October 2010
1 post
Nowadays
I really need to get back to this whole blogging thing again. I think I will take another new approach though. We’ll be back soon… I promise.
April 2010
1 post
Gears of War 3 announced by ... your Xbox →
March 2010
11 posts
Diablo III's female Witch Doctor conjured up
Offer sacrifice at the throne of Jobu by clicking on the image above
The slow trickle of Diablo III class highlights has revealed a new page on Blizzard’s site: The Witch Doctor. Both its male and female versions offer a look akin to what you’d expect from something called a “Witch Doctor.” We imagine the monthly bill for chicken blood is through the roof. Of course,...
Proposal in Swiss government could ban violent...
According to a report out of consonant-heavy Swiss gaming site GamesMarkt, Switzerland’s parliament recently passed a law that could lead to an across the board ban on “violent” games being sold in the country. Apparently a proposal was inked last month that aimed to remove games which require “cruel acts of violence against humans and human-like creatures for in-game...
Foursquare goes to the 'Jersey Shore'
DJ Pauly D, MTV superstar and new Foursquare power user.
(Credit: DJ Pauly D’s Foursquare profile)
We already knew that in the heated battle among location-based social-networking start-ups, Foursquare already had Ashton Kutcher on its team. Turns out it also has “Jersey Shore” star “DJ Pauly D,” one of a handful of MTV and VH1 celebrities who are featured in a...
Eye-Fi X2 series of 802.11n Class 6 cards ships...
The new Eye-Fi “X2” series we saw at CES is hitting store shelves and FedEx trucks today, bringing with it 802.11n radios, Class 6 SD card speeds, an “Endless Memory” mode, and expanded storage. What’s perhaps even more interesting, however, is the fact that all Eye-Fi cards with an active hotspot account can now use AT&T’s WiFi, which includes Starbucks and...
WatchHere is a PAX 09 director interview for The Secret World.
The Secret World Relies on Occult and Personality...
The end time, a doomsday described in many different religions, isn’t a subject typically explored by massively multiplayer online games, which is a bit surprising.
Depending on which religion you look to for inspiration, a game based on the end of the world could include zombies, demons, supernatural phenomenon and could even take place in the next couple of years.
So I suppose it...
Will The Next Zelda Game Change Based On Your...
Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto may be toying with new ways to shake up The Legend of Zelda, adding more than just Wii MotionPlus support for the next adventure of Link. Is he also considering Wii Vitality Sensor-based gameplay?
While Miyamoto didn’t confirm whether the next Wii Zelda game would feature pulse-pounding, biometrics-based additions, he told Games TM that its...
The 250GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive Stands Alone
While Microsoft’s 250GB Xbox 360 hard disk is currently only available in North America as part of a console bundle, according to a new ad popping up on the 360 dashboard, that’s about to change.
This “Make More Room for Entertainment” advertisement popped up on the Xbox 360 dashboard today, urging console owners to head to a participating retailer and pick up a...
Hands on with Super Street Fighter 4 →
As much as I enjoyed the original Street Fighter IV, as was apparent in our Joystiq review, I quickly moved on from the game. The breakup wasn’t caused by boredom or waning adoration but frustration.It was me — eventually, I found that the online competition far surpassed my skill set. I love me some Street Fighter, but I’ve never been especially good at it. My time with...
Peter Molyneux breaks down 'Fable III'
“Fable III is all about power,” begins legendary game designer Peter Molyneux, during a presentation at the recent X10 event in San Francisco. “We want you to feel power in a way you haven’t before in a game.”
The creator of the best-selling Fable role-playing game (RPG) series (and many “god” games including Populous, Dungeon Keeper and Black &...
Controversial 'Heavy Rain' inundates players with...
A terrifying experience inspired video game designer David Cage to inflict his harrowing creation Heavy Rain on others.
During a trip to the mall with his wife and then 6-year-old son, the couple suddenly realized the boy had disappeared. “I thought he was with my wife, and my wife thought he was with me,” Cage says. “We spent 10 minutes that were the most horrible moments of my...
September 2009
9 posts
Keiji Inafune says Japanese game industry is over,...
Giving Tokyo Game Show attendees a chance to get some hands-on time with Western-developed Dead Rising 2 at a party this week, Capcom’s Keiji Inafune stated, “Japan is over. We’re done. Our game industry is finished.” Bionic Commando producer Ben Judd translated the Mega Man creator’s claims to the crowd (that Destructoid captured on video, found after the break),...
