Archive for July, 2006
Warpath
Codes for war.
Okami
The art of unlocking Okami revealed.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Sail faster to Johnny’s heart.
E3 Cancelled?!
What? Say it isn’t so! How else will the Kotaku staff get completely hammered on Sony’s dime? Where will sweaty fanboys get their ham-hands on Bumpy Trot mini-harmonicas? What will become of the booth babe short-shorts? Won’t someone please think of the short-shorts?!
Unfortunately for gaming and short-shorts fans, both Gamespot and Next-Gen are reporting that industry mega event E3, held every May at the L.A. County Convention Center, will be seeing some major changes. Gamespot indicates that the expo will shrink in the number of attendees, from the current 60,000 plus visitors to somewhere in the mere hundreds and move out of the LACCC. Next-Gen is being a bit more alarmist, writing that the event is effectively cancelled.
The two outlets cite their sources as indicating that major publishers have been in talks with the ESA, discussing alternate format options for the show or simply pulling out altogether to focus on company sponsored events.
The convention has long been a enthusiast media frenzy and many games get lost in the crush. Smaller, media focused events may give product more opportunity to shine. But one of the biggest factors seems to be the almighty dollar. From Gamespot:
One reason behind the downsizing of the show can be attributed to the dollar cost of the event to exhibitors, including the demands on companies to assign large numbers of staff to focus on the show, expenses associated with travel to the show, and the added expense to polish game builds and demos to be shown to attendees.
If you’ve ever been to E3, you might have been shocked to see the extravagant booth displays, the huge numbers of staff on hand, and the exhorbitant spending on useless schwag. If you’ve REALLY been to E3, you’d also be amazed at the huge parties, drowning in top shelf alcohol and delicious catered food. And if you’ve ever covered E3 from a press perspective, you know it’s quite hellish on your body and soul.
At this point, this is still well-informed speculation, but appears to most likely be true. The ESA will be issuing a statement tomorrow to fill us in on the fun-shattering details. Stay tuned.
ESA to downsize E3? [Gamespot]
EXCLUSIVE: E3 FINISHED [Next-Gen.biz]
This Day in Gaming, July 30th
1998: Human Entertainment releases Epica Stella (Vanguard Bandits) in Japan for PS. The game is a mech-heavy action/RPG with multiple endings. Multiple endings should be standard in any game that sucks away as much of your life as the standard RPG.
1999: Nintendo releases Mario Golf for N64 in the US. We’re calling bullshit on this game; Mario has never had 4 free hours of recreation without the Princess getting captured by someone.
2003: EA releases Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction for XBOX. Now the concept of AVP is sound: an epic super bad guy dukes it out with the other epic super bad guy, but this manifestation has lost steam. How about some new mash-ups, like Zombies vs. Vampires, Motorcycles vs. Mopeds, Diet Colas vs. Regular Colas? Anything?
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
Who’s The Gayest Of Them All? Tingle!
GayGamer.net wrapped up their list of the 20 gayest characters in video games this past week. The shocking outcome? Effiminate fairy-wannabe boy-toy Tingle of Legend of Zelda series fame took home the tiara, narrowly beating off the gay powers of well-oiled muscle bound duo from Cho Aniki, Samson and Adon.
Citing his afinity to wear green pantsuits with red man-panties on the outside, his neatly-manicured wispy facial hair, and his habit of keeping the company of other swishing men, he’s pretty much a lock. Appearing later this year in a game called Freshly-picked Tingle’s Rose Colored Rupee Land isn’t helping his case for heterosexuality either.
Check out the full list, one that borders on NSFW simply based on Nagare Namikawa of Capcom’s Rival Schools 2 well-stocked banana hammock.
Top 20 Gayest Video Game Characters
Daily Comments Winner
Commenter gblock wins yesterday’s contest with his comments on our story about the PSP Homestar program.
The problem is, for beginners, what you’re looking for is the Celestron SkyScope. Looks like a camcorder; select the star you’re looking for on the side screen, and then look through the eyepiece to find what you’re looking for; it’ll give you arrows to get you in the right direction.
That kind of telescope-and-locator planetarium in a box serves the low end much better than stuff like this…
And for everyone else, there’s your laptop. Because inevitably, you’re going to pick up a telescope, and want to either record what you see through it, or get it to track stuff in the sky.
