welp

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Mirror's Edge screenshots, Soul Calibur IV screenshots, Street Fighter IV English trailer

• Eidos' parent company SCi is cutting 25 percent of jobs and canceling 14 projects.
• The Game Developers' Association of Australia continues to lobby the government for tax credits for developers.
• G4 will be airing its coverage of the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival Awards on X-Play tonight at 8:00 EST.
• Videos on YouTube show Sagat and Balrog in Street Fighter IV, though Capcom says they are AI controlled and not selectable. Whether they're just that way for the location test or if they'll be unlockable is unknown.
• Videogamer.com has an extensive hands-on with Grand Theft Auto IV. ". The 'fantasy' vehicles have all been removed. Gone are the tanks, aeroplanes, parachutes, jet packs and bicycles. Cars, choppers, motorbikes and boats survive the chop. Vehicle damage is detailed and has a real impact on the handling of your car."
• By the way, there will be no GTA4 demo.
• Take Two says that they have received other buyout offers from companies besides EA, but they haven't had any formal talks with any of them.
• The next Rock Band DLC will be six Grateful Dead tracks. And all I can think of is this.
• Bioshock won 8 categories at the Game Audio Network Guild Awards.
• Prof. Michael Hoechsmann from McGill University has complained that the game industry continually chooses "subject matter and adventures that involve guns, violence and warfare." Except all those times they don't.
• 1up interview the head of Mastiff about their upcoming Major League Eating game.
• Southpeak Games has announced X-Blades, an anime-inspired action adventure for the PC, 360 and PS3.
• And Eidos has announced Battlestations: Pacific for the PC and 360.
• Jason Ocampo, who just recently left Gamespot, has signed on as PC editor-in-chief at IGN.
• Joystiq's Law of the Game feature analyzes the legal standing for the suit against Capcom over Dead Rising.
• Destructoid looks at some of the most campy video game characters.

PC and mobile news

New content: Penumbra: Overture and Penumbra: Black Plague demos, Conquest of the Aegean version 3 patch
New media: Battlefield Heroes screens and debut trailer

• NPD has released a chart for the top selling PC games in January.
• Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says that you'd need half a billion dollars just to get an MMO on equal footing with World of Warcraft. Trion World Network CEO Lars Buttler says Kotick is just trying to scare the competition.
• Titan Quest developer Iron Lore Entertainment has closed down
• Sins of a Solar Empire has sold more than 100,000 copies in less than a month.
• Microsoft plans to cut the price of Vista later this year.
• GameSetWatch has video of Trism, a simple puzzle game which makes use of the iPhone's touchscreen and accelerometer.
• That I Can End Deportation game has drawn at least one critic, though it's fairly clear he is a crazy person. "The game is more practically geared toward an effort to inculcate middle class Americans into the belief that illegal immigration is a human rights issue, never mind open borders and the influx of third world people is a globalist plot to turn the United States, soon to become part of a North American Union, into a feudal slave labor gulag based on the China model."
• Kotaku has video of Firefly, the first game made for Microsoft's Surface.

Nintendo news

• Japan will soon be getting a Neo Geo arcade stick for the Wii.
• Datel's Freeloader has been released for the Wii, allowing for region-free gaming.
• At Kelly's you can rent-to-own a Wii for a mere $79 a month for 12 months! (That's $948 if math is difficult for you.)
• Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku writes about his experiences with Wii Fit. "When I saw Wii Fit at E3 last year, I hated it. Really, really hated it. And when I bought it for this feature, I still hated it. Then I started using it, and the hate started dissipating. Nintendo's doing its own thing now, for better or worse. And taking Wii Fit for what it is, the game works."

Sony news

• The previously reported bundle made it pretty clear, but now Konami has officially announced a June 12 worldwide release date for Metal Gear Solid 4.
• Now it turns out that the version of MGS1 in the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection isn't a PS2 port but in fact comes on PSX discs. It's likely then that you will need a PS1 memory card; hope you kept yours around.
• The PS3, in Japan at least, is getting Initial D Extreme Stage, a port of the arcade title Initial D Arcade Stage 4.
• Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is coming to PSN next week.
• The American and European versions of Metal Gear Solid 4 won't contain the Japanese language track due to space issues. Space? What happened to the power of Blu-ray?
• If you're really obsessed with hearing people say "Su-nei-ku", you may already be considering getting the Japanese version. No luck there either, as it won't have English subtitles.
• Game Trailers has a video interview with David Jaffe.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror for $19.99.

Microsoft news

• John DiMaggio, voice of Marcus Fenix, talks a little about what to expect in Gears of War 2.
• A guy with an Xbox 360 covered in signatures and artwork from people at Bungie and Rooster Teeth sent it to Microsoft for repairs and got the system back... with everything on the case scrubbed off.
• One indie developer gives his take on the recent changes to Live Arcade royalties and XNA.
• Games Are Fun has scans of the Xbox World 360 on Goldeneye -- actual scans, not just photos of the pages. According to the article, Reggie Fils-Aime was behind the plan to release the game, but Satoru Iwata pulled the plug.
• Call of Duty 4 has been patched to add host migration and new killcams.
• Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is coming to Live Arcade next week.

