Freshly Sliced: Joystiq
Saturday, March 13 2010, 11:59 pm by Christopher Grant
Q4 release for Mafia 2 (re)confirmed; Payne, Noire, Civ V still on hit list
Earlier this month, Take-Two announced the potential movement of one of the titles planned for release in its fiscal fourth quarter, extending from August to October. The choices were: LA Noire, Mafia 2, Max Payne 3, or Civilization V. During our demo of Mafia 2 on Wednesday, we were told the game would make its Q4 release, removing it from the list of potentially delayed titles. If we were the betting type, we'd be looking at one of those two Rockstar titles; after all, we've seen Civilization. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 10:45 pm by Andrew Yoon
Will Wright predicts social games will grow to 25 percent of market
One of the big trends at this year's Game Developer's Conference is social gaming, thanks to wild success stories like Facebook-powered Farmville. While many see social gaming as the next big thing, Will Wright -- famed creator of SimCity, The Sims and Spore -- warned GDC attendees that expectations for the genre are unrealistic. "What people tend to do is apply a power curve to this," Wright explained using the above diagram. "And so when you make an extrapolation based upon that, you're reall. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 10:00 pm by Richard Mitchell
GDC 2010: EEDAR talks new IP strategy
Game industry analysis firm EEDAR dropped some interesting statistics during its GDC panel this year. The first half of the presentation -- hosted by EEDAR president Geoffrey Zatkin -- concerned new intellectual property in the games industry. According to Zatkin, the amount of new IP released has increased slightly over the last three years. Specifically, it was up to 22 percent in 2009, up from 17 percent in 2006. However, breaking it down by console, Zatkin stated that new IP currently compr. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 9:00 pm by Ben Gilbert
Medal of Honor trailer defines Tier One Operative (in case you were wondering)
The latest trailer for EA's upcoming reboot of the Medal of Honor series, which debuted this week on GTTV, really goes out of its way to explain exactly the kind of gentlemen you'll be piloting this summer. These guys are Tier One Operators -- "experts in the application of violence." That seems pretty self-explanatory ... but we've never been able to turn down a video featuring expertly applied violence. Check it out after the break. Gallery: Medal of HonorContinue reading Medal of Honor trail. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 8:12 pm by Ludwig Kietzmann
Impressions: Mass Effect 2 DLC - Kasumi's Stolen Memory
click to kazoomi Like some of the best loyalty quests in Mass Effect 2, "Kasumi's Stolen Memory" is an inventive sub-story that steps away from all the galactic peril just long enough to explore the motives and traits of a newly recruited squad mate. The downloadable add-on introduces Kasumi, a cocky human thief in search of data relating to a former partner (in crime?), and sees Shepard accompanying her on an important and incredibly dangerous two-person mission. You know, a date. Donning a sl. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 6:30 pm by Griffin McElroy
GDC: EA DICE on building a bite-sized Battlefield
EA DICE has been a fairly prolific developer during the current console generation, churning out both a high-profile title based on original IP (Mirror's Edge), as well as ones based on established franchises like Battlefield. EA was searching for a way to capitalize on the downtime between these blockbuster releases -- a game which would be relatively quick and painless to create, while still standing up to the quality standards set by their previous releases. Thus, the idea for Battlefield 19. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 5:00 pm by Ben Gilbert
Ex-Infinity Ward heads now represented by Creative Artists Agency
In the video game industry, the talent (read: game developers) are often "hired guns," if you will -- part of a developer that is either wholly owned by a publisher (i.e. Infinity Ward's relationship with Activision) or a developer that's being contracted for development by a publisher (i.e. Ruffian Games' relationship with Microsoft). Rarely, if ever, is an individual (or individuals, as is the case here) represented by a talent agency, nonetheless a fancy, bigtime Hollywood one like Creative. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 3:30 pm by Andrew Yoon
BioWare's Christina Norman defines goals for Mass Effect 3
In a panel titled "Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2," BioWare's Christina Norman talked about the radical changes made to the second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy. A key goal for Mass Effect 2 was to introduce "more satisfying combat," with an "intense feel" missing from the first game. One of the admitted failures of the first Mass Effect game was the incongruity between its look and feel: it looked like a shooter, but it didn't exactly play like one. With tha. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 2:00 pm by Kevin Kelly
