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Wii-osk in action at Gamestop
We visited a Gamestop in California last night, only to find a darkened Wii kiosk, which was very sad. Although it was almost made up for after we found a Gears of War console case, that thing is just flippin' sweet. Anyhow, digression aside, we asked the guy behind the counter when the Wii would be switched on, and he said "We need an ID." Stupid us replied with, "Oh, so someone from Nintendo has to come out and set it up? When will that happen?" And he said, "Uh ... no, dude. I need your ID." Clearly, we be geniuses.So we handed over our IDs and a major credit card (what's a minor credit card these days? Discover? Diner's Club?) and were handed two Wii-motes. He fired the system up and left us to it. They hold on to your plastic to make sure you don't run down the street laughing with their hardware in hand. The only game they had on display was Excite Truck, but we had a blast playing it and literally everyone in the store, which was oddly packed for a Sunday night, came over to watch us play.Quote of the minute from the whole experience by two teenage bystanders:Guy #1 -- "Dude, those graphics don't look that good ..."Guy #2 -- "Are you kiddin'? They look pretty good to me, and check out the badass controllers!"We assume he meant the Wii-motes and not us. Check out pix and video after the jump.
Dueling Analog is, like, the best webcomic, ever
An overly enthusiastic shout-out goes to Dueling Analogs. They've been reading PSP Fanboy, and they linked to us! Their latest comic discusses the internet's bashing of the PSP, and how the mean things that people say come out of paternal love more than anything else.Steve, writer of the comic, wrote in his most recent blog post: "Now for the record, I think the PSP is a good system... I just think its made bad mistakes. My main gripe is that the games are not designed for portable, but for console play."You're right Steve, too many of the older PSP games didn't take advantage of the console's portability. Of course, some of us want console-quality on the go, and the PSP does a good job of appealing to that niche. With shortening load times, and better game design, I think the current and upcoming PSP library will make more uniquely portable experiences for our handheld. Thanks for the mention!
Joystiq goes to Hot Topic, finds WoW
Those crazy lads over at Joystiq have made a journey too perilous for us here at WoW Insider to even imagine. They braved the parking lots, dodged the teenagers, somehow avoided the tackiness, and reached a dungeon even scarier and harder than Naxx. Yes, they went to their local mall's Hot Topic.And surprisingly, they found WoW. A lot of it. There's buttons, stickers, t-shirts, hoodies, even hats-- all the stuff that Blizzard has been selling through J!NX online. You know the game has made it when the junk gift store down at the mall is selling your officially licensed crap accessories. That said, those hats are pretty awesome. I'd love one of the exclamation point ones. Just dream of what you could make people do for you in that thing.And as Joystiq found, Hot Topic is not only selling the gear, they're selling the game, too-- in the form of a $1.99 two week trial disc. It's a pretty nerfed trial, though. Not only is the full purchase of the game required later (along with that monthly fee), but apparently there are restrictions in game-- no trading items, no auctioneering. But then again, Blizzard didn't hit seven million players by not giving people ways to find the game for the first time. And the fact that Hot Topic is selling stuff that references WoW gives you an idea of just how popular this game has gotten.
IGN + Muze = search for skewed reviews
IGN and Muze Inc. have signed a partnership forming MuzeGames, a retailer service that will provide "the most comprehensive database of games information available." You've used Muze before if you've looked up an album or a song at Tower Records, or searched for a song on iTunes, now they want to try and be your central source for game searching as well."Marketed as MuzeGames, powered by IGN, it will offer expansive coverage of nearly 45,000 video game titles, including high-resolution cover images, screenshots, trailers, and samples of game play, augmented by rich editorial content such as game previews and extensive, independent reviews." Do they mean to say they will be using IGN's reviews as independent content? Are these the same IGN reviews that always skew to the upper part of the bell curve? Their average review for all games is an eight out of ten, and they have almost as many nines as they do sixes. This breaks down to a scale that skews higher, on average for every game, making the reviews more than a bit suspect.If you're going to be influenced by game reviews then your best bet is to check out what everyone else is saying (through our handy dandy metareviews, even) and then make an informed decision. Of course, you could always take a gamble and see what your own eyes and ears tell you. Hopefully you can trust those.