EA Reveals Rock Band Mobile Coming To Verizon...
It seems that a leaked track list isn’t all the news Rock Band fans are enjoying today. In fact, EA Mobile just revealed some rather interesting information on its Twitter account: Rock Band is going mobile. Now, according to EA Mobile’s, the information and images provided aren’t for an iPhone version of the game, as most probably suspected. Clearly, this begs the question: What...
Want to Play the Full Game? Shop at GameStop!
It’s common practice for retailers like GameStop to offer exclusive deals to gamers who pre-order titles. It makes sense from a business perspective: by providing in-game content that no one else does, players are more likely to go to certain chains for pre-orders, which generate a large amount of cash for the stores up-front.
However, taking a look at the GameStop-exclusive content for...
Wii Fit Plus out Oct. 4 at a svelte $20 price...
During his keynote at the GameStop Manager Conference, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime announced release details for Nintendo’s latest money generator, Wii Fit Plus. Current Wii Fit owners looking to add more arm-flapping and faux-Segwaying to their lives will be able to pick up the expanded version of the hit exercise game for just $19.99 on October 4. For new owners, a Wii Fit Plus...
Wii Internet Channel now free, with updated Flash...
Nintendo just dropped the price of the Wii Opera browser in Japan and PAL markets to nothing, its original “price” during the system’s launch, when the browser was in beta. VOOKS photographed the Wii message that announced the price drop, which also revealed that the version of Flash used in the Wii browser has been updated from Flash 7 to Flash Lite 3.1— which should...
God of War Collection Coming to PS3
The PS3 Slim may not have backwards compatibility, but owners of the newest Sony console can get a taste of what it feels like when the God of War Collection releases this holiday season.
The collection will include both original PlayStation 2 God of War and God of War II games on one Blu-ray disc. Also, each title has been completely revamped with antialiasing graphics (less jagged edges),...
BlackBerry Essex on the Way with WiFi
There’s a new BlackBerry on the way called the Essex. The BlackBerry Essex is essentially the BlackBerry Tour, with WiFi. What is it with RIM and WiFi? Shouldn’t their devices have included WiFi a long time ago? I have several Windows Mobile devices that have had WiFi for years.
A users at the CrackBerry Forums spilled the news that the Essex is officially on the way. Engadget...
Facebook 1.7 Coming Soon Along with OS 5.0
The rumor mill is going ahead full speed! Yourfriendwayned just posted a screenshot and details of Facebook 1.7 on BBOS forums that he got from some unnamed Polish site.
Features include:
Ability to set filters for information like only status updates or pictures
Increased speed in page load time
New option in context menu: View Profile (duh!)
Possibility of setting time of the news as...
GMail Experiences Serious Outage
JacobSteelsmith was one of many readers to note an ongoing problem with Gmail:
“As I type this, GMail is experiencing a major outage. The application status page says there is a problem with GMail affecting a majority of it’s users. It states a resolution is expected within the next 1.2 hours (no, not a typo on my part). However, email can still be accessed via POP or IMAP, but not,...
XBox 360 Version of Champions Online Being Held...
Tomorrow marks the launch of Cryptic Studios’ new superhero MMO, Champions Online. It was developed for the PC and the Xbox 360, but the console version will be much delayed, according to Cryptic CCO Jack Emmert, because Microsoft is holding things up. “Microsoft’s a big company, and they have to work out all the various issues related to MMOs. It just takes time for the big...
August 2009
22 posts
Leading Industry Analysts Say That GameStop Is...
GameStop is well aware that digital distribution is the future of gaming. The company even appointed a general manager of digital media (after initially brushing off digital distribution). That said, two prominent analysts believe that things are gong to be difficult for America’s largest gaming-specialty retailer. In a recent interview with Industrygamers, DFC Intelligence’s David...
Disney Buys Marvel
The big news of the day is Disney buying Marvel. Disney is reportedly paying $4 Billion for the comic-book company.
So far, reaction from “serious” financial types have trumpeted the wisdom of the proposed deal. For example, Arvind Bhatia, and analyst with Sterne, Agee and Leach told Reuters, ”My initial reaction is that this is a positive. a win-win situation for both...
