XBL language filter prevents harmless words from being used in Quarrel January 28, 2012
Posted by Jessica Conditt in : chat, denki, filter, language, microsoft, quarrel, XBL, xbox, Xbox Live , add a comment
These words are fair game in singleplayer (with the Family Setting turned off), but Microsoft adds an extra filter to Live play, developer Denki's Gary Penn told Edge: "Quarrel uses the Collins official Scrabble dictionary comprising over 110,000 words up to eight letters in length, including a huge collection of words deemed 'offensive' by Collins, such as 'arse', 'shit', 'wank' and 'fuck.'"
Other banned words include "start," "skid," "poop," "hung," "dice" and "god." We're stumped on how to use "dice" in an offensive manner, but we've seen "fag" flung around Xbox Live chat with alarming, unfiltered regularity, so we're not going to try to figure out Microsoft's regulation process here.
XBL language filter prevents harmless words from being used in Quarrel originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Remembering the best JRPG ever January 28, 2012
Posted by Jason Schreier in : column, JRPG, konami, PlayStation, suikoden-2, suikoden-ii , add a comment This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that.
The bad news is that today's column will be my last. I've accepted a full-time job elsewhere and I won't be able to write for Joystiq anymore. It's been a blast talking about JRPGs with you all, and I hope you enjoyed reading my articles almost as much as I enjoyed writing them.
The good news is that I'm taking this opportunity to write about one of the best JRPGs of all time, a game I always fervidly rank at the top of every "Best Games Ever!!!" list. Few games know how to tell a story this poignant, this engaging, this memorable. Few games blend narrative and mechanics together this smoothly. Few games are so powerful that they convince you to ignore some significant flaws, like bizarre bugs and a terrible translation effort. But this one is.
It's called Suikoden II.
Continue reading Remembering the best JRPG ever
Remembering the best JRPG ever originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Remembering the best JRPG ever January 28, 2012
Posted by Jason Schreier in : column, JRPG, konami, PlayStation, suikoden-2, suikoden-ii , add a comment This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that.The bad news is that today's column will be my last. I've accepted a full-time job elsewhere and I won't be able to write for Joystiq anymore. It's been a blast talking about JRPGs with you all, and I hope you enjoyed reading my articles almost as much as I enjoyed writing them.
The good news is that I'm taking this opportunity to write about one of the best JRPGs of all time, a game I always fervidly rank at the top of every "Best Games Ever!!!" list. Few games know how to tell a story this poignant, this engaging, this memorable. Few games blend narrative and mechanics together this smoothly. Few games are so powerful that they convince you to ignore some significant flaws, like bizarre bugs and a terrible translation effort. But this one is.
It's called Suikoden II.
Continue reading Remembering the best JRPG ever
Remembering the best JRPG ever originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Army Corps of Hell Tries Way Too Hard, Which is Why It’s Fun January 28, 2012
Posted by Jeremy Parish in : PREVIEW , add a comment
When I was in junior high school (centuries ago), I always found the metalhead clique at my school intimidating. Rangy boys with long, oily hair and a collective uniform consisting of boots, black-washed jeans, and black T-shirts imprinted with art from album covers by bands whose names bore gratuitous double consonants and lent themselves to harsh, angular logo designs, the metalheads always hung out together at the side of gym class, discussing their heroes' latest wailing guitar concoctions and glowering at the rest of the world. They sported the shifty desperation unique to 14-year-olds jonesing for a drag on a stolen cigarette.
It was all kind of alarming for us clean-cut students whose main ambition for gym class was to avoid notice by the jocks and dropouts while hanging out on the sidelines discussing the latest Zelda strategies with each other (dude, if you just keep going up when you get to that one spot in the mountains, there's a dungeon there!). In hindsight, though, I realize that the metalhead kids were harmless. They never picked on anyone; they never caused trouble outside of skipping class to hang out and listen to noisy music. They were as geeky as the video-game-fixated A-students; the only difference between us was that their obsessions were wrapped up in an affected antisocial style. Their music may have been about volume and screaming and satanic posturing, but it was just that: Posturing. Underneath it all, those guys just wanted to do their own thing, and they wore their ragged Dokken shirts with pride because they sincerely thought that airbrushed zombie warriors chained to naked, guitar-wielding sex slaves was, like, so awesome.
