This comes from a tip dropped over on Ectomo: a post on gaming blog Yahuda that challenges the universally-held notion that the primary, and perhaps sole purpose of games is to befun. Games are not supposed to be anything. Games are a medium, like movies, books, and painting. The problem with games, and the game industry, and gamers, is that no one has ever thought about games as other than a) how fun they are, and b) how many people play them....
Clearly, you’re just not understanding my sense of humor. I goof a lot. The Destructoid staff does not goof. They’re intensely serious people who do nothing but play videogames all week long, diodes strapped to their heads while the news is written to the page via a neural induction link. We’re from the future, playing your games in the past. Read on to find out what we were up to this week....
Even though we may seem like towering paragons of intellectual rigor, valiantly broadcasting our integrity from the ivoriest of towers, games journalists are, by and large, normal people. Which is to say that some of us have balls, and that those balls need to be shaved every once in a while. The only reason I know this, however, is because the fine folks at GayGamer took some time at E3to ask our esteemed peers about their grooming habits....
Alec Holowka, formerly one half of Bit Blot (Aquaria) and currently the head of Infinite Ammo (Paper Moon), was the last speaker to go on at the Independent Games Summit of GDC Austin. A lot of the talks to go on in the hours and days before, although they were all very awesome, were based in the business of making indie games. Alec was not there to talk about business at all....
If you feel so inclined! I wouldn’t want to forceMadden NFL 12on anyone against their will. The demo, which is a rematch of the 2011 NFC Championship match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, can be downloaded from PlayStation Network and Xbox Live as of today. You can play five minute quarters across four difficulty levels and get to choose between using Conventional or GameFlow playcalling....
I don’t think anyone is ever going to say that whatHalohas done for online gaming is anything short of epic or that the game’s multiplayer is bad in any way. No, in fact it is good mutliplayer, and when there is good multiplayer people play the good multiplayer, and, evidently, they continue to play the good multiplayer. According to Bungie, despiteHalo 3being two years oldthere are still 1,000,000 unique playersplaying the game every single day....
On Wednesday night, I was at Namco Bandai’s big carnival of exciting new videogames or “press event.” A whole slew of their latest stuff was on display, including the newTNA Wrestling iMPACT!, which I had a chance to play around with a bit. I’m not a huge wrestling fan, per se, but I do appreciate the entertainment value of gigantic men hurting each other, so it’s nice to see this being brought to mobile gaming in full force....
Turtle Beach has just announced the Turtle Beach Earforce X12; successor to the X11. For those that don’t know the X11 is currently one of the most successful budget high-end headsets for the Xbox 360. They’re pretty spiffy actually. Audiophiles won’t find the X11 impressive compared to some of Turtle Beach’sfancier offerings, but they’re beyond practical for anyone just looking to play online games. The X12 is set to release some time in the fall and will feature a price tag of 59....
Following the not-so-HDtrailerwe saw from Famitsu the other day, here are some new screenshots for Taito’s upcomingRaystorm HDfor XBLA and PSN. They give us a look at some of the revamped action, as well as a closer look at the ships themselves. The game is looking decent for a digital title, and nigh-on spectacular for what used to be a PS1 shooter. Even if you disagree, it still warms the heart to see the shmup revival picking up speed out there....
We’ve been inundated with all sorts of mock-ups and leakages concerningProject Cafe, the rumored HD console being developed by Nintendo. The latest development is this supposedly leaked image, found on various forums and image hosts around the ‘net. “Project Cafe is simply the most developer friendly SDK the industry has ever seen,” reads the text accompanying the image. “Deliver unparalleled next generation performance at current generation costs. It doesn’t get any easier than this....
Drew Brees is theMadden NFL 11cover athlete, and above, you may see him in action in the game’s first trailer. The footage premiered on theGameTrailers TV“EA Sports Season Kickoff”special, and so did I! The trailer shows off the major changes and improvements that are coming to theMaddenfranchise in 2010, all of which emphasize the game’s tagline this year: “Simpler. Quicker. Deeper.” That involves features such as an all-new playcalling setup, “GameFlow,” and a completely revamped movement engine....
The end begins. Though you wouldn’t think to look at it, “Like Big Boss” is — or is, at least, planned to be — the lead-in to our two-part season finale which will either be really epic and cool, or really awkward and poorly shot. There will be no middle ground. A fair number of videos like this week’s have been made over the past few months, but I hope you’ll find our version significantly different from the others....
A “happy holidays” card from Blizzard just landed in our mailbox today, I don’t think I’ll ever look at the Lich King the same way again. Seriously, I’m digging this art style. It reminds me a bit of Capcom’s take on theStreet Fighter characters for thePuzzle Fightergames. Which gives me a great idea —WarcraftmeetsPuzzle Quest. I know, I know … it’s brilliant, Blizzard. But don’t thank me, or even give me credit when said game pulls in more revenue thanWorld of Warcraft....
