Gadgets and Video Games » Video Games

Joystiq vs. GDC 2010

vigrxplus-x — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:30:00 +0000

GDC generally isn’t packed with the “oohs” and “ahs” that are typically exuded during E3 or the Tokyo Game Show. The name says it all, really, what with it being the Game Developers Conference. That doesn’t mean their aren’t hot scoops to be found though. This year we got our first taste of the PlayStation Move , Deus Ex: Human Revolution and, of course, the hamster ball-inspired future of video games . Now, with GDC over and done, it’s time for us to say goodbye

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Joystiq vs. GDC 2010

Interview: Alex Alvarez of The Gnomon Workshop

adminst — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Alex Alvarez is one of those people who obsessively played games and constantly doodled in a sketchbook as a kid. He studied art, but with no one career-oriented channel for that creativity, he didn’t find himself making a living as an artist until he stumbled into a job working on comic books. A few years later, he was explaining software to movie studios and eventually opened The Gnomon Workshop , which provides training to artists who are interested in the entertainment industry. Alvarez recently finished a six-month stint working on James Cameron’s Avatar, and Gnomon just hosted the “Unleashed: The Art of Naughty Dog” art exhibit showing off works by many of the artists from Naughty Dog, several of whom went through classes at Gnomon. In our interview after thee break, Alvarez talks about the expanding reach of video games, looks back at his youth spent playing Ultima and Wizardry , and doles out plenty of advice for budding young artists

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Interview: Alex Alvarez of The Gnomon Workshop

Ubisoft prepping short film, a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier prequel

Mobile bertuncence — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:40:00 +0000

According to the Hollywood Reporter , Ubisoft will release a short film ahead of the release of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier . The film will be helmed by Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy, the duo that just won an Academy Award for their short film Logorama . We’re assuming the Ghost Recon film won’t be quite as cheeky. The short, which will serve as a prequel to Future Soldier , will be a 20-minute live-action film, reportedly with a budget between $8-10 million

OnLive launch titles ‘in the teens,’ 50-60 games by 2011

Unwitewenna — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:20:00 +0000

Following today’s GDC keynote from OnLive CEO Steve Perlman, his COO, Mike McGarvey, fielded questions about the game streaming service that’s launching June 17 . Unfortunately, just how much full games will cost on top of the $14.95 monthly subscription fee was not one that he answered. McGarvey did confirm that the service will launch with a lineup of titles “in the teens,” comprised of some that will have been on shelves for a few months — Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins were examples — and others that will release closer to OnLive’s debut, such as Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands . The catalog will grow from fewer than 20 games on day one to “50 to 60″ by the end of 2010, according to McGarvey.

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OnLive launch titles ‘in the teens,’ 50-60 games by 2011

Runic Games ‘putting serious effort’ into console Torchlight

Ionirmcrins — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 +0000

Speaking to The Rumble Pack , Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer declared that his company is actively pursuing a console port of its PC action RPG, Torchlight . “We’re going to put some serious effort into it — pretty quick — getting Torchlight onto consoles,” said Schaefer. “There’s a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game,” he added, “So, we are definitely going to be going in that direction.” He offered no specifics on the project, saying only that the company is “talking to a million people” and that it’s “something we definitely want to do

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Runic Games ‘putting serious effort’ into console Torchlight

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s full DICE speech, Jack Thompson says ‘Gotcha!’

Erattiguith — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:00:00 +0000

[Elisabeth Caren] Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s speech at DICE was certainly a highlight of this year’s convention. The polarizing figure took the stage and spoke his mind — whether it was for better or worse was a topic of debate for the rest of the show. Some saw it as humanizing the demonized executive, who makes no apologies for running an efficient and profitable company (especially in this economy ), while others couldn’t believe that PR ever let him take the stage with what seemed like a fairly off-the-cuff speech. Disbarred attorney Jack Thompson took the opportunity to send California State Senator Leland Yee (and the entire press) a letter declaring “Gotcha!” to a section of Kotick’s speech. Using a piece he read on GamePolitics as a springboard, Thompson writes that Kotick’s admission that the executive would still be really into video games if it didn’t run the risk of interfering with his life and running a major publisher is an “admission [that] flies in the face of video game industry spokespersons’ false, sometimes perjured assertions, that video games do not affect the behavior of minors

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Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s full DICE speech, Jack Thompson says ‘Gotcha!’

Conservatives hoping to attract younger supporters with video games

free trial — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

In order to try and pull in visitors to the Conservative Political Action Conference this week, organizers are going all out. They’ll have Glenn Beck as a keynote speaker, the NRA will be on hand, and there will be a video game lounge equipped with Xboxes and Wiis. Why the games? The conference is aiming to bring in the under-30 crowd, and to do that, organizer Kevin McCullough has created something called the XPAC Lounge , an area outside the Conference where attendees will be able to play Xbox, snack on junk food, and attend a “late night rap/jam session” with cool conservative cats like Mike Huckabee and John McCain’s blogging daughter . Kevin McCullough’s name sound familiar?

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick gets introspective at DICE, shares business regrets

Apaphespajodo — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:45:00 +0000

Wearing a zippered pullover, jeans and not looking at all like the CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick delivered a deliberately human speech at DICE today. Part autobiographical story about his start in the games business, part contrition, the Kotick who spoke at DICE conveyed the sense of a misunderstood

Pre-order Dawn of War 2 expansion, get Saints Row 2 for free

Kontaktlinsen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:30:00 +0000

There’s no getting around it — THQ really , really wants you to play all of its games. After recently revealing that the code included in copies of Darksiders is redeemable for a free copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla , the publisher today announced that those buying the upcoming Dawn of War II expansion Chaos Rising will also snag a free PC copy of Saints Row 2 . That means slapping down your 30 buckaroos at GameStop or Best Buy (or your digital buckaroos at GameTap, Steam or Metaboli) nets you two games — one of which we are assured allows you to spray human feces on anything nearby . If that isn’t enough of a selling point, what is, you monster

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Pre-order Dawn of War 2 expansion, get Saints Row 2 for free

Diablo 3’s female Barbarian knows the riddle of steel

frurneQuike — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Click image to crush your retinas, to see the image embiggened before you and to hear the lamentations of your browser Because Diablo III won’t be released until 2014, we’ve got plenty of time to check out the game’s various classes. The latest to get the spotlight treatment is the female Barbarian.

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Diablo 3’s female Barbarian knows the riddle of steel