/ Games

Dead Space Animated Comic: Issue 5

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Video

Something totally gross is afoot on the intergalactic mining vessel USG Ishimura. The latest issue of the animated Dead Space comic is now available for your viewing pleasure, complete with subtle pans, focus pulls, and just enough squishy sound effects to get the whole thing across.

As far as video game advertising goes, we've gotta say these comics/videos are pretty effective. Watching these chumps try and kill the space-baddies is pretty frustrating when we all know that you need to strategically dismember them. You can't just shoot willy-nilly! And seriously, how do you expect to do any damage without a badass spacesuit and accompanying laser triton? You know what, forget it! We'll just do it ourselves ... drat, advertising!

Continue reading Dead Space Animated Comic: Issue 5

 

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Meteos Wars Coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade [Q Entertainment]

Q Entertainment brings word that Metoes Wars is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade this fall. The game will feature over 20 different planets — each having its own alien race, Meteos blocks and unique gravity as well as visual and audio style. There will be various single player modes (Mission Mode, Attack Mode, Vs. Mode), and there'll be LIVE multiplayer, too. What else, the game has four "Planet Impact" special attacks: Armageddon, Gambit, Sentinel and Tempest. And there's even accessories you can collect for your alien. And who doesn't like an alien with accessories? Game is priced at 800 MSP and out this October.

Will Wright doesn't blush at 'Sporn'

Filed under: Mac, PC, Simulations

Speaking with the Associated Press, Spore creator and bona fide master game designer, Will Wright, seemed surprisingly ... okay with the various "Spore-nographic" organs creatures people have made using the Spore Creature Creator. "Some of it's really good for what they were shooting for. It's amazingly explicit, especially when those creations are animated," Wright said.

On the topic of giving creative power (and lots of it) to players, Wright explained, "When you give players creative control, you have to expect they're going to do the unexpected," but he was quick to add, "We just have to make sure those people aren't messing up the experience for others." To this end, Wright told the AP that there will be a system in place whereby players can "ban" content from ever appearing in their own Spore universe. Elsewhere, we fully expect there to be entire universes populated solely by undulating naughty bits.

 

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THQ Australia Working On "Brutal" Warhammer 40K Brawler [Warhammer 40K]

Looks like THQ have plans to wage an endless war on humanity's wallets. Not only are they (well, they and Relic) serving up Dawn of War II and a "ready when it's done" 40K MMO, but job listings appearing on THQ Australia's website reveal the company also have plans for a 40K "action game" for the 360 and PS3. The company site doesn't out-and-out name the project, saying "We are currently looking for people to work on a next-gen brutal, intimate melee combat game using a world-class brand", but a listing on a local recruitment page gives the game away, using 40K as its main selling-point. Games based on 40K that aren't Space Hulk or Dawn of War have generally sucked, but who knows, a "brutal, intimate" combat game on a PS3/360 might yet be able to take the Dawn of War intro and make a game out of it.

THQ Studio Australia needs developers for Warhammer 40,000 project [Tsumea]
THQ Australia Careers [THQ, both via IGN]

Xbox 360 Goes Arcade, For Reals [Arcade]

That's right, the Xbox 360 is going coin-op. Arcade industry newsletter The Stinger Report (via trade site Highwaygames) brings word of the Arcade Station T2. Arcade Station T2 is in the vein of Nintendo's PlayerChoice 10 arcade machine from 1986, by bringing the home experience to coin-op. It's outfitted in a traditional upright cabinet design, but features two Xbox 360 controllers and memory card slots. While it supports "system link gaming", it hasn't been revealed that whether that refers to LIVE support or not.

While the list of games is still being finalized, it could include Halo 3, FIFA 08, Assassins Creed and Devil May Cry 4. It won't feature the traditional Pay-to-Play model, but the Play-for-Time one, which the Stinger Report calls "VenderTainment". The cabinet is apparently fully licensed by Xbox and has been developed by American home arcade manufacturer Quasimoto Interactive. It's currently being tested in Asia and the UK and should be released in the upcoming months.

