Well, it may not be the first Kinect headshot, but it’s definitely the first one that I’ve seen.
JOURNALISM.
Anyway, I hope everyone involved is OK, and that nobody gets their asses sued for this. You see kids getting hurt playing sports all the time, and there are no lawsuits against the makers of hockey stick and footballs. With videogames, it tends to be a different story.
Or am I just being paranoid?
“If you thought that the Xbox LIVE Indie Games service was just filled with massage apps, clones, and garbage, think again! We are fighting back against mediocrity and lameness in the best way we know how — by releasing amazing games!”
That’s the declaration of the developers behind the Indie Games Winter Uprising, and they absolutely nailed it with their description of the Indie Games channel. It’s unbearably hard to find quality content, and everyone knows it. That said, there are gems to be found — and this group is trying to raise awareness.
The so-called uprising consists of 14 separate games, all of which are releasing on the service during the first week of December. It’s quite cool to see these indies come together; that’s definitely become the big trend amongst other designers and the independent scene in general.
Why can’t we be friends?
So, we’ve been doing this show for a month now, over a month if you count the pilot episode that we shot in late September. I wonder if we’ve gotten any better? I hope so. We sure are trying hard. But not too hard! That would we bad. One thing I’ve learned from doing this show; you are never supposed to try too hard, or too little. You must always try the exact right amount, or else you suck and should die in a fire.
As for this episode, it’s pretty amazing. Chad Concelmo and Jim Sterling both make an appearance, we talk about that Mario 3 remake, Rockstar upcoming blockbuster L.A. Noire, Adam Sandler’s PIXELS movie, the creator of Tetris, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We also recap the whopping seven reviews, including Call of Duty: Black Ops, Kinectimals, and Goldeneye Wii. If you’re not into reading reviews, but still want to know what other people think about videogames, than this video recap will totally be your thing.
Also, we’re still giving away that platformer prize pack to anyone who subscribes to us on Youtube or iTunes (in HD or large sizes). It’s pretty awesome.
Angry Birds, that game everyone won’t shut up about and I only just saw in motion for the first time five minutes ago, is coming to new gaming systems. We knew that already — kind of. It was previously made clear that the game will release on PlayStation 3, PSP, and DS.
The new word on the street is that Angry Birds will also get Wii and Xbox 360 versions (presumably via download), as revealed by Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka at London’s Social Gaming Summit. Purportedly, multiplayer will be a major emphasis and feel like classic Worms.
I’m super interested to see how well Angry Birds does on non-mobile platforms. You can’t really compare any of those marketplaces to what’s happening on the AppStore, which continues to blow my mind on a daily basis and makes me long for programming skills. It’ll be neat to see how that success translates.
Angry Birds coming to Wii, Xbox, PSN. Multiplayer to resemble ‘old school Worms’ [Pocket Gamer via MTV Multiplayer]
At the EA San Francisco Showcase last night, I got to play around with The Sims Medieval. Now, because I don’t pay attention to things, I was unaware that a Sims game set in the middle ages was in the works. However, upon hearing about said game, I forgot that my mouth was full and immediately shouted “I WAMMA FEE,” and blasted Ben PerLee with taco particles.
Initially, I assumed the game was going to be The Sims, but you know. With knights and thatched roofs and leprosy and stuff. This isn’t entirely the case. While it does feature a number of familiar (read: girly and dollhousey) features from regular, modern-day Sims – like picking out charming furniture and dressing up your Sims in the majestic petticoats — The Sims Medieval introduces some fantasy RPG elements.
You start out by designing a monarch (and picking out his/her majestic petticoats) living in a meager throne room and monarch’s quarters (which you can then decorate with charming furniture.) From there, the traditional Sims gameplay stops. In order to expand your kingdom and unlock new Sims, you have to complete quests. For instance, if you go out and fight goblins, you’ll earn enough kingdom points to build a wizard’s tower, and then you’ve got a sorcerer who can learn spells and shoot lightning bolts at people, etc.
There are ten different playable classes, like blacksmith, knight, bard, or morbidly obese albino drunkard priest. (Actually, that last one was just a character I created. I made him look like he was about to barf, and gave him a genuinely ridiculous-looking hat.) In the past, the audience for The Sims has been casual gamers, little girls, cruel amateur sociologists, and my ex. Meanwhile, games with medieval stuff like swords, wizards, and thatched roofs are more successful with the exact opposite demographic. I’m very curious to see how The Sims Medieval goes over.
The Sims Medieval will be out next March. I’m sure we’ll have more coverage before then, because let’s face it… Resistance is FEUDAL. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
Rock of Ages continues to look as stunning as ever in these new screenshots. That would be enough for me to go on, but ACE Team also threw in a bonus blog post for those of us who want a behind-the-scenes look at how the art style got to where it is now.
In it, Edmundo Bordeu talks about finding a balance between the number 2D items versus what objects are better suited for 3D. There’s also a rotating picture of a creepy, naked cardboard man. Your day won’t be complete until you watch him spin endlessly.
The post is a cool read, and I couldn’t be more excited to get my hands on Rock of Ages. There’s something about controlling a ball-shaped character in videogames that I find incredibly appealing.
As the PlayStation 3’s premier first-person-shooter franchise, Killzone invariably finds itself at the vanguard of the console wars, often compared with Xbox 360 exclusive Halo. Curious as to how this affects developer Guerrilla, I asked Steven Ter Heide how he feels about the comparisons, and found out that the producer doesn’t feel much at all.
“Comparisons will always be made, if not with Halo, then with another shooter, or even games outside of the genre,” he explains. “For us it’s more about creating a rewarding and fun experience for ourselves, for our fans, and ultimately for an even broader audience. Creating something recognizable, an experience that’s different from other games and that people can enjoy.
“Of course we look to other titles, or movies or books for that matter. See which things work well, analyze what it is that makes them work well and see if we can adapt things for Killzone. I think every discipline within Guerrilla has the ambition to be the best, and within their field they look at who is leading and how we can make steps to get there.”
Damn, and here I was hoping for him to say something controversial and piss off Xbox 360 fans. Ah well!
Here’s a piggin’ bunch of screenshots for Enslaved’s first slice of downloadable content, Pigsy’s Perfect 10. This special DLC expansion is an all-new story concerning the lovably grotesque Pigsy and his quest to build the perfect woman.
Apparently, Enslaved didn’t perform too well in the sales department, and that makes me very sad. It was a beautiful game and a lot of fun to play. I hope everybody who kept it at least continues to support the game, as I’d absolutely hate for yet another ambitious new IP to whither and die.
And people wonder why Activision releases a billion Guitar Hero games a year.
The latest downloadable content pack for Dead Rising 2 was released this past week and to celebrate, Capcom has given us a total of 20 codes to give away for the PlayStation 3 version of Dead Rising 2! We have five “Ninja Pack” codes, five “Sports Fan Pack” codes, five “Soldier Pack” codes and five “Psycho Pack” codes to give out, all of which will give you new clothes and weapons against the zombie horde.
In order to win a code, you’re just going to need to Like us on Facebook! Yes, it’s that easy! Like Destructoid on Facebook AND like this post right here promoting this Dead Rising 2 contest on Facebook. See? Super easy. We’ll be picking 20 random people that Like this post on Facebook to give out the codes to once the contest closes on Saturday at 11:59AM PST.
Treyarch has finally released a PC patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops in order to fix the game’s broken multiplayer mode. As detailed in our sadly controversial review (sad because pointing out documented technical issues shouldn’t be f*cking controversial), the game has suffered from intense lag, stuttering and connection issues since launch.
The new patch aims to fix this issue, which ought to bump the game up from shattered mess to GOTY-contending classic. I have not yet personally tested the patch out, but should it work, you can add up to three extra points on our review score should you wish, since the game ought to now be rockin’ awesome.
Black Ops was easily among the most miserable reviews I’ve written. It’s never fun to have to bash a game that one knows is great, all due to some absolutely stupid technical problems that shouldn’t be there, yet completely ruin the experience. This was Treyarch’s big stamp on the series, and it’s sad that this had to happen.
Call of Duty: Black Ops PC Patch Now Live on Steam, More Incoming [Black Ops Blog]