Archive for August 9th, 2006
R.O.B. the spy
Joystiq reader Sean Barlow sent us his story about how he turned his R.O.B. into a nanny cam. That sneaky Nintendo relic fits rather inconspicuously in the playroom.
We’re rather impressed by the novelty, but can we still play Gyromite?
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Earn college credit in Second Life
Filed under: Culture, PC, Online
Bradley University’s Ed Lamoureux and his online counterpart, Professor Beliveau, will soon be teaching an entire course in Second Life. Entitled “Field Research in Second Life” (Multimedia 490, MM 490), up to eight students will spend three weeks examining life from within the MMO. There will be a one-hour lecture class each week; you can read all about Lamoureux’s class objectives here. Furthermore, you can read about his initial struggles in Second Life here. Part three of his tales should be up soon.
NMC Campus Observor conducted an audio interview with the professor. Second Life as field research is a brilliant idea and we hope he succeeds. For his next course, how about a sociological study of behavior in World of Warcraft?
See Also:
Second Life Insider
[via Kotaku; thanks, vidGuy]
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Capcom asks: how about Dead Rising 2?
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Online
With Dead Rising only a week old, Capcom is already breaking out the age-old question: how about a sequel? Eight questions into a survey on the title, Capcom poses the following question:
If a sequel to this game were to be released, would you buy it?
- I would even buy a new console to play a sequel on if I had to.
- I would buy it if it came out on a console I own.
- I would wait and see how it is received first.
- I would want to play it, but wouldn’t want to buy it.
- I wouldn’t buy it.
Don’t take this to mean they are already working on a sequel, because this is just a standard query. However, with the positive reviews it’s received (harnessed mostly by a gripes of stringent story structure and save system) and the brisk sales we predict it will have, Dead Rising 2 is inevitable.
If you take the survey, be sure to ask for online co-op. We’d love to see it.
[via 1UP]
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Xbox 360 Bullet Witch Screens
Atari just sent us these new screens for recently announced Xbox 360 title Bullet Witch. Hit the jump for the details on the game.
Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR), one of the worlds
most recognized brands and leading third-party video game publisher, today announced
a publishing agreement with Japanese AQ Interactive Inc. for the forthcoming
neo-apocalyptic action game, Bullet Witch, for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment
system from Microsoft. Bullet Witch signifies the beginning of an on-going co-publishing
relationship between Atari and AQ Interactive Inc.
Developed by Japan-based Cavia, Bullet Witch is set on a bleak planet earth in
the year 2013 with human kind on the brink of extinction and hideous demons creating
a tidal wave of destruction and havoc. All hope of mankind’s survival rests
with Alicia, a witch blessed with magical skills and a swift trigger finger.
“We are very pleased to announce this partnership with AQ Interactive Inc. and
look forward to working with them on Bullet Witch and beyond,” said Nique Fajors,
Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Atari, Inc. “To offer an engaging and unique
title such as Bullet Witch to kick start our partnership underlines Atari’s commitment
to bringing interesting and different titles to gamers all over the world.”
“We are excited about starting our relationship with Atari with this project.
We have great respect for Atari’s expertise in publishing video games with their
splendid brand name. Bullet Witch is the first original title developed by our
group development studio, Cavia. It is our great pleasure to see this title
as part of Atari’s stunning product portfolio,” said Naohiko Hoshino, Executive
Vice President, AQ Interactive, Inc.
Set in a realistic world, Bullet Witch includes numerous features inspired by
American horror and Japanese fantasy monsters. Combining shooting and magic,
Bullet Witch will take advantage of Xbox 360’s advanced physics engine by showcasing
massive environmental damage, explosions and destruction. Through Xbox Live
online entertainment network, Atari, Inc. will provide fans with downloadable
Bullet Witch content post-launch such as character costumes and extra levels.
