Joystiq

As per the deluge of tips we received regarding an 80GB PlayStation 3 bundle with Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, the Best Buy website is now reflecting the deal. The bundle retains the price of a regular ol' 80GB PS3 ($400), but will include both of the PS3 exclusive titles. Rumors surrounding the 80GB bundles suggest it's an effort to make space for an upcoming PS3 Slim on store shelves -- and considering the $90 worth of free games Sony is throwing at consumers, it's quite possible that shelf space will open for the next console iteration.

[Via Engadget]

The controversial "Demo Play" feature devised by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo won't just be limited to New Super Mario Bros. Wii and other console-based adventures. A blurb in Japan's Nikkei newspaper notes that the feature, which allows players to skip difficult areas and watch them played automatically, will also be used in portable games in the future. Nikkei referred to it as a "skip functionality" or "skip feature."

Nikkei notes that this feature is designed for "high-speed action games," so presumably you won't be able to let Dr. Kawashima step in and count the number of people who just ran out of the house (we hate that one), nor will you be able to make the Pokémon start choosing themselves mid-battle.

[Via Kotaku]

That's right, everyone's favorite ass kicker and bubble gum enthusiast is making a new home on the iPhone, as IGN reports 3D Realms' superb FPS, Duke Nukem 3D, will be available on the iPhone App store soon. Ported by Machineworks Northwest, this direct PC port will feature the entire original game, so you'll be able to tip those working girls and relieve yourself in the game's many bathrooms soon enough.

After spending some time with a preview build, IGN had nothing but good things to say, especially about the improved graphics. IGN didn't knock the controls, either, and said there will be two options: tap-to-shoot and a classic scheme. There's no word on when the game will be available on the App store, but we'll be sure to let you know as soon as it is.

If Johnny Chung Lee says something, we're inclined to believe him, and not just because we're almost certain he's a wizard. So when he says that Microsoft's body-tracking Project Natal will "almost certainly" spawn new genres, we're inclined to nod our heads in agreement.

"Natal provides a very different set of input capabilities than your typical game pad," he told 360 Magazine. "To really take advantage of those capabilities, new kinds of experiences will have to be explored."

Wait, is "NAMBLA sim" a genre?

[Via N4G]

Funimation has obtained the rights to the anime series based on Sega's upcoming DS RPG, Sands of Destruction. Funimation plans to begin airing the first thirteen-episode season of the Production I.G-produced anime in spring of 2010. Like the DS game, the show stars a kid named Kyrie who gets drawn into a secret organization determined to destroy the world -- in order to free humans from subjugation.

In the same press release announcing the anime deal, Sega offered a January 2010 release date for the DS game itself. The game was first announced for North American release in December of last year. There's something kind of nostalgic about waiting over a year for the translation of an RPG.

Indie games developer Positech Games has been quietly working on a tower defense game set in space, and has uploaded the first footage. Gratuitous Space Battles doesn't have any kind of tentative release date, and this video is more a brief demonstration of the game's goals, but we think it's kinda cool. And if that doesn't do it for you, squint hard and pretend you're watching Battlestar Galactica.

Head past the break for the footage.

[Via Offworld]

Continued →

In a column on IndustryGamers, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich lays down his case for premium downloadable content and its effect on the retail scene. According to Divnich, whenever a high profile game receives premium DLC, it can actually hurt the sales of lower profile games in the same genre.

He notes that a blockbuster game normally has a blackout period of a few weeks, meaning that when a new game comes out -- he uses Halo 4 as an example -- there's a period before and after its release when gamers are less likely to buy a similar game. Whenever that same game gets DLC, players are once again less liable to purchase a similar game for a certain period before and after the release of the DLC. After all, why would you pick up Call of Duty: The Next One, if you're still playing that fancy new Halo DLC?

The long and short of it, says Divnich, is that DLC has nothing but a negative impact on retail. It's actually a double impact, as DLC both prevents gamers from buying a new game and from selling their current games back to used game retailers like GameStop. According to Divnich, digital sales are going to seriously impact retail sooner than believed.

Who knew? You can put a price on obscure video game secrets, after all. Buried in 25,000-odd lines of game code for twenty-six years, an ancient "Easter egg" has been uncovered -- thanks to a modest cash reward -- from the Atari 8-bit port of Donkey Kong. Hint: You're looking at it (pictured above). Don't see it? It's the initials: LMD. Yeah, that's it.

