To: Crecente
From: Luke

I did two things on the weekend: saw Helmet play, and saw Iron Man. Both are looking awful spritely for their age. For a 45 year-old superhero, Iron Man's never looked better. That movie is awesome, and these days, I don't walk out of theatres saying that too often. As for Helmet, same story. Page Hamilton's 48 years old, and rocked his arse off harder than most men half his age can manage. Good, good times.

You missed all this while I was working and you weren't:
Portal After Dark
Ken Levine And Co. At Work On New X-Com Game?
GTA Soundtrack A Little Obscure For Amazon
Microsoft Release Free Game Creator
The Sims & IKEA Are An Exercise In Tasteful Product Placement
Metroid Prime, Now In The Third Dimension

Nope. Look, the lock-box, the artbook, they were all nice, but if I'd known that pre-ordering the game via Rockstar's own online store would get me this sweet Burger Shot T-shirt instead, I wouldn't have bothered with that whole midnight launch business. Reader Sulk sends these pics of his shirt, which while being far too large for his thin, Canadian frame is still an ideal size for framing and eternal admiration.

When Rockstar sat down with Amazon to work out their shiny new soundtrack deal - whereby in-game tracks from GTA IV can be saved to a playlist and then downloaded - they didn't just sort out the money-making end of the deal. Rockstar had to tell them which artists would be appearing on the soundtrack. Then draw some pictures. Then write it down so Amazon could remember, because around 40% of the GTA IV's real in-game music wasn't yet available on Amazon's store (it is now). So one single videogames developer (remember, Rockstar themselves licence the tracks for GTA, not Take-Two) had been able to licence tracks a multinational music distribution giant had not? Says a lot for Amazon's depth. Or Rockstar's insanely niche tastes. Actually, probably both.
"Grand Theft Auto" simplifies song purchasing [Reuters]

Last week, Microsoft announced the release of PopFly, a simple program that allows users to create games without the need to know any code. Taking a number of genres as a foundation, PopFly offers a range of templates based on classic arcade games, upon which you can import your own characters, backgrounds, etc. Once done, the games can then be hosted, on stuff like websites, blogs, Facebook pages or even your Vista sidebar. It' Silverlight-only, which is a slight hassle, and is fairly basic, but hey, who said everything on this world had to be perfect?
[Microsoft PopFly]

Ever raved to strangers about a game they've never heard of? I have! About Kingpin. Yeah, I don't know what it was about it...it was a good shooter, but there were better shooters, it was violent, but there were more violent games...something (probably the Cypress Hill - who did the soundtrack and some of the thug's voice-acting - connection) just clicked with me, and as a bored 19 year-old uni student I played the shit out of it. So you can see why I blew a good 10 minutes on the weekend reading this excellent retrospective on the game. Why's it excellent? Because long-winded look-backs on obscure, yet heart-warming old games are always excellent.
Retro: Kingpin: Life Of Crime [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Activision have announced that, as of May 8, anyone who owns the 360 version of Guitar Hero III will be able to download a Muse song-pack. It'll contain three songs: Exo-Politics, Supermassive Black Hole and Stockholm Syndrome. No word on the PS3 version, and since GHIII updates on the PlayStation Store seem to be all over the shop I don't want go hazarding guesses, but if I had to hazard a guess, since May 8 is a Thursday it'll probably be available same day as the 360 stuff.
New Muse for Guitar Hero [CVG] [Pic]

For all their squiddly-squaddly talk and propensity for dying in fires, nobody plays The Sims because of The Sims. They play it to design a house, then fill said house with loads of designer furniture. So this latest Sims expansion - Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff - is a logical step. For both parties! Now, before fans worry over whether the Swedish furniture giant's range will be incorporated tastefully into the game, this bullet-point from the game's EA Store page should answer your question:

Indulge your Sims with an office that is sure to promote order and productivity with its elegant Vika Hyttan desk, inspiring Kila desk lamp, bold Helmer drawer unit, and Lack zigzag wallshelf.

I know. Metroid made the jump to 3D years ago. Just the one GameCube could do it, no duct tape required. But is it really 3D? Course not. You can keep your supposed Z-axis, if I'm playing Metroid on a two-dimensional screen, it's two-dimensional. Which is why these shots of Metroid Prime 3, taken and converted by Nintendo Everything's Valay, are so great. Because they're really in 3D. You need the blue/red glasses and everything.

The latest Official Xbox Mag is running a rumour that's been quietly - oh so quietly - doing the rounds for a few months now. That rumour concerns just what, exactly, 2K Boston (and I presume 2K Australia as well) are up to these days. With 2K Marin confirmed as the team behind BioShock 2, what could Ken Levine and the rest of the guys behind BioShock 1 be working on? Maybe a new X-Com game. Yes, X-Com. 2K quietly bought the rights to the series in 2007, so the rumour's at least got a solid footing, though we're still going to recommend you increase your daily intake of salt. If only because the thought of a new, official X-Com game is too awesome to mess around with.
[Official Xbox Magazine, June 2008]

When Chell wakes up in Portal and needs to get herself out of a pickle, she wakes up wearing an orange jumpsuit and some snappy robotic chicken legs. They're both comfortable and practical. But what if she'd woken up with... less gear? A surprisingly tasteful artist's impression of this possible scenario awaits you. Unless you're at work, that is, because like many other works of art, this one's not safe for the office.

Competitions, we love them. You can't hug or kiss them, but you sure can go all sexy-like on the prizes they result in. But you probably shouldn't, because they tend to be valuable.

Alright then - who's in the mood to win one of five Disgaea Collection DVD packs? Each is valued at $49.95, and they're packed with Disgaea goodness... as you'd expect. Want to know more? I'll let the Madman website do the talking:

The King of the Netherworld has died and various demons are now building their own empires in an effort to take control. However, the late King's son has arrived and is out to reclaim his rightful place as ruler of the Netherworld! Along to help him is his vassal, Etna, with her Prinny squad, and Flonne, an angel-in-training originally sent to assassinate the king only to find that he has already died. Join our three intrepid - and somewhat eccentric - heroes as they initiate their plan to conquer the Netherworld, Heaven and Earth!

Even if you don't win, the pack will be available from Madman, starting May 14.

Thanks heaps to Madman for providing us with the goods. Full terms & conditions incoming!

[Terms and Conditions]

Image © 2003 NIPPON ICHI SOFTWARE INC. / DARK ASSEMBLY

To: Bash
From Owen
Re: Happy Seventh

This is gonna be short and sweet because the new apartment is still a Superfund site. I'm gonna have to live at IKEA for the next month. At least. I once thought about writing a screenplay about that, but then they came out with The Terminal.

At least the 360's hooked up and providing a welcome diversion from the clutter and crap scattered about. Priorities, right? But I'm gaming in a lawn chair perched in front of the TV because the couch is too far away and my old bridge commander chair is too damn big for the apartment.

Have an enjoyable and productive week. Here's some of what you missed.

GTA Multiplayer: Wait, I'm a Zombie?
Chocolate Rain on Mario Paint
Sexy New LEGO Indiana Jones Gameplay
A Pixel Cookie How-To
Designing the Single Player Economy
Capcom's Sushi Muse?

You guys remember Auran, don't you? The studio took quite a beating when Auran Developments, its parent company, went into administration late last year. While blame wasn't placed anywhere in particular, poor sales of its MMO Fury likely played a significant role in its collapse.

Recently, Australian Gamer decided to take a trip to the company's headquarters in Queensland for a walk-through and catch-up. Yes, Auran is still plugging away at Fury.

The interview with Tony Hilliam on the second page has everything you could possibly want to know about the state of Fury right now. Boiled down, Hilliam admits Auran made mistakes with the launch and design of the game, such as the difficulty for new players to get into it, and that numbers remain "disappointing". To counter these points, he says that the new business model, bug fixes and additional features have turned Fury into a "new game".

If only confidence and positive words were enough.

A Visit to Auran Games [Australian Gamer]

Check out this story over at Scoop. Try not to laugh.

So, first off, we have Gordon Copeland, an independent MP in New Zealand, saying Grand Theft Auto IV should be banned. Isn't the edited version good enough? The country's overflowing gaols say otherwise... apparently.

Secondly, there's David Rossman, an expert in violent crime, who believes that violent games are almost as educational an experience as the real thing:

"These (video games) are actually killing simulators and they teach... to kill in much the same way the astronauts on Apollo 11 learned how to fly to the moon."

Are violent games contributing to increased crime rates in New Zealand? I honestly couldn't tell you. What I can say is that calling for a ban of a violent video game is perhaps the weakest proactive measure you could take against such a problem.

MP calls for ban on Grand Theft Auto 4 [Scoop via Sumea]

After last week, I'm not sure how anyone could possibly be thinking about new game purchases this week. If you bought Iron Man, Mario Kart Wii or GTA IV, there's no way you've gotten your fill of them yet. Unless you were waiting on Boom Blox? Here's the roster of releases for the coming week. Is anyone picking any of these up, or are we still gorging silly on other games?

Five Ways to Simplify Complex Controllers
Just cut the controller cable and stick it in your ear. That way, you can play games with your mind. I have yet to test this theory, but...

G4: Video of Force Unleashed for Wii, Duel Mode
See what Krome Studios has been doing with the Wii version of Force Unleashed. Hint: it involves lightsabres.

GTA IV Lockup Solution: Disabling PSN?
GTA IV giving your PS3 trouble? Give this a go.

Kotaku Originals: A Mighty Tr**kload of Copy
Originals. From Kotaku. Read them.

Another PAL Hanabi Festival: Gradius II & Cho Aniki To Hit VC
More VC goodness for Australia (and Europe).

Danc at Lost Garden has done a number of essays relating to indie game design; quite a few of them involve his own 'prototyping tiles' and how best to put together a good working model if you're not terribly talented in the art department. Last month, he posted an interesting look at designing 2D avatars for use in games. A few little lessons for would-be character designers? One key point is that fashion matters:

Forbes' Brian Caulfield asks if Grand Theft Auto IV, which isn't available for the Nintendo Wii, will finally take some of the shine off that console and slow its sales. He doesn't directly answer that question, but points out the Wii's missing out on a $US 400 million party. Further, "It's one of a series of good games that will each convince consumers that there is a lot of good content on the other two boxes," an analyst says in the piece.

And if the Wii's sales might is because it appeals to casual gamers, then it's going to miss out when a title for more traditional gamers releases and starts doing gangbusters business. If a title for the Wii is that good, it's easier to port it over to PS3 or the 360, Caulfield points out. Not so in reverse.

Ok, so a billboard in a driving game may make sense — but what about games where it doesn't make sense? As Ian Bogost points out, "Would an orc order pizza? Does a dystopian planet from the future need a pacer drink?":

A TV station in Savannah, Ga. is out doing what Crecente and I commonly referred to as the "gratuitous local." In other words, it's a national story that doesn't have any impact specific to your locality, but you sure can dream up some because it's the kind of story that's real easy to assign. The Grand Theft Auto IV Drunk Driving story fits perfectly, and we will see versions of this for two months, if not more.

Now, you stick a camera on a cop and ask him about drunk driving, real or virtual, and what the hell do you think he's gonna say? WSAV-TV does just that and the results are predictable.

But I'm going to try to see the good here.

Steve at PlayNoEvil is, I think, as interested in the Chinese MMORPG Zhengtu Online as I am: the game is breaking (or re-writing) a lot of MMORPG rules and currently ruling the domestic MMORPG roost in China. While nosing around PNE, I discovered that — on the heels of the announcement that Zhengtu hit over 2.1 million peak concurrent users — China Daily took a look inside Giant Interactive (developer/operator of Zhengtu) and its tracksuit-wearing CEO. Of particular interest are their marketing strategies:

Of course, that assumes there will even be a Wii stripper pole game. Peakaboo Pole Dancing says it's in talks with developers and publishers but, you know, "talks" doesn't exactly mean "deal." But Peakaboo, to MTV Multiplayer, confirmed that the sensuous Ms. Carmen Electra probably will not have any role on this pole, despite an announcement that implied she might.

Chris Bateman of Only a Game has an interesting look at Super Mario Galaxy from a game design perspective — especially in terms of trying to satisfy an increasingly diverse audience with a blockbuster title. Looking at several aspects of play (verbs and emotions of play, the camera, lives, and co-star mode), Bateman reaches some conclusions about the successes and failures of Super Mario Galaxy. The question is, can those problems really be remedied when you're coming in with so many competing interests?

Arriving yesterday in the mail, as if laughing at me, was Assassin's Creed, courtesy of my restarted Gamefly subscription. I had forgotten to change my game queue (I also got The Warriors on PSP. WTF?) So, really, if I were to seriously play Assassin's Creed within a week after getting GTA IV, we're talking about a length of time spent indoors that borders on being incarcerated.

Anyway, this is hardly news, but AC has a control system that will take me a week to get comfortable manipulating. The game is a perfect example of how increasingly complex controllers will give rise to increasingly complex-to-control games. GamePro has a list of 5 suggestions for paring down the buttons and options.

Kieron Gillen has a new interview with Will Wright up over at The Guardian, discussing Wright's game design philosophy (more or less):

"What I want to do is craft this landscape of experiences where the player has a huge degree of control over what they encounter," he says. "I think that's what games have as an advantage over any other form of media; that the player is half the author of the experience if the game is done well - or even more so. I think this is the first form of medium which has really achieved that and it allows us access to emotional regions that are inaccessible to linear narrative."

Is Spore going to be the success many think it will be, or will it confound the average user (unlike The Sims) as Ian Bogost suspects? Or will people lose interest together before the thing is finally released? I guess we'll find out ... eventually.

Unlocking the power of parallel play [The Guardian via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

It will not be a port, according to Ubisoft. Nintendic, citing the latest edition of Edge magazine (I couldn't find the story online) quotes Ubi thusly: "It's connected to the game in a very interesting way, but it's not a port. A complementary experience, shall we say?"

What makes for a subversive game? Borut Pfeifer tackles the question with aplomb over at GameSetWatch, looking at games from Portal to Blacksite: Area 51 to establish the various ways in which games currently convey 'subversive' messages of many stripes:

Reader Willkiller tipped us to this WTF?!-thread in the Gametrailers forum. In GTA IV multiplayer, apparently someone's turned into a zombie wearing nothing but yellow Rockstar-logo underpants.

There are a few comments indicating gamers have seen zombies in online play, but nothing about transforming into one yet. Theories range from getting killed by a Rockstar employee, to killing a Rockstar employee, to getting the highest ranking.

They quote the official strategy guide (I don't have it) "If you see unclothed characters, look out! Only players who have reached the max ranking of 10 and a few other "special" people get the honour of shooting in their skivvies." But this player says he's only at Level 2. The user's name in the forums is GTA. I couldn't find a PSN ID for him.

More pictures after the jump. Warning, one's at a kinda uncomfortable low angle.

Some portion of the £200M that Grand Theft Auto IV is projected to earn will find its way into the treasury of the U.K.'s world-renowned Oxford University. That's because the game's Euphoria engine was developed by two Oxford students using research at Oxford's zoology department.

The university's technology transfer company then teamed up with Natural Motion, the company the two students, Torsten Reil and Colm Massey, created to build and sell the engine. As such Oxford retains a share in anything Euphoria and Natural Motion should earn down the road. Such as ... Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Seriously, could you imagine saying that to a non-gamer wedding guest? On the upside, they'd never know you deliberately seated them at the last table over by the kitchen. "Aunt Loretta, you're at the Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing Table with my high school guidance counselor." "Well, I'm touched you thought of me that way ..."