Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Bioware devs debate whether Wii is part of gaminghttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/23/bioware-devs-debate-if-wii-is-gaming/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/23/bioware-devs-debate-if-wii-is-gaming/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/23/bioware-devs-debate-if-wii-is-gaming/#commentsFiled under: ,

CEO Ray Muzyka and President Greg Zeschuk of Bioware, a company founded on narrative-centric RPGs, can't seem to decide if the Wii is a game (as opposed to, from what we gather, a toy). In an interview with GameDaily, Zeschuk said, "If gaming is defined by story, then generally Wii may not be," though he immediately expands on that, "The game [4 to 5 people together are] playing is actually very different than the rest of us. What they're doing as a company is like a different flavor."

Providing a counterpoint, Muzyaka noted that the Wii experience is "more toy-like" but also said, "there's also a narrative between the players outside the game and kind of fulfills the same things games do. Games are 'toys' in the sense that they're fun." Warren Spector had made a similar designation in an Escapist piece last year, categorizing games like Tetris and Madden akin as "retold" narratives. The above is a rather bare-bones highlight of their discussion, so check out the full interview for more.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>biowaregamesgreg-zeschukmass-effectnarrativenintendoray-muzykarpgstorystorytellingtoyswiiRoss Miller2008-04-23T17:30:00+00:002008 BAFTA game awards postponed to '09http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/17/2008-bafta-game-awards-postponed-to-09/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/17/2008-bafta-game-awards-postponed-to-09/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/17/2008-bafta-game-awards-postponed-to-09/#commentsFiled under: ,

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has decided to postpone this year's announcement of its prestigious game awards for 2008 to March 10, 2009. The move is intended to avoid some of the timing issues with last year awards which required some games to be evaluated before they were done (at least one nominee wasn't even released until 2008). The postponement will also avoid conflict with the competing Golden Joystick awards, which last year were announced just a few days after the BAFTAs.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>awardsBAFTAbritaingamespostponedKyle Orland2008-04-17T20:00:00+00:00AARP teaches old people how to play games (badly)http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/01/aarp-teaches-old-people-how-to-play-games-badly/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/01/aarp-teaches-old-people-how-to-play-games-badly/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/01/aarp-teaches-old-people-how-to-play-games-badly/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,



Who says old people don't understand technology? Well, actually, we do, and this AARP video quick tip (WMV link) on how to play video games just bolsters our case. While the clip is a little out of date (the systems being discussed are decidedly last-generation) the incredibly unhelpful advice contained within is timeless.

Some choice quotes (don't trust the transcript, watch the video and listen for yourself):
  • "First you need to understand that there's boxes." (Referring to the consoles laid out in front of them)
  • "The controller actually controls it." (News flash!)
  • "Most games just use one or two buttons." (Bring back the NES controller!)
  • "Oh, this is fun." (After about five seconds of making Spongebob run around a bit.)
  • "This is totally fun." (After about fifteen seconds of moving Spongebob around pointlessly)
  • "It's as easy as hooking up a CD player to your TV." (Funny, we've never done that)
  • "This is pretty fun. You're getting me pretty excited about getting better at this ..." (This quote is delivered in perhaps the least excited voice we've ever heard)
Our absolute favorite part, though, has to be the rare, dainty, four-handed control method being demonstrated in the screen capture above. They're handling that controller like some people handle nuclear waste. Priceless.

[Thanks, rikimaru]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>aarpelderlygameshowtooldKyle Orland2007-11-01T19:42:00+00:00Random Spyro toys invade Wendy's kids mealshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/12/random-spyro-toys-invade-wendys-kids-meals/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/12/random-spyro-toys-invade-wendys-kids-meals/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/12/random-spyro-toys-invade-wendys-kids-meals/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


Go on, admit it. You're with friends here. When fast food chains run video game promotions, including game-related toys with their child-sized value meals, you order an extra meal for yourself just to get the toy. Or perhaps you're more brazen, buying the toy outright to add to your collection. It's perfectly fine to admit you have a problem. We won't judge.

