Archive for October 1st, 2006
411 On PSP GPS
ITmedia Games has shots, as well as new info, on the upcoming PSP GPS attachment and the software that will take advantage of it. The (pictured) MAPLUS navigation system will ship in December and have GPS mapping and navigation functions tailored for folks walking, biking, or driving and will include points of interest. It appears that mapping information can be updated via the Web and be stored on the Memory Stick. Pricing for the software is currently undecided.
The GPS attachment will also be used for games, including the upcoming golf title Everybody’s Golf Course, a spin off of the Minna no Golf series. Using real world golf courses, the GPS functions can be used during your real life golf game to give you location feedback while on the links.
Metal Gear Portable Ops will also take advantage of the GPS attachment to give you location specific maps. This new gameplay mode will require you to go to specific locations to interact with enemies. This all sounds pretty cool, but I hope it doesn’t require me to actually go outdoors. That’s scary!
More Pics And Info On Camera At ITmedia
New Wii Channels Pics
Yahoo Games UK scored some English language shots of the upcoming Wii channels, including the messaging functions and more snaps of the virtual console in action. Yahoo failed to include one of the shots featuring the notes system in their gallery, but we’ve included it after the jump. Check ‘em out.
Cool stuff. I’m unusually excited about my future Mii creation.
New Wii Virtual Console shots - in English! [Yahoo!]
Picture it: special status for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii console owners
Filed under: Culture, Business
- A: Xbox 360 owners
- B: PS3 owners
- C: Nintendo Wii owners
- D: broke
Previously: The first paradox of gaming; Fanboys fight harder
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Games of the Week: FIFA FIFA FIFA
It’s a good week for the PSP and a good week for soccer fans. Here’s everything that’s new and notable for the first week of October.
FIFA 07 (DS, GBA, GC, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox)
New soccer roster fun comes to every platform but the 360 (for now).
Gangs of London (PSP)
This portable Getaway spinoff features mission based action.
Desperate Housewives: The Game (PC)
A “lifestyle simulation PC game” that hopefully features lots of Eva Longoria.
Star Trek: Encounters (PS2)
Bethesda takes on Star Trek in this multi-generation space combat shoot ‘em up and…
Star Trek: Tactical Assault (PSP)
…this real time strategic combat title set during The Original Series.
NRA Gun Club (PS2)
Finally! A shooting game. Take out targets like clay pigeons and fruit.
Mercury Meltdown (PSP)
The sequel to Mercury gets cel shady.
I’m still working my way through Okami, plus I’m behind on my DS releases, so nothing for me this week. You?
The Joystiq Weekend: September 30 - October 1, 2006
Joystiquery
Picture it: the first paradox of gaming
The prodigal webcomic wrapup returns
TGS ‘best of’ round part two: you asked for it
Metareview - Cooking Mama (DS)
Picture it: fanboys fight harder
News
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade footage leak
Watch Chainsaw, play Gears of War
Ubisoft prez sends some 360 “love”
The “Video Game Decency Act” is on the move
University of Texas: games might slow aging process
Up close and personal with the Wii
Blow up U.S. tanker in Iranian game
PS3’s Kubrickian kiosk
Rumors & Speculation
News from the future: DS outsells Wii this holiday (in Japan)
Full version of Gears of War leaked?
Wii to support single friend code per system?
The PS3’s worst enemy
Rumor: Wiimote retail box unveiled
Culture
Gamer wins Xbox, receives dirty pants
Foot-activated boss button enables gaming at work
GamePro’s magazine for parents circa 1993
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GamePro’s magazine for parents circa 1993
Filed under: Culture
Once upon a time there was a magazine to teach parents what video games are really like called PlayRight, but like a news station that only reports good news, it had the half-life of a housefly. A subscription-only magazine lasting four issues from 1993-1994, PlayRight was created by the editors of GamePro as “the first video game publication written expressly for parents.”
PlayRight’s rise and fall is chronicled in Kevin Gifford’s “Game Mag Weaseling” on GameSetWatch. After the magazine collapsed, a PlayRight column lived on in GamePro magazine until 2004. Gifford assumes due to shrinking page counts at the magazine the column was cut.
Certainly on the surface, PlayRight was a sincere effort by the best video game magazine at the time to create some good PR for the industry. Sadly, good PR doesn’t help if nobody is paying attention to you anymore — that’s when you need marketing, or to be owned lock, stock and barrel by a national video game retail outlet like Game Informer.
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Threadless <3’s LocoRoco
Hipster t-shirt site Threadless has kicked off their “Spread The Joy” contest, soliciting t-shirt designs with a LocoRoco flavor. Using the “Spread The Joy” tagline, contestants are asked to create a design that only incorporates the theme, but not necessarily the words, or apparently, anything LocoRoco related. Am I reading that right? I think I am!
Dust off that downloaded copy of Adobe Illustrator and get designin’! You have thirty days and three chances to win. The grand prize is a hefty one, including two PSP’s, two copies of the game, free tees and $1500 cash. Nice!
