All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#handson Toy Story 3: The Video Game's toy box opens up the world of the upcoming movie to exploration, experimentation and even a little bit of level creation. More »

THQ is all set to sell you Truth or Lies this fall, as if either commodity were in short supply. The "truth or dare" party game comes with over 3,000 questions and will be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. The "game" also uses a "proprietary voice calibration system that ... measures stress levels in a player's voice to reveal the honesty of their answers." It doesn't seem like microphones will be included, but it's compatible with the Xbox 360 Wireless Microphone or a USB microphone. We recommend wireless to reduce strangulation potential.

Truth or Lies also comes with a "hot seat" mode, allowing for, as THQ delusionally puts it, "revealing and hilarious situations among friends and family." Oh, there will most certainly be tears, but it they won't be from laughter.

Greetings fellow Sackboys! With the announcement of LittleBigPlanet 2 last week, we know you have a ton of questions for us. Add to that, all the new PLAY elements, CREATE tools and SHARE evolutions we want to tell you about. So, we thought we’d answer a lot of the repeating questions we’ve seen on all the web comments out there. In weeks to come, expect more and more detailed tid-bits, new LBP2 news, special announcements and other good stuff from our team…

Backwards Compatibility

Are the LittleBigPlanet DLC costumes going to be compatible with LBP2?

Yes, any LBP1 costumes purchased on the PlayStation Store will be compatible with LittleBigPlanet 2 – We can’t wait to see you what you guys do with the various costumes combined with the new cinematic tools!

I hope this is on a FAQ – are the first LBP and GOTY edition levels going to be included with LBP2?

The wonderfully fun LBP1 story levels will remain unique to its Blu-ray disc, but you’ll see familiar elements/tools/items as part of the foundation for LittleBigPlanet 2. And while the community levels will be unique to the GOTY edition – hopefully if you guys vote for us again, you’ll see something similar in the future…

Will any of the new costume DLC that will be released after LBP2 is released be compatable with the first game?

LittleBigPlanet 2 has been redesigned with a completely new graphics engine, so costumes and upcoming DLC designed for LittleBigPlanet 2 will not be compatible for LBP1 players.

Will all the costumes/stickers/decoration/DLC we collected in LBP1 be usable in LBP2?

We’re working hard to ensure that everything you’ve collected from LittleBigPlanet can be used in the new game. Certainly anything you’ve picked up from the PSN Store will be fully present and correct in LittleBigPlanet 2, the only time something might not quite work perfectly is if it has been created by another player using a ‘glitched’ object of some kind. Even then we’re optimistic that all of the existing content you’ve collected will continue to work.

DLC

Any idea when we’ll be getting that Sephiroth skin?

Nothing confirmed yet, but don’t worry we still have this in our plans…

Whatever happened to the Marvel Comics themed costume pack that was supposed to come out a year or so ago? I REALLY wanted a Wolverine Sackboy and it’s quite disheartening that something so cool was announced and shown and then never mentioned again.

We announced the partnership at Comic-Con last year (but no release date). It takes a bit of production time to get everything lined up, but hopefully you’ll hear some announcements soon.

Will LBP2 include from launch day all the DLC of LBP1? Including costumes level packs and all that good stuff?

Because of the backwards compatibility for LBP1 DLC, all the costumes on the PlayStation Store will still be available for purchase. Expect to see a ton more content in the next few months, including the eventual LittleBigPlanet 2 DLC.

Future Tech

Will it be in 720p or 1080p?

LittleBigPlanet 2 is getting a completely new graphical overhaul, so stay tuned for a future LittleBigPlanet 2 post, where we’ll cover off on more specifics like this.

PLAY elements

Sackboy, no matter what costumes he wears still looks like Sackboy in LBP1, seeing the new costumes in LBP2 has this idea been lost?

Some of the new costumes we’ve shown for LittleBigPlanet 2 are certainly unconventional, but then Sackboy has an eclectic wardrobe taste. At the end of the day however, he’s still Sackboy and we’ll be sticking close to making him look that way no matter what the costume.

Will Stephen Fry be narrating it again?

Yes, your (and our) favorite narrator will be back for LittleBigPlanet 2.

Will this game have the 50 levels single player like the first game or is this just a big create kit?

LittleBigPlanet 2 is a whole new game, so just like the original you get a full storyline for Sackboy to play thru. Add to that the endless possibilities of the evolved Create and Share modes, where you’ll see completely different gameplay experiences in the community levels.

CREATE tools

Can I electrify/set things on fire using switches and logic? What has happened to emitters in LBP2? Are they much easier to use? Has dissolve material changed? How many layers will there be and what different types?

Expect some lots more details about CREATE mode at this year’s E3.

I heard of custom Voice Acting. Confirm or Deny.

Confirm!

Sackbots

Does Sackbot have to look like a robot or can I change his form to any creature?

Nope, Sackbots are totally customizable, from their reactions to their clothing/skins.

Just to double check, we’ll be able to have evil Sackboys as bad guys?

