Archive for August, 2006
Left Behind demo now available
Filed under: Culture, PC, Action, Adventure
A demo version for Left Behind: Eternal Forces is now available for download. We aren’t sure how to comment without offending someone, so download and decide for yourself. We should have our own impressions of the demo up within the next day or two.
See Also:
The Daily Show Get Left Behind
[via Blue's News]
Read - Left Behind: Eternal Forces on Wikipedia
Download - Left Behind: Eternal Forces demo (via AOL Games)
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Fox Promises 8 Blu-Ray Titles for PS3 Launch
From the ‘Don’t Say I Never Said Anything Good About Blu-Ray’ Department, this news from Fox: over 8 50GB Blu-Ray Releases will be available at the Sony’s PS3 launch.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment President Worldwide Mike Dunn announced today the Studio’s first wave of highly-anticipated motion pictures to debut on Blu-ray Disc (BD), which is the only high-definition packaged media platform broadly supported by the film, music, gaming, computing and consumer electronics industries. Representing more than $2 billion in box office and 90 million DVD units sold worldwide, the studio’s first eight BD releases are right on target with the BD early adopter and Playstation 3 purchaser. Taking full advantage of the next generation format’s high definition technology and advanced Java-based functionality, titles will be presented with the highest quality audiovisual elements including AVC (MPEG4 Compression) and HD “Lossless” Audio (select tracks) and many have unique interactive special features.
Fox’s stellar, action-packed line-up of initial BD releases includes: BEHIND ENEMY LINES, FANTASTIC FOUR, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director’s Cut), KISS OF THE DRAGON, THE OMEN (666), THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, SPEED and THE TRANSPORTER. This first wave of BD titles will arrive at retail outlets worldwide in November. Japan launches November 10 and product hits North American (SRP US$39.98/CAN$49.98), Australian and European stores on November 14
Gee, only 40 bucks each for such timeless classics as Transporter and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Sign me up! Thought I have to admit Kiss of the Dragon is a guilty favorite of mine.
Fox announces first Blu-ray releases: 8 titles, BD-J, MPEG-4 AVC, 50GB [HD News]
Ubisoft shares Dark Messiah of M&M with Steam
Filed under: Mac, PC, First Person Shooters, RPGs
Valve has been busy piling up games with hearts of gold in their increasingly popular, and increasingly cramped, Steam bordello. With the recent additions of Introversion’s DEFCON and seventeen members of the burgeoning PopCap clan, Steam is really (steaming up/under pressure/on fire). Sure, a little service called Xbox Live ain’t doing so poorly, but they’re not delivering highly anticipated AAA retail titles yet, so there.
Today, Valve announced a deal with Ubisoft to distribute their Source-based, first-person RPG, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic over Steam. More importantly, the release will be simultaneous with the retail release this October. Unlike Half-Life 2, which is distributed digitally over Steam and in stores by EA, Valve does not own this property, they’re just the messengers. Ubisoft is acknowledging the demand for digitally distributed AAA content and using the largest platform they can find to promote it. We’re still waiting on governement-distributed protein pills and personal submarines, but the third pillar of our future vision is now realized.
Check out a video of Dark Messiah, and today’s press release, after the break.
Ubisoft’s Highly Anticipated Action Role Playing Game Heading to Online Platform
Leipzig, Germany - August 31, 2006 - Today Valve(R), creators of the Steam broadband gaming platform, announced that it has partnered with Ubisoft to bring the highly anticipated action role playing title Dark Messiah of Might & Magic to the Steam online distribution service when the product is launched worldwide in October 2006.
“I am a long-time fan of the Might & Magic franchise,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “Valve is delighted to have Dark Messiah of Might & Magic on Steam’s growing list of new releases for the holiday season. But, more importantly, I just can’t wait to play it.”
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is an action-RPG created by Arkane Studios and powered by an enhanced version of the Source Engine, the award-winning game technology created by Valve for Half-Life 2 and its next generation games. The single-player mode is developed by Arkane Studios and the multiplayer mode is by Kuju Entertainment. Named the most anticipated RPG of the year by leading publications around the world, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic challenges players to ferocious single-player and multiplayer combat set in the Might & Magic universe, one of the gaming industry’s most successfully and longest-running fantasy game franchises.