Posted by Bill at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Quiz time! The above image depicts an item currently in production to soon be available for purchase. It is a:

A) Master Chief Pez dispenser
B) Spartan helmet for your cat
C) Master Chief pencil topper
D) Chocolate Spartan helmet to fit onto the head of your penis

And the answer is.... Oh. Oh Jesus.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Silent Hill V screenshots, Speed Racer the Videogame trailer, Gamebryo self-shading breasts tech demo -- no, I'm not kidding

• EA said last week that they were making a new game for one of their classic franchises, but didn't specify. It seemed like we had gotten a clue when Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach possibly leaked the existence of a new Road Rash, but EA just told Kotaku that Road Rash is not currently in development.
• The Wii outsold the PS3 4 to 1 in Japan for the month of February.
• No doubt that's related to the new Japanese sales charts which sees Smash Bros. Brawl on top for the fourth week in a row.
• Capcom has unveiled a competition to design a challenge level in Bionic Commando Rearmed.
• A man who stabbed, shot and and gouged out the eye of an 80 year old man is using the video games made me do it defense. "[Attorney] Gladden described Lackey as a computer geek who had immersed himself in video games and lived in 'a different world than you and I.'"
• GameDaily has the results of a survey that asked 1864 Americans "What is your favorite leisure activity?" The female group most interested in games was 18 to 24 year olds with 11%. The male group most interested in games was 12 to 17 year olds with 44%.
• First Poison, now another age old question is settled: Capcom officially says M. Bison's organization is called Shadaloo. Not Shadoloo or Shadowloo or the Badds.
• You can trade in old consoles through a company called Dealtree.com and receive Best Buy or Circuit City gift cards for the system's "fair value" price.
• Want to be a total dick? Why not buy a device to cheat at Guitar Hero.
• The next Futurama DVD movie will contain the episode from the video game as well as a commentary track on said episode.

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: I of the Dragon, Shadowgrounds Survivor, Surakarta

• It looks like a number of copies of The Club shipped without a product key in the box. Whoops.
• Wired names the top 3 indie games to watch out for.
• GameSetWatch has a follow-up piece to their recent feature on piracy and the casual gaming market.

Nintendo news

• Japan's Fair Trade Commission is investigating Sharp and Hitachi on suspicion that they are fixing prices for LCD screens used in DS systems.
• Capcom says that the Wii port of Resident Evil 0 will likely remain a Japan-only release.
• Wii homebrewers have found a way to uncensor Manhunt 2.
• Mario Kart Wii supports 8 player battle mode, but apparently the "text chat" announced earlier is limited to a set of pre-determined phrases.
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King has a possible price and release date -- May 12, 1500 Wii points -- but it has yet to be confirmed.
• Namco will be bringing Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World to America.
• Nintendo says they almost went with a parental control timer on the Wii. After "debate raged for several weeks," they instead settled on the play history list. "Tthis allowed parents to monitor and discuss how much their children were playing...this is why you can't erase the play history on the console."

Sony news

New content: Guitar Hero III No Doubt pack, PAIN character, Rock Band tracks

• A Gran Turismo 5 Prologue bundle is coming to Europe.
• Sony demonstrated head tracking using the Playstation Eye at GDC.
• Yahoo! Games thinks they know what "secret" game that BBC journalist was shown, and they provide more details on it.
• Kotaku looks at the special features of Home for Uncharted, Warhawk, and Resistance.
• SingStar's SingStore is getting a 67 song update.
• Amazon has Call of Duty 4 for $49.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Guitar Hero III No Doubt pack

• ThinkGeek has a video up showing the Halo 3 Laser Command toys in action. Watch the guy's arm vibrating as he fires the plasma rifle.
• Namco will be bringing Tales of Vesperia to America.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for $39.99.

Posted by Bill at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you couldn't be bothered to download and comb through that massive 1000 prototype dump a few days ago, posters at NeoGAF are going through and pointing out some of the more interesting bits.

Industry and multi-console news

• Certain Rock Band DLC songs have been patched to fix a minor error with incorrect genre tags. Re-downloading them isn't required. The patched versions are up on Live now and will be available for the PS3 on the 28th.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its probe of THQ's stock option practices, and they will not be recommending any action against the company.
• The makers of Project Gotham Racing, MotorStorm, Sega Rally and Dirt have a roundtable discussion on the current state of racing games.
• Yoshinori Ono says that Street Fighter IV could see an expanded roster on home consoles, and that the home systems the game comes to isn't necessarily limited to just the 360 and PS3. "We could make it on Game Boy, for all we know right now. As long as the rules are the same, that can be independent of the visuals. So we're not going to be limited by any hardware specs; we're going to aim as wide as possible."
• GameFly has revealed the winners of its Fifth Annual Q Awards.
• This still isn't over, apparently: Jason Ocampo is leaving Gamespot.
• Atlus' Wii and PS2 RPG Baroque has been delayed.
• Joystiq has attempted to breakdown how 1up's new letter grade system matches up to their old number scores.
• GDC, DICE and E3 could all be invite-only next year.
• They're making a Deadliest Catch video game. I don't know why.
• Dreamworks' Jeffrey Katzenberg said that competition from video games was partly to blame for the lower than expected home video sales of Shrek the Third.

PC and mobile news

New content: Depths of Peril 1.009 patch
New media: Far Cry 2 tree regeneration demo video

• Telltale Games has announced Sam & Max Episode 204 - Chariots of the Dogs.
• Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor says ""PC gaming as we know it is dead... secure gaming is the future."
• Live Gamer has been signed on to provide real money trading for InstantAction.com.
• Two features with advice for those looking to enter the indie game development world: Gamasutra's Nine Paths to Indie Game Greatness and 1up's So You Want To Make A Game.
• A middle-east expert has scoffed at the idea of terror cells in MMOs. "If the July 7, 2005, bombers of the London underground could so easily be recruited in a gym in Leeds, why go to all the trouble of creating an avatar?"
• Chrysler and SBK Interactive have produced a serious game to teach teens how to drive.
• Japan's erotic game industry is having trouble, primarily caused by the competition between game companies and doujin makers.

Nintendo news

New media: Blast Works trailer

• Disney has unveiled Ultimate Band for the Wii and DS.
• A port of Resident Evil Zero is coming to the Wii.
• N-Sider has uncovered an old article written by Masahiro Sakurai about the first Smash Bros. "When you experience defeat, you should not feel down or remorseful, but rather praise your opponent for putting up a good fight. This is the essence of Smash Bros."
• WiiFit has been priced for Europe: £69.99 in the UK and €89.99 for everybody else.
• Mario Kart Wii will feature text chat before and after races. Only with the people you've exchanged Friend Codes with, of course.
• An updated version of the Flash game Defend Your Castle is coming to WiiWare.
• Insert Credit points out that the XaviXPORT was kind of a predecessor to the Wii -- except for that part about being successful. Part of the problem was that their motion sensing boxing, tennis, golf, etc games were all sold separately.
• You may think there's nothing geekier than a Mario-themed night with Mario-themed drinks. But there is in fact one thing geekier: Doing it at a bar called Scrollbar.

