Joystiq

Halfbrick shares Fruit Ninja sales numbers, how to succeed on the App store

David Hinkle — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:30:00 EST

iPhone and iPod Touch gamers have likely already heard of Fruit Ninja, a game where you coldly murder different offerings from nature's bounty -- by tapping and slicing across the screen, you cut down watermelons and the like. It's a pretty simple game and at only $.99, it's quickly climbed the charts of the most popular Apps in the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden. So we decided to grill Halbrick's creator and lead designer of Fruit Ninja, Luke Muscat, on all things iPhone.

Joystiq: You sent out a press release before the weekend claiming 140,000 copies sold of your iPhone/iPod Touch game, Fruit Ninja. What's the current total at?

Luke Muscat: Over 200,000 now. That's a pretty big milestone for us, we are very happy to have achieved such great success in a market that can be pretty unpredictable. If you're reading this and have purchased the game - you rule the App store!

Continue reading Halfbrick shares Fruit Ninja sales numbers, how to succeed on the App store

Halfbrick shares Fruit Ninja sales numbers, how to succeed on the App store originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 10 May 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big, huge interview: Big Huge Games head Tim Train

Ben Gilbert — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:30:00 EST

When 38 Studios isn't busy hiring former Nintendo execs, Curt Schilling's Massachusetts-based MMO developer is buying up close-to-death development studios -- take, for instance, Big Huge Games. Tim Train, the studio's president, illuminated the near-death experience that Big Huge had in a talk at PAX East earlier this year (slides from said speech can be found below).

He explained how, with just a handful of days left and termination letters ready to send out, 38 Studios swept in and saved Big Huge and the vast majority of its staff. We found his story so interesting, we thought we'd follow up with Train and have him explain it once more, as well as speak about other topics. Will Big Huge ever produce another digital board game? Unfortunately, it looks like you could be waiting on that for quite some time. Hit the break for the whole thing.

Gallery: Tim Train explains the near death of his studio, Big Huge Games

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Big, huge interview: Big Huge Games head Tim Train originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview: Skate 3's Chris "Cuz" Perry

David Hinkle — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:28:00 EST

At PAX East, we managed to bend the ear of Chris "Cuz" Perry, one of the Skate series' producers -- you know, the dude from those developer diary videos? Yeah, him. He was rocking the Skate 3 booth, showing off the game, so we did what we do best: cornered him and started firing off questions. See what he had to say below!

Could you tell us what your name and position is?

My full name is Chris Perry and I'm a producer on Skate.

You guys really kept up support for Skate 2 through DLC long after the game came out. Is that something you plan to do with Skate 3?

Official policy is that we can't talk about that, but it sounds like it's a good idea!

Gallery: Skate 3

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Interview: Skate 3's Chris "Cuz" Perry originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands' Michael McIntyre

Ludwig Kietzmann — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST

Positioned as a new sequel to fan favorite Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Ubisoft Montreal's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a clear return to tradition. It diverges from 2008's cel-shaded scurrier in more ways than one: platforming is more difficult; the time rewind is back; and the adventure is entirely linear. Though the game showed promise at PAX East 2010, we couldn't help but ask Level Design Director Michael McIntyre what this familiar entry means for fans and the franchise.

Joystiq: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands -- how is that being positioned to fans of 2008's game? Is it an apology?

Michael McIntyre: Oh, not at all. Actually, this project was started before that game even released, so we had no idea how that game was going to be received. We knew that the PoP 2008 was a daring take on the Prince of Persia franchise. but we knew that there would be people that definitely liked it and we just weren't certain what fans of Sands of Time would take it, even though we knew it was quite different from Sands of Time. So, there was already an early plan to do a Sands of Time-type game, not at the same time but it was already in progress.

Gallery: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Continue reading Interview: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands' Michael McIntyre

Interview: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands' Michael McIntyre originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview: EGM Now's Steve Harris

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:25:00 EST

Following the closure of Electronic Gaming Monthly by parent company Ziff Davis Media earlier this year (after nearly 20 years in the game industry), the magazine's original founder Steve Harris repurchased the rights and promised a rebirth for EGM. We ran into Harris at E3 2009 and cajoled him into speaking with us about his purchase. (He was a bit busy with business at E3, as you might imagine, thus we're talking a few months later.)

Though we're still a little ways off from the mag's December 1 "return," he gave us a few hints of what to expect, his explanation of how EGM Now will succeed financially where "old EGM" failed, and a few of his favorite games on the current-gen systems.

Hit the break for the whole thing.

