One of the coolest things about attending conventions, specifically Gen Con for me, is that you’ve the chance to meet some pretty hip industry folks. While I was perusing the booths before the show officially started, I happened across Micah Skaritka. Skaritka is a renaissance man of sorts. He’s a part of the industrial band Cruciform Injection, an artist, author, and designer for High-Voltage Software.

Skaritka and I had the opportunity to talk about the first-person shooter The Conduit, which is currently slated the Wii. Over the course of the conversation, he revealed to me how The Conduit was picked up by Nintendo, how the game controls, and the difficulties of designing a game for the Wii. He also commented on some of the barriers that Nintendo’s E3 peripheral unveils caused, as well as bringing a Wii game to the next level.

Hit the break for our full conversation.

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Computer, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox 360, RPGs, MMO

We’ve heard of 18-hour bras, but 18-hour boss battles? Ridiculous! A couple weeks back, we reported on a Final Fantasy XII guild that attempted to take down one of the game’s new huge bads, the Pandemonium Warden, only to succumb to fatigue, hunger, sleep deprivation, and general near-deathness at the 18-hour mark. Square Enix now states it has heard the fan outcry against the idea of such longevity-rich enemies and is fixing things.

“In response to these events, we’ve determined that further alterations are required to prevent such battles from exceeding a certain predetermined length of time,” reads the latest community update from PlayOnline. What will these “alterations” consist of? “Included in the version update scheduled for early September will be modifications to the degree of difficulty of Pandemonium Warden (and associated pets), Absolute Virtue (and associated pets), and Jailer of Love. The aim of these changes is to create battles where a decisive outcome may be reached within a shorter period of time.”

Square’s statement also reaffirmed the company’s continued “commitment to a healthy and wholesome game environment.” You know, one where players aren’t passing out while playing.

[Via Massively]

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Online

Microsoft has released their partial game schedule for the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, and it’s chock full of Gears of War 2, Halo Wars, and the New Xbox Experience … experience. Sure there’s plenty of other stuff happening at their booth as well, but we’re drooling over these three right now, fetch the bibs. Hopefully those “TBA” slots mean there’s going to be some surprises from Bungie someone, which will really kick our saliva glands into high gear.

If you’re going to be at PAX, be sure and stop by for some hands-on time with these titles, and then search out one of your favorite Joystiq bloggers to pal around with. We’ll be the ones with the plastic spit-shields on to keep the precious electronics dry.

Pictured: our inner child at the Microsoft PAX booth, via Gamerscoreblog’s Flickr feed.

Read

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This

You’ve all heard the whining: Rock Band’s note charts are too simple. Where are the DragonForce-like guitar licks that’ll crack your knuckles and melt the skin off your fingers?

Well, allow me to introduce Steely Dan’s “Bodhisattva,” which may very well be one of the most challenging guitar songs featured in the upcoming Rock Band 2. Don’t believe me? Check out the above video of me fumbling miserably through a practice session to get an idea of what I’m speaking about.

If it’s not one of the most difficult, it’s certainly up there. This past weekend, I sat in on a Rock Band 2 session Harmonix put together for some of the folks over at Score Hero, and I watched them run through some of the game’s hardest tracks. All on Expert difficulty, of course, including what’s likely one of the most challenging overall band songs in the game, Dream Theater’s “Panic Attack.”

What did I learn? Those guys are way superior at Rock Band than I am, and Harmonix certainly isn’t afraid to make a difficult game.

Share This

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This

In an interview with VG247, Valve Managing Director and co-founder Gabe Newell revealed that the company is interested in developing a Wii title. Instead of spitting out a line speaking about innovation and the greatness of the Wii, Newell decided to go the obvious route. He decided to talk money.

We’re always interested [in making an MMO], but let me put it this way: I would love to do a Wii game, and how many Wii games have we shipped?

Newell was originally asked about the potential of making a Wii MMO, but as you can see, he easily pushed it aside. My guess is that we’ll see a Valve MMO in the future, possibly whenever World of Warcraft finally starts to lose its steam within this century. I wouldn’t exactly count on something as groundbreaking as an MMO on the Wii anytime soon.

[via endsights]

Share This

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This

I must admit that when a certain package arrived today, I was a little disappointed by the contents. “A VHS tape,” my inner voice complained. “Who is sending VHS tapes in this day and … wait a minute … this says House of the Dead: