Posts in “Gaming”
What We’re Playing – Week of July 2nd
Will Anderson
F.E.A.R. 3 for PlayStation 3
Child of Eden for Xbox 360 Kinect
Victoria Liu-Anderson
Alice: Madness Returns for Xbox 360
Mikeal-Paul Williams
inFamous 2 for PlayStation 3
Dominic Marzolino
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 (XBLA)
Change your passwords…again…
An early-morning email blast from BioWare Edmonton notified folks the legacy servers supporting the Neverwinter Nights forums were, you guessed it, hacked. Roll call of the vulnerable info includes (per the email):
“user names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, mailing addresses, names, phone numbers, CD keys and birth dates from these forum accounts on the system may have been compromised, as well as other information (if any) that you may have associated with your EA Account.”
Anyone else a touch worried about that last line?
Happy Birthday Sonic the Hedgehog!
Today, we celebrate one of the most iconic video game characters in the history of the industry. Nemesis to Nintendo’s Mario, this character launched the first console that would rival the Atari crushing juggernaut. 15 million copies of his first game were sold to catapult SEGA’s console market share to a staggering 65% when it was bundled with the Genesis, outselling the Super Nintendo by a staggering 2 to 1.
Sonic the Hedgehog would go on to spawn dozens of sequels and spin-offs to sell over 80 million units worldwide. Ten years after his creation he would arrive on his first foreign console, Nintendo’s GameCube having outlived SEGA’s ill-fated hardware line. Ever since, Sonic the Hedgehog has appeared on every major console since 2001, and today he turns 20 years old.
Here are some of Sonic the Hedgehog’s milestones over the years:
June 23, 1991 – Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Genesis (known in Japan as the Mega Drive)
November 21, 1992 – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is released for the Sega Genesis in Japan. Introduces Tails as a playable character. Features cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes.
June 1993 – The Sonic the Hedgehog comic series’ first issue is released by Archie Comics. It is currently at issue #225.
September 6, 1993 – The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animated series is launched on ABC. Jaleel White (Urkel) voices Sonic. The show runs for one season (65 episodes).
November 1993 – Becomes the first video game character to have a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
June 19, 2001 – Sonic Adventure 2 releases in Japan. Introduces Shadow the Hedgehog to the franchise.
December 10, 2001 – Sonic Adventure 2 releases for the GameCube.
November 2007 – Appeared on the same video game cover as Mario for the first time (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games)
January 31, 2008 – First appearance on Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
To celebrate, SEGA is releasing Sonic Generations on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS on November 22, 2011. Generations will feature a collection of levels derived from some of the classic favorites across games of the past. Sonic will be playable in both his modern look, as well as his 90’s counterpart as a mysterious enemy has created time holes which pull Sonic and friends back into the past. Help both Sonics as they work together to find out who the evil mastermind is and save their friends.
So while we’re all waiting for his new adventure, let’s all bake a cake and wish a very happy birthday to Sonic. Here’s to another 20 years!
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What We’re Playing – Week of June 21st
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition – Capcom – Xbox 360
Child of Eden – Ubisoft – Xbox 360
What We’re Playing – Week of June 18
Alice: Madness Returns Alice returns to Wonderland in this long awaited sequel to writing mastermind American McGee’s Alice. Join us as we explore her latest adventure as she fights for her own sanity, and Wonderland’s. Review coming this weekend!
Sony Announces The Not Playstation Portable 2
It goes without saying that after yesterday morning, sites like Kotaku have gone absolutely ape crazy with their coverage of the Sony Press Conference last night of the Next Gen Portable (formerly dubbed as the PSP2 by everyone in the media and consumer market circles, except Sony). And who can blame them? I’ve only had my PSP for a short time, but I very much enjoy the look, feel, and features that are available on… Read On »
2011 – A Year To Look Ahead To
Greetings and Happy New Year to all! Today marks a new beginning in not only our own lives, but in the industry we love the most. The Video Game industry! Soon we’ll be looking at year-end sales figures of the big three game consoles, and then shortly after it’s off to the races as a new line-up of fantastic games are coming down the line this year.
In The Short
If you haven’t been keeping up, I’ve signed up for the One A Day Project. My goal is to bring you at least two in-depth reviews or articles on our industry per week this year. Starting off this week, I’ve already put the wraps on my PSP Review (Yep. Finally got one!), and a review on a little PSP game that’s sure to make big waves, Invizimals.
In The Long
This year I’ve got plenty of stuff planned. I’ve got my 2011 predictions to get out, a whole slew of reviews for the year including Marvel vs. Capcom 3, The 3rd Birthday, and Bulletstorm in the short-term. E3 2011 of course. And some on-site event coverage of some of the gaming related events in the Midwestern US and Canada.
This year promises to be bigger, better, and much more interesting than the last. I don’t know about you, but I’m very excited.
I’ll let you get back to your champagne hangovers now.
~W75
Console News For Monday, December 20
Only a week left until Christmas. Have you gotten your shopping done? Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation Coming To A DS Near You Dragon Quest fans rejoice! The 1995 continuation of the Dragon Quest series is finally coming to the States on the Nintendo DS handheld console. Originally released on the Super Famicom (Japanese Version of the SNES), DQVI was never brought over to the US for commercial release. No release date yet however,… Read On »
