RSS Feeds
|
US Edition
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Another Kotaku Party and Digital Vomit
Tonight is pizza and Mr. Bean. That's about it. (Have you see that recent Mr. Bean movie? Is it any good? We're just watching the old TV shows.)
What you missed last night
Kaz didn't know Phil was leaving
Samus in Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Clone Wars DS, Wii
SFIV online
Kojima is ready for new things
Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Pizza! And not just any pizza, Pokémon pizza! This was ordered tonight for dinner, one regular mayonnaise covered pizza and one Pikachu pizza set. With the meal, we got a special Pokémon plastic divider and Pokémon stickers. Curious to see what the actually pies look like? That after the jump.
People of Stockton, California! Do not play Grand Theft Auto IV! Do not!! It's turning local residents batty. According to the Stockton Record:
"My son Peter was never really aggressive, but once he got into video games, 'GTA' being one of them, he started to push, hit, talk back, and just become a different person," said Stockton parent Greg Within, 46.
Stockton's Mark Wellis, 19, said he was involved in an altercation a week after he purchased "Grand Theft Auto IV." At the time he noticed that he had become less sensitive to violence.
Wellis doesn't completely blame the game for his violence, but it did affect him.
This is the stuff of Pulitzers.
GTAIV Criticized [Recordnet via GamePolitics]
Far Cry was developed by PC developer Crytek. Crytek made Crysis, and that game is very, very pretty. But Crytek isn't doing Far Cry 2 — Ubisoft is! The photorealism of Crysis must be somewhat intimidating, even for Ubisoft. But the Far Cry 2 developer is going a different direction. Says the game's art director Alex Amancio:
Very early on we knew that we wanted to go a completely different direction. Instead of going for the tropical island and trying to go for hyper realism, we changed the setting. First of all we wanted to have a really, really credible environment, but we didn't want to replicate anybody's vacation photos.
Probably smart. Who wants to play somebody's vacation photos anyway?
Far Cry 2 Different [Ubisoft] [Pic]
You may think there's better things you can do with 15 minutes. Tidy your room, for example. Marinate tomorrow night's steak dinner. Take a slightly-too-long dump while you finish a chapter in that book you're reading. All good things, but come on, if you can spare the time for those, you can spare the time for a 15-minute walkthrough of Red Alert 3 gameplay. Construction, combat, the works.
[via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Seeing as the pair were running the show as far as the PlayStation brand was concerned, you'd think Kaz Hirai and Phil Harrison would have at least discussed Phil's move to Infogrames, yes? No. Turns out big Phil's move was as much a surprise to Kaz as it was the rest of us:
At the time, I didn't know he was going to Atari. It was obviously a surprise when he told me he was going to move on. But, you know, it's a small industry and he's obviously remained in it and from his perspective, it was a great thing to move on to a new challenge.
Oh...oh Kaz. There, there. You're still beautiful, OK? It was him, not you. Him.
Kaz Hirai interview...[Three Speech]
Some of you probably don't care about the reviews and are going to play Metal Gear Solid 4. That's fine. Others of you are interested in what the critics are saying. Hit the jump for selected soundbytes from Eurogamer's impressions of the game:
Banpresto's newest Super Robot Taisen game puts less emphasis on the the "robot taisen" and more, way more, on the "super" well... Above is the box suggestive box art for the Nintendo DS RPG Mugen no Frontier Super Robot Taisen OG Saga and an image from the in store demo. The game features lots of "boob shaking" scenes apparently and went on sale late the week. Want to see how the launch went? Hit the jump.
The PAL PlayStation Store update's got more meat on its bone this week. While its lacking in videos, trailers and demos, it does manage three full games, which is nice. One of them, OK, it's very, very late. Almost a year late. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. The others are the original Rayman along with MediEvil: Resurrection, given a third lease of life as a downloadable title.
Games and Demos
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Rayman
MediEvil: Resurrection
Expansions And Add-Ons
Army of Two: Veteran
Game Videos
Metal Gear Solid 4: E3 2006 Trailer
Overlord Raising Hell
Super Stardust HD
Themes and Wallpapers
Prince of Persia Prodigy Arabesque Wallpaper
Prince of Persia Prodigy New Prince Wallpaper
PixelJunk Monsters Wallpaper
Everything you wanted to know about Wii Fit! Well, almost. Game blog Wii Fanboy has been putting pretty much anyone on the Balance Board, trying to find out, well, we're not quite sure, but they've been finding out all sorts of stuff. For example!
