Joystiq [Xbox]

No Doubt suing Activision for Band Hero 'circus act' appearance

by Xav de Matos { 4 days ago }

The multi-platinum rock band No Doubt has filed a lawsuit against Activision in a L.A. County Superior Court claiming its likeness was "transformed" into a "virtual karaoke circus act" in over sixty songs in the recently released music title, Band Hero. According to TMZ, No Doubt claims gamers were only supposed to be able to use their likeness with three of its own tracks; however, the band is available as playable characters through the game's entire music catalog.

Of particular note is lead singer Gwen Stefani's displeasure that her likeness can be used to sing "Honky Tonk Woman" by the Rolling Stones -- a song which references sex with prostitutes -- using a male voice and mannerisms. For its "circus act" inclusion, No Doubt is seeking an injunction to halt the "unauthorized use" of the band's name and likeness, as well as an unknown amount of damages (aka mad monies). Seems like Activision can't keep rock stars happy, dead or alive.

[Via TeamXbox]

New Left 4 Dead 2 TV spot, Scavenge mode walkthrough

by Richard Mitchell { 4 days ago }

Just in case GameStop's Left 4 Dead 2 commercial was a little too slow-paced for you, Valve has released a new TV spot that's nothing but action. Of course, that action is culled entirely from the CG trailer that was leaked last month, so you won't see anything new here. You will hear something new, however, as the commercial has been injected with a thumping blues-rock soundtrack, making the whole thing feel like a big, sprawling, undead bar fight.

Come to think of it, it sounds like Joystiq Publishing just found its next game. No one has the rights to Undead Bar Fight, right? While we go do a little research, watch the trailer above and, after the break, watch G4's walkthroughs of the Scavenge and Survival modes.

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Two Konami 'Xbox Live' Compilations discovered on GameFly

by Alexander Sliwinski { 4 days ago }

GameFly now has listings for Xbox Live Compilation Vol. 1 & 2 from Konami on its site. Noted by Siliconera, Konami's XBLA releases include Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Frogger 2 and a slew of classic titles. The site speculates that if Konami's subsidiary Hudson is thrown in the mix, the collection could also include Bomberman titles.

GameFly is known to "simply post information as it is supplied to [it] by the publishers." We've contacted Konami for any further details and will update if it responds to our request.

Source -- Xbox Live Compilation Vol. 1 [GameFly]
Source -- Xbox Live Compilation Vol. 2 [GameFly]

[Via Siliconera]

X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Wallace & Gromit Episodes 2-4

by Richard Mitchell { 4 days ago }

This week's episode of XBLA in Brief will likely seem a bit familiar. The reason for that is because the trial version of the final three Wallace & Gromit episodes is exactly the same as the trial version for the first episode. Suffice it to say that you won't see anything new if you've already tried the first episode. For the rest of you, watch the latest XBLA in Brief and see if the charm of Wallace & Gromit appeals to you.

Download the trial version of Wallace & Gromit Episode 2
Download the trial version of Wallace & Gromit Episode 3
Download the trial version of Wallace & Gromit Episode 4

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Bayonetta might need a backpack for all those guns

by Ben Gilbert { 4 days ago }

Knowing now that we won't be able to get our hands on a retail copy of Bayonetta on this side of the Pacific until January 5, it's hard not to be frustrated when the game's publisher releases more footage reminding us how much fun the combat is. It might be incredibly silly that she has guns on her feet, sure, but they're guns on her feet. It makes the thought of kicking an enemy all the more enticing!

It's also just plain nice to see a trailer for this game that focuses on how the gameplay works, rather than on its hyper-sexualized main character. Also: she fires a bazooka at a demon wearing a tuba. If that's your kind of thing.

