Archive for January 5th, 2007
Mayo Clinic prescribes active games
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Exergaming
The Wii has been getting a lot of attention lately, mainly because of its different control mechanism. However, movement in gaming isn’t a new concept, which hearkens to days such as the NES Power Pad. Now, exergaming is getting a supporter.
The Mayo Clinic has released a report on the results of an exergaming study. Using a sedentary base, games that use a camera (such as EyeToy) and using a treadmill while gaming burned triple the amount of calories as sitting (five times over for more obese children); dance games registered the greatest calorie burn at six times the sitting rate.
With this new study, Nintendo is likely to jump on and further promote the health benefits of playing the Wii. Pulling children away from video games is a difficult task these days. While the Wii will unlikely burn the fat like Dance Dance Revolution would, they can add a bit to the marketing pamphlet to say the Wii requires exercise (if used right) for something their kid would otherwise be vegetating to do. As if we needed any more reasons to buy a Wii.
[Thanks, Ben]
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Rumor: Xbox 360 CES Announcements Leaked
Citing a non-existent Dean Takahashi story, the always reliable Team Xbox is reporting what Bill Gates and Robbie Bach will announce this Sunday at the company’s pre-CES speech.
Microsoft, according to the story, will be announcing that Microsoft has sold more than 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since launch.
Gates will also announce that the Xbox 360 will soon be given the capability to serve as a set-top box for IPTV, a sort of hybrid television and video service that delivers content over a broadband network.
The Team Xbox story doesn’t mention if there is any confirmation that Microsoft might be unveiling a new model of their console that features an HDMI output and larger harddrive.
I searched around on Dean’s new blogs, one for his tech coverage and one for CES, and couldn’t find the article that TX was talking about. I was, however, greeted with an error message on one of Dean’s pages. Maybe an embargo was accidentally broken.
Slamdance: Columbine Pulled on Moral Grounds
I’ve written up a piece about the reasoning behind Super Columbine Massacre RPG being pulled from the Slamdance festival for the Rocky Mountain News.
In it the festival president Peter Baxter says that he made the decision free of any outside pressure based on moral grounds and concern for the future of the organization.
“On the one hand a jury selected this game, and as a result of that decision it leads to our organization supporting their creative decision,” said Slamdance President Peter Baxter. “On the other hand there are moral obligations to consider here with this particular game in addition to the impact it could have on the Slamdance organization and its community.
“Ultimately it was my decision to pull this game and I hope that a choice like it will never have to be made again.”
We first broke the news of the game being pulled from the Slamdance game festival yesterday and the reaction has been, as expected, very mixed.
Surprisingly, one of the strongest reactions seems to come from Sam Roberts, the man who is in charge of the Slamdance’s games’ competition and helped convince Ledonne to enter the game in the first place.
“I believe this festival’s mission is to give the artists a place to express themselves,” he said. “This is a decision I disagree strongly with. I think it will hurt the competition. This is not what we are supposed to be doing, this is the very opposite of it.”
And while Baxter even seems to worry over the implications, both Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference, and Simon Carless, chairman of the International Games Festival, see to caution moderation in the reaction.
“We in the game industry love to compare films to games but the analogy is not 100 percent complete,” Moledina said. “Games are interactive medium. There is this kind of grey area here. We need to be careful and not automatically fall for that analogy.”
Simon Carless, chairman of the annual International Games Festival competition, while concerned about the decision to pull the game, said he doesn’t think it will impact many other game designers.
“I don’t think this will discourage people from making games that have social meaning,” he said. “I think there is plenty of interesting and important ground we can cover in games before we get that far out.”
Super Columbine Massacre RPG “is such a polarizing title,” he said.
Check out the full story over at the Rocky.
Columbine Game Pulled From Competition [Rocky Mountain News]
Keyboard combo for the compulsively clean, obsessively sterile
Filed under: Mac, PC, Peripherals
Logitech has released the perfect companion piece for that plastic bubble you just scored on eBay. It’s a keyboard and mouse combo, dubbed the MX 3200 Laser, and it’s coated with AgION, a compound used most commonly in hospitals to prohibit the growth of microorganisms.
Our guess it that the 3200 will cater primarily to mysophobes, but it might also be a worthwhile purchase for those paranoid of their runny-nosed tots or greasy-haired coworkers — oh wait, that is a mysophobe. Anyways, Logitech’s latest sure beats spraying Lysol all over the desktop.