XBox 360's Facebook and Twitter Will Require XBox...
Microsoft said at E3 that Xbox Live users would need to be Gold members (requiring an annual fee) to access Last.fm without paying for a Last.fm-specific subscription; Silver users would just have extremely limited access. What Microsoft didn’t mention, however, was that these limitations would extend to both Facebook and Twitter, as well.
This news was buried in Microsoft’s late...
Researchers crack WPA Wi-Fi encryption in 60...
Computer scientists in Japan have developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in just one minute. The attack, which reads encrypted traffic sent between computers and certain types of routers that use the WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption system, was devised by Toshihiro Ohigashi of Hiroshima University and Masakatu Morii of Kobe University. The scientists...
How social networks wreck your online anonymity
One promise of the Internet is the ability to access boundless information with relative anonymity. Those seeking a higher level of privacy can achieve that via open proxies, or specialized services designed for conducting anonymous online activities such as Tor.
A new study by Balachander Krishnamurthy, a researcher at AT&T Labs, and Craig E. Wills, a professor of computer science at the...
Dell joins in on Microsoft's appeal of Word...
Dell and HP have chimed into Microsoft’s plea to stay injunction of future sales of Word. Microsoft lost a patent battle with Toronto-based i4i, and in August a federal judge banned Microsoft from selling future versions of the software. Here’s part of what Dell said (HP just signed on), courtesy of PC Mag. Interestingly, much of the filing was redacted, where information included how...
Newly Discovered Vulnerability Could Threaten...
A flaw in the provisioning system used by Cisco wireless LANs could allow attackers to collect data about users’ wired networks or even gain access to WLAN-attached systems, researchers said today.
Researchers at AirMagnet’s Intrusion Research Team say they have uncovered a security vulnerability in Cisco’s Over-The-Air-Provisioning (OTAP), a feature that helps users deploy...
FCC Probing cell phone carriers
The Federal Communication Commission is looking into competition among wireless providers in the United States. Right now, four national carriers control about 90 percent of the cell phone market, with AT&T and Verizon holding down 60 percent. The FCC is looking into how this seeming stranglehold of a few carriers affects innovation and consumers.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski...
Microsoft: Red-Rings Are "Behind Us"
In a recent interview with GameSpot, Microsoft’s Adam Greenberg said the Xbox 360’s wide-spread red-ring problems are a thing of the past.
“I can tell you the consoles we’re making today have lower-heat chips and better cooling, and we’re seeing fantastic quality in those consoles today,” Greenberg told GameSpot. “That said, I know people have had issues...
Debate: Health Problems Related to the Geek...
An Internal Medicine physician explores the common health problems seen among a technology-focused population. He believe the “geek lifestyle” is associated with several common medical issues. Continue reading for his opinions and experiences…
I am a currently practicing board-certified Internal Medicine physician in a large rapidly expanding tech-growth community. Our area is rapidly being...
AT&T subscribers will require data plan with...
Why would anyone want a smartphone without a data plan? That’s like buying a Ferrari with a Ford engine. Sure, the device looks stylish, but you need data to unlock the true power of your BlackBerry. Anyways, preaching to the converted.
As of September 6th, 2009, AT&T will begin requiring that all smartphones sign up for a smartphone data plan. Customers who activated their smartphones prior...
The Race for the Crown Begins in Fable III
Alexander the Great. Genghis Khan. Queen Elizabeth I. Che Guevara. Throughout history, revolutionary leaders have taken very different paths to power, bringing about prosperity and poverty, peace and sometimes anarchy to their people.
Return to the living world of Albion in Fable III.
Now Microsoft and Lionhead Studios will explore the journey to rule, with you in pursuit of a kingdom, in Fable...
Halo 2 limiting Xbox 360 friend lists
If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t have more than one hundred friends on your Xbox 360, a still-popular original Xbox game may be to blame.
A common complaint amongst my gamer friends is that while Xbox Live is a great way to connect with people, it has its limits. For those who aren’t aware, Xbox currently has a friends cap of 100 friends per account. Once you have 100...
Brand New's new single, 'At the Bottom' available...
Check out the new single from Brand New, ‘At the Bottom’ on Amazon.com. The new album is due out on September 22nd and a tour will follow shortly after with bands such as Manchester Orchestra, Glassjaw, and Thrice. Check out the single here.
