Archive for December 6th, 2006
Bob Ross Game Still On, Folks
The dream is alive! Previously, we reported that the Bob Ross game was peril. Happy peril, but peril nonetheless. MTV’s Stephen Totilo brings word that the game is still on. While things didn’t work out with the title’s previous developer, AGFRAG Entertainment Group, Bob Ross Inc. hasn’t thrown in the paintbrush. Says the company’s media director Jane Kowalski:
By hook or by crook there will be a game. There’s no way we couldn’t do a game because everybody wants one badly.
Yes, yes, hooks and crooks, YES!! So, what happened with those AGFRAG Entertainment what’s-its-face?
I think they were sort of overwhelmed and they don’t have the resources and the energy to tend to the huge demand that is needed. We are currently working on digging up the development team that has the swift enthusiasm to carry through.
Damn straight. This is Bob Ross, people. Publishers are swooping Bob Ross Inc. to make the title happen. The company is dead-set on getting it to the Wii and expects to make an update on progress shortly. Bring on those happy little trees.
Bob Ross Game Back On [MTV]
Left Behind Games ordained with Big Huge Games engine
Gamespot has an interview with Left Behind Games’ CEO Troy Lyndon — whose game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, they gave a 3.4 to — about the upcoming sequel to Left Behind and expansion pack for the original game. For the sequel Lyndon says they’ve acquired the rights to use Big Huge Games’ RTS engine. Big Huge Games is the company behind the Rise of Nations titles.
In the interview Lyndon discusses the criticism the Christian based game has received from religious leaders; however, this shift to a completely different game engine is quite dramatic for the company. Left Behind: Eternal Forces cost $27 million and the engine was built from scratch, but he says, “We have specially built our game in such a manner that the technology behind it is separate from what makes it work as an RTS. Accordingly, we can change from one engine to another without a complete rewrite of the code.” With the licensing deal Left Behind’s sequel will have some technical staff from Big Huge Games to assist in development. Let us pray that it’s a better game. The sequel will be out in 2008.
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Xbox 360 vs. PS3 Graphics-Off (Again? Again!)
Gamespot is swatting at the console fanboy nest again, posting a very thorough collection of comparison screenshots of eight multiplatform titles for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Who comes out on top? Sorry, no spoilers from me.
I’m staying out of this one, but I would appreciate some inflammatory comments from both sides. *Looks at Xbox 360 crowd* Are you ready? *Looks at PS3 crowd” Are you ready? Let’s get it on!
Xbox 360 vs. PS3 Graphics Comparison [Gamespot]
Britons Begin Wii Queue
The Wii may not officially launch until December 8th in most of Europe (Spain, for some reason gets it a day later) but that’s not going to stop a few London-based Nintendo fans from lining up now. They’re sitting pretty at the Oxford Street HMV location, hoping to be first in line for their new-gen consoles, reports IGN.
Even if they don’t get the system, four of them got sweet limited edition Wii watches. Man, why can’t I wait in line in the bitter cold for days and nights and get a Nintendo watch? It’s just not fair!
Wii Mania Begins in London [IGN]
Metareview - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Action, Adventure, Metareviews
Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Castlevania has slipped into a familiar formula on Nintendo’s handhelds. As such, Portrait of Ruin doesn’t stray far from its forebears’ blueprints, but it does lose the gimmicky annoyances found in Dawn of Sorrow in favor of an effective, albeit underused team mechanic.
You want refined? Check out Portrait of Ruin.
- Game Informer (90/100) - “Putting two characters in the player’s hands proves to be an ingenious way of expanding on Castlevania’s bread-and-butter action … The exceedingly minor irritation of reused environments is the only negative comment that I have about Portrait of Ruin … this will quickly become one of the most-beloved titles in your DS library.”
- IGN (89/100) - “The amount of times the two characters will need to partner together can be counted on two hands … This two-character idea is a neat new way of presenting the Castlevania experience, but it’s not explored as deeply as it should … Even though the sequel’s doesn’t offer as strong an original design as the initial DS game, it’s still immensely fun with a lot of legs thanks to multiple endings, additional unlockable characters, and a focus on multiplayer”.
- GameSpot (83/100) - “It doesn’t mess too much with the formula, but the changes it implements are good ones … The partner mechanic works well, and it’s remarkably easy and intuitive to control two characters at once … [but you] can finish Portrait of Ruin in four or five hours on your first try”.