Today in Joystiq: August 9, 2006
Joystiquery
Dead Rising creator fends off fans at mall
Joystiq poll: The way you play your games
Scrutinize Halo director’s CV (with videos)
News
No official Oblivion expansions planned
Pac-Man wakka wakka wakkas XBLA
Bully will stuff you in locker in October
Halo director chosen, movie out summer ‘08
PSP to get some Cash Money y’all
Dark Messiah demo now available
Current top 10 selling PC games
Dead Rising will hit Europe unedited
NBA Street heads to PS3, Xbox 360
Activision paid nearly $100 million for RedOctane
Xbox ad decreases brand trust, but Xbox images evoke self-confidence, study finds
Will Wright spills some Spore beans to GameSpot
Captain Obvious: Camp Hyrule says Wii won’t exceed $250
Lucasfilm combines animation, movie and game assets
Famitsu: Two more titles dropped for PS3
XBLA Portable: Worst fake product mock-up ever?
Jack Thompson to unfortunately appear on AOTS
Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Vivendi ain’t scurred of PS3 — F.E.A.R. coming
Culture
Doctor: 40% of World of Warcraft players addicted
Note to Wii: Don’t screw these five things up
Xbox 360 gamepad not cutting it, XBLA in need of joystick
Luxury Nintendo shirts at luxury prices
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Lieberman May be Down…
Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman — a high-horse, moralizing, “family entertainment” zealot who’s good at making unjustified trouble for the video-game industry — lost the Democratic primary for his Senate seat yesterday to novice challenger Ned Lamont.
Lieberman plans to run as an independent, so he’s not yet officially gone. But his defeat in the primary is a good start.
Anybody in that area of the country know anything about Lamont’s politics on media and entertainment issues? All informed feedback on that is welcome, and I’ll see if I can contact somebody with the Lamont campaign who can answer some questions on the subject.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. But I doubt one political defeat will be enough to quiet Liberman’s dozen-year stance against video games. This is just going to give him more time on his high horse. Besides, I’m still convinced he has his eyes on the White House still. Do you think Gore could pick him a second time for a run at the big white beast?
Goodbye Joe Liberman [San Jose Mercury News]
Jack Thompson to unfortunately appear on AOTS
Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Interviews, Business
As if Jack Thompson wasn’t already considered a total disgrace all around the planet, we now hear the man is going to appear on G4TV’s Attack of the Show tomorrow night. We’re going to assume Kevin Pereira himself will interview the pseudo-lawyer, and we’d like to think Kevin may do his best Bill O’Reilly impression while interviewing this attention hog.
Most pressing question we’d like answered is: Mr. Thompson, would you please go away, forever?
If the answer was yes, you just might find us jumping up and down for joy whilst naked in the streets. Guess we’ll all just have to tune in tomorrow night to find out — that is if your cable provider even gets the network.
[Thanks, Zelda Master]
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Halo Director Named
That’s one hell of a way to make a film debut.
Neill Blomkamp, praised for his work in short film and television, has been named to direct Microsoft’s Halo movie.
Blomkamp, a native of South Africa, is likely best known for his direction of an episode of Dark Angel and his 2005 short film Alive in Joburg, a movie about extraterrestrials becoming refugees on earth.
The director has received a number of awards including three Clio Awards, an Emmy nomination and being named one of the top five directors to watch at the First Board Awards.
The Halo movie, set to hit in the summer of 2008, will be shot in Wellington, New Zealand and use executive producer Peter Jackson’s production and a post-production facilities.
“As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring Halo’s premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s technology can provide,” said Jackson. “Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers, and we’re delighted to be working again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at Fox and Microsoft. With Neill on board, I’m even more excited by the potential of this project.”
Wow, 2008? I sure hope that doesn’t mean that the game won’t come out till then.
Halo Director Names [Gamasutra]
XBLA Portable: Worst fake product mock-up ever? [update 1]
There’s this guy, this guy named Jeff. And well, Jeff sent us this post of what he claims to be a “real” portable Xbox. Jeff goes on and on about the specs, and everything seems well and good, but then the bad stuff hits: actual photos of the “product” he claims he has possession of.
Look at what our boy Jeff says will be in this XBLA device (just try not to laugh too hard while doing so):
- It has a 1″ screen, and a D-Pad, Front Button, and 2 Rear Buttons.
- They have between 512 MB to 2 GB of space, and can play music.
- Microsoft is also to announce, to combat the Virtual console, may retro systems to be playable on XBLA and this device, notably the Atari 2600.
- There are 5 different “Shells” this will come in. Some have a few more buttons, some don’t.
- The base model (I have this one) will start at $39.99 - and the top model will go at around $99.99.
Wow, OK Jeff. You got us there, good one. Not only are the specs ridiculous — one inch screen? — but the pictures of what the actual product looks like are about spot on for a third grade science project. We’d like to think Microsoft doesn’t have third graders creating prototypes for them, but you never know.
Check out the other brilliant pics after the break.
[Update: It really is the worst mock-up ever. Why? Because it's a cereal toy. Way to go Jeff. You tried to pawn off a toy as your very own portable Xbox. You're the man now, dog!]
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WoW and Game Addiction
Twitch Guro reports on the latest video game addiction stupidity making the rounds. Clinical psychologist Dr. Maressa Orzack, founder of the Computer Addiction Services at McLean Hospital in Newton, Mass., says some of the signs of gaming addiction are dry eyes, headaches, backaches and erratic sleep patterns. Or maybe that’s just the flu.
Orzack, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School, runs the outpatient clinic for game addiction.
Rob Wright does an excellent job of questioning Orzack’s beliefs on gaming addiction in an interview with the professor.
Here’s a taste:
RW: Give me an example of a typical case.
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy World of Warcraft player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in World of Warcraft and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and World of Warcraft was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn’t get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
RW: Then aren’t the issues at home more of a problem than the actual games themselves?
Dr. Orzack: No, I disagree. You can’t say that about Blizzard, which structures the games like World of Warcraft to be addictive. They design these MMORPGs to keep people in the game. I do think the problem is tied in with other things like family issues, but the games themselves are inherently addictive. That’s ultimately the cause of the problem.
I don’t think the American Psychological Association has yet officially recognized video game addiction as its own special disorder yet in the Diagnostic Resource Manual, but it’s only a matter of time.
40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted [Twitch Guru]
Famitsu: Two more titles dropped for PS3
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Action, Adventure, RPGs, Business
According to Gameworld Network, the latest issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has the scoop that two more PlayStation 3 titles have been put to rest. Both from FROM Software, Dark RPG and Black Blade have been tossed in ye olde PS3 trash can — which seems to be getting full at the moment.
While we haven’t heard much about these titles to begin with, they were announced last year at the Tokyo Games Show as PS3 offerings that were planned for release.
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Wright Talkes Spore, Lepizig and Next-Gen
In a sit down with Gamespot, Will Wright talks about how work on Spore is progressing. Among the interesting tidbits: Spore will be playable at the Games Convention in Leipzig and Wright and his team are very interested in next-gen consoles.
GS: What are your general thoughts on next-generation game consoles and handhelds?
WW: We were kind of assuming that the next-gen consoles would all be super-powerful, but now we’re looking at how expensive the Sony [PlayStation 3] is, trying to leverage the value of Blu-Ray; we look at how cheap the Nintendo Wii is going to be and its innovative controller; we’re looking at Microsoft’s early mover advantage and its focus on network games. We’re actually seeing the manufacturers going off in their own directions, which is interesting. And at the same time, we’re seeing that handhelds are very different from each other; they appeal to very different groups with very different styles of gameplay. So, I think we’re seeing a kind of explosion of gaming, where games are going out to all these different platforms, with all these different styles, and we’re starting to see lighter, more-innovative, more-casual games on some of these lower-end platforms.
