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Above: The producers were classy enough to channel 9/11

Spencer Halpin, the director of 2009 documentary Moral Kombat, took a lot of flak from gamers for interviewing family values crusaders like Jack Thompson and David Walsh alongside industry representatives such as American McGee and Oddworld Inhabitants’ Lorne Lanning. For a long time the ire stemmed only from the widely circulated trailer, but now the entire movie’s available for free streaming for you to make up your own mind.

Halpin’s response to unappreciative gamers was that he didn’t make the movie for them. The idea was to present the issues to soccer moms and men-in-the-street who didn’t know the first thing about the debate, rather than long-time players who had too much skin in the game to feign objectivity. Besides, who’d have thought that a movie trailer would highlight the most shit-stirring aspects of the movie it was trying to lure audiences into seeing?

But if there’s one thing better than being talked to, it’s being talked about – so now that the entire movie’s viewable on Hulu (as well as iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network), you’ve basically got no excuse not to sit down and sort out the inconvenient truths from the tiresome scaremongering. At worst, you’ll find a few new Jack Thompson quotes to paste ironically into your forum signature, right?

Aug 11, 2010

Games you played as a kid that would be mature rated today
Forgotten violence and depravity from a supposedly more innocent age

The Top 7… Gory deaths in cutesy games
Disturbing images you were never meant to see

Games that would be better with a Mature rating
Because the best things in life are for grown-up

GamesRadar – Xbox Latest Stories

At an Apple event earlier today in San Francisco, Gears of War developer Epic Games dropped in to show the real purpose of the iPhone: to competitively shiv your friends wirelessly. We hear you scream from your computer, “By what method will I shiv them?! Please tell me!” Well, get a load of Project Sword, powered by the Unreal Engine itself and due out this holiday season.

Above: See? Two chummy pals shanking the hell out each other like God intended

Epic’s Mike Capps and Donald Mustard presented the first and third-person action game and its ability to quickly and remotely find competitors via the iPhone’s Game Center matchmaking service. After a brief period of showing the graphical prowess of the mobile game, the duo went at it in a display of developer tête-à-tête. Game Center achievements were also reportedly popping up as the two were playing.

Thank God. I mean, finally, a use for that wacky iPhone, amiright?

[Source: Kotaku]

Sep 1, 2010

iPhone Game of the day: Twin Blades
Here’s another nice way to chop things up on the iPhone

iPhone Game of the day: Fruit Ninja
Too timid to cut people? You’re in luck, because this game has plenty of melons

iPhone game of the day: Chaos Rings
Hey! It’s cutting up stuff with numbers involved! Genius! 

GamesRadar – PSP Latest Stories

We’ve PAXed our bags, called a PAXidriver, and we’re ready to down several six-PAX of boozey drinks! So… what we’re trying to say is… WE’RE GOING TO PAX THIS WEEKEND. And know what we want to do the most? Meet YOU, of course, both at our panel, and during a live, boozey recording of our stupid podcast, TalkRadar. So if you plan to be at gaming’s foremost celebratory celebration, then cure our crippling loneliness and come hang out with us. Please? We’ll be your best friends!*

See our schedule below!

*Genuine friendship not guaranteed.

Above: This is who will be there, only with less toppling over (we hope)

Saturday, 8 p.m.: Meet up with us at SEGA’s party at Gameworks** (1511 7th Avenue, Seattle, WA), which opens to the public at 8. We’ll (try to) record a live episode of TalkRadar, which you can participate in! Be famous!***

**18 and up, probably. It’ll fill up fast, so be there early!
***Fame is relative.

Sunday, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Join us for our first-ever PAX panel, “Ask a Games Journalist,” in the Unicorn Theater. GR Executive Editor Brett Elston, Senior Editor Mikel Reparaz, and PC Gamer EIC Logan Decker will be answering audience questions about anything and everything related to the art of gams jarnlasm. Here’s the summary:

How do I get a job in the games industry? What college degree should I pursue? Are games journalists on the take? How can anyone give Heavy Rain a 7/10? Walk up to the mic and ask away – we’ve assembled a team of industry professionals who are ready to field your questions. BTW, the answers are: Show up, Doesn’t matter, No, we barely have enough money for soup and rent, and Because it’s a story-driven game with a crappy story.

Above: Hey shut up this is Brett… telling you to come to PAX. Please. (Please.)

In the event that any of this changes, we’ll update you via GamesRadar’s Twitter account, so be sure to follow us! We may add meet-ups as we go, as well. Plans are for squares, man!

