Daily updates on video games and popular culture, along with Australia’s grooviest gaming podcast.

Archive for January, 2011

Black Panel Podcast 30

Posted by Erin Marcon On Monday 31 January 2011ADD COMMENTS

In this episode: Original IP in 2011, PSP2/NGP, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Hamilton’s Great Adventure, The Outsider, Raskulls and much more!

 

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The Panellists: Erin Marcon (@ErinMarcon), Karen Jacobson (@KarenMJacobson), Peter Nickless and Joel Guttenberg

Twitter: @BlackPanelDaily l Facebook: Black Panel Readers’ League

Related links: New Horizons; Everything but the kitchen sink; By popular demand?; FatShark’s tilt at greatness; Development on The Outsider stalls; Buzz: The Ultimate Music Quiz Review

New Media 12

Posted by Black Panel Staff On Sunday 30 January 2011ADD COMMENTS

Presented in glorious alphabetical order, New Media: Retail Roundup is your indispensible checklist of the home console and handheld titles arriving in stores this week. What will you be playing?

MICROSOFT XBOX 360 Def Jam Rapstar

NINTENDO Wii Wild West Shootout DS Mario vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem

SONY PLAYSTATION 3 Def Jam Rapstar PSP Lord of Arcana

VARIOUS PC The Sims 3: Outdoor Living Stuff

New Media: Downloadable Digest is your handy reminder of the new downloadable titles released during the past week.

MICROSOFT XBLA Breach

NINTENDO WiiWARE Nothing DSiWARE Boom Boom Squaries

SONY PSN Dead Space: Extraction * Mass Effect 2 PSP MINIS Denki Blocks! * greenTechPLUS+

VALVE STEAM Breach * Crasher * Dead Space 2 * Luxor: 5th Passage * Magicka * Mishap 2: An Intentional Haunting * Monday Night Combat * The Sims 3 * Trino

Recent instalments of New Media: 23.01.11 l 16.01.11 l 09.01.11 l 02.01.11 l 26.12.10

The Black List 73

Posted by Black Panel Staff On Saturday 29 January 2011ADD COMMENTS

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for all of the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY l NEWS l The Outsider > Dark clouds have again gathered over Frontiers Development’s long delayed political action game The Outsider. Studio founder David Braben has conceded its completion is no longer the priority it once was, telling Rock Paper Shotgun that a number of unannounced titles are currently absorbing the developer’s resources. READ MORE

TUESDAY l REVIEW l Buzz: The Ultimate Music Quiz > Are you ready to have your music knowledge tested? Are you prepared to repeatedly mash a brightly coloured peripheral? Can you endure insults (and the odd compliment) from a host with an oversized head? If you answered yes to the above questions then you’re ready to play Buzz: The Ultimate Music Quiz. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY l NEWS l L.A. Noire > After more than six years in solitary confinement, Team Bondi’s period cop drama L.A. Noire finally has a release date. Barring any unforeseen incidents, one of the more ambitious projects attempted by an Australian developer will hit the shelves on Friday 20 May. The announcement coincides with the release of a fresh trailer. Like its predecessor, the new clip is comprised entirely of in-engine footage.  READ MORE

THURSDAY l NEWS l nanoBITES 26 > Dead Space: Extraction protagonists Weller and Lexine are set to return in Severed, the first wave of DLC for Dead Space 2. The two new single player chapters will be coming to 360 and PS3. Alas, there has been no word as yet on the PC version. This is just one of the stories in this week’s edition of nanoBITES, our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items. READ MORE

FRIDAY l NEWS l NGP > Sony has unveiled its PSP successor. Provisionally known as the NGP (Next Generation Portable), the new unit well and truly bucks the trend towards simplified control schemes. In addition to the input options offered by its predecessor, the NGP boats a five inch touch sensitive display, a second thumbstick, a multi-touch pad on the rear of the unit, two cameras and three internal motion sensing devices. READ MORE

Recent instalments of The Black List: 22.01.11 l 15.01.11 l  08.01.11 l  01.01.11 l 25.12.10

Everything but the kitchen sink…

Posted by Erin Marcon On Friday 28 January 2011ADD COMMENTS

Start saving.

Sony has unveiled its PSP successor. Provisionally known as the NGP (Next Generation Portable), the new unit well and truly bucks the trend towards simplified control schemes. In addition to the input options offered by its predecessor, the NGP boats a five inch touch sensitive display, a second thumbstick, a multi-touch pad on the rear of the unit, two cameras and three internal motion sensing devices.

While the much maligned PSP Go relied entirely on downloadable content, the new system will accommodate physical media in the form of proprietary flash cards. That’s not to suggest that Sony has abandoned the digital frontier entirely, far from it. The 3G and Wi-fi compatible device will offer PSN trophy support. Better yet, the newly announced PlayStation Suite will provide a range of downloadable games for the NPG as well as Android powered mobile devices.

A number of new games have already been teased. Anticipate new instalments of Sony exclusive franchises Killzone, LittleBigPlanet and Uncharted.  The latter game in particular demonstrates the system’s significantly enhanced graphical capabilities. Original titles in the works include fantasy themed action platformer Gravity Daze and rolling ball puzzler Little Deviants. The NGP is also backwards compatible in terms of downloadable PSP games, so you won’t be scratching around for something to play on launch day.

Sony is yet to announce a release date or price for the NPG.

CORRECTION: Edited to clarify that backwards compatibility relates to downloadable PSP games. (29.01.11)