The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball

07/28/2010 The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball

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Joystiq: How do you or your company start?

Sjoerd De Jong, Teotl Studios: Our game started out as a mod for Unreal Tournament 3 , and was originally made for Epic Games' Make Something Unreal contest. Our first version was released in May 2008, and it was received so well (double first place in the first round of the contest), that we decided to carry on. We continued working on our project and we regularly released new versions all the way until the end of the contest, one-and-a-half years later. By the end of the contest The Ball had secured five first places, and won the second place in the Grand Finals. That gave us the confidence to quit our day time jobs, and start up our own small game development studio: Teotl Studios. We used the money we won throughout the contest to fund our company, and we have recently also been awarded a government grant. We are very happy with that, it has given us some financial stability and allowed us to get this far with no publisher or investor breathing down our necks.

Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TGS: Michael Jackson: The Experience trailer

09/16/2010 TGS: Michael Jackson: The Experience Trailer

Above you can watch a trailer for the Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience. This is as much as you'd expect: a bunch of people dancing with the Wii remote and spectacular time doing it. I can 'remember the last time I saw such a different group of people so disingenuously pretending so much fun all at the same time. He 'S enough to make me want to sing "The Man in the Mirror" little off-key.

That said, I'm sure the game probably is a good time but it doesn't stand out amongst other games of its ilk. With such a glut of dancing games hitting the market today, it's a good thing this has the King of Pop's name recognition. Dale and Holmes will be checking out the title at Tokyo Game Show tomorrow, where they'll be able to play three newly announced tracks, "Smooth Criminal," "Black or White" and "They Don't Care About Us." I will pay good money to watch Holmes do that lean in "Smooth Criminal."

You can check out some screenshots of the game below, along with some shots of the DS version which looks suspiciously like Elite Beat Agents. That would suit me just fine, thanks.

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TGS: Yakuza Of The End shows shooting, zombies, silliness

09/16/2010 TGS: Yakuza Of The End shows, shooting, zombies, stupid

I know what I've read that the next Yakuza game was a zombie Games , but every time I tried to process that information, my mind blanked out, unable to even comprehend the concept. Now that I've seen Sega's TGS presentation thereof, I've retained enough coherence to type this post, aided by the trailer you see above.

For starters, the game is still set in iconic Kamuro-cho (a fictional version of Tokyo's Kabuki-cho nightlife district), though now it's mostly ruined thanks to an outbreak of the living dead. Series protagonist and half-man-half-stone-golem Kazuma Kiryu must now brave the zombie-filled streets with Ryuji Goda (of Yakuza 2), Shun Akiyama (of Yakuza 4), and Goro Majima (Kazuma's rival) to...do things.

Yes, to do things. Presentation Wasn 't too clear, comprehensive story, although the rollers and high-profile talent casting at least some of a series of "typical drama.

Check below for some more details about the gameplay.

Combat is now concentrated on shooting, with the four using characteristic weapons to mow down the hordes, such as Goda's cybernetic transforming gatling gun. Yup. Footage was shown of players cooperating with other characters, though I couldn't tell if it was some form of online multiplayer. If it was, this could be the result of someone asking series director Toshihiro Nagoshi to make his version of Left 4 Dead

Kamuro-cho ISN 'T is empty, zombie-filled wasteland, however. This Other quirk of the Yakuza franchise, the copious, exhaustively involved minigames, are making a return. Between dramatic cutscenes and gunning down undead, Kazuma and crew can go to batting practice (with grenades), fish for undead tuna, play Pachinko, sing karaoke, and visit hostess bars. Yeah, hostess bars are back, though their staffers are now armed and politely confirm if players are human before letting them in.

A man in a videogame asked "Can love bloom on the battlefield?" The big question for Yakuza Of The EndProbably more like a "Can gritty urban crime drama full of Mahjong and hostess bars are deployed in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?"

The game is apparently going for a resounding "yes", though it's unlikely that real Yakuza will be able to call it "surprisingly accurate\\ "More.

