Saturday, December 29, 2012

PlayStation 2 discontinued in Japan after almost 13 years of service


PS2 discontinued in Japan after over 12 years of service
The very last shipment of PlayStation 2 units to Japanese retailers is out the door, and the prolific console is now discontinued in the country. As Famitsureports, production of the venerable black box ceased today nearly 13 years after its launch on March 4, 2000.

While the original PlayStation sits in and around the 100 million mark, the PS2 built upon that success to sell over 150 million units worldwide and dominate its generation. Its long life in Japan is a testament to it comfortably being the best-selling home console ever.

Edge of Twilight slated for Summer 2013 release


Remember Edge of Twilight? No? A quick refresher then: Edge of Twilight is a steampunk fantasy game first announced way back in 2008. Subsequently, in 2009, development ceased and FuzzyEyes, the studio behind the project, laid off the majority of its staff. Now, it appears that both Edge of Twilight and FuzzyEyes – in some capacity – have returned from the brink, with the developer announcing that the game will finally be released in the summer of 2013 on Xbox and PS3. Though it was originally announced for PC as well, there is no mention of the platform in today's press release.

Furthermore, a new game entitled Edge of Twilight - Horizon will be released for free via Apple's App Store (presumably on iOS). Horizon will serve as a prequel of sorts, pitting protagonist Lex against "an important enemy who will later appear in the console versions of Edge of Twilight."

Edge of Twilight takes place in a steampunk fantasy world in which day and night are inhabited by completely different civilizations. Lex is able to switch between both day and night, changing up the gameplay and Lex's appearance. Our own Tokyo Game Show 2008 impressions likened the game to a combination of Soul Reaver and God of War. Check out a 2009 trailer above.

PSA: Xbox Live issues reported, Cloud files inaccessible


PSA Xbox Live issues reported, Cloud files inaccessible
The Xbox Live service is far from optimal right now, as Microsoft reports hiccups in the Xbox Live service and Xbox.com website. Users will notice inconsistencies and certain outages, affecting various apps across the Xbox 360 – our own tests show the NetflixHBO Go and Hulu Plus apps functioning as normal right now. 

In addition to the reported outages, Cloud files are also affected. If you're trying to access your Cloud saves, you'll receive an error reading "0x807b0198." Microsoft is working to resolve the issues and will update accordingly.

Ouya dev consoles have shipped, unboxed on video


The Ouya team has announced that developer consoles have begun shipping. To celebrate the news, an unboxing video of the console has been released, showcasing exactly what developers will get with the unit. Unlike the eventual retail console, the developer console and controllers are made of transparent plastic (thus making them "rare drops"). The kit includes everything needed to get the console up and running, including all the necessary cables and even batteries for the two controllers.

The kit also includes a letter letting developers know that this is not the final console, and some bugs are still being worked out. The controllers aren't final either, and should see some design tweaks before the final release.

Finally, Ouya is giving away a developer console to the first person who can accurately guess how many consoles are in the shipping crate pictured in itsannouncement blog post. Keep in mind that these things are tiny. As the video demonstrates, they're roughly the same size as a coffee mug. A note for developers: Do not confuse the two. We wouldn't want you pouring coffee all over your precious Ouya, now would we?

Dune 2 ported to Javascript, play it for free in your browser


Play Dune 2 in your browser
Dune 2 is a Westwood Studios game put together back in 1992, and it's probably best known for being the prototypical RTS, one of the first games to put together all of the elements that later led to the genre that made StarCraftand Command & Conquer so popular. An open-source recreation of the game was started up a few years ago, and that version has now been ported to HTML 5, which means the original can now be played online in your browser.

This version is authentic, but t's obviously not as easy or user-friendly as you might expect from a more modern real-time strategy game. It's a nice trip down memory lane, or maybe just a free introduction to a piece of PC gaming history.