Gaming

E3 is almost here, a merry time of hype and trailers and demos and of course, press conferences. From June 10 — 13, video game publishers from around the world will descend on Los Angeles like a swarm of eager beavers, ready to try to sell us on the next big thing. Yes, beavers. A massive swarm of beavers. More »      

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD has been pegged for a May 30 launch on iOS. The game was initially announced for last fall, pushed back to July and has now been bumped up to the end of this month. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD is a bundle of the first three DS games, Ace Attorney, Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations, all "remastered and enhanced for retina displays," Capcom says. The app itself is a free download for iOS 5.0 and greater devices, with the first two chapters of the first game serving as a demo. Each game may be purchased separately - the first is $6 and the other two are $7 each - or in a collection for $17.Phoenix Wright Trilogy HD enters iOS courtroom May 30 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 May 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

NeocoreGames’ The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was recently released on Steam to little fanfare. It looks fairly impressive for a $15 RPG, even though I get Diablo vibes so strong I can practically hear the menu music. More »      

Not that you should have, given Microsoft's puzzling disdain towards the market, but just in case you were thinking those promised Xbox One exclusives were coming to PC, you can stop. Shacknews asked Microsoft if any of those 15 titles would come to the PC, and the response they got from Matt Booty, general manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms, was...well. "[The] Windows 8 gamer is certainly going to participate in some of that content", he says, before going off on a tangent about phone games and Solitaire. Dragged back on-top, he later admits "When I think about more connected experiences across [our] platforms, it's things that show up within that family of devices where we've got Xbox Live, like Windows Phone and Windows 8...not what you might consider a more traditional desktop PC game." Sigh. Microsoft won't cater to 'traditional desktop PC gamers' with first-party strategy [Shacknews]

