The Game Dealer, From the Makers of Game Dev Story

Game Dev Story is a solid, solid iOS game purchase. In it, you own a development company, and you must micromanage a dumbed down game development process from hiring staff and freelancers, to attending game expos. Simple, addictive fun.

I'm thrilled to hear today that Kairosoft, Game Dev's devs, have released a spiritual successor to the sleeper hit called Wai Wai! The Game Dealer. In it you, you guessed it, manage a retail game store. PROTIP: Naming your game store GameStop will immediately bankrupt you and instantaneously cause you to lose the game, and your iOS device to explode in your hands. 

No localization plans have been announced yet (sorry to burst your bubble), but here's to hoping Kairosoft brings the addictive sim stateside, albeit with less Wais in the title.

via Destructoid

Dude Steals 3DS, Has Photo Shoot

Apparently, some dude in China stolen Nintendo's latest high tech portable right off the production line. Like any quick-thinking geek, the factory worker had a nice little photo shoot with his new illegal toy, along with some Nintendo figures and older Gameboy and DS hardware incarnations, which may also possibly be illegal. Chinese factory worker, I salute you on your bravery, but also SMH at your stupidity. Unless of course, this just happens to be a PR stunt of some sort from Nintendo's side, which is a completely possible (and perhaps probable) scenario. 

I'm surprised at how small and sleek the 3DS looks when compared to it's predecessors. No release date or pricing information from Nintendo yet, but you can bet we'll get some details very soon. Unfortunately, I will not personally be able to deliver first hand impressions to you, good readers, as Nintendo seems to only be dealing with the big outlets when it comes to their prized handheld. You best believe I'll be your top source for stolen, second hand information though. 

Here is some ugly ass video of the 3DS being handled by the sticky fingered filcher. And don't forget to check the gallery for more shots of the 3DS' glamour shoot that you don't want to miss.

Nintendo 3DS Leaked (gallery) via Kotaku via TGBus

Work Your Mandible On New Resistance 3 Footage

As a late adopter to the PlayStation 3 (money don't grow on trees, kids) I've never played any installment of the Resistance series, but have always heard good things. Resistance 3's earlier trailer featured a bunch of nap-inducing live action scenes that, while well done and moody as hell, wasn't one of the more exciting things I've watched. Then the VGA's rolled up with their exclusive trailers, and the third chapter of the Resistance saga became infinitely more appealing.

PlayStation.Blog has hit us with a director's cut of said VGA trailer, adding a good half-minute of additional footage. It's likely that the extra 30 seconds wont do anything to make you wet your pants, but it's worth a watch in case you've forgotten about, or have yet to see, the original VGA trailer. 

Our Favorite Low Budget Games of 2010

As the year comes to a close, it seems as if everyone and their mother is dropping their two cents on the best and worst games of 2010. To set our list aside, I want to try something different. Since you can go to just about any place on the internet to find a best of the year list, let's try this:

Our Favorite Low Budget Games of 2010

VVVVVV by Terry Cavanagh (PC, XBLA)
It doesn't get much more simple than this. Commodore 64 inspired graphics, three button gameplay, and a soundtrack of banging chiptune beats. Released in January of this year, VVVVVV captured gamers' hearts with its simple allure, and breaking point difficulty. The plain, outdated look on its face belie VVVVVV's complexity, which feels almost like a Metroidvania game circa the 1980s. 

Super Meat Boy by Team Meat (PC, XBLA)
Based on the successful Newgrounds flash game Meat Boy, Super Meat Boy picks up where its predecessor left off; by making you want to kill yourself. Fans of fast action platformers and punishing twitch-reflex difficulty immediately fell in love with Super Meat Boy. Team Meat made some enemies along the way, like PETA and lamers who wanted a fun and relaxing gaming experience, but sometimes you need to break some heads to get to the top.

Limbo by Playdead Studios (XBLA)
Limbo earned a healthy buzz mostly for its "art game" presentation as completely black and white. In its entirety, Limbo never strays from it's noir style; the characters are little more than blobs of shadow, though the backgrounds are detailed and beautiful. Music is left out in favor of ambiance. With plenty of tricky platform puzzles to solve, Limbo is a slightly disturbed yet hauntingly lovely slice of low budget gaming.