Sony news

New content: LittleBigPlanet screenshots

• The PSP Go!Messenger will launch on Friday in Europe.
• Disgaea 3 is coming to the US in August.
• The Zero Punctuation video review for this week is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
• Rumor says that the Playstation Store will be getting an overhaul in April.
• Wipeout HD will support customizable soundtracks.
• Just in case you were worried, and I have to say the possibility never even occurred to me, the version of MGS1 contained in the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection will be on a PS2 disc, not an original Playstation disc. So you don't need to dig out an old PSX memory card.
• The 80 gig PS3 in the recently announced MGS4 bundle will be partially backwards compatible.
• An update to the story of the kid whose PSP caught his pants on fire: It may be that his after-market charger caused the fire, not the PSP itself.
• The PEGI ratings database has revealed 25 games previously unannounced for the PAL Playstation Store.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Kane and Lynch: Dead Men for $34.99.

Microsoft news

New Live Arcade title: Triggerheart Exelica

• The firm that reported the 16% failure rate for 360s has released more information on their study. The red ring of death accounted for 60% of all failures, with the remaining 40% made up of disc read errors, power issues, etc.
• The first Two Worlds DLC will be coming in March for 600 points.
• Game Developer magazine has an interview with Bungie gameplay designer Francois Boucher-Genesse how they tweaked difficulty for Halo 3.
• You might initially laugh at the headline "Molyneux driven by past failure", but it turns out he's just refering to his failure to draw a larger audience to gaming.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Kane and Lynch: Dead Men for $34.99.

Posted by Bill at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

British "men's lifestyle" magazine Front has done what needed to be done by sticking a half-naked woman into screenshots of Devil May Cry 4.

Industry and multi-console news

• John Carr of the UK's Children's Charities Coalition for Internet Safety argues that games should dis-incentivise long periods of play to, I guess, protect children from enjoying something for more than a couple hours. He also raised the issue of kids "dying at their consoles," so you can just imagine the rest of his argument from there.
• At the same Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee hearing, Microsoft's Matt Lambert argued that the PEGI ratings were better than BBFC classification.
• EA will be releasing Dead Space on October 31. That link also contains the game's first trailer.
• EA has also announced NFL Head Coach 09, after the series didn't get an 08 installment.
• Gamasutra has some advice for people looking to get into video game voice acting from David Sobolov, an actor who has done work in Call of Duty 4, Everquest II, and more.
• SNK will be releasing Samurai Shodown Anthology on the PSP, PS2 and Wii in quarter four. Among the games included is Samurai Shodown VI, which never had an American release beyond arcades.
• Phil Harrison and Peter Molyneux have both said that modern game controllers have too many buttons (obviously they don't mean the Wii) and can put off new players.
• EA says it's "too early to discuss plans" in response to the question of whether they would kill off the 2K Sports brand if they do eventually acquire Take Two.
• Salon has an article on the quest for a perfect game face. I really don't think you can say The Casting was "greeted, instantly, as a resounding success" when most people thought it looked terrifyingly ugly.
• The Entertainment Consumers Association website has added an advocacy section.
• Cnet warns that the possible R18+ rating for games in Australia could take months or years to go through.
• If you found the Final Fantasy VII pirate Famicom port mentioned a couple days ago to be interesting, Insert Credit points out a Japanese website devoted to pirate game hacks and remakes, with many screenshots of anything from Chrono Trigger on the Famicom to a bizarre Lord of the Rings fighting game for the Mega Drive.
• Over 1000 Japanese women between the ages of 50 and 69 have been surveyed about their gaming habits.
• Ninja Gaiden developer Tomonobu Itagaki says "Violence is not about cutting an enemy into pieces or seeing a lot of blood. In the Japanese warrior tradition you would shame an opponent. A real sword expert would aim his slice at the first four fingers of his opponent's sword hand. This would cost a warrior his livelihood and someone suffering this wound would normally commit suicide rather than live without their sword hand. That's what I consider to be real violence."

PC and mobile news

New media: Starcraft II gameplay footage

• Mass Effect has been given a May 6 release date for the PC.
• The Guild Wars series has sold a total of five million units worldwide.
• Ubisoft's Charles Beauchemin says that Assassin's Creed will perform better under DirectX 10, though it will look the same as under DX9.
• Gamespy lists the top ten PC games they'd like to see remastered.
• Wired has a short article talking about the upcoming Lego Universe MMO.
• The Sims Online is back as part of EA-Land.
• At GDC, Eskil Steenberg showed off an exploration-based mini-MMO called Love featuring a procedurally-generated universe.

Nintendo news

• Wii homebrew continues to take significant steps forward.
• D3 is bringing Bangai-O Spirits on the DS to America. The game features the rather interesting ability to "swap customized levels, high scores and game footage over the internet using sound files dumped from the handheld's headphone jack."
• Two Pokemon spin-off games -- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness -- are shipping for the DS on April 20th in America.
• Doug Lombardi says “If Valve were to develop in-house for another format, it would be the Wii. It’s growing, there’s already a huge user-base, and it’s fun. Source is really scaleable. We can do that.”
• The Wii Menu has been updated to 3.2. It doesn't add any features, just improves system performance.

