Microsoft "Absolutely" Wouldn’t Want to Swap Positions With Sony
Sony believes — or at least wants prospective consumers to believe — that Microsoft is “peddling add-ons,” but Greenberg thinks that having the lowest price on the market for a current-gen console was a big win for the 360.
“I would say we absolutely would not want to trade places with Sony,” he told Kotaku. “We feel like being half the price of the PS3 served us quite well this holiday.”
Joystiq hands-on: Dawn of War 2
We learned a valuable lesson at CES last week: Don’t demo an RTS game on a trade show floor. Why? Because it’s nigh-impossible to hear a developer’s instructions over the deafening noise of geek-outs. It turns into something like this dialogue snippet from our hands-on experience with Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 2:
Relic: “So, you’ll quickly want to set a rally point here.” *taps screen*
Joystiq: *clicks on random units* [units march off-screen]
Relic: “Okay, so if you look at this icon, you’ll see that your character is earning zeal. You might want to build some heavy firepower units for support.”
Joystiq: *attacks enemy power generator* [cue: bad move!]
It was just too darn loud at CES to get good instructions, and Relic only had one demo station on hand, which obviously did not feature any PVP gameplay. Naturally, we had StarCraft 2 in mind as we fooled around with Dawn of War 2, measuring Relic’s RTS against what we’ve played of Blizzard’s next blockbuster. We can say that Dawn of War 2 is currently winning in the looks department. As we watched an Imperial Tank literally roll through walls and crush them into powder while Space Marines jumped over the action with jetpacks, we were remiss to have left our drool bib back home in the hamper.
We’ve embedded a pair of videos from our session after the break, including producer Mark Noseworthy blowing stuff up!
Continue reading Joystiq hands-on: Dawn of War 2
Joystiq hands-on: Dawn of War 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tomb Raider Underworld DLC Coming January 21
Tomb Raider Underworld’s long-awaited and delayed downloadable content appears to have a solid release date of January 21, reports Joystiq. The article points to GameStop listing the “Tomb Raider Underworld Expansion Token Pack” for $19.99, which includes two Xbox Live cards. The price and presence of two cards leads to speculation that Eidos has dropped its plans for two separate DLC packs and combined them into one. If that’s the case, purchasing the combined pack over Xbox Live would probably cost 1600 MS Points, or $20 USD. Of course, the GameStop listing could be bundling the packs together, and Eidos could still plan to sell them separately for 800 MS Points ($10) each.
Even before its delays, the DLC for Underworld has been causing confusion. The 360-exclusive DLC was rumored to be timed with a PS3 and PC version launching later, which Eidos later denied. We’ll let you know when Eidos drops official details on the content coming on January 21, and whether it includes both of the previously planned DLC packs.
CES 2009: Mgestyk hoping you’ll chuck your controller
Filed under: Peripherals
With Mgestyk, a specially-designed camera tracks the player’s movements with surprising accuracy, and without the perfect lighting required by an EyeToy or Xbox Vision camera (in fact, we’re told the camera can work in complete darkness). Also unlike the other cam controllers, Mgestyk has the ability to detect depth.
The possibilities are intriguing, but, as you can see in the video above, the technology isn’t perfect yet (lag, it would seem, continues to be an issue). We’re rooting for our Brothers in Misspelling, but we’re not sure we’re looking at a Wii-killer just yet.
CES 2009: Mgestyk hoping you’ll chuck your controller originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Strange, innit? Top selling games in UK during 2008
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
ELSPA/Gfk-ChartTrack reveals that Mario Kart Wii was the top-selling game across the UK during 2008 in the “individual SKUs” category. EA’s FIFA 09 (it’s a soccer game) took the top spot in “all formats.” MCV notes that Nintendo hardware holds six of the ten spots on the individual list and several slots on the all format list. Not exactly surprising, given how the region has embraced the Wii.
NPD will release its year-end report covering the US this Thursday. Check out the Top 10 lists of game choices made by the masters of Marmite after the break.
