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The OverAchiever: A guide to basic archaeology and its achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we start digging. You guys remember the Dalaran fountain, right? I loved that thing. It was a wonderful, idiosyncratic little peek into the thoughts of an array of Azeroth's lore figures, both the important and the obscure. It added a number of little touches to the game's story that we never would have seen otherwise, and Blizzard even gave you an achievement for getting all the coins. I thought that whatever mad genius came up with the Dalaran fountain should have been chained to a desk at Blizzard and left there until he came up with more ideas like it. Well, they can finally let that guy off the lead. Archaeology is kind of like the Dalaran fountain, except instead of being crammed into a tiny corner of Dalaran, it's everywhere in the world, and instead of concerning 53 people who made wishes, it affords you a peek into seven civilizations and the world's fossil record. Pretty sweet, eh? Well, you're going to have to work for it. If you're completely new to archaeology, I've included a short set of instructions here, but otherwise, we're going to head straight for the civilizations and achievements related to WoW's newest profession.
Hyperspace Beacon: Homage to we hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but knowing our luck, it probably will
One of the best compliments you can give a creator is to make an homage to his work. The title of one of the Hyperspace Beacons was an homage to TOROCast articles. It's a way to tell the creator, "You're doing a good job. Keep up the good work." Not to mention, homages are a lot of fun. In fact, my first published work was an homage to the work of Charles Dickens. I wrote a story about what happened to the Cratchit children. But what happens when an homage goes too far? Every once in a while, the Hyperspace Beacon takes a side track and asks about ideas that should end up on the cutting room floor. We all know games have concepts that just don't work. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be no exception. This little humorous segment is called We hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but knowing our luck, it probably will -- or WHTNMIISWTORBKOLIPW, for short. Follow me after the break to see what "homageneous" ideas should never make it into the release of SWTOR, but knowing our luck, they will anyway.
TERA shows off Azarel's Temple
Has it really been ten weeks already? Time flies when you're looking at great TERA screenshots, and En Masse Entertainment has recently released the tenth installment of its Screenshots of the Week featurette. This set, coming to us from the dark innards of Azarel's Temple, may be the most exciting yet (or it could be just the fact that we love grim dungeon interiors that remind us of Raiders of the Lost Ark). In any event, Azarel's Temple is hidden amidst the dense jungles of Southern Arun, and you can get a sneak preview of it by checking out the first three images in our gallery below, or by visiting the official TERA website. Just make sure you stay out of the light. %Gallery-96720%
European PlayStation Home gets Star Wars, Indiana Jones outfits
More LucasArts outfits will hang shortly on the European PlayStation store's virtual racks for those who are spending hundreds of hours in Home. Many of these items are already available in the States or will be with the update on Thursday. Star Wars items include an Obi-Wan costume (with beard), along with Rex, Anakin and Yoda posters. There's also a clone helmet display, homing spider droid prop and AT-ST statue. For archaeologist adventurers, Indiana Jones' costume with fedora will likely be a must -- oh yeah, along with framed whip for the wall. There are also Mutt Williams, Dovchenko, Mola Ram ("COVER YOUR HEART!") and Henry Jones Sr. costumes. Props include the Staff of Rah, Ark of the Covenant, fertility idol and, ugh ... the crystal skull. And here we'd just about forgotten that movie existed.
Star Wars & Indiana Jones items hit Home
If you click this image, it shall become more embiggened than you could possibly imagine LucasArts has invaded PlayStation Home today with a bunch of new virtual goods and a space to hang out in. Without all of the crime and sudden de-limbing that goes on in the Mos Eisley Cantina, the LucasArts storefront will offer patrons a safe environment to purchase virtual goods -- sorry, no power converters available. Here's the list of goodies: Yoda shirt (for male avatars) Obi-Wan Kenobi shirt (for male and female avatars) Jedi Order shirt (for male and female avatars) Indiana Jones costume – torso, pants, shoes Indiana Jones costume – hat, hair Stormtrooper costume (for male and female avatars) Imperial Officer costume (for male and female avatars) Blue Lightsaber (for male and female avatars) Jedi banner (for avatar personal space) Sith banner (for avatar personal space) Star Wars The Force Unleashed poster (for avatar personal space) LucasArts promises more updates to come. In the meanwhile, feel free to peruse select avatar items in our gallery below, but there may be a slight chance these aren't the images you're looking for. %Gallery-85933%
LucasArts whipping up online co-op patch for Lego Indy 2
Soon, friends who see that you're playing Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues on Xbox Live or PlayStation Network won't need to sit idol-y by -- they'll be able to join in. LucasArts has tweeted that it's working on a patch that will bring online co-op play to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the latest Lego game on the block. What's more, the publisher has also confirmed that the patch will let players collaborate in the game's level editor, tweeting, "In LIJ2's new co-op, you'll be able to join others as they build and play their levels." As for timing, LucasArts says to "give it a few weeks" before the update is transported by submarine from Cairo to a secret island base Microsoft and Sony's servers.