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Necro-Nesia Comes Stateside As Escape From Bug Island
Spike’s Wii “survival horror” game, the one in which your character is armed with little more than a flashlight and a stick, has been hilariously renamed for its journey across the Pacific. What was once known as Necro-Nesia will now be known to Wii owners as Escape From Bug Island. If you aren’t yet familiar with Necro-Nesia, it involves an island, infested with giant bugs, from which you must escape.
I’m hoping that whomever publishes the English language version will seriously consider adding a few exclamation points to that somewhat dry moniker. It will make asking for a copy from the Best Buy blueshirt that much more dramatic if I’m required to request it in a booming voice.
Unfortunately, since I have heard nothing but the worst about Necro-Nesia, my conscience won’t allow me to spend money on it. I’ll just make sure to bring it up in public often to satisfy my urge to shout the name.
Necro-Nesia Official Site (Japanese)
Today’s ye-haw-iest game video: Wii Play - Cow Run
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Action, Video
Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a game featuring banjo music, a picturesque American countryside, and a bizarre cow running and smashing everything in site. As lame as this game might sound on paper, it actually looks like addictive Katamari-inspired fun. When’s the last time you drove a cow around with Wii-mote? Probably never, and that’s far too long a time to go without.
Check out the rootin’ tootin’ footage after the jump, and then look to score a ride of your own when Cow Run comes out for the Wii. No word yet if it includes cow tipping, but there’s a game unto itself right there just waiting to be made.
Continue reading Today’s ye-haw-iest game video: Wii Play - Cow Run
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Steam To See Major Update
Starting next week, you can expect your Steam client to look and operate a little different. Here are the new features those of you still playing Counter-Strike and Half-Life 2 should be looking forward to.
Guest Passes
Guest Passes allow owners of certain Steam games (purchased either via Steam or at retail) to let their friends play games for free, for a limited time trial. The first game to take advantage of this new feature will be Day of Defeat: Source. Beginning the week of January 8th, owners of DoD:S will each receive a guest pass to give to a friend. So if you own Day of Defeat: Source, watch your games list for your guest pass to appear, and then send it to a friend.
Background client updates
Since the Steam client was first released, it has always kept itself up to date — but now it’ll do so without making you wait during startup. Instead, it will acquire new updates in the background and then (once they’re downloaded) ask if you’d like to restart & apply them. Steam will also let you know what’s new whenever a new update is ready to apply.
Games list Favorites
Steam’s catalog of games has grown quite a bit over the past year or so. If you’re like most Steam users, the list of games you own has grown pretty long. Time to organize! Soon you’ll be able to try out the new Favorites feature in the My Games tab of Steam. Once you’ve selected a game as a Favorite, it’s available for quick access at the top of your list. If you wish, you can also collapse the Installed and Uninstalled sections, leaving only your Favorites in view.
New look
Steam’s getting a new coat of paint. We’ve stripped away all the non-essentials and created a new streamlined appearance, and it’ll be available in five different colors.
Not a bad set of updates! I’m glad to see that the background client updates are finally moving to how I always expected them to work.
Child’s Play raises over one million dollars
Filed under: Culture
In the past four years, Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity has raked in the kind of money that can only be visualized as a gargantuan, green pile of bills. This year, however, marks a special milestone — $1,000,000. That’s when people look up, alarms sound and bloggers put down their lassos of lethargy. It’s a really big pile, one worthy of a spirited round of applause.
To be exact, $1,024,400.31 went towards children who find themselves trapped in deliberately uninteresting hospital hallways. Books, toys, video games and consoles are just some of the items purchased through Amazon wishlists this year. The annual Penny Arcade auction dinner contributed a tidy $210,000, with an appearance in an upcoming comic strip fetching $10,000 at the event.
Other items of interest at the dinner auction:
- A Halo 3 voice-over opportunity called for $9,000.
- A DS and Wii package signed by Reggie? $3,700.
- A tour of Penny Arcade HQ sold for $2,700.
- An Xbox 360 signed by J. Allard went for $1,200.
Well done, Penny Arcade, and kudos to the classy human beings who contributed to their efforts.
(So, two million next year, right?)
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Germany Lays Smackdown On Crackdown
Looks like German Xbox 360 owners are going to have a harder time getting their Crackdown fix, as the German software ratings board, Unterhaltungssoftware Selbskontrolle, has refused to rate the sci-fi, cel-shady, third-person action game.