Sony news

• Ubisoft has set a May 20 release date for Haze.
• Sony will be releasing a red PSP bundled with God of War: Chains of Olympus in June.
• But that's not all! There will also be a 80 gig PS3 bundled with MGS4 and a Dual Shock 3 for $499 in June.
• The Dual Shock 3 alone is due out April 15 for $54.99.
• A beta test for Metal Gear Online will begin in April, with a pre-order of MGS4 giving "guaranteed access."
• Sony says that their PlayTV set-top box digital TV recorder has no restrictions on recorded footage. "All we're doing is moving it out of PlayTV and to the cross-media bar as if it was any other recording. So hopefully users won't do stuff they shouldn't do with it."
• A writer for the BBC says he was shown a trailer for an unannounced PS3 game due out in 2009 that means "we could be on the brink of a step change in what games consoles are capable of in terms of story-telling and immersion." He claims that he mentioned seeing the game to Phil Harrison, and Harrison "was unsure at first whether even to admit the title existed."
• A fan translation of Namco x Capcom is now in beta testing.
• Amazon has Unreal Tournament III on sale for $49.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Rock Band tracks

• Gamasutra lists the top ten Peter Molyneux quotes from his presentation at GDC. "The engine isn't finished. Her buttocks are wrong."
• The owners of the Dawn of the Dead license have finally gotten around to suing Capcom over Dead Rising.
• Meanwhile Kotaku has heard a rumor that Dead Rising 2 may be coming from the Bigs team.
• On Wednesday you can challenge Korn frontman Jonathan Davis to a Halo 3 match as part of Microsoft's on-going Game With Fame series.
• It's becoming a big question as to which party is full of it here -- Microsoft says the Goldeneye XBLA project never existed and they never talked to Xbox World 360 about it, while the people behind the magazine say their upcoming issue has "No rumour. No speculation. Oh, and contrary to reports, comment from Microsoft too." Until this can get sorted out, CVG has added two more screenshots of the game.

Posted by Bill at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The several feet of co-axial cable is what really seals the deal for me.

Industry and multi-console news

• Gamasutra summarizes an EA conference call with investors held after Take Two's rejection of EA's $2 billion bid for their company.
• Next Generation has the newest UK sales chart.
• Kotaku has a video interview with Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono.
• Researchers have found that FPS players seem to enjoy dying more than being killed. They suggest that this may come from the temporary "relief from engagement" brought on by death.
• A new games event called GAMESCom will be held in Cologne in September. This will replace the Games Convention in Leipzig.
• Game Cabaret exposes what we've always known: repressed homoeroticism in R-Type.
• What They Play has an article on Guitar Hero and Rock Band acting as an "introduction to great music." I don't really buy the idea that kids have no clear way of discovering new music these days (last I checked the radio still existed), but rhythm games certainly help.
• Mega64 has uploaded the videos they made for the Independent Game Awards.
• Over 1000 prototypes of games on Sega consoles have been released onto the Internet. It includes 155 prototypes for the 32X, 300 for the Game Gear, and 464 for the Genesis.

PC and mobile news

• Kotaku has pictures of a LucasArts catalog from 1993. Once again somebody takes photos instead of scans, so you can't actually read the damned thing.
• IGN has a preview of Champions Online, including video and screenshots.
• Valve is considering the possiblity of adding video and audio content to Steam.

Nintendo news

New Virtual Console titles: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Psychosis

• They played a Wii at the Oscars. Apparently this is a big deal to some people.
• GDC: Masahiro Sakurai gives a "premortem" of Smash Bros. Brawl.
• According to the most recent 1up Yours podcast, Europe may not get Brawl until fall.

Sony news

• Phil Harrison has left Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios after being president for 15 years. Kazuo Hirai will take over his duties. Reports say Harrison could be leaving to join Atari.
• Sony says that Home won't be affected by Harrison's departure.
• Persona 3 FES is coming to the US. The box will include an "enhanced" version of the original game along with the FES expansion that adds an extra 30 hours of gameplay. Best of all, it will sell for $29.99.
• Toshiba has signed a deal with Sony to produce the Cell chip.
• Motorstorm 2 is expected by Christmas.
• The PS3 version of Bionic Commando: Rearmed will be playable on the PSP via the Remote Play feature.
• Overlord is coming to the PS3. Called Overlord: Raising Hell, it will feature the original game as well as all the downloadable content released so far.
• Sega has announced Valkyria Chronicles for the US and Europe.
• Play Magazine has put forth a rumor that future Rockstar development will be PS3 only.

Microsoft news

• The Ars mole was right, Microsoft is unloading the rest of their HD-DVD drives for $50.
• The ESRB database has revealed more games coming to Live Arcade: Wits and Wagers, Assault Heroes 2, and Mr. Driller Online.
• Kotaku has a video interview with John Schappert, the man now occupying Peter Moore former role in Microsoft.
• Microsoft has extended the trial period on XNA Community games.
• Microsoft has denied any plans to release Goldeneye on Live Arcade, saying the Xbox World 360 article is based on "rumor and speculation." Where did the screenshot come from then? If the magazine teased a whole article based on their own mock-up that would be pretty awful.
• Amazon's deal of the day is NHL 2K8 for $29.99. They also have Project Gotham Racing 4 for $29.99.

Posted by Bill at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Frontlines: Fuel of War (360, PC) - A first-person shooter about countries fighting over depleting natural resources. At least it's not Nazis, I guess. $59.99 on the 360, $49.99 on the PC.
• Patapon (PSP) - Real time strategy controlled via rhythm-based button combos. $19.99 at Amazon.
• Lost Via Domus (360, PC, PS3) - A video game based on the hit TV show Domus. $59.99 on the 360 and PS3, $29.99 on the PC.
• Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (360, PS3, PC) - An alternate history FPS in which the Nazis (d'oh) won WWII. Unrelated to the upcoming Turing Point: Fall of Liberty, where a man can't tell he's talking to Skynet over AIM and then it all goes to hell. $59.99 on the 360 and PS3, $39.99 on the PC.
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PS3) - If you picked PS3 instead of 360, now you finally get your chance to shoot bugs in the snow. $39.99 at Amazon.
• Naruto: Ninja Destiny (DS) - The first 3D head-to-head Naruto fighter for the DS. $29.99 at Amazon.
• The Sims 2: FreeTime (PC) - I guess it's about giving your Sims hobbies. A hobby sounds like a good idea, maybe you should try that out. $29.99 for the regular or $39.99 for the limited edition which includes Sims 2 Deluxe.
• Destroy All Humans: Big WIlly Unleashed (Wii) - Big Willy is apparently a fast food mascot who is really a giant mech. Okay. $49.99 at Amazon.

