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No no no, this isn't the animated comic. That was something else. This is the proper Dead Space cartoon, which is being released straight to DVD. It's a prequel, explaining how everything went down before you end up on the ship where everything's trying to eat you. I must say, for a one-shot, feature-length marketing stunt, it's looking pretty good!
SoulCalibur IV is going on sale soon, and here's your first look at the underoos in the game's "Character Creation". SCIV is bringing back the "Character Creation" from SoulCalibur III, and previously, we posted how it was possible to do things like created an Afro Ninja. Really, this right here is the reason for you to buy this game. And, no! It's so not because of the trite girls in bikini fighting. (Yawn.) It's for "Nightmare" and "Lizardman". Forget Darth Vader, forget Yoda, Nightmare and Lizardman deserve to be on the box way more than those Lucas characters. Way more.
Click through the gallery to see what I'm rambling on about.
Not confirmed, but Nintendo-centric Japanese blog Rambing Man has a street date for Wii Music: The game will apparently be released on October 16th for ¥5,800 ($US 54) as part of the Touch Generation Series and will have Wi-Fi. Other details floating include a Japanese release date for Captain Rainbow (August 28th for ¥6,800 or $US 63) and Valkyrie Profile DS (October 2nd for ¥5040 or $US 47). Oh, new Wii-mote straps, too. Make that new, coloured Wii-mote straps. Priced at ¥300 a piece, they'll come in white, pink, blue and green. All four will be available for ¥1,000. Those will be out this September, says Rambling Man.
Quick show of hands: Who's interested in picking up Wii Music? Who's keen for new strap colours?
Wii Music 発売日決定 [Rambling Man via Jonnyram@GAF] [Pic]
Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai is confused. Just look at his Giant Kaz Face, see how tranquilly baffled it is? That's some serious confusion. When Xbox bossman Don Mattrick said Microsoft would sell more consoles than the PS3 this generation, Hirai wasn't quite sure what that meant. How long does Microsoft think the generation is? Is the Xbox 360 going to be around for ten years like Sony claims the PS3 is? Questions, questions, questions. Here's Kaz's take:
Goldeneye was a good Bond game. The last good Bond game, really. Problem being, Goldeneye was a loooooong time ago, and there have been a lot of Bond games since. So that's a problem for current Bond developers Treyarch, right? Nope! Those sucky games were all EA's fault:
We're not trying to fix anything EA did wrong, because that's just what they did. I'm sure the series pissed off a lot of gamers over the last few years as the games started to go downhill, but we have no control over that.
Hope your body can cash those cheques your mouth's writing, Treyarch!
Picture this. You're playing a Formula 1 game on the TV in your bedroom, while in the living room, another TV is set to a real, actual Formula 1 race. And you're racing the same cars, in the same positions, at the same speed, as they're going on the TV. Impossible? Probably, but that's not going to stop iOpener from trying. They claim that through a combination of "Differential GPS and an Inertial Management Unit" attached to a competitor, a car's location on the track and current speed can be relayed back to a game in around five seconds. iOpener are in talks with six developers at the moment, and hope to have the system implemented in a retail game as early as this holiday season.
Real racing in the virtual world [BBC, via Gizmodo]
Forget what you think about how those E3 pressers went, Xbox honcho Don Mattrick is here to tell you what he thinks. And what does he think? He thinks the other companies have been slacking off — that they've been "on vacation". No, not just "on vacation", make that "on an extended vacation". Here's the sound-byte:
I think we got more than 12 months' work done, and others went on an extended vacation. Hopefully they got some good vacation photos, because they sure weren't showing up at work... Of course I'm going to be biased, but so far what I've heard is that Sony and Nintendo have disappointed. And Microsoft has been leading, innovating and driving a very comprehensive global programme... We're building momentum and we're on a scale that no other consumer electronics company or entertainment company has been able to achieve in nine years. It's been a very good show and I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish. I think there was a lot of good work, a lot of innovation and a lot of news from us.
Oh, Don.
