Archive for July 6th, 2006
Today in Joystiq: July 6, 2006
Joystiquery
Metareview - LOTR: The Battle for Middle-earth II (Xbox 360)
Are sequels bad for the sport?
News
Ubisoft’s new maps for Heroes V
Star Fox DS details surface
Sega confirms pair of PS3 launch titles, no exclusives
No Wii in September, October not ruled out
Immersion’s overly biased, pro-PS3 rumble survey
Time Crisis 3 tops Amazon’s gaming list, outsells Brain Age & New Mario
Sony’s Reeves and Hirai become executive VPs
Cellda: cell phone, not cel-shaded, Zelda
Rumors & Speculation
Microsoft’s portable system out this year?
Is Blizzard gettin’ serious about next-gen consoles?
Culture
Get that WoW angst off your chest
Raving Rabbids, rabid World Cup fans
Doom-cum-point-and-click adventure game
Bad at math? Use this MS Points converter
EA devours competition, wins spicy burger contest for third straight year
Decap attack: Link minces Moblins in digital painting
Obsidian’s Avellone on breaking into the industry
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Obsidian’s Avellone on breaking into the industry
Filed under: Culture, PC, Microsoft Xbox, Adventure, Online, RPGs, Business
Over at Penny Arcade, Obsidian co-founder Chris Avellone has some advice for aspiring game designers. A creative force behind RPG classics Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale and the upcoming Neverwinter Nights 2, Avellone is always an entertaining read. He values persistence, practical experience, and attention to detail over academic background.
And if you want to be a writer, a sense of humor doesn’t hurt, either. Just make sure your email address isn’t SuperMageCockLord@yourmomma.com. Chris will explain why.
See also:
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Cellda: cell phone, not cel-shaded, Zelda
Filed under: Hacks, Portable, Retro, Action, Adventure
So, we all agree that most cell phone games are really, really boring (we agree on this, right?), but here’s one that we think any red-blooded gamer can still muster some excitement over: The Legend of Zelda. That’s right, the plain-old, original Zelda … but with a twist. The homebrew heroes behind this project have seen fit to update all that old, pixelated stuff with new, Minish Cap-ish graphics, and they’re looking good.
Don’t believe us, check out these hi-res maps or — better yet — download the latest demo (featuring dungeons one through three) for your Midp2-compatible phone. Don’t have one of those? Then try out the PC executable. Can’t run one of those? Sorry, bub.
[Via Flicker Gaming]
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Command and Conquer Renegade
Config file cheats to ratchet up the action.
Decap attack: Link minces Moblins in digital painting
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, Derek has posted a series of images from throughout the digital painting process, so art nerds, get grokking. Everyone else can just download the higher-res file and pretend it’s a screenshot from the next, next Zelda adventure.
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Silent Hill Experience
Hidden videos to enhance the experience.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Live to see Jack Sparrow again.
Is Blizzard gettin’ serious about next-gen consoles?
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
- Experience in writing software.
- Localization experience on a shipped console title.
- Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii production experience.
The latter inclusion is not really valid yet (anyone developing for PS3 or Wii have, obviously, not finished producing their next-generation game) and was likely added to keep the job listing fresh in a few months, but it does reveal Blizzard’s intentions, StarCraft: Ghost notwithstanding, to rejoin the console market.
We have heard mutterings before, about this time last year, of Blizzard’s interest in a DS version of StarCraft … and have heard nothing of it since. Given Blizzard’s reticence and long development times, it would likely be a couple of years before we heard anything. Aside from tweaking World of Warcraft and finalizing the expansion pack, do we have any idea what Blizzard is up to? (Swimming pool of money)
See Also:
Diablo 3 is coming, an argument
[Via Codename Revolution; thanks, enbob89]
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EA devours competition, wins spicy burger contest for third straight year
Filed under: Culture, Business
Electronic Arts employees in Redwood City have won the Prince of Wales pub’s annual habanero burger contest for a third straight year.
Pub owner Jack Curry told the San Mateo Daily Journal that the EA team consumed 60 pepper-laced hamburgers, besting RSA, a computer security company, in order to retain the prestigious Prince of Wales title. Unfortunately, the win has done nothing to invigorate EA’s steadily sinking stocks.