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D3’s Earth Defense Forces X Comes Stateside
Well, I’m shocked. After the American arm of the D3 Publishing group poo-pooed releasing games from the Simple 2000 series of titles that put D3 on the map, it seems at least one of the breakout hits from that line, giant bug and robot shooter Earth Defense Forces X, will make its way across the Pacific.
While EDFX may sport sharper graphics and better production values, it still features the same run and gun gameplay that made EDF 2 a cheapass hit on the PlayStation 2.
Fence sitters who doubt D3’s ability to publish anything but T&A-heavy mahjongg games or folks new to the mindless fun that is EDF may want to check out my quick impressions from the Tokyo Game Show. The rest of you celebrate!
Earth Defense Force X US-bound [Gamespot]
TGS06: Earth Defense Forces 3 Hands-On Get! [Kotaku]
Half-Life 2 On A Mac Played With A Wii-mote
Did I just blow your mind?! I’ll take your silence as a “yes” or a “buhbuhbuh…” indicating that you have lost control of nearly all of your mental functions. Via the WiiLi site comes these bastardization hacks utilizing the Wii-mote in a fashion God never intended. If your brain is still partially intact, allow me to deal the killing blow to your noodle with this video of someone playing Need For Speed Most Wanted with a Wii-mote. Huzzah!
Pro-Gaming League Preps For Drug Testing
Concerned about some professional gamers gaining an upper hand in the alertness and reflexes departments, the Cyberathlete Professional League is in the beginning stages of instituting a drug testing program for all elligible players, according to Tom’s Hardware.
Says founder and CPL president Angel Munoz:
The potential for [drugs] being an issue absolutely concerns me. It should concern anybody in eSports, because as the stakes get larger, as in any sport, people will look for an edge.
The league’s primary concerns are stimulants such as crystal meth and even the prescription drug Ritalin, not the performance enhancing drugs common in other sports that require you to stand upright or move your lower torso at some point.
Sadly, this confirms that I’ll never be a professional competitive gamer, as I have a strict “Never Play Sober” policy. Just kidding, mom and dad!
CPL Prepares for Pro Gamer Drug Testing in 2007
Wii Launch Australia: Wii Play Impressions
You’ve had Wii impessions out the wahzoo from earlier launches, so there’s no need for any more. What you haven’t had yet are some Wii Play impressions.
Wii Play isn’t really even that much of a game; it’s more a seies of tutorials on how to use the Wii Remote, and it does its job well enough. It’s a small collection of minigames, with the mechanics of each designed to teach you the various way the Wii Remote can be used to play games.
There’s only a few games on offer, and you have to unlock each in progression. Which, considering how AWFUL some of these games are, gets real tedious, real fast.
This is “the bubbles one”. You have to…fit your Mii…inside the bubbles…to win. That’s it. One of the better ones, though, especially in multiplayer.
COW RACING! And not just cows, embroidered, soft, cuddly cows. The aim is to mow down the scarecrows. No reason is given. No reason is needed. This one’s OK, but again, a lot better in multiplayer.
Air hockey meets Tron. Feels a bit twitchy, but once you get the hang of it it’s pretty cool.
So for example in fishing, you’re learning how to navigate within a 3D space, and in cow racing you’re tilting the Wii Remote sideways ala Excite Truck. As you complete a game and have “mastered” that style of Wii Remote control, you unlock the next game which teaches you something new, etc.
As a tutorial, it’s excellent, and is a good way to settle in and get comfortable with the Wii Remote. But as a game? MEH. The minigames are bare-bones, and get real boring, real quick. There’s just nothing of substance; only a few of the minigames are any FUN (find-a-Mii, hockey, cow racing, bubbles), and the rest range from average (tank battles) to Christ-why-did-they-even-bother (target shooting).
And yet…as malnourished as it is, at least here, it’s really, really cheap. So is it worth getting? Is it worth gloating over, PAL gamers? Or pining for, Americans?
PAL customers: Yes. It’s almost-free with a second Wii Remote, and will help you ease yourself in. It’s also a compensation package for getting the console three weeks late.
North Americans yet to buy a Wii: See above. If you don’t have one yet, and aren’t getting one until after Wii Play sees an American release, it’s a better way to familiarise yourself with the controls than Wii Sports.
North Americans who already have a Wii: don’t bother. Will you still need a glorified tutorial to tell you how to press the “A” button in January, when you’ve probably beaten Zelda by then? Ah…no.
