Rock star and noted media violence expert Noel Gallagher used a recent public appearance to speak out against the influence of violent video games, according to the BBC. While accepting an award at London's Silver Clef Music Awards, Professor Emeritus Gallagher mentioned games as one possible cause for the prevalence of youth-oriented knife violence throughout England.
"People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it," said Gallagher, whose wide-ranging, cross-cultural sociological studies on the relationship between media exposure and real-world violence have changed the way we all look at this complex problem. "If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitised [sic] to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary," he added while adjusting the Amalfi Prize hanging around his neck.
Gallagher is the best-selling author of Burning the Razor's Edge: How Super-Skunk Smoking and Our Knife-Obsessed Media Landscape are Turning Our Kids to Crime.
You might not recognize him, but that's Captain America saving the world from what looks like cast of WALL-E. With Commodore 64 graphics, you have to use your imagination to fill in quite a few missing pieces.
A happy 4th of July to all our readers (even if you're not American, just have a happy day, k?). Here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!
Alexander Sliwinski: Metal. Gear. Solid 4. And Ticket to Ride, which is strangely addictive.
Andrew Yoon: Ludwig's coming over! YAY!
Chris Grant: Having finished Metal Gear Solid 4 (finally!), I've taken up arms with Battlefield: Bad Company. I find the destructive elements vaguely cathartic and, though I'm not very far yet, the storytelling well done. How's multiplayer? I totally skipped the beta.
Kevin Kelly:I'm out of town, and it's all board game action for me: Ticket to Ride, Zombies!!!, and the new Risk: Revised Edition.
Kyle Orland:Finally going to dive into Metal Gear Solid 4 in the serious way it deserves.
James Ransom-Wiley:In lieu of playing I'll be watching another friend take his walk down the aisle. And then I'll try out that game McElroy suggested a few weeks back: drinking.
Jason Dobson: I've recently had an itch to play games of the tabletop variety, and with family all gathering to set off small explosives in celebration of our nation's birthday, we'll all be dabbling with the dark arts (and stabing each other in the back) playing Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Ludwig Kietzmann: I'll be on a plane for most of my Friday, so I'm stuck with playing portable games. Which is just as well, since I have gems like The World Ends with You, Contra 4, Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles and Mega Man: Powered Up to keep me busy.
Randy Nelson: Since my PS3 still works, I figured I'd take the opportunity to unlock all of the Trophies in Super Stardust HD. Then I think I'll go back and find all the secrets (and get all gold stars) for the first three episodes of American McGee's Grimm. I just can't resist a game that implores me to "make it nasty!"
Ross Miller: Drums – real drums, that is. And some guitar, piano and mandolin at a 4th of July concert tonight in downtown Athens (woo-hoo!). Otherwise, I'm planning to go crazy on Diablo 2 and FIFA 08.
Whether calling it out for being too colorful or even too conservative, Diablo 3 naysayers have certainly not lacked for ammunition to sling at the action RPG since it was made all official like late last month. Now pessimists can add another rock to the pile, with Blizzard poster Bashiok writing on the official World of Warcraft forums that the Diablo 3 devs are working to discourage online skullduggery, and that multiplayer will focus primarily on cooperative play.
Explained Bashiok, "We have a large focus on cooperative play for Diablo III, and the mechanics and design decisions related to multiplayer are likely going to be based on supporting and encouraging it as much as possible, and not breaking it down." However, PvP will apparently have its place in the game, as Bashiok baited forumers by adding, "That doesn't mean that PvP won't have its own focus, but those are details and features we aren't yet discussing." So for now it looks like PKers will need to find another outlet for their griefing ways, perhaps by venturing outside into the sunlight for a rousing game of Freeze Tag.
Hooray for America! You're having another birthday and we're celebrating with another edition of the apex of your cultural contribution to the annals of history: The Joystiq Podcast. We're talking PS3 firmware 2.40, and finally picking a winner for the You Have To Write the Lyrics contest.