Shank by Klei Entertainment (PC, PSN, XBLA)
Shank is one super pissed off badass motherfucker looking for revenge on the dudes that ruined his life. What better means to do this than a gory side-scrolling stylized action game with slick hand drawn graphics and an epic southwestern soundtrack? While the story wasn't the best, the insanely fun fighting and on-the-fly weapon switching made stringing together combos pleasing for both your eyes and your id.

Minecraft by Markus "Notch" Persson (PC)
What would this list be without Minecraft, arguably the low budget title of 2010. Technically, Minecraft was released in 2009, but it only really began to blow up this year. Starting as a one man job, Minecraft is a game where you can pretty much build anything you want, from the simplest log cabin, to a god damned working CPU. After an incredible increase in popularity this year, Notch hired some more people and created a development company funded strictly by Minecraft sales. As of December 29, 2010, Minecraft has over 2,750,000 registered users, and over 900,000 purchases. Not too bad for a one man project.

Our Most Disappointing Blockbuster Games of 2010

There were tons of gaming disappointments in 2010, some more unforeseen than others. It's easy for a small studio with limited funding to make a bad game, but when a big budget gaming blockbuster goes wrong, it's that much funnier. So without further ado, let's take a look.

Our Most Disappointing Blockbuster Games of 2010

Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar San Diego (PS3, X360)
By no stretch of the imagination is Red Dead Redemption a bad game, in fact, most outlets have it pegged as the game of the year. I however, am growing increasingly critical of Rockstar's games, which is why I found RDR to be a huge disappointment. As a fan of westerns, be it movies or games, I was incredibly excited to hear of an open world western done by Rockstar. There was so much potential, so much that could be done to create a new experience. Beautiful graphics and involving story aside, in the end, Red Dead Redemption ended up feeling too much like a reskin of the Grand Theft Auto series, which felt like a crushing blow and a waste of potential to do something fresh.

Fallout: New Vegas by Obsidian Entertainment (PC, PS3, X360)
In late 2008, a game by the name of Fallout 3 snuck up on me and held me prisoner from the real world for an unhealthily long period if time. The follow up to one of my favorite games of recent memory had to be good, now that the developers had some time to work out the kinks of the original, as well as listen to and implement community suggested changes. Nuts to that! Development was handed over to Obsidian Entertainment from Bethesda Game Studios, and Obsidian didn't really feel like making any tweaks. The moved the story to Vegas and called it a day! Fallout 3 while awesome, wasn't perfect. There was plenty of room for improvement to make the experience even better, but why put in extra work when you can move copies on the strength of the series' name?

Fable III by Lionhead Studios (X360)
The simplistic yet involving Fable series has always been a joy to play, even if it did seem like the game was built to be played by a 12 year old. 2008's Fable II had an interesting story to go along with a dreadfully easy, but enjoyable combat system that delivered an entertaining experience from start to finish. Fable III claimed it would allow you great moral decisions, as the purpose of the third and final entry in the series, is to start a revolution as you see fit. Unfortunately, most of the game's decisions were binary, and rigid, leaving little room for experimentation. You're forced to make promises to allies to earn their trust, and in a turn for the anti-climactic, only at the end of the game are you allowed to renege on your word. 

Epic Mickey by Disney Interactive Studios (Wii)
The name Warren Spector is held in high regard to just about everyone in the gaming industry. Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock, and now Disney's Epic Mickey. One of these things is not like the other! Working with Disney, the talented Mr. Spector became all about the mouse, seemingly living, breathing, and pooping Disney. Unfortunately, his Epic Mickey turned out to be a convoluted mess, where teases of a dark, steampunk tale where Mickey would be responsible for the fate of other characters was way overblown. The morality system seemed like no more than a throw in, with no real weight on the outcome of the game. The controls were spotty, with Wiimote support seemingly added last minute just for the sake of motion controls. Level design, story, graphics, it all left much to be desired.

NBA Elite by EA Sports (PS3, X360)
The NBA Live series has been releasing yearly installments since 1992, and since 1995 under the Live moniker. In 2000, 2K Sports threw their hat into the basketball game market, and had been steadily outperforming the Live series since. With Michael Jordan appearing in their latest title, along with other classic ballers of yesteryear, it seemed like the Live series would have to do something drastic to outdo NBA 2K11. So they decided to change their name to NBA Elite, because people like new and improved names, right? Countless bugs, missteps, and general fuck ups later, the game was outright canceled, and the world would be without a yearly EA NBA sim for the first time in almost 20 years. 