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TGS: Tron Bonne and X-23 join Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

09/16/2010 TGS: Tron Bonne and X-23 join Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

HELL YEAH TRON BONNE! Not surprising that she's in the game after the epic video from last week, but it's just awesome to see her in action in the game finally. On the Marvel side of things, X-23 joins and will hopefully play a lot different than Wolverine. This better not be some Mario/Dr. Mario bullsh*t from the Smash series, Capcom!

Another three video below plus a ton of screens and art.

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The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball

07/28/2010 The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball Being a giant, beloved video game site has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Sjoerd De Jong, Project Lead at Teotl Studios, about how his team has spent one-and-a-half years polishing The Ball.

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Joystiq: How did you or your company get started?

Sjoerd De Jong, Teotl Studios: Our game started out as a mod for Unreal Tournament 3, and was originally made for Epic Games' Make Something Unreal contest. Our first version was released in May 2008, and it was received so well (double first place in the first round of the contest), that we decided to carry on. We continued working on our project and we regularly released new versions all the way until the end of the contest, one-and-a-half years later. By the end of the contest The Ball had secured five first places, and won the second place in the Grand Finals. That gave us the confidence to quit our day time jobs, and start up our own small game development studio: Teotl Studios. We used the money we won throughout the contest to fund our company, and we have recently also been awarded a government grant. We are very happy with that, it has given us some financial stability and allowed us to get this far with no publisher or investor breathing down our necks.

Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Ball

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Balloriginally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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4-player co-op 'Onslaught' mode coming to Bad Company 2 PS3/360

05/12/2010 4-player co-op 'Onslaught' mode coming to Bad Company 2 PS3/360

Do you like playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2  online with your friends? If you answered 'yes' to that question, then this news will probably excite you. (It certainly excites me!) This morning, EA announced that a four-player co-op mode called "Onslaught" is "coming soon" to the five-million-selling first-person shooter; it's the first time that a console BattlefieldThe game was cooperative. You can see the teaser trailer for the regime above.

In Onslaught mode, you can team up with up to three buddies against "the enemy" -- that wording makes us think that this is a "survival" mode where you'll have to complete objectives while facing waves of AI enemies. Onslaught can be played on Valparaiso, Atacama Desert, Isla Inocentes, and Nelson Bay, all of which have been "redesigned with new lighting, time of day, added vehicles and other effects." The mode will have its own leaderboards, and we figure it'll probably add pins and insignias as well.

Of note is that neither the press release nor the post on the BFBC2 blogmention the program VIP, which was the source of all the game 's free, if-you-bought-a-copy of the new DLC so far. Thus, we 're inclined to believe that the regime will slaughter game' s first paid DLC (no confirmation on that yet, though). Also worth noting is that the new regime will only be coming to the PS3 and 360 versions of the game, not PC -- at least at this point.

Who's ready for some four-versus-many action?

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Bodycount's Stuart Black discusses his inspirations

06/18/2010 Bodycount's Stuart Black discusses his inspirations

Stuart Black showed off his upcoming Bodycount title on the show floor here at E3, and while we were able to see the title earlier this month, We talked to the creator of the feeling of pleasure, he 's trying to bring to the genre of shooter at this time. "I wanted to get away from the seriousness of so many shooters at the moment," he told us. "Serious men in dangerous roles, and all that jazz, huh? And we wanted to create something a little silly, a little funny and more dynamic."

Lady Gaga was apparently an influence, after Black saw one of her concerts. "Going to her show, feeling really uplifted and energized by that, and going like yeah, I want to get that kind of spirit in the game. Just want to have fun with it -- fun with a gun!" And to accomplish that, Black put things like XP and health orbs in the game that looked familiar if you've ever hunted Agility Orbs in Pacific City. "The orbs are a little homage to Crackdown. I'm a big fan of Dave Jones, I've known him on and off for years, great to see him back making games again."

He also said the game nod Metal Gear Solid(Marker exclamation point on the building), and also gave some praise Borderlands, Another arcade shooter with a bent. "I was quite surprised at how well the damage [] numbers worked Borderlands. You see it in videos, and you're like, that looks a bit naff. But you play it, and you're like, that's really $*(%ing cool, actually ... That spirit is sort of lost in video games, and we can do that stuff, and we should revel in it."

Bodycount 's Stewart Black discusses his inspiration originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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