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 Not everyone needs what the SeXbox offers. You know, some people don’t need a schoolgirl outfit, but rather, prefer the bare bones. For them, there is the SeXbox Core System, which includes condoms, one “roter” (vibrator) and a bottle of lotion. Then there are those who don’t even like SeXbox. Maybe, they are looking for something less hardcore and more casual. Good thing the “Wiin Remote” remote is there to cater to those needs. Gallery after the jump:
But that’s OK, because that’s not the point! This one’s aimed at cashing in on Chinese new year’s celebrations. The bundle includes a 20GB 360, a copy of Halo 3 and two wireless controllers, which is a nice touch. It’ll set you back 669 Singaporean dollars (USD$440), which looks like a lot but is only $US 20 more than the Christmas Viva Pinata/Forza bundle, a good deal since most buyers would probably prefer the second controller to the second – ie Viva Pinata – game. As for other Asian territories, it’ll cost HK$3,199 in Hong Kong and NT$13,680 in Taiwan. Guey Hay Fat Choy! Microsoft ushers in CNY with festive Xbox bundle [Cnet, via Giz]
One million copies. At launch. Late last year, Kojima Productions Associate Producer Ryan Payton was quoted as saying Metal Gear Solid 4 needed to shift a million copies on launch day to turn a profit. From the original Reuters piece: “Payton said the new “Metal Gear Solid” needs to sell over a million copies on the first day it goes on sale due to its costly production, but that may be a tough mark to hit given sluggish PS3 sales.” Payton’s talked about this “quote” on his own podcast and once again clears the air on a recent Bionic Commando podcast: I wish I could send a message out to the whole world, ’cause I hear about this all the time. It was a story from Reuters, so it was literally sent to every news source around the globe. Yeah, that’s how I was quote. If you notice, in the news story, I have lots of quotes in there with quotation marks, but that part of the story isn’t in quotation marks.
Wired’s Chris Kohler got the chance to interview Microsoft’s Shane Kim while at DICE, and did not keep things brief. Good news for us, since Kim decides to talk about all kinds of things, from the challenges facing the 360 in Europe (“we’re going to ramp up the focus”) to the 360′s pre-eminence among developers (“Xbox 360 is the lead development platform for 80% of the titles, maybe more now, being developed in the industry”) to how they’re going to trump the PS3 with the launch of GTA IV (“We already own it, I believe, from a content standpoint, because we have the exclusive episodes”). All interesting stuff! But my favourite comes when discussing Crackdown, where Kim says that despite Real Time Worlds moving onto something else, Microsoft “still love Crackdown”, and are very aware that “customers would like to see more in that space”. You’re damn right we would. Hit the link for the full interview, it’s a good read. Interview: Shane Kim Talks Xbox In 2008 [Game|Life]
Turok‘s teammate killing sure pissed people off! Developer Propaganda Games originally thought that it might be humorous to include an Achievement for killing a teammate. But that didn’t sit well with Xbox 360 users. So much so that developer Propaganda Games had to issue a patch. Does Propaganda have second thoughts about the whole dealio? Turok Associate Director states: A lot of folks got uptight about it when the Achievement list was leaked. They were yelling on the forums about how we’re awarding anti-social behavior. Won’t somebody think of the children and all that nonsense so, you know, to our credit we listened to the fan-base, and we patched the Achievement to remove that team-killing portion, so everything’s well in the universe once again. Never let it be said that we won’t listen to the fan-base and if there’s something that they feel really strongly enough about, we’re always willing to go back and take a second look.
So noted! Turok Achievements [Multiplayer]
Speaking with MTV, EA have taken the unusual step (at least for them) in assuring Burnout Paradise players that future DLC for the title won’t split the online community between those who opt to buy the DLC and those who don’t. Issuing a written statement, they explain: It’s our intention to extend the life of Burnout with additional DLC in the near future. As mentioned, we don’t want to split the online community between those that have content and those that don’t. Our intention is to offer both free and paid for DLC in a way that enables everyone to ‘see’ the content, even if they have not paid for it.
They wouldn’t elaborate on what exactly that meant. Which means I’m just going to speculate that they’ll open up new areas of the map for you to drive around, but unless you pay for the DLC, you won’t be able to trigger any of the events contained within. EA Says You’ll Experience ‘Burnout Paradise’ DLC — Even if You Don’t Buy it [MTV]
And it’s…Hot Shots Golf 5. Really? Hot Shots Golf 5? Look, small mandatory installs, those are fine. We’ve had plenty of those before. And with a game like Devil May Cry 4, you can understand a developer wanting to get the most out of the hardware (even if they should have given us the option of an install). The trade-off – ie fast loading times – for a big game like that, people are OK with. But Hot Shots Golf 5? If the final retail build ships like this, a 20-odd-minute wait and 5GB of HDD space for a cartoon golf game is taking the piss. Dear PS3 developers: this is a worrying trend. Please stop. PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Hot Shots Golf Out of Bounds [PS3 Fanboy]
We love burgers — especially MOS burgers. They are truly tasty burgers! Over in Hong Kong, gamers who purchase Lost Odyssey at Toys ‘R Us can take the receipt to their local MOS and get a free gift. Microsoft has teamed up with the Japanese burger joint for Lost Odyssey meals — something they didn’t even do in Japan! Mmmm. Kaim burgers. Kaim Burger [Sina Game via Siliconera]
newVideoPlayer("afro_samurai.flv", 475, 376,""); Like Afro Samurai? Excited about the Namco Bandai console game of the same name? Buddy, have we got the ghetto captured, shaky-cam video for you. During Roger Hector’s DICE presentation today, the VP of Development at Namco Bandai Games showed off the first trailer for the game, which looks to stay true to the series’ trademark art style. Hector showed off work in progress versions of Afro, in 2D and 3D form, a transition the character seemed to make with ease. Hopefully, we’ll get a direct feed version of the above clip soon and put this whole bush league video capture job behind us.
Activision have announced their fiscal results for the past quarter. Seeing as they released both Call of Duty 4, the year’s top-selling game, and Guitar Hero III, the years #1 money-maker, you can probably tell backs are being patted in boardrooms across the company. Sales were up 80% from this time last year, at $US 1.48 billion, while profits were up from $1US 42.8 million to $US 272.2 million. All that cash has cemented Activision’s spot as North America’s #1 publisher, with Activision boss Bobby Kotick saying that NPD figures have them sitting atop a throne built from the skulls of fallen EA franchises. Also mentioned was the fact Call of Duty 5 and several Guitar Hero titles will be out next fiscal year, along with the company’s first Bond game, based on the upcoming “Quantum of Solace” movie. Oh, and over 5 million Guitar Hero songs have now been sold just on Xbox Live. Wow.
