Hands on your buzzers. What two companies partnered during this year's Leipzig Games Convention to bring "key" PlayStation franchises to mobile carriers in the European market? Quickly now. 3 ... 2 ...1... buzzcrak! The correct answer, had you answered on time, would have been Sony and UK mobile games publisher Player X, though we can forgive your tardiness given that the duo's idea of a pivotal franchise is likely to differ from what you have in mind.
No, rather than whipping Kratos' Blades of Chaos with the number 4 key on your handset, or tapping a put into the cup with the 9 in a miniaturized version of Hot Shots Golf, the companies have announced plans to bring virtual quiz show Buzz!and Reflection's original PlayStation racer Destruction Derby to mobile phones this fall and in early 2009, respectively. True, neither of these inspire us to reach for our phones just yet. However, Sony adds that the deal, a first for Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios with an outsider, will continue to bring PlayStation luminaries to mobile phones in Europe for the next three years. Thanks for playing.
To be blunt, after some of the series' most disappointing entries, Need for Speed Undercover has something to prove. Today, EA revealed some of the features of the November release, the opening salvo in the battle to win back our hearts (unless you count the announcement of Maggie Q's involvement ... which we do not.)
You'll be taking down a crime syndicate with Ms. Q (if you're nasty), a story that will be presented with the help of live-action footage (hooray!). From a gameplay perspective, the big draw seems to be the Heroic Driving System, which EA describes as "a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway battles." ... So, it's an emergency brake?
Maybe it's just our relief from the yucky, Far 2 Fast and Uncom4tably Furious aesthetic that's plagued the series recently, but this new entry sounds like a breath of fresh air. Well, Undercover, it would seem we, much like the Ghostbusters, are ready to believe in you.
While Microsoft hasn't yet announced an Xbox Live iPhone app of its very own, it has taken a well-intentioned step towards validating the handful of apps currently available on the service: it's required that the developers make their apps free. Now, before you go off about mean ol' Microsoft keeping the independent developer down, consider the reasoning here: these developers are given access to the Live functionality through the Xbox Community Developer Program and, as such, are beholden to Microsoft's rules.
In this case, Microsoft evidently has no problem with the applications themselves, just with developers charging cash money for them, so it's really looking out for you here. If you've held off on trying one out, we've included links to the three we could find (one isn't free yet, but we expect it will be shortly). Take 'em for a spin around the 'net and report your findings back here.
Source – 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends List AppStore Application is now FREE iTunes – 1337pwn (now free) iTunes – iLive (still $1.99) iTunes – Xbox LIVE Friends (formerly iXboxLive; now free)
Developer Black Box's nitro button must be worn down to a nub. The studio announced today that its upcoming Need for Speed sequel, Undercover, will ship this November, pulling up to the starting line well before the 2009 release previously mentioned by EA CEO John Riccitiello.
In development for every platform under the sun (yes, even mobile phones), Need for Speed Undercover will also sport what Black Box describes as "big-budget live-action sequences" starring Balls of Fury and Mission Impossible III actress, Maggie Q, as a federal agent who recruits drivers to take down a criminal syndicate. While recent Need for Speed racers have all but siphoned our tanks of what enthusiasm we once had for the series, those who care can look forward to race with Ms. Q in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21.
Ever since the iPhone App Store launch last month, we've been on the hunt for apps we can load on our fancy phones and not forget about immediately. Occasionally something pops up but, sure enough, we manage to forget about it in a matter of days. But here ... this is different. Frotz we'll keep around for a long time.
Some of you may be familiar with Frotz; it's a Z-machine, used to read and, therefore, play interactive fiction. Yes, that's "text adventures" for you old timers. Now that the app has made it to the iPhone, we can explore Zork's Great Underground Empire from anywhere. The app is free, comes with a bunch of public-domain IF titles, and you can "specify other download repositories" if you're more interested in nabbing some of those Infocom classics. Might we recommend Steve Meretzky's classic Leather Goddesses of Phobos?
Oh, Japanese television, how we love thee so. If you need a reason to share in our affection, look no further than this spot for Konami's forthcoming cell phone title, Metal Gear Ac!d Mobile. It's four minutes of sheer digital – as in fingers – brilliance, with action from MGS4 re-created using ... thumbs. Thumbs with mustaches and bandanas. Thumbs with OctoCamo. Thumbs.
Talk about some serious monkey business. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sega's debut effort on the iPhone App Store, Super Monkey Ball, has racked up 300,000 downloads since it debuted on the service June 11.
At $9.99 a pop, that means the game has brought in just about $3 million for Sega, with Apple taking its 30% "upkeep" share off the top to the tune of $899k. Both parties must be quite pleased. Sega certainly is. Based on what SOA prez Simon Jeffery told the WSJ, the future looks to be full of iPhone games from the publisher. Speaking on the sizable sales of SMB, Jeffrey said, "That's a substantial business," adding, "It gives iPhone a justifiable claim to being a viable gaming platform."
It's worth noting that these purchases, unlike those via XBLA or PSN, were made sight-unseen, as the App Store does not offer a SMB trial version. Now, if Sega would just release a patch to allow calibration of the iPhone's accelerometer so we can play SMB without staring straight down at it ... that'd be bananas.
