Author Archive
Today’s “everything’s fine, honey” video: Biohazard Wii edition
Everyone looks like this when they play a terrifying game on the Wii, right? Totally relaxed, chilling in some Gap-esque clothing, sipping tea, blowing away zombies … just another Sunday afternoon. Have you ever seen a couple looking so happy?
The live-action half of the commercial actually looks like a fun game, popping a cap in zombies around your living room. Good thing the guy didn’t miss, would his Wii-bullets have taken out some of that IKEA looking shelving?
[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
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Today’s most changing video: Wii transform
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Video, Casual
Check out the full on transforming antics of the different Nintendo systems through the ages. We’d love to see Optimus Prime try this out. Where is version 2.0 with all the different handhelds? We mean you too, Virtual Boy.
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Over 100,000 gamers sign up for Age of Conan beta test
Filed under: Culture, PC, Action, Adventure, Online, RPGs, MMO
If you haven’t already signed up to get into Hyboria in the Age of Conan beta test, you might want to try before they slam the gates shut. They had over 50,000 wannabe barbarians sign up during the first 24 hours of the signup period, and a total of over 100,000 over easter weekend.
Apparently they made the signup process a bit difficult in order to “avoid gamers that were simply looking for a free trial of the game.” So, if you’re looking for a free trial of the game, just work a bit harder during signup. With this game winning “Best MMO of E3″ from several different sources, it’ll only get more and more popular. Unless the beta ends making gamers shout “By Crom!” in frustration.
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Today’s most educational video: learn Kanji and sweet dancing
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Casual
There’s a few DS applications out there that’ll teach you Kanji … but do any of them teach you how to dance the robot as well?
Check out the commercial for Tadashii Kanji and see what you’ve been missing. A new alphabet and some sweet dance moves … where can you go wrong?
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Bartering in Warcraft, trading mounts for mounts
Filed under: Culture, PC, Action, Adventure, Online, RPGs, MMO, Business, Casual
While gold farming is running rampant through all of World of Warcraft, another type of trading altogether has appeared: sex for gold. A woman has posted a Craig’s List ad, picked up by Primal Devolution, looking for 5,000 gold in order to buy her epic mount (zing).
In exchange you get … her. “I play a level 70 night elf druid and would prefer someone who was into roleplaying (I have a costume!) boy honestly anyone will do, as long long as you have the gold. I would also be ok with a woman too, as long as you have the gold!”
She wants to see a picture of your character with the gold … oh yeah, and you have to be drug / disease free. Yikes folks, just … yikes.
[Thanks, Cips]
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If you shoved a giant TV through a wall … you might be a redneck
Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Casual
GamerDeals shows off a pimped out redneck flat screen system that shows the wonders you can work in small spaces with just a little bit of ingenuity, some know-how, and a lot of muscle. This adheres to the old DIY adage, “If it don’t fit, just give it a good shove.”
The real question here though is … what makes that house redneckish? Other than the guy who submitted it calling it redneck-style, it looks fairly decent to us, although we’re not talking about the giant hole in the wall. Hopefully he didn’t have to go through anything load-bearing.
[Thanks, Fargo]
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Today’s duckiest video: Rockin’ Duck Hunt
Filed under: Culture, Retro, Adventure, First Person Shooters, Video
Retro love is everywhere these days, including this hard rockin’ Duck Hunt video, complete with sounds and graphics from the Nintendo classic and clever usage of the light gun as a microphone. Plus, if that isn’t enough, the guy’s name is Robby Roadsteamer.
“I got a Duck Hunt, in my brain! Ready to take you out!”
Classic.
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Leaked Xbox 360 keyboard controller attachment, Voltron jealous
Filed under: Culture, Hacks, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
[Update: It's official. More information and higher resolution pics of the rendering here.]
With Gamespot and other sites leaking details about the upcoming Dashboard updates to the 360, you’ve gotta wonder how text messaging between the 360 and Windows users will work. Typing out even the briefest of messages using the 360 Controller is a lesson in patience; it’s easier to record and send a voice message than it is to hammer out “LOL WRU?” on that thing. Enter this Xbox 360 snap-on qwerty keyboard attachment — conveniently also leaked (and now pulled) by Gamespot — which will be available in the summer for an unknown price. Luckily Engadget snagged some shots before they disappeared into the ether. One more after the break.
Continue reading Leaked Xbox 360 keyboard controller attachment, Voltron jealous
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Today’s “looks good on paper” video: Super Paper Mario commercial
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Action, Adventure, Video
You’ve already been able to see some of our impressions of Super Paper Mario from GDC and watch the first 30 minutes of the gameplay, but watch the first TV commercial? Not until now.
