Archives for Oct 4th, 2006
Today in Joystiq: October 4, 2006
Gambling gets gimped, South Park satirizes, and GoldenEye gets a coat of fresh paint. Start drafting those Sony love letters and check out the highlights for today: Joystiquery Joystiq at Nintendo World Store: in video Picture It: console zealots find common ground Poll results: What genre do you ...
Joystiq review: South Park makes love, not Warcraft [update 2]
To kick off the fall season of South Park, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to take on gaming phenomenon World of Warcraft. The episode kicks off in Goldshire. Cartman, "a mighty dwarf," takes back from a bathroom break before they all take on a quest. The boys collide with a half-naked ...
ESRB needs exposure, change
Next-Gen's Aaron Ruby editorializes that the ESRB needs major change, saying that the rating system has too many confusing options that are best suited to movies instead of games. (Is there a clear difference between "mild violence," "intense violence," and "violence?" Is it measured in volume?) The ...
The PS3's other controller
With all the talk of the Sixaxis, the PS3's other controller almost sneaked by under the radar. Of course, we're talking about the PS3's remote control. More than just a snazzy coffee table decoration, the PS3 remote will ensure that we can enjoy all of the PS3s Blu-Ray goodness from the comfort of ...
SmackTalk automates your Xbox Live profanity
If there's one complaint we always hear about the Xbox Live experience, it's that there isn't enough profanity. In fact, we've heard reports of entire Uno matches being finished sans swearing! So we've put our collective heads together, and arrived at the only possible reason for this dearth: people ...
Chili Con Carnage is a refried port?
When I first looked at Eidos' press release for their new PSP game Chili Con Carnage, I thought to myself "cool, a new exclusive PSP action game." However, Gamespot checked the developer's track record, and I angrily shouted a four letter word: PORT! It may be an original game, but the game shares ...
NWN2's baddie nasties revealed
Obsidian's Neverwinter Nights 2 is just around the corner, and this ugly lookin' crew is waiting to meet you when the game ships later this month. The bald dude is a frenzied berserker who is basically impossible to kill during his "deathless frenzy" attack (fortunately, he gets tired). The blue ...
"There is no way the PS3 launch is going to go well"
Last week, thousands of booze-hungry excited GameStop employees descended upon Dallas for the company's annual sales conference. One of the main purposes of the conference is for video game vendors to show off their wares to the nation's number one games retailer. The thought is that the more ...
U.S. internet gambling legislated [update 1]
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed through congress last week as a rider to a port security bill, like a tick clinging to a deer. The gambling legislation intends to make online poker and other money-winning internet games illegal super illegal in the United States (see below). ...
PSP sold for over $2000 on eBay
Someone may have made a very valuable mistake on eBay. A PSP Value Pack was just sold for $2,025. Even with the free accessories and games, the hapless buyer overspent thousands of dollars. It looks like a pretty shady buyer by the name of karahsmama forced the bid up to $2000 and the winning buyer ...
Wii gets wired ethernet kit
CVG reports that one of the accessories you'll be able to purchase for your Wii later this year will be a wired ethernet kit, presumably a device that automagically enables you to connect your console to the interwebs via an antiquated cable. Like the high-end model PS3, the Wii features Wi-Fi ...
Win a date with CliffyB and play some Gears *squeeeeeal*
We missed telling you guys about the "Match Made in Hell" Gears of War promotion, but we'll make it up to you by cluing you into another opportunity to get your mitts on the 360's upcoming chainsaw-sim. According to a now missing Xbox.com page (helpfully clipped after the break), you'll be able to ...
Codemaster's "Neon Engine" for PS3 is for everyone!
British game publisher and developer Codemasters have developed their own engine for the PS3 from scratch over the last year and a half. Dubbed the "Neon Engine", boasting the exploitation of "something" Sony was developing internally for a long time (the motion controls? They aren't too ...
EA Sports perfecting mediocrity
A group of NBA Live '07 fanboys have had enough of the series' annual increase in broken gameplay and have written a letter to EA expressing their displeasure. Although the focus of the letter is on NBA Live '07, with YouTube links showing the latest issues with the series, it touches on the general ...
Valhalla Knights coming to the US
Back in August, Japanese PSP owners experienced one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs on the handheld yet. Valhalla Knights features impressive graphics and gameplay, with real-time combat and six member teams. IGN called the game one of the best RPGs of ...
Winning Eleven headed to the Wii
Wiinning Eleven? Oh, we couldn't resist. In any case, the extremely popular soccer sim (which almost consistently dominates European sales charts immediately upon release) is coming to the Wii, complete with (you guessed it) a revamped control system designed specially for the system. As cool as a ...
