GameSpasm

GamerBytes has a nice long interview with DeathSpank creator Ron Gilbert, and while he waxes philosophical on all sorts of stuff found in the excellent XBLA/PSN hack-'n-slash title, he says he's not sure what he plans to do next. But iPhone gaming has grabbed his attention for the moment: "iPhone games are very interesting to me right now. I play a lot of them, and they're neat because then you can do two- or three-people teams to make those things," he says.

Making DeathSpank was tougher than expected, according to Gilbert -- he started out wanting to make Monkey Island meets Diablo, but the Diablo half of the game was more difficult to balance than he'd thought it would be. Not only did he have to balance weapons and combat, but he had to deal with DeathSpank's own character attributes. A class system was originally planned, but Gilbert wanted to play his character (which originally came from a Flash cartoon series), not yours, so the team eventually went with the "Hero Cards" system.

Gilbert also says he hopes that DeathSpank influences the downloadable market -- rather than simply house reissues of older games or big budget titles, he hopes that downloadable game platforms can be a place for originality, and that "we can get some really good, interesting games in the download space." We'll hack and slash to that!

Ron Gilbert digs iPhone, hopes DeathSpank inspires other devs originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: death-spank, Deathspank, Downloadable, Ea, Hothead Games, iPhone, microsoft, Mobile, Playstation, PS3, Ron Gilbert, Xbla, Xbox

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I saw the upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie at Comic-Con last weekend, and while our purview is still just interactive entertainment, the film is an indication of just how prevalent video games have become in popular culture. Just like the popular indie comics on which it's based, the film is chock full of video game references and even has some big plot points that invoke old-school video game clichés. Gaming is woven into the language of this story and this movie.

I got a chance earlier this week to sit down with director Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley, and the movie's cast to talk about the flick, video games in general and how mainstream audiences will react to seeing games used onscreen in this way. We also got some new insight on the retro-style Scott Pilgrim vs. The World game.

Continue reading Scott Pilgrim vs. the world of video games

Scott Pilgrim vs. the world of video games originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: brandon-routh, bryan-lee-omalley, Edgar Wright, mary-elizabeth-winstead, microsoft, miyamoto, Nintendo, Playstation, PS3, psn, Scott pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, ubisoft, Xbla, Xbox

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Sad news for fans of the animated series Metalocalypse, as Siliconera reports that Adult Swim "pulled the license" on Metalocalypse: Dethgame. Originally under development at Frozen Codebase, the beat-'em-up was set to appear on Xbox Live and PSN at the tail-end of 2009, courtesy of Konami. So much for that.

We've followed up with Konami to confirm, but it looks like Dethgame ain't happening. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a Hatredcopter to board and a target to attack that has nothing to do with this news. Nope, nothing whatsoever.

Metalocalypse: Dethgame bangs its head no more originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indie gaming studio The Behemoth was an unexpected surprise among the video game booths at Comic-Con 2010 in San Diego. We haven't heard much about its upcoming Battleblock Theater since it was announced, making the brand new build on the show floor all the more enticing.

Like the previous version we played, gameplay revolved around little blockheads battling it out in a deathmatch ... put on for the entertainment of large cats.

Continue reading Preview: The Behemoth's Battleblock Theater (Comic-Con build)

Preview: The Behemoth's Battleblock Theater (Comic-Con build) originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: BattleBlock Theater, Comic-Con-2010, gameplay, indie, interview, microsoft, the-behemoth, tom-fulp, Xbla, Xbox

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The early Sega Genesis roguelike Fatal Labyrinth was released on PC download services last week, but Sega doesn't appear to be done re-releasing it yet. The ESRB listing for the game shows, in addition to its existing PC and Wii (Virtual Console) releases, plans for Mac, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Fatal Labyrinth is actually already available on PS3 and Xbox, as part of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, but a separate ESRB listing for those platforms suggests a standalone downloadable release, like those given to games like Gunstar Heroes, Sonic & Knuckles, and Phantasy Star II. Good news for those of you who don't want to spend around twenty dollars for the fantastic deal that is the Ultimate Genesis Collection.

ESRB lists Fatal Labyrinth for PS3 and Xbox 360 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During a Comic-Con panel, Capcom's Keiji Inafune offered a scant few details about Mega Man Universe, the Mega Man crossover game (or something) teased by an amazing stop-motion trailer, which you can see again after the break -- it's wonderful!

"We wanted to preserve as much as we can of the classic 8-bit Mega Man feel, while allowing players to project their own Mega Man onto the game," Inafune said. So it'll have an 8-bit look like Mega Man 9. "We wanted to create a platform where players can play as their favorite version of Mega Man, another Capcom character -- or maybe a different character completely," he added. "You'll be able to play as the Mega Man of your dreams."

