Toronto Thumbs

See Frank West Kick Ass in Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom looks like one hell of an awesome fighting game and it should go down in history as one of the best crossover fighters. The all-star cast on both sides of the Vs. is awesome, and this week Capcom announced another character for its team: Dead Rising‘s Frank West. The antihero sports his trademark mannerisms, which of course have been exaggerated somewhat. We’ve got a Flickr set showing off some stills, but you’re better off checking out the video for a better depiction of how Frank West rolls. Fans of Dead Rising will dig the references.

Watch the video »

Posted in Awesome, Gallery, News Bytes, Wii | 4 Comments »

A Diabolical Box FROM Professor Layton!

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make my day. Sometimes, however, something happens that makes my week. Today, for instance, I received a rather abnormally shaped package from Nintendo. I opened it up. There was an envelope inside, and inside that envelope was this delightful wooden box with the logo for Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box embossed into it.

If that wasn’t clever enough, opening the box was a bit of a puzzle as well, as it has no obvious hinges. Upon opening it, I found a note from Professor Layton, congratulating me for figuring out the puzzle. This note was accompanied by hint coins: the same kind that Nintendo representatives had hidden around the dining room of Layton’s summer abode a few weeks back to help recreate puzzles from the game in a real-life setting.

This diabolical box has found its permanent home on my coffee table, where it will definitely be a great conversation piece. I now have a good excuse to stock up on chocolate coins. Much thanks to Professor Layton for sending it along!

View images in slideshow format »

Posted in Awesome, Gallery, News Bytes, Nintendo | 6 Comments »

The New PS3 From Every Angle

There’s nothing readers of gaming sites like more than oodles of images of hardware they don’t yet have. I posted about Sony announcing the new PS3 earlier tonight, but now I’ve been sent some super high quality images of the new model and I gotta admit, the thing looks freaking sweet. There’s even a shot of its underside! From these new angles, we can appreciate the updated design quite a lot more.

New PS3 model gallery »

Posted in Awesome, Gallery, News Bytes, PlayStation 3 | 6 Comments »

Ubisoft Announces Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage

Today Ubisoft revealed that they’re once again collaborating with snowboarding superstar and Olympic Gold Medallist Shaun White in developing Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage. The title, in development by Ubisoft Montreal, is a follow-up to last year’s Shaun White Snowboarding and will be a Wii exclusive when it’s released this holiday 2009 season.

This time around, gamers will get to participate it top competitions around the world – from locations as exotic as France and Japan to locales in Canada and even New York.

“Working with Shaun on the first title was an excellent experience,” says Antoine Guignard, producer on the title. “The great public reception of Shaun White Snowboarding and the wonderful collaboration with Shaun made it a slam dunk for us to reunite to create a fun, new adventure for fans.”

“Ubisoft has been a great partner, and I’m excited for World Stage,” says Shaun White. “It’s cool to give people insight on what my life is like on the competition circuit.”

Shaun White Snowboarding sold over 3 million copies since its release last November, and the Wii version made excellent use of the Wii Balance Board. The sequel will once again utilize the Balance Board to put players in the middle of the action. We’ll be getting some feet-on time with a preview build of the game next week at E3. Look forward to our impressions.

View the Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage Gallery »

Posted in Gallery, News Bytes, Wii | No Comments »

Metroid Prime Trilogy Gallery

Last week, I found out about the upcoming release of Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii. The game combines all games in the series on one hot disc and throws in motion control for added good karma. With the Metroid Prime series, Nintendo not only showed us they were serious about hardcore games but also how to bring an existing 2D franchise into the third dimension the right way. Here’s hoping Trilogy sells much better than Corruption did.

View the Metroid Prime Trilogy gallery »

Posted in Gallery, News Bytes, Wii | No Comments »

New Info, Screens for Rabbids Go Home

Some plot details of the upcoming Ubisoft laugh-fest Rabbids Go Home have emerged. According to a press release sent out today, the Rabbids home is on the moon and getting there will involve wreaking havoc on humans. How? Well the Rabbids’ plan is to stack as much junk (human possessions) they can find and then use that pile to just climb on home to the moon.

While this concept is silly in itself, it comes as no surprise that the game-play won’t be as straightforward as this one task. Naturally the humans are against this whole plan and decide to sick exterminators called Verminators on the Rabbids. We humans are thoughtful like that.

The game will involve players taking control of two Rabbids as they pilot an upgradable shopping cart (Jet Ski cart, anyone?) through the world on their quest to gather objects to build the junk pile with. Throughout all this, players are also encouraged to make a mess of things in the game’s 15 environments (which range from supermarkets to airports to rooftops) in over 40 missions.

Judging from the screenshots, the game looks to have a very unique perspective on human life. Check out the drab environments we find the human characters moping in. For some of you, they might hit a little too close to home. No wonder the humans hate the Rabbids so much!

Rabbids Go Home will be released Holiday 2009 for Nintendo Wii.

View our Rabbids Go Home gallery »
Rabbids Official Site »

Posted in Gallery, News Bytes, Wii | 1 Comment »

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – New Screenshots Revealed

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel hits stores May 12, but in videogame time, that’s almost an eternity. Here, then, is a new batch of fresh screenshots provided by CDV Software Entertainment. The game itself has gone gold for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms, and it’s only a matter of time before we begin playing our way through it. In the meantime, the game’s official site has been revamped with a shiny new look.

View our Sacred 2: Fallen Angel gallery »

Posted in Gallery, News Bytes, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »