Saturday, July 7, 2012

Comic-Con: Come See IGN's Channel Surfing Podcast Recorded Live!




Gonna be at San Diego Comic-Con next week? If so, I hope you can come to a live recording of Channel Surfing, the IGN TV podcast! I’ll be recording the podcast on Saturday, July 14th from 1:00pm-2:00pm at the new Warner Bros. “Extra at Comic-Con” stage in San Diego’s Bayfront Park, right by the San Diego Convention Center.


I’ll be joined by some very special guests, starting off with two guys who double as both the creator and star of their respective Adult Swim series, Childrens Hospital’s Rob Corddry and NTSF:SD:SUV’s Paul Scheer. I’ll then be chatting with a trio who are very familiar to Supernatural fans: Misha Collins, Jim Beaver and Mark Sheppard. We’ll talk about what’s to come on their shows in the coming season and what their experience is like at the always jam-packed Con-Con.




Supernatural's Jim Beaver ("Bobby") and Misha Collins ("Castiel") will be among the guests at the Comic-Con live recording of IGN's Channel Surfing



The Channel Surfing live recording will be one of many events planned for the Warner Bros./Extra stage, including a live Kevin Smith podcast, musical performances from The Bacon Brothers and contestants from The Voice, screenings of films like Beetlejuice, and a Chuck table read (Chuck may be gone, but it’s not forgotten!).


Click Here for more info!



Source : ign[dot]com

SDCC: New Poster for The Hobbit




Director Peter Jackson has revealed via his Facebook page a sweet new poster for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey just in time for next week's San Diego Comic-Con. Check it out:




Source : ign[dot]com

Best Games Quotes of the Week - July 7th




People say the darndest things and IGN is always listening. Here's a new selection of wisdom and weirdness from gaming folk over the past seven days. If this doesn't completely satisfy, you an navigate back to previous weeks' entries. As always, add your opinions on any of these issues in the Comments section. The best one will be featured in next week's column.





Akin to Porn




“Mainstream AAA videogames operate on principles akin to porn: highly repetitive activities premised on visceral pleasure and spectacle.”


Game designer Eric Zimmerman.


Kotaku





Dead Cat




"It's so amazing I think it will appear on news reports. Though it's not a dead cat, by the way."


Peter Molyneux announces his new game Curiosity, in which players chip away at a block, but only one finds the "life changing" prize at the center.


Eurogamer





Or They Will Fail




"Sony and Microsoft cannot let the retailers dictate game prices going forwards if they want to break free from the current over-priced model. Their next consoles, PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720, need to be digital only, or they will fail."


Kwalee CEO and Codemasters co-founder, David Darling.


Kwalee via GameSpot





Everyone is British




“One of the fun questions we get all the time is – are you only killing British people? And the actual answer to that is - yes, because before the end of the game there are no American people, so it’s a ridiculous question. Everyone is British, even the patriots.”


Assassin's Creed III's creative director Alex Hutchinson.


IGN





It’s Not True Innovation




“Y'know, at some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it's been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future. But it's a bit cheap to just say, 'Okay, we're going to switch and go back in time or into the future and that will be innovation'. It will definitely drive the franchise forward for whatever game, but it's not true innovation, it's more a thematic change that has a perceived value to the gamers out there.”


DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson lets off a few shots in the ongoing FPS wars.


Edge





This Industry Will Die




"This industry will die if it doesn't try more to be innovative and to come up with new ideas.”


Quantic Dream’s David Cage.


GamesIndustry





Differentiators in Graphics






"Other companies might launch a next-generation console with more power, but we don’t necessarily think that the difference between the Wii U and such console will be as drastic as what you felt it was between the Wii and the other consoles because there will be fewer and fewer differentiators in graphics.”


Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata.


IGN





Think of Graphical Capability




“They are building a platform that is effectively a 360 when you think of graphical capability."


Microsoft’s Phil Spencer talks Wii U.


GamesIndustry





Rich or Poor




"No company, rich or poor, will continue to fund projects that aren't profitable and have no hope of becoming profitable."


IGN reader phipee2 wades into the debate over studio closures.


IGN



Source : ign[dot]com

Friday, July 6, 2012

Evo 2012 Fighting Game Tournament this Weekend, Watch It Live




For fans of competitive fighting games, this weekend, July 6 - 8, is the biggest weekend of the year. The Evo Championship Series is happening in Las Vegas, Nevada and brings together top fighting game players from around the world. The best players from the United States, Japan, Korea, China, the United Kingdom and elsewhere have pilgrimaged to Caesar's Palace in Vegas to find out who'll be this year's champions. And you can watch live this weekend from the comfort of your living room. It's too hot to go outside, anyway.


The games included in the tournament are:



  • Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition

  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

  • Street Fighter X Tekken

  • King of Fighters XIII

  • Super Street Fighter II Turbo

  • Mortal Kombat

  • Soulcalibur V





Evo Live Stream






We've embedded the Evo live stream here, and will update this page with tournament results as we near the tournament finals on Sunday. To further satisfy your hunger for Evo, here's a handy set of links to watch this weekend.





