Archives for Mar 8th, 2012
The evolution of Jetpack Joyride's store, in pictorial form
Halfbrick's chief creative officer Luke Muscat took panel attendees on a whirlwind tour of the development process for Jetpack Joyride during his Depth in Simplicity: The Making of Jetpack Joyride panel. Aside from sharing what the final name of the game could've been, Muscat also showed us the ...
Jetpack Joyride was almost 'Machine Fun Jetpack'
During his GDC talk Depth in Simplicity: The Making of Jetpack Joyride, Halfbrick Studios' chief creative officer Luke Muscat shared the story of the 11th hour name change for Jetpack Joyride, which was originally supposed to be called Machine Gun Jetpack. "I'll tell you, we almost changed the app ...
Enjoy Keiji Inafune's adorable GDC 2012 slide cartoons right here
Keiji Inafune often adds a sketch of his creations (like Mega Man) when giving autographs to fans. Inafune took to his GDC 2012 presentation slides with the same flair, offering illustrations to accompany his various points throughout a speech that focused on Japanese game development. ...
Rainbow 6: Patriots retains gritty story after team change
When Ubisoft confirmed that the creative director of Rainbow 6: Patriots, David Sears, had been replaced by Jean-Sebastien Decant, natural assumption was that it was over the title's morally ambiguous storyline. That's not quite the case, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat told Game Informer. ...
The importance of playtesting: What Portal 2 could have been
When Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek first sat down to write Portal 2, they went mad. It certainly appears that way now, when the final version of Portal 2 that shipped in 2011 was such a resounding success, especially for a highly anticipated sequel. The first iteration Wolpaw and Faliszek ...
Tony Hawk says Ride was 'a bit rushed,' still thinks critics didn't give his board a chance
Even after all this time, Tony Hawk's stance is firm regarding the poorly received Shred and Ride games. He thinks critics made up their mind before giving the games and associated peripheral an honest chance -- even in the case of Ride, which he admits "was a bit rushed" due to time spent ...
Zynga welcoming Konami, Rebellion, and Playdemic to Zynga.com
Zynga is expanding the reach of its newly launched Zynga.com platform, with VP of platform partners Rob Dyer telling attendees of a GDC 2012 talk this afternoon that Konami, Rebellion, and Playdemic will all be contributing titles to Zynga's recently launched web portal. Moreover, Dyer teased ...
The new SimCity in video form, flaming houses and all
Would you like to get a look at SimCity before anyone else? So would we! But all we've got is these prototype videos shown off during a Maxis panel at GDC 2012 yesterday, which partially feature debug artwork (read: not final!). Also, hey, houses on fire! ...
February NPD: Hardware sales up over January, everything down year over year
The numbers for February are in, and while hardware performance was better than it was in January, both hardware and software sales are seeing significant declines when compared to figures from February 2011. With hardware and software combined, total new video-game sales rang up at $1.06 billion ...
Nintendo in February: Mario Galaxy passes 5 million, Wii and 3DS move more than 200K each [Update: corrected]
With February's NPD numbers upon us, Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy 2 has joined a prestigious club. The portly plumber's Wii title has now crossed the 5 million sales mark. Nintendo notes that the Wii has now amassed nine titles that have passed 5 million in sales, which it says is "nearly twice as ...
Microsoft sold 426,000 Xbox 360s in February, 14th month in top console spot
Ahead of the NPD officially revealing its February numbers, Microsoft is already tooting its own horn. The console manufacturer claims to have sold 426,000 consoles in February, more than any other console. That makes for 14 consecutive months with the Xbox 360 maintaining the top sales position ...
MLB 2K12 Review: Grounding into a double play
Milwaukee Brewers closer John Axford has a sweet mustache. The commentary team in Major League Baseball 2K12, Steve Phillips, Gary Thorne, and John Kruk even spend time talking about it when he's on the mound, throwing strikes. Yes, dialogue was recorded specifically to discuss the pitcher's ...
Keiji Inafune on why you shouldn't tease unannounced projects
"I don't think I mentioned anything about PlayStation Vita," Keiji Inafune told me in an interview this morning. His answer -- an outright lie -- elicited laughs from myself and his translator, both of us having attended his state of the Japanese game industry panel yesterday at GDC 2012 -- where ...