Direct2Drive slashes prices on LucasArts games
Direct2Drive is offering some pretty good deals on LucasArts games this week. Three bundles are on offer, one catering to the adventure gamers out there, another for Star Wars afficionados, and a third that combines the first two into a massive LucasArts love fest. The bundles include the likes of Dark Forces, Indiana Jones, KOTOR, Jedi Knight, Monkey Island, Armed and Dangerous, and plenty more. The smaller bundles have been discounted from $49.99 to $24.49, while the massive bundle has been reduced from $99.87 to $39.95. Not bad for LucasArts fans. The sale ends November 23 at 10:00am PT. See details of each bundle after the break.
VC in Brief: Street Fighter II' Champion Edition (TG16) and Indiana Jones (SNES)
This week, the Virtual Console dumptruck has unloaded two new games onto Wii consoles. One is a fighting game with a superior version already on the service, while the other is a pretty good Factor 5 joint for the SNES. If you fancy yourself an Indy fan (not that kinda Indy), then you'll definitely want to check out the video above. Actually, you should probably just watch it anyway. You know, just to be safe. Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures (SNES, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Street Fighter II' Champion Edition (TG16, 1 - 2 players, 700 Wii Points) Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.
NintendoWare Weekly: WiiWare demos, Pokemon Rumble, Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
This week, we get our first taste of Nintendo's new WiiWare demos. Surprisingly, it didn't take Nintendo that long to flip the switch for North America, considering the company revealed the long-overdue feature -- and day-one annoyance -- only earlier this month. And on top of the free trial versions of select WiiWare titles (five total this week!), there are also two new Virtual Console titles to enjoy, as well as three new DSiWare games. Hit the break for the full list.
LEGO Indiana Jones 2 trailer is intentionally blocky
Even though many of your trusted Joystiq editors are a little old to be playing with toys (there's an age limit?), we can't deny having a huge soft spot for the LEGO franchise tribute games. So, of course we're excited that the Indiana Jones films are being remastered block-mastered again, since we heart them too. (Actually, don't get us started on the last one -- sheesh!)As this newly released trailer shows, the tongue-in-cheek humor, charm and co-op play that's made the previous LEGO offerings so appealing doesn't seem to have been turned town in the tiniest for LEGO Indiana Jones 2 -- and we can't wait to create some truly weird stuff with the new level editor. We're thinking of awarding a prize to the editor who devises the most ingenious and playfully painful way to get rid of "Mutt" -- preferably as fast as possible -- since all of our pleas to Lucas to write him out of canon have thus far gone ignored.
Internet archaeologists discover artifacts of cancelled PS3/360 Indiana Jones game
Originally, LucasArts' Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings was planned to be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as well. After a couple of years of troubled development, the next-gen version was shelved, and a few months later the game arrived on Wii, DS, PSP, and PS2.Unseen64, following a car chase, a fistfight with Nazis, and a trip through a booby-trapped cave, unearthed early footage and screens of the next-gen game. We've got one rough gameplay clip after the break; check the site for more early gameplay and test animations, and decide for yourself if LucasArts chose wisely or poorly.[Thanks, Werner C!]
Breakfast Topic: Putting on Your Game Face
No matter what your playstyle or what you're doing in World of Warcraft, I'd say chances are you reach a point where you want to get down to business. It can be any number of things. Maybe you finally want to grind out Exalted with Warsong Gulch. Maybe your raid group is in dire need of a good clean boss kill. Maybe you just want to head to Silithus and grind out that Guardian of Cenarius title. Whatever the reason, you have a goal, you have a plan, and you are not going to stop until you get enough. But one thing remains: You have to keep yourself focused on your goal. That's when you put on your game face, and that's when you have those little rituals that keep you pumped up and motivated.