More Ways to Enjoy Evo







Evo Schedule



Super Street Fighter 4



  • Pools: Friday July 6, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

  • Quarter / Semi-Finals: Friday July 6, 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm

  • Finals: Sunday July 8, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm


Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3



  • Pools: Saturday July 7, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

  • Quarter / Semi-Finals: Saturday July 7, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

  • Finals: Sunday July 8, 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm


Street Fighter X Tekken



  • Pools: Saturday July 7, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

  • Quarter / Semi-Finals: Saturday July 7, 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

  • Finals: Sunday July 8, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm


King of Fighters XIII



  • Pools: Friday July 6, 8:00 am - 6:00 pm

  • Quarter / Semi-Finals: Saturday July 7, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

  • Finals: Sunday July 8, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm


Super Street Fighter II Turbo



  • Tournament of Legends: Sunday July 8 , 12:00 am - 1:00 am


Mortal Kombat



  • Pools: Saturday July 7, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

  • Quarter / Semi-Finals: Saturday July 7, 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

  • Finals: Sunday July 8, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm


Soulcalibur V



  • Pools: Friday July 6, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

  • Quarter / Semi-Finals: Friday July 6, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

  • Finals: Sunday July 8, 10:00 am - 11:00 am


If you're watching Evo with us this weekend and want to pitch in on the coverage, contribute to the Evo Championship Series wiki--tournament results, player bios and info on past Evo events can improve the wiki for everyone.



Source : ign[dot]com

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster Preview








Onceuponamonster1







If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s an educational game based on a popular kids’ property that doesn’t really bring anything to the table. It’s one thing to try and teach kids something they don’t know about, but how you do it is just as important as getting the lesson across. For years, so many games have failed to do this, starting with the Sesame Street games on the NES (“I don’t think that’s a word!”). It continued on with Barney’s Hide-and-Seek, a Genesis game that was so practically bad that it played itself, which I believe would discourage kids worse than letting them discover the solution for themselves.


I’m going off on a tangent here. Kids’ games aren’t really that bad anymore, though there are still a number of releases that are aimed at younger players (mostly on Wii, like Sesame Street and – gag – Smurfs Dance Party) while shutting out older players from having any fun. However, Tim Schafer and his team at Double Fine could very well change how this formula works with its upcoming release for Xbox 360/Kinect, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster. This isn’t your typical foray down the familiar license – Tim and his team are actually doing something genuinely new, and something that…wait for it…all ages can seemingly enjoy.


The game is presented in a storybook format, telling a tale that involves a series of monsters that just want to have fun with their days. The two main stars are familiar characters from the Sesame Street lexicon – the sweet-eating Cookie Monster and the high-pitched, red-furred Elmo. They appear in this monstrous world and guide the player through the actions of a newly created monster character named Marco. You’ll start out coming upon this creature, as he’s the only attendee at his birthday party (insert sad face here), but rather than discouraging him, Elmo and Cookie Monster engage in a number of mini-games to help perk him up, eventually getting to a birthday party he truly deserves. This is just the first part of the game; other chapters in the story tell different monster tales.


So how does this manage to involve adults along the same lines as kids? Well, keep in mind that this production is the work of Double Fine, the same savvy studio that produced Brutal Legend, Stacked, and the recently released mech game, Trenched. It’s got his style of humor in it, but never to the point that it’s raunchy or questionable for younger gamers. Tim worked very carefully to make sure that the tone stayed in the Sesame Street realm, but by the same token, also made sure that entertainment went hand in hand with education, without the latter overshadowing the former. As a result, a number of Once Upon a Monster’s mini games are quite entertaining. One, for instance, has Marco taking part in a tandem race while Elmo playfully rides on his shoulders. Utilizing the Kinect, players must move left and right to avoid colliding with objects that could slow Marco’s momentum, while also ducking so that Elmo doesn’t hit his head on a passing tree branch. It’s never to the point that the activities are impossible, and young and old players alike will actually get into them more than you would’ve expected. Other activities include dancing (not hardcore Dance Central style either – we’re talking playful jumping around) and blowing out candles on a birthday cake. The game is packed with all kinds of enjoyable music, so kids can dance along to it, while parents won’t be worn out by it being loaded with thematic messages. Double Fine is making sure it’s fun all around, and not for a certain kind of audience. That’s where Once Upon a Monster’s main appeal lies.


To assure that the game had the same likable tone as the popular public television show, Double Fine worked closely with the teams at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Sesame Workshop to assure that the new monsters fit in with the classic ones, while the stories reflected the kind of proper tone that would be expected from the world of Sesame Street. Considering that many Double Fine staffers were fans of the show when they were growing up definitely helps, as their memories help fuel the events that occur in the game. We still have yet to see what later stages have to offer, but you can bet there will be some sort of fun motion activities that everyone can easily get into. Maybe we’ll even have a cookie-eating mini-game for good measure. I mean, Cookie Monster IS in the game, after all…


As far as presentation goes, the game features the authentic voicework of both Cookie Monster and Elmo, and the new creatures sound great as well. What’s more, the small monster universe that they dwell in is never to the point of being threatening. In fact, it’s quite comfortable, with its relaxed design and its fun, little atmospheric touches, like the mini swamps and the forests. Being able to check it out through the eyes of the Kinect is definitely a smart move, as it simply wouldn’t be the same experience by using a routine controller.


Okay, so maybe we’re a little bonkers previewing a Sesame Street game right after the release of the ultra-violent Gears of War 3. But what can we say? This isn’t typical licensed fare where the point of education is hammered into skulls. This is a delightful take on a classic franchise, going in an unexpected direction thanks to a devoted studio. We’re actually interested to see how ends up when it hits stores on October 11. We’ll be back with a full verdict then, along with a desire to eat a bunch of cookies. Actually, we feel that now. OM NOM NOM!!


Oh, and there will be a demo available next Tuesday on Xbox Live. Check it out if you can.





Source : gamezone[dot]com