LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues spends much of its time focused on the brickification of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but it also gives players a taste of Indy’s original adventures. Better still, it gives Indiana Jones fans a chance to build their own LEGO levels this time around.

Can a new, coop-friendly split-screen system and the ability to design your own levels make up for the fact that the game reanimates Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Lets see.

Loved
Two Players, Two Screens: One of my big qualms with previous LEGO games was that when you started playing coop — and that’s always been the best way to play — the screen became a leash. If one player went too far in a direction it started pulling the other player around with them, sometimes to their death. This time around, once you hit the limits of the screen it splits, allowing the two players to go their separate ways. The way the screen splits also shows which direction the other player is in. It’s a neat design concept that typically works quite well.

Build Mode: While LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues spends most of its time focused on just about everybody’s least favourite Indy film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it also introduces the ability to design and play through your own LEGO levels to the franchise. The system is fairly straight forward: You select and throw down LEGO bricks you’ve unlocked through gameplay to create sets based on what comes with the game. Not only does that include AI-programmable enemies and creatures, but traps that you can tie to different bricks. It’s a robust little system tied to a fun aesthetic. My only disappointment is that you apparently can’t share your creations with friends online. A pretty big bummer.

Another Take: While more than a third of the game is devoted to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the game also includes abbreviated takes on the first three movies. Interestingly, instead of just porting over chunks of these LEGO adaptations from The Original Adventures the game seems to completely reinvent them. While Indy purists may lose sleep over these in-a-nutshell adaptations of the first three films, they’re clever, punchy and fun in a way that makes playing the story a second time worthwhile.

Wide Open Spaces: Every LEGO game has a sort of jumping off point, a hub from which gamers embark on the multiple stores and adventures of the particular game. In the original LEGO Indy game it was a university, this time it’s the storage warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sort of. The top menu has you select one of the eight containers (some start boxed up and have to be unlocked) to decide where your adventure begins. There are crates for the first three movies and then three crates for Crystal Skull and finally a crate each for the build mode and another for “Super Bonus” levels, which are essentially time trials. But when you jump into a movie, the game drops you into a fairly expansive area that than has to be explored to find the storyline. While you wander around these large set pieces you also discover hidden items, challenges and fun little things to do. It’s a neat addition to the LEGO gaming experience.

Vehicles: Always a pleasure in LEGO games, this time around the world gives you access to cars, motorcycles, bikes, tree-cutters, horses, camels, rickshaws and, my favourite, planes. There’s nothing like flying over a LEGO land and jumping out to parachute to your favourite play area.

Completest: As with all previous LEGO games, LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues comes with quite a few reasons to play, replay and replay the game again. There are special LEGO pieces to collect, time trials to unlock, Easter eggs to discover. And it’s all a lot of fun to do.

Funny Story: Played in tandem with my eight-year-old, the game had Tristan in stitches. And it wasn’t just him. Sure, I’d still like to see a LEGO heart ripped from a mini-fig’s chest, but the alternative to all of that Indy violence can be quite funny at times.

Hated
Not So Invisible Walls: The worlds of LEGO Indiana Jones 2 are much, much bigger, but they’re not without their limits and unfortunately those limits aren’t disguised very well. Go too far and your mini-fig will just float back to the map.

The Camera Controls… Still: How can Traveller’s Tales, who have single-handedly reinvigorated, reinvented the LEGO gaming franchise, still not have the in-game camera worked out? I’m sick of dying simply because the perspective is throwing me off. Fix this already.

What Next: I love the huge explorable, hidden, area-filled worlds of LEGO, but I hate having to wander around in them for half an hour trying to figure out which path, which cave, which ladder will take me to the next step in the story. A map or maybe a better indicator would be much appreciated.

I wasn’t really looking forward to LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. Of all of the LEGO games the first Indiana Jones was my least favourite, though I still quite liked it. And this time around, I wasn’t really anticipating playing through my least favourite movie in the series. But the game delivers on so many levels, adding a much needed split screen and a fantastic build mode, that I’ve been delighted with the experience.

If you didn’t pick up the first LEGO Indiana Jones game, I think it might even be worth skipping and instead going straight to this one.

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues was developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by LucasArts for the DS, PC, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360 on November 17. Retails for $US49.99/$AU89.95 (Xbox 360/PS3). A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through all sets and campaigns both alone and with my son on Xbox 360. Built several levels alone and with my son.

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Those 33 million users download a staggering 25 petabytes of data a month. More importantly for Sony, they’re also spending three times what they did last year at the PlayStation Store.

Sony’s presentation highlights what it called a significant revenue in downloadable games and add-ons. The company also pointed out that its video delivery service now has more than 2417 movies and 15,047 television episodes.

A final point made in the slide presentation by Sony about the PlayStation Network is that a new revenue stream is coming from a subscription model.

Reached for contact this morning, SCEA told Kotaku that in terms of the PlayStation Network and subscriptions “we’re looking into a variety of options, but nothing to announce at this time”.

“Our work is already bearing fruit,” Howard said, according to the Associated Press. “We still have more work to do.”

