The Kill Kast is back again and this time they are talking portable gaming. Stephanie, Rebecca and Eric get together to talk about what they’ve been playing which includes Persona 3, Limbo, Borderlands and Hulu Plus on the PS3. As always we chat about some recent news and we go into our topic of the podcast which is portable gaming; what we like about it, what we hate about it, why we play portable games or why we don’t, and what we hope to see in future. More importantly we talk about our upcoming Halo: Reach contest which no one will want to miss out on. So check it out, find out what our big contest is and enjoy the podcast. Thanks for listening!

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So we don’t live in Japan where everyone plays Dragon Quest, population density is huge, and public transportation is extremely common.  Nor do we live in the land where having a bar where you can gather to play and exchange game items is not only normal, it’s expected.  As a result, many North American players have expected to miss out on the features of tag mode that helped make the game such a success in the land of the rising sun.  Nintendo seems to have realized this, and so has organized a series of Dragon Quest IX events at local retailers and malls to spread the word about the game and give US players the chance to get some new treasure maps.

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After Nintendo’s momentous E3 presentation, many (myself included) were anxious to know when we can get our hands on the 3DS, but all Nintendo would say was that it would release by Spring 2011.  Today, via a phone interview, Nintendo PR manager Yasuhiro Minagawa confirmed that on September 29th, Nintendo will reveal both release schedules and pricing for the new device. (more…)

In an attempt to put a stop to rampant piracy, Lodndon’s High Court has ruled that the sale of R4 cards and similar products is illegal in the UK. The ruling was made against a supplier of electronic devices to the UK, Playables Ltd, who argued that the device allows users to “play homebrew software”. They also argued that the device is readily available online for as little as £10 ($15). The court disagreed saying the device must circumvent Nintendo’s security system in order for the R4 card to function.

According to gamesindustry.biz Nintendo has said that over 100,000 copying devices have been seized since 2009. I’ve spoken to someone who lives in the UK and he told me that R4 cards could be bought in a store and they would even give you instructions on how to find the Nintendo DS games and the software required for the card to work. The devices bought online would do the same and could be bought in bulk. This is obviously a huge win for Nintendo and they are coming off another big win last week in the Hague District Court against 11 retailers accused of selling piracy hardware. Will this put an end to piracy in the UK, probably not, but it’s a great start.

[Source: gameindustry.biz]

Perusing the list of summer game releases coming up, I sighed at the thin crowd lined up until September. I noticed a few singing games coming out over the summer from Disney like Disney Sing It: Family Hits and Disney Sing It: Party Hits. Family Hits got me nostalgic for the old Disney songs and I broke it down all shower tune-esque to Aladdin and Jasmine’s A Whole New World. I’m taking a break from The Little Mermaid’s Under the Sea though, Kingdom Hearts kind of burned that song into the ground for me over time…

So it got me wondering, do you all like to sing in games? Are you the lead singer of a plastic band when your friends get together? Let us know what your favorite game to sing in is! SingStar? Lips? Karaoke Revolution? Desperately awaiting Glee? Or will you be joining me on some PS3 Aladdin reminiscing? Let us know!

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In this week’s episode of Spawn Kill’s official podcast, Eric, Rebecca, and Dana get together yet again to give you our opinion about some recent news which includes the new Xbox Kinect Bundle, the gameplay videos for DarkSpore and Dead Space Ignition, Netflix heading to Canada and THQ’s recent announcement of a Red Faction television show set to air on SyFy.  We also talk a bit about this week’s Community Voice and what we think about the upcoming technology in the gaming industry. Basically we explain why we want the 3DS and why the Kinect look so terrible. Finally we discuss the adaptation of literature in video games and how we feel about companies who loosely base their games off of books or those companies who follow the books too closely.  We hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening!

