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Unwilling to let the PSP reign supreme a fourth week, the DS Lite just barely clambers its way back onto the Japanese sales chart throne, still warm from the months of prior supremacy. If role-playing games have taught us anything, defeating the final boss is but a prelude to his second and much more powerful form. And if there's any knowledge to be gained from movies, it's that a foiled villain is rarely foiled so much as he is inconvenienced.
Chris Grant, playing the Danny Trip to my Matthew Albie, and I concocted a rather novel concept for Joystiq's Yarisreview on Tuesday, wherein Toyota's old marketing slogans would be littered throughout the text. Phrases such as "Moving forward advert gaming" or "Oh what a feeling we get when playing Yaris" would have been the inopportune solid object collision with your funny bone. Unfortunately, to chase the laughs and satirize the release of the Xbox Live Arcade game would be doing a disservice.
Crafted in a circle of Hell even Dante didn't believe existed, the developers of Castaway Entertainment created Yaris with an objective I can only believe is to cultivate anger in those who play it. I know an allusion to Dante's Inferno seems passé, the standard go-to reference for the sophomore year English Lit major, but forgive me because I feel that this accurately conveys what a truly diabolical creation this game is. Rosemary's baby's got jack on Yaris.
If you're anxiously expecting Altair to jump out of the shadows this holiday in Assassin's Creed, here's a little something to hold you over -- or make you foam at the mouth like you've been chewin' cyanide. The three-part gameplay video chronicles an assassination mission in Montferrat: the first video is the intro; the second part is filler; and the third part is the kill and attempted escape (parts two and three after the break).
Everything looks good until the third part when you see the combat. Sure, the cutscene killings look cool (a la Heavenly Sword), but the combat appears a bit slow and awkward (one guy fighting when there are ten other people standing around). As we learned during our hands-on time with the game, there won't be a demo for gamers to experience the "different" style of Assassin's Creed before its release. Eh, they've got a couple months to work out the combat kinks ... or longer.
Vivendi Games' Sierra Online division has revealed a number of details concerning its lineup of XBLA and PC releases throughout the remainder of the year, including a number of previously announced titles as well as two new games, one where you get to shoot aliens (pictured) and another where you..well...play with bunnies. Earlier this year following the appointment of XBLA's former portfolio lead Ross Erickson to Sierra Online we predicted that the company had big plans for the downloadable space, and given the breadth of today's announcements that assumption looks more correct than ever.
The two new titles announced today include a particularly interesting sounding "third person retro-arcade shooter" called Aces of the Galaxy, where players man the turret of an AI-driven spaceship to shoot down waves of bad guys, and the strangely titled Boogie Bunnies, where players will match up colorful rabbits in a "match-three puzzle game." Both of these will arrive for both the PC and XBLA this winter.
In addition, Sierra confirmed that Wanako Studios' top-down XBLA shooter Assault Heroes will make the move to retail shelves and unspecified digital download services for the PC for $19.99 on October 23. The earlier acquired Latin American studio is also developing the hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Arkadian Warriors (formerly called Artemis Warriors), which will launch this fall from Sierra for the PC and over XBLA, though we hope that this time they'll manage to get multiplayer working from day one.
Even though your "Bros b4 hos" Gamer Motto may be both poignant and accurate, you may want to rethink it if you plan on playing on Xbox Live this weekend. Savings sultan CheapyD warns that his account was suspended for around 24 hours for his seemingly innocuous motto of "Konichiwa, bitches!" Another user on the site got a similar punishment for "called the šhit þoop," which is probably a bit more fair.
As Cheapy points out, a warning probably would have been sufficient, instead of automatically suspending a paying customer's account. There's still no word on whether or not Van Halen fans will get similar punishment for using their mottos to celebrate For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.
Viva Piñatahas found moderate success since its release late last year, with about 500,000 units sold, but it's far from the "next great family franchise" it was positioned as. Over at Gamasutra, James Thomas and Justin Cook of Rare discuss why they thought that Viva made less of a splash than many hoped.
Interestingly, the two say that the game was supposed to be more of a symbol for third parties, showing that Microsoft was serious about games for kids. The sales were still low though, something that, in part, they chalk up to the marketing force put behind Gears of War, which shared Viva's launch window. "So much of the money went towards Gears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway," Thomas said. "It was a bit of like, 'What about the other franchise?' I think we got left in the wake somewhat. Hopefully with the PC version this Christmas, it might get something of a second wind."
We'd be more likely to attribute Viva's sales to the fact that the game is too complicated for most kids, but sports cartoon graphics that turn many adult players off. That said, we're sure that Gary Jules on TV every 30 seconds didn't help matters.
Still can't get the background tunes form BioShock out of your head? Well Major Nelson, courtesy of BioShock's Ken Levine, has posted the track list for the game (found after the break). As those who have played BioShock know, the music is as much a part of the game as anything else. And considering we'll never be able to listen to The Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker again without imagining the Sander Cohen masterpiece fight, the team at 2K Boston obviously did a great job in their musical selection for scenes within the game. Not since the use of Bach in Gyruss can we distinctly recall a classical piece being so memorably tied with a video game.
We're curious to see what musical selections 2K Boston will make for our return to Rapture. All we really want is some scene in BioShock 2 of Big Daddies dancing to David Bowie's Magic Dance from Labyrinth. Can't remember it? You'll find that after the break too.
Congratulations, voters -- you've elected San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne "They weren't steroids, it was tainted supplement I won't identify" Merriman to the cover of EA's NFL Tour, a relaunch of the NFL Street series. The contest, launched at the official website in September, pitted Merriman against Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor and Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeny.