If so, you'll be happy to know that Wendy's is hitching its Kids' Meals onto the coattails of Krome Studios and Amaze Entertainment's The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, offering a set of five toys based on the latest in the miniature dragon's trilogy of games. The trinkets run the usual gamut of weirdness, including a Spyro-themed game of checkers and a Spyro keychain, which simply pushes the notion of "toy" beyond all measure of credulity.

As pack-in freebies go, these fall well below that of the competition, however random seems to be a running theme with Wendy's these days. To sweeten the deal, each Kids' Meal also includes a $5 off GameStop coupon for any version of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, though given the painful experience it was to play the last game this is simply not enough to make us go through the drive thru.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>freebiegameshappy mealHappyMealkids mealKidsMealtoyswendysJason Dobson2007-10-12T11:00:00+00:00Web-based iPhone games begin to appearhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/03/web-based-iphone-games-begin-to-appear/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/03/web-based-iphone-games-begin-to-appear/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/03/web-based-iphone-games-begin-to-appear/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

So you waited in line all day Friday for a coveted iPhone only to find you're already bored with the device's map-displaying, music-playing, video-watching, text-messaging, internet-browsing and sticky-bun-making capabilities. What you need is a quick, diverting touch screen game to distract you. Unfortunately, despite rumors that the likes of EA and Nintendo are looking iPhone game development, Apple is so far not providing any downloadable games for the device, or even hinting that any are coming down the pike. You can't even play your old iPod games on your new toy. What's a game-loving iPhone owner to do?

Enter the web. Already sites like iGiki, fun4iPhone, and MacMost are hosting simple web-based iPhone games to keep you busy. Much like similar web-game portal Wiicade, these games will work on practically any computer with a mouse but have been designed with the iPhone's screen and unique capabilities in mind.

Unfortunately, since the iPhone's Safari browser doesn't support Java or Flash, the offerings thus far are limited to relatively simple and uninspiring JavaScript games. Still, we're hopeful that the burgeoning iPhone hacking community can get around this limitation and turn the iPhone into the game-playing device it's obviously destined to be.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>appleEAgameshackingiphoneipodmobilenintendoKyle Orland2007-07-03T12:25:00+00:00Break room games help office morale, productivityhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/06/break-room-games-help-office-morale-productivity/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/06/break-room-games-help-office-morale-productivity/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/06/break-room-games-help-office-morale-productivity/#commentsFiled under: ,

We at Joystiq understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have a job that allows, nay, requires them to play games on the job. The folks at Entrepreneur Magazine know this too, and are helping out by singing the praises of video games in the employee break room.

It's not that surprising that places like Popcap Games encourage their employees to learn from the competition, but even non-game related business like law firms and automotive websites are finding that games improve office morale and productivity. Employers also note that game rooms help attract younger employees and makes a hell of an impression during an applicant interview.

Still, aren't office game rooms an invitation for employees to goof off all day? Apparently not -- none of the businesses Entrepreneur found needed to impose any limits on play. As one employer paraphrased, "the only employees who might have trouble in this type of environment are the ones that can't regulate themselves." And those people are probably playing Minesweeper all day anyway.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>arcadebreak roomBreakRoomemployeegamesmoraleofficeproductivityworkplaceKyle Orland2007-06-06T15:01:00+00:00UK cell phone owners spend more on games than ringtoneshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/05/uk-cell-phone-owners-spend-more-on-games-than-ringtones/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/05/uk-cell-phone-owners-spend-more-on-games-than-ringtones/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/05/uk-cell-phone-owners-spend-more-on-games-than-ringtones/#commentsFiled under: ,

A recent market study revealed that consumers in the U.K. are spending more money on downloading games than ringtones, music, or videos. Research firm GfK M² estimates the mobile gaming market is worth nearly four times the current value of music downloads and eight times the video download market.

