digoBlog: news on tech & games

Once upon a time being alone meant you were unable to play a decent game of rock-paper-scissors, but now you can finally amuse yourself with just your own hand. Granted you'll have to actually make a glove like this first. More »

At a pirate-themed party in San Francisco tonight (with special guests Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer!) LucasArts announced The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition, coming "this summer" on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC, iPhone and iPod Touch. This isn't simply the same "special edition" treatment applied to last year's edition; instead, fans can expect a new control mechanism. "In addition to the point-and-click interface, we've added the ability to move Guybrush around, so you feel more connected to him," said LucasArts' Craig Derrick, project lead on all Monkey Island products. They've also added never-before-seen art from Peter Chan and Steve Purcell and developer commentary (!) for you Monkey Island fanboys out there (that's you).

Of course, that's in addition to all the stuff you'd expect from the special edition treatment, including high-definition art, remastered music, full voiceover track, and the ability to swap between original and "special edition" modes. Derrick even said they've "reimagined" each character, citing fan displeasure with Guybrush's hair in the first special edition. Really? We liked his hair ...

The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition announced for XBLA, PSN, PC, iPhone originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That's not the sun. But for a brief period, in a small Arctic town in Canada, in the dead of winter, it was the next-best thing. More »

EA's chief operating officer John Schappert had a fireside chat with Alex Pham of the Los Angeles Times about "mythbusting" at GDC today. Unfortunately, not many myths were actually busted -- other than the one we heard that everything at GDC is exciting! But Schappert did speak briefly about DLC, talking up the fact that Dragon Age: Origins DLC has made over a million dollars (and that was by November's count!). He went on to explain that digital distribution, in all its forms, earned $575 million dollars for EA last year, and the publisher placed its expectations for this year at $750 million.

"The fastest growing area of digital distribution -- and that includes subscriptions and microtransactions -- is downloadable content," Schappert said. "It's the extension of your current game through expansion packs and downloadable content."

GDC: EA's Schappert touts DLC as most profitable form of digital distribution originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We thought that Google's Reader Play is perfect for tablet computers, but the New York Times' Nick Bilton has other ideas. He thinks that the feature is perfect for TVs and other larger screens. [NYT] More »

32GB, 64MB cache, and read and write speeds of 25MB/s and 70MB/s aren't terribly exciting when it comes to a solid state drive, but the OCZ Onyx still caught our eye because it's among the first SSDs to slip below $100. [Hot Hardware via CrunchGear] More »

While we've yet to see Unreal Engine 3 ported to Nintendo's Wii or Sony's PSP, Epic did undertake the considerable task of squeezing its seemingly ubiquitous middleware platform onto Apple's similarly ubiquitous iPhone. According to Epic's Josh Adams - Epic Games' senior console programmer - that could be due to fundamental hardware limitations in the other platforms. You see, the iPhone 3GS has a PowerVR SGX graphics processor which supports programmable shaders. According to Adams, "Programmable shaders are something UE3 is pretty much dependent on."

Though you're probably most familiar with Unreal Engine on Windows, Xbox 360, and PS3, Adams says the engine also runs on Nvidia's Tegra 2 platform, on Linux, and on Mac, though (Adams notes) "we haven't shipped any games on those platforms yet." Adams says the iPhone port was "a fun 'Can we get UE3 onto the iPhone?' kind of project." Though Adams' presentation was exceptionally technical - this is the Game Developers Conference, after all! - it's fascinating to hear about the technical underpinnings and workflows that result in this type of outcome.

Continue reading GDC: This is what Unreal Engine 3 on iPhone looks like

GDC: This is what Unreal Engine 3 on iPhone looks like originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What's more terrifying than a call coming from inside the house? The call coming from inside the theater. That's the thought behind Last Call, an interactive horror film in which the main character calls a random audience member for help. More »

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/The_PlayStation_Move_sub_controller_Don_t_call_it_a_Nunchuk'; In case this is your first visit to Joystiq, know that Sony has dropped major megatons this evening at its GDC press conference -- as well as one very small megaton: the PlayStation Move "sub-controller." What you see above is the little brother (if you will) to the main ice cream cone-esque Move wand and the enabler of all things analog stick-controlled.

