South Park
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AI put me in a 'South Park' episode
The Simulation's Showrunner AI dropped me into a South Park episode.
Paramount+ is getting 14 South Park movies starting with two this year
The movies will expand the world of South Park by introducing new characters and concepts.
HBO Max nets ‘South Park’ exclusivity for a reported $500 million
South Park is moving to the new HBO Max next year. The Comedy Central show will leave its current home, the Disney-owned Hulu, for exclusive streaming on the WarnerMedia-backed platform in June 2020, thanks to a deal rumored to be valued between $500 million and $550 million.
There's a new 'South Park' game and it's all about superheroes
Well, Ubisoft just kicked off its E3 press conference with what's definitely a crowd pleaser: a new South Park game. Aisha Tyler (she of "LANAAAAA!!!" fame) brought out South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to announce the title, South Park: The Fractured But Whole (get it? yeah), which is available for pre-order now. The game's currently in development -- sorry, no release date was mentioned -- with Ubisoft's San Francisco studio and picks up where Stick of Truth left off. You're still the "new kid," but this time you and the South Park crew are playing superheroes. "At the end of Truth, we kinda realized how to make video games," said Matt Stone onstage. And well, considering how many patches were issued for Truth, Matt, we're inclined to agree. Check here for everything happening at E3 2015!
PewDiePie and Let's Plays at center of latest South Park
"The living room is dying," Kyle Broflovski solemnly states in this week's episode of South Park, as he loudly longs for the days when he and his brother Ike would spend their days together, playing Call of Duty and other video games. See, Ike isn't interested in playing games anymore. He's interested in watching YouTube stars like PewDiePie play and make commentary. Following up on episodes like "Freemium Isn't Free" and "Grounded Vindaloop" which also explored aspects of video games and game culture, "#REHASH" is the episode for anyone who just doesn't get what the big deal is with Let's Play personalities like PewDiePie. Watch the episode and see what we mean, bros. [Image: Comedy Central]
South Park goes tripping on the Oculus Rift
South Park's latest season definitely seems to be taking a turn for the nerdy. Last week, Matt Stone, Trey Parker and crew lambasted freemium games that use shady business practices to make players spend more money. This week, South Park showed us a world where the Oculus Rift - a device that up to now has been primarily used for virtual reality gaming - is just a little too good of a device. Without spoiling too much, one of the boys has an Oculus Rift to show off to the group, and it isn't long before things spiral out of control (as they often do in the South Park universe). Watch the episode for yourself and ponder what diving into VR will really cost. [Image: Comedy Central]
South Park pokes fun at freemium mobile games
Trey Parker and Matt Stone set their sights on free-to-play mobile games in the latest episode of South Park, skewering predatory game design tactics in the process. Titled "Freemium Isn't Free" (okay, that's maybe a little bit too self-referential, guys) the episode explores the creative process behind the addictive mobile game Terrance & Phillip: Give Us Your Money, which attempts to ensnare users through a combination of fake currency and flattery. It's ... surprisingly accurate, actually. Watch and think carefully about your next purchase in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. [Image: Comedy Central]
South Park Pinball rolling in this month
The pinball wizards at Zen Studios announced today that two South Park pinball tables are rolling out in October (this month!) for the Zen Pinball 2 platform. The publisher currently has no further details to share. Fine, fine. Well, If we were to guess, the South Park tables will likely be on most major devices, as was the case with the Guardians of the Galaxy and The Walking Dead tables. The price will also likely be around the $2.99 mark. Also, Kenny will likely die.
Barely Related: Community lives on, buy Laura Palmer's house
Light up the grills and pop open those cold cans – it's nerdy news time! Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
WoW Archivist: Beta surprises
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Last week, we launched into the newest beta in WoW's history -- its sixth! -- for Warlords of Draenor. It's an exciting time for the game. Every beta has its surprises, good and bad. New things that were never announced. Prior announcements that changed unexpectedly. We've already had a number of surprises in the Warlords beta: the faction hub shift to Ashran, cross-faction auctions, and the removal of guild leveling. Beta is just ramping up. We are sure to encounter more than one surprise over the next few months as we test the Draenor experience and gear up for the expansion's launch. Let's take a look back at the previous five betas and examine some of the twists that greeted testers -- and often shocked the WoW community. Caveat: I'm excluding storyline surprises. The original beta In 2003 and early 2004, players didn't really know what to expect from a World of Warcraft MMO. Blizzard, after all, had never made one before. Most of the original beta served up surprise after surprise. Yet, a few stand out. Tired heroes. Patch 0.6 introduced the first incarnation of the rest system. Today it is simply a bonus for players who don't have time to log in every day. The original version was more like the Chinese government's "anti-obsession measures": it punished you for playing too long. The system looked like this: Well rested gave 200% of the XP from a mob kill Rested gave between 100% and 200% XP Normal gave 100% XP Fatigued gave 50% XP Exhausted gave 25% XP Your hero needed a good night's rest -- a full eight hours at an inn -- to go from exhausted to normal.
