Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Gets Release Date

MercurySteam's reboot of Konami's classic side-scrolling, vampire hunting franchise has received a release date. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will hit retailers on October 5 in North America and October 8 in Europe. More »

Why Japanese Developers Need New IP's (Part One)

Many Japanese developers are struggling to keep up with the big numbers drawn in by western games. This isn't as much speculation, as it is fact. Outside of Nintendo, Square Enix, and Platinum Games (and a few select others), it's difficult to really pin down a developer that's been a hit overseas which Japan can directly claim. But the reasons behind these failures are not hard to identify. In fact, it can all be summed up in one pretty simple question: Where are the new IP's? More »

Bayonetta Budget Release Gets Wicked Box Art

Bayonetta's getting a budget release in Japan under the labels PlayStation "Best" and Xbox 360 Platinum Collection. Not only will the game come with a more economic price tag, it's coming with some pretty hot artwork. More »

Female Gamers: Do Looks Matter?

Doubting the popularity of games like Samurai Warriors is a little silly. There's just something about taking on an entire army of faceless enemies that everyone can identify with. In a recent interview with Samurai Heroes producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, he explained some of the reasons for their series' large success, and about halfway through there was a statement that made me shake my head. In short, it was the proclamation that the reason his game was so popular amongst women was because of the character design, and choice to minimize the violence. That most women are also turned off from big, burly hulk-type characters. It seems like a very typical Japanese statement, a broad sweeping generalization that must only apply to a foreign culture. Or perhaps he's just wrong in general.

How to capture the female gamer is something that gaming communities love to discuss and many girl gamers are quick to agree that preconceived notions of female interests are wrong. It’s the same as making the assumption that boys should play with trucks and girls with horses. Why anyone enjoys playing any game is really dependant on more factors than 'the main character is blue', or simply just the art design. In fact, there are plenty of games I've loved whose art has driven me absolutely batty. Windwaker is a fantastic example of a game that didn't move me visually, but gameplay wise was an absolute blast. How many games have attempted to push graphics first and foremost, and fallen flat on their face? More »

The Best Games Of 2010... So Far

I'll cut straight to the chase on this one, 2010 has had some phenomenal games. Most years start out a little slow and then wind up into a big bang, but honestly it's hard to imagine anything better around the corner aside from a few releases here or there.

So before we get all wrapped up in Halo: Reach, or severely addicted to the latest MMO, let's take this time to reflect upon the phenomenal games that the first half of 2010 have brought to us. More »

E3 2010: Vanquish Hands-On Preview

If you thought that the shooter genre was over saturated with just too many of them, and that Vanquish is just another rehash, think again. Vanquish may look like yet another third person shooter, but Shinji Mikami, creator of Resident Evil, and Platinum Games is definitely packing all the crazy, over the top action sequences known to games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta into this sci-fi action game. More »

Sega Classics Needing A Revival: Part Three

It seems as though there are still plenty of Sega classics still to talk about, so welcome to part three of this mini-series of articles which is dedicated to taking a closer look at some titles from the past that have been strongly associated with Sega, or are developed by Sega. The first two parts of this series featured some real gems, like like Streets of Rage, Shenmue and Comix Zone. Surely with those great games out of the way, there couldn't really be much more to talk about, right? Wrong.

If you want to catch-up on the parts that you've missed, please feel free to check out More »

Platinum Games Wants to Make New Star Fox

While many of Nintendo's long-running series have gotten new entries in the last few years, the Star Fox series hasn't received one since 2006's Star Fox Command. It's now 2010, and there's been no word on a new game in the series. More »

Why God of War 3 Doesn't Need Aggressive Marketing

As we get closer to the release of God of War III, fans are eating up every bit of information they can get. The men and women at Sony are keeping a tight lid on this one however, with only the occasional trailer here, a screenshot there, and the unveiling of the box set for fans to chew on. That's exactly the way it should be. As a culture we tend to get a little obsessed with how much information we can learn before something even happens, and it's created a lot of false hopes and empty promises. God of War III is better off without it. More »

Aliens vs Predator Topples BioShock 2 In UK Charts

Aliens vs Predator launched last week and it has shot straight to the top position in the UK charts, ousting BioShock 2 after just one week. Not only that, but BioShock 2 actually dropped down to the third position as Just Dance held firm. More »

In the Dante's Inferno vs. God of War Matchup, Pick Kratos for the Win

Dante's Inferno, developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts, is about to hit store shelves. Ever since the game was revealed there has been endless comparisons to a little game everyone, who hasn't been living under a rock, has heard of, God of War. EA's Chief Executive Officer, John Riccitiello, has been clear that new IP, such as Dante's Inferno, are vital to the company's success. The question on everyone's mind remains, will Dante's Inferno be able to stand against the God of War III juggernaut?

