Results tagged “videogames”

Last Thursday night, an improbable collection of DJs, Douchebags and Dorks gathered in a posh Downtown penthouse for a sneak preview of DJ Hero, the latest entry in Activision's increasingly ginormous Guitar Hero video game series. The appetizers were exquisite, the ambiance (provided by actual, non video game playing DJs) was redonkulous, and DJ Hero, a game which finally does for knob twiddlers and air-scratch nerds what the main Guitar Hero series did for vicarious cock-rockers, was, well, pretty damn good in the same way that the Dead Sea is kind of brackish and Sir Paul McCartney has a couple of extra dollars lying around.

Maybe some of the popular designer trucks like Kogi BBQ will stop by this event tomorrow that's expected to attract tons gamers. Microsoft has gone all out and modified a 27-foot M820A2 military truck outfitted with eight Xbox 360 consoles in anticipation of Halo 3: ODST, which will be released on September 22nd.

Mike Tyson is back. His documentary, Tyson, released in April won over critics and fans alike for it's brutal honesty. Earlier this month, the "Baddest Man on the Planet" was once again on the big screen in the surprise hit of the summer movie season, The Hangover, singing a Phil Collins tune and punching Zach Galifinakis. Today, gamers will find Mike on the shelves at their local retail stores as he graces the cover of EA Sports' Fight Night Round 4 alongside the "Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali.

       

Here's a little of what we saw this afternoon at E3, otherwise known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where new video games and technologies are being shown off. Yesterday, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr helped introduce 45 Beatles songs to Rock Band.

                     

Earlier this week Michael Jackson and auctioneer Julien's reached an agreement to give all of the 1,400 items that were to be auctioned this week back to the King of Pop. While this agreement may have ruined your chances of owning the singer's bubble hockey game, gold throne, espresso machine or life-sized Darth Vader made out of Legos, it did not, however, put a stop to the public viewing exhibition taking place at the old Robinsons-May in Beverly Hills located next door to the Beverly Hilton.

              

With two cameras, a highly entertaining photo editing feature, an online game store, and a music player, Nintendo lovers have been waiting with baited breath for the latest installment of one of the world’s most popular handheld gaming consoles. Last weekend LAist was invited to Nintendo’s official launch party, where hundreds lined up at the GameStop at the Universal City Walk to be among the first to get their hands on the new DSi.

D3 Publisher is an L.A.-based video game company that just seems to know what’s up. By refusing to pigeonhole themselves into any particular genre, the developers have projects that range anywhere from cartoon franchise spin offs to sexy heroine hack n’ slashers, all of which cater to any and all gamers alike. Perhaps best known for their intergalactic-themed Puzzle Quest series, D3 is churning out a few fun titles that simply shouldn’t be overshadowed.

It was announced today that Harmonix and Electronic Arts, developer and publisher of the hugely successful Rock Band series, will be releasing the Beatles edition of the record-breaking music game on September 9th of this year. The game will feature tracks from every era of the band's lifespan thanks to Apple Corps., who recently opened up their catalog for the game's development. There will be a limited number of special edition hardware options, including instruments modeled after those used by the Fab Four throughout their career. The game will be offered as standalone software (priced at $59.99), with guitars ($99.99) and as a limited edition bundle ($249.99). Keep track of updates and pre-order information at the game's official homepage.

If there's anything this writer loves more than the release of one of the most anticipated video game sequels of the year, its the fact that one of the finest skratch DJ's around is scheduled to perform the launch party. That being said, Street Fighter IV is a pretty big deal. Celebrating its 20th year as a Capcom franchise, developers went above and beyond to offer fans a completely unique 2d fighting experience for the latest installment. And what better way to launch the game than to rent out the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, set up 100 consoles with the game fully playable, and listen to Q-bert set fire to a couple of turntables?

Some people might be surprised to find out that Sherman Oaks Castle Park, that great place for a miniature golf date, is actually a city owned and operated facility. In a time when the city is searching every corner for a buck or two to fill the depleting city coffers, the park is symbol of an idea past that should be duplicated.

The entertainment industry is arguably the most dynamic and kinetic facet of pop culture. While the Internet may have turned everyone into a critic, the blogosphere (by way of technology) has turned everyone into a producer, and for those who wish to tell a story can do so without worrying about high profile book publishers or intimidating movie studios. While the entertainment industry may not be as affected by the perils of the spiraling economy as others, there still has to be a degree of consideration when it comes to maintaining an edge, and one group of Hollywood veterans that have shied away from classic media seem to have their fingers on the pulse. In what started as a simple formula for a TV show about video games, the folks at Gamervision have used their industry expertise to take their ideas to the next level by fusing elements of classic entertainment with web 2.0 themes, creating what can only be described as "laissez-faire entertainment" at its very best.

      

Thursday night Xbox 360 and Activision unveiled two of their most highly anticipated games, "Guitar Hero World Tour" (which hit shelves today) and "Call of Duty: World at War" to a jam packed crowd atCentral.

So its pretty much obvious at this point how excited we've been about the latest installment of Midnight Club taking place in our beloved city. Well the date has finally arrived, and what better way to uphold the Rockstar name than having Hollywood's quintessential rock n' rollers Eagles of Death Metal performing at the game's midnight launch event at the Virgin Megastore? The group has long stated its passion for establishing themselves as LA's band, and with their new album launching in just a few weeks, we can't wait to get our hands on the game and check out some new tracks included on the Midnight Club playlist.