Another pic after the jump:

Sign Up for the Stinger Report [The Stinger Report]

Sony Dishes The PSN Pre-Paid Card Release Info [Playstation Network]

<img src="http://kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/08/pscard_01.jpg" width="200" height="201" / class="postimg left" >So those PSN pre-paid cards aren't hitting GameStop until 2009? Screw GameStop. Sony have announced that, in addition to the stores currently stocking the cards (Pamida, Meijer and Speedway), come September three more chains will be selling them. Those three are Blockbuster, 7-Eleven and Riteaid. Which is all well and good, but I'm getting the feeling there are people outside the US - like me, for example - more interested in these cards than Americans. Mostly because it'll make buying stuff like Rock Band DLC that much easier.

3D Realms: 'Several hours' of Duke Nukem Forever sort of done

Filed under: PC, First Person Shooters

Is that the sound of Satan sharpening his skates? According to a new interview with Team Xbox, 3D Realms boss George Broussard implies that - dare we say? - development of Duke Nukem Forever is going along swimmingly. You know, just like it has been since ... 1998.

All most kidding aside, Broussard tells the site that the developer has "several hours of fairly polished game to play," and that, "It's fun, it's in focus, we know what bits are fun and which are not, and it's just a matter of time now." But clearly, time moves a little slower in 3D Realms', er ... realm. Given that the company has already denied reports that it's coming this year, we'll have to make due with Duke Nuken 3D on XBLA "sometime in September." Of 2008. Really. Promise.

[Via Big Download]

 

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Home Hits Asia In "Fall 2008" [Home]

Sony have announced that Home, the Playstation 3's long-awaited online fashion show and wandering-around simulator, will be coming to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in "Fall 2008". Doesn't sound like idle speculation, either, as that's coming straight from a Sony press release. To help ensure everything's ready to go ahead of the launch, there'll be a closed beta held in September for residents of the region. If that's you, keep an eye on this site, details on how to get in will be going up on August 29.

SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT HONG KONG LIMITED ANNOUNCES 3D ONLINE-USER COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR PLAYSTATION®3– 「PLAYSTATION®HOME」 COMING TO HONG KONG, SINGAPORE AND TAIWAN IN FALL 2008

CLOSED BETA TESTING FOR 「PLAYSTATION®HOME」WILL START FROM MID-SEPTEMBER 2008

Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited (SCEH) today announced that the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind 3D online community service for the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system would be available for Hong Kong , Singapore and Taiwan region PLAYSTATION®Network users.

PlayStation®Home is the online community service on PLAYSTATION®Network. It is an evolving online social gaming service built for PS3™ users to meet and share gaming experiences. With an avatar uniquely customized according to each user’s preference, users can explore the 3D community which includes custom spaces dedicated to specific games, press releases on kotaku, event spaces or personal apartments. Each user is assigned an apartment in PlayStation®Home where they can invite others to join them as they show off their own style in an area they can personalize themselves with furniture and other items. Very rich interactive communication with others is achieved through built in text, audio chat, along with sophisticated emotional animations for each character.

PlayStation®Home official website for Asia is now available at The Closed Beta testing for PlayStation®Home will be starting from Mid-September 2008. SCEH would like to invite Hong Kong and Singapore users to participate in the Closed Beta testing. The details will be available on the official website from August 29, 2008.

SCEH will continue to further expand PS3 users’ gaming experience and create a new world of computer entertainment by offering the high quality of the world of PlayStation®Home towards the Open Beta Service in this fall along with more and more attractive PS3 software titles which will be available le in the market

Why All This Gearbox Halo 4 Talk? Here's Why... (Maybe) [Rumor]

Earlier we posted that Gearbox Software (Brothers In Arms, Borderlands) was rumored to be working on Halo 4. With Bungie out of the picture, Gearbox does seem like a logical fit — the developer did do the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved.

What's more, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford stated in February: "I've started a new project. It's big. It's, like, look-at-our-line-up-and-imagine-something-even-bigger kind of big. I'm Directing it myself. I can't mention it publicly yet. When you find out what this is, you'll likely agree that I can't oversell this one." But that doesn't necessarily mean Gearbox is doing Halo 4. The "big" project Pitchford is talking about could be something else entirely. And Halo 4 hasn't even been announced. (Though, Microsoft would be silly not to do it.)