Interview: Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells
Evan Wells doesn't look like he's old enough to be co-president of Naughty Dog, does he? Even after shepherding Uncharted 2 through development, which has picked up just about every award on the planet, he still maintains his youthful vim and vigor. While we don't know what his eternal youth secret is, he did give us the inside scoop on the workings at Naughty Dog when we spoke with him at GDC. Besides letting us know about their new studio and the hectic days just before shipping Uncharted 2,. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 1:30 pm by Randy Nelson
PlayStation Home population at 12 million
PlayStation Home director Jack Buser kicked off Sony's final day of GDC 2010 panels, announcing that the virtual community's worldwide userbase now stands at 12 million. The population has grown by two million users since December 2009, and is double of what it was in June of last year. Buser expanded on the stats, pointing out that these numbers aren't based on one-off visits; according to Sony's data, 85 percent of users who create a Home avatar return more than once. The average citizen, he. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 12:30 pm by Ben Gilbert
XBLM listing reveals 5 maps, 2 CoD4 remakes in MW2 'Stimulus Package' DLC
We may still be waiting for a the "spring" release of Modern Warfare 2's first DLC ("Stimulus Package"), but thanks to an early Xbox Live Marketplace listing for the map pack, we aren't in the dark anymore as to its contents. The blurb reveals the pack will contain "5 additional action-packed maps," including three all new ones ("Bailout, Storm, and Salvage") as well as two remakes from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ("Crash" and "Overgrown"). "Bailout" is said to be "a multi-layered apartment. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 12:00 pm by Christopher Grant
Fable 2 episodic experiment deemed 'massively successful' by Molyneux
At the tail end of our GDC interview with Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, we remembered one more question we simply had to know: How well did Fable 2's episodic experiment go? We'll refresh your memory: Last August, Molyneux announced plans to release Fable 2 as a series of five downloadable "episodes," with the first one given away and the subsequent four priced at $10 each. Molyneux's response: "That was hugely successful. There were something like over half a million. I think it was 600,000 downl. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 10:30 am by Ben Gilbert
Square Enix job listing reveals preparation for 'next generation platforms'
Sony may have a 10 year plan for PS3, and Microsoft may be extending the life of the 360 with Project Natal -- heck, even Nintendo has repeatedly stated it's sticking with the Wii -- but Square Enix is reading between the lines and gearing up for the next generation of gaming regardless. IGN spotted a listing over at the official Square Enix website that seeks a variety of technical positions "in anticipation of the appearance of next generation platforms." From 3D graphics core programmers to. […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 4:00 am by Richard Mitchell
GDC 2010 Microtalks: Big ideas, tiny speeches
The GDC 2010 Microtalks session was a frazzling experience in many ways. The format of the event essentially assures it. Ten lecturers -- all from different sectors of the game industry -- each spoke for five minutes and each were allowed to use 20 different slides. Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand set the stage for the speakers, announcing the theme of the talks as "come play with us." The goal of the microtalks, said Lemarchand, was to help game creators capture the "radicalizing exuberance". […]
Saturday, March 13 2010, 1:00 am by Randy Nelson
Overheard@GDC: The Cliff Bleszinski Pie Analogy
[Flickr: Ephemeron] "Save your fork, there'll be pie. The game is the fork and the pie is the DLC." -Cliff Bleszinski After confessing to having a big appetite for Borderlands, the Gears of War developer used the pie analogy to explain to Joystiq how games without any sort of DLC "hooks" are becoming increasingly rare.Overheard@GDC: The Cliff Bleszinski Pie Analogy originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this |. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 11:00 pm by JC Fletcher
White House courts devs to make healthy eating games
In a video presentation at the Game Developers Choice Awards, White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra discussed the Apps for Healthy Kids project, a plan to encourage game developers to collaborate with government to work against childhood obesity. The latest component, an Apps for Healthy Kids contest tasks game developers with creating games that help encourage good exercise and diet habits among kids and give parents information about what their children eat -- with $40,000 in priz. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 10:00 pm by Alexander Sliwinski
ESA says Rhode Island game bill is unconstitutional, Jack Thompson ... agrees?
