Archive for January 6th, 2007
Today’s mashiest game video: Battlestar meets Warcraft
Filed under: Culture, Action, Adventure, Online, RPGs, Video, MMO, Machinima
If you were to take the opening sequence of Battlestar Galactica and make your own version of it with World of Warcraft in-game machinima, well then you’d have today’s video. If they could pull off a Battlestar MMORPG, we’d be in there all day long, even if the subscription fee was $29.99 a month. There’d have to be enough copies of Number Six to go around, right?
An enterprising fan of both put this together proving once more that the world does indeed have a lot of extra time on its hands. The Egyptians built the pyramids, and we make wacky videos for the web. Check out the mashup after the jump and join us in trying to patiently wait for the next episode to come out.
Continue reading Today’s mashiest game video: Battlestar meets Warcraft
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GameStop pulls out creative stops to move PS3s
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Business
You’ve heard the consumer reports: PS3s are in stock (despite short supply)! Tipster Tejan sent in the above camera phone image allegedly taken at a Long Island GameStop on January 5. Notice the retailer spares no expense in promoting the available supply. “Get ‘em while they’re hot, expensive, and short on games!!!”
[Thanks, Tejan]
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Arcade Flyer Art Saturday: Kickman
Midway’s Kickman is an odd one in the video game world as it was one of the first arcade games to feature Pac-man as a guest star outside of an actual Pac Man related game.
In Kickman, you control a clown on a unicycle with a track ball and a “KICK” button. Placed on a “3D” cityscape (read: perspective) where happy people throw balloons at you off of the balconies. You try and catch as many as you could on top of your head and if you missed one, you could try and kick it back up on to your little clown hat. Different colored balloons gave you different amounts of points if you catch them and eventually you would pop them with a pin. But watch out, amongst the happy balloon throwers are nasty monsters who will try to confuse you by throwing bombs. Avoid the bombs and try to catch the special guest star of the game, Pac-Man, for super extra points.
Unlike some of the flyers we’ve seen past Arcade Flyer Art Saturdays, this one does not use sex to sell it. Instead, they’ve gone for the complete opposite and decided to use a terrifying, sexually ambiguous clown. I’m always suspicious of anything advertised by clowns, which is the reason I don’t eat at McDonald’s, disgusting food aside. Although, I guess it would have been rather hard to sell a game that’s all about clowns and balloons any other way. At least they didn’t try to do something really creepy like a sexy lady clown. Ugh… just the thought of that makes my flesh crawl.
Penny Arcade Takes On Moral Kombat
From what I had read last year, Moral Kombat, the new documentary by Spencer Halpin, was supposed to be a fair, middle of the road documentary about violence in video games. Watching the trailer makes it crystal clear what side of the never ending war the film maker is on. As, McWhertor noted in his article on the subject, Moral Kombat has high production values, but that doesn’t hide the message this film is obviously trying to give.
Gabe and Tycho have done a great strip this week on Penny Arcade on the subject featuring Joe Lieberman and the irrepressible J.T., every gamer’s best friend. Once again, the boys hit the nail right on the head and show the “fair” documentary for the giant, bloated, one sided windbag that it is.
I See What You Did there [Penny Arcade]
Moral Kombat Trailer
Bioshock Release Date Confirmed By 2K Games
After the Great Bioshock Scan Debacle Of 2006, I was understandably wary upon hearing the news from YouNewb that a Through the Looking Glass forum poster, claiming to be a 2K employee, stated that Irrational Games’ upcoming FPS RPG would be coming out in June.
Well, it seems this time the rumor mill was running properly. In an interview with British game site, Computer and Video Games, 2k games has announced that Bioshock will definitely be landing in the U.S. in June. Later, CVG was again contacted by 2k informing them that the UK and European releases would also be in June. And no, it’s still NOT coming to the PS3…
Bioshock: June release for Europe in question [Computer and Video Games]
Bioshock out June in Europe, 2K confirms [Computer and Video Games]
[via: YouNEWB]
Clips: Bizzare Kafka-esque Centipede Commercial
Wow, when you watch this you can really tell that most of the advertising industry in the eighties were out of their minds on coke. Obviously that’s where all the money went on this little doozy circa 1982. I’m sure they didn’t have to pay much for all that glorious stock footage that was sitting in the back of someone’s closet. Still, the centipede costume is rather nice and the Metamorphosis like ending shows at least someone in the office was reading between snorting lines off the secretary’s ample bosom.
Canadians Get Life Size Link Statue
Well, one lucky Canadian will anyway. Carrying on the Nintendo of Japan tradition of giving away really cool stuff, Nintendo of Canada is holding a sweepstakes in which they will be giving away a life size collectible Link statue as a grand prize. Three runners up will receive a collectible Link “statuette”.
