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Gaming and Tech News

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The art of game design is a subtle, delicate craft that requires expertise, dedication and ingenuity to truly master. It's a skill that also goes largely uncelebrated, considering that the best game design is often unnoticeable when properly implemented.

Sequelitis, a new YouTube series from Awesome Series creator/animator Egoraptor, takes a hilarious look at the philosophy behind game design by comparing an original title to one of its sequels. The latest episode (above) takes a look at the differences between Castlevania and Super Castlevania IV, and how changing the whip and jumping mechanics fundamentally altered the game's structural underpinnings. It's a fascinating and remarkably entertaining way to learn about game design, so be sure and check out the first two episodes when you're done here.

JoystiqEgoraptor's Sequelitis analyses Super Castlevania IV originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Weekend Talk Amongst YourselvesHave you ever watched Campus PD? I know this is supposed to be an on-topic thread, but since that's G4 I'll allow it and not cornfield myself. I don't want to say the cops profile on that show or anything but, if some dude has a rear window made out of plastic grocery bags, that dude is probably going to jail.

Big thanks to dabeezkneez84 for today's ... whatever-that-is. My guess is with Chester Cheetah, it's a stoner's fever dream. Speaking of Campus PD.

We've only got two more days with this month's TAYpic image, then there's a new one on Wednesday. So if you don't crack the roster with this base image, fear not, another one usually turns up a new batch of TAY all-stars. See this thread for details, just make sure your final image is of a 16:9 dimension and is funny.

Now talk amongst your sleeves, gang!

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000
At a 10th anniversary event for the Ace Attorney series in Tokyo, Capcom officially announced Ace Attorney 5, revealing the above logo. No specifics about the game were offered, including date, platform, or characters -- and there's no character silhouette in the logo to show us who the star is. All we know is that there is one, and we have to start presenting our case for a localization to Capcom.

The event also brought a small amount of news relating to Professor Layton Vs. Ace Attorney for 3DS: the animated cutscenes are produced by anime studio Bones, and the game is due sometime this year. Famitsu has screens from one of these cutscenes, of Phoenix and Maya on a plane ride.

Finally, new HD versions of the first three Ace Attorneys will be released on iOS. Check this Famitsu article for screens of the newly refreshed sprites.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]]

JoystiqCapcom announces Ace Attorney 5, HD iOS versions of 1-3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:00:34 +0000

Sunday Comics: Better With KinectWelcome to your Sunday read of the week's best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic.
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectPenny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Jan. 23.—Read more of Penny Arcade
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectAwkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Jan. 23.—Read more of Awkward Zombie
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectNerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Jan. 28.—Read more of Nerf NOW!!
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectManly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull published Jan. 23.—Read more of Manly Guys Doing Manly Things
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectBrawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto published Jan. 26.—Read more of Brawl In The Family
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectVirtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie published Jan. 25.—Read more of Virtual Shackles
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectDueling Analogs by Steve Napierski published Jan. 25.—Read more of Dueling Analogs
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectAnother Videogame Webcomic by Phil Chan and Joe Dunn published Jan. 27.—Read more of Another Videogame Webcomic
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectActionTrip by Borislav Grabovic and Ure Paul published Jan. 23.—Read more of ActionTrip
Sunday Comics: Better With KinectLegacy Control by Javis Ray published Jan. 25.—Read more of Legacy Control

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:30:00 +0000

SoulCalibur 5 comes out on Tuesday, so we thought we'd take this opportunity to take a look back at the very first tale of swords and souls, eternally retold. Soul Edge (Soul Blade in North America) was released in arcades in 1995 and on the original PlayStation in 1996 and '97. The game's cast of characters lacked many of the series' most (currently) notable faces, including Ivy, Nightmare and Astaroth.

It did, however, include many gameplay mechanics which were never featured in any of its sequels, most notably breakable weapons and a rock-paper-scissors-esque minigame that would occur whenever two moves of equal strength and priority collided. The game also took place 23 years before SoulCalibur 5, which means that series masochist Voldo is well into his mid 60s at this point. While that mental imagine marinates, check out our favorite comics from last week. Vote after the break!

