GDC hands-on: Deadliest Warrior (XBLA)
Mar/100
Okay, honesty time. Most of the preparation for my GDC appointment to check out Pipework Foundation’s TV-to-game adaptation Deadliest Warrior was spent thinking up jokes about the game’s cast of anachronistic characters. “So, what are we looking at,” I would snidely remark, “Templars? Cavemen? Wizards? Robots? Robot Cavemen? Grizzly bears?” To which Pipework would politely laugh, as I would insist, “No, seriously. What’s the grizzly bear situation?”
I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the game, so I’d attempt to cajole an entire preview out of this line of questioning. Fortunately, this precaution wasn’t necessary, as Deadliest Warrior looks to be a surprisingly competent, enjoyable fighting game, and a welcome addition to the Xbox Live Arcade lineup. Here’s the takeaway: Think Bushido Blade; but instead of being stuck with controlling boring ol’ samurai, there are ninjas, Spartans, Apache, knights and four other yet-to-be-announced warriors (Including, hopefully, wizards).
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GDC hands-on: Deadliest Warrior (XBLA) originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday Fun: Games that Look Like Productivity Apps
Mar/100
We’ve been showing you fun flash games to play during company time on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully while playing them, you haven’t received a “talking to”. Today we show you some cool games to play that look like productivity apps, so the boss will be none the wiser.
The website cantyouseeimbusy.com has developed some very neat little games that look like productivity apps like Word and Excel. These apps look exactly like some project you would be working on, but are really neat little games. Here we take a look at three cool ones on the site called Breakdown, Leadership, and Cost Cutter.
Leadership
Leadership is a cool game that looks like something you would be working in Excel and is a spin off of the classic game Moon Lander.
You navigate your ship through a variety of challenging line graphs.
![sshot-2010-03-11-[22-41-37]](http://semibeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/755267cc55224137.png.png "sshot-2010-03-11-[22-41-37]")
Breakdown
This one is a knock off of the classic game Break Out. Use your mouse to scroll the racket at the bottom and bounce the ball off of the text in the document. Press the space bar to pause the game and the elements will disappear…good for when the boss comes around.
![sshot-2010-03-11-[23-00-32]](http://semibeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/afa55729d5230032.png.png "sshot-2010-03-11-[23-00-32]")
Cost Cutter
This one is a puzzle game where it looks like your working on some bar charts in Excel. You need to click combinations of two or more blocks that are the same color. Again, hit the spacebar and the game elements will disappear.
If you’re looking for a way to goof off with some simple games without the boss knowing, these will definitely do the trick. Another cool game along these lines is Excit! which we covered previously.
Play Cost Cutter, Breakdown, and Leadership at cantyouseeimbusy.com
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Disney: Split/Second coming to PC retail and digital distribution (plus: new GDC trailers!)
Mar/100
Earlier today, we noticed a report over on That Video Game Blog that stated Black Rock’s upcoming racer, Split/Second, would only be available on the PC as “a limited online release.” Turns out, that isn’t the case, as a Disney spokesperson has confirmed to Joystiq that the game will be available on the PC both via retail and digital distribution on May 18, alongside its console cousins.
When questioned about which digital distribution services the game would release on, Disney couldn’t say. So, as a peace offering, we were given a pair of new trailers: the first you can see above this chunk of text, while you’ll need to click past the break for the other. We know, we push you guys too hard!
Disney: Split/Second coming to PC retail and digital distribution (plus: new GDC trailers!) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Peter Molyneux explains Fable 3 menu, morphing systems
Mar/100
Peter Molyneux has made it clear that Fable 3 is ditching as much of the 2D interface from Fable 2 as possible. Speaking at GDC, he finally showed us exactly how Lionhead will achieve this. According to Molyneux, Microsoft user research revealed that a majority of Fable 3 players understood fewer than half of the features in the game. “We’re creating content that people literally don’t care about,” said Molyneux.
To help rectify this, Fable 3’s menu system is managed entirely from within the game world. When players pause the game, their character is instantly warped to a chamber with different rooms that serve different functions. Molyneux specifically demonstrated the dressing room, where players will change clothes. Molyneux contrasted the process with that of Fable 2, in which changing outfits was like “going in the morning and choosing index cards to choose what you wear.”
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Peter Molyneux explains Fable 3 menu, morphing systems originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Green Day: Rock Band releases June 8 worldwide
Mar/100
That’s right, folks — Harmonix has just revealed that Green Day: Rock Band will be available for all come June 8 on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. Up to 6 players (3 mics; 3 instruments) will progress through the career of the trio, unlocking collectible images (more than 100, apparently) and some 40 minutes of “rare and unreleased” footage from interviews, outtakes and performances along the way.
As alluded to above, GD:RB will also sport the same vocal harmonizing feature that made The Beatles: Rock Band such a delight for mic hogs and comes loaded with 47 Green Day tracks, including “Brain Stew,” “Jaded,” “Hitchin’ a Ride,” “American Idiot,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
Oh, and if you’re looking to export these tunes, worry not: all 47 tracks are fully exportable to a console hard drive and playable in Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and the recently announced Rock Band 3. The export fee is $9.99 via Xbox Live or PSN. The export features is not available for the Wii system. Additionally, if you’ve picked up the six Green Day tunes already available as DLC, you can play them in the new game with added harmonies, “unique” visuals and more “exclusive archival material.”
