Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
GameTrailer's Final Fantasy retrospective finished looking at the Roman numeral games in the franchise weeks ago, but there are still many titles to cover that have the Final Fantasy name attached to them one way or another. This week they move into the Final Fantasy Legend, The Crystal Chronicles, and the Kingdom Hearts saga.
Let's just skip past the Final Fantasy Legend games because those aren't really Final Fantasy games (although what really is?), they were just given the name to capitalize on the Final Fantasy brand in the west and are actually the Saga series. Next on the list is the endearing Crystal Chronicles. If the GameBoy Advance required multiplayer were done today using the Nintendo DS, it really wouldn't be such a big deal considering everyone and their mother has a DS that could link up wirelessly with the Wii. The smart man's modern Gauntlet, Crystal Chronicles really is a great multiplayer experience if you have the GBAs. Finally, the retrospective covers Kingdom Hearts, where the peanut butter of Final Fantasy meets the chocolate of Disney. Kingdom Hearts now stands alone with its own separate world and rules to continue down its own path as more additions to the series are guaranteed to come along.
Next week the Final Fantasy retrospective will cover all the remakes of the Roman numeral series we've seen over the years.
Yahoo! Games has posted a video preview of this holiday's multi-instrument music extravaganza, Rock Band, paying special attention to the venues you and your faux band will be tearing up, bringing down and figuratively destroying. Spread across the cities of Boston, Los Angeles and New York, the initially revealed venues (out of the final 41) are divided into three size groups, with your band's surging popularity pushing you out of small clubs and into large arenas.
In an accompanying interview, Rock Band's senior artist Peter McDonald explains that the fancy venues provide not only bigger crowds, but also more spectacular stage effects and sophisticated camera work (read: "crazy crane shots"). Have a look for yourself at places like "Heebie Jeebie's," "Empire Square Garden" and "The Snake Pit" by clicking that Read link.
PopCap Games, who you may know from a multitude of casual titles, will soon release two "greatest hits" compilations at retail for PS2 and Xbox 360. PopCap Arcade Volume 1 will be for Xbox 360 and feature Bejeweled 2, AstroPop, Feeding Frenzy and Zuma at a retail price of $30. The PS2 version, PopCap Hits Volume 1, has Bejeweled 2 and AstroPop for $20.
The Xbox bundle will save you $10 off of buying those four games from Xbox Live Arcade. For PS2 owners retail is the only way to purchase those titles and $10 is the normal cost for each on XBLA. And before any wise guys get smart, the answer is: No, there was absolutely nothing in the press release about Wii compilations.
MTV's Multiplayer blog has posted answers to frequently asked questions regarding the corporate fustercluck (MTV/EA/Harmonix) published rhythm game Rock Band. We could bother to put the question and the answer, but if y'all can't figure out what the original question was you can hit up Multiplayer:
No other hardware combinations have been announced yet beyond the standard (guitar, drum, mic) bundle. And yes, the bass guitar is just a second guitar controller which you probably have lying around ...
... because Harmonix will keep an "open platform philosophy" and games will be compatible with third-party controllers "that conform to the various platform controller standards."
If you're short on guitars but want to play head to head, the online play will be both cooperative and competitive.
Now, we don't have insta-access to Rock Band like MTV's Multiplayer blog, but we can try to get some questions answered too -- we're scrappy like that. So if you have some lingering Rock Band questions (and there are plenty good ones still left), leave 'em in the comments and we'll try to get some answers. And automatic name calling to the people who ask questions already answered by bullet points above.
Curious about the new guitar peripherals for Guitar Hero III? After discovering that the PS3 guitar used a rather unsightly USB dongle (uh, what about Bluetooth?), we realized there were so many questions we still had and, lucky for us, Multiplayer slapped together a video answering many of them. Questions like, how are they going to ship these new, much larger guitar controllers? (Really, that's how? Clever ...). Other questions like, How precisely does the Wiimote get entombed in the guitar like that? Black magic? (Oh, is that all? Just like that ...). Hit up the video after the break or by clicking on that 'Read' link to answer all of these mysteries.
