Tasty Links for May 15 : Can't wait for the post GTA IV NPD sales numbers Edition
Eurogamer Interview : Microsoft's Shane Kim
Shane Kim talks motion control rumors and more
From what I've heard the "Newton" and "Lips" projects were going through quality assurance electronics testing. If it were just research and development it would not be tested as such.
Japan Sales: Wii Continues Top 10 Domination
It will be interesting to see how the Wii's run away success affects development of future Japanese games,
Analyst: Don't expect a PS3 price cut this year
Sony post 4Q profit, smaller PlayStation 3 loss
Nintendo: No Such Thing As 'Casual' Gaming
Back in the 1980s there was no term of Casual gaming. It was all causal gaming in the arcades.
Sony releases PS3 "stability" update
Hopefully this will address the locking issues that the Playstation 3 version of GTA IV was crippled by.
Sega, Platinum Games Partner Up
Hopefully they can help Sega make a 3d Sonic game that might not suck.
Researcher: Violent Video Games Do Not Lead to Criminal Behavior
Demo: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
I heard that the power levels in this Xbox Live Demo go up to NINNEE THOUSANNNDDDD!!!!!
Jake 
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Tasty Links for May 14 : Shane Kim Totally has Never Heard of "Lips" and "Newton" Edition
Folks at Microsoft's Gamerday 2008 sat down with Microsoft Game Studios Corporate Vice President Shane Kim, they asked him about "Lips" and "Newton". With all due respect he was totally bluffing.
Interview Shane Kim 14-May-2008 Microsoft Game Studios boss
360 boss: "I've never heard of a motion controller"
Kim "confident" 360 will last 7 years
Shane Kim Clueless About Xbox 360 Newton
"What is this 'Lips'I keep hearing about?"
"Well, the stock answer is that we don't comment on rumors and speculation. But I will say, look, we have a lot of research and development going on all over the place, in Live and in Hardware and we have a ton of success in the accessory business - and that's probably a story that doesn't get told enough. From a commercial perspective and also in terms of critical acclaim."
"We're going to continue to look at new ways we can introduce different things - the third parties are doing this as well with the music controllers. So there's opportunities for us there too. We're an R and D company at heart."
"I agree with you. But I've never heard of a motion sensing controller... I don't know what you are talking about..." - Microsoft Game Studios Corporate Vice President Shane Kim
Next week I am going to the Vancouver Game Summit and Shane Kim is giving a keynote there. I am trying to get an interview with him.
Here is the link round up of coverage of "Lips". I am sorry that I got the timing of the unveiling wrong, when I saw that they had place holders for "Lips" on that website I thought it was time to open my mouth and say what I knew. No pun intended.
Microsoft Source: Read my Lips, new Xbox 360 accessory tomorrow
Xbox 360 "Lips" Getting Announced Tomorrow?
Rumor: Microsoft's 'Lips' is an Xbox accessory
Rumor: 'Lips' isn't a game, it's a new accessory
Confirmed: Xbox 360 "Lips" Getting Announced Tomorrow
Microsofts store hemmelighet Hva ligger bak det mystiske kodenavnet «Lips»?
Loose Lips: Microsoft Opening Up Lips (And More) Tomorrow?
"Wow, 8bitjoystick seems to have a lot of inside info there. I don't think anyone would have guessed Lips could have to do with Voice input." - Kotaku commentator
Microsoft is pretty stoked that they almost have sold 10 million Xbox 360s in the US and a world wide total of 19 million.
Xbox 360 First Gaming System to Reach 10 Million in U.S. Console Sales This Generation
REDMOND, Wash. — May 14, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold over 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break the 10 million mark in the U.S. The U.S. install base contributes to global sales of over 19 million, more than any other current-generation console.
“This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.”
Other stuff :
XBMC Turns Your Mac into the Ultimate Media Center
Wow Xbox Media Center ported to the Macintosh! That is the media center program that was made for hacked Xbox ones. How could I not check that out?
