Archive for February 4th, 2007
Nokia to release new N-Gage this September
Filed under: Portable, Wireless, Business
You don’t have to tell Nokia that the original N-Gage was not the success they had imagined. They already know. That won’t stop them from giving it the ol’ college try as Nokia plans on rolling out a new N-Gage by this September.
In a brief statement on the official N-Gage blog, Nokia makes mention of a September release amidst reassuring that more than two publishers are on board for the new platform.
At the moment, only EA Mobile and Gameloft have known commitments for the new N-Gage with both publishers having already released titles for the original device. With Gameloft holding the lucrative Totally Spies license, we can only cross our fingers and hope for a next generation N-Gage follow-up.
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Get Therapy, DS Therapy
That’s Kouta, Saya, Reina and Shun. They’re here to help. DS Therapy isn’t a brain trainer. Oh no, it’s a heart trainer. As Insert Credit’s Brandon Sheffield points out: “DS Therapy has the subtitle ‘mainichi kokorobics’, a conjunction of the words ‘heart’ (kokoro) and ‘aerobics.’” How does it work? Answer a few “light hearted” questions and then get diagnosed based on up-to-date psyche research. The game sports art by Kaorin Wakamatsu and even boasts actual consulting psychologists on staff! It retails for 4,800 yen (US $39.65) this May. My diagnosis on anyone who buys this game: Crazy.
DS Therapy Game [Insert Credit]
Week in Games: Diddy Kong Racing Edition
A ton of new releases coming out this week with a little bit of everything from RPG’s and strategy games to racing and sports titles. The PS2 gets quite a bit of love this week with five games on it’s dance card. The rest of the titles are pretty evenly distributed amongst all the portables and consoles, with the exception of the PS3 which is strangely absent from this list.
- Diddy Kong Racing DS DS
Diddy Kong makes a bid for the Mario Kart throne. - Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia PS2
Pure, unabashed Japanese RPG goodness. - Final Fantasy VI Advance GBA
The classic RPG is given a facelift for it’s re-emergence on the GBA - UFO: Afterlight PC
Be an intergalactic space strategist! - The Sims Life Stories PC
Enjoy controlling the lives of your tiny minions with a new story mode. - Capcom Puzzle World PSP
Five classic Capcom puzzle games including: Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo®, Buster Bros., Super Buster Bros., Buster Buddies and Block Block - Fuel PC
An around the world race on ATV’s. - Lunar Knights DS
Battle space vampires from beyond the grave. - Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI PS2
Eleventh game in the long running strategy sim series. - MVP 07 NCAA Baseball PS2
More baseball on the PS2, now with a new pitching style! - SnoCross 2: Featuring Blair Morgan XBOX, PS2
Blair Morgan is kicking it olde school on the PS2 and Xbox.
Burger King Games Drop To 99 Cents
If your weren’t one of the 3.2 million people that purchased the terrifying Burger King games over the last 6 months or so, your dreams of forcing people to eat virtual disgusting fast food can now come true for a mere 99 cents. The Hushed Casket is reporting that Burger King has dropped the price of their bizarrely popular games from four bucks a piece to less then a dollar, complete with photographic evidence. One commenter on the site wrote in saying they purchased the games without even having to buy the food. Truly a blessing if there ever was one.
Crafty Super Mario Blocks Set to Storm Pittsburg
In an attempt to vie for the coveted title of Pittsburg, PA’s Most Talked About Video Game Related City Wide Art Piece, Kotakuite Scott sends in his friend Jeff’s Super Mario “?” Block made from ordinary post office mailing boxes. There’s an in depth look at the creation of the box on Jeff’s website along with a promise to make more and hang them around the city once the weather gets warmer. He vows to give the creator of the infamous “Pittsburg, PA Yoshi’s Egg Graffiti” a run for his money.