It's almost unfortunate to think that a cheater, suspended for four games last season for violating the National Football League's substance abuse policy, gets to be on the cover of a video game. What a wonderful lesson for kids: "It's okay if you juice, Timmy, you just might go to the Pro Bowl after you serve your suspension. If you're lucky, you might end up on the cover of a video game!"
Xbox Live has been rich with delicious demos lately, and this continues the trend, providing yet another game sample you'll actually want to try: Virtua Fighter 5. We were really excited to give this a spin until we learned the horrifying truth about VF 5: The speed of throws has been reduced from 8 frames to 12 frames! What's the point of even playing? ... No, just kidding. We don't care about that. But we thought some of you might care, and let it never be said we're not looking out for you.
The truth is, we were excited to try the demo but then were even more excited when we saw some of the character names. Sure, you have perennial classics like Wolf Hawkfield and Jeffry McWild. But now you have lucha libre wrestler "El Blaze" which, roughly translated, means "The Blaze." Who says games don't teach you anything?
"A Rock 'n Roll roadshow through the twisted mind of Tim Schafer?" That sounds fantastic, though we imagine it comes across like nails on a chalkboard to the publisher hoping to hear terms like "shooter," "sequel," "football," and "based on the hit movie" in the game pitch. Preferably, it'll be all of those.
And for all we know, Double Fine's Brütal Legend could contain any of the above. For now, the only information we have is that obtained from the cover of the latest Game Informer magazine (we've confirmed the image is real), graciously snapped and posted by "Iksenpets" on the official Double Fine forums. The image reveals who we assume to be Jack Black's character -- an axe-wielding, axe-wielding roadie named Eddie Riggs. Oh, and when you check between the pages to find out more about Mr. Schafer's latest road trip, be sure to find out how NF HELL 4K2: The Movie: The Game is coming along.
It's time for the first ever Xbox 360 Fanboy Week in Review, kiddies. If you haven't quite ascertained the portents of the headline above, it means we're breaking down all the best stories from the previous week and sticking them right here in an easily digestible list format. For the Joystiqers out there unfamiliar with our little establishment, Xbox 360 Fanboy is your one stop repository for all things Xbox 360. Please peruse, click, and enjoy.
Fanswag Weekly:
Win Project Gotham Racing 4 Quick! Enter to win PGR4. We give something away every Wednesday, just so you know.
Xbox 360 Fancast (you do listen to our podcast, right?):
Also discussed during EA's BioWare/Pandemic conference call was the fate of the (thus far) Xbox 360-exclusive Mass Effect. While Microsoft is still publishing the first installment of the game (which is due November 20) – now that the previously BioWare-owned IP belongs to EA – Gamasutra notes that it "would conceivably from here out be EA published."
If one examines EA's publishing practices, it isn't difficult to assume that this would also conceivably be a multi-platform title, meaning Microsoft may have just lost one of their biggest exclusives. Will we see a PS3 sequel at parity with the 360? Or perhaps a Wii version: Mass Wiifect ... over a dozen minigames ... in space!
Update: A Microsoft spokesperson tells Joystiq that while the publisher has not "announced specifics regarding sequels" to Mass Effect, it will be "talking to EA and BioWare in the weeks to come." In addition, Microsoft remains "committed to the franchise's long term success."
Update 2: BioWare tells GameDaily that the developer's "focus is pure and simple; it's to deliver the best game possible for our fans with Mass Effect, and that's an Xbox 360 exclusive." Currently, there are no plans to extend the franchise to PS3.
Monolithic publisher EA has today announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to purchase VG Holding Corp. -- a move which sees EA becoming the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. A shocking move to be certain, but one that should make complete sense to a publisher looking to strengthen its lineup of role-playing games and action titles. BioWare, currently finishing development on November's Microsoft-published Mass Effect, has proven itself to be one of the leading developers in the genre, and Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries franchise has shown an alarming propensity for blowing things up.
Closing January 2008, the purchase will cost EA up to $620 million in cash payment to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp., with another $155 million in equity going to "certain employees" of VG Holding Corp., "subject to time-based or performance-based vesting criteria." EA has also agreed to lend VG Holding Corp $35 million through the closing of the purchase. Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp, thinks it's all money well spent. "This vision is consistent with BioWare's focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world," he says. "It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin."
EA will hold a conference call later today to discuss the acquisition. Oh, and here are all the exclamation marks we wanted to put in the headline: !!!!!!!!!!
Washington Wizards basketball star Gilbert Arenas has admitted to boosting ... his Halo score. Arenas confessed to The Washington Post that he has been boosting his Halo rank through fake social matches where he'll end up number one. Arenas says, "It's a glitch in the game. I seen some kids that were like 600s, they won 600 Halo games and we only had that game for two weeks. And all the kids go to school. So I'm like, 'What the hell you all doing?' And they said that's what they doing, two-on-two."
Arenas' gamertag profile on Bungie.net tells the boosting tale in great detail. Just to be clear, this is only an artificial boost, since he was manipulating "social" rather than "ranked" matches. His skill rating hasn't improved. Sure, it's silly -- and damn funny -- that the NBA 2K lovin' Arenas (even though he's the NBA Live cover athlete) boosted his Halo score, but at least it shows he cares and worked for his "fake" rank.
After the Bungie/Microsoft split debacle, we're not going to discount anything out of hand, which is why we're bringing you this news of a rumored Prince of Persia prequel trilogy first reported by a blog called, and we're not making this up, "Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars."
According to the site, which has displayed a couple of early images from the alleged game, Prince of Persia 4/0/Ghosts of the Past is supposed to be released in the latter half of next year. According to the author, "stylistically and gameplay-wise, the game has abandoned the dark edginess of the last two titles in favor a fantastical cross between The Sands of Time, Ico and Zelda." ... Wow. Now we really hope it's true.
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