Valve distances themselves from PS3 development
Valve: "We're not PS3 developers"
"Even though you broke my heart and killed me, and tore me to pieces, and threw every piece into a fire."- GLaDOS
Microsoft unofficially shoots down rumors of the slim "Xbox 540", They did not deny future revisions to the Xbox 360 motherboards, like "Valhalla".
Gaming: Microsoft Denies Slimmer Xbox 360
“While we don't normally comment on rumors like this, we can tell you that we have no plans to release a new console in 2009.” - MS PR source
Jake Link Tasty Links
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Stubbs the Zombie coming to Xbox Originals : There will be BRAINS!
Major Nelson and Gamerscore blog let the word out that Stubbs the Zombie was headed for sale on Xbox Live as an Xbox Originals on May 19th. Stubbs is a great game that has been hard to find as of late. It was built on the Halo engine but it is not as easy to find as Halo. This is great news and I can’t think of a game that I would like to see as an Xbox Original. Stubbs is a ZOMBASTIC game!
Here is my previous review of Stubbs The Zombie : Rebel Without a Pulse:
Review : Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse for Xbox
The Xbox game Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse is a sarcastic but fun action game that uses the Halo engine and was made by former Bungie employees at Wideload games.
Stubbs the Zombie is a third person action game staring a voiceless zombie in a ripped suit gaping flesh wounds and a cigarette. Stubbs pops out of the ground and back to life in the retro futuristic city of Punchbowl in the late 1950s. You stagger through town eating the brains of the living and take over the city with a giant zombie horde one delicious brain at at time. Punchbowl is full of hover cars with tail fins and mad scientists with ray guns, It is sort of Leave it to Beaver meets Flash Gordon. A dark sarcastic humorous look at Americana permeates through the game and gives it a very unique tone not unlike Destroy All Humans
After a few smacks to a human they will stupor a bit and then you have a chance to grab their head and munch out their juicy juicy living brains in a huge splatter of particle based fleshy blood spray and screaming. The brains also make you stronger and the corpse will turn into a mindless zombie faster. The mindless zombie horde with follow you around and seek out humans to fight and eat. using the horde is necessary to fight large crowds of heavily armed humans. You can push your zombies into the humans and use them as shields from their firearms. Fights go quickly from having no zombies to help you to having the tide swing in your favor as the majority of humans turn. Now Stubbs can not run very fast since he is undead so you have to hold in account that the humans are quicker than you. Stubbs can also rip out an organ and throw it as a grenade, bowl his exploding head, fart poison clouds and rip off his hand and have it crawl on the ground and posses a living human by grabbing the back of their head. This is actually the deadliest weapon and if you take over a human with a powerful ray-gun they can take out humans.
The Halo engine can handle huge environments, semi-intelligent crowds and vehicles and it is very refreshing to see it used on something besides a first person shooter. This game works like a charm on the Xbox 360 since the Backwards Compatibility team made damn sure that Halo worked and it was also released on Macintosh and PC. It is a pretty rare cult game and that is too bad because it is probably the most Zombastic game out there besides Dead Rising.
There is some really great soundtrack song of the 1950s and 1960s being done by hipster bands like The Flaming Lips, Phantom Planet, Ben Kweller, The Raveonettes, and Death Cab For Cutie but they are only at certain parts of the game and most of the game has no music but the rhythmic cries of the undead moaning BRAINS!!!"
There was a bit of controversy when everybody favorite anti-videogame Jowl-clad senator Joe Lieberman (I - Naboo) said that this game encouraged cannibalism in children. Of course the game is rated M for Mature and can't be purchased by kids and since Stubbs is a zombie eating human brains is not technically cannibalism. The game developers wrote a sarcastic statement saying that Joe Lieberman discriminates against the undead.
