This week pretty much rounds out our PAX 2008 coverage. We've got interviews with The lead artist and writer behind Gears of War 2 as well as an interview with the creator of Schizoid. Let's not forget our hands-on look at Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball and a chance to win a copy of Smash Court Tennis 3. Click on.
That's right, folks, this week we've gone recursive. Who says we can't be our own special edition? Here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!
Alexander Sliwinski: With my upgraded PC, I've been checking out some higher end games from the last three years. FEAR, not so bad. Black and White 2, gorgeous but flawed. The big plan for this weekend is Spore ... now I just need to get a copy somewhere.
Andrew Yoon: Braid. Second ending.
Christopher Grant: I've returned from a brief respite in the woods, but I wasn't alone. Something else came back with me. Specifically, my appreciation of the very portable Professor Layton & The Curious Village. I've got 30-some puzzles left and an intense desire to crush them using little more than my carefully honed intellect and a plastic stylus. Also: I've been winding my way through an advance copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – I should be able to wrangle a couple hours this weekend to polish that one off. Still in various stages of completion, waiting to return to favor: Castle Crashers, Siren, Fable 1.
Griffin McElroy: My new roomie recently hooked up his slimline PS2 to our big screen, so I've been playing some classics as of late -- Shadow of the Colossus, Tony Hawk's Underground (you know, the last good one), and a copy of Chrono Cross I recently found at this awesome used game store in Chicago. Also trying to hit the level cap with Mr. Orange in Castle Crashers, and anxiously waiting for GameFly to deliver me into pure pinata pleasure. ... Also, for the theme: perhaps something football related, as the season just started? Or perhaps, the inaugural use of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, which could ostensibly create a micro black hole, instantly destroying our world on Sept. 10? WRUP: The World Ends with Large Hadron Collider Edition?
Kevin Kelly: I will be playing this thing called "finish your damn PAX posts while doing interviews and watching movies at the Toronto Film Festival." By the way I highly recommend The Brothers Bloom. Great movie. If they made a game out of that, I would die happy.
Kyle Orland: I'm also looking for a copy of Spore to see whether it's a new paradigm in gaming or, as the meta-review seems to indicate, a disappointment. Also hoping to get some more time with The Last Guy and maybe finally take a look at Castle Crashers.
James Ransom-Wiley: Goin' down the shore for one last weekend. Friends are asking me to bring that thing the kids are doing these days ... Wii.
Justin McElroy: If I can bring myself to ignore the title, I'm going to be playing some Infinite Undiscovery in between checking on my new and improved pinata garden.
Ludwig Kietzmann: I hope to double my efforts in stopping the evil Count Waltz in Eternal Sonata, provided I can even manage to switch on my Xbox 360 without instantly firing up Geometry Wars 2. I also plan to feign struggle against and almost immediately succumb to the desire to play through the post-Trophy Uncharted. Again.
Randy Nelson: Like several of my fellow Joystiqers, I'll be tracking down a copy of Spore (no, my attendance at last night's launch party hosted by Mr. Wright did not come with "perks"). I also plan to brush up on my SOCOM skills thanks to the Confrontation beta, although I won't be playing it with the benefit of Sony's nifty new Bluetooth headset. Also: Castle Crashers (go orange!) and The Last Guy (go Himalayan zombie hero!).
Ross Miller: I've got a tough choice to make. I've finally caught up on school work (thanks, PAX!) and PAX articles (thanks, school!), and my copy of Too Human came in early this week – a bit late, yes, but now I get to play it without all the controversy and anger and hype. So I'll finally be trying it out. In between hours-long sessions of Spore, that is.
GameFly's first open casting call for its next commercial will take place next Tuesday in LA. The event will be held at Hollywood and Highland Center, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood between 12-6PM. Those trying out should be in full cosplay mode.
For those who can't attend the LA, Chicago (Sept. 16) or NYC (Sept 23) events, there's always the option of submitting a 45 second video on GameFly's site. Best of luck to those who attend and try out!
With the NFL regular season just barely underway, there's plenty of time for the Madden Curse to sink its hooks into Mr. Favre's vulnerable ankle, but for now, EA is busy squashing a host of bugs that have crawled out of the bowels of latest edition of Madden. The major pest is a freezing issue that can crop up during play calling and highlight screens, reports IGN. Senior designer Ian Cummings has documented most, if not all known bugs on the game's Producer Blog, recommending various workarounds while the team puts together a patch. EA is targeting "less than a 3 week turnaround" from last Tuesday for the update to be released. So put a big checkmark next to the 16th and cross your fingers.
Look, we honestly don't care what you think about the Disgaea franchise and its peculiar, thoroughly unhinged take on role playing. All we know is that if the description of its upcoming spin-off -- a side-scrolling platformer starring a tenacious, twirling penguin who, by the way, occasionally pilots an enormous tank -- doesn't do anything for you, then we'd like to ask you to leave. Leave the internet.
The internet is also where you'll find the game's official website, along with word that Prinny: Is It Okay If I Am The Main Character? is due to arrive on Japanese PSPs on November 20th. If you have a "friend" with a Japanese PlayStation Store account, you'll also want to check out the demo as of September 29th.
It's no secret: You love Geometry Wars 2, we love Geometry Wars 2, everybody loves it. We recently talked with Bizarre Creation's Stephen Cakebread, Senior Coder, and Craig Howard, Games Manager, to find out how they crafted the game that won our hearts.
It would seem to the layman that, with as popular as Geometry Wars was, a sequel would be pretty easy to crap out. Why wait so long?
Howard: Because the first one was so well received, it would have cheapened the game if we just knocked something out and not given it a lot of thought. We wanted something to make sure it was something we'd be really proud of.
Cakebread: Our inital plan was to get it our a year later and then the plan was to ship it when Gotham 4 shipped and that didn't work out either. It really was a case that we weren't going to ship it until we were ready to ship it. It might seem silly, but it took us quite a while to figure out a graphical style that still looked like the original. One of our big things was when people came to our stations we wanted them to say "Oh, is that a sequel to Geometry Wars?" rather than "Is that Geometry Wars?" It took us quite a while to come up with something that really worked. We tried some mad stuff.
Since CNBC analyst Jane Wells granted us poor peons a glimpse into "the ultimate proof Sony is winning" two months ago, we at Joystiq have been eagerly awaiting another chance to hear from her son, the twelve16-year-old oracle who sealed Microsoft's fate by trading his Xbox 360 for a PS3. And lo, today the all-knowing king of business analysis didst speak once more, granting his youthful wisdom to us poor, unwashed masses.
"Hear me!" came the oracle's booming, high-pitched voice from on high as he surveyed his subjects from his beanbag chair throne. "Though mine PS3 still brings me pleasure, the pleasure of Xbox Live friends may be one that I have treated too lightly. My patience waiting for an offering of new games from Sony has forced me once more to explore the shores of Azeroth. Lo, though times are tough, do not be tempted by the spawn of Nintendo, for I would not be caught dead with that thing."
With that, the doors of knowledge closed with a shattering thud, once again leaving us confused and in the dark. Still, we thank our benevolent information masters for this new glimpse into the heart of the game industry, however brief.
Three tracks from metal band All That Remains will be next week's Rock Band DLC offering. The songs "Two Weeks" and "Chiron" are off the band's latest album, Overcome, which will release Sept. 16. The tracks are offered at a special price for now and will cost double in one month.
All That Remains Pack (240 / $3)
"This Calling" (80 / $1)
"Chiron" (80 / $1)
"Two Weeks" (80 / $1)
Videos for the tracks can be found after the break. The songs will be available for download next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.
Look guys, the cute little cartoon characters thing? Yeah, that ain't workin' so much these days. Folks are upset, and rightly so. Castle Crashers is broken. We know, we know, you told us a patch was coming. But why isn't it here yet!
... Er, what's that you say? You just had a "great talk" with Microsoft about it? Well, by golly, gosh, that's great news! But, you say. But what? But you don't have a "specific time frame"? Oh, don't worry about it. Those 1200 are just water under the bridge ... Aw, would you look at that: Those knights with their big blocky heads and stumpy wumpy hands -- how precious.
Don't be surprised if this Sunday's edition of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown looks a bit more like a game of Madden. According to a New York Times report, the Disney-owned sports network will use the "EA Sports Virtual Playbook" and a special studio and camera setup to allow "both real and virtual people move around the ESPN set to demonstrate plays and possible situations." It sure sounds a lot simpler than getting real NFL players to crash around the set, but we'll reserve judgment until we see it in action this weekend.
Square turns around and says, "Under such circumstances, the Company is unable to make appropriate modifications to major terms of the Proposal including the TOB price, and determines that it is extremely difficult to continue the discussions with Tecmo based on the Proposal. The Company, therefore, has decided to withdraw from the Proposal."
Blank stares.
"What I'm trying to say is I'm withdrawing my proposal to take you over," Square tells Tecmo, working his idea of emo for all its worth. Tecmo just smiles and says, "Hee! You're funny! Bye-eee!"
OK, fanboys, before you hit that spittle-flecked "post comment" button after just reading that inflammatory headline question, hear us out. We're not just idly speculating here -- we're basing our query on an unusually frank quote from Microsoft Senior Vice President of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick. In an interview with BusinessWeek, Mattrick said that he's "not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo." Coming from a guy whose job it is to promote Microsoft's position in the market, that's a pretty big admission of doubt. It's not just Mattrick that's doubtful-- analyst Billy Pidgeon told the magazine, "I expect the 360 to remain in second place this generation. But it's going to be close."
The question, then, becomes how much this sales position really matters. Microsoft's sales might fall just shy of Nintendo's, but that doesn't seem to be hurting the company's ability to attract big-namegames or roll out newfeatures for the system. In fact, with Nintendo's decidedly less powerful system catering to a decidedly different audience, Microsoft's position relative to Nintendo might not matter nearly as much as their position relative to Sony. And on that score Mattrick has no doubt: "We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony," he told BusinessWeek.
Good news, Tecmo employees! No no, please don't get up. That bed under your desk really looks quite comfortable and snuggly. Now, if you'll just minimize that window filled with Ninja Gaiden II: Burnt Sienna code ... there, that's it. You'll be pleased to note that Tecmo has reached a settlement with Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuki Tsunoda of Team Ninja, who recently filed a lawsuit against the Dead or Alive publisher in response to an alleged overtime pay dispute.
According to Gamasutra, the pair claimed that employees (like you!) were not paid according to documented overtime hours, going as far as to say that the company created false documents to cover up the salary shenanigans. With this lawsuit wrapped up, it still leaves one to go with departed Team Ninja boss, Tomonobu Itagaki.
Alright, back to work! And go brush your teeth, seriously.
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
Joining Hendrix, Ozzy and others, Sting will be walking around the virtual concert halls of Guitar Hero World Tour. According to the press release, you can play as Sting during the vocal career "or play alongside him" in the Police track, "Demolition Man." Additionally, three songs from Tool (who are not bringing their likenesses to the game) have been confirmed: Parabola, Schism, Vicarious.
We now know about 65 tracks of the reported "over 85" tracks. With about seven weeks to go before its October 26 North American launch, when do we get to learn the rest of the tracklist? More importantly, where's our virtual likeness of Lars Ulrich?
/ $3)
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