We gotta love when our pals in the gaming industry invite us to check out their latest suite of titles. Since the season is creeping slowly upon us various companies like to invite the press to various events to check out some games for a pre-holiday push, and with free booze and food you can bet LAist was there. This week’s event was held at the Standard in Hollywood by our buddies at Namco/Bandai, publishers of such big named titles as Soul Calibur IV and Tekken and classics like Pac-Man, and Galaga. The night was filled with mine shaft rides, cheerleading, and ninja slashing, all within the confines of the swanky Sunset Strip hotel. Check out more pics and reviews after the jump.

Because there is a Michael Strahan-like gap between the amount of fun had in playing a video game and watching someone else play a video game, the answer I most frequently give when posed with the question "Want to watch two guys play Madden in Hollywood?" is "No."

Back in April we did a short preview of the latest installment of Midnight Club, one of the most popular arcade style racing games on the shelves. Like we said before, Midnight Club is published by the same guys that give us Grand Theft Auto, Bully, and Manhunt, so we're pretty sure that entertainment won't be an issue. As you can see in the trailer, the star of the game is Audi's latest super car the R8, and although we may live in the land of ostentatious autos its still tough to find one of these bad boys on the streets these days.

Earlier last month, LAist got to head over to E3 to check out the latest and greatest that the video game world had to offer. Sure we got to get our hands on some great demos like Little Big Planet and Mirror’s Edge, but it is in this blogger’s opinion that 2008 is the year of the fighting game. While the Internets have been abuzz with videos and screen caps of Street Fighter IV (the first Street Fighter to come out in about 10 years), there’s one little title that burst on to the scene during the Dreamcast era that pretty much revolutionized the combat-genre. Courtesy of our cool friends at Namco/Bandai, LAist received a copy of the latest installment of Soul Calibur, arguably the most in depth fighting game on the market.

what with all the booth babes and swag bags and throngs of gamers huddled outside the LA Convention Center chomping at the bit for a taste of the next Soul Calibur or Resident Evil or Final Fantasy. But that isn’t to say that the entire industry is at a loss for its bespectacled past. In fact, the reinvented, invite-only E3 (as of 2007) and the creation of E for All (which welcomes the public) is highly indicative of the scope of the gaming world. So its hard to argue that the industry is more popular now than it ever was. That being said, read on to find out the highlights of this year’s E3.

Boom Blox, the newest children’s release title from Los Angeles-based EA Games. LAist recently got a chance to play around with the cute little block-shaped animals in what’s called in modern tech parlance, the “casual entertainment” sector of the gamersphere.

Today news broke that Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is slated to direct the film adaptation of Bioshock, widely heralded as the best video game of 2007. This comes at an especially interesting time considering parent company Take Two Interactive (also parent to Rockstar Games, which just released a little title called Grand Theft Auto IV) turned down a multi-billion dollar buy-out offered by LA-based Electronic Arts earlier this year.

Last year, to the chagrin of thousands of gamers nationwide, the LA-based Electronic Entertainment Expo (popularly known as E3) was massively scaled down to exclude the public in what was widely considered one of the biggest industry flops of the year. While the gaming masses were offered an alternative convention in October called E for All, industry professionals (specifically press) were none too pleased with the scattered layout of the show. While a majority of companies exhibited at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, several other high profile companies had private suites at various hotels around town. You could imagine trying to make an appointment in Beverly Hills just 20 minutes after hanging out at the beach. Luckily however, the annual event returns to the LA Convention Center this year in July, even though the public still will not be granted access. I guess we'll just have to wait until October to see the next Bioshock teaser.

It's 5:00 p.m. in Santa Monica and the boys at the online video startup Bush League TV, who launch next week, are live online video-feeding one man's attempt to break the Guinness World Record for longest consecutive video game play. He'll be going for a minimum of 25 hours.

Interesting news in the gaming world this week. The Hollywood Reporter's Paul Hyman notes that video game power house publisher 3D Realms Entertainment has announced the inception of two subsidiary companies called Radar Group (Scottsdale, AZ) and Depth Entertainment (Los Angeles, CA), both focusing on publishing titles that will ultimately become specs for TV and film. CEO Scott Miller uses the concept of the "storyverse" as a logical reason to homogenize the two markets based on the success of other franchises such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

This past week, LAist got a chance to travel up to San Francisco to check out the Game Developers Conference. GDC is universally known as one of the most fun and exciting of the industry's gatherings, where publishers, press, and lecture attendees convene to discover the latest in gaming technology. This year we got to see a ton of kickass stuff, including an exclusive look at the new Street Fighter title from Capcom and a drunken jaunt on the Wii Fit. Check out more photos from GDC after the jump.

Another week in February, another Q1 with not many greatly anticipated games. But at least there's always news. This week around the internets, we've learned a few cool things that may pique some interest out there. Check out some news, game releases, and other info for this week after the jump.

Today marks the beginning of the 2008 race towards raising the standard of gaming. As we mentioned previously, 2007 was a monumental year for the world of video games. Take a look at a selection of some of the highly anticipated games of the year, in stores today.

With so many epic video game titles making their debut last year, 2008 has some pretty big shoes to fill. Several titles released in 2007 undoubtedly rank the highest among several industry top 10 lists; Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, and Mass Effect to name a few. These games have proven and will continue to prove that they will be quite difficult to surpass in quality. Such competition is exactly what makes the gaming industry as successful as it is; publishers pushing hardware technology to the limit to optimize the consumer experience.