This game can be found for twenty bucks and it is a blast to play. It is not the most in depth epic game in the world but it can be a lot of zombastic brain-eating fun. One would think that a brain-eating based combat system would get boring but the every bite of the flesh of the living is as tasty as the first.
Jake Link Games
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The Rhyme and Reason of Xbox Lips
Some people have wondered why Microsoft would be designing a new accessory called Lips when they already have a wired and wireless headset on the market.
I suspect the biggest reason is that the current headsets do not provide enough audio data to be a good controller in an audio singing game and probably for voice recognition commands. I can barley pass a song using the Xbox microphones on RockBand but get almost perfect scores using the USB mic.
Microsoft has put a lot of research into voice recognition over the years and even came close to putting it in Office.
Lips could be something as simple as a USB Microphone but as complex as a voice recognition SDK for future games. I can type pretty fast at a keyboard but I could see how voice commands on a game would work if your hands were busy with a controller.
I doubt it is a new wired or wireless headset. They don’t really need any new hardware for VoIP communication.
Music games are a huge business with Rock Band, Karaoke Revolution, Boogie, Guitar Hero IV, SingStar, and High School Musical all using additional hardware to play them. Currently they don’t have any Microsoft branded accessories to play those games. However there is a big market for music games for casual game players
Music games are a big market, Xbox accessories is a huge market for Microsoft. This might be two great tastes coming together like peanut butter and chocolate. I guess we will have to wait for E3.
Jake Link Games
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It Looks Like Microsoft’s “Lips” are Still Sealed
Microsoft’s Gamerday 2008 event is wrapping up and it looks like they are not going to show off either the "Newton" or “Lips” accessories at this event.
They are still coming. They are real hardware projects that the engineering team at Xbox is working on. I don't know when they are going to officially announce them. Yesterday seems like a pretty good time since they found a mention of “Lips” on that Microsoft PR website.
It looks like they are going to save all new hardware announcements for their media event before this years E3 media expo.
Oh I will have my day. I will drink your milkshake!
Well played Microsoft... well played indeed!
Jake Link Games
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Microsoft Gamerday 2008 is going on without me!
Today Microsoft kicked off the Gamerday 2008 media event in San Francisco. I am not down there but I'll bring you updates as soon as they come down the internet wire. So far this morning there is no sign or word about the Lips accessory or Newton controller. They might show them off later on in the day or they might want to save all hardware announcements until the E3 expo.
Today they are showing off the games:
Gears of War 2 (Coming out November)
Banjo Kazooie - Nuts and Bolts (Coming out 2008)
Viva Piñata - Trouble in Paradise (Coming out November)
Too Human (Coming out in August)
Fable 2 (Coming out 2008)
Ninja Gaiden 2 (Coming out June)
and
Penny Arcade Adventures (coming out May 21)
Press Release goodness is as follows
Video Media Alert - Tuesday May 13th, 2008
Continue reading "Microsoft Gamerday 2008 is going on without me!"
Jake Link Games
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The Valhalla Xbox 360 is not going to be a smaller "Xbox 540"
TG Daily wrote an article today that stated that they think that the Valhalla Xbox 360 motherboard is going to be integrated into a new case design and form factor. They threw around the slang term "the Xbox 540".
I do not see how this is going to be the case and here are my reasons why :
1. Microsoft has never redesigned the case of an Xbox product. I have never heard anything about them changing the form-factor in the middle of a platform's generation.
2. Their entire idea is to put out a better cheaper Xbox 360 each year and they are not going to make a cheaper system by developing a new case. Their hardware strategy for Xbox is about building a better and cheaper Xbox on the inside that will reduce the significant manufacturing costs.
3. Microsoft is selling plenty of accessories that use the current design : The wireless adapter, the external movie drives (HD-DVD and probably Blu-ray), the memory units, face plates and the 20-Gig Hard Drive, 60-Gig Hard Drive (it is coming soon) and the 120-Gig Hard Drive.
