Kevin Kelly

Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Interview: Jason Kim talks RAGE

What does a video game producer do? Well, the brutally honest Jason Kim from id's RAGE summed it up for us. "I'm just a producer; I don't make anything that actually shows up in the game." So there you have it! Okay, we're kidding (slightly). It's a producer's task on a game to make sure everything is running smoothly, that schedules are being met, budgets being adhered to, all so that one day the game can end up on your system of choice. That's no small task. Kim has been working on RAGE at id for the past several years, and has seen the project move from EA, to being an internally developed project at id, and now on to Bethesda. He's definitely enthusiastic about the project (and the word megatexture), and you can read on beyond the break for the full interview with him were he talks about the game, and why a lot of developers seem to be using the post-apocalyptic realm as a backdrop.%Gallery-92198%

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Tomorrow

Tomorrow By Kevin Kelly

Minority Report UI designer John Underkoffler talks about the future of gestures

Unless you're an engineer who designs cutting-edge user interfaces, you've probably never heard the name John Underkoffler before ... but you've definitely seen his work. Remember the computer Tom Cruise uses by waving his hands around in Minority Report? He designed that. And it wasn't just faked together for the movie, Underkoffler had a working prototype at MIT before that, and now he's designed a version that you can actually purchase. Underkoffler now serves as the Chief Scientist at Oblong Industries, and we spoke with him recently in connection with the now-on-Blu-ray Minority Report, and he talked extensively about the future of computing, how video games are driving technology forward, what in the hell the game Tempest is all about, and why it's time for the mouse to die. Read on after the break for the full interview.

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Interview: Josh Sawyer on Fallout: New Vegas

Imagine going to work on "Van Buren," the original Fallout 3, as a designer for Black Isle Studios, only to see the title canceled due to parent company Interplay's financial problems. Then, imagine Bethesda buying the Fallout 3 license and developing an entirely different game, which goes on to win multiple awards and accolades. Now, imagine you're brought back into the franchise, as a designer for Obsidian Entertainment, to create a sequel to Bethesda's popular title. Preposterous, you say? Josh Sawyer is the lead designer on Fallout: New Vegas and, after having the rug yanked from under him on the original Fallout 3, he's happy to be working on the latest new Fallout project -- one that will be released later this year. Read on for our conversation with Sawyer. Joystiq: What's your history with the Fallout franchise? Josh Sawyer: I worked on what's called "Van Buren," which was the codename when Black Isle started to work on what would have been Fallout 3, and we had worked on it for maybe half a year, and then it was canceled because Interplay had a lot of financial problems.

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Impressions: Hunted: The Demon's Forge

Clicked: The Full-sized Gallery Bethesda's undoubtedly one of the best developers in the industry; however, as a publisher, it's had its fair share of ups and down. Last year's Wet and Rogue Warrior illustrate both extremes quite well. Earlier this year at GDC, when Bethesda unveiled the clumsily titled Hunted: The Demon's Forge – a new co-op dungeon crawler from inXile Entertainment, Interplay-cofounder Brian Fargo's new digs – we immediately wondered which side of that gulf it would live on. Would it be worthy of the Bethesda name on its packaging, alongside promising shooter Brink, surefire-hit Fallout: New Vegas, and id Software's Rage? Fargo certainly thinks so. In fact, Fargo is so sure about his new game, that he wasn't afraid to recall the past glory of games like the original Bard's Tale and Wizardry at a recent Bethesda press event, and Fargo had previously introduced the concept, saying "What you're going to see here today is a reimagining of the dungeon crawler, the classic game that got me into this industry." He continued, "It was the Might & Magic series, it was the Ultima series, Dungeon Master from FTL was a bit of a breakthrough product ... that's very much the experience I grew up with." And as action games supplanted the dungeon crawlers, Fargo "felt like the core experience of that good ol' dungeon crawl, getting lost in the dungeon, had sort of fallen away. And it hadn't fallen away because the titles were doing bad. People forgot or something." While we don't know if they forgot – Demon's Souls, Torchlight, and Diablo 3 say hi! – Fargo's "reimagining" certainly doesn't look like what you imagine when you think dungeon crawl. "The gamer today has a different metaphor for engrossing themselves, which is more the action, Gears of War-type thing," Fargo explains. "So what we need to do is take today's experience and mix those two together but ... we the take you someplace very different, and in the beginning we need to get your attention." Read to to find out where your attention will be going, and to find out if inXile has been successful in grabbing our attention. %Gallery-92197%

