All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

I rush back to the PAX East press room, locked in that strange place between disbelief and acceptance, nigh incapacitated by the surreal certainty that my worldview is in the process of being fundamentally shifted.

"Guys," I say to the collected Joystiq staffers fully expecting my verbal evisceration of TopWare's follow-up. "Guys ... Two Worlds II actually looks kind of cool."

They don't believe me.

Your crippling case of "mapathy" can finally be treated, dear Modern Warfare 2 player. Just a few minutes ago, the "Stimulus Package" DLC bundle, which includes three new multiplayer maps and two tarted-up arenas from Call of Duty 4, went live on Xbox 360. At $15, it's a pretty pricey prescription for your blues, but it might just be the only option you've got. Curse you, pharmaceutical empire!

Unfortunately, it seems the launch of the new maps was botched -- we've received a number of tips claiming the maps aren't loading in-game. Major Nelson recently Tweeted that the game needs a title update in order to incorporate the new content, which he says is coming soon. We'll let you know when everything's in working order.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

#nintendo One of South Korean's most popular girl groups, Girls' Generation, is appearing in DSi ads for Nintendo of Korea. The ads are, to put it kindly, dull. More »

#callofdutymodernwarfare2 Details are still sketchy, but we're getting a number of reports that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 map pack that hit this morning is not entirely working. More »

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The Swarm, Buka Studios' sci-fi third-person shooter for Xbox 360, has re-emerged as MorphX, to be released in North America on June 1, published by 505 Games. In MorphX, players leave an underground shelter beneath Moscow (yes, again) to enter a world that has been conquered by alien invaders.

In order to fight them, you must absorb alien DNA to give yourself abilities like regeneration and improved vision, while slowly turning yourself into a monster in the process. You'll have to decide whether all the totally awesome powers are worth turning yourself into the thing you're fighting. Decisions, decisions.

[Photo: Kevin Kelly] An attempted theft of Atomic Games' Breach code on the PAX East show floor on the last day of the event was thwarted by vigilant members of the studio. According to a representative for the company, the suspected thief managed to download some of the code and then run into the crowd after he was spotted. He was eventually apprehended in the large crowd and the game's code was found on his computer.

"The suspect did admit to us several times, including as he was doing it, that he was stealing the code. He said to myself and several other team members, after being caught, that it was not a big deal, he just really liked the game and wanted to play it with his friends," David Tractenberg, a spokesperson for Atomic, explained.

"This guy had only succeeded in copying about 14MB to his laptop before our staff caught him," Atomic Games President Peter Tamte told Joystiq. "Because of the work we do for military and intelligence organizations, we take security issues like this very seriously ... It is fortunate for him that we caught him before any of this ended up on the internet. Many of the hackers who stole Valve's Half-Life 2 code were tracked down by the FBI's Cybercrime Task Force."

#ps3 Next month, the PS3 will be ditching its Linux operating system support — something that the console has had since it launched in 2006. There must be a way to stop this, no? More »

#merchandise Reader Brett must have known our adolescent selves were in need of entertainment, otherwise he wouldn't have pointed us towards this motherload of vintage Nintendo merchandise catalogues. More »

#screengrab Not sure how we missed this tattoo of Monkey Island antagonist LecChuck last year. Maybe it was so fantastic it burned clean through our collective consciousness. As seen on Geekologie. More »

#gallery Yes, Gundam are mobile suits. They're mecha! And sometimes, they are cute doe-eyed girls. More »

#review When we first heard about VDIGI's new VD-W3 Wii upscaler, a product that promised it could bring high definition graphics to the Wii, it sounded too good to be true. "Better review it, then" we thought. Just to be sure. More »

#xbox360 PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain looks fantastic. But according to Mark Carson, head of mo-cap specialist CaptiveMotion, told website VG247 that while the psychological thriller is "beautiful", but also "visually uneven". Here's the quote: More »