Spy Vs. Guy (Brawl in the Family)
Boxinalia (Penny Arcade)
Character Branding (Dueling Analogs)
Duty (Nerf Now!!)
See Horse (Awkward Zombie)
Samurai Shoboating (Life in Aggro)
They Should Really Make Those Games (GameOver Nation)
Tanooki Torment (Hejibits)

Continue reading Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is back on the stage of history

JoystiqWeekly Webcomic Wrapup is back on the stage of history originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000
If you love games of chance and stamping cards but hate being around the elderly, know that Zynga is working on a solution for your extremely specific and worryingly ageist dilema. Zynga Bingo has begun beta testing and will be made available to the general public "very soon," according to Shacknews.

The app will join Zynga Poker as part of the Zynga Casino suite and will allow players to score on up to six cards, as well as fill in spots on friends' cards. There will also be power-ups of some kind, which is where we expect to find Zynga's trademark monetization, although that's purely speculation on our part. We also expect Zynga Bingo to post "BINGO!" on your friends' walls every time you win, but we desperately hope we're wrong about that.

JoystiqClosed beta testing for Zynga Bingo begins originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:50:00 +0000
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Ellio, who fancies switching up his home entertainment kit with a HD LED projector. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
"I'm looking to buy a small HD LED projector to use at home for movies and games etc. I'd prefer it to be small to avoid having another large black box cluttering up the place and LED because of the decent lifetime compared to traditional projectors. I'd be happy with a 720p resolution device, but a lot of pico projectors are under 30 lumens, is this level sufficient for a decent size-display in a dim room? Thanks a bunch!"
So, what's it gonna be dear friends? If you don't know the drill: it's a jump to your left, a step to your right, put your hands on your hips and leave a comment below.

Ask Engadget: Best HD LED Pico Projector for a small room? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:30:00 +0000
Despite previous indications to the contrary, the Joystiq Qrew is actually pretty keen on Valentine's Day. We're all hopeless romantics, but you don't need to be as in love with being in love as we are to recognize how precious, touching and clever these gaming themed Valentine's Day card templates are.

Made by Etsy user PaperRockScisorz and available at her shop, these print-your-own card templates feature Pokemon, Dr. Mario, Sonic, Zelda and Portal motifs with cutesy sayings and pixel hearts at $2.75 a pop. It's an easy and inexpensive way to show your significant other that you care, assuming you're lucky enough to share your life with a person that loves games as much as you do. If you're not that lucky, well, maybe get them a gift card or something. Single people are advised to dress up like a member of their preferred gender and have a romantic candle-lit dinner with themselves in a mirror. Ain't love grand?

JoystiqAdorable Valentine's Day card templates from PaperRockScisorz originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000
Believe it or not, there are evil people on the Internet who use misinformation and deception to steal from the innocent and well-meaning. We know, we couldn't believe it either, but it's the truth, as recently demonstrated by an outbreak of fake Halo 4 beta test invites.

343 Industries' creative director David Ellis was quick to debunk the bogus site, but the URL used in the phishing scam (halo4beta dot net) is still out there, tempting fate with its Halo-oriented name and un-Microsoftness. Who knows what nefarious maleficence the domain could be used for if left in the wild, so Microsoft has filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum in order to have the domain name transferred to its ownership.

In situations like this, the company filing the complaint has to be able to prove that the domain in question was registered maliciously in order for the Forum to decide in its favor. Under the circumstances, we feel like global fraud will probably be malicious enough to sway things in Microsoft's favor.

JoystiqMicrosoft files complaint over fake Halo 4 beta domain originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Male Models: The WinnersTo market the PlayStation Vita, Sony enlisted the cast of Zoolander to showcase the handheld's new ability to make you look like a Miller Light spokesdude. Man up, we've got 20 winners inside, including JimThePea!

Lemon_Nibs (8) gets everything started with an homage to everyone's favorite male model. acidpits gets in the game twice with parasitic alien lifeforms. The first (1) harkens back to Ceti Alpha V, or the Crivits from V; the second (2) well, you'll burst your chest laughing.