There not many details as to the size of this hefty prize, but be warned, the rules state that it is the winner’s responsibility to pay for taxes and shipping costs. All entries must be received by January 31st for the drawing that will be held sometime around Valentine’s Day.
I wonder what the delivery fee for an elf-like Hyrule hero to your front door actually is?
Ohhhh Canada, you could win a giant Link [Joystiq]
Second Life Numbers Greatly Exaggerated?
I really only have a slight knowledge of Second Life. Like you, I’ve heard the stories of millions of people flocking to what sounds to me like nothing more than one giant virtual billboard. Rock stars have concerts there, there are hotels and businesses and a California congressman even gave a speech on the steps of the virtual Capitol Hill.
Reporter, Amy Scott, of NPR radio show, Marketplace, conducted an interview on the subject with New York University tech teacher, Clay Shirky. Clay, who had recently written about the subject on Valleywag and here on Kotaku, talked with Scott about the reality of these huge numbers.
Second Life creator, Linden Labs, recently released figures to Forbes magazine that reveal that while SL may have 2.3 million residents, these numbers only apply to actual created avatars. If you dig deeper, the numbers are quite different. 1.5 million people have actually signed on to the MMO, while only 250, 000 are actively playing. According to Shirky, this reveals a deeper problem about journalistic misrepresentation.
These aren’t terrible numbers, but it’s certainly a much more modest success than we’ve been led to believe by the business stories saying “there are millions of people using Second Life and it’s growing by leaps and bounds.
I’d be very interested to see similar numbers from other MMO’s, particularly World of Warcraft. While it’s undeniable that WOW is the most popular game of its kind, what are the real numbers of people actually playing as compared to those who have just signed up and never really play?
Second Life gets a reality check [Marketplace - Thanks, Jay]
This Day in Gaming, January 6th
2000: Retailers begin taking preorders for the PS2 console. Remember when $299 seemed like a lot of money to pay for a system, but you just HAD to have it? The good old days, indeed.
2004: Sega releases Sonic Heroes for GameCube in the US (a few days after the Japan release). Personally, if the hedgehog isn’t packing, I’m not interested in the series. Scratch that; I’m just not interested in the series.
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
Tabula Rasa not vaporware — starts beta testing
NCSoft’s Tabula Rasa began sign-ups for beta testing this week. The sci-fi MMO, headed by Richard Garriott of Ultima fame, is a title that’s been a long time coming. Showing at E3 2005 and 2006, with launch dates always shifting, there still is no reasonable explanation as to why this game is taking so long. We’re sure to get another Tabula Rasa fix at Min-E3 and with any luck they’ll finally nail down an official launch date.
See also:
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The Wii Sex Movie
UPDATE: We have removed the link to this video at the request of it’s maker since it was crashing their server. You can now watch it here.
I’ve seen a lot of Wii videos in the past few months, but this one really takes the cake. I was a little reticent to watch it at first since the email announcing it had the subject line of “I’m so sorry.” But, when I saw that it was sent from none other than Mario Opera creator and GameJew about town, Jonathan Mann, I decided to give it a shot.
The video was not made by Mann, however, and according to his email came from his keyboardist’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend who got it from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night.
This is absolutely NSFW and while I was skeptical at first, I got a good larf out of it in the end. It’s as wrong as it is hilarious. I won’t give anything away, but the final shot and sound effect is worth the price of admission.
Joyswag Photochop: Win Capcom’s Lost Planet
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Joyswag
If you can’t make the bash, but still want to get your blindly groping mitts on Lost Planet, we’ve got another solution. We’ll be giving away ten copies of the icy-cold third-person shooter in exchange for your masterful photochopping. Take the above box cover and transmogrify it into something entirely different: a game box for something else “lost” (see the entries in our Lost Planet party giveaway for inspiration … or don’t. Be creative.)
Send your submissions in .jpg format to joyswag [dot] submissions [at] gmail [dot] com. We’ll select two winners each day over the next week leading up to the retail release of the game on the 12th. If your submission wasn’t chosen, submit another for future consideration. Good luck!
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Pic of Vista Wireless 360 Receiver
Last week when Microsoft sent me a copy of the retail version of Vista they also sent along this cool little PC dongle, it allows you to connect your standard wireless Xbox 360 controllers to your computer. I haven’t had a chance to mess with it yet, but plan to next week after I get back from my 12-hour visit to Las Vegas on Sunday. In and out baby, that’s how I roll.
Homemade video game items we want
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Online, RPGs, Simulations
Friends who make things for people are pretty nifty. That is, if the things aren’t completely useless and made out of pottery. No, we mean things that you see and instantly want, or make you say, “Holy cow! That’s cool!” Anyone ever made you anything like that? Better yet, have you ever sat down and created something yourself that was a work of genius and meant for someone else?
We’ve got three such items here. All of them are fairly impressive, handmade, and we want ‘em. Check them out after the jump and let us know what sort of swag you’ve either received, or made for someone else.