Sep 1, 2010

GamesRadar – Xbox 360 Latest Stories

The concept of Ivy the Kiwi is sound – a Kirby: Canvas Curse-style platformer where you guide an adorable bird through all manner of hazards. Ivy never stops walking, and you can’t control her directly. To get her to go where you want, you point with the remote while holding the A button to draw vines on the screen that she’ll walk on, which you can use in a number of ways.

Above: If you draw the vine even slightly too low, Ivy will turn around and run the other way 

Drawing a sloped vine in front of her lets her walk over otherwise impassible steps and pits (she can’t jump on her own), and you can even scoop her up and fling her forward by starting a vine near her and swinging it up behind her to push her. There’s also a slingshot mechanic where you hold the B button over a vine you’ve already created and pull it back while Ivy is on the vine to slingshot her through breakable blocks and enemies.

The problem is, the controls are much more suited to the DS than to the Wii. Drawing the vines often requires careful precision, where if you’re only a few pixels off in drawing your line Ivy won’t do what you want her to do. When it works and you pull off a string of awesome vines, Ivy flies through the level gracefully and it’s totally awesome. But when you draw one vine a tiny smidge too low and Ivy turns around and bumps into an enemy (and everything is a one-hit kill, by the way), it’s easy to get annoyed very quickly. The motion controls aren’t a deal-breaker, but the Wii version is definitely more awkward, more frustrating, and way more difficult (and not the good kind of difficult) than the DS version.

Above: Yes, each of these water droplets is a one-hit kill 

We’d totally embrace the difficulty level if it came from clever and challenging level design rather than awkward controls, but that isn’t the case here. Not to say the level design is bad by any stretch, but most of the 100 levels are designed to be remarkably straightforward if you’re not going for collectibles – 10 feathers are scattered throughout each level to collect – and incredibly difficult if you are trying to get all of them.

Aside from the difficult motion controls, the actual mechanic of using vines to guide little Ivy through each level works well. The most rewarding part of playing Ivy the Kiwi is discovering how to use the vine mechanic on your own – the game definitely doesn’t over-tutorialize you, which is a frequent crime in modern games, especially games with such as novel mechanic as Ivy’s. When you first start drawing vines, your instinct might be to just draw simple slopes to lead Ivy above obstacles, but there’s actually a lot more you can do by creatively moving the vine around Ivy as you draw it. Big kudos to Ivy the Kiwi for not killing the joy of discovery by overexplaining.

Above: You can have three vines going at any given time  

As for the multiplayer, don’t bother. It’s a simple splitscreen race to see who can finish each level faster, where each player can also draw vines on the other players’ screens to mess them up. The splitscreen exacerbates the already annoying control issues, and unless you have a truly massive TV screen, playing with more than two players is prohibitively annoying.

That’s not to say that this game isn’t a good choice to play with a friend – we’d actually highly recommend playing the main single player game and just take turns handing the controller back and forth. That way, the inherent stress of babysitting a kiwi that never stops running and your inevitable annoyance at the controls will be mitigated by being able to take a break when you want to.

Sept 1, 2010

GamesRadar – Wii Latest Stories

At an Apple event earlier today in San Francisco, Gears of War developer Epic Games dropped in to show the real purpose of the iPhone: to competitively shiv your friends wirelessly. We hear you scream from your computer, “By what method will I shiv them?! Please tell me!” Well, get a load of Project Sword, powered by the Unreal Engine itself and due out this holiday season.

Above: See? Two chummy pals shanking the hell out each other like God intended

Epic’s Mike Capps and Donald Mustard presented the first and third-person action game and its ability to quickly and remotely find competitors via the iPhone’s Game Center matchmaking service. After a brief period of showing the graphical prowess of the mobile game, the duo went at it in a display of developer tête-à-tête. Game Center achievements were also reportedly popping up as the two were playing.

Thank God. I mean, finally, a use for that wacky iPhone, amiright?

[Source: Kotaku]

Sep 1, 2010

iPhone Game of the day: Twin Blades
Here’s another nice way to chop things up on the iPhone

iPhone Game of the day: Fruit Ninja
Too timid to cut people? You’re in luck, because this game has plenty of melons

iPhone game of the day: Chaos Rings
Hey! It’s cutting up stuff with numbers involved! Genius! 