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic will be made available for the PC via Steam and at retail outlets around the world for an estimated price of $50 later this year.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Harper’s Tackles Literacy and Gaming (Not In That Order Necessarily)
Harper’s Magazine, where all the learned kids go for their gaming news, just published a piece on literacy in the video game age. It’s a roundtable discussion with Jane Avrich, Steven Johnson , Raph Koster and Thomas de Zengotita. All smarty pants, no doubt. What did they talk about? Oh, Typing of the Dead and other stuff. They discuss game plot, which moves from “Can games teach narrative?” to “game plots are so crappy” and climaxes with “games don’t even have good characters.” Johnson adds:
We see [games] as being driven by their narratives. In fact…the narratives tend to be a vestigial part of games that has been carried over from earlier forms. When people play games, they aren’t playing them for the story. They aren’t playing them for a narrative arc of any kind.
So, we’re just playing them to shoot shit up? Anyway, the article is interesting and worth a read. And as Kotakuite Flink points out: If you buy the issue, you get a bit of chat-log transcript from one of the Columbine killers! Value added!
More Here [Harpers Magazine] Thanks, Flink!
The Paxlopedia: Kotaku’s Coverage of PAX06
In case you missed one of the 40-something posts I wrote about Penny Arcade’s expo here’s the list. I still have one more story to put up, my chat with Gabe and Tycho. I just need to get around to transcribing it.
Fighter was Inspiration for Table Tennis
Live Anywhere Mobile Pics
Star Fox Command: Not Bad, Not Bad at All
Omegathon Winner Interview
Fruit Fucker Case Mod Interview
Warhammer Online Gameplay Video
Major Nelson’s PAX Podcast
Clips: More Splinter Cell Double Agent Gameplay Vids
PAX: So Long and Thanks for All the Bean Bags
Dark Messiah Impressions
Clips: Dark Messiah Gameplay
PAX06 Has Ended
J-Candy Invades PAX
Liveblogging the Panel I’m On
The Juicy Fruit Fucker Case Mod
Clips: The Minibosses Vs. MC Frontalot on GH2
PAX Giant Strips
The Microsoft Blogger Crew at PAX
Kick Ass Table Tennis 360 Case Mod
Clips: Jerry Holkins Takes on Robert Khoo on Guitar Hero II
PAX: The Minibosses
PAX: MC Frontalot
Omegathon Round 4: The Guitar Hero II Round
Clips: Behold the Mighty PAX Hot Dog Fairy
The Official PAX Strip
Liveblogging the Pax Comic Panel
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Demo
Pax06: Splinter Cell Double Agent Multiplayer
PAX Exhibit Hall Gallery
The Lone PSP
Bawls Rockin PAX
Clips: PAX Gamers Play with their Balls
Ken <3s Ryu
Piratical Oddities at PAX
Liveblogging the Gabe/Tycho Talk
Penny Arcade $10K Scholarship
Penny Arcade Game Art Revealed
Liveblogging the PAX Keynote
And the PAX, It Did Open
Penny Arcade Video Game Announced
PAX Here I Come
Craigslist poster has unreleased Mini Racers, offering free N64 rom for services [update1]
Filed under: Culture, Mac, Retro, Driving, Online
A Craigslist poster out of Marlborough, MA is offering a “Free Never Released N64 Game,” allegedly developed by Nintendo. The owner is interested in preserving the contents of the game by creating a rom backup.
Anyone with the equipment to do so is free to contact the poster, presumably head over to the location in Marlborough, do the good deed, and in return, receive a copy of the rom. We have contacted the poster for more details and are awaiting a response. In the meantime, if you’re in the area, mind doing a little investigation of your own? (If you do, please use wise judgment.)
UPDATE: While the Craigslist post has since been removed, the poster has confirmed with us that the game is Mini Racers, developed by Looking Glass, which is now defunct. Nintendo planned to publish the promising RC Pro-Am-like racer, but when Looking Glass went under, the game was cancelled. Interestingly enough, as IGN reported back on May 31, 2000, “the game [was] completed, approved and turned over to Nintendo.” Also worth noting, Looking Glass was headquartered in Cambridge, MA, just 30 or so miles from Marlborough, where the poster is located. Coincidence?
[Thanks, evilmax17]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Mario: Back to the Start
I almost never say this, but air quotes, then “LOL.”
Created by Jack Bliss, he had this to say about the video, “This is my very first sprite movie starring the characters from Super Mario World featuring the music by Coldplay.
This is a movie that speaks against racism, discrimination, and war, made in a way I hope that people of all age groups and Mario fans can understand, treasure, and pass it [sic] on…I really enjoyed this game as a child and I hope I can share some of its magic with you in a meaningful way.”
In the animation, Mario remembers that, many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea (Yoshi’s Island), he had a childhood affair with an anthropomorphic evil mushroom. Mario realizes the evil of his xenophobic ways. Then he starts running through a counterclock world, retracing his steps, trying to unite the races of the Mushroom Kingdom,
You got to love any Mario movie that ends with this impassioned plea for tolerance:
Unfortunately, unlike the Mario World, we don’t GET second chances… The damages left by the likes of Adolf Hitler by war and Osama by terrorism are forever… Racism hatred and discrimination were the prime fuels to provoke and unite their Armies of death and mass destruction.
