Gadgets and Video Games

You’ve already heard our incredibly well-thought-out critique of Salem and Rios’ latest mercenary endeavor, Arm y of Two: The 40th Day — however, we understand your impulse to shop around. Here’s what some of the other reviewers have been saying about the supremely bromantic game. IGN (85/100) : “A disaster movie in a game package, Army of Two: The 40th Day capitalizes on its co-op play to deliver an awesome action experience that’s incredibly fun to play.” Official Xbox 360 Magazine (80/100) : “Marry that to some satisfyingly chunky gunplay and the odd spectacular, building-levelling explosion and you have an action game that is far more fun than it has any right to be. You get plenty of co-op games, but not that many ‘buddy’ games and this is a fine example – a frantic, punchy bullet-storm that’s best enjoyed with a friend.” 1UP (B) : “Even though I think they ultimately contributed to the Army of Two’s inconsistent tone, which moves from “flippant” to “serious business about how messed up people can get,” the morality moments are what I’ll remember most about The 40th Day.” Game Informer (65/100) : “With so many great co-op experiences available to gamers, it’s tough to recommend The 40th Day. Lacking a cohesive story, solid controls, key multiplayer features, and polish, this sequel fails to close the gap of mediocrity running through its core game design.” Metareview: Army of Two: The 40th Day originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:20:00 EST

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Metareview: Army of Two: The 40th Day

Following the example set by the very successful pay-what-you-want World of Goo sale , Crayon Physics Deluxe creator has dropped the price of his physics puzzle game to the low, low, price of whatever . To celebrate his birthday, Kloonigames’ Petri Purho has instituted a “pay what you want” sale through January 15. It’s up to you, then, whether you follow the example of the guy who paid $150 for World of Goo , or of the jerks who paid a penny. We might suggest that paying a penny for the game that he worked on for years is a pretty crummy birthday present to give Purho. Try the demo first — it’s actually free.

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Pencil in your own price for Crayon Physics Deluxe

Amateur songwriters and frequent impromptu freestyle rap battlers take note: the iPhone version of Rockstar’s Timbaland-ized beat creation software, Beaterator , is now available from the iTunes App Store for $4.99. The iPhone release features a redesigned interface, of course, since the PSP version relied on futuristic “button” technology. Other than that, it sounds similar to the original, though we don’t know if it features everything from the PSP title: the press release announcing the product mentions that it features the ability to alter and add effects to sounds, as well as transposition and layering of loops. You can also upload your composition to the Rockstar Social Club! What seemed like an interesting curiosity as a full-priced PSP game sounds a lot more impressive as a five-dollar download, doesn’t it?

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Beaterator now keeping time on iPhone

[ Rondonia Digital ] Though Brazil is no stranger to banning video games , a recently proposed bill from Senator Valdir Raupp certainly seems pretty drastic. Raupp’s bill, which was recently passed by the Education Commission of the Senate, and will now go to vote in the Committee on Constitution and Justice, seeks to “curb the manufacture, distribution, importation, distribution, trading and custody, storage [of] the video games that affect the customs [and] traditions of the people, their worship, creeds, religions and symbols.” According to Brazilian news site UOL , if the bill passes, folks caught violating the law could be subject to one to three years imprisonment. That’s quite a bit of jail time to serve for just importing a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV , dont’cha think

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Brazilian senator hopes to ban sale of violent games

Click to summon bigger pictures. We’re still dumbfounded by the fact that — after years of endless CG teases and countdowns — Final Fantasy XIII is actually coming out. While still pegged with a vague “Spring 2010″ release, Square Enix has made good on its promise of a hastened localization

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New Final Fantasy XIII screenshots reintroduce Oerba

The Game Informer preview of Junction Point’s Epic Mickey is out, revealing not only the game’s art style and Mickey’s retro-inspired look, but details of the storyline and characters as well — definitely worth picking up the mag to see, even if it means another trip into GameStop. One of the most interesting details isn’t really in the game, but about the game. The antagonist, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, almost wasn’t included — kinda hard to be epic without a bad guy, you know? “Disney didn’t own the rights to Oswald,” designer Warren Spector explained to Game Informer . The Epic Mickey project was apparently of such importance, though, that Disney CEO Bob Iger made a deal with NBC Universal and “traded Al Michaels, a human sportscaster, for the rights to a cartoon rabbit.” For what evil purpose was Universal keeping Oswald locked away?

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Epic (Mickey) trade: Disney swaps Al Michaels for Oswald

No seriously, that’s what you do on PlayBlackjack.com . For those not in the know, the Madden “curse” has afflicted every athlete featured on the cover of a Madden game. These pros get injured in some way through the course of the season, forcing them to miss a few games.

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You bet the ‘Madden curse’ will strike again

Today might be the first day that PAX is officially open, but our first day in Seattle was actually Thursday (yesterday, if you’re keeping score). We spent the day at the Microsoft campus trying out some of the stuff the company will have on the show floor, including some new XBLA games, Halo 3: ODST and Left 4 Dead 2 . We also take you deep into Microsoft’s top secret parking garage

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Joystiq vs PAX ‘09: Day 1

You probably heard the news today (oh boy) that Disney will soon acquire Marvel Entertainment . The deal will see shareholders receive $30 plus 0.745 shares of Disney stock for each share of Marvel they own. The transaction is expected to total approximately $4 billion. Of course, all we want to know is what will become of Marvel’s booming licensed game business. In a conference call following the announcement, Disney CEO Robert Iger briefly mentioned the company’s plans regarding Marvel licensed games

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Disney to acquire Marvel, evaluating game licensing [update]

Eurogamer reports that Fable II: Game of the Year Edition has been confirmed by Microsoft. Furthermore, the site notes that the title will release in Europe on September 18 for €64.99/