Wednesday, September 24, 2008
European PSN Gets Qore (Well, Sort Of) As Well
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | SCEA has the PlayStation.Blog, it’s great, Europe sadly hasn’t followed suit. SCEA has Qore, it’s rubbish, and whaddya know, Europe is following suit! SCEE have signed a deal with Future Publishing that will see an “on-console, weekly digital magazine available exclusively through the PlayStation Network”. Before you ask, yes, they’re claiming the content will be editorial in nature, with demos and DLC – concerningly for people hoping the PSN remains “free” – also on the menu. It’ll be offered in the UK first, in early 2009, with other European territories to follow. More »
DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label Coming To Xbox 360 This December?
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | If a Google cache is to be believed, add another bullet hell shooter to the Xbox 360 shmup heaven. DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label for the Xbox 360 has popped up on Japanese retail site AmiAmi. Earlier this year, Famitsu brought word that a port of the arcade game would appear on Xbox LIVE Arcade, but Microsoft ended up rejecting the game, stating: “We are going to cut down faithful arcade ports.” This now rumoured disc version has been dated December 25th by AmiAmi. Xbox360 Black Label [AmiAmi via XNEWS] More »
Third Party Devs Releasing Fewer PSP Titles
10:40PM Brian Ashcraft | While the PSP continues to sell well in Japan, game site EDGE has a piece up on third party devs leaving the PSP platform. From the piece: Without a killer app in the West on the level of Japan’s Monster Hunter series, the PSP may just be crowded out of a competitive marketplace, an appealing piece of hardware people buy and never use. There’s data and numbers, too! It’s not all gloom and doom. Here’s the irony: “The numbers here show PSP hardware sales are growing at a steady clip every year, which is the proper behaviour for a healthy platform.” So there you go. Third Parties Abandoning PSP [EDGE] More »
News
Only Ubisoft – You can’t stop progress. …
10:30PM Luke Plunkett | Only Ubisoft – You can’t stop progress. More »
This Is Why The Sims Movie Idea Is A Stupid Idea
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | The core idea of making a movie on The Sims is a solid one. Solid in the storied Hollywood tradition that The Sims is popular, and movies based on popular things make money. But the execution? So far, it sounds just awful. Most people have pointed to the “Weird Science was great…in the 80s” argument, and it’s a valid one, but Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal finds fault on a more fundamental level: For Davis to take The Sims—the videogame equivalent of a soap opera or a telenovela—and turn it into yet another teen male high adventure story not only stereotypes videogames as being the province of boys alone, it also represents a missed opportunity to illustrate how this videogame in particular has illuminated the inner lives of girls, women and men alike. Wait, there are men that play The Sims? The Big Idea: Should a Game Whose Core Audience Is Teen Girls Become a Movie Aimed at Teen Boys? [Newsweek] More »
One New Resident Evil 5 Character (One Not So New)
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | That’s Excella Gionne in the dress, a relative of the TriCell pharmaceutical founder and president of the Africa branch office. Next to her is not a new character per se, but confirmation of a returning character appearing in RE5. Yep, that’s former S.T.A.R.S. captain Albert Wesker. More »
Bethesda Can’t Find Time For Fallout 3 Mods
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Having played Oblivion on PC, I can safely say that user-generated mods saved that game. Fixed the AI, improved the graphics, that sort of thing. Same goes for their last few games as well. But what of Bethesda’s next game, Fallout 3? Things are less certain. Pete Hines: Folk probably took for granted that every time we make a game, there’s a mod tool. We explained to folk that it takes a lot of time and effort to get that tool ready for release, and it’s not on our schedule right now. We need to get the game done and out. It’s not to say we won’t do it. It’s that right now we have an enormous amount of work to do, for three platforms and all these different languages to get it out around the wall. Sad to hear. Maybe modders can step in and get mods working? Interview: Pete Hines On Fallout 3 Mods [Rock, Paper, Shotgun] More »
You Too Can Own This Halo Energy Sword
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Pointy, so please do not run while carrying this. Sword seller True Swords is offering this seemingly unlicensed Halo 3 Covenant Energy Sword with Titanium colour finish on stainless steel blades. According to the seller: This special treatment, sometimes called “spectrum treatment”, causes the colours to shift at different angles and lighting. This effect is similar to the blade effect seen in the video game series. The blades will appear to be different colours depending on the amount of light and reflected colours they are around. Priced at US$49.99, it’s 27 inches long and either an accident or a lawsuit waiting to happen. We can’t decide which. Covenant ENERGY SWORD Video Game Sword Replica Type-1 [True Swords via Nerd Approved via That Girl's Site] More »
Great, ANOTHER Handheld Platform To Worry About
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | Look, three home consoles to look after, that’s OK. It’s doable. Throw a PC in there, still doable. A couple of prominent handheld platforms, you’re stretching it, but we can manage. The iPhone, though…well, that was almost a bridge too far. So we’re less than thrilled to hear that there’s now another major mobile device on the market that’ll support games. Launched yesterday to quite a bit of fanfare, Google’s Android phone may just give Apple a run for its money in the “do everything” phone market. May. Won’t with its initial games lineup, though. Where the iPhone’s app store launched with a range of big-budget titles from the likes of Sega and EA, the Android has…Pac-Man. Uh, great, thanks. On the bright side, the phone’s meant to be an open source dream, so hopefully it’s not too long before some more interesting titles come along. That or someone gets SCUMM working. More »
