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Opera Browser For Wii Levels Up

Stuart Houghton — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Wii owners can look forward to some slightly-more-adequate web browsing real soon now if this rumoured upgrade to Opera is on the money.

Version 2.0 – as revealed to GameReactor – will feature a new button layout for the virtual navigation bar and will be Wii Speak compatible. Users will be able to use a built-in mail client to access their Wii Mail. Tabbed browsing will be supported by a floating ‘tab cube’ that will show thumbnails of up to 6 open tabs.

The browser should be available for 500 Wii Points, but existing owners should be able to get a free upgrade once the app is released in December.

Wii – Opera Browser 2.0 – details [GoNintendo]

Sunday Timewaster: Meat Boy

Maggie Greene — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Edmund McMillen (of Aether, Gish, and the game that shall not be named) is back with Meat Boy, a challenging little game that involves the titular blob of meat trying to rescue Bandaid Girl in a variety of levels. It took me a while to actually look at the game, since the designer woke me up a few nights in a row via IM asking me to take a look at it — I hold a grudge when it comes to my sleep being interrupted — but I’ve spent some time with it and it’s worth a looksee if you’re in the mood for a challenge on a Sunday afternoon. Controls are simple, the game is difficult, but you can skip two levels per group — so if you really get stuck, don’t despair.

Meat Boy

Is LBP Web 2.0 For Games Fulfilled?

Maggie Greene — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Simon Carless, publisher of Gamasutra and one of my favourite people in the world of gaming journalism, contents that LittleBigPlanet is Web 2.0 for games fulfilled — and makes a pretty persuasive argument for why it may be so. Of course, he’s basing this on access to the beta version and admits that we’ll have to wait until release to see how this will all pan out with a big community attached, but it looks promising:

Now, I’m sure some might accuse me of hyperbole in the face of relatively little evidence. And it’s true that I can’t tell what’s going to happen to the community based around the game, when the full weight (and, hopefully, ingenuity) of the PS3 masses are brought to bear on it.

But the game has managed to do what console titles have thus far shuddered to provide – an open, easy to use creation system that lets the community make the magic, while the creators stand back and marvel.

He goes on to lay out the points he sees as particularly important, from the ease of creating content to relative freedom in creation to the tagging system. This issue of user-generated content is so important — even big universities have people scurrying around trying to figure out how to make it easy for reasonably clueless people make cool stuff, too — so it will be interesting to see if all of these predictions pan out as planned.

Why LittleBigPlanet Is Web 2.0 For Games, Fulfilled [GameSetWatch]

Suicide is Painless, Even Fun (In This Weird Flash Game)

Owen Good — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Here’s Karoshi Suicide Salaryman, a frighteningly addictive puzzler in which the object is to kill yourself. Of course, only that part of the game’s concept is backward, the actual means to kill yourself are obscured or protected from you, as you are a danger to yourself and others (and you have access to firearms). I made it to level 7 (it counts down from 49) in about 20 minutes. For a flash game, that’s a pretty good gameplay experience. The game remembers your progress if you want to come back to it later, so don’t delete your cookies. I really dig the soundtrack, but there’s no explanation of why you’re so desperate to end your own life. My guess is the global financial meltdown armageddon panic has something to do with it.

Karoshi Suicide Salaryman [Armor Games]

Lord of the Rings Online Going Social

Seamus Byrne — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:59:05 +0000

The next step in the evolution of the MMO species? Or just a gimmick? Eurogamer has noted Turbine’s Jim Crowley is talking about the launch of a genuine social networking site for LOTRO players before year’s end. Live news from the game world, character profiles, friends lists, and sharing screens and videos from the game.

“Turbine believes that a closed eco-system will have to become an open eco-system,” he said. “The MMO needs to learn… to adapt itself to the ‘born digital’ generation. The MMO needs to step out of its shell and start reaching a much broader and deeper audience.”

I think this is a great idea. Virtual worlds need to move beyond the game client, particularly if it can let players do their MMO chores during convenient downtime during the day. If WoW had a mobile phone version of the auction house, for example, I don’t think I’d have left when I did. I’d have just kept playing that market to gain some gold between the times I could actually jump in and spend more genuine time playing the game. Allowing friends and guilds to interact as part of a world-specific social network can only be a good thing. Anyone see a downside?

