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    WB thinks Scribblenauts will have 'Layton appeal'

    September 17, 2009 - 9:30am


    Warner Bros. says it's counting on Scribblenauts to start a new puzzle franchise, getting a taste of the same success that a certain top-hatted DS puzzler has enjoyed. "What Scribblenauts offers is something akin to Nintendo's Professor Layton - an addictive and challenging game that has real mass-market appeal all wrapped up in a uniquely stylised package," said WB marketing manager Phil Lamb. He seems to be making a logical argument until dropping this bon mot: "Many forum users are saying the game is the biggest incentive they've had to revisit their dormant DS in a long time." So ... umm ... did they not know Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box was out or what?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    5TH Cell: Scribblenauts' scandalous-looking 'sambo' item is a misunderstanding

    September 16, 2009 - 11:30pm

    Reader Zachary spotted a rather unfortunate term in Scribblenauts entirely by accident: "sambo," which summons ... a watermelon. We thought there was no way 5TH Cell would intentionally hide racist, or even racially charged, imagery in its game, so we contacted creative director Jeremiah Slaczka to figure out what happened.It turns out that like Zachary's discovery, the item was an unfortunate accident. Slaczka explained to Joystiq that "sambo" is used in the game as an alternate term for "fig leaf gourd," an ingredient in the Ecuadorian dish fanesca. "Sambo" is the local term for the gourd. As for the watermelon-like appearance? "We reuse art," he said. "Fig leaf gourd looks a lot like a watermelon. It's just an alternative name in a giant list of tens of thousands of names."Slaczka noted, offering evidence to the contrary of calls of racism, that many of the human characters in the game, including the fireman, winemaker, and dancer, manifest as black, as does "Brandon," the in-game representation of a 5TH Cell "wordsmith" (one of the employees tasked with finding words for the database), who is of course black in real life. He also mentioned Isaiah, a major character in the developer's last game Lock's Quest. We must admit, a random, potentially slightly embarrassing art/word pairing in the game seems a lot more likely to us than endemic racism expressed through antiquated epithets. Slaczka told us he didn't even know "sambo" (the slur, not the gourd) until tonight.Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Beatles: Rock Band sales exceeding expectations, Viacom says

    September 16, 2009 - 9:00pm


    When Viacom's CEO, Philippe Dauman, says that The Beatles: Rock Band sales have "exceeded internal expectations," we have to imagine that he doesn't have his top expectations men on the job. If we had been asked for our expectations of a game featuring the most popular band of all time, we would have simply pointed toward www.mythirdyacht.com and been on our way. What's actually a surprise from an IndustryGamers report on the matter is that even in our crummy economy, it's the $250 version of the game -- bundled with all the instruments -- that's performing so well that Dauman says he expects a sellout by November.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    First vestiges of a Trace Memory sequel discussed

    September 16, 2009 - 6:30pm

    Another Code R, the Wii sequel to Trace Memory, isn't out in North America yet (and nobody's mentioned anything about it ever coming out), but the gears are turning at Cing regarding storyline elements for a sequel. Cing's Rika Suzuki told Cubed3 that the character "Matt" still has a story that has yet to be finished, and that the character has "a grand future ahead of him from which to use as source material."Suzuki also said that all of this story would be "expressed through the world of Another Code, including how his friendship develops with Ashley and more on the story of his father, Michael." While that could mean spinoff novels or something, the likeliest explanation is more video games![Via GoNintendo]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Try to muster some excitement for Resident Evil 0

    September 16, 2009 - 5:30pm

    Capcom has released a trailer for the Wii version of Resident Evil 0, a GameCube title which was itself a prequel to Resident Evil -- though it was released long after the original. Oh, and the game has already been out in Japan for over a year. If you're confused at all, don't be. Just remember one thing: Other than added support for the Classic Controller and the Wii remote plus Nunchuk, the game is identical to the already available, and backwards compatible, GameCube version. Keep in mind, by "added support," we don't mean enhanced controls -- there's no pointer support or anything. Try to get excited for its impending winter release. We dare you.Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Nintendo spins off 'Mario Club' quality control team

