Joystiq

Click to grind into our gallery LTL Prints is launching a line of removable, reusable wall decals featuring art from Smilebit's 2001 Xbox classic Jet Set Radio Future. Now you can be reminded that there hasn't been another Jet Set Radio game in years every time you look at your wall! The company and license were brought together by John Doffing, one of the original curators of the Into the Pixel exhibit.

The site features a wide selection of character art as well as posters and even a graffiti image or two, all available in the size of your choice -- up to 7 feet tall. Want to turn your office into a shrine to Inspector Hayashi? Or maybe have a horde of Poison Jam watching you eat dinner?

The company claims that the decals can be moved and replaced 100 times without damage to walls, so you can spend plenty of time deciding which room to adorn with Bis, Corn, and Yoyo. Preferably a room with speakers in it -- you'll want to play a continuous loop of Cibo Matto's "Birthday Cake" for effect.

Gallery: Jet Set Radio Future Wall Graphics

It may not have acid blood or infrared vision, but the Australian Classification Board has won its battle against Rebellion's upcoming Aliens vs. Predator game. "The game contains first-person perspective, close-up depictions of human characters being subjected to various types of violence, including explicit decapitation and dismemberment as well as locational damage such as stabbing through the chest, mouth, throat, or eyes," the board reports. Apparently, the game's excessive gore and violence exceeds the requirements for a MA15+ rating. Without an option for an R18+ rating, Aliens vs. Predator becomes the latest title to join the ever-growing list of essentially "banned" games in the territory.

Sega is left with two options should it want to pursue an Australian release: Attempt an appeal with the board, or censor the game's content to meet Australian standards. Should AvP follow in the footsteps of the edited Left 4 Dead 2, Australian gamers should get ready to be disappointed yet again.

Update: Rebellion responds. Oh snap!

How awesome is Mass Effect 2? Well, if BioWare Community Coordinator Chris Priestly is to be believed, it is about twice as awesome. "You cannot fit this much awesome on one disc," Priestly stated on the BioWare forums, after revealing the game content will span two discs.

The necessity of two discs may mean a staggering amount of content for the RPG sequel -- the original was certainly no slouch in content. While some may lament the necessity of having to get up at least once during Mass Effect 2, Priestly promises that the disc swap happens at a dramatically appropriate point in the story. "Even though there is a disc swap, it occurs at a carefully planned place in the game (that does not interfere with gameplay) and is done once. You do not swap back and forth. 1 swap and then done."

We're going to fathom a guess as to when the swap will occur: immediately after the "suicide mission" revealed in the game's initial teaser.

[Thanks, Darth B.; Via Kotaku]

click to take off into the galleryNamco announced two notable iPhone launches today. Garters & Ghouls, its 19th-century twin stick zombie shooter, has been updated with iPhone 3GS compass functionality -- the first game, Namco Networks claims, to make use of the feature. Now, physically moving and rotating the phone to face different directions will help locate powerups in the game. The update is free for those who already have the game, and will be included in new downloads of the $4.99 title.

The other new release: Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion, which brings the long-lived flight franchise to iPhone. We found that the controls worked just fine during our brief look at the game at TGS, but have yet to delve into the full game. It's featured at a $4.99 sale price for its first five days.

Garters & Ghouls ($4.99)

Ace Combat Xi ($4.99)

Gallery: Ace Combat Xi (iPhone)

Last month, developer Big Fish Games released the latest game in its hidden-object, casual mystery series Mystery Case Files. Dire Grove features something rather unexpected for a game released in 2009: full-motion video. As a selling point! The game sets you into the investigation of four graduate students who disappear in the spooky town of Dire Grove one night. Along the way, video sequences will help illuminate the events.

Fascinated by the bold decision to bring in live actors for the latest iteration of a usually all hand-drawn series (and a game that will retail for seven dollars when the Standard Edition launches this month -- the Collector's Edition is available now for $20), we spoke to game designer Adrian Woods about the game and the somewhat anachronistic use of FMV.

Continued →

The city of Montreal can add another gaming studio to its ranks, as THQ has announced plans for its biggest studio yet: THQ Montreal. The new development house will focus on "creating core games for THQ" and assisting with titles developed by the company's other studios worldwide. THQ Montreal is expected to create some 400 new jobs in the Quebec province, with THQ's Paradigm Entertainment head, Dave Gatchel, overseeing operations when the studio opens in mid-2010.

THQ VP Steve DeCosta says it's not just the tax breaks that make Montreal such an appealing place to set up shop, but also the talent pool in the region -- sentiments shared by neighboring Ontario minister Sandra Pupatello.