Shadowrun has online party system, further damages Epic’s claim
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, First Person Shooters, Online
Xbox 360 Fanboy has done us the good service of plucking the juicy details out of Major Nelson’s recent blogcast featuring Shadowrun Lead Designer John Howard. What we learn is that the development team is implementing a friend-linking party system for its online Live Anywhere launch title. It’s about time. No studio has attempted this since Bungie debuted its ‘Party System’ in Halo 2 (back in 2004).
Epic would have you believe that the lack of support for party systems is Microsoft’s doing. But with Halo 3 and Shadowrun both confirmed to support this feature, Epic’s excuse isn’t holding up. Our guess is that a Gears of War team-play patch for ranked games (and maybe an apology) is definitely in the works.
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Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection Coming To PS3?
According to reports from NeoGAF, a forum I’m sure to be banned from as soon as I’m outed as a Kotaku employee, Namco is planning to release the arcade version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection for the PlayStation 3. The game is due to be released via the PlayStation Store, and not unlike Gran Turismo HD Concept, the game will essentially be an HD port of its arcade counterpart.
Among the improvements on the arcade original will be the aforementioned resolution upgrade and the addition of one additional character, Jinpachi Mishima, father of Heihachi and current unplayable boss. Other new features are still to be determined.
No details on when we can expect the game nor how much we’re expected to pay, but hopefully Namco will follow Polyphony Digital’s lead, giving us a proper, graphically improved sequel in Tekken 6.
Props to Japanese magazine newshound duckroll for keeping us Westerners well informed.
This weeks ZOMG JP magazine NEWSSS (PERSONA 3!!) [NeoGAF]
Clip: Playing Wii on the Set of 24
Man, today is shaping up to be a regular YouTube day. As much as I try to spread out our video clips, most of this stuff is just too good to pass up.
The latest is this bizarre video showing Efren “Vote for Pedro” Ramirez and director Chris Barrett playing the Wii on the set of CTU for show 24. There you go, your bit of randomness for the day.
Download Tekken 5 on PS3, for PS3
Filed under: Arcade, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Fighting, Online
According to GAF, Famistu is reporting that Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection will be offered as a downloadable PlayStation 3 title. The PS3 version will be an arcade port (Dark Resurrection was also released on PSP) with new content, including a playable Jinpachi. The game will also be enhanced for high definition displays.
Release date and cost have not yet been disclosed, though Dark Resurrection will almost certainly exceed Xbox Live Arcade’s current peak price ($15). Still, Tekken 5 has a bit more to offer than the likes of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat 3, no? Should Microsoft be concerned?
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Sony Comments On Latest PS3 Firmware Update
You might have heard that Sony issued another PlayStation 3 firmware update late last night (1.30), but might have been wondering “What the hell does it do?” Sony has sent out official confirmation of the changes and new features.
So, did Sony fix that niggling upscaling issue for PS3 owners who have 1080i support but not 720p? Hell no. Instead, the PS3 will now “automatically be displayed at the maximum resolution possible, according to the following order: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, Standard (NTSC)”. Uh. Great?
On the plus side, support has been added for the Blu-ray remote control and USB peripherals”including steering wheels and flight sticks”. Guitar Hero controller fix? Nah.
Additionally, under System Settings, a hard disk back up utility has been added to allow back up or restore of hard disk data. Interested parties should out the full statement after the jump for more info, while PS3 owners without 720p support should kindly piss off per Sony’s request.
Sony Computer Entertainment America today introduced new features and settings to the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system as part of the latest firmware update, version 1.30. Among the key updates is support for a Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) remote control and the ability to select the output format for BD/DVD video through an HDMI cable.
In addition to offering developers the ability to create more immersive games, the Blu-ray format delivers the ultimate in high-definition video through the highest resolution available today (1080p). Now PS3 owners can register a remote control for easier playback of movies on BD discs. The Bluetooth®-enabled remote control will be available at retail later this month for $24.99. Also, to suit your TV’s specification, you can now select the video output format (automatic, RGB, or Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr) for Blu-ray disc playback using an HDMI cable.
In addition to the updates related to the Blu-ray player, firmware 1.30 includes the following.
- Selecting video output resolution has changed, allowing you to choose all the resolutions supported by the TV. The video will automatically be displayed at the maximum resolution possible, according to the following order: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, Standard (NTSC).
- Backup utility has been added as a feature under System Settings, enabling you to back up your PS3’s hard disk data to storage media or restore data from storage media to the hard disk.
