Tired of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and yearning for a more twitchy shooter, but you only play games made by Swedes? You'll be glad to hear that the Sweden-based DICE has opened up the multiplayer beta to Medal of Honor on Steam to folks who own the former. Get to it!

PSA: Bad Company 2 Steam owners have access to Medal of Honor beta ... right now! originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so the "Kinect Experience" tour is coming to your town -- or at least within a reasonable driving distance. That said, from July on through the end of October, the Kinect Experience mobile demo tour will stop off in major metropolitan areas across the country, giving gamers an early taste of Kinectimals, Kinect Sports, Kinect Joy Ride, Kinect Adventures and Dance Central -- ahead of the device's November 4 launch.

There are a total of 32 stops on the tour. For the full list of cities and dates, hit the break.

Continue reading Kinect Experience tour is coming to your town

Kinect Experience tour is coming to your town originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops box art features Sally ... and her soldier originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The long-dormant Oddworld franchise is ready to make its return. Just Add Water, developer of Gravity Crash, has been working with Oddworld Inhabitants on "multiple projects, across multiple platforms ... starring all of your favorite Oddworld characters." Just Add Water Managing Director Stewart Gilray has also revealed that franchise creator Lorne Lanning is involved in the new projects.

While further details aren't yet available, a few more teases will be revealed on the PS Nation podcast tonight. To keep abreast of any breaking revelations, you can also follow AbeMudokon on Twitter.

New Oddworld games in the works at Just Add Water originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's a strange calculus that we all apply to digitally-distributed gaming content. iPhone games, XBLA and PSN releases, etc., divorced from the usual MSRP for retail products, all suffer the same fate: intense pricing scrutiny. While our reviews aim to be more experiential and less commercial, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't applying that same calculus to the latest Dragon Age: Origins DLC, "Leliana's Song," while I played it. How much new content is there? How long is it? How does that compare to the retail version? And, of course, how much does it cost?

Let's cover that new content first: "Leliana's Song" is a fully-voiced expansion featuring several new characters (like your companions Sketch the mage and Tug the dwarf), some new music, and some new (albeit dull) locations. A particular disappointment: despite Leliana's Orlesian (read: French) lineage, and despite this being her origin story, you won't see a single Orlesian blade of grass in this adventure. Instead, you'll spend time in the oft-recycled Denerim Market and you'll sneak through the Arl's castle; familiar environments, to be sure. Depending on what you're hoping to extract from "Leliana's Song," there's either a wealth of content (new dialogue! new music!) or a dearth of it (old locations!).

Continue reading Review: 'Leliana's Song' DLC for Dragon Age: Origins

Review: 'Leliana's Song' DLC for Dragon Age: Origins originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Two great Okami convention collectibles coming soon

Two great Okami convention collectibles coming soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ten independently-developed games which will be featured on the show floor at PAX Prime 2010 have been announced. There are a few recognizable names in this year's PAX 10 collection, including Super Meat Boy and Retro City Rampage-- but there's also plenty of lesser-known (but assuredly spectacular) indie titles in the mix as well, like the pictured Fowl Space.

Check out the full list of featured titles posted just past the jump, or catch a glimpse of each game in the gallery below. If you want to give the games a once-over at PAX Prime, you might want to grab one of the remaining one-day passes for the event.

Continue reading PAX 10 winners announced for PAX '10

PAX 10 winners announced for PAX '10 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Compared to last month's disappointing NPD numbers, with the industry down 5 percent overall, this month's numbers are ... well, they're still sort of a bummer with industry sales down 6 percent, but for nearly opposite reasons! While hardware was down in May, 20 percent year-over-year, it's up 5 percent this month with every console posting positive percentages. The newly revamped Xbox 360 led with the biggest improvement, with sales up 132 percent while the Wii managed to place 3rd, with the lowest overall improvement at 26 percent.

While last month's software sales were up 4 percent, mostly riding on Red Dead Redemption's back, this month's numbers are still Red Dead-heavy, but down 15 percent year-over-year as Rockstar San Diego's horse opus fell from a combined 1.5m units to just shy of 1m. This month's numbers also put Red Dead as the top seller for the year thus far, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Much of the month's software lineup looks the same as last's - there's Super Mario Galaxy, barely dropping at all; there's UFC and Wii Fit; and, of course, New Super Mario Bros. - but we're also welcoming Just Dance back to the top 10 along with newcomers Toy Story 3 on DS and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 on Wii. Check the full software list after the break.