Naturally there's about a dozen DS games that I haven't bothered to fully list here, ranging from Bubble Bobble: Double Shot to long-awaited release of Bratz Super Babyz. There's also Sega Bass Fishing on the Wii and Heavenly Guardian, which is worth noting just because it's a new PS2 release. The full release list can be seen at Gamasutra.

Posted by Bill at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Always helpful! You can watch a report by Ohio local news affiliate WBNS here showing what happened when they took a simple computer problem to three major computer repair services -- Circuit City's Firedog, Best Buy's Geek Squad and Micro Center's... dude. Alternately, you can apply common sense to know you should never go to any of these places.

Photo source here.

Industry and multi-console news

• EA has proposed a take-over of Take Two. Gamespot has a Q&A with EA's CEO about it. However, Take Two has dismissed the deal for now, saying EA undervalued their business and the offer was only being made now to get in on the coming wave when GTA4 launches. Take-Two says they'll be willing to talk about a price after the game ships.
• GDC: Kim Swift and Erik Wolpaw give a post-mortem on Portal.
• GDC: Mike Capps and Jeff Morris present an Unreal Tournament III post-mortem.
• GDC: Steve Fawkner talks about the trouble in getting a publisher to believe in Puzzle Quest. Gamespot also has a preview of their next game, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.
• GDC: Peter Redding talks about Far Cry 2 and its inspiration, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
• Take a guess. More GDC: Game designers rant on making games that matter.
• Street Fighter IV will come to US arcades, though Capcom is having trouble finding a distributor for it. Most of them now only deal with ticket games. Several specialty arcades have already special ordered cabinets from importers, though.
• The Australian government is considering adding a new R18+ game rating to go beyond their current strongest rating of MA15+. This would hopefully cut down on the number of games that are refused classification and are thus essentially banned.
• Play This Thing talks about why we need game criticism and why game reviews aren't it. "I'm sure the newspapers of early 19th century America ran reviews of the novels of James Fenimore Cooper; they are utterly forgotten, and should be, because by nature they were of interest only to the readers of the newspapers of the time. Contrariwise, Mark Twain's Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses is still considered an examplar of literary criticism."
• Joystiq has video of Jonathan Coulton playing Still Alive in Rock Band.
• A GTA-like board game called Don't Drop the Soap has become the focus of some controversy mainly because it was created by the son of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, the same woman who voted in 2006 to legislate video games in Kansas because “Video games and music lyrics promote violence…" A Republican legislator is now calling for an investigation of the board game and its ties to the governor.
• Insult Swordfighting has the results of some not entirely scientific stress tests on modern console controllers.

PC and mobile news

New content: Neverwinter Nights 1.69.8105 beta 6 patch
New media: CryEngine 2 reality test video -- A side by side comparison between that "colored balls bouncing down the street" Bravia TV ad and a recreation of it in CryEngine 2

• GDC: Developers from Crytek present a Crysis post-mortem.
• The developers of Penny Arcade Adventures say they're aiming for a new episode every four months.
• EA has announced Sims Carnival, a YouTube-like site where users create their own Sims-themed games.
• The US intelligence community -- there is one -- is working on software to detect violent extremists in online virtual worlds like World of Warcraft. It looks like they've got some work ahead of them, as they don't even know what normal behavior looks like yet. "Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments. The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world." Won't he be surprised when he finds out that everyone sounds like a violent extremist online.

Nintendo news

New media: Boom Blox gameplay footage, Mario Kart Wii trailer

• GDC: Louis Castle talks about the development of Boom Blox.
• If you're ready to just give up over the whole mess with Guitar Hero III on the Wii, Activision is now offering full refunds.
• The creator of WiiWare title Eternity's Child is already working on his next game: A DS game called Imagination is the Only Escape about a young Jewish boy in Nazi-occupied France imagining a fantasy world to escape the horrors of the Holocaust.

Sony news

New media: Secret Agent Clank gameplay footage, Patapon trailer

• More details on Wipeout HD have come out of GDC.
• There are also new details on the second card set for Eye of Judgment.
• LucasArts is now prioritizing PS3 development.
• The Home beta should see a significant update this week.
• According to an email from retailer GAME, Gran Turismo 5 will not hit the UK until 2009.

Microsoft news

• The 360 HD-DVD player has been officially discontinued.
• GameSetWatch examines the royalty rate changes for Live Arcade games.
• Details have been released on the next batch of Ace Combat 6 DLC.

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Many of you are familiar with Chrono Resurrection, the aborted fan project to recreate Chrono Trigger in 3D. It was never actually meant to be a full remake, but rather an updated rendering of certain key scenes from the game. Naturally, it was shut down by Square Enix, but recently this video was released showing how far the project had gotten. Feel free to drool all over it and imagine the full Chrono Trigger remake that you will never ever see.

As long as we're imagining things to be remade, here's what Super Mario Galaxy might have looked like on the SNES. Okay, so that's sort of a remake in reverse, sue me.

If you liked the home-made arcade that was shown in this newspost from earlier in the month, here's a closer look around along with an interview with its creator. Of course, you have to hear him talk about how games today don't interest him because they aren't fresh and original -- while he plays the same games again.. and again... and again...

Schizoguy from the Something Awful forums goes through the first level of Super Ghouls n' Ghosts without attacking until the boss. If you have an SA account, this thread is full of videos like this of people performing various feats of skill and recording them. It was in the Let's Play subforum, so it was easy to miss (zing).

If you don't have an SA account, here's one more video. Phiggle gets to level 6 in Battletoads without dying or warping. Yes, that includes the Turbo Tunnel.

A documentary on the making of the Biohazard 2 commercial directed by George Romero and starring Brad Renfro as Leon.

Sure they've got all that crap about building a theme park, but this is what Roller Coaster Tycoon was really made for.

