Joystiq Staff
Articles by Joystiq Staff
Remasters of the universe: Obscure titles we want to revisit
It was no great shock when Sony released a PlayStation 4 version of its super-popular third-person title The Last of Us. Deep Silver bathing its new Metro franchise in the spotlight for next-gen consoles was no great surprise either. A new generation seems to come with it a series of new versions of some of our favorite games. But what about the less obvious choices? Capcom bringing the original Resident Evil back makes sense, but what about Nintendo's cult-hit Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem? The Joystiq staff has reached back into the last decade-plus for its obscure favorites to present a list of some games we would like to see make a return in remastered form. Of course this is only a small slice of our favorite obscure games we'd want to revisit. Tell us your selections and why and they may be added to our gallery. >>Obscure Games We Want to Revisit<<
Joystiq goes back to school
With some of our readers heading back to school, the team at Joystiq started to discuss the games that have mechanics or stories that could apply to standard school curriculum. Of course there are obvious choices: the Civilization series can teach players about history and planning, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego can teach players geography and critical thinking. But here are a few less obvious choices for you to consider playing while you try to get a leg up on that school work. Have some less obvious suggestions for back to school video games? Tell us in the comments and we may it to our featured gallery! >>Explore the curriculum<<
Happy 25th birthday, Sega Genesis
Twenty-five years ago this week, the Sega Genesis made its way to stores in North America. Helping to usher in the 16-bit era with classic characters such as Sonic and Sonic & Tails and Sonic & Tails featuring Knuckles. And more non-Sonic-related characters, of course! Too many memories could be shared about our time growing up with the Sega Genesis, but the most important thing about it was its library of games. Here are a few of our favorites – for a bigger list of favorites (by no means all of them), check out our Sega Genesis Anniversary Gallery. What are your favorites?
Weird and wonderful worlds in the galaxy of gaming
Marvel unleashes a new set of heroes on film today with the launch of Guardians of the Galaxy. Though many of the studio's stories collide with modern-day Earth, GotG travels across a series of strange alien worlds. With the Guardians in mind, we decided to round up some of our favorite, weirdest worlds brought to life in video games. Check out a few of our most memorable galaxies after the break. For even more selections, explore our gallery. Oh, and suggest your favorites in the comments and tell us why – we'll add it to our gallery! [Image: Marvel]
Hit List Q&A: Monument Valley designer Ken Wong
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Ken Wong, lead designer of Monument Valley. Ken Wong served as lead designer on ustwo's recent mobile hit Monument Valley. An Australian living in London, his previous work also includes the art direction of Alice: Madness Returns at Spicy Horse and his solo indie project, Hackycat. Wong will be presenting at the upcoming D.I.C.E. Europe conference in a session titled, "Games without gamers." He will discuss how core gamers have supported the games industry and pushed it into new territory for decades, but fresh opportunities and challenges await if designers try to attract new audiences. In creating Monument Valley ustwo sought to create a meaningful, rich experience for audiences beyond the 'gamer' by replacing tropes and overused patterns with a focus on user experience.
Hit List Q&A: Watch Dogs creative director Jonathan Morin
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Jonathan Morin, creative director of Watch Dogs. With over fifteen years in the industry and thirteen of them at Ubisoft Montreal, Jonathan has held various roles in Game Design, Level Design and Art on games such as Peter Jackson's King Kong and Far Cry 2. For the past couple years, Morin has worked as Creative Director on Watch Dogs. In university Morin studied Human Science, Computer Science and briefly considered a career in mathematics education but chose to apply these skills in an environment that would be a bit less predictable. At the upcoming D.I.C.E. Europe conference, Morin will be speaking in a session titled, "Mind the Gap - Igniting People's Sense of Wonder." Morin tends to see games like musical instruments built for players to blow our minds with their creativity. It's an apt analogy but bringing everyone in a development team to think this way is challenging. After all, every brain is different. Working on a game as big as Watch Dogs made Morin realize that no matter how big the game is, or how many people are involved, or in how many countries, often the biggest borders he faced are hidden in an inevitable "gap" between two minds. "Mind the Gap" is a session that explores the importance of listening to others and challenging your own creativity. In this session, Morin will look at how these perception gaps impacted every aspect of his reality: his interactions with executives, the team, marketing, press, and ultimately how players play. In the end, Morin feels the hardest borders to cross are the ones we create in our own minds.
Joystiq gets sage advice to celebrate Father's Day
On Sunday, popularity in neck ties, Hawaiian shirts and Home Depot gift cards exploded as families around the world celebrated Father's Day. For our post-E3 2014 celebration, Joystiq asked old, new and non-fathers about the wisdom they'd like to share with their children. Video game-based wisdom, of course. We asked: "If you had to tell your sons and/or daughters to play one game that helped shape your love of games and explained why you love playing and/or making games, what would it be and why?" What would you tell your kids?
Joystiq's E3 2014 Selections
With E3 2014 in the books, Joystiq's writers look back at their favorites from the show. With the only stipulation being that the game must have been playable to qualify, the team presents its selections for favorite games of E3 2014. From independent gems to major releases from powerhouse publishers, Joystiq's list represents the variety of experiences available to video game fans worldwide. Here are Joystiq's first annual "E3 Selections."