Surprisingly, much of this growth has taken place over the last year, says GfK. In 2006 there was "less activity in the mobile gaming market as well as poor phone functionality, limited game offerings and perceived high prices". Even though most game downloads in the U.K. go for £5 or more, gamers seem happy to pony up the cash. It's only a matter of time until free ringtone sites convert their annoying banner ads and "give away" cheesy game knock-offs.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>cellcellphonegamesmarketmobileukJohn Bardinelli2007-06-05T13:20:00+00:00Forty years of video games: how are we doing?http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/17/forty-years-of-video-games-how-are-we-doing/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/17/forty-years-of-video-games-how-are-we-doing/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/17/forty-years-of-video-games-how-are-we-doing/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

It's a point that comes up a lot in arguments about the cultural import of video games. "The medium is still young," defenders argue. "Games may not have reached total mainstream acceptance yet, but just give it some more time. You'll see."

We hate to break it to you guys, but video games aren't that young anymore. This month marks 40 years since Ralph Baer's Brown Box effectively created the idea of interactive screen-based games (and the industry is even older if you count Willy Higinbotham's 1958 experiment Tennis for Two).

This important milestone got us wondering: how do the first 40 years of gaming compare to the first 40 years of other forms of mass entertainment? Continue reading for a quick historical comparison:

The printed word
Starting point: While writing dates back to antiquity, we're starting the "industry" with the completion of Gutenberg's printing press bible in 1456.
Forty years later: By 1496, printing presses had been established in major cities across Europe, and advances such as color printing and engravings were adding some pizazz to the mass-produced written word. However, there are still more advances to come -- it will be five years until italic type is introduced and over 100 years until the first newspaper is printed.
Sources: 1, 2

Recorded music
Starting point: While music is possibly as old as man himself, recorded music started with Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1877.
Forty years later: In 1917, Woodrow Wilson had just declared "The Star Spangled Banner" to be the national anthem. Classical music is still popular, but recordings of vaudeville and ragtime hits are beginning to establish themselves in the popular culture. "Livery Stable Blues", which is often said to be the first jazz recording, is released in 1917.
Sources: 1, 2, 3

Comic books
Starting point: While the idea of matching words with pictures is at least hundreds of years old, American comic books probably date back to 1897's bound newspaper strip collection The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats.
Forty years later: In 1937, the so-called golden age of comics is just beginning. The first issue of Detective Comics is introduced by a company that will later be known simply as DC. Superman's debut in Action Comics is still a year away, and Dr. Fredric Wertham's famous assault on the comics industry won't start for over a decade.
Sources: 1, 2, 3

Film
Starting point: Edison's commission of the first motion picture camera, the kinetograph, in 1889.
Forty years later: In 1929, integrated soundtracks were still new to film. Disney's landmark animated short Steamboat Willy had only been around for a year, as had the Academy Awards. Landmark pictures like Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and Casablanca were a decade or more away. Theaters sell 90 million tickets a week nationwide in 1929.
Sources: 1, 2, 3

TV
Starting point: Philo Farnsworth's first experimental transmissions at Washington D.C.'s Jenkins Labs in 1923.
Forty years later: In 1963, over 87 percent of homes have a TV set, but less than 3 percent of homes have a color set. The nation is glued to 30+ straight hours of coverage devoted to president Kennedy's assassination and CBS and NBC extend their nightly newscasts to 30 minutes. Dr. Who starts its original run on the BBC, while popular American shows include The Flintstones, The Andy Griffith Show and Mister Ed. The first videotape recorder was introduced in 1963 for the low, low price of $30,000.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Video games
Starting point: Ralph Baer's creation of a Pong-style "Brown Box" in May of 1967
Forty years later: Games have advanced technologically from abstract black and white lines and dots to 3D, high-definition virtual worlds. The industry generates sales of $12.5 billion per year and massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft attract more than 8 million subscribers worldwide. Game consoles are in roughly 40 percent of American households with a TV set. Sixty-nine percent of heads of households play games, and the average game buyer is ... 40 years old!
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>comicsfilmgameshistoryindustrymusicTVKyle Orland2007-05-17T11:56:00+00:00Mystery Wii toys coming to Wendy's kids mealshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/mystery-wii-toys-coming-to-wendys-kids-meals/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/mystery-wii-toys-coming-to-wendys-kids-meals/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/mystery-wii-toys-coming-to-wendys-kids-meals/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Man, we can't wait for ... whatever the hell these Wendy's Wii toys are. Seriously, we have no idea what these toys are supposed to be or do, except for the limited information what we can glean from the picture over at the Wendy's Kids meal site. That one on the bottom left looks kind of like a puzzle, and the one on the bottom right is obviously an Excite Truck, but we have no idea what the other things are supposed to do. Is that Wii remote at the top supposed to be a disc shooter? A laser pointer? A pog case? We just don't know.