Posted by Bill at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As mentioned yesterday, the next issue of Xbox World 360 will have coverage of the currently stalled Goldeneye port on Live Arcade. They've released this one screenshot ahead of time.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 trailer, GTA4 trailers

• Portal 2 is official, and that's about all we know.
• The new Indiana Jones action game is just now getting into production. It had been sidelined to work on the Force Unleashed.
• GDC: The creator of GTA and Crackdown talks about his new MMO for the PC and 360, APB. See early video of the game here.
• GDC: Masafumi Takada talks about composing for Grasshopper games like God Hand and Killer 7.
• GDC: Patrick Balthrop talks about the sound design of BioShock.
• Next week's Rock Band DLC will be a Nine Inch Nails pack.
• Next Generation has the newest Australian sales charts.
• GameCareerGuide has lessons from people working in gaming on how they got from college to a job in the industry.
• Portal credits tune Still Alive has been confirmed for Rock Band. Better yet, when Jonathan Coulton and some Harmonix guys debuted the song at GDC, somebody tried to copy it off their 360 afterwards. Yes, the man had a 360 memory unit on his keychain.
• Square has renamed the White Engine to Crystal Tools, and has announced it's compatible with the Wii.
• Fox News continues to endear itself to our kind with headlines like "Video Gamers Leave Baby to Die."
• Capcom says that Street Fighter IV is only 50 to 60% complete.
• EA CEO John Riccitiello is unhappy about the declining average score of EA games on Metacritic. "There is nothing acceptable about that. Our core game titles are accurately measured and summarized by these assessments, and that is a very big deal."
• GamePolitics looks at what one particular action of Jack Thompson may have set off the Florida Supreme Court. It could be a filing he made in December that Thompson called a “children’s picture book for adults," filled with pictures interspersed with the text due to “the court’s inability to comprehend” his arguments. You can download and read it yourself at the link.
• Not that you need anyone to tell you that Jack is off his nut, but game site Atomic MPC has an interview with University of Sydney researcher Dr. Guy Porter on the topics of game violence and Jack Thompson. "Jack Thompson’s case has been greatly supported by the work of Dr.Craig Anderson… [But] Anderson has done some experimental work which we regarded as suffering from methodological problems."
• MTV's The Hills is being made into a game, apparently. I dunno. It's reality TV that I've never heard of and I don't care.
• Racketboy has a gallery of the best Space Channel 5 fanart.
• Kotaku continues their feature with Analyzing the Analysts, Episode 2.

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: Ball 7, Blood Ties, Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat
New content: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 4.8 unofficial patch, Combat Mission: Shock Force 1.07 patch, Stranger 1.2 add-on/patch, StuntMANIA!pro demo

• CDC Games has launched their free to play action MMO Lunia.

Nintendo news

New PAL Virtual Console titles: Adventure Island and Street Gangs
New media: More Mario Kart Wii screenshots, Oshiri Kajiri Mushi DS trailer -- it's a rhythm game that translates to Butt Biting Bug

• Reggie Fils-Aime expects the Wii to surpass the Xbox 360 installed base by June.
• Nintendo has announced that there are more than 100 WiiWare titles in development.
• One of those WiiWare game is being developer by Telltale, the people behind the new Sam & Max games. And no, the game they're making isn't Sam & Max.
• GDC: Toshiro Tsuchida and Fumiaki Shiraishi talk about the development process for the upcoming WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As King.
• EA says that head tracking will be included in Boom Blox as an easter egg.
• Nintendo says that they will charge for network access with some upcoming Wi-Fi Network games, but there will be a warning on the box. They also plan to address storage concerns by implementing compression, wherein software will be compressed in storage and then unpacked before execution.
• CinnamonPirate has a lengthy dissection of a pirate Famicom port of Final Fantasy VII, complete with numerous screenshots. Despite the vast limitations, the amount of care that went into the project is kind of impressive. "Final Fantasy VII is the only NES ROM I have ever seen to have its own several-hundred character 16×16 font. Most Japanese games are written in 8×8 hiragana or katakana only, and Chinese games typically waste CHR banks dedicated to 64 characters each, and optimize the banks for literally every text window in the game."
• Amazon's deal of the day is Manhunt 2 for $25.00.

Sony news

New PS1 title: Jet Moto 3
New content: Rock Band tracks, PixelJunk Monsters demo, God of War: Chains of Olympus demo

• Somebody at the IGN blogs claims to have played the Lair analog control patch.
• GDC: Square Enix talks about the design behind Final Fantasy XIII. "Actually, people from the press from other countries ask me this question very often: why are Japanese characters usually young and good looking male fighters? ... I think the reason is because traditionally, in Japanese story telling, we have some kind of hero -- a young, good looking hero. It's much more acceptable for the Japanese audience. Why in the United States, are the characters macho middle-aged kind of guys?"

Microsoft news

New content: Overlord split-screen pack

• Bungie has revealed the first details on a new Halo 3 map called Ghost Town.
• Tales of Vesperia has been confirmed for the 360.
• Trigger Heart Exelica is coming to Live Arcade next week.
• GDC: Feelplus president Ray Nakazato talks about the collaboration between Mistwalker and Feelplus to develop Lost Odyssey.
• Microsoft says they will be offering revenue sharing models for people selling XNA Community Club games.
• In January, more than 26,000 people voted on their favorite Live Arcade games, and now Microsoft has announced the results.
• It looks like Bionic Commando Rearmed will have lower-res textures than the PS3 version, again because of file size limits.
• EA CEO John Riccitiello recently said that EA "blew it" in managing Peter Molyneux's former studio Bullfrog. Molyneux says it's not all their fault, as "I was a bit of a prat back then."