As can be witnessed by their decision to, after only a year, cut their losses and start offering the service for free, Microsoft's Games for Windows Live initiative hasn't exactly set the world on fire. But just because it hasn't, doesn't mean that it can't. What could help spice things up a little? How about, oh, the ability to play XBLA games on both your 360 and PC? Would that help? It's something Microsoft are obviously thinking about, because after being asked about the subject by 1UP's Shawn Elliot, Microsoft's Kevin Unangst replies:
In case you missed it, Captain Rainbow is an upcoming Wii title, the next game from Skip, the guys behind Chibi Robo. A few weeks back, we caught the game's first trailer, starring Birdo, and were all double-u-tee-eff. Now, though, it's been lovingly translated (here, if you're interested), along with the game's second trailer, which features another Nintendo star, Little Mac. Who's, uh, not so little anymore. Birdo's above, Little Mac after the jump, but a word of warning: you'll still be all double-u-tee-eff.
Say what you will about his outbursts, Sony's Peter Dille is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. Dude bleeds Sony. And as is often the case with passionate, outspoken types, as often as they're wrong about something, they're right about something else. Yesterday, Dille was so wrong about Final Fantasy XIII, but today (well, last week, it's from the same E3 interview), speaking about the PS3's global appeal, he's bang on the money:
We've gotten dangerous close to actual naughty games on the DS. But those always end up being big teases! Now, we're going to get an actual dirty game at this year's Comic Market this summer. The person who's making it says there are plans even to sell it in Akihabara after that. The self-made game's entirely homebrew and certainly does not have the Nintendo Seal of Quality — and never will! And the best part? The name of this 18 years old and up game is Half Elf Tentacle Assault. The developer says game play clips are forthcoming. For better or worse.
Hit the jump for a THANKFULLY pixelated promo-scan. Still might be NSFW, depending on where you work. You've been warned!
Thanks, Nicoara for the tip! In case this clip gets pulled, we've posted the clip after the jump. That one is slightly better quality.
Outside of the most die-hard of PS3 zealots, few people are yet to see the worth in Sony's Qore programming for the PS3. "Editorial" games content provided by the platform holder, at cost to the user? No, thanks. Perhaps sensing this apprehension, Sony will be sweetening the pot for the next episode, offering an undisclosed number of keys to the Resistance 2 beta, scheduled to kick off in September. You want in, you pony up for Qore. Simple.
[thanks Matt!]
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix needed a turbo remix of a soundtrack. And that's what it got from non-for-profit website OverClocked Remix (www.ocremix.org), which provided fan mixes and arrangements. According to the site's creator David Lloyd, "Artists can submit their own ReMixes of classic and modern game soundtracks, from consoles, handhelds, arcade, or computer games, in any musical genre, from rock to jazz to orchestral to trance". Capcom was able to tap this pool of talent for the game's soundtrack. And that's pretty darn cool.
how OC ReMix put its stamp on Street Fighter II HD Remix [ArsTechnica via s-kill's Blog Thanks, Gantz!]
Are those of you who felt let down by Nintendo's E3 showing hanging onto hopes that maybe, just maybe they'll pull something out just for you at the last minute? As if it were your birthday, and all day everyone seemed to have forgotten, and just as you're heading home for the night, surprise!
If that sounds like you, here comes Cammie Dunaway to crash your party.
"You have seen the extent of Nintendo's 2008 holiday lineup", she told Wired recently, in the same interview wherein she also said she's really as jaw-crackingly smiley in real life as she appears to be during press conferences.
When you think about it, though, the holiday's not that far off. And before you know it, it'll be a brand new year, and time for brand new announcements. Such as?
Posted by Logan Booker at 4:00 PM on July 24, 2008
Love is an MMO under development that makes use of procedural algorithms - that is, code that generates graphics, levels and characters based on a set of parameters. It places a heavy burden on the programmer, but it means a group (or single) coder can get away with not having artists, designers and level builders. Which is a good thing, as there's just one guy behind Love. His name is Eskil Steenberg.