So what’s the impact of a non-rating? According to Gamespot:
By failing to receive a rating, Crackdown will have a handful of restrictions placed on its sales. As an unclassified game, Crackdown cannot be sold to minors, the transaction must take place in person, and the game can not be displayed or advertised in stores.
Scheiße! The USK previously opted not to rate other ultra-violent MS exclusives Gears of War and Dead Rising. This, quite obviously, will have a tremendous impact on sales of Crackdown, but the game will still be available for purchase.
Germany cracks down on Crackdown [Gamespot]
Gran Turismo Creator Makes Motor Trend List
According to IGN, Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has, for the third year in a row, made Motor Trend’s top 50 Power List. The president of Polyphony Digital beat out the CEO’s of two major car manufacturers (Ferrari and Honda) to secure his spot at #27.
Please note that the above photo of Kaz is clearly staged, as his office was uncontested as the messiest at Polyphony when we visited them in September. The man may be powerful, but he’s a pig!
Gran Turismo Creator Makes Motor Trend List [IGN]
The workable PS2 toaster
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 2
What’s the deal with the recent cross-pollination of PlayStation products and cooking appliances? It’s like the cool thing right now. Not as cool as viral videos or Zune, mind you, but all the kids are doing it. One DeviantART member and her friend even went as far to build the workable PS2 case mod toaster you see pictured above. $20 bucks says someone tries to outdo her next month. Make that $100.
See also:
- Make your own PSP stand using a toaster and $.25
- PS3: better than a toaster?
- The PS3 grill cooks a mean steak
[via Boing Boing]
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Gamestop Buyout Of Rhino Official
Blockbuster Inc. issued a press release earlier today on the sale of Rhino Video Games to Gamestop Corp. making the rumored sale of the southeastern game retailer official. Financial details of the sale were not disclosed, but Blockbuster expects to close the sale by the end of January.
No word on whether Gamestop plans to up orders on stickers with which they will plaster excessively all current Rhino stock or how said rumored order of stickers that just won’t come off goddamnit will financially impact the company.
Full, totally unexciting press release about “operating synergies” after the jump.
Rumor: Gamestop Buys Rhino [Kotaku]
Blockbuster Reaches Agreement to Sell Rhino Video Games to GameStop
DALLAS, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI - News, BBI.B - News) today announced it has reached a definitive agreement for the sale of its Rhino Video Games chain to GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME - News, GME.B - News) for an undisclosed price. The sale is expected to close by the end of January.
Rhino Video Games is a regional retail chain specializing in buying, selling and trading video games. Rhino currently has 72 stores located in the Southeastern U.S. including Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
John Antioco, Blockbuster Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Today’s announcement is in line with our goal to maintain focus on our Blockbuster-branded assets. We wish the Rhino concept ongoing success under its new ownership, and while games remain an integral part of our Blockbuster business, we will continue to focus on growing our overall share of the video rental market both through our stores and through BLOCKBUSTER Total Access(TM), which gives our online subscribers the option of returning their DVDs through the mail or exchanging them at a participating BLOCKBUSTER® store for free in-store movie rentals.”
R. Richard Fontaine, GameStop Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “The integration of the Rhino group into the growing portfolio of GameStop stores will result in operating synergies while being accretive to earnings. The location of most Rhino stores do not overlap existing GameStop sites, and primarily serve secondary and tertiary markets where we have been very successful. Furthermore, the Rhino business model, and a very game oriented management team, will fit seamlessly into the GameStop culture.”
About Blockbuster
Blockbuster Inc. is a leading global provider of in-home movie and game entertainment, with more than 8,000 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Company may be accessed worldwide at http://www.blockbuster.com .
About GameStop Corp.
Headquartered in Grapevine, TX, GameStop Corp. is the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer. The company operates 4,633 retail stores across the United States and in fourteen countries worldwide. The company also owns two e-commerce sites, GameStop.com and EBgames.com, and Game Informer® magazine, a leading multi-platform video game publication. GameStop Corp. sells new and used video game software, hardware and accessories for next generation video game systems from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. In addition, the company sells PC entertainment software, related accessories and other merchandise.
General information on GameStop Corp. can be obtained at the company’s corporate website: http://www.gamestop.com/corporate .
