Archive for September 4th, 2006
The Joystiq (Labor Day) Weekend
Joystiquery
Zombies, Aliens, or Nazis? Designing the perfect game enemy.
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: August 27 - September 2, 2006
Game designers stuck being “Romantic”
Joystiq interviews Penny Arcade’s Gabe and Tycho
Happy Labor Day!
Joystiq hands-on: Xbox Live Vision camera (or: IT BEGINS!)
In defense of Sony’s HDMI.O.U.
Celebrate PSP Fanboy’s 1,000th post, win WTF
News
A confirmed Guitar Hero 2 song lineup
High-end PS3 shipping without HDMI cable
Games shipping this week
IGN’s quality Wii footage at Leipzig
Rumors & Speculation
Will we see a DS MP3 player this October?
Culture
Dead Rising secrets to quench that zombie thirst
The coolest video you’ll see this year
Top 10 games of 1988
Gamer culture: Can I get an adaptor, please?
Target 360: Clever marketing or sign of the apocalypse?
Blog debate: PS3 to load games slower than the Xbox 360
The old-school gamer’s Monopoly board
G4’s Kevin P. gets in touch with his feminine side
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G4’s Kevin P. gets in touch with his feminine side
Filed under: Culture, Simulations, Fashion
We saw this picture and just felt compelled to share it with you, the gaming public. Apparently snagged from a recent photo shoot for a new magazine coming out called Geek Weekly, we see our favorite tech variety show host Kevin Pereira in a rather sexually confusing pose with fellow gaming hottie Jessica Chobot from IGN.
It’s always good to see others in the game industry not take themselves too seriously and be willing to have a little fun in the name of all that is geek. You may catch some heat for that picture Kevin, but we got ya back.
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The old-school gamer’s Monopoly board
Filed under: Culture, Retro, Strategy, Competitive Gaming, Fashion
It seems one classic video game enthusiast has taken his free time and focused his efforts to creating the ultimate Monopoly for the nostalgic gamer. The complete makeover of the entire board is there with games such as Doom and Pong taking their respective places in substitution for the classic city streets. The creator has also transformed the cards, pieces and money that come along with the game.
It’s a mighty fine effort and we applaud the dedication needed to make something like this happen. The only things that seem to be lacking in terms of quality to us are the cheapo looking player pieces and house and hotel pieces. Also, spelling “joystick” without a “q” is just plain wrong. Otherwise, bravo.
But we’ve got to know one thing from Joystiq Nation: Anyone got any beef with the importance of some of the games on the board compared to their price?
[Thanks, Stephen Q. Burwell]
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The Mario McDonalds Ad
Even though the quality of the commercial, and video for that matter, suggests that this analog disaster is a relic of the late 1980’s, this ad is airing right now in North America. Shocking! There’s something about a “Super Mario Challenge” and men in blue body suits. I’m, uh, lovin’ it.
Thanks, Stevo
The Mario McDonalds Ad
Even though the quality of the commercial, and video for that matter, suggests that this analog disaster is a relic of the late 1980’s, this ad is airing right now in North America. Shocking! There’s something about a “Super Mario Challenge” and men in blue body suits. I’m, uh, lovin’ it.
Thanks, Stevo
This Day in Gaming, September 4th
2001: Electronic Arts releases Delta Force 2 [Classics] for PC in the US. Sure, they released this game before, but it didn’t have the [Classics] tag on the end. So in 50 or 60 years, will old gamers hang out in parking lots, showing off the boxes to their old classics? Will we then cruise the strip, Delta Force 2 in hand?
2005: A gamer boy marries his not-so-gamer girlfriend. She supports his habit, offering a PSP as a wedding gift and accepting his Lumines obsession during their honeymoon. But within a year, she spends almost as much money on DS games as she does shoes (which is mountains and mountains of cash). She beats his high score in Lumines, and moves on to Tetris and Meteos, and all her favorite Mario games growing up. He stands in awe, looking at the beautiful monster he’s created. Happy anniversary Elizabeth.
2006: Kotaku readers everywhere stop reading TDIG because of lame sentimentalism (and rightfully so) .
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
IGN’s quality Wii footage at Leipzig
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Simulations, Video, Competitive Gaming, Business
Up until now, most content related to the Wii has consisted of either shaky cam gameplay footage, trailers or photos put up on various game sites only to be pulled down seconds later. Finally, we get a bit of a reprieve as IGN dishes out an improved quality and in-depth look at the Wii at this year’s Leipzig convention in Germany.
While we’re sure most of you have been pining for a Wii since it was first announced, videos like this could edge people closer to making the ultimate decision of adding the console to their already crowded game room. Does this latest look at the Wii sway you in any particular direction?