After playing both games' demos, it is by no means a stretch to call Dante's Inferno a God of War clone. The game is shameless in how blatantly it rips off God of War's controls, mechanics and atmosphere, however, this doesn't automatically mean the game is of a lesser caliber than God of War III. Dante's Inferno is actually quite solid and arguably the best God of War clone so far; the controls are tight, the graphics are generally crisp and the premise is intriguing. Granted, these are only impressions from demos of each game and a great deal can change when they hit retail, but judging from each studio's past work (Visceral with Dead Space and Sony Santa Monica with the previous God of War games), it's a safe bet to assume the final versions of each game will be high quality. More »

Platinum Games Announces Latest Project 'Vanquish'

Still working hard after Bayonetta's large success, Platinum Games has recently revealed the trailer for their next big title. Being developed by the creative minds of Shinji Mikami (the creator of Resident Evil) and Atsushi Inaba (producer of Okemi) there's definitely a huge amount of potential for the game. More »

Patch Released For PS3 Bayonetta, Helps Reduce Load Times

There's been no secret made about the fact that Bayonetta performs better on the Xbox 360, but it looks like steps are being taken to address that fact, as a new patch has been released for the PlayStation 3 version of the game. More »

Bayonetta Review

After leaving Capcom following over 10 years of service, Hideki Kamiya, director of Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry and Okami, decided to start up a new company, Platinum Games. His new game, Bayonetta, is a collaboration with Sega and is a game in a similar ilk to Devil May Cry, but with a few notable differences. One, the main character is a sultry female and not a man with white hair. Two, the main character can perform 'Torture Attacks', which allow the players to execute opponents in rather painful ways, like using iron maidens. It all makes for a frantic, action-packed ride, full of angels, witches and lollipops. More »

Sega Announces Bayonetta Demo Date for PSN and Xbox Live

Sega of America and Sega Europe have announced that Bayonetta for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will have a demo on PSN and Xbox Live on December 3rd. Gary Knight, European Marketing Director of SEGA Europe, spoke about Bayonetta's hype,

Developer Platinum Games has delivered a true masterpiece. The recent perfect review scores in such highly respected magazines as Weekly Famitsu and EDGE show the sheer quality of this title. We firmly believe that BAYONETTA will go on to become one of the all-time benchmarks in action gaming.

The perfect scores Knight notes are in fact a 10/10 from Edge magazine in the UK, and a 40/40 from Famitsu magazine in Japan. Both publications have given less than 13 perfect scores in their respective histories. More »

Bayonetta For PS3 Doubles Xbox 360 Sales

Bayonetta's first day Japanese sales numbers are in, and the PS3 version has outsold the Xbox 360 version by a margin of 2-to-1. Bayonetta for the PS3 sold 93,000 copies, while the Xbox 360 version sold 45,000 copies. More »

Sega Announce Bayonetta Western Release Date

Bayonetta was released a few days ago in Japan and it received rave reviews from the Japanese media, even gaining a perfect score from Famitsu magazine. However, the Western release was only listen as January 2010 - something which has now changed. More »

Bayonetta Revelations: Chapter 1

Bayonetta, a game developed by Platinum Games, has often been compared to Devil May Cry - not surprising considering the person who envisioned Bayonetta also started that franchise. However, while the gameplay is reminiscent of several other games the actual interpretation is far more unique. Some of this has been addressed in the latest developer diary to surface on the internet. More »

Bayonetta Hands On Preview

It's safe to say that Bayonetta is a rather interesting prospect. Developed by the team that originally came up with Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, there's a certain level of expectation about what this title can achieve. From the looks of things, Platinum Games, the developers of the title, seem to be taking it all in their stride. More »

No DLC Planned For Bayonetta

Downloadable content is a very prevalent commodity in this console generation, and many developers/publishers have used it to enhance gaming experiences post launch. More »