After its second year of losses in the current fiscal year, which ends March 2010, Stringer said that Sony’s target is to turnaround their game business and have it be profitable by March 2011.

The company plans to use a two-prong strategy to achieve that goal. Sony believes they can improve profitability through cost reduction, becoming more efficient internally and getting internal divisions to work better together.

Sony also sees a growth in hardware, software and network services pushing sales up in the gaming division.

Stringer says that Sony’s PlayStation 3 has five key advantages: The incorporation of a Blu-ray player, the Playstation Network, PSP linkage, upcoming 3D games and their recently announced motion controller.

The Motion control, he said, uses the PlayStation Eye camera, can track depth, position and motion by “sphere, gyro and acceleration sensors” and vibration feedback and “rendition by light”.

More than 2.2 gamers logged more than 5.2 million multiplayer hours playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone, a new one-day Xbox Live record. Those gamers managed to unlock more than 11 million achievements in that day as well.

Pretty crazy.

If you missed Luke’s excellent article comparing Modern Warfare 2 to other entertainment properties, you should go have a read. Today Activision says that their game pulled in an estimated $US550 million in its first five days.

That’s compared to:

The largest reported five-day opening worldwide box office gross figures, held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394 million)

The largest reported five-day opening domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($203.8 million)

The largest reported five-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (six million units, $US500 million)

The largest reported opening first-day domestic box office gross figures, held by The Dark Knight ($66.4 million)

The largest reported first-day book sales in dollars, held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ($220 million)

The largest reported first-day worldwide video game sales record, previously held by Grand Theft Auto IV (3.6 million units, $US310 million)

Pretty impressive.

An internal Electronic Arts memo confirms that Pandemic Studios was shut down today with a “core IP team” being moved to Electronic Arts’ Los Angeles office. Among those let go were the studio’s top three employees: Andrew Goldman, formerly the studio’s CEO; Josh Resnick, formerly the studios president; and Greg Borrud, vice president of product development

“I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on,” Nick Earl, EA Games Label Senior Vice President, wrote in the memo. “In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises.

“This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That’s how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios.”

Earl said that the move was made to “improve our cost structure, ensure quality and build schedule integrity for this studio.”

We have been unable to confirm how many people were impacted, though rumour had it at nearly 200.

Pandemic was formed in 1998. Following on the success of Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront, they were purchased in 2007 by Electronic Arts.

After the purchase Pandemic released a succession of lacklustre sequels culminating in the cancellation of the costly Dark Knight game, which resulted in the closure of Pandemic’s Brisbane studio.

These cuts appear to be part of EA’s latest cost-cutting measures which includes the elimination of 1500 jobs, cutting a dozen in-development games and closing “several facilities.” According to multiple sources, those cutbacks include studios like Pandemic, Maxis and nearly the entire Command & Conquer team.

Sources tell Kotaku that the team working on Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight was warned of its fate last week, with almost the entire team expected to be let go after the real-time strategy game ships some time in 2010.

Also said to be affected heavily are Spore and former-Sims studio EA Maxis, social network gaming acquisition Rupture Studios, and Mercenaries and The Saboteur creators Pandemic Studios LA. Those development studios are said to be hit with substantial layoffs, according to a source, with remaining employees relocated to EA headquarters in Los Angeles and Redwood Shores.

EA is rumoured to have already laid off staff at Tiburon, Mythic Entertainment and Black Box, reports which the company has yet to confirm.

The closing of Pandemic Studios is the latest in a long line of acquisitions and then closures or “integrations” in the company’s long history. Over the years EA has acquired and later closed or absorbed employees from Origin Systems, Bullfrog Productions, Black Box Games, Maxis, Westwood Studios and Pandemic’s Brisbane, Australia and Los Angeles locations.

While the national sports retailer won’t be officially announcing the Wii push at their stores until Thursday, some of the chain’s locations started getting their Wii on last weekend.

The Colorado store pictured here received their equipment on Friday, setting up the training area and merchandise that night for a launch Saturday.

Store manager Mike Gabriela told Kotaku today that they trained a number of their employees to explain how the Wii and Wii Fit work, something they’ve also to educated customers about other sports equipment from skis to treadmills.

Gabriela says that the weekend drew crowds around the console set-up and that the store, which sells the console and an eclectic mix of games, saw brisk sales for everything from accessories to copies of Cabela’s Big Game Hunter.

Sports Authority president David Campisi says that the Colorado company, which operated about 450 stores, has been working on the deal for about half a year, but that he was interested in selling the fitness-themed games since Wii Fit first hit stores in 2008.

“This is about getting the nation fit,” Campisi told Kotaku. “This could be really, really game changing.”

The chain started a soft roll-out of the Wii Fit Experience earlier this month with 102 stores selling the Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, accessories and other sports and fitness-themed games, Campisi said. The experience is set up along side the chain’s more traditional exercise equipment like weights and treadmills.

“On Saturday I had people from 30 stores sending me pictures of kids on the Wii Fit board all day,” he said.

