The Joystiq Weekend: May 31

The Joystiq Weekend: May 31 - June 1, 2008

by Ross Miller { Jun 1st 2008 at 11:59PM }

An interesting little blurb we found while perusing font websites (hey, we don't judge what you do in your spare time). FontShop had created a type face for Prima Games to make the strategy guides go quicker. Check out the highlights for the weekend:

Joystiquery
The B[ack]log: The Snake is a Lie
The Best Of Big Download: May 23-31, 2008
Japanese hardware sales, May 19 - May 25: Summertime edition
This Week in Review is just a little different
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is offended

News
HAWX gets voice control options
Resident Evil 5 trailer whets our appetite for 'zombie' destruction
PSN gardening game to exercise green thumbs
Call of Duty 4 maps coming to PC June 5
360 Fanboy shows us real ultimate power with Ninja Gaiden II demo impressions
Age of Conan dethrones GTA IV in Europe
Debut Golden Axe: Beast Rider trailer shows protagonist riding beasts
We've got Faith No More in the new Street Fighter IV trailer
Pachter: American Wii Fit shortages due to weak dollar
'Break'-ing news: New Fracture trailer explores plot

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Voice of 'Cole Train' suggests November 16 release for Gears of War 2

Culture & Community
StillAliveDS: 2D Portal brewed for DS
DIY: Make your Rock Band drum kit wheelchair accessible

Tags: dailyrecap

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Einhanderkiller @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:54AM

FASCINATING.

Magnificen7 @ Jun 2nd 2008 2:22AM

Wow, uh... fonts. So that's cool huh? Really interesting?

Jeremy_Bantham @ Jun 2nd 2008 2:46AM

Note: When highlighting how awesome your typeface is, don't ignore heinous kerning mistakes (such as in "valuable").

ill trooper @ Jun 2nd 2008 2:52AM

I'm guessing 'Nintendo 64 strategy guide' production-time drastically decreased when games stopped coming out for it.

chez @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:19AM

I hear the same company are now releasing PSP and PS3 guides.

playwhutyalike @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:58AM

Ouch.

Decoy Octopus @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:26AM

Interesting...

colin @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:42AM

i am proud to say that i have never bought or used a videogame strategy guide. dating, on the other hand ...

Yourself @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:59AM

I wonder what key you press to get the "ANALOG" character.

Chase @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:27AM

I know it's not there, but I "read" the Contra Code for each set of symbols. It's embedded into my mind!

Burnt Meatloaf @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:51AM

They had to hire another company to make a font so they could write their strategy guides? I take it they don't have their own graphic department?

The idea is that the guide writers themselves can now insert the button symbols in the text directly, rather than having a second art department or editor go in with a search-and-replace tool to "correct" the button names. That second pass has the possibility to introduce errors, which would be bad.

Also, creating a font is a pretty involved task... I'd say this is cash well spent on Prima's part. Your average art department likely does not have the expertise to put together a scalable TrueType font, and learning the software etc. would probably take longer than it would really have been worth.

As for guides, I usually don't get them because I'm a year or so behind on picking up certain games (I'm just now getting to Wild ARMs 5), but if the game's one I'm a fan of or if the guide has something extra, such as a soundtrack CD or artwork.

Maverick Saturn @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:38AM

I should hire a company to read the strategy guides :)

McWeen @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:28AM

The only strategy guides worth getting anymore are the ones that have extras in them also.

The Disgaea book had interviews with the makers and voice actors and was filled with concept art.
http://www.amazon.com/World-Disgaea-Character-Collection/dp/1597411124/ref=pd_bbs_sr_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212409502&sr=8-9