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What Makes RPG Dialogue Great (And How It Can Go Wrong) To: Crecente From: Ashcraft
Last night we were watching the World Championship in Athletics, which is being held here in Osaka. Actually! I wasn’t really watching (I was blogging!), but Mrs. Bashcraft and Mini-Bash were. Sometime during the pole vaulting, Mini-Bash goes: I wanna touch that lady’s butt. (ã‚ã®å¥³ã®ãŠå°»è§¦ã‚ŠãŸã„㪅)
“Bwah?” His face got red. Mrs. Bashcraft asked him to repeat it so I could hear it (and could make fun of him). Face redder, bright radish red, but he repeated. For the next ten or fifteen minutes, Mrs. Bashcraft told the kid why he can never say anything like that outside of the house and that he can never touch some random female’s bottom. It’s inappropriate. And! If he did, he would be locked up in jail. For a long time. Alone.
What you missed last night Some awesome rumours Most exciting thing at X07? Elite craps out Home beans spilled! Jessica Alba uses the Wii?
The Unreal Engine’s had some bad press of late. Which means a lot of people may not be thinking as highly of it as they once did. Which means a lot of developers may not be thinking as highly of it as they once did. Which is bad news for Epic! So Mark Rein’s rolled up his sleeves, put on his best suit (not pictured) and hit the PR trail, talking up the success of BioShock with trade site MCV and how great the Unreal Engine 3 was for it. Smoothest part, though, is when he reminds us he’s got a lawsuit coming up: We do everything we can to help our licensees achieve [good results] . Our door is always open for licensees who want to come and talk with us about their experiences and let us give them the best advice we can on how to take the most advantage of our technology.
Nice. Real subtle, Mark, real subtle! Epic’s Rein praises success of Unreal-powered Bioshock [MCV]
Consider this confirmation of sorts. There have been rumours that Toyota was involved with an Xbox 360 advergame for the Yaris, and an ESRB rating for a title by developer Backbone Emeryville fuelled that speculative fire. Via game blog Siliconera, comes this Flickr find that shows the Toyota Yaris game is very real. Kinda hard to see what’s going on on that monitor, but we imagine something with the Toyota Yaris. Think this is going to be free? I’d totally play it if the advergame’s gratis. That, and if doesn’t suck. Evolution FGC [Flckr via Siliconera]
Just as fashionistas follow trends, so do cosplay nerds. Here’s proof! The above clip clocks off this winter’s newest and most popular costume play outfits. Games get well represented: Pia Kyarotto Heyoukoso GO, Kin-iro no Corda, Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side 2nd Kiss, Kanon and Persona 3. All of the outfits above run somewhere between USD$400 and $800! Personally, I find the mere concept that these ranked costumes are “in” totally and utterly FASCINATING.
It’s a numbers game. While the PS3 has over a millon install base in Japan, the Xbox 360 doesn’t. Heck, it doesn’t even have half a million. With 400,000 Xbox 360s purchased in The Land of the Rising Sun, no wonder SEGA is having second thoughts about releasing Virtua Fighter 5 for the Xbox 360. Sure, it will still get its fall US/Euro release. Lead designer Tohru Murayama explains:
60GB PS3s are on their way out. The US online store SonyStyle.com has run plum out of the 60GB consoles, leading to speculation that only retail units remain. The $US499.99 machine is listed as “Back Order,” while the $US599.99 80GB PS3 is readily available. According to a Sony rep: The online site has exhausted its inventory of the 60GB. They still have inventory available in-store, however, and other larger retailers and their web operations still have ample supply.
Previously Sony announced that the 60GB PS3s would be available until they were no longer available. So potential customers snap up those remaining “cheaper” consoles while you can, because 20GBs more will set you back a hundred bucks. Don’t you just love this pricing scheme? It’s evolution, you know. Run Out? [PC Advisor]
The gentlemen at IGN Australia just got hold of some preview code for Pro Evo 2008, and one thing stands out for me. The game now features “simulation”. Or diving. Or cheating. If you’re an attacker through on goal, pulling both shoulder buttons will cause your player to go to ground. Do it right, you earn yourself a penalty and a cheap goal. Get it wrong and the ref will book you. I don’t like this. Not one bit. Multiplayer games just became a whole lot more…unsavoury, and if this feature makes it into the singleplayer game, and I lose a cup quarter-final to a diving opponent…I fear for my 360, and what I’ll do to it as I boil with rage. Pro Evo Soccer 2008: AU Hands-On [IGN]
Valve’s got Half-Life down cold. And hey! That’s okay ’cause we’re not sick of it *yet*. But as good as HL is, how about something new? Honcho Gabe Newell hints at what they’re kicking around at Valve: You know, if you get two Valve people together, they’re inventing new games. We’re just sort of looking to find out how much we can design.
Sony just sent me a copy of Warhawk for the PS3. Remarkable? Not in of itself, but then it’s not often my games arrive like this. No blank jewel case, “not for resale” paper envelope or simple retail box here, no, this is a mood-setting pleather pilot’s journal, complete with “classified” disc enclosure at the rear. While useless as an actual journal (no dates, you see), it’ll make do as an unofficial “art of book”, since it’s full of concept art, renders and screenshots.
Easter Eggs, they’re nothing new. But random messages from the President of Nintendo tucked away in a game of Metroid? Very new. And kooky. Above is a short clip from Metroid Prime 3, featuring Satoru Iwata’s cameo appearance in the game. Don’t speak Japanese? He’s saying: Hello, this is Iwata from Nintendo. You may not know from an outsiders point of view, but being a director is really hard! When things are really busy and stressful we (us directors) may look tired and sick, then people may feel sorry for us! But in my case, it’s the opposite, I get fatter and fatter, so then people don’t think I’m stressed at all!
Nothing to do with Metroid, at all, which only makes it greater.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption – hidden message translated [Go Nintendo]
