by Justin McElroy Sep 5th 2008 2:50PM
Filed under: Podcasts
In this week's Allspark-powered show, we say hello to Boston PAX and 360 price cuts, goodbye to Jeff Green and "we'll probably never, ever see you" to the
Buffy MMO. Also, somebody's going to win a copy of
Castle Crashers, and if you don't listen, you'll never know that it's not you.
Thanks to Danny Lujan of the
JPAG for crunchy, reduced sodium photochopping greatness. (As an aside, we're running low on photochops, so join the group and fill the reserves!)
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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy
Music: "Get Ready for Love" by
Nick Cave, "Red Eye" by
Ben KwellerFor fans: Joystiq Podcast Facebook groupSee all of this week's links after the jump.Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 064 - Energon edition
by Justin McElroy Sep 5th 2008 11:20AM
Filed under: PC, Retro
If you love classic games but feel the need to own things in order to bring some sense of stability to your life, GOG.com (that's Good Old Games) could be a good alternative to GameTap for you. The company recently announced that you'll be able to find out for yourself if you sign up for the beta before Sept. 8, at which point the gates will be opened to the masses, or at least the masses that signed up.
We love GOG.com's approach, with $5.99 and $9.99 DRM-free releases that you can download as many times as you want and don't need an internet connection to play, but we wish the selection was a bit better. But who knows? With a beefier roster GOG could be a real Steam contender.
by Justin McElroy Sep 5th 2008 8:00AM
Filed under: PC
Jeff Green is the kind of game journalist we want to be when we grow up: Seasoned, funny and imbued with the perfect blend of skepticism and passion, even after 17 years on the job. Now, the former CGW and GFW editor and (just as importantly) GFW Radio/Brodeo cornerstone is leaving Ziff-Davis to join
The Sims development team.
We have too much respect for Green to use this as an opportunity to note all the high-profile names that have jumped the Ziff-Davis ship recently. We'll only say that we'll miss you Jeff, and we wish you all the best.
[Thanks, Jonah]
by Justin McElroy Sep 4th 2008 3:30PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
When the Joystiq staff goes back to
Call of Duty 4, it's usually because we're tired of getting our asses handed to us on a little silver platter in practically every other first-person shooter. Before too long we pine for the one game we've played enough that we're not embarrassed to admit to our team that we write about video games professionally.
But, according to Infinity Ward spokesman Fourzerotwo, we'll have additional reason to go back Sept. 13-14, when
CoD 4 will be offering up double XP on PSN and Xbox Live. Come, play with us, and tremble before our staggering (and doubly rewarding)
moderate competence.
by Justin McElroy Sep 4th 2008 1:29PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, RPGs
Update: Ack! It seems the release date is
still unconfirmed. Why are you doing this to us, Sony? Why?
Is this what the "
day of awakening" was hinting at? Just a couple of days after we got that promise of new info from Sony, we hear that
Famitsu has nailed down a date for
White Knight Chronicles (that's
White Knight Story to you and me): December 11.
Now, does that mean that you'll be getting your hands on this terrifically sexy PS3 RPG anytime soon? Well, no, not necessarily. But it's certainly not bad news if you've been salivating since our
2007 hands-on with the game.
[Thanks, erico316]
by Justin McElroy Sep 4th 2008 11:56AM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Strategy
Though Master Chief is little more than an
adorable baby during the events of
Halo Wars, it should come as no surprise that his Spartan brethren are a pretty big factor on the battlefield. Ensemble recently
went into detail about the role of the Spartan in a fight on their official site.
The secret to nailing the right feel for the Spartan according to Ensemble? Not nerfing them. Spartans aren't just dudes in good armor: They're one-man tipping points, able to grab an enemy vehicle and turn the tide. Sounds good to us; now, if there were only some way to get some
more Spartans on the box.
[Via
X3F]
by Justin McElroy Sep 4th 2008 11:00AM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action
When our parents split up, both of them tried to convince us that the other would just be "devastated" if they didn't get to have custody of us. (Puzzlingly, each insisted that the other had just bought a pony and ice cream farm, which doesn't even make sense.) Why are we choosing
this Thursday morning to flashback to that awkward moment? Once again, we don't know who to believe.
Last month, VG247 had a super secret Rockstar source telling them that the
Grand Theft Auto IV DLC wouldn't be
available until January. Now, Eurogamer has a
different super secret source saying that things are still on track for a November release. We don't know which one is telling the truth, and we don't care ... we just want one of them to
love us.
For more timeless tales in carjacking and homicide, check out all our Grand Theft Auto IV coverage.
by Justin McElroy Sep 4th 2008 9:00AM
Filed under: PC, Simulations, Metareviews
The review embargo lifted on
Spore today, and the critics wasted no time weighing in on Will Wright's oft-delayed opus. The general consensus seems to be that an amazing level of quality is there, but depth may not be, which is really the last complaint we ever expected anyone to level at
Spore. Go figure.
