ces-2009 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

'Minna no Theater' streaming video service could come to the US this year

by JC Fletcher { Jan 16th 2009 at 12:41PM }

Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii was the first Wii-exclusive video content delivery service to be announced -- and it'll be the first to be released, if it makes its January 27 date. The service is set to provide animated content like Astro Boy and Transformers, on a rental basis in which Wii Points buy a certain title for a certain amount of time.

Fujisoft was at CES (!) and told GameCyte that they are planning on bringing the WiiWare video service to the US. "We can't quite tell at the moment," he said, "But if the negotiations are a success, maybe within the year." Of course, they'll have to compete with Nintendo's video service here like they will in Japan -- and, as GameCyte points out, it's Nintendo of America they're negotiating with. They'll have to convince Nintendo that Minna no Theater isn't a threat to their own offerings. However, since Nintendo plans to produce original content, and Fujisoft's is based on licensed anime, it seems like there is plenty of room for both.

GameCyte also got a demo of the service at CES -- read their impressions, and see video of the service in Ultra-action, here.

PSN's '17 million' statistic includes PS3, PSN, official forums

by Ross Miller { Jan 14th 2009 at 6:57PM }

When Sony rattled off at last week's CES that 17 million PlayStation Network accounts had been registered, we were at once both impressed and skeptical. That number happens to match Xbox Live's data that was released days prior, despite its one-year lead and more aggressive push in the field.

The Doubting Thomases over at MTV Multiplayer got in touch with Sony to clarify the figure and gain some more perspective on the issue. As it turns out, that number includes people who have created accounts via PS3, PSP or the official website, which requires a PSN ID to access the forums. While still impressive, we're happier to have some more context on this one.

Strike First. Strike Hard. New Dynasty Warriors trailer

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 14th 2009 at 2:30PM }

Koei's Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce is only two months away. At CES, the company projected its new Strikeforce trailer for the masses to see. Now, you can see it too. This trailer showcases the high-flying action of the button masher. It's predictably Dynasty Warriors, but that's not such a bad thing -- especially when you can take it on the go.

Check out the video and the new screens, uploaded to our gallery:

Gallery: Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

CES 2009: Mattel's MindFlex gives you Jedi mind powers

by Kevin Kelly { Jan 13th 2009 at 11:45PM }

The author burnt out several synapses levitating the ball for this photo.

Mattel had a booth at CES pimping out things like U.B. Funkeys, a Barbie nail design automatic applicator contraption, and Mindflex, a game that claims to harness the untapped power of your brain's beta waves. These are waves that the brain generates when you're busy solving problems, concentrating, or trying to decipher what the sales chart trends on Joystiq are pointing toward.

Mattel wants to channel said waves into a franchise of games under the Mindflex banner, the first of which offers a "float the ball with your brain" challenge. To play, you slap on a funky headband, attach little butterfly clips to your earlobes and then concentrate really hard. If you do it well enough ... the ball floats. Relax your brain or close your eyes, and it hovers down.

Gallery: CES 2009: Mattel

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CES 2009: Zapper crossbow lets you shoot Gorons in style

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 13th 2009 at 10:55AM }

We were impressed by the "WeeP 5" Zapper mod, but did have one reservation: Link would never use an MP5 to mow down a herd of Stalfoses (Stalfi?). Enter CTA Digital, who were displaying this Zapper crossbow shell at the recently finished CES 2009 (which is strange, because apparently this has been around for a while, but it's the first we've seen of it).

This bad boy comes equipped with a laser sight (we seriously question the historical accuracy of this) and, as you can see, a fetching "woodgrain" finish. It looks way, way nicer than the fugly crossbow peripheral we previously covered, and is roughly the same price: a rather eye-watering $29.99.

Gallery: Link's Crossbow Training

CES 2009: Best. Controller. Ever.

by Ross Miller { Jan 12th 2009 at 8:05PM }

"Before the age of man, there was the dragon,fire breathing, fierce and ruthless. Long since dormant, the dragon arose hungry for modern dap knights to re-establish dragon superiority over all mankind.