I daresay we are all looking forward to seeing this plan come to fruition and we’ll be watching the situation closely. If you’re reading this Jeff, we expect to see photos of this come summer or we’ll all think you’re nothing more than a shiftless layabout. And there will be no making one box and snapping it in different locations or some other such hoax. If you do, we’ll know. We always know. The million eyes of Kotaku are upon you.
The Joystiq Weekend: February 3-4, 2007
Gentlemen, CountBlockula, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic koopa. Bowser will be that koopa. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster. Check out the highlights for this weekend:
Joystiquery
Joystiq hands-on: Mad Catz Arcade GameStick (Xbox 360)
Shhh: Today’s hottest game video: Zelda secrets
Today’s hottest game video: GRAW 2
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: Bleach edition
News
Dan Aykroyd busts out Ghostbusters info
GalCiv II: Dark Avatar goes gold, refines tech tree
Ten concept cars enter, only one races in PGR4
Lost Planet lost $40 million to find success
WoW: Burning Crusade digital distribution
GTA: San Andreas #1 in Japan
Jack Thompson faces disciplinary action
Path to PSP, PS2 now clear for ‘Free Running’
Epic wants 40 UT3 maps, ponders platform-exclusive content
Korea Times blue over Brain Age recognition issue
GTA Coke (the drink) ad in Super Bowl
Windows XP games: We’re not dead yet
Dark AleX releases PSP ‘custom firmware’ 3.10 OE-A
Dominance War 2 art contest with $10k in prizes
Rumors & Speculation
Ziff Davis games division cost too much?
Culture
Marketing: N’Gai and his Playboy playmate
Who to enhance with a gaming face-lift?
[Thanks, Lenny]
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Dominance War 2 art contest with $10k in prizes
Filed under: Culture
The second annual Dominance War game art contest is on. The competition is offering $10k in cash prizes, four Wiis, Xbox 360s and PS3s, along with eight PSPs.
According to the organizers, Dominance War is a virtual arena between the various online game art communities, “With the goal of building internal and cross-forum community spirit, bringing in new talent, and practicing a skilled trade in a fun ‘outside-of-work’ context.” Hmm, instead of a dance-off, it’s an art-off. One of the organizers, Joe Mirabello, says, “It’s very inspiring to watch these people go from being amateurish artists to being seasoned veterans over time.”
Apparently competition is tougher this time around — as is expected in a sequel. Joining the two communities from the original competition (CgChat.com and Polycount.com) are two more game art communities: CgSociety.com and 3dTotal.com. Each community will have its own finalists and prizes. Even if you aren’t an artist, it’s still fun to check out their site and appreciate some of the work. The contest runs until mid-March and community membership to all participating forums is free — just have to pick your faction. Mirabello says that for young artists looking to break into the industry, being part of these communities increases the chance of the right eyes seeing the artists work.
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Clip: Wii - Hold On Tight
Ok, so it’s a little late in coming seeing as the initial reports of Wii injuries to hearth and home have died down. At this point, people have learned to use their remotes responsibly with the wrist strap and not flail around like a spastic monkey on crack. Still it gets points for being really well done and actually looking like it could be a real commercial. Nintendo, take note, this could be your next big ad campaign!
Chris Kohler Invades Virtua Fighter 5
Last year, Chris Kohler over at Game|Life got a chance to participate in a Sega sponsored Virtua Fighter 5 tournament. Due to his awesome Virtua Fighter skillz, Chris was able to land 5th place and the opportunity to create an custom AI character that would appear in the final game. His character, Kobun Heat, will be making his debut when the game hits the PS3 on Feb. 20th. If you don’t have a PS3 you can enjoy Chris’ saucy luchador when VF5 comes to the Xbox 360 later this year.
Virtua Fighter 5: My Character [Game|Life]
Your Worst Games Of 2006
The beginning of a new year always means endless looks back at what was so great about the previous year. Best games, best movies, best tv shows, yet with a few exceptions, the worst in these fields are often overlooked.