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Interview: EGM Now's Steve Harris originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interview: Shaimus

Kevin Kelly — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST

Shaimus is a band born out of Harmonix, featuring former employees Phil Beaudreau and Johannes "Rash" Raasina, and has been lucky enough to have songs in both Guitar Hero ("All Of This") and Rock Band 2 ("Like a Fool'). They recently launched a new album, and we caught up with them at one of their Los Angeles shows to see what it's like being a rock band in a video game about ... rock bands.

Read the interview after the break, and check out one of their free tunes right here.

Gallery: Shaimus

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Interview: Shaimus originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Codemasters talks Overlord, working with Wii

David Hinkle — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:15:00 EST

It might not be a good time to port your game to the Wii right now. With Dead Rising causing many jaws to hit the floor in disgust, confidence isn't in ready supply. Enter Overlord: Dark Legend brand manager Dan Robinson, who doesn't want you to think his game is just being slapped together.

Codemasters "realized quite early on if we just did a port of 'Overlord' or 'Overlord 2' onto the Wii, we'd get slighted," Robinson told MTV Multiplayer. The most important thing for his company is that "the game works with the control system." He explained that when making a game on a Nintendo console, a developer has to "make sure that it hits all the buttons that Nintendo fanboys want," because it can be "dead in the water before you've even started." Viewing the Wii as something more than a system to make a quick buck on ... that is a good start!

Codemasters, like Sega, is looking for that hardcore buck, too. "I think it's definitely more of a hardcore game than you've got on the Wii at the moment," he said. "I think this gives us an opportunity to show them that the Wii can actually do games like this, and it actually works and it can make good fun." Casual players need not feel left out, however, as he thinks there are "elements of it" that will appeal to them.

Overlord: Dark Legend is currently slated for release this summer.

Codemasters talks Overlord, working with Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq interviews GameFly about Shacknews acquisition

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:32:00 EST

We caught up with GameFly today regarding its surprising purchase of Shacknews, along with all related sites. Speaking with GameFly co-founder Sean Spector, we asked him what the plans are for the respected site and how it fits into GameFly's business. We also made sure to ask if there are any expected layoffs and how it plans to succeed where companies like GameTap have failed.

Joystiq: So, first question: Why?

Sean Spector: We just feel there is for our users and our members, and as well the gamer community at large, that there's a growing need for quality game content. The guys at Shacknews have done a really good job of building a site and content that gamers seem to respond to.

Is it confirmed that the entire Shacknews staff is staying on? No layoffs?

SS: Steven Gibson, the founder, is not staying on. That was one of the reasons for him to want to sell the site. He's been doing it for 14 years and wanted to, sort of, take a vacation from the site. He and I are going to be talking on a regular basis. He's a really good guy, it's his baby, and I want to do it justice. Nick and Chris, who are the two journalists staying on, they are GameFly employees. Maarten, who has been doing the technical development for the last several years will stay on, probably as a consultant.

Continue reading Joystiq interviews GameFly about Shacknews acquisition

Joystiq interviews GameFly about Shacknews acquisition originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo's new marketing exec gets the profile treatment

David Hinkle — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: News

When word hit that Perrin and George (and Beth) were hitting the road, Nintendo quickly found a few good bodies to take their place. Taking over the role of chief marketing officer is Cammie Dunaway, who spent some time with Yahoo! and Frito-Lay. Seeing as how this is her first foray into the gaming industry, we all don't know much about her.

Well, thanks to MediaPost, we're given a bit more information about her. Like how her young son is in love with Pokemon, as she states "I've seen the excitement on my nine-year-old son's (Davis) face when he's playing a Pokemon game on his DS and spots someone else at the airport playing, too. They become instant friends." A marketer through-and-through, eh? Dunaway will be leaving her position at Yahoo! and starting at Nintendo come Monday.

[Via Joystiq]

Nintendo's new marketing exec gets the profile treatment originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq interview: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe producer Jamie Bafus

Justin McElroy — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:58:00 EST

Filed under: Features, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Interviews

From from the beginning, we haven't quite understood Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. Is it a movie game? Is it standalone? Is it for kids, or can adults play too? We got in contact with producer Jamie Bafus to help us understand the rationale behind the new series.

A lot of people were confused when they saw Spider-Man: Friend or Foe announced so soon after Spider-Man 3. Can you tell us a little bit about the inception of the game, the vision for setting it apart from the movie games?

