XboxSold.com BLOG

As of right now I can play my Netflix on my computer, on my 360, through that Netflix box thing and through my PS3. Down the road the streaming video part of the service has already been confirmed for the Wii, though thanks to the many hi-def options most gamers already have that won’t be so useful to a lot of us. The main problem with all of these things is that they can’t fit in your pocket. Netflix just isn’t portable enough — yet.

The company seems to be doing some research into getting their streaming videos onto portable devices. Last week a survey was discovered asking about Netflix on the iPhone and this week it’s the DSs turn. Kotaku found a survey conducted by Netflix that stated, “Imagine that Netflix offers its subscribers the ability to instantly watch movies and & TV episodes on their Nintendo DS. The selection available to instantly watch includes some new releases, lots of classics and TV episodes. There are no advertisements or trailers, and movies start in as little as 30 seconds. You can fast-forward, rewind, and pause or watch again. The movies & TV episodes you instantly watch are included in your Netflix membership at no additional fee.”

The survey then went on to explain that you would be able to control the videos you were watching (fast forward/rewind) and asked the survey taker how interested they would be in the product/service. My response to that at the moment would be “not very,” but with the DSi XL landing, and those big, sexy screens rolling in with it, that response would change pretty quickly.

New survey hints at Netflix streaming for DS [Yahoo! Tech, via Kotaku]

While Black might not have blown people away as much as the hype leading up to might have made us believe it would, it was still a technically impressive FPS and those behind it showed true potential. So it shouldn’t be that surprising that people are looking forward to the devs behind it next game, which OXM seems to have accidentally outed.

In a post that has since been taken down (here is the Google cache) the magazine’s online component announced that the next issue would be revealing all about the game. The game is being developed by Codemasters Guilford, which has brought in several of the team members from Black including Stuart Black. There is no other information shared in the post, but they do say that if you like shooting guns and destroying things you’re probably going to like Bodycount. 

Does anyone know a gamer who doesn’t like shooting and destroying things?

If you own a DS and you like adventure games then you’ve played Hotel Dusk and you know what a fantastic game it is all around. If you own a DS and you don’t play adventure games then you should go buy Hotel Dusk and find out what a fantastic game it is all around. Picking up Trace Memory might also be a good idea while you’re at it. Maybe you could even turn your Wii on and play the epically good Little King’s Story.

I suggest doing these things so fervently because we might not be getting anymore games like these any time soon. CING, the developer behind all these games, has filed for bankruptcy. The company is reportedly suffering from liabilities totaling 256 million yen (about 2.5 million USD). Evidently critical adoration and a cult following don’t translate into enough money to run a game development company.

Now, bankruptcy doesn’t mean they will be disappearing forever yet, but it could spell problems for the localization of the Hotel Dusk sequel, The Last Window. As one of the most unique and creative developers out there, especially on the Wii, this is really sad news. Hopefully they’ll come out of this stronger and with even better games for us all to play.

ゲームソフト開発ほか（福岡）／(株)シング [Data-Max, via NeoGAF, via GoNintendo]

We don’t report to much on Mac gaming here, but I’d like to rectify that a bit if I can by pointing you towards MacHeist and their crazy good deal going on right now. They’ve got all the chapters of Tales of Monkey Island available for $19.99. That is a saving of $15, and PC users can play the games too.

Crap, I just made it about PCs again. Well, how about this: along with your discounted games you get MacJournal, RipIt, Clips, CoverScout and Flow for free. These are all incredibly useful Mac Apps I am told, and would usually cost you a whole lot more to purchase separately. Sure they don’t have anything to do with gaming, but you’re already buying Monkey Island at a discounted price.

As if getting free stuff wasn’t enough you get to be a good person too. 25 percent of the purchase price is going to go to a charity of your choosing. Now you can tell all your friends that you’re cool enough to use a Mac and you’re a good person. Be quick, the deal ends on Tuesday.

“As a bonus we’ve included an AmmoMule wallpaper that depicts ammo high-fiving a slice of bacon.”

Sold.

Whatever it is I’m buying, and what it is is Monday Night Combat for XBLA. In case you missed the release trailer for the upcoming game, it’s a class-based, third person shooter that revolves around a sort of Running Man style game show where players kill each other for cash. Its style is also pretty blatantly influenced by Team Fortress 2 and the new mock ad for it above, which was all rendered in real time using the game’s engine, only reaffirms that fact.