• Wii Fit cannot register anything smaller than ten pounds.
• The shortest height you can enter is 50.8 centimetres.
• The latest birth year you can enter is 2006.
The most interesting revolation? According to Wii Fanboy: "...The balance line continued to fluctuate even when a perfectly stationary object was standing on the board. This means that either the Balance Board is imprecise at such low weight, or that it's really precise and picked up vibrations in the floor or something." YOU DECIDE.
Wii Fit Measures My Apartment [Wii Fanboy via Joystiq]
Don't think it's terribly well-known (and the possibility remains it's an elaborate hoax), but when Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was in development, Activision apparently were keen on throwing Link & Samus into the game as bonus characters, sweeten the Nintendo-branded pot. They even went ahead and got the characters running in the game. Didn't work. Nintendo said no, thanks. Bummer. Ah well, this vid's now surfaced, allegedly of the unreleased content, showing Samus in action. On the PS2 version of the game, no less.
[via Go Nintendo]
Take a gander at the recently announced Wario Land Shake, which, crap scan aside, looks pretty great. The game will apparently have hand-drawn character animation, sport 20 stages and mix-and-mash straight up D-pad and buttion pressing with Wii-mote shaking. Squint at the above scan to see what kind of shake-action the game has.
Haven't had enough upcoming Nintendo game scan stuff? Hit the jump for looks at promotional images for Fatal Frame IV and Rhythm Heaven Gold.
Anyone picking up a copy of Lego Indiana Jones when it ships will find this ad on the back of the game's instruction booklet. Yes, a Lucasarts game based on an upcoming Star Wars property. SHOCKING. Perhaps surprising, though, is the fact that the game hasn't been shown yet. And is due in spring. And is due for Nintendo consoles (at least this version is, there's probably a shinier 360/PS3 one). Guess we'll see more on this at E3. Where I'm sure Lucasarts will surprise is with a game of true quality, not just some bare-bones 3D action-adventure that's cashing in on a Star Wars movie. Because they wouldn't do that. Would they?
Well duh. He's not some crazy fanboy! Sure, even while Phil Harrison was working at Sony, he could see the Xbox 360's strong points (as well as its glaring flaws). Harrison points out:
I've always recognised its capabilities, so it's not like I've woken up and gone, 'Ooh, I'm a real 360 fan now.' I'm in a different part of the industry so I have a different role to play. It's been a good experience learning about other formats, not just 360 but Wii and DS, and understanding what it's like to publish games on those platforms and create for those audiences. I'm finding it very intellectually and creatively challenging.
And why wouldn't he? Must be nice to focus more on games and less on corporate smack talk.
Phil Harrison Interview [Eurogamer] [Pic]
Speaking with Famitsu, Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono has revealed that when the game hits the 360, PS3 and PC (whenever that is), it won't be a port. Oh no. It'll be more than a port. How much more? For starters, the home versions will feature online play. You'd kinda expect that these days, but still, official, online Street Fighter is good news. It'll also feature new characters. New new characters, because there'll be some who are exclusive to the home versions, and won't be available in arcades. If you're worried how these characters will affect the game, Ono says they'll be "watching the overall balance" when implementing them, if that helps any.
New Characters Planned for SFIV Home Version [Famitsu, via IGN]
No. Konami say it's much, much more than that, and the more you complain about the price of the gunmetal PS3 (around $US 100 more than a vanilla one), the more upset you'll make them. Sure, part of the increased cost comes from the fact it's a limited edition - they've made less than 10,000 of them - but the rest comes from the fact the console's very body has been replaced with a more matte material, giving it that dull, gunmetal finish. Same goes for the control pad. So not a paintjob, OK? A whole new surface. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
MGS4 Limited Edition PS3 Bundle Clarifications [Konami, thanks Hatchetforce!]
Posted by Logan Booker at 3:00 PM on May 30, 2008
Joy. Colours. I really love colours. I don't mind a bit of a play on the DS either, so colours plus Nintendo's handheld should equal fun. Yeah.
