Tag Archives: ign

European readers can get a Resistance 2 beta key from IGN if they’re quick – get over there right now.

The site’s got 7,000 keys, 2,000 of which are reserved for Founder’s Club subscribers.

More through there.

IGN’s reviewed Wii Music to a 5/10 score, as you can see here. Not that it’ll make a blind bit of difference to its sales, but there we are. Snip:

I think most adults will quickly recognize that Wii Music is little more than a noise maker tied to a series of gestures and grow bored of the experience in a matter of hours, if not minutes. The controls aren’t particularly intuitive , but gimmicky, and the selection of music is fundamentally flawed with both dated public domain songs rendered in equally dated MIDI. That Guitar Hero World Tour’s complementary modes — namely Mii Freestyle and advanced studio — completely obliterate the entire Wii Music package is proof just how much Nintendo’s game either doesn’t do or doesn’t do well.

Sounds amazing. Full thing through the link.

After the break. This is someone just playing the game raw, and it’s taken from the 360 version. There’s tons of spoilers here, so be warned. The co-op gameplay’s shown off to good effect and these files give a very clear indication of what the finished article’s going to be like.

Look and see.

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This should shut you up: IGN’s giving away 20,000 LittleBigPlanet beta keys.

The freebies are being handed out in a staggered fashion over the next three days.

And sorry, American people – this is Europe only.

More details here.

Here. It doesn’t say how many the site has, but you may as well give it a shot if you haven’t got access already. All you have to do is send in an email.

Full details through the link.

IGN’s posted its review of Disney ATV racer Pure, giving it a substantial 8.6/10. Snip:

Pure delivers an outrageous, arcadey off-road racing experience with style and slickness. The controls are intuitive, the tracks are pure eye candy and the tricks are so crazy and over-the-top that you’ll find yourself gasping with glee when you land your first Lazy Girl. Although it’s a blast to play, it’s not the deepest game out there, and we found ourselves wishing for just a few more modes, tracks and options to round out the experience. But overall, Pure is just pure fun, and that’s what it’s all about.

The only other online review at the moment is a 9/10 from GamePlayer.

Watch the IGN video review after the break.

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IGN and Eurogamer have reviewed Crysis: Warhead, giving the first online scores of 9.4/10 and 9/10 respectively.

From IGN:

For $30, Crysis Warhead is an incredible value, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better shooter on the PC this year. The single-player campaign is tight and superb, and the multiplayer portion delivers something that you can just in and play and have fun with. I love the intelligent gameplay of Warhead; this isn’t a game where you simply react to highly scripted events, but one where you have to think on your feet, and you’re rewarded for doing so. Crytek once again proves that its one of the premiere shooter developers in the industry, even if it does get an unfair rep as being “just” a technology company. Comments like that make it seem as if the Crytek had a chip on its shoulder, because it addressed almost every complaint about Crysis and then some. I found Warhead to be challenging, exciting, wild, and, yes, very much full of swagger and fury.

From Eurogamer:

Crysis Warhead is probably the Back to the Future II of videogames: rather than totally transform the story and setting, it returns to the original narrative, exploring it from a different angle; once again, the results are sharper, meaner, and have a lot more for you to think about (although, thankfully, there are no dodgy CGI sharks or Elisabeth Shue performances). The original Crysis may have given you the basic tools, but Warhead allows you to really use them, and while its previous titles made it clear that Crytek knew technology like few others, it’s this strange off-shoot Warhead that proves it’s no slouch when it comes to level design and set-pieces either.

This is apparently out next week now, where it was supposed to be released today. We can wait: sounds awesome.

IGN’s video review is after the break.

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Speaking to IGN at Games Convention, Sony Worldwide Studio boss Shuhei Yoshida’s admitted he’s not happy at the lack of PSP games on the horizon.

“Yeah, it’s really, really disappointing and it’s a lost opportunity for the third-parties,” he said.

“They should look at what the PSP can do for their titles and the potential for the business that their IP has.”

Leading from the front is the way forward, said the exec.

“We have to show by examples,” he added. “What’s happening in Japan is interesting – because of the massive success of Monster Hunter, Japanese publishers realise, ‘here’s a resource’.

“Lots of people are playing PSP in groups of fours and when you go to Japan it’s hard to find a train or a bar where you don’t see some people playing a PSP. So other publishers in Japan are seeing these consumers, and thinking, ‘Wow, we can make games for those consumers’.”

Loads more through there.

When the tagline said “World in Flames,” we didn’t… Never mind. IGN’s given the PS2 version of Mercenaries 2 3.9/10, which for IGN is pretty, pretty bad. Snip:

The original Mercenaries came out three-and-a-half years ago. But instead of giving us a game with more than three years worth of updates, Pi Studios has actually taken three steps backwards. Mercs 2 looks worse, plays worse and is just plain worse than the groundbreaking original. Why this watered-down version was even published is a mystery. Were this game fun, with the missions structured in a way that made them enjoyable, then there’d at least be a reason to rent. But there’s nothing here to recommend. Mercenaries 2 on PS2 is a bad game. ‘Nuff said.

More through the link. Don’t say we didn’t warn you, though. Video review after the break.

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Uh oh. Despite an 88 percent cover review from PCZone, IGN UK’s posted a 7/10 for the GSC sequel, saying it has a “reactorful of misfires” and “so much decaying flesh attached to it that cutting through to the admittedly very healthy bone below may prove too tall an order.”