It's not that there are too many indie games; it's that there aren't enough hours in a day to play all of them. The Joystiq Indie Pitch curates the best indies to play now and watch out for in the future. What's your game called and what's it about? Bam fu is a two-, three- or four-player game on one device where you tap on pebbles - a fancy word for the buttons in this game - as quickly as you can to make them your color. Other players are trying to do the same and the colors change in a cycle, so the pebbles will definitely not stay on your color for long. The game goes on with you trying to reclaim your pebbles as fast as you can, until all, or almost all, pebbles are your color. That's when you win. What's the coolest aspect of Bam fu? We think that the coolest aspect of the game is that you can play it with everyone. Any gender, age or language; literally everyone! The rules are so simple that it doesn't take more than a second to get them. In fact, we are yet to find a player who doesn't skip the the tutorial. Plenty of thought has gone into small details to keep things simple. For example, we are using the fingers on the hand to count your points, so it's immediately clear that you play to five. We have also made the game accessible to colorblind players, which was a challenge for a game than distinguishes between players by color. This is why the pebbles were designed to point toward a player's corner.Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Bam fuThe Joystiq Indie Pitch: Bam fu originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 May 2013 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Google is once again under FTC scrutiny, this time over its advertisement methods and whether it is using them to harm its competition, something that is separate from the issue closed earlier this year concerning whether it was in violation of antitrust laws. For now it remains a preliminary investigation, and there’s no word on whether the agency has pegged Google as having broken any laws. According to the Washington Post, the investigation is the result of Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick back in 2008 for a hefty $3.1 billion. Such a purchase raised the FTC’s hackles over whether possessing the advertisement platform, in addition to its own AdSense, could put the Internet giant in a position to harm its competitors. Google went ahead with the buyout, and has been under the FTC’s eye in that regards since then. One of the biggest concerns specified by the FTC was something referred to as tying, which shoehorns consumers into having to buy multiple products from a single company. This is anti-competitive, and likewise would put Google in violation of the law. This concern was raised shortly before the DoubleClick acquisition, and since then the percentage of the advertisement market Google controls has increased. Beyond its newly launched preliminary investigation, not much else is known at the moment. We’ll have to wait to see if Google has violated any laws, but it is possible the investigation will be wrapped up and will fade away without any hoopla, as has been the case many times. When asked about the investigation, both the FTC and Google declined commenting on the matter. This follows the antitrust debacle Google went through with the FTC throughout last year, eventually settling with the agency back in January for terms many criticized as being a mere slap on the hand. While that investigation partly concerned the advertisement aspects of Google, in addition to a variety of other issues, including prioritizing its own results over competitors, the issue was separate from this one. SOURCE: Washington Post Google being investigated by FTC over advertisements is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear. © 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Overview There are no games in the top 40 to be in their final week. Four games have 200,000 or more pre-orders, the same as last week, and the top five has 100,000 or more pre-orders, the same as last week. Tw games added 20,000 or more pre-orders, up from one last week and nine added 10,000 or more, up from five last week. Games in Final Week Before Launch There are no games in the top 40 to be in their final week. Major Performers in the U.S. – Week Ending May 25 Metro: The Last Light (X360) sales are expected to drop to around 25,000 units in its second week on sale. The PlayStation 2 version is expected to drop to around 15,000 units. Overall hardware and software sales are expected to drop slightly week-on-week. Other Hot Games – In Order of Release The Last of Us (PS3) is now the most pre-ordered game in the US. It added 17,003 pre-orders, up from 9,996 last week, for a total of 295,519. The game has risen from 44,000 to 46,000 pre-orders ahead of Uncharted 3 during the same number of weeks before release. The game is four weeks away from launch in the USA, June 14, 2013. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) added 19,084 pre-orders, down from 11,441 last week, for a total of 221,927. The game is four weeks away from launch in the USA, June 9, 2013. Grand Theft Auto V (X360) added 4,968 pre-orders, down from 5,970 last week, for a total of 287,296. The PlayStation 3 version added 4,457 up from 3,659 pre-orders for a total of 246,477. The game is 18 weeks away from launch in the USA, September 17, 2013. Battlefield 4 (X360) added 5,882 pre-orders, down from 8,069 last week, for a total of 138,086. Battlefield 4 (PS3) added 3,309 pre-orders, down from 5,814 last week, for a total of 53,177. The game will be released on October 29, 2013. Notable mentions: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (PS3) added 18,144 pre-orders for a total of 50,930. Call of Duty: Ghosts (X360) added 24,986 pre-orders for a total of 50,493. Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS3) added 18,251 pre-orders for a total of 37,554. Requests: Watch Dogs (X360) added 1,077 pre-orders for a total of 11,190. Saints Row IV (X360) added 1,472 pre-orders for a total of 9,900. Gran Turismo 6 (PS3) entered the charts this week with just 243 pre-orders. If your favorite game isn't in the top 40, leave a comment requesting which game you want to see and the most requested games will be added in next week's article! The Top 40 can be seen below or click here to go to the USA pre-orders page. Pos Game Weeks to Launch Weekly Change Total 1 The Last of Us (PS3)Sony Computer Entertainment, Adventure 4 17,003 292,519 2 Grand Theft Auto V (X360)Take-Two Interactive, Action 18 4,968 287,296 3 Grand Theft Auto V (PS3)Take-Two Interactive, Action 18 4,457 246,477 4 Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)Nintendo, Action 4 19,084 221,927 5 Battlefield 4 (X360)Electronic Arts, Shooter 20 5,882 138,086 6 Tales of Xillia (PS3)Namco Bandai Games, Role-Playing 12 5,219 95,349 7 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (X360)Ubisoft, Action 14 1,918 75,282 8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots ()Ubisoft, Shooter 33 185 71,365 9 Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)Sony Computer Entertainment, Adventure 21 2,480 71,330 10 Pokemon X/Y (3DS)Nintendo, Role-Playing 24 4,804 65,884 11 Battlefield 4 (PS3)Electronic Arts, Shooter 20 3,309 63,177 12 South Park: The Stick of Truth (X360)Ubisoft, Role-Playing 33 449 54,879 13 The Last Guardian (PS3)Sony Computer Entertainment, Action N/A 33 52,078 14 Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (PS3)Square Enix, Role-Playing 17 18,144 50,930