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The Halo Lego Portal: Legos Unleashed
It seems that the Lego made Halo weapons and character craze has spread to the point that it now has it’s own website. Webmaster and Lego wrangler, Saber Scorpion, has gathered the finest Lego Halo toy makers from around the world and cataloged them all on the Lego Halo Portal. You can peruse the works over over 30 different masters in the art of the little connecting blocks. There are vehicles, weapons, mini figures and some of the craftsmen provide instructions on how to build your own.
Submissions are always being taken, so go explore your Lego skillz and build a Scorpion Battle Tank for the world to see.
The Lego Halo Portal [Saber-Scorpion]
We’ve got tickets to the Lost Planet launch event in San Fran
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Joyswag
Capcom is pulling out all the stops for Lost Planet, their upcoming third-person shooter, including a bash in San Francisco.
The details: The event is being held this Thursday, from 8pm to midnight at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center - East Hall (it’s here). There will be a multiplayer tournament (”Winners receive fabulous prizes and then face off with … the Lost Planet development team!”); the Lost Planet development team will be signing things (Peter Moore is getting his other bicep signed); you can “watch Master LEGO Builder Nathan Sawaya creating LEGO masterpieces on the fly”; make your own Lost Planet t-shirt; free grub and drinks; and “the first 50 gamers through the door get exclusive t-shirts.” Phew! Capcom knows how to throw a party!
In the area and want to go? You can sign up for a first-come, first-served spot on their page (username: Genesis / password: 111). Or — if you’d rather not risk being denied — they’ve graciously offered Joystiq readers 25 passes to the event which guarantee admittance. (Fine print: You must be 18 or older to attend, and agree to provide Capcom with your name and email address). All you’ve got to do is tell us the biggest thing you’ve ever lost. Certainly it couldn’t be larger than a planet (tsk, tsk Capcom). Maybe a loved one?
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IGF Announces Student Showcase Winners
The Independent Games Festival has announced the ten winners in the Student Showcase portion of their annual competition. Each winner will receive a $500 prize from the CMP Game Group to help fund their trip to the Game Developers Conference where they can show off their wares and compete for the title of Best Student Game and a $2500 prize. The winners, taken from the IGF website, are as follows:
- TU Wien’s paper cut-out 2D rotation-based title …And Yet It Moves.
- Koln International School Of Design’s extremely Gilliam-esque Flash soccer mini-game pastiche Ball Of Bastards.
- DigiPen’s ingenious action-oriented cartoon strategy game Base Invaders.
- Stanford University’s touchscreen and voice-controlled multiplayer abstract strategic romp Euclidean Crisis.
- DigiPen’s 2D innovative color-absorbing platform action title Gelatin Joe.
- Guildhall at SMU’s stylized vertical shooter meets puzzle game Invalid Tangram.
- Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy’s interactive singing game vs. action title Opera Slinger.
- SungKyunKwan University’s extremely original puzzle-sliding platform game Rooms.
- Hogeschool van de Kunsten, Utrecht’s city color-painting roll-around extravaganza The Blob.
- DigiPen’s clever 3D block-manipulating shooter Toblo. (pictured)
There are some really amazing looking games in there and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one or two of these in some form on the next gen consoles. Look what happened to Portal.
2007 IGF Student Competition Finalists Announced [Independent Games Festival]
[via: Gamasutra]
Patrick Curry completes his 52 game ideas
Filed under: Culture
With all the New Year’s celebration we forgot to check in on Patrick Curry (Stubbs the Zombie, John Woo’s Stranglehold), who set out to make 52 new game ideas, one per week, for the entirety of 2006. On January 1, Curry finished his project with Swordplay, a fighting card game.
The last time we checked in on him, we selected our top picks of the initial 24, but this time we can’t narrow down our favorite game ideas. Go peruse his proposals and let us know your favorite ideas.
[Thanks, tony]
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Video: the rumored Xbox 360 v2
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Video
Yesterday we showed you a photo of the rumored Xbox 360 v2 that should be coming down the pipelines soon. It’ll supposedly have an HDMI port, and feature a 120GB drive in it, making it well worth it, particularly if it is priced the same as the current consoles. Now we have video of the system in question (codenamed Zephyr), and if you ask us it looks fairly real. Of course, as sister-site Xbox 360 Fanboy points out, the Linux penguin in the shot makes us very suspicious. Plus that plug/adapter setup at the rear of the 360 looks fairly nasty.
Normally when people mod consoles they add things like Christmas tree lights, liquid-cooling, and a built-in popcorn popper. Which doesn’t mean that this thing is real, but so far we’re still buying it, and we’ll really be buying it when it hits a store near us. HDMI and a much bigger hard drive? Yes, please.
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Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: evil Mii edition [update 1]
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Online, Polls
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