Until that "Coming Soon!" becomes an "available now" we're opening up the floor to theories. How in the world do these Wendy's toys work? The five best commenter responses based on humor, cleverness, relevance, plausibility and use of massive damage jokes will win ... the hearty respect of the Joystiq staff. Hey, it's harder to get than you might think.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>freebiegameshappy mealHappyMealkids' mealKids'Mealtoyswendy'swiiKyle Orland2007-04-26T18:25:00+00:00Games shoehorned onto a digital camerahttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/17/games-shoehorned-onto-a-digital-camera/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/17/games-shoehorned-onto-a-digital-camera/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/17/games-shoehorned-onto-a-digital-camera/#commentsFiled under: ,


What features do you look at when buying a digital camera? Megapixels? Battery life? White balance override? How about games?

We can't really imagine the consumer who will be swayed to buy the DXG-589V because of what the press release describes as "20 built-in full-color 2D or 3D video games." If a consumer is interested in playing games on the go, they can already buy a portable gaming system or download some games for their cell phone or PDA without denting their bank account too much. If they're not interested in games, then the promise of being able to play what will likely end up being derivative ports directly on their digital camera isn't likely to turn them into instant gamers.

We also can't imagine that Sony will be too happy with the colored shapes being used as control buttons on the camera, which bear a striking resemblance to the arrangement the PlayStation line has been using since 1995. Patent infringement lawsuit, anyone?

Previously: Fuji camera adds gaming features

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>cameradigicamdigital cameraDigitalCameragamesmegapixelsubiquityKyle Orland2007-04-17T16:50:00+00:00For "on-line game friend's" eyes onlyhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/02/for-on-line-game-friends-eyes-only/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/02/for-on-line-game-friends-eyes-only/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/02/for-on-line-game-friends-eyes-only/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The world of online games is a great place to meet new people with whom to socialize, compete and share internal government documents. Wait, what was that last one?

TPMMuckraker.com has the story on Fish and Wildlife Services appointee Julie McDonald, who's in a bit of hot water for sharing agency reports with oil company lobbyists and what an inspector general's report calls an "on-line game friend." According to the report, McDonald sent the documents because "she feels frustrated at times" and wanted "another set of eyes [to] give an unfiltered opinion ... negative comments included."

The report doesn't go into detail on what games McDonald plays, but it does point out that she "engages in these games to relieve the stress created by her job." We're personally enamored with the idea of this government bureaucrat casting magic spells with this friend one minute and using them as a sort of therapist/proofreader the next. It makes you wonder how many other government secrets are being shared over game servers at this very moment.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>classifieddocumentsgamesgovernmentMMOon-line game friendOn-lineGameFriendonlineKyle Orland2007-04-02T16:28:00+00:00Girl Gamer Award nominations for 2006 -- 2007 out todayhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/girl-gamer-award-nominations-for-2006-2007-out-today/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/girl-gamer-award-nominations-for-2006-2007-out-today/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/girl-gamer-award-nominations-for-2006-2007-out-today/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

Several different girl gaming networks and groups have pulled together a mass of games from different sites, forums, and other networks devoted to female gamers, and have put together this list of the final nominees. While they encourage female gamers to log in and vote, it doesn't look like they'll be screening for X or Y chromosomes at login.

