Joystiq

343 Industries worries 'constantly' about Halo oversaturation

Speaking to Joystiq, Microsoft's Frank O'Connor, creative director of 343 Industries, said that he worries "constantly" about the possibility of the market being oversaturated with Halo. When asked about the amount of Halo products out there (namely ODST, upcoming books, more comics, Halo Legends and the recently released encyclopedia), O'Connor said, "I worry about that constantly."

Regarding the various Halo products, O'Connor said, "All of that stuff has existed in the past, and it exists because of one simple reason, which is demand. We wouldn't make it if we weren't continually being asked for it." He added, "We obviously turn down almost infinitely more stuff than we actually produce, but when we produce it there's a good reason and a good plan and a strong demand."

As an example, O'Connor noted Halo Wars Risk, saying that the two games "had a natural connection" and that board game manufacturers actually received requests for a Halo strategy game. Still, he said that 343 has also had requests for things that "don't make any sense." Even if there is a demand, said O'Connor, "If it doesn't actually make sense and it's completely crazy, we won't do it."

Keep an eye out for the full interview later this week.

Rumor: First screens, details for Halo Reach leaked

by Xav de Matos { 1 day ago }

MLG forum user (and MS Paint fanatic) ToM MoReLLo claims to have played Halo: Reach, and was somehow able to nab multiple blurry screenshots of the game as evidence. Now, when we say blurry we mean blurry. In fact, the classic images of Bigfoot were of higher quality than some of these screens. Perhaps our natural skepticism is taking over, but we're taking these images with a rather large grain of salt.

As for details, the forum post claims Reach will feature squad-based combat and perks, similar to that of Modern Warfare. Squad-based mechanics certainly make sense, considering former Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter creative director Christian Allen joined Bungie in 2007. But again, grain of salt.

Halo: Reach -- Bungie's final title in the Halo universe -- is expected to ship in 2010. Microsoft has yet to reply to our request for a comment on the images.

[Via Shacknews & NeoGAF]

Latest Split/Second trailer blows up buildings, gigantic boats

by David Hinkle { 1 day ago }

Split/Second isn't like most racing games -- this much you already know. Like most racers, it has the super-fast cars, tight turns and limited slip differentials, but you can't take down whole buildings mid-race in most games in the genre. In fact, you can't blow up huge boats, either. Basically, it's like Burnout, except the world around you is the thing that gets smashed into bits.

All of that (and more) happens in the very brief glimpse of gameplay above. Enjoy!

This is the story of New Super Mario Bros. Wii

by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago }

We know many Joystiq readers don't want to read spoilers on the site. That's why, for your sake, we've carefully posted the intro movie to New Super Mario Bros. Wii after the break. The upcoming 2D platformer returns the series to its roots, but adds a number of features that make it "new" -- it says so on the box. New power-ups and the addition of multiplayer radically change the feel of NSMBW, but we're not sure if gamers are prepared for the revolutionary new story featured in this latest adventure.

Check it out after the break.

[Via GoNintendo]

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Guitar Hero, Call of Duty franchises lead Activision's 'better-than-expected' Q3 2009

by James Ransom-Wiley { 2 days ago }

Look, just feign surprise, it makes these financial posts so much more exciting: Activision today reported net revenues of $755 million (on a non-GAAP basis) in the quarter ending September 30, 2009 -- that's $55 million more than the suits hoped to stack, according to previous projections. While the blockbuster adaptation of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might have played a part in this outpouring of our money, we're gonna go with Kotick's explanation: "Our performance was driven by positive audience response to Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises, as well as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft."

In fact, the CEO called Guitar Hero the year's "#1 best-selling third-party franchise in North America and Europe" through September, claiming that U.S. sales of music games increased 72 percent year over year in September. Last year's big-band-box edition, World Tour, and Call of Duty: World at War combined for total, world domination, becoming this year's "#1 and #2 best-selling third-party titles" in North America and Europe through September, according to Activision. Additionally, World at War DLC map pack sales continued to climb last quarter and have now surpassed 7.5 million purchases.

Needless to say, the publisher is not backing off of its prior financial outlook. Activision anticipates annual net revenues of $4.5 billion (on a non-GAAP basis) at the close of the year. Did you remember to feign surprise?

