Gadgets and Video Games

We’ve read all the available info about the new Modern Warfare 2 map collection ” Stimulus Package ,” but we still didn’t have an answer to the big question on everyone’s mind: “Is that the game with a bunch of guys or the one with the beards ?” That, we still don’t know. However, we’ve gotten an answer to the second biggest question from Xbox Live’s Major Nelson : The five maps (three new, two remakes) will run you 1200 MS points or $15. As a basis for comparison, the “Variety” map pack for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ran 800 points ($10) for four new maps

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Modern Warfare 2 ‘Stimulus Package’ costs $15

You may have heard of mild-mannered Michael Giacchino, who ended up winning two Grammys this past weekend for his work as the composer for Pixar’s tear-jerking animated romp, Up . However, you might not know that he found his humble beginnings in video games — according to his recent interview with Variety , he was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg to do the soundtrack for the Jurassic Park: The Lost World game .

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Grammy-winning Up composer got his break in video games

[ Image credit: bloomsberries ] In a lawsuit filed by Philadelphia-area lawyer Samuel Lassoff, Microsoft is being sued for allegedly taking money from consumers for Microsoft Points that were erroneously used during “incomplete and/or partial downloads of digital goods and services and refused refund of same.” The Horsham, Pa. resident claims that “an invoice he received early this month from Microsoft included charges for purchases he couldn’t complete due to a balky download system,” according to an InformationWeek.com report. Furthermore, he contends that this was no accident on Microsoft’s part. When we called Mr

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Class-action suit charges Microsoft with fraud

We know, we know — there’s been a constant flood of Mass Effect 2 media over the past few weeks. What with your SyFy channel specials and your six trailers being released at once, we can appreciate that you might feel a bit overwhelmed. That’s why we’re promising that today’s clip — the launch trailer, mind you — will be the very last bit of media you see for the game on Joystiq before the game launches. That is, of course, unless there’s something really, really amazing released in the next five days.

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Mass Effect 2 launch trailer is the last one, we promise

This trailer for Artificial Mind and Movement’s Naughty Bear sets up the story, depicting the social slight that turns the title animal toward thoughts of revenge. Which means that this trailer consists almost entirely of footage of a sad , stuffed bear. We kind of think the “sadistic stuffed animal” idea is cute, but seeing Sad Bear just makes us feel, well, sad. That poor bear! Well, maybe not

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Naughty Bear trailer features pre-Naughty Bear

Considering the devilishly heightened difficulty of Left 4 Dead 2 , we’re surprised enough outlets managed to complete a single campaign in time to submit a review for the title. We have to imagine GameSharks were somehow involved. Regardless, here’s what other sites are saying about Valve’s follow-up to last year’s Zombocalypse survival sim. Eurogamer (9/10): “Whereas once we treated Left 4 Dead as a stopgap between Half-Lifes, this is no longer a weird little side project with modest expectations, and Valve is confident enough to play around with it, safe in the knowledge that you can trust your players. Left 4 Dead proved it.

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Metareview: Left 4 Dead 2

Sometimes, all it takes to sully a good gaming experience is the implementation of an unattractive font. The merit of your game’s well-written dialogue is lost when delivered in italicized, all-caps, 16-point Tahoma Impact — a lesson recently learned by Binary Tweed, developer of the Xbox Live Indie Game darling Clover . Though the title was chock-full of charm, its dialogue was gruesome enough to sear the eyes right out of your head. Fortunately, Tweed has learned its lesson, and plans on adding a touch of polish to the dialogue in the game’s upcoming PC iteration, Clover: A Curious Tale

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Dialogue font in Clover PC no longer ‘a hideous affront to humans with eyes’

“Interactive movie technology,” you may find yourself asking, “isn’t that just another word for video games ?” Well, grandpa , yes and no. While this recently filed patent from Sony Computer Entertainment America will likely be implemented in some form of game — our guess is PlayStation Home — it doesn’t really resemble anything we’ve ever seen from a ludological offering. Basically, SCEA is designing a framework for “avatars” to interact with a film in a number of different ways, such as tossing tomatoes at on-screen actors, or climbing into the film to deliver a swift kick to one of the characters’ behinds . The patent’s illustrations resemble pencil-drawn versions of Mystery Science Theater 3000 , where a player’s avatar can be seen sitting in a chair in front of the interactive movie.

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SCEA files patent for interactive movie technology

Next week’s Rock Band DLC could have been a little Dave Grohl fiesta, offering up tracks from his days back in Nirvana and now with Foo Fighters, but it turns out that he wasn’t with the genre defining grunge band until after Bleach , which happens to be part of next week’s DLC. But, we’re pretty sure Grohl was with Foo Fighters during the time they recorded the tracks that make up the band’s third DLC pack for the music game. Completely unrelated to Grohl (maybe there’s a six degrees of separation in there?), there will also be one track from Ms. Joan Jett thrown in the mix. Check out the update after the break, along with what portable players can expect from Rock Band Unplugged ’s DLC.

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Rock Band Weekly: Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Joan Jett

Perhaps the reason why video game-to-film adaptations have failed so ubiquitously is because none of them were of a truly epic scale. Perhaps what the ailing genre needs is a massive, Saving Private Ryan -esque cinematic endeavor — which might just be coming in the form of a movie based on Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, as hinted at by a recent trademark filing . Adding fuel to the speculative fire is Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling (aka FourZeroTwo) who recently tweeted, “grabbing lunch with Xavier Gens, director of the Hitman film while in town. Talking game films.” Sure, we would’ve rather had Bowling meet with Mr. Scorcese to talk Duty movies — but in the grand scope of video game films, Hitman ranks high on the “not completely abysmal” end of the spectrum.

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Activision files trademark for Call of Duty film adaptation