Head on up to 'South Park' with Oculus Rift and have yourself a time
If it's been your childhood dream to explore South Park in 3D, consider it realized thanks to a new Oculus Rift experience from Tool. Over the course of a "few short weeks in June," the production company, inspired by The Stick of Truth RPG, faithfully recreated the fictional Colorado town allowing anyone with an Oculus headset to explore its scrapbook streets, interact with characters and find hidden easter eggs. For example: if you navigate through the town's church doors, you'll almost certainly "fall" into Hell. You can beat a hasty retreat, however, if you bump into Saddam Hussein, who'll whisk you back to the snowy streets of South Park (just don't ask us who killed Kenny). While the experience is best suited for Oculus Rift owners, the cartoon landscape is also available inside your browser. You can find that and the Oculus source files using the links below.
Matt Stone on South Park's censored scenes: 'It's not that big a deal'
South Park: The Stick of Truth may be censored in some regions of the world, but series co-creator Matt Stone told The Guardian that the censorship - in which offending scenes are replaced by a still image and a text description - isn't "that big a deal," and "doesn't change things that much." "We weren't willing to change the content, but also it doesn't ruin the game – it's like 40 seconds' worth of the whole game," Stone said. "As long as we could make a joke out of the fact that they made us cut this, that was fine." Stone also noted that the censorship felt like a double standard; compared to television, games have more scrutiny aimed at their content. He believes it's due to their interactive nature. "There is an interactiveness that makes it different," Stone said. "There are things that make people more uncomfortable in an interactive world, definitely. But that said, what we had in the game, we could have shown that on TV pretty easily, especially now." Even with the censored scenes removed, The Stick of Truth still features plenty of dark comedy, as noted in our review. And, if you happen to be a Joystiq reader who lives in a region where you don't get to experience the content firsthand, we have a stream of the uncensored version of the game for your viewing (dis)pleasure. [Image: Ubisoft]
Joystiq Weekly: Batman: Arkham Knight, our South Park review and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Rocksteady revealed its return to the Batman series this week with Batman: Arkham Knight, and we've dug out capes and Batarangs from our Halloween stash to get properly excited. Last year's Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate were the first pieces of the series that weren't developed by Rocksteady. We enjoyed Arkham Origins well enough, but we're ready to move on from its bugs and glitches, especially since not all of them will be fixed with a patch. Arkham Knight is set to be the final game in the Arkham series, and we're eager to see what Rocksteady will do for the finale once it releases in October. There's plenty to read while we wait however, including news of Amy Hennig's departure from Naughty Dog, a preview of Watch Dogs and a review of South Park: The Stick of Truth. We've rounded up those stories and more for you in this week's edition of the Joystiq Weekly. [Image: Warner Bros.]
PSN Tuesday: Outlast on PS4, pre-order Dark Souls 2, South Park
Outlast is out on PS4 in today's PSN update, alongside PS3 games Dustforce, Castlestorm Complete Edition, Adam's Venture Chronicles, Truck Racer and Furmins + Stardrone Extreme Bundle. Outlast, you'll remember (unless you blocked the memory to save your psyche), is the horror game from Red Barrels that places players inside a corrupt insane asylum with the broader task of discovering why everyone there is so grossly homicidal. It's $20 on PSN, but free for Plus members. A bevy of PS3 pre-orders are live now as well: Dark Souls 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Tales of Symphonia Chronicles and Call of Duty: Ghosts' first DLC pack, Onslaught. That last one is pre-order-able for PS4 as well. Vita gets Dustforce, King Oddball and Surge Deluxe today. See the full lineup on the PlayStation Blog. [Image: Red Barrels]
South Park behind-the-scenes shows importance of 'authentic crappiness'
A new behind-the-scenes video for South Park: The Stick of Truth has revealed just how the game came to land in the hands of developers Obsidian, as well as some ... enlightening information on the importance of the game's aesthetic and farts. Language NSFW. Obviously. Come on, it's South Park. Show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone noted that it's "harder than you think" to make a game look like the show; there's an "authentic crappiness" to the animation that Stone and Parker felt couldn't be pulled off until the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 came into existence. The two men also stress how important it is for the player to feel powerful. "In Zelda, you become master of the wind, in Infamous, you have electricity as your weapon. In Stick of Truth, we made it farts, which is probably not the biggest surprise." No, can't say it is.