As per Sony's announcement of Move, the sub-controller attachment is intended to "expand the game play options that PlayStation Move games can offer," and -- unlike Nintendo Wii's Nunchuk controller -- it will connect wirelessly to the console via Bluetooth. We'll have our hands-on with the PlayStation Move (and the sub-controller) for you later tonight. For now, ogle the high-res images in our gallery below.

PlayStation Move sub-controller: Don't call it a Nunchuk originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Among the titles for the PS3's Move motion controller being shown off at the Game Developers Conference today is Sports Champions, a very familiar sounding casual sports title. More »

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/The_PlayStation_Move_games_we_know_of_Joystiq'; According to the block of info posted on European PlayStation Blog, there are a lot more PlayStation Move games out there to be seen than tonight's press release let on. Beyond the already revealed support for Move in SOCOM 4, LittleBigPlanet and EyePet, a whole mess of games were shown off at Sony's GDC event, from Move Party (um, a party game) to Slider (Mirror's Edge meets Pain?) to a Western shooter in The Shoot. (We've dropped a screen of Sports Champion above -- a game we think looks particularly fantastic.)

Oh, and the Euro Blog's mention of "DUKES" is just another name for that Motion Fighter game, which was mentioned onstage during this evening's press event -- so cool your heels and put the Jump to Conclusion mat back away. (We do rather like the name "Dukes," we'll admit; though we've been told it's a regional thing, and us North Americans are likely stuck with "Motion Fighter" instead.) We've yet to confirm which studios are developing which games, but you can be sure we'll ask Sony just as soon as we can. Here's the complete list of PlayStation Move titles that we know of, though, for now:

• Sports Champion
  
• The Shoot
  
• Slider
  
• TV Superstars
  
• Move Party
• Motion Fighter

The PlayStation Move games (we know of) originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hand models have it pretty good, don't they? Show up, hold something for a few hours, collect checks, repeat. It's such a sweet gig, there's gotta be something wrong with them, right? Wait... they're all attractive, too? Well nuts. More »

I just played SOCOM 4 with the newly-named PlayStation Move controller. And now I know how the PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive controller is not just a me-too Wii controller. More »

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/First_trailer_for_PlayStation_Move'; PlayStation Blog recently got its hands on a trailer for the very recently monikered PlayStation Move -- though it doesn't really contain any information which hasn't surfaced over the past few minutes (or rather, months). There's PlayStation Eye integration, voice support, and -- guess what! That ball on top? Totally changes colors.

The only new information this new trailer imparts is what you're going to look like while you play a game with the PlayStation Move. That is to say, infinitely dweeby. Check out the trailer above to see what we mean.

PlayStation Move trailer shows you what you'll look like whilst Moving originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've seen how a fighter operates with the PlayStation Move, now let's get a look at how a shooter functions under Sony's new motion controller. Here's SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. More »

Sony's finally put a name to their motion controller, and it's called PlayStation Move. Updated with hands on. More »

At Sony's special GDC event, Activision, Capcom, WB Games, Namco Bandai, Square Enix, Ubisoft, EA, Disney, Konami, Sega, Crave and Tecmo Koei all confirmed that they'll be supporting the Move in future versions of their games. Although that confirmation came in the form of a slide full of company logos and word from Sony vice-president of marketing and PSN that, "Virtually every third-party publisher" will support the new motion-control device.

Sony's Jack Tretton went on to say that 36 publishers and third-party developers will support it, and according to a press release, "In fiscal year 2010, SCE Worldwide Studios will also release more than 20 games that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform. While this same group of publishers will probably support Microsoft's Project Natal as well, it's good to know that everyone is onboard. But onboard how? Are they developing Move departments that will get every possible ounce of gameplay out of these things? Or do they mean support like backrubs and cookies?