More Uncharted 3, Less Fallon

A few weeks ago, Uncharted 3 made its grand gameplay debut on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I understand that Jimmy Fallon is a game geek who may or may not have a few million loyal watchers, but I still can't fathom why you debut such an anticiated game on a show who attracts a fanbase which may not even own a PlayStation 3. 

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let me tell you how happy I am that Sony has offered us a little more of Uncharted 3, and a lot less Jimmy Fallon. These two videos give us pretty much more of the same, pure awesome. Watch Nate and Sully deal with some unsavory characters in new and exciting ways. Nate fights two people at once, picks up ammo automatically, and gets his cover shot out from in front of him. Sully stands around and barely manages to pull his weight. Good times!

Fan-Made Duke Nukem Short Shakes It, Baby

It's no secret that Duke Nukem has experienced a major revival recently, mostly due to the long overdue paralleled revival of Duke Nukem Forever. I predict sometime in the not-too-distant future, we will all have Nukem-fatigue after the 8th consecutive summer blockbuster, 12th graphic novel, and of course, the wildly successful subcription fee-based multiplayer FPS. However this is not that time, so the more Duke Nukem news the better!

A bunch of Finnish dudes have thrown together a short film called The Duke: Fate of Humanity, and it looks awesome of course. If I were ever to see a Duke Nukem movie, I would hope it to look very much like The Duke here. Strippers, beer, guns, the aliens who screw with them all, and the bad-ass who sets shit straight. There is no dialogue in the short, thankfully, because I sense a European accented Duke exclaiming "Hail to de king" that I wouldn't want ruining the all-American man's man I've come to love. Pause. 

via Kotaku

Oops! Someone Just Leaked Two More MvC3 Characters

Galactus (left), and Taskmaster (right) loafing around with Super Skrull, as illustrated by Kevin Sharpe

The Eagle-eyed boys at Shoryuken.com have just assured that Marvel vs. Capcom 3 comic book artist Kevin Sharpe never gets a gig in this town again. They've brought to light that Sharpe has posted some of his work from the MvC3 comic to his online portfolio.

Maybe Capcom hadn't informed Mr. Sharpe that not all the characters have been revealed yet, because he just blew the top on both Galactus and Taskmaster, both of whom have been previously rumored combatants, the former as the boss of the whole damn game. Word on the interwebz travels about as fast as a blown secret, so of course the source images can no longer be found on Sharpe's portfolio.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are one step closer to closure on Marvel vs. Capcom 3's roster. Capcom, you may now roll out the Galactus and Taskmaster trailers.

Soul Calibur is Back with Style

That guy in the header image of this post? That's Daishi Odashima, hot shot designer, snappy dresser, and integral member of Project SOUL, the dudes behind the Soul Calibur games. The past weekend, Odashima-san cryptically tweeted "SC is back! Get ready, fans!" along with the above image attached.

Fine ass shirts, a replica Soul Calibur, drawings of the Calibur and the Edge, and a cold emotionless stare. This guy means business! Soul Calibur IV is still one of my favorite fighting games, so if the next installment is anywhere near as intense as the last (and as that shirt), I'm ready to return to the stage of history.

Get Deep with The Last Story's Battle System

With each passing day I become more and more enamored with Nintendo's The Last Story, and you should feel the same. I can't imagine why you wouldn't anyway. The latest details gives us an in depth look at The Last Story's battle system thanks to our Far East Side friends at Andriasang.

Much like typical RPG battle fashion (perhaps more regularly found in MMORPGs) you can see the main character Elza utilizing moves such as pulling enemies, kiting enemies into area-of-effect magic spells, and holding enemy aggro while the teammates coordinate big damage attacks. Then we see some unusual, but welcome tactics, such as running through an allies fire spell area to imbue your weapon with an elemental upgrade, or sweeping a slash through a heal spell to disperse the effects to your entire party. That's thinking outside of the box, melikes.

If you're thinking The Last Story's system is reminiscent of an MMORPG, you would be right. Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has stated he feels the game plays a bit like an MMORPG in the sense that you undertake this long and involving quest with a party of six friends who are actively engaging in conversation. The difference, of course, being that your companions are computer controlled, and the conversations are most likely scripted.

Still no western release date for what could be one of 2011's best RPGs, but rest assured Nintendo can feel the hype building here for what could be Sakaguchi-san's final masterpiece.