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Obsidian CEO describes Fallout: New Vegas as 'almost' original IP

Obsidian Entertainment has worked on a number of games based on existing franchises, including Star Wars, Forgotten Realms and Aliens*. While the studio will release an original IP in Alpha Protocol in just several weeks (through publisher Sega), its following release will be the next installment in the Fallout franchise, Fallout: New Vegas, with publisher Bethesda. At a recent Bethesda press event, I asked Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart about the studio's decision to take on the next Fallout versus pursuing an original IP. Head past the break for Urquhart's thoughtful response. *[Editor's note: The Aliens-based game was ultimately canceled.] %Gallery-92131%

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

New Brink screenshots arrive (thanks, Eyjafjallajokull!)

The recent eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced as ... uh ... never mind) may have prevented Splash Damage from properly showing off its latest game at a Bethesda press event, but at least the internet remained functional. We've got some new screenshots of Brink in our gallery below -- just think of it as a collection of "I'm sorry I couldn't be there" cards. Brink, which promises to embed player customization, first-person shootering and elements of parkour into a futuristic world, is due on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this fall. %Gallery-92196%

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Impressions: RAGE

RAGE is a gorgeous game. The Xbox 360 version of id's post-apocalyptic shooter, running at 60 frames per second, stunned at a recent Bethesda event, and removed any doubts as to whether the idTech 5 engine would hold up nearly three years after the game's unveiling. RAGE's story starts in the near future: a giant asteroid is heading towards Earth, and rather than launch a team of wacky oil-rig drillers at the problem, the governments of the world convene and decide to put most of the population into suspended animation and bury them beneath the surface in giant Arks. Years later, you're revived as the sole survivor of your malfunctioning Ark. I watched a hands-off demonstration a bit further along into the game, but there will be a brief tutorial during your revival process. %Gallery-92198%

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Interview: Bethesda's Pete Hines

Two years ago, our discussions with Bethesda were dominated by Fallout 3. Now, the publisher has four new titles in the pipeline: Fallout: New Vegas, Brink, Hunted: The Demon's Forge, and RAGE. Oh, and it also recently announced plans to dominate the world. At a press event each of those four upcoming games, we spoke with company vice president Pete Hines about future plans and, of course, Fallout: New Vegas. Read on for the full interview.

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Impressions: Fallout New Vegas (update)

Are we really ready for more Fallout? No mere expansion pack, Fallout: New Vegas is equal in size and scope to Fallout 3 and will require a significant time investment to fully explore. Bethesda has brought in Obsidian to develop the title, and the studio is adding a lot of content (more than double the number of weapons in Fallout 3, for example) and necessary tweaks to the Fallout foundation. Set three years after Fallout 3, New Vegas stars a mysterious stranger, though not a vault-dweller, who recovers from a bullet to the head and ventures forth to figure out the identity of the shooter. Of course, this journey of discovery is just as much about meting out that particular brand of Fallout justice. Update: We mention later in this piece that Fallout: New Vegas apparently wouldn't have a fast travel system. We decided to contact Bethesda about that ... since just like you, we don't want to spend all of our gameplay time walking from one town to the next. Here's the response we received: "Fallout: New Vegas will have a fast travel system – just like Fallout 3. The guys were just pointing out that unlike Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas won't have any underground tunnels (the metro) linking the various locations." %Gallery-92131%

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PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Blizzard's Dustin Browder talks StarCraft 2

Dustin Browder isn't just the lead designer on Blizzard's StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty -- he's also in the game! Well, sort of. According to a Blizzard spokesperson, "There are a few examples of Blizzard employees making it into the game. The portrait of the Vulture pilot was based on the likeness of Jason Huck, a level designer. Brian Sousa, a senior 3D artist was the inspiration for the regular Goliath pilot. A running joke amongst the team is that Brian and Dustin look similar enough to be brothers – so the extension of that joke was to make the mercenary goliath pilot (Spartan Company) look like Dustin." So there you have it. If you want your face in a multimillion dollar game, just get a job working on it. Easy enough, right? We talked to Dustin about StarCraft 2 last year, and this time he gives us more details about the development of this eagerly awaited title, and not just his vanity unit portrait. He discusses multiplayer plans, balancing, Blizzard's hardcore fans, and more, just beyond the break.%Gallery-91324%