LucasArts classics coming to Steam this Wednesday, July 8
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/06/breaking-lucasarts-classics-coming-to-steam-this-wednesday/'; LucasArts is poised to deliver a one-two ... err, three punch for classic gaming fans, beginning with tomorrow's PC release of the first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island, titled "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal." Today, LucasArts announced not only the release date for Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition – it's next week, on July 15th – but also the availability of ten LucasArts classics from the back-catalog, to be made available on Steam this Wednesday, July 8! We spoke with LucasArts CEO Darrell Rodriguez, who told us that this is "a passion project" for him as well as his team. "This is the first time these titles have ever been on digital distribution, and it's something we're all very excited about," he told us this morning. "And this is just the beginning." That "beginning" includes ten titles from the LucasArts vaults, including adventure gaming classics like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, LOOM, and The Dig. Also included in this first batch of games are Armed and Dangerous, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure, Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars Republic Commando, Star Wars Starfighter, and Thrillville: Off the Rails. The press release calls this the "first round of releases" and Rodriguez promises us they've got more in store, including "some bundles that offer some extra value." Those bundles are Steam-only for now, though; a retail package is "something to definitely consider" Rodriguez tells us, though LucasArts has "no plans for them right now." %Gallery-64659%
Lego Indiana Jones 2 swinging to stores this fall
You may remember that Harry Potter and a second Indiana Jones game were confirmed to be getting the LEGO treatment back in March. LucasArts and Traveler's Tales are finally talking about one of those titles, confirming LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues coming to PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PSP this fall.Though the name is different than the last time we heard about it, the new Indy will still apparently cover the latest film in the series. We can't wait to see if a LEGO fridge can stand up to a nuclear explosion.
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings releases June 9
Click for more screens, less sweaty backs That's right, would-be archaeologists and Nazi taker-downers, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is making its way to retail on June 9 for the DS, Wii, PSP and PS2. Sure, the prospect of playing as the good Dr. Jones is reason enough to keep your eye on this one, but we would like to point out that this game has magical powers. Seriously, it's able to rip through space and time like a hot knife through butter, pulling any being it wishes (like a smuggler who drops his cargo at the first sign of trouble) into the confines of its disc. We're surprised we haven't seen Dr. Richard Kimble in any of the screens for this one yet.%Gallery-43732%
Games Day '09: Lands of the Dead design discussion with Gabe Amatangelo and Jeff Skalski
After saying goodbye to Paul and Josh, I soon found myself sitting down with Gabe Amatangelo, the senior designer on Land of the Dead, and Jeff Skalski, the RvR team lead, with the task of getting inside the Land of the Dead development process.What I got were some great insights into how testing and development works at Mythic Entertainment, as well as some inside facts on Land of the Dead and some great reasons for why players should come back and try out some WAR. Interested in what sparked the movement to an action RPG dynamic? Wondering what features may not have made the final Land of the Dead cut? All of that and more is inside this Games Day interview.
Games Day '09: Lands of the Dead design discussion with Gabe Amatangelo and Jeff Skalski pt. 2
Now you guys have a really interesting design going on with Warhammer, regarding the City Siege system. You've basically built in your own cap on the game's system, which is very different from other MMOs in the market. What's it like designing something like Land of the Dead with that restrictive cap in mind? Jeff: It's challenging. Sometimes it feels like we're splitting hairs, but we planned to do this type of stuff earlier on, so we left some space to design in. We wanted to make sure this was a free expansion that all players had access to that runs parallel to the tier four campaign... Gabe: It compliments many different areas of our content. It compliments many types of players with many types of gear and gives them new objectives to achieve. But the top end, yeah, it's definitely a challenge, and that's the one campaign. We have three campaigns. The Warhammer world just has so much stuff in it. There are so many other armies and other things to be inspired by to make new content. With all of that other stuff in mind, where would you like to take Warhammer if the decision was solely up to you? Gabe: There's alot. You know, when we explored the RvR gated "Darkness Falls" dungeon, we explored a bunch of different things. We explored Mordheim, we explored Skavenblight, and then we fell across the Tomb Kings. This was perfect for us, as it allowed us to explore a bunch of different gameplay dynamics. But still, I think Skavenblight is a very cool element. Then you have the whole Vampire Counts dark world... Jeff: We still got Sylvania and getting out there to do. Personally, from a visual standpoint, I'd like to see Lustria. I think it's an environment we just don't have in the game at the moment, which was one of the reasons I was really excited about Tomb Kings. I like having a completely new environment and it's a setting we don't have at all in our game. Gabe: And it also really depends on what we want to get out in regards to content. Is it a dungeon, is it a new open zone? That affects where we go with it. If it's a dungeon, oh well then we should go to Skavenblight as it's a underground thing over there. If it's a whole new