How many times have you wanted a game so bad that you saved up your pennies in anticipation, counting the days until your precious title is released. The big day finally comes and you take your prize home in it’s shiny plastic wrapping ready to play the crap out of it non stop for a week. Everything seems great until you put the disc in your console and actually start playing. Suddenly, you realize there are green stink waves emanating from your disc drive and tiny flies are quickly gathering. Sadly, it is too late for you. Your game has been used and all you could hope for is a measly fifteen bucks from your local EB Games. You have been duped into purchasing one of the worst games of the year.
Now the time has come for you to call these shoddy 2006 titles out for the rubbish they are. I’ll even help out by kicking off the list. Enchanted Arms… piece of crap… ’nuff said. So, feel free to air your dirty game laundry in the comments and let us know exactly what you think of these blights on the face of the good world of gaming. Let the crap fest begin!
Coke’s “GTA” Ad To Appear During Superbowl
You might remember the clever Grand Theft Auto inspired Coke commercial that made the rounds in movie theaters and even appeared in a high profile spot during American Idol TV last year. It features a GTA style character rampaging through town, only to be turned to the light side by enjoying a Coke and a smile. The clip will be one of three different Coke commercials appearing in today’s Superbowl. According to a Coca-Cola rep, the plan from the beginning was to air commercials on both American Idol and the Superbowl thus reaching a larger audience since, according to her, everyone doesn’t watch American Idol.
Wait… they don’t?
Super Bowl ads: K-Fed, Jay-Z, Robert Goulet? [CNN Money]
[via GamePolitics]
Dark AleX releases PSP ‘custom firmware’ 3.10 OE-A
Just days after the release and immediate decryption of Sony’s PSP firmware v3.10, homebrew developer Dark AleX has released a new edition of his custom brand of firmware: 3.10 OE-A (Open Edition). As the name implies, Dark AleX’s custom firmware includes all of the functionality provided by Sony’s latest firmware update, plus the ability to run homebrewed (and pirated) applications and files, and further exploit the PSP hardware (e.g., speed up the processor, unlock maximum video resolution, bypass region coding, etc.). The new custom firmware also grants access to the PSP’s fourth level of brightness without the use of a power adapter.
Any reason not to downgrade and then upgrade to 3.10 OE-A? Sure, custom firmware perpetuates piracy, but a user can choose not to download and run pirated games. But is the temptation just too strong?
[Via PSP Fanboy]
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Feature: A Visit to Square Enix UK and FF3 DS
By: Lesley Smith
Standing outside Square Enix’s UK offices is a surreal experience. Slap bang in the middle of London, a stone’s throw from the river and a massive roundabout, only the plain sign betrays that inside a normal building is the offices of the publisher responsible for so many great franchises. And my reason for standing there? To mark the European release of Final Fantasy III on the DS and the German and French versions of Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix arranged a press event and interview opportunities with Tanaka Hiromichi-san.
Strolling onto their floor, the first thing which greets you in the lobby is a life-size statue of one of Final Fantasy XII’s fearsome Archadian Judges in full armor. PR maestro Alex Huhtala had explained their UK headquarters was just your run-of-the-mill office but, to be fair, normal offices don’t have giant armor-wearing Judges! The rest of the floor is just as colorful, walls are decorated with framed Japanese adverts, there are huge replica boxes and standees for Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest and, of course, various installments of Final Fantasy.
Moments later I was guided into a large meeting room, dominated by a projector looping footage of Final Fantasy XI and two PCs running the different versions of the game. I grabbed a quick drink and had a go, I have a little knowledge of French and a lot of German from high school and both come in handy. As I played, I started chatting to one of the localisation folk who explained a little about the process.
As lunch rolled in and Square Enix employees began appearing out of the woodwork. it was time to mingle. As well as representatives from various websites and magazines, there was the editorial team from Official Nintendo Magazine, half of Square Enix’s own PR department, Tanaka-san himself and his translator Saori-san.