I suppose there’s a ‘middle range’ between them - but I’m unconvinced that this is a good fit. You’d want to be able to find/locate the stuff in the sky you want to be watching, etc., and load in lots of data that probably isn’t included in the built in stuff. It won’t have, for example, all of the satellite and space junk data - and you’d want that when you’re scanning the sky and see something odd.
Don’t forget to post away today for your chance to win. I will be randomly selecting a post tonight, as I will every day this month, and then deciding which comment about the post was the funniest, most insightful or interesting and hand out a prize to the poster.
Today’s prize is a 360 Memory Unit and a 360 wireless controller. Prizes cannot be changed.
Anti-Spin Control: PSP Oblivion and the PGR3 Pack
The first thing I learned as a journalist was to never assume anything, that goes double for interpreting what public relations folks say.
Take for instance this comment from Bethesda about the possibility of Oblivion coming to the Playstation Portable:
At present we have no announced plans to bring Oblivion to any platforms other than PC or Xbox 360. We’ll certainly let folks know if that changes.
Despite the fact that most sites who have this quote up are reporting it as a denial of the game coming to the PS3 or PSP, it isn’t one.
All they are saying is that they haven’t announced it. We already knew that, the question they don’t answer is if the game is under development.
Here’s another form of spin control:
Rumors (ones substantiated with pictures) hit of a PGR3 Xbox 360 pack coming in the near future for the same price as the current Xbox 360 Premium pack. Instead of denying this rumor, likely because it is true, the various Microsoft mouthpieces deny a price drop coming to the Xbox 360.
“Microsoft has no plans to change the price of the Xbox 360 Core or Xbox 360 SKUs this fall.
While that may be true, I’d be equally pissed if I dropped $400 for a Premium pack and a few months later a PGR3 pack hit for the same price.
Daily Comments Winner
Commenter Scazza wins Friday’s contest with his comments on our story aboutNintendo’s answer to the fight club.
“Never admit you play Wii” ???
Don’t forget to post away today for your chance to win. I will be randomly selecting a post tonight, as I will every day this month, and then deciding which comment about the post was the funniest, most insightful or interesting and hand out a prize to the poster.
Today’s prize is a 360 Memory Unit and a 360 wireless controller. Prizes cannot be changed.
E3 cancelled for next year and beyond [update 1]
Filed under: Business
Apparently publishers believe that the multi-million dollar budgets allocated to E3 would be better used on smaller, specific shows where publishers get all the limelight. There’s the possibility of a smaller show taking place in May next year, but as Next-Gen puts it, “it’s clear that the days of an industry event attended by all the major publishers, spending big money, are gone.”
Check out our commentary on the cancellation at the continued link below.
Joystiq’s good, the bad and the ugly commentary on E3’s cancellation.
First up, the good.
- Our jobs get easier. During E3, the Joystiq team churned out 100 posts a day over the duration of the event, but there were probably still things that we missed. If there are multiple shows throughout the year, we’ll be able to cover events in more detail and breadth.
- You, the reader, get a much more even flow of information. As one of the team members that didn’t attend the show, I had a hard job keeping up with the flow of content. Now that E3 is gone, I can look forward to consuming my gaming news in smaller, easier to digest chunks.
- More access to the public? E3 was not accessible to the public, and was a strictly over-18 trade and press show. Hopefully future shows will split the show between press/trade exclusive days and open-access days so regular consumers can try out the latest games and hardware.
- A cooler atmosphere. E3 is was a very stressful place to be, with every booth being designed to be as loud and as bright as possible in order to attract as much attention as possible. Now that E3 is gone, publishers and developers won’t have to spend so much money hiring dancers and huge booths. In other words, the games will have a chance to shine through.
- Worldwide game shows, not just L.A? Due to the expected fragmentation that the E3 cancellation is expected to bring, we can probably expect more regional shows designed to target individual demographics in different countries.
[Update #1: added the "good" commentary, tweaked spelling. Stay tuned for "the bad and the ugly" commentary.]
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Colorblind gaming or: Table Tennis is impossibly hard!
Filed under: Culture, Features, Business
As you probably know, the Xbox 360 features several colored buttons. Usually I can tell the difference between these buttons (the problem isn’t so bad that I can’t tell the difference between the equivalent of red and green at traffic lights). However, there’s one game that has caused a problem: Rockstar’s Table Tennis. A fundamental part of the gameplay is being able to respond to the opposing player’s spin on the ball. This is represented by one of the colors which are also found on the gamepad. Blue for left spin, red for right spin, green for forward spin and yellow for back spin. Unfortunately, I can barely tell the difference between the red, green and yellow on a standard definition display. On a high definition screen the green and yellow are still nearly identical to my eyes.