- USB peripherals designed for PlayStation®2 titles, including steering wheels and flight sticks, can now be used when playing PlayStation 2 games on the PS3 system.
To install the latest system software on your PS3 system, you can select the System Update feature, use a PC to download the update data and transfer it to the PS3 system through storage media or a USB mass storage device, or install it using update data included on a game disc. Further details are available at http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Network/Updates/default.html .
Raving Rabbids Contest
Oh my god will you stop with the things-coming-out-of-toilets humor. I’m not on board with it.
Even rabbids.
There is a point to this post and that picture, besides my rather odd fear, and that is that Ubisoft is giving away three Wii and some games as part of a promotion for their so-fun-even-I-liked-it Rayman game.
Starting right now Ubisoft wants to see your best Rabbid Scream! Rayman Raving Rabbids™ fans are invited to submit any and all types of media illustrating their own take on the Rabbid Scream! You’ve seen it in the movie shorts and on our web sites, now it’s your turn! Use your creativity and put it up on the web for everyone to see and vote on! Any and all media is welcome for the contest, from drawings and comics to full motion video! We want to see your best take on the Rabbid Scream, and we want the community, including your family and friends, to vote on the best of the best! Voting will begin December 11th!!!
Three grand prize winners will each receive a Wii, eight games (hold the Red Steel please Ubi), and a “special Ubisoft prize pack.” Seven runner’s up will get the prize pack.
Submissions will be accepted from Dec. 11 at midnight through Dec. 17 at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be chosen by popular vote.
Rayman Resides [MySpace]
The Upside Down Mii
I, like you, have quickly become numbed to seeing this or that celebrity represented in Mii form. However, when someone turns the stuff of absinthe bender induced hallucinations into a Mii, I’m forced to post it. Yes, forced.
This clever little Mii edit was done by professional blogger and Wii enthusiast Jason Kottke. Nice work, Jason.
The Upside Mii [Flickr]
Clips: Leeeerooooooy Jenkins VGA Ad
Will there ever be a time when Leroooooy Jenkins is played out?
Yes, yes there is. It’s the time between the first laugh-out-loud funny commercial for the Video Game Awards show, seen above, and the derivative crap seen in commercial number two and three on the jump. Repeating, of course, is what kills Leeeeeeeeroy Jenkins.
DIY Guitar Hero controller
Filed under: Hacks, Sony PlayStation 2, Peripherals, Rhythm, Fashion
Toolmonger is offering up a how-to guide for building a custom Guitar Hero controller — using a real guitar! Be warned, it’s a difficult task, as the original modders can attest. It took Toolmonger a full 75 hours of dirty work (read: deconstruction, cutting, and mangling). Thankfully, the site documented the process down to the minutest detail. Did you know that cat-5 networking cable is the ideal wire to run inside the neck?
Alternatively, you can try your luck at winning the modded guitar during “Funde Razor II,” an event to raise money for Child’s Play.
[Via Hack A Day]
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NYT Picks 360 As “The Superior Machine”
For now, Microsoft! Don’t get too cocky. It’s no secret that the New York Times is not a huge fan of Sony’s monolith of a console, the PlayStation 3, but the NYT is breaking it down for the vacillating console crowd why they should pick up an Xbox 360 this holiday season.
Writer Seth Scheisel breaks it down feature by feature, comparing each console’s online feature set, graphical capabilities, movie playback skills and more. His conclusion?
Right now there is basically no rational reason to buy a PlayStation 3 instead of an Xbox 360.
Damn! Since I fall into the irrational segment, I’ll reserve comment. It will probably just sound insane.
While reading the now-gen roundup, see if you can spot the throwaway mention of the Nintendo Wii, some console that you swing at people or something.
Duking It Out for a Houseful of Smiles [The New York Times]
The New York Times Hates PS3, Too [Kotaku]
Place Self-Aggrandizing Headline Here
It has been a little more than two years since Gawker Inc. found me swaddled and near death on their doorstep. Taking me in, they cleaned me off and immediately set me to work running Kotaku. In that time I’ve managed to churn out about 8,000 posts… 7,995 of which were filler, much like this one.
More importantly, though, Kotaku has grown from a tiny enfeebled blog, to a bloated enfeebled blog. Last month we managed to rack up 11, 220,000 page views. Either one of you is hitting refresh an awful lot or our readership may have grown slightly.
Yay us, but thank you.
Ps. Yes, that headline was on purpose.