By the way, try to ignore IGN’s annoying load times, ads, and smarmy five o’ clock shadowed host. The video is worth the hassle.
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Celebrate PSP Fanboy’s 1,000th post, win WTF
Our favorite so far: ZENegade’s “WTF = Win The For!” … or Silver R. Wolfe’s “Warioware turns fun!” which, though blasphemous and heretical, is appropriately fanboyish. How about Western Truck Fab? No? Well, let’s see you do better! Head over to PSP Fanboy and let em hear it, you might win something.
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Blog debate: PS3 to load games slower than the Xbox 360
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360
From the “PS3 can’t get a publicity break” file comes news that the system’s Blu-ray load times will be slower than the DVD speeds of the Xbox 360.
Following our post regarding Resistance: Fall of Man’s beefy 22GBs of data, Microsoft’s Andre Vrignaud (aka Ozymandias) wrote about why storage capacity isn’t as important as drive speed and — wouldn’tcha know it? — Blu-ray has bunches of the former and not so much of the latter.
Former Sony employee Mark DeLoura responded with a long, thoughtful response sticking up for the format that fanboys love to hate, talking textures, audio, and even read speed. Naturally, there’s some guffawing from the other side of the aisle as Ozymandias takes umbrage with some of DeLoura’s claims, notably that textures and other media will take up a sizable chunk of that Blu-ray disc. One area they are in agreement on is that Blu-ray’s read speed isn’t as fast as the Xbox 360’s. Says DeLoura:
“Admittedly, Blu-Ray looks dicey from several non-capacity angles. Blu-Ray movies require a 1.5x Blu-Ray drive, or 54Mbits/second. Sony announced that PS3 uses a 2x BD drive, which is 72Mbits/second or 9MB/second. The Xbox 360 uses a 12x DVD, which should give it about 16MB/second. That is significantly faster for games and will result in shorter load times. And that 12x DVD drive should be a whole lot cheaper. (Note that the PS3 drive will do 8x DVD, and even that is faster than 2x BD.)”
Says Ozymandias in response: “This is pretty much what I’ve been saying regarding drive speeds. A good example of where we’re pretty clearly agreeing.”
So, they’re in agreement. The PS3 will load slower than the Xbox 360, leading one to question whether bragging about 22GB discs is the most prudent course of action. Let’s hope they use the compression technologies touched on in the debate to shrink the data down considerably, even if it obviates a key selling point of the console.
… but wait, it’s not all settled. Be sure to read the comments on Ozymandias’ last post to get a bunch of great feedback, including this gem on the finer differences between CAV and CLV drives (”a BD25 on PS3 fares better than a DVD9 on the 360″), or Kim Pallister’s link back to his own feedback on the fight and the “innovator’s dilemma.”
[Thanks, Hank; via DigitalBattle]
Grist - Will Resistance: FoM justify the PS3 pricetag? [Joystiq]
Point - Drive Speed More Relevant to Games Than Capacity [Ozymandias]
Counterpoint - On PS3 and Blu-Ray [Mark DeLoura]
Counter-counterpoint - Oddly, We’re in Violent Agreement [Ozymandias]
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Target 360: Clever marketing or sign of the apocalypse?
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
A thoughtful Joystiq tipster has sent us what appears to be either an ad snafu or clever marketing ploy by Target for an advertisement of an Xbox 360. In a picture for a $399 Xbox 360, the pictured console seems to be suffering from the dreaded red ring of death.
Now, considering Target (or Targét as the hipster nation calls it) is known for their red rings logo, it could just be a subliminal promotional gimmick. Even if it’s not, we find it mildly amusing that the glitch that seems to be plaguing a certain percentage of 360 users would find its way into an advertisement for the console. Intentional or not, it’s probably not a good idea to have it in.
[Thanks, Blue]
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Gamer culture: Can I get an adaptor, please?
Filed under: Culture
If your living room setup looks like the above picture, then you might be considered a “hardcore” gamer by some. But who has the highest number of platforms actively connected to a TV, and what do you use for the connection? Send us a line and picture of your rig using our tips form, and we’ll post the most impressive setup.
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Top 10 games of 1988
GameFAQs has compiled a top 10 list for the best games of 1988. Me thinks Contra should be much higher, maybe even in the second spot, especially if you’re talking about time spent playing a game. How would your list differ?
- Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- Ninja Gaiden (NES)
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES)
- Forgotten Worlds (Arcade)
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge (Arcade)
- Bionic Commando (NES)
- Mega Man II (NES)
- Guardian Legend (NES)
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
- Contra (NES)
[via Digg]
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In defense of Sony’s HDMI.O.U. [update 1]
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Business
When too much snark exists for just one perspective, Joystiq throws in a second opinion, just to confuse the flamers.
Yesterday, we reported that Sony would be shipping its PlayStation 3 sans HDMI cable … so what?
A recent study by NPD suggests that sales of HDTV sets are on the rise, but it has an uphill battle if it expects to overthrow the dominant, standard definition units. The NPD study, released in June, found that 41 percent of all TVs sold in the U.S. were HDTV. A DisplaySearch survey (both featured in this interesting Washington Post piece) discovered that only 63 percent of those planning to buy a TV wanted HDTV sets.
While these numbers indicate an increase in popularity, it does not equate to a majority of the market share, nor to one that needs / wants to experience “true” high-definition gaming. Not all those who purchase HDTVs are planning on buying a PS3, making those affected by this exclusion a minority of a minority, statistically.
In the same article, a study by the Cable & Telecommuncations Association for Marketing revealed that at least 48 percent of HDTV owners who responded were receiving HDTV service. Extrapolating, the studies suggest that only 20 percent of those who recently bought HDTV will be using it to its fullest potential. With composite component cables, gamers can still experience high-definition visuals up to 1080i (although technologically possible, most TVs don’t accept 1080p over component). HDMI cables are really for those looking to make the added “jump” from 1080i to 1080p.
Sony’s own Kaz Hirai, CEO of SCEA, was quoted by Ars Technica as opining that, “to [his] eyes anyway, there’s not a discernible difference between what you g et between HDMI and other forms of high definition.” With such an stance, should we be surprised that the US PS3 package would lack an HDMI cable?
For those of you worried that you will not be able to enjoy Blu-ray movies without the cable have no concerns until 2010 or 2012. Hollywood has agreed to hold off on implementing Image Constraint tokens that would downgrade Blu-ray quality to 960×540, or 540p, for those not using HDMI cables (for reference, the typical NTSC DVD resolution is 720×480) — for another four to six years. Therefore, the HDMI cable would not even be necessary until then — that’s plenty of time for the price of the cable to diminish. For those who are impatient, a quick search on Froogle can net you an HDMI to HDMI cable for under $10. As the PS3 is using a standard HDMI port (as opposed to the proprietary AV ports found in almost every game console before it), any cable should suffice.
At $600, we expect Sony to provide a system that can do everything out of the box, but an HDMI cable is unnecessary to the vast majority of PS3 gamers (other than for bragging rights). Historically, no game system has launched with the highest end cables — PS2 didn’t come with S-video, Xbox didn’t come with component, 360 didn’t come with VGA. Why, then, should we expect the PlayStation 3 to be any different?
[update 1: fixed a giant error in composite / component in the 1st paragraph after the break. Also, clarified that although 1080p is theoretically possible with component cables, it's not often you find a TV that lets you run 1080p over component.]
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Joystiq hands-on: Xbox Live Vision camera (or: IT BEGINS!)
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Peripherals
A small, plain box arrived unexpectedly from Redmond over the weekend containing nothing more than the diminutive Xbox Live Vision camera floating in a sea of amniotic packing paper. No retail box here, just the tiny little camera and its accompanying PR fact sheet (”Microsoft Corp.’s line of Xbox 360[TM] Authentic Products continues to grow while …”). The sheet does detail the two bundles that will be released on September 19th, clipped after the break.
We hurriedly grabbed some snaps before hooking up the Vision to the ol’ 360 and taking it for a spin around the UNO block … where IT happened. We’ve grown (abnormally) accustomed to the sort of blue language one finds while playing outside of the confines of your Xbox Live friends list — this is of course, entirely different than the blue language you enjoy while playing with your friends, but we digress — but it wasn’t ten minutes before we had our first PG-13 exposure. Read on for the entire, sordid tale (with NSFW pictures!).
The camera can be tilted forwards and backwards and spin a little to the left and right. Of course, this makes it look like a head, giving it an anthropomorphism that immediately endears it to me. This thing totally has to be in the Xbox 360’s Transformers cameo.
The 360 Autobot with head attached. Tell me it doesn’t look sentient.
It automagically drops in a ghostly video background as soon as you boot it up. No drivers, restarts, or IRQ settings (do they still have those?).
The “Auto (Default)” settings worked best in my office. Most importantly, you have to focus the camera (unless you’re going for that Hollywood starlet soft focus look).
UNO, the only Vision-aware title on my box, knows all about the Vision camera. Just so you know that it knows, its got a little camera icon up there.