Deadly Premonition being remastered for PS3, with Move support
Immediately after ex-Marvelous CEO (and new Toybox Games founder) Yasuhiro Wada let slip news of a new Deadly Premonition PS3 project at GDC, he met with Joystiq for an interview and clarified just what it is. And it's not a sequel. Deadly Premonition is being "remastered" and updated for PS3, by a ...
Confronting The Showdown Effect and its Super Smash Bros. inspiration
The Showdown Effect, the new jam from Magicka developer Arrowhead Game Studios and newcomer Pixeldiet Entertainment, was inspired by '80s and '90s action movies, and even Nintendo's multiplayer-focused brawler, Super Smash Bros. Emil Englund, Design Director at Arrowhead Game Studios, offered some ...
The Dark Meadow goes for brook, free on iOS and Android starting next week
Phosphor Games' atmospheric The Dark Meadow will be available for free on Android and iOS starting next week. Phosphor isn't screwing over those who paid for the app, however, adding an "exclusive upgrade" to the game when it converts from $5.99 to gratis. "We just want to get the game in as many ...
Valve debunks rumors of 'Steam Box' console PC
Valve has quashed rumors that it is developing a console-like "Steam Box" hardware standard for its Steam service. Valve's Doug Lombardi told Kotaku that the company is "building boxes" to test its "Big Picture" initiative, which will make Steam play nice with PC setups that use a television set as ...
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD could receive levels from other THPS games as DLC
During an interview with Tony Hawk at GDC, the skateboarding icon told Joystiq that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD works as an HD update of the first two games, and as a potential platform for more content. Robomodo and Activision could add levels from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and/or 4, it could be ...
Uncharted 3's Shade Survival DLC on March 13, final Fortune Hunters' Club DLC next month
Naughty Dog has revealed that the Uncharted 3 "Shade Survival" DLC will be released this coming Tuesday, March 13. The DLC sees players facing off against multiple waves of Djinn, which are capable of hurling fire and teleporting at will. Members with a Fortune Hunters' Club pass can pick up the ...
Yasuhiro Wada working with Swery on new Deadly Premonition PS3 project
During his GDC panel (ostensibly a Classic Game Postmortem on Harvest Moon), former Marvelous CEO Yasuhiro Wada casually revealed that he's working with Hidetaka "Swery65" Suehiro on a new Deadly Premonition project for PS3. The announcement was far too casual to include details -- like whether ...
Only Mike Haggar can stop A Sentinel in Metro City
We'll always have a deep respect for Mike Haggar. The guy piledrives sharks and now, apparently, fights Sentinels, evidenced in the impressive stop-motion video above. He is truly a politician for the ages. ...
Witcher 2 devs: 'We will never use any DRM anymore'
Speaking at GDC 2012 today, CD Project Red CEO Marcin Iwinski declared that the developer behind the Witcher games would never use digital rights management to protect its games. "Every subsequent game we will never use any DRM anymore, it's just over-complicating things," Iwinski said. His ...
The Joystiq Show - GDC 2012: Day 3
GDC 2012 soldiers on. Xav, Alexander, and Ben convene to talk about the third day of the show after sitting in on a few panels, starting with Ben's impressions of a talk from Capcom's Keiji Inafune. Alexander saw Civilization V: Gods & Kings and Sins of a Dark Age, and Xav provides some insight ...
NintendoWare Weekly: Punch-Out!!, King of Fighters '97
We have a coveted double Virtual Console event today, in which emulated retro games appear on both 3DS and Wii. On 3DS, you can experience the thrill of being beaten severely by enormous people in Punch-Out!! And on Wii ... pretty much the same thing (beatings, enormous humans) from a different ...
Levine on BioShock Infinite's supposed 'special Move controller' and miscommunication in game development
It's called 'the snowball effect.' One piece of information grows into something greater than it was ever meant to be. This effect can take hold even when the information is incorrect to begin with. This was the case when the PlayStation UK site claimed a special Move device was being released ...
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop for $11.50
The Capcom store has heavily discounted two games that both happen to feature Frank West: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop. Both Wii exclusives can be yours for $11.50, unless you want a side order of FightStick with that Tatsunoko sammich. ...
