Home / kotaku.com rss archive / September-02-2007


Sega Boss Points Out: Even EA Is Making Creative Wii Games
North American SEGA president Simon Jeffery knows a few things about creativity. Take SEGA's combining Mario and Sonic in a game pegged to the Olympics. Talk about creative! And after Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games took best Wii game at Leipzig (congrats), Jeffery felt in the mood to sound off. Selected quotes include:There is no doubt that we will see more risks, and therefore more creativity on both the Wii and the DS in the next couple of years. Just look at what EA is already doing on the Wii — EA doesn't usually do that kind of game... We will probably see a fair bit of standardization for a while from third party publishers in the games that they develop for 360 and PS3, as the huge development costs are 'rationalized'.READ: Making true next-gen games is pricey as hell. Third-party companies are realizing this and will make water-downed 360 and PS3. But, the Wii and the DS are so interesting that even Electronic Arts can make a creative game. Incredible!Creati...

Clips: Lair Playing on My PSP2K
newVideoPlayer("MOV01050_gawker.flv", 475, 376);Here's the video proof of Lair Remote Play for you non-believers out there. The major issue, as I mentioned before, is that you have no L2 or R2 buttons, so no braking in the game, which can make things a bit difficult at times, but the game is still very playable. I friggin love this. Lets hope this isn't something Sony will be "fixing" anytime soon. As for the gameplay, it seems as smooth but the graphics by comparison are atrocious. I mean, playing this game on a big screen high-def TV with surround sound is spectacular, visually at least. Also, the lack of L2 and R2 buttons really causes issues. You can't, for instance, land. Which just plain sucks. Personally, I have not problem controlling the dragon with the motion controls, but if that's a big issue for you, then I'm sure you'd prefer this method because the controls are silky smooth. Of course the oodles of required motion attacks in the game make it impossible to play...

He Is Iron Man: The Iron Man of Gaming Competiton Crowns a Winner
This weekend marked the first ever Iron-Man Gaming Competition presented by Video Gamers League and creators Handsome Tom and Stuttering Craig of ScrewAttack.comin Dallas, Texas. Eighty contestants competed in six different games (Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man: Championship Edition, Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Madden '08, Dead or Alive 4 and Halo 2) over three days, but ultimately only one would reign supreme as the Iron-Man of Gaming. The big winner was Chris "Kumachine" Delp who took home the massive Iron-Man belt and a thousand dollars cash and dedicated the victory to his hometown of New Orleans and the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Second place was taken by Louis "Big Lou" Hughes who took home a slightly less exciting prize; a women's tennis championship trophy wrapped in a broken third party PlayStation controller. Stay tuned for details on the next Iron-man of Gaming Competition coming next year.

PS3: Play Lair on Your PSP
The mounting buzz on the Playstation forums are true, you can play Lair on your PSP using Remote Play. Well, you can sorta play Lair on your PSP using Remote Play. Unfortunately the PSP does not have the R2 or L2 buttons, so you can't brake, but who needs to brake anyway. Sure it makes the end bosses and many of the levels a lot easier, but honestly, not that big a deal.If you do want to do this make sure you play through the tutorial level first because unless you can brake it won't let you continue through the training and get to the meat of the game. Check back in a bit for our video of this in action on the PSP2K.Lair Playable on your PSP [Playstation Forums, thanks to about half of the Kotaku readers who tipped us]

Note From The Edge: Weekend Note: Con-ed Out
To: AshFrom: FlynnSubject: All spliced upSo, I attended Dragon-Con this weekend here in Atlanta, clocking in my fourth conference in two months. With two more to go yet this year, I am feeling a little Con weary but I'm sure I'll be able to get it together for the excitement of TGS. Everyone told me how amazing Comic Con was going to be for cosplay and I have to say that after having gone to both, Dragon-Con has it all over Comic Con in the costume department. I even managed to cobble together a Splicer costume for myself (Purely so I didn't seem out of place, of course!) and got my picture taken in front of an appropriately watery backdrop.Some things you might have missed this weekend: You can pre-order Halo 3 and get a Slurpee at the same time. EA is offering the original Command & Conquer for free. This guy makes me proud to be a gamerI hope you have a great week as we over here in the US celebrate a holiday weekend and I actually get a rare full day off. I plan on gaming...