See, everything in the world of Monday Night Combat is sponsored. As you play the game you earn cash and cash can buy you sponsored upgrades like the AmmoMule ammo upgrade, which increases clip size for any class in the game. These upgrades are all part of the extensive career mode the game is going to feature that will let you become one of the top stars of Monday Night Combat if you’re any good at it.

In case you also needed a few more things that don’t actually affect the game, but show that their marketing team knows what is awesome in life, then you might want to know that the music for the ad was produced by the guys who composed music for God of War 1, 2, 3, Darksiders and Borderlands. That banjo you hear in the ad was played by Bill Knopf, a former banjo player for the original Dukes of Hazzard TV show. Random, but awesome none the less.

In the past few days Hideo Kojima has been tweeting about a 10 part series of commercials he will be releasing for Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker. He was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to show off the game correctly and that the PSP’s limited graphical powers (compared to a console) would turn people away. On Friday the first ad popped up on Kojima Production’s blog. If you check it out above I would say they did a pretty good job. Who knows what it says, but it sure looks good.

That’s not the end of the story, however. It turns out that this ad was not supposed to go up yet, and Kojima is none to happy at his PR team that it did. He went back to tweet that he was plenty angry about the video getting out, saying, “Jiro (Kojipro PR) did it again. PW’s ‘teaser commercial’ was getting around the net and I was in dismay. I looked for the origin and it ended up originating from our Kojipro blog. Jiro, are you out of your mind! I never gave you permission to upload this!”

Damn you, Jiro! Damn you to hell!

Hideo Kojima is pissed [Broke My Controller]

With the PSP Slim on the store shelves looking all small and sex with its entirely downloadable library slide screen action the older PSP models must feel a bit dodgy at the moment. While the PSP Slim might not be selling that  much better then the PSP the bulkier of the two must be having some body issues here and there. Enter modder foo foo, who has brought the PSP’s sexy back like some sort of modding Justin Timberlake.

He some how squeezed a VU Meter into the back of the PSP. While almost completely useless as a functional item, it sure as hell looks bad ass. Check out the video above where foo foo chooses the perfect song to demonstrate how awesome flashing lights can actually be when shoved into a PSP and choreographed to music.

VU meters and PSP’s [Tailor Made Toys, via Engadget]

With the launch of God of War III the story of Kratos is coming to an end, and while Sony has already stated that it isn’t the end of the franchise it is the end of this particular tale. One would conclude that Sony already has the crack team of game developers that brought us the trilogy hard at work on their next game — whatever that is. One would conclude incorrectly. The team has no idea what they’re doing next.

In an interview God of War III Senior Producer Steve Caterson said, “I have no idea (what is next)! I just finished three years of my life on God of War III and seven years on the God of War series — I have kids younger than that! We’re excited to work on large projects but it’s not a decision that’s made flippantly and we’re going to take our time with it. The only game I had the chance to play through the past few years was Dead Space; there are other games that have released that I want to have a chance to sit down and have those experiences! Actually playing some of those great games out there and seeing what other developers are doing… I’m looking forward to it – that’s the best part of finishing a game!”

Fair enough. I suppose it’s a good idea for game developers to actually play videogames. But seriously, what about the next God of War game, Steve? “Well, God of War III is the end of the trilogy,” he said. We didn’t leave you on a cliffhanger but I think it’s not the end of the franchise. I’m looking forward to doing something different if we can. It also might be nice to return to the franchise if we can and bring all that knowledge back from wherever we go. Anything’s possible. It’s premature to say what it might be, since I don’t even know what I’ll be doing next week!”

Rocking out to 80s music is awesome. In fact it might be one of the greatest musical experiences one can ever have. Proclaiming that you are once again going on your own, down the only road you’ve ever known is right below hearing Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma play together live. Sadly, the 80s are over and the music long gone, but happily there are plenty of opportunities (80s nights, karaoke, Rock Band, etc.) to relive them one song at a time. Now, according to the ESRB, there is going to be one more way.

They’ve outed Lips: I (Heart) the 80’s and pretty much confirmed that the game is coming. Discovered by IGN, the listing confirms two songs via lyrics in the form of The Police’s Roxanne and the ever classy Rick James’ Super Freak. The listing also warns of music video depicting “men and women in revealing outfits performing provocative choreography; for example, women in negligees, black bras, panties dancing inside a classroom; large amounts of exposed cleavage, some grinding dance moves; and background images of storefronts/signs reading ‘25 cent Peepshows,’ ‘Live Sex Theatre,’ and ‘Topless Girls Dancing.’”

Videos of half naked women in a classroom, eh? Could we be seeing some Van Halen action up in Lips?

New Lips Installment Loves the 80s [IGN, via Joystiq]