Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanks for Stopping By, Simon!
11:40PM Brian Ashcraft | To: Simon From: Bashcraft Your last day guest editing! Simon, it’s been great having you around this week — same goes for the other guest editors in the previous weeks. Hopefully all the guest editors had fun blogging with us! Crecente will be back Monday, hair products and all. We’ve missed the dude, and it’s be great to have him back. The place isn’t the same without pirate speak. What you missed last night Great Mario Galaxy art PS3 hardware sales in Japan Unreal Engine 3 for Wii More »
Guitar Hero III, Halo 3 Make Wikipedia’s Most-Searched List
10:00PM Luke Plunkett | I use Wikipedia. You use Wikipedia. We all use Wikipedia. But just what are we looking for, exactly? Nerd crap, it seems, with a list of November’s most-searched items turning up a ton of game titles. Guitar Hero III came it at #5, while Halo 3 also did OK, coming in at #11. OK, not OK, impressive, because they’ve been searched for more times than “Sex”, “World War II”, “Europe” and…”Penis”. Impressive or sad. Either/or. Making the list further down were WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 (#32), Wii (36), PlayStation 3 (39), Xbox 360 (41), Rock Band (60), BioShock (62), Pokémon (65), List of Wii games (83) and at #89, right after “Mexico”, is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. WikiCharts — Top 100 — 11/2007 [WikiCharts] More »
Toronto Rebuilt In Half-Life 2
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | Toronto seems like a nice place. Never been, but I can see pictures, and pictures make it look nice enough. This Toronto, though, is not nice. Not nice in the slightest. This is City 7, a mod project for Half-Life 2, that’s seen the Canadian city re-imagined as one of humanity’s last remaining cattle pens in the wake of the Combine invasion. There’s a cooky plot involving Gordon, Dr. Kleiner and a faulty teleporter, but really, this is more of a chance for Toronto residents (or visitors with fond memories) to indulge in a little (bleak) escapism. Players will be able to visit the Eaton Center, Mel Lastman Square, Dundas Square, St. Michael’s Hospital and the TTC system, all en route to CN Tower, which is City 7’s citadel, of sorts. More screens and info below. City 7: Toronto Conflict [via Boing-Boing] More »
Beats Impressions
7:00PM Luke Plunkett | With the PSP’s new PC Store open, figured it was worth checking out, putting through its paces. So I jumped on the Australian store, saw SCEE’s Beats was on there, saw it was only $12.95 and decided to give it a try. Best decision I made all week. Really! Sony could do with a lot more PSP games that you download on the cheap that both generate and use your own content in-game. Beats is by SCEE’s London Studio. For reference, they’re the SingStar guys. It’s a simple little title, with two components: one lets you create, record and share your own tracks using a bare-bones music-making game, the other gives you a Bemani/Fantavision-style rhythm action game that’s able to base itself on any music you’ve got saved on your memory stick. More »
Atari Europe Would Like To Remind You They’re Just Fine
5:30PM Luke Plunkett | Atari in the US, they’re in trouble. If they were a horse, we’d be thinking of all the neat things around the house we could fix with some glue. But Atari Europe, well, that’s a different story. Their internal development team would like you all to know that they’re just fine, their games are coming along just fine and that titles like Alone in the Dark 5 and Test Drive aren’t affected by the crummy American Atari’s financial woes. Just in case, you know. You were worried. Atari Europe: Game development goes on [GameSpot] More »
The Mario Galaxy Box Art That Should Have Been [UPDATED]
5:00PM Luke Plunkett | Some new wallpapers have turned up on the Japanese Mario Galaxy site. What, you don’t care about something as trivial as that? You’re right, we’re sorry. Nintendo news is, after all, serious business. You probably think this picture is awful, hate both Mario and kittens and most definitely won’t be clicking on it for a bigger version. UPDATE: Kotakuite TaeK was nice enough to actually mock up what the cover would look like using this art. Go on, have a look. We give it two thumbs up. And then some. Wallpapers [Official Mario Galaxy Site, via Go Nintendo] More »
How Poland Was Sold On Halo 3 (NSFW)
4:59PM Luke Plunkett | Not with Mountain Dew, or soppy commercials, or signs behind trees. No, when Poland needs to know how great Halo 3 is, they go the direct route: they crack out the slutty models. This is Ania. Ania may or may not love Halo 3, we’ll never know! But when Polish lads mag CKM called, said they wanted her to frolic with the game, the 360 and its associated peripherals, Ania answered. With gusto. Verve, even. Ania z gry Halo 3 [Polygamia, thanks Piotr!] More »
Simple 2000: The Japanese Hardware Chart
4:58PM Luke Plunkett | Go on. Pick your mouths up off the floor. They’ll get all dirty, then you’ll get sick, and nobody wants to be sick at this time of year. Especially when people ask you how you got sick, and you have to tell them it’s because you care too damn much about the Japanese hardware charts and went and freaked out upon seeing that not only had the PS3 beaten the Wii again, but that the PSP had nearly caught the DS. And that’s not relying on new colours or a Final Fantasy game. Those are regular, old-fashioned sales. DS Lite: 76069 PSP: 65609 PS3: 39178 Wii: 36230 PS2: 8855 360: 6525 GBA SP: 153 GameCube: 38 DS Phat: 15 More »
Firemint Wants QA Testers
4:40PM Logan Booker | It’s been said that the best way to get into the games industry is via quality assurance. The theory is that you get exposed to most aspects of the development process, while gaining a deeper understanding of games themselves.
Some, though, just love the opportunity to play games all day.
Whichever category you fall in, Melbourne-based studio Firemint is currently after people for its tester database. Just so you know, Firemint specialises in mobile Java games, with a bit of Nintendo DS on the side.
If you think you’re pro enough, the developer has a page up with all the relevant details on how to apply.
Firemint – Apply for Tester Position [Official site, via Sumea] More » 