Last year, in an unabridged blog post about early-80s programming for Atari, celebrated coder Landon M. Dyer offhandedly remarked, "There's an Easter egg [in the Donkey Kong port], but it's totally not worth it, and I don't remember how to bring it up anyway." Still, game databaser Digital Press thought it worth it enough to offer up a $75 reward for discovering the hidden treasure; or, more accurately, a reward for discovering the process by which the Easter egg is triggered, as it was known that the bonus itself was simply the programmer's initials displayed on the title screen. In turn, the seventy-five bucks was worth it enough to a Mr. Don Hodges to scour the game code and dig up the dusty trail to the Easter egg. There are plenty of eggs left to crack, too, if you're looking for adventure that pays.

Head past the break for the suspenseful reveal. The video's got quite the build-up. Be patient.

Continued →

The standard "snooze button" is for the lazy. You're not lazy, are you? You want to work for those extra seven minutes of rest in the morning. Well, with the DDR Alarm Clock Finger Dance Alarm Clock you can honorably earn the extra sleep: just turn on your brain when the alarm chimes, key in the lit panels in order and you may go back to sleep.

Though it highlights the £9.99 ($16) cost, the product description doesn't detail if the pattern is randomly generated every morning. If it's a set pattern, your hand's muscle memory will eventually key it in faster than the frantic feet of that little boy playing DDR on ludicrous difficulty down at the cineplex.

[Via Engadget]

When it comes to location-based services for guilds and players of World of Warcraft, Israel might just have what it takes to be the best. A new company there called WoWPals does just that, offering players and guilds tools to locate players around them ... in the real world. We know that's a scary concept, but, trust us, the outside world has some neat stuff in it. Like flowers, clouds, and interpretive dance. Just try to avoid the bears.

The latest post on the Platinum Games blog comes from an employee named Kudo, who is currently working on effects for Bayonetta. To explain what that means, he demonstrated what Bayonetta looks like both with and without effects in two video clips, embedded after the break. The fog, flashes of gunfire, and ... ethereal purple mist are all surprisingly important to the look of the game!

Discussing another effect, Kudo recounts a rather amusing encounter with producer Hideki Kamiya. Kamiya decided that he wanted Bayonetta's blood following an attack to appear as a rose, because, " If it isn't pretty, then it isn't Bayonetta!!" He then went on to physically, and vocally, demonstrate Bayonetta's damage animation. "She just goes, 'Wuhhh!!'" Kamiya said. "You know... 'Wuhhh!!'"

You can see footage of the results of that meeting after the break as well.

Continued →

In 19 days, it'll be two years since we last heard anything about Call of Juarez developer Techland's "open ended FPS," Warhound. So, when we heard last week that the developer was still working on its zombie-infused Dead Island, we shot Techland an email and asked about the game once intended to rival Crysis' graphics.

Blazej Krakowiak, the company's international brand manager, told us, "We reached a certain development stage and had to postpone it because of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood." He continued, "A release of an ambitious and well-received title is always a good moment to unwind a little bit and reevaluate all the options," speaking to the recent release of Bound in Blood. "It wouldn't be a good idea for us to discuss them right now." Though Krakowiak doesn't exactly confirm our suspicions on the fate of Warhound, his caginess on the game's fate speaks volumes.

If Mega Man 9 isn't retro enough for you, you might enjoy the enormous, jagged pixels found in the Atari 2600 demo version of Mega Man created for 2007's I Am 8-Bit show. David Galloway has finally released the demo on Atari Age's forum, which means that you can download the game and play it on an Atari 2600 emulator right now.

The brief demo is an impressively faithful translation of the NES game's mechanics, with Mega Man running, jumping and shooting just as you'd expect (though shooting is mapped to down on the joystick, because the 2600 only has one button). The demake ends at the Elec Man fight, which is even harder in this version than it is in the original. A playthrough of the entire demo follows after the break.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Continued →

Take that, crumbling economy! In a recently released report (PDF), Nielsen Media Research claims that, despite poor economic conditions, gamers are actually spending more time playing games in 2009 than they have in previous years. In fact, the number of hours spent per week playing games is at an all-time high. Nielsen attributes this rise to "mainstream gamers" spending more time with "broadly appealing" titles like Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Wii Fit. Playing these games for all they're worth can help gamers "stretch their entertainment dollar," according to Nielsen's Michael Flamberg, director of client consulting,

Furthermore, used game sales are also higher than ever before. Since January, the average number of used games purchased in a six-month period has risen from 3.01 to 3.51, accounting for 36 percent of all games purchased. The firm also reports that subscription to game rental services like GameFly is on the rise, stating that some gamers may use such services as a substitution for purchasing new games.

What say you, Joystiq readers? Has the economy driven you to purchase more used games?