Valerie Porter and the Scarlet Scandal

Valerie Porter and the Scarlet Scandal is a stylish hidden object/adventure hybrid where wander back to a time when men were guys and women were dolls, when gin joints and speakeasies were the happening places to be, and when an intrepid girl reporter could really make a difference.

Read The Full Article:
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/11/valerie_porter_and_the_scarlet_scandal.php

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This Is Not Lego G. Gordon Liddy; it's 'Enemy
Mechanic' [Lego]

Here are the 15 characters you can play once Lego Indiana Jones 2 releases on Nov. 17. Many are "Hey-it's-that-guy" recognizable, if not by their names, then at least as minifig Watergate conspirators.

I kid. That guy to the left is "Enemy Mechanic," aka the Von Kaiser/Bald Bull hybrid who duked it out with Indy under the flying wing in Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to Video Games Blogger, the rest of the characters are:

1. Cairo Digger
2. Crystal Skull
3. Enemy Mechanic (pictured)
4. Indiana Jones
5. Lao Che
6. Major Arnold Toht
7. Marion Ravenwood
8. Mola Ram
9. Mutt
10. Native
11. Professor Henry Jones Senior
12. Rene Belloq
13. Short Round
14. Spalko
15. Willie Scott

I'm not sure why the Crystal Skull is listed as a playable character if in fact it's just an "object" in the game. "Native" is self explanatory, and Lao Che was the gangster from the opening sequence in Shanghai from "Temple of Doom."

LEGO Indiana Jones 2 Characters List [Video Games Blogger]

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Iwata: Digital distribution will be prevalent in
20 years

During his comments following the release of Nintendo's recent financials, company President Satoru Iwata laid out the connectivity rates for the Wii and DS in Japan. According to Nintendo's numbers 30 percent of Wii owners are currently connecting their Wii to the internet and only 20 percent of DS owners are doing it. The numbers spike whenever a big online game is released for either system or whenever new online functions are released, but Iwata says that the company must take more aggressive action or those numbers will drop.

Despite Iwata's claim that Nintendo is truly interested in its system's online functionality (and their work to sponsor wireless hot spots in places like McDonald's) Iwata does not think that digital distribution of games will be playing a big role in the gaming market for quite some time. He reinforced his opinion that while he does see digital distribution as a means to provide additional internet-driven software features he does not see it as a dominant delivery method for games any time soon.

""In 20 years or so, I might say it will have probably changed," Iwata said while discussing the possible shift to digital distribution. "But in 5 years or so, I do not totally agree. ...Habits of life do not change [so] radically and quickly."

He is, of course, right. Even I, a technologically advanced person of a young age, am having trouble letting go of physical retail. Imagine what a member of Nintendo's new "expanded audience" feels when they're offered a game without a box or disc.

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BioWare Releases Dragon Age Campaign, Cutscene
Toolset [Dragon Age]

Not even a week after its release does Dragon Age: Origins put out its official Toolset for download, allowing PC users to assemble battles, campaigns, and lip-synched cut scenes to share with the game's community.

BioWare just launched the Toolset page, touting the ability to "create new adventure," "stage massive battles" and of course, "be the director," with a "powerful cinematics editor" offering complete control over the camera, plus voice and lip synching tools.

If you're fired up enough, check it out at BioWare's official page.

Dragon Age Origins - Toolset [BioWare via Blue's News]

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Are you man enough for this PokePark Wii video

video details and more

Nursery-room appropriate music? Check. Japanese guy saying "Ackushun Addvenchu-aaahhh"? Check. Gamecube quality graphics. That's an affirmative. Put them all together, and you know what we've got; another PokePark Wii trailer.

Don't assume that when I say "Gamecube quality" graphics, that I mean it in a bad way. On the whole, I'd rather look at graphics from five years ago than the dermatologically handicapped dudes often found on the HD-consoles. Sometimes detailed graphics just aren't important, and I see nothing about PokePark Wii that warrants more detailed visuals. Watching Pikachu headbutt squirrels in the ass and periodically get his mime on is a guaranteed good time, regardless of the resolution.

I'm comfortable enough with my manhood to say that PokePark Wii looks promising. Taking real-time Pokemon combat and combining it with the type of mini-games found in Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 is a fine idea. The game is set for pre-order in Japan right now, and if NoA passes on it like they have so many other NoJ games, I'll probably import it.

