Joystiq

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising getting DLC tomorrow

by Justin McElroy { 2 days ago }

Tomorrow's one of those days when it'll be nice to be a PC gamer. Not only will you be able to get a title update for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (the full details of which are available here) you'll also be the first to get your hands on the "Skirmish" DLC, which includes four new multiplayer maps and two new Fire Team Engagement missions. The console title update (which you can read about about here) is due on the 360 tomorrow and on the PS3 "shortly after."

Moreover, when Skirmish is eventually released on consoles, it'll come with a price tag of 400 points ($5) on 360 and $3.99 on PS3. Sure, the price discrepancy will cause a flare up in the console war, but what do you care? You're a PC gamer. You rise above.

Watch: The Modern Warfare 2 launch trailer, as seen on TV

by Christopher Grant { 2 days ago }

For some reason, Activision is intent on blowing cash on Modern Warfare 2 advertisements, despite record pre-order numbers, and anticipated record-breaking sales. At this point, tossing out slick television commercials – like the one you see above, showing some more fightin' on American soil – just seems like kicking everyone's wallets while they're down. We've already got the game pre-ordered! We can't pre-order it anymore! Uncle!

Rumor: Footage of canned Shadowrun reboot

by David Hinkle { 2 days ago }

Before 2007's Shadowrun released and Microsoft subsequently closed the doors on FASA, the studio was apparently working on Shadowrun: The Awakening -- a game with a full single-player campaign and unique 3D gameplay engine developed in-house. Some footage (teleport past the break to give it a look-see) managed to make its way online over at Unseen64, showing off a few environments and some character animations. As Unseen64 would tell it, the story goes: FASA brought a new art director in which, through a series of unknown events, lead to an eventual cancellation in favor of the multiplayer-driven experience that was the 2007 game.

As it stands now, Jordan Weisman managed to snag the rights to the Shadowrun IP (among others), so the possibility of seeing this resurface as an actual thing isn't entirely impossible -- though Weisman is trying to let some of the negativity surrounding the brand die down a bit before revisiting it.

[Via StrategyInformer]

Continued →

Don't blame EA for Dragon Age's inventory (or paid DLC)

by Xav de Matos { 2 days ago }

In a written response to allegations from Fidgit that Electronic Arts had forced developer BioWare to remove features in Dragon Age: Origins with the intention of selling it as future DLC, BioWare lead systems designer Georg Zoeller says the parent company has "nothing" to do with the decision. At the crux of the argument is the game's launch DLC, Warden's Keep, which gives players a "storage chest" to help expand the in-game inventory, among other additions. Fidgit claims the DLC was pre-planned to "bilk users for more money."

According to Zoeller, Dragon Age originally featured a small storage chest in the game's party camp, but quickly became an issue due to story elements in the game that would change the camp's environment; so the storage area was removed. "We decided that it was not really necessary anyway since the item limitation was rather generous compared to the initial designs at least," Zoeller wrote. Later -- during a brainstorm session -- the team decided to include the chest in premium DLC, which was then made available at launch.

Zoeller claims "storage limitations" were never pinpointed as problems by the game's quality assurance team, because "after all, it was part of the design." While the Bioware designer doesn't have an issue with anger toward the decision, he vehemently denies EA was involved for the sole purpose of getting more money out of players. With the DLC already available across all platforms (560

/ $7, or free to deluxe edition players), it's up to players to make their opinions heard by voting with their wallets.

Viacom: The Beatles: Rock Band sales strong, overall RB growth slow

by David Hinkle { 2 days ago }

Even though John, Paul, George and Ringo have been rocking the disc tray of your favorite console with The Beatles: Rock Band, its expectation-exceeding sales haven't helped boost overall Rock Band sales. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told USA Today the "economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like." There's still hope that Rock Band could at least break even or show a small profit, though Viacom CFO Tom Dooley said that will depend entirely on the franchise's performance this holiday season.

Despite tanking sales, the music genre still remains one of the best in the industry and The Beatles: Rock Band shows us that the right approach could still determine financial success in the space. Its September debut was very fortuitous and it even managed to best Guitar Hero 5 in the US -- which not only came with a free game, but is also one of the most recognizable brands to the mainstream.