In a striking departure from the initial blueprint, the world's first "PSP Phone" has killed two birds with one stone:
Added a working phone feature (Check!)
Got rid of that blasted UMD drive (Check!)
We're not sure which is more preposterous: Quadrupling the size of your cell phone (and in turn, clutching a PSP to your ear), or cutting a hole in your PSP and gluing a cell phone in there? Sony, please take this as a sign that folks are getting mighty desperate for the real thing.
Don't let Microsoft's tardiness in bringing its Live Anywhere initiative to market stop you from enjoying Xbox Live anywhere: if you've got an iPhone and $0.99 you can try out Nicholas Pike's iXboxLive app which "uses the Microsoft Xbox Community Developer SDK" to bring much of the functionality of your friend's list to your iPhone.
Sure, you could always load up your iPhone's browser (just like you do for Halo stats) and hop on Xbox.com but then you'd miss out on the slick iPhone formatting. However, use the app and you'll miss out on functionality like messaging, thanks to limitations in the aforementioned SDK. Now we're not expecting the cats at Microsoft to suddenly develop an official iPhone app, but we'd settle for something on Windows Mobile ... heck, we'd settle for a Zune app!
After expanding our horizons with Flash games and GameTap games in recent weeks, we thought it might be time to delve into everybody's favorite new game console that isn't: The iPhone. Though there are plenty of good purchasable games, you have to look a bit harder in the App Store to dig up a decent free one. We've picked one of the most popular choices this week: Tap Tap Revenge.
The concept couldn't be simpler. Three columns of dots hurtle towards the "Home" key, and you have to tap them in time with the music. As you nail more notes in succession, your multiplier (and, in turn, your score) continues to climb. You'll occasionally have to use the phone's accelerometer to shake it instead of tap.
There's also a surprisingly enjoyable two-player mode that allows you and a friend to grip either side of the phone (make sure they wash their hands first) and tap the dots now careening toward both ends of the phone.
Besides being free, the game also has some additional songs you can download -- not a bad value-add for a game that was free in the first place. iPhone owners: Give it a shot and let us know what you think. Non-iPhone owners: Please be more dedicated about trying to get an iPhone.
We thought it'd be best to start off the month of August by cleaning house and collecting all our E3 impressions from around the Joystiq Network into one easy-to-peruse guide. In case you missed anything (and there's a pretty good chance you did), check out all of our impressions from E3 2008.
We haven't played Doom RPG, so we're not exactly sure how meshing an id FPS with a role-playing game model will work. But we have to say that after watching the above QuakeCon footage of Wolfenstein RPG, we're at the very least intrigued.
If we have one regret, it's that the game is coming to cell phones instead of Apple's sexy new behemoth. Sadly it seems like we'll have to wait for Carmack's "graphical tour de force" for a portable id game that doesn't look like straight yuck.
A marriage of MMO powerhouse World of Warcraftand mobile phones may seem technically unsound, but it's not exactly a pipe dream either. First there was the guy who sort of, kind of but not really was able to get WoW up and running on his iPhone, then there was Blizzard's own admission that it was trying to find a way to utilize cell phones for some sort of WoW application.
Now, it seems the team's been beaten to the punch by a couple of new iPhone apps. The first, Warcraft Characters, allows you to enter character and realm name and check out a few character stats (no gear, though). The second, WarcraftStat allows you to check your realm's status even when you're out and about, the implications of which are almost too depressing to consider.
OK, so they're not exactly fully-featured, but hopefully they'll pacify until Blizzard gets busy.
John Carmack loves his iPhone, so much so that the id Software co-founder has been spending a lot of time lately thinking of ways to bring his studio's tech-hungry game development to Apple's pricey portable. Forbes reports that Carmack, who still kicks himself for not having a game available for the device at launch, is currently planning to bring one of the dev's existing franchises to the iPhone as a "graphical tour de force."
But as for which one, the company isn't saying just yet, though given that the recently launched id Mobile division already has Doom RPG and the forthcoming Wolfenstein RPG to its credit, we wouldn't be at all surprised if Carmack will bring Quakeor some flavor of Rageto the small screen as well. What's more, he's apparently considering the idea of tackling the MMO market on the iPhone down the line, though he admits that he's being "conservative" and doesn't "want to be in a bet-the-company situation" just yet. Even so, as Carmack looks for ways to push the phone's visual fidelity, we take solace in the fact that for once we won't have to upgrade our video card just to play with his latest toy.
We don't remember Naughty Dog's wise-cracking ottsel brandishing a knife, but hey, we're always open to crazy new ideas. Oh, this is Dexter, the hit Showtime series about a forensics expert who also happens to be a serial killer (of other killers). Whoops.
Anyway, IGN has a story out of San Diego Comic-Con 08 that is sure to put a sour puss on anyone who was waiting for a console game based on the show. Ecko, who acquired the rights to Dexter for game-making purposes back in March, revealed during a panel that the game is only coming to iPhone and iPod Touch. It was also revealed that the game will be episodic in nature – hey, like the show! Coincidence, surely. Mr. Ecko is certainly no stranger to spray paint, but blood spray? Start practicing those stabbing motions with your fancy phones, folks ... but just do it in the privacy of your own home for the sake of not looking like a total loon, 'kay?
A marriage of MMO powerhouse 
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