ceewauwires.org

Filed under: Joyswag

You know we loved it, you know the critics loved it, but unfortunately we’re not in control of every movie theater in the US (… yet) so we imagine the vast majority of you didn’t have a chance to catch King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Thankfully, the democratizing influence of the DVD format will be felt when the film comes out next Tuesday and, as great as that is, it still wasn’t enough to appease the persnickety staff here at Joystiq. No, we’ll only be happy after we mail out five copies of the DVD to readers of the site which (lucky for us and our group therapy bill) is exactly what we’re doing!

Well, not just like that, of course there are rules:

• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post letting us know if you approve or disapprove of Billy Mitchell’s righteous mullet. (We totally approve.)
• You must be a US resident, 18 years or older. (We don’t make the laws, folks, and we feel just as indignant as you do … we think.)
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day. If you enter this giveaway more than once a day you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc.!
• This entry period ends a week from today at 1:59pm ET next Friday 2/1/08.
• For complete rules you can crochet on a throw pillow, click here (and if you do, be sure to share your needlework with us)

Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Oh the fun you can have with LEGO, Mario and plasticine. (Thanks, Jonathan) Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
DS Fanboy Lite: Jan. 19 - Jan. 25
Joystiq Podcast 035 - Mega edition
Joyswag - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The Political Game: Stand up and be counted
Today’s most familiar video: LOST gameplay footage

News
Smash Bros. Brawl to include classic game demos
Wii tie ratio 8:1 in December, still trailing life-to-date
Sega Master System games coming to Virtual Console
Former Naughty Dogs go to work on ‘Bruising’ WiiWare puzzler
PS2 vs. PSP online play, care of Yu-Gi-Oh
Army pulls sponsorship from game competition, puts event in question
Fox says EA ignored invite to discuss Mass Effect
British High Court upholds Manhunt 2 ban
Economic woes extend to Second Life
Former EA Chicago studio head heads to Xbox division
Activision: Call of Duty 4 was best-selling game of 2007

Rumors & Speculation
Possible title of James Bond’s next game announced
Rumorang: The “final” Smash Bros. Brawl roster
Rumor: Space Channel 5 coming to Wii, other systems

Culture & Community
LA Times: game narratives too ‘weak’ for movies, Uwe Boll agrees
Reminder: GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley premieres tonight

Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here
Powered by SmartRSS

Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii, Fighting

Rumors of the final Smash Bros. roster (past the 25 officially announced characters) are nothing new, but with the game’s Japanese release nearing, such rumors seem to be reaching a fever pitch. The latest fuel for the fire is the above picture, which purports to show a final roster of 44 characters from the Japanese version of the game. The screen has been floated on anumberofsites with varying degrees of credulity — it was even included at the beginning of a very official-looking GameTrailers video introducing moves for three of the confirmed new characters in the game.

So is this the holy grail of Brawl information? As much as we’d like to believe it so, we just can’t. For one thing, the background seems to be taken directly from this official image of a much smaller select screen. Everything matches a little too perfectly, from the transparent background image to the floating cursor in the bottom left corner. For another thing, the images many of the “newly revealed” characters are 2D drawings that don’t match up well with the 3D renderings for the officially revealed characters. Even for those that are renders, a closely matching source image can usually be found with a quick Google image search, suggesting an overzealous photoshopper.

Still, we’d be more than happy to be wrong on this one and to be able to play with this impressive list of Nintendo favorites come March 9. For those who want to cover their ears and hold out a shred of hope, check out a full list of the supposedly “revealed” characters below the jump.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, whether they believed it or not]

Continue reading Rumorang: The ‘final’ Smash Bros. Brawl roster

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here
Powered by SmartRSS

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Online

PlayStation 2 owners looking to take on their portable siblings can now do so with online battles of the new Yu-Gi-Oh! game, The Beginning of Destiny. According to the press release (via PSP Fanboy), the PS2 and PSP titles can do battle and, akin to other card battle titles, collect cards from cross-platform opponents otherwise unavailable in your version.

Sure, the PS2 is a last-gen console, but still one that sold almost 4 million units last year. We’re hoping to see more cross-platform play between the two consoles.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Competitive Gaming, Business

Gamers in western Kentucky have one less reason to smile this morning with news that the area’s annual gaming tournament, dubbed Gameathon, is likely in jeopardy of taking place this year at all. The reason? According to a report by the Bowling Green Daily News, the event’s chief sponsor, the US Army, has opted out of supporting the gaming tournament, stating that the military branch has “other priorities this year” beyond support for game tournys.

Oh really? That doesn’t seem to keep the Army from wanting to host this April’s Halo 3 tournament over Xbox Live, nor did it stop it from throwing the branch’s considerable weight (not to mention an estimated $2 million) behind the Global Gaming League last year. The Army had sponsored the event in 2005 and 2007, and was expected to contribute $5,000 this year, a burden that we guess was simply too terrible to bear.

