This just makes me sad, seeing studio after studio go under. Seeing makers of great games enveloped into large publisher conglomerates because of financial struggles. And unfortunately, it looks like the story of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning‘s developer, 38 Studios, is shaping up to be no different than so many studios that came before them.

WPRI in Rhode Island reported yesterday that after defaulting on their business loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC) on May 1, 38 Studios delivered a late payment check in the amount of $1.125 million around 5 p.m. yesterday. Shortly after that, the company’s CFO, Rick Wester told the EDC  ”there were insufficient funds to cover the check, and so the agency returned it.”

The governor’s office stated that the EDC would still be willing to accept the payment if 38 Studios could produce “‘readily available funds.’” (more…)

From the makers of Robot Unicorn Attack comes a new finger-frenzy title on the iOS: Extinction Squad.

In an unexpected turn of events, the discovery of a lost colony of Dodo Birds has caused animals to start leaping to their death. Players take control of daredevil scientist Chuck Darwin, who along with his team will utilize their Extinction Squad Trampoline to cross the critters into safety rather than a bloody death. (more…)

Sorcery gets the honor of being the first PS3 game to utilize the Playstation Store’s new pre-purchasing system, in which PSN users can buy and download games so that they’re ready for immediate play come release day.

Sony’s new initiative draws similarities to Steam’s own pre-loading, where PC users can download a game prior to its release so that they’re ready to jump in the moment it’s officially out.

It’s a cool feature that I hope will be implemented in every big PS3 release from here on out. The Playstation Move-enabled Sorcery, which was co-developed by The Workshop and SCE Santa Monica Studio, is slated for a May 22 release in North America, with Europe getting it a day later.

Source: Gamasutra

For the non-Pig Latin speakers, that’s Rayman Origins 3DS Demo Day. And that’s precisely what you’ll be downloading onto your 3DS this instant if you know what’s good for you. The full game is coming on June 5.

Aside from the Rayman Origins demo (you are downloading it, right?), there’s another Game Boy game in the form of Kirby’s Block Ball and adventure game Chronicles of Vampires: The Awakening.

Oh, and remember to connect Mario Kart 7 online so that you can download a new patch for it, which fixes those unfair bugs that Nintendo originally didn’t want to fix.

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Don’t you hate it when you buy a game via the Steam mobile app or on the website and can’t download it until you get home? Talk about a first world problem, right?

Well, Valve has you covered. Over at the Steam homepage, Valve has announced that gamers will be able to download games to their computers remotely via the Steam website or mobile iOS and Android apps.

You can install already purchased games remotely, or the Steam store will ask you if you’d like to install when you purchase a new title. Sounds very convenient; there’s nothing I dislike more than waiting for a game to download after I’ve purchased it.

Source: Steam

The folks of the Mushroom Kingdom sure are sporty. Mario has been serving aces since the Virtual Boy and I seriously doubt Princess Peach has much time to rule since she spends most of her time either playing mini-games, getting kidnapped or hitting the tennis court. And, well… Does Daisy really do anything, ever?

With the May 20 release of Mario Tennis Open on the Nintendo 3DS, that pressing question will just have to wait, as the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom once again take to the court.

Though it may come as a big surprise, a lot of people cosplay as the iconic characters from the Super Mario series. Regardless, some cosplayers thought that cosplaying as their favorite Nintendo star was not enough; they had to reach for the superstar and dress up as their favorite sport enthusiast idol at the same time.

I can’t wish any harder to have been there to see a fully dressed Luigi on the tennis court, doing shenanigans with a tennis racket. I think we all could use running into Luigi tripping over things once in a while. We deserve it.

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If you’ve been following Konami’s Facebook page recently, you’ll notice that the company has linked to a character bracket in which oodles and oodles of characters from Konami games new and old will square off to claim the top spot.

The first 32 combatants have been revealed in the past two days, with the other 32 being revealed in the next two days. Fans will be able to start picking their own brackets on May 18. There’s no telling what the winning bracket will net you, but it’s sure to be something good. There’s also a countdown timer to Konami’s pre-E3 show – who knows what the end result might lead to?

I’m personally happy to see both popular and even obscure, underrated Konami characters. Sure, you’ve got the likes of Solid Snake and James Sunderland, but you’ve also got the portly Ebisumaru from the Mystical Ninja series and even Ash Lambert from Vandal Hearts.

What other Konami characters would you like to see in this bracket, and who would you root for? I’d love to see some Vandal Hearts II representation, but my money’s on the pink sombrero-wearing gunslinger Cormano from Sunset Riders (he better be in this bracket!).

Source: Konami

Let’s face it. There are so many videogames out there that it’s humanly impossible to play through them all in a single lifetime. It’s really a cyclical pattern: new games come out, we as gamers are tempted by the new hotness, and then we drop whatever we’re playing to ensconce ourselves in said hotness.

In the meantime, our backlogs only get bigger and longer.

We here at Pixelitis are ashamed to admit it but we’re all in that same boat too. So commiserate with us as we share some of the most embarrassing entries in our vast backlogs, as well as the games or series that we’ve completely skipped. We’ll admit our guilt for not having ever completed (or even played) certain games often considered must-haves.

Go easy on us, please.

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Hot off the heels of the announcement that THQ will not have a booth at E3 this year, a special collaboration between the publisher and Dark Horse Comics was revealed earlier this week that resulted in a pre-order bonus for Best Buy’s exclusive Angel of Death edition of Darksiders II.

Now included with those pre-orders is a specially-printed comic covering the events leading up to the Darksiders sequel entitled “Darksiders II: Death’s Door.” The comic features a cover by the game’s creative director Joe Madureira, with the issue’s insides covered in a story by Fringe scribe Andrew Kreisberg and the artistic efforts of Roger Robinson.

Included in the Angel of Death Edition of the game is the aptly named “Angel of Death” downloadable content pack, which features angel-esque looking weapons and armor.

Darksiders II is slated for release this August for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

When Sony announced during the “PixelJunk Anniversary Blowout Sale” in last week’s PlayStation Store Update, a little piece of news that the PSP game PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe would make its way to Sony’s new handheld made a lot of Vita owners anxious for May 15.

Though this week’s update has come and gone, the colorful tower-defense title is nowhere to be seen on the Vita’s PlayStation Store, though a number of other PSP titles were added. PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe was part of the “blowout sale” last week, marked down to $4.99 from $9.99.

When reached for comment, Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert said that some last-minute issuesforced the game’s Vita debut to the May 22 PSN update.

The process is long and arduous apparently (internal to Sony), and something hiccupped at the last moment and it got pushed to next week,” Cuthbert said.

While this may be disappointing news for Vita owners in North America, Cuthbert said there was a “99% chance” that the issues were fixed in time for today’s PSN update in Europe.

Since the Vita’s launch nearly three months ago, early adopters have been itching for some games to play. With the recent release of Mortal Kombat and the upcoming launch of Gravity Rush, things look like they’re picking up.

It just would have been nice to have an extra week to protect those tiny, tiny villagers from a bunch of monsters walking and flying in a single file.