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'Technical difficulties' delay Rock Band's Rush
DLC, possibly for weeks

post from Joystiq on 27 August 2008 07:13:09 PM. © Joystiq

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm

The issues with this week's Rock Band DLC were worse than we first thought. Rush's Moving Pictures album will not be available for purchase on Xbox 360, nor PS3. Apparently some guy called "unforeseen technical difficulties" has screwed everything up. Wait, it gets worse. According to the announcement post on the official Rock Band forums, the problem may keep the album from being available for a couple weeks.

Harmonix is currently shifting the release schedule around to have some tracks out this week, keeping its streak of new content since the game's launch alive and well. We'll be sure to post when we hear something about Harmonix's plans.

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Law of the Game on Joystiq: The evolution of Pub
Games

post from Joystiq on 27 August 2008 07:13:09 PM. © Joystiq

Filed under: Features

Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:

Despite the relatively small amount of time I've had to play them, I've so far enjoyed Fable II's Pub Games, especially Fortune's Tower (pictured above). The idea of minigames has been around for ages, but Pub Games adds deeper elements than the norm, as well as pre-release hype for Fable II. Of course, this begs the question: Is this a sign of things to come?

I could certainly see other RPGs following suit, pre-releasing a related Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, or WiiWare game that interacts with the core game, like a Final Fantasy XIII card game stand-alone. If this becomes a trend, then developers will be looking to the next evolution of this idea. I would imagine the next step would be external games that affect MMO environments; and beyond that, perhaps gambling with real currency. Think of the evolution this way: You start with a game like Texas Hold 'Em, where your play only affects that game, then the next logical step is something like Pub Games, which affects you alone in a virtual environment. From there, the evolution would logically move to impacting a multiplayer virtual environment and, ultimately, to affecting a real world environment, specifically your bank account. It's these last two steps that present some legal issues.

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On the Road to PAX: The Idaho Edition [Day Note]

post from Kotaku on 27 August 2008 07:00:00 PM. © Kotaku

To: Bash
From: Crecente
Re: Well, Which Beer Should I Drink First? There Are Three, Only Three...

Congrats on the book! I'm psyched and jealous all rolled into one. On the beers I personally can't stand VB and I've never had Tiger, but Modelo is great. Oh you totally need to rustle up some Chimay. Awesome beer.

We drove about half way to Seattle today, leaving shortly after 7 a.m. and making our way through Colorado, Wyoming, the corner of Utah and finally half of Idaho. The drive was mostly uneventful, though it did get quite windy at times. When we take these road trips Trish typically drives and I ride shotgun blogging and navigating. Tristan gets to spend the trip watching movies, reading and playing DS and Wii games.

Tomorrow we plan on getting off around 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. and driving the west of the way to Seattle. Then on Friday I'm off to Penny Arcade Expo. Woot!

What you missed:
All things PAX
Microsoft Gives DNC Delegates the Gift of Game and (Mostly) Music
Explore Dead Space Narrative With No Known Survivors
Chuck Norris Brings the Pain... To Cell Phones
Screw Comic Book Movies, Where Are Our Comic Book Games?
Come Mount My Blade, Baby
Frankenreview: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
The Chief Export of Chuck Norris is Pain in New Video
The Art of Star Wars The Force Unleashed

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Latest Zubo DS Trailer Shows Horror Levels [Zubo]

post from Kotaku on 27 August 2008 06:40:00 PM. © Kotaku

Zubo is the latest comedy/action adventure/ rythm game coming from UK EA's Bright Light studio. While this might be a kids game, it sure does look pretty for the DS. Crecente got a chance to play it hands on a while back and said while it was for kids, it had enough style to be a possible hit for the handheld. In this new trailer we see some of the horror themed levels. The game will be headed to your Nintendo DS later this year.

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Games Good For Business - The Economist
[Business]

post from Kotaku on 27 August 2008 06:20:00 PM. © Kotaku

The Economist is running a feature on how the corporate world is starting to use gaming to increase productivity.

According to David Edery and Ethan Mollick, authors of ?Changing the Game?, the same qualities that make people excel at games can be useful in the world of work as well. Rather worryingly, they highlight MMO grinding as a prime example — which to me seems like backwards logic, as grinding is more about applying 'work' to 'games' than the other way around.

The community building aspects of gaming are also held up to scrutiny — these do seem broadly applicable to the 'real' world, and in some ways are not unlike the kind of team building exercises that hapless employees are regularly sent on. Fording a river with a pontoon made from office supplies being a bit less fun than a joining raiding party in Azeroth, mind you.

Turning work tasks into a game can be a useful tool, it seems. It emerges that Microsoft quadrupled internal bug reporting for Windows Vista by awarding points and prizes for participation. Having loads of bugs may have helped, of course.