Here are the tour dates.
Oct. 1 Cleveland, OH @ Time Warner Cable Amphitheater w/Manchester Orchestra Oct. 2 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore...
Apple, Sony, and Nintendo Facing New Lawsuit
Is there just a point where we should start feeling bad for the bigger companies out there? These guys are the targets of so many lawsuits that it’s almost ridiculous. Sure, most of them are probably justifiable, but maybe it’s the little guy just trying to take a piece out of the bigger guy.
This time around it’s a business named Bandspeed, based in Austin, Texas, and they’ve filed a lawsuit...
Microsoft-Nokia pact takes aim at RIM
While the iPhone may be the apple of everyone’s eye, Nokia says that its main goal in partnering with Microsoft is taking on BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.
“This is really about creating a formidable challenge for RIM rather than anyone else,” Nokia executive vice president Kai Oistamo said in a conference call Wednesday.
As first reported Tuesday by CNET News, Microsoft...
Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word
A judge has ruled that Microsoft cannot sell its flagship document processing application, Word, to customers, in a ruling stemming from a U.S. patent infringement lawsuit. The decision rests on the program’s ability to open .XML, .DOCX or .DOCM files, based on custom XML included in the filetypes. In the ruling, Judge Leonard Davis in the U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas — where...
WatchMovits! performing Fel Del Av Garden (live on the Colbert Report)
Killer collector's edition box set for Assassin's...
The official Assassin’s Creed Twitter feed has revealed what will be discovered inside the sequel’s collector’s edition — oddly enough, it’s quite similar to what was found in the original’s collector’s edition (photo after the break). The set comes with the game, art book, statue of the latest protagonist and GameStop “exclusive” in-game...
Rumorville: Netflix streaming coming to iPhone,...
Word has it that Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” movies could soon be streaming on an iPhone or Wii near you, according to a recent report.The buzz comes not from some random blog but Multichannel News, a respected (by my, anyway) news site that covers the cable and satellite industry. According to writer Todd Spangler, an “industry executive familiar with Netflix’s...
July 2009
23 posts
Microsoft apparently serious about ditching...
We’ve discussed as far back as February that Microsoft was likely sending the “Windows Mobile” moniker the way of the dinosaur and instead going with “Windows Phone.” Looks like they haven’t forgot.
According to The Inquirer (.net, not the tabloid) [via Giz], the change indeed is coming with Windows Mobile 6.5 — er, the next release of Windows Mobile — er, the...
Happy 15th Birthday, ESRB
Not only did this catch us off guard … it makes us feel kind of old. Fifteen years ago today, the game industry got on the same page for one shining moment to propose the video game ratings organization, the ESRB, to Congress. It was a moving spirit of cooperation not seen again in the industry until everyone simultaneously decided to start charging $60 for games. There have been a lot of...
VIDEO TOUR: Xbox Live Update, Netflix, and Avatar... →
You may have noticed that Joystiq managed to get its grubby mitts on the latest Xbox Live Update a little early. Now, we could have been super selfish and kept it all to ourselves, but that’s just not how Joystiq rolls. Thus, we bring you this video tour of the major new features introduced by the upcoming update. Above, we have an overall video tour of the update, which shows off the new...
Report: Gamers stay gamers for life
A new study released by the Entertainment Merchants Association claims that when you’re a gamer, you’re a gamer all the way — from your first headshot kill to your last dyin’ day. “Once a consumer decides to play video games, they continue to play for life — adding to the growing number of gamers worldwide,” the study is quoted by IndustryGamers as...
No iPhone, But VZW 2Q Metrics Remain Steady
If quarterly results are any indication, Verizon Wireless seems to be curiously immune to AT&T’s iPhone. Although Veirzon has fallen behind AT&T in terms of net additions – Verizon scored 1.1 million in the second quarter while AT&T added 1.37 million – its data revenue, churn and service ARPU all rate better than AT&T.
Verizon’s second-quarter service ARPU came in at $51.10,...
Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for... →
Apple claims that hundreds of thousands of iPhones are being used by corporations and government agencies. What it won’t tell you is that the supposedly enterprise-friendly encryption included with the iPhone 3GS is so weak it can be cracked in two minutes with a few pieces of readily available freeware.
[via wired.com]