GamesRadar – PC Latest Stories

When Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux talks, people listen. His enthusiasm for games and RPGs is infectious, making it easy to get excited when Molyneux is talking up an upcoming Fable game. The designer’s zeal for promoting his latest projects has gotten him in trouble at times, earning him a reputation as an exaggerator, a teller of tall tales who makes promises that his games can’t keep. But even though every Fable game developed under his lead has received overwhelmingly positive reviews and was well received, Molyneux always seems more than willing to speak candidly and critically about his titles’ shortcomings. That’s what we admire about him. And that’s why we thought we’d pit Molyneux against his toughest critic of all: himself. So join us on a trip through time as we remember the joys of optimistic pre-release excitement, tempered by sharp post-release apologies and regrets…

Before Fable released

“[Fable] is going to be the best game ever.”

– Peter Molyneux, 2003

“Children, your own children, are significant, very much so. But that’s all I’ll say about that for now.”

– Peter Molyneux 2003

“Ah yes, the Force Push. It’s one of the first spells we designed actually, and one of the best.

– Peter Molyneux, 2003 Responding when asked if it will really be possible to push an opponent’s skeleton right out of their body.

“Everything I have said about Fable is absolutely true. Yes you can get married, yes you will have children, but the whole thing must follow the main story. It’s an RPG.”
– Peter Molyneux 2003

Useless Fact: The first Fable was called Project Ego during the early stages of development.

After Fable released

“In Fable we didn’t really spend enough time on the story.”

– Peter Molyneux, 2006

“If I have mentioned any feature in the past which, for whatever reason, didn’t make it as I described into Fable, I apologize. Every feature I have ever talked about WAS in development, but not all made it. Often the reason is that the feature did not make sense. For example, three years ago I talked about trees growing as time past. The team did code this but it took so much processor time (15%) that the feature was not worth leaving in. That 15 % was much better spent on effects and combat. So nothing I said was groundless hype, but people expecting specific features which couldn’t be included were of course disappointed. If that’s you, I apologize. All I can say is that Fable is the best game we could possibly make, and that people really seem to love it.”

– Peter Molyneux, 2007

“I think the first mistake with Fable 1 was that I really mistook the idea of game features as goodness. I just stuffed it full of game features and didn’t think about the mechanics of those features or how to explain them to people or how to exploit them in the story. I can remember going into meetings three months before the game was on the shelves and saying, ‘I’ve just had this brilliant idea, why don’t we do this?’ That was just insane, man.”
– Peter Molyneux, 2010

GamesRadar – Xbox Latest Stories

We’ve PAXed our bags, called a PAXidriver, and we’re ready to down several six-PAX of boozey drinks! So… what we’re trying to say is… WE’RE GOING TO PAX THIS WEEKEND. And know what we want to do the most? Meet YOU, of course, both at our panel, and during a live, boozey recording of our stupid podcast, TalkRadar. So if you plan to be at gaming’s foremost celebratory celebration, then cure our crippling loneliness and come hang out with us. Please? We’ll be your best friends!*

See our schedule below!

*Genuine friendship not guaranteed.

Above: This is who will be there, only with less toppling over (we hope)

Saturday, 8 p.m.: Meet up with us at SEGA’s party at Gameworks** (1511 7th Avenue, Seattle, WA), which opens to the public at 8. We’ll (try to) record a live episode of TalkRadar, which you can participate in! Be famous!***

**18 and up, probably. It’ll fill up fast, so be there early!
***Fame is relative.

Sunday, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Join us for our first-ever PAX panel, “Ask a Games Journalist,” in the Unicorn Theater. GR Executive Editor Brett Elston, Senior Editor Mikel Reparaz, and PC Gamer EIC Logan Decker will be answering audience questions about anything and everything related to the art of gams jarnlasm. Here’s the summary:

How do I get a job in the games industry? What college degree should I pursue? Are games journalists on the take? How can anyone give Heavy Rain a 7/10? Walk up to the mic and ask away – we’ve assembled a team of industry professionals who are ready to field your questions. BTW, the answers are: Show up, Doesn’t matter, No, we barely have enough money for soup and rent, and Because it’s a story-driven game with a crappy story.

Above: Hey shut up this is Brett… telling you to come to PAX. Please. (Please.)

In the event that any of this changes, we’ll update you via GamesRadar’s Twitter account, so be sure to follow us! We may add meet-ups as we go, as well. Plans are for squares, man!

Sep 1, 2010

GamesRadar – DS Latest Stories

At a media event in Berlin, Sony has announced a new music service which will allow users to download and play songs directly from their PS3 and PSPs. This comes a couple years after Sony completely crashed and burned with its previous service, Connect, which also encouraged PSP connectivity. Did it learn from its mistakes?