This isn't a story we get to tell very often, but it's certainly an interesting one for gamers to keep in mind when shopping at online retailer Amazon.com. Last night we were tipped that Amazon.com's prices on Guitar Hero III inflated significantly from the $99 we had adjusted to over the last couple months. We checked with GH IIIpublisher Red Octane, who told us that the prices hadn't changed. In truth, Amazon was no longer offering GH III directly from "Amazon actual" and their system defaulted to a third-party retailer who had included shipping into their price -- that explained the new, higher price. So, why did Amazon decide to stop offering GH III directly? They weren't sure anymore that they could guarantee supply on future pre-orders (because that's technically all you can do at this point), so rather than disappoint customers with possible delays they pulled the pre-order offer.
A representative for Amazon tells Joystiq, "Our third party vendors control their own list prices, which can factor in shipping and sales tax costs. Ultimately, the choice lies with the customer to decide who they want to purchase from so that they get the best shopping experience on Amazon.com." For the best example of how things can go when Amazon isn't the direct seller, a "new" Wii is currently on Amazon for $370. That is currently the cheapest you can get it from an authorized third-party retailer. When it becomes "in stock" again for "Amazon actual" it'll be the normal $250. Just a little something to be aware of when shopping from one of the top retailers on these intertubes.
From from the beginning, we haven't quite understoodSpider-Man: Friend or Foe. Is it a movie game? Is it standalone? Is it for kids, or can adults play too? We got in contact with producer Jamie Bafus to help us understand the rationale behind the new series.
A lot of people were confused when they saw Spider-Man: Friend or Foe announced so soon after Spider-Man 3. Can you tell us a little bit about the inception of the game, the vision for setting it apart from the movie games?
The previous movie-based Spider-Man games were rated "T" which left out the huge base of younger Spider-Man fans. With Spider-Man: Friend or Foe we set out to make a Spider-Man game that was not only suitable for kids but also fun for gamers of all ages.
When we were thinking of how to best create a family-friendly Spider-Man game, we liked the idea of combining all three movies together in one game, but we also had a concept for a team-up game which would have made it really difficult to follow the Spider-Man movie plots. So, we decided to pay homage to the movies in, what we think, are really fun ways and create something unique with the team-up aspect that we feel fans of all ages will want to play.
Rockstar Games, whose Manhunt 2 has effectively been bannedtwice in Britain (though finally OK'd in the United States), have announced that they are appealing the most recent rejection.
The British Board of Film Classification has made further suggestions to the game's content that the developer has deemed "unacceptable." In a statement released this morning (via Gamespot), Rockstar said, "The BBFC allows adults the freedom to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in movies and we think adults should be similarly allowed to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in video games, such as Manhunt 2."
Is there a double standard when it comes to video games and movie censorship? Is it warranted? The purported psychological effects on interactive entertainment have been the subject of debate for much time now. Unfortunately, the BBFC's suggestions are not public record so we cannot debate the merits of their revisions. Will British gamers ever get to play this game?
The 40GB PlayStation 3 models, devoid of any PS2-related semiconductors, will likely not have any options for backwards compatibility in the future. Speaking to Joystiq, SCEE Director of Corporate Communications Nick Sharples said that there are no plans to offer emulation software as downloadable content at a later date.
"We have no plans to do so at the moment. The sheer numbers of PS2 titles available, together with the increased complexity of using a software only solution for each and every title means that to ensure accurate software emulation for the majority would be technically challenging, time consuming and costly," he said.
"As we have mentioned on several occasions, our engineering resources are now focused on developing new and innovative features and services for the PS3 and, as a result the 40GB model does not have backwards compatibility with PS2 titles," he said.
When asked about the fate of future emulation updates for 80GB and PAL-territory 60GB models that are running software-supported backwards compatibility, Sharples told us, "the current PS3 system software and future updates will continue to support backwards compatibility for the current 60GB and 80GB models." He later added, "The current solution offers around 90% backwards compatibility with PS2 titles and we are able to help publishers to make sure any new PS2 titles are backwards compatible with the 60GB and 80GB models."
