Joystiq

If people can clean their hands with a simple name change, then why can't games? Paleo Entertainment recently re-dubbed its bargain-priced shooter, Merchants of Brooklyn, as "Drug Wars." Currently exclusive to Steam, Merchants of Brooklyn suffered an embarrassing release in mid-March when an alpha version was mistakenly sold in place of the final code and apparently failed to recover any credibility. Its Metacritic score of "36" ranks near the bottom of all 2009 games to date. "Drug Wars," on the other hand, ranks decidedly better with a "No Score Yet" rating.

The new name wasn't exactly pulled from thin air (well, at least not this time), as "Drug Wars" was adopted from last month's free, beta-release multiplayer update by the same name. Paleo is clearly shifting focus away from the original single-player campaign -- which has since been "reworked" -- and toward the Drug Wars multiplayer mode. Of course, the fresh start also means building a player base from scratch. Currently, we count three -- and a fourth player who "can't find it to play it." Sounds like this is one of those cold kinda wars, eh?

Keep that fire burning, Mr. Elite Neanderthal Fighter. Keep that fire burning.

Valve isn't quite as against the idea of developing games for the PS3 as we previously thought. Speaking to Valve's Doug Lombardi at the Left 4 Dead 2 event in London today (look out for the full interview soon), we discovered that the company is still "up on the idea" of developing for the PS3 -- it's just waiting until it has hired some decent PS3 coders. "If you look at The Orange Box -- PC: 96 on Metacritic, 360: 96 on Metacritic, PS3 like... 84 or something. That's not even close to where we are right now with the 360 and PC and the reason is people."

Lombardi went on to say that "we have to get people under our roof who are dedicated, talented PS3 guys and then all bets are off. We can take the same sort of strides and get the quality out of the box and offer the same support post-launch on that platform, as well." Sounds like Valve-developed PS3 games are more a case of "when" than "if," nowadays.

When asked whether Valve is actively seeking to hire PS3 developers, he noted that "Valve is always looking to hire people. So yeah, definitely." Are you a dedicated PS3 coder who wants to make Left 4 Dead 3 for the system? You know what to do. We look forward to seeing your handiwork in late 2010.

With just the simple image you see above, developer Polytron announced that its dimensional-shifting platformer Fez would arrive on the Xbox Live Arcade platform at some point next year. Though we've seen a date of 2009 in a previous trailer, the teaser image is the best indication we've had so far in terms of a concrete platform for the game.

Though we can't say it's a huge surprise (we spotted an Xbox "A" button in the game back in March), it's nice to have it officially official.

The PSP Go isn't just smaller than the original PSP series -- it's more powerful. In fact, it features a processor that's more than 40% faster than the original. The original PSP (1000-3000) series include a processor capable of reaching 333MHz speeds. FCC documents reveal that the PSP Go (N1001) includes a processor that can go up to 480MHz.

It's unclear what the added processor power will be used for. It may be necessary for PSP Go-specific features, like in-game XMB. But will it be used in more traditional gaming applications? If so, could we possibly see PSP Go-exclusive games? Perhaps. Nintendo has released a very small number of applications exclusively for the upgraded DSi, which also features a much beefier processor than its predecessor so there's portable precedence.

Update: Sony says the 480MHz was referring to the USB.

[Via Sony Insider]

Capcom's latest teaser site, which was last showing the number 1600, was generally believed (and hoped) to be leading up to the announcement of a new Onimusha game. However, the game being teased is actually a new entry in Capcom's other action series starring fictionalized versions of real feudal Japanese warlords: Sengoku Basara, (barely) better known here as Devil Kings -- a series which features Onimusha's bad guy Oda Nobunaga as the protagonist and title character.

No platforms or really any other information were revealed about Sengoku Basara 3, other than the logo, two character silhouettes, and a 2010 date. Previous Sengoku Basara games have been released on PS2, PSP, and Wii (along with an arcade-based 2D fighting spinoff).

The series isn't that well-known in North America, but in Japan, its popularity (and the sudden popularity of actual Japanese history) is boosted by the tie-in anime series.

Splinter Cell: Conviction will take 12 hours to complete on normal says the game's creative director, Maxime Beland, in the latest issue of OXM. There will certainly be a harder difficultly level for folks that are into trial and error for 30 hours, but the "normal gamers" will get a well-sized adventure. Beland says this was done because he wants people to actually finish the game. That's quite a good idea.

Also, at around 12 hours of gameplay, Badass: The Game won't wear out its welcome -- if it keeps the action going. Of course, there'll be multiplayer to extend the experience, but we likely won't be able to crack skulls in urinals there ... or maybe we will, which would then confirm Splinter Cell as game of the year.

[Via 1UP]

Microsoft released its Kodu Game Lab yesterday, giving gamers everywhere the opportunity to create their very own games. Just for you, we snapped up the tool and set to work creating the Next BIg Thing in video gaming. Well, either that or we created a dinky little 2D shooter. Still, it's hard not to feel some pride after creating a real, honest-to-goodness, functioning game. And we did it all without laying a finger on a standard keyboard.

Check out our video tour and see what created.

