With Xbox Live support for original Xbox titles set to be discontinued on April 15, the online multiplayer of Bungie’s beloved Halo 2 doesn’t have much time left. On April 15, all original Xbox games will no longer be able to access Live (whether played on an original Xbox or an Xbox 360). The reasoning behind the decision is to allow Xbox Live to continue to evolve in ways that are currently restricted by the ongoing support of original Xbox games. But as a result, unless you pick up a copy of Halo 2 on PC, the last opportunity to play the game online will be on April 14 — and Bungie is planning on having the game go out with a bang.

Details will be revealed in the upcoming weeks, but a post on Bungie.net tells fans to “mark your calendars now – on April 14th let’s all rally to go online for one last hoorah.” It’ll be “[o]ne final farewell and one final opportunity for all of you to kick our asses at Halo 2.”

Beyond Bungie staff joining in on the fun online, your guess is as good as any as to what else they have in store for Halo 2’s last day online. Whatever it is, the game will have had a hell of a six-and-a-half year run.

In what must be the greatest escalation of a silly message board meme in the history of the Internet, Grimoire Assembly Forge today officially announced they’re developing Dudebro: My S*** is F***ed Up so I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It’s Straight-Up Dawg Time for the PC.

Just what the hell is Dudebro: My S*** is F***ed Up so I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It’s Straight-Up Dawg Time, besides a title as awesome as it is long? Stay with us: It started as a joke on NeoGAF, where a member defended his enjoyment of Imagine: Babyz Fashion by saying there was nothing wrong with him just because “I don’t want to play Dudebro, My S*** is F***ed Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It’s Straight-Up Dawg Time.”

It was a jokey title made up on the spot, but then the fake title got its own thread, its own submissions for hypothetical gameplay features, its own mock logo, and now it has ballooned into a full-blown game being developed be aforementioned Grimoire Assembly Forge — a group comprised of over 100 unpaid volunteers dispersed throughout the world.

Get the full article at GameSpot

First-person shooter aficionados will soon be able to relive another classic shooter on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Mobila Interactive has announced that they will soon be bringing back the much-loved Rise of the Triad for the platform.

Originally developed using a heavily-modified Wolfenstein 3D engine, Rise of the Triad stars the High-risk United Nations Task-force or H.U.N.T as they try to take down a cult bent on destroying Los Angeles. It was originally meant to be a full sequel to Wolfenstein, but ended up becoming a full game in its own right.

Rise of the Triad will be a full port, featuring all 32 levels of the original. Definitely exciting times for fans of the original.

Shigeru Miyamoto has been honoured with a Special Achievement Prize from the Agency of Cultural Affairs in Japan. As well as accepting the prize, Miyamoto has spoken out about a number of subjects, the biggest and best was the news that he is working on a new MotionPlus title for the Wii. So far Nintendo only has Wii Sports Resort and the upcoming Zelda that make use of the accessory so this news is not surprising, but it is good to hear they’re on the case.

It’s great to see Nintendo getting behind the accessory again; it’s great technology and we think it needs to be used more. Any guesses on what Mr Miyamoto is working on?

Source: andriasang

While Miyamoto was picking up his award at the 13th Annual Japan Media Arts Festival and letting us know about his new MotionPlus game in the works, he also took a minute to give a brief history of his game development, including that Super Mario Galaxy was inspired by a hamster.

Mr Miyamoto said that he was looking after a hamster and the animal gave him an idea. He wanted to make Mario run free like a hamster, so he made Galaxy set on planets that could allow you to run and return to the same point.

Miyamotos hobbies and passions have leaded us to Pikmin and Nintendogs before this respectively. So what’s next?

Source: Official Nintendo Magazine UK

Travellers Tales are keeping themselves busy that’s for sure. Soon after LEGO Batman and LEGO Harry Potter (which is out soon), Travellers Tales are going back to the Star Wars Universe with LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars on the way. The game is based on the animated series of the same name.

Improvements in the latest title include a brand new battle mode along with a new and improved level builder. You’ll be able to play as either the Jedi or the Separatists.

No Screenshots or media yet, but it’s a LEGO game so it’s not going to look that different we’d imagine. Can Travellers Tales keep these LEGO games fresh?

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Netflix is keen on supporting Nintendo’s console, and doesn’t see the lack of high-definition support as an issue. A recent TheWiire interview with Netflix VP of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey shows the company echoing many of the comments Nintendo representatives have already made about the feature disparity — and even going a little further. “The vast majority of content that is available for streaming through Netflix is not HD content,” said Swasey. “So, there is really no loss for the Wii consumer.” He adds that the company doesn’t think it is “a deterrent for Wii families.” You might notice this sounds very similar to comments from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

But Swasey makes even bolder statements about the importance of HD streaming and its current application. “PS3 and Xbox users have 1 in 17 titles available in HD, and it’s streamed in 720,” he said. “It’s not in 1080, and it’s not in 5.1 surround sound or anything. So the HD experience at Netflix Instant Watching isn’t that overwhelming. It’s a little bit underwhelming. So the Wii folks aren’t going to miss that much.”

