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 The official site for Double Fine Productions Brütal Legend has launched, bringing with it the power of Satan and a trio of new screenshots. This is how you make a web site people—flames, hot guitar licks, bones and chrome. It’s rare that we find web sites about video games this appealing—there was that Contra 4 site—but given the number of tips we’ve received on its launch, it’s clear we’re not the only ones taken by this Flash-heavy, power metal marketing tool. Want to check it out? Hit up the official site and crank those laptop speakers.
Long time video game reviewer Alex Navarro, a frequent contributor to GameSpot’s podcast The HotSpot and go-to video review narrator, will be leaving the site, according to the site’s Editorial Director Ricardo Torres. We learned in a phone call with Torres earlier today that Navarro, who many will remember from his infamous (and hilarious) video review of Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, had given his notice yesterday, with the rest of staff told his last day of GameSpot editorial duties would occur on January 24th.
We haven’t been in touch with Navarro yet to learn more about his decision to leave GameSpot or if the termination of Jeff Gerstmann played a role in his departure. Navarro has made appearances on Jeff Gerstmann’s personal blog and Points! webcast over the past month, so it’s possible the two may work together in some capacity in the future.
It appears that the perfectly manicured pair of hands in the shot above may be the only ones to have ever gone hands-on with the PSP port of Gran Turismo 4. IGN is reporting that Gran Turismo 4 Portable has been canceled “by the vendor,” a fact learned when a staffer received a call from retailer GameStop on the matter. The game, which was announced in 2004 by way of simulated screenshots and UMD and box mock-ups, was layed into 2006. It was pretty much never heard from again, despite Polyphony Digital head Kazunori Yamauchi say that the team was still working on it.
There hasn’t been confirmation yet from Sony Computer Entertainment, but we plan to bug them until we get a solid non-confirmation that the game does or does not exist in some form. Yeah, we’re looking for something as substantive as GT4 PSP itself!
You may want to re-inforce your hearts before continuing. According to 1UP, an XBLA version of Rare’s classic N64 shooter GoldenEye wasn’t a rumour. It was real. It was a faithful port, with the same graphics, sound, etc. It would even have featured multiplayer over XBLA. However, only two months from completion, Microsoft and Nintendo couldn’t agree on how they were going to split the proceeds, and the project was shit-canned. Game over. For those looking for a glimmer of hope, 1UP reckon the only way to salvage the project is to complain. Loudly. Why Did GoldenEye XBLA Stall? [1UP]
Loose dates and details have dripped out of Valve on the two new Team Fortress 2 maps—one of which is a Badlands remake—we learned about last month, according to report from Shacknews, as has more info on changes to the Medic class. As fans of the team-based FPS may be aware, the healer is the first to get a slew of achievements. What we didn’t know before was that Valve is apparently planning what Shacknews calls “a significant gameplay tweak for the class.” Hopefully, that means more than an ammo count for the syringe gun, but we’ll try to calm ourselves before we get too excited.
New TF2 Maps, Achievements and ‘Large Scale’ Gameplay Shift Within 2 Months [Shacknews]
Premiere cap manufacturer New Era is getting into the video game thing in a major way it would seem, as the follow up line to their Pac-Man series of fitted hats is an even wider Space Invaders collection. Seven caps, each with embroidered classic Space Invaders graphics, make up the line and each run about 6000 yen (somewhere near $US 55). They’re currently available at Japanese retailer Cap Collector and will match well with your expensive Space Invaders Porter luggage in the same vein. Somehow I don’t think Taito is done commercially exploiting the game’s thirtieth anniversary quite yet.
Space Invader X New Era [Cap Collector via Strictly Fitteds]
The coming of the new year in Japan brought good fortune to Sony and Nintendo, as Media Create analysed hardware sales for the first week of 2008 saw PSP and Nintendo DS sales through the roof. Cash was flowing to the tune of nearly 800,000 consoles and handhelds snatched up by Japanese consumers from December 31 to January 6. Here’s how it all played out, console war-wise.
Nintendo DS Lite – 266,568 PSP – 218,234 Wii – 207,797 PlayStation 3 – 64,183 PlayStation 2 – 32,010 Xbox 360 – 9,763Uwe Boll’s In the Name of the King opens today at theaters nationwide, so this serves as both a warning and a reminder… oh, and a plea straight from Uwe Boll himself.
The famously bad director emailed website Boll Bashers to explain why it’s important for you to go see his movie. Among his reasons? Ice Cube’s movie First Sunday is a “piece of shit”.
We have a better movie and a bigger movie with a better script, better cast and we proved in europe that our movie has the power to stay 3 weeks in the TOP TEN and that we can get at least 50% good reviews. FIRST SUNDAY is a direct to DVD title in europe but in USA Sony puts 40 mill. $ in advertising to win that weekend. And this is completly absurd.
Ah Uwe, maybe you should give up directing and take your show on the road. I know I’d pay $US 5 to watch you on stage rant about the man and how he’s to blame for your abysmal movies.
Uwe Boll: why people should go see In The Name Of The King [Boll Bashers]
After an insufferable business week that saw the release of zero new information bit about Super Smash Bros. Brawl due to holiday, the Smash Bros Dojo and our weekly wrap up on the matter have returned. The Dojo’s return was met with a surprising new addition to the roster of brawlers, space adventurer Olimar of Pikmin fame, who will pluck his partners out of the ground to use as weapons in the heat of battle. We also get a look at Snake’s Final Smash, which seems to be the most unique we’ve seen so far.
Enough chitchat! We’ve been without for a whole Friday, so on with the Dojo Dump!
Now that CES 2008 has wrapped up—with just a few leftovers to write up as part of housecleaning duties—we’re headed home. And by “we” I mean “me”, the guy who will be driving from Las Vegas to Los Angeles today, playing a game of Don’t Get Nabbed By California Highway Patrol Doing 90. When I do get home, I’ll be playing nothing but Team Fortress 2, Omega Five and a little bit of Super Stardust HD. I’ve been away from the kids—my PS3 and Xbox 360—and can’t wait for a little leisure time.
What’s the plan, gang? Got any good gaming planned for the weekend? To the comments, if so!
