Reader Aeon sent this in to help you pass away those weekend hours, and we thank him for it. Arts and crafts are one thing, but to sit down and create a crossword? One based on Half-Life? It tips the awesome scales at, well, awesome. It’s short, but sweet, and Aeon says if it wets your whistle there’ll be a bigger one to come. Oh, before attempting it, note that questions 8 & 11 require you, reader, having seen this and this.
It’s totally done. Like done done. Dubbed Arcade Mania, the book’s about Japanese arcades. Here’s the info: Organised as a guided tour of a typical Japanese game centre, Arcade Mania is divided into nine chapters, each of which deals with a different kind of game, starting with the UFO catchers and print club machines at the entrance and continuing through rhythm games, fighting games, shooting games, retro games, gambling games, card-based games, and only-in-Japan games.
Arcade Mania isn’t a history book, but packs lots of history in it — from Post War era mechanical games to the late 70s Space Invaders craze to the modern day. Tons of players, developers and random schoolgirls were interviewed while writing the book. And tons and tons of hands-on “research” was done at Japanese arcades throughout the country. We were able to get Crecente and arcade guru Kevin Williams to pen bang up forwards, which was very cool.
Why a book about Japanese arcades? Why now? Well, there’s never been a book quite like this in English on Japanese arcades. And with Street Fighter IV out in game centres here and The King of Fighters XII coming out, it seemed pertinent! If I was going to ever write a book on Japanese arcades, now was the time.
That’s a question Edge are asking today, and it follows on from a string of questions people have been asking for at least 10-15 years. What was once a company renowned for their PC adventure games, and later as the publisher of stuff like Half-Life and SWAT, are now facing oblivion, with Activision displaying zero interest in maintaining the brand following their merger with Vivendi. Me, I say put it to rest, and it’s a sentiment shared by company founder Ken Williams:
I really don’t know what Sierra even is these days…I suppose I should be disappointed anytime I hear that Sierra is being shut down, but it really doesn’t bother me. The company was horribly mismanaged for a long time, and it depresses me more every time I hear about a dumb decision being made than it does when I hear that someone did the right thing, even when it includes killing off a brand or reducing staff size.
Oh Sierra. Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon. And when it is, we’ll remember you for Quest for Glory, not Magna Cum Laude.
Why Sierra Must Die [Edge]
Curious as to just who the hell Lionel Messi is, America? He’s the long-haired, Argentinian midget that stars in this debut trailer for Konami’s Pro Evo 2009. While my patience with the Pro Evo series is wearing thin – with both current-gen releases doing nothing to improve on the PS2/Xbox years – I’ll at least give them credit for this trailer. While it’s had a few (dozen) more rendering passes than the actual game will boast, as you can see by the stilted player animations, that’s at least in-engine footage.
Gamerchip is reporting that Fallout 3 has been edited and is on-track for a local release. Excellent. Awesome. Fantastic. Well, it would be all three of these if I was to believe the story.
The piece mentions that the game is due out later this year, with all drug references removed. Apparently this info came from “EB and Game representatives”. That’s great, EB Games and GAME can say whatever they want, but until I hear word from the OFLC, Red Ant or Bethesda, Fallout 3 is still refused classification.
There’s also mention that the two retailers are taking preorders, yet, as far as I can tell, the title remains in exile from EB’s Oz site. Even if they are, why wouldn’t they? That’s what retailers do – they take your money. If they have to refund it later, they’ll cross that bridge when the come to it.
Saying the game is “confirmed” is wishy-washy anyway. It’s unlikely Bethesda won’t create an edited version of Fallout 3 for our market, and perhaps others like Germany. It’s not a matter of if, but when, and the degree of content that’s altered. Only when I have this information in hand will I be confident enough to throw around words like “it’s confirmed” and “import it anyway”.
Fallout 3 Confirmed For Australian Release [Gamerchip, thanks Nick] More »
Bizarre may never work on another Project Gotham Racing game again, what with their defection to Activision, but they’re no fools. They knew what made the series tick, and made steps to protect that investment. So while Microsoft own the name Project Gotham Racing, they don’t own the series’ trademark Kudos system. Bizarre’s Sarah Chudley explains: Gotham’s owned by Microsoft. They will be doing with Gotham whatever they want…We still own the Kudos element. We have a joint patent with Microsoft, so that’s something we could use in the future if we wanted to.
So smile, PGR fans! Bizarre can still make PGR, they just can’t call it PGR anymore. Savvy!
Square Enix announced at its Private Party in Shinjuku today that both Final Fantasy Agito XIII and The 3rd Birthday will be released on the PSP. The two were previously announced for release only on mobile phones. Square Enix did not provide a date for Final Fantasy Agito XIII, but pegged the not-quite-a-sequel to Parasite Eve II for a 2009 release. The 3rd Birthday is said to follow the adventures of series protagonist Aya Brea but play differently from previous Parasite Eve titles.
Square Enix announced at the DKΣ3713 event in Japan today that the Blu-ray re-release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children would come with a playable demo version of Final Fantasy XIII for the PlayStation 3, according to reports from Famitsu. The disc will also ship with new videos of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete will ship in Japan at some point in March 2009.
Courtesy of 2K, here’s a look at the final, official box art for the PS3 version of BioShock. It’s not a major change, since it’s still a dark, underwater shot of a Big Daddy, but the addition of a Little Sister should help the version stand apart from its 360/PC brothers. And yes, we know, the Home logo’s not on the front anymore. Don’t read too much into it. Full-size version’s after the jump.
A Week In Comments
2:00PM August 2, 2008 | Brian Ashcraft
Does Brain Age Actually Work? No, Apparently. Comment by Kuraudo Nominated by geekgrrl
This is why there’s no class division in high school between the intelligent and the sporty.
The Cake Goes to Portal’s Commentary Comment by BolognaFire Nominated by sethmad
Imagine: BABIES – Commentary
“A big issue we had with starting off development was deciding who our target audience would be.”