Archive for July 8th, 2006
New Fake GTAIV Screen Hits Web
The above screen was sent in courtesy of our fine tipsters, but I’m immediately calling fake. Why? Two things, the awkward “Rockstar North© Development Screenshot 2006.” and the fact that Park Barber Shop isn’t named something like “Trim Job” or “Short & Curlies”. I’d source this supposed screen, but the original host, a GTA fan site, was littered with Tubgirl photos, which makes for an even more bitter Weekend Editor.
Just be patient kids. I’m sure we’ll get some authentic Grand Theft Auto IV screens by, say, May of 2007.
PSP Relegated To Insole Pitchman
Oh, PSP, have you no shame? Are things really so bad in Japan that you’re forced to take a fourth job? I thought you were selling fairly well in the East, but Kotaku reader Dennis just sent us the following concerned e-mail:
Today I just happened to be in the Tokyu Hands in Shibuya and I came across this. Apparently hackers and pirates are not the only ones finding innovative uses for the PSP. This one has been pressed into service as make shift ad kiosk. It is quite common in Japan for one to find monitors attached to store shelves running a continuous loop of an ad video for some new product (ostensibly on the shelf the monitor is attached to). Such is life for this PSP…hawking what appeared to be insoles of dubious holistic value.
Is this how you’re planning on appealing to the office lady demographic, PSP? Isn’t Loco Roco supposed to be your game for girls? Keep your chin up, little guy.
Thanks, Dennis!
Miz and Q Reveal More Portable Puzzle Ports
Tetsuya Mizuguchi, producer of Lumines and Rez, will act as executive producer for the DS and PSP remakes of Gunpey. Originally released for Bandai’s Wonderswan, we can expect Gunpey-R (the R is for Rebirth!) to hit some time in late 2006/early 2007. In the standard Miz fashion, the audio-visual presentation will be a major focus for the puzzle titles—both will feature the same gameplay, but noticeably different graphical styles and user interfaces.
Now that Q? Entertainment is freed of the soul crushing Microsoft shackles, having met their obligation to the company with the coolly received Ninety Nine Nights, it’s time to focus on the stuff that made them famous. Hot puzzle X music action!
Check out the official site for screenshots, wallpaper, artist info and more.
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Related: Day Three Winner
Girl Gamers: Protect Your Identity, Hide Your Gender
So, you girls want to come into our boys club and play our video games. Fine. A lot of us like girls. But you’ve got to understand our natural instinct to harass you over the internet at the slightest hint that you might be the bearer of actual breasts—the naturally occuring kind, that is, not the masculine version borne of fistfuls of Peppermint Patties and Cheese Puffs. If you’re really that bothered by the constant barrage of invites to “cyber” behind the Darnassus Hall of Justice or requests for your age, address, and cup size during a few rounds of Counter-Strike, maybe Audio4Fun’s AV Voice Changer Software is for you.
Says the company, presumably in a deep, bowel-quivering baritone:
However, most women have a common concern about the long-lasting existence of “male chauvinism” in the world of online games. In considering this point, Voice Changer Software proves very helpful to solve the problem.
It’s only $99.95 (cheap!) and clearly named AV Voice Changer Software Diamond in an effort to attract more girls.
Lady gamers get voice changer [Eurogamer]
Xbox 360 Getting HDMI Out Upgrade?
The kids at Xbox-Scene tipped us off today that they’ve received—from an anonymous source, natch—the above conspicuously blurry, but well compositioned photo. Their tipster claims we’re looking at an Xbox 360 motherboard with a brand spanking new, not yet announced HDMI out port. Speculation leads one to believe that this may be an early look at a new version of the console; the oft-rumored but recently quashed HD-DVD internal drive, super-duper premium version Xbox 360.
So, is this thing real? Many of the Xbox-Scene forum posters believe the thing is fake—at least the ones who aren’t reflexively going apeshit over the possibility that their $400-plus investment could be rendered second-tier, or at worst, obsolete. On the one hand, this is the typical blurred-out “I TOTALLY got this under duress in a secret lab!” snap that proves nothing. On the other, this is Microsoft, and they couldn’t possibly be worse at keeping a secret. Initial guess? Bogus. But I’m no expert.