Also, huzzah for the JPAG's Markus Wilson for his incredibly, tear-jerkingly patriotic photoshopping. Oh, and this is our first video podcast, not that you'll be able to see it.
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly
Hosts: Chris Grant and Justin McElroy
Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "The Problem With America" by The Vitamen
If there's one thing that we want to know about Siren: Blood Curse it's what's it going to cost us to play. You see, while Sony is releasing the game in Japan in both downloadable and Blu-ray formats, it's straight up "episodic" on PlayStation Network for both the European and North American markets. While we don't have the price for North American gamers just yet, ThreeSpeech says the European version will be £4.99 (about $10) for a "chapter" containg three episodes, or £19.99 (about $40) for all four chapters. (Sorry, no prices in Euros).
If there's two things that we want to know about Siren: Blood Curse, it's the cost (see above) and when we're going to be able to play it. ThreeSpeech says all four chapters will be released on July 24th in Europe, meaning you could just buy the whole thing on day one or, alternatively, buy each chapter as you get to it. Don't like the first chapter? Don't buy any more. Don't have time to finish the game right now? Buy the rest when you're ready; it's the same price either way. A novel concept, but we can't help but want a Blu-ray release alongside it, what with our PS3s filling up and all.
Confused about what exactly you need to do to play the new Halo 3 multiplayer map, Cold Storage, come Monday, Bungie Day? Let Bungie's Luke & Co. explain it all in the "On the Seven7th Day" vidoc, embedded after the break. In short, you need the Heroic map pack (don't worry, it's free), the Legendary map pack (it's being dropped from $10 to $7.50 on Monday) and then, of course the Cold Storage map which, they want you to know, will be free not only on Bungie Day but every day. You also get a good idea of what the map – a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved's "Chill Out" – has got to offer.
Oh, and what's this about celebrating Bungie's independence as a multi-game studio by announcing a game on Bungie Day? Seven guys in a shoebox? Just banter or a tease of what Bungie's got planned for Monday? No, seriously, we're asking you here ...
While we still don't think the iPhone App Store makes the do-everything cell phone a threat to the DS, we are impressed with the growing list of big-namefranchises being ported to the system. We can now amend that list to include the Bomberman series, with Hudson's with the recent announcement of Bomberman Touch: Legend of the Mystic Bomb.
A video trailer (embedded below the jump) shows what looks like a transparent, touch-screen d-pad placed over the on-screen action to control Bomberman, sort of like the interface for the earlier iPhone PlayStation emulator . According to Hudson, the game will include "classic Bomberman powerups and original special items" and take advantage of "the unique iPhone / iPod touch interface of flicking, tapping, and tilting with a built-in accelerometer." No word on a multiplayer mode, but with the iPhone's Wi-Fi capabilities, a local wireless option would hopefully be a no-brainer.
Bomberman touch joins water-based puzzle game Aqua Forest and the always lucrative Sudoku in Hudson's announced line-up for the iPhone.
Blizzard has opened US registration for the Wrath of the Lich King beta.American World of Warcraft players should probably head over to this page now and register for a chance to opt in. Two helpful reminders:
Registering for the beta does not guarantee you a chance to play. It just adds your name to a pool of potential players that Blizzard will choose from.
Beware of e-mail scams. This is the official URL: https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/beta-opt-in.html
Whether or not you get into the beta, be sure to check out WoW Insider for up-to-date coverage. [Via WoW Insider]
Scheduled to be released later this month in Japan, Wario Land Shake has been largely invisible ... until now. A little too dramatic there? Fair enough, but we're excited is all. While Mario and his fancy blue overalls snubs his mustachioed nose at 2D console games nowadays (even on a handheld, it's 2.5G or bust for Mario), there are still believers in the cause. Yes, dear reader, that's a plural believers; it's not just Castlevania creator Koji Igarashi who still thinks 2D platform gaming is "somewhat alive".