    September 16, 2009 - 5:15pm


    Today's Nikkei newspaper reveals (via Inside Games) that Kyoto-based Nintendo is looking to mix things up in its quality control department, by turning it into a separate subsidiary: Mario Club. Not to be confused with Club Nintendo, the role of the subsidiary will be to test play and debug games -- y'know, like every other QA team in existence.Aside from the great name, the Mario Club will also be a public entity, meaning that one day you non-blogger types could very well purchase some stock in the company. Of course, we would never be able to, thanks to that party-pooper, ethics. That guy just has a way of sucking all of the fun out of the room. [Via Andriasang]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Nick Mason: We'd consider Pink Floyd Rock Band or Guitar Hero

    September 16, 2009 - 1:45pm


    Despite how some musicians feel about music 'n' rhythm games, Pink Floyd drummer (and part-time T-Zero agent) Nick Mason isn't entirely ruling it out for his band. With The Beatles: Rock Band having just released, the BBC asked him if we could be seeing a Pink Floyd Rock Band or Guitar Hero game, to which he replied, "I think we'd consider it." While he isn't a big supporter of the genre (he thinks it deters kids from learning real instruments, just like other celebs do), he did add, "Everyone's looking at new ways of selling the music because the business of selling records has almost disappeared." Especially those vinyl ones, which (gasp!) weren't even interactive.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Euro Wii 'Ambassadors' to receive keys to the Virtual Console

    September 16, 2009 - 12:15pm


    Eager to show its disconnected patrons that their Wiis can do more than Wii Sports -- you don't even have to eject the disc! -- Nintendo has appointed pretty much anyone in Europe savvy enough to visit Wii's Connection Settings menu an "Ambassador." Here's how the "Connection Ambassador Promotion" works: Beginning in October (as seen in Japan), if you help another Wii owner establish an online connection, you and your incompetent friend will both receive five Nintendo bucks (500 Wii Points). (Presumably, when connecting for the first time, there will be an option to credit an Ambassador.)And if you extend your services to the maximum of twenty previously offline console owners? You're looking at a 10,000-point payout ($100 worth of old games you probably have tucked away in cart form, plus all those WiiWare options) -- not bad, eh?But wait! There's a more tempting perk to this promotion. As Ambassador, once you connect ten users, you'll achieve "gold status" and be free to download all first-party NES titles on Virtual Console. Oh, but it gets far better: Hit your twenty connections and -- you guessed it -- you've attained "platinum status," essentially granting you the keys to Nintendo's Virtual Console catalog. That's right, all first- and third-party NES, SNES and N64 games -- for free.Quick! Google map the twenty nearest old folks homes and get ambassadoring!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Konami announces DSiWare puzzle-platformer 'Reflection'

    September 16, 2009 - 11:47am

    click for gallery
    Konami has decided to dip its massive toes into the murky waters of the DSiWare platform with Reflection, a downloadable puzzle-platformer designed to invoke the handheld's dual-screen capabilities. In the game, you play as Kirra, an adventurer on a journey to recover a broken magic mirror. Actually, you play as Kirra's good and evil halves simultaneously on the two screens -- a nasty side-effect of the aforementioned mirror-breaking. Though the game's art (seen in the gallery below) isn't exactly stunning, that concept actually sounds pretty neat. According to the game's press release announcement, it's set to drop this fall, so we should be seeing Reflection in the DSi Shop soon. We also expect to see it in a snow-covered hill, shortly before the landslide brings us down. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Interplay bringing ClayFighter to WiiWare and DSiWare

    September 16, 2009 - 9:30am


    Of all the classic franchises we expected to be resurrected, ClayFighter was right up there with Aero the Acrobat. But we suppose there's room for everyone at the table, as Interplay has announced that they'll be bringing the bulbous brawler to WiiWare and DSiWare. Crafted by some of the team behind the original game (now operating under the name StudioBlack Games), the updates will sport revamped graphics and gameplay.

    It's due in summer of 2010, so hopefully you have plenty of time to recommit Ickybod Clay's move set to memory.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments