Jugaccino

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is one of the most controversial games of recent times and it comes to Nintendo DS sometime in winter. Those lucky git’s at Edge Magazine have got to play with the game, and have a sit down with RockStar’s vice president Dan Houser.

The DS version of the GTA game world uses a new three-quarter view of Liberty City, and is scaled considerably in relation to the original console games, but fear not, NPC’s still wander around the streets, drive their cars, and talk to each other.

The level of detail is apparently excellent, with fences and lampposts sitting waiting to be knocked over, a day/night cycle and a random weather system.

Houser said that the games cell-shaded visual style “helps with figuring out what you’re doing”.

“The characters on foot are exaggerated for the very simple reason of being able to inject them with character when viewed from above,” says Houser. “It just isn’t as fun otherwise… I think now it’s more explosive and fun than it ever was before. Part of that is simply an issue of clarity, so the explosions are really powerful, and the firefights look great.”

It appears the drug-dealing mini game rumours have been proen true, and although Houser said the team were nervous about harming the games seamless nature, “we realized that the guys at Leeds had nailed them – they worked really well with what the hardware can do.”

Along with dealing crack and pills, you can also ‘borrow’ fuel from petrol station pumps to make some Molotov cocktails, hotwire cars with a screwdriver, and even tattooing with yur stylus.

It sounds cool to me, but no doubt the media will not ‘get it’ and a “ban this filth” campaign will be started by the Sun newspaper but as Houser said: Its not for kids.

“No one disagreed with Sam’s very clear edict that GTA has to be an M rating. It can’t be softened to make it family-friendly – that’s not the game we’re making… We wanted the cutscenes to feel like they are almost like from a classic arcade game – then, when the characters are talking about something that is horrendous or funny or ridiculous, that juxtaposition felt very cool to us. It’s almost like GTA in another environment.

“Nintendo wanted us to make GTA, and we wanted to make a game on their platform. They didn’t want us to make a GTA for kids, and we weren’t interested in making a game we wouldn’t normally make. I mean, GTA is about stealing cars and shooting people – how could it not be an 18 rating? You couldn’t do GTA without that 18 – it wouldn’t feel like it’s supposed to feel. I think Nintendo are excited to have a game unlike any other on their hardware, a game that might pull in an audience that want the content that maybe they aren’t being offered at the moment.”

It’s good to hear Rockstar aren’t bowing to pressure from uptight snobs, and I’m glad Nintendo is sticking by them. I like a lot of the world are waiting for this game – so hurry up and release it dammit!!

Perhaps proving the case that gamers are never satisfied, Sony has come under fire from a barrage of angry blogger’s who say that the new PSP 3000’s ultra-bright screen increases the visibility of scan lines during game play. It’s got so bad, that Sony have had to release a statement on the issue.

Sony Statement: “On some occasions, scan lines may appear on scenes where brightness changes drastically, due to the hardware features of the new LCD device on PSP 3000.

“Installed with this new LCD device, PSP 3000 offers more natural and vibrant colours on its screen, but the scan lines have come out to be more visible as a result of improving response time to alleviate the afterimages on PSP 3000. Since this is due to hardware specification, there are no plans for a system software update concerning this issue.”

What dies this mean? We’ll if you traded your PSP 2000 in for a shiny new one, you have to suck it up and move on, because Sony doesn’t look very willing to fix the problem.

In all honesty a few little lines here and there don’t entirely spoil the gaming experience, and changing the colour settings to ‘normal’ from ‘colour space’ should alleviate the glitchyness – but it will make you feel like you’re playing an old PSP so can’t help feeling hard-done by.

Sony have often been left picking up their teeth after a shoddy hardware release, but in all honesty most game console manufacturers have struggled with their hardware demons. Microsoft’s now infamous “Red ring of Death”, which I myself have experienced – twice – has not stopped gamers shelling out near £200 on a console, so it shouldn’t affect the PSP 3000’s launch too badly.

With each new console release with Nintendo, we’ve come to expect either a new and improved Mario game, or one featuring our pointy-eared, green clad friend: Zelda. But with the new Nintendo DSi, our dreams of a shiny new title have been shattered because for once – they have no plans.

Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo’s vice president of sales and marketing stated in an interview with Wired that they have “no plans, no announcements” for new DSi software.

She added: “As we’ve historically done, you’ll see us do interesting things with software to take advantage of the hardware capabilities. As Mr Iwata [Nintendo’s president] talked about last night, this new memo pad is one of the cool technologies. It’s not necessarily a game, but it certainly enables people to act as an animator and use their photographs in an interesting and entertaining way.”

So from what she’s said it looks like Nintendo will only let us play with the new download store, internet browser and its two shoddy cameras. But it makes sense that the company would keep new releases down to a minimum while they phase out the original DS. Games are still selling, and it gives the company time to ‘big-up’ its new handhelds features.

However, as a gamer, I have to admit to disappointment. I think that a new browser, online store and camera are ok, but as I’ve mentioned before – I have them on my iPhone already, and the old DS has not got quite enough games to keep me totally happy. Like everyone else, I want more from the games giant. So it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see what Nintendo do next.