Gallery: Bayonetta

Wal-Mart offering $100 gift card with purchase of Xbox 360 Arcade

by Griffin McElroy { 4 days ago }

Black Friday isn't the only day in November where prices are eviscerated and sweet deals are distributed like confetti at a Flaming Lips concert. Wal-Mart has begun posting ads for a batch of sales being offered this coming Saturday morning -- one of which will be particularly intriguing to the prospective holiday console buyers among you. While supplies last (and we assume they won't last long), anyone who purchases a $199 Xbox 360 Arcade bundle will receive a $100 gift card to boot.

A free Benjamin's worth of Wal-Mart products? That's enough to buy a couple of games for your new system! And it's only $35 short of the price of an Xbox 360 120GB hard drive! Or, you could buy two Xbox 360 Arcade bundles, and then have enough in gift card money to get a third one -- plus another $100 gift card -- for free! It seems we've beaten the system, as it were. Wal-Mart, consider yourself outfoxed.

[Via Engadget]

New Darksiders trailer unleashes Mayhem, sore throats

by Griffin McElroy { 4 days ago }

You might become entranced by the grandiose visuals featured in the latest trailer for Darksiders, which we've posted above -- however, don't let your sense of sight get you too distracted from the video's sounds. It might be too soon to say, but it looks like Darksiders could be the most gravelly-voiced video game in the history of the industry. Seriously, even the woman briefly featured in the above trailer makes Solid Snake sound like Dakota Fanning.

Check out the trailer, but keep in mind that it comes to us from the mysterious land of Europe, explaining the release date of "08/01/2010" which appears at the end of the video. See, they do dates backwards in that continent. Just like they do democracy.

Rumor: Car punching returns in Super Street Fighter IV

by Justin McElroy { 4 days ago }

While Street Fighter may be the perfect symbol of man's inhumanity to man, we always considered SFII's bonus stage (which used the punching of a car as a John Henry-esque metaphor for the struggle to maintain humanity in the face of an industrial age) as the more poignant symbolism. Capcom appears to agree, as some new Famitsu scans seem to indicate that the car-punching bonus stage will return in Super Street Fighter IV.

Also depicted is the barrel smashing mini-game, though that doesn't represent anything ... except that it's fun to smash barrels.

Scare Me makes your Xbox spooky

by Justin McElroy { 4 days ago }

We know that Xbox Indie Game creators have been programming non-game apps for all sorts of odd purposes, but we thought this one was especially interesting. Scare Me lets you use your console to horrify your loved ones with cheap scares when they least expect it for just 80 points ($1). There are some generically scary sequences filled with screams and spooky imagery (you can even program your own) but we're partial to the "Shock Game" section, which lets you bait friends into playing mocked up games for a few seconds before startling the bejeezus out of them with a screaming death mask.

But Joystiq, why would I be interested in doing something this cruel to friends and family after Halloween? A fair question. But we, in turn, ask you: When will they ever be expecting it less?

CBS bringing Diagnosis Murder, some other stuff to gaming platforms

by Justin McElroy { 4 days ago }

CBS announced today that it's bringing a wide array of its TV programming to the video game world, mainly via the PC, Wii and DS. As you can see after the break, the company revealed equally insipid-sounding game versions of Survivor, Hollywood Squares, The Amazing Race, and Criminal Minds, but we don't see how we're supposed to care about any of it when it was also revealed that a Diagnosis Murder game is in the works.

We're assuming it's a Visceral-developed "dark" take on the DM mythos, with a Gothic Dr. Mark Sloan walking a demonic version of Los Angeles, solving murder mysteries with a caduceus-shaped staff dipped in angel blood. We assume this because we laid out the design doc pretty clearly in our letters, and we can't fathom why CBS would want to disappoint us.

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Amazon ranks Call of Duty-est towns in America, large dining utensils in the lead

by Griffin McElroy { 4 days ago }

Grand Forks, North Dakota is a small city with a population just over 51,000 -- a large portion of which are students at the University of North Dakota -- that's tucked within a much larger rural portion of the state. It's not the first city to come to mind when you think of prestigious national honors in the technology sector. However, according to online retailer Amazon, which has been vigilantly tracking the geographic location of Modern Warfare 2 pre-orderers, it's currently the Call of Duty-est town in America.

