Joystiq
Joystiq
■Facebreaker trailers give idea of gameplay
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports
The latest Facebraker profile (above) is of Steve, your typical fat nerd cliché. We've also placed the video for Romeo after the break. With a September release as part of EA Sports' new Freestyle brand, we're looking forward to getting some hands-on time with Facebreaker at E3. Hopefully the gameplay will enhance the fun and diminish the creepiness we feel in these trailers.
Continue reading Facebreaker trailers give idea of gameplay
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments■GamePolitics speaks with federal game bill sponsor, ESA deems bill unconstitutional
Filed under: Culture, Politics
GamePolitics has an interview with Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb), one of the congressmen, along with Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), attempting to pass a federal law forcing retailers to check IDs before selling M- and AO-rated games. One of the better moments in the interview is when GP asks Rep. Terry what game he was talking about when he stated there are titles players could score point for virtual rape. Terry responded, "That's a good question. I don't know of any [specific games] offhand... I just used the rape, pillage and plunder line..."
The ESA has publicly come out against the bill, with CEO Mike Gallagher saying that the bill is unconstitutional. He states the ESA shares the representatives' goals of "ensuring children are playing parent-approved computer and video games," but points out that all consoles now have parental settings which can be used to make sure kids play only the games their parents allow.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
■EA takes out $1 billion loan for Take-Two acquisition
Filed under: Business
Electronic Arts has received commitments for a $1 billion loan from various financial institutions toward its acquisition of Take-Two. The company has up until January 9, 2009 to tap the funds in its $2 billion hostile takeover and there's been no update on the deal since Take-Two's last rejection.
GamePolitics spoke with Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter who says that after the Pandemic/BioWare acquisition that EA is a little strapped for cash. He believes the timing of this loan isn't "particularly unusual" and it could be possible that EA might make a higher bid for Take-Two.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
■EA wants you to "Skate It" on Wii and DS
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sports
Much to the disappointment of many a Stephen King fan, the "It" meant to be skated is not, in fact, the psychotic clown that gobbles up kids and makes your tea turn into blood. Skate It's executive producer, Scott Blackwood, tells IGN (you know, those guys who unofficially revealed Skate's Wii and DS incarnations last month) that the "It" is largely up to you. "Rails, pools, ledges, banks, mega-ramps, gnarly downhill streets ... you make the call."
Blackwood explains that the team behind the well-received original game "are working co-operatively with partner studios to make Skate It," with DS development duties handled by UK developer Exient. Why bother bringing Skate to the Wii? Blackwood is glad you asked: "It's all about bringing that authentic Skate feeling to the Wii remote and stylus, or and for the full on immersive types, the Wii Balance Board." And here we thought a port of Sega's Top Skater would be the first one to let us do an alley-oop in the living room.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
■BioWare drops 10-day validation from Mass Effect PC
Filed under: PC, Action, RPGs, Business
After stirring up a hornets' nest of gamer contempt last week by announcing that the forthcoming PC flavor of Mass Effect would require re-validation every 10 days, BioWare community manager Jay Watamaniuk has come forward as the voice of reason on the game's official forums, stating that the developer has now removed the "feature" from the game.