"More than a control pad,,,a legend!"

<disclaimer> The previous and following (after the break!) text was copied verbatim -- odd spacing and all -- from the back description and product manual of the Dragon Fire Breather game controller, which we and our friends at Engadget found and bought for $1 at the CES international hall. We are not transcribing this to try to offend anyone and, yeah, we know this is probably not the manufacturers' first language -- probably not its language at all -- but we are in fact very fascinated with how the translation process works.

Every chosen word does make sense, just not in the context we are used to. Plus, "mucilanginous" is a very funny word, and if you look carefully, you'll notice World of Warcraft's title screen art.

The official US name is "USB Dragon Dual Shock Scary Gamepad" (with 12-button and 2 analog sticks) and is available from DealExtreme for $27.37. It also comes in ninja and pirate variants. </end disclaimer>

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Joystiq Podcast CES 2009 Special

by Justin McElroy { Jan 12th 2009 at 5:58PM }

With Justin back from CES we can present this slightly belated wrap-up of all last week's events, including the Consumer Electronics Show and the 1UPocolypse that's still producing shockwaves.

On that note, thanks to Dan Diemer for his 1UP tribute, which you can find at the end of the show. It's not all sad news, though, as listeners have a chance to win the Joystiq Podcast customized headphones from our friends at iFrogz you can see right after the break. Oh, and HUGE thanks to Louis Senkowsky for our awesome podcast art.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes
[Zune] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
[RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy

Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "1UP Song" by Dan Diemer

For fans: Joystiq Podcast Facebook group

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Team PlayStation wins the Street Fighter challenge

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 12th 2009 at 5:30PM }

Who's better at Street Fighter? Well, from a very limited sample of people that could make it to Capcom's brawl at CES in Las Vegas this year, we can conclude that PlayStation fans are the Street Fighting champs. Team PlayStation was represented by Joe C., who uppercutted Major Nelson's representative, Josh, to victory. Professor PlayStation (Jeff Rubenstein) awarded him a Star Wars Battlefront PSP and a chance to get obliterated by Street Fighter legend Justin Wong.

Kudos to all that participated. As PS3 fans, we have to thank Joe for representing PlayStation and showing Xbox gamers all over the world that we're a force to be reckoned with. At least in Street Fighter.

Resistance Retribution in your hands March 17th

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 12th 2009 at 5:00PM }

It feels like it's been a long time coming. Resistance Retribution has a release date at last: March 17th. Other PSP releases in March include Hammerin' Hero, MLB 09 The Show, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce and Phantasy Star Portable. Resistance may be the best of an already-amazing lineup for March.

See this PlayStation.blog video to find out more about the game. It details things we already revealed at TGS: connectivity with Resistance 2 and the ability to play with DualShock 3. A direct-feed version of the story trailer is also included in this video.

[Thanks, Hashbrown_Hunter!]

Joystiq hands-on: Dawn of War 2

by Kevin Kelly { Jan 12th 2009 at 4:29PM }

We learned a valuable lesson at CES last week: Don't demo an RTS game on a trade show floor. Why? Because it's nigh-impossible to hear a developer's instructions over the deafening noise of geek-outs. It turns into something like this dialogue snippet from our hands-on experience with Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 2:

Relic: "So, you'll quickly want to set a rally point here." *taps screen*
Joystiq: *clicks on random units* [units march off-screen]
Relic: "Okay, so if you look at this icon, you'll see that your character is earning zeal. You might want to build some heavy firepower units for support."
Joystiq: *attacks enemy power generator* [cue: bad move!]

It was just too darn loud at CES to get good instructions, and Relic only had one demo station on hand, which obviously did not feature any PVP gameplay. Naturally, we had StarCraft 2 in mind as we fooled around with Dawn of War 2, measuring Relic's RTS against what we've played of Blizzard's next blockbuster. We can say that Dawn of War 2 is currently winning in the looks department. As we watched an Imperial Tank literally roll through walls and crush them into powder while Space Marines jumped over the action with jetpacks, we were remiss to have left our drool bib back home in the hamper.