How about you? You feeling this low-res, Pokemon head-to-ass butting thing?

[via Gonintendo]

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No commiting to Zelda in 2010 for Nintendo

Despite the fact that Miyamoto himself has said that Nintendo is shooting for a 2010 release of the new Zelda teased at E3 behind closed doors, we find it very hard to believe that it will actually come out then. Zelda games are notorious for their epic development time and constant delays and we're already getting one on the DS this year. On top of this Nintendo is really trying to not set a release year that this game will come out. That's not a release date, or a release month, but an a release year.

In a recent interview with GameTrailers TV Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime sounded a bit shocked that they'd even suggest a 2010 release for the game and then went on to confirm absolutely nothing by saying, "We haven't committed to Zelda in 2010." Bummer.

Despite my disappointment with this fact I can understand it. Hopefully Nintendo will play it smart and not announce a release date until the game is absolutely and completely done because there is nothing more depressing than marking your calendar for a new game and then having that date pushed back again and again.

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Dragon Age: Origins gets patched, tool set
released

The still-fresh PC version of Dragon Age: Origins recently got a huge booster shot in two delicious flavors. The first came in the form of Patch v1.01a, which, in addition to fixing a few character corruption issues and display glitches, makes the game easier as a whole. The second, much beefier improvement came with the release of the Dragon Age: Origins tool set, which allows users to create their own adventures using the game's extremely adaptable (and powerful!) engine.

Check out the tool set's capabilities in the trailer posted above. To acquire these modding tools -- or the difficulty-reducing patch -- check out the links below.

Download Dragon Age: Origins v1.01a Patch (13 MB)
Download the Dragon Age: Origins Toolset (472 MB)
Download the EclipseRay Lightmapper Source Code (6 MB)

Dragon Age: Origins gets patched, tool set released originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bleszinski: Borderlands is Diablo for a New
Generation [Cliffy B]

Continuing today's theme of "Devs Commenting on Other Devs," here, for a change, is Epic's Cliff Bleszinski weighing in with something polite about Borderlands.

Many have made the comparison of Gearbox's Borderlands to Diablo. Cliffy B certifies it with this unsolicited Tweet: "Borderlands, I adore you. You're Diablo for a generation raised on first person shooters. I want a Claptrap statue."

That can be arranged, Cliff.

Cliff Bleszinski's Twitter [via Hot Blooded Gaming]

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How to Survive a Trip to GameStop [Screengrab]

As seen on GameSpy.

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Gearbox Boss: Valve is Behaving Like Fanboys
[Fanboys]

While not directly addressing Chet Faliszek's slap at PlayStation 3, the Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford - no stranger to stirring s—t with Valve - has taken a poke at the Left 4 Dead developer's posture toward Sony.

Pitchford, speaking to Official PlayStation Magazine, called Valve's posture toward Sony - specifically as expressed by Doug Lombardi - similar to that of fanboys'.

"Doug Lombardi had to take a swipe at the PS3 again, and I thought it was foolish," Pitchford told OPM, according to AnalogHype.

I read it the same way I read fanboys," he added. "Like there's a guy who bought the Sony platform and he's a Sony guy, so he decides he's going to spend a certain percentage of his time bashing Microsoft. And there's a guy on Microsoft doing the same thing. Those guys are childish and narrow minded; It's the same kind of thing.

Pitchford wasn't done there. He also spoke of an "underlying sleaziness" in how Valve has treated the PS3 version of The Orange Box, relative to its support for the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2.

I'm actually kind of mad at Doug because with the Orange Box, he said the 360 and PC versions are the good ones and the PS3 version is like the stepchild because some other developer made it. Well you Valve don't really think that, because look what you've done on the PC side. You've supported that, you've added all this content to Team Fortress 2, and you've left us hanging. It's hard to accept that genuinely, because I know the business, I know you guys make half the money on the PS3 version because you've got other fingers in the pie, and other developers getting a cut. It benefits you if nobody buys that, and only buys the PC version, because you make the most money. There's this underlying sleaziness.

Not that this settles anything but, there you go, equal time for PS3, albeit from a surrogate, in a great three-way Valve/Gearbox/Sony pissing contest.

President of Gearbox Questions Valve's Lack of PS3 Support [AnalogHype via Destructoid]

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