Latest South Park: Stick of Truth trailer is one long fart joke
In any other game, a trailer like the one you see above for South Park: The Stick of Truth would serve as a short introduction to your character's attacks. This being a South Park game however, the footage focuses on the damage potential of weaponized flatulence.
South Park ends PS4, Xbox One wars with a Red (Robin) wedding
It's going to be difficult to watch the new season of Game of Thrones without humming South Park's vocal variation of the theme song. We won't reprint it here, but it rhymes with "Meeners, ploppy Meeners." The third and final episode in South Park's Game of Thrones-style, next-gen console wars storyline aired last night, wrapping up with Kenny as an anime princess, the Black Friday mob, George RR Martin on a horse and a Red Robin wedding. And it includes a line that would fit in most Game of Thrones episodes: "Whose betrayal is this?" We usually hate to spoil the ending of anything, but in this case it's both obvious and harmless: The episode closes with an ad for Ubisoft's South Park RPG, The Stick of Truth. The US audience can check out all of the drama at South Park Studios.
Next-gen console wars continue in last night's South Park
Finally, the root of all console wars was revealed, thanks to Cartman in last night's episode of South Park: "You know why Kenny's doing this right? Because he wanted to be a princess and I wouldn't let him." Turns out extreme console fanboyism is just as immature as we all thought. South Park continued its Game of Thrones-inspired console wars storyline last night in "A Song of Ass and Fire," which saw the battle for Black Friday heat up with Cartman's army of Xbox One fans against Kenny's small crew of PS4 players – all dressed as their characters in South Park: The Stick of Truth, the Obsidian RPG due out in March 2014. Plus, there was a nice Princess Kenny anime intro around the 20 minute mark. US readers can watch the full episode here.
Xbox One and PS4 fans go to war in last night's South Park episode
South Park took on the next-gen console wars in last night's episode, emphasis on the "wars." The whole episode is framed as a Game of Thrones-style battle over beating other customers to awesome Black Friday deals, and the kids are particularly interested in securing new consoles. But which one? Some kids want a PS4 while others want an Xbox One. Thus begin the talking points and PR-infused insults that lead to all-out war. "Winter is coming," a poster from propaganda wizard Cartman reads. "Choose a side." By the way, "wizard" is not hyperbole in this case: Cartman and all the kids are wearing the same outfits we'll see next year in South Park: The Stick of Truth. There's even a moment where the show takes a jab at the fact that the game was recently delayed. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, so it's probable that we'll see this conflict continue, even as real-life PS4 and Xbox One systems hit shelves and we approach Black Friday. The nice thing is, despite all the violence and cussing, all of this is quite obvious satirical parody. We all know nobody would draw such absurd lines in the sand over toys, right? Right? ... Guys? US residents can watch the entire episode over at South Park Studios.
South Park: The Stick of Truth delayed to March 2014
South Park: The Stick of Truth has been delayed to March 4, 2014, Ubisoft announced today. The game will now launch on March 6, 2014 in Europe. Ubisoft acquired the game when it purchased THQ Montreal in January, later announcing that the game would arrive this holiday season. "Within three weeks after acquiring the game, we sadly realized we had to turn this thing upside down if we hoped to deliver the experience everybody wanted," Ubisoft North America's president Laurent Detoc said in the announcement blog. "It's been such a major overhaul to get to the point where we are that we couldn't let it go, even if that meant missing December." Ubisoft also unveiled a new gameplay trailer for the game, which clocks in at over seven minutes long.
