The complete Bit.Trip saga arrives on Wii and 3DS September 13

Just Imagine this in 3D. It'll
blow your mind.

Though the Bit.Trip series has primarily been a digital stint, come September 13, the six-part series -- Beat, Core, Void, Runner, Fate, and Flux -- will arrive on store shelves for Wii and 3DS in the form of Bit.Trip Complete and Bit.Trip Saga, respectively, complete with bonuses.

Saga on 3DS gets 3D while Complete on Wii sees 120 new challenges, audio, video, and image galleries, letters from the series director, a bundled soundtrack CD, new difficulty levels (because the games weren't hard enough already), and online leaderboards. The two collections will trip onto stores on September 13.

If you haven't checked out this series at all, be it through Steam or WiiWare, do yourself a favor and do so once these anthologies hit.

Source: Giant Bomb

Valve goes free-to-play with Team Fortress 2

Those rumors of Valve developing a free-to-play game of their own from last week just came to fruition. The game? Team Fortress 2, which, from now onward, will be free-to-play.

The change in pricing business model was something long in the making. "We've been toying with the idea of making Team Fortress [2] free-to-play ever since the Mann-conomy update," said Valve software developer Robin Walker speaking with Develop. The Mann-conomy update is what first introduced microtransactions to Team Fortress 2, offering up weapons. outfits and other in-game content for real-world cash.

Going forward, microtransactions will be the sole source of profit from the game. Advertising and premium subscription services, walker says, will not be used in any fashion. Team Fortress 2 was (and still is) being offered for free as a two-week trial through Steam. The latest update, titled "Uber Update," released today, heralded the change to the free-to-play model.

Gaikai and Walmart team up, allow free game trials via Web site

Cloud gaming just got a whole lot cooler. In a discovery by VentureBeat today, Walmart is now hosting the option to stream a demo from their site using Gaikai as part of their newly launched Game Center site.

Currently all the site is offering a demo for is Dead Space 2. Like OnLive, your computer specs are irrelevant. All the processing is being done on a separate terminal miles away. All that matters is your Internet speed. You need a good one for it to run so that there will be minimal lag, or run at all, for that matter..

Gaikai says that more games are on the way as they set up deals. "Over the next 12 months, when people see a video game on TV and want to try it out, they can be sure the fastest way will be on Walmart's website," said chief executive of Gaikai David Perry. "It's an exciting time and you'll see more sites around the world doing these stealth launches with us."

I wasn't able to get the demo to work (my connection's too slow), but the concept is definitely brilliant. Demo's like this are easily the best demonstration of cloud gaming yet. OnLive, as of yet, hasn't got anything like this set up, though it'll be interesting to see how they retaliate. Same with GameStop, whom 1UP reports will likely develop something similar in light of their acquisition of streaming tech company Spwan Labs and game's distributor Impulse.

Indie game documentary looks to extensively explore the process of game development

Though I'm someone who's actively pursuing a career in the videogame press, the process of game development is I've always been eager to learn. Many articles have covered it in varying degrees over the years, but seldom do they explore the very specifics and drudgery of it all. Indie Game: The Movie looks to fill that hole.

Indie Game: The Movie Official Trailer from IndieGame: The Movie on Vimeo.

The film follows Team Meat's Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes of Super Meat Boy fame, Phil Fish and his game Fez, as well as Jonathan Blow and his game Braid. It's currently set for a fall release, though filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot -- the minds behind the movie -- are looking for a bit of help to add that last bit of polish.

The Kickstarter page has the details, but to sum it up, they're looking to "get the feature film done right and taken to the next level, technically-speaking." Things like audio, color, and mastering.

It looks like a swell film. Looking forward to seeing it. If you've any interest in it, you may as well support them by pre-ordering or backing their Kickstarter page.

LittleBigPlanet Review

A celebration of creativity and imagination.

The above best sums up what LittleBigPlanet is all about. It's a game about level creation and sharing. It's about showing off your creative prowess to the world for all to enjoy. A simple platformer at heart -- a very floaty one at that -- LittleBigPlanet is a humble little game that appreciates all things creativity and imagination. The focus on the works of players is a testament to that, putting them in the spotlight before the developers themselves.

Valve developing free-to-play title of their own

Given the recent news of Valve adopting free-to-play games for Steam, the mega-popular PC game digital storefront, it's hardly surprising news that the Half-Life developer would begin prepping a free micro-transaction-based game of their own.

