Joyswag: PS3 Holiday Games Bundle
by Joystiq Staff 
{ 8 days ago } 
Update: The entry period has ended. Winners will be announced shortly.
To enter this giveaway:
- Leave a comment on this post telling us if you've been "naughty" or "nice" this year. (Note: Your response will not affect your chance of winning any of the prizes in this giveaway.)
- You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
- Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day.
- This entry period ends at 12:00 pm ET on Tuesday, December 22. We'll randomly select one grand prize winner at that time to receive one Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: Fortune Hunter Edition, Assassin's Creed II, Demon's Souls: Deluxe Edition, God of War Collection, Modern Warfare 2, and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time for PlayStation 3 (Total ARV: $590); and one first prize winner to receive Tony Hawk: Ride Skateboard Bundle for PlayStation 3 (ARV: $90) -- please check your emails!
- For a list of complete rules, click here.
What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.
3D Blu-ray specs finalized, PlayStation 3 support confirmed
by Ben Gilbert { 8 days ago }
If you're like us and aren't quite ready to make the 3D jump just yet, the BDA thankfully notes that our quaint old "2D" films will still be supported. But don't let that lull you into a false sense of safety -- embedded within today's announcement is the fact that 3D technology "allows every Blu-ray 3D player and movie to deliver Full HD 1080p resolution to each eye [our emphasis]." That's right, folks -- they're targeting each eye individually! Sounds like a great time to invest in the burgeoning eye patch market.
Spec Ops: The Line may face censorship; Dubai taking the 'wait and see' approach
by Christopher Grant { 8 days ago }
"We will have to review the game first before issuing any decision on whether to ban it or allow it," Mohammed al Mutawa, a video games censor at the United Arab Emirate's National Media Council, told The National. Juma Obaid Alleem, the director of media content at the NMC, told the newspaper that 'before a video game is released in the UAE, the NMC assesses whether it conforms with local laws and notifies authorities if it does not.' From there, we see references to "international matter" and "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and we figure it best to take the 'wait and see' approach Mr. al Mutawa referred to.
For his part, Kasavin is playing up the setting as a "fantastic location from an architectural standpoint" but is quick to point out that "the game uses the location purely as a location." He explained to The National that 'the enemies ... in the fictional Dubai would not have any clear religious or political beliefs associated with them' and that 'none of the shoot-outs took place in mosques.' With myriad games having angered religious or national groups before – everything from Resistance and the Church of England to LittleBigPlanet and the Qur'an – the Spec Ops team has plenty to learn from. We'll know more closer to the game's expected 2011 release.
[Thanks, mister_jOBe; via LA Times]
Final Fantasy XIII goes Home in Japan
by Andrew Yoon { 8 days ago }
FF13-inspired furniture is also available at the Home Marketplace, ranging from 100 to 200 yen each. Perhaps you'll want a Cactaur for your apartment? Or a Final Fantasy XIII sofa? Certainly, there's no better way to relax after a lengthy FF13 grind than to sit down on your virtual couch.
European PSN releases for December 17
by Griffin McElroy { 8 days ago } 
Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
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(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Get the Shatter soundtrack for $1
by Andrew Yoon { 8 days ago }
[Via @jeffrubenstein]
Sony launches a salt on Home with 'Sodium One' social gaming space
by JC Fletcher { 8 days ago }
By taking the Teleporter installed in the Central Plaza, Home users can receive in-game objectives from an AI called "VICKIE." Said objectives then task the player with playing various minigames, including "objective-based meta-games, full arcade-style games and community events." The first game accessible in the space: Salt Shooter, a game in which players use tanks to shoot robots. Only five levels of this minigame are available for free, with more levels and items unlockable through microtransactions.
Sony is giving away 1,050 free Salt Shooter unlocks to early Sodium One adopters, so be sure to go check that out soon if you're interested. More games, events, and virtual goods will be added over time.
Mega Man 10: First trailer and screens
by JC Fletcher { 8 days ago }
The last part of the clip gives us an idea of the scope of the new Easy Mode, which is quite a bit easier than we expected. We anticipated reduced numbers of enemies and a greater supply of health powerups, but Easy Mode actually makes the levels less complicated!
In our gallery, you can see new screenshots that hint at many of the stages we'll be challenging. There's an ice stage, a sand stage, a computery stage, a fire stage, and a ... truck stage?
Gallery: Mega Man 10 (360/PS3/Wii)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker English demo releases today
by Andrew Yoon { 8 days ago }
The demo will be available on the PlayStation Store and here on Joystiq (via BigDownload) later today. To ensure a problem-free experience, make sure you have the latest firmware update and have at least 103MB of free space on your PSP.