Good news then that the big N has announced that two new DS models - red/black and blue/black - will hit Australia on June 19. Also coming out on this date are Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time. Going by the press release, the games sound like your regular pokemon-themed titles - except with randomised dungeons. Nethack meets Pikachu? Perhaps.
Super bonus figure - 1.1 million DS handhelds have been sold in Australia since June 2006. That's a lot of neglected Nintendogs.
Press release after the jump.
Remember that English-teaching jailbait DS game featured on Japanese site Famitsu? Well, here's another. Innocuous enough! Dubbed Moe Sta, the title features 5,000 English questions that cover the spectrum from junior high school school tests to the Tokyo University entrance examination to help players "level up" their English. Hit the jump for the slightly NSFW promo trailer that features the angels Grammar, Idiom and Word. Might want to watch it without the sound — unless you want a headache. Or have developed a tolerance to being jabbed in your ear drums with sewing needles.
Yay, more Sony phone talk, and this time without even mentioning the word "PlayStation"! According to Pocket-Lint, Sony Ericsson have signed a deal with GestureTek, whose motion-sensing software powers stuff like the EyeToy. The deal will have a similar version of said software running on Sony Ericsson phones around September, and via the handset's cameras, will allow the phones to play motion-sensitive games. Two titles currently mooted to appear for the new capabilities are a Super Monkey Ball game and a Crash Bandicoot title (pictured). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to increase the probability of a PlayStation Phone being announced later this year up a few percentage points.
Sony Ericsson to launch new gaming phone range [Pocket-Lint, via Gizmodo AU]
Oh, Giant Kaz Face, how we've missed you. But you're back! Back to talk about PS3 things. In an pr stunt interview with Sony Three Speech blog, Kaz reminds us all how it was his idea to bring the focus back to the PS3 as a game console — and not a super computer or whatever. There's some good stuff in there, like Giant Kaz Face talking about digital distribution and how exclusives work in this generation. About that, Giant Kaz Face says:
Posted by Logan Booker at 2:00 PM on May 30, 2008
Reader Brendan says that a friend of his has had a great deal of trouble getting his hands on a PS3. In preparation for the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, said friend tried EB Games to preorder the console bundle. Not only did the friend have no luck with the preorder, but it was a no-go on a standalone console. Calls to Big W, K-mart and GameTraders were met with similar failure, with GT going as far as to say that the MGS4 pack may miss its release date due to shortages of the console.
So, I gave a couple of JB Hi-Fi and EB Games stores a call in Sydney and was told that they had units in stock, though EB Games said it was only a few and the GTA IV bundle was sold out. Given the success of Rockstar's title, I wasn't surprised.
Even though it was looking like there wasn't much to Brendan's rumour, I fired an email to Sony's local branch. Here's the reply I received:
Due to the success of the latest GTA IV and GT5 Prologue bundle offers, stock has been flying off the shelves and also, hand in hand with their success, we've seen an increase in consumer demand for standalone PS3 consoles. We're very aware of the demand and are working closely with retail to ensure good stock supply.Well. Going by this response Sony might have some issues on its hands with some stores, but it's doing its best to keep retailers in supply. I know things are swell in Sydney, but let us know what the situation's like around you!
Valve have today announced Steamcloud, a new element to their Steam service that will allow the company to store your user data online. What kind of data? Stuff like saved games. Keyboard configurations. Preferences. That kind of thing. So if you're playing on one PC and move to another (say, you're playing in a cafe, or buy a new PC), you can keep all that stuff. Pretty neat. Also announced were some extra services Valve have in store later down the line, like driver auto-updating, and a means for Steam to check your PC, check that game you want to buy then give you a fairly conclusive answer on whether you'll be able to play it or not. Bless you, Valve. Bless you.
Steamworks & Steamcloud - In Summary [Rock, Paper, Shotgun] [Pic]
Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot, speaking with Next-Gen, thinks he knows why the first Beyond Good & Evil didn't do too well. Thinks he knows how to fix that for the sequel: make it easier.
We saw with Beyond Good & Evil that so many customers were extremely happy with the game. We had a different audience at that time. We had more core gamers than casual gamers than we have today.
We think the game was probably a little too difficult for the general gamers at that time. We're going to make it more accessible and make sure that it's really done for the new generation that's come into videogames.
