Chris Kohler over at Wired’s Game Life blog has gotten himself deep into a copy of Professor Layton‘s next out, Demon Flute, which was released in Japan last week. Here’s a tiny taste of the puzzles we can expect.
Kohler’s translation of the puzzle reads:
The four photographs below were taken in the same place.
Of the four people in the photos, three of them came as a group, and each had their picture taken one after the other. The one other person came on a different day at a different time.
Pick the three photos that have the people who all came together.
He swears you can solve the riddle just from that screen shot — so go for it!
Other than that tiny tidbit, there’s some interesting info about some new features introduced in Layton’s fourth outing. For one thing, we get some story insights since this is the first game in what’s basically a prequel for the Curious Village-Diabolical Box-Last Time Travel trilogy. (Last Time Travel is coming Stateside eventually, according to developer Level-5 headman, Akihiro Hino.) For another, we get a rundown of three new mini-games: Fish-feeding, Puppet Theater and… a train set?
Breaking down its own performance during last week — November 22 through Nov. 28 — Nintendo says it sold 1.5 million gaming systems during the craziest of crazy shopping periods. That’s estimated to be 550,000+ Wii consoles and 1,000,000+ DS and DSi handhelds.
Or in mind-boggling, we-effin’-print-money lingo, Nintendo sold more than 2.5 videogame systems every second during Thanksgiving week. Go ahead, blink. While you were wasting your tragic life doing that, hundreds of dollars were spent on Nintendo systems. You’ll never be this successful.
Your mother and I aren’t mad, we’re just disappointed is all.
We’ve seen a Black Friday deal or two about Wiis being bundled with New Super Mario Bros. But this is the first I’ve seen of a New Super Mario Bros. bundle with Wiimote static clings.
The $69.99 spotted on Amazon.com comes with four Mario static clings, a large t-shirt and a plastic lunchbox. Oh, and the game — it comes with that, too.
Sadly, the t-shirt is a men’s large size, so I’m going to have to pass because the last thing I need is another gamer t-shirt that I can’t wear to anything but bed. I’ll keep an eye out for the static clings on eBay, though — anything to disguise the discoloration my Wiimotes suffer from having a close proximity to Cheetos.
This year’s broadcast of the Spike TV Video Game Awards is supposed to be heavy on the game announcements and reveals. Now yet another teaser trailer that will be shown in full at the December 12 awards has been posted at GameTrailers.com. There’s no word on what publisher or developer is in charge of this game yet.
The teaser shows the game’s version of Hong Kong with the player character introduced as a undercover cop who is basically throwing his badge off a rooftop. This sounds an awful lot like a John Woo-style action game but who knows? It could be a deep RPG experience or maybe a strategy game. We have less than two weeks to find out. You can check out the trailer after the jump.
Maciej Kuciara, Art Director/Concept Artist at Crytek, posted these spiffy pics to ConceptArt.org forums and we’re re-posting some of them here because they smack of Frank Frazetta… and awesomeness!
Find the rest here. And for the record, no, these aren’t Crysis concept art sketches. I think the ninja chick should’ve tipped you off if nothing else.
But still, I bet there could be a “cry” in the title of all of these would-be games. Can you name them all?
Last week GamePro leaked the news that Puzzle Quest 2 was in the works. Today D3Publisher officially announced that they would be handling the release of the puzzle-RPG game for developer Infinite Interactive. The game is due for release in the spring of 2010 but at the moment the only announced platforms are for the Nintendo DS console and the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade.
So what about a PC version? We contacted D3Publisher’s PR rep who replied back, “At the moment we have announced Puzzle Quest 2 will be on XBLA and DS. We are possibly looking at other platforms/skus but no decision has been made at this time.” We are betting that they will make the right decision and bring the sequel to this ground-breaking addictive game to our hard drive sometime in 2010.
Did you register for the R.U.S.E beta? Then you may want to check your e-mail and make sure your Steam account is in good standing. Ubisoft kicked off the game’s V.I.P. beta program today.
The R.U.S.E. beta test program going live today is a positive sign that the real-time strategy game will make its early 2010 release date, but we’ll wait patiently for a “going gold” announcement and solid confirmation from the publisher before getting too excited.
For those that did get in, let us know what you think. We’ve messed around with the game at various events and were generally impressed with the ability to play the thing with an Xbox 360 controller and with its simple on the surface, deep underneath strategic gameplay.
Last year developer Haemimont Games and publisher Kalypso Media released the historical strategy-sim game Grand Ages: Rome. Today word from Kalypso Media has come of an upcoming expansion pack to the game, Reign of Augustus. This expansion is due for release in January 2010 and will be available exclusively via download with no retail release planned.
The expansion will include an all new campaign with 12 mission along with six multiplayer maps. Other new features will include new building, the ability to build roads, and a “God Mode” that will allow players to build their Roman city with unlimited resources and few disasters. The expansion will be priced at $19.99.
SCS Software, maker of fine PC driving simulation games like Bus Driver and 18 Wheels of Steel American Long Haul is refining its cargo-hauling, truck-driving focus with German Truck Simulator. Yep. It’s exactly what you think it is.
German Truck Simulator puts you behind the wheel of an officially licensed MAN truck, then lets you haul, I presume, fine sausages, well engineered cars and expertly crafted beers across the great land of Germany. Along the way—while listening to, I further presume, Kraftwerk and Rammstein on long stretches of autobahn—you’ll earn money, buy upgrades and garages, and obey German traffic laws. Think of it as a more refined version of SCS Software’s Euro Truck Simulator.
The actual facts—you’ll hire skilled German truckers and “manage your company’s efficiency”—probably aren’t as exciting as the one’s I’ve made up. And it’s highly doubtful that prison escapes by commercial truck have been considered. But if you’ve built up a big German thirst for accurate trucking sims, you know what game to get come January of next year.
Still not convinced? Here’s more German Truck Simulator.
How do your kids feel about My Neighbor Totoro’s Catbus? I picked up a small stuffed Catbus for my niece when I was in Tokyo a few years ago. The thing looks fascinating. But then I worried that it was too creepy for a then-three-year-old. So I bought a Totoro doll at the airport and gave her that instead.
I kept the Catbus, because, well, you don’t junk stuffed Catbusses that you carry halfway across the world, right?
So, with Crecente on vacation this week, how much do you think we can wreck the place? I was going to write my posts backwards. OK?
Chris Kohler over at Wired’s Game Life blog has gotten himself deep into a copy of Professor Layton‘s next out, Demon Flute, which was released in Japan last week. Here’s a tiny taste of the puzzles we can expect.
We’ve seen a Black Friday deal or two about Wiis being bundled with New Super Mario Bros. But this is the first I’ve seen of a New Super Mario Bros. bundle with Wiimote static clings.