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

JBO: Joystiq Box Office, April 26 - April 30

We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Recommendation of the Week: Doctor Zhivago (Blu-ray: $35.99 MSRP, much lower at most retailers) How do you follow up Lawrence of Arabia? If you're director David Lean, you do it by directing a film based on a contemporary popular novel of the same name, that's set in tumultuous Russia in the days of World War I and through the Russian Civil War. Lean also cast Lawrence's right-hand man Omar Sharif as Doctor Zhivago, and this is easily of one Sharif's best performances. My generation has mostly known him as the guy who gets crushed in the car in Top Secret!, and it's high time that this movie put him back where he belongs as a terrific actor ... and not a guy who hosts video games about bridge. Zhivago is a true epic, and Warner Bros. has done one of its meticulous restorations to this film and put it in Digibook format. The film looks truly gorgeous in high definition, and there are a ton of extras, including an eight song soundtrack sampler. The treatment of this movie, combined with the fact the Warner's just announced it'll be bringing Citizen Kane and Ben-Hur to Blu-ray in 2011, set the bar high for future classic movie releases. Read on after the break for the rest of our recommendations, then chime in below!

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Obsidian CEO: Aliens RPG felt like a finished game

Of the perils one encounters when writing about games, the most painful is arguably following the games that almost were; games that were canceled just shy of release. Some are simply vaporware, announced one day and then were never heard from again, and others are in the spotlight for years, before being banished to a dusty hard drive in a closet somewhere. Duke Nukem Forever will stand ... well, forever as the most prominent example of the latter, but the Obsidian-developed Aliens RPG that Sega canceled could very well hold the second-place trophy. At a press event last week, we asked Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart some followup questions about the axed title, which he'd previously asked us to do; however, it still hasn't been the required year since we first talked to him, so we're still missing the details as to why the title got the guillotine. But we did learn that the game looked and felt nearly complete before its cancellation. "Oh, if you had come in and played any of the last builds we were working on, you would have said it was a finished game," Urquhart told Joystiq. "That's how close we were. It looked and felt like it was ready to ship." He went on to explain that you only played as the Colonial Marines in the game (not to be confused with these Colonial Marines), and that missions would have involved tasks like protecting the robot sentry guns that were featured in a deleted scene in Aliens. One of the biggest challenges, Urquhart said, was, "How do you make a 15-foot long Alien turn around at the end of a hallway?" Besides terrifying turn-based hallway combat, there also would have been multiple types of Marines, lots of gear to play with and ... wait. This is just like pouring salt in a freshly reopened wound. Thanks, Feargus!

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Exclusive: Polaroids from Capcom Fight Club

"I'll poke out your eyes," Cammy sneered menacingly. Last Friday, Capcom partnered with i am 8-bit to bring Capcom Fight Club to Los Angeles to support this week's launch of Super Street Fighter IV, and we'll never stop being amazed by the number of people who enjoy dressing up in costume for video game launches. Our amazement usually reaches a fever pitch when there's an eerily accurate Dhalsim in the mix. We're surprised The CW hasn't snapped up the rights for this game to bring us Street Fighter: The High School Years. Unfortunately – and because people don't universally adhere to the number one rule laid down at PAX – i am 8-bit had a ton of equipment stolen ... including all of their footage from the event. But what did survive was their old school Polaroid camera, and this stack of portraits. Check out the exclusive images in the gallery below while trying to contain your excitement over the wonders of spandex.%Gallery-91908%

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PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Kevin Kelly

Interview: Chris Metzen talks StarCraft 2

click to enlarge Chris Metzen, Blizzard's VP of Creative Development, has a lot of things to keep in his head as the loremaster / worldbuilder / storymaster at Blizzard, and he's been busy utilizing all of those titles on the Terran-heavy StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty and its two planned expansion packs that will focus on the Zerg and Protoss races. Ensconced in an office that overlooks the bustling Blizzard campus, Metzen's office is packed with enough action heroes, statues, and toys to open his own store, which is (for some unknown reason) a requirement in the gaming industry. We talked with Chris about how Blizzard is spreading this story out, what the expansions packs hold in store, how he feels about offending South Korea, and more. If you're done searing your retinas with the newly released game footage, then jump on by and read the full interview just after the break.%Gallery-91324%

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

JBO: Joystiq Box Office, April 19 - April 23, plus Joyswag!

