This episode is what I would call “getting into the swing of things.” It’s the best editing work I’ve ever done, it’s got a good mix of silliness and serious business, and it doesn’t look like it was cobbled together by a monkey with cataracts. In short, this is my favorite episode yet. Do let me know what you think of the picture-in-picture deal. I’ve been meaning to try it out....
Family is a central part of anyone’s life. For better or worse, your family has a profound effect on you and changes your life in one way or another. Because of the emotionally deep connection everyone has to family, videogame designers over the years have featured many in-game family relationships in their games to help the player relate to what is happening on-screen. Whether these in-game family relationships exist in name alone (Mario & Luigi) or offer something much more complex and emotional (Mother 3), the power and impact of family in videogames cannot be ignored....
Here at the Destructoid office we’ve always joked that someone would take Wii motion control too far and make a hair cutting game. We joked that it would be called “Cut That Sh*t!” or something similar. And now it’s really happening. The Redken brand of salon cosmetics teamed up with publisher Little Orbit to makeBusy Scissors, a hairstyling simulation for the Wii and DS.In it you’ll cut, color, blow dry and shampoo hair, working to make special clientele happy....
THQ “doesn’t care” that its one-use code for online play inSmackdown vs. Raw 2011might upset its consumers. The publisher is waging war against the used games market, and if customers get pissed off, well boo hoo to them, apparently. “I don’t think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything,” says THQ’s Cory Ledesma. “So if used game buyers are upset they don’t get the online feature set I don’t really have much sympathy for them....
We justrecently learnedthat the strangest Japanese WiiWare one-button side-scrolling game is coming to the US.Tomena Sanner, they call it, andKonamiis working on releasing it here early next year. Today we have a new trailer that shows off some of the wacky side-scrolling that goes on here. Housewife hurdling and dinosaur sliding are the norm in this game. “Dance ’till the sun goes up, dance ’till the sun goes down,” says the in-game song....
Strategy is not exactly the most happenin’ genre in videogames, and with a handful of exceptions, such games have hardly cracked the majority of the market and garnered any sort of mainstream appeal. According to Ubisoft Shanghai boss Michael de Plater, the fault of that restssquarely on the shoulders of you, the hardcore gamer. “Strategy games have almost suffered by listening too much to their hardcore audience. Every iteration, fromCommand & Conqueronwards, added stuff and added stuff and added stuff, which has just upped the complexity....
Visceral’s highly excellentDead Space 2has made a splash in the United Kingdom, debuting at number one. It shuntsLittleBigPlanet 2down to the second place, which is no bad place to be. In fact, PS3 exclusives don’t typically stay near the top very long, as remaining in second is rather good. The rest of the chart is exactly what you think it is. The same old faces put in an appearance, in their usual positions....
A large number of European consumers have become outraged over a recent decision by Valve to start listing Steam prices in Euros for everyone in the EU (previously, everything was in US dollars). While this seems reasonable, the outrage is because the currency exchange rate Valve is using is $1 = €1, while the actual exchange rate is something close to $1 = €0.72. To make matters worse, Valve is forcing a flat VAT into the price, even in countries that don’t have a VAT or use a lower rate....
Yesterday, theWashington Postfeatured a feel good story about people who enjoy entertaining each other with videogame art. When the day gets bland, Amy Smith likes to decorate her window with a Ms. Pac-Man composed completely of Post-it notes. Amy does it for her friend in the adjacent building, who can clearly see it when looking out the window. The funny thing is, other people started noticing Amy’s game. Now they create their own art....
Rare may have created these forNeoGAF, but they wanted to let the Destructoid community also know of these rather nattyViva Piñatawallpapers which show the candy-stuffed abominations playing dress-up with a variety of pop culture spoofs. My personal favorite is theClockwork Orangespoof, although theDr. Whoone is rather good too. All of them are pretty adorable, so if you’re ever in desperate need for a Piñata/Van Helsing crossover that’s thoroughly darling, you know where to go....
EA Warrington’s newRoad Rashgame is in the works, and some previsualization test footage hasbeen uncovered. This is just rough conceptual stuff at the moment, but even the bare-bones video you see here is looking incredibly promising. It looks like the violence that madeRoad Rashis a classic is going to be a rightfully important part of this current-gen iteration. As you’re able to see in the video, players can grab opponents and attempt to pull them off the bike....
First of all, Snowblind Studios’Lord of the Rings: War in the Northfinally has a new release window. After a few delays, the game is getting ready to ship for a fall release. Great! With a release window set, publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced aCollector’s Editionwhich comes with: a Ranger of the North quiver case; an art book; an “inside” look at the game’s music, including three songs from theWar in the Northsoundtrack; and a Ranger of the North Avatar for Xbox 360 owners or an XMB theme pack for PlayStation owners....
“My point is that from a first-party perspective, just like Microsoft doesn’t put out new original Xbox games, Nintendo is no longer supporting GameCube. Can you confirm that?” “Right, that’s correct.” This is what we heard Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo’s VP of Marketing,say to GameDaily in a recent interview. Even if Nintendo officials say that theGameCube isn’t in fact dead, the product has long since been on an automated life-support. What Kaplan said was just gamers coming to term with what we had all known for a while: it’s time to move on from the GameCube....
