Beware citizens, for it would appear that the T-Virus has mutated, and has now taken to resurrecting not only the recently deceased, but also mobile platforms thought long since dead. Or at the very least irrelevant. Gamasutra reports that Capcom is bringing a game based on its upcoming CGI flick, Resident Evil: Degeneration, to Nokia’s N-Gage service, which (re)launched earlier this year and is available on multiple Nokia smartphones.
According to the report, the movie tie-in will feature two separate modes of play and 3D graphics designed to both show off the platform’s capabilities and illustrate Capcom’s “dedication to N-Gage,” a fascination we imagine will blur the line between devotion and necrophilia when the title launches later this year.
We’ve all decided that this whole Joystiq thing may not be for us (and unlike the last time, we’re totally serious now). Thanks to the Fallout 3 G.O.A.T. exam, we know exactly what we’ll be doing with our future selves. Oh, and here’s what we’ll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!
Alexander Sliwinski: The GOAT tells me I’m a “Fry Cook.” Coincidentally, I like making fried food. Anyway, this weekend I’ll be playing Infinite Undiscovery, Company of Heroes and seeing if I can get the hang of Civ IV: Colonization.
Christopher Grant: This Vault Chaplain will spend the weekend helping others, as is my want. I’m at my sister’s new house helping her fix the place up. Some sheetrock; some trimwork; some demolition; good times. I’ve brought my good friend Professor Layton along to pitch in with sage advice at opportune times: “Every puzzle has an answer.” When I return back home I’ll be repenting for my sins … namely the sin of not having played Beyond Good & Evil earlier! Just a few hours in, BG&E has already revealed itself to be one of the best games I’ve played in the last couple years.
Griffin McElroy: According to the GOAT, I’m the Vault Chaplain. While not attempting to save some post-apocalyptic souls, I wager I’ll be spending this weekend as I likely will spend most from now on — playing Rock Band 2 with the roommate. Unfortunately, on more than a few occasions, the drum part of “Aqualung” has made me lose my religion (an activity not befitting a man of the cloth such as myself).
Kevin Kelly: I’m playing in traffic, for the most part. Plus I’ll be visiting the Arcade UFO in Austin, TX to get some quarter-licious gaming on. Oh, and GOAT tells me I’m a Clinical Test Subject.
Kyle Orland: This Waste Management Specialist is taking out the trash… all the way to Maryland, where he’s paying his family and friends a visit this weekend. My sister and mom both really want to try out with Wii Fit, so it seems that’s what I’m going to be forced to play all weekend.
James Ransom-Wiley: This PIP-Boy Programmer is considering a new career. In the meantime, he’ll find some time this weekend to accept the 5¢ trade-in value for the original Rock Band at GameStop — at least it’s something toward Rock Band 2, right?
Jason Dobson: GOAT says I’m a Pedicurist, who knew? Now that I’m with consoles again (unboxed!), this weekend will be spent lacing up and taping my virtual stick as I hit the ice in NHL 09. It may be the only way I ever get to see the Buffalo Sabres lift Lord Stanley, after all.
Justin McElroy: This Pedicurist is going to be enjoying some Warhammer Online, with occasional breaks for Force Unleashed. Or at least, that’s what I would be playing if I played video games on the weekends, instead of doing what you all should be doing: Partying hard. Like, Andrew WK hard.
Ludwig Kietzmann: With the Prince of Persia trilogy behind me (much like my career as a Clinical Test Subject), I imagine this weekend will be dedicated to finding the answers to Eternal Sonata’s mysteries — chief of which is, “Why am I still playing this?” If I can break the level-up cycle, I’ll almost certainly be giving Tomb Raider: Legend yet another replay. Gotta be prepared for Underworld!
Randy Nelson: When I’m not busy with my work as a PIP-Boy Programmer, I’ll be hacking my way through The Force Unleashed with an elegant weapon (though not a very elegant camera) for a more civilized time. Then it’s time to get up-to-speed – quite literally – with the Burnout Bikes expansion. Vroom!
Ross Miller: The Fry Cook inside me (wow, that sounds awkward) will be making up on hours of missing sleep. If I do have any energy this weekend, I will be overcoming the mid-chorus fill in the expert drums of “Everlong” for Rock Band 2. Once I master that, I will have the whole song and feel an overwhelming sence of silly pride.
The long-in-development L.A. Noire, a collaboration between Rockstar and ex-Getaway alumni at Australia’s Team Bondi, may no longer be exclusive to PlayStation 3. The title – which has been shrouded in mystery befitting of its film noire trappings – was originally rumored to be bankrolled by Sony itself for release solely on its platform.
Speaking at GC Asia ’08, Game Developers’ Association of Australia president Tom Crago said that, from what he surmises, development on the game has “another year or so to go.” He also revealed that it “could be the biggest budget video game in development anywhere in the world,” calling it a “massive, massive project.” Crago also indicated that the game is in development for both PS3 and 360, which, if true, would rule it out as the PS3-exclusive Rockstar project Sony has been touting once and for all.
Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:
Digital Rights Management (or “DRM” for short) is back in the news in a big way with the recent Spore fiasco. DRM, much like a Spore creature, is a quirky animal, with legs of technology, a torso of law, and arms of business, but it doesn’t always have a head on its shoulders. But like so many other things that potentially put consumers and producers at odds, the viewpoints on DRM are extremely polarized with almost no middle ground. So this week I wanted to take a look at DRM, why it exists from a legal and economic viewpoint, and most importantly, try to get hold of that slippery middle ground.
Thinking back to the days of the floppy disk, piracy wasn’t yet an overwhelming concern. Yes, it was easy to bypass the write protection on a floppy, but without an internet, you had to find someone who had an existing copy in real life. For the majority of the population, this wasn’t an option. Then we entered the initial CD-ROM phase, and at the time, the CD-ROM was a pretty secure media. The idea of a low cost home CD burner and blank CDs were years off, and the Internet was still in its infancy, so CDs were pretty safe from piracy well into the 1990s. It was the proliferation of CD burners, high speed internet connections, and peer to peer file sharing (Hi Napster!) that made software license security a big issue for all software companies in the late 1990s, and things haven’t slowed down since.
Next week’s Rock Band DLC will be a second attempt at making Rush’s Moving Pictures album available. Harmonix will also be releasing several individual tracks that may tickle your wallet’s fancy.
Rush - Moving Pictures(880 / )
“Tom Sawyer” (Original) (160 / )
“Red Barchetta” (160 / )
“YYZ” (160 / )
“Limelight” (Original) (160 / )
“The Camera Eye” (160 / )
“Witch Hunt” (160 / )
“Vital Signs” (160 / )
Individual tracks
“Sorrow” – Bad Religion (160 / )
“She Sells Sanctuary” – The Cult (160 / )
“Bandages” – Hot Hot Heat (160 / )
“Shoot the Runner” – Kasabian (160 / )
“You’re No Rock N Roll Fun” – Sleater-Kinney (160 / )
“Love Spreads” – Stone Roses (160 / )
Videos for the tracks can be found after the break. The songs will be available for download next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.
All right, kiddies, we know all of you out there have dutifully replaced your DS with a gaming-powered iPhone 2.0, but with all that gaming power comes the responsibility to be careful. Thus, you should all be on the lookout for a new Windows virus masquerading as apparently popular iPhone game Penguin Panic.
According to Sophos, the computer-controlling Trojan shows up as a zipped attachment to an e-mail with a subject like “Virtual iPhone games!” or “Apple: The most popular game!” Ironically, it seems the virus won’t actually infect your iPhone or any Mac-based computers. It also seems incapable of infecting other portable gaming systems, which should be a relief to those of you still living in the past with those long-defunct platforms.
Codemasters has dropped word that new racing machines will be pulling up to GRID‘s starting line later this year. The game will be getting a new DLC pack, dubbed “8-Ball,” this Fall, which will add two new multiplayer events and eight new cars, including the McLaren F1 GTR, Honda S2000 and 1971 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM. Additionally, while 8-Ball’s new cars and events will be released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, the former will gain the added benefit of four new Achievements and 100 new Gamerpoints to earn. PS3 owners will have to fill their time dusting off vacant Trophy cases.
Another release, adding a V8 Supercars category and the Australian Bathurst circuit, is expected in the coming months. At this time, the Codies are tight-lipped regarding both price and an exact release date for any DLC, saying only that the first batch will drop this Fall for consoles, while PC players can expect information relevant to them to arrive “shortly.”
Xbox Live’s Major Nelson has posted a new video, showing just how we’ll go about creating tiny, polygonal and considerably more handsome versions of ourselves when the New Xbox Experience (that’s fancy for “dashboard update”) arrives this Fall. If you’ve been wondering how you’ll outfit your Avatar with virtua-threads or which button elicits a burp (yes, really), peer past the break.
Of course, if you’re the impatient type and just want to get back to your space mareenz, you can skip the whole process by simply selecting a random Avatar. Just don’t blame us if you wind up as Shane Kim.
Here’s a warning: About an hour in, this podcast just becomes utter madness, so if you want to skip over it (or straight to it), there’s your heads-up. Before it happens, however, we talk Warhammer Online, Feist and Force Unleashed, so you’ll want to be there for that.
Thanks (again) to Michael Mayne of the JPAG ,for keeping us supplied with photochops, and to videogame voice acting superstar David Sobolov for the intro.
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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy
There are now conflicting reports about the week the Earth stood still. It seems the Xbox 360 may not have outsold the Wii in Japan last week, as Media Create’s data contradicts that ofFamitsu owner Enterbrain, which shows that the Wii actually triumphed. Well, that explains why we’re all still here … because the fabric of existence should have completely torn itself apart.
The Media Create data shows that the Wii sold 29,686 units (up 2,500 from Enterbrain’s count), while the Xbox 360 unit count is roughly the same as Enterbrain’s figure at 28,188. Now it’s time for us to get Uncle Chester out of the bunker and tell him that Fallout 3 won’t be an edutainment title.
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