Nokia has announced the top ten finalists in this year’s Mobile Games Innovation Challenge.

On October 29th, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive prizes of EURO40,000, Euro20,000 and EURO 10,000 respectively, an be invited to the Nokia Games Summit in Rome to collect their prize. The list of finalists is below, with a description of each developer’s idea:

Active Technologia e Consultoria Ltda. (Brazil) – Cinemarena: You control film stars’ Avatars in a movie theatre.

CreatePlayShare (India) – Ball: Play any ball game on your mobile, with the option of building your own game.

Different Game (Sweden) – Ghost Wire: Communicate with ghosts via your mobile

Eclipse Interactive (UK) – Watchers: Adventure game that uses Nokia Maps and tools to find real world locations.

Int13 (France) – Kweekies: virtual pet game

Jadestone (Sweden) and C4M (France) – Melokey: music title that has you learning songs, and playing against computer controlled opponents to win over fans.

LemonQuest (Spain) – Wave Pirates: Navigate the oceans looking for treasure, and fights

Onur Yazilim (Turkey) – Comet Hunter: 2-D shooting game that uses sound effects made by the user.

SimLife (China) – Xdancery: Touchscreen Music game. Shake the handset to hit the right notes.

TechnoBubble (Spain) -Fun Cam: a mixed reality game that connects your camera on your mobile device to the TV

“The Mobile Games Innovation Challenge has demonstrated the huge potential of this industry on a global level, and the innovation that can be applied to mobile games,” said Dr Mark Ollila, director of games publishing at Nokia.

“We’ve seen some groundbreaking ideas and some really unique concepts. It just goes to show how many creative minds there are out there and it really looks like we’re going to set out what we wanted to achieve with this Challenge - to rock the industry.”

Remember a couple of years back when the PSP came out and a (over) confident Sony proclaimed that UMD disks would revolutionise the way we watch movies on a games machine?

Well I’m sure they’d like to forget that. iPhone and iPod Touch moved in to tell people how it was going down, and it looked like the writing was on the wall.

The announcement of the PSP 3000’s digital download service must have got UMD manufacturers a little worried about their future, but according to Sony, they have nothing to fear.

Zeno Colaço, vice president of publisher and developer relations for Sony Europe, defended the UMD’s staying power when asked if UMD’s time is over:

“Absolutely not,” he said. “We’ve just released the PSP 3000 so we’re hardly going to be introducing a piece of hardware at the same time as we’re dropping support for UMD. It’s a case of recognising that consumers and content creators want the option of both digital distribution and UMD.”

Sony have a reputation for seeing things through, even if in this writers opinion – its fruitless. UMD is here to stay as far as they are concerned.

It’s fair to say that EA Mobile is doing well in the mobile gaming landscape. With Spore Origins, Boom Blox and Tetris Pop doing well, they seem to have hit their stride with the release of SimCity: Metropolis.

The new game certainly borrows elements from its predecessor SimCity: Societies, but according to producer Oliver Proulx, adds far more depth to the franchise.

“SimCity Societies was really a casual game when you think about it,” he says. “It was less about building a big city, and more about your management style and decisions, and the moral behind those decisions. With the new game, we wanted to get back to building a big city while keeping the casual gameplay that we think worked pretty well in Societies.”

The game puts you in charge of a small, but massively industrious town, and tasks you with the building of a bustling metropolis.

“You really feel like your city is growing,” he says. “And we’ve managed to cram in close to 120 buildings, with about 40 in each district. At the end of some scenarios you get to unlock hero buildings which have a big impact on your city. So there’s a lot of depth to it.”

Proulx says there have been a few improvements in the graphics engine to make the game feel more realistic.

“We’ve added cars moving round, little construction animations and other things so the game feels a bit more alive,” says Proulx.

“The three districts look pretty different too. The industrial area looks a bit dirty and polluted, at least initially, while the commercial district has more banks and huge condo centres. The residential district has more cafes, shops and little houses. Societies felt more like a suburb, but this game feels like a real city.”

The humorous elements that made the games predecessors great to play are still present, with aliens, superheros and a mad scientist who regularly blows buildings to pieces: “It’s not a big effect, since you have such a large city, so it’s funny to see it happen,” says Proulx.

EA Mobile is hoping that SimCity Metropolis will have as wide an appeal as possible, taking in both newbies and SimCity veterans.

“We wanted to come back to the roots of the franchise a little bit,” says Proulx. “Hardcore SimCity players might prefer this game to Societies, because it’s much more about building this big city. But we hope that the easy game mechanics, the storyline and the quirky events will appeal to casual gamers too.”

EDISON, N.J., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Majesco Entertainment Company , an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced Left Brain Right Brain 2 for Nintendo DS(TM). Developed by Kokolo Corporation, Left Brain Right Brain 2 helps players develop their ambidexterity by using both hands to play all-new mental training games that have an updated graphic presentation.