We've embedded a pair of videos from our session after the break, including producer Mark Noseworthy blowing stuff up!

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CES 2009: Mgestyk hoping you'll chuck your controller

by Justin McElroy { Jan 12th 2009 at 3:57PM }

We'd like to fault Mgestyk for their painfully edgy misspelling of a well-known actual word, but as a bunch of guys who spell Joystick with a "q", we're cautious about getting into a pot-kettle situation. Instead we'll talk about Mgestyk, a hands-free controller (or, more accurately, a controller-free controller) that we spotted on the CES show floor.

With Mgestyk, a specially-designed camera tracks the player's movements with surprising accuracy, and without the perfect lighting required by an EyeToy or Xbox Vision camera (in fact, we're told the camera can work in complete darkness). Also, unlike the other cam controllers, Mgestyk has the ability to detect depth.

The possibilities are intriguing, but, as you can see in the video above, the technology isn't perfect yet (lag, it would seem, continues to be an issue). We're rooting for our Brothers in Misspelling, but we're not sure we're looking at a Wii-killer just yet.

inFamous update: three screenshots, dev walkthrough

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 12th 2009 at 3:30PM }

Click for high-resolution image.

SCEA just released three more screenshots of their PS3 exclusive, inFamous. Sony is starting to reveal more about the game, showcasing the various electric powers and moral choices that are present in the game. Sucker Punch did a presentation at CES this year, and GameTrailers has captured it on video for you to watch. Find out what the main character was before the events of inFamous and what he must fight in the upcoming game. Check it out, after the break.

Gallery: inFAMOUS

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CES 2009: Hands-on with the dreamGEAR WarBeast

by Justin McElroy { Jan 12th 2009 at 2:59PM }

There were plenty of fake instruments on display at CES, but none that pulsated with the pure, rock and roll energy of dreamGEAR's WarBeast, modeled after the B.C. Rich axe of the same name. We've never been quite sure what shredding is, but this monster of a PS3 controller makes us want to do just that.

As much as we like the form factor, we're not in love with the $130 asking price. But considering how many musicians make unwise decisions with their money, the cost might make the WarBeast even more rock 'n' roll, against all odds. See our impressions of it in the video above.

CES 2009: Hands (and butt)-on with the SimCraft APEX

by Justin McElroy { Jan 12th 2009 at 2:02PM }

We love showing you the pieces of technology that will forever change the way you game. Sadly, they don't show those things at CES, so we're relegated to showing you really cool crap that you'll never own. The SimCraft APEX is just such a device, a simulator designed to give you the sensation of hurtling around a track in a race car or (with some slight modifications) flying a plane.

We put the APEX SC830 through its paces at CES and have to admit the effect is pretty impressive, or at least it is on the racing side, the only one available to try at the show. Utilizing roll, pitch and yaw and three wrap-around monitors, it was probably the most fun one could have playing a racing game.

But fun's not necessarily the primarily goal here. SimCraft boss T. Christopher Ciesielka told us that they're promoting it as a training tool for law enforcement, military and race car drivers, though they had discovered at the show that there was a high-end audience that wouldn't mind having it as part of their home entertainment setup.

What's that? You want one? Oh, well just pony up $45,000 and you'll be off to the races. It may seem a little high, but you should know: That also includes the computer. Tempting, no?

Guitar Hero III first game to make $1 billion

by David Hinkle { Jan 12th 2009 at 11:47AM }

You may recall a similar headline from the past, where the Guitar Hero franchise earned over $1 billion. Well, another milestone for Activision comes thanks to the previous title to release in the franchise, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. That game alone has generated over $1 billion in sales, making it the first game in history to do so. The news was presented by Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith during a keynote speech at CES.

We're not sure how much an impact the Wii version itself has had, but consider it to be significant. The Wii version of the game has been very popular for quite some time now. Well, up until World Tour released, anyway.