We've recently been talking about developing and marketing games for females, and this is a great example of how to do that -- find out what they're playing, not tell them what they should be playing. However, in all honesty ... this looks like a list of games that could have been pulled together from sites populated by only male gamers. Further proving that the line between girl gamers and guy gamers is something created by PR and marketing, not the people who play the games.

Our advice? Open up the voting to everyone, but have them identify which sex they are (Austin Powers: "Yes, please!) from the outset. Once the awards are done, give us the winners, and show us how the demographics break down by sex, age, toothbrush color, favorite type of pizza, etc. That way the marketers will see we're all just playing games.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>awardsfemalegamesgirl gamersGirlGamersnominationswomenKevin Kelly2007-03-28T17:25:00+00:00Gangs get games for gunshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/gangs-get-games-for-guns/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/gangs-get-games-for-guns/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/gangs-get-games-for-guns/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Apparently figuring that drug runners would rather shoot a virtual gun than a real one, Mexico City authorities have started a program allowing gun owners in the crime-riddled Tepito area to trade in their firearms for game systems. Reuters reports that a high-powered machine gun will net a $756 computer, while turning in a smaller gun earns an Xbox (presumably a 360, though the article is unclear) or cash.

Organizers reportedly took in 17 guns on the first day -- a relative blip in a region afflicted with 2,000 drug-related killing last year, but still a good start. Here's hoping these criminals find the idea of virtual violence much more engrossing than real world carnage.

Previously: GRAW 2 to be seized by Mexican state gov't

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>gamesgunsmexicoMexico CityMexicoCitypolicetradeviolencexboxKyle Orland2007-03-28T09:45:00+00:00SXSW: Virtual Worlds and Virtual Humans: NPCs and Avatarshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/sxsw-virtual-worlds-and-virtual-humans-npcs-and-avatars/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/sxsw-virtual-worlds-and-virtual-humans-npcs-and-avatars/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/sxsw-virtual-worlds-and-virtual-humans-npcs-and-avatars/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Funky Street - a virtual world
This panel discussed the rise of virtual worlds, the NPCs that frequently populate them and how games like World of Warcraft are much more populated with human players and their avatars. Although it devolved into a sort of "he said/she said" argument over user-created content and in-game behaviors, it did introduce us to a particular nasty bout of griefing in a WoW realm.

Apparently a player who died in real life had a funeral procession on the server she played on, and tons of her guild members and other players turned out to honor her. Of course, it wasn't long until some funeral crashers showed up and pretty much slaughtered the entire funeral party. In a way, it's sort of fitting, don't you think? Check out the video after the jump. Yes, it's been around for eons, but it sort of brilliantly explains, in a visual sense, what this panel devolved into.

After this, things sort of went awry and off-course. There was a lot of verbal jabbing, both good-natured and not, throughout the rest of the panel without it really going in a particular direction. We were too busy trying to find a good spot to grief from.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>BlizzardgamesgriefgriefingMMOMMORPGonlineSXSWSXSW07WarcraftWoWKevin Kelly2007-03-20T19:42:00+00:00SXSW: Digital Distribution: The Way of the Future for Gaminghttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/sxsw-digital-distribution-the-way-of-the-future-for-gaming/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/sxsw-digital-distribution-the-way-of-the-future-for-gaming/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/sxsw-digital-distribution-the-way-of-the-future-for-gaming/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,


Almost everyone who has gone online with the computer or a game console has probably downloaded something at one time or another, whether it's been a song, a photo, a game, or a set of horse armor for their equine friend. But are digital downloads the wave of the future for full-on distribution? Developers are hoping so, because it will cut down tremendously on competing for shelf space at the local Mega-Lo-Mart, not to mention all those costs for printing games, manuals, boxes, shipping, and the like.

