Here’s an exclusive sneak look at tonight’s episode of ABC Family’s The Middleman. To bring everyone up to speed: The scene features the show’s heroine Wendy Watson and her new boyfriend Tyler, who’s completely in the dark about her job fighting aliens and bad dudes. But! They’re both totally into zombie films and video games. Oh, and Nolan Bushnell gets name dropped. Tipper Gore, too. And the Dalai Lama.
Headline captures the spirit of the piece. Mr. Dan Kressin, Lego builder, built himself this large, largely impressive Donkey Kong piece. Which has throwing barrels, a jumping Mario and even the damn intro music. Some may criticise the loud, loud mechanics involved, but really, they’re not grasping the fact this is a moving Donkey Kong diorama made entirely of Lego.
LEGO Donkey Kong [via Gizmodo]
Nintendo confirms the limited edition Pokémon DS we broke earlier. On August 17th, a limited edition Pokémon Pack goes on sale for $US 129.99. It will feature the custom Onyx Nintendo DS with images of Dialga and Palkia. This was previously sold only at Pokémon Centre retailers in Japan. The pack will also include never before released Pokémon animated special Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness, a special Dialga and Palkia carrying case, and collectible mini-poster.
There have been complaints that Pixel Junk’s Monsters and Eden are too damn hard. The games aren’t forgiving for less skilled players. But fret not! PixelJunk dude Dylan Cuthbert is here, bringing news of easier settings — or “a more namby pamby mode”. Writes Cuthbert:
You’ll be pleased to know that one thing we will add to Monsters in an upcoming patch is a difficulty setting menu – you won’t be able to use the online ranking (that wouldn’t be fair) but you can advance on any difficulty you like… even expert (which yes, is harder than the default setting). The patch will be free.
As for Eden, well… that’s way too easy a game to make it any easier, surely???! At least in co-op you can reach out and catch your betrothed if she falls, the veritable juliet to your romeo so to speak.
However, we do have lots of ideas for the expansion pack as the controls are too much fun to waste on just one set of game rules. I’m sure we will try and add a more namby pamby mode for the “lighter” people out there.
It’s nice to see PixelJunk listens to the namby pamby players. That so should be the brand’s new slogan or something. Cuthbert better copyright that and pronto! Otherwise, he’ll be sorry.
Dylan Responds [citizengame via The BBPS]
The question that many gamers were asking after Microsoft’s E3 press conference was “How did Final Fantasy XIII end up on the Xbox 360?” Way back in July, Microsoft Global Marketing Manager Albert Pennello explains:
I think the most obvious reason that they made the announcement is just looking at the success of our console…Square has done games for us in the past, and I think there’s a point where Square just has to look at the Xbox 360, the install base and attach rates that we’re seeing and actually has to make a decision on their own that it’s the right thing to do for them…
I think it’s easy to assume that something’s going on behind the scenes, I think the more obvious answer is we’re doing really well and the game creators want their games to be where the most people and the most consoles [are] , and right now that’s the Xbox 360.
For third party publishers, multi-platform makes sense. Still rather curious why it’s not on the Xbox 360 in Japan, though…
Summit In The City [Mundorare via TalkXbox via Xboxer]
In its original state, Fallout 3 was deemed no good for the Australian market. Too many drug references for the Australian Office of Film & Literature Classification’s liking. But now, well, now it’s all good! A revised edition of the game has been cleared for release, and has been classified MA15+ by the OFLC, a rating based on the title’s “Strong violence, drug references and coarse language”. For the record, an MA15+ rating – the highest Australian law permits – means persons under the age of 15 can’t legally purchase the game. What’s unknown at this stage is the extent of the edits made; it could be a few simple name changes to the in-game drugs, it could mean a more fundamental overhaul of the game’s menu/icon system, we don’t know yet. It’s the middle of the night in Australia. We’ll update when we do know.
Here’s the way Capcom works: multi-platform. The company really doesn’t seem to play favourites, and it tries to get its games everywhere it can. So, exclusive titles like Xbox 360 only zombie title Dead Rising seem somewhat out of place in the corporate M.O. In a Bionic Commando: Rearmed thread on the official PlayStation.Blog, Capcom’s John Diamonon writes this in response to a post about a PS3 being “REALLY happy with Capcom” even though Dead Rising is still Xbox 360 only:
You haven’t seen the last of Dead Rising.
When asked if this was confirmation of PS3 Dead Rising, Diamonon replied: “Not confirming anything, just hoping. :)” It’s already coming to the Wii, so make of this what you will.
BCR Behind The Scenes [PlayStation.Blog via PSU]
We know, Dead Rising on Wii looks different, but it’s going to play different too. It’s got waggle! And not just any waggle: Capcom are bringing Resident Evil 4′s waggle to 2006′s zombie mall simulator. Gun combat will work exactly the same, with pointing of the Wii Remote for aiming and a shake of the nunchuk for a reload. More shaking is required if you’re grabbed by a zombie, however, because you’ll have to shake as if your very life depended on it to get out of it. The shaking motif continues with melee weapon use: you can shake the bat while swinging to build up some extra charge. Aside from that, you can shake to shake, and shake twice if you want to shake and bake.
Konami has launched a “Metal Gear Solid 4 Beginner Site” to help those Japanese gamers not familiar with MGS to become, well, familiar with MGS. The game initially did very well when it was launched in Japan last June, but hasn’t hit anywhere near the million seller mark. Though! The game is the biggest selling PS3 title in Japan, and for that, Konami should be proud. Heck, Konami even puts that on the MGS4 beginner site.
While this MGS4-for-dummies site might be a little late, it’s actually a pretty neat thing to click around. The above image is from the “What’s Metal Gear Solid 4?” page. There are clones, PMC and girls, girls, girls. (Mmmm… Old dudes!) Below that, is a nice summary of the game system. There’s also a history page with timelines and blurbs about games from the franchise.
People can also buy games from the Konami site. But! Prospective customers living in Japan, don’t purchase MGS4 for the ¥8,800 ($US 80) Konami is asking. You can probably find it in Akihabara for almost half that.
Metal Gear Solid 4 Beginner Site [Konami]