The official announcement of Sports Authority’s deal with Nintendo to sell their console and games will come this Thursday with the help of fitness expert Jillian Michaels, star of The Biggest Loser and her own Wii game Wii Fitness Ultimatum.

Campisi says that Thursday’s event at their Torrance, California store will include more than 100 Wii boards and an attempt to host the world’s largest Wii Fit Plus workout.

“In our fitness departments we carry a lot of equipment,” Campisi said. “There are many, many ways to get fit and exercise, this is just one additional opportunity.”

But at least one other military video game has their sights set on the popular first-person shooter, getting a bit of added traction thanks to some controversial design decisions made in the Activision blockbuster.

For the uninitiated, Electronic Arts’ upcoming first-person shooter Battlefield: Bad Company 2 may sound an awful lot like Modern Warfare 2.

Both military games are set in modern times and pride themselves on realistic settings, weapons and combat. But where Modern Warfare 2’s single player story is a narrative that leads players through the action along a scripted plot, Bad Company 2’s developers say their game is a more open-ended experience.

“Battlefield: Bad Company 2 delivers an all-out war experience unlike any other FPS with its wide, open sand box environments, tactical destruction and of course the full range of player controlled vehicles,” said Karl Magnus-Troedsson, the executive producer of the Battlefield Franchise at Digital Illusions CE. “The game stands on more legs than this but these are the key areas which elevate Battlefield: Bad Company 2 above the rest of the pack.”

While Magnus-Troedsson calls Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2 direct competitors, he knew better than to launch EA’s up-and-coming shooter at the same time as titan Modern Warfare 2. Instead, Bad Company 2 will be hitting the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 about four months later, in early March.

“These games are direct competitors while still being different games with different experiences,” Magnus-Troedsson said. “The gamers who like one will probably like the other, at least if they could get into the groove of the different second-to-second experiences.

“Obviously I wouldn’t want to launch at the same time (as Modern Warfare 2). However, we’ve seen a huge uptake in interest for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 even during the height of their marketing campaign. And we’re just getting started.”

Much of that increased interest in Bad Company 2 has been driven by gamers unhappy with some of the decisions made in the development of Modern Warfare 2. Most contentious among gamers was developer Infinity Ward’s decision to limit the control PC gamers have over how they play Modern Warfare 2 online.

Shortly after news broke that Modern Warfare 2 wouldn’t support the ability for gamers to run their own online games on dedicated servers, Digital Interactive CE announced that Bad Company 2 would have dedicated servers.

It may sound like a small issue, but the Infinity Ward’s decision spurred an online petition that currently has more than 210,000 signatures. It also created a movement among some gamers to shift their game purchase from Modern Warfare 2 to Bad Company 2.

One gamer mailed a cheque to Digital Illusions CE, telling them to use the money he had earmarked for Modern Warfare 2 to improve Bad Company 2.

Magnus-Troedsson wouldn’t say how big a factor dedicated servers will be for gamers come March.

“I can’t answer since it’s up to the audience,” he said. “What I can say is that we’ve always considered this a key factor to deliver the best online experience available and anyone caring equally much about this will probably get more out of the multiplayer experience in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.”

And he notes that while there are plenty of vocal gamers currently pledging support for Bad Company 2 at the cost of Modern Warfare 2, it’s still a small percentage of the entire audience.

“So far we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback based upon what we’ve announced regarding Battlefield: Bad Company 2,” he said. “Some of it has come in the form of proper fan dedication from new as well as old diehard fans. We greatly appreciate this. These are the people that are at the core of our audience, the players we often listen to and who can help shape our games into something even better.

“However, comparing to the vast number of people that will buy the game it’s still a small percentage of people that actually get in direct contact with us. As for the fan mail, what we’ve gotten recently I can only hope is a sign that we’re doing something right.”

And there’s always a chance that a fan base so fickle, so easily swayed by design decisions, could decide that something about Bad Company 2 isn’t a good fit either.

Magnus-Troedsson realises the risk of winning over such die hard fans, gamers who could be intolerant of change.

“We can’t fulfil everyone’s wishes but we always build games that we truly believe our players will love to play,” he said.

With Bad Company 2 that means new game modes, new weapons and a much higher level of polish. Improvements that Magnus-Troedsson believes makes Bad Company 2 the better of the two games.

“Well, obviously I believe Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is better, especially looking at how our game incorporates an all-out war experience with vehicles, destruction, etc,” he said. “But not without a large amount of respect for our competitor, they have a great product with a huge fan base. Don’t expect us to be intimidated by sheer volume of sales though.”

In the first 24 hours alone, Modern Warfare 2 pulled in an estimated $US310 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone, selling 4.7 million copies.

“No matter what market or what products I’m a strong believer that there’s always space for competition,” Magnus Troedsson said. “It helps keep people on their toes and it helps drive development.”

New Super Mario Bros. Wii has the Super Guide, in case you ever want the game to autopilot for you, but it also has a whole collection of video tips you can view before a gaming session.

The “hint movies” are all located inside Peach’s Castle and have to be unlocked with Star Coins. Here’s a sample.

Be warned, this does show an entire level in the game.

If you’re intrigued, check out our full game review here.