Joystiq has you covered with all things Metal Gear Solid 4!

PixelJunk Monsters dev teases Trophy patch


Buried deep down on a PlayStation Blog post about PixelJunk Eden and the Trophies available in the game, is an odd little paragraph about possible Trophy support for PixelJunk Monsters. Dylan Cuthbert, president of Q-games, developers of PJM and PJE, mentions he's been "inundated" with requests for Trophy support in Monsters. He says the company is looking into it and will badger the game's producer at Sony, Deborah Mars, "to get some dates set."

The information is a bit ambiguous and we're guessing is designed as a tease for an incoming PJM patch. Cuthbert also says the patch will "implement XMB music and a couple of other things." Considering we know PlayStation Blog posts are "checked," information like this doesn't just slip by. Looks like we're going to have to stop playing PJM Encore and wait 'til that Trophy patch gets added, because we're pretty sure the achievements won't be applied retroactively.

GameTap Thursday: Fallout, Battle Chess, Aveyond 2


All you need to know about this week's GameTap update is encapsulated in one word: Fallout. There, we've said our bit. No word yet when Fallout 2 will make it onto the smorgasbord.
  • Fallout (Windows) - "A post nuclear role playing game."
  • Aveyond 2 (Windows) - A relatively new RPG that looks like an old-school Squaresoft game.
  • Battle Chess (Windows) - Play chess, but watch the pieces on the board beat the pixels out of each other. Oh, how we long for an HD remake of this game.
Knights of the Round gets added to GameTap's selection of gratis games this week. The full list of free ad-supported titles from the service can be found after the break.

Continue reading GameTap Thursday: Fallout, Battle Chess, Aveyond 2

Nintendo debuts Wii 'Bonus Content' feature in Japan


A new system update for Japanese Wii consoles has introduced an intriguing new function to the Wii Shop Channel: bonus content. The feature, which prompts users to enter a 16-digit code when accessed, has so far been used to distribute the Wii Speaker Channel using a key included with Daigasso! Band Brothers DX for the Nintendo DS.

Nintendo Everything
and Wii Fanboy speculate that the Shop Channel's new feature could potentially be used to redeem codes included with games for everything from free Wii Points to downloadable content and Virtual Console titles. Might we suggest a code that, when entered, simply rewards users with smiles? Nintendo certainly has a lot of them to go around.

[Via NWF]

Counting Rupees: E3 lives!

Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:

Last week GamePolitics editor Dennis McCauley declared in his weekly Joystiq column that E3 was dead. He is certainly not alone in his opinion. IGN's Craig Harris also pronounced the show dead on his blog, and EA CEO John Riccitiello said that he "hates E3 like this," vaguely threatening to simply have the publisher put on its own show in the future. And of course, the always reliable 3D Realms said that it wasn't attending E3 this year because it was "irrelevant".

A lot of people were disappointed with this year's E3, perhaps even more so than what most considered a horribly executed 2007 E3. As someone who has never been to E3, I suppose I don't have any personal experience to draw from to tell you how much worse this year's E3 was than the ones from 2006 and before. However, as someone who has anxiously awaited and followed E3 for many years, I wonder whether a lot of this reaction is overblown.

Continue reading Counting Rupees: E3 lives!

First footage of A Kingdom for Keflings


It appears NinjaBee is ready to talk a little about its upcoming city builder, A Kingdom for Keflings. Teasing the title in a viral video last month, the company finally gave some details to IGN, details which make the game look and sound like a cross bee-tween SimCity and Gulliver's Travels.

It appears the player takes on the roll of a Gulliver-esque character and must build a kingdom for the Keflings, with the final goal being to create a castle. The game features 50 buildings, a tech tree and optional quests. Isn't it interesting that all the different smaller-scale city builder games, like Hinterland and My Life as a King, are releasing this year? Check out video for A Kingdom for Keflings after the break.

[Via X3F]

Continue reading First footage of A Kingdom for Keflings

Today in Joystiq: July 23, 2008

Contrary to the previous post on the matter, some of us think this shirt is awesome. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
The games that weren't there: Missing from E3
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Tomb Raider: Underworld
Joystiq impressions: FutureU, Kaplan's SAT prep game for DS
Joystiq interview: Nintendo spins 'core' gamer appeal, more
Ryan Davis talks up Giant Bomb's explosive re-launch
Wii Fanboy Weekly: July 10 - July 23

News
BBC: Unsafe charging devices 'flooding' UK
Sci-fi author Bruce Sterling to keynote, predict future at Austin GDC
EA inks talent agency deal, more game movies coming
Nintendo launches Wii Digicam Print Channel in Japan
Watchmen getting episodic games on PC, PS3, 360
Watch the direct feed Mirror's Edge demo
Iwata 'sorry' for Nintendo E3 briefing; Wii supplies may still be tight this holiday
Battlestar scribes working on Aliens: Colonial Marines
ESA: E3 2009 'will occur'
Horror filmmakers try hands at comedy on Xbox Live
Penny Arcade Adventures coming to PS3 this fall
Wii third-parties nonplussed by surprise MotionPlus reveal
PixelJunk Eden demo available tomorrow
N+ gets new, 200-point level pack
MS to take larger cut of best-selling Community Games
Finally! It's your turn to watch last year's Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer
Facebreaker demo coming July 31 with create-a-character sharing
See first trailer for Prince of Persia: The Fallen King
Molyneux: 'I feel sorry for Denis Dyack'
Reggie: GTA welcome on Wii, but only if it's not a port
Kingdom Hearts DS ad points to 2008 release in Japan
Ticket to Ride's Europe expansion boards next Wednesday

Rumors & Speculation

Culture & Community
Capcom to sell intentionally awful Mega Man 9 shirts
Zero Punctuation visits Conan in Hyboria
Penny Arcade's original Fallout 3 webcomic debuts
1942: Joint Strike E3 shirts now available for purchase
Rush fails Rush on Colbert Report
C-list celebrities + Gamespot party = Awkward

Wii Fanboy Weekly: July 10 - July 23


Did you miss us last week? Well, we were just so darn busy with that E3 thing, we couldn't scrounge up enough time to do a recap post for you all. So, we've got a lot to catch you up on. First, check out our two giveaways. You like free games, right? Then, be sure to check out all of the highlights from E3, including all of our hands-on impressions. You can find them on our E3 2008 page right here.

