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 Who loves Jamzy? We love Jamzy. How could you not love Jamzy. We’re already friends – best friends – but if you’d also like to be friends with a Japanese guy who shaves 360 logos into his head and uses adorable puppies as his Gamertag pic, why not send him a request! After all, he’s just posted his gamertag info on his Famitsu blog for you to do just that! Worst case, he’ll say no. Best case, you’ll be friends with Jamzy!
Well, in Japan at least. Street Fighter IV is indeed getting a proper arcade version. Japanese magazine Famitsu was able to confirm that with Capcom. The game will hit Japanese arcades sometime this year. Kinda sad that we live in an age that we must worry whether or not arcade-style games will actually appear in arcades — even in Japan! Now, which arcade hardware the game will appear on isn’t yet known, but as game site arcade Renaissance points out, Capcom is currently using the System 256 hardware for Sengoku Basara X. Another thing that isn’t yet known: What home platform (or platforms) the game will be appearing on. Looking at Capcom’s recent M.O., we’re expecting Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. SF4 Confirmed [IGN via Arcade Renaissance]
If you’re Japanese/living in Japan and have long fancied Sony’s 20 & 60GB PS3 models, time to get your skates on. Sony have just announced that they’re discontinuing shipments of both models, in order to “improve software development environment and the availability of a more extensive line-up of software titles for PS3″. Remember, Japan, just like Europe, this leaves you with the 40GB model, and means no more backwards-compatibility. According to Sony, the last shipments of both models will arrive in stores later in the month; once they’re all gone, they’re all gone for good. Official press release is after the jump.
1UP are running a little ditty on Wii Fit, and how it’s already sold a whole lotta units in Japan. But that’s not the interesting part. No, that comes towards the end of the article, where they pen: Wii Fit is expected to be one of the year’s biggest sellers both in Japan and abroad. North Americans can expect to see the game on May 20th… by which time presumably they’ll have that ‘plus-sized’ Western balance board properly stress tested and ready for use.
May 20th, hmm? Of all the things we previously knew about Wii Fit, a North American release date was not one of them. Could be a mistake, but in case it’s not, thanks for the (accidental?) heads-up! Wii Fit Sells 1 Million in 1 Month [1UP]
The weeks long connection troubles many Xbox Live users have experienced since the holidays was due, according to Microsoft, to heavy Xbox Live server load brought on a record number of users attempting to access the service. Xbox group marketing manager Albert Penello told us that “It’s wasn’t a malicious thing.” He explained “We had the biggest concurrent day we’ve ever had on Live. We had more people than ever signing up on Live, it was 9 million, then 10 million, and it literally was that a lot more people were trying to get on, sign up and play than we had expected over Christmas.”
The format drama continues! Adult video maker Digital Playground initially picked HD DVD for its new format, but now is supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray “until there is a clear-cut winner,” says company founder Joone. This February will see eight Digital Playground titles on Blu-ray. What caused the change of heart? Says Joone:
A lot of people were emailing that bought a PlayStation and they were basically saying, ‘When are you guys going to release Blu-ray?’ They really have no preference in format yet because it’s so new. When it comes down to image quality, there is no difference between the two.
Try telling that to film director Michael Bay. Leading Porn Studio Announced 8 Titles [Cepro, Thanks Dale!]
The Morning News’ Todd Levin is embarking on an epic journey. A lifelong gamer, he’s recounting his life story (to date) through the videogame consoles he and his family have owned and grew up with. Part 1, which covers 1979-1982, is up now: The joystick’s distinct shape provided me with hours of sophisticated entertainment, especially as I blindly turned the corner of sexual awareness. When Beth Rubenstein came over to “play Atari” in our renovated basement, our gaming would always quickly deteriorate into marathon sessions of hard, closed-mouth kissing–because tongue kissing was disgusting–followed by hilarious hijinks such as me chasing Beth around the weight bench with the joystick tucked between my legs, like Jane Gumb trapped in the world of Tron.
I’m not sure who would have been more disappointed to discover that last fact: my parents, who tried their best not to raise a pervert; or my brother and sister, who had no idea they were playing Activision’s Pitfall with my surrogate boner. Since this chapter ends in ’82, stay tuned for (hopefully) many, many more of these. A Very Weird and Blocky Future [The Morning News, via BB Gadgets]
Namco Bandai had the first press playable build of Soul Calibur IV on hand at their CES event tonight, giving us a hands-on look at the next game in the now thirteen year old franchise. While the build looked extremely early, featuring only three playable fighters and barebones in content, it provided us with a good look at how Soul Calibur IV looks and plays in person. While increases in the Soul series have generally met with graphical upgrades, the fourth in the series may have seen the biggest jump in graphical fidelity, bringing with it self-casting shadows, subtle bloom lighting, beautiful environments and gorgeous models, all running at a reliable 60 frames per second.
Graphics aside, how does it play? Like a Soul Calibur should. The developer has decided, wisely, not to fix a game that’s not broken.
As with many fighting game sequels, Soul Calibur IV is not only prettier, it’s faster than its predecessor. Moves are lightning quick in the build we played, but the game’s speed, not obscenely fast, may still be in the tweaking stages. The game’s director asked us, after a lengthy gameplay session, how we felt about Soul Calibur IV‘s speed implying that it was up for discussion.
We’ve seen this. There is also this. Have a look at NEC’s CRVD-42DWX+. The 2880×900 panel sports a contrast ratio of 10000:1 and should give Alienware some healthy competition. No word on pricing or pricing. As with the Alienware one, hopefully they’ll fix the contrast line between displays. Not so sexy. The curve sure is, though. NEC’s Curved Display [Engadget]
Despite featuring in much of the service’s pre-launch media, Burnout 3 isn’t currently available as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Originals range. Will be soon, though. They’ve announced it’ll be launching on January 14, and will be available everywhere except Japan for the not-insubstantial sum of 1200 Microsoft Points. Which would be great news, if…well, if we weren’t so busy waiting for Burnout 2 and it’s superior crash mode. Burnout 3 is coming to Xbox Originals [Microsoft]