French gaming site Barre De Vie got the scoop, having approached Valve about the likelihood of then contributing to the micro-transaction-based gaming market. The answer, as given by Valve marketing head Doug Lombardi, was a "yes."

They were unable to get any info on this project, however, leaving people to speculate that DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) 2, slated for release later this year, is that project. The basis being that the team behind the original Warcraft III mod by the same name, Runic Games, developed a free-to-play game of their own: League of Legends, which the Barre De Vie story cites as a direct competitor.

Crytek denies claims of having SDKs for new Xbox

CryEngine: the Unreal Engine 3 for
next-gen consoles?

Earlier this week, Crysis developer Crytek was cited by Videogamer.com as having access to a software development kit (SDK) for the next Xbox. The story claimed that TimeSplitters 4 was in development for the system and that DirectX 11 would be used in development for said game. Videogamer.com asserted that the new Xbox would be revealed at E3 next year.

Today, Crytek addressed the claims, stating that they are not in possession of such hardware. "Relating to the recent rumours," began the statement, "Crytek do not have any next generation hardware from Microsoft, nor do we know when Microsoft may announce future hardware or what that hardware will entail."

Regarding next generation consoles, however, the company said that their CryEngine tech would be set up "as a next generation engine for all consoles," according to their estimations.

This is the second time rumors regarding a new Xbox have been denied. Previously, Develop declared that, based on a "trusted, well-placed source" within Electronic Arts, who they claimed to be in possession of an SDK themselves, a new Xbox would be revealed at this past E3. Though E3 came and went without even a whisper of a new Microsoft platform, the rumor was preemptively denied before E3 by EA vice president of corporate communications Jeff Brown, who said that the story was "a total fabrication -- 100 percent not true."

Details on an announcement may still be sketchy, but development is clearly underway. Back in March, GameSpot uncovered some job listings that pertained to console development. One particular position mentioned that it will play "a key role in the development and verification of the Xbox and future platforms." Moreover, given the age of the Xbox 360 -- six years old this coming November -- it isn't far-fetched to assume that Microsoft is preparing a new console.

The mystery on when this fabled console will be unveiled, however, remains elusive and will likely stay that way for the next year or so.

Nintendo Wii U won't have a unified online structure

The Konami ID: The bane of online
gamers everywhere.

Some bad and possibly damning news regarding Nintendo's new console came in just recently. In a recent interview with GameTrailers, a Nintendo spokesperson said that there will be no centralized online structure for the Wii U.

"Online gaming is very important to us," said Charlie Scibetta of Nintendo's corporate communications department, "and we've heard the demands of the veteran gamers that want that. So, we're going to be more flexible with online this time when it comes to online, we're going to work with our third-party partners. We're not going to have a centralized one type fits all approach, it is going to be more the publishers trying to figure out what they want to do and we'll try to bring that to life and make sure our platform can support that vision."

Awesome. Way to take online play seriously, Nintendo.

No centralized structure is a problem because there's no quality control, for one. A centralized service at least is guaranteed to work flawlessly (or mostly). With third-parties you don't get that guarantee. All you get a guaranteed headache from trying to get everything in working order. The Konami ID is an often cited example of why this system doesn't work.

From what I understand, in order to play Metal Gear Online, you had to have, in addition to your PlayStation Network ID, a Konami ID that took forever to get set-up correctly before you could play. I've never played Metal Gear Solid 4, so I haven't any experience on it; I'm going off of other people's experiences. If it's anything like EA's own service, though, which has caused me numerous headaches from trying to get accounts re-activated, then I feel their pain.

The connection between those two is that they both have independent log ins. If Nintendo's plan is to have these partners' needs supplement some baseline service from Nintendo, it might be a reasonable plan. Otherwise Nintendo will no doubt once again fail at making a good online experience. They'll need to learn how to do that properly one of these days, especially if they want to be taken seriously by the gamer crowd.

Source: NeoGAF

[Credit for the transcript courtesy of GAF user Truth101]

Thoughts on the E3 press conferences

I'm a tad late with getting this posted, I know -- but I wasn't able to watch the Nintendo conference until just yesterday, nor have I had a lot of time to dedicate to writing this past week. But now I do! So let's get to it. (Note: I'm only focusing on the big three because I don't have a whole lot of stuff to say on EA and Ubisoft. Maybe next year I'll be more opinionated on those conferences.)