Gallery: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Parody for charity: Retro Matt Hazard stuff on eBay
by JC Fletcher { 9 days ago }
click to go down Fake Memory Lane in our gallery
It's kind of the opposite of digital distribution: instead of getting a game without physical media, delivered over the internet, you'll get cartridges with no game inside through the mail.
Gallery: Matt Hazard promo items
The effects of re-releases on classic game pricing
by JC Fletcher { 9 days ago }
To use another Castlevania example, Castlevania Chronicles: Cipriani found a three-year high price of $70 for the 2001 PlayStation release in 2007. Two years later, after the game's release on PlayStation Network, physical copies dropped to a low price of $26.93. The people who just wanted to play the game could now get it for six bucks, leaving the PS1 discs for collectors only.
It's not as simple as a re-release dropping the value globally, however: the data shows some weirdly fluctuating prices, like Persona 2: Eternal Punishment on PlayStation, which seems to have gone up in price significantly following a reissue. Perhaps interest rose when buyers got the idea that it was even possible to buy an old Atlus game.
LucasArts developing The Force Unleashed 2 internally, hiring for 'other unannounced products'
by Randy Nelson { 9 days ago }
It didn't take a Jedi Master to conclude that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed would be getting a sequel -- after all, it met with tremendous success, ranking as the fastest-selling Star Wars video game of all time and moving more than six million copies to date. Still, LucasArts laid off a majority of the team that developed it before the game even hit shelves, so many that our source at the time told Joystiq that the remaining group would be insufficient to produce a sequel should one be ordered.
So, now that The Force Unleashed 2 is officially happening, we naturally began to wonder: who's making the game? When asked for comment on the topic, LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez told Joystiq, "Our internal team here in San Francisco will be focused on the game in addition to other development partners. The San Francisco team is made up of TFU veterans who are all bringing their hard earned muscle memory to the development process." Rodriguez didn't elaborate on who these "development partners" are, but it's clear that a core team at the company's Northern California HQ is only part of the development effort.
Rodriguez did not remark on whether any new staff is being hired to work on the title internally, but did reveal to us that LucasArts is "also currently hiring for some other unannounced products that we are internally developing as well." We're just going to assume that none of the staff who received pink slips last summer will be sending in resumes.
So, now that The Force Unleashed 2 is officially happening, we naturally began to wonder: who's making the game? When asked for comment on the topic, LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez told Joystiq, "Our internal team here in San Francisco will be focused on the game in addition to other development partners. The San Francisco team is made up of TFU veterans who are all bringing their hard earned muscle memory to the development process." Rodriguez didn't elaborate on who these "development partners" are, but it's clear that a core team at the company's Northern California HQ is only part of the development effort.
Rodriguez did not remark on whether any new staff is being hired to work on the title internally, but did reveal to us that LucasArts is "also currently hiring for some other unannounced products that we are internally developing as well." We're just going to assume that none of the staff who received pink slips last summer will be sending in resumes.
VGA 2009: Flower developers amidst the explosions and hype
by Kevin Kelly { 9 days ago } 
Spike TV and the VGAs are all about naked women, shooters, and explosions. What's it like for Flower to be here?
Kellee Santiago: It's a very surreal experience. I think it shows that what are sort of seen as "artsy" games aren't niche, they appeal at the most commercial mass level, and that's very exciting for us.
Jenova Chen: We had Flower exhibit at the MOCA in Shanghai as an interactive art piece. It's quite interesting to see a video game stand next to these art installations. Being at these awards will hpefully give us even more exposure. The PlayStation Network had a sale during Thanksgiving, and a lot of people picked up Flower who had never heard of it before. Then we started to get a lot of emails thanking us for making the game. We know there are more people who haven't seen the game, and it would be great if they know what video games could be.
What's next? Could there be a sequel to Flower?
We're working on a third title for PlayStation Network right now, you'll see more soon. Hopefully you'll see something next year, but we don't know yet when it will come out.
VGA 2009: Naughty Dog's Evan Wells talks Uncharted 2 DLC, focuses on multiplayer
by Kevin Kelly { 9 days ago }
Are we going to see any campaign DLC?
Well, that certainly is a possibility but right now we're focusing on multiplayer. We're working on some new maps, we have a couple of new game modes in the works, and a lot of skins. So we're going to focus on that right now.
Has anything surprised you since launch?
Oh, completely. We've been updating our online functionality constantly. We have a new patch coming out later this month, we're improving the load times, we've added leaderboards, we've added clan tags. So really, we're continuing to expand on the online functionality.
Guerrilla compares Killzone 1 and 2, side-by-side
by Andrew Yoon { 9 days ago } 
Perhaps most surprising about the comparison is not how improved the PS3 game is -- rather, we're impressed at how well the PS2 game has stood the test of time. Perhaps it's time to revisit the PS2 original, for those of you lucky enough to own a backwards-compatible PS3.