We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Recommendation of the Week: Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This (Blu-ray: $24.99 MSRP, much lower at most retailers) Earlier this week, Cheech & Chong returned to the world. Most appropriately, the date it happened was 4/20. For those of you who might know know, Cheech & Chong invented pot humor. Then they rode the top of that world for 14 years before breaking up in 1985. Then there was no Cheech & Chong. People turned to replacement movie stoners for years, looking for someone to identify with. But now, 25 year after they last appeared together on film, they're back. They reunited for a very successful tour in 2008, and the San Antonio portion of that tour was filmed and turned into this Blu-ray, which is also chock full of special features and skits created just for the film. It's a concert tour with a bonus. You don't have to be a stoner to appreciate some of this, although it probably doesn't hurt. They're touring together again right now, and are reportedly working on a new narrative film, Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke Part 2. To tide you over until then, we're giving away three Blu-ray copies of Cheech and Chong's Hey Watch This. Head to the bottom of the post to learn how to enter. Read on after the break for the rest of our recommendations, then chime in below!

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Reviews By Kevin Kelly

Hands-on: New StarCraft 2 single-player missions

click to enlarge Blizzard has been handing out Starcraft 2 beta keys like free lunch, but it's not just for the benefit of starved-craft fans. "Oh, we don't think of this as a demo," Blizzard's Dustin Browder told me during a recent studio visit, "It's a beta test." So-called testers are contributing piles of feedback data, which has led to nine game patches so far, with more surely in the works. "The Archon has been on my chopping block for months," Browder muttered, referring to the powerful Protoss ground unit. The focus of my recent visit to Blizzard HQ was not to talk beta, however. It was to preview three new single-player missions from StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. In doing so, I learned more about how the developer is incorporating at least one other race into the Terran-centric game and tried out some new game-altering mechanics and the new tech upgrade process. %Gallery-91324%

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PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Kevin Kelly

New StarCraft 2 gameplay footage: This is not a drill ...

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/New_StarCraft_2_Gameplay_Footage_This_is_not_a_drill'; It's a Laser Drill! Check out the awesome power of this anti–Zerg Rush weapon, featured in this new footage from the most eagerly awaited "Adults Only" game in South Korea. Don't worry -- it's just StarCraft 2 and the video's totally Safe For Work. We'll have our hands-on impressions of three new single-player missions posted later today. In the meantime, enjoy the gameplay video above and the new screenshots in the gallery below. %Gallery-91324%

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News

News By Kevin Kelly

Swag Saturday: Reading! [update]

Update: We've closed the comments and will be contacting a winner shortly. Thanks for entering (and keep an eye on your commenter-tied inbox)! We know you're probably asking yourself, "What the heck is this? I want Joyswag to include something coo! Like a PS3 on fire with zombie monkeys coming out of it! What's with this homework junk?!" Well, hear us out. Every single one of you enjoys playing games, right? We're also hoping that in the grand scheme of things, some of you might actually end up making games one day. This is your first step down that road. We're not just giving you swag, we're giving you knowledge. To paraphrase the ancient Chinese proverb: "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give him a slew of books about gaming, make him develop a bestselling game." Plus, in the effort of not being entirely boring, about half of these books are actually fun. Here's what you get on the development side: Real-Time Cameras: A Guide For Game Designers and Developers, Artificial Intelligence for Games, Digital Art Masters Volume IV, and 3D Game Textures: Second Edition (complete with a DVD). On the fun side, you get Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, The Splended Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition, and Halo Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe. Leave a comment telling us what you'll do with your newfound knowledge. You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- you know why). Limit 1 entry per person per day. This entry period ends at 3:00PM PT on Sunday, April 11. At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Real-Time Cameras: A Guide For Game Designers and Developers (ARV $59.95), Artificial Intelligence for Games (ARV: $74.95), Digital Art Masters Volume IV (ARV: $39.95), 3D Game Textures: Second Edition (ARV: $49.95), Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts (ARV $60), The Splended Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition (ARV: $24), and Halo Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe (ARV: $14.99). For a list of complete rules, click here. What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

