Joystiq

Daniel Jones of Binary Tweed, developer of the Xbox 360 Indie Game Clover, has a few choice things to say about Microsoft's independent games service. Speaking to the UK's X360 Magazine, Jones just doesn't see a big enough audience in Indie Games to justify creating a game for it -- Joystiq readers will recall similar comments after Clover sales failed to set the world on fire.

"We're seeing even the best-selling Indie Games titles sell in the low five-figure numbers," says Jones, laying the blame on "lack of marketing from us developers, Microsoft, and also on the dirge of massage 'games' that dilute the brand's message." (Don't forget fart games!) He notes that the most popular titles on Indie Games are simple applications like music visualizers and digital aquariums, saying, "The marketing message clearly hasn't gotten to the people that want to play games, and so one has to question if there's any point making games for a service that gamers don't buy from."

Jones believes that the upcoming user ratings feature will help "immeasurably," though he adds, "There's still a lot of work to do in educating LIVE users about [what] Indie Games is about."

We're inclined to agree that the Indie Games channel needs a lot of work, especially if Microsoft ever expects it to become more than a Kodu delivery service.

When we first heard that the animation studio behind Metalocalypse was opening a game studio, we were, admittedly, quite intrigued. It's been a while since we heard anything from the folks at Titmouse, apart from sampling their taste in music at E3, of course. Now, we have the first actual screens from the studio's first game, Seven Haunted Seas, which is the story of an undead pirate by the name of Scurvy Pete. The screens were taken from a demo build -- Titmouse is currently shopping for publishers -- and depict Scurvy Pete aboard his pirate ship and sailing the seven seas, which we can only presume are haunted.

We're digging the art style so far. Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer to see it in motion.

As part of its Bungie Day festivities, Bungie unveiled the latest new service for Halo 3 fans, Bungie Pro Video. Now, those who subscribe to Bungie Pro -- which allows a larger file share and more storage for 750 (~$9.38) per year -- can also render their saved Halo 3 films directly to a WMV video file on Bungie.net. We won't pretend to understand the technical wizardry behind it all, but we decided to take it for a spin and see how well it stacks up to other methods of video capture. After the break, check out some samples of Bungie Pro Video versus our own consumer-level capturing method.

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GameCinema HD is hosting some images of what could be some of the new Xbox 360 features announced at E3. In the screen above, you can see sections for both the Avatar Marketplace as well as a space for Avatar Awards. Other shots show off these areas themselves, though they are understandably empty right now. The screens also include new Xbox Live Marketplace entries for Games on Demand and Indie Games (no shots of the inside of either of these areas, unfortunately).

We find it a bit strange that someone willing to leak images of the new features would fail to edit out their own gamertag, though -- you'll notice it's in the upper left corner, clear as crystal. A quick check reveals that there is no Hobbtao gamertag listed on Xbox Live, which could mean a couple of things. One, these images are from an Xbox 360 dev kit, meaning Mr. Hobbtao is probably in violation of a Microsoft NDA. Two, the images are fakes.

Regardless, we're talking about menus here, which aren't nearly as exciting as what they contain.

[Via VG247]

Joystiq readers will likely recall that one John Bruce Thompson -- "Jack" to his friends -- was disbarred last year from practicing law in the state of Florida. However, it seems Thompson has maintained that he's still allowed to practice law within the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which is a federal court.

Enter Judge Federico Moreno, who has issued an order to Thompson, asking him to explain why he should not also be barred from the District Court. The order asks that Thompson submit his defense, along with copies of all documents related to his previous disbarment, within 30 days (the order was issued on June 26).

Thompson, reports GamePolitics, is not pleased, and has since sent Moreno an email "request/demand," asking that the judge provide copies of all communications between Moreno and the Florida Bar concerning himself. Once again, it looks like Thompson's legal career is on shaky footing. Still, we doubt another disbarment will put a stop to Thompson's anti-gaming efforts. The first one certainly didn't.

Potentially bad news for PC-toting Alan Wake fans, a recent forum post by Remedy's MarkusRMD has left the release window of the PC version dangling in suspense. When asked directly about the development of the PC version of Alan Wake, MarkusRMD responded, "Unfortunately all I can say at this point is that we're focusing all our efforts on the 360 version and will be making comments in regards to the PC at a later in time."

While not an outright confirmation, it certainly sounds like the PC version could release later than the Xbox 360 version, which is currently scheduled to release in spring 2010. We've contacted Microsoft -- the game's publisher -- and will update this post as soon as we hear anything new.

[Via Shacknews]

In a column on IndustryGamers, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich lays down his case for premium downloadable content and its effect on the retail scene. According to Divnich, whenever a high profile game receives premium DLC, it can actually hurt the sales of lower profile games in the same genre.

He notes that a blockbuster game normally has a blackout period of a few weeks, meaning that when a new game comes out -- he uses Halo 4 as an example -- there's a period before and after its release when gamers are less likely to buy a similar game. Whenever that same game gets DLC, players are once again less liable to purchase a similar game for a certain period before and after the release of the DLC. After all, why would you pick up Call of Duty: The Next One, if you're still playing that fancy new Halo DLC?

The long and short of it, says Divnich, is that DLC has nothing but a negative impact on retail. It's actually a double impact, as DLC both prevents gamers from buying a new game and from selling their current games back to used game retailers like GameStop. According to Divnich, digital sales are going to seriously impact retail sooner than believed.