Now you can add Nintendo's rascally un-mascot Wario to that list as well, as evidenced in these videos from his latest console outing. Above you'll find the animated intro (don't worry, your inability to understand Japanese shouldn't interrupt your ability to follow along) and after the break, you'll find the first gameplay footage, in all it's 2D, sprite-based glory.
We have a very clear memory of watching the video we've linked to during Captivate 08 and wishing only that we could bring it to you, the masses. Why? Well, for starters, it's lifted from Street Fighter IV, which we hear you, the masses, are pretty excited about. Second? It's absolutely gorgeous. Today we're able to share the clip with you, so you may now "feel the drama," as they say, between Ryu and Akuma.
What's better is that we heard that the home version of the game would be chock-full of anime clips like these, one for each character, which may be enough to pique the interest of even the non-fighting faithful.
[Update: riot from Gamespark.jp – along with our own Andrew Yoon – let us know this listing has apparently been on Capcom's Japanese website since as far back as 2005. What's the deal, Capcom?]
Rumors that Devil May Cry would be theatrically shooting its way onto the PSP are about as old as the PSP itself. As far back as June 2005, Capcom discussed bringing Devil May Cry to the PSP along with nine other PSP titles; at that time, GameSpot wrote, "Devil May Cry [for the PSP] could see the light of day before 2006." By the time 2006 rolled around, still no sign of Devil May Cry for PSP, save for a mention on Capcom's Japanese website.
So here we are, two years on, and again we're seeing a mention of Devil May Cry for PSP on Capcom's Japanese site. Included at the top of a list of recently released and not-yet-released PSP games, "Devil May Cry" is alone in its absence of a release date, a price, or a linked website. Hit the Source link to see if it's still there or, just in case they've noticed that Dante crawled out of his cage and taken it down, we've got a screengrab after the break. Just a reminder: Capcom's E3 press conference is at 10:30ET on July 15th. Just saying ...
EA Sports has apologized for putting "The Soldier's Song," traditionally sung at United Ireland games, in place of Northern Ireland's national anthem, "God Save the Queen," in UEFA Euro 2008. Northern Ireland's Londonderry Sentinel reports fans were surprised to hear the anthem representing their country's victory in the game.
What we're surprised to hear is that it took until now for this faux pas to come out. UEFA Euro 2008released back in April. Was nobody playing as the Northern Irish team?
Our first thought upon seeing this very cool hack was "that's awesome." Our second thought was "do you have to blow on it to make it work?"
BenHeck.com forum member "darkeru" created this inventive new take on a home made NES portable, which manages to squeeze all of the 8-bit dynamo's guts into a 4.1" by 5.5" space ... with a backlit LCD display. We just had a third thought: what happens when you connect it to this portable NES?
Hey, you got real-time strategy in our first-person shooter! That's the mantra we could be chanting this fall when SouthPeak and Evolved Games partner to release Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger, a new RTS/FPS hybrid, for the Xbox 360 and PC.
Developed by Budapest, Hungary outfit, Atomic Motion, the game will allow players to swap between both real-time strategy and first-person shooter gameplay as they take control of two mercenary squads fighting their way out of the Amazon, the first shots of which can be seen below. However, as interesting as the mash-up sounds, there is an old saying about doing one thing, and doing it well, and we can't help but feel that Raven Squad will be a jack of all trades (well, at least two), and a master of none.
Preventing the world from plunging into economic chaos can be dirty, joyless work. Thankfully, foreign ministers of the ultra-exclusive G8 club were handed their very own perfume balls and custom DSs when they gathered in Kyoto recently to lay the groundwork for next week's leadership summit. You'll never guess what Condoleezza pictochatted Miliband. Poor Steinmeier, always the butt of their jokes...
Rock star and noted media violence expert Noel Gallagher used a recent public appearance to speak out against the influence of violent video games, according to the BBC. While accepting an award at London's Silver Clef Music Awards, Professor Emeritus Gallagher mentioned games as one possible cause for the prevalence of youth-oriented knife violence throughout England.
