Crispy Gamer News

 Contrary to the popularly held belief,  imitation isn’t the sincerest form of flattery - it’s downright annoying and oftentimes disturbing. Was Allie in Single White Female flattered when Hedy started dressing like her? No, she was like “this bitch is f’ing crazy and is going to cut my blouse off with a knife.” EA, is acting a little like Hedy with its new Wii game, NASCAR Kart Racing. Nintendo might say its flattered that EA wants to create a NASCAR themed Mario Kart-esque game, but inside they are feeling a little creeped out.

While there are some stark differences, like EA branded tracks and real world racers, there are plenty of similarities like wild canyons complete with falling boulders, deserts, freeways, back roads, and more. While EA doesn’t mention banana peels, turtle shells and other Mario world power-ups, I wouldn’t be shocked if I saw one in this game.

Naturally, along with the license comes official NASCAR drivers including such brand names as Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Elliot Sadler, Tony Stewart, AND two unlockable mystery drivers. The courses in NASCAR Kart Racing will consist of arcade remakes of such 4 real world tracks as Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Dover International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway and other fantasy tracks set in canyons, deserts, freeways, back roads, and more.

NASCAR Kart Racing is a Wii exclusive and is scheduled to ship on February 10, 2009.

Square Enix will “invade” the WiiWare “space” with Taito’s upcoming game Space Invaders: Get Even. Based on the original, classic arcade hit, this WiiWare Space Invaders game will be released on WiiWare Dec. 1.

In the game, players fight alongside the Invaders, navigating their space craft and battling against earthling technology in a colorful 3D world. Get ready to discover a new addition to the SPACE INVADERS universe, launching exclusively for Wii next month, that gives you the option of being the bad guys.

Square Enix also plans three mission packs to be made available as add-on content for 500 Wii Points each, offering a total of seven unique missions when added to the main product. You can learn more at na.square-enix.com.

The wait is over as the classic Tecmo football game is reborn as a DS exclusive. Tecmo has released Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff for Nintendo DS. Based on the popular cult classic Tecmo Super Bowl , Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff adapts that game’s old-school style and revitalizes it for a newer generation of gamers. The classic, over-the-top, all-American football game enables players of all levels to engage in a fun filled, fast paced, arcade style of football - and it does it without the need for an NFL license. Take that, Madden.

Tecmo Bowl Kickoff lets players customize their team with team colors, emblems, player names, team cities and abilities; offers Wi-Fi and Wireless multiplayer a choice of 32 different teams, tactical use of the abilities, stylus control, a customizable playbook to fool around with, and a unique soundtrack to crack skulls to.

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is rated “E” by the ESRB and carries a suggested retail price of US $29.99.

Electronic Arts has released its arcade boxing game FaceBreaker to retail outlets nationwide, giving Peter Moore one less thing to drone on about for hours. I kid, I kid.. Available for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Facebreaker is the first game to be published under the EA SPORTS Freestyle.
FaceBreaker K.O. Party for Wii, a special version of the game for Nintendo’s popular platform, will follow in November.

Reminiscent of the classic Ready 2 Rumble boxing game series for the Dreamcast (which Peter Moore also had a hand in bringing to market when he worked at Sega), FaceBreaker features stereotypical fighters , arcade style boxing with special moves and power-ups and the ability to put your own face in the game and create your own fighter. Players can do this by using either the Xbox LIVE Vision or PlayStation eye camera. If you played the demo then you probably saw Peter Moore’s mug on a fighter in the game. I had nightmares for weeks.

FaceBreaker is in stores now for a retail price of $49.99 and is rated “T” for “Teen” by the ESRB.

Ignition Entertainment and SNK Playmore heave teamed up to bring Metal Slug 7 for Nintendo DS this fall. Developed by SNK Playmore and to be published by Ignition Entertainment, Metal Slug 7 brings more fast-paced 2-D shooting action with big guns, vehicles and huge explosions.

Players join Marco, Tarma, Eri, Fiolina, Clark and Ralph as they prepare to take on Modern’s Forces across 7 new missions that spans Garbage Island to the Fortress of Ruins and beyond. Aside from featuring 7 new missions and six playable characters, Metal Slug 7 will also feature new weapons, colossal new bosses, new Slugs to pilot and new gameplay modes.

Aksys Games announced that the very first Location Test Tour for the arcade version of BLAZBLUE will take place in America. The location test will take place at the Anime Expo and will last for all four days of the event.

BLAZBLUE is an arcade fighting game developed by Arc System Works that combines 2D & 3D high-definition graphics with Arc Systems special brand of fighting action (the company is best know for the Guilty Gear series of beat ‘em ups). The arcade game is powered by the Taito Type-X2 Arcade board and will make its debut this fall in Japan. The location test will be the very first time that the public has access to the game.

The arcade game will be playable from July 3 ? July 6 from 10 AM ? 5 PM in the Console Gaming Room at the Anime Expo 2008 (Los Angeles Convention Center).

Ubisoft’’s Nitrobike for the Wii has made its way to retail this week. Developed by Left Field Productions, the creators of the classic Excitebike 64 game, Nitrobike puts players on rocket-powered dirt bikes as they race against the clock, in career mode or against other players in multiplayer mode. The game promises arcade-style racing on 20 wild tracks in multiple modes including a career mode featuring 67 events, a bowling mini-game mode that can played with up to four other players, and an online mode for up to six players. Nitrobike for the Wii is rated E 10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB and carries an MSRP of $49.99.