Nintendo: Who's Late To the Nintendo Party?
Gamasutra has an interesting take from a couple of analysts on which publishers have hopped on the Nintendo DS/Wii bandwagon (and profited from it) and who's been slow to try and get a piece of the pie, as well as their predictions for the future market and suggestions on how some of those 'less-apt to get involved with the Nintendo platforms' companies can get in on the action without sacrificing their core audience and styles. It's an interesting, short little piece looking at Nintendo's share of the action - and how developers can get in on the party:The downside is coming in the form of a glut of games for the Wii and DS. Nintendo will try to maintain quality, but I worry that we'll see far too many crappy games for the Wii and DS. I'd like to see publishers take risks on the DS and Wii, as they can afford to try new things at lower costs. However, publishers tend to follow rather than innovate ....Publishers should not publish the same game across platforms, but should...

Week In Games: Week in Games: Stranglehold Edition
With all the traveling I've been doing lately it's been hard for me to play any new games and probably won't get much of a chance for a few more weeks. Some good titles coming out this week though and I'm sure you'll be able to find something on this list that strikes your fancy. Personally I'm rather intrigued by the Sherlock Holmes title which has been getting decent reviews. Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulu mythos? Sounds like a winner to me.Stranglehold (X360, PC)All the fun of a John Woo film on your 360!Medal of Honor: Airborne (PC, X360)It's WWII as seen from above.The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (PC)Send your little Sims on a dream vacation.Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2 (PS2)The Naruto machine keeps on pumping.Worms: Open Warfare 2 (DS, PSP)Worms you can carry with you in your pocket.Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (PC)Holmes vs. Cthulu in a fight to the death.Seven Kingdoms: Conquest (PC)Lead your army of soldiers of demons to victory.Pool Party (WII)The kind with balls and a cue...

Clip: Japanese Wii NiGHTS Trailer
Here we have the Japanese trailer for the much talked about NiGHTS for the Wii. The video is a little pixely and the music is god awful but it's enough to give you a little taste of what the game is going to be like. Legions of NiGHTS fans have been eagerly awaiting this title's release, but if the game is anywhere near as bad as the music, I don't think I will be picking it up. As a matter of fact, just do yourself a favor and watch it with the volume down. Believe me, you'll be much happier. If only I had had someone to warn me before I pressed play...

Warcraft: China Finally Getting WoW: The Burning Crusade
It's been out in the rest of the world for several months, but Chinese gamers have yet to see The Burning Crusade expansion pack for WoW - but The9, the Chinese operator for the game, has finally announced it will be arriving 10 September. Chinese gamers haven't gotten any new content since October of last year, and their patience is running thin - not a good position for a currently beleaguered company to be in (lawsuits, pissed off gamers, and possible early license termination - oh my!): Although World of Warcraft was launched in China six month after the game's launch in Western markets, previous content update releases usually lag North American market releases by a month. Chinese WoW players have not experienced any new content since last October, and their patience has been taxed to the limit. The number of average concurrent users (ACU) for WoW has dropped two quarters straight, from 340,000 ACU in the forth quarter of 2006 to 300,000 in the second quarter of 2007.Some...

Only In China: Chinese Editorial Calls for RMT Ban
A "rather sensationalized editorial" (as Worlds In Motion describes it) by Ma Jun in the Shanghai Daily suggests that the government should step in an add another level of control to the Chinese MMO industry: banning the sale of virtual goods for real money. While the author takes a dim view of the conditions gold farmers and their ilk work in, they take a really dim view of the people who make their living stealing account passwords and equipment from virtual avatars:Being indignant at such crimes, I also feel sorry for those criminals. Many of them are even more wretched victims, of the unconstrained online game business, than legitimate users and players.They are addicted young players who wasted too much time in the games and become losers in schools and, as adults, have difficulties in finding a regular job to support themselves - so they turn to online crime.Some of them, induced by experienced crackers, join the business of online larceny, and mostly function as tiny...