The “Wii would like to play” campaign is slightly creepy, just because we don’t want shadowy Nintendo agents watching us while we get our game on … but if they come bearing Wiis and games, we wont complain too loudly.
You can also watch the introduction of the game after the jump. It’s a lot shorter than the 30 minute gameplay video, and much easier on the patience. With all of the videos available, where’s the game already? Looks like fun.
Continue reading Today’s “looks good on paper” video: Super Paper Mario commercial
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Today’s realistic video: GTA IV trailer in real life
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Driving, Fighting, Simulations, Video
While its not a down-to-the-finite-details replica of the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer, it’s pretty darned spot-on. If you factor in that he made it using only clips that he could find on YouTube, it’s even more amazing. When they cut to that one shot of the actor … you’ll be wondering if they used that for the actual game trailer.
It’s even more impressive that he was able to make it so close to the actual thing within his YouTube confines. Does this mean the GTA IV trailer-creators used very familiar scenes in and around New York? Or is it a sign that YouTube is just that much closer to taking over the world?
We may never know.
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Today’s hand-drawn video: Super Smash Bros.
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Retro, Action, Fighting, Video
It’s cute, it’s simple, and it’s better than a slew of video games we’ve been playing lately. We give you Super Smash Bros., in hand-drawn animation. A sweeping cinematic score only underlines the awesomeness of this fine video.
Nintendo, if you want to save some money, get someone on this project, pronto. Release it, rake in the dough, and we’ll have something to tide us over until the real game comes out. Trust us.
Make sure you watch until the very … end?
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Confessions of … a video game store customer
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business, Casual
Everyone is fessing up these days, is it something in the air? The fact that Easter is fast approaching? Imminent doom and gloom? Whatever it is, everyone wants to get something off their chest. First it was game store clerks, and now it’s the other side of the counter … game store customers.
Shamoozal has the sin-filled confessions of just such a customer. It’s well-worth a read, especially for quotes like this:
- No, we don’t want to pre-order Halo 3, GTA4 or Metal Gear 4. I’m pretty confident Best Buy will have a small munitions depot worth of them the day they come out. I really don’t want the strategy guide for Elite Beat Agents either thanks, I think I’ll manage. Thanks for the $3 you gave me for that G.R.A.W. trade-in, I look forward to putting it towards the tax for G.R.A.W. 2.
We’d tell you more, but we have to go cancel some pre-orders. Whoops.
[Thanks, Giggas]
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Today’s game over video: The End of the World of Warcraft
Filed under: Culture, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, Online, RPGs, Video, Competitive Gaming, MMO
One man decides to give up the World of Warcraft, for another addiction entirely, and the result is an experiment in cinematical over-the-topness. Sweeping soundtracks, fighting, Burning Crusade Collector’s Editions flying through the air … what more could you ask for?
If you’re going to give something up, it’s probably best to do in a grand way, involving videotape, your friends, trailers for other games, and lots of slow-motion. One thing everyone is asking though, would you go mental living in that house?
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Battlestar Galactica open source project is frackin’ sweet
Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Mac, PC, Action, Adventure, Simulations
Listen up, nuggets. You’re in a Colonial Viper. You’ve got no wingman, three inbound Cylon Heavy Raiders, and you just spotted a Basestar several klicks away. What do you do? Choose your own adventure:
- Whiz your flight suit.
- Call for backup and fire up your FTL drive
- Hammer down the trigger and go for the gold
Now you can actually make the call yourself. The open source Beyond the Red Line project based on Battlestar Galactica has finally released demos of the game for the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. We downloaded it and took it for a spin. While there’s a fairly steep learning curve (much easier to deal with if you’ve played Freespace 2 a lot), the space combat and in-game elements are slick.
The game is powered by the new and improved Freespace 2 engine, although it’s entirely standalone so you don’t need Freespace to play it. They’ve put together their own audio for the entire demo, which includes original characters, voice acting, and soundtrack pieces from Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs (composers for the show), online multiplayer that actually works, and it’s own storyline. In fact, if you haven’t seen season two, you’ll want to avoid the game for the spoilers.
While there aren’t any Six models in here, we like what they’ve put together so far. Plus our favorite word “free” is sandwiched in there too. It’ll give you something to do until the next season starts … in 2008.