The new service is called Music Unlimited, and it will allow users to access their music library from “the cloud” on any advanced Sony device. This includes Bravia TVs, Sony Ericsson phones, Blu-ray players, and the PS3/PSP systems.

Above: A shot from Engadget, taken during Sony’s reveal

This is all part of a giant initiative from Sony to bring multimedia services across a range of its internet-connected devices – the entire service is called Qriocity and will also include streaming video. So what’s the master plan? Well, obviously, it’s for you to buy every single one of your electronic devices from Sony. And if you don’t, Sony will hunt you down. Maybe.

The Music Unlimited service will apparently have millions of songs available right out of the gate. We are, of course, a bit skeptical after the Connect debacle. After all, hundreds of thousands of users found their entire library of purchased songs unusable the last time they paid Sony for digital music. Yes, I’m a bitter ex-Connect user myself, if you were wondering.

Above: Sony’s old Connect service. If you don’t recognize this, consider yourself lucky

The Qriocity service is available immediately on Sony Bravia devices in the UK and is expected to make its way across all devices and all regions in the coming months.

What we’d really like to see are more video game soundtracks available on the PS3. We won’t hold our breath for that, though.

[Source: Engadget]

Sep 1, 2010

German man sings pop while dressed as Master Chief, hilarity ensues 
If you only see one pop video from the Fatherland today, make it this one

The coolest secret video game music 
Audio wonders most people never hear

The 10 cheesiest songs about videogames 
Gaming and music collide in train wreck of deliciously awful audio

GamesRadar – PSP Latest Stories

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Handbags(Coach lv fendi d&g) $ 33

Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $ 16

Jean(True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $ 30

Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci) $ 12

New era cap $ 9

Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $ 18

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GamesRadar – Xbox 360 Latest Stories

With each new console comes a promise of gorgeous new worlds, brilliant new level design and, best of all, genres and concepts we never could have predicted. The first time you sit down with your new machine is a treasured day of pure discovery, for in that brief moment everything is fresh again. Provided, that is, you chose the correct game from the launch lineup.

Not all launch games are equal. Oftentimes the games that help kick off a console are gussied-up versions of the same stuff we’ve been playing, or cash-grabbing releases meant to capitalize on the launch day fervor. But somewhere in the pile is the gem, the one game that encapsulates everything that’s great about your expensive new piece of hardware. And here we’ve narrowed down the best of the best.

7 – Wii Sports (Wii, 2006)

Groan as much as you want. That won’t change the fact Wii Sports jump-started Nintendo’s sagging business and made the Wii console a worldwide, cross-audience hit in a way that Twilight Princess simply could not. Wii Sports was the ideal companion piece for the motion-controlled console, providing a perfect jumping-on point for people who hadn’t played a game in years, as well as a damn fun party game regardless of your “hardcore” status.

Above: Plus you can thank it for all the lifestyle images that are so fun to deface 

Today, it’s hard to look at Wii Sports as one of the best launch games, mainly because of the glut of poorly thought out copycats that flooded the system months later, plus the lackluster delivery of future motion-heavy games. Wii Sports led us to believe there would be inventive new ways of controlling games on the way, but all we got were minigame compilations and, years later, Wii MotionPlus to make the Wii Remote behave as it was originally pitched to us. But none of these subsequent truths make our inaugural months with Wii Sports any less desirable, so as far as making us feel like our day-one purchase was worth it, Wii Sports totally delivered.

6 – Lumines (PSP, 2005)

Accurately described as “Tetris in a disco shirt,” Lumines took the dead-simple gameplay of a block-breaking puzzle game and slathered it in enough neon lights to make it visible from space. Granted, the guts were more or less like any other puzzler (clear blocks before they pile up), but the flashy presentation and genius use of reactive dance music made it feel far cooler than any Tetris clone we’d played before. As the video illustrates, the music wasn’t just there to bore its way into your brain. Each time you clear a chunk of blocks there’s an added layer of aural pleasure, with various dings and beeps signifying your continued success.

Above: Pure bliss

This combination of club-quality music, dazzling visuals and habit-forming gameplay was impossible on any prior handheld, making this the ideal launch title for a new portable system, more so than any other PSP game on the shelf that day (Wipeout and Twisted Metal were great, but they were still shrunken-down console games). Lumines was a clever, beautiful stab at the puzzle genre, one that was every bit as addictive as Tetris, so it’s sad that the brand was diminished by three sequels in just one year.

GamesRadar – Xbox Latest Stories