There’s no such thing as an evil Sackboy – just some mischievious ones…Sackbots, on the other hand, can have a mind of their own.

Can you program Sackbots to activate swithces? *Example* giving them jobs on a pirate ship.

Stay tuned, we have a specific “Sackbots” feature planned in an upcoming LittleBigPlanet 2 post – we just hope you provide your Pirate Sackbots the proper minimum wages :)

General

I just saw the LBP2 box art pop up on Twitter…Why didn’t you guys post it here?

Glad you noticed, but don’t get too attached to that piece of art – It’s something we put together from the artwork created for an exclusive EDGE Magazine cover article. And while we love it, its definitely NOT final box art.

Are you guys going to be at E3? I hope so, every gamer in the world needs to see LBP2!

Of course we’ll be at E3, the bigger question is…will you?

Will there be a Sackboy costume contest again?

I sure hope so, we had so many great entries last time. And now that we have more fans and more people familiar with what can be done, we can’t imagine how creative you guys can get. Stay tuned.

Will there be any pre-order goodies?

Yup. Expect announcements later down the line. We have to make sure all the “i”s are dotted and “t”s are crossed.

What is the name of the song on the video. I can’t get it out of my mind!

The song “Sleepyhead” is from the group Passion Pit. And we’re glad you all like it!

Hopefully this will answer a lot of questions out there, if not, feel free to ask and we’ll start up another FAQ session…

We talk about patches and stuff.

Party game is first to feature unique voice calibration system.

#nomoreclothing Behold the ultimate touchdown for fans of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, as three lingerie designs from the game become reality. More »

But don't take our word for it, comrade.

#blizzard Blizzard has rolled out the first phase of the remote World of Warcraft auction house, allowing players to browse auctions on the web or via iPhone, with subscription-based bidding and auctioning coming soon. More »

#alanwake Alan Wake is not like Heavy Rain, Halo Reach, God of War III, Splinter Cell: Conviction or any of the other big 2010 games that are not named for their star character. That's intentional. More »

#clips Children's choirs and soloists have worked their way through the end song of Valve's great puzzle game Portal, but this is the first rendition of seen of it played on what appears to be a classical guitar. More »

According to Siliconera, this week's edition of Famitsu outed Namco Bandai's current project: A frantic, Bayonetta-esque action game titled Knights Contract. You play as the titular, scythe wielding soldier named Heinrich, who must slay groups of gruesome enemies while protecting Gretchen, a witch who has cursed you with immortality. Why are you protecting the witch who put a curse on you? We have no idea. Probably because she's pretty, and you're a knight?

If that sounds like a winning combination, you can check out the debut trailer for the game just past the jump. Right now, it's only slated for a 2011 release on 360 and PS3 in Japan, but we think fighting monsters with agricultural hand tools is a concept the whole world will be able to get behind.

Sega has announced a second game for people who bought that $300 Xbox 360 twin stick controller. Now it's totally a worthwhile investment!

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force is a port of the latest arcade Virtual-On title, which adds 2-on-2 battles to the usual robot-fighting formula. The Xbox 360 version will allow players to meet up online or pit their Virtuaroids against one another offline in split-screen. The main gameplay mode in team battles involves assigning the position of "Leader" to one player on each team, who must be defeated for the opposing team to win. Players can protect the leader (or either teammate) with a health-sharing "Rescue Dash" move.

Virtual-On Force will be released in Japan this winter -- on a disc, unlike the recent port of Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram.

[Via Famitsu]

#screengrab As seen at Disney's pre-E3 event in Los Angeles this week. More »

EA isn't the only company to hit on the idea of a one-time-use code for online play of sports games. THQ is penalizing used sales of UFC Undisputed 2010 in exactly the same way -- and, since Undisputed will be in stores next week, THQ is even beating EA to it.

Pastapadre discovered that copies of Undisputed will include a code on the back page of the instruction manual, required for online play. THQ confirmed the existence of the codes in a statement to Destructoid, adding that "Codes for accessing the content will be available for second-time buyers for an additional $5." So, right now, THQ is winning the price war in terms of online play privileges. Well, not counting all those companies that let even second-hand buyers play games online without additional chrages (for now).

Hi again everyone. A few weeks ago I introduced you to Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype. Today, I’ll explain you some of its unique features and give you another look at the game in action.

If some of you think back of good old shmups released in the 80s and 90s (or even some newer ones that are still popular mostly in Japan nowadays), you may not only remember their glory but also the often extremely difficult trial & error gameplay attached to it.

While some of you may surely fancy a tough challenge, for others such experience may have resulted into pure frustration. Therefore with Söldner-X 2 we have been pioneering and invented a dynamic play rank system that is on the one hand designed to be fair and attractive to new players, yet on the other hand challenging and rewarding for those who like to invest more time and get the maximum out of the game.

Basically the play rank system measures the player’s performance and automatically adjusts the game’s play rank (which is something like a dynamic difficulty). On a lower rank you will consequently encounter less enemies and bullets and have more overall room for error. On the contrary, when your games improves and you are reaching higher play ranks, the game automatically becomes tougher.

Like I said earlier, a higher play rank will be more rewarding. Play ranks are measured in eight steps, each one of them linked to a score multiplier. Depending on the circumstances, you can achieve multipliers ranging between x1 (on the lowest rank) and x96 (on the highest rank). Your high scores and a replay file associated to the score can be uploaded to our server for online ranking. You can also download and watch replays from other users to improve your own play (or to simply wonder “how on Earth did he do that?”)

Creating replay value has been one of our main focuses during development, so you can expect really lots and lots of unlockables in Söldner-X 2. Apart from continuing your hunt for more trophies, you will be able to unlock new stages, weapons (there are a total of 15 different weapons in this game!), playerships and additional credits once you process through the game. There are also prestigious awards, including a special medal that is displayed next to your name in our online ranking tables upon completion of a pretty tough challenge.

Speaking about challenges, most of the hidden elements in the game can be unlocked through the challenge mode. While you progress through the game, a total of up to 17 challenges will eventually become available for you to take on.

In challenge mode you will revisit parts of the game with certain criteria linked to each challenge. For instance, how about playing the first three stages of the game without losing any ships? Or how about dashing through the game on the highest play rank? Well, in here you have to be prepared for anything.

Also, you should prepare yourself to finally download and play Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype soon: it’ll be available next Tuesday, May 25th only on the PlayStation Network.

At Square Enix's pre-E3 event yesterday, we got a chance to talk with Karl Stewart, global brand director for Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. We asked him about the reorganization inside the developer (which lead directly to the development of the already impressive Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light), its new approach to managing the Tomb Raider brand and how its new focus is affecting the way other Eidos studios work. We also got a taste of just how outside-the-box its new "experimental team" can go.

Joystiq: This reorganization all happened after the Square Enix acquisition?

Karl Stewart: We had actually been going through the shakeup at the studio prior to it, and really we had already presented that we knew we needed to make a drastic change for the studio and that continuing down the same path wasn't really going to cut it any longer. So Darryl Gallagher had taken over the studio at that time and he had some great ideas about how to sort of retool the studio, and it was around then that Square Enix came aboard, purchased us, so we presented our vision for it and they thought it was the right way to go. And as a result, we continued down that path.

This was after the release of Underworld?

Yeah, this was. Underworld had shipped, the DLC for 360 had already shipped and we just realized that when we started looking at our next game we knew that we needed to take a step back and build the next big title and it wasn't going to come year after year. That's been one of our frustrations: seeing the titles come out year after year after year, so we decided that was the end of that.

#ps3 Oh, no. You really won't. Well, maybe you will. Dunno! More »

#harmonix According to website JRock Revolution, the site has partnered with Rock Band developer Harmonix to poll its readers about which J-Rock acts it would like to see in Rock Band. More »

#clips So you're off to save the Princess, huh? Might want to think it over, side-scrolling platform hero. Because when you do save her, she may well be more trouble than it was worth. More »

#opinion In a piece over on Wired, Kira Greer speaks publicly about the depths of her obsession with Farmville. It makes her sound like a nutter, yes, but it also makes her sound like someone in need of something better. More »

#rockstar The last big Rockstar game, Grand Theft Auto IV, cost roughly US$100 million. More »

#clips Alright Ashcraft. I'll see your Japanese schoolgirl drumming and raise you a one-man bad, who is named after a classic 80's/90's adventure game series from Sierra. More »

#squareenix Japanese history is voluminous. And there have been huge changes. Just look at this past century! But domestic game company Square Enix and Yahoo! claim it will change Japanese history. More »

#rumor Virgin, the company owned and run by British gazillionaire Sir Richard Branson, will soon be getting back into the video game business, according to a report on trade site MCV. More »

#screengrab An oldie, but goodie. As seen by はちま起稿. More »

#ubisoft Assassin's Creed II, one of the games of 2009, is to be repackaged and resold as a "complete" edition, bundling the game along with its downloadable content, some of which is good, others, not so good. More »

#reddeadredemption The great thing about multi-platform games is that owners of different consoles get to play the same game. But what about when the game isn't exactly the same? More »

#nintendods And it's not for sales, but for something else entirely. More »

Remember when you first played the Rowing event in Wii Sports Resort, and wished that there was some way you could simulate the tactile feedback associated with dragging a paddle through water? Peripheral manufacturer CTA Digital, which brought us the 8-in-1 Wii Sports Kit, the Wii Remote Dumbell Set and the 9-in-1 Wii Sports Kit, has created a device which fills your very specific need: The Wii Rowing machine, currently available on Amazon for $34.99.

Check out a video demonstration of the peripheral after the jump. We know you're probably a little bit dubious, but what you don't know is that you can also use it to do sit-ups. It practically pays for itself, in the sense that having a tight, rippled abdomen counts as its own form of currency.

#squareenix Not bad, not bad at all. More »