Add the trial version of Kodu Game Lab to your Xbox 360 download queue

You know Techland, right? No no, not that weird Discovery Zone ripoff your Dad used to take you to when you were a little kid -- the Polish developer! You know, the comany that makes Call of Juarez and ... ummm ... not much else. Anyway, while speaking recently with G4TV, the company's international brand manager, Blazej Krakowiak, confirmed a second title from the developer, albeit one announced way back in 2007, named Dead Island.

Unfortunately, the game's website tells us little to nothing about the game's current status. So, we emailed Techland this afternoon and Krakowiak told us, "As far as Dead Island goes, nothing has changed regarding our media silence .... the game's worldwide publisher is still waiting for their best moment to strike and reveal the awesome stuff we're preparing for zombie fans and gamers." He also confirmed to us the game's still in-development status, saying, "The game's still alive (or better yet, still Dead) and doing great."

As G4TV rightly points out, when the game was shown last it was without a publisher, so if anything, this means good things for Techland's zombie game. After all, we're still wondering what happened to the company's open-world FPS game, Warhound ...

If anyone belongs in a game called DJ Hero, it's Grandmaster Flash. The legendary musician has been at the forefront of hip-hop for basically forever, and is credited with inventing the art of messing with records to create noise, upon which the entire game is based.

In addition to appearing in-game, Flash contributed his own mixes to the soundtrack. In the video above, you can hear a segment of his mashup of Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and N.E.R.D.'s "Lapdance." After the break, we've embedded a clip of the game featuring a mashup of his own "Here Comes My DJ" and Gary Numan's new wave anthem to isolation, "Cars."

MTV recorded footage of Flash trying the game for the first time, and let's just say his performance in the game is much more impressive than his performance of the game. For a more thorough writeup of Mr. Flash's thoughts on the game, check out GameDaily's writeup here.

Continued →

Atari's slow collapse continues with the loss of the company's most lucrative franchise. No, not Ghostbusters -- it's Dragon Ball, which has produced approximately a billion video games so far. The franchise will now go back to Namco Bandai, the original Japanese publisher of the series. According to a statement by Namco Bandai, the agreement will run for five years beginning in January 2010 and will supersede any existing publishing rights. In addition, Namco Bandai will publish the upcoming Dragon Ball: Raging Blast game for Xbox 360 and PS3, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans for DS all this year.

The loss of the Dragon Ball franchise is perhaps the greatest evidence of the financial challenges that face Atari. Earlier this year, the company pulled out of E3, sold its European publishing division, and even sold exclusivity rights for Ghostbusters, all presumably for a small cash influx. With Phil Harrison recently stepping down from his position at the company, it's clear that Atari will see even more troubled times ahead.

So, in case it wasn't made absolutely clear by the box art, here's what Obsidian Entertainment's head-slammin' Alpha Protocol isn't:

• The Overwrought Fantasy RPG
• The Contemplative Neo-Classical RPG
• The Effervescent Dating RPG
• The Number One Best Selling RPG
• An Espionage RPG
• That Other Game About The Secret Agent and Stuff

Joking aside, it's quite likely that we're simply oblivious to the subtitle's significance to the plot -- the one involving a sneaky rocket-propelled grenade that taps your phone and then blows off your ear. See if you can spot it in the developer diary embedded after the break.

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We're just gonna come right out and say it: July 2009 may be the worst month for new retail releases ever. Unless you like 2D fighters that is, because in that case, it's awesome. Or games about movies about hamsters, those two groups are being really well serviced.

If you haven't fully prepared yourself for the horror, we'd suggest you gird your mind with all the reason and clarity you can muster before continuing on.

Next week's Rock Band Weekly brings the announced three-pack from Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown album. The tracks are apparently the first offerings from an "exclusive partnership" between Harmonix and Warner Music to bring the band's songs to the platform. Green Day isn't even the angriest band this week ...

Green Day Pack (440 / $5.50/ 200 Wii Points apiece)

• "21 Guns" (160 / $2)
• "East Jesus Nowhere" (160 / $2)
• "Know Your Enemy" (160 / $2)

Mayhem Pack (1080 / $13.50/ 200 Wii Points apiece)

• "Conquer All" -- Behemoth (160 / $2)
• "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" -- Black Dahlia Murder (160 / $2)
• "Hammer Smashed Face" -- Cannibal Corpse (160 / $2)
• "Empire of the Gun" -- God Forbid (160 / $2)
• "Embedded" -- Job for a Cowboy (160 / $2)
• "Disposable Teens" -- Marilyn Manson (160 / $2)
• "Black Magic" -- Slayer (160 / $2)
• "This Is Exile" -- Whitechapel (160 / $2)

All tracks are original masters and are available for download next Tuesday on Xbox 360 and Wii. They make their way over to PS3 on Thursday.

Our problem isn't that we're waffling on whether or not to buy one of these gorgeous, felt, PlayStation One-shaped iPhone cases. Our problem is that we can't stop buying them. Every time we confirm our order we think of yet another reason we need one. What if we lose the first one in a house fire? What if the second one goes through the wash? What if we want our iPhone to have a different yet identical outfit for every day of the week like Doug Funnie?

We hope you understand our predicament. We also hope you understand why they seem to be temporarily sold out.

[Via Gizmodo]