JBO: Joystiq Box Office, April 5 - April 9

We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Recommendation of the Week: The Killer (Blu-ray: $29.99 MSRP, much lower at most retailers) This week's recommendation is a bit tongue in cheek, mostly because the video quality isn't the sharpest in the world. Granted, the source material is 21 years old, but I've seen what they can do with movies like The African Queen and The Wizard of Oz on Blu-ray, so why not one of director John Woo's and actor Chow Yun Fat's best films, The Killer? Still, all of that complaining aside, the film does look better than I've ever seen it look on home video format, and it runs circles around the murky theatrical print I saw back when I was in college. While probably not a disc you'll slap in to show off how much Blu-ray rocks, it still looks fantastic, and it's got a completely new interview on the disc with Woo (where's Yun-Fat, though?) that is well worth it. There's also a Q&A session where he talks about The Killer and Hard Boiled. This is being produced by Dragon Dynasty, a joint company venture from the Weinstein brothers and Genius Products, and I'm hoping things improve a bit in the transfer department. Let's get Chow Yun-Fat's God of Gamblers, A Better Tomorrow trilogy, City on Fire, and Treasure Hunt on Blu-ray, stat. Read on after the break for the rest of our recommendations, then chime in below!

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Gaming By Kevin Kelly

JBO: Joystiq Box Office, March 29 - April 2

We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Recommendation of the Week: The African Queen (Blu-ray: $39.99 MSRP, much lower at most retailers) Can you believe Humphrey Bogart only won one Oscar in his lifetime? It was for this movie. Personally, I think he was robbed from winning it for Casablanca, but The African Queen is a worthy win as well. He really delivers a powerful performance as Charlie Allnut, the rough and tumble boat captain working his boat, the African Queen. But it's Katherine Hepburn who really turns in a tour de force performance as Rose Sayer, a tough as nails missionary in East Africa. Paramount recently completed a massive 4k restoration on this title, and it looks simply amazing on Blu-ray. The standard Blu-ray set gets you the movie, while the slightly more expensive box set comes with a CD of the original radio production of The African Queen (with Bogart) and Hepburn's book The Making of The African Queen or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind. Seriously good filmmaking and performances against a wonderful story based on C.S. Forester's novel of the same name. Highly recommended. Now someone just put Bogey's The Caine Mutiny on Blu-ray and I'll be happy. Read on after the break for the rest of our recommendations, then chime in below!

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Reviews By Kevin Kelly

Hands-on: Risk Factions (Classic Mode)

Risk: Factions is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this summer, and a version of the classic Risk board game, dubbed Classic Mode, will be included. The verdict? It's classic Risk, albeit with a couple of key tweaks. Most game-changing is a bonus star feature, which randomly awards players 1-2 "stars" at the end of a turn. Stars can be used to make additional troop movements. Additionally, Classic Mode abandons the card system of the original game. Getting rid of the cards streamlines the game a bit, and so does the option to skip the dice-rolling attacks (and just view the results), but the random star bonuses can lead to one player steamrolling the opponents rather quickly -- as happens to me and another human player in the video above. Just like in the original game, once a player builds up a powerful army, there's nothing to stop total domination of the game board. But that's always been a part of the game of Risk, and now, through Xbox Live, diehard tabletoppers can test their riskiest maneuvers on a truly worldwide battlefield, say, against an opponent from the Ukraine. One thing Risk: Factions is sorely lacking, however? Little wooden cubes. Toss in some DLC wooden cubes, and I'll be happy. %Gallery-89574%

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Reviews By Kevin Kelly

Hands-on: Snoopy Flying Ace (XBLA)