So, why all this talk about Gearbox and Halo 4?

The current Director of Technology at Gearbox is Corrinne Yu. Corrinne Yu (pictured) has been called, for lack of a better comparison, "the John Carmack of female programmers". She's an industry vet, cutting her teeth as the Lead Programmer for the 3DO's Asia launch, going on to work as Lead Programmer for the Prey Engine and even working as Director of Technology at John Romero's ill-fated ION Storm and also at 3D Realms.

Her recent work at Gearbox includes programming Brothers in Arms, Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands. So why all this talk about Corrinne Yu? We've come in possession of an internal Gearbox email that Yu sent out. It reads:

Hello, friends.

I am Corrinne Yu, Director of Technology of Gearbox Software.

I was offered and recruited to the position of Principle (Lead) Engine Architect of Halo Franchise Team at Microsoft. I accepted the offer to lead the team to build the engines and games for future Halo's on Xbox'es and PC's at Microsoft.

I am staying to simu-ship Brothers In Arms all versions. I will start Halo after BiA starts manufacturing. Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands are more than mostly completed. I assure you I will continue to help Gearbox. I am starting on Halo Team at Microsoft after 09/15/2008. My email after that day will be XXXX@microsoft.com.

I would be glad to introduce my friendly helpful Corrinne replacements at Gearbox to you. I am stoked to program and design and build some awesome Halo's.

Let's stay in touch!

after 09/15/2008

Corrinne Yu
Principle Engine Architect
Halo Franchise Team
Microsoft

after 09/15/2008:
XXXX@microsoft.com
XXXX@XXXX.com
XXXX@XXXX.net

before 09/15/2008

Corrinne Yu
XXXX@XXXX.com

before 09/15/2008:
XXXX@gearboxsoftware.com
XXXX@XXXX.net
Director of Technology
Gearbox Software

Obviously, we added the "XXXX" for privacy. So this email doesn't exactly confirm that Gearbox is doing Halo 4 (it doesn't even confirm Halo 4), but it does make it seem more possible. Perhaps Yu has been hired to act as a go-between for Gearbox and Microsoft? Or maybe Yu will be lending her programming wizardry to internally developed Microsoft Game Studios Halo titles.

We are following up with both Microsoft and Gearbox.

[Pic]

Rumor: LucasArts planning Wii MotionPlus lightsaber game

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Action

The Force which compels LucasArts to concoct more ways to utilize the Wiimote for lightsaber gameplay will be with it ... always. According to the latest EGM rumor section, "Quartermann" brings unconfirmed word that the Star Wars factory is looking to follow up its Wii version of The Force Unleashed and The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels with yet another lightsaber-centric game, this one utilizing Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus accessory.

You may recall that LucasArts was one of, well, pretty much every Wii third-party left feeling a bit ... seventieth-party by Nintendo's choice to unveil MotionPlus to them on the same day as the public. According to the Q-man, now that the company has access to the tech for development purposes, it wants to make the bestest lightsaber game ever. Might we suggest it be called: Star Wars: Lightsaber Duels - This Time It's Not All Spazzy, Really!

[Via NWF]

 

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Pandemic Batman Game Given The Arse [Rumor]

<img src="http://kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/08/sadjoker.jpg" width="200" height="232" / class="postimg left" >Another rumour burger! Let's pile this one atop the other Pandemic Batman ones and just chow down. According to Australian Gamer, the staff working on Pandemic's Batman game - which was being developed at the studio's Brisbane outpost - have been told to wind things up. Game's cancelled. Why? Seems it missed too many deadlines, and "the higher ups" - either EA or Pandemic HQ - decided it was time to cut their losses. Do try and keep the already-tiring "why so serious" jokes to a minimum, please.

