Gadgets and Video Games

Evan Wells doesn’t look like he’s old enough to be co-president of Naughty Dog , does he? Even after shepherding Uncharted 2 through development, which has picked up just about every award on the planet, he still maintains his youthful vim and vigor. While we don’t know what his eternal youth secret is, he did give us the inside scoop on the workings at Naughty Dog when we spoke with him at GDC . Besides letting us know about their new studio and the hectic days just before shipping Uncharted 2 , he also talks PlayStation Move development, Jak and Daxter plans (he wants to see one on the PS3), and expanding Uncharted to the PSP . Pause your game and head on through the break for the full interview.

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Interview: Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells

We don’t possess what you might call a “strategic mind.” This much is evident whenever we play Risk , where our “keep Australia on lockdown and never, ever leave” approach has yet to pay off. With that in mind, the trailer for the independently developed tactical action game Frozen Synapse just makes our brain hurt. Basically, it’s a tactical turn-based combat sim where multiple characters with different specialties are controlled at once, and also there’s time travel, and oh no our nose is bleeding . Check out the video after the jump, but make sure you’ve got some gauze nearby

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We’ll never be smart enough to play Frozen Synapse

Sega has already put a few of its Genesis classics, like Golden Axe and Sonic the Hedgehog , up on the iPhone App Store as standalone downloads, but now, according to Gizmodo , it’s going one step further and releasing an official Genesis emulator app for the iPhone, with individual games available as in-app purchases. Sort of. As the service will be at its February launch, the free Ultimate Genesis app just allows you to buy the existing Genesis games through a different interface, as well as new releases like Shining Force and Ecco the Dolphin for $3 each. It’s essentially a united storefront for the kind of releases Sega is already doing (and has already done).

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Sega releasing iPhone storefront for Genesis games

Get out those SAT skills! The Ivor Novello awards : Grammys :: The SAG awards : Oscars. They’re the smarter, more peer-reviewed way for the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors to reward excellent songwriting and composing. And as the BBC reports, for the first time, it’ll be honoring video game music . The bleeps and bloops of your favorite console games are becoming one of just six total categories at the Ivors this May. And it’s because they aren’t just bleeps and bloops any more.

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Ivor Novello awards to recognize music from video games

With only two days of daily holiday deals left, it looks like Microsoft decided to make today’s a doozy. Like the headline says, today’s deal is Castle Crashers for a mere 560 . That’s sevenearth dollars and, more importantly, a substantial savings over the usual 1200 ($15) price tag. If you haven’t experienced the co-op glory, now is the time.

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Today only: Castle Crashers for $7 on XBLM

Nintendo announced its 500th downloadable Wi game today, reserving the honor for Super Smash Bros . Or, we suppose, for any of the other Virtual Console or WiiWare games released today. But Nintendo says it’s Super Smash Bros. , and that certainly seems like a more special way to celebrate a milestone than, say, the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden . See all the WiiWare, Virtual Console, and DSiWare releases after the break.

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NintendoWare Weekly: Super Smash Bros., Ninja Gaiden, Dragon’s Lair

Sometimes we do crazy things — in this case, it’s something crazy for you, dear reader. You see, when PS3 Attitude reported users who had run into freezes or other bouts of unsatisfactory performance from their PS3 could report the issue to Sony thanks to firmware 3.10 , directly through their console, we thought it was something we’d try to recreate on our own. After scratching our noggin for a few minutes, trying to come up with the best way to put our PS3 into danger, we figured a swift and hard power-down via the back toggle switch on the console would be the best bet to trigger this supposed new error report system. Lo and behold, we received the message you see above. So that’s new, right

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Firmware 3.10 lets PS3 users report errors directly to Sony

The upcoming Alternative Edition DLC for Resident Evil 5 is going to include much more than motion controller support for PS3 and the ” Lost in Nightmares ” flashback episode. The latest issue of Japanese mag Famitsu (via Andriasang ) notes that Capcom has two additional surprises for players: new costumes and new characters for a revamped “Mercenaries Reunion” (seen above), as well as an extra, yet-to-be-revealed chapter. All this content will be released as four separate DLC packs : “Lost in Nightmares” Episode – 400 ($5) Costume Pack 1 – 160 ($2) Costume Pack 2 – 160 ($2) Additional TBA Episode – 400 ($5) These prices are only confirmed for Japan, but it’s unlikely the US release will be too different.

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Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition has an alternate episode

Even though the Sky Player is headed to Xbox 360s in the UK next week (October 27 to be exact), we have yet to see any kind of demonstration of the streaming television service. TechTV101 came across what looks like some footage (after the break), given to the site by an anonymous tipster. However, without any known source and with the ominous disclaimer “This is only representative of what Tuesday’s launch could look like” on the site, we’re going to call this a rumor just in case. The demo shows the channel selection displayed not only in the familiar NXE interface, but also in a “guide” format like those used by cable and satellite boxes. Another NXE-type menu allows for choosing TV shows and movies by category.

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Rumor: Eight minutes of footage of the Xbox’s Sky Player

Taito has revealed that not only is the Xbox Live Arcade version of WiiWare’s Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! real, but it’s coming out in Japan on October 28, which means it could be out worldwide at the same time. A Japanese press release contained a single screen (pictured above), confirming that the game looks pretty much just like the WiiWare version with bigger UI elements — it’s still kind of a mess, visually, and it still features those weirdly human- sized characters; instead of the adorably round Bub and Bob we grew up with. Towering Adventure also differs from the arcade classic by making the ascent up the game’s tower a continuous pursuit, even during boss battles. [Thanks, sacra] Source (PDF link) Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure ascends to XBLA next week originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

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Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure ascends to XBLA next week