MrEcko (12) paid attention and put this thing in an episode of Friends, rather than Friends cosplayers. Speaking of Mr Marsu's (11) wins most photogenic. Graywing (4) puts matters in the hands of a responsible executive. TuxedoFox (19) offers a cross-platform concept but I'll allow it. Venudes (20) was by far this week's crowd favorite.

BigMikeMcCarthy (3) fingers our favorite geek goddess. schnide (17) supplies Lifestyle Dog, the Duck Hunt counterpart of Family Guy's Jasper. Liniert (9) and Looi (10) brought different sapient species to the same joke.

Best overall? I'm going with the Vita model frozen in carbonite. I will not give up my favorite decoration. I like JimThePea where he is.

Thanks to all who entered. We have another challenge tomorrow.

Male Models: The Winnersacidpits
Male Models: The Winnersacidpits
Male Models: The WinnersBigMikeMcCarthy
Male Models: The WinnersGraywing
Male Models: The Winnershymanator
Male Models: The WinnersJimThePea
Male Models: The Winnerslaxbenderman
Male Models: The WinnersLemon_Nibs
Male Models: The Winnersliniert
Male Models: The WinnersLooi
Male Models: The WinnersMr Marsu
Male Models: The WinnersMrEcko
Male Models: The Winnerspan1da7
Male Models: The WinnersParamedic Foetus
Male Models: The Winnerspsykofaze
Male Models: The WinnersRevRain
Male Models: The WinnersSchnide
Male Models: The WinnersTheGameFreak
Male Models: The WinnersTuxedoFox
Male Models: The WinnersVenudes

Member Reviews and Impressions



Movie Name: Real Steel
Reviewed By: IAC
Format: HD
Genre: Action
Director: Shawn Levy

Summary: I sat down with mys on to watch this night and was not sure what to expect to be honest. This type of storyline has been many times before but it turns out it was still an entertaining story and really fun to watch (my son jumping off the sofa and cheering during the fight scenes).

Full Review>>>


Star Wars: The Old Republic: Reviewed by Neptune49

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Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Reviewed-By: Neptune49
Platform: PC Game
Genre: RPG, Strategy, and Simulation

Presentation-Rating: 5 out of 5 Briquettes

Presentation-Comments: Any Star Wars fan will instantly be thrilled with the presentation of this game. When you start the game for the first time you watch a fantastic cinematic giving you a quick background on what is happening in the galaxy. Following that you get another cinematic based on which alignment you choose. All of the cinematic sequences are brilliant and do a great job of reminding fans of how great Star Wars really is. After selecting your alignment you get the classic Star Wars Intro music with a little back story for the class that you've chosen to play. It has the classic yellow scrolling lettering just like the movies. I couldn't think of a better way to start the experience of the game.

Full Review>>>


2011 DBBQ Game of the Year Winner

After compiling all of the nominations in a spreadsheet and doing some calculations we have the final results for the DBBQ Game of the Year combined with some retrospective Q'er quotes from 2011.

Full List of Winners>>>


Batman: Arkham City: Reviewed by VanishedNine



Game: Batman:Arkham City-minor spoilers...beware.
Reviewed-By: VanishedNine (Rod)
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action, Adventure and Fighting Games

Presentation-Rating: 5 out of 5 Briquettes
Presentation-Comments: The story, visuals-both gameplay visuals and cut scenes-audio, and immersion into the world of Batman are top notch. The story starts shortly after the events of Arkham Asylum, where a portion of Gotham City has been sectioned off ( like in Escape from New York0 to house Gotham's criminals. Hugo Strange(whoe knows Batman's identity) is the warden, whtih Quincy Sharpe now Mayor of Gotham. Batman's main task is two-fold...find out and stop Strange's Protocol 10, and help find a cure for the Joker( and Batman after being transfused some of the Joker's blood)...as Joker is feeling the effects of using the Titan formula at the end of Arkham Asylum. Batman's journey pits him against the Penguin, Mr Freeze, Two Face, Ra's Ahl Ghul, and other villains in the main quest and in the many side quests. You also play as Catwoman in 4 sections throughout the game, a few of which are intertwined in Batman's journey. More on that in the gameplay section...