Green Day: Rock Band will be available as a standalone game for Xbox 360 and PS3 for $59.99, while Wii owners will get a bit of a price break at $49.99. A special edition Green Day: Rock Band Plus will also come to Xbox 360 and PS3 for $69.99 and includes fancy packaging, an “export” feature (we assume, a voucher to export the disc tracks to a hard drive) and the six previously released Green Day DLC tracks.
Update: The GameStop pre-order bonus for the standalone game is an export voucher (for Xbox 360 or PS3). Essentially, pre-order GD:RB from GameStop, and you can export all 47 tracks to your console hard drive for free.
Green Day: Rock Band releases June 8 worldwide originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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These Ads For MSN and MTV Should Be Expanded Into Full-Blown Movies [Commercials]
Mar/100
This Australian production/advertising agency, Umeric, has created two of the best commercials I've seen. The first, for MTVNHD (MTV Nickelodeon High Definition) is my favorite—anyone else reminded of War of the Worlds when watching it? More »
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These Ads For MSN and MTV Should Be Expanded Into Full-Blown Movies [Commercials]
Darksiders dev David Adams gushes about THQ
Mar/100
Unlike the less than wonderful relations some developers are currently having with their publishing partners, Vigil Games‘ general manager David Adams says things between his studio and THQ couldn’t have been better during the development of Darksiders. “We were pretty lucky, just because our publisher had this weird, insane faith in us that I don’t necessarily think any other publisher would have had … our take was that if we just did really cool stuff, people would see that — they’d want to jump on the bandwagon and support us, and THQ did,” Adams tells GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview.
Adams adds that his studio is constantly “trying to be more efficient, do stuff quicker, using less money,” so that certainly can’t hurt how THQ feels about Vigil, especially given the last year of “restructuring” the publisher underwent to become financially solvent once again. “THQ went through a lot of pain and restructuring — they took a lot of bullets so we could continue to make our game, and that’s a good indication of their faith in us, and their drive to make great-quality products.” We’d like to point out that, in this situation, we’re all winners because THQ has seemingly become a competitive publisher again, due to producing quality products that we get to play — and hey, tons of people don’t lose their jobs.
Darksiders dev David Adams gushes about THQ originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Interview: Mafia II producer Denby Grace
Mar/100
Three delays later, Mafia II looks like it’s finally (finally!) getting ready to launch. It’s been a long journey, and we spoke with 2K senior producer Denby Grace during GDC about the development time and what we can expect from the ambitious crime saga:
We’ve been waiting a very long time for this game haven’t we?
Denby Grace, senior producer: The reason for the delay is polish. You’ll see the game looks great as you play today. It’s just not quite perfect, which is what we at 2K generally strive for. It’s what we want to be known for, the quality of our games. Just having come so long, it would be foolish to release it too early.
Are there any specific reasons for the delay? What needed to be polished?
Technically there are a few things: the framerate isn’t quite on the money yet. It’s just the whole experience. One of the things we’re spending a lot of time doing is focus testing. We’re testing about twenty people a week. And it’s getting that difficulty curve right. We want it to be hard, but we don’t want it to be impossible like Mafia I. I don’t know if you played the first game, but there was one mission when we shipped the game. Literally everyone failed until we released a patch. So we’re really, really conscious about delivering a really balanced, proper difficulty curve. And then it’s just bugs. It’s an open world: ten square miles, fifty vehicles, a hundred environments. There were quite a lot of bugs in it!
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Interview: Mafia II producer Denby Grace originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GDC 2010: Dante’s Inferno art show at San Francisco’s Hotel des Arts
Mar/100
Wayne Barlow’s ‘Cerberus’ … gross
Held in conjunction with the Into the Pixel and Video Game Art Show exhibitions, San Francisco’s Hotel des Arts is dedicating its entire fourth floor to “The Making of Dante’s Inferno” through April 2010. We’ve got a sneak peek at the art on display in the gallery below, but if you want to see the real deal we’d suggest you make your way to the opening night reception being held at the Hotel des Arts on Thursday night, from 6pm to 10pm, smack dab in the middle of GDC week.
GDC 2010: Dante’s Inferno art show at San Francisco’s Hotel des Arts originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GDC 2010: Dante’s Inferno art show at San Francisco’s Hotel des Arts
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Q4 release for Mafia 2 (re)confirmed; Payne, Noire, Civ V still on hit list
Mar/100
Earlier this month, Take-Two announced the potential movement of one of the titles planned for release in its fiscal fourth quarter, extending from August to October. The choices were: LA Noire, Mafia 2, Max Payne 3, or Civilization V. During our demo of Mafia 2 on Wednesday, we were told the game would make its Q4 release, removing it from the list of potentially delayed titles. If we were the betting type, we’d be looking at one of those two Rockstar titles; after all, we’ve seen Civilization V at this point while LA Noire and Max Payne 3 remain shrouded in mystery.
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