A basic example is the dungeon-building code in the first Game A Week, Wizkill. Using hard-coded rules, the game produces unique, random levels that resemble something a human could make, given the time.
So what makes Love particularly special, apart from its breath-taking visuals and natural-looking environments? From the Wired story:
Players can rearrange trees and boulders, reconfigure buildings, or hollow out new caves in hillsides. The gorgeous vistas are also subject to natural phenomena like erosion, thanks to Steenberg's tectonics system.There's another MMO in development - Infinity: The Quest for Earth - that uses procedural algorithms to generate content, and was originally a one-man show. The difference is Infinity uses its algorithms to pre-generate its universe, rather than to constantly create and alter unique environments.
Indie Game Developers Enlist Algorithms to Do the World-Building for Them [Wired]
Yup. They're not just classy. They're classy classy. They're part of an upcoming Street Fighter II line by Triumvir, which will be out later in the year. These shirts, however, (also available in black, with matching caps) will be available this week at Comic Con. If you've always harboured a desire to be part of Bison's shady gang but lacked the physical chops, these are the safe, legal option for those feeling the need to nevertheless "represent".
With the ratings spotlight seeming to sharpen on gory games these days, will we see any sanitation in beloved horror titles, say, Resident Evil 5?
Not to worry, Capcom told MCV:
"We're never going to create a gore-free Resident Evil title to try and get a lower rating as it's a game about the horror experience and gore is part of that," said Rhys Cash, Capcom UK's research and planning manager.
"We're primarily about making great games and if it's appropriate to the title we won't shy away from making a 15+ or 18+ title.
Konami's Koji Igarashi is the Castlevania guy. And when fans play a Castlevania game, they know, more or less, what they are getting themselves into. But Castlevania Judgement is different! It's a fighter, but now. And the early buzz around the game hasn't been so hot. Why does Igarashi think that is?
When you have a franchise like this, that's become popular in a certain type of game style and you change that so drastically, I understand the responses is going to be negative... I also felt a lot of the response was, I guess, unjustified in the sense that they based their [response] on just hearing about it or maybe seeing a couple of screen shots and making a whole assumption.
Insert Igarashi sad face.
Koji Igarashi Calls 'Castlevania Judgment' Fan Criticism 'Unjustified' [Multiplayer] [Pic]
As above. There's a notice on Roadrunner Records' site announcing that a Dragonforce song pack will be released for Guitar Hero III on August 21. It'll contain three songs: "Heroes Of Our Time", "Operation Ground And Pound" and "Revolution Deathsquad". And...yeah. Dragonforce. What, did your dog eat your Slayer song pack, Neversoft?
[Roadrunner Records, thanks Silenced!]
The next title to come out of the partnership between Electronic Arts and Hasbro is Operation Mania, a reworking of that surgery game we all used to play when we were kids — remember the poor patient with the light-up nose?
The video game version seems to have added a bit more than just pulling out plastic organs from a precarious piece of human-shaped plastic machinery, though. You play as up-and-coming surgeon Dr. Humerus, who diagnoses patients with wacky illnesses at five different hospitals on his way to becoming an expert surgeon through microgames "reminiscent of the board game", but it's also got a story mode, upgradeable hospitals, and multiplayer.
EA's launching it on its casual Pogo site in North America and Europe in August, and in a retail box in North America in September. Full details after the jump.
You've seen the on set pictures, you've seen the trailer, now look at the Max Payne movie posters. There are two of them, and one is right up there for you to look at and the other is after the jump. Look at that one, too!
Also, expect more info about the Max Payne from this year's Comic Con as Marky Mark and the Max Payne crew will be on hand to show new footage and chitchat.
Ah. Relax, Watchmen fans. When we heard the episodic Watchmen games were to be "brawlers", it was hard not to be a little disappointed. Reducing one of the greatest comic stories ever told to a "brawler"? It was a poor fit. But it's OK! Because the games aren't based on the comic. They're prequels, set in the gang's younger, more pugilistic days, where you'll take on (at least in the first "episode") the role of either Rorschach or Nite Owl. Good news, no? Much better they mess with that than ruin the storyline of the actual comic. Now for the better news. Dave Gibbons is working with the development team as an "advisor", so even if they cock the game up completely, it should at least look OK.
