How important are stories? How about endings? Over the next week this diverse group of personalities sounds off on these and other story-driven topics, starting today as we open up by asking whether or not narrative shares an equal burden as gameplay in carrying the video game experience.
Telling stories: Balancing gameplay v. narrative
How important are stories? How about endings? Over the next week this diverse group of personalities sounds off on these and other story-driven topics, starting today as we open up by asking whether or not narrative shares an equal burden as gameplay in carrying the video game experience.
Continue reading Telling stories: Balancing gameplay v. narrative
The Best Thing You'll See Today: The Portal bar
If you're curious as to where we're we're going to end up when we die, you can check out all the pictures from the event right here.
Street Fighter IV gets new US box art, updated collector's edition specs
What's in the box is not all that different from what GameStop listed 10 days ago. Priced at $79.99, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions come with the game, soundtrack CD, hint book, and either a C. Viper or Ryu figurine (360 and PS3, respectively). The final bit of bundled swag – a new 65-minute anime movie, The Ties That Bind – "sets up the story of SFIV by explaining events post-SFII." The Studio 4°C-produced film is on Blu-ray Disc for PS3 and a special game disc (not a standard DVD) for 360, which has allowed Capcom to encode it at 720p resolution.
Capcom says that the CEs also include "some secret additional downloadable content," which GameStop had previously listed as new costumes, but has since revised. Check out the high-res PS3 and 360 pack shots and CE photos in the gallery below.
Cellfactor: Psychokinetic Wars coming to PSN, XBLA in 2009
Developed by Immersion Games and Timeline Interactive, the futuristic FPS gives players "their choice of gunfire and/or telekinetic superpowers," though we suspect "and" would be the wiser battle strategy. After all, why would you turn down the opportunity to "rip objects from the surrounding environment and hurl them at enemies?" Well, assuming you didn't already.
Psychokinetic Wars will offer 30 single-player "challenges," three controllable characters and four different multiplayer modes (Death Match, Capture the Flag, Team Death Match and Assault) in support of 16 players. Or, err, psychokinetic combatants.
Complete: Street Fighter IV full character roster
Get familiar with the entire Street Fight IV gang right here:
Continue reading Complete: Street Fighter IV full character roster
Ubisoft bringing Broken Sword to Wii, DS March 2009
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars has been ported to numerous platforms since its original PC release in 1996, including the PlayStation and GBA. Ubisoft describes this latest version, however, as 'The Director's Cut,' promising a new narrative "interwoven with the first story," as well as new puzzles designed to take advantage of each platform's affinity for waggle and touching.
Even more interesting, the game's more than decade old graphics have also been retouched, including new facial animation by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Consider us pointed, and our wallets collectively clicked.
Kojima calls Metal Gear Solid Touch a 'simple MGS' shooter
In fact, Metal Gear's emphasis on stealth is being pocketed this time around in favor of something that is easier to pick up and play on the go, with much of the gameplay involving sliding and pinching the screen in typical iPhone fashion to move Snake's view and zoom in and out of targets. Additionally, shooting bad guys and exploding barrels is taken care of by tapping directly on the screen. We remain interested, albeit confused, about Snake's latest mission. But the weathered soldier isn't getting any younger, and with all of these fingers in the way, we wonder if he'll be able to see anything at all.
Read – Kojima Goes In-Depth on Metal Gear Solid Touch
Read – Metal Gear Solid Touch Detailed
Take-Two cements long-term agreement with Rockstar 'senior creative talent'
Also noted in the agreement is a new incentive compensation program for the Rockstar Games label, as well as Take-Two's intention to fund a new intellectual property "to be owned by a newly formed company controlled by key Rockstar Games team members." Whatever this mystery property entails, it will be published exclusively by Take-Two. Do we detect shades of Bungie and Microsoft?
Batman: Arkham Asylum gets Hamill's Joker, Conroy's Batman
While we remain largely undecided regarding Rocksteady Studios' "graphically distinct" take on Bruce Wayne's alter ego (spoiler! - Ed.), today's news brings us dangerously close to being pulled off the fence as we continue to wait for Batman: Arkham Asylum to ship next summer for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Four Konami games coming to iPhone, including Metal Gear, Silent Hill
- Dance Dance Revolution S Lite, "a music game where you tap the arrow icons that appear at the bottom of the screen in time with music."
- Silent Hill: The Escape, "a first-person 3D shooting game that lets players utilize the control features only found on the iPhone and iPod touch ..."
- Frogger, "a simple game" which probably doesn't require any further explanation.
- Metal Gear Solid Touch, "an original game that brings to life the world and characters" of MGS4. Eight "touch shooting" levels will be available in the initial release, with more to follow.
The Killzone 2 FAQ
When is it coming out?
Killzone 2 will be available in North America on February 27, 2009. Expect a "similar timeframe" for European countries.
What are the controls like?
The controls are much slower than most other FPS games on the market. Instead of running and gunning, you'll be taking cover and aiming down your sights. When behind a wall or object, you'll have to hold the cover button. Releasing it will allow you to peek out and fire your gun. It takes some time to get used to fully first person cover, but it's meant to keep the experience immersive. If you play like the guys at G4, you will die. A lot. (According to G4, that was a developer playing. Whoops!)
Club Nintendo back up, accepting NA members [update]
Already have your Nintendo gear and games registered on My Nintendo? Not to worry. Logging into the Club Nintendo site automagically converts your old account and – most importantly – makes sure Club Nintendo knows about all the stuff you've bought. So you can, y'know, start saving up for exclusive merchandise and other rewards, including the (now official) US version of Game & Watch Collection.
There's just one problem – after seeing the site with our very own eyes (!) it ... disappeared, and was replaced with placeholder art assuring us that Club Nintendo was "Coming Soon!" Lucky for us then that one NeoGAF user thought to grab a screenshot (seen above). Don't worry, you take the night off. We've got our clicking finger on the Reload button and we'll let you know when everything's back up. Now go have a drink, you look tired.
[Update: It seems – seems – that Club Nintendo is now live for good and all. Yep, it's up.]
[Thanks, Fernando]
How to fix the Video Game Awards
Fear not, the internet, we at Joystiq are ready to spring to the rescue and humbly provide our suggestions to help the VGAs reach their full potential (without the use of topless girls). Which brings us to tip number one:
Dead Space devs cooking up Dante's Inferno
Little is known about the upcoming third-person action title, other than it will be based upon Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. Jonathan Knight, executive producer on Dante's Inferno, simply notes that "the time is right" to adapt the 14th Century literary work into a game, though with Universal tapped to twist the game into a movie, clearly the time is also right to make lots of money. A teaser site and embedded video have also been released, and after playing through Dead Space it seems that we might soon abandon all hope of sleeping through the night.
Grand Theft Auto IV crowned Game of the Year at Spike VGAs
Curious which games won – and, by proxy, which ones lost – in the rest of the categories? Find the full list of winners after the break.
Continue reading Grand Theft Auto IV crowned Game of the Year at Spike VGAs