Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[A look at Blizzard's canceled squad-based sci-fi RPG: Nomad]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/17/a-look-at-blizzards-canceled-squad-based-sci-fi-rpg-nomad/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/17/a-look-at-blizzards-canceled-squad-based-sci-fi-rpg-nomad/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/17/a-look-at-blizzards-canceled-squad-based-sci-fi-rpg-nomad/#comments
At this morning's Austin Game Developer's Conference keynote, J. Allen Brack and Frank Pearce of Blizzard took the stage to talk about the inner workings of Blizzard. Most of what they covered was stats and trvia. Did you know the Blizzard bug team is currently tracking over 179,484 bugs? Now you do. There are 7,650 quests in WoW since Wrath of the Lich King! Consider yourself informed.

Some of the trivia was actually pretty interesting, like the fact that when Blizzard releases a patch, almost half of that data is audio. Pearce also mentioned that BlizzCon is operated "at a substantial loss for Blizzard," but the value is that it's a huge marketing/PR opportunity for them. Considering how many tickets they sell (in only eight minutes), that's around $3.5 million that's written off. Plus whatever Blizzard spends above and beyond that. No wonder Blizzard employees have to buy their own tickets.

However, the most interesting part of the keynote was when they briefly spoke about Nomad, the canceled squad-based sci-fi game. Ten years ago, Blizzard put a lot of work in on the game, but eventually looked at it and said "Is this really the game we want to be working on right now? The answer ended up being "no," and the team went on to start work on World of Warcraft. Here we are ten years later with WoW going strong, and no Nomad in sight.

They'd mentioned this canceled game, along with a slew of others, at last year's DICE summit, but without any other information. Sadly, the only thing they had to show were pieces of concept art, including some by "The Bourbon Cowboy," Chris Metzen. The art itself isn't that exciting (the best one is above and there's a couple more in the gallery below), but the words "squad-based sci-fi RPG" are exciting. Could this be Blizzard's next game? Possibly mutated into MMO form? Who knows when we'll find out, since one of the stats they flashed onscreen this morning was "Number of Unannounced MMOs: 1."

Gallery: Nomad

JoystiqA look at Blizzard's canceled squad-based sci-fi RPG: Nomad originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AGDCAustin-GDCaustin-gdc-2009BlizzardBlizzConFrank-PearceJ-Allen-BrackNomadWorld-of-WarcraftWoWThu, 17 Sep 2009 16:20:00 EST<![CDATA[The DS Life: Wanderers]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/14/the-ds-life-wanderers/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/14/the-ds-life-wanderers/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/14/the-ds-life-wanderers/#commentsFiled under: ,



Every single group of people you can categorize seems to have taken to the DS -- moms, dads, grandparents, babies, teachers, bloggers, movie stars, athletes, pirates, ninjas, and even crabs! They all love the Nintendo DS!

What's the latest demographic to jump on the dual-screened bandwagon? Pack up your tent and travel past the post break to find out!

Continue reading The DS Life: Wanderers

JoystiqThe DS Life: Wanderers originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 14 May 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>nomadportabilityrekoobtentWed, 14 May 2008 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[PSP at the top of handheld evolution]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/psp-at-the-top-of-handheld-evolution/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/psp-at-the-top-of-handheld-evolution/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/psp-at-the-top-of-handheld-evolution/#commentsFiled under:


We know that the PSP is powerful. But how powerful is it compared to handhelds before it? A lot more, as seen by Pocket Gamer's recent analysis of handheld systems. PSP's 333MHz of processing power knocks makes the rest of the chart seem miniscule in comparison.

Pocket Gamer's feature is certainly an eye-opener. Of particular note is a fascinating diagram of screen sizes, overlaying each other. The PSP's wide screen LCD far exceeds the size of its nearest competitor, the Nomad. Even with such impressive statistics, the system remains one of the lightest handhelds created, and doesn't stand out as disproportionately larger than the others. This is a must-read feature for any PSP fan.

JoystiqPSP at the top of handheld evolution originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>comparisondsgame boygame gearGameBoyGameGeargbahardwarelynxn-gagenomadpocket gamerPocketGamerpspThu, 26 Apr 2007 13:10:00 EST<![CDATA[Handheld history reveals PSP's slim figure [Update 1]]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/23/handheld-history-reveals-psps-slim-figure/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/23/handheld-history-reveals-psps-slim-figure/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/23/handheld-history-reveals-psps-slim-figure/#commentsFiled under:


Joystiq, the attention-craving parent site to PSP Fanboy, recently compared the sizes of history's greatest handhelds. When looking at the handhelds in size order, one can see that the PSP sits smack in the middle.
  • Game Boy micro: 5.6 cubic inches
  • Game Boy Advance SP: 9.81 cubic inches
  • DS Lite: 12.96 cubic inches
  • Wonderswan: 13.33 cubic inches
  • Wonderswan Color: 14.1 cubic inches
  • Wonderswan Crystals: 14.68 cubic inches
  • Neo Geo Pocket Color: 17.35 cubic inches
  • Sony PSP: 17.52 cubic inches
  • Game Boy Advance: 17.64 cubic inches
  • GP2X: 19.61 cubic inches
  • DS Phat: 22.01 cubic inches
  • Game Boy: 26.39 cubic inches
  • Gamepark 32: 26.83 cubic inches
  • Sega Nomad: 49.36 cubic inches
  • Game Gear: 50.86 cubic inches
  • Atari Lynx: 68.53 cubic inches
We should be thankful that the PSP is no monstrosity like the Game Gear... Then again, I did love my Game Gear (pictured).
[Thanks, Zebulunite!]

[Update 1: Whoa, how did that HTML glitch happen? It totally wasn't like that when I typed it. Anyways, fixed.]

JoystiqHandheld history reveals PSP's slim figure [Update 1] originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dsds liteDsLitegame boygame boy advancegame boy microgame gearGameBoyGameBoyAdvanceGameBoyMicroGameGeargameparkgbagp2xlynxneo geo pocketNeoGeoPocketnomadpspsizewonderswanMon, 23 Oct 2006 21:15:00 EST