4. They sacrificed the stability and reliability of the Xbox 360 in favor of a smaller sexier form factor launching in fall of 2005 that was established before the Xenon motherboard was designed. The current Xbox 360 had enough airflow heating problems and they are not going to make it harder for them by shrinking the form factor.
5. Sony had planned on keeping the thin PSTwo around while they sold the PlayStation 3 on a ten year life cycle. I doubt that Microsoft is going to keep selling the Xbox 360 once their third generation Xbox is on the market. A new Xbox 360 case would be overkill if they are going to have a third Xbox platform in a few years after the Valhalla motherboard.
6. They are putting all their effort into making an Xbox 360 that was reliable and cost effective to produce.
7. Just combining the CPU and GPU into a new unified chip set with a new cooling system is going to require a total redesign of the motherboard, to build that chip set and make it work reliably is not going going to be easy.
Update : I think a more realistic goal for the Valhalla Xbox 360 team would be to integrate that ginormious power supply brick into inside 360 form factor. That would shave off a few bucks in manufacturing costs but I don’t see it being very likely.
Jake Link Games
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Kid Friendly Alternatives to Grand Theft Auto IV
The Grand Theft Auto series of games have always featured huge non-linear, living breathing city environments and break neck driving action. Unfortunately it is probably the most inappropriate game for kids to get their little grubby gaming hands on. Here is a list of titles that I would recommend to give out a GTA like kick but without all the massive dose of the ultra violent.
Simpson's Hit and Run
Platform : PS2, Gamecube and Xbox (Should work in some PS3s, and all Wiis and Xbox 360 with hard drives)
This game is a GTA like open city game with lots off driving action but set in the cartoon world of The Simpsons. Since it is a cartoon world if you happen to hit someone they go flying, bounce and then get back up. You can take cars but there is no real violence. It has all The Simpsons voices and sense of humor. Even if you are not playing this game for kids it is one of the best GTA like Non-GTA games.
Crazy Taxi (and Crazy Taxi : Fare Wars for PSP)
Platform : PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and PSP
The original insane driving game in a big city features folks that will always jump out of the way at the very last minute. Crazy Taxi was originally a super fun Sega arcade game and my friend BBQ has achieved a zen like ability at it. It is a shame that Crazy Taxi 3 is not backwards compatible on the Xbox 360
The Simpson's Road Rage
Platform : PS2, Gamecube and Xbox (should be backwards compatible on all newer systems)
Road Rage is a well done clone of Crazy Taxi but with Simpson characters driving around the city hectically but it is not possible to hit any of the pedestrians.
Project Gotham Racing 4
Platform : Xbox 360
PGR4 is hands down my favorite racing game on any platform. The graphics are incredible, the racing is fast and I could see kids pick this one up.
Blue Dragon
Platform : Xbox 360
Blue Dragon is an awesome Japanese RPG about a group of young heroes out to save the world. It is the closest that the Xbox is ever going to get to a DragonQuest game. Its cinematic anime eye candy animations really add to a well done lengthy story.
Psychonauts
Platform : Xbox 360 (via Xbox Originals and an Xbox one disc if you can find it), Playstation 2 and PC via Steam
The cult classic story of a twisted world of a summer camp for power full psychic kids has finally gotten a decent chance to find an audience.
Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix
Platform : Xbox 360, Wii, PS3
There have been other Harry Potter games but what sets this one apart is the amount of detail that they spent in building a massive environment for Hogwarts castle. It is sort of Grand Theft Harry Potter but with drive by wandings.
Jake Link Games
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Xbox to Unveil Accessory Lips Tomorrow
I can confirm the existence of a new Xbox accessory codenamed : Lips
A couple months ago I got a hold of a treasure trove of information straight from the internal working of the engineering team at Xbox. I learned a heck of a lot what was really going on with the Red Ring of Death, New Xbox 360 motherboard designs and I learned about three accessories that they are working on.