- PC Gamer UK (91/100): "Spore falls a little short of its promise at every stage, but bear in mind that its concept is as close as we've come to a game incarnation of the Lord our God."
- IGN (88/100): "In fact, Spore is essentially five distinct games woven together. And here, Maxis demonstrates a weakness, as a number of these games come off as lightweight or limited. However, Spore is a prime example of something that is much more than the sum of its many parts.
- Gamespot (80/100): "Taken on their own, its pieces are nothing special. As parts of a singular ambitious vision, they work far better. Throw in the best customization tools seen in years and an enthusiastic community brimming with creativity, and you have a legitimately great game that will deliver hours of quality entertainment. "
by Justin McElroy Sep 3rd 2008 4:00PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
So, if and when it's actually released, it looks like "Halo Mythic" (whatever it is) might actually add more than "
0.1 bettar" to
Halo 3. A sneaky spy at PAX caught a few pictures of 30 new achievements, reportedly part of Mythic, that would add a whopping 750 gamerpoints to the game. The pics and achievements have been reposted to the
Ascendant Justic forum, and we've got the full list after the jump.
Now, Bungie, we have the names of these achievements, we have the name of the thing, now would you
please just tell us what the heck Mythic is?
[Via
X3F]
Continue reading Rumor: Halo 3 getting new achievements with Mythic
by Justin McElroy Sep 3rd 2008 1:00PM
Filed under: Culture, PC, First Person Shooters, Video
Actually, we've just had our second viewing of "The Combine Interview," which re-imagines
Cruise's Scientology diatribe as a scary statement of purpose from an anonymous member of the Combine. And now, we think it puts the Combine in a new light, as the one force on earth capable of taming Maverick himself (Kelly McGillis notwithstanding).
Rather than crank out another Tom Cruise gag (we've got plenty of them, we assure you) we'll opt to mention how well-made and creepy the short film actually is, and how Valve should really already have Tom Hall on the payroll. Take a look after the jump and see if you don't agree.
[Via
Digg]
Continue reading The Combine Interview puts Tom Cruise in new light
by Justin McElroy Sep 3rd 2008 12:00PM
Filed under: PC, MMO
No, you know what, Multiverse? No. We're not going to do it again. We stood idly by as the announcement of
a Firefly MMO had us getting our brown coats out of the closet and breaking up with our girlfriends; a
Firefly MMO that, it should be noted, has never materialized in so much as a screenshot. Now you think you can waltz back in with the promise of an
MMO based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another Joss Whedon show? You couldn't even break our hearts with the beloved IP of a
different guy?
More proof that this couldn't possibly be real? You'll apparently be able to "play it either as a fully immersive 3D environment or as a Flash-based 2D game." C'mon, that doesn't even make sense! Tell you what, Multiverse: You put an actual, playable build of the game into our hands. Until then, you'll be met with an indifference as cold as your
black, dream-crushing hearts.
by Justin McElroy Sep 3rd 2008 11:30AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Strategy
We've just watched the first, straight-from-PAX video of upcoming PSN title
Savage Moon (don't worry, we've put it after the break for you) and it looks (as Sony said it would) like a sophisticated tower defense game, albeit a
really attractive one.
We do have one quibble we feel compelled to pass on though: The decision to put crowd noises into the game is a bizarre one. They're almost louder than the guns! C'mon, Sony, get it together! Who wants to hear that?!
Continue reading See PSN title Savage Moon in action
by Justin McElroy Sep 3rd 2008 11:00AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Driving
We said in our "
New Games This Month" post that
Pure was the best racing you weren't anticipating, and believe us when we say we weren't, in the parlance of the hills, just whistling Dixie. It an incredibly smart take on ATV racing that intertwines your turbo and combo meter to create a risk/reward dynamic unlike anything else we've seen in the genre.
Now, you'll get to see what all the fuss is about firsthand when demos for
Pure land on Xbox Live and PSN tomorrow. Just don't come crying to us that you weren't warned before your face got rocked
clean off.
by Justin McElroy Sep 3rd 2008 10:00AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action
Just as
we were complaining about a lack of innovation in the move from
Resident Evil 4 to
Resident Evil 5, we get word that the whole point might be moot. At a recent Microsoft Media Briefing, producer Jun Takeuchi said that players could expect a new control system, similar to
Gears of War, when they hunted digital zombies at the Tokyo Game Show.
Of course, one could argue that "innovation" isn't necessarily synonymous with "cribbing the controls from another game." But hey,
Gears was inspired by
Resident Evil 4 in the first place, no? It is, as Sir Elton says, the circle of life.
[Via
X3F]
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_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