The previous movie-based Spider-Man games were rated "T" which left out the huge base of younger Spider-Man fans. With Spider-Man: Friend or Foe we set out to make a Spider-Man game that was not only suitable for kids but also fun for gamers of all ages.

When we were thinking of how to best create a family-friendly Spider-Man game, we liked the idea of combining all three movies together in one game, but we also had a concept for a team-up game which would have made it really difficult to follow the Spider-Man movie plots. So, we decided to pay homage to the movies in, what we think, are really fun ways and create something unique with the team-up aspect that we feel fans of all ages will want to play.

Gallery: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

Continue reading Joystiq interview: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe producer Jamie Bafus

Joystiq interview: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe producer Jamie Bafus originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don't expect any Treasure games on PSN anytime soon

Chris Powell — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, PlayStation Network

On the cusp of Tokyo Game Show, the 1up crew tracked down Treasure president Masato Maegawa to ask him all sorts of questions regarding his company's future. Treasure, of course, is the company behind such great titles like Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun and Guardian Heroes.

While we're sure plenty of you would love to download any of those games via the PlayStation Network, it doesn't look like it'll be happening ... at least not for awhile, anyway. Maegawa said that Treasure is just now "fully up and running on developing for Xbox Live Arcade, so to move resources to PSN just now wouldn't make much sense."

Ouch, did you hear that? That's the sound of my heart being crushed under Maegawa's steel-toed penny loafers. You'll rue the day for this decision, Maegawa. RUE!

Don't expect any Treasure games on PSN anytime soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 Fanboy interviews Uncharted's Amy Hennig

Andrew Yoon — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews

[Update: We're currently revising a few mishaps that occured during the transcription of the interview. Please stay tuned for an updated interview. Sorry for the mishap!]
Amy Hennig, lead designer of the upcoming PS3 adventure game Uncharted, sat down with PS3 Fanboy to talk about her upcoming game. Inspired by the old Indiana Jones of yore, she wants to bring much more than "Tomb Raider with a guy."

Uncharted is Naughty Dog's most ambitious title yet. Although its scale is larger than any previous game for the team, has anything been lost during the game's development?
Always. You start off with a very ambitious plan, and think "well, that would've been nice," but "we'll do this." But, I think unless you shoot for the stars, you don't get here. I think there's a lot of features that we're going to include in the next one, if there is a next one. I'd like to do a lot more with physics, a greater variety of gameplay.

Would you consider Uncharted to be an interactive movie?
Well, that's got a stigma to it, doesn't it? When people say "interactive movie," it seems like it's not really an interactive game. We try to steer away from that. We sometimes try to steer away from the word "cinematic" because its pejorative. I think it's a video game: it's a video, and you play it. Hopefully, we straddled those definitions that people can appreciate.

Continue reading PS3 Fanboy interviews Uncharted's Amy Hennig

PS3 Fanboy interviews Uncharted's Amy Hennig originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq interviews Fate by Numbers director Paul van der Meer

Justin McElroy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:55:00 EST

Filed under: Features, PC, Retro, Adventure

If you're the sort that hungers for the golden age of the adventure game, you may find what you're looking for in Fate by Numbers, a free, episodic FMV adventure that had its first episode released recently. The futuristic noir is not just unique because of its genre but also for the way it came to fruition, the end result of a graduate school project. We asked director Paul van der Meer to tell us a bit more about how he and his team created their game for just a hair over $2,000.

First off, maybe you can tell us a bit about the inception of the game, how did this all get started?

The game was made by four students. Rudi Nagelhout (programming), Roy Heijdra (video composite), Winne Willems (producing) and me (game design). We started thinking about the game in our third year of our study, called Communication and Multimedia Design (Breda, the Netherlands). It's a creative study that combines technology with art and creativity.

We knew we had to make a personal project at the end of it. But we thought we could make something bigger when we combined our forces. We couldn't do a film, since it wasn't a film school. But we're also gamers and we love games like Gabriel Knight, Monkey Island, Broken Sword and Blade Runner. We also liked FMV adventures and wondered if we could do something similar.

Continue reading Joystiq interviews Fate by Numbers director Paul van der Meer

Joystiq interviews Fate by Numbers director Paul van der Meer originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq interviews Heavenly Sword's Rhianna Pratchett

Jem Alexander — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 08:55:00 EST

Filed under: Features, Interviews

While at the Develop Conference we had the opportunity to sit down with Rhianna Pratchett, script writer and story designer for Heavenly Sword. We discuss the story of the game, her inspiration, the role of storytelling in video games and, among other things, her dad's (author Terry Pratchett) influence on her work.