Nintendo to release Ethernet Kit
The Wii is gloriously Wi-Fi enabled right out of the box, a lovely addition to the console. But, alas, not all of us are high tech money-throwers with advanced router setups in our third floor libraries. Well, we are (though it's in the fourth floor media-viewing room), but for everyone else, ...
Blizzard reveals Burning Crusade collector's edition
Blizzard has announced the contents of the Burning Crusade collector's edition. Including the game itself (on both CD and DVD), you also get: An exclusive in-game pet, the netherwhelp. According to Blizzard, it is the offspring of the nether drake flying mount. Blizzard promises an image "in the ...
Duke Nukem on XBLA has "already been discussed"
"Mr. Broussard, do you have a minute?" "Make it quick, I'm in the middle of a WoW raid." "I'm sorry ... quick?" "You know, the opposite of slow?" "Right! Well, Doom was released on Xbox Live Arcade just recently." "Oh, I know, I was playing it all day yesterday. Good stuff." "That's the general ...
Is the Wii too much, too late?
IGN's Matt Cassamassina seems to think so. In a recent entry on his IGN blog, he said, "I believe Wii is $50 too expensive and three weeks too late." It's too expensive, he says, for the mainstream consumer to really pick it up and run with it, and gamers think it's too expensive because it's not ...
EGM dry humps Halo 3 before Nov. 14th issue
Consider this teaser a preliminary dry humping, because next month, we'll get to see venerable video game mag Electronic Gaming Monthly "f***ing Halo 3!" Those are their words, folks. We're not sure what form this issue will take, but we imagine centerfolds of Cortana, with her accompanying likes ...
Small study adds fuel to Nintendo's casual gamer fire
A new study commissioned by casual game developer PopCap Games has found that 66% of the estimated 150 million consumers that play casual games are old (or young depending how old you are); over 50 to be exact. The study noted that the majority of older gamers prefer playing titles -- often daily -- ...
Wii preorders in the frozen hostile northland
We're not really sure what those wacky Canadians are going to do with a Wii in their igloos, but hey! Zellers has the system available for preorder (though we couldn't find reference online), and one ecstatic reader even sent us his receipt to prove it. The Zellers bundle includes the system and two ...
SmackTalk is $29.99 of pure evil
Joystiq tipster GunForHire might have to live up to his handle after we tell you about Digital Innovation's SmackTalk, a device that attaches itself to a Xbox 360 controller and plays five prerecorded clips of the player's choosing at the touch of a button across Xbox Live. Obviously the name of the ...
Vice City Stories: flying, driving and more
The folks over at IGN got a chance to play with the upcoming Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. We're expecting great things from it, and it looks like we won't be disappointed. The preview goes over the handling of vehicles, and surprisingly: they all work quite well. Riding a helicopter seems ...
Poll results: What genre do you enjoy most?
The votes are in, and we didn't even fudge with the electronic ballots. Though the non-scientific poll caught flack for bundling "platformers" with the action/adventure catch-all, it was for naught. The RPG genre wins with nearly one third of total reader votes. What does it all mean? Thanks for ...
New Wii Sports: Bowling video
Rounding out their video coverage from their local stop on the Nintendo Fusion Tour is the embedded video of Wii Sports: Bowling in action from the Go Nintendo folks. The minute video shows just how accurate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wiimote are as the speed of the delivery is ...
Need for Speed Carbon demo vrooms onto XBLM
Been looking for something to fill up that free space on your increasingly crammed 360 hard drive? Download the demo for the latest Need for Speed, dubbed Carbon, and watch 1GB disappear. Of course, this only applies if you live in an area that's not Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Sinagpore or ...
The DS is your co-pilot
Or could be, at least, if you're traveling in Paris, thanks to one enterprising homebrew artiste. Christophe Andreani's "simple application" puts all of Paris at the tip of your stylus -- in map form, at least. He's worked up a neat little program that brings an entire map of the city to the DS, ...
Judging a video game by its cover
1UP examines the history of box art design and the importance of localization to sell games. The piece notes poor translations of early pixelated NES covers and bland Sega Master System grid boxes during the Japanese to US adaptation process, including the turning point for video game cover art. ...
Siren scares up next-gen consoles!
Recall the horror game, Siren? Kinda sorta? It was one of those games this clever blogger always had a plan to buy, but never had the budget or the properly operating memory to get into. Supposedly, it was pretty good. So good, there are actually two Siren titles in Japan. Well, guess what? A ...
New WarioWare Smooth Moves video
Coming at us again with yet another video from their local Nintendo Fusion Tour stop, the guys at Go Nintendo take a crack at WarioWare Smooth Moves this time around. A few minigames have already been revealed, however most interesting is the Japanese equivalent to Driving Miss Daisy in boss ...