Continue reading Strange, innit? Top selling games in UK during 2008
Strange, innit? Top selling games in UK during 2008 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft’s Wants to Expand XBL Friends Limit
Microsoft wants to increase the 100-person Friends limit on the Xbox 360, reports Joystiq. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Xbox director Aaron Greenberg all but confirmed that larger friends lists are coming. “I can’t commit to when that will happen, but that is something we want to do,” he said. “It’s definitely something we’re looking at expanding and, as this social networking grows, we’ve absolutely heard the pleas for that. It’s on the list.”
Apparently the limit of 100 is from the old days of the original Xbox, which is a reasoning we’ve heard before. But now the Xbox 360 has Live functionality built in, which will make expanding lists easier. Additionally, the New Xbox Experience allows for updates to come more frequently without waiting for a large fall or spring update. We’ll keep you posted as we hear when the larger lists may be coming.
CES 2009: There’s yet more from Nyko
Filed under: Nintendo Wii
We showed off Nyko’s big gun at CES, the Wand, already, but we thought you might like to take a look at their other CES offerings. Above, you can see the first of two new charging peripherals, the Charge Station EX. We know some of you aren’t exactly burning through Wii batteries at the moment, but to those proud few, you’ll want to consider the EX over the original Charge Station. Besides the same price point ($34.99) and a sleeker design, the EX also includes a progressive indicator to le you keep track of how the charge is going.
In addition to the EX, the company’s also showing off the Kama Charger, which, true to its name, charges the company’s recently-out-of-legal-limbo wireless nunchuk and one Wiimote. If the concept still manages to elude you, you can check out a picture after the jump. There’s still no price, but you’ll learn it when both of these devices drop in April of this year.
Continue reading CES 2009: There’s yet more from Nyko
CES 2009: There’s yet more from Nyko originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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CES 2009: Activision’s Keyno-thing of interest
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, CES
Oddly, Activision didn’t manage to fit in a single plug for its upcoming game Prototype, which was apparently left out on the show floor for this one. No banners, no teaser, not even a still. Instead the stage was littered with games from 2008: Call of Duty: World at War, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Madagascar 2, Quantum of Solace, Guitar Hero: World Tour, and so on. It was deja vu, and we found ourselves literally checking our badges to make sure we weren’t at E3 2008. Note to Activision: You’ve got a captive audience sitting in seats and (mostly) paying attention — take advantage of ‘em!
Continue reading CES 2009: Activision’s Keyno-thing of interest
CES 2009: Activision’s Keyno-thing of interest originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lenny Kravitz Going Rock Band’s Way Next Week
Guitar Hero veteran Lenny Kravitz is next on the docket for Rock Band DLC, with a bundle of four songs on the way from the multi-talented artist’s early years. The Lenny Kravitz pack is set to arrive Tuesday, January 13 on Xbox Live and Thursday, January 15 on the PlayStation Store, and will be joined by a pair of lesser-known tracks from Megasus and Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives — both of whom have already contributed to previous Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. The full rundown of next week’s downloadable offerings looks something like this:
- “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz
- “Freedom Train” by Lenny Kravitz
- “Let Love Rule” by Lenny Kravitz
- “Mr. Cab Driver” by Lenny Kravitz
- “Megasus” by Megasus
- “Entangled” by Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives
The bundled four-pack of songs will go for a slightly discounted $6.99 (560 Microsoft points), while individual Kravitz tracks will run the standard $1.99 (160 Microsoft points). Songs from Megasus and Honest Bob will only cost you $.99 (80 Microsoft points).
Personally, this finicky newsman would much prefer the song “Lenny Kravitz” by Electric Six to anything actually written by the quadruple-Grammy-Award-winning artist. Still, somebody out there is bound to be excited by these new tracks. The guy didn’t sell 38 million albums for nothing, after all.
SOCOM: Confrontation 1.30 patch finally brings Trophies, Party system, bug fixes
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3
If you’ve been putting off SOCOM: Confrontation until developer Slant Six worked out all the bugs (oh, and added a Quick Match/Party system … and Trophies), then today’s your lucky day, friend. The long anticipated 1.30 update was pushed out early this morning, bringing with it the aforementioned features and fixes. Will it be enough to restore Sony’s once-proud franchise to the top of your multiplayer shooter-heap? We won’t pretend to know the answer to that, so we’ll ask you. Is SOCOM back in action?
SOCOM: Confrontation 1.30 patch finally brings Trophies, Party system, bug fixes originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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