We aren't sure what titles will be supported just yet, but our team of Joystiqers are waving the Move about as you read this, and we'll have more news very soon.

Sony's Move supported by 36 companies, 20 games this fiscal year originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here's our first ever official, up-close look at Sony's PlayStation Move motion-control peripheral, due later this year. More »

Neat little clipping and saving service works on Web, iPhone

Now that we have an official name, let's take a look at some official gameplay of the PlayStation Move, courtesy of our team on the scene at GDC 2010. More »

It's one thing to shoot an entire short film on a Canon flatbed computer scanner. It's another to do it well. With Memoirs of a Scanner, Mindfruit Films pretty much nailed it. More »

Sony announced during its GDC 2010 press conference that the upcoming US release of EyePet will feature support for its motion controller, PlayStation Move. The game will allow players to manipulate toys and also play games with their EyePets. Furthermore, it's even possible to create new toys. The promotional video during the event showed off a child using the Move to draw a car on some virtual paper, which then jumped off the page and became an object that players and the EyePet could then interact with.

In addition, Sony announced that EyePet is slated for a North American release this holiday. There was no mention of what will happen to the European version of the game, which was released last year. Presumably, Move support will be added once the peripheral launches.

EyePet to support PlayStation Move, hits North America holiday 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During its GDC 2010 conference Sony has revealed that Zipper Interactive's upcoming shooter SOCOM 4 will support the (just officially named) PlayStation Move motion controller. Controlling the shooter requires the PlayStation Move and its optional secondary device known as the Move "Sub-controller" -- a wand like device which sports an analog stick.

During Sony's Game Developer's Conference keynote SOCOM 4 was demoed using the precise motion-control scheme to varying accuracy success. PlayStation Move support was also featured in a demo for LittleBigPlanet, where is was noted that current LBP fans will be able to use existing tools to help make the game a cooperative experience allowing one player to control movable objects within the environment while other players control Sackboy (or Sackgirl!).

Sony also featured a handful of mini-games for an upcoming compilation title titled Sports Champions, including a gladiator-style fighter and table tennis. The PlayStation Move will release later this year in a variety of bundles.

SOCOM 4, LittleBigPlanet to support PlayStation Move originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Notorious as a malware ghetto, LimeWire takes its first steps to integrate authoritative threat protection by signing on AVG to provide premium users with download scanning and blocking.

It's an awfully nice gesture of Sony to invite us to its GDC 2010 press conference -- and it's one where we expect to see some equally nice gestures. That's a Motion Controller joke, folks. Check back by 4:00PM PST (7PM EST) to catch our full and irritatingly detailed liveblog!

Continue reading Joystiq live at Sony's GDC 2010 press conference

Joystiq live at Sony's GDC 2010 press conference originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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But Microsoft is telling game developers to concentrate on the phones.

Say goodbye to the Arc or Gem and hello to the PlayStation Move. Sony has revealed the official name for its motion controller, coming this fall in three forms - alone, with the PlayStation Eye, or bundled with a PS3. More »

During its GDC press conference, Sony announced that the PlayStation motion controller -- newly dubbed PlayStation Move -- will launch in several different packages to accommodate the various gamers out there. Sony is planning an "aggressive" marketing campaign around the new peripheral when it launches later this year and -- similar to Microsoft's launch plans for Project Natal -- it will treat the launch of the PlayStation Move as a separate "platform launch."

There will be multiple bundles, including a bundle that includes a PlayStation 3 console, the PlayStation Move and the PlayStation Eye. Furthermore, the company will launch a starter pack, which includes a PlayStation Move, a PlayStation Eye and an unnamed game all for under $100.

PlayStation Move bundles announced, starter kit under $100 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At a press conference during the Game Developers Conference, the PlayStation maker gives the gathered press corps a sneak peek at its motion-sensitive controller.

roundup This week's Game Developers Conference brings together designers, programmers, publishers, and others for the latest from the world of video play.