I did find time to play on Final Fantasy III. Like many gamers I’ve played the original via emulators but the DS version boasts souped up graphics, a truly stunning opening FMV and the use of the touch screen is intuitive and very easy to use. I’m not the world’s biggest RPG fan (I prefer games with a beginning, middle and end, rather that ones which require dozens of hours levelling up) but I was impressed. The random battles was a little annoying the I can’t wait to get my hands on the final code.
Although I didn’t get as much time to play the game as I’d have liked. Final Fantasy III certainly looks to be an excellent port. The touch screen lets you direct characters with a finger or stylus. It did take me a few minutes to figure out exactly how to navigate Luneth through a dungeon but the learning curve is about two minutes. Double tapping will trigger attacks on enemies or open chests and while there is a menu screen, the controls now revolve around the DS Lite’s revolutionary feature. The characters are rendered in 3-D with 2-D environments that are much more graphically intensive. Okay the game would never pass on a TV screen but that’s not the point; it’s ideally suited to the DS and has lots of interesting WiFi options, so I’m told. I got to play from a ROM cart so I don’t think all the features, bar the English translation itself were present.
Finally it was time to meet The Man himself. Together with Adam Riley of the Nintendo website Cubed, we headed into an adjacent room to be introduced to Tanaka-san. I normally get nervous when I’m interviewing and this was the second time I’d gotten to grill a founding member of the Final Fantasy franchise. It’s still quite a nerve-racking experience and my eyes kept wandering to the DS Lite on the table which was looping the gorgeous Final Fantasy III FMV.
Tanaka-san even had the first Limited Edition Final Fantasy III DS Lite with him. A great photo op was had and Alex made sure to hand me a black gift bag filled with goodies including seven limited edition Final Fantasy III figures (three of which aren’t being released in Europe) and a Final Fantasy XI USB drive. Swag just makes press events that much sweeter. While the event was a lot more relaxed and low key than others I’ve been to (and, frankly, I prefer them like that), it was an excellent day and well worth the four hour train trip down to London Town.
This Day in Gaming, February 4th
2000: EA releases The Sims for PC in the US. Players take control of virtual people and guide them through life as they require 2 hours to do mundane tasks like ordering a pizza and using the bathroom. While the game was incredibly addictive, I actually felt like I was wasting my life away as I played - it was an addiction without the high.
But obviously they did something right, so why don’t you hit the comments and let me know how much you love (or hate) the franchise, and which expansions are the most (or least) worthwhile.
Have gaming history, trivia, or famous birthdays you’d like to see in TDIG? Drop us a line at tdig@kotaku.com
Amazon U.K. Offers Duke Nukem Forver Pre-order
Kotakuite Darren was checking out the Amazon Deal Finder that was posted yesterday and ran across an interesting listing on Amazon’s UK site. Apparently, the are offering pre-orders of long, long, long awaited Duke Nukem Forever for £24.99. A search of the North American Amazon site turned up no such pre-order which leads me to wonder if perhaps the Brits know something about this title that we don’t. One cheeky commenter on the page claims to have done some testing work for Duke Nukem Forever’s developer, 3D Realms:
I got a testing job at 3D Realms this past summer. Duke Nukem Forever was up and running, they just have to tweak the graphics on level three. It’s stunning, and it’ll be premiered on The Phantom, taking full advantage of the new Lapboard.
Well, that tears it, I am pre-ordering this immediately. I just hope it arrives by the time I get my Phantom that I pre-ordered last year. I still can’t figure out why I haven’t gotten it yet.
Duke Nukem Forever [Amazon U.K.]
Ziff Davis games division cost too much?
Filed under: Culture, Business
Doesn’t look like the potential buyers for Ziff Davis’s games group, which includes EGM, Games for Windows and 1UP, are willing to pay the three times revenue price for the group that Ziff Davis wants. Asking for three times revenue, on a division that brings in mid-$20 million, but still breaks even on earnings is, as one source puts it in Foliomag.com, “Very, very over-the-top.”