Checking out Chocobo and the Magic Picture Book
It's always a good time for cute and fluffy chocobos, right? Though there's still no word of a release outside Japan for Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon, we can't resist bringing you these fresh new screens. We've tucked a few more away after the jump for your viewing pleasure. The game hits shelves in ...
Road Rash 1, 2, 3 EA Replay videos released
If you're like me and are a huge fan of compilations, there isn't a better time to be a PSP owner what with EA Replay, Sega Genesis Collection and Metal Slug Collection on the horizon. We've already seen several videos of games in Sega Genesis Collection, and now EA has released ...
Xbox 360 can support HDMI, but will it?
After Microsoft's announcement in Tokyo that the Xbox 360 would support 1080p natively this Fall (we already knew it was capable of it), the FUD hit the fan. Was this "native" 1080p? Was it just upsampled? Would it work with DVDs over component? Wouldn't the long-rumored HDMI cable be appropriate ...
EA's premium ripoff: football tutorial videos on XBLM
Electronic Arts released today a set of video strategy guides for NCAA 07 Football and Madden NFL 07 over Xbox Live. Each five-minute tutorial costs 160 MS points ($2.00) and covers either Running, Passing, Run Defense, or Pass Defense. While $2.00 is relatively cheap, a tutorial is a feature of ...
Sega wants YOU for Virtua Fighter 5 character player data
Ever wonder what it would be like to be a part of a video game? Sega is giving you that chance with Virtua Fighter 5, so long as you reside legally in Japan. Hold on, though! It's not you that can get into the game... it's more like... your player data/records/ring name/level/etc. Basically, you ...
Sam & Max will be $9/episode, $35/season
Telltale has finally announced the pricing of their upcoming episodic adventure series, Sam & Max. Though the series will debut Oct. 17th on Gametap, as part of their $10/month subscription service, gamers will be able to download individual episodes from Telltale directly for $9 per episode or ...
Confirmed: Downhill Jam to feature in-game voice chat
That's right, you read the headline correctly. In an e-mail that was sent out to Sk8land community members describing the game's final features, it's revealed that the title will feature in-game voice chat, something sorely missed from a certain game featuring a female bounty hunters and ...
4 minutes of direct feed Trauma Center footage
IGN has uploaded a rather lengthy gameplay video (a length of 4 minutes, to be exact) of Trauma Center: Second Opinion in action. In repairing several large gashes in a patient's chest, and performing a lobectomy, we find that the patient has several large chunks of glass inside of him. Sounds like ...
Sony again says we're nearing the end of the road for discs
Will digital distribution take over the disc format in a mere five years? Vice President of SCE Worldwide Studios Europe, Jamie MacDonald, believes so, just like Phil Harrison. Let's clog this drain with a big quote: "In five years' time, my belief is that the majority of content won't be delivered ...
New Need for Speed Carbon video released
I gotta admit the Need for Speed franchise has come a long, long way since I first played it on the Playstation. I can still remember its god-forsaken turning sensitivity that just about drove me crazy. Thankfully, those days are long gone, and the series is still going strong, which ...
Wii "hardware is basically a GC," says Miyamoto [update 1]
We've said it as many others have: Wii's graphical and processing prowess can generally be viewed as a GameCube on steroids. Miyamoto seems to agree in a recent interview: "The hardware is basically a GC. We've upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as ...
Duke Nukem on XBLA sounds cool, they know
This is really the sort of thing that would be perfect for Richard's "That should be on XBLA" series, yet here we are. Some of you correctly guessed Doom as the secret Xbox Live Arcade franchise, so good for you. Some other forward thinking Fanboys guessed Duke Nukem 3D which, I think we can all ...
Faux News investigates WoW addiction
Games don't cause violence, "news" reports like this cause violence. Culled from Australian news program "A Current Affair," this sensationalist news report has it all: demonizing language, foreboding music, a weeping, broken mother, and a teenager's den that looks like a crack house. Watching ...
MP3 Ridley battle video
During a play of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption at a Nintendo Fusion Tour stop, the guys over at Go Nintendo try to take on the one and only Ridley. The fight doesn't look all that fair as the player is left to battle the beast while free-falling through a tube-like corridor. Kind of reminds of that ...
Sega's feminine e-reader
Sega has decided that they want to go ahead and make an e-Reader for the DS. This e-Reader, which takes cards and electronically scans them via a hardware attachment to affect gameplay, works with their game Oshare Majo Love and Berry (Love and Berry Dress up and Dance in the US). The awkward thing ...
Picture It: console zealots find common ground
A - Banjo-Kazooie B - Assassin's Creed C - Motion-sensitive controllers D - Making fun of the other two groups Previous "Picture It" Posts ...
Billy McClure has got some trouble
World of Warcraft devotee Ezra Ferguson poured himself into his tight tight pants and belted out a passable rendition of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" for this music video that surpasses run-of-the-mill machinima. The cool part? Terran Gregory (who wrote, directed and edited the video) was ...
