While you might not want to bring something like this to the office, and it won’t keep any of your food fresh, this would’ve been the coolest lunch-carrying receptacle back in the ’80s and ’90s.

(thanks Masennus)

EA made the astonishing announcement that SSX will feature the ability for 100,000 players to compete against each other at once.

Moby realised tragically far too late that now was not the best time to scratch his nuts.

Seeing SSX in action at EA’s press conference today was a delight — having shifted back from the “gritty” feeling that was originally proposed, the new game looks to have that spectacular next-gen sheen while maintaining the level of exaggerated silliness that the series is known for.

One of the features that EA particularly drew attention to today was the game’s online functionality — or “social play” as they preferred to refer to it. The emphasis is very much on asynchronous play, allowing players to compete against each other without having to be online at the same time. For one thing, when playing the Explore mode and barrelling down the Race, Trick or Survival drops, setting a new best time, score or survival period will automatically record and upload a ghost file and push it to your friends. Beating your friends rewards you with in-game currency — but so does your friends challenging your ghost and failing to beat it.

Second among the new features was “RiderNet,” which sounds suspiciously like Autolog — it offers recommendations of tracks to play, it tracks your friends’ progress and allows you to challenge them, but a notable addition is the ability to “downvote” a friend who is consistently beating you and stopping the game from being fun or competitive. Or, as I like to call it, the “bad loser” button. Like Autolog, there’ll be social network functionality, including Facebook connectivity and an iPhone app to gloat on the go.

The most potentially impressive feature, however, is the Global Events option. These are real time tournaments that take place in the game with everyone competing simultaneously — up to 100,000 participants at once. As impressive as that might sound, there’s no way an Xbox or PS3 is going to render that many people slip-slip-slidin’ away at once, so it’s probably fairly safe to assume that we’re looking at 100,000 people able to compete at once and record times but not necessarily appear on each other’s screens.

Like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit before it, then, SSX will likely be a game best played with friends. That’s not to say there won’t be anything to enjoy for the solo player, but EA have built the social side of competition so deeply into the game that it would be a shame for anyone to miss out on it.

Hideo Kojima tweets what looks like a Z.O.E. 3DS logo. Could a new Zone of the Enders be in development for Nintendo’s handheld?

Hideo Kojima is tweeting again.

Lately, the noted game developer has taken to Twitter to make his announcements, the most recent example being new info about the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Now it seems as if he might be teasing a new Zone of the Enders.

Kojima wrote, “Found this at Omori-kun’s desk. What’s this?”

Well, it’s a Jehuty figure, and what looks a lot like a Z.O.E 3DS logo. Who knows, the 3DS’ struggles are well-documented, but the mecha space combat would sure look cool in 3D.

A Zone of the Enders HD bundle is due on Xbox 360 and PS3 next year. If it succeeds, we may yet see our dream of a true Z.O.E sequel fulfilled.

EA has announced the return of its unconventional street soccer franchise to current-gen consoles.

It was a relatively slow day for big announcements at the press conferences today, but there’s still plenty of Gamescom left for some surprises to be revealed. In the meantime, EA was very happy to announce the return of one of its slightly less well known sports franchises: FIFA Street.

FIFA Street, last seen back in 2008, focuses on street soccer — a game that is much more about style and flair than it is about teamwork. Smaller teams play on smaller improvised pitches, so there’s a lot of interaction between players and the potential for some wild and crazy moves.

This latest entry in the FIFA Street series is the first to be developed by the same team from EA Canada who are responsible for the mainline FIFA games. EA hasn’t spared any expense on researching the game, either; the team visited a wide variety of countries to discover the different styles of play found in different locales. These variants are reflected in the 35 different international street environments available to play on in the game, and the variety of international soccer stars who take part.

EA’s particularly excited about the fact that the game integrates with its EA Football Club social network — essentially Autolog for FIFA — set to launch alongside FIFA 12 next month. Players’ progress in FIFA Street affects their statistics and online profile in the same way as traditional FIFA matches do, allowing players to mix up their footballing between professional and street leagues as they please.

EA also announced that the game will be supported by the controversial “Season Ticket” offering the company announced recently. Holders of the Season Ticket will be able to download and play FIFA Street three days before it releases onto store shelves, but will then have to purchase a full retail copy once the game releases proper.

