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REVIEW: Sonic Classic Collection Provides All of Sonic's Genesis Games in One Handheld
by Matthew Green | 03/15/10 | 5:56 PM PST


It's sometimes difficult to accept that there are young fans of Sonic the Hedgehog who have never actually played the character's original Sega Genesis adventures. For these children, Sonic sprang into existence with titles such as Sonic Heroes, Sonic Advance, and Sonic Rush. Despite the fact that Sega has re-released their flagship character's early adventures in compilations such as Sonic Mega Collection, Sega Genesis Collection, and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, the holy quartet of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles (and the various lock-on technology combinations therein) have never turned up in a single collection for a handheld system until now with the Nintendo DS release of Sonic Classic Collection. Bundling the aforementioned games together on a single game card, Sega aims to introduce the blue blur to a new generation in preparation for the upcoming Genesis-imitating Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

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Pokémon Meant to End After Gold and Silver
by Daniel Sims | 03/15/10 | 5:18 PM PST



The President of The Pokémon Company revealed last week that the second generation of Pokémon games was supposed to be the last. Everything afterward represented a turning point for the franchise.

In the Iwata Asks segment prior to the release of Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Sliver, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata interviewed Tsunekazu Ishihara and Game Freak president Shigeki Morimoto. Ishihara revealed in the middle of the interview his intentions and feelings on the original 2000 Pokémon Gold/Silver.

Those games were supposed to be a sort of "finish line" for Ishihara. "We'd had our sights set on the finish line of Gold and Silver for so long," he said. "I felt I could say to [Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri]: 'I've fulfilled my duty!'"

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Bored? Join Kombo's Forums!
by Joey Davidson | 03/15/10 | 12:37 PM PST


You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

And that's a compliment!
Come, join the forums and get angry with the regulars. They're a rowdy bunch more willing to make friends than anyone typing with Caps Lock here on the front page.

You know who I mean.

You'll find the link to the forums up at the top of this page; or, just click here.

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PlayStation Move: Fantastic Product or Lame Duck?
by Joey Davidson | 03/15/10 | 7:48 AM PST


Sony's Move was officially named at GDC. It came with a list of third party supporters and first party applications.

This week's poll is split into two selections beneath the PlayStation Move heading:

Worthy Motion Control Competition

Dead in the Water

So, dig in and give us an answer. For those looking to share a little more than a tick in a column, we've started a new email address. Share your full, honest opinions with us by emailing WeeklyPoll@kombo.com. We'll read all of the love/anger and save the best. Next week, we'll post the results and a little feature with our favorite responses inside.

Vote and be heard. Digital soapbox style. You'll find the poll itself over on the right somewhere.

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Top Ten Mondays: Corporate Dumbasses
by Lucas DeWoody | 03/15/10 | 5:41 AM PST

Here's a list of the top ten videogame corporate dumbasses of all time. It takes a lot of genius to run a videogame company, and the people you see here are among the smartest you'll ever know, but nobody is immune to the occasional screw up. Unfortunately, when you are in such a position of power, the smallest screw-up can have lasting ramifications. You will also find a lot of Sega people on this list. It took a lot of mistakes from a lot of people to send a one time industry leader into being sold to a pachinko manufacturer.

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#10 Trip Hawkins
As the co-founder of Electronic Arts, Trip Hawkins has earned himself a place in the immortal halls of videogame success stories. Hawkins has a dirty little secret though. He was the founder of the 3DO company, and the driving force behind one of the biggest console duds of all time. The 3DO launched in 1993 to little fanfare and a cold reception from gamers and technophiles alike, and rightfully so. It was crap.

Nobody knew what to make of the 3DO. It was branded as a high-end AV component rather than a video game machine, and carried a price of $700. Hawkins was trying to sell something more expensive than most home computers, yet it did so much less. The technology was expensive, but didn't provide results on par with the cost. Publishers were skeptical and hesitant to offer their best efforts. The 3DO died a quiet death in 1996 as the PlayStation (which had launched a year earlier) and N64 cranked things into high gear and launched at prices lower than the 3DO was willing to drop to. Hawkins was amazing when it came to third party publishing, but his console efforts are best left to collectors and the junkyard.

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Random Acess Memories: The Great Arwing Flight Competition
by Brian Langlois | 03/15/10 | 5:39 AM PST

Sixteen years ago, the impressionable young gamer that was I was introduced to his new favorite game of all time, the Super Nintendo game Star Fox. I can remember playing the demo in store, impressed by the 3-D polygons that were enabled by the Super FX chip. It all seemed magical at the time, and when I got my own copy, I spent all my time piloting my Arwing with Slippy, Peppy, and Falco. Whilst this was before Peppy would tell me to "do a barrel roll," I could still imagine it as I zipped across Corneria and the Lylat System, Star Fox was a special game, and it helped create a special memory. You see, shortly after the release of the game, there was an official Star Fox competition being held by Nintendo, and one venue would be in my area. I was determined to out-fly my competition!

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Help Wanted: News Editors
by Joey Davidson | 03/12/10 | 3:17 PM PST


Kombo is looking for News Editors. If you've been reading the site recently, you'll have noticed that our style for handling news has moved from quick recaps and blurbs to full-on news articles with editorialized opinion.

Interested? Hit the break for more information and instructions for application...

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THQ Enhancing Franchises Via Downloadable Games
by Joey Davidson | 03/12/10 | 11:07 AM PST


THQ will release up to six downloadable titles (a few of which will be based on their core franchises) over the next year. The developing activity will come from two houses within the publisher's stable: THQ Digital Studios Phoenix and THQ Digital Studios UK. All of this news comes from Joystiq.

