John Constantine –MTV Multiplayer

April Fool's Day Pranks In Gaming History

Posted 4/1/10 12:00 pm EST by John Constantine in Features

April Fools

April 1st is arguably the most dreaded day on the gaming calendar. We are an enthusiastic, gullible, and eager people, us gamers. Our hobby lives and breathes on our voracious hunger for the new and the iterative, we long for new sequels to our favorite franchises and we yearn to see our favorite developers work on bizarre fantasy projects. This is why we're so damned easy to goose year and year out on April Fool's day.

Gaming blogs, mags, publishers, developers, hell, even PR companies all get in on the act, pumping out false announcements to make us freak out. Here are some of our favorite April Fool's pranks in gaming history.

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Five Nintendo 3DS Games That Need To Happen

Posted 3/23/10 2:01 pm EST by John Constantine in 3DS / DS, Features

The Nintendo 3DS is coming, whether you like it or not. As it turns out, we're in the "like it" group...at least from the little we've heard so far. But as they say in the gaming world, it's all about the software. Here are five games that need to be made for the Nintendo 3DS.

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50th Anniversary Of Lasers! Our Favorite Lasers In Gaming

Posted 3/22/10 1:30 pm EST by John Constantine in Features

Halo 3

You have used them to fell your enemies, destroy sinister strongholds, and solve innumerable environmental puzzles. You have been baffled by their physically impossible visibility to the naked eye. You have been impressed by their versatility, at the sheer variety of things they disintegrate. They have consistently distinguished themselves from our guns, the bullets, the lightning shooters, and the gravity manipulators that have been our weapons of choice for years and years.

I speak, of course, of the lasers. Human beings have been using Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER. Get it?) in the name of science, security, pointing at stuff and awesomeness for fifty years (the patent was created on March 22nd, 1960), but we gamers have been using these potent beams of coherent light for a variety of destructive purposes for ages. Across time and space, in unknowable pasts and far-flung futures, we have taken up our lasers and smoked fools into oblivion. Celebrate a half a century of functional laser devices with these, the five sweetest lasers in gaming history.

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'God of War 3' Hands-on Preview - The First Level Completed

Posted 3/1/10 2:20 pm EST by John Constantine in Previews, PS3

God of War 3

"God of War 3" is finished. Done. Gone gold, as they in say in the common parlance of our industry. Sony invited the press to come and try out the introductory level of Kratos' grand finale last week, letting folks play through the game's opening credits and through its first confrontation with a screen-filling enemy.

As is customary for "God of War" games, this sequel opens in grand form. If there was ever any doubt that Stig Asmussen's "God of War" would lack the grandeur and shocking scale of David Jaffe or Cory Barlog's, you can lay them to rest now. "God of War 3" has spectacle to spare.

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'Ace Attorney Investigations' Review - I Can See For Miles

Posted 2/19/10 11:00 am EST by John Constantine in 3DS / DS, Reviews

Miles Edgeworth

Making the transition from supporting character to leading man isn't always the right move, especially if you're an anti-hero. Anti-heroes are always more interesting when they're mysterious, when their motivations are veiled and ambiguous. Boba Fett is cooler when he's in the background, passing out menacing nods. Hannibal Lecter is more exciting and dangerous when you're not watching just walk around. Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright's erstwhile rival in Capcom's "Ace Attorney" series, isn't nearly so villainous as those examples, but the rule still applies: Is the debonair prosecutor a cool enough character to carry his own game?

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After 'Dante's Inferno': 5 Public Domain Works to Adapt Next

Posted 2/10/10 10:33 am EST by John Constantine in Features, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360

Dante's Inferno

Fourteen months after its auspicious debut, we are now able to play "Dante's Inferno" in all of its glory. The wait has been unbearable. Who hasn't been chomping at the bit to get their hands on Visceral Games' grand reinterpretation of Dante Aligheri's seven-hundred-year-old poetry?

If "Dante" manages to capture an audience, we might be on the verge of a new gaming zeitgeist, wherein publishers across the land craft their blockbusters from the most traditional IPs in the public domain. Here are five games based on classic lit and the developers most suited to realizing them.

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MIA Games Of 2010

Posted 1/14/10 10:52 am EST by John Constantine in Features, PS3, Xbox 360

Beyond Good and Evil 2

The game publishers of the world had big plans for the fall of 2009. Then everyone realized that "New Super Mario Bros.," "Modern Warfare 2," and "Assassins Creed 2" were all coming out within a couple weeks of each other and they decided that, perhaps, it would be best to hold some of their games back until next year, giving these games more time in the development oven.

Many games that were originally scheduled for late 2009 were pushed into the first quarter of 2010. There are others, though, that remain a total mystery as to when they'll release. Here are five games that may or may not see the light of day in the next 12 months.

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Five Places Where World War II Games Haven't Gone (And Should)

Posted 12/8/09 1:15 pm EST by John Constantine in Features, PS3, Xbox 360

Saboteur

We have stormed the beaches of Normandy. We have laid siege to Berlin, took to the skies over the South Pacific, and have blazed across the French back-country. We have felled the Third Reich more times than we could possibly count and watched Tojo surrender to the face of atomic power. Video games have done World War II.

But, since the Nazis are just about the best video game villains ever, it's doubtful we've seen the end of this time period. So, in order to keep things fresh, here are five heretofore-unexplored locations for where to set your next World War II game.

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Gaming's Greatest Silent Protagonists

Posted 11/11/09 12:00 pm EST by John Constantine in Features

Silence, as they say, is golden. It's a rule that holds more true in video games than in most media. Quiet isn't necessarily a good thing during the heat of play – you want to hear your enemies approach, some killer tunes, Yoshi's squeal as he devours some witless sentient mushroom. A game is best served by silence in its protagonist, the lead character and, very often, the hero you get to control when you pick up the controller.

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'Monster Hunter Tri' Ditches Friend Codes on Wii

Posted 10/22/09 9:52 am EST by John Constantine in News, Wii

Monster Hunter Tri

The "Monster Hunter" franchise's reach has always been limited in the United States. The series is a Pokémon-level phenomenon in its native Japan, but has only recently been upgraded from "obscure curio" to "cult hit" on this side of the Pacific. The real barrier between "MoHun" and Western success has been its lack of online play. Though every "Monster Hunter" can be played solo, it's impossible to access the game's best bits without other human players. Hardcore, grind-intensive, multiplayer action RPGs plain need an online option to find an audience in the United States.

Tags capcom, monster hunter tri, Wii

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