This isn’t usually much of a problem during normal play (besides, I can always just press the green button), but on the training levels where you are taught how to spin the ball, I found the task physically impossible. I literally had to guess which spin the computer was giving the ball! Table Tennis has the hardest training level of any game, at least for me. Since completing the training levels is an Xbox 360 achievement, it’s also possibly the hardest achievement there is. It took me around 3-4 hours and dozens of reattempts to get the 5 points given to you after you complete training.
Color blindness certainly isn’t the only or the most problematic disability preventing people from getting enjoyment out of games, although it is possibly the most widespread. Designers of print, web and image media already take color blindness into account, but I’ve never read or seen the issue being discussed in the context of games. Some questions for you:
- Do you have a disability? How has your disability affected your ability to play games?
- If you’re a game developer, or involved in the development of games, have you ever considered disabilities like color sight deficiency when designing a game?
See also:
- See Joystiq.com as a colorblind person does
- Wikipedia’s entry on color sight deficiency
- Guidelines for using color without confusing people with color sight deficiency
- Tests for color blindness
- “Just press the green button”
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Kojima Contributing More To Super Smash Bros. Brawl
If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with the gratuitous Samus Aran booty shoots during the E3 unveiling trailer, I’d have noticed that Metal Gear’s Solid Snake was going to be one of the combatants in the Wii fighter Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Fine. I’ll come clean. It was Wario’s ass that consumed my thoughts during that whole comm transmission portion of the reveal. Having never actually played a Super Smash Bros. before (yes, I’m that guy), I’m not what you’d call a fan, but my interest has been piqued by the following quote culled from the newest Nintendo Power.
Chris H: “If you want to talk about something big, how about the news Hideo Kojima, Snake’s creator, is designing Snake’s level in Brawl? Snake’s inclusion means we’re not only getting one of the best characters in gaming, but one of the best developers as well.”
Piffle! I’m only interested in Kojima’s comparisons of next-generation consoles and handhelds to sit-down meals, not his level design. But I will keep my eyes peeled for more Zero Suit Samus artwork. *swoon*
Hideo Kojima Working on Snake’s SSBB Stage?
Homestar PSP: Yeah, It’s Full Of Stars
![[2001 joke]](http://www.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/07/sega_homestar_psp.jpg)
Following hot on the heels of the dynamic success of Sega Toys in-home planetarium Homestar comes word via Famitsu that the star projector will be making it’s way to the PSP. Yep, Homestar Portable is the “21st century star navigator” for the “21st century Walkman”.
Obviously looking to cash in on the lucrative Japanese non-game market, upon which Nintendo has a stranglehold, Sega’s Homestar Portable will let you look at stars from the comfort of your bed or toilet. In addition to looking at stars without actually having to leave the house, Homestar Portable will teach you all about constellations, our galaxy’s planets, and giant clouds of space gas. The game is scheduled to ship in Japan this October for a cool 3280 yen, with a US release date projected somewhere around Q4 of never.
Image courtesy of the lovely Neo2046 from GAF. More scans after the jump!
Drawn To Be Alive, Amazing UT2K4 Mod
As someone who has some slight… difficulty succeeding at even the most simple, AI-coddling, stealth-based gameplay, my natural instinct to see such a title is to douse it with kerosene, set it ablaze, and dance around the pyre. But this little paper fella is so cute my desire to destroy all things stealth has been noticeably softened.
The game Drawn To Be Alive isn’t just about stealth, it seems. It’s other draw is its clever 2D-character-in-a-3D-world platforming, plus what looks like a little bit of puzzle solving. Some of this 2D trickery has popped up in games like Paper Mario, but it looks cool nonetheless. The mod was built by a team of students on the Unreal engine as part of a school project at French design school Supinfogame, but is not yet complete. In a post to mod community site Mod DB, user and project contributor Vgadjo lets us know that we can expect to see something final around October.
In the meantime, I suggest you check out the official site (which is only in French) for more screenshots and take a few minutes to watch the full gameplay trailer.
Thanks for the tip, Amestris.