A single tear of profound compassion and understanding trickles down my cheek.
Mario: Back to the Start (via Video Games Blogger)
PSP GPS and camera priced and dated (in Japan)
Filed under: Sony PSP, Peripherals
Both were originally announced back in March during the Sony press conference that was supposed to finally set the PS3 launch date record straight. While the official website declared “Spring 2007,” Sony ultimately conceded the system would not be ready until this November. They did, however, announce the camera and GPS peripherals would see a September release and, it turns out, they were pretty close.
Check out some pics of the peripherals and their carrying cases after the break.
See also:
SCEA: PSP price drop to $199 on March 22nd
Shots of Sony’s PSP accessories: EyeToy, GPS, PSone support
[Via Engadget]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
New York Says Hello To Huge PSP Sign (Again)
Last week, the enormous PSP near Houston Street in New York City was taken down, and we were all sad pandas. Cheer up! Reader Anthony sends happiness:
Went out for lunch again today and, lo and behold, it’s going back up. Not even a different color!
And I had my heart set on a giant pink PSP. Rats.
Fighter was Inspiration for Table Tennis
I spent a bit of timing hanging out with Rockstar’s San Diego studio folks at PAX. They are they team responsible for Table Tennis and were hosting the Table Tennis tournament at the show.
It was interesting to listen to them analyze the gameplay. One of the guys said he fingered the winner of the tournament on the first day of play by his style.
He was standing just the right distance from the table, he said. Also he could play with any of the characters and adapted to new styles of play quickly.
Another guy was telling me that when they were creating the game they didn’t really have any other games to look at, so they decided to use fighting titles as the model. I knew it. I knew there was something familiar about the back and forth, the subtle tactics of the game.
I, once more, asked the team to introduce fatalities to the game. I’m not sure if I should take their belly laughs as a yes or a no.
I shot some pictures of the modded Xbox 360 in action (One of the guys told me that the mod cost $3,500. Holy crap!). The ping-pong ball lights up during play, which is a cool little touch.
The winner also took home a copy of the game with some of the team’s signatures on it. The runner-up won a framed poster for the game with all of the development team’s signatures on it.
Rayman not Wii-exclusive, what’s Ubisoft up to?
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360
Does this, alongside the confusing non-exclusivity of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, signify the beginning of a new trend in Ubisoft’s publicity? We aren’t sure how talking up one version of a multiplatform game benefits Ubisoft, so who is pushing for these “talk exclusives?” The cynic in us wonders if Sony or Nintendo is paying them to imply exclusivity.
Rayman, with Raving Rabbids in tow, will be hitting most current- and next-gen consoles by the end of the year. Assassin’s Creed is now confirmed for both PC and PS3; given the similarities in architecture between Windows and Xbox 360, a version for Microsoft’s console in more than likely to come out, too.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
A Roundup of Second Life Whorehouses
There’s a few reasons I hate Second Life. One: it’s the only possible subject that could give Wagner “The” James “Grid” Au validity as a journalist. Two: pieces like this, “The Best Little Whorehouses in Second Life.”
Think badly written softcore porn, only in which the buxom babes being seduced are fat, middle-aged gay men pretending to be women. And they’re not being seduced; they’re being paid.
Here’s a sneak peak:
Fantasy Escorts breaks me in gently, with it’s country club atmosphere, and familiar girls. One of the regulars, Lyndsay, was - long ago now - my very first intro to the world of party-on-demand , and so I return. My luck’s in, because Lyndsay is here, in scarlet mini, ripe and ready to pluck. I watch for a while as she greases the pole, then I ask her to grant me the same favor.
As we go up to her room, I remember why Lyndsay is my appetizer of choice - sweet, gentle on the tongue, and easy on the stomach. “Tell me what you want, baby” she croons, and I know that whatever I ask for, I will get. Thirty minutes later, I’m drained but exhilarated. It’s begun.
Ugh. It’s like reading Wagner James Au’s Saturday night “Dear Diary” entry. Just kidding, Wag!
The Best Little Whorehouses in Second Life [Yes But No But Yes]
American Xbox 360 Games Fetch $4.27 In Japan
Leave it to CheapyD to find new, sealed and dirt-ass cheap 360 titles. A Japanese game shop is selling Kameo, PGR 3, FIFA: Road to the World Cup, Madden 06, King Kong, Tiger Woods 06, Need for Speed Underground and NBA Live 06 for the bargain basement price of 500 yen (US $4.27) a pop. Cheapy points out:
This is not evidence of the Xbox 360 failing in Japan! These are the North American versions of the games which won’t work on a Japanese 360… That’s got to be the cheapest price anywhere new or used. And I would know.