Click to barnstorm into the gallery, and watch out for The Red Baron! First of all, this is not an April Fool's joke. Remember how passionate the Joystiq team got about Torchlight last year? That's how I'm feeling about Snoopy Flying Ace. There are two reasons for this: 1) the gameplay is a direct descendant of Crimson Skies, right down to the customizable weapons on your planes, and 2) you get to shoot down Lucy Van Pelt. It's payback for all those years of her yanking the football away from Charlie Brown at the last second. Charles Schulz might be spinning in his grave over this game, but points one and two combine into joyous gameplay with the lovable Peanuts gang that you've grown up with. Joystiq showed off the trailer for this almost two years ago, but now I've finally gotten my hands on the flight stick. Which also means I got to fly around as Snoopy in the seat of his faithful Sopwith Camel -- another childhood dream fulfilled. According to Clark Stacey from developer Smart Bomb Interactive, "It is, we maintain, the most detailed and realistic World War I simulation ever created; capturing every nuance of what it was like to be a dog flying a biplane over the skies of Europe in 1917. Consideration for the Nobel Prize for Literature has been bandied around the game with growing seriousness, and we are in talks concerning a possible film adaptation starring Uma Thurman as Snoopy." That's more of an adult dream, yet to be fulfilled. Update! Ask and you shall receive, courtesy of Clark at Smart Bomb: "Of COURSE you can fly the doghouse. We have two kill streak bonuses in the game for multiplayer. Shoot down 4 planes in a row and you get the Woodstock bonus: Woodstock appears perched on the back of your plane with a pair of six-guns, shooting anyone behind you. Score 9 unanswered kills in a row, and your plane transforms into Snoopy's doghouse, with the most powerful machine gun in the game. It's pretty cool to see your avatar flying around on it." Read on to find out why you're going to pick up this XBLA title later this year. %Gallery-89568%

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Reviews By Kevin Kelly

Hands-on: The Silver Lining (the game Activison doesn't want you to play)

Here's the real reason Activision doesn't want you to play this fan-made sequel to the legendary King's Quest series: It caught a whiff of money. Rather than working out a deal with with the developer, Activision sent it a cease and desist, even after a deal had been worked out with Vivendi Universal games that would allow the game to be distributed for free (as long as King's Quest was taken out of the title).But the game does indeed exist. At least, one episode out of a proposed five does, although the developers are no longer actively working on it due to Activision's legal saber-rattling. I played it at PAX on a laptop belonging to one of the developers, and I'm desperately hoping that this will make its way into the wild so you can play it for yourself. If the developers are able to buy the license from Activision, that might actually happen. The Silver Lining might not have the words "King's Quest" in the title, but the heart of that series definitely beats in this game.%Gallery-89156%

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Xbox

Xbox By Kevin Kelly

Xbox Live 12 Month Messenger Gold Pack for less gold

Are you late to the Xbox Live game? If you've been delaying the jump to Gold membership (which you can try for free right now), this might be what you've been waiting for. The kit includes a 12-month Xbox Live gold subscription card (retails for $49.99), the Xbox Live Text Messaging Kit that includes the chatpad and a headset (normally $29.99), and Project Gotham Racing 4 (retails for $19.99). Normally all of that would go for about a hundred bucks, but Amazon has the pack for $52.54 with free shipping (it usually lists for $69.99). It's a great deal if you're needing to jump back in or renew, and you pick up a game and a chatpad in the process. We wish they'd included something sexier than PGR4, especially because you'd have to be nuts to pick that up for $19.99. But at this price, it's practically a freebie.

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Xbox

Xbox By Kevin Kelly

Submerge yourself into Naval Assault: The Killing Tide

click to DIVE into our gallery You're probably sitting around watching a rerun of The Hunt for Red October on cable right now, wondering aloud, "When are we going to see another decent submarine game?" You're even practicing your Sean Connery accent, which is good because, come this June, you'll have a chance to use it. 505 Games, who recently wowed us with both Backbreaker and Naughty Bear, are releasing Naval Assault: The Killing Tide on June 15 exclusively on the Xbox 360, just in time for a Submarine Summer. The game is "arcade style" according to the press release, meaning you Silent Hunter fans aren't going to get all the realism you want. Instead you'll have to settle for the historically accurate naval warzones of WWII and " an arsenal of faithfully recreated U.S. Naval submarines." Those subs will be armed with torpedoes and a deck gun, the better to take out enemy subs, ships, and planes. Though there aren't any in the gallery below, this game had better involve some periscopes ... or else. Gamers can play through the 30 solo missions after they launch from New York, or join three other players online for some multiplayer action. %Gallery-89455%

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