Casual? Accessible? Oh, Yves, you sure know how to put the fear of God into a man. I'd have thought the first game's problem was it was a game about a photographer with green lips and a pig, which makes it a hard sell to most people, but what do I know.
Ubi: Beyond Good & Evil 2 More "Casual" [Next-Gen]
Just like with the Star Wars, Metal Gear Solid 4 ties up lose ends and explains things you are dying to know. But did MGS creator plan it that way? Heck no! He's just making this up as he's going along, flying by the seat of his Burberry pants. Says Kojima:
Yes, it wraps up all the stories of the past MGS games. I'm not a genius like George Lucas, I didn't have this story planned out. I always tried to finish the story in each game. But by some miracle in MGS4 I was able to resolve the mysteries left behind in past games and resolve the side stories from past games.
Lucas, a genius? We're guessing Kojima smartly chose to sit the Star Wars prequels out.
With over two million copies under its belt, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G had a good run. It's sales chart domination was dealt a blow, as Sega's Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! claims first place for the week of May 19 to 25. "What's Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou!?" you say? You may know it as Let's Make A Pro Baseball Team, part of a popular sports management series in Japan. It beat out every other newcomer, including the overseas release of The Orange Box, with debuted all the way down at #15. Hey, at least it did better than Haze. That silver lining is courtesy of me, sales charts courtesy of Media Create.
Own up. You don't like Metal Gear for the gameplay. All that sneaking, and crawling, it drives you nuts. No, you love it for the talking. The hours and hours and hours of talking. Which is why you'll probably enjoy this, the first 18 minutes or so of Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinee, the upcoming "digital graphic novel" that tells the story of Metal Gear Solid 2, sans all that unnecessary interactivity. It's out in June in Japan, and as you can see, already has one up on the previous PSP version by featuring voice acting.
Even though I began at Kotaku maybe a little over four weeks ago, I think this is the day I am truly inaugurated, as I post my very first cake picture.
Moxie Girl tipped us off about this Final Fantasy Black Mage/White Mage cake. As I'm weak in the knees over buttercream, normally I'd find this very delicious, but now it just makes me think of Fahey's blood and arm hair.
I feel like a real part of the family now!
Posted by Logan Booker at 9:30 AM on May 30, 2008
Space Siege Is Full Of Space Win
I want Space Siege to be good. Honestly. But having played the Dungeon Siege series, I don't think Gas Powered Games can do RPGs.
Warhammer Online Crafting Exhaustively Explained
EA's MMO isn't out for a while, but that doesn't mean you can't be prepared!
Ubidays the Final Round-Up
Everything that happened at Ubidays 2008 in Paris, France, plus more.
Cheap, mysterious knock-offs of some of our favourite games sold overseas by evil pirates are always good for a little chuckle, but British Gaming Blog has compiled perhaps the most extensive collection I've ever seen of pirated game clone pics and anecdotes. Not like I see all that many heaps of "Pokemon Naranja carts, but this is pretty impressive.
Especially funny are the pirate "mega-carts," which can contain up to 52 pirated games in on a single cartridge, giving you a hilarious label list of names like "Pokemon Snoopy," "Play Spider," "Man Spider," "Nice Castelan" "Mr. Dr. Mario" and "Robot Dr. Mario."
Apparently Pokemon games are a pirate fave - sadly "Diamond and Jade" is not canon. One knockoff even features Meowth singing an evil version of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". You can't make this stuff up:
Whenever we hear about the travails of a video game company, snark abounds, and ultimately, the chorus cries, "Why don't you just make some games that don't suck?"
Easy to say from the outside looking in, but independent game developer Matthew of the Magical Wasteland blog shared his insider experience with an unidentified major publisher to explain that it's not always so simple, even when executives "talk the talk" about quality control.
Matthew cited the institution of bonuses for developers based on Metacritic scores, similar to the practice of hinging developer royalties on good scores that MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo recently investigated.
Said Matthew:
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has revealed 12 universities that will receive grants to research the use of video games as healthcare tools. Games have shown clear potential to serve healthcare, from helping stroke victims rehabilitate, encouraging seniors to exercise and teaching behaviour for therapy. Exhaustive research and hard data will further drive the growth of games as healthcare tools for people of all ages, and the grant recipients aim to support this goal.