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Sony’s Reeves and Hirai become executive VPs [update 1]
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Business
Let’s highlight some of the duo’s choice quotes from the past few months:
- So, if [games] becomes a bit higher than $59, don’t ding me, but, again, I don’t expect it to be $100. – Kaz Hirai
- We have built up a certain brand equity over time since the launch of PlayStation in 1995 and PS2 in 2000 that the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn’t have games. – David Reeves
- Riiidge Racer! — Kaz Hirai
Okay, so the last one is a bit of a cheap shot, but are overconfident voices what Sony needs to hear right now? These people will be making important decisions regarding the future of Sony, but are they too brazen? Only time will tell how smart a decision Sony has just made. Right now, it seems just a bit Krazy. Super Krazy.
[via PS3 Fanboy]
[update 1: Notice Krazy just got Super Krazy -- that's because we were sent a rather hilarious and extremely well-sketched webcomic about Kaz and Ken and we had to share it immediately. Thanks for the laugh, James!]
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Time Crisis 3 tops Amazon’s gaming list, outsells Brain Age & New Mario
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Action, Peripherals
How does a game released October 21, 2003 top Amazon’s current best selling video games list? Good question. During the July 4 holiday weekend, Amazon dropped the price of Time Crisis 3 (with dual GunCon2s) to $19.99, sparking a surprising sales surge that shot the aging PS2 light gun title to the #1 position on Amazon’s “Top Sellers in Computer & Video Games” list.
While the industry is notorious for remaining dormant during the summer months, the Time Crisis 3 sale managed to outsell the red hot DS Lite and its most popular software titles, Brain Age & New Super Mario Bros. Time Crisis 3 is currently sold out on Amazon, but remains the bestseller as of this afternoon.
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Are sequels bad for the sport?
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Retro, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
Sequels are a double-edged sword in the gaming world. On one hand, you have familiarity and nostalgia appeal and on the other you have cries of non-originality and staleness. Blogger SuicideNinja gives a nice breakdown of each side, complete with stereotypical examples of why sequels are both bad and good for the industry on their respective consoles.
In this easy-to-read post, SuicideNinja takes you inside the mind of fanboys on all three fronts — Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. He then follows up a typical blind rant with a reality check of just what he thinks is really going on. We dissect it all for you after the break.
First he tackles Microsoft:
- Why they support the consoles: As for the Xbox, they either waited to buy this “better” console [Xbox] or bought it after buying the PS2 and were disappointed from its lack of everything Sony promised.
- Why they think the other consoles suck: They lack comprehensive online services such as Xbox Live. The PS2 and Gamecube have less features and were less powerful.
It’s safe to say that the 360 will try to bank not only on Halo 3 and other key sequels — such as Fable 2 and Forza 2 — but also on a bevy of original titles slated to hit the system. Since Microsoft is relatively new to the console game, their reliance on ancient original IPs hasn’t been as strong as the other two, allowing them to appear on the outside like the more original of the three. But, Microsoft’s clock is ticking, as SuicideNinja says: “Some gamers feel that the ‘good wave’ of titles is taking too long to arrive.”
Sony fanboys are up next:
- Why they support the consoles: The PlayStation has the largest library, and has the most popular exclusives.
- Why they think the other consoles suck: Most likely, they never tried the other consoles, or played them very briefly. The competition’s library is smaller.
Despite the loss of exclusivity with the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Sony still has a list of exclusive sequels to make any gamer’s jaw drop. As long as they continue to hold the aces of Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy in their hand, then Sony need not worry about anyone coming close to bringing them down. Even as the PS3 makes your stomach grumble for the next year or so, there are so many good PS2 games coming out to tide you over that it might not even matter. By the time the PS3 price drops and things have stabilized, who’s to say that Sony won’t be smiling on top of the mountain after all?
And, last but not least, the rabid fan base of Nintendo:
- Why they support the consoles: They are totally content with Nintendo’s first-party offerings. Nostalgic value is present for older gamers.
- Why they think the other consoles suck: The other consoles don’t have Nintendo’s first-party titles. They aren’t innovative in the next generation.
Nintendo is the ultimate wild card. No one can argue the immense interest and popularity the Nintendo booth garnered at E3. The big question is if this monumental shift in momentum will continue into the fall when the Wii is finally released. Will the company’s continued reliance on sequels continue to propel Nintendo forward into a new generation? Certainly it hasn’t hurt them. Mario is still going strong. Zelda is a guaranteed hit and the Pokémon franchise still sells like virtual crack.
So, all in all, are sequels still your best bet or are new franchises the way to go? It’d be wise to put your money down on a console or game maker that can give you a good mix of both. Sequels really aren’t the enemy here. Bad games are.
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