Miyamoto gets a dog, makes Nintendogs. Miyamoto starts weighing himself for fun, makes Wii Fit. See a trend? It wasn’t always that way! While his earlier games were influenced by his life and experiences, they were influenced abstractly — more make-believe, less reality. According to Miyamoto:
I would say that over the last five years or so, the types of games I create has changed somewhat. Whereas before I could kind of use my own imagination to create these worlds or create these games, I would say that over the last five years I’ve had more of a tendency to take interests or topics in my life and try to draw the entertainment out of that.
Every artist goes through phases — even Shigeru Miyamoto. Resistance is Futile [NY Times]
Anyone got an explanation for this? Because I’m stumped. Motley Crue’s regrettable new single, Saints of Los Angeles, has sold 10,000 “copies” via iTunes and Amazon since release. But on 360? According to the band’s management, it’s been bought 47,000 times since being released as a piece of Rock Band DLC. And that’s not even counting the PS3 version of the game. So they’re understandably chuffed. Pity they’re missing the big picture. Because 47,000 is nothing compared to what they’d sell if they’d go ahead and release Kickstart My Heart already.
Arrrrrrgh! DS Lite hinge cracks know no bounds!! Even Hudson’s human mascot and human turbo switch Takahashi Meijin has been hit with crackage. He blogs:
Well, well, the other day my DS Lite got a hinge crack.
Didn’t the white DS Lite go on sale in Fall 2006? I’ve used this for the past two years, and then like that, a mysterious crack.
Well, Takahashi Meijin was carting around a DS from the faulty batch. Nintendo’s long since fixed that crack problem. Correct? Master Higgins DS Problem [16Shot via my game news flash]
*Sigh* Yes, that’s a sticker picture of me and Koakuma Ageha fashion model Rina Sakurai. Interviewed her in late April for work! Nice girl, very smart. Her blog is here. Wondering what the latest purikura (sticker pictures) trend hitting Japanese arcades is? Click over to Wired for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it short piece I wrote about downloadable sticker picture machines.
Downloading Sticker Booth Pics [Wired]
Square Enix bossman Yoichi Wada presided over the company’s shareholder conference late last week. Dragon Quest IX still doesn’t have a release date, but saying that he really wants to release it and thought the game would be ready for sale this year. Wada added, “But I said the same thing last year.” Square Enix thinks it’s possible that Dragon Quest IX could sell up to ten million copies. (No wonder Wada wants to release the game.)
The sole purpose of The Homebrew Channel (or HBC) is to provide hobby Wii developers and curious gamers a simpler way to run custom apps on their Nintendo console. With HBC, there’s no need for the Twilight Princess hack, though a copy of the game and a “modified” save file are required for it to work. The video here shows HBC in action, complete with a smoothly emulated showing of Gobliiins.
This has to be the easiest (and best presented) hack I’ve seen to get homebrew software running on a console. It has fancy animated waves for crying out loud!
The Homebrew Channel [Official site, via Slashdot] More »
3D action games haven’t evolved? Hideki Kamiya, the brains behind defining 3D action game Devil May Cry doesn’t really seem to think so! Over on the official Bayonetta site, Kamiya blogs:
How have 3D action games evolved since we blazed a new trail with DMC? Can you even go so far as to say they’ve evolved? Seven years ago, we put everything we had into Devil May Cry. But since then, like the hands of time for the 3D action genre were frozen at that moment, it seems like the drive to push users further has stopped. There is so much more that should be done now. And we are the only ones who seem up to the task. This is the spark that has lit the fire within me.
Being a guy, the shoe is an entirely functional object – like a screwdriver or robot. I don’t stand in front of shop windows staring with glazed eyes at expensive Manolo Blahniks. I just don’t.
I do, however, have to admire female footwear that pays tribute not only to firearms, but a game as well (even if incidental). The shot on the left is from Platinum Games’ Bayonetta. The image on the right is from Karl Lagerfeld’s Cruise 2009 collection. Yes, they’re gun shoes. Yes, Karl’s a fashion designer.
Fancy footwear indeed. If only my calves weren’t so dainty. And I was a chick.
Gun Shoes – Fashion imitates games [Lesbian Gamers] More »
If you hadn’t noticed, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is available on the Australian Xbox Live Marketplace. Whether it’s good or not, I can’t say, but as long as it doesn’t take itself too seriously, all should be well. Considering how much Gabe and Tycho love games, I doubt they’d let rubbish be made with their names.
For those after a taste of the retro, Metal Arms: Glitch in the Machine and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory can be downloaded from the Oz selection of Xbox Originals.
Hit the jump for descriptions of the games and links to the relevant sections of the Xbox.com website. More »
Turok PC Pushed Pack To June: Originally slated for a May 29 release, the PC version of Touchstone’s Turok is now set for June 26, according to Funtastic’s latest schedule. No reason has been provided for the delay. More »