Snip:

There’s also a stack of bugs and balance issues, perhaps unsurprisingly given Stalker 1′s messy gestation, and we suffered an AI failure at one point that broke the faction war system. As well as that, that aforementioned difficulty feels like an over-enthusiastic mod – enemies often turn up in ridiculous numbers and are almost always aware of exactly where you are – plus there’s those damnable grenades. A hardcore reward for the hardcore player, perhaps, but for the more casual Zone-wanderer or total newbie it gets too much like hard work, crushing the desire to press onwards.

Full thing through the link. Not the prettiest thing in the world.

IGN’s posted the first look at the PC version of GTA IV, as you can see here.

From the piece.

The overall game will follow the same story as the console version, tracking protagonist Niko Bellic as he descends further into Liberty City’s underworld. The nice thing about the PC version is the game will constantly be recording what’s going on. So if you pull off a particularly epic car crash or string of kills, you can hit a key to get the game to pull up the last 30 seconds of gameplay either in single or multiplayer modes.

Full thing through the link.

IGN, GamesRadar and Eurogamer got to make their own level for Bionic Commando: Rearmed, as you can see both on the Capcom blog and here, on EG.

The levels are challenge rooms, which are kind of like the VR missions from Metal Gear, but with bigger arms. Take a look.

IGN’s given Bionic Commando: Rearmed 9.4/10, a score that’ll no doubt brighten Capcom’s day. In a nutshell:

Bionic Commando Rearmed sets a new benchmark for downloadable console games. The best elements of the original are back, but have been upgraded to be better than before. The new bosses add a more interesting challenge and the final level is one for the ages. And, of course, the visuals are brilliant. The remastered soundtrack is fantastic as well. From top to bottom, Bionic Commando Rearmed is an incredible game that’s well worth owning.

Video review after the break. Game’s out tomorrow worldwide.

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IGN’s Matt Casamassina – of Halo DS fame – is serving up a tantalizing trio of Nintendo DS rumors, two of which contradict each another.

First up, Casamassina’s “sources” notified him that Activision might be planning an Nintendo DS accelerometer attachment. The topsy-turvy peripheral would – taking a cue from Activision’s own Guitar Hero: On Tour – fit into the DS’ Gameboy Advance slot.

But, sources also say that Nintendo might be planning to remove GBA functionality from the DS altogether, which limits Activision’s market a little.

As a sort of compromise, yet another rumor holds that Nintendo may be working on DS cartridge-based accelerometer tech, which could potentially mop up this whole mess.

So, what do you think? Want a new DS? A new peripheral? Yeah, neither do we, but we’ll still be in line on day one.

Nintendo’s E3 press conference starts at 9.00am PST today.

By Nathan Grayson

Everything’s here. Anyone will be able to watch the site’s live streams from the show, but Insiders will be able to do the full video thing. We’re going to do a round-up of all the places you’re going to be able to watch the conferences over the weekend. Don’t forget any of the timings: you wouldn’t want to miss anything.

Yes, that E3. In an article at TheStreet, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter gave E3 in its current form a thrashing – essentially calling it a shadow of the hype-Mecca it once was.

“The conference used to offer retail, media and investors an early look at games and an opportunity to speak with company managements,” he said. “Now the games have long since been announced and the event is virtually useless for retail and for investors.”

Many other videogame industry luminaries gave their two cents on E3 in the piece as well, with an especially interesting point coming from IGN’s Tal Blevins, who blamed E3’s fall from grace on its lack of spectacle. “The video game industry is about fun and entertainment,” he said, “and we should have a show that reflects it.”

Hit the link to read commentary from other industry pundits, as well as a quick overview of E3 2008.

By Nathan Grayson

IGN’s launched a channel solely dedicated to Xbox Live, apparently covering all aspects of “the Xbox LIVE online games and entertainment service, the largest social network connected to the TV.”

“By launching our latest channel, IGN is able to reach Xbox LIVE’s more than 12 million members worldwide to provide them with the latest content and information in one central location,” said IGN publisher Peer Schneider. “As the top destination for gamers to find the latest and best information about gaming, movies and TV shows, IGN is perfectly aligned to cover the Xbox LIVE service as a new and emerging media distribution platform.”

The channel’s in beta, as it says in the header. Press release after the break.

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Don’t say IGN never does anything for you. The site’s posted stealable widgets that count down to all three E3 press conferences, as well as one that leads up to the opening of the show itself. Put them on web pages or desktops, as you please.

There’s also confirmation there that IGN will be broadcasting live video from all the E3 platform-holder conferences, which is nice. All the details through the link.

For the fans. We bumped into IGN’s Jessica Chobot on the stairs of the Diablo III reveal in Paris this weekend, and she very kindly agreed to have her picture taken, just for you. We’ve put the full res version – all 4368×2912 of it – after the break. Wallpaper has a new home.

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As you can see here, IGN’s had a bit of a redesign. The new stuff looks to be mainly functional updates to aid the display of data and content.

From the site:

The new game information pages have been redesigned to highlight the latest content posted, as well as to more prominently feature videos and community applications.

Some of the goals of the redesign were to:

• Provide timely and relevant content to users based on a game’s lifecycle. The new pages emphasize media and the most recent articles before a game is released, and emphasize ratings, reviews, and game help after the game is released.
• Provide more in-depth content and detail about a game to users. The pages now feature an “About Game” box which gives a brief summary of the game as well as displays information about game characters, game credits, features, specifications, and the other editions which may be available.
• Provide easier access to our user toolsets. The new game profile pages feature reader reviews, Wikis, quote and trivia submissions, blogs, message boards, and other related applications higher on the page so they’re easier to find and use.

Take a look.