The panel consisted of Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimted one of the big "shelf" retailers, especially with their newly announced mega-game Turning Point: Fall of Liberty due this coming November. From the other end of things was Dan Conners, CEO of Telltale productions who is in the middle of releasing Sam & Max as an episodic game, before packaging everything up into a retail edition. In the middle (and sadly, without much to offer) was David Burks, the marketing manager for Seagate Technology. You gotta store the downloads somewhere, right? In all fairness, Seagate was one of the SXSW sponsors, and he probably felt a bit shoehorned into this panel.
Everyone on the panel (especially storage media guy) agreed that digital distribution is definitely where games are heading, but they differ on how far off it is. Connors, for obvious reasons, feels that we're already there, whereas Allen feels that we are still several years away. Everyone pointed to the success of the iTunes store, and how digital downloads have really come to replace the traditional brick & mortar sales of albums.

Allen took things a step farther and pointed out that people like using digital downloads for music, because they can pick and choose their songs. You aren't forced to buy 15 bad songs just to get the one you want anymore. He hopes there's a day where games will be made available by level as downloads, and you might read on a forum that the best level in a new game are levels one, five, and seven ... and you could just download those. It does sound a big goofy right now, but who knows what the future holds.

The major hurdles are that big shelf retailers are where the vast majority of hardware sales come from, and they obviously don't want to see software go digital, because they want to have hard copies on-hand to sell to people walking home with a new PlayStation 3. That's the main reason we won't see digital downloads replace hard copies anytime soon, but we might start seeing both be made available, as is already true with many major software applications.

Everyone agreed that Microsoft has really taken huge steps ahead of Nintendo and Sony with Xbox Live, and pointed out that you've been able to download extra content and game demos through that service for a long time now. Allen is eager to see what happens with Sony's Playstation Home network, while Connors feels like Nintendo has a leg up on Sony because of the number of Wii consoles sold, and the nostalgic value of the Virtual Console. Storage man feels like you should use Seagate storage. The poor guy.

Interesting sidenote: they brought up Steam and Half-Life a couple of times, as did some folks during the Q&A session. While everyone seems to be happy with the new Half-Life episodes, no one was exactly thrilled with the Steam network.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>digitaldistributedistributiongamesonlinePlayStation 3Playstation HomePS3SXSWSXSW07XBLXbox 360Kevin Kelly2007-03-20T18:42:00+00:00Building a better video game animehttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/building-a-better-video-game-anime/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/building-a-better-video-game-anime/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/building-a-better-video-game-anime/#commentsFiled under: ,

With similar, heavily Japanese influences behind both video games and anime, it's no surprise that there's heavy overlap between fans of both art forms. But what happens when the two worlds actually meet? Anime blogger Azure Flame finds out with a look at what makes a good video-game inspired anime.

The short essay is a little less than comprehensive -- it doesn't even mention the near-ubiquitous Pokemon anime, but the advice for making a good game-based cartoon is still useful. In short: a good game-based anime builds on the world and the story established in the game without being limited by the source material. We agree, and we're still waiting for the Super Mario Bros. anime that explores the plumbers' super-secret outer space battles between giant robots with enormous swords. Don't pretend you haven't pictured it yourself.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>animatedanimecartoonsculturegamesKyle Orland2007-03-20T07:30:00+00:00SXSW: Games + Entertainment Brands: Five Top Trends In 2007http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/12/sxsw-games-entertainment-brands-five-top-trends-in-2007/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/12/sxsw-games-entertainment-brands-five-top-trends-in-2007/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/12/sxsw-games-entertainment-brands-five-top-trends-in-2007/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


This panel brought together Robert Nashak, GM of Yahoo Games, Chris Charla, director of business development for Foundation 9, Charles Merrin from Real Networks, and Brian Ring, the GM of Interactive Content for Scope Seven. The purpose was to discuss the top five trends in 2007 in the realm of gaming and entertainment.

When games meet entertainment brands, it's traditionally meant a game based on a movie that comes out a few weeks (or months) after the film has hit theaters. However, for the past few years games have started to be released concurrently with the films, or even before the movies come out. Hollywood studios now include video game development in the earliest stages of pre-production, and even involve game companies in the writing process.