What our moms think about video games
On Sunday, moms, mothers, mums and at least one half of the pop group responsible for California Dreamin' will be celebrated for Mother's Day. Since our moms taught us everything we know (or so they tell us, anyway) the Joystiq staff wanted to celebrate by asking them what they thought about the industry, whether or not they partake in the favorite hobby of their sons and daughters and quiz them about what it is their children do for a living. From all of us at Joystiq, we wish all moms a very happy mother's day!
We're giving away Nether closed beta steam keys
Nether's spooky catchphrase is "prey or pray," but you'll be required to do neither to snag a key in today's beta giveaway. The closed-beta post-apoc sandbox is updating today with its Territory Wars patch that allows players to compete to control bases and buildings within the city. The patch also introduces playable female characters, an expanded loot system, and an underwear uniform for the most hardcore survivalists. Seriously. Joystiq and Massively have 2,000 Steam keys for Nether to give away, coinciding with the release of the new update. The Steam passes include closed beta access, 50 Nether gold, a Chosen-only exclusive in-game item, five 72-hour guest keys for your mates, forum access, and a highlighted forum name and rank for your account. Additionally, once the Steam bundles are gone, we've got 18,000 more guest keys that grant 72 hours of beta access without the other goodies. To redeem your Nether Steam key, install and launch the Steam client software and log into your Steam account (the client, not the Steam website!). Click the Games Menu, then Choose Activate a Product on Steam, and then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process. You and your friends can redeem your guest keys by creating an account on the Nether website and following the instructions therein to download the game. Steam is required for all keys. Have fun saving the world! Update: We're already out of Steam keys, but there are still guest keys left.
Hit List Q&A: Rami Ismail of Ridiculous Fishing dev Vlambeer
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Rami Ismail of Ridiculous Fishing developer Vlambeer. Rami Ismail is the Business & Development Guy at Vlambeer, a Dutch independent game studio known best for Wasteland Kings, Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box, LUFTRAUSERS, GUN GODZ and Serious Sam: The Random Encounter. At his upcoming 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit talk Rami will present on "No holding back: A look at independent game development during three years of Vlambeer." Rami discusses The Golden Age for independent development, running through the last five years as he learned of the independent gaming scene, founded Vlambeer with co-founder Jan Willem Nijman, and slowly worked his way into a central figure in independent gaming. He will discuss lessons learned and applicable to an ever-changing scene, the importance of technological democratization and the shift in the relation between developers, platforms, consumers and partners.
Hit List Q&A: Kabam Studios President Andrew Sheppard
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Andrew Sheppard, President of Kabam Studios. Andrew Sheppard is President of Kabam Studios, where he leads the company's game studios in San Francisco, Beijing and Vancouver. With more than a decade of gaming experience from companies such as EA and Outspark, Andrew has pioneered Kabam's unique approach of blending art and science to create mass-market commercial games and has overseen the strategy and development of seven Kabam games that gross more than $1 million per month, including the award-winning Kingdoms of Camelot, a $250 million franchise and games based on iconic Hollywood films such as The Hobbit, Fast & Furious 6 and The Godfather. At the 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit, Andrew will deliver a talk entitled "Unlearning history: Avoiding the cultural pitfalls of traditional entertainment." The recipe for success in today's dynamic industry has greatly changed. New platforms and business models are disrupting traditional methods. The road to success may be unlearning what you thought you were an expert on and having the humility to change direction. In his talk, Andrew will discuss the need to embrace and celebrate transition, in order to achieve creativity, success and prosperity in today's world.
Hit List Q&A: Journey composer Austin Wintory
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Austin Wintory, Grammy-nominated composer for games such as Journey, Monaco and The Banner Saga. Grammy-nominated and two-time BAFTA-winning composer Austin Wintory's diverse career has straddled the worlds of concert music, film, and video games. In 2012, Wintory's soundtrack for the hit PlayStation 3 game, Journey, became the first-ever Grammy-nominated video game score, also winning two British Academy Awards, a D.I.C.E. Award, a Spike TV VGA, and IGN's "Overall Music of the Year," along with five Game Audio Network Guild awards, and a host of others. Austin's score for flOw made him the youngest composer ever to receive a British Academy Award nomination. An orchestral version of this music has been performed at the Smithsonian Museum as a part of their "Art of Games" exhibit; flOw is currently on display at MoMA in New York City. In his upcoming 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit session titled "Music's Rising Tides," Wintory offers his effusively positive outlook on the future of music in general, particularly in games. He contends, through a look at both history and the rapidly changing present, that music's best days lie ahead, and that it is not a hindrance to progress that anyone can whip up a half-decent tune in about 5 minutes ... which he will do while on stage.
Twenty developers you don't know, but should
Between consoles, PC, mobile and everything in between, there are so many games released today that it's impossible to keep up with everything that's coming out – and it's even harder to keep up with the studios behind them. Even with a gaming public that's grown accustomed to following big developers like Valve and small studios like Double Fine, countless other studios slide under the radar. In the interest of sifting a signal from the noise, the Joystiq crew has selected 20 developers that deserve your attention. These studios are making games you should play, and their future work should be highly anticipated. This list is by no means exhaustive, and we invite you to share your own favorites in the comments!