Amazon will continue to rank American cities based on per capita Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders until the game is released, and has agreed to ship a $5,000 gift card to a charity of its choosing which serves the winning town. We hope Grand Forks manages to hold its top position in the rankings, if only because it desperately needs something to put on its city limits signs. You know, something more inspiring than "Welcome to Grand Forks: We've Got a Pretty Good College, Here, We Guess."

Zoe Mode creating not-for-profit XBLA puzzler for children's charity

by Randy Nelson { 4 days ago }

click to enlarge

OneBigGame, a non-profit games publisher founded in 2007, announced today that its first title will come from Zoë Mode, creator of games such as Crush (PSP), You're In the Movies (360) and co-developer of the SingStar franchise (PS3) with SCEE. Called Chime, the music-based puzzle game will launch this winter on Xbox Live Arcade.

The first screens, while sort of soothing in their minimalism, don't exactly explain anything about how the game's played. Thankfully, Zoë Mode goes into detail about the gameplay on its newly launched Chime site.

The developer is the first of what OneBigGame says are many others currently creating 15 titles, with at least 80 percent of all revenue made from them going to two charities: Save the Children and Starlight Children's Foundation. Zoë Mode developed Chime pro bono and has committed to giving all the royalties it receives from the XBLA game -- which it says will be around 60 percent of its purchase price -- to OneBigGame.

Other developers signed on to produce games include Shiny founder David Perry, PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura and prolific adventure game designer Charles Cecil (Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword).

Gallery: Chime

Deal watch: Game discounts at Amazon

by Richard Mitchell { 5 days ago }

Amazon is tempting us to dip into our holiday savings by discounting many new games. Numerous titles, like those seen in the image above, have been marked down by $10, while others -- including many Wii games -- have smaller discounts applied to them.

Listed after the break, you'll find the most significant deals, but you should also try perusing Amazon to find others. If you do, be sure to post them in the comments!

[Via GamerDeals.net]

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Why not to expect Capcom vs. SNK 2 on PSN, XBLA

by Richard Mitchell { 5 days ago }

In the words of Lord Cutler Beckett, it's just good business. Or, as Capcom's Seth Killian explained on the Capcom-Unity forums, releasing a downloadable version of Capcom vs. SNK 2 could be bad business. In a lengthy response to a call for the game on PSN, Killian gave several reasons for not re-releasing Capcom vs. SNK 2; all of them centered squarely on business. Among other things, the audience for the game is less sizable than that of Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2, meaning a Capcom vs. SNK 2 port probably wouldn't be worth the money and resources Capcom would need to spend.

Killian noted that even if sales covered cost, placing developers on the project would mean removing them from others, like Super Street Fighter IV. Killian put it simply, saying, "When fan service becomes a black hole for time and money, that party gets ended pretty quick."

Another explanation, according to Killian, is that Capcom doesn't want to flood the market with fighting games. He suggested that most gamers only buy one or two fighting games a year -- thanks mainly to the amount of time it takes to master them. In other words, releasing too many games could dilute the sales of all of them. Besides, we all know that what Capcom should be working on is a new Darkstalkers.

[Via EventHubs]

Initial Modern Warfare 2 budget was 'ridiculous'

by David Hinkle { 5 days ago }

During an interview with Develop, Infinity Ward's front-line man, Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling, recalled the early planning stages of Modern Warfare 2. Unsurprisingly, publisher and owner Activision was eager to pour money into the development of the COD4 sequel, following the basic business formula: more money = better product = more sales = more money. Infinity Ward followed another school of thought: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"Much like we don't let ourselves get distracted by hype, if you have excess you feel like you should use excess," Bowling said. Even though Activision "estimated out a ridiculous budget" early on, Infinity Ward "didn't let the budget affect [its] mentality." Since Infinity Ward apparently didn't take the money (or, at least, all of it), we do have a pretty good idea of what Activision spent it on: night-vision goggles for everyone!

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