The Army’s decision strikes us as doubly odd considering that the event is something of a showpiece for America’s Army, with the title sharing space with Halo, PGR, and Madden in the Gameathon’s tournament. For now the event sponsors have begun to look elsewhere for sponsorship, while a post on the event’s website appears to hold out hope that the local recruiting office will eventually be swayed to once again participate in the competition. We’ve strapped on our mental projection helmets, and are sending good vibes their way.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Puzzle, Casual

Ex-Naughty Dog developers John Hughes and Andrew Gilmour have announced the first title from their new studio, Steel Penny Games. Bruiser and Scratchin the Case of the Puzzling Paw is said to “blend a challenging puzzle game with dramatic fantasy environments and appealing characters for an exceptionally satisfying experience.” That’s a similar description we’d give to critical darlings Zack & Wiki and Sam & Max. Here’s hoping Bruiser enjoys the latter’s commercial success (and not, unfortunately, the former’s dearth in sales).

In addition to WiiWare, Steel Penny Games is also reportedly certified for Xbox Live Arcade titles. Bruiser and Scratch is reportedly scheduled for a mid-2008 release. Nintendo’s WiiWare service is rumored to have a March launch.

[Via VideoGamer]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii, Rhythm, Fashion

Between Nights and the upcoming Samba de Amigo, Sega seems pretty committed to remaking their classic franchises on the Wii. Soon there might be a third series to add to the list, as Japanese news site The Magic Box is reporting that Sega has announced Space Channel 5.0. The Wii remake of the stylish, rhythmic original will feature licensed songs from series fan Michael Jackson, according to the extremely brief report. The lack of detailed information and a Sega denial via IGN make us less than certain on the validity of this information, but we wouldn’t be surprised (or sad) if this turns out to be true.

Don’t own a Wii? Don’t lose hope! In an interview with Wired, SC5 creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi hinted that he might be interested in bringing the Dreamcast game to modern download services, a la the upcoming Rez HD. “If I had a reason to remake Space Channel 5 on the new platforms, I will do that,” Mizuguchi said. Of course, for that to work, he’d have to get the rights for the game back from Sega. Maybe if we all sing in unison the company will be convinced to make it happen.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here
Powered by SmartRSS

Filed under: Features, Politics

Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:

The video game industry finally stood up for itself this week when Electronic Arts called Fox News out over the network’s lies about Mass Effect.

It’s about time.

The theme of this column, in fact, was going to be a rant about game companies laying low and relying upon gamers to defend the industry against such controversies. By stepping up, EA ruined that column idea for me, but I’m glad they did.

It was great to see VP Jeff Brown pull no punches in protesting Fox News’ Mass Effect hatchet job. Brown got it exactly right, pointing out that Live Desk anchor Martha MacCallum and guest Cooper Lawrence were dead wrong in their characterization of the game as, essentially, interactive porn. Brown also took Fox News to task for institutional hypocrisy. As the EA exec pointed out, Fox lambasted the critically-acclaimed Mass Effect over a single, tastefully done love scene, while nightly serving up far more suggestive fare on prime-time shows like Family Guy and The O.C..

Continue reading The Political Game: Stand up and be counted

Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360

Anyone who has stared into the pitch-black eye of madness known as the Fox News Network’s “coverage” of Mass Effectand its “Luke Skywalker meets ‘Debbie Does Dallas’” gameplay, is probably now familiar with psychology specialist Cooper Lawrence, who laughingly admitted on the show that she had never played Mass Effect, but still assured the program’s viewers of the game’s vicious, child corrupting qualities.

We imagine the chuckles came to an abrupt end when Lawrence checked the Amazon ratings of her newest book, “The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever,” whose middling review had been torn asunder by incensed gamers — many of whom took the time to mention that they had never actually read the book, but hated it anyways. Amazon recently took down these negative reviews — a shame, as we’re sure they’d provide more entertainment than the actual book ever could.

Lawrence has since apologized in a New York Times article, claiming she was misinformed about the game, and that she’s “seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.” Nice work, Lawrence. You might have settled things with the gaming community, but now you’ve pissed off the DHARMA Initiative, who are capable of doing much more than just downvoting self-help literature.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here

Filed under: Culture

We don’t mean to tell you what to do during your Friday evenings (or early Saturday mornings), but we thought we might at least wedge a single suggestion in-between “pwn sum n00bs” and “stop destroying the English language.” If you or your trusty PVR device were to eye Spike TV at 1amET/PT tonight, you’d experience the premiere of “GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley,” a weekly magazine-style program dedicated to those video game things you like so much.

Hosted by media “darling” Geoff Keighley, the show will not only come to you on the airwaves, but via a download on Xbox Live Marketplace and — for those dying to pore over Geoff’s pores — an HD version on GameTrailers.com. For further incentive, consider that the premiere will highlight an “exclusive sneak peak” of EA’s Command & Conquer FPS, Tiberium.

Be sure to let us know what you think … after you’ve watched it.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More: continued here