The proposed cross-Capcom, cross-character play actually makes us think of another recent 8-bit game (unofficially) starring Mega Man, Super Mario Crossover. "The game will also unite Mega Man fans," Inafune said, "putting them together in one specific place."

The awkward, golden Mega Man from the original NES Mega Man 1 U.S. box art will even make an appearance, as he did in the teaser. "We talked about how crappy the original package art was, but there's somebody out there that loves that one and probably wants to play as him." (The trailer, by the way, was info-free for a reason: "We made the trailer purposely mysterious, because we wanted to play on the idea of what Mega Man is," Inafune explained, citing the changing face of the Mega Man series over the years.)

Finally, Inafune teased that another big Mega Man announcement was on the way soon, which would address an "oft-requested" desire from fans.

Continue reading Inafune: Play as 'the Mega Man of your dreams' in Mega Man Universe

Inafune: Play as 'the Mega Man of your dreams' in Mega Man Universe originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Capcom, Comic-Con-2010, Keiji Inafune, mega-man-universe, microsoft, Playstation, PS3, psn, Xbla, Xbox

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Better refill your Zombrex prescription: Capcom is letting Dead Rising 2: Case Zero out of quarantine and into Xbox Live Arcade on August 31 -- the original release date of the full Dead Rising 2 game (that's now dated for September 28). Capcom has also released a new trailer for Dead Rising 2, which you'll find after the break.

Case Zero, a standalone experience, serves as a prologue to Dead Rising 2. Chuck Greene fights to escape the town of Still Creek and obtain the Zombrex he needs to keep his daughter Katey from coming down with a case of finding human flesh yummy.

The prologue won't take a bite out of your budget: Capcom is pricing the XBLA-exclusive Case Zero at 400 Microsoft Points ($5).

Continue reading Dead Rising 2: Case Zero infects XBLA August 31

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero infects XBLA August 31 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Blue-Castle-Games, Capcom, dead rising 2, dead-rising-2-case-zero, microsoft, release-date, Xbla, xblm, Xbox

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Gamerbytes has compiled a list of several Xbox Live Arcade games and their performance in the first half of 2010 based on data derived from leaderboards.

First, there are the top performers: Trials HD apparently had the biggest user base, jumping from 600,000 players to over a million during the first half of 2010 (not counting its DLC, which had almost 300,000 players over that period). But how about games that launched this year? Well, Perfect Dark enlisted 265,000, and Toy Soldiers and its DLC managed to recruit a combined 346,000 players. Risk: Factions and Snoopy Flying Ace have yet to reach 100,000.

Other games didn't fare so well, with several failing to capture the attention of even 1,000 users -- Voodoo Dice, Ben 10 and Fret Nice were near or below that mark -- and of the 24 new games that Gamerbytes catalogued, only 13 managed to reach 10,000 players.

Seeing how deals and promotions affected the growth of user bases on older titles is particularly interesting in the case of Zombie Apocalypse and TMNT: ReShelled, both of which came darn close to doubling their respective audiences when discounts were applied.

XBLA sales stats for first half of 2010, as deduced from leaderboard data originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Perfect Dark, q1, q1-2010, q2, q2-2010, Risk: factions, Sales, Snoopy flying ace, TMNT-Turtles-in-Time-Re-Shelled, toy-soldiers, Trials hd, Xbla, Xbox Live Arcade, zombie apocalypse

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By now you know that Dead Space Ignition is, essentially, a downloadable motion comic recounting the events immediately leading up to Dead Space 2. It's made interactive via the inclusion of three hacking minigames, one of which, Trace Route, I tried out at EA's Studio Showcase yesterday.

As we mentioned in our original news post, it's a play-alike of Nintendo's Light Trax for WiiWare with the exception that it features slightly deeper gameplay -- and is really pretty challenging. It's also going to support leaderboards and two players when released, and will unlock content (including a new suit for protagonist Isaac Clarke) in Dead Space 2.

Gallery: Dead Space Ignition

Continue reading Preview: Dead Space Ignition

Preview: Dead Space Ignition originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: Dead-Space-Ignition, Ea, EA-Studio-Showcase-2010, Electronic Arts, microsoft, Playstation, PS3, psn, Visceral-Games, Xbla, Xbox

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Aside from having to deal with a grumbling tummy, we can't imagine there's much to being a sniper. But according to both Tom Berenger and the latest trailer for Monday Night Combat just past the break, there's plenty more to it.

Aside from being a bit off, every good Monday Night Combat sniper should have a repository of skills to call upon -- including traps that freeze your enemies in their tracks and a rather neat grapple skill that allows for some flashy melee maneuvers. Whoever said snipers never get their hands dirty?

Continue reading Monday Night Combat trailer schools us on sniping

Monday Night Combat trailer schools us on sniping originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: microsoft, monday-night-combat, Summer-of-Arcade, Uber entertainment, Xbla, Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade

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