stray from the well worn path just a bit.
According to Miyamoto, he’s currently at work at creating a brand new original title. If we were to make an educated guess we would say that Miyamoto is looking to introduce a brand new franchise to live on Nintendo’s consoles alongside the already successful above mentioned franchises.
What exactly will this new franchise be, you ask? At this point that’s anyone’s guess but as always we’ll keep you posted.
[CVG]
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PS Vita Posting Lackluster Sales in Third Week
Sony is no stranger to the portable video game console market as they’ve long had the PSP available for purchase. However, when compared to the massive success of Nintendo Sony’s portable console division hasn’t really been a major competitior. Add that to the fact that mobile phones are quickly becoming gaming platforms of choice and you can see why a ton of stress has been put on Sony.
A ray of hope way thrown into the mix with the announcement of the PS Vita. This quad-core processor touting beast fixes a lot of the gripes consumers had with the original PSP adding in a touch screen, dual analog sticks, a rear touch panel, cameras, 3G connectivity and graphics that are said to be comparable to the PS3.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that these top notch specs are translating into sales. As of now, the PS Vita has been on the market for a full 3 weeks and it seems that nothing exciting has happened thus far. In fact, in its 3rd week Sony’s PS Vita managed to sell just 42,648 units. To put that into comparison, the PS3 sold 67,199 units and the PSP 62,746.
To be fair the PS Vita has yet to launch in major markets including Europe and North America but it remains to be see if consumers in such locales will take to the console better than the Asian market. Considering said market, which has been known to be very fond of such markets, haven’t taken much of a liking to the console things look grim but we’ll retain judgement until global sales numbers are posted.
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Infinity Blade Grosses $30 Million in 1 Year
Do you need more proof that mobile gaming is the way of the future? Already there have been a ton of success stories but today we have yet another to add to the list. Infinity Blade, from Epic Games, was touted as the game that would really showcase the power of iOS device such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Well, it did just that and more as not only did it show us that these devices are capable of displaying graphics on par with home consoles but it’s also managed to make its developers boat loads of cash.
Today, reports have surfaced that say the entire Infinity Blade franchise has managed to gross a noteworthy $30 million in a single year. Compared to games like Modern Warfare 3 and the rest of the Call of Duty franchise this may not seem like much but when taking into consideration that Infinity Blade is exclusively for mobile devices you can see why this is a big deal.
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Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots Hitting Android Tomorrow
Smartphone games have grown very popular since Apple originally released the iPhone in 2007 and later the App Store in 2008. However, while iOS has become known to feature an App Store that’s filled to the brim with quality software, Android is quickly catching up. In fact, many games such as Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds have made their way to the Android Market giving gamers running Google’s open source mobile platform some time wasting goodness.
If you’re a fan of Fruit Ninja and are looking for ways to further your fruit slicing skills listen up. It was just made known today that Frujit Ninja: Puss in Boots will be making hitting Android tomorrow.
Quite obviously Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots will serve as a tie in for the movie providing us with the same gameplay we’ve come to know and love but also some Puss in Boots inspired elements thrown in. Best of all? Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots will be offered for free the first day it drops with the price tag later boosting to $0.99 so grab it while you can.
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Infinity Blade 2 Coming to iOS on December 1st
Apple’s iPhone may not be the most advanced smartphone on a hardware level but the iOS App Store by which it is supported has become the most vibrant of its kind. Found within said App Store is a plethora of bite sized software ranging from productivity boosters to games.
One smartphone specific title that is quick to be noted is Rovio’s Angry Birds which has essentially become a household name despite featuring a very simple premise. While Angry Birds may be one of the most popular games utilizing Apple’s iOS as a platform it doesn’t go to great lengths of putting the more advanced iOS hardware on display. A game that does do this, however, is Infinity Blade.
Those not familiar with Infinity Blade will want to make note that this game was released largely to show off what the iPhone 4 is made of. Due to this, Infinity Blade did not feature an in depth story but instead relied heavily on fancy graphics coupled with hack and slash gameplay.
Now that the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 are out complete with dual-core processors, the makers of Infinity Blade are at it again with the game’s successor appropriately dubbed Infinity Blade 2. Set to hit the iOS App Store on December 1st Infinity Blade 2 will feature top of the line graphic along with some new gameplay features. Not only will players accrue new weapons and other equipment along their journey but they will also be able to collect materials that will help upgrade said equipment.
As of now there’s no word on how much the game will go for but in the mean time check out two promotion Infinity Blade 2 videos included after the break.
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Target Offering Nintendo 3DS for $145
Black Friday will soon be upon us where we’re sure to see countless video game related deals. The most recent deal we’ve gotten wind of comes from Target and focuses on the Nintendo 3DS which they will be selling for just $145. According to our sources the deal is going down right now in store as a pre-sale leading up to Black Friday.
Make note that quantities will be limited meaning if you want to get down you will have to make haste. That being said, this may be the perfect time to get down on Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D display touting handheld. You know, unless you’d prefer spending the normal $180 – $200 retailers command for the same device.
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Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 to Offer USB Game Controller Support
In recent times manufacturers of dedicated portable game consoles such as Nintendo and Sony have been under attack from platforms for . While there’s no denying the fact that consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS and PSP offer great games, some consumers have a hard time justifying a $30 purchase when there are so many games available for smartphones and tablets commonly priced at just $1 such as the highly popular Angry Birds.
Platforms of this nature predominantly include Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android powering devices such as the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S II, respectively. But things aren’t all peaches when playing games on such devices as hardcore gamers are well aware of the headaches associated with touchscreen input when playing games that, for instance, fall into the FPS genre.
Some smartphone carriers have attempted to remedy this with gamepad touting devices such as the gamepad touting Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. But still even such devices forego the inclusion of physical analog sticks for the sake of saving space.
Luckily, it seems that all of this may be remedied in the near future thanks to Google’s latest iteration of Android: version 4.0 commonly referred to as Ice Cream Sandwich. While this platform’s biggest selling point is the fact that it was designed from the ground up with both smartphones and tablets in mind, one oft-overlooked tidbit will prove to be much more interesting to gamers on the go.
That point is none other than USB gamepad support – a feature pre baked into Ice Cream Sandwich. Taken a step further, users can also utilize a compatible device’s HDMI port to mirror the image on an HDTV. Combined these two features can, in essence, turn a tablet or smartphone into a full fledged video game console capable of running the many different games offered through the Android Market.
On another note, this will also prove to be interesting and possibly game changing if Google ever gets around to giving their Google TV set-top box platform similar functionality.
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