Why are you writing for games, in particular?

I've always been a gamer, since I was about six and I started playing Mazogs on the ZX81. My dad was very techy and into computers, electronics, robots and that kind of thing. He'd bring something that clicked and whirred home and I was an only child so, of course, I was fascinated with whatever my dad was doing. Games were only really becoming commercial then and maybe he thought it was quite cute to get his six year old daughter playing a game where she would run around with a sword killing giant bugs. I asked him about Mazogs the other day and he said that he remembers me being rather frightened of the bug creatures, at first. Although once I found I could kill them, I was much happier!

I got hooked from that and I would get all his hand-me-down machines. We would play lots of games together, mainly isometric adventure games. Or rather, he would play them and I would sit beside him drawing all the maps for him. When I was around eleven years old, a girl called Katie moved next door to me and we would play adventure games together (there was precious little else to do in our tiny, one-road village!) but this time it was our adventure. We played games like Monkey Island, King's Quest, even things like the old Leisure Suit Larry games (we'd have to guess all the 'are you 18?' questions - which were mainly, and rather bizarrely, about the American political process!)

I studied journalism at university. I didn't really think about games writing back then, so I started off being a games journalist, in about '98 on a magazine called PC Zone, which was (and still is) quite a hardcore PC magazine. I also did some work for The Guardian for a couple of years. Then about four years ago, I started going freelance and then I got my first gig as a story editor for a game and it took off from there as I started to get more and more projects.

Gallery: Heavenly Sword (PS3)

Continue reading Joystiq interviews Heavenly Sword's Rhianna Pratchett

Joystiq interviews Heavenly Sword's Rhianna Pratchett originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Craaazy Crazy Taxi interview

Steven Bailey — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, Crazy Taxi

1UP interviewed Kenji Kanno, the Chief Game Design Manager of the upcoming Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars. Amazingly, the interview doesn't really ask many questions about the PSP game. Instead, it focuses on general industry and Crazy Taxi series questions. When asked about the most important part about the evolution of the series, Kanno answered, "I wouldn't use the word 'evolution' for this series because basically the whole point of the game is to have a lot of fun in a short period of time."

Sounds like the perfect kind of game for a portable!

[Thanks Jonah]

Craaazy Crazy Taxi interview originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Developers talk PSP's future

Steven Bailey — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: News, Interviews

IGN took some time on PSP's 2nd anniversary to ask several developers what they thought the future held for PSP. Here are some of the more interesting excerpts:

Ready at Dawn (devs of Daxter and the upcoming PSP God of War)

"I think it's bringing a whole new crowd to handheld gaming, people that would have never played the type of games on previous handhelds."

SCEA's SOCOM Team

"The PSP is a great platform, but very few publishers and developers are creating games that really take advantage of the platform. I really hope that this will change. We have many more great PSP games coming out and I hope you look forward to them. "

Continued after the jump ...

Continue reading Developers talk PSP's future

Developers talk PSP's future originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 25 Mar 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More Ratchet & Clank interviews than you can handle

Andrew Yoon — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, Ratchet and Clank, Video

Hope you're interested in Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters because GameTrailers has posted not one ... not two ... but SIX interviews from the game's developers. They discuss various elements of the game, from multiplayer to designing the game engine. See past the cut to get your dose of Ratchet & Clank and then make sure you come back at 12:01AM on February 12th to see PSP Fanboy's review of the game. The game releases on February 13th.

Continue reading More Ratchet & Clank interviews than you can handle

More Ratchet & Clank interviews than you can handle originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Gates on the 360, IPTV, convergence

Richard Mitchell — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: News

Chris Grant of Joystiq (he's the handsome lad pictured above), along with Engadget's Ryan Block as well as folks from Kotaku, Gizmodo, and ScobleShow, sat down with Bill Gates at CES yesterday to talk about, well, everything. The group covers issues like net neutrality, vertical integration, and of course, the Xbox 360. On the 360 side of things, Bill evokes memories of the 1990s as he declares the 360 as controlling people's living rooms. With the introduction of IPTV, it would seem that the 360 has finally become the "set top box" holy grail that was sought after in the last decade of the 20th century. Gates also reveals that the majority of Microsoft's often touted 5 million Xbox Live subscribers are of the Gold variety. Other topics discussed include digital distribution, Microsoft's future, and why the 360 will have a larger downloadable library than the PC. It's a good read and 360 fanboys would do well to check it out. For those averse to the printed word, check out a video of the conversation at ScobleShow.