Resident Evil: Revelations’ price lowered to $39.99 before launch
January 28, 2012
Posted by Jessica Conditt in : 3ds, capcom, Nintendo, resident-evil-revelations , add a comment
Elston said he thinks the title is still worth $50, which is why it's so great that Nintendo's Circle Pad Pro, which we feel is necessary to properly enjoy Revelations, will be an extra $20.Resident Evil: Revelations' price lowered to $39.99 before launch originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Resident Evil: Revelations’ price lowered to $39.99 before launch
January 28, 2012
Posted by Jessica Conditt in : 3ds, capcom, Nintendo, resident-evil-revelations , add a comment
Elston said he thinks the title is still worth $50, which is why it's so great that Nintendo's Circle Pad Pro, which we feel is necessary to properly enjoy Revelations, will be an extra $20.Resident Evil: Revelations' price lowered to $39.99 before launch originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.New Darkness II footage shows three gruesome ways to kill an enemy
January 27, 2012
Posted by Francesca OXM in : 2k-games, action, comic book games, darkness ii, death, Digital Extremes, shooter, Video, Xbox 360 , add a comment
Indie studio Almost Human is more human than most January 27, 2012
Posted by Jessica Conditt in : Almost-Human, disability, disabled, good-guy-indie-dev, ios, ipad, iPhone, Legends-of-Grimrock, Mac, Mobile, PC, Petri-Häkkinen, reddit , add a comment
Hours earlier, Reddit user meandertal had posted this screencap from the Almost Human blog, highlighting a fan's question about the inclusion of on-screen arrows in Grimlock. That wasn't currently an option, programmer Petri Häkkinen said, asking the fan why he wanted to know. "I'm disabled and use a mouth stick for typing," he responded, saying he'd adapt to the existing controls and couldn't wait to play the game.
Two and a half hours later, Häkkinen posted this:
"When we got our inbox open, we almost couldn't believe our eyes; it was just pouring with encouraging emails," Salila told Joystiq. "All these people writing in saying thanks and wishing us good luck, just like in the mountain of comments on Reddit.
"For us it was a rather simple thing to implement, but we couldn't imagine that it could mean so much to somebody else. It kind of gives you perspective on life itself."
Continue reading Indie studio Almost Human is more human than most
Indie studio Almost Human is more human than most originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Indie studio Almost Human is more human than most January 27, 2012
Posted by Jessica Conditt in : Almost-Human, disability, disabled, good-guy-indie-dev, ios, ipad, iPhone, Juho-Salila, Mac, Mobile, PC, reddit , add a commentHours earlier, Reddit user meandertal had posted this screencap from the Almost Human blog, highlighting a fan's question about the inclusion of on-screen arrows in Grimlock. That wasn't currently an option, programmer Petri Häkkinen said, asking the fan why he wanted to know. "I'm disabled and use a mouth stick for typing," he responded, saying he'd adapt to the existing controls and couldn't wait to play the game.
Two and a half hours later, Häkkinen posted this:
"When we got our inbox open, we almost couldn't believe our eyes; it was just pouring with encouraging emails," Salila told Joystiq. "All these people writing in saying thanks and wishing us good luck, just like in the mountain of comments on Reddit.
"For us it was a rather simple thing to implement, but we couldn't imagine that it could mean so much to somebody else. It kind of gives you perspective on life itself."
Continue reading Indie studio Almost Human is more human than most
Indie studio Almost Human is more human than most originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
38 Studios head Curt Schilling apologizes for ‘buggy’ Reckoning demo January 27, 2012
Posted by Ben Gilbert in : 38-studios, big-huge, big-huge-games, curt schilling, demo, ea, electronic-arts, kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning, microsoft, neogaf, PC, PlayStation, ps3, xbox , