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The Challenges of Being an Adult Gamer
by Kombo Staff | 10/10/08 | 5:16 PM PST


Gaming is one of those hobbies that kids pick up at a very early age, and one that we desperately try to keep alive as we grow older. I'm 27 years old, married, working a full-time job, and expecting my firstborn in April. Many people ask me how I manage to juggle my daily responsibilities while still finding a way to make time for regular gaming. A lot of things have changed for me as I've worked to keep up with my daily responsibilities; yet I still find time to save worlds, princesses, and the future of mankind -- all from my couch. You could be surprised; it's not as hard as you might think.

Working for a Living
Work is the single biggest obstacle that interferes with an avid gamer's ability to fully enjoy their hobby. Unless you're lucky enough to have fallen into vast amounts of money, at some point or another, you'll need to get a job. Obviously, you're not going to be doing much gaming while on the clock, but handhelds are an excellent way to get some game time in during breaks, lunch hours, or even commutes if you take advantage of public transportation. In my office, it's pretty common for DS handhelds to be found in cubicles or sticking out of laptop bags. While I can't get a ton of gaming done at work, at least it gives me a mid-day fix until I can get home.

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Media: Spider-man: Web of Shadows X-Man Trailer
by Kombo Staff | 10/10/08 | 5:14 PM PST

"One X-Man will help Spider-Man save the world."

Ooh, who will it be? Cyclops? Colossus? Emma Frost? Kitty Pryde? Beast?

Nah, come on. You know it could be none other than Spidey's fellow Avenger, Wolverine.



What I find amusing is that while Spider-man sounds a little strange, Wolverine sounds pretty much like Wolverine always does.

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Media: Spider-man: Web of Shadows Launch Trailer
by Kombo Staff | 10/10/08 | 4:01 PM PST

"If I go against everything I stand for... will it be enough?"

I don't know, Peter, these days I have a hard time figuring out just what in the hell it is you do stand for.

New launch trailer for Spider-man: Web of Shadows, full of symbiote-coated goodness. But, "where is Iron Venom?" I ask you.

Oh, and make sure you watch until the very end... I won't say what it is here, but rest assured that it is something else.



...I must say, the aerial combat looks quite nice.

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Blizzard President Keeps Door Open to Console Port of Diablo 3
by Marco Halili | 10/10/08 | 1:57 PM PST

During an interview at the annual BlizzCon event in Anaheim, California, Bizzard president Mike Morhaime was cautiously cryptic about the possibility of the much-anticipated PC game Diablo 3 making its way to consoles.

"Every game we have the discussion about which platforms make the most sense," Morhaime stated in an interview at BlizzCon. "As Diablo 3 takes shape, I think we'll do an evaluation."

"I think there is a pretty good argument to be made that that type of game might work very well on consoles," he added. "There might be some technical limitations though that we might need to get past." -- Shacknews

Essentially, Morhaime's quote boils down to one word: maybe. For the meantime, keep prepping your PC gaming rig for Diablo 3. We'll keep you posted if we hear anything more on the subject.

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TGS 2008: Media: Resistance Retribution Screens
by David Oxford | 10/10/08 | 1:00 PM PST



Seven new screens of the PSP version of Resistance, which show off a little bit of the new third-person mode. That and an 8-player mode should make this one interesting.

Check out the rest of the screens in our gallery.

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TGS 2008: Turbine Chief Says MMOs "Need to Be on Consoles"
by Marco Halili | 10/10/08 | 1:00 PM PST

Turbine CEO Jim Crowley said the MMO genre of games must effectively reach all viable console platforms, while also saying that cross-platform play for a specific game may not be necessary due to console tech differences.

Speaking at the Tokyo Game Show Forum, Crowley said, "The MMO needs to become a multi-platform tool. The view of Turbine is that MMOs necessarily need to be on consoles."

Turbine is known to be working on a console MMO at the moment, strongly suspected to be a version of Lord of the Rings Online.

Crowley's vision is of MMOs running simultaneously on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and "eventually" on Wii. However, although these versions will "speak to" each other, he thinks cross-platform play will be difficult, and perhaps unnecessary.

"There are uniquenesses to each platform that suggest that the actual gameplay needs to be optimised for each platform," Crowley said. -- Eurogamer

Turbine, for those not in the know, is the maker of The Lord of the Rings Online, a PC MMO.

It's a little odd to me that Crowley would stump for multiplatform MMOs, but not go the extra step to work for cross-platform play, but then again, I don't know anything about developing software. Perhaps it is just too difficult.

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TGS 2008: Media: Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday Teaser Ad
by Matt Furtado | 10/10/08 | 11:32 AM PST

Originally planned as a mobile phone title, Square-Enix smartened up and decided that they would bring their latest Parasite Eve entry to the PSP. Despite not showing any new footage or new information during the Tokyo Game Show, Square-Enix did give out some hot teaser ads.

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TGS 2008: Media: First Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Gameplay Footage
by Dan Johnson | 10/10/08 | 6:46 AM PST



Here is the first gameplay footage of the PSP version of Kingdom Hearts, Birth By Sleep. The gameplay looks like Kingdom Hearts, just tinier. Hopefully we'll get more info on the game soon.

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Resistance Retribution Gets Infected
by Matt Furtado | 10/10/08 | 1:03 AM PST


This is the year from Resistance. With the highly anticipated PS3 sequel making way this November, we also have to remember that the PSP is getting an all new Resistance title too. Well, looks like Sony is making a little magic happen for those of us who own both a PS3 and PSP.

If you buy Resistance 2 this holiday and connect your PSP and PS3, your copy of Retribution will become infected. What does this entail exactly? How about some new areas to explore and weapons.

James Grayson, protagonist of Resistance: Retribution, will be infected by the Chimera virus similar to the original game's Nathan Hale. He'll be able to regenerate health — all health packs will be removed — and experience the game in an all new way.

In addition to health regeneration, Grayson also gets a new weapon, the HE .44 Magnum featured in Resistance 2.

Grayson also gets the ability to breathe underwater, letting him access areas of Resistance: Retribution that a normal version of our hero could never reach. That will likely play into finding the new unlockable intel only available if your copy of the PSP game is "infected." -- Kotaku

Nice little addition.

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TGS 2008: Yuji Naka at Work on Sonic-Like Game
by Marco Halili | 10/09/08 | 7:03 PM PST



Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka may no longer be working at Sega, but that doesn't mean he's completely forgotten about the Blue Blur -- in fact, the Prope studio head is drawing inspiration from the Sega mascot for his next project.

"At Prope," Naka told Gamasutra, "we're actually planning on making a game like Sonic right now. We want to keep trying to make various kinds of games."

When asked for clarification, specifically whether Prope is actively making a character-based action title, Naka replied, "Yes, that's what we're making now." -- Yuji Naka to Gamasutra

No details yet about what platform this new title might appear on.

I'll take a Sonic-like game from Naka, as long as he stays away from using a furry two-tailed fox as this new character's sidekick.

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Game of the Month: September 2008
by Phillip Levin | 10/09/08 | 5:26 PM PST



We're a little late with our pick for Game of the Month: September, but it's because we wanted to spend plenty of time with last month's releases before deciding on a winner. The battle for the award was between Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (All), Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii), LEGO Batman: The Video Game (All), Silent Hill: Homecoming (360, PS3) and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360), but only one game came out on top.

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Hey Whiners! Nintendo Hasn't Forgotten You!
by Lucas DeWoody | 10/09/08 | 4:38 PM PST

"The gaming enthusiast that buys a tremendous amount of games is truly insatiable. As an example, in March, we launched Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In April, we launched Mario Kart. In later April, we launched Wii Fit. Then, in July, at E3, they say, 'where are the games?' They say they want the next Mario game. Super Mario Galaxy isn't even a year old yet." -- Reggie Fils-Aime, NOA President

Guess what? I totally agree with him (if you leave out Wii Fit). Look, we're all annoyed that Disaster: Day of Crisis hasn't been announced for North America yet, but just stop and think for a minute. The Wii came out November 2006. We're coming up on the closure of it's second year and look at what we've already got.

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TGS 2008: Photos from the Tokyo Game Show
by Phillip Levin | 10/09/08 | 4:27 PM PST



Joel Windels, one of our editorialists, is in Japan doing a lot of walking and gaming this week, exploring the show floor of the Tokyo Game Show 2008. He recently snapped some photos of TGS this year, which you can see inside.

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UK Game Retailers Take to Scalping Discounted Consoles from Supermarkets
by David Oxford | 10/09/08 | 3:22 PM PST

I normally don't focus on odds and ends in Europe, but this one was just too interesting to pass up.

The latest round of price slashing kicked off at Sainsbury's over the weekend, with the retailer cutting £30 off the price of Xbox 360 and Wii hardware – an offer which meant the 360 was available for under £100. Armies of staff from GAME, Gamestation, CHIPS and numerous independents then swooped to snap up the cut-price consoles.

"With 360 and Wii on sale at these prices we allowed our store managers to supplement their stock by buying consoles from their local Sainsbury's," explained GAME Group CEO Lisa Morgan.

"Availability was very inconsistent, but on the whole it was a worthwhile exercise. Our strategy is centred on giving our customers choice, good value and having the best possible availability going into the Christmas period." --

Wow, that's just low. Congratulations, UK video game retailers: You've just entered the world of scalping. Then again, for all I know, they've been doing stuff like this for years.

Still, it sucks to be a customer. Trust me, I know of these things from experience. And you have to love how openly they admit it. Sainsbury's and other retailers don't seem to mind, though.

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TGS 2008: DualShock 3 Compatible With Resistance Retribution*
by Dan Johnson | 10/09/08 | 2:33 PM PST



Sony announced at TGS that the DualShock 3 will be compatible* with Resistance Retribution, the forthcoming 3rd-Person shooter for PSP.

The compatibility is coming through a new featured entitled PSP Plus that will be an optional feature found in certain PS3 titles that can enable cross-platform play. Resistance Retribution will follow the release of Resistance 2

*Players will need the following in order to take advantage of said compatibility:
-1 Playstation 3
-1 DualShock 3 Controller
-1 Playstation Portable
-1 Set of AV Cables
-1 Home Television, HD or otherwise
-1 Copy of Resistance Retribution
-1 Copy of Resistance 2