The company was careful to stay away from specifics, but they addressed a few key components when talking to Joystiq about their downloadable strategy. THQ cited their new direction as aggressive, and noted potentially giving content away and using DLC to unlock content in full retail versions of their games (Think Fable 2's Pub Games).

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Check out this game's graphics! - God of War III
by Eric Frederiksen | 03/12/10 | 5:34 AM PST

Welcome to our newest weekly feature! Every Friday, we'll get all graphical and plot out the obvious in videogames in a visual fashion. Do you like math, spreadsheets, statistics and other nerd things? Then, please, turn around.

Otherwise, enjoy some ridiculocity (ridiculousness at breakneck speeds).

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This week: God of War III. To celebrate the release of his newest title, we look at some of Kratos' exploits, including a not-so-successful foray into merchandise.

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NPDs: 360 Has Huge February; Industry Down Year-to-Year
by Jeff Grubb | 03/11/10 | 4:25 PM PST


For gamers, 2010 has certainly been a great year, but that won't be how the accountants explain February 2010. It is another month that the games industry is down year-to-year.

Stick around after the numbers for analysis.

Hardware:

Nintendo DS 613.2K
Xbox 360 422.0K
Wii 397.9K
PlayStation 3 360.1K
PSP 133.4K
PlayStation 2 101.9K

Software after the jump.

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Lucky 7! Top Games of 2010!
by Tiffany Martin | 03/11/10 | 5:43 AM PST

If you're like me, you've flipped off through a year-end roundup of "Games of the Year" and made flippant remarks like "What! Really?" and "Where's my favorite awesome game?" We game journalists don't make these lists because you liked a game. Or even because we liked a game. It's peer pressure to have the most hardcore list of games possible, regardless of whether or not we're missing sleeper hits sometimes. Also, we already have these lists finished before the end of the year. It's true. We have this down to a science.

Well, this year is looking great for games, and I'd like to get a head start and declare my list EARLY! That way there will be no claims that my list is just a duplicate of other lists, or that I'm a hack journalist. It doesn't matter that I haven't played some of these yet-to-be-released titles, oftentimes end-of-the-year "Best of" lists include titles the list-writers haven't played either. I normally wouldn't endorse anything I haven't personally played and beaten, but that's all over now, this list is sweet.

So get your credit card limit increased, and start pre-ordering these games now. Or just buy the ones that are already out, starting with....

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White Knight Chronicles: A Game Sent to Die
by Eric Frederiksen | 03/10/10 | 5:35 AM PST

When White Knight Chronicles was announced for the PS3, role-playing game fans went nuts. Understandably so, too. Sony's first two consoles were the place to go for RPGs, absolutely no question. WKC was playable all the way back at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2007, and back then the game looked spectacular. Everyone thought it was the continuation of Sony's utter RPG dominance.

Indeed, the game did well in Japan upon release with a fairly positive review from Famitsu and solid sales. Surely it would fill the gap left by the oft-delayed and long-awaited Final Fantasy XIII while RPG fans waited, right? Only, it never came. White Knight Chronicles languished in localization hell for over a year after its Japanese release, finally dropping out of the cargo plane earlier this month and hitting the ground to mostly middling reviews.

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Analyst Says PS3 May Still Win Console War
by Brad Hilderbrand | 03/09/10 | 2:32 PM PST


While many believe it's a foregone conclusion that the Wii will be the top-selling console of this generation, analyst David Mercer sees things differently. Mercer claims that the Wii's hey-day has passed, and while Nintendo positioned their console for a sprint, Sony has been gearing up for a marathon.

"But the signs are that the Wii has peaked in terms of console sales, and its installed base will begin to decline after 2011," said Mercer. "Meanwhile, Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 will continue to grow, so that the PS3 will become the largest platform globally by 2013. In terms of cumulative lifetime sales we expect the PS3 to hit 127 million units, compared to 103 million Wiis."

Read more of his heresy after the break.

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WoW Will Never Come to Consoles… Probably
by Daniel Sims | 03/09/10 | 12:50 PM PST

The lead producer of World of Warcraft told G4 last month that it's unlikely the MMO will ever come to consoles, but the subject is still hotly debated at Blizzard Entertainment. A lot of obstacles stand between the game and an appearance on consoles.

"I think it's unlikely that WoW comes to the consoles," said J. Allen Brack at the DICE summit in February. "We talk about it all the time. How would we bring WoW to the console?"

With over 10 million subscribers across the Windows and Mac platforms, estimates put WoW's revenue at almost $2 billion each month. Why not add the install base of consoles to that?

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Method to the Madness: Why Sequels Struggle
by Bryan Roush | 03/09/10 | 5:47 AM PST

Gamers are used to having franchises turn into a series of titles over a period of time. Notable series have two (Assassin's Creed), others go up to five (Resident Evil) or even thirteen (Final Fantasy). But in an industry that is driven by multiple iterations, the general feeling on sequels is that they will not be good. Over time sequels have attracted the stigma that any successor to an original game would be bad. Why is it that we don't like the second game of a series as much as the first? Believe it or not, there is a method to the madness of bad sequels, as well as why gamers get nervous about continuations of their beloved games.

Sequels usually suffer from having so much success from a previous title that developers put too much into the next game to make it stay relevant, exciting and different. Sadly, adding too much to a game defeats all of these goals.