Source - USA Today
Source - Viacom earnings report

Modern Warfare 2 Avatar gear coming to Live tomorrow

by Xav de Matos { 2 days ago }

Are your Avatars ill-equipped to raid a terrorist safe house? Well, good news: Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling (aka fourzerotwo) revealed Modern Warfare 2 gear will soon be available for players to purchase on Xbox Live's Avatar Marketplace.

Revealed in a recent Tweet, Bowling stated that Infinity Ward will upload the content to Xbox Live tomorrow -- which includes the Ghost outfit pictured above. In an email to Joystiq, Bowling confirmed the content will be made available for purchase tomorrow. Until then, we'll sleep soundly knowing that the Avatar world will soon be safe from terrorist scum.

[Thanks, B. Marriner]

Auditorium flowing to XBLA, PSN and PSP next year

by Griffin McElroy { 2 days ago }

We haven't heard anything about Cipher Prime's plans to port its hypnotic musical puzzler, Auditorium, since the studio won a publishing contract in the 2BeeGames competition back in July. Today, a press release from newly named publisher Zoo Games revealed a few details about the title's console destinations: It's coming to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, both as a PS3 and PSP download "early next year."

For those who want to know what the soothing buzz is all about, you can check out Auditorium for free on the 2BeeGames site. For those who can't access that site for some reason, just turn on some classical music, go turn on the nearest water faucet, and try to redirect the stream with your hands.

2009 THQ year-to-date sales up 22 percent over 2008

by Richard Mitchell { 2 days ago }

THQ has released its financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal 2010, which ended September 30, 2009, and things are mostly looking up. The company lost money this quarter compared to the same period last year, posting non-GAAP net sales of $100.38 million, down from $151.62 million during Q2 of its fiscal 2009. However sales are up for the entire year, with THQ posting net sales of $334.28 million for its fiscal 2010 thus far, up from $272.69 million last year, a 22 percent increase.

THQ blamed the second quarter dip on a lack of new titles, though it hopes to have a good holiday season thanks to a "strong mass-market line-up" including WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2010 and MX vs ATV Reflex. The company was also sure to mention its triumph in the JAKKS Pacific lawsuit, which resulted in a much lower payment to the longtime WWE series developer (though the scuffle is still haunting the publisher).

Finally, THQ promised to prevail in its march to profitability by the end of fiscal 2010. Though the company expects its Q3 2010 to be 5-10 percent lower than the same period last year, it predicts Q4 sales will exceed those of last year. A reasonable hope, given that all of THQ's major releases drop in its fiscal Q4, including Darksiders, Metro 2033 and the Dawn of War 2 expansion, Chaos Rising.

Prototype Wii game found in developer portfolio

by JC Fletcher { 2 days ago }

The website for Eric Testroete, who recently made the rounds for his "big head mode" Halloween costume, shows work-in-progress screens of an unannounced Wii war game he animated for MLB Superstars developer Deep Fried Entertainment. The game uses an almost top-down, zoomed-out perspective, and appears to put the player (or players) in control of jeeps equipped with machine guns.

As Kotaku notes, it looks rather like Konami's Jackal, prompting the site to speculate that it's a ReBirth made for Konami, like the recent Castlevania, Contra, and Gradius games. If true, it would be the first ReBirth title not to be developed by M2 in Japan. Of course, the American side of Konami is also working on refreshes of old Konami franchises in the form of Rocket Knight, so there is precedent.

Gallery: Undisclosed Deep Fried Entertainment game (Wii)

Tekken 6 online patch in the works, says Namco

by Ben Gilbert { 2 days ago }

Those of you taking your King of the Iron Fist Tournament fighters to the internet have been experiencing some major issues, notably: when trying to compete online in any sort of meaningful way, you're met with acute, game-ending connectivity issues. Namco recognized that today and issued a response, stating, "To improve the online game experience for players ... Namco Bandai games is developing a downloadable update which will be available as soon as it has passed rigorous testing procedures."

Unfortunately, no date for the patch has been given, though the publisher does add, "This is separate from the online co-op Scenario Campaign mode update." We've pestered Namco for more details on exactly what the patch will aim to fix and when we might hear more about it but, until that time, know this: something is being fixed at some point.

Hans Zimmer believes in the legitimacy of games, approached MW2 as a 'novice'

by Ben Gilbert { 2 days ago }

Hans Zimmer may have a laundry list of feature films he contributed to on his resume, but the renowned film composer says he still had to approach his work on Modern Warfare 2 "truly as a novice." In an interview with USA Today, he speaks like a true convert. When asked about the legitimacy of games as an art form, he frankly states, "Absolutely, that we can't even question anymore."