Kevin Gifford explores the sale and the Ziff Davis corporation in his latest Magweasel column at GameSetWatch. Avoiding the pitfalls of dumping on how print is a “rapidly diminishing” presence — going so far as to say he thinks EGM is doing a “very good job at proving why they should exist.” — he comments more on the turn of events at Ziff Davis. A company which profited from enthusiast publications is finding their business eroding by the ultimate enthusiasts publication tool — the internet.
See also: For Sale: EGM and 1UP
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Clip: Dewy’s Adventure
Konami is teaming up once again with the producer of Elebits to bring you a new “action adventure” game tentatively titled Dewy’s Adventure. The best I can tell, Dewy’s adventure uses a Loco Roco-esque style of gameplay where the player manipulates the surroundings to get the rogue little dewdrop to bend to their will. Not being a huge fan of Elebits, I won’t be picking this particular title up, but I know a lot of people loved it so I figured I’d put my personal feelings aside and present this video for your consideration.
To read the entire press release from Konami, make the jump.
KONAMI ANNOUNCES DEWY¹S ADVENTURE FOR THE WII
New Action Adventure Game Puts the Power of the Elements in Players¹ Hands
with Intuitive Wii Remote Controls
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. February 2, 2007 Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
today announced Dewy’s Adventure (working title), an original action title
exclusively for the Wii from the producer that created the critically
acclaimed Elebits. Dewy’s Adventure lets players use the Wii Remote to
control the elements and manipulate the terrain of the game world as they
help a small droplet of water save its home world from a mysterious dark
force.
Dewy’s Adventure introduces players to a world where pure green forests
flourished under the careful watch of the towering Elder Tree. However, a
mysterious dark force known as the evil Don Hedron has taken hold of the
Elder Tree and transformed the land into a gloomy world shrouded in shadows
and fog. Using the last of its remaining power, the Elder Tree created a
small droplet of water named Dewy and granted him the power of the elements
with hope that he could overcome the evil Don Hedron and restore tranquility
to the land.
Taking advantage of the unique Wii Remote, Dewy¹s Adventure grants players
full control over the game world and the elements as they take control of
Dewy and seek to overcome the evil Don Hedron. Players can tilt the Wii
Remote to create inclines in the landscape, moving the droplet to precisely
the right spot while rotating the environment to solve puzzles. Most often
found as a small ball of water, Dewy can alter the temperature of his
immediate area to transform into ice and mist. These transformations are
useful in freezing or heating different parts of the world to solve puzzles
and also to defeat the game¹s fearsome enemies.
Players can also take control of the elements by using motion-specific
gestures with the Wii Remote, such as shaking it to cause an earthquake,
waving it to create gusts of wind or summoning blots of lightning while in
mist form. Combined with Dewy’s three different forms and landscape tilting
abilities, these skills provide players with extensive control over the
environment and a great degree of freedom in approaching each of the game’s
six stages.
In addition to a single player story mode, Dewy’s Adventure also features an
edit mode that allows for full customization of complete stages with unique
puzzles, different types of landscape and a wide variety of enemies. These
stages can be played alone or enjoyed cooperatively with a friend.
“Dewy’s Adventure emphasizes Konami’s commitment to creating innovative
software for the Wii with one of a kind gameplay, unique motion sensitive
controls, and a colorful game world packed with memorable characters,” said
Wilson Cheng, Product Manager with Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
“Building upon the success of Elebits, Dewy’s Adventure is poised to deliver
another exciting and accessible gaming experience that is only possible
through the immersive Wii hardware.”