Gran Turismo 5 cost roughly $60 million to develop

by Ben Gilbert { 2 days ago }

At the annual SEMA car show in Las Vegas this week, Gran Turismo 5 creative lead Kazunori Yamauchi was on-hand demoing his game for showgoers and talking to the press. Amidst a torrent of questions from Autoweek, Yamauchi roughly calculated the cost of creating Gran Turismo 5: a cool $60 million. That's what five years of development on a single game has cost Polyphony Digital thus far, an amount Yamauchi says was totally justified in order to "get it right."

"We threw away the legacy code from GT4 and started from scratch ... It's been five years from [the release of] GT4, and that's the same amount of time it took to develop the first GT4." And rather than dodging the reasoning behind the lack of a solid GT5 release date anywhere outside of Japan, Yamauchi flatly offered, "That's more depending on SCEA marketing decisions." Allow us to venture a guess – first half of 2010, perhaps?

Gallery: Gran Turismo 5

[Via VGChartz]

Nintendo might be considering hybrid HD/SD console

by JC Fletcher { 2 days ago }

In a voluminous response to an investor question about moving to support high-definition output, Nintendo executives laid out their current thoughts on how and when to make such a move in their consoles. Of course, these thoughts shouldn't be taken as a definite indicator of Nintendo's plans, but they might suggest where the company could be headed in the next generation. And if these statements do reflect future events, Nintendo's next console will be HD-capable, but won't require that standard for every game.

Genyo Takeda, GM of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development Division, said that "moving to HD appears to me a natural flow" given the adoption of HD by television programming. "If we can find out the most appropriate medium, between SD and HD, and flexibly move around them depending on the game's contents, it will be good, I think," he suggested. Shigeru Miyamoto agreed, noting that HD wasn't the most important consideration for something like Wii Fit. "Won't HD be better for the games like Pikmin? The developers should choose the most appropriate graphical format depending on the software they make."

'About 50%' of Lego Rock Band team was against the game concept

by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago }

"omg they're selling out. they are humpin' the cash cow like activision has been till shes dried up . they're gonna beat the rock band name to a pulp until we are absolutely sick and tired of instrument rhythm games." –fffunfarm06

"I'm so sick of these corny games. All of you people should just learn to play with REAL Legos." –Troy Powers

LEGO Rock Band's very existence is something that both the Joystiq staff and community couldn't help but question. However, animator Matt Palmer revealed that developer TT Fusion also had doubts about the bizarre collaboration. "I know people were saying, 'Oh, they're flogging a Lego license again,'" he recalled during a Develop panel. "I'd say about 50 percent of our studio were for the idea, and about 50 percent were against it."

Considering the game actually came out (this week!), it's apparent that the team eventually banded together to finish the project. Why the change of heart, though? "Many of us started realizing that we weren't just skinning one franchise on another," Palmer explained, noting the need to hand animate the blocky Lego celebrity characters to capture their various "signature styles." That's ... something. Right?

Dragon Quest IX is Q3's top-selling game

by JC Fletcher { 2 days ago }

Despite the handicap of not being for sale in most of the world, Dragon Quest IX for the DS sold more copies than any other game in the world between July and September of this year, according to a Top Global Markets report. With 3,925,000 copies sold in Japan, it outsold the number two best-selling game for that period, Wii Sports Resort, by almost 1,000,000 copies -- and that game was available worldwide.

Following Wii Sports Resort in the top five: Madden NFL 2010 at 2,612,000, Pokemon HeartGold And SoulSilver at 2,068,000, and Halo 3: ODST, which was only out for a week in Q3, at 1,847,000 copies. All these games have plenty more sales ahead of them as the holidays approach!

Confirmed: Car-bashing bonus stage returns in Super Street Fighter IV

by Ben Gilbert { 2 days ago }

After scans from Famitsu all but confirmed it, Capcom today revealed that the crescendo of humanity vs. his own creations – car bashing – will return in Super Street Fighter IV. Though the image of Juri above is all we're offered by Capcom-Unity for now, various Capcom staff Twitter accounts lead us to believe we'll be hearing more about this bonus stage next week. In the meantime, we've dropped an excellent video of John Cleese beating up a car with a stick for you just after the break. You're welcome.

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The Collectors, and the enemies of Mass Effect 2

by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago }

Here are some of the creatures that will be wiping out humanity in Mass Effect 2:

Collectors – an insect-like race, controlled by a single leader, that has access to the technology that "no one else in the galaxy" has. They can paralyze humans, and according to the video dev diary above, can abduct entire colonies. Oh, and they have beam weapons.
Abominations – Husks from the first Mass Effect, but now on fire and 100-percent more suicide bomber-y.
Scions – Three transformed human beings that have been grafted together onto a weapon. Essentially, super-zombies. With guns.
Batorians – A "flying suit of armor" apparently made of thirty Husks that can "obliterate everything."

The Geth will also make a return in Mass Effect 2. Legion, a Geth that has gained sentience, will hunt the player through the adventure, and it'll be up to you to figure out why. Provided your Commander Shepard, um, doesn't die first.

Halo Legends Blu-ray dated Feb. 9, 2010; perfect fanboy storm approaches

by Richard Mitchell { 2 days ago }

A year ago, the following sentence would have been absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable: The Blu-ray edition of the Halo Legends anime project is scheduled for release on February 9, 2010. The impossible union of Halo and Blu-ray will not only arrive on the same day as the DVD release, but it will also contain an exclusive overview of the series through the events of Halo 3. As Blu-ray.com risibly puts it, "Soon you'll be able to play Halo on your PS3."

Now, we'd like to think that this generation of consoles is far enough along that this news won't ruffle any fanboy feathers. Then again, we'd also like to think that HD DVD, in all its awesomeness, is poised for a comeback. Just remember, Halo fans, Blu-ray discs are not your enemy. Cliffhangers are.

Sam Fisher uses Krav Maga martial art, according to Splinter Cell Conviction dev diary

by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago }

"We had to find a martial art that fits the characters and the situations he would find himself in," animation director Gilles Monteil tells us in this new dev diary for Splinter Cell Conviction. "We needed something very quick, efficient and brutal -- something without any rules. That's why we chose Krav Maga."

"Krav Maga is not a big flashy martial art," game designer Steve Masters adds, which may explain its relative obscurity. Turning to Wikipedia, we discover it has its origins in street fighting and literally means "close combat" in Hebrew, and that the Israeli Defense Force and Special Forces use the martial art to this day. Apparently, stabbing someone in the hand is kosher in a form that has "no rules."

Media Molecule talks up DLC, shoots down LittleBigPlanet sequel

by Andrew Yoon { 2 days ago }

Twelve months, one million community levels, and a PSP spin-off later, some are wondering if it's time for Media Molecule to begin working on an honest-to-goodness sequel to PS3 platformer LittleBigPlanet. The answer seems to be a very clear no. "We'd never want to do that," level designer told Danny Leaver told Critical Gamer. "That'd be the most counterproductive thing you could do I think."

Certainly, the release of a sequel would splinter one of PlayStation's most dedicated online communities. Would user-created levels be compatible with a future game? Would DLC costumes carry across into a new title? These questions, thankfully, won't need to be addressed. Instead, Media Molecule plans on supporting LBP with additional downloadable content. "I think what you've seen so far from LittleBigPlanet, that's the way it's going to continue." said producer Martin Lynagh. We already know of two major patches: water and support for the PlayStation Motion Controller. However, Lynagh explains that there's much more to expect, especially in 2010. "We have a lot of stuff coming out, especially next year. We can't really talk about specifics for a lot of it at the moment, because a lot of it hasn't been announced."

One of Media Molecule's unannounced expansions may be similar in execution to the Metal Gear Solid pack from earlier this year. "We're looking forward to some really good original content, and some really strong brands we're working with," Lynagh teased.

PSA: Netflix PS3 discs begin shipping today

by JC Fletcher { 2 days ago }

If you're a Netflix user and haven't bothered to sign up for the free disc that enables Netflix streaming on your PlayStation 3, you should go do that. Like, right now. Netflix just sent out emails indicating that the discs are shipping today, and if you have yet to indicate your interest in the service, your disc is obviously not going out today.

And that means you may have to watch The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep on your computer instead of on the television, where it belongs. Do you want to be the one to break that news to your family? Of course you don't.

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