Full Review>>>


Boxee Box by D-Link Reviewed-By: VanishedNine



Gadget: Boxee Box by D-Link
Reviewed-By: VanishedNine
Price: $199.99
Purchased: Best Buy

Summary: So I have been dissapointed with the offerings from cable lately, so I thought that once I got hooked up with my new ISP, I would give one of the set top boxes a try, and picked up a Boxee Box. So far, I have not been let down. It is not a perfect device for cutting the cable cord, but it does have some interesting items to offer. It has many different options to view media, it has, like most devices, Netflix built in, and...

Full review>>>


Kindle Fire Reviewed-By: OG Wretch



Gadget: Kindle Fire
Reviewed-By: OG Wretch
Price: $199.00
Purchased: Amazon.com

Summary: What an amazing device! Great for reading EBooks. A blast to play Angry Birds on and even nice catch up on an episode of a favorite old TV Series. It can run numerous other apps which gets beyond my skillset so, I'll let someone else speak to that. Anything a smartphone can run short of the 3 or 4G stuff. The 7 inch screen is just right for reading and playing the afore mentioned Angry Birds...

Full Review>>>


Udder Juice's Xbox 360 Dashboard Backgrounds/Wallpapers.

modern_warfare_3_001_by_udder_juice-d4ijhlg

All images are in high resolution (1920 X 1080). That's because I've been using my Xbox on my computer monitor lately and the 1280 X 720 wallapers looked terrible. So if you happen to be using a high-res display you'll be much happier with the image quality now.� They should scale down fine to the lower resolutions on HDTV's as well.

Full Thread>>>


Xbox Live Dashboard Impressions



What do you like what don't you like?
Post your impressions here...


Disneyland Adventures: Reviewed-By Bud Man



Game: Disneyland Adventures
Reviewed-By: Bud Man 01
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Other

Presentation-Rating: 5 out of 5 Briquettes
Presentation-Comments: This is Disneyland in your home down to a tee. Everything in the Magic Kingdom park has been perfectly emulated with this game. The atmosphere, colors, theme park and ride music are all AUTHENTIC to Disneyland.

Gameplay-Rating: 4 out of 5 Briquettes
Gameplay-Comments: The gameplay is solid as the rides in the park are the actual minigames where you can score stars and earn points/coins the you can spend in the many Disney shops...

Full Review>>>


Saints Row 3 Impressions

This game is the SHIZNIT.

Don't want to spoil anything cause it's exactly the way a Saints Row game should be. Graphics are pretty damn good since SR2 and I haven't been getting any frame rate problems.

Player customization is awesome as always. So much crap to mess around with to make a unique character. You can also upload your creations to saintsrow.com (after you sign up) to share it with the community. I believe you can also download peoples characters as well.

Everything runs from the Cell phone now (Back button). You select your missions there, upgrades, GPS, everything, and I think it's pretty convenient.

You also have the ability to take screenshots using Down on the Dpad.� You have to enable it in the options first.

Activities make a return, some will be familiar like Heli Assault and Trafficking. There are some new ones tho which I'll let you find out for yourself. There are no progression to them like in SR2. They basically tell you on the map what Difficulty they are (Easy, Medium, Hard) and when you complete it once, it's done.

Full Thread>>>


Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Reviewed-By: VanishedNine



Game: Uncharted 3:Drake's Deception
Reviewed-By: VanishedNine (Rod)
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action, Adventure and Fighting Games

Presentation-Rating: 5 out of 5 Briquettes
Presentation-Comments: This game has some of the best visuals, sound, and voice acting/motion capture...Naughty Dog hit on all cylinders again. Following up a game as great as Uncharted 2 is, was, I am sure, a daunting task for them...but they did...and if this is Nathan Drake's last adventure they went out with a bang. Gone this time is the supernatural elements that the first 2 games had, this is a story about Nathan Drake, and his relationships with Sully and Elena. We see a flash back to when Drake met Sully, we see that Sully and the villan, Marlowe, had some sort of relationship in the past, and she plays on the Sully/Drake relationship at one point. It is excellent writing, although i wish they would have fleshed out Sully's relationship with Katherine Marlowe...that would have been a great chapter to play...