We’ll let you know when we learn more and/or get the official denial from the MS spokesfolks.
New Xbox 360 Coming with HDMI port?
Fanboys, Get Your Old-School Fanboy Mags
I’m really dating myself when I say that I owned both issue one of Nintendo Power and Sega Visions. I didn’t own them second hand, I got them in the mail new. If you’re like me, a withering old man, and want to strain your vision through the clouds of forming cataracts as you reminisce of a simpler time in gaming, check out racketboy’s Retro Gaming for old-school game magazine scans. For the low risk investment of a quick PDF download, you can check out previews of then-upcoming games like Decap Attack or Phantasy Star III in the first issue of Sega Visions, or remember your pre-disappointment fantasies of both Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest courtesy of Nintendo Power.
Younger whippersnappers, whom I’d appreciate getting off my goddamn lawn, can also check out the more recent fanboy mag, PSM with previews of Final Fantasy VII and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Mmmm. That’s some ripe nostalgia!
PDF: Playstation Magazine #1 - September 1997
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Clover’s God Hand = Total Insanity + Total Hilarity
Leather clad dominatrix power spanking? Check. Rapid fire mantis-style testicle stabbing? Check. Hard Gay-esque prancing bad boys on the receiving end of an ethereal baseball bat? Err. I guess. Proof that Shinji Mikami and team Clover are three sake carafes deep at each and every post-lunch design meeting? Check!!
Look, God Hand was one of my favorite games at E3, and, paired with Dead Rising, all the proof I needed that developer of the century is the amazing and prolific Capcom. Any chance I can get to see more God Hand, tell you about more God Hand, or have new fodder to write erotic God Hand fanfics, I’ll take it. This most recent trailer gives us far more insight into the depth of the game’s fighting engine, the move-buying upgrade shop (*sigh*) and the just plain nutball, whacked-out antics that await us come fall.
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Left Behind is Coming to Town
I’m psyched. The International Christian Retail Show is coming to town, and I’m going.
To be honest, it’s not the all-you-can-eat communion wafers or vats of red wine that has me feeling all tingly inside, it’s the chance to get my hands on Left Behind: Eternal Forces. The real-time strategy computer game will be on hand for me to play at the Denver convention center. I’ll get a chance to talk to the people who created the game.
From the press release:
“LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces represents the first part of our long-term strategy to present the good news in a manner which will appeal to the mainstream and Christian audiences, believers and unbelievers alike,” Strategic Marketing Manager Jerome Mikulich explains.
“The story explains that Earth may not be a pretty place for those left behind,” says CEO Mr. Troy Lyndon. “But the gamer gets to be a part of the battle, making real life decisions. Parents who want their kids to think about those alternatives, and be faced with the personal choices one faces in life, will find the game an attractive entertainment option for their children in an industry that so desperately needs redeeming content.”
I can’t friggin wait.
Left Behind Games to Show Highly Anticipated, Inspirational PC Video Game at International Christian Retail Show in Denver [Business Wire]
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Halo 2 Continues To Dominate Xbox Live
Halo 2 continues to be the Master Chief of Xbox Live, according to the latest Live stats posted by Major Nelson for the week of July 2.
While the Major breaks down the top ten into 360 and non-360 games, he says if you combined the two Halo 2 would be in the top spot followed by the 360 titles. So this is what the combined top ten list should look like:
1 Halo 2
2 Call of Duty 2
3 Ghost Recon 3
4 Oblivion
5 BFMC
6 Prey Demo
7 Final Fantasy XI
8 EA SPORTSâ„¢ Fight Night Round 3
9 2006 FIFA World Cup
10 PGR3
I love that a demo made the list, but I’m not surprised, half of my friends list seems to be playing Prey every time I get online.
Top Xbox Live Games for Week of July 2
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Ultima Online Deletes Trillions in Gold
Ultima Online just did some major housecleaning. A few weeks after the game started to use cheat detector PunkBuster, Electonic Arts announced that they have closed down 180 accounts and permanently deleted about 15 trillion gold pieces. That’s a 15 with god knows how many zeros.
Raph Koster points out that using the exchange rate, pre-deletion, that’s about $21 million dollars in real cash. If that doesn’t have a mammoth impact on the economy of Ultima Online I don’t know what will. One would think that it would cause a huge upswing in the value of gold, but it is probably too early to tell.
