Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks It’s not just Halo 3: The Game that’s sold well. It’s anything the series’ proverbial Midas digit comes into contact with. Example: Contact Harvest, the wholly unremarkable-sounding novelisation of mankind’s first encounter with the Covenant, got as high as #3 on the New York Times best-sellers list, before slipping all the way down to fourth. And it doesn’t even have Master Chief on the cover! Amazing. Newest Halo Novel Makes Times’ Bestseller List [Shacknews]
It’s hard remaking things. Not because the source material is so great, but because people’s memories of that original source material is so strong. Take Bionic Commando, for example. When the main character’s design was unveiled, people freaked out! He had dreads and hots dogs in his mechanical arm. Capcom Producer Ben Judd knows exactly what it’s like to behind a remake of an original game everyone knows and loves. He also like giant robots fighting, so he cam sympathise somewhat.
Pssst. Crysis fans. Interested in strangling more bad men and throwing them off a cliff? Why of course you are. Today’s your lucky day, stranglers, as Crytek boss Cevat Yerli has said Crysis is but the first part of an epic trilogy: The game is designed as a trilogy, so you have two more instalments to come and the ending [of Crysis]is planned deliberately.
Makes you wonder how many games aren’t planned these days as multi-part IP powerhouses. What’s next, Dog Island II: Return To Dog Island? Crytek: Crysis “designed as a trilogy” [CVG]
It’s not only in format wars that shameful movies matter, but also console sales. In the basement adults-only section of Akihabara retailer AsoBitCity, the in-store display promoted the 40GB model and pointed out that it can play naughty high-def flicks. The sign says:
Blue-ray adult movies, definitely enjoy them on the new PS3.
Because there’s nothing like seeing mosaics in HD!
Blue Ray Adult Movies [Akiba Blog]
We’ve posted plenty of gaming shirts, but gaming rings? Aside from Square Enix’s Final Fantasy costume jewellery, no gaming rings jump out at me. There are these: Ms. Pac-Man and a ghost. For those with man hands, there is also an approximately one inch version of the ghost ring. While the website dubs the ring “Ghost Ring Large,” we refer to it as Blingy-Blingy.
Ms. Pac-Man [stars + infinite darkness]
Remember that Wii Fit commercial that featured the Balance Board and a pair of legs? Here’s the exciting sequel. This time around, she stands on the board, makes a funny face and see that her centre of balance is off. Exciting stuff this Wii Fit!
Got a ton of emails today concerning Rock Band. All of them from either customers, or employees, of Best Buy. All tell a very, very similar story: that there’s just not enough copies of Rock Band to go around. One reader attending a midnight launch let us know that his local store’s (Florence, Kentucky) entire shipment was a no-show. Another, at the Columbus, Ohio midnight opening, was given a rain check despite being the very first person in line (he wanted a 360 bundle but the store only received two PS3 copies). Same for Minneapolis. We also got an email from a Best Buy employee, letting us know that no staff at his store are allowed to purchase a Rock Band bundle from the company until January 08. As of now we’re obviously only hearing this stuff in connection with Best Buy (and obviously not all of them), so those with pre-orders anywhere else, breathe deeply with me. You might/should be OK. Those intent on shopping at Best Buy, though, consider yourselves warned, and prepare for any and all shades of disappointment.
First Shawn’s misadventures, now this. That’s (apparently) a screen from Ubisoft’s Spanish-teaching DS title, My Spanish Coach. So…an exercise in bad-taste stereotyping, or in teaching kids – regardless of colour or creed – a potentially vital means of explaining their paternal neglect? You, impartial observer, be the judge. Oh Dad, not again…[Plaid Ninja @ Flickr, via DS Fanboy]
Whew! What. A. Contest. For those who missed it, we were giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 Alienware computer and loot. There was public shaming, an apology, fuckin’ stormtroppers and luchadors. At the end of this long, long road there was a Quick Draw — where it’s not only important to be quick, but also accurate. The question was:
Dragon Quest IX is a pretty big game for Square. It’s the next proper Dragon Quest, and it’s on the money-printing DS. You’d think they want to take their time with it, avoid rushing it, make sure its perfect. And you’d be dead right. At a shareholders meeting today, nobody at Square Enix could confirm, or even hazard a guess, at when it’s coming, only that it’s due in 2008. Could be January, could be December. Could even be January 2009. Oh, don’t give me those sad puppy eyes, DQ fans. You know better than anyone how Squeenix roll. 『ドラゴンクエストIXã€ã®ç™ºå£²æ—¥ã¯æ±ºã‚ã¦ã„ãªã„。ã¾ã 粘ã£ã¦ã„ã‚‹ [Game Watch, via Game|Life]
