Need for Speed SHIFT delivers its first free DLC

It looks like the Need for Speed franchise is taking a page from Burnout and going the free DLC route. For anyone still playing Need for Speed SHIFT after Forza 3 has already been released some new DLC is on the way, and it isn't just a few new cars to race in. Come Dec. 1 on the 360 and Dec. 3 on the PS3 SHIFT players will get an all new gameplay mode called Team Racing. It actually looks pretty damn awesome.

The new mode will allow players to go online with up to six friends and make a team of cars. The goal of team racing is not for individual glory, but for the entire team to do well. This should create some pretty interesting racing tactics that you don't see too often, especially in online play. As the video above shows it's actually looking a little exciting (at least to my untrained racing eye), especially when you throw in the four new muscle cars and one Toyota that come with the DLC in the form of a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427, a 1967 Shelby GT-500, a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, a 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T and a 1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV.

What say you? Intriguing enough to pop the SHIFT disc back into the system or have you moved on already?

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Ubisoft Passes on No More Heroes Remake

Ubisoft has announced that it will not be publishing the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of No More Heroes.

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Where is the Serial

…being reworked, that’s what.So Song of a Wish just doesn’t seem to be working,[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://monstervine.com/2009/11/where-is-the-serial/

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Mario teams up with Rex for co-op in Super Mario
World

video details and more

Resident Nintendoholic Jonathan tipped me off to this video of two-player co-op in Super Mario World. Why Rex instead of Luigi? Why not? Upon further digging, my big takeaway was that tinkering with roms is effing difficult. So the choice was likely based on lessening the amount of work.

I clicked creator Noobish Noobsicle's download link (great name, by the way) to see what all you'd have to do to get this co-op sprite up and running in your emulated Super Mario World. It ain't easy, folks. Strange numbers and instructions that didn't sound like they were formed with real words ensued.

My hope is that one day someone will go about implementing four-person co-op with elements from New Super Mario Bros. Wii into one of these Super Mario games without "New" in the title -- y'know, respawning in a bubble upon death. Stuff like that. Hell, even a new game using existing sprites would be incredible.

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Coddle Your Joystick with Tammy Sue's Rack!

Boy, I'll tell you what, I play a lot of videogames, and I'd probably play a whole lot more if it weren't for that darned Holding Hand Fatigue.  Fortunately, my friend Tammy Sue Distributing has just the thing:



Yep, it's a slab of plastic that holds an Atari (or similarly-sized single-button joystick) in place with four awkward-looking little plastic doohickeys.  It's supposed to simulate an arcade mount, but it's got a couple of major issues.  I don't think Ms. Distributing really tested this gadget out -- the ad's promise that the Video Rack will "Improve Your Highest Score" seems questionable at best.

First, as shown the joystick appears to be mounted upside down -- the fire button is in the lower right hand corner, which means that if it's closest to the player, moving the stick forward will send a "down" signal to the game, moving right will send "left", and so forth, sending scores plummeting.

Second, even if the photo is actually upside down, we can see that actually hitting the fire button is going to be considerably more difficult with the joystick inserted into the Video Rack.  Instead of using our thumb to squeeze it in its normal handheld position, we now have to position a finger or two on the side, taking care not to interfere with movement of the joystick itself or get hung up on the little plastic thingamabobs.

So in the end, I suspect this gadget "Eliminates Holding Hand Fatigue" by replacing it with Holding Slab Fatigue and seriously inhibiting Rapidly Hitting The Fire Button Syndrome.

And what the heck is "Both Left & Right Hand Play" supposed to mean?  The Atari 2600 joystick only works one way -- fire button on the left, joystick on the right.  I suppose if you created an actual left-handed joystick, then it could be used with the Video Rack.  But the Video Rack is not going to magically imbue it with southpaw compatibility.
 
In the end, the ad's only arguably truthful statement appears to be that "Once you've played with the Video Rack, you'll never go back!" 

Though I don't think that's quite how they meant it..

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Twilight Sequel Breaks Records

New Moon, the sequel to the vampire teen romance movie Twilight, has had a record breaking opening.

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Weekend Download

Two things the indie gaming community thrives on are experimentation and nostalgia. Some developers push their concepts so far the resulting experience is unlike anything we've ever seen. It may be fun, it may be frustrating, but we love it for the boundless innovation. Other developers take classic concepts and reinvent them for the modern player, resurrecting proven gaming mechanics for everyone to enjoy once again. The selection of games below illustrates both concepts quite well, with a few games blending both nostalgia and experimentation in equal parts. Gotta love indie game creators!

Read The Full Article:
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/11/weekend_download_110.php

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