Zimmer says his first experience working on a game has, unsurprisingly, been very different than working on a film. "I had never done this before, so it was nice to sort of go at it a little fresh." Due to the length of major video games (even the shorter ones), Zimmer was forced to create considerably more music than the average project. "I never added it up [because] then I would have panicked," he admits. Looks like that "ridiculous" budget was good for something!

Ubisoft talks dancing, fitness and party games on Natal, PS3 Motion Controller

by Christopher Grant { 2 days ago }

On the conference call covering Ubisoft's Q2 earnings, management had a chance to discuss its strategies for the company, including support for both Microsoft and Sony's motion control accessories. "We will also be ready with some very nice innovations when Natal and Motion Controller are launched on the Xbox 360 and PS3 next year," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, reminding us that a 2010 release for Project Natal is all but confirmed at this point. He later explained that Ubisoft will "also have some games that will come on the new machines that are going to come in the future" and "are working to be ready for the new accessories or new machines that will come soon." Whether Guillemot is talking about the aforementioned motion control accessories or new consoles altogether (or both!) wasn't clear.

Continued →

Epic Mickey is the strong, silent type (of cartoon mouse)

by JC Fletcher { 2 days ago }

When Mickey Mouse makes his triumphant return to the world stage in Disney Epic Mickey, he'll do so without his trademark squeaky voice. The mouse will still speak in the game, but all speech will be rendered as text bubbles. And it's not a technical limitation, but an artistic one.

"I made the creative decision that characters wouldn't talk in the Cartoon Wasteland," Warren Spector explained to The Cut Scene. "It was entirely a creative decision because [he begins speaking in a high-pitched Mickey voice] As soon as I start doing this, I've lost most of my potential audience. [resumes natural voice] If I'm trying to re-introduce this character to an audience, there are certain connotations with that voice that I'm going to have a hard time overcoming." When he does speak in a future game, he'll probably be an affable Everyman voiced by Nolan North (our guess).

Oswald, Spector said, won't need much consideration, due not only to his relative unfamiliarity to modern audiences, but also due to the properties of the character itself. "If you watch the existing cartoons," Spector said, "he's such a special character. In many ways, he's a funnier, more cartoon-y, more modern guy than Mickey is."

Gallery: Disney Epic Mickey

Smoking Gun teases original IP with preview of 'X' graphic novel, ARG

by Randy Nelson { 2 days ago }

It's been two years since Relic staffers John Johnson and Drew Dunlop (producer and lead programmer on Company of Heroes, respectively) left the company to set up their own, Smoking Gun Interactive. As we reported back in May, the studio has teamed with cyberpunk trailblazer and author Douglas Rushkoff to create an array of multimedia products based on its yet-to-be-revealed premiere franchise. This week, we get a look at what they've been up to with the first of four sneak previews of X, a graphic novel launching next year that lays the foundation for Smoking Gun's new IP.

Hidden within the preview (on page 13, actually) is a link to a tie-in ARG that borrows the opening of the classic text adventure, Zork. This Easter egg is actually pretty appropriate, given that Rushkoff coined the term "viral media." We've gotten as far as "decoding" the Declaration of Independence, which, at least in the conspiracy-filled universe of X, contains warnings of aliens among us and a coming global tyranny. (As opposed to more modern government documents, which warn of a steep fine for filing your taxes late.)

No Doubt suing Activision for Band Hero 'circus act' appearance

by Xav de Matos { 2 days ago }

The multi-platinum rock band No Doubt has filed a lawsuit against Activision in a L.A. County Superior Court claiming its likeness was "transformed" into a "virtual karaoke circus act" in over sixty songs in the recently released music title, Band Hero. According to TMZ, No Doubt claims gamers were only supposed to be able to use their likeness with three of its own tracks; however, the band is available as playable characters through the game's entire music catalog.

Of particular note is lead singer Gwen Stefani's displeasure that her likeness can be used to sing "Honky Tonk Woman" by the Rolling Stones -- a song which references sex with prostitutes -- using a male voice and mannerisms. For its "circus act" inclusion, No Doubt is seeking an injunction to halt the "unauthorized use" of the band's name and likeness, as well as an unknown amount of damages (aka mad monies). Seems like Activision can't keep rock stars happy, dead or alive.

[Via TeamXbox]

Previous Page|Next Page