Joystiq gets the dope on 360 Source
Sure, we all know that Valve announced the release of it's 360 Source engine to 360 developers. But that wasn't enough for Joystiq. No, they had to go and ask questions. They needed answers straight from the proverbial horse's mouth. As if they were journalists or something. The short but sweet interview covers the differences between the 360 middleware engine and the free PC version, the ease of cross-platform portability, and integrated networking possibilities (i.e. Live). Check it out if you're so inclined. Anybody have any pet source projects they'd like to bring to the 360?
Lumines II website opens, links to PSP Fanboy
We at PSP Fanboy love Lumines... and apparantly, the people of Lumines love us right back! The official website just launched, and within the slick-looking interface, you'll see upcoming competitions, a wallpaper creator, and more. It appears the site will expand over time, to include a blog, a "music hub" and more. Most excitingly, if you check out the Links section (click the green box), you'll see that Joystiq and PSP Fanboy are listed in their Links section! A mere mortal like me feels honored.See also:Exclusive Heavenly Star fan pack
Dueling Analog's Loco Roco comic
Yet another Loco Roco comic was discovered by Joystiq's Weekly Webcomic Wrapup. From the fine folks of Dueling Analogs, it goes into detail about the eating disorder our poor blubbery friend may have. Is it as effective as Penny Arcade's comic from a few months ago? I'd say no, but you can be the judge. See also: Paperweights for no man! [Via Joystiq]
Faux News investigates WoW addiction
Games don't cause violence, "news" reports like this cause violence. Culled from Australian news program "A Current Affair," this sensationalist news report has it all: demonizing language, foreboding music, a weeping, broken mother, and a teenager's den that looks like a crack house. Watching it, one cannot help but hate this awful, awful pandemic known as World of Warcraft, or "WoW" as it's known by the criminals who play it. The piece's one redeeming feature: at minute 4:10, they actually turn the camera on Joystiq! [Thanks, Alex T]
Absolutely brutal banned PSP ad
This can not be real. PSP ads have been terrible for the most part, but this takes it one step further into the "what the f--- were they thinking?" category. The video is embeeded after the cut, but I'll have a FOX-like warning for you: Due to the violent nature of this advertisement, viewer discretion is advised.See also:ASA rules UK PSP ads inoffensive
Exclusive: Heavenly Star fan pack
As you may already know, Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi has made a music video for the upcoming video-infused Lumines II. The catchy tune by Genki Rockets has been stuck in my head for the past few days, and I decided to share the love through this exclusive Heavenly Star fan pack. Included in this zip file are 20 PSP-formatted wallpapers, the song as an MP3 and a PSP-formatted version of the music video."While most of my creative energy has been devoted to video games, because music plays such an important role in them, it seemed ideal to create an original music video," Mizuguchi stated about his original creation. Lumines II hits stores on November 7th. DOWNLOAD
PSP gains touch screen support
People that try to avoid the flame war between the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP always jump to one conclusion: both are great systems, each with their unique capabilities... But it looks like the 0x89 development team is trying to blur the lines between the two systems by giving the PSP touch screen support. What?! In quite possibly the most ambitious homebrew modification to date, the team will allow you to attach a device to the PSP's USB connection and control the XMB and specially programmed homebrew applications. PSPTouchMe as it's called will not only give you touch screen capabilities, but it'll provide a new, completely customizable XMB that's far more flexible than Sony's official one. Look at their video support: avi, mpeg, mpeg4, wmv, avc, pmp. Most impressive.I wish the best of luck to the programmers: it'll be a truly amazing feat if they can pull this. If they're able to complete this project, tons of PSP owners will be able to understand that touching is good.[Via PSP Hacks]
Tetsuya Mizuguchi talks about non-existing girls and alcohol
You should know that Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a gaming god to me. Lumines is still one of the best games on the system by far, and Mizuguchi's puzzling sequel has me more than a little excited. CVG recently had an intimate discussion with the gaming master, and he had some really crazy, possibly drug-induced things to say:CVG: Can you tell us a bit about the title song in Lumines 2, 'Heavenly Star'?Mizuguchi: So the girl in the video, she is 17 years-old. She doesn't exist in this world; she's a future girl. She was born in outer space and she's never touched on this planet yet. This is kind of the big love song for the Earth; she's always dreaming of what kind of place Earth is.Uh... Okay... Maybe the guy had a bit too much to drink before the interview:CVG: How important is synesthesia - integrating music and visuals - in Lumines? More or less important than in Rez or Every Extend Extra?Mizuguchi: Rez is kind of tequila; a very strong shot, but Lumines is like a Sauvignon Blanc; a wine you can drink at Sunday lunch.Yep. The secret to Mizuguchi's success has to be some kind of chemical influence. Maybe you too can become a successful game designer with the right... materials...