It’s certainly odd to hear a company spokesperson speak with such frankness about their own product, but Netflix seems bullish on their partnership with Nintendo. As Swasey pointed out, “26 million homes in America have a Wii, that’s a whole lot of folks.” We know that many of those homes only own a Wii, as the console has gained mainstream momentum and adoption rates. For those people, standard-definition Netflix streaming is better than nothing, and the company is banking on Wii support being among their most successful partnerships.

One of the remarkable stories of this generation is the rebirth of the adventure game genre. With developers like Telltale Games experiencing success on all of the major consoles, Hudson has decided to jump in with a port of their own.

The publisher announced today that they will soon be bringing Dream Chronicles to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. The PC port is unique not just for its first-person perspective, but it’s co-op multiplayer, which enables friends to solve the mysteries together.

The original PC game was developed by KatGames in 2007. It has since received two sequels, with a third due later this year. Should Dream Chronicles prove to be a hit on consoles, you can bet that Hudson will get to work porting the later games as well.

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Microsoft dropped the next installment of their “Deal of the Week” promotion on Xbox Live this morning, and it includes discounts on not one, not two, but three Xbox Live Arcade games. Xbox Live Gold members can now download Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for 800 Microsoft points ($10) instead of 1200 ($15), as well as TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled for half-price at 400 Microsoft points ($5), and Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao for 800 points ($10) rather than 1200 ($15).

As always, these bargains will only last until early next Monday, when they’ll be swapped out for next week’s deals. If you’re planning on picking up any of these XBLA games, be sure to do so before they go back to their normal prices.

After ages of speculation and rumors, Nintendo has finally confirmed that they’re developing a new gaming system… sort of. During this year’s Annual Japan Media Arts Festival, beloved game designer Shigeru Miyamoto talked up the projects he’s currently working on: the next Legend of Zelda for the Wii, some kind of Motion-Plus-enabled game, and Nintendo’s next hardware release (via Andriasang).

The Mario creator didn’t get down to specifics on the device, but this is still the first real acknowledgement of new hardware by one of the higher-ups at Nintendo. We’ll have to wait and see whether he’s referring to the rumored Wii HD, a successor to the DS, or something totally unexpected.

After ages of speculation and rumors, Nintendo has finally confirmed that they’re developing a new gaming system… sort of. During this year’s Annual Japan Media Arts Festival, beloved game designer Shigeru Miyamoto talked up the projects he’s currently working on: the next Legend of Zelda for the Wii, some kind of Motion-Plus-enabled game, and Nintendo’s next hardware release (via Andriasang).

The Mario creator didn’t get down to specifics on the device, but this is still the first real acknowledgement of new hardware by one of the higher-ups at Nintendo. We’ll have to wait and see whether he’s referring to the rumored Wii HD, a successor to the DS, or something totally unexpected.

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Live TV by Ustream


Time: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 5 p.m. PST
Location: Watch the embedded video player above.

Questions: Submit your question(s) in our Game Night message board thread.

On the next Game Night, we’re harvesting Little Sisters and fighting Big Sisters in BioShock 2.

We record Game Night, live, every Tuesday at 5 p.m. PST, and we welcome your thoughts and comments on our message board or Twitter account. A recorded version of the show will go up Wednesday afternoon on GameVideos. For past Game Night episodes check out 1UP’s Game Night hub page.

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Shigeru Miyamoto’s hobbies are a well-guarded industry secret at this point, and for good reason: Games like Pikmin, Nintendogs, and Wii Fit all sprung from the day-to-day occurrences in the Mario creator’s personal life. But what about the inspiration for Super Mario Galaxy? Has Miyamoto developed a thing for space travel? Might we soon see the legendary Nintendo designer take to the stars like Richard Garriott before him?

Actually, Super Mario Galaxy’s existence can be traced back to a tiny, seemingly-insignificant hamster. Miyamoto revealed as much during a symposium at this year’s Japan Media Arts Festival over the weekend (via Andriasang).

During his speech at the conference, Miyamoto discussed the difficulties of allowing players to control Mario in a 3D environment, and how breaking the levels down into spheres let even inexperienced users run freely without fear of getting lost — an idea the designer credits to a hamster he was caring for during the game’s development.