Previews: Watchmen [1UP]
Yeah yeah, we knew Jimi Hendrix was coming to Guitar Hero. Now we know how he's coming. Activision have announced that two songs - one a master recording, one a live track - will feature in the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour, with more to come as DLC. The live song's "Purple Haze" (from a 1969 show at the San Diego Sports Arena), while the master track's "The Wind Cries Mary". Hendrix will also be appearing in the game as a "playable character". "Press Release" follows.
Sure, last month Nintendo Europe's Laurent Fischer said the Wii's storage problem was only affecting "geeks and otaku". But that was last month. This month? It's a big problem, one affecting not only the scum-sucking hardcore of Nintendo's murky cash tank, but one affecting everyone. Reggie explains:
From an Americas-centric perspective, here is the reality we see. We have a consumer base who loves virtual console. We have a userbase who really is enjoying WiiWare content. So for us really our challenge really is how do we satisfy all these consumers who are loving all of the product we make available on a download basis? As we continue to have things, as you point out, like 'Mario Kart' that has its own channel when you're playing from an Internet perspective, we're just making this challenge tougher and tougher. So in our view this is becoming much more of a mainstream problem, which is why we have a sense of urgency to solve it.
It's comforting to picture Nintendo HQ, deck chairs and money-counting machines upturned, as klaxons sound, tech teams scrambling to "solve" this problem before the Today Show starts complaining about it.
Nintendo: Wii Storage Limitations Becoming A 'Mainstream Problem' [MTV]
As we broke earlier today, the second round of oral arguments in the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit commenced. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These "special incentive" wages were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors claims Itagaki, but the current president is claiming these "special incentive" wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. Early last month, Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"
We've posted all the documentation Tomonobu Itagaki submitted into evidence during the second round of arguments. Itagaki claims he has even more evidence, going as far as stating: "I am prepared to reveal this evidence as the need arises for the sake of greater justice". The evidence submitted earlier today after the jump. Heads up as there's lots of big images ready to suck up your bandwidth — and they're all in Japanese.
Sony Online Entertainment treated members of the press to a luncheon earlier today, part of the Comic-Con 08 push for DC Universe Online. The massively-multiplayer online action RPG, coming to both the PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, will be playable by the public for the first time tonight. We'll be going hands-on with the title this evening, taking part in an in-game Brainiac themed live event with other DC heroes.
We sat down with DC Comics executive creator Jim Lee earlier today to talk about the SOE-developed, DC-branded game. Lee told me that he was the one who had approached SOE after catching wind of the project, an effort which had experienced multiple starts and stops.
As a fairly serious EverQuest player — Lee played Paladin, for the record — the artist turned exec knew his stuff. He dropped MMO-isms (LFG, instances, the grind) like it was his natural language, and with a working knowledge of the DC universe, fans of the genre and the brand should feel confident that it's creatively in good hands.
NetDevil's Jumpgate evolution is a concept that sells itself. Massively multiplayer Wing Commander, anyone? How about some co-operative Privateer? It's a game that combines twitch-action space combat with levels and experience points. It's an excuse to dust off those old flight sticks. You'll even be able to play as a trader, paying more combat-ready players a cut of the action to make sure you make your deliveries safely. Space convoy!
It sounds amazing and looks rather lovely for a game with a scalable engine, allowing it to run on computers old and new, which is why every time I write about the game I'm surprised more people aren't aware of it. Hell, when I sat in with Codemasters' Lilit Baron last week at E3, he almost seemed pleasantly surprised that I had been keeping up with the game. Codemasters is gearing up to cure the rampant ignorance over Jumpgate Evolution, and the Q&A, which you'll find after the jump, is just the beginning.