Brain Age creator leaves DS development for PSP, DS fanboys cry [Update 1]
If you can't beat them, take from them. Although the old saying may not go exactly like that, it's what Sony has done as they managed to woo Dr. Kawashima, the creator of the DS' immensely popular Brain Age games to join the PSP team. In addition to coming to the PSP, the game is getting a name ...
Kawashima ditches the DS for the PSP in Europe
Dr. Kawashima, the jovial floating head accompanying you on your travels through swift mathematics problems and furiously shouting "brew!" at your DS whilst playing Brain Age, has decided to float on over to the competition with Mind Quiz for the PSP in Europe. Ubisoft, the publisher behind Mind ...
Mii gets its parade on
The Mii channel has received a lot of coverage lately, mostly due to the fact that it's awesome. Some questions still surround the service, however. This is where the feature "Iwata Asks" comes in, where Iwata and several key players in the development of the Wii discuss the console. The latest ...
Assassin's Creed's brains exclusive to 360
Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's erstwhile PS3 exclusive, has finally been confirmed for the Xbox 360 and, just a few short weeks later, they were even showing off gameplay at Microsoft's X06 event, with nary a PS3 in sight. When they weren't enjoying the fun and sun in Barcelona, Ubi producers, like ...
Joystiq at Nintendo World Store: in video
The Nintendo World Store hosted a very special event on Tuesday for its fans. They brought Fusion Tour headliners Hawthorne Heights to their NYC flagship store to perform a live acoustic set ... but, that wasn't the real reason Nintendo fans flocked by the hundreds to this midtown mecca. Nintendo ...
Uwe Boll to make BloodRayne 2, anger more gamers
Someone, for the love of every video game ever made into a movie, PLEASE stop Uwe Boll. We mean physically stop the guy. Find out where he's shooting, go out there, and take the camera away from him. Be sure to destroy any writing utensils or anything he might use to draw with as well. Why? Because ...
Heavenly Sword still on track despite PAL delay
Or is it? Says Nina Kristensen, Ninja Theory's co-founder, "We've always been a launch window title so it hasn't affected us at all," referring to the PS3 delay in Europe. However, lead animator Guy Midgley said "No, it's going to be next year...but we haven't announced a specific date yet." So... ...
Sony launches lame "Bonus Pack"
Sony has just announced a new PSP bundle for Japan, and it is incredibly boring. Check out the contents: PSP console 1800mAh battery pack AC adapter Pouch 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Stand USB cable This doesn't seem too different from the Giga or Value packs. I guess having a ...
Shiny Entertainment gets spit-shined, sold by Atari
Atari has sold Shiny Entertainment o make some bling for the troubled publisher. Atari's accountants want to know, "Have you paid Atari today?" The former crown jewel in Atari's empire, producing one extremely popular Enter the Matrix game, and one ... not so much; The Path of Neo. While the ...
New trailer for Star Trek: Tactical Assault
A new trailer for Star Trek: Tactical Assault has hit the net. As you may already know, the Star Trek franchise was recently taken over by Bethesda (those guys who did that Elder Scrolls game) and this title is their first entry into the series. While the title has received far more press and raised ...
New Excite Truck video
While attending a stop on the Nintendo Fusion Tour, the guys over at Go Nintendo took Excite Truck out for a spin. While the individual playing it has some trouble with the controls, overall the game manages to stay incredibly appealing. Check the video, embedded into the post after the break. [Via ...
Middle-earth expands to the Middle Kingdom
According to a press release from Turbine Entertainment, the MMO maker is partnering with China's CDC Games to bring Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar to Chinese gamers -- a market with a strong affinity for online fantasy games. Turbine has already experienced success with Dungeons ...
Write a love letter to Sony, win a PS3
Yesterday evening, Sony announced that they're holding a contest for 10 all-expenses-paid trips to the PlayStation 3 premiere party on November 8 in Los Angeles. This party, they claim, will be so rad that attendees will brag to their grandchildren about attending it. Hyper-hyperbole aside, the ...
Half-Life 2 on Mac, without Windows
A Mac gamer has been running Half-Life 2 on a MacBook using the public beta of CrossOver Mac, a tool to run PC apps on Intel Macs without Windows. Half-Life 2 and other games previously required booting into XP to work on Intel Macs. The CrossOver gamer documents his process and results; expect ...
Relive youth with GoldenEye Source trailer
A team of fans is rebuilding GoldenEye 007 with the Half-Life 2 Source engine; that ought'a teach today's kids about good game design. The team just released an impressive trailer of its efforts, showcasing many of the recreated environments. While the project is still unfinished -- we'll call it ...
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