Monthly Archives: December 2011

The European and US arms of Apple have both determined their iPad and iPhone game of the year awards, with each branch honouring different apps. Apple Europe gave top gongs to the home-grown Tiny Wings on iPhone, and Contre Jour on iPad. Its American brethren also went with local offerings, namely Tiny Tower and Dead Space. Well done all. Thanks, PocketGamer.

Gearbox is working to ensure the core mechanics of Borderlands make it into the sequel in bigger and better form.

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Gamasutra reports Nintendo of America has added 42 airports to its collection of 29,000 3DS-friendly WiFi hotspots. The new hotspots are being provided through Boingo, and in addition to the usual benefits of online connectivity, offer access to something called Nintendo Zone, which apparently hands out exclusive coupons and promo offers. Nintendo highlighted O’Hare in Chicago, JFK in New York and George Bush Intercontinental in Houston among the airports to be so graced.

Mass Effect 3 will include greater variation in the way you can move across the battlefield, and prompts players to actually use them.

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Gamersfirst’s free-to-play revamp of Realtime Worlds’ MMO, APB: Reloaded, arrives at retail on December 9 in the US. Although the game is free-to-play, the $29.99 boxed version offers 30 days of Premium subscription, 500 credits for use in the game’s store, a faction-specific sports car and a secondary weapon. The free digital version released on Steam yesterday.

Tron Worlds has revealed how it intends to put the “M” in MMO End of Nations.

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Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Petersson has confirmed he will once again take part in a Ludum Dare challenge, which has creators design and build a game in just 48 hours. The Mojang boss intends to livestream the process next week, so would-be developers should probably tune in. Noth also took part in the August event, and you can play his creation here. Visit Ludum Dare’s website for more information on the challenge itself.

Thanks, Kotaku.

British MP Keith Vaz has called on parliament to revisit the issue of potential negative effects of gaming on children.

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EA COO Peter Moore, anecdotally known as the man who pulled the plug on Sega’s beloved final console, the Dreamcast, has explained it wasn’t his decision to make.

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Eagle-eyed players have spotted what appears to be a teaser for PlayStation 3 exclusive The Last of Us in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

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Sony has clarified the troublesome question of whether the Vita can support multiple PlayStation Network accounts with an affirmative.

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The next iteration of Sony-exclusive sports sim MLB The Show will appear on both PlayStation 3 and Vita, with some neat new features.

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A new trailer for Jagged Alliance: Back in Action shows Kalypso has ramped up production values on the series reboot.

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Gematsu has a batch of screens for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, showing off optional touch controls as well as Near and online features. Dragging across the screen moves your character and triggers ducking and jumping. Character swaps and assist are triggered using icons. Attacking is achieved by tapping, and Hyper Combos can be unleashed by selecting the gauge itself. The game will also take advantage of Vita’s Near function to allow you to swap “gold herald colours” in addition to WiFi enabled online play and spectating. UMvC is expected to launch alongside the new handheld in February.

EA COO Peter Moore believes the digital transition is inevitable – and some companies won’t make it through.

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An official Halo Waypoint app, showing Halo: Reach stats, service records and custom challenges, is set to launch alongside an map strategy app called ATLAS.

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The MechWarrior franchise is going mobile.

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A press event this week has yielded a few details of Ninja Gaiden 3′s multiplayer.

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Following on from Capcom’s tease, purported leaks offer intel on the next Dead Rising game.

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Fanboy prayers are answered: According to recruitment posts, LucasArts is back at work on at least two different titles. One ad calls for an art director for an action adventure title, while another seeks a gameplay engineer for a first-person shooter. The last game produced by LucasArts’ California studio was 2010′s Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

Thanks, Talkar.