GS: Do you see a home for Spore on any of the new consoles or handhelds in the near future, or is it too early to say? What can you confirm for us at this time?
WW: We’re certainly looking at [Spore] as a franchise. The PC [version of the game], for me, is the tip of the iceberg. You can imagine Spore in a lot of different variants, because we have all these different types of gameplay. We can pull out individual levels; we can use the editors in totally different ways; and so on. I can easily imagine Spore on any conceivable platform, and that’s something that we’ve definitely been looking into. We’re not announcing anything yet, but it’s pretty obvious that I want Spore to take over the world (laughs).
GS: Then what we can confirm is that Spore is a game with the potential to expand somewhere else…but right now, it’s only for the PC.WW: Yeah…but my ambition is for it to become a major franchise. You can take that for what it’s worth.
Damn you Wright, spill already, SPILL!
Will Wright Talks Spore, Leipzig, Next-gen [Gamespot]
Where Are All of the Good Xbox Games?
Is it just me or does it seem that most of the games hitting the original Xbox these day are sorta crap. Maybe I’ve forgotten a title, but I can’t think of any for the old-gen system that I am looking forward to. And that’s with 20 games or something ridiculous coming out for the system. On the other hand look at what the GameCube and PS2 have to offer. If nothing else Nintendo’s got the next Legend of Zelda and the PS2 has Bully and God of War 2, both with potential to be the best games for the system.
It seems that Microsoft, in their rush to jump start the next-gen, have sorta left all of their original customers hanging.
Lucasfilm combines animation, movie and game assets
Filed under: Business
To say that the Lucasfilm group has a finger in every pie completely fails to capture how entrenched they are in several key areas in the entertainment industry. Revising the expression to include a ravenous ball of thumbs rolling through a quaint bakery might be more effective, if somewhat indicative of a strange and broken imagination. With film, game, animation and special effects divisions (amongst others) to keep track of, George Lucas and friends have decided to implement a single, software-driven database to manage all of their digital assets, essentially linking together the imaginations of the 2,000 or so people currently employed across the world. Lori Gianino, director of information systems at Lucasfilm, completely fails to make any of this sound even vaguely interesting by saying it lets them “eliminate data entry by pulling information from other systems.”
What she really should be saying is something along the lines of, “This universal database will give those working on our next-gen games a considerable advantage, as they’ll have direct access to all the assets from our various productions. That’s really awesome and stuff.” Once the system is fully implemented, it is expected to house just about every piece of every puzzle, including live-action frames, motion capture data and even in-progress special effects shots. The forthcoming Indiana Jones game, for instance, can only hope to gain from an increased synergy with those involved with the fourth movie in the action archeology series. Even original titles that aim to be cinematic in nature can look to benefit from sharing assets with Lucasfilm’s stable of, err, films.
The unified data management system also provides scheduling and reporting tools which could certainly prove to be useful in an industry where game release dates often get pushed back and development costs get pushed higher and higher. Better management of time and budget will become all the more important in the next-generation of gaming, perhaps even skipping right past “important” and going straight to “essential.” Large companies like EA and Microsoft are sure to have investigated or already implemented similar sharing strategies amongst their many developers.
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Captain Obvious: Camp Hyrule says Wii won’t exceed $250
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Business
Apparently, we have a lot of very excited little campers, because just about every single one of the Camp Hyrule participants has flooded our inbox with the fact that it mentions in some legal writing area that the Wii will not exceed $250 — you see at Camp Hyrule they are giving away a Wii as a prize.
Thank goodness Captain Obvious is here at Joystiq to calm everyone down. Listen, fans, we understand your excitement at every little bit of Nintendo info that squeezes out into the Internets. But, when you see something that’s already been stated months before — and a few times we might add — it’s pretty safe to say that we already knew the Wii wouldn’t exceed $250.
Phew. Another case solved by Captain Obvious. Thanks Cap.