Instead of employing the previously revealed DRM madness, Watamaniuk explained that Mass Effect will include just a one time online authentication, allowing players to play the game once validated without the disc in the drive at all. That said, if any new content is downloaded, the game will again have to bite the disc to make sure it's real. The caveat to all of this, however, is that each Mass Effect purchase will only be able to be installed a maximum of three times, news that has again incited us to pick up our torches and pitchforks and join the mob outside.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
■This Week in Review visits LittleBigPlanet
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360
Sure, there was Europe's PlayStation Day event, but our favorite Sony news of the week was PS3 Fanboy's hands-on time with the most exciting, most adorable, most user-generated, most sackboy-prevalent game coming to the PS3. Now that's a lot of mosts. Check out all of our hands-on impressions and reviews from the Joystiq Network this week:
PlayStation 3
- Haze (Demo hands-on)
- LittleBigPlanet (Hands-on)
- Super Stardust HD (Versus mode hands-on)
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Permalink | Email this | Comments■Gears of War 2 gameplay footage debut
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Video
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Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments■Today in Joystiq: May 9, 2008
Reader Brian C sent us these images along with the following description: "As I was on my way back to work I was driving to my parking spot when all of a sudden I quickly slammed on my breaks. After sitting in awe for a few minutes with a huge smile on my face, I figured I would grab the camera and take a few shots for everyone. Included are shots of a 5' tall Mario sculpture created by Kelly Barnett of Vassar College. The pictures are no testament to how truly awesome this thing is!" Check out the highlights for today:
Joystiquery
Ask Joystiq helps protect your DS screen
Counting Rupees: GTA IV vs. Iron Man
DS Fanboy Lite: May 3 - May 9
Highlights from Activision's FY08 earnings call
Joystiq hands-on: Roogoo (XBLA)
Joystiq hands-on: Super Stardust HD Versus mode
Joystiq Podcast 049 - Ruined edition
News
Bizarre Creations finished with PGR4, hands DLC duties to Microsoft
No Tony Hawk in 2008
EA, Criterion bringing Burnout Paradise to PCs
Ninja Gaiden II to get three costume packs in July
Atari gets delisted by Nasdaq
Gran Turismo series ships more than 50 million globally
Guitar Hero hits 15 million song downloads
Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero on Tour bundles coming this June
A 'significant leap' for Guitar Hero due this holiday for consoles and DS
Call of Duty 5 in 'new military theater', returns series to PS2 and Wii
Bizarre Creations's new racing IP due FY 2010
New Bond game Quantum of Solace runs on COD4 engine, launching with movie
Rock Band Weekly: Sonic Youth, The Clash and Blondie
A dwarven explosion of Wrath of the Lich King info
First Gears of War 2 gameplay video on Xbox Live tonight
XSEED inks Marvelous deal, Valhalla Knights II confirmed
Minnesota game law's only recourse is Supreme Court
Tecmo returning to E3 this year
EA purchases Napster creator's social networking site
Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: GTA IV DLC going coast to coast, Niko books ticket to San Andreas
Culture & Community
Kids finding it harder to buy M-rated games
Gametrailers begins Metal Gear retrospective
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■Joystiq hands-on: Roogoo (XBLA)
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Puzzle
Heard of Roogoo? Don't worry if you haven't. It's fallen a little under the radar, but our recent hands-on with this XBLA title has us hankering for more. Describing the game's premise does it little justice, simply because it seems like something that would barely entertain a three year old. However, under the game's cute exterior and almost-mindlessly simple gameplay lies a lot of depth and fun.
Roogoo follows one of the cardinal rules of the puzzle genre: inexplicably, things are falling from the sky. Blocks of various shapes will descend from above, and players must rotate platforms to allow these shapes to continue their journey downward. We're certain you've played with preschool toys that are similar to this: star goes in star, triangle goes in triangle, box goes in box, etc. The shoulder buttons rotate the platforms, and the A button lets you accelerate the falling piece.
As we warned, this description does little to make the game sound very entertaining. Trust me, I had the same reservations as you're probably thinking when approaching this title. However, things get surprisingly (almost embarassingly) difficult later on. Enemies will spawn in holes, and can only be knocked off by accelerating blocks on their heads. Blocks won't only come down faster, but they'll come down more than one at a time, forcing players to look at multiple levels of play at the same time. Jumping to one of the later levels had us reach miserable failure in a matter of seconds, as we collapsed under the overwhelming weight of colorful children's blocks.
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Permalink | Email this | Comments■EA purchases Napster creator's social networking site
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
Shawn Fanning has been doing more than simply riding high on the Napster phenomenon and appearing in Volkswagon commercials. In 2006, he created a new social networking site called Rupture, which shares game achievements from Halo 3, WoW, Madden 08 and other games with your friends. Now, EA is purchasing Rupture in a $30 million deal, making Fanning a happy, happy man (again).
Electronic Arts will be most likely utilizing the technology behind Rupture -- which never left its closed beta phase -- to improve its own online multiplayer experiences. As for Fanning, this is his first truly successful venture, following the bankruptcy of Napster, and the modest sub-5mil acquisition of SnoCap, the young entrepreneur's second company.
[Via Massively]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
■Ask Joystiq helps protect your DS screen
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Features
This week on Ask Joystiq, we help you protect those scratch-loving screens on the Nintendo DS. If you have any burning questions, unsolved gaming mysteries, or just a desire for musings from our knowledgeable cadre of writers, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com (and yes, we write it that way for a reason).Q: Do you guys have a preference for which DS Lite screen protectors to use? I've heard from people that the Hori branded ones make the screen less responsive which is something I don't want for my Elite Beat Agent sessions. So I'm basically looking for DS screen protectors that manages to retain much of the sensitivity of the touch screens, any suggestions?
-- Matthew C
Response after the break.
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