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Another lucky Stacker video: guy wins an Xbox 360
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Video, Casual
Okay, so we’ve had videos of people winning both Wii and now an Xbox 360 in these Stacker machines for (we hope) like a buck or two. Where’s the PlayStation 3 to complete the trifecta? Heck, we’d even settle for some video of a Nintendo DS or a PlayStation Portable sliding down the chute as a fairly worthwhile substitute.
One thing is for sure, whoever makes the Stacker games has to be loving all of this. As our own beloved Ludwig Kietzmann put it, “I want a video of someone winning a Stacker machine from a Stacker machine. ” Ditto.
On a side note: this video isn’t nearly as swear-filled as the Wii one. Yet another innovation from Nintendo, non-stop cursing. Zing! In fact, the whole video is a lot more sedate. The guy just sort of calmly walks away, vanishing into the night.
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School of Rock: free Guitar Hero strategy guide
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox 360, Video, Rhythm
If there’s one thing we like, it’s a really well-done strategy guide. Add the words free and video to that guide, and you had us at free. The video part is just a bonus. It sure beats the old days of searching Usenet and praying that someone had posted a way to beat the uber-boss on level nine.
GameAlmighty has put together a top-notch strategy guide for Guitar Hero to help you rock yourself to high-scores. It does get a bit dry at times, but thankfully the videos are brief and informative. It’s not quite a face-melting tribute to rockmania, but it’ll improve your thrashing for sure.
However, it probably won’t help you if you’ve got whammy bar problems.
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Today’s throwbackiest video: Atari Pole Position commercial from the 80s
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Retro, Action, Driving, Video, Competitive Gaming
“HEY! You look like a jerk!”
Any commercial that starts off like this is gold in our book. We can’t remember seeing a commercial so disproportionally different from the actual gameplay experience. Even the raw processing power *ahem* of the Atari 5200 couldn’t make Pole Position look this exciting.
You’ve got 80s metal, crazy haircuts, wacky family racing, and something that’ll leave skidmarks on your soul. We need more commercials like this for video games.
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Disney’s Tower of Terror ride meets Half Life 2 mod
Filed under: Culture, Hacks, PC, Action, First Person Shooters, Simulations, Video, Casual
You have to have several things before you set out to make a mod like this. One is a real love for Disney’s Tower of Terror ride, either at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, or Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim. Next is a pretty good sense of coding and mapping, especially for Half-Life 2 mods. The third is … an incredible amount of free time.
If you’ve ever ridden either of the rides, then you can tell that this is pretty much an exact replica. The only thing missing are the whiny kids in line, and the overt screamers as the ride plunges down. They also managed to shove the actual audio from the ride in here too, making it that much more authentic.
We’d love to see the whole Magic Kingdon modded in Half Life someday, complete with people in line that you can move out of the way with the Gravity Gun.
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World’s luckiest video: guy wins a Wii from a crummy mall arcade game
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Retro, Nintendo Wii, Video, Business, Casual
Note: the embedded video above is definitely NSFW, or NSFH(ome) if you have little kids running around, because it contains some pretty strong language.
It shows something we all thought could never be done — one really lucky sucker winning the big prize from a Stacker game. The same kind you see in malls, movie theater lobbies, and Wal-Mart vestibules around the country. We’ve spent our fair share of quarters in them, trying to score much lesser prizes, like copies of Outlaw Golf.
Now someone just please try and explain to us why Wiis are sold out across the country, yet sitting in Stacker machines where people can win them for a buck? Perhaps it’s all part of a secret new marketing campaign from Nintendo. Now to start looking for more Stacker games …
[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
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Guitar Hero going mobile, just like The Who
Filed under: Arcade, Culture, Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Wireless, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Simulations, Rhythm, Mobile
Hands On Mobile, Inc. announced today that they have entered into an agreement with Activision to produce a Guitar Hero mobile game for handhelds. While we aren’t sure if that means cell phones, PlayStation Portables, Nintendo DSs, Game Boy Advances, HP calculators or all of the above, it’s further proof of the massive juggernaut that is the Guitar Hero franchise. Although this franchise was announced before, then canceled, it’s now apparently been reborn.
Plus with the announcement earlier today of Harmonix’ Rock Band, Ubisoft’s Jam Sessions for the DS, and even the Mother 3 soundtrack being made available on iTunes — it’s clear that games and music are currently making waves. It’s like the horror genre in movie theaters right now. Soon you’ll be seeing things like Hammered Dulcimer Champion and Harmonica Savior hitting store shelves.
We here at Joystiq are really holding out for Kazoo Knights. Wake us when the announcement is on the way.
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