Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Kane & Lynch Demo Up On Xbox Live
11:00PM Luke Plunkett | Skulking quietly onto Xbox Live today was a demo for that game everyone just loves to douse in hatorade, Kane & Lynch. The demo’s a pinch over 500MB, features one level, where you climb down a skyscraper and shoot some guys up, and you can play it in either single-player or co-op. Remember: the PR shitstorm surrounding Kane & Lynch wasn’t the game’s fault, nor the fault of its developers. May as well give it a shot. More »
So, Dr. Zoidberg Was Named After Qix
10:00PM Luke Plunkett | Continuing their look at Futurama’s obsession with gaming culture, Wired’s Chris Baker has today shed a little light on the story behind the naming of Dr. Zoidberg. Turns out series creator David X. Cohen was a gigantic nerd when he was younger, and loved playing arcade puzzler Qix. So much so that he went and coded his own Qix clone, and called it Zoid. And he loved Zoid so much that when Futurama needed a name for its alien doctor, he and Matt Groening settled on Zoidberg. So, there you go. Videogames & Futurama, Part 2: How Zoidberg Got His Name From a Game [Wired] More »
News
Wii Overtakes 360 In The UK, DS Sets New Sales Record
9:00PM Luke Plunkett | Hey, 360, that whooshing sound you just heard whoosh past your window? That was the Wii, overtaking your ass as it speeds off into the British sunset. We’d tell you how many Wiis have been sold up to now, and how many 360s had been sold for it to be overtaken, but this being Britain, we can’t. Unless you feel like coughing up a few thousand pounds, ChartTrack keep those numbers to themselves, and we’re left to feed on table scraps and prepared statements. They have released hard numbers for the handheld market, though, and these numbers are hard. The DS sold 212,584 units in the week ending December 1, which would have broken the PS2’s former record if it hadn’t already been beaten the week before, by the DS, with 184,360 sales. It continues to baffle us why the Wii is all the rage around the water coolers of the world when the DS is going so gang-busters. DS smashes UK hardware record [MCV] More »
Folding@Home Gets Auto-Shutdown, Background Tunes
7:55PM Luke Plunkett | To co-incide with the release of PS3 firmware v2.10, Sony have announced an updated Folding@Home client, which you’ll “soon” be able to download. The update brings two major changes: firstly, you can set a timer for the program, after which the PS3 can shut itself down. So no more waking up in the middle of the night clutching sweat-soaked sheets, eyes peeling back in abject horror at the thought of your power bill. The other change is the addition of a background music feature, which draws its tracks from any you’ve got store on your HDD. New Folding@Home Features Coming [PlayStation.Blog] More »
SCEA Boss Says PS3 Has Become Lead Platform For 3rd-Party Devs
7:50PM Luke Plunkett | Chatting with IGN, SCEA boss Jack Tretton believes the days of developers dumping shitty ports of games designed for the 360 are over. Or, at least, nearly over: Developers are telling us that they are starting to create their games on PS3 first and take advantage of the hardware capabilities and then port down to other platforms so we are seeing tremendous progress from the third party community in terms of what they are able to do with our development kits. Course he doesn’t say which developers (aside from Criterion, whose Burnout 3 is indeed better on PS3), or how many developers, so it’s up to you to figure out whether he’s telling porky pies or not. The Jack Tretton Interview [IGN] [Image: Getty] More »
Details Of The Bruckheimer, MTV Deal (ie MTV Are Gunning For Activision & EA)
5:18PM Luke Plunkett | OK, so we’ve got some more details on the Jerry Bruckheimer/MTV deal: - The new, as of yet unnamed studio will be co-owned by MTV and Bruckheimer. MTV will own the IP of all titles produced, and they’ll also be acting as publishers, while Bruckheimer’s name is due to appear “prominently” on all games the studio produces. - They’re not clear on which platforms/genres they’re going to be focusing on, but “they may work on virtual worlds and casual, downloadable games as well as major console releases”. More »
Brand New Xbox, Just $100
5:15PM Logan Booker | Another tip from Anthony over at EcoGamer – this time it’s a deal for the original Xbox. Apparently Toys R Us is selling new, boxed packs of Microsoft’s older console for a measly $100. True, it’s previous gen, but it might make a nice Christmas present for younger gamers, if the Wii is a bit of a stretch.
Brand New Xbox Consoles For $100 [EcoGamer]
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Jerry Bruckheimer, MTV To Develop “Original” Games
5:05PM Luke Plunkett | Jerry Bruckheimer and MTV have signed a deal whereby Bruckheimer will set up a gaming studio with the goal of making “new, original” titles (ie not games based on Bruckheimer’s films). Speaking about the movie, Bruckheimer says: Video games represent a new and innovative medium for what we’ve always tried to do, which is to tell great stories. But this medium is unique in that it gives the player control over how those stories unfold. I look forward to working with MTV Games to create new original game stories, always looking for ways to innovate the medium. It’s unclear how much involvement Bruckheimer will have with the actual development of the games, but it’s clear he’ll be playing a major role in the establishment of his own studio. Press release follows. More »
Soft Drink Companies Blame Videogames For Fat Kids
5:00PM Luke Plunkett | San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom has had enough. Sick of seeing fat kids grow up to be fat adults, who inevitably put strains on the health care system, he’s proposed charging stores a fee for selling soft drink that contains fattening high-fructose corn syrup. Any money raked in from the fee would be put towards funding anti-obesity programs in the city. But soda companies are having none of it, and instead are trying to shift the blame onto musicals and classical literature. OK, no, they’re trying to shift the blame onto videogames, with Kevin Keane, the vice president of the American Beverage Association saying: It makes no sense to single out any one single cause of obesity, which is a complex problem. It does make sense for Keane, though, as he quickly follows this up by saying the mayor should really go after videogame companies, who he accuses of keeping kids indoors when they should “be outside burning calories”. It would appear the reason they needed to be burning so many calories is lost on Mr. Keane. San Francisco’s mayor proposes fee on sales of sugary soft drinks [Herald Tribune] More »