Playing for profit [The Economist via Slashdot]

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Interview: Dyack addresses Too Human complaints

post from Joystiq on 27 August 2008 06:15:43 PM. © Joystiq

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, Interviews, Video

Continuing with their week-long series, nos amis at X3F talked with Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack over some of Too Human's biggest perceived faults. Part 1 of today's video interview is embedded above. Some highlights:

On the community's early judgment: "People are trying to understand a game that's inherently interactive [by watching a video] ... All I can say is try the demo."
On clipping and texture issues: "There's glitches in all games. It's really interesting to me because, as an example, there's gonna be things you can always improve. To me, framerate's not really that essential in cutscenes and it never has been for us ... I don't think Too Human's inconsistent from any of our previous games ... So there's clipping. Oh noes. Bottom line is, does it affect gameplay and by how much? Are there ways to improve Too Human? For sure, but the overall big picture? Happy, extremely happy."
On the Valkyrie death scene: Dyack estimated it was a 15 and a 1/2 second scene. "If it's a sign that people love the game so much that they just want to get back in and play, could we make it skippable? Sure, it's an easy change. Is it something we ever would have anticipated since we thought it was faster than going to get your body or losing experience [which does not happen in Too Human] ... is that a change we can make in the future? Sure."
On comparisons to Diablo: "There's this tactical element. People think, 'oh, this is like Diablo with a bit of action. In Diablo I can just go up to an enemy and pound him away [until it dies] and move on to the next one, if you had the better loot, you usually win. In Too Human, if you don't use your tactics, it is a new kind of genre-bender, you're gonna die. And we're looking at some of the feedback and a lot of people are dying. [laughs]"
On future downloadable content: "I think that's gonna be unique to people who pre-order it, that's a one-time thing. But we've got tons of ideas that will far exceed the pre-order bonus."

Check out part two of the interview after the break.

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Immersion shakes $20.75 million into Microsoft's
coffers

post from Joystiq on 27 August 2008 06:15:43 PM. © Joystiq

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Microsoft has won its claim against rumble licensor Immersion Corp., receiving $20.75 million from the company, Reuters reports. The particulars of the case revolve around a 2003 sub-licensing agreement between the two companies in which Microsoft was entitled to a portion of the cash that Immersion eventually settled on in its case against Sony.

It appears that everything is now ship-shake between all the corporations involved and we can continue enjoying the jiggles we get from our controllers.

Source -- Payback Time: Immersion To Pay $20.75 Million To Microsoft (Efluxmedia)
Source -- Immersion settles suit with Microsoft (Reuters)

[Thanks, laserboyjc]

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EA, Activision churning out 75% of Q3 console
games

Filed under: Business

When it comes to the titanic struggle between corporate giants Activision Blizzard and EA, it seems there's just enough room in this town for the both of them. According to a Screen Digest report (via Gamasutra), the two publishers are responsible for a whopping 75% of console game releases in the West for the period between July and September. Collectively, they will publish 40% of console games during 2008's second half.

In the third quarter specifically, EA is the busiest publisher with "around" 21 games, which Screen Digest's Ed Barton suggests is largely comprised of EA's "extensive range of annual sports games." Actiblizzard, on the other money-grubbing hand, manages to push out 19 games in the same span of time. "While most publishers appear to ramp up release volume in the key Christmas quarter," notes Barton, "EA and Activision Blizzard appear to be ramping up release volumes to similar levels in both calendar Q3 and Q4."

We haven't yet decided how to break this news to our wallet. It's still waking up screaming in the middle of the night, haunted by the nightmare of Holiday 2007.

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PS3 keypad listed at $49.99 on Amazon.com

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Peripherals

Although no official details about the PS3 wireless keypad's pricing or launch date (beyond "late November") have been released, Amazon.com is shedding a little light on the situation. The online retailer currently has the peripheral listed at $49.99 with a ship date of Nov. 30.

Although the date may be a placeholder, an Amazon representative informs us, "Pricing details come from our vendors. So that is the price that Sony gave us." Once again, Sony hasn't made any official statements about pricing, but retailers seem to be getting some details.

A recent poll on PS3 Fanboy showed that 46% of responders would pay no more than $20. Only 4% of participants would actually pay the current listed price for the peripheral.

Gallery: PS3 Wireless Keypad

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Nintendo deems new DS 'rumor and speculation'

Filed under: Nintendo DS

Nintendo has politely informed GamesIndustry.biz that claims of a new DS -- one equipped with twice as many touch screens -- fall under the nebulous and frenziedly debated category of "rumors and speculation." The story initially originated on Kotaku, which suggested that the new DS model would not be announced until early next year. More likely, you can expect to hear about it the day after Nintendo UK's David Yarnton pretends he's never heard of it.

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