Newton
Lips
Radon iv
Joystiq has a post up about how the dudes over at NeoGaf have found that Microsoft is scheduled to show off something called Lips tomorrow. Now that matches up with the reports that I’ve seen on the accessories development report coming out of the hardware team at Xbox.
Lips : I really don’t know too much about what it is going to be. I suspect that it is going to be a voice communication device and possible voice recognition in games.
Newton : Newton is the Wiimote clone flying mouse that is going to bring the waggle willies to the Xbox.
Radon iv : We don’t know to much about it but I suspect that it is a cost cutting engineering revision to the Xbox wireless controller. So there might be a price cut coming for the wireless game pad once this is out. The “iv” part sounds like a cost cutting revision.
So I don't have an invitation to Microsoft Gamerday 08 in San Francisco so I'll be refreshing my web browser to find out just what the heck the Xbox team is going to show off tomorrow.
Hey Xbox360Fanboy.com! Update :
Lips is a codename for a piece of hardware that is going to have something to do with voice communications. The reason why I did not mention it before is that I was not sure what exactly it was but when Joystiq and NeoGAF broke word of it being shown tomorrow I just wanted raise my hand and say that I knew that it is a piece of hardware too.
Update 2 : Or it might be a microphone for a singing game like Rockband, Karaoke Revolution and Singstar. I do know that Lips is a separate accessory project from the "Newton" wand.
Update 3 – Update Hard with a vengeance : Hey Kotaku
I know for a certifiable fact that Lips is some sort of accessory designed and made by Microsoft. It is probably going to have some sort of software or game to go with it but it is essentially a hardware accessory project. I am willing to bet all my NES games on its existence. It’s development was pretty free from drama and that is remarkable in it’s own right and based on what I’ve read about it sounds like some sort of microphone or communicator.
Web traffic to my website from Microsoft.com jumped today just like it did when I mentioned the code names of the projects Opus, Valhalla and Orion (Gen 3 Zune for late 2008).
Newton is the name of the Xbox motion sensing controller, Darwin is the name of Motus’s flying mouse controller that Microsoft might be partnering with for the Newton.
Update 4 : A New Beginning : OK here we are halfway through Microsoft’s Gamerday 2008 and they have yet to show off the Lips accessory or the Newton controller. They might be holding this off until E3. DOH! They freaking are coming but I don’t know exactly when they are going to show them off.
Jake Link Games
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Movie Review : Girls Rock
Tonight I saw the best documentary I'll see in 2008 and probably it is the best movie that I'll see all year. Girls Rock is a documentary about a week long girls-only rock music camp in Portland OR. Some of the camp counselors are Pacific Northwest musicians like Sleater Kinney.
I have to say that I was a little bit predisposed to like it since a friend from the Slaughter County Roller Vixens roller derby league was briefly in it with her daughter who attended the camp during the time of the filming. The theater cheered when they had screen time. It was a good looking movie and the on screen graphics and animation was cutting edge.
I guess it is a feminist movie since it touches on the issues about self-esteem that girls face growing up in our society but at no point is the movie preachy. It was rated PG but I can't think of a more mentally nutritious and healthy movie to take your kids to, both boys and girls. It was a shockingly honest and fascinating look at the camp.
Over the course of the week the girls learn how to work together in a band, write music and deal with the issues that they face creatively. It was Judy Blume meets Blonde and PJ Harvey.
This is exactly the kind of movie that makes me glad that we now have an independent movie theater nearby. Girls Rock was recently picked up by a major movie distributer so there is a pretty good chance of it playing an indy movie theater somewhat near you and it will eventually come out on DVD. My girlfriend saw a little bit of herself in all of the girls in the movie. It honestly brought us to the edge of tears a couple times and cracked a smile for the rest of the film. It was the best documentary that I've seen in a very long time. Go see it and take all the kids that you can cram in the car. This movie was Full of The Rock!