Wii On Tour (With Some Crap Bands)
Maybe I’m getting too old for this hobby, as I’ve never heard of a single performer featured at this year’s Nintendo Fusion tour. Maybe it’s just that I’m a shut-in with no access to anything but AM radio and a stack of 7-inch records. For those of you who like the rock and rap music (I assume some of this must be the rap you kids are into), Nintendo has some exciting news for you!
The Nintendo Fusion Tour promises to be one of the hottest tickets of the year. The cross-country tour, produced by Live Nation, will be headlined by Hawthorne Heights and will include up-and-comers like Relient K, Emery, Plain White T’s and The Sleeping. In addition, each location will showcase the best new and upcoming Nintendo games, including a sneak peek at Nintendo’s amazing Wii console.
The only thing I’m excited about is that I finally get to go to the Worcester Palladium and play some more Wario Ware Smooth Moves! Yes, the Wii will be in attendance. Playable? We’re not quite sure yet what a “sneak peek” entails.
Dates and venues where you can do the “moshing” with the other kids follow after the jump.
Wednesday 9/27/2006 - Columbus, OH
The LC Pavilion
Thursday 9/28/2006 - Indianapolis, IN
Egyptian Room
Friday 9/29/2006 - Detroit, MI
State Theatre
Saturday 9/30/2006 - Cleveland, OH
Tower City
Sunday 10/1/2006 - Covington, KY
Madison Theatre
Wednesday 10/4/2006 - Philadelphia, PA
Electric Factory
Thursday 10/5/2006 - Worcester, MA
The Palladium
Saturday 10/7/2006 - Pittsburgh, PA
University of Pittsburgh
Sunday 10/8/2006 - New York, NY
Roseland Ballroom
Monday 10/9/2006 - Norfolk, VA
Norva
Tuesday 10/10/2006 - Winston-Salem, NC
The Millennium
Wednesday 10/11/2006 - Myrtle Beach, SC
House of Blues
Thursday 10/12/2006 - Orlando, FL
Hard Rock Live
Friday 10/13/2006 - Atlanta, GA
Tabernacle
Saturday 10/14/2006 - Jacksonville, FL
Plush
Sunday 10/15/2006 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Revolution
Tuesday 10/17/2006 - Jonesboro, AR
Convocation Center, Arkansas State
Wednesday 10/18/2006 - New Orleans, LA
House of Blues
Thursday 10/19/2006 - Houston, TX
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Friday 10/20/2006 - Dallas, TX
Next Stage at Nokia
Sunday 10/22/2006 - Phoenix, AZ
Mesa Amphitheatre
Tuesday 10/24/2006 - Anaheim, CA
The Grove
Wednesday 10/25/2006 - Los Angeles, CA
Wiltern
Thursday 10/26/2006 - San Francisco, CA
Warfield
Friday 10/27/2006 - San Diego, CA
Soma
Saturday 10/28/2006 - Las Vegas, NV
House of Blues
Thursday 11/2/2006 - Spokane, WA
Big Easy
Saturday 11/4/2006 - Denver, CO
Fillmore
Sunday 11/5/2006 - Kansas City, MO
Uptown
Monday 11/6/2006 - St. Paul, MN
Myth
Tuesday 11/7/2006 - St. Louis, MO
The Pageant
Wednesday 11/8/2006 - Milwaukee, WI
Eagle Ballroom
Thursday 11/9/2006 - Des Moines, IA
Val Air Ballroom
Friday 11/10/2006 - Champaign, IL
Assembly Hall-Star Theatre
Saturday 11/11/2006 - Chicago, IL
Congress Theatre
Anyone going? I’ll be the oldest guy in the room not escorting his teenage daughter.
Nintendo Fusion Tour Official Site
This Day in Gaming, July 29th
1994: Konami releases Policenauts for the NEC PC 9821 in Japan. Its clever name comes from the combination of the words “police” and “astronauts”. In that case, we’d prefer a game called BeerPorn. The title was later ported to SS, PS and 3DO.
1997: Philips announces Scuba, their new gaming visor. Just like every other failed visor, this one promises to be “different” through lower pricing ($299) and higher quality (reviews said blurry). The public’s real problem with immersion goggles? Geordi hosting Reading Rainbow.
2005: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announces a pay agreement for voice actors in video games. Pre-agreement, minimum compensation was $556 for four hours. Post-agreement, the rate was $695 with the promise of future raises. Note to self: actors get paid way too *@&#ing much.