Sharples had no information on today's rumor concerning the 40GB model coming to North America. Included after the break is Sony's statement confirming the loss of PS2 semiconductors in the latest model.
See, these are the weeks that picking the top release is easy. The Orange Box looks to be one of the best games of the year, but, more importantly, it looks to be one of the best gaming values. And we're all about the value here on Joystiq. We'd clip coupons, if our hands weren't already horribly misshapen and arthritis-ridden from decades of clipping coupons. Yeah ... we're pretty hardcore. PS3 is getting an interesting release too, with Folklore. Check out all the releases after the break.
Due to popular demand from a previous editorial (this is a blog, after all, and editorializing does happen from time to time), we thought it best to clarify further why, exactly, we feel Sony's move to drop backwards compatibility from the 40GB PAL model was at best misguided and at worst cruel to its consumer base.
First off, the cost to Sony for including the software emulation is very minimal. Though some people have cited the Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer, the combo chip was removed from the PAL design in late February 2007 and cost an estimated $27. Essentially, the software emulation has been running entirely on PS3 hardware for the full extent of its tenure in the PAL region. So that $27 that Sony is presumably saving by not using software backwards compatibility is misinformed.
Regarding PS One titles, Sony has told GameSpot that they will be compatible, which is a good sign. But why not extend those compatibility options to the PS2 library? As previously denoted, that software in its present form runs fine on PS3 hardware.
Game Revolution's Nick Tan recently played Guitar Hero III song, Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce, on expert. That website describes it as the hardest in the game, designed to be "unbeatable." And Nick conquered it.
Yes, weeks before you adoring, fake guitar fans get a chance to play, the hardest song has been bested by a player on his fourth attempt. The video of the event is mediocre, and the moment of triumph is anticlimactic. ("Go balloons, go balloons, we need more balloons. ...") But we were still floored watching this face-melting song --and player -- in action.
What a terrible thing it is to hold sin in your hands, gently pressing its buttons and marveling at the pleasing electronic beeps and boops it emits. Its digital delights entertain for hours on end, but they merely distract from the gnawing guilt and anguish inside. Only when it is turned off is the perpetrator revealed, reflected in a glossy LCD screen.
You've come to depend on us for providing you with the Japanese hardware sales chart -- the objective and unaltered numerical truth of all consoles and handhelds. Full disclosure must triumph! Towards the end of our trip to Tokyo, on September 24th, we altered the course of sales events. We passed our greedy hands over the chart's fate and altered it ourselves, adding one Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII edition PSP to the outcome. The price was heavy, but the price of our meddling was far heavier.
Also, we just had to buy 3,528 Xbox 360s in anticipation of Halo 3.
The rabid fanbase of Team ICO (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus) reportedly sent in "a couple hundreds of e-mails" to Official PlayStation Magazine last month, hoping the outlet could glean some new information on their current project. This month, OPM published one of those letters and provided some promising statements.
When asking Kaz Hirai about Team ICO's current happenings, another executive in the room reportedly blurted out "I'm pretty sure they're doing the sequel." No other information was discerned, given that Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are based on, erm, "similar" worlds and art styles, we're interested in what direction Fumitu Ueda and company will take in terms of game play.
It's rare that a good video game parody comes along that isn't featured on YouTube, so you'd think that developers would relish the chance to get mocked by some of the minds behind The Simpsons Game, which includes goofs on popular games like Neverquest and Medal of Homer. Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone is in on the joke.
CVG reports that some of the game's content had to be pulled because the companies were unhappy with the way their licenses were being tweaked. The only company called out by name is Rockstar, which reportedly asked during Leipzig that a poster featuring Grand Theft Scratchy be removed. The article does mention that the Harmonix staff got a kick out of posters for Sitar Hero, though why they'd be OK with others making fun of Guitar Hero at this point in their careers is beyond us.
174,985 (62.99%)
2,372 (3.36%)