Hit List Q&A: Gone Home's Steve Gaynor
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Steve Gaynor, co-founder of 'Gone Home' developer The Fullbright Company. Steve Gaynor is co-founder of independent game studio The Fullbright Company. He was the writer and designer of the Company's critically lauded first game, Gone Home. Prior to this, he worked for a number of years as a designer on the BioShock franchise. At the 2014 DICE Summit, Steve will deliver a talk entitled Strangers in a Strange Time: "We live in a strange time. Is it a golden age, or a gold rush? The landscape is changing – because we're at the crest of the wave of first-generation indie success, and the indies that made those breakthrough games are now about to release their second titles. What does this mean for new indies now entering the field – and for the rest of the games industry?"
Hit List Q&A: EA founder Trip Hawkins
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Trip Hawkins, Founder of Electronic Arts and CEO of If You Can Company. Trip Hawkins is the Academy's 2005 Hall of Fame game recipient who founded and built Electronic Arts and played a key role in defining the PC industry. Co-Founder and CEO of If You Can Company, a maker of educational games, he also advises game and tech companies including Kixeye, NativeX and Extreme Reality 3D. He joined Apple to work with the founders when it had only 25 office workers and helped grow the company to 4,000 employees. He founded EA in 1982, introduced many fundamental strategies and business practices to the game industry and was the creative and production force behind EA Sports. For his upcoming 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit session he will speak on "Tipping Points," where he will illustrate how several tipping points are challenging the game industry to change and pointing the way toward a golden age for games.
Joystiq's Black Friday and Cyber Monday Bargain Roundup 2013
It's dangerous to shop alone, so take this – our regularly updated mega-post on the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals: The time of preparation is at hand. As globs of turkey, stuffing and aunt Brandine's weird ambrosia salad battle for dominance in your stomach, you must plan your Black Friday attack. Welcome to Joystiq's Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals roundup post, where we've cataloged all the game-related savings we could dig up. Remember that these summaries don't include every last detail of every retailer's deals. We recommend judicious clicking and further scrutiny of your preferred outlets based on personal preference, weather conditions and geographical proximity. You'll find sales for four of the major retailers below, with plenty of other deals after the break. Be frugal, be safe and remember to watch out for aunt Brandine. She stops for no one. Best Buy: New games and accessories for $35 or less, monster Xbox 360 bundle for $190 GameStop: Game discounts, Battlefield 4 (current-gen) for $25, limited edition Zelda 3DS Target: Bonus gift cards, $190 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, $25 Splinter Cell: Blacklist Walmart: $100 2DS, $40 Skylanders and Call of Duty: Ghosts, $35 AC4: Black Flag and GTA 5
Hit List Q&A: Major League Gaming CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO of Major League Gaming. Sundance DiGiovanni, Co-Founder and CEO of Major League Gaming, is a seasoned executive, recognized thought leader in video game culture, and veteran creative director with more than 18 years of experience in the media, technology and video game industries. Sundance focuses on the global growth of competitive video gaming, expansion of MLG as a digital media property, and the its distribution platform MLG.tv that is bringing this burgeoning sport to an ever-growing community worldwide. The company operates MLG.tv, the #1 online broadcast network for professional level competitive gaming; the MLG Pro Circuit, the longest-running eSports league in North America; and MLG: Play, the largest cross platform online gaming tournament system with 8 million registered users across the globe. At the upcoming 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Sundance will discuss the growth and evolution of eSports, the similarities with traditional sport, how eSports has become the go-to sport for many, and how free to play games are impacting the eSports space. He will also discuss the future of the eSports landscape and how new consoles, new games and a wider global audience will catapult eSports into the mainstream in the next 5 to 10 years.
Joystiq Streams: Need for Speed Rivals (PS4) [Watch the replay!]
Update: The live stream has ended. Watch the live stream replay above. Need for Speed: Rivals, EA's reckless (but not wreck-free) open-world racer, is officially en route. In the meantime, join us as we hurtle down the highways in an Aston Martin – well, once we unlock it. You have to get the Aston first, right?
Joystiq remembers the PS3 launch lineup in a special live stream tomorrow
The time has almost come to welcome a new member of the PlayStation family into our homes, with the PS4 launching this Friday. Though the PlayStation 3 isn't going away any time soon officially, we're getting the eulogy started on the current-gen by remembering how it all started. Join Xav and Dave and the rest of the Joystiq team tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern as we play through the entire PlayStation 3 launch lineup. Classic titles will be on hand, from giant enemy crabs in Genji: Days of the Blade to the delectable drifts of Ridge Racer 7 and more (some pictured above)! Take a journey with us to remember that a system's launch doesn't define its future. We even have Haze, which wasn't a launch game, but holy smokes do you remember that thing? See our complete list of games after the break! The stream will go live on Tuesday, November 12 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. If you want to participate in the live discussion, subscribe to Joystiq's Twitch channel.