LOTRO to get social network site this year [Eurogamer]

Sunday Timewaster: Marshmallow

Maggie Greene — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:30:00 +0000

This wonderfully adorable (and kind of weird) game is pretty straight forward — guide the marshmallow around a variety of objects just waiting to take a bite out of your head and send you hurtling towards the ground so you can land with a ’splat.’ It’s cute. It’s not terribly taxing. The soundtrack is … well, something (soothing? Weird? Vaguely Katamari-esque? All of the above?), but the game is really cute and a nice way to waste a couple of minutes or more ….

Marshmallow [forrent via IndieGames]

Fox Gets Terminators In Our iPhones

Stuart Houghton — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Noooo! Anyone who has seen Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will tell you two things – 1) lady terminators are pretty and 2) if the bloody things can get on the internet they can hack anything and cause all kinds of hassle.

Fox has only gone and introduced the glow-eyed menaces to the iPhone. Great. Now death will be both swift AND stylish.

Terminator: Ambush is a mini MMO that can be played via the iPhone or a web browser. the idea is that players using the web interface hunt down and terminate those using the iPhone version. There is a GPS component to the game, so don’t play if you actually are being hunted by a killer robot – this will lead them right to you.

FOX Launches ‘Terminator’-themed, location-based MMORPG [Touch Arcade]

You Don’t Know Jack set for big comeback

Seamus Byrne — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:30:25 +0000

I love You Don’t Know Jack. Many who have played it feel exactly the same way. When it went to a web edition in the late ’90s it was the best damn thing on the Internet, but then it all went away. Regular installments of the new webshow have been enjoyed over the past two years, but now they’re set to call it a day at #100 to focus on a next big thing.

We’ve decided to actually try to make some money with this thing. We’re working hard on getting this game out to the masses… in the upcoming weeks, you’ll hear some real big news about a real big deal we’ve made with some real bigshots who can help get YOU DON’T KNOW JACK back to where it belongs – in the home of every living man, woman, and child, and most elves. And for all of our loyal viewers, and we know who you are, we promise to give you a token of our appreciation. Stay tuned.

Past rumours point to a Wii version in the works, and that could be a lot of fun. I’ll still cross my fingers for a Live Arcade or PSN version — they’d be a lot better suited to online play… but in the end I’ll take whatever Jellyvision give me.

If you’ve never played it, go play the last few episodes (plus all the archives are available) before they wrap things up to get to work on their ‘big news’ project.

Big News in Jellyland [YDKJ via Destructoid]

Adventure Icon Jane Jensen Launches Grey Matter Blog

Mike Fahey — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Good news and bad news for fans of the good old adventure game genre. Grey Matter, the next adventure game by Gabriel Knight creator Jane Jensen, is being reworked by it’s new developer Wizarbox and had to be pushed back as they reworked the infrastructure established by the previous one. The good news is, Jane herself is now keeping us updated on the game’s progress via her very own blog. Simply called Jane’s Blog, Jensen will use the blog to track the development status of Grey Matter and give fans a sneak peek at the game, such as this lovely piece of concept art, part of a batch posted on the blog today to commemorate the first post.

Hit the link for more concept art to help soften the blow of the unfortunate delay.

Jane’s Grey Matter Blog [Official Website]

A Batman MMORPG? Er, No, Actually

Stuart Houghton — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:20:00 +0000

While tooling about the web lately you may have come across an advert for a Free Online Batman Game (pictured).

Don’t get too excited, however. There is a DC MMO in development but a) it’s not ready yet b) while it will feature the Bat it is in no way an ‘Online Batman Game’ and c) it sure as hell won’t be free.

No, as the Facetime Labs Security Blog has uncovered, this looks like an attempt by (possibly someone acting on behalf of) Adware developer Zango to lure hapless gamers into downloading their search toolbar.

Following the link takes you to the anonymously registered (and currently down) website Batmangame.info featuring screengrabs from 2005’s Batman Begins tie-in and the following message:

“To download and play the Batman Online Game you must download and install Zango as well. It is free, very easy to install and will give you access to the full game.”

Tellingly, the site seems remarkably light on DC or Warner Bros copyright info.

Zango And The Batman Online Videogame [Factime Labs via TechDirt]