EA Sports wants to get in your wallet. We're talking about the new EA Sports DebitSmart Visa prepaid card. It works like a lot of other prepaid debit cards: you give EA money, it puts that money on the card. However, EA is trying to sweeten the deal (paying money to use money is a deal?) through the inclusion of EA Sports Reward Points, fractions of payments made with the card that are converted to points which consumers can then use toward EA Sports purchases via EA's site.

EA marketing VP Todd Sitrin calls the program "a perfect marriage of encouraging responsible spending while providing a unique reward program." History teaches us otherwise, so if you'll excuse us, we'll just be sitting in the corner, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

After being recognized as the year's fastest-selling new IP and its developer calling a sequel a "no-brainer," Borderlands is "showing every sign of becoming an important, long-term franchise" for publisher Take-Two Interactive. That comment was made today by company chairman Strauss Zelnick, during the same earnings call in which a considerable delay for another important franchise title, Max Payne 3, was disclosed.

But really, who cares about Max "I don't need an intervention" Payne when faced with the prospect of Borderlands: The Clap Trap Chronicles?

Gallery: Rogue Warrior (27-04-09)

reality is that there's little challenge as most of the stealth elements are as scripted as they come

Take a deep breath. You feel that filling up your lungs? That's freedom. It's the freedom to not have to worry about the ever-growing onslaught of purchaseables for the first time in months. Yes, there are still a handful of decent releases, but it would seem that the worst/best is over.

We don't know about you, but we're happy that we'll finally have time to play games rather than just buy them.

Gallery: New Games This Month: December 2009

If you hadn't already used that totally legit Japanese PSN account to scoop up the demo of Platinum Games' Bayonetta, today's your chance to play the official US preview of the game. If you've already played Japan's demo, well, you've played this one. PS3 also gets the original Call of Duty, in the event that you must play COD but are waiting for the Javelin glitch in Modern Warfare 2 to be fixed before engaging in any more of its multiplayer.

There's also a batch of add-on content for PS3 titles, including Tekken 6 -- and, as promised, that one's free. So is festive LittleBigPlanet costume content in the form of a Santa suit for Sackboy. Oh, and we can't forget: PSP Minis (yes, they live!).

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:

(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Continued →

If you're looking for heated exchanges of alien gunfire, the trailer above would be a terrible place to start your search. No, this particular trailer instead focuses on the lush, otherworldly environments of Capcom's jetpack-strapped Q1 action title, Dark Void. Really, with a title like that, we expect the game's setting to be more ... soul-crushing than this trailer would lead us to believe. If that's a "dark void," our apartments are endless abysses of impenetrable blackness.

Gallery: Dark Void

Take-Two has released "preliminary" earnings results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year (ending October 31, 2009), blaming a $.09 a share slump on poor sales of its Major League Baseball games. It seems the publisher might have been misled by the commonly held misconception that baseball is the "national pastime" -- modern warfare has clearly seized that honor. Take-Two didn't specify which MLB titles might have underperformed, but it released The BIGS 2, MLB Front Office Manager, MLB 2K9, and MLB 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars all in 2009, and all to mediocre critical reception.

2K expects to take a $30–35 million loss on its MLB business and further adjusted its financial outlook downward following the BioShock 2 delay. While Borderlands and NBA 2K10 helped generate some revenue last quarter, Take-Two's future doesn't look to be paved in gold. "Looking ahead, we remain committed to our goal of operating profitably on a non-GAAP basis;" CEO Strauss Zelnick said. "However, we do not currently expect to achieve that goal in fiscal 2010. We have an outstanding product portfolio, exceptional creative talent and a solid balance sheet, and are confident that these strengths will provide a sound foundation for improved performance."

In a new financial earnings and projection report, Take-Two has dished out news of Max Payne 3's release. The game's been pushed back -- we like to imagine in incredibly slow and dramatic fashion -- to the company's fiscal Q4 2010. In real time, that translates to a three-month period spanning August–October, 2010. The game was previously pegged for an unlikely Winter 2009 release.

Based on what we've seen of Max Payne 3 so far, we'd say that bumping back its release is a good move. Max is in serious need of some Jazzercise and a decent dry cleaner, so this extra time will hopefully get him into better shape to handle the countless waves of bad guys he'll be indiscriminately shooting in the face.

It seems the cover star for EA reboot Medal of Honor bears quite a resemblance to a real-life military man -- and not the fictional lumberjack uncle we like to think resides in every Canadian family. Life did a feature on the armed forces in Afghanistan back in 2002, and one of the individuals (codenamed "Cowboy") highlighted in several photos (via UGO) seems to match the one highlighted on the FPS cover.

EA did mention working closely with "Tier 1 Operators from the US Special Operations Community," so it seems possible that the main character could be inspired by (if not actually based on) Mr. Cowboy. We've contacted EA to get some intel on this. We'll let you know, if we haven't been taken out for yesterday's ZZ Top joke.