Games + Entertainment Brands also encompasses traditional board games, like Scrabble and Monopoly, being licensed for video games, and toys like Bratz and Barbie as well. We break down the top five trends that will be hitting games + entertainment brands in 2007 after the jump.

  1. Games are going to be used to build brands: Although we wouldn't really call this a new trend, it's been going on for awhile, and according to the panel it'll be happening faster and more often. Merrin dropped the biz-omb that, "A game has to be good to drive the brand." We've seen enough copies of the King Kong game in bargain bins to know how true that is. Nashak commented that he worked on the Alias game for Vivendi Universal, and then the show got canceled. Coincidence? Probably not. While that game was semi-lame, the show had really started to move into sucksville by that point.
  2. The rise of user generated game experiences: Yahoo recently did a promo with Doritos for the SuperBowl where people could use JumpCut (the Yahoo video editing tool) to submit commercials, and they had over 40,000 entries. This will happen more often in this day and age of YouTube and MySpace, but Merrin pointed out that the problem with brands are that the companies don't want them being threatened by what users do online. Using Sony's just announced PlayStation Home as an example, Charla mentioned that Sony has gone to significant lengths to keep users from creating offensive content there. User generated game experiences have been limited to things like level-building tools, and where's all the user-created content that Microsoft promised us with the Xbox 360? Look for this area to open up in 2007 as it gathers momentum.
  3. The definition of games and gamers widens broadly: the Wii was the big example here ... another platform to release thing on with different types of products. Typically, console gamers have falleni into one of several categories of gamers: Hardcore (have to have all the newest games, and own tons of titles), Mass Market (typically ocwn Halo + two or three other games), and Sports (own multiple copies of the various Maddens, baseball games, etc). Ring pointed out that his company is developing games for everyone from 12 months and up which prompted Nashak to ask, "so is fetal gaming on the way?" It would be funny if it wasn't true (probably).
  4. Ads + games goes premium: In game advertising will take off. What we've seen so far has been primitive compared to what's coming (oh noes). Advertisers will be getting deep into bed with the game developers and publishers. Yikes. It's advergaming, folks, and it's coming in a big way. They used the Burger King Xbox games as a model for the success of advergaming, given that they sold more than 12 million copies at $4 a pop. Really? We had reports ranging from people getting 'em for free with a combo meal, to buying all three for four bucks. It's unlikely that anyone got rich off these games, but there will be more stuff like this coming down the line. Nashak pointed out that 975 out of 1000 click banners don't work, so advertisers are searching for something new, and they'd really like to latch onto the gamer demographic.
  5. Licensing becomes less adhoc: We mentioned earlier that there is a trend for licensing to be approached as a separate standalone part of product development. In the coming days this will become a much more organic process, and will eventually shape the way products are currently developed. We mentioned Hollywood bringing in game developers early in the production process, which is a small step in this direct. Merrin pointed out that eventually the race for every new brand to be licensed will create brand wars, which will lead to a fragmentation of brands. Companies are looking to keep that from happening and are slowly embracing game development as part of the process of creating a licensed brand.
Best panel moment: Nashak asked the audience if they could name a brand that had a game put out that was so bad, it almost killed the entire franchise. A woman in the front shouted out "Harry Potter!" Yeah, that whole franchise is nearly dead, ftw.