mini-zone, then maybe we go to Lustria. Of course I'm talking in broad general terms, but that's the stuff that directs where we take it. Is there anything that got left out of this expansion that you wish would have made it in? Jeff: We accomplished alot, but there is that one thing we had to cut back on, as we needed to get moving with production, and that was being able to bring the Tomb Kings in as an ally in the RvR siege. In the early days of the design, we were thinking about giving the assistance of the Tomb King and his army out during city sieges. Gabe: There were several ways we strayed away from that and one was certainly production issues, but another was that we wanted the campaign system to be the campaign system. Land of the Dead is gated by the campaign, but it doesn't hinder or affect the system in any way and we wanted to leave it like that. The one for me was that we wanted people to be able to access Land of the Dead from level one. But, well, we just couldn't do that. We pushed it back to level 25. Jeff: But the majority of our players meet that requirement anyway. The other other thing that we wanted was for instances to be able to let more players in. So there's six man runs right now, but there was this "other one" where we wanted to get that number higher, but we didn't get that in. Gabe: *evil laughter* Not yet. Now one of thing some of our commenters are going to point out as a problem is the power leveling. You can be level 25, then get bolstered to level 36 in Land of the Dead, and you gain level 36 experience at level 25. Why did you guys decide that? Gabe: Well Darkness Falls was very successful as an alternate spot for power leveling. So we went and followed that form and put it into Land of the Dead. The other thing to note though is that you can lose control of the Land of the Dead, and that will cause power leveling to spike. It's another carrot on the stick for players to gain control of the area. So I don't think it's going to be a problem, I think players are going to enjoy it. Jeff: It gives you another track, an accelerated track, and it happens right at 25 for a reason as it's in that lull between tier three and tier four. It's going to be that extra push that will get people into tier four. We've done many things to help ease that lull, like new epic questlines and boosted quest experience, to get people into tier four. So, ok, let's pretend I'm a newbie to Warhammer. Why should I come and play your game? Jeff: If you want PvE content, we got the public quest system which is a trendsetter in the industry and I know we're going to see more of it pop up. Oh yeah, Runes of Magic already jumped on that. Jeff: Oh yeah, we know, and it's cool. It's just a good system because it helps get people together. From an PvP standpoint, our game was built for realm vs. realm combat. You can do it from rank one in our game. There are scenarios, there's RvR areas, they're dynamic, there's a lot of variety. We slowly introduce the player to harder and harder mechanics as they advance through the tiers, like keeps, and outer walls of keeps, and city sieges. To me, that's why players should come. If you want PvP then there's no other place to go. Gabe: With Land of the Dead specifically, it's the pyramids and the necropolis. There's no other setting like that in modern MMOs. It's the action RPG elements and working together to overcome them as a group as well as individually. There's just nothing like it. You like Zelda, you like God of War? Then check this out. The sands of the Tomb Kings are coming as the final release in the Call to Arms live expansion, the Land of the Dead approaches! Massively has your back with coverage from Mythic Entertainment at Games Day '09, so get your WAAGGGHHH ready for RvR mayhem as Massively re-arms for WAR!
Han Solo smuggles his way into Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
Dear Mr. Lucas,Despite certain ... differences we may have had in the past, we still remain amongst your loyal throng of followers. As such, we were hoping you could impart some of your potent wisdom unto us regarding the upcoming fedora-fitted Wii/DS/PS2/PSP title, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. See, a recent video from StarWars.com shows us a fairly sizable, though incomprehensible Easter egg -- intergalactic smuggler extraordinaire Han Solo will be playable in the game.Yes, Mr. Lucas, it is neat -- but we need to know how it's possible. Don't feign ignorance. We know you don't let non-canonical events relating to your timeless empires slip into your licensed products. Seriously, give us something. The Millennium Falcon slipped into a time vortex? Mr. Solo is, in fact, an immortal Time-God? Harrison Ford is the Highlander? We know you know. Spill the beans, George. You owe us that much.Regards,Joystiq[Via VideoGamer]
Matt Shell and the Story of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
In this video, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings producer Matt Shell offers a brief outline of the new game's story. He mentions that the team worked closely with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to get the story right, and it shows! The plot for Staff of Kings is one hundred percent Indiana Jones. By which, of course, we mean there's a powerful artifact that Indy has to find, and some bad guys fight him in and around moving vehicles as he pursues it. The magical artifact in this game sounds extra cool: the Staff of Kings is Moses' staff, imbued with the power to part waters, "invoke plagues, and bring down pillars of fire from the sky." That sounds a lot better than the Crystal Skull from the last movie, which we believe was used primarily by Dan Aykroyd to hold vodka.
Off-screen Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings footage
Several off-screen videos of Indiana Jones and The Staff of Kings from Wiitalia give us the best idea so far of what to expect from the game. At times, the footage reveals how the Wiimote and nunchuk will be utilized in gameplay. The last clip shows the Wiimote being used to fly a plane. Check out all the vids after the break and prepare to whip it good.%Gallery-43732%[Via GoNintendo]