Overview There are no games in the top 40 to be in their final week. Four games have 200,000 or more pre-orders, the same as last week, and the top five has 100,000 or more pre-orders, the same as last week. Tw games added 20,000 or more pre-orders, up from one last week and nine added 10,000 or more, up from five last week. Games in Final Week Before Launch There are no games in the top 40 to be in their final week. Major Performers in the U.S. – Week Ending May 25 Metro: The Last Light (X360) sales are expected to drop to around 25,000 units in its second week on sale. The PlayStation 2 version is expected to drop to around 15,000 units. Overall hardware and software sales are expected to drop slightly week-on-week. Other Hot Games – In Order of Release The Last of Us (PS3) is now the most pre-ordered game in the US. It added 17,003 pre-orders, up from 9,996 last week, for a total of 295,519. The game has risen from 44,000 to 46,000 pre-orders ahead of Uncharted 3 during the same number of weeks before release. The game is four weeks away from launch in the USA, June 14, 2013. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) added 19,084 pre-orders, down from 11,441 last week, for a total of 221,927. The game is four weeks away from launch in the USA, June 9, 2013. Grand Theft Auto V (X360) added 4,968 pre-orders, down from 5,970 last week, for a total of 287,296. The PlayStation 3 version added 4,457 up from 3,659 pre-orders for a total of 246,477. The game is 18 weeks away from launch in the USA, September 17, 2013. Battlefield 4 (X360) added 5,882 pre-orders, down from 8,069 last week, for a total of 138,086. Battlefield 4 (PS3) added 3,309 pre-orders, down from 5,814 last week, for a total of 53,177. The game will be released on October 29, 2013. Notable mentions: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (PS3) added 18,144 pre-orders for a total of 50,930. Call of Duty: Ghosts (X360) added 24,986 pre-orders for a total of 50,493. Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS3) added 18,251 pre-orders for a total of 37,554. Requests: Watch Dogs (X360) added 1,077 pre-orders for a total of 11,190. Saints Row IV (X360) added 1,472 pre-orders for a total of 9,900. Gran Turismo 6 (PS3) entered the charts this week with just 243 pre-orders. If your favorite game isn't in the top 40, leave a comment requesting which game you want to see and the most requested games will be added in next week's article! The Top 40 can be seen below or click here to go to the USA pre-orders page. Pos Game Weeks to Launch Weekly Change Total 1 The Last of Us (PS3)Sony Computer Entertainment, Adventure 4 17,003 292,519 2 Grand Theft Auto V (X360)Take-Two Interactive, Action 18 4,968 287,296 3 Grand Theft Auto V (PS3)Take-Two Interactive, Action 18 4,457 246,477 4 Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)Nintendo, Action 4 19,084 221,927 5 Battlefield 4 (X360)Electronic Arts, Shooter 20 5,882 138,086 6 Tales of Xillia (PS3)Namco Bandai Games, Role-Playing 12 5,219 95,349 7 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (X360)Ubisoft, Action 14 1,918 75,282 8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots ()Ubisoft, Shooter 33 185 71,365 9 Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)Sony Computer Entertainment, Adventure 21 2,480 71,330 10 Pokemon X/Y (3DS)Nintendo, Role-Playing 24 4,804 65,884 11 Battlefield 4 (PS3)Electronic Arts, Shooter 20 3,309 63,177 12 South Park: The Stick of Truth (X360)Ubisoft, Role-Playing 33 449 54,879 13 The Last Guardian (PS3)Sony Computer Entertainment, Action N/A 33 52,078 14 Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (PS3)Square Enix, Role-Playing 17 18,144 50,930

At first it was really confusing. Then it clicked. And then I loved it. Bladeless was a game made for Ludlum Dare. It’s a simple slicy/ninja/duel game with some pretty nifty Rock/Paper/Scissors mechanics. I can’t stop playing it. More »      

Last we checked the Ace Attorney HD Trilogy was pushed back to July, but HOLD IT! It turns out its been brought forward over a month and is now due on 30th May.The first two cases of the first title will be free, then users will have the option to buy the rest of the game for $5.99 (about £4). After that, you can purchase the two subsequent games for $6.99 (about £4.6) a piece.Or, for the best value, you can buy the whole shebang at once for $16.99 (about £11).Read more…