Posted by Bill at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why are there no laundry games yet let's get on this

Industry and multi-console news

• Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness developer Starbreeze is currently working on a reinvention of a "classic EA franchise." That could be many things -- Gamespot throws out an initial suggestion list including Wing Commander, Desert/Jungle Strike, Road Rash, and Syndicate.
• Portal took home Game of the Year at yesterday's Game Developers Choice Awards.
• And the Escapist has put up Zero Punctuation's video clips from the awards.
• More GDC presentations: Ralph Baer and Al Alcorn talk about the beginnings of the industry, Marc Laidlaw, Steve Meretzky, and Ken Rolston debate the best examples of interactive storytelling, and Jonathan Blow has ten challenges for game design.
• Okay, so Lego Indiana Jones won't have four player co-op.
• The new Japanese sale charts are out and Smash Bros. is still on top.
• Sony Online Entertainment has launched a female game developer scholarship.
• Warriors Orochi is coming to the PSP and PC.
• Joystiq has footage from an early version of BioShock as well as a gallery showing early concepts for what would become Little Sisters, all from Ken Levine's GDC speech.
• Capcom is looking at a simultaneous May release for Bionic Commando Rearmed on Live Arcade, PSN and PC.
• German developer Daedalic is working on an "eco-thriller" called A New Beginning for the PC, Wii and DS. "In a flooded San Francisco, time pilot Fay overlooks the magnitude of the destruction. Sent from a distant future to avert the evisceration of mankind, she is faced with the horrible realization that it is already too late. The last hope for salvation is another desperate leap back in time to our present!" Did she go to Castleton?
• Aliens: Colonial Marines now has a release window of late 2008. The game will feature four player co-op.
• THQ has officially announced Red Faction: Guerrilla.
• The Florida Supreme Court has hit Jack Thompson with a show cause order, asking Thompson to explain "why this Court should not find that you have abused the legal system process and impose upon you a sanction for abusing the legal system."
• Infinity Ward has talked about upcoming changes in Call of Duty 4, including host migration (if the host drops the game the remaining players stay together and restart in a new match), accuracy fixes and new spawn points.
• An Ebay seller was auctioning off a 100% complete set of factory sealed Japanese Dreamcast games for $20,000, but it ended with no bids.
• Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive developer Tomonobu Itagaki says that maybe he'll like GDC as an event when he matures. "I do this for the fans and the people out there who want to play my games. So, when you're talking about an event like GDC, which is really an event by game developers for game developers, then I don't really have a whole lotta interest in that event in and of itself."
• Lorne Michaels talked to the New York Times about getting SNL back on its feet after a long period off due to the strike, saying “Our competition is not so much other television shows as it is Guitar Hero."

PC and mobile news

New content: Depths of Peril demo, Depths of Peril 1.009 beta patch, Savage 2 1.3.1 patch

• Havok plans to make their physics engine available for free for approved PC game developers.
• EA has announced the first city pack for SimCity Societies.
• A custom note chart editor for Guitar Hero has been released free on the PC.
• Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine has extended its Tolkien license to 2014.
• GamingSteve has several videos and liveblogs of the Spore presentations at GDC.

Nintendo news

• The Commodore 64 is coming to the Virtual Console in Europe, with most titles priced at 500 points.
• Masahiro Sakurai has no plans to make a DS version of Smash Bros. "I don't think that there are control limitations that keep it from being ported to the DS. But I personally have no plans to do this myself."
• Reggie Fils-Aime says that over ten games that use the Wii Fit balance board are in development.

Sony news

• King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match is coming to the PS2.
• Sony plans to release PhyreEngine, a free to use graphics engine that was used in the development of flOw, GripShift and DiRT.
• At GDC, Sony showed a chart listing the top PSN downloads since launch.
• You will soon be able to access the Playstation Store directly through your PSP instead of using your PS3 or PC.
• Bionic Commando on the PS3 will implement an achievement-like trophy system.
• Bloomberg notes that Blu-ray's success doesn't necessarily mean a win for Sony. They still have competition from other companies in the Blu-ray Disc Association. Bloomberg further notes that the success of the VHS format in the last format war didn't translate to gains for JVC stock.
• Amazon's deal of the day is the High School Musical: Sing it! bundle for $25.00.

Microsoft news

New content: Ninja Gaiden 2 trailer, NBA Live 08 All Star 2008 pack
New media: Fable 2 screenshots

• It looks like a Ninja Gaiden 2 demo is on the way.
• Gamespot has video of Epic's updated Unreal Engine tech demo from Microsoft's GDC keynote. Includes destructible environments, the 1000 locust march, and a.. cube of meat.
• The downloadable content for GTA4 should be coming this autumn.
• Turns out that shrouded display at GDC was hiding the XNA Community Arcade.
• Castle Crashers is coming to Live Arcade this summer.
• The next issue of Xbox World 360 will have screenshots and hands-on impressions of the Live Arcade Goldeneye port, though this is in no way an announcement that the game is coming out. It's more a way to drum up interest so hopefully fan pressure will push Nintendo and Microsoft to work out a deal.
• According to an Ars mole, the HD-DVD add-on drive will drop to $49.99. They say on the 21st, which is today, but I don't see the change on any retailer websites.

Posted by Bill at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Those ga-ga Gorfians make so damned mad

Industry and multi-console news

• Next Generation lists the hot 100 game developers for 2008.
• Civilization Revolution is coming June 3.
• At GDC, Evan Skolnick talks about learning better game writing, Ken Levine talks about the secrets of game story, and David Freeman covers advanced dialogue techniques.
• On the serious games front, there was a presentation at GDC about Ground Truth, a disaster training simulator for Homeland Security.
• Devil May Cry 4 has sold two million units worldwide.
• EA is closing in on 100 million copies of the Sims sold, which should happen next month. "We make so much money from The Sims--it is so profitable--that unlike other businesses, we don't have to sell it out with advertising and sponsorship and flog the user with advertising to make money." No, you just flog the user with expansions.
• Sales of LCD TVs have surpassed sales of CRTs worldwide for the first time.
• Seems like every year there's a story like this, but whatever: Emotiv plans to sell a headset that allows you to control games with your thoughts starting later this year. It sounds like their presentation at GDC didn't go well.
• The roster for Top Spin 3 has been revealed.
• Disney has taken back the Toy Story game license from THQ and plans to make the next game in-house.
• 3D Realms has responded to the suit against them claiming they stole the concept for the game Earth No More.
• Ex-Naughty Dog developers have formed a new studio called Big Red Button.
• The people behind Turning Point: Fall of Liberty claim to have found records of the man who hit Winston Churchill with a car in 1931. Now they're going to use it to find his descendants.
• The Havok physics engine has been upgraded to 5.5. They've also introduced Havok Cloth and Havok Destruction.
• Former Gamespot staffers Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis have started a new podcast.
• Stand-alone Rock Band drum kits are now shipping to stores in the US and Canada.
• Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggests that banning the sale of violent games to minors could be constitutional.
• When we last left our intrepid hero Jack Thompson, he had challenged a fake Samuel L. Jackson to a debate before realizing he was fake. But fake Sam went along with it and "spent all day emailing him, responding to his emails, working out a system to get this debate on the road." Then Jack bailed out. He bailed out because "some people have died because of jerkballs like jackson and his spike tv vga award mentality."
• A man who called a friend to brag that he "killed them all" in a video game accidentally called a stranger who then called the police. The whole thing would've been no harm no foul if the police hadn't then found an old warrant on the guy.

