It has been a fairly slow news week, but this little tidbit caught my eye. Do you remember Hydrophobia? Probably not, because it was kind of terrible by all accounts (though had a really neat water physics engine, go figure). Anyways, the game’s developer/publisher Dark Energy is re-releasing a “definitive” version of it (subtitled “Prophecy”) hoping to clean up the game from its initial release several months ago. What’s interesting is that this sort of thing simply doesn’t happen, ever. It is extremely rare to see any sort of mass-media producer try to iterate and improve on their product without sequelizing it (post-release support notwithstanding), implicitly admitting that they might have made some mistakes with the first release of it. I do not know if this version of the game will be any good (though it has a pretty low barrier to entry at 11$ on Steam) but I commend Dark Energy at least trying something different.

Those of you who have been following the ongoing Alternate Reality Game surrounding the release of Portal 2 undoubtedly know how insane it has become. For those who haven’t, here’s a basic scaffold: to promote the upcoming launch of Portal 2 on April 19th, Valve has created a very odd variety of alternate reality metagame by releasing a pack of indie games (dubbed the “Potato Sack”) and hiding Portal 2 related tidbits and easter eggs in all of them (all of which also somehow pertain to potatoes). If you own a fair amount of indie games on steam (as I do) and have been noticing that they’re constantly updating, this is the reason. However, today it would seem that today the metagame hit a new level of intriguing, as fairly major new Portal 2 themed content has been patched into the games. I suppose we might glean some revelations on the matter when Portal 2 is released next Tuesday.

In the meantime, have a potato.

UPDATE: So start playing those Potato Sack games, if you own them. Valve is saying that they will expedite the release of Portal 2 depending how much each of the 13 games in the pack are played. This is attached to the ARG story, as they’re suggesting that GLaDOS needs your CPU cores to reawaken faster.

Earlier this week, news outlets and gaming blogs reported that Hudson Entertainment, the American branch of Hudson Software, was closing by the end of the month. The shuttering comes on the heels of Konami’s full acquisition of Hudson Soft. in 2011. The company is best known for the Bomberman series in addition to recent titles such as Tetris Party for the Wii and its most recent release, Lost in Shadow. It’s a shame to see a long-running name like Hudson go this route. We suggest firing up your Wii’s Virtual Console, playing some Bomberman, and pour one out for our homies.

As if that weren’t enough, several Activision studios are facing layoffs. Eurogamer cites anonymous sources with news of the mega publisher’s various studios. On the chopping block are Vicarious Visions, the stewards of the Guitar Hero franchise, Freestyle Games, the makers of DJ Hero, and United Front, the team behind the upcoming True Crime reboot. Rumor has it all three studios are to be met with layoffs in addition to the cancelation of projects currently in development. With sales of music games declining, this could be it for Guitar Hero and DJ Hero.

Activision has scheduled a conference call with investors later today which should shed more light on the situation. Hopefully everybody at those studios lands on their feet, best of luck to all.

Via: Joystiq
Source: Eurogamer

Being used specifically as an addendum to Erving Goffman’s ‘Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,’ a college students’ and video gamers’ dreams have finally become a reality in our current year of 2010. Oh how long have us gamers have waited to have a video game [and in this case one of the best games of the year] to actually be part of a course curriculum. Although Professor Abbott was thinking about using ‘BioShock’ instead as the required reading for the course, Portal really seemed to hit the spot due to its uniqueness and extraordinary gameplay that has never been seen before. For those of you that haven’t seen or played Portal, you MUST check this video out:

Source: Switched

While the game is terrible, we’re still trying to figure out which is more horrifying; the game itself or the oh-so-90s box art.

Just when you’ve read the last “First!” comment you can stand and accepted that Facebook friend request from your grandmother, the internet has a way of reminding you why you fell in love with it in the first place. Gamervision, the same team behind the amazing Inglorious Plummers, has released their vision for the God of War movie. Or should we say, the God of War movie if it were done by Wes Anderson. The trailer is absolutely genius and, if anything, should be awarded for pointing out all of the overused tropes in almost every indy film of its type. For those who love independent movies such as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, & Juno, and have a high tolerance for overt use of helvetica check out the video below.

Source: Gamervision

The oft-neglected entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, has been given a 3D makeover. Fan and home-development maverick, Michael Johnston has recreated the side-scrolling adventure through the first-person perspective.

Combining 8-bit graphics and textures with an FPS is not only genius- it’s vicious. The game is harder than the original Zelda II and that’s saying something. Tread lightly, adventurers. Get in while you can before Nintendo shuts this down!

Source: Joystiq

The Gnomon Gallery in Hollywood is known for putting on exhibits that highlight video game art and conceptual work having just recently displayed works by the famed talent behind Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2..

“The Art of God of War” is set to debut Saturday, May 29th.

Source: Kotaku

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the arcade classic Pac-Man, Google has changed its logo to commemorate the event. Now, Google is known to change its logo or “doodle” from time to time but today marks a special occasion. Pac-Man is actually playable from the homepage. Makes you wonder how they’ll celebrate other milestones. Hit up Google.com and get those dots! Oh, and watch out for Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde.

Source: Giant Bomb