TGS 2006 wrap-up: the Wii, videos, and you [update 1]
Now that the Tokyo Game Show has come to a close and you've been assaulted with numerous videos, we can all finally take a deep breath and carefully scrutinize all of this new data following the event. For Nintendo having no presence of their own at the show, the Wii was out in full-force. Before we get into what we liked and didn't like from the show, let's recap on what the show brought us, for both the DS and Wii: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker in-game footage A new Bleach trailer A pretty sweet Elebits booth Kingdom Hearts creators unveil new DS game FFXII: Revenant Wings trailer and art Heroes of Mana animated trailer New Sonic and the Secret Rings trailer Best in Show: Elebits The TGS booth to rule them all New footage for Q? Entertainment's Gunpey It's a Wonderful World gets the preview treatment Lost in Blue 2 trailer More Final Fantasy remakes coming to the DS? So how did Nintendo do? The DS certainly rocked the house! Even though the DS was literally bombarded with nothing but RPGs, it still had a great show. A slew of new content will keep the already incredible platform from going stale. Those with an insatiable appetite for turn-based battles and potions will get their fix with Square-Enix's incredible lineup of RPG games to come. As for the Wii, it had a smaller presence through third-party publishers this year. Konami had the award-winning Elebits on-hand for eager attendees, as well as Sega tossing down the red carpet for their mascot with Sonic and the Secret Rings. Nintendo failing to make a unified presence themselves could've hurt their momentum going into launch, but we aren't worried. If we should be, then why?For all of Joystiq's Tokyo Game Show 2006 coverage, click here.[Update 1: Added in the interview with the Final Fantasy III developers.]
TGS 2006 wrap-up: the DS, videos, and you [update 1]
Now that the Tokyo Game Show has come to a close and you've been assaulted with numerous videos, we can all finally take a deep breath and carefully scrutinize all of this new data following the event. For Nintendo having no presence of their own at the show, the Wii was out in full-force. Before we get into what we liked and didn't like from the show, let's recap on what the show brought us, for both the DS and Wii: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker in-game footage A new Bleach trailer A pretty sweet Elebits booth Kingdom Hearts creators unveil new DS game FFXII: Revenant Wings trailer and art Heroes of Mana animated trailer New Sonic and the Secret Rings trailer Best in Show: Elebits The TGS booth to rule them all New footage for Q? Entertainment's Gunpey It's a Wonderful World gets the preview treatment Lost in Blue 2 trailer More Final Fantasy remakes on the DS? So how did Nintendo do? As for the Wii, it had a smaller presence through third-party publishers this year. Konami had the award-winning Elebits on-hand for eager attendees, as well as Sega tossing down the red carpet for their mascot with Sonic and the Secret Rings. Nintendo failing to make a unified presence themselves could've hurt their momentum going into launch, but we aren't worried. If we should be, then why? We can't forget about the DS, either! Even though the DS was literally bombarded with nothing but RPGs, it still had a great show. A slew of new content will keep the already incredible platform from going stale. Those with an insatiable appetite for turn-based battles and potions will get their fix with Square-Enix's incredible lineup of RPG games to come. For all of Joystiq's Tokyo Game Show 2006 coverage, click here.[Update 1: Added in the interview with the Final Fantasy III developers.]
Joystiq @ Tokyo Games Show 2006
Our pals over at Joystiq just spent a relaxing weekend at Tokyo Game Show 2006 over in Chiba, Japan. The frivolities included a 0.8 mile line to enter the show (TGS is open to the public, unlike the now-deceased E3), a total "snoozer" of a Sony keynote, and of course that boring stuff like a PS3 price drop and Microsoft's HD DVD drive pricepoint stunner. So, if you think you can handle the lack of excitement, just hit that read link to experience TGS in all its blog-ed glory.