#crime A man from Evanston, Illinois found a PS3 for sale on Craigslist for $250. So he arranged to buy it. The meeting was scheduled to take place in a parking lot. At night. Oh dear. More »

#pokemon Kindergarten is a tough time for some kids. It's the first time that they are away from their mother or father for an extended period of time. To help easy the experience, Japanese kindergartens and pre-schools have cute, colorful buses. More »

#civilization David Wildgoose, Editor of Kotaku Australia, now finds that the Civilization franchise has a much greater, personal significance than it did a month ago. More »

Shatter is easily one of my favorite PSN games from last year. So when we heard rumblings of multiplayer and other modes/features coming to the game, we went to go straight to the source for all the details.

So I’d like to welcome back Mario Wynands, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Sidhe, whom you originally met here. If you still haven’t downloaded Shatter on PSN/PS3, you’ll get a nice intro to the game in this video. But beyond that, Mario talks about some in-the-works stuff including Home integration, the inclusion of multiplayer modes and even the release of the game’s soundtrack. And if you make it to the end of the video, you’ll get a close-up of the physical CD version of the soundtrack, which you can snag by paying close attention to our Twitter feed today.

#eroticgames Adult video games are flooding the capital of Vietnam. Time to fight the good fight. Or the not-so-good fight. Whichever! More »

#clips Nope. However it works, it'll be more expensive, and advanced, than this. But is advanced always better? This 3D solution certainly has a charm of its own. More »

#gallery Over the weekend, the Tokyo International Anime Fair was held at Tokyo Big Sight. Appearing at the event were anime production companies, TV and film companies, toy and video game companies were in attendance. More »

A portion of a CoffeewithGames interview with Monster Hunter 3 promo man, Ironbeard McCullough… CwG: “Will there be a midnight release for Monster Hunter 3 in the States?” Ironbeard: “No midnight release, but there are plans fer *somethin*. They’ll be talkin’ more about that later…” Well, something is better than nothing. I heard my [...]

How adorable is this? Just when you thought you might be done Sackboying around, they find a way to suck you right back in. This time it's a Disney/Pixar inspired Incredibles costume and level packs coming on April 8th. According to the PlayStation blog, "This huge pack features NINE costumes: all of The Incredibles family (including a "Retro" Mr. Incredible sporting his classic blue costume), their allies Frozone and Edna Mode, and their arch nemesis, Syndrome."

You'll be able to purchase individual costumes as well, and download the Incredibles Level Kit that includes locations from the movie, and all the materials used to make it. Pixar may not have given us a sequel to The Incredibles yet, but now you can make your own. We can't wait to see what Syndrome looks like. Is Disney going to move their entire universe into LBP some day? Pirates of the Caribbean vs. The Incredibles, here we come. Dibs on Dash.

[Thanks, Conor]

#famicomwars Advance Wars works well as a video game. But as a board game? Yeah, looks like it works pretty well as a board game, too. More »

Here’s a big, juicy rumor for you. Take a look at this report from Engadget… Last we heard from Artificial Muscle, the company was trying to convince hospitals, cell phone manufacturers and more that its technology — a silicon film that expands and contracts with an applied voltage — would provide a real sense of [...]

#hollywood David Hayter is best known for being the English voice actor for the character of Snake in the Metal Gear Solid video games. He also has a movie career. More »

#microsoft In a few hours, Modern Warfare 2's first piece of downloadable content will become available. If you really, really must have it, chances are you're going to have some spare change left over at the end of it. More »

#marketing A few weeks ago, I did a feature on a company that's responsible for game logos and box art. Today, then, I thought we'd look at something similar: a company that does box art and marketing material. More »

#microsoft Microsoft has a reputation for grossly over-charging for Xbox 360 storage solutions. Now that the console supports USB memory sticks, did you really think anything would change? More »

Damnit, why didn’t I make it out to the Nitnendo World Store for their DSi XL/America’s Test Kitchen/WarioWare D.I.Y. launch event?! I missed my chance to meet up with Gary and Allison!