It's embarrassing, but true: Every single reviewer tries to think of what they're going to say while they're playing a game. For me, it's like a mental first draft, constantly evolving as I play. "EFF THIS CRAP IT'S TOO HARD" gets struck through when I figure out what I'm doing wrong, and hilarious jokes I come up with about the main character's haircut become more ...
Ninja Theory: Enslaved performance prevented team expansion
Every year, critics and fans provide the word-of-mouth support to several games that barely subsist on a whisper of marketing. "Enslaved should have done better," says Tameem Antoniades, head of the game's developer, Ninja Theory. "Right now we should have been doing a sequel and perfecting that ...
Namco Bandai climbs out of the red with pair of million-sellers
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, Namco Bandai's "Content" division -- which includes both home-console and arcade games, in addition to music and video products -- increased sales just enough to post a modest operating income of ¥3.09 billion ($38.5 million). In turn, the company ...
Enslaved, 007: Blood Stone, Napoleon: Total War soundtracks nominated for Ivors
The Ivor Novello awards are back. Named for the Welsh composer, the British awards honor the best scores and original soundtracks for movies, television and video games. This year's nominations have been published -- but, as with last year, at least one-third of the composers nominated must be ...
Namco: Enslaved was launched at the wrong time
Hindsight being 20/20, Namco Bandai's execs had some choice things to say about Ninja Theory's Enslaved, a game that was hailed by many critics but failed to garner commercial success. President Makoto Iwai told Siliconera that despite the poor sales figures, he's proud of the publisher's ability ...
Enslaved underperforms with 460,000 sold worldwide
Well, it seems as though Namco Bandai's strategy of half-heartedly promoting the excellent Enslaved has worked just as planned, with the game selling 460,000 units across the globe in the three months following its release. It was originally predicted to move a million units, though that was ...
Best of the Rest: James' picks of 2010
Halo: Reach Was it just me or did Reach seem to have the quietest launch of any $200 million seller in history? Franchise fatigue has definitely set in for Halo, but it didn't stop Bungie from delivering its masterpiece. What this game lacks in variation, it makes up for in refinement of one of ...
Best of the Rest: Mike's picks of 2010
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Ninja Theory put a heck of a game together here, with some incredible art direction and animation, level design, and the best adventurous duo since Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher. The world traversed by Monkey and Trip is colorfully portrayed and brilliantly built, the ...
Best of the Rest: Justin's Picks for 2010
Metro 2033 I'm just going to tell myself that my esteemed Joystiq colleagues didn't play this moody, flawed FPS, because I hate the idea that I'm the only one with whom it resonated. With a single trek through a post-apocalyptic Russian underground, Ukrainian developer 4A became one of the ...
Save on Castlevania, Naruto and more in Amazon's year-end sale
If you thought Amazon would stop holding ridiculous sales because the holiday season is winding down, you are a fool. A hypothetical fool. Amazon's year-end sale (which technically started on Dec. 24) is as good as any offer the retailer had for Black Friday or the pre-Christmas shopping season! ...
Namco moving development to Japan in light of 'lacking' overseas developer performance
According to a Bloomberg report, Namco Bandai plans to shift the bulk of its game development back to Japan after a rocky year for its titles developed overseas. Company president Shukuo Ishikawa told Bloomberg, "We found the quality and development speed of titles made for us by the overseas ...
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