There are few times I can remember being more frightened during a video game than playing this year's "Siren: Blood Curse" on PlayStation 3.

But as a horror buff, I'm always left wanting more. Which is why I eagerly anticipated the release of "Silent Hill: Homecoming" this month.

I haven't finished "Silent Hill" yet, but have a good feel for it. After a few hours of "Siren," I'd experienced a turn-on-the-lights moment.

Did it happen with "Silent Hill"? Sort of.

Read more...

In this special edition of box art reviews, we take a look at the week's brand-new compilations and the aesthetic choices they've made with their covers...

"EA Sports '08 Collection" (PC)
What the Box Tells Us: You'll get every major sports title released last year by Electronic Arts, including basketball, hockey, football, golf and... screaming?
Pros: Five boxes on the cover -- and all "great" games. You can clearly see you're getting a lot.
Cons: The images used to represent the games are taken right off their original box art, which is also featured on the bottom. A bit redundant.
Love It or Leave It: Leave it. Read more...

Long time Wii owners may have developed a preference for their motion-controlled mini-games. Do you like pointing? Or do you like shaking? Would you just like whatever you're being asked to do to be simpler?

The creators of "Cooking Mama: World Kitchen," have learned from their first "Cooking Mama" Wii game, representatives from the games' North American publisher, Majesco, told Multiplayer today. And the lesson they've learned is that shaking is preferable to pointing. The new game will have more shake-based cooking activities and fewer that involve aiming the Wii remote at the TV screen.

The "Cooking Mama" team's shift to more streamlined controls shouldn't surprise avid and sometimes-frustrated Wii players. Motion controls have been tricky for developers and gamers to handle. Read more...

With rumors swirling that Nintendo could be announcing a revised DS later this week, some people have wondered if it's just too soon for that to happen. The DS Lite is still selling well in Japan and selling even better in the U.S.

History shows that the time is actually perfect for Nintendo to announce and release a new portable gaming device.

The company may have waited seven years between its first two iterations of handheld hardware, but, since then it's been barely two years between each handheld hardware release. Sales success hasn't slowed Nintendo before, it seems.

Check this list of Nintendo handheld hardware released in America and then decide whether it would be stranger for Nintendo to announce a new portable this week... or for it not to.

Nintendo Handheld Release Dates In U.S.
07/21/89 Game Boy
09/03/96 Game Boy Pocket
11/18/98 Game Boy Color
06/11/01 Game Boy Advance
03/23/03 Game Boy Advance SP
11/21/04 Nintendo DS
09/19/05 Game Boy Micro
06/11/06 Nintendo DS Lite

Time for something new in 2008, no?

(Above: Nintendo portable hardware release dates, from the Nintendo of America press site)

I've got the full report about AC/DC's newly-announced "Rock Band" spin-off at MTVNews.com. If you just want to see the tracklist for this standalone PS2/PS3/Xbox360/Wii Wal-Mart exclusive, here you go:

Read more...

"If you said, 'What would you say Rare represents?' I'd say, 'We're pretty flexible. We're kind of able to jump from different types of game to different types of game. We're not known as a studio that sits on one type of game and repeats it. I'd say Rare is capable of doing pretty much anything we want. I always say a good game designer should be able to design any type of game. It might not be a game you want to play, but you should be able to do it. If we want to make a flight simulator, we should be able to have the confidence that, as a company, we could make a really good flight simulator. Whether it'd ever do well is another question. [laughs]"

-- "Banjo Kazooie" series creator Gregg Mayles in response to a question asking if Rare would ever make something as drastically different as a gritty third-person-shooter

Related Posts
Rare Reveals Two Unique, Scuttled Versions Of ‘Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts’
Rare Responds To Peter Moore Out-Of-Touch Critique, Doubts ‘Killer Instinct’ Revival
Banjo Redeemed — Xbox 360 Game Makes Great Second Impression, Features In-Game N64

"Mega Man 9" is a risk. It marks a return to a style long since abandoned by the industry fused with the advancements of today.

One of those includes the ability to sell consumers additional game features through downloadable content. "Mega Man 9" on WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network are all rigged for additional content -- but at a cost.

This is a stark contrast to the last time Capcom tried to reinvent "Mega Man" in a remake of the original, PSP's "Mega Man: Powered Up," whose downloadable content was free. But PSP games are also threatened by piracy.

That's not the case with "Mega Man 9." Some vocal consumers have cried foul at Capcom's decision, but let's break down exactly what you're paying for and examine whether previous games that tried similar models (remember the "Lumines Live!" debacle?) found success. Then, tell us what you think.

Read more...

With "DC Universe Online" debuting on both the PC and the PS3 sometime next year, gamers have been wondering whether or not they'll be able to play with their friends across platforms.

In a phone interview last week, Chris Cao, the creative director at SOE-Austin, told me that cross-platform compatibility was one of the development studio's highest design goals, and while it is technically possible, there's one particular issue that's giving them trouble.

"Right now there's no technological reason why we can't," he said. "We want you to play with your friends, so everything that we do tries to get people to play together."

So if the technology isn't the problem, then what's preventing SOE from committing to cross-platform compatibility? Read more...

There is one online game in which I am undefeated.

That's "Buzz! Quiz TV," the game show video game on the PS3. Last night, I played one match against three random people via the Internet. After three rounds packed with a surprising amount of trivia about tennis, of all things, I took the lead. I took that lead on the last question, somehow remembering that the golfer known as "The Shark" is a guy named Greg Norman.

Once I had my one win, I quit the game. For now, I'm retired, undefeated.

Winning a round of "Buzz" online felt like a nice revenge after the many hours of my life that I've spent getting out-reflexed by expert players in "Halo 3" online. With "Buzz," my brain can lead me to victory. Of course, it's not the part of my brain that I'm proud of that let me win. It's not the thinking part or the writerly part. It's the part that remembers who Greg Norman is and can recall that "Deep Impact" is a disaster movie.

After I won my session of "Buzz" online, I tried the game's downloadable video game trivia pack. I couldn't figure out how to play it online, so I competed solo. I flubbed a question about "Gurumin." I correctly answered questions about "Crash Bandicoot" and "Loco Roco." I shook my head that the game considers "Facebreaker" a "beat-em-up." And I was crushed to hear the game's announcer pronounce "Ico" as if it rhymes with Tycho. That's can't be right!

I ended my sessions happy, because, well, I'm a winner. Undefeated. Take that, my "Halo" nemeses.

Next: I'm just starting "Sonic DS" as I just about give up on "Air Traffic Chaos," a game I liked so much before discovering that, on the hardest difficulty level, it cheats.

"Rock Band" fans on Wii might have missed out on several features the first time around, but MTV Games and Harmonix appear to be fixing that with "Rock Band 2."

The original release on Wii did not feature downloadable songs -- Harmonix blamed it on the lack of storage space -- and was limited to offline-only multiplayer.

A USA Today story this morning alleged that both of these features would be included in the upcoming Wii version of "Rock Band 2."

Harmonix confirmed those reports to MTV Multiplayer this afternoon. "'Rock Band 2' for Wii will be fully featured," said a company spokesperson.

"Rock Band 2" is scheduled for a release on the Wii later this year. No official release date has been announced. Feeling better, Wii owners?

Related Posts
Wii ‘Rock Band’ Won’t Have Online Or DLC, Will Have Five Exclusive Songs
MTV Hosts ‘Rock Band’ Day And A Head Is Chewed Off [pictures]
How To Unlock Every ‘Rock Band 2′ Song Right Away