[Joe King] Rhode Island bill S.2156 (PDF) is silly ... (How silly is it?) ... It's so silly that even Jack Thompson recognizes it as unconstitutional. As GamePolitics reports, it's one thing when the Entertainment Software Associate (ESA) calls a bill "the same as all the other legislative proposals found unconstitutional by numerous federal courts." It's a whole other ballgame when Jack Thompson chimes in with, "The Bill won't survive a court challenge, nor should it ... Think I'm not going to. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 9:00 pm by JC Fletcher
Metareview: Yakuza 3
Plenty of attention has been lavished on one nontraditional Japanese RPG this week -- but Sega sneaked out another one alongside Final Fantasy XIII. Luckily, enough reviewers remembered that Yakuza 3 exists to provide a decent swath of reviews. While it's certain to be the best game this week about playing fictional arcade shooters, singing karaoke with dates from hostess clubs and hitting gangsters with street signs, how did Kazuma Kiryu's latest saga fare under more common rubrics? IGN (8.5/10. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 8:00 pm by Alexander Sliwinski
WRUP: Gee-Dee-See you at PAX East edition
March is packed! Great game releases, with plenty of industry announcements and kerfuffles going on. With that said, if you missed any of our Game Developers Conference 2010 coverage this week, be sure to check it out -- a lot happened. We'll also be adding some more GDC coverage over the weekend. Once that's put to bed, we have about two weeks and then it's on to PAX East, the inaugural edition of the consumer conference. We have plenty planned for PAX East, including the Blueberry Muffin Top. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 7:30 pm by Ben Gilbert
More FIFA World Cup 2010 media than you can shake a red card at
We know, we know -- we've been desperately waiting for more new media on April's South Africa-themed FIFA release as well, and today we've finally got some more. Arriving care of GDC 2010, EA Sports released the trailer you see above and the smattering of new screens seen below (for Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 as well as the Wii). The trailer urges players to take their own country's team to the World Cup, though we should issue a word of warning to those of you in the contiguous United States who ch. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 6:58 pm by David Hinkle
OTOY to launch in 'Q2 2010' through AMD partnership
Y'know, OnLive and Gaikai aren't the only game-streaming services on the block. OTOY has been laying low for a minute, but the "other" game streaming service has finally made its big announcement: it's going to release in Q2 2010. In fact, OTOY isn't just a service for streaming games; there are now claims of streaming movies, PC applications and "other graphically-intensive applications" to any mobile device with a web browser. OTOY will employ AMD Fusion Render Cloud technology, a CPU/GPU ser. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 6:30 pm by David Hinkle
Brink trailer showcases acrobatic, lanky dudes
Whomever compiled this Brink trailer must have enjoyed themself some Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, because we swear we've only seen dudes stylishly dodge projectiles like that in a Hideo Kojima game. But, we digress. There are plenty of other noteworthy things, but if you're looking for actual in-game footage, you won't find it throughout the three minutes of video above. But, hey, if the CG is any indication, there will be lots of action to look forward to in Brink. That and curiously tal. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 5:57 pm by Griffin McElroy
GDC hands-on: Deadliest Warrior (XBLA)
Okay, honesty time. Most of the preparation for my GDC appointment to check out Pipework Foundation's TV-to-game adaptation Deadliest Warrior was spent thinking up jokes about the game's cast of anachronistic characters. "So, what are we looking at," I would snidely remark, "Templars? Cavemen? Wizards? Robots? Robot Cavemen? Grizzly bears?" To which Pipework would politely laugh, as I would insist, "No, seriously. What's the grizzly bear situation?" I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the game. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 5:30 pm by Griffin McElroy
Seen@GDC: Some weird things happened at Harmonix's Rock Band event
You've already seen the (arguably) most newsworthy video we filmed during Wednesday's Rock Band Bar Night event hosted by Harmonix at GDC. However, our Flip Cam captured a few other magic moments which we'd be remiss if we kept to ourselves. They're not the most news-y videos we've ever posted on our own site, though one of them does feature a preview of the upcoming Lady Gaga DLC. That's gotta be worth something, right? Watch the whole sideshow after the jump.Continue reading Seen@GDC: Some we. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 5:00 pm by Ludwig Kietzmann