That’s right. He would. These cheap-ass games are on sale at AsoBitCity in Akihabara in the import games section.
More Here [CAG]
Live Anywhere Mobile Pics
All of the panelists were hanging out in the Green Room before the blogging panel at PAX, when we started comparing sexy phones.
Well, I was mostly bitching about how often my Treo 700W locks-up on me. At least I don’t get the blue screen of death.
So Major Nelson whips out his phone and says, “I bet your phone doesn’t have this.” and proceeds to jog through a bunch of Live Anywhere windows on his svelte phone.
Nice. I tried to take two pictures of it, but, well, I suck at taking pictures. MN couldn’t say when Msoft would be bringing the Live Anywhere to the people.
A Reader Solves The PLAYSTATION Dispute
And one intrepid reader saves me and my all-consuming punctuation pet peeve a bright, shiny bullet:
After your post about Ashcraft’s use of PLAYSTATION instead of Playstation I slowly began to lose my mind. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now I
couldn’t un-notice. PLAYSTATION was every-fucking-where. To solve this
problem, I modified a Greasemonkey script to replace every occurrence of
‘PLAYSTATION’ with ‘Playstation’. I posted it to Userscripts.org:http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/5429
It works great. All is right with the world again. Now I am going to
make a version that will replace Crecente’s posts with ones that don’t
read like they were written by a robot.
I can’t comment on that last one, because Crecente’s my boss, and more importantly, he’s got to okay 1000 euros worth of expenses this afternoon for my trip to Leipzig. But if you manage to write that one, that’s probably a good first step towards aceing the Turing Test.
Here They Are, The PS3 and Wii Demo Stations
Yesterday, we posted a tip from an insider, known as “sirpilf” who provided a detailed description of the PLAYSTATION 3’s demo kiosk. Sirpilf rang the rusty Kotaku mailbox again today with a pic of not just the PS3’s demo, but also the Wii’s. He had this to say:
I would like to apologize for misleading other gamers about the 45 degree angle, because I only got a glance at it before. It is actually sitting so the top is facing the player. But now I am making it up to everyone by including an actual picture of the PS3 kiosk AND the Wii kiosk. Both are listed in the book as late October to early November. And I would not expect any PS3/Wii displays till late September to early October.
No Wii displays until early October sure makes a November Wii release more plausible, huh?
Star Fox Command
Unlock the theme music from StarFox 64.
Assassin’s Creed confirmed for PC, not Xbox 360
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Business
Following a PC Gamer report that Assassin’s Creed is PC bound, Ubisoft has finally confirmed, “Assassin’s Creed PC will indeed see the light some day.” Still, the publisher remains vague about when that day will come and whether or not an Xbox 360 version will also be released.
The news puts an end to the mystery of Assassin’s Creed’s exclusivity, though Sony fanboys can still brag to their counterparts that they’ll be playing first. Take that!
[Thanks, Judd]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Lara’s Blinged 360
Thank god that the big-breasted models we’re paying to wander around in hot pants at fan conventions to give mouth-breathers an outlet for their masturbatory fantasies are at least making a decent living out of it.
At GC06, official Lara Croft model Karima Adebibe was given a jewel-encrusted 360. featuring twenty different flavors of Swarovski crystals glued to the side of the box in vague resemblance of her own face. Valued at $11,000, Adebibe can use a spatula to scrape the gems off the side of the box to pay her rent and stave off a career in porn when she eventually is replaced by Eidos with a hot, buxom 16 year old.
Lara Croft’s Blinged Xbox 360 [Aeropause]
Get Edge in the U.S. cheap(er)
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Retro, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360
Among video game magazines, Britain’s Edge stands head and shoulders above all competitors. The magazine’s intelligent editorial voice, interesting features, and excellent layout/presentation made it well worth tracking down every month at your local bookstore. Subscribing was never really in the cards for us Yanks, though, as the exorbitant international direct subscription price of roughly $118 (62.02 pounds) per year was actually more expensive than the roughly $9/issue they charge on the U.S. newsstands (Amazon is charging an even more ridiculous $153.05 for a year-long subscription).
American fans of good game journalism can rest easy, though, as Edge has now set up a new subscription system especially for the U.S., complete with a lower subscription price of $75 per year. That’s still a bit steep (especially considering mags like EGM practically give their subscriptions away) but at least now there’s a pricing incentive to reserve a year’s worth of issues (getting two years for $135 is an even better deal). All this and subscribers get a free T-shirt! Score!
Read - Edge Magazine Special Offer
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