The Left Brain Right Brain game series is designed to equally train a player’s weak and dominant hands via logic-based mini-games that require players to rotate the DS in book style play. In Left Brain Right Brain 2, players use the Touch Screen in 20 new games based on speed, accuracy, association, recognition, memory and strategy. Games like Balloon Attack, Block Buster, Cosmic Seesaw and Space Escape, among others, strengthen the left and right hemispheres of the brain by making players switch hands throughout play.

Afterwards, players can monitor personal progress and assess improvement by reviewing development percentages for each hand. Gamers can also tailor their favorite mental-training routine in the new Exercises mode, while testing ‘good’ and ‘weak’ hands via three random games in Ambidexterity Check. Finally, players can compete with a friend in both single and multi-card multiplayer mode to prove who has the mental skills to be truly ambidextrous.

Left Brain Right Brain 2 for Nintendo DS(TM) is expected to release this December. For additional information about Majesco’s exciting line of products, please visit: www.majescoentertainment.com.

About Majesco Entertainment Company

Majesco Entertainment Company is a provider of video games for the mass market. Building on 20 years of operating history, the company is focused on developing and publishing a wide range of casual and family oriented video games on leading console and portable systems. Product highlights include Nancy Drew(TM), Cooking Mama(TM) and Cake Mania(R) 2 for Nintendo DS(TM) and Cooking Mama: Cook Off for Wii(TM). The company’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol: COOL. Majesco is headquartered in Edison, NJ and has an international office in Bristol, UK. More information about Majesco can be found online at www.majescoentertainment.com.

There is a bizarre collection of “serious” games and comic fans who like to go to conventions. Nout wrong with that I hear you cry and I have to agree, but cosplay is an entirely different level.

If you happen to be in London on October 25th and feel like breaking a world record, then grab your mask, your cape and your pansy red booties for the opening day of the London Games Festival, and enter the cosplay record breaking attempt.

The record was set at a (let be honest here) pretty lame 80 people, so but don’t think you can jump in with your bat utility belt and start swinging from the roof tops - there are rules.

• Your character must come from a film, tv show, book or comic
• However, your character must have starred in a video game before appearing in other media

This basically means that you could go as Sonic because he was a games character, before being a comic book one. If you want to go Batman, however, you need to read up on your game knowledge….he wasn’t a video game character until 1986, but he started life in a 1939 comic book series.

So if you really want to look like a bit of a numpty, head to the London Excel Centre on October 25th for 12.30 lunchtime and wait outside the entrance. You’ll be unlikely to miss the cue at the door.

Just make sure you take your Sonic packed-lunch box and your Mario flask and remember how cool everyone thinks you look.

An increasing number of industry players in the value chain will help push 3D virtual worlds into a sustainable industry, reaching 33 million registered users by 2013, according to Virtual Worlds: the Internet of Avatars. This new report from Parks Associates details the evolution of the virtual world value chain, which has added a variety of different companies and providers in its relatively short period of existence.

“3D virtual world platform companies, world operators, and full-service agencies form the core of the virtual world ecosystem, providing services to consumers, media companies, advertisers, and enterprises,” said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, Director, Digital Media and Gaming, Parks Associates. “But content and application developers and service providers are becoming increasingly important.”

These entities provide content, activities, and applications that enhance the usability and user experience of virtual worlds. In addition, several new solution providers have emerged to provide enterprise-class virtual world services.

“Without appealing content and applications, virtual worlds are nothing but empty shopping malls,” Cai said. “The industry needs to move beyond its obsession with user-generated content and make 3D virtual worlds more interesting to average consumers.”

Virtual Worlds: the Internet of Avatars defines the 3D virtual world value chain, profiles leading companies, examines industry and consumer trends and dynamics, forecasts market growth, and offers recommendations to large media companies, technology companies, consumer brands, marketers, and Internet companies.

Parks Associates will distribute a free whitepaper “Virtual Worlds and Social Media” at the Virtual Worlds London conference, October 20-21, 2008.

For information, visit http://www.parksassociates.com/

It’s all a bit doom and gloom in the UK at the moment. The banks are on the verge of collapsing, businesses are going bust, Newcastle United can’t win a match and people can’t even afford to pay their electricity bill.

So you’d think that if were all trying to save cash, we’d stop spending it on stuff to entertain us, like games for our power hungry Xbox 360’s or PS3’s, but as reported by games magazine Edge, it sounds like the only people not worrying about their bills are the game publishers, and high street retailers.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said: “Notwithstanding this month’s anticipated decline, we believe that the videogame software sector remains highly recession-resistant…

“…As a category, games are one of the lowest cost forms of entertainment, particularly to those households that have already invested in a home console.”

Low cost? His salary must be pretty decent, but I digress.

Pachter says of console sales that he expects Wii to have sold 600,000 units, DS 550,000, Xbox 360 300,000 and PSP 200,000. Now I’m no Carol Vorderman, but that’s a big amount of money being made by Mr Microsoft, Mr Sony and Mr Wii…snigger…

Anyways, the good thing to come from all this is that we can expect games to be churned out continually for the foreseeable future, with no danger of these companies going under. Also, it’s nice to see some true grit and determination to buy a game, when we know that we really can’t afford to.