Full Review>>>


Skyrim Impressions

What a game! I'll keep spoilers out of my post so that those of you who don't want to know much in advance can still read this. I'm playing the game on PC through Steam. I was very happy to find out that it was a midnight EST release so I was able to start playing at 11:00 local time. The first thing that stands out about the game right when you get it started are the incredible graphics. Those of you who have played other Elder Scrolls games will be very familiar with the beginning of the game. It's really nothing new.

I played for about 3 hours as a character that specialized almost exclusively in destruction magic. Leveling up in this game is different from other Elder Scrolls games. The first option after you level up is whether you want to increase your Magicka, Health, or Stamina. After that you choose a perk from whatever skill tree you want...

Full Thread>>>


BF3 Reviews/Impressions

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Looks awesome, plays awesome. A bit of an adjustment seeing targets, not as blatant "HEY SHOOT ME" as they were in previous games.


Only disconcerting thing was a hard lock near the end of the third section, "Uprising", that forced me to cycle the power button. Thankfully no issues with my save as it dropped me back at the last checkpoint I'd hit after loading the game back up.

Full Thread>>>


Rocksmith Reviewed-By: CaptCalamity

3_21_10_11_10_03_08

Game: Rocksmith
Reviewed-By: CaptCalamity
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Music and Party Games

Presentation-Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Briquettes
Presentation-Comments: Ubisoft has made the interface deceptively minimalistic. In this game, presentation goes hand-in-hand with gameplay, and they are almost interchangeable concepts. Menus are a standard intuitive click-through. Most of the background graphics are static photos of shadowy nightclubs or stage venues and lovingly-photographed guitar porn; the game has been roundly criticized for how “dark” a lot of the photos and representations are. I don’t think it’s an issue, because I’ve been in nightclubs and music venues countless times. They’re dark, and sometimes actually cozy. The parts of the interface that need to be bright and colorful provide a sharp contrast to the backgrounds, and in my opinion, actually help.

Full Review>>>


Dark Souls Reviewed-By: Udder Juice
3_20_10_11_10_54_28
Game: Dark Souls
Reviewed-By: Udder Juice
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: RPG, Strategy, and Simulation

Presentation-Rating: 5 out of 5 Briquettes

Presentation-Comments: I’m sure by now you’ve at least heard of Dragon Souls. From Software’s sequel to the PS3 exclusive Dragon Souls is an unforgiving and brutal RPG that refuses to compromise on its vision of giving players an open world to explore with little to no guidance. This kind of game can come as a shock to gamers used to games that guide you along every step of the way. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a carefree romp through a fantasy world slashing my way to the next quest marker on my map as much as the next guy.

Full Review>>>


The Gunstringer Reviewed-By: Beac



Game: The Gunstringer
Reviewed-By: Beac
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Arcade, Casual, and Platformers

Presentation-Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Briquettes
Presentation-Comments: Very polished. Very stylized. Just as quirky as you'd expect from Twisted Pixel. Their love of FMV is central to the main theme which has you acting as the puppeteer recounting a tale of betrayal and revenge, live on a theater's stage.

Full Review>>>


Sony PS3 Wireless Headset Reviewed-By: VanishedNine



Gadget:Sony PS3 Wireless Headset
Reviewed-By: VanishedNine (Rod)
Price:$99.99
Purchased: WalMart

Summary:I had been looking for a good set of wireless headphones, and since I had the Turtle Beach PX 21's, which are wired, and really like TB products...they were a bit pricey. A few months ago I saw that Sony was releasing a set of wireless headphones, so I figured I would wait...

Full Review>>>


RAGE Impressions Spoilers maybe included

3_04_10_11_7_35_53

So, has anyone picked it up yet? �If so, what are your impressions? �It looks awesome but I'm interested in what others may have to say about it.

Full Post>>>

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