Dewy¹s Adventure will launch for the Wii in 2007. For more information,
please visit www.konami.com
Windows XP games: We’re not dead yet
That thud you heard last week was the sound of Windows Vista hitting the market. We know the Games for Windows crew weren’t impressed and we’re still a little confused about buying Vista before having it naturally part of a new PC. Despite the confusion, Voodoo Extreme, looking to toss a $20 on the counter and kick Windows XP out, declares their Top 20 PC games for the “last generation.”
The list is all good and fine with Rise of Nations, Rome: Total War, Half-Life 2, WoW and other PC-centric masterpieces. We’ve just never thought of PC games as being “next-gen,” “last-gen,” or any other type of buzzword. PC games don’t have that fanboy console mentality attached to them. In the average consumer’s mind, PC games evolve in a completely different manner than by console generation. Windows Vista, in time, is what a majority of consumers will use for PC, an eventual unavoidable upgrade as Microsoft intended. The idea that consumers are rushing out, upgrading to Vista and Windows XP games are soooooo passé is a little silly.
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GTA Coke (the drink) ad in Super Bowl
Filed under: Culture, Business
Don’t be surprised when you’re treated to the Grand Theft Auto inspired Coca-Cola ad today during the Super Bowl. According to CNN/Money, Coke is returning to the Super Bowl after being on break since 1998. Apparently Coca-Cola believes they found a culturally relevant way to promote to the demographic.
Susan McDermott, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola North America, said, “We wanted to kick things off big in 2007. We’ve been a partner with ‘American Idol’ since the beginning so the strategy was to debut new ads on the Super Bowl and ‘Idol’ in order to hit the biggest entertainment and sports programming within two weeks.” She also notes that this “old” GTA coke ad (found after the break) now has a chance to reach a much larger audience. And they better get some bang for their buck, the price for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl is $2.6 million — the commercial, in its original format, runs a full minute.
[Via GamePolitics]
Continue reading GTA Coke (the drink) ad in Super Bowl
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Who to enhance with a gaming face-lift?
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360
Frodo et al. over at The Weekly Geek compiled the games that could use a makeover, but only in the most superficial sense. They aren’t talking about gameplay, they are just asking about Nip/Tuck style upgrade to bring their old beauty back to the surface. As the perfect example they use Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES, which took Mario Bros. 1-3 (Japan SMB 2 included) and gave them a graphics upgrade — it was fantastic. And for those that remember it, makes us wonder why Super Mario Bros. is on the Wii Virtual Console with its tired look, instead of the great makeover.
Here are some of the games Weekly Geek suggested for makeover:
- Mega Man 2 - “Mega Man 2 really needs the Powered Up treatment. Enhanced music, a level editor, expanded gameplay … Just put it on something a bit more accessible than the PSP, mmkay?”
- Maniac Mansion - “A Wii version with beautiful hand-drawn characters and voice acting would basically make me weep with joy.”
- Secret of Mana - “One of the most visually and audibly stunning titles on the SNES, but imagine it on a current system with Squeenix’s Mana lineup. Lush environments, fully orchestrated soundtrack, cutscenes and online co-op would make this classic even classic-er.”
- The Legend of Zelda - “I would love to see a Mario All-Stars treatment for Zelda. Imagine Zelda 1 and 2 with Link to the Past or Minish Cap quality graphics and remixed music … We got a remake of the first Metroid a couple of years ago, why not your biggest cash cow, Nintendo? I’d drop a cool 1000 Wii points on that title in a heartbeat.”
- Final Fantasy VII - “Rumored, speculated, rumored some more, an updated FF7 has been the holy grail for Final Fantasy fanboys … imagine, if you will, that entire soundtrack performed by a full, real live orchestra. Beauty.”
It is disheartening to see “classic” games being dragged out on Xbox Live Arcade and Wii’s VC without some noticeable graphics enhancement. Granted, the pessimist in all of us says they’re just cheap grabs for cash. But imagine if they had that graphics upgrade, then they’d be cheap grabs for cash that we’d be totally fine with. So, what games would you put under the knife for purely superficial enhancement?
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