Rumor: Wal-mart considers Wii dangerous?
Tipsters, whether they submit to Joystiq or one of the excellent Nintendo Fanboy blogs, usually are a breed unmatched. Willing to submit news and following the blogs much like a detective monitors a murder suspect, they are ever-vigilant in their quest to find and submit all news. Such a news tipsters spends his days as an employee at Wal-mart, a kind of double-life we imagine an extra-terrestrial super-hero or millionaire vigilante might live. During his off-hours, working at his store, this tipster commented that his higher-ups informed him that Wal-mart would not be receiving any Wii demo kiosks later this year for fear of "our shoppers being awakened from their brain-dead, zombie-like state and rebelling against us, their low-cost, reassuring overlords." No, wait that's wrong. What he really said was the company had a "fear of some kid getting hurt or injuring others in the process of flailing his arms around." Last time we checked, that's all kids do (besides crying in restaurants and ruining the experience at the movie theater).Joystiq tried to get a comment from someone at Wal-mart, only to never hear back from them and received the obligatory "we do not respond to rumors" response from Nintendo on the matter. [Thanks Nushio; via Joystiq]
A touching talk with Touch Detective's Jamie Ortiz
Joystiq's Ludwig Kietzmann sat down recently with Touch Detective's project lead, Jamie Ortiz, for a little hands-on. Or more likely just discussion, since we're pretty sure there's a court order floating around that keeps Ludwig at least twenty feet from everyone in the industry. Among other topics, they discussed the challenges involved in translating a story-heavy game from Japanese into English and the changes that had to be made -- and how they tackled those challenges while remaining true to the original characters. They spent a little time exploring the art style as well, and Ortiz mentioned that the style is often compared to Tim Burton's work, but we prefer the comparison one of our readers here at DS Fanboy drew -- the style looks influenced by the work of Jhonen Vasquez, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Squee!, and Invader Zim.And it seems we're not the only ones who think Funghi is somewhat questionable in shape, though the esteemed Mr. Ortiz did not seem to share our opinion. We'll leave it up to you to decide.
Don't get mad! Get even with Tekken
This ad for PSP's Tekken: Dark Resurrection gets my vote as the best PSP ad ever. Of course, there really isn't much competition when all the other ads seem to be dumb, immature, racist, or feature way too much man-nudity. I don't want to say anything else, because the punchline works best when you don't know what's coming. Check out the rest of these ads by heading over to saveitfortekken.tv.
Joystiq's "Most impressive gamer" winner
At Engadget, most of us are what you'd call casual gamers, given that on occasion, we love to kick back with a round or two of "Civilization IV" whenever we need some R&R. That said, we're lightyears away from Kevout -- the guy that just won Joystiq's contest of "Most impressive gamer rig" -- who just took home a new copy of "Dead Rising" for the Xbox 360. He's got a 32-system setup (only 21 of those consoles are actually connected), that ranges from a Commodore 64 to an Xbox 360, accompanied by a total of 568 games; amusingly, since he blows all his loot on videogame hardware and software, he had to scrounge that disgraceful CRT out of a dumpster. We assume that once Kevout gets his paws on a PS3 he'll have achieved gamer nirvana. Until the Wii comes out, that is.
Win this limited edition Gears of War book [update 2]
At last year's Tokyo Games Show we got our first look at an early version of Gears of War for the Xbox 360 and walked away with two things: (1) desire to play the finished product; (2) a limited-edition, 46-page, glossy coffee-table book entitled Destroyed Beauty: An Inside Look at Gears of War (click here for scans of the entire book). We're giving the book away to a reader who posts the niftiest photo of foodstuffs crafted to look like something from the world of video games to Flickr under the tag of joystiqfood. Only correctly tagged images uploaded to Flickr count as contest entries. (Note that Flickr's community guidelines require you to upload only photos that you've taken.) Deadline for entries: 11:59 PM EDT September 30. [Update 1: made it amply clear that only entries that have been uploaded to Flickr and correctly tagged are eligible for the contest.] [Update 2: This is the winning entry. The winner has been contacted via email and the prize will be shipped as soon as we've got his address.]