Jake Link Reviews
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Tasty Links for May 09 2008 : Banjo-Kazooie Newton Tuesday?
Rumor: Microsoft May Debut New Xbox 360 Motion Controller Next Week
I've heard about the May PR event that is going on for Tuesday and I knew that it was going to be about the E3 game finalists. However Kotaku is talking about a rumor that Rare is going to show off a new game Banjo-Kazooie 3 and that it might use a motion sensing new Xbox controller. I am not sure if new accessory hardware is going to be shown off before E3. I hope the "gravity" of it hits folks like an "apple" on the head.
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg on GTA IV and how he really feels about the PS3
Microsoft: Aaron Greenberg Goes Berserk, Bites Sony In The Face
This is a pretty good interview. I would love to see Sony respond to his questions.
Sony: Home Was 'Too Ambitious' | Game | Life from Wired.com
Perhaps that is why it is currently vaporware.
Proposed Bill Seeks ID Checks for Game Sales | Game | Life from Wired.com
This is a horrible idea and a waste of government resources. I am going to be writing and calling my congress members about this.
Bizarre Creations finished with PGR4, hands DLC duties to Microsoft - Joystiq
That is too bad. We knew it was going to happen but I hope that Project Gotham Racing finds a good new home.
Key Nintendo Programmer Defects to Microsoft
Hum it is not because there is a project over at Microsoft that is sort of like a controller that Nintendo made is it?
Hiroshi Yamauchi is the richest man in Japan
The man that made Nintendo what it is today is living large off some stock options.
Exploiting Xbox Customer Service Loop Hole: Call The A-Team. - GayGamer.net
Luckily I have never had to do anything like this.
Jake Link Tasty Links
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Review : Battle of the Bands for Wii
For the past week I have had Battle of the Bands in my Nintendo Wii and I have had a pretty fun, stupid good time with it. It was originally called "Band Mashup" in development.
It is a competitive music game by THQ and Planet Moon Studios that is made for the Wiimote. After taking a look at the user interface and art style it would be easy to compare this game to Guitar Hero or Rock Band but the game play has more in common with Parappa The Rapper and Bust a Groove on PSOne.
Rather than using a dedicated controller the game is build around just using the Wiimote. You wave the Wiimote wand like a conductor in time with the arrow pattern on the screen in time with the music. If you do good you score points and charge up attacks to zap the other band. Winning a match requires you to build up an attack and mess up the other player at the right time.
Each match is against two cute exaggerated cartoony bands of competing musical styles and depending how you do it will switch between the dominant music style. You can sort of think of it as Conductor Waggle Hero.
There are thirty songs that were recorded in five different musical styles. There is Rock/Metal, Funk/Hip-Hop, Country Western, Latin, and Marching Band versions of each song and the covers had a pretty good production. I love that it had different musical versions of Blitzkrieg Bop, Jungle Boogie, Man of Constant Sorrow and Whoomp! (There it is).
It was pretty different to see Latin and Country songs in a music game, I freaking loved the fact that one of the bands were Mexican "Day of the Dead" skeletons. It is rated T for Teen for some very mild lyrics but I still think that this game would be perfect for kids.
Before I got this game I almost forgot how much fun a game can be using motion sensitive controls. It involves a bit more coordination and interaction by waving your hand around and it is a lot more fun that just hitting buttons in time and tapping on a gamepad. I would love to see this game ported to the Xbox 360 once the motion sensing "Newton" controller comes out. It is a shame that there is no online game play but there is a lot of in room versus fun.
My cats found the Wiimote strap to be hypnotizing as I tapped the controller to the beat. My game hand was bitten several times much to my surprise.
The game does not take it self too seriously and that is a good thing. It is not a mega-production like other music games you might think of but it is in all a pretty simple but ultimately fun music game. This game is "Full of Wii".
Jake Link Reviews
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