As for the highlights, we're going with original content to catch you up from the week you missed.

Features

C-list celebrities + Gamespot party = Awkward


The latest episode of Glitch in the System makes it horribly obvious that the "celebrities" attending Gamespot's E3 bash had no idea who was hosting the party. That street probably goes both ways because, straight up, we had to Google almost every single one of the "celebrities" that we saw in the video. Check out the cringe-inducing footage o the red carpet interviews after the break.

PS: Thanks again to the 300+ people who attended -- or used astral projection to attend in spirit -- our Joystiq E3 meet-up. Watching something like this makes us appreciate you all even more.

Continue reading C-list celebrities + Gamespot party = Awkward

Rush fails Rush on Colbert Report

Normally, watching actual musicians play music-based games is pretty cringe inducing. They don't like feeling like they can't play their own songs, and we don't like being reminded that playing Rock Band prepares us for for absolutely nothing other than playing Rock Band 2.

But in this backstage footage from The Colbert Report, we're happy to report that Rush does not completely embarrass themselves on "Tom Sawyer," aside from only making it 31 percent through their song. But hey, back in the drug years, we bet Clapton was lucky if he made it through 31 percent of a verse. Nothing to be ashamed of Rush, hold your heads high. Your old, old heads.

1942: Joint Strike E3 shirts now available for purchase


The 1942: Joint Strike shirts from E3, featuring Street Fighter's Cammy doing her best bomber nose art impression, are available now from Meatbun.com. The shirt will cost $26, plus shipping, and is available worldwide in the three colors seen above. A close-up of the shirt's image can be found after the break.

Fun fact: Yoshiki Okamoto created both 1942 and the Street Fighter series, so the shirt's image with Cammy isn't an entirely random cross-promotion.

[Thanks Jared, Via John D's blog]

Continue reading 1942: Joint Strike E3 shirts now available for purchase

Penny Arcade's original Fallout 3 webcomic debuts


We didn't even need to play Fallout 3 at E3 to know that it's going to be a very big deal (but we're glad we did, and have a hands-on coming soon). In continuing to ramp up excitement for the game's upcoming release, Bethesda is collaborating with the Penny Arcade crew on a weekly series of Fallout webcomics, the first of which debuted today.

According to Bethesda's Pete Hines, the idea was actually pitched to PA's Gabe and Tycho "years ago," ultimately resulting in an original story focusing on a Vault other than 101, which is the kick-off point for Fallout 3. Click here or on the panel above to read the entire three-panel debut strip. New strips will go up on the Fallout 3 site every Wednesday, come rain or nuclear holocaust.

Zero Punctuation visits Conan in Hyboria


No matter how much the hardcore MMORPG crowd may want to deny it, almost every game in the genre wants to be, or wishes it could have been, World or Warcraft. This week's Zero Punctuation says as much, with Yahtzee trying to enjoy his Hyborian adventure but wandering into familiar -- but not quite right -- WoW territory.

Check out the NSFW review of Age of Conan after the break.

Continue reading Zero Punctuation visits Conan in Hyboria

Ticket to Ride's Europe expansion boards next Wednesday


XBLA's excellent Ticket to Ride is ready to cross the Atlantic to receive the Europe expansion board next Wednesday. According to developer Playful Entertainment, the new continent will cost 600 MS points ($7.50) and add new gameplay elements like ferries, tunnels and train stations.

In the retail board game world, Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride: Europe -- which are sold separately -- would cost over $60, so we're not that sore about getting both on XBLA for $17.50. No word yet if the painfully close red/orange color blending will be fixed on the new board.

Kingdom Hearts DS ad points to 2008 release in Japan


Do you heart Kingdom Hearts – especially the idea of a new game in the series for Nintendo DS? Then you'll be happy to hear that the Japanese manual for Square Enix's recently released Dragon Quest V remake contains an ad promising a 2008 release for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days ... in Japan, of course.

Revealed at last year's Tokyo Game Show, the next handheld Kingdom Hearts features a four-player co-op mode and follows the adventures of series protagonist Sora's "Nobody" twin, Roxas (above). Even though the game looks like it's hitting Japan this year, we'll still have to wait out the necessary localization before seeing it Stateside. At least the ad isn't merely a "coming soon" tease like the one for God of War III.

[Via DS Fanboy]

Reggie: GTA welcome on Wii, but only if it's not a port

We were just a ... Wii bit shocked when a new Grand Theft Auto was announced for Nintendo DS and not the Big N's wildly popular home console. Still, it's no doubt a coup, but what about a proper Wii installment in the series?

MTV Multiplayer asked Nintendo of America prez Reggie Fils-Amie just that. When prodded on the likelihood that a DS version of GTA might lead to a greater possibility of GTA for Wii, Reggie stated that "GTA on the Wii is all based on what Rockstar and Take-Two want to do," adding, "From our standpoint, if they build a bottoms-up game that takes advantage of what we do well, I'd love to see it on the platform."

We're pretty sure Reggie meant a GTA that's built from the ground up for Wii. Or perhaps he was just getting into the GTA swing of things? If so, naughty Reggie!

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