Best quote of the panel, "Due to all of the licensing and game development going on, this is currently the best time ever to be an independent game developer."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>2007BrandsdevelopersEntertainmentgamesMonopolymoviesNintendo WiiScrabbleSXSWSXSW07SXSW2007trendsWiiKevin Kelly2007-03-12T17:26:00+00:00Nielsen: One-third of TV owners play game consoleshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/05/nielsen-game-consoles-in-41-percent-of-tv-homes/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/05/nielsen-game-consoles-in-41-percent-of-tv-homes/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/05/nielsen-game-consoles-in-41-percent-of-tv-homes/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Nielsen Media Research, best know for its TV ratings, has released an outline the American video game landscape in the form of "The State of the Console" report. Among the more interesting findings:

  • 45.7 million U.S. households have at least one game system, out of 111.4 million that have TVs (41.1%). This number has risen from 38.6 million (35.2%) in late 2004.
  • 148.4 million Americans have access to a console in their home, out of 283.5 million that have access to TVs (52.4%). Of those, 93.8 million Americans (33.3% of the TV population) actually used a console in the 4th quarter of 2006.
  • The top 20% of gamers are responsible for 75% of the console time, averaging 5 hours and 45 minutes of use per day.

Those last two factoids are pretty interesting, as they show console games are still appealing primarily to a very small niche of the potential market, and that a small slice of that niche is responsible for most of the actual playing time. If game makers can somehow attract these uninterested console owners, they'll have tapped into a much larger market than they might be used to.

Read - Summary
Read - Full report (7 page PDF)

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>consolegamesmediaNielsenratingsreportresearchstate of the consoleStateOfTheConsoleKyle Orland2007-03-05T11:55:00+00:00Today's sneakiest game video: Frontlines - Fuel of War hidden tourhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/21/todays-sneakiest-game-video-frontlines-fuel-of-war-hidden-to/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/21/todays-sneakiest-game-video-frontlines-fuel-of-war-hidden-to/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/21/todays-sneakiest-game-video-frontlines-fuel-of-war-hidden-to/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,


Sneaky hidden videos will always score high on our list, particularly if they don't involve Britney, Paris, and Lindsay. It's time we reclaimed their 15 minutes because they've run into serious overtime.

So, the story behind this video is as follows: 'Games For Windows' Magazine recently filmed a totally unathorized, hidden video tour of Kaos Studios for a piece about Frontlines: Fuel of War. They weren't thrilled about having their HQ filmed Geraldo-style, but THQ (the publisher) didn't want to retaliate against the magazine, for fear that they would give them a bad review in return.

So, once all the smoke has cleared, what does that leave us with? Frankly, not too much. Either it's a well planned "fake" secret video, or else it's a new wave of marketing going into effect that really embraces the old adage "there's no such thing as bad publicity." Of course, nothing really groundbreaking or damaging was revealed in this video ... or was it? Does this mean we can start running around developer HQs with a camera, knowing that they won't want us to pan their upcoming games?

Hmmmmmm ...

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>FrontlinesFuel of Wargamesgames for windowsGamesForWindowsGFWhiddenKaosKaos StudiosMicrosoftsecretTHQtourvideoKevin Kelly2007-02-21T00:01:00+00:00Rich Corinthian leather for your DS Lite, not your wallethttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/rich-corinthian-leather-for-your-ds-lite-not-your-wallet/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/rich-corinthian-leather-for-your-ds-lite-not-your-wallet/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/rich-corinthian-leather-for-your-ds-lite-not-your-wallet/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Tired of your Nintendo DS looking sad and forlorn in it's simple plastic shell? Ready to upgrade that sucker to ultra-executive wannabe? Then wrap it in leather with primo stitching, and fool everyone in the boardroom into thinking you've got some fancy new PDA, while you secretly unravel the secrets in Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

Sister site DS Fanboy has the goods on the covers for the DS only, which appear to come in dark brown and ... light brown from Cataloger (Japan). What, no black? C'mon, we need a black leather case for our black DS lite with black stylus. Fortunately, you can pick up a black and tan (delicious) case for your DS Lite over at Play-Asia, where Hori has three different shades going on, plus a nifty retaining strap.

When you start buying accessories that are more expensive than what's inside, then it might be time for a little self-examination. Then again, we just can't help ourselves.

[Thanks, Anon I Mousse]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

]]>casecoverDSDS litegamesgamingHotel Duskleatherleather caseNintendoprotectprotectionsexystorageKevin Kelly2007-02-20T19:27:00+00:00