Random Act Of Kindness: Games, Hope and Charity
It always warms my heart to hear gamers acting selflessly and this little tale from the halls of PAX is one that deserves telling. Mr. Pulsar (pictured, above) arrived at PAX this year wanting to compete in the Guitar Hero II Tourneys and with the help of a new found friend ended up taking first place in the GH II team competition. In an amazing feat he turned around the next day and took home first place in the GH II singles tourney as well. Using the prize points he had won in the tournaments, he then purchased a Wii which he took around the conference and had various internet gaming celebs sign. Signers included VG Cats' Scott Roomsair and the masters of PAX themselves, Gabe and Tycho. Once the Wii was autographed to the teeth, he promptly donated it to Child's Play, Penny Arcade's charity for hospitalized children, to be auctioned off.It really gives me renewed faith in the gaming populace to hear stories like this and I hope that other gamers will read this story and be...

Game Design: 'The Image of the Undercity' - Games, Architecture, and Space
An entry at Terra Nova links to a rather lengthy paper on architecture, space, and gameplay in WoW and Battle for Middle Earth 2. The paper is well worth a read through, but the Terra Nova entry has some choice quotes pulled out for those short on time. The paper concerns itself with how two different games use their spatial organization and architecture - both in terms of buildings and the fundamental design of a game world - to impact play experiences:World of Warcraft privileges architecture as a spatial experience. It is concerned with the ability to move through space, constructing architecture as a series of solids and voids. When we interact with the architecture we are alternately channelled and impeded. The architecture encompasses us, organizing our activities into discrete zones and structuring the way in which we move between activities .... The architecture has what architects call program, so that Ironforge can be divided into circulation space and activity...

Space Giraffe: Space Giraffe Is Like Joyce's Ulysses?
Via GameSetWatch comes an musing on Space Giraffe, Yak Minter's psychedelic shooter that people seem to either love or hate. The author is Jonathan Blow, the guy behind Braid, and he says you either get Space Giraffe (and love it), or you don't (and hate it, giving it 2/10 when you write your review).This game is about expanding your perception. It demands that you learn to see. Most of the reviewers who gave the game low scores, I claim, were too closed-minded; they weren't receptive to this kind of teaching, which the game is obviously telling you it wants to do, if you are quiet enough and listen.The game could be much clearer about its intentions. There's a tutorial, but it only teaches you the basic game mechanics (and not very clearly, at that). The tutorial never says anything like "this game is going to throw ever-more visual insanity at you, and your job is to make sense of it all". That would have been undesirably heavy-handed, but I know that if Jeff had structured...

Warm And Cuddly: The Space Invaders Sweater
Etsy member n2Imaginations has been working overtime to create this sweet Space Invaders sweater. Not surprisingly it has already sold, but if you're feeling extra crafty or know someone who does, n2Imaginations is also offering a PDF version of the pattern for download.I really like the pattern and all, but something about the shape reminds me of the sweaters you see at the thrift store with teddy bears of Christmas trees on them. Personally I prefer something a little more fitted, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. And in case you were wondering it was made in a nice one-size fits all XXL. Doesn't anyone make anything in medium anymore?Video Game Sweater 1 [Etsy][via Wonderland]

They're Tiny!: Twilight Princess Capsule Figures
While I was roaming around PAX last weekend I happened upon a booth by local Seattle store Pink Godzilla. They had an amazing selection of vintage games, Japanese toys and even some Japanese systems. What really caught my eye (although it was hard to focus on just one thing) were these little Twilight Princess figures. These are actually capsule figures from Japan and each figure came in parts, reminding me of my model making days. They come in pieces so that they can produce larger figures and still manage to fit them into the little plastic egg shaped capsules. I grabbed the whole set for $25 and spoke with one of the guys working the booth who told me they are readily available through the Pink Godzilla website. What's really great about PG is that all of their items include free shipping from right here in the US, thus relieving some of the long ship times often run into when ordering the same items from overseas. So, if you're a fan of Japanese games and toys and don't...