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Pac-Man Now On XBLA
Inky, Binky, Pinky and Clyde ectoplasmically slid their way onto Xbox Live today. Pac-Man is now available for download on Marketplace. It’ll set you back 400 points and is available in all Xbox Live Regions.
Scrutinize Halo director’s CV (with videos) [update 1]
Filed under: Culture
We came up with his Wikipedia entry (already updated with the Halo info, natch), his IMDb entry, his music video videography, a Canadian effects company he works with, the production company he works for, and all manner of links in between. In so doing, we’ve assembled a pretty exhaustive selection of all videos available online that Mr. Blomkamp has created over the past couple years, including some short films, commercials, and music videos.
Notice any similarities? Yeah, the guy digs technology in a serious way: transforming Citroëns, third-world robocop androids, robotic crabs, and alien bodysuits packing some killer gravity-gun technology. We’re all ready imagining Spartans and Covenant Elites duking it out in the sun-bleached streets of New Mombasa.
[Update: Added in Tempbot. Thanks for the link Youri Zoutman. Anyone else have any or know of any videos by Neill Blomkamp that we didn't post?]
Alive in Joburg
Tempbot
Yellow - Adidas ad
Alive With Technology - Citroën ad
Tetra Vaal
Evolution of Nike Air
Nike robot crabs
Gatorade Basketball commercial
Gatorade Volleyball commercial
Fluffy Star - Perfect
LiveonRelease - “Let’s Go”
Bif Naked - “Tango Shoes”
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Top 50 Handheld Games
As they did for the Top 100 Greatest Games of the 21st Century, Next Generation has taken all portable games ever and ranked them numerically according to revenue and profit.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the list is largely comprised of extremely shitty movie tie-in games like Shrek. Which explains why anyone would make them anyway.
Coming in at Number One is Pokemon Ruby, although that’s slightly disingenuous, as they basically had to throw out all the Mario games to stop them from taking the top twenty spots.
Top 50 Handheld Games [Next Generation]
CliffyB’s Brother Scores Interview With CliffyB!
Fan site Gearheads of War landed an exclusive chat with Gears of War fearless leader CliffyB. The site is run by *surprise* CliffyB’s brother, Tyler Bleszinski, and the interview was liaised no doubt by their mother, Mrs. B.
TylerB: When exactly did you realize that you wanted to do game design for the rest of your life?
CliffyB: What, you don’t remember it? It was over on Russet Lane in North Andover - we were over the Melvin’s house and they had acquired an Atari 2600 and we were jumping up in down in front of the screen doing jumping jacks because that’s what it looked like the top row of aliens were doing.
Yeah, that was pretty much the moment.
TylerB: I suppose you don’t remember you and I working our way through Contra together, do you?
CliffyB: Yeah, but you needed the code for 30 lives because you sucked at shooters. Still do; letting our 16 year old nephew kick your ass at splitscreen Halo. Dude. Seriously.
The post-interview was spent trading wedgies, giving noogies and calling each other “butthead.” Ah, brotherly love.
More Here [Gearheads of War] K1lla’s Xbox Domain Thanks, Mike!
This Day in Gaming, August 9th
2004 & 2005: Madden NFL 2005 and Madden NFL 2006 are released for every console imaginable by man, respectively. There is no doubt that from a technical standpoint these games are amazing - it’s the kind of polish a developer can only achieve from the literal sweat of good old EA slave labor. But for what? Is the gameplay improvement really worth the amount of effort that’s put into the Madden series each year? Here’s TDIG’s 5 easy steps to really revitalize the franchise.
1. Build teams only from mascots. Their stats are based solely upon the cool factor of their costumes.
2. Include DVD commentary by Oliver Stone.
3. Ditch Madden’s play-by-play. Mic the players cursing at each other instead.
4. Put some clothes on those cheerleaders already! Oh the sin.
5. Enable the player to strike until EA pays them that sweet 10 million.
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