Note CheapyD’s custom-made Robocop gamerpic. His advice to aspiring gamerpic creators: “Get ready to setup a fucking camera studio to get the lighting just right.”
Hit up the settings …
… line up your face …
… and crop to fit. Of course, if you’re feeling frumpy, feel free to leave it zoomed out and unfocused. For the purposes of this experiment, we’ll force all of Xbox Live to look at my ugly mug in “Zoom Factor: 2X.”
It’s only my second round of UNO, and I randomly get paired up with another Vision camera user. Weird, considering it won’t be out for another couple weeks. Turns out our camera-enabled friend picked it up on eBay where, no doubt, some unscrupulous Toys ‘R’ Us employees are making a killing on every pubescent gamer’s desire to share the better parts of their reproductive and/or endocrine and/or digestive systems with their peers.
Custom gamerpics are only visible to your friends. Would video only show up if said gamer was on your friends list? Apparently not. Of course, things went smoothly for some time before IT happened. Of course, IT has been prophesied. I was even prepared for IT, just not within my first 10 minutes of playing with the camera … two weeks before this thing is even supposed to be out. Now, using our anecdotal evidence, if we were to extrapolate the likeliness of this occurence happening once the entire Xbox Live userbase has equal access to the Vision camera, we’d pin the possibility at well over 100%. Like, 142% to be exact.
That was actually his mouth talking, not his, uh …
I just so happened to have a camera. Smile!
Perhaps a glorified chatroom camera isn’t the best fit for the Xbox Live audience. The novelty of video chats isn’t lost on us, but we’re more excited for some of the camera’s advanced features like gesture control and facial rendering. We’ll be picking up TotemBall on September 19th when the camera hits retail to tinker with the former and World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions to tinker with the latter.
Xbox Live Vision (going for $40)
- Xbox Live Vision camera
- One-month trial Xbox Live Gold membership
- Xbox 360 headset
- Includes free downloads of two full-version Xbox Live Arcade games including the popular UNO card game ($5) and TotemBall, the new 3D platform game from Freeverse and Strange Flavour that is a mixture of platform skills and puzzles
12 Month Xbox Live Vision Gold Pack ($80)
- Xbox Live Vision camera
- Twelve-month trial Xbox Live Gold membership ($60)
- Xbox 360 headset
- Includes free downloads of three full-version Xbox Live Arcade games including the popular UNO card game ($5), Robotron: 2084, the classic coin-op shooter from Midway ($5), and TotemBall, the new 3D platform game from Freeverse and Strange Flavour that is a mixture of platform skills and puzzles
- 200 Microsoft Points ($2.50)
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Games shipping this week
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure
The much needed and critically acclaimed Loco Roco for the PSP finally hits the States this week. Other than that, there’s nothing that creates an overwhelming urge for late-summer cartwheels. Regardless, here are the titles shipping for the week of September 4, 2006:
- Perimeter: Emperor’s Testament (PC)
- Secret Files: Tunguska, The (PC)
- Backyard Baseball 2007 (PS2)
- Guilty Gear Judgment (PSP)
- Loco Roco (PSP)
- Scramble (Xbox 360)
- Spyhunter: Nowhere To Run (Xbox, PS2)
- Test Drive Unlimited (Xbox 360)
- Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1 (Xbox 360)
- Yakuza (PS2)
- D.I.R.T. Origin Of The Species (PC)
- NASCAR 07 (Xbox, PS2, PSP)
- 3 Great Games for Girls (PC)
- Silent Heroes (PC)
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Happy Labor Day!
Happy Labor Day to all you stateside gamers out there. Things might be a little slow today with our BBQ at Joystiq Headquarters (see above picture of Chris G. priming up some ribs), but we’ll post what we can.
What titles have you enjoyed over the three-day weekend?
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Japanese TV: Sony Employee Buys DS Games, Cos PlayStation Stinks
On a recent episode of Osaka’s outspoken Takajin no Sokomade Itte Iinkai, a panel of guest tackled the topic: “Are Japanese companies nowadays lacking pride in their work?” Japanese Kotaku reader Pokemogu passed along this clip of TV personality and Waseda-educated lawyer Tooru Hashimoto explaining why—that is, for Sony employees. Hashimoto says (and Pokemogu translates):
One of my friends, who graduated in the same class and now works for Sony,
buys only Nintendo DS for his kids because PlayStaion games suck. Well, the DS might be fun but Sony employees just lack pride and responsibilities to their products…
Perhaps he’s talking about the PSP and not the PS2. Regardless, chin up, Sony. Have pride, because we believe in you. (Even if you don’t.)