Sony: PS Move ships 10.5 million units
The PlayStation Move has shipped 10.5 million units, according to statements made by Sony during a panel at GDC. The Move had shipped nine million units as of last November, and around 8 million last April, making the peripheral's Holiday-shopping performance slightly better than the seven months ...
Levine wants to show you BioShock on Vita, not talk about it
"It's something completely different that we're crafting," Irrational Games boss Ken Levine tells me as I press him for details on BioShock for the PlayStation Vita. Levine revealed during Sony's media briefing at E3 2011 (pictured) that the new handheld would be home to a unique experience set in ...
Defenders of Ardania gets new trailer, on PC and XBLA March 14
Defenders of Ardania, a tower defense title with a fantasy bent, is coming to PC March 14, says publisher Paradox Interactive. We learned earlier this week that the game will also be released on Xbox Live Arcade the same day. The press release notes that, in addition to setting up their own ...
Face off against The Showdown Effect beta this summer
We certainly don't blame you for wanting to play The Showdown Effect. Thankfully, here at GDC, Paradox Interactive was more than happy to oblige and sat me down in front of a PC next to Emil Englund, Design Director at Arrowhead Game Studios. But before I could place my fingers over the WASD keys ...
Angry Birds Space trailer, brought to you by NASA [Update: Screens and details]
This teaser for Angry Birds Space not only has the cooperation of NASA, it was filmed on the International Space Station, featuring a live Angry Birds demonstration and physics lesson from astronaut Don Pettit. All right, Rovio, that's pretty damn cool. As a nice bonus, there's gameplay footage ...
Civilization 5: Gods and Kings devs discuss community-driven changes
Civilization 5's "Gods & Kings" expansion is looking to satisfy the demand for more depth in the strategy, following the game's launch just under a year and a half ago. One of the top three changes made due to community feedback, according to Lead Designer Ed Beach, is that the AI opponent no ...
Double Fine remembers 'Amnesia Fortnight' in GDC postmortem
In a GDC panel called "Creative Panic: How Agility Turned Terror Into Triumph," project leads from Double Fine's quartet of "Amnesia Fortnight" projects each outlined the process and inspiration behind their games -- with the exception of Costume Quest's Tasha Harris, who didn't share her insights ...
How Resident Evil 2 helped Keiji Inafune become the indie dev he is today
Back in the mid-90s, now acclaimed Japanese developer Shinji Mikami was passionately toiling away on the first game in a soon-to-be hit franchise: Resident Evil. It was to be published by Capcom, but the company had reservations about the new intellectual property -- so much so that it nearly ...
Introducing BioShock Infinite's second heavy hitter: George Washington with a mini-gun
There's a new breed of baddie coming to BioShock Infinite. Dubbed the "Heavy Hitters," these menacing foes are another in a long line of defense against Booker DeWitt, protagonist and trespasser in the floating city of Columbia. The 'Motorized Patriot' is a machine that wields a mini-gun and dons ...
Mechwarrior Tactics features cinematic replays, more details stomp out
We got our first real look at MechWarrior Tactics today at GDC. The game fills a weird niche with some neat features. The free-to-play, turn-based strategy plays like something more akin to iOS treats Hero Academy or Words with Friends, with asynchronous or concurrent turn-based combat forming the ...
Watch Tony Hawk play Tony Hawk in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
In this video, skaters Chris Cole and Tony Hawk pull off some sweet tricks in real life and play some Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD. Not at the same time. ...
Long Mario is long: early Super Mario 3D Land concepts that didn't make it
Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida opened his GDC talk with some concepts that didn't make it into the final game. They were ... wacky. The ideas included a "Huge Mario," who is so huge that you can only see the bottom half of his body on the screen, and a long Mario: "He has long arms ...
Nintendo pushes connnectivity message on GDC display
You can the see the image above on a wall in Nintendo's GDC booth this week, and discern a new (and surprising) angle for 3DS marketing. The poster advertises the 3DS as "Nintendo's most connected console ever," touting online services like Swapnote, Nintendo Zone, and ... Nintendo Video. In a ...
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Rovio wants Angry Birds Space on 'all the screens,' Vita version up to Sony
Posted on Mar 9th 2012 7:35PM
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