We snuck in (legitimately!) to the Comic-Con 08 show floor prior to the opening of the show, poking around the nearly empty booths before we grabbed our press passes. There's a pretty sizable gaming presence this year — much bigger than the last. Konami, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Ubisoft, SOE, EA and Capcom are among the bigger publishers taking up a floorspace this year, with playable demos, limited edition merchandise and coveted swag ripe for the taking.
The Comic-Con masses were just admitted, mere minutes ago, into the show floor. Take a look at the virginal booths, before they were violated by the collectible hunting horde.
We'll be checking in with everyone (and finally getting our hands on the new Prince of Persia!) throughout the week.
Yes, we know that the annual Christmastime Wii shortage is always unintentional on Nintendo's part. They're just constantly shocked, for three straight years, at how popular their console is.
Analyst Michael Pachter told Kotaku a few months ago to expect supply constraints for Wii this season, and speaking to Forbes, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata seems pretty certain himself that's how it'll go down, again:
"We are really intending to increase the shipments to the U.S., especially compared to last year", says Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's global president and CEO. "However, I can't give you a 100% commitment [that you'll be able to find a Wii this holiday season]. What I can commit myself to is that Nintendo is going to do its best to supply as many Wii hardware units as possible in order to meet demand there".
A Wii Bit Short On Supplies [worst pun ever, Forbes!]
Telltale, creators of the Sam & Max episodic adventure series, announced a collector's DVD set for Sam & Max Season Two available today, packed with tons of extras. Telltale's announcement focuses on the game's collector's edition getting the same treatment that a TV series boxset would.
The Season Two Collector's DVD comes with all five PC games from the series, plus "hours" of region-free video with special features, developer commentary, a Christmas video short feature, promo trailers, concept art, desktop wallpapers and a MP3 soundtrack sampler.
Additionally, if you already bought the Sam & Max Season Two downloadable set, Telltalle will give you the Collector's DVD for shipping and handling costs only. It's $US 34.95 for the rest of ya, and should ship in August, the company says.
Full announcement follows the jump.
Atlus loves to talk about how its upcoming PS2/Wii "party RPG", Dokapon Kingdom, is going to make you and all of your friends hate each other as you fight one another to be the best kingdom-defender and win the hand of Princess Penny.
But man, how can there be hostility when these screens look so damn adorable and hilarious, seriously? Fist-in-teeth, girl-squealing adorable?
You're looking at the official box art for Wii. Release date is October 14th.
The only thing there was more of at E3 than games were complaints about E3's new, tidy, business-like format. Everyone from company execs to game developers to the working press seemed to have something unhappy to say about the show.
Coasting right there along with the complaints was a building buzz that next year's E3 was going to have to undergo some mammoth changes. Just how mammoth? According to a number of well connected sources I spoke with during the show, there's considerable thought going into opening the doors, this time officially, to the public at next year's big event.
Reached for comment earlier today, the Entertainment Software Association had this to say:
Bethesda just announced that the Penny Arcade guys have created a series of comics based on their upcoming RPG (Bethesda's not Penny Arcade's funny guy) Fallout 3.
Over the coming months the strip will tell the story of Vault 77: One man and a crate of puppets.
Afro Samurai will be demoed to the public for the first time at this week's Comic-Con International in San Diego, Namco Bandai announced today.
The playable demo will give gamers a chance to check out what looks to be a pretty stylistic fighter based on the Samuel L. Jackson executive produced anime series. There will also be an Afro Samurai panel on Thursday featuring the creators behind the show. Panelist members will include Samuel "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson, THe RZA, Takashi Okazaki and Leo Chu. The group plan to talk about the development process, dish on some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and explain the inspiration behind the characters, music and story.
Comic-Con may not officially start until tomorrow but the wheels of big Comic business are already rolling. This afternoon alone we met with folks from several publishers and developers to check out upcoming projects. Stay tuned later tonight for McWhertor's reports from the San Diego Convention Center.
He'll be covering all things video game related over the next five days, bringing you details from the show floor, live blogs from Comic-Con panels and all the news that breaks from Capcom, EA, Activision, Konami and much, much more.
For those attending, let us know in the comments what Sailor Moon character you'll be dressed as.