Take that, crumbling economy! In a recently released report (PDF), Nielsen Media Research claims that, despite poor economic conditions, gamers are actually spending more time playing games in 2009 than they have in previous years. In fact, the number of hours spent per week playing games is at an all-time high. Nielsen attributes this rise to "mainstream gamers" spending more time with "broadly appealing" titles like Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Wii Fit. Playing these games for all they're worth can help gamers "stretch their entertainment dollar," according to Nielsen's Michael Flamberg, director of client consulting,

Furthermore, used game sales are also higher than ever before. Since January, the average number of used games purchased in a six-month period has risen from 3.01 to 3.51, accounting for 36 percent of all games purchased. The firm also reports that subscription to game rental services like GameFly is on the rise, stating that some gamers may use such services as a substitution for purchasing new games.

What say you, Joystiq readers? Has the economy driven you to purchase more used games?

Remember that Wii emulator that boosted the graphics up to 720p? Thanks to a recent update, Super Mario Galaxy is now playable on the emulator -- known as Dolphin (get it?) -- and we have to admit, it looks pretty gorgeous. Granted, Super Mario Galaxy was no graphical slouch in the first place, but the extra resomolutions certainly add to the overall experience, and it gives us an idea of what a Wii HD console would be capable of producing.

Check out a video of the Super Mario Galaxy running in HD after the break (don't forget to turn on HD in the player). It's in HD. Did we mention that yet?

[Via CVG]

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GameTrailers has posted a new Wolfenstein motion comic. We're not quite sure how to feel about it really. Sure, it's nice to see B.J. Blazkowicz doing what he does best. We also like that Wolfenstein's famous chain gun-wielding Hitler once again gets what he deserves. Still, the whole thing is just so cheesy. If we didn't know better, we'd say that B.J. is trying to fill the one-liner chasm that has been left by the dearly departed Duke Nukem.

Don't take our word for it though, watch it after the break and see what you think.

[Via BigDownload]

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Okay, so the latest trailer for TimeGate's Section 8 certainly looks cool. What with the robo-solders dropping into battle from the sky, calling in tanks and giant mechs, and FPS action, we'll give it that. Our only question is this: Where's the heart?

What's that? You don't care about heart? You're more interested in all the action and nifty multiplayer features? Oh, well you should watch the trailer then.

If you've been gaming as long as we have, you know that Columns is one of Sega's great puzzle games. Like most puzzle games, the object is simply to line up four same-colored gems -- horizontally, vertically or diagonally -- and watch them explode. Whether you're familiar with the game or not, we've got some good news: Sega is giving away the iPhone version of Columns for free in celebration of USA's Independence Day. The app will be free starting midnight, Friday, July 3, all the way through Monday, July 6. Sega didn't specify a timezone, so we suggest you avoid downloading it if the price reads anything other than free.

Granted, Columns Deluxe -- which includes ports of Columns and Puyo Pop -- is only $1.99 normally. It hasn't received terrific reviews either. But hey, it's hard to argue with free.

Microsoft released its Kodu Game Lab yesterday, giving gamers everywhere the opportunity to create their very own games. Just for you, we snapped up the tool and set to work creating the Next BIg Thing in video gaming. Well, either that or we created a dinky little 2D shooter. Still, it's hard not to feel some pride after creating a real, honest-to-goodness, functioning game. And we did it all without laying a finger on a standard keyboard.

Check out our video tour and see what created.

Add the trial version of Kodu Game Lab to your Xbox 360 download queue

Let's face it, Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher has traveled a rocky road. For a while he completely disappeared from the console scene. Sure, we saw him every once in a while, lurking in magazines or in a few videos (complete with Emo makeover). Now Sam has reemerged from his beloved shadows, and the developers at Ubisoft are here to share everything about his new abilities and the new features in Splinter Cell Conviction.

Check out the video above for a look at the new "mark and execute" feature as well as the "last known position" silhouette. And, of course, you can just admire Sam being a badass. Get to the watching.

No, it's okay. You can read that again. According to a report released by Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter, the company was given a demo of streaming game service OnLive this past March. Pachter states that latency between the user and OnLive's servers is supposed to be no more than 80 milliseconds, while the games he demoed were running at 25 milliseconds. While Pachter isn't certain if OnLive will "dominate any time soon" he believes that the micro console's video conferencing feature "will likely attract widespread demand." (Wait, it plays Crysis like a gaming PC and it's video conferencing that will sell this thing?)

Pachter states that OnLive should appeal to families that have yet to buy into the current generation of consoles, especially if the service is priced right. The sweet spot, apparently, is right around $5 a month. A higher price could be met with "consumer resistance," says Pachter. Furthermore, Pachter is already predicting that OnLive may not last long as a standalone service, suggesting that it might be purchased by another company and offered as "part of an expanded service offering."

For example, Microsoft could purchase the company to further expand the Xbox as an entertainment hub -- Pachter notes Microsoft's previous acquisition of WebTV, which was co-founded by OnLive CEO Steve Perlman. That's assuming neither Apple nor Verizon beat Microsoft to the punch, of course.

It's too early for us to say if any of this will come to pass -- we're not analysts, after all -- but we were certainly impressed with our own OnLive experience. Still, until we can plug OnLive into our internet and play Crysis for ourselves, we're a bit skeptical. That's okay though, because we're supposed to be.