Today in Joystiq: January 5, 2007
Joystiquery
Happy crazy rhythm game music day
Media Coverage column goes 2.0 at GameDaily BIZ
Today’s hottest game video: Tekken 5 footage
Video: Joystiq on Attack of the Show
News
Gran Turismo creator on Motor Trend’s Power List
Confirmed: Bioshock shocks us in June ‘07
The second Xbox 360 (with HDMI): introducing “Zephyr”
Logitech Cordless MediaBoard for PS3 (hint: it’s a keyboard)
Nintendo responds to Game Boy accident that killed UK boy
Report: Mobile gaming to grow 27% annually
UK Minister calls for industry-sponsored games academy
Meet Ana, the Xbox 360 hardware scaler
Microsoft: HD-DVD might be “next Betamax,” switch to Blu-ray still possible
Gamepro expo redubbed “E for All”
Slamdance treats games as kid-centric
PS3 won’t support force feedback wheels
Steam to be streamlined, offer Guest Passes with new update
Press uses tragedy for cheap Game Boy headline
Crack down on Crackdown, Germany refuses to issue rating
Xbox 360 hits 10.4 million, announces IPTV
Rumors & Speculation
EA cancels LOTR: The White Council?
Culture
GamePro’s most anticipated console games for 2007
Don’t you wish your Xbox was hawt like mine?
What if… you could learn real guitar through games?
IGN: Halo DS once existed … but now it doesn’t
Video games and addiction: Are we there yet?
LEGO Halo: the complete collection
Customer service stories
How in-game sound effects are recorded
The evolution of game extras
Mii mug shots infiltrate corporate websites
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Treasure Loves The 360, Radiant Silvergun 3 Nixed
1UP’s Sam Kennedy talked to Treasure president Masato Maegawa about his company’s upcoming plans, including the oft-rumored Radiant Silvergun/Ikaruga sequel.
Maegawa says that while the same team and director of Ikaruga are working on a top-down shooter for the Xbox 360, that “I would have to say that this game is totally different.”
So why would the developer of hardcore shooters and uniquely Japanese action titles focus on the Xbox 360, which has a meager install base in its home country? Simple, really, the Treasure development staff just find it easier to developer software on Microsoft’s console.
And the Wii? “…Absolutely, in the future, we’ll make a Wii game. We’ve already been in discussions with Nintendo about it.” Yay! Check out the full interview, loaded with frank, refreshing responses, at 1UP.
Treasure Talks 360, Wii, and PS3 [1UP]
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
With the Consumer Electronics Show going down next week in Las Vegas, I’m just about to make my trip east to score a little Kotaku coverage. That means I won’t be playing much in the way of games this weekend. Outside of pulling a few slot machine arms and a handful of games of blackjack at the cheap tables, I’ll probably play nothing but a few quick rounds of Bit Generations games on my Game Boy micro.
Scratch that. I just remembered I installed Diablo II and the Lord of Destruction expansion on my MacBook Pro this week. I think I’ll be making a run at Diablo with a new Barbarian in between rounds of heavy drinking on the Strip.
What’s on your plate this weekend, dear Kotaku readers? Anyone out there making the trek to CES? Let us know what you’re spending time with in the comments.
Child’s Play Raises Over $1 Million
Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play Charity drive exploded this year, surpassing all expectations completely. Gamers and game companies opened up their hearts and their wallets to collect over a million dollars in toys and monetary donations to children’s hospitals around the world. From the update posted today on the Child’s Play website:
You guys did it. You broke a million dollars in just over two months. Child’s Play started as a way to show how good our community can be, but it’s turned into something greater than we could have ever imagined. We’re making an impact on lives. See you next year.
Donations rose 40% this year, up for $605,000, with web comics, gaming sites, and even Sony sponsoring contests, donating profits, or simply raising awareness of the premier gaming charity organization.
Special thanks to all the Kotaku readers who did their part this year, and to those who didn’t…we’re watching you.
Child’s Play Tops $1 Million [Slashdot]
Vanguard Open Beta Begins: Impressions
The open beta Sigil’s Vanguard: Saga of Heroes begins today, with the beta client up on FilePlanet as we speak, though only available to subscribers and preorder folks for the first week. With the beginning of this final phase of testing the NDA has also been lifted and tongues are wagging, including my own. I’ve been in the closed beta for the past several weeks now, having spent more than enough time to give you some basic impressions of the game.