Sam & Max PSN pre-orders start March 18; other console versions a 'definite possibility'
Sam and Max will bring their off-kilter humor to PlayStation 3 for the first time in The Devil's Playhouse: The Penal Zone, the first episode in a new season of Telltale's episodic adventure series. In a first for the PlayStation Store, the full season -- consisting of five monthly episodes -- will become available for pre-order on March 18, nearly a month before The Penal Zone launches on April 15. While PC and Mac owners will receive substantial benefits for pre-ordering the full season, incl. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 4:31 pm by JC Fletcher
Nintendo's Sakamoto: No Wii Kid Icarus now, but possible
[VGMuseum] If there's a Kid Icarus reboot in the works somewhere at Nintendo, Metroid: Other M producer Yoshio Sakamoto, who worked on the original NES game, doesn't know anything about it. "I don't know personally about any project underway regarding Kid Icarus," Sakamoto told Kotaku, "but if so many of those people are interested in it and really want to see it on the Wii, they should really speak up." It's not as simple as making a Zelda game with flight, apparently (that's our guess for wha. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 4:09 pm by David Hinkle
Gene Simmons: 'I'm the voice of Guitar Hero 6'
"I'm the voice of Guitar Hero 6," says KISS front man Gene Simmons during a video clip produced by Game On, a division of UK media site ITN. And that's all he says. The clip -- view it after the break -- has been removed from the context of what's assumed to be a full interview and essentially turns Simmons' statement into a gag line. Still, Simmons does appear to be the first "official" spokesperson to outright name the next iteration of Guitar Hero, albeit unofficially. Activision previously. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 3:35 pm by JC Fletcher
OnLive to offer 'OnLive Game Portal' service without monthly fee
The pricing scheme announced this week by OnLive, in which you'd pay $15 a month for the privilege of buying and renting games, won't be the only way to interact with the streaming service. In addition to that "OnLive Game Service," the company will open an "OnLive Game Portal" sometime after the June 17 launch of the main service. It sounds a lot like the browser-based streaming offered by competitor Gaikai. The Game Portal is a free browser-based service that allows streaming of a selection of. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 3:00 pm by Alexander Sliwinski
Liked Battle Chess? Meet Battle vs. Chess
Battle vs. Chess appears to bring Battle Chess to a new generation, with a similar hook and a name that just skirts a potential copyright lawsuit. With "upbeat combat visuals & mechanics," the game sounds like a modern update of the classic chess game that let us watch chess pieces beat the stuffing out of each other. There don't appear to be any videos showing BvC's animations. The real draw of the original Battle Chess was each piece had a unique way of dispatching its foe -- a modern update. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 2:32 pm by Ben Gilbert
Molyneux: Motion gaming is making devs 'sweat'
You hear that, developers? You should be shakin' in yer boots -- motion-based gaming is going to force you to throw away everything you've ever learned about game design and start anew. At least that's what Lionhead's Peter Molyneux (not so exaggeratedly) had to say when quizzed on the subject of the "arms race" between the big three for waggle supremacy. "All of this stuff is making all the designers sweat -- I've met lots of designers at GDC, and we're all very bleary-eyed at the moment becau. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 2:03 pm by Christopher Grant
Interview: Metroid: Other M producer Yoshio Sakamoto
After delivering a GDC panel on his cinematic inspiration, we met with Metroid: Other M producer Yoshio Sakamoto to ask him about everything from collaborating with Team Ninja, lessons learned from Metroid Prime, the newfound focus on story in the Metroid universe, and whether or not he played Chair's Super Metroid love letter, Shadow Complex. Read on! Can you tell us about the process of working with Team Ninja. Who does what design-wise and technology-wise? Yoshio Sakamoto: The original desig. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 1:30 pm by JC Fletcher
More APB beta invites going out
Did you miss out on the APB beta last year? Tipsters have begun alerting us that a new wave of invites is going out. If you still want an early look at Realtime Worlds' massively multithug online game, you should probably head over to the site and apply now. At least with the knowledge that more invites are going out, there seems to be more chance that you'd be able to get one now, right? While you're on pins and needles about your potential beta invite, why not read this Eurogamer interview wit. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 1:00 pm by JC Fletcher