Threadless “Spread The Joy” Contest [via Aeropause]
Foot-activated boss button enables gaming at work
Filed under: PC, Portable, Peripherals
Wired’s sex columnist Regina Lynn noticed that the Stealth Switch being sold ($24.99) at ThinkGeek might work well for diddling the workday away without fear of the boss figuring out why she’s so happy all the damned time.
The product enables slackers to shirk their duties in complete safety, thanks to a bevvy of features designed with gamers in mind:
“Quickly install the software and plug the hidden foot switch in (it goes either between the keyboard and your computer, or just into an available USB port) and you are safe. It hides in the shadows and just a light tap of your toes will let it work its magic. Based on your preferences, it can hide the current window, hide all windows, or hide all windows except for specified windows. Not just minimize, mind you, but totally erase from your screen. The Stealth Switch can also mute the sound, hide the taskbar, hide the desktop icons, and password protect the restore function. When the coast is clear, another quick tap and you are ready to frag in peace.”
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This Day in Gaming, October 1st
1998: Take Two releases Space Station Silicon Valley for N64 in the US. It’s a colorful, 3d title that actually let’s you play as a steam-powered hippopotamus (translation: the awesomest thing ever). SPHs are just a taste of how sweet things would have been if not for the dot-com crash.
1998: Edios releases NINJA: Shadow of Darkness for PS in the US. It’s a pretty decent action game in which you play as…dramatic beat…a ninja. Will our kids laugh at us for our societal ninja obsession?
2002: Microsoft releases Sneakers for XBOX in the US. Unfortunately you play as a mouse instead of tech thief Robert Redford caught in a dramatic web of corporate espionage. But you can still get some tail! Zing.
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
Wii-Mote Retail Packaging Revealed? Nope.
That’s a sharp little package! This popped up on Flickr recently, which we came across via the good folks at NeoGAF. Consider this unconfirmed, but very, very likely as the final retail look for Wii accessories. I suspect that the final version will include an extra layer of plastic, either in the form of shrinkwrapping or a harder plastic shell with a stadard J-hook for proper retail display.
Update: Sassy Chris Kohler commented and reader Amer wrote in to clarify: “That’s not actually the retail packaging. It’s of a non-functioning model that was handed out at the recent Nintendo events. I took that shot while in Tokyo recently — the link of the original image as it appears on my Flickr account.”
Wii-Mote Retail Packaging Revealed?
That’s a sharp little package! This popped up on Flickr recently, which we came across via the good folks at NeoGAF. Consider this unconfirmed, but very, very likely as the final retail look for Wii accessories. I suspect that the final version will include an extra layer of plastic, either in the form of shrinkwrapping or a harder plastic shell with a stadard J-hook for proper retail display.
Counter-Strike: State Funded Terrorist Training Tool
Reuters is reporting that an Iranian group, using state-sponsored development, has modded the fan favorite team based FPS Counter-Strike to allow players to virtually train for demolition runs against oil tankers. From the report:
The game, “Counter Strike”, invites players to plant two bombs on the oil tanker to sink it and make the strait of Hormuz impassable, the Jomhouri-ye Eslami daily reported. About two-fifths of globally traded oil passes through the channel.
The Reuters report, most likely written by someone concerned more with world events than playing CS with 15 teenage boys, doesn’t seem to have a good grasp on how the game is structured. They imply that the game is less of a mod or custom map than a built from the ground up title. Anyone who has spent time with Counter-Strike knows that bomb planting is one of the core game types.
Thanks for the heads up, Ross.
Iranian video game offers chance to blow up U.S. tanker [Reuters]
Monolithic PS3 Kiosk Lands In Kawasaki
At the newly opened Bic Camera in Kawasaki, Japan, this beastly PlayStation 3 display unit has been installed. This monster looks bigger than many Tokyo apartments we’ve visited.
Armed with four very nice Sony Bravia hi-def displays, the unit has no playable software, but is instead looping trailers similar to the Akihabara-based display unit we covered last week which is currently running video of Afrika, Everybody’s Golf 5, Genji, WarHawk and Eye of Judgment.
No word on whether any Bic Camera employees were crushed during the kiosks landing.
Dead Rising DOA At Retail In Japan?
The fellas at Game Science are reporting that the newly-released-in-Japan schlock horror adventure Dead Rising is going to have an uphill battle at retail, mostly due to its restrictive Z-rating. The Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (aka CERO) has given the title the North American equivalent of an “adults only” rating, meaning that retailers must verify that the buyer is 18 years or older.
Their observations from the bustling shopping area Shibuya are as follows:
Bic Camera: No cases on display. No advertising in store. Willing buyers must take a small, non-descript card to the cashier to purchase. Game not present in Z-rated section.
Sakuraya: Poster on display on game floor, but 75% concealed by a Pokemon display. Game boxes on display in small Z-rated section at the back of the floor.
Tsutaya: No cases or advertising at all. It didn’t appear the game was on sale, in fact. The game was not even present in the Z-rated section.
It’s a small sample set, sure, but other Japanese based gamers have chimed in with their own observations, following Game Science’s report.