Vanguard is an MMO created by Brad McQuaid, one of the creators of the original Everquest, who left the company to explore possibilities. Possibilities like creating a game that plays like the missing link between EQ1 and EQ2. You get the relatively simplistic (in most cases) gameplay of the first game with graphics halfway between the two. In part I blame the overall lack of character and the generic fantasy setting for failing to keep my interest. While the variety of class and race combinations is impressive, but I am getting tired of plastic looking characters that only truly shine if I push my computer to its limits.
I wish MMO developer would focus less on the look and instead focus their energies on creating something fluid and entertaining. Even in the trailer from GameTrailers.com below you can see the framerate stuttering.
Now I do enjoy the quest system, which encourages you to explore the world, propelling you across the countryside engaged in a variety of tasks. I also like the variety between class mechanics, which is much like you find in World of Warcraft. The monk character, for instance, accrues points as he uses abilities, which can be used to unleash even more powerful ones.
In the end, I’m just a guy writing on a gaming blog, and this is just my opinion, which carries just as much weight as yours does. Try the game out for yourself, see how you like it. It isn’t shaping up to be my cup of tea, but I certainly wouldn’t want you to avoid something just because I didn’t like it. Check the press release below for info on downloading and forming an opinion for yourself!
OPEN BETA BEGINS ON JANUARY 5th FOR VANGUARD: SAGA OF HEROES
Sony Online Entertainment and Sigil Games Online today announced that open beta will begin tomorrow, January 5th, for the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Tomorrow players that are participating in the pre-order program will be able to access the open beta. Other adventurers interested in exploring the world of Telon can head over to www.fileplanet.com to begin their journey. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will immerse players in a classical fantasy setting filled with magic and intrigue beginning in Q1 of 2007.
About Vanguard
The only limits are your own in Telon. The adventurous can choose from multiple paths of exploration within the three spheres of advancement: adventuring, crafting, and diplomacy. Players can delve into the mysteries of Telon, and embark upon quests to slay monstrous beasts locked deep inside rugged mountain ranges. Those with a quick mind can use diplomacy to convince kings to move armies and change the course of history. With player-crafted boats, flying mounts, and customizable player housing, Vanguard offers players a world of their own choosing.
To join the North American open beta please visit: http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/vanguardbeta/landing.aspx
For the first week the offer is only open to File Planet subscribers, to subscribe visit www.fileplanet.com
The European beta will open on January 8th. European customers who have pre-ordered Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and received their key can also join beta on January 5th.
For more information about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes please visit: www.vanguardsoh.com and www.joinvanguard.com
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IDG Picks Gamer Expo Name
Back in November IDG announced a contest to name their new gamer Expo, the spiritual successor to E3 for fans. While I was perfectly happy with the name GamePro Expo, IDG felt they needed something that was less theirs, more ours. Today they’ve announced the winning name. The E for All Expo.
More than 3000 entries were submitted on GamePro.com. The winning entry was proposed by California resident Dante Padre, who has won a trip to the E For All Expo for his submission Padre explained his inspiration behind the E for All Expo name, saying that “this show seems to be about inviting everyone to participate…they even asked gamers to create the name.”
Ravers from across the country have already lined up outside the LA Convention Center with binkies and glow sticks, hoping to score some E once the show opens in mid-October of this year.
E3 follow-up named: E for All Expo [GamePro.com via Shacknews]
The Kotaku Subway Map
There’s others, too. Reader Jan sent along this neat trend chart that riffs on the Tokyo subway. Created by Japan-based design agency Information Architects, it’s a mash-up of the most used websites from last year and what to expect from next. As the agency’s site says, “It’s totally unscientific and almost useless, but definitely fun to look at.” To find us, Kotaku’s the last stop on the enfeebled and underfed brown (yummy) “Blogs” line. Fitting.
The Kotaku Subway [iA, Thanks Jan!]
Casamassina Taunts Gamers With Halo DS
Matt Casamassina over at IGN has posted a blog entry detailing his time spent with a leaked build of an ill-fated DS version of Bungie’s baby, Halo. According to Mama Cass there it was ego that killed the beast, but only after a fully playable version was produced, which he claims to have played. He says it ran much like Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS, I assume without the ball mechanic. Master Chief already has all the balls he needs, thank you very much.
No real way to verify this without ferreting out his source, and I lack both the patience and resources to abduct and torture an IGN editor, as entertaining as that might sound in theory. For now all we have is his word, and the knowledge that everything ever posted on a blog is absolutely true.
I Played Halo on DS [IGN Blogs - Thanks Solo Wang!]
