Microsoft today announced a new Xbox 360 content delivery system during its Consumer Electronics Show presentation in Las Vegas. The Game Room application will enable you to establish your own virtual 3D space and furnish it with classic arcade machines. You and your friends can then interact with the Game Room using your Xbox Avatars. Remember those?

Australia’s Krome Studios is involved in the development of the project.

The concept will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Sony’s much derided Home environment, which also features a virtual arcade. However, Game Room appears set to receive broader and more consistent support from its publisher. The service is due to launch in autumn 2010 with a selection of 30 titles, including Asteroids Deluxe, Centipede and Super Cobra. A cursory glance at the trailer suggests the line-up may also include titles such as Adventure, Combat, Outlaw and Star Raiders. A new title will be made available for purchase each week thereafter. Only one purchase is required to play a game on both Xbox 360 and Windows Live.

A roaming third person fighter, Darksiders casts you in the role of War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse. After receiving the order to deliver God’s judgement, you descend to the mortal realm, comically large sword at the ready. Before you can catch your breath, you’re summoned before a parliament of gargantuan stone heads and charged with instigating the apocalypse before the allotted time. You’ll face the forces of heaven and hell in a desperate, blood soaked, bid to clear your name. Read the rest of this entry »

“I haven’t seen you in 20 years my 8 bit friend. Let’s fight”

Many of you may have seen trailers or screenshots for Dark Void, an upcoming release developed by Airtight Games and published by Capcom. Jammed packed with the usual sci-fi fare, Dark Void is a slick looking game that has you zooming around on a jet pack fighting an alien race called the Watchers. What you may not know is Dark Void is a remake of a game that was never released!

Well, not really, but Capcom have impressively gone to the effort of creating a legend around the game for the release of their retro downloadable version. The story, revealed on Capcom Unity, is that work on Dark Void commenced in the 1980s. Then titled, Dark Rift the game was a platformer-come-shooter that aimed to push the limitations of gaming as we knew it. Unfortunately they pushed the boundaries a little too far, creating the need to develop a chipset for each cartridge so the NES could cope with the graphics. They took a little too long and the SNES console made Dark Void obsolete. A sad team at Capcom decided to take their bat, ball, cartridges and chipsets home, rather than release a version for the SNES.

Now with the remake on the verge of release, Capcom have renewed their enthusiasm for the original project. This lost gem will be available for download on DSiWare this month. You can play Rusty in all of his 8-bit glory as he fights his way through the Void to defeat those nasty Watchers.

“I’m sure they won’t mind if I just take one of these blueberries.”

Live in Melbourne and spending too many sunny afternoons racking up achievement points and trophies? Thinking you should get out of the house, but are reluctant because you love playing video games? Enjoy the best of both worlds and head along to the Best of the Independent Games Festival exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).

The Festival was created by CMP Media in 1998 to recognise innovative game designs by independent developers from around the world. Previous festivals have showcased acclaimed games such as Braid and Cloud.

The Graveyard (Tale of Tales) picked up a nomination for Excellence in Visual Art. It’s a shadowy black and white game, which is not goal oriented. You play an elderly woman and your only aim is to explore a cemetery and contemplate the meaning of the imagery you face. Erik Svedäng’s Blueberry Garden took the honours for the Grand Prize.  This quirky looking game is also about exploration. You investigate an unusual looking world to find out….why it’s so unusual. These and numerous other titles will be on display until Sunday 14 February 2010.

So if you want to earn some bragging rights and play the next ‘Braid’ before it becomes a hit, then head down to Fed Square and, as ACMI put it, “play brilliant new games for free”. ‘Brilliant’? We’ll be the judge of that!