Some have said they’ve seen the game on outdoor display kiosks, while others back up the Game Science observations, indicating that the game is mysteriously absent from “new releases” sections in game shops. At some shops, no indication is given that the game has been released at all, requiring that interested parties must take a ticket to the clerk, who will pull the game from behind the counter. It’s like buying porn, but without the naked fun.
The Japanese release actually features a heavily censored version of the game, with excessive gore like decapitations and the dismemberment of your former fellow humans removed altogether.
As Dead Rising is the first retail release to recieve a Z-rating from the get-go—other games have been re-rated as Z-titles after the ratings system changed—it will be interesting to see how this crippling rating affects game sales. Obviously, this is not happy news for either Capcom or Microsoft. Despite one of our Japanese buddies telling us that “Dead Rising will not attract Japanese gamers”, it is still one of Microsoft’s flagship releases and it’s a shame the game might not reach a wider audience.
Will developers and publishers further nerf their in-development titles? Will we see this sort of legislation here, leading to publisher pre-censorship to avoid offending the irresponsible and holier-than-thou types? Keep your eyes on this one, kids.
Z-rating impact on retail [Game Science]
PS3’s Kubrickian kiosk
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3
No doubt: that’s the tallest in-store kiosk we’ve ever seen.
Nikkei Business Publications snapped the shot showing a PS3 kiosk in a Japanese retail environment. We’re not sure where Joystiq’s readers in Japan can go to experience this obelisk first-hand, but the following caption might provide a clue:
Original: “ゲームコーナーにはプレステ3のデモ展示も。実際に遊ぶことはできないが、精細なデモ画面を体験できる.”
Babel Fish translation: “In game corner demonstration exhibition of PlayStation 3. Actually it cannot play, but you can experience the fine demonstration picture.”
[Via PS3 Fanboy.com]
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Rumor: Wiimote retail box unveiled [update 1]
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii
Well it looks like the Wiimote retail box has been unveiled by who knows how on Flickr via a NeoGAF forum post. Another homey in the same thread seems to back up the Flickr image with another shot of the retail package (pictured lower left). We realize it’s just an accessory box but are trying to stay consistent with every single unveiling of such an elusive console. If a single Wii is dropped from a shipping pallet come November, rest assured we’ll cover it here.
[Thanks, Kurt]
[Update 1: Added speculative headline after being quick to suggest the above as being final Wiimote retail boxes. As both commenters and forum members point out, the above images are of promo Wiimotes given out at the Wii press event in Japan, therefore, Nintendo is likely and could easily change consumer retail versions.]
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The PS3’s worst enemy
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360
Brand new blog “The Software Pirate” suggests that the PlayStation 3’s worst enemy might be the PlayStation 2.
Why? The PlayStation 2’s got everything the PlayStation 3 hasn’t, including:
- A bunch of great new titles, including God of War 2 and Okami
- Plentiful supply
- Low prices
- Proven technology
Lucky for The Software Pirate’s bloggers, their posts don’t accept reader comments. Beware the wrath of the SDF.
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Wii to support single friend code per system?
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii
N-Europe is reporting that Nintendo of Europe has confirmed the use of console specific friend codes for Wii rather than the inconvenient game specific friend code system used by the DS for online play. While good news if true, we’re a bit perplexed by the site’s sourced Nintendo page that makes no mention of a one friend code per console. UK-based Wifi Gamers points to the following Nintendo of Europe page that suggest the use of a single console account ID without making a direct correlation to online play.
We’re betting Nintendo knows their single game code system for DS compromises usability and expect it be remedied for Wii (one can hope, right?), but take this one as rumor until we hear it from the horse’s mouth.
[Thanks to all that sent this in]
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Picture it: fanboys fight harder
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Business
- IDF: Iraqi Defense Force
- ADF: Apple Defense Force
- NDF: Nintendo Defense Force
Previously: The first paradox of gaming
(And yes, totally inspired by Indexed.)
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Metareview - Cooking Mama (DS)
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Metareviews
We lost track of Cooking Mama, assuming it would never wash up on shores outside of Japan. We were surprised when it popped up in a recent release list and picked up a copy right away. This quirky cooking simulator features Japanese-heavy dishes, with a lot of deep-frying and uncommon oceanic ingredients. Reviewers have been giving it points for originality, but docking it for longevity:
- Yahoo! Games (70/100) - “So while there isn’t all that much on the menu, the fast-paced and simple gameplay can’t fail to raise a smile, at least for the first few plays. Most will set it aside after that, but it’s priced at a decidedly value-conscious $20 — less than the cost of a good steak.”
- GameSpot (69/100) - “You might glean a bit of info on what goes into some of these dishes, but this isn’t a virtual cookbook. There are no precise recipes to be accessed anywhere in the game. There’s also no multiplayer component of any kind, though the advertised four-player wireless icon on the back of the box might lead you to believe otherwise.”
- IGN (70/100) - “The big question: is any of this fun? Though the entirety of this game is simply doing what you’re told as quickly as possible, it’s actually an amusing game if you’re not expecting much out of it.”
Give Cooking Mama a shot, especially if interested in the culture of Japanese food. We don’t think it would hold up without the menu of shumai wontons, octopus dumplings, and other unique treats.
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