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
First Halo 360 faceplate coming in October
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Business
According to Bungie.net, the first official Halo faceplate will be available for purchase in October. No word on price or a specific date in October, but the plate looks pretty damn good — at least better than the Gears of War faceplate some of us got at E3.
With this kind of thing, we’re just a sucker for the clean and simplistic look. There’s no doubt this will pretty much be a must have for hardcore Halo fans.
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The Rest Of You Need To Become Better Games Journalists
Not us. For not only is the Kotaku crew one of the best looking groups of gaming writers, with a collective fashion sense that shames our distinguished competition and a singular wit, we have a knack for… making good words… on the page… of the game…. things.
Typos aside (we’re above proofreading), we do a pretty darn good job. For instance, GameDaily’s Chris Buffa takes supposed professional game journalists at IGN to task for multiple writing offenses in his op-ed piece “How to Become a Better Videogame Journalist”. Here’s one such jab:
For example, check out this sentence, taken from a recently-published article about Capcom’s Dead Rising:
“After all, who doesn’t enjoy running over 50 zombies with a lawnmower? Nobody. Except communists.”
Wow Mr. Journalist! Way to keep up with 1980s humor!
Now, what I’d have done there is made a witty allusion to a similar scene from Night of the Creeps by cinematic auteur Fred Dekker, eliciting chirps of laughter from the schlock-horror/Kotaku reader fan base cross-section. See? We clearly don’t need the help.
But if you don’t think your game writing is up to snuff, do yourself a favor: read this editorial. It has tons of tips and tricks on how to unlock the elite journalist within. Hell, with enough practice and dedication, combined with less time fan-ficking Final Fantasy X-3 erotica, you might actually turn this little hobby into a “career”.
How to Become a Better Videogame Journalist (thanks, Ben!)
Free Radical: Wii Can’t Handle Our Game
If you’re riding steerage on the cruise to next-gen gaming, part of the “One Console Future” crowd, and your primary console is going to be the Nintendo Wii, you won’t be joining the rest of us at Free Radical’s ritzy Haze party. The Timesplitters and Second Sight dev says they’re just going to require a little more horsepower under the hood for their next-gen FPS.
Is there going to be a Wii version?
There are currently no plans for a Wii version of Haze. Sadly, the cutting-edge technology we’re using requires more power than the Wii has available. If we could, we would.
Dang. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone clued into the Gamecube II’s unimpressive technical specs, but could give Timesplitters super-fans pause when making their purchasing decisions. Still, while it would make sense for future entries in the Timesplitters brand to be built on the in-house developed Haze engine, we’ve heard more than once that Gamecube development tools fit nicely with the Wii. A Wii Timesplitters could still be a reality, but it will always be Haze’s dumpy, dateless little sister.
Metareview - CivCity: Rome
Filed under: PC, Simulations, Strategy, Metareviews
What do you get when you combine the Roman Empire building of Caesar, the city planning of SimCity, and the wonders and tech trees of the ever popular Civilization? It would probably look something like CivCity: Rome, developed by Firefly Studios (Stronghold, Space Colony), where your task is to create and manage the economy of ancient Rome, collect taxes, and keep your citizens happy. The critics have been all over the map so far, but there is an alternative right around the corner for aspiring urban planners. VU Games plans to release the long-awaited Caesar IV in September, which should provide a basis for comparison — and give Firefly some time to patch the buggy CivCity.
- IGN (82/100) appreciates the attention to detail: “CivCity: Rome is definitely full of Roman flavor. Not only are the structures and commodities designed to heighten your appreciation and understanding of Roman life, but even your citizens will give you insight into topics as diverse as makeup and warfare. If you crave more information, the Civilopedia and the manual offer some interesting commentaries on the buildings and activities of a Roman’s daily life.”
- GameSpot (66/100) has issues with CivCity’s look and feel: “For starters, the game is ugly. Although it is nifty how roofs peel back to show you citizens going about their daily lives, and how clicking on homes and businesses create arrows connecting them to their wandering citizens, the jagged visuals are three years out of date.”
- 1UP (50/100) isn’t bullish on the game’s combat system: “Once you’ve struggled with troop facing, watched them surround and ignore an invader, and shrieked as enemies walk right through closed city gates, you’ll convert entirely to the boring (but less troublesome) map-level warfare. You can also opt to entirely skip this disappointing tradeoff by sticking to the peaceful game, though at a cost of about one-third of the game’s content.”
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