It's about taking advantage of the burgeoning video game trend instead of attacking it, said Deborah Lieberman Ph.D., communications researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara, during the organization's announcement conference today.
"Research has shown you can learn whatever a video game offers. The question is, what are you going to teach?" said Lieberman.
From Tim Rogers' ActionButton.net comes an enormously lengthy "late to the party" BioShock review, just on the heels of the recently-announced PlayStation 3 version of the game. Rogers' reviews are hallmarked by their controversy-courting vitriol, hyperbole and - did I mention - length? Nonetheless, he raises several points interesting to consider about the widely hailed (and presently backlashed?) game:
This game is not a masterpiece -- it is the bare minimum. Its attention to detail with regard to its atmosphere and its narrative is not, in and of itself, a glorious feast: it is the very least we should expect from now on.
BioShock was largely acclaimed for doing a few very specific things right: the relative maturity of its philosophical themes, its stunning setpieces, its cultural wallpaper. It was received by the audience with the kind of welcome reserved for something for which we've waited ages - and yet Rogers believes that should have always been "the bar," and should continue to be.
Of course, with trademark irreverent glee and dark humour, Rogers dissects the manifold things BioShock did wrong:
With that in mind, I present you Sega's trailer for Gas Powered Games space-themed follow-up to Dungeon Siege, Space Siege. Just the name alone, going by the classic "Add Space To Anything" rule, is full of epic win. So says Space Fahey.
One day the official press release will be faster than the preview magazine cover, but until they develop some sort of magical network that spontaneously connects people all over the world our gaming news will come EGM cover first, then official release. Such is of course the case with Namco Bandai's revival of Splatterhouse, which we've known about for a couple of days now.
The press release does reveal that the game will feature the same characters from the original, including Terror Mask recipient Rick Taylor, his imperiled girlfriend Jennifer, and the iconic setting of West Manor, though a new story written by comic book writer Gordon Rennie (JUDGE DREDD!) will see Rick escaping the confines of the house, scouring the world to rescue his girl.
The promises brutal, combo-infused combat, a new leaping technique that adds a whole new element of explorations, and a regeneration mechanic that uses visible cues rather than a health meter to display Rick's status.
The game is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2009. Hit the jump for the whole sticky mess.
Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer continues his week-long look at video game review practices by exploring the practice of game publishers withholding certain bonuses and/or royalties if the game doesn't achieve a certain Metacritic average. Basically a publisher agrees to finance the development of a game as long as the developer in these sort of situation agrees to Metacritic score limit stipulations that could theoretically see a low-scoring game that sells millions (any children's licensed title really) hardly earning the devs a dime.
In short, Warhammer Online's crafting consists of alchemy apothecary and talisman making, with several gathering professions to help back those up. It isn't a recipe based, so you aren't likely to find yourself with an inventory full of crap you can't use. You'll be able to harvest items by cultivating plants, stripping the flesh off of animals, scavenging corpses, and Magical Salvaging, which is like disenchanting, only with a ridiculous name.
Don't take my word for it though! Take Mark's, for thirteen minutes. I'll be napping if you need me.
Does an entry in the Guinness World Records count as an award? If so, chalk up another one for Sid Meier, who has just entered the 2008 Gamer's Edition of that prestigious publication as the game industry's most award-winning creator. Among his many achievements are numerous awards for the Civilization series, induction into the Computer Museum of America's and Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Halls of Fame, and a commemorative star on the Walk of Game. How does it feel?
"I'm fortunate to be able to do what I love and am grateful for all of the wonderful recognition I've received over the years," said Sid Meier. "It is every kid's dream to make it into the Guinness World Records and I'm thrilled to be a part of the prestigious book. I'm thankful to the many game critics who have enjoyed our games and hope they are as excited about our upcoming Civilization Revolution title as I am."
And there, my friends, is why great men are great. They are never too proud to slip in a little marketing. Go read some more marketing in the official press release, while I apply some watercolour Photoshop filter love to this great, great man.
Jim completely kicks arse though, doesn't he?
Last week reports surfaced suggesting that Splinter Cell: Conviction, the latest chapter in Ubisoft's Sam Fisher saga, had gone back to the drawing board for a drastic reworking. Now that the company's Ubidays event has come and gone without even a thumbnail screenshot from the game, a representative is ready to give us specifics on how vague things are with Conviction.