Why so serious Pandemic? [Australian Gamer, via Kotaku AU]

Revolutionary: Most Deceptive Kontraction

Filed under: Tech stuff, Controller, Video, Homebrew, Features, Revolutionary

In the year 1996, with Sylvester Stallone's Demolition Man still fairly fresh on our minds, developer Shiny took the opportunity to name one of their games after an abbreviated phrase that was mentioned several times in that film. Under the assumption that MDK stood for "Murder, Death, Kill" and the fact that you run around as a guy whose head is a sniper rifle, the Playstation generation couldn't wait to get their hands on it. As it turned out, the game was not the gruesome murder simulator many people expected, but a humorously quirky action title like most of the prior games Shiny was known for. In the sequel, the main character from the first game, Kurt Hectic, would share the duty of saving the earth with Doctor Fluke Hawkins and the four-armed, gun-toting, cigar-chomping robotic dog, Max, the other members of the game's titular trio. It's the crazy sort of stuff that keeps gaming fresh, and with its recently-announced comeback in the making, I can think of no better place for the franchise to make a killing than on the Wii.I'm writing this script for MDK 2, primarily because it's more modern and easier to get running on a modern computer than the original MDK. Though the first game was arguably more fun, Bioware's sequel is a worthwhile follow-up because it made Doc and Max controllable characters. Playing as Kurt alone would be a blast, but Doc and Max's inclusion provide the kind of variety and assorted gameplay that would make it a perfect match for the Wii audience.

The first level puts you in Kurt's prototypical "coil suit," and has you free-falling into an alien minecrawler on a mission to eliminate every creature on board. A freely deployable ribbon chute slows your descent, and then it's onward to the green bloodletting.

In the next stage, you'll play as Max, who can equip different weapons in each of his 4 paws/hands, and do a bit of flying with a jet pack. It's more straightforward shooting against lots of baddies, but sometimes that's all you need in a gaming session. There is still a place in the world for that sort of thing, right?

The frail Dr. Hawkins has to use his wits to MacGuyver various apparatus for dispatching the alien threat from his orbiting space ship, the Jim Dandy, in the third level. From there on you'll cycle through each level with a different one of the three characters. The levels are expansive and don't have auto-saving checkpoints, but that ought to be re-considered for Wii gamers-on-the-move, who don't have the time to sit through and replay long missions.

MDK2 uses OpenGL for graphics, but Direct X's DirectInput is used for mouse controls, so I adapted Carl Kenner's first person shooter script for aiming and looking around. This requires an IR source, such as a Sensor Bar, for aiming, but if you the IR source falls out of the Wiimote's view, the view will continue moving in the same direction until you point back at the Sensor Bar.

PIE.FrameRate = 60Hz
var.BoxSize = 60%
var.BoxSpeed = 700 Mickeys //per half screen of movement
var.ScrollSpeed = 800 Mickeys per second
var.X = MapRange(Wiimote.PointerX, 0,1, -1,1)
var.Y = MapRange(Wiimote.PointerY, 0,1, -1,1)
/*Use a different system when the cursor is visible. Also, stop scrolling when the Wiimote moves significantly while it is not pointing at the screen */
If Mouse.CursorVisible
var.BeingUsed = False
If Wiimote.PointerVisible
Mouse.X = Wiimote.PointerX
Mouse.Y = Wiimote.PointerY
EndIf
ElseIf Wiimote.PointerVisible
var.BeingUsed = True
ElseIf |Wiimote.RelAcc| > 7
Var.BeingUsed = False
EndIf
If var.BeingUsed
If |var.X| < var.BoxSize
//pointer is inside the box (horizontally), so move based on change in pointer position
Mouse.DirectInputX = delta(var.X)*var.BoxSpeed
Else
//pointer is outside the box (horizontally), so scroll based on fixed rate and sign of x ( /-)
Mouse.DirectInputX = var.ScrollSpeed*sign(var.X)
EndIf
If |var.y| < var.BoxSize
Mouse.DirectInputY = delta(var.y)*var.BoxSpeed
ElseIf var.BeingUsed
Mouse.DirectInputY = var.ScrollSpeed*sign(var.Y)
EndIf
EndIf

When I used to play this game with a game pad or keyboard and mouse back in the day, I'd get a little confused switching between characters. With GlovePIE, I can map functions to multiple buttons and/or motions, so it's a little easier to transition between characters.