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Lucha Libre: AAA: Heroes del Ring is hoping to make a big splash with wrestling fans here in the states. To help their cause Slang has partnered with key retailers including GameStop to bring fans a very unique pre-order bonus. For those who pre-order the authentic Mexican wrestling game, they will receive an authentic mask from AAA stars: Dr. Wagner Jr, La Parka, Octagon or Abismo Negro. The press release states that upon pre-ordering the title you will receive a voucher to obtain the mask but on the GameStop site it states that you will receive 1 of the 4 masks at the store.

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It’s Monday! And not only does that mean back to the grind, it also means our fans over at Nintendo have once again betrothed our Wiis and DS’s with a slew of new downloadable goodies in the form of DSiware, WiiWare, and Virtual Console releases.  This week brings us eight new titles (no VC this week, sorry, kids), so get your points ready and check out the details below. (more…)

This generation of hardware has been promised to us to last much longer than previous generations. With that, it seems we’ve hit some sort of period in the gen where new technology is running rampant on the current generation of consoles and handhelds that we already own. Prime example was how much of E3 was dedicated to showing the Kinect, PlayStation Move and Nintendo’s 3DS. Are you digging each company’s upcoming bits and bytes of technology? Weigh in and let us know your stance on each of the Big Boss’ tech and which just tickle your fancy or gaggle your geese, or… something.

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Nintendo will be at San Diego Comic Con next week (July 22 – July 25) and has announced what they’re bringing with them for their fans. It’s a small presence they’re bringing with them to the party, but adopters of the recently released Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies who bring their DS and their copy of the game can get a special goodie from Nintendo if you turn on Tag Mode. Head to the Nintendo booth (#2944) with Tag Mode on in your game and you’ll be able to download a special treasure map called Mortamor, never before released for North American fans! In addition to that bonus, they’ll have two games on hand with hands-on demos to check out.

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After getting our wannabe-DJ on for pretty much all of Fall last year, there was only one thing we could ask for from DJ Hero –more songs. Don’t fret though for our worries have been put to rest, because DJ Hero 2’s artist list has been posted! Including some old DJ favorites such as Daft Punk and DJ Shadow as well as some new comers to the game which include B.o.B and Mos Def. DJ Hero 2 looks like its ready to scratch its way to our consoles once again this Fall. Check out the DJ Hero 2 artist list which features 108 different artists! (more…)

Layton fans have a spot of good news today: apparently the good professor has the ability to turn back time, as his upcoming game, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future will be arriving in North America a week earlier than originally announced, September 12, 2010. (more…)

“Ooh, shiny!” That was the only thing I had to say when I first witnessed the AFTERGLOW. Though I’m not the biggest fan of third-party controllers –or much of third-party anything– I have to say the AFTERGLOW isn’t too shabby. If you are a fan of the AFTERGLOW, then rejoice, for I come bearing good news! Performance Designed Products has just announced a new version of the AFTERGLOW called the AFTERGLOW Prismatic Edition, which is going to be revealed in a couple of months at PAX 2010 in Seattle. (more…)

When I first saw NBA Jam on the Wii back in March I was immediately blown away by how the team at EA Vancouver was able to capture the old school gameplay and still make it feel new. At this year’s E3 I got a chance to play an updated version of the game, and although there didn’t seem to be a huge difference between this build and the build I played earlier in the year, I did notice the motion controls are more accurate. Plus, they introduced a few legendary players into the mix. After playing the updated build I can say for sure that NBA Jam is going to be a big hit with fans of the franchise and newcomers as well.

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After more than 20 years, everyone’s favorite moonwalker (may he Rest in Peace)  is finally getting another video game made for him. Ubisoft’s Michael Jackson game, simply titled Michael Jackson: The Experience, is going to be developed for the PSP, DS, Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3. According to Ubisoft, The Experience will utilize the Wii MotionPlus, Kinect, and Move. Get ready to Beat It, Jackson fans.

The Wii version will be similar to Ubisoft’s Just Dance, while the Xbox 360 version is going to project 3D images of the player onto the screen (can we say Michael Jackson costumes?). Both the DS and PSP versions are said to be tap-based games. Not too much has been discussed about the PS3 version yet, but be sure that we will keep you updated as frequently as possible about The King of Pop’s latest video game appearance.