Ubisoft confirms demo for Splinter Cell Conviction
In a video answering fan questions, Splinter Cell Conviction Creative Director Maxime Béland revealed the existence of a demo for the highly anticipated sneaking-guy game. "Yes, there will be one. I can't tell you what map or when it's going to be released yet. My lips are sealed." Warning us in advance of the demo's release date would run counter to the whole 'stealth' theme, we suppose. We first heard of a demo for Conviction from an Ubi employee known only as "Adam," and before that had only. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 12:30 pm by JC Fletcher
BlazBlue Continuum Shift trailer blazes appropriately
With the Japanese console release of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift approaching, publisher Arc System Works sent out a new trailer of the HD fighting followup. Instead of uninterrupted footage of giant sprites brawling, Arc has presented what looks like the game's intro, a hyperkinetic anime clip featuring dramatic poses, exciting fight sequences, and ... the Earth being shot from orbit? At the end of the trailer, after the release date, is a brief reminder of the new character added to the console v. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 12:00 pm by Ben Gilbert
Codemasters VP casually reveals Dirt 3
Up until now, we hadn't the slightest inclination that Codemasters was hard at work on a third installment in the rallycross racing series, Dirt. According to a recent interview with Edge, though, studio vice prez Gavin Cheshire confirms not only the game's development, but also says, "there's some really great stuff coming from Birmingham that's going into Dirt 3." Cheshire was being interviewed on the subject of Codemasters as one of the last "big British publishers" when he revealed the publ. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 11:30 am by Ludwig Kietzmann
GDC: 'Among Friends: An Uncharted 2 Post-mortem'
There is one drawback to seeing Uncharted 2's co-lead designer, Richard Lemarchand, unfurl the development process behind the most successful and most ambitious game in the studio's history. A post-mortem panel, held on Thursday afternoon at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, delved into developer Naughty Dog's pre-production process, its production pipeline and the climactic rush to a spectacular end. It also highlighted some of the studio's misjudgments, which resulted in a diff. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 11:00 am by Ben Gilbert
Rumor: Infinity Ward employees not leaving due to unpaid royalties, morale 'extremely low'
According to a report on Kotaku, a "source" has told the site that the remaining Infinity Ward developers still working for Activision in the wake of the recent leadership shakeup are holding out on leaving the company for now due to royalties owed by the publisher. As claimed by ex-Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West in their recent complaint against Activision (with regards to themselves, that is), the publisher is allegedly holding out on promised royalties owed to the entire c. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 10:30 am by James Ransom-Wiley
NPD: BioShock 2 Feb. PS3 sales just shy of 200k mark
Having printed and shipped more than 3 million copies of BioShock 2 across the seas, publisher Take-Two is clearly leaning on its sequel to provide a strong sale wind to push the company through another successful quarter. Following its February 9 release, the Xbox 360 version of BioShock 2 cruised up the US sales charts, anchoring in the peak position, according to the NPD's monthly report. For the PS3 version, the journey was not such a breeze, as it appeared to have come up against some bad. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 10:00 am by Alexander Sliwinski
Rock Band Weekly Redux: Lady Gaga, Cartman, 3 Doors Down, Mute Math, The Subways
Lady Gaga was already announced for Rock Band's DLC update next week -- but she's bringing friends along. The pop sensation will be joined by some, ahem, actual rock bands. Check out next week's full list of releases after the break.Continue reading Rock Band Weekly Redux: Lady Gaga, Cartman, 3 Doors Down, Mute Math, The SubwaysRock Band Weekly Redux: Lady Gaga, Cartman, 3 Doors Down, Mute Math, The Subways originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms fo. […]
Friday, March 12 2010, 9:30 am by David Hinkle
Nintendo sells 1.9 million DS and Wiis through Feb. 2010
Following last night's NPD report for February, Nintendo has issued a press release lauding the amazing selling power of its own products. In typical fashion, the gaming giant that got your grandma into gaming has managed to sell a ridiculous amount of DS and Wii systems in the U.S. -- 1.9 million in the first two months of 2010, to be exact. As impressive as that 1.9 million figure is, Nintendo's ability to break its own records is even more impressive. In selling 613,000 DS units throughout F. […]