Equals = Wiimote.Up //Use, Equip, Right Hand
Minus = Wiimote.Down or Nunchuk.CButton //Unequip, Left Hand
ArrowKeys = Nunchuk.Joy //Move, Zoom
Mouse.LeftButton = Wiimote.B //Shoot, Combine
Space = Nunchuk.Zbutton //Sniper Mode
Mouse.RightButton = (Nunchuk.GY < .5) //Jump, Jet Pack Throttle
LeftBracket = Wiimote.Minus //Inventory Left
RightBracket = Wiimote.Plus //Inventory Right
Shift P I E = Wiimote.Home //Stop script

This is just a rough and basic port of the controls that anyone who's experienced with playing first or third person shooters on the Wii should have no difficulty getting right into. But in a built-for-Wii version of MDK, I'd hope for more inventive controls. The Nunchuk has 2 buttons and the Wiimote has more than that, so you should be given independent control of each of Max's weapons. Selecting and combining objects in Doc's levels should also have independent controls for both hands, perhaps using gestures and motions to assemble the gadgets or use them. Kurt can be done with typical shooter controls as in the video, just so long as you don't have to move the Wiimote in and out to control zooming in sniper mode. Does anyone realize how much we hate having to do that? It's not realistic and nine times out of then, it just doesn't work.

Playing MDK2 again after all these years, it kind of leaves something to be desired. There's not much variety in enemies and the level design isn't quite as captivating as I remembered. It's still a brilliantly conceived premise that should be warmly received by the hardcore Wii fanbase, just so long as it is brought up to the standards of today's games.

MDK may not have been my first choice among Interplay classics I'd like to see ported to the Wii, but I still desire it greatly. If you've got some Interplay favorites that deserve waggle-ification, feel free to tell us in the comments.

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Itagaki says PS3 development easier than Famicom

Filed under: News

According to former Tecmo employee and Team Ninja leader Tomonobu Itagaki (Dead or Alive series, Ninja Gaiden Sigma), developing for the PS3 is easy-peasy. "I don't think that developing for the PS3 is hard at all. It was much harder developing for the Famicom," Itagaki told 1UP. "It's true. I mean, give someone who's developing for the PS3 a Famicom and see if they can make a game for it. They won't be able to. Yeah, that'll prove it. We'll bet a drink on it."

For the longest time now, developers have been struggling with getting a hang of the PS3 hardware; for Itagaki, it's apparently nothing more than shooting the breeze on a Tuesday. So Itagaki-san, want to develop again for the PS3 and show these fools how it's done? It's been a while hasn't it?

 

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Blizzard Starts Pushing Ringtones And Wallpapers [World Of Phonecraft]

Do you really need to have the gurgling murloc sound as your telephone ringtone? Do you not hear the World of Warcraft opening theme enough on your PC? Perhaps you can't figure out how to create your own cellphone wallpapers and would rather spend a couple bucks on letting the extremely nosy know that you're into Diablo or StarCraft? Well you're in luck, as Blizzard has just opened up a ringtone and wallpaper store at Mobile.Blizzard.Com. In partnership with Echovox, Inc., the store carries a wide selection of wallpapers from Blizzard's three biggest money makers, along with choice sounds from World of Warcraft that could very well lead to an awkward conversation with a total stranger that reinforces the fact that with 20 million servers and two factions, chance of you knowing them are slim to none.

Currently the service mainly services Europe, South America, and a few bits of Asia, so those of us in the U.S. will have to make due with obsessively humming the theme song to WoW until allowances are made.

Blizzard Mobile Store [Official Site via WorldofWar.net]

Meteos Wars to shower XBLA Japan

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Puzzle

Q Entertainment is bringing an utterly unstylustic version of its two-times-released (well, maybe we shouldn't count the Disnied version) DS puzzler, Meteos, to Xbox Live Arcade in Japan. Dubbed, Meteos Wars, the console port will include a new multiplayer experience. The game will feature a two-player versus mode where each player has a gauge that fills as sets of blocks are launched and enemy attacks are thwarted. Filling the gauge unlocks a special attack that predictably spells disaster for the opposing player.

Meteos Wars will also include a few added extras, like customizable characters. It's due in Japan this October, but has yet to be confirmed for release elsewhere. Wouldn't this be the perfect tie-on for that rumored motion controller...? (We're just sayin'.)

 

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