FIFA Street was one of the original EA Sports BIG titles that also included SSX. It’s good to see a resurgence of these titles, as they offered interesting and fun twists on sports that often made them appealing to the less athletic among us as well as the hardcore sportheads.

The new game will be with us in early 2012 — this being EA, it will likely be available on every platform under the sun. Except Steam.

Developer Epic’s next game is probably going to be a smaller budget mobile or downloadable title.

Speaking at GDC Europe, Epic president Mike Capps revealed that they’re working on five games…but none of them are Gears of War.

He also intimated that those titles will be mobile or downloadable, saying, “At Epic we didn’t multiply the studio size by five when we started working on these multiple projects, so you can make some assumptions about the size of those projects.”

Epic released both the successful Infinity Blade for iOS and Shadow Complex for XBLA, so they know how to find quality titles on a budget, but Capps sees this approach as part of an overall shift in the industry.

“Everyone knows the middle class is disappearing from the console business. Gears of War, I hope will do really well, but a pretty good game doesn’t make its money back any more. A game like Homefront sells a couple of million copies and they close the studio, right?

“That’s not enough any more. That’s pretty depressing. You don’t want to see what happens to an industry where it’s Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears and no one else has enough money to make any games any more. That’s not a fun industry.”

(via GamesIndustry.biz)

Resistance: Burning Skies will take place between the first and second game, starring a fire fighter named Tom Riley — and his axe.

With Resistance 3 on the way to the PS3, Sony is looking to keep the franchise’s momentum up with a Vita spinoff.

Resistance: Burning Skies will actually take place between the first game and the second, putting it before the Chimera invade the United States.

The hero is one Tom Riley, a fireman who initially battles the alien hordes with an axe. The game will incorporate many of the Vita’s key features, including the touchscreen controls, the tilt functionality and the rear touchscreen.

The dual analog controls, of course, will also be a welcome addition.

Nihilistic Software will be handling development under the supervision of Insomniac.

With D&D publisher making a big push for its Neverwinter campaign at the recent Gen-Con, many D&D PC gamers hoped for more news about Neverwinter. Here’s some news no one wants: It’s been delayed to late 2012.

We’ll have to wait until late 2012 to learn why this Blue Dragon is hanging out with a lich and its undead servants.

According to a report in The Escapist, Neverwinter‘s delay is a result of the acquisition of developer Cryptic Studios to MMO publisher Perfect World Entertainment. The Escapist report also says that Perfect World “will be investing in a more immersive experience.”

It’s a shame that Neverwinter’s been delayed. I’ve been looking forward to a new D&D PC game for some time — Neverwinter Nights 2 came out in 2006, and its last expansion, Storm of Zehir, came out in late 2008. That’s just too long to wait for a D&D game. While I have hopes for the Facebook Heroes of Neverwinter game, I wonder if it’s going to be able to satisfy D&D gamers until Neverwinter’s new release date.

Sony’s just announced the news that everyone was expecting: the PS3 has just got a price drop.

With immediate effect, the PlayStation 3 is going to be available for a new price: $249. The price drop is the second part of Sony’s move to make its gaming devices better value, after the 99 Euro PSP.

The price drop takes effect worldwide immediately, with the European price dropping to 249 Euros and the Japanese price falling to 24,980 yen.

A short GamesCom trailer shows off a new expansion for Sony’s superhero franchise. At least it’s not zombies.

During the Sony Press conference at this year’s GamesCom, developer Sucker Punch revealed their Halloween plans for the infamous franchise. Coming this October to the PlayStation network is the vampire-themed Festival of Blood.

Series protagonist Cole is bitten by one of the blood-sucking monsters, and he has one night to kill the head vampire and save his soul. Expect more details soon!

Sony has announced during its Gamescom press conference that we can expect an ultra cheap new PSP model soon.

Speaking on stage at Gamescom today, Sony announced that due to the PSP’s status as “the perfect entry level handheld,” plus a rediscovered popularity in Europe thanks to the £9.99 “Essentials” range of games, the company would be launching a new model PSP later this year.

Ditching the traditional Wi-Fi connectivity of the earlier PSP models — and thus wireless access to the PlayStation store — the new model will focus more on the range of titles available on physical media than those available online.

The best part, though? The price — 99 Euros, which will likely equate to $99 in the U.S. Not bad for what is still a pretty good piece of gaming kit.