• DS: 511K, up 127K (+33%)
• 360: 453K, up 257K (+132%)
• Wii: 423K, up 88K (+26%)
• PS3: 305K, up 150K (+97%)
• PSP: 121K, up 62K (+105%)

Continue reading June NPD: Hardware's way up, Red Dead reloads

June NPD: Hardware's way up, Red Dead reloads originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Activision has declared war on the calm, blue and oh-so-smug skies with the announcement of Apache: Air Assault, a game where you don't fly a cool airplane because you're too busy piloting a freakin' sweet helichopter. Russian developer Gaijin Entertainment (IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey) promises several variations of Apache birds, each outfitted with sick military weaponry, "highly-detailed damage modeling" and the ability to destroy tanks who are too stupid to fly into the air and fight back.

Due this fall on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Apache: Air Assault will offer an "Arcade" mode for those who want to blow things up right away, as well as a "Realistic" mode for players who to blow things up the right way. You can also expect competitive online multiplayer and a local co-op mode that has two people sitting in the same helichopter, going let's go left no let's go right oh it doesn't matter because we can fire like sixteen missiles into that guy's face this is awesome hahaha.

Apache: Air Assault launches on Xbox 360, PS3 this fall originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kinect will go on sale in November, but if you want to try it out early, let me tell you how. Starting this weekend we’re hitting the road with the Kinect Experience mobile demo tour. We’re going taking Kinect across the US to various places incuding some big fairs and festivals. If you can’t wait to try your hands (and feet) at controller free gaming, here is your chance:

 

Kinect Experience Mobile Demo Tour (Dates subject to change)

East Coast:

July 17–18 Manhattan, NY Macy’s

July 20–22 East Falmouth, MA Barnstable County Fair

July 24–25 Manhattan, NY Seaport-Lower Manhattan Entertainment Area

July 28–Aug. 1 Washington, DC Six Flags America

Aug. 4–6 Canton, OH Football Hall of Fame – Rib Burnoff

Aug. 7–8 Canton, OH Football Hall of Fame Festival Weekend

Aug. 11–15 Chicago, IL Air Show/Navy Pier

Aug. 19–21 Detroit, MI Woodward Dream Cruise – Auto Festival

Aug. 26–30 St. Paul, MN Minnesota State Fair

Aug. 30–Oct. 24 Tampa, FL Westfield Citrus Park Shopping Mall

Sept. 3–6 Indianapolis, IN Rib America Festival

Sept. 10–13 Nashville, TN Tennessee State Fair

Sept. 15–16 Atlanta, GA Atlantic Station – Entertainment Plaza

Sept. 18–19 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Arts Festival

Sept. 23–26 Charlotte, NC Festival in the Park

Oct. 1–2 Orlando, FL Disney Wine and Dine Marathon

Oct. 8–10 Valdosta, GA Wild Adventures Theme Park

Oct. 14–17 Dallas, TX Texas State Fair

Oct. 21–24 Shreveport, LA Louisiana State Fair

West Coast:

July 15–Aug. 22 Minneapolis, MN Mall of America

July 25–26 San Diego, CA Youth Surf Cup – Soccer

July 28–Aug. 1 Sacramento, CA California State Fair

Aug. 6–8 Portland, OR Bite of Oregon Food Festival

Aug.10–11 Seattle, WA Woodland Park Zoo

Aug. 13–15 Seattle, WA Taste of Edmonds – Food Festival

Aug. 19–22 Vancouver, BC Summerfest

Aug. 27–Sept. 1 Pueblo, CO Colorado State Fair

Sept. 3–6 Denver, CO Elitch Gardens

Sept. 9–12 Albuquerque, NM New Mexico State Fair

Sept. 16–19 Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fair

Sept. 24–26 Los Angeles, CA Universal City Walk

Oct. 1–3 San Diego, CA Miramar Air Fest

Oct. 7–11 San Francisco, CA Fleet Week – Military Ship and Air Festival

Oct. 15–17 Phoenix, AZ Arizona State Fair

Oct. 20–24 Las Vegas, NV PBR World Finals

 

Kinect is also available to demo in all four Microsoft Retail Stores, located in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Mission Viejo, Calif.; Denver; and San Diego.

 

If you get a chance to join us at any of these stops, let me know what you think.