PC and mobile news

New content: Sudden Strike 3 1.31 patch, Spaceforce Captains demo
New media: American McGee's Grimm screenshots and trailer, Fez gameplay trailer -- an indie game mixing 2D and 3D along the lines of Crush and Super Paper Mario

• Terrify friends and start fires in your PC tower with Intel's new eight-core motherboard, affectionately known as "Skulltrail."
• Second Life is coming to mobile phones. Now you can shop for virtual dildos on the train ride home.
• At GDC, Peter Molyneux has said that the current state of PC gaming is "a huge tragedy." In addition to "The Sims and World of Warcraft sucking all the air out of the PC market," he says that even the casual game makers like PopCap and Reflective that were supposed to represent a change in the market have stumbled. "They're doing the same game over and over again with a different wrapper. It's like a mini-universe in itself which is emulating what's happening in our industry."
• Amazon has the Oregon Trail 5th Edition for $6.09.

Nintendo news

• WiiFit and WiiWare are launching in May in the US.
• Lost Winds has been announced as a WiiWare title.
• WiiFit and Mario Kart Wii have been dated for April in Europe. There's still no confirmed date for Mario Kart in America.
• Disney is implementing a feature for future DS games called DGamer that uses the Disney equivalent of Miis, achievements and a Pictochat-like interface.

Sony news

New media: Wipeout HD trailer -- it just hasn't been the same since DR left

• Eurogamer has first impressions of Metal Gear Online.
• LittleBigPlanet will include lip syncing for the voice chat.
• Odin Sphere will be hitting PAL territories on March 14.

Microsoft news

New content: Gears of War 2 trailer and theme, XNA Creators Club Game Launcher -- used to "play the special preview selection of game demos created by the community using XNA Game Studio."
New media: Too Human screenshots

• Gears of War 2 has been officially announced, and is coming in November of this year.
• Ninja Gaiden 2 is coming on June 3. The game will come with a recording feature so you can share replays of your fights online.
• The Live Arcade version of Peggle will be getting extra downloadable levels.
• Prior to the release of Fable 2, there will be a Fable mini-game released on Live Arcade that will let you build up your character for the main game.
• If a photo of an upcoming FutureShop flier is to be believed, the 360 could be seeing a $50 price drop in Canada.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Rock Band (game only) for $34.99.

Posted by Bill at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Ah-choo!

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Age of Conan screenshots

• Pour a 40 out: Toshiba is officially giving up on HD-DVD. They plan to stop producing stand-alone players by April. Not one to be caught unawares, Gamestop has already announced that they are no longer accepting HD-DVD items for trade-in -- that includes the 360 HD-DVD player.
• Gamasutra has the highlights from GDC for Monday, so I don't have to go over them all myself.
• Next Generation has the newest UK sales charts. Elsewhere, they analyze the January NPD stats.
• Street Fighter IV will be in Japanese arcades this summer.
• At GDC, motion capture company Mova is showing off its technology for more accurate and realistic face animation. There are video examples at the link.
• 3D Realms is being sued by two men who claim the company's upcoming game Earth No More was their idea.
• A few more casting announcements for the new Street Fighter movie. Micheal Clarke Duncan is Balrog, Rick Yune is Gen., and Chris Klein is Nash. As I understand it, Nash was renamed Charlie in America, but IGN didn't mention anything about Charlie, so I don't know which name they're going with.
• Pre-ordering the special edition of GTA4 for either the 360 or PS3 at Amazon gets you an exclusive license plate. Boy, they sure know how to sweeten up an offer.
• MSNBC has jumped on Jack Thompson for "transforming ghastly national tragedies into shining moments of self promotion." Thompson says the article libels him and plans to sue. I hope he can fit it into his schedule now that he's challeneged a fake Samuel L. Jackson to a debate. He eventually realized he was responding to a person only pretending to be Jackson, but not before he sent copies of his original reply to GamePolitics and Kotaku.
• Thompson isn't the only brilliant mind seeing the corrupting influence of video games: Lyndon LaRouche has called out games as well, but from what I can tell his theory involves the British Empire trying to destroy America by turning kids into terrorists. At any rate, "International Fascism: Microsoft Will Kill More Youth than Hitler" is a catchy article title.
• Kotaku talks to GameStrata about their plans to chart player game stats.
• The next Alone in the Dark is going to let you skip the hard parts. "We want everybody to be able to finish our game, so one of the other new features we've added is the ability to skip sections using a DVD-style menu."
• Atlus has a countdown on their website that will end on February 26. No one knows what it's for, though some Joystiq readers speculate it could be an announcement of Persona 3 FES.
• The writer of Saw 1 and 3 talks about the upcoming Saw video game. "We have no idea how that is going to apply to a computer game format, considering that most games are generally pretty simple in it's plotting. Maybe its a good thing that Leigh and I are naive to the video game world and that we're writing it like its a movie!" Oh this will turn out well!

PC and mobile news

New patch: SunAge 1.08 patch