[Via Joystiq]

Bill Gates on the 360, IPTV, convergence originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Conversation with Bizarre Creations

Ken Weeks — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews

Mike from the Xbox Domain, re-visits Geometry Wars with Bizarre Creations Community and Web Lead Ben Ward. Included in the conservation: Hints that a GW dash theme could be on the way and an unconvincing refusal to confirm the possibility of a sequel.

Conversation with Bizarre Creations originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CliffyB's got your jump button right here

Christopher Grant — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Gears of War

F*** jump.

That's what he said and, in a recent interview with CVG, CliffyB elaborates on his original theory that Gears of War is more Bionic Commando than Mario. You are jumping ... just with a grappling hook ... and on a different plane. He explains, "In GoW you're essentially jumping but you're jumping on the X and Y axis. So you're leaping into the environment. If you were to look at a GoW battlefield from an overhead view, it would almost look like a Sonic or Mario level because that's how all the cover plays out."

That's a pretty novel way of looking at the game's construction. Though Cliffy does his best to appear otherwise, he often reveals a thoughtful side. Our favorite part of the interview: when he eschews the sentiment that a Hollywood adaptation means your game has made it. "I love movies but I believe I'm working in the most exciting sector of the entertainment industry." Oh snap! Take that movies! But he still offered up his candidate for the role of Marcus: Clive Owen. Really? He seems like he would need to put on about 150 ell-bees of muscle. And what's all this about Scarlett Johansson?

CliffyB's got your jump button right here originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 05 Oct 2006 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gaming Nexus interviews Killzone director

Chris Powell — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, Killzone

The Killzone posts keep rolling in. We first spotted the demo, found out the November OPM will feature it and have reviewed even reviewed the demo, but now here's an Gaming Nexus interview with Mathijs de Jonge, the games lead designer and director.

In the interview, Mathijs explains how the game ties in with its predecessor, how many levels to expect, vehicle use and says the game is nothing like Metal Gear Solid. It's kind of funny because I even made mention of the two game's looking very similar in my review.

GamingNexus: Killzone: Liberation is quite a departure from the original Killzone on the PlayStation 2. Why did you decide to switch from a first-person shooter to an overhead shooter?

MdJ : We wanted to create a new experience within the Killzone Universe. Pulling out the camera to a third person perspective was the thing that we thought would change the experience most. So when we started working on this game this was the very first we tried. Then we decided to stick with it as it gave us a lot of inspiration for new mechanics and areas of focus such as improving the AI system.

(Via Gaming Nexus)

Gaming Nexus interviews Killzone director originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the back of the bus with Shane Kim

Ken Weeks — Sat, 13 May 2006 00:45:00 EST

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Interviews, E3

I had a chance to chat with Microsoft Game Studios GM Shane Kim in the back of Microsoft's well-appointed Xbox 360 Blogger Bus. After three days locked in a PR room doing the same routine, Kim's answers are pretty standardized, so he didn't really reveal anything not covered in Joystiq's previous sit-down. (Then again, it's hard to ask clever questions when your mouth is stuffed with Red Vines). However, his mere presence in the backseat is evidence of Microsoft's commitment to building their online community via the blogosphere -- a commitment easily measured in the amount of Peanut M&Ms, sodas and pizza they shoveled our way during the course of E3. I asked Shane why Sony and Nintendo would risk alienating alternative media, and he said I'd have to ask them. I told him I surely would, as soon as I finished the Red Vines. Will MS's transparent, yet tasty, attempt to influence blogs pay off, or is this post evidence that it already has?

In the back of the bus with Shane Kim originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 May 2006 00:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft wants Sony's (and Nintendo's) kids

Ken Weeks — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews

I meant to get to this Shane Kim interview last week, but it's still worth a read. Kim tells CNET Australia that Microsoft wants to be more like Sony in terms of family-friendly and peripheral-based games. It turns out the orginal Xbox was too "hardcore" for his business sense.

Xbox Live Arcade has already gone a long way toward making the new Xbox more accessible to the casual gamer, but the kiddie market is cruel bloodsport. Does it bother you that the 360's success seemingly rests not on Master Chief's capable shoulders, but on a talking paper mache donkey? Does your little brother even like talking paper mache donkeys?

With all the pressure management is placing on Viva Pinata, I feel sort of obligated to buy a few copies and drop them off at the local daycare along with some licensed lunch pails. Hell, we may have to kneecap SpongeBob if things get ugly.

[Thanks, Sense]

Microsoft wants Sony's (and Nintendo's) kids originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 29 Apr 2006 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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