The Money Pit [Edge Online]
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Rockstar Exodus?
GameDaily Biz has an interesting look at some recent internal flight going on over at Rockstar Games. Within the past year a co-founder, two marketing directors, a director of development, a senior product manager, a senior web designer and four people in the PR department have all left.
GameDaily floats some theories ranging from internal discord to the company’s free-falling stock, but then shores the speculation up with comments from a professional speculator: Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
“Part of this is actually good, because if it shows you that they’re getting more financial discipline by eliminating redundant positions… To me marketing should be more central and not pushed out to the individual studio. You want an overall marketing strategy to brand all Rockstar product… so maybe this is just better discipline,” Pachter suggested.
“None of this sounds really bad, but if they’re losing key developers then that matters,” he continued. “My guess is this is cost cutting; I don’t think these people left because they’re unhappy. I think they left more likely than not because the company is saying, ‘Hey, we don’t need to pay all you guys to do all these redundant functions.’ One of my biggest complaints about the company was that their costs were not in alignment with their revenues and therefore they were losing money. And I think that they spend too much money and I think it’s entirely appropriate for them to lower the amount of spending, and one way to do so is to eliminate positions… I’m comfortable that directionally you want to see people leave and you want to see less crucial, critical people leave and anybody in marketing and PR sounds less critical to me. Take-Two needs to make sure that they keep the creative people that are responsible for their successes.”
“I actually applaud them for cutting costs beyond what they’ve already announced… This is consistent with what investors would like to see. This is a positive,” Pachter concluded.
Rockstar would not comment for the article.
It’s hard to say whether this employee exodus is anything unusual. It seems that there are PR people jumping from some ship every few months and employees leaving after a game launch isn’t that unusual either.
If the exodus happened over a much shorter period, I’d be included to agree, but it’s hard to read too much into six to 12 months of comings and goings.
Employee Exodus at Rockstar Games? [GameDaily Biz]
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Day Three Winner
Commentor Josh* wins day yesterday’s contest with his comments the Nintendo DS Lite parody ad.
YOU INSENSITIVE MONSTERS!
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 sweet City of Villains cape and copy of the PC game from NCSoft.
Note: If you’re having trouble logging in to post comments. Try this: Login as usual, and then when it brings up the same login boxes hit the refresh key. Think of it as Kotaku’s own secret handshake.
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Related: Win a New Super Mario Bros. Standee
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: July 2 - 8, 2006
Welcome our newest contendor, Hooked on Polygons, and check out our picks for the best game-related webcomic this week. Be sure to vote for your favorite!
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Sony: Apple Logo Was a Mistake
Turns out that Sony isn’t in bed with Apple after all. Sony never explains exactly how the Apple logo popped up on their site, saying only that it was an external error. My theory is that the person who put together the flash movie for Sony’s U.S. Playstation 3 site decided to get around creating or paying for stock smoke footage by nabbing it from another ad. I think the smoke billowing down on the top of the PS3 and the Apple logo both come from an advertisement created for Apple.
If you go to the ad now, both the smoke and the logo have disappeared.
In an official statement Sony said:
In a recent update to the PLAYSTATION 3 section of www.us.playstation.com website, an external error was made during the upload process and the Apple icon was mistakenly placed on the site. We immediately fixed the problem and apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
What’s the deal with Sony advertising these days? In recent months we’ve seen graffiti, bizarrely inappropriate subway ads, a racially-charged billboard and now hinky video. Maybe it’s time for Sony to hire a new advertisement company.
Apple Logo Pops Up on PS3 Site [Kotaku]
Download the first issue of Nintendo Power (1988) in PDF
Filed under: Culture, Retro, Action, Adventure, Sports
Chances are, if you were a wee tyke who liked video games in 1988, you wanted the first issue of Nintendo Power when it was released that July. Well if missed it, Racket Boy scanned the whole thing into a downloadable PDF for your retro reminiscing pleasure.
The issue features a preview of Super Mario Bros. 2, a Zelda guide, and a roundup of the three best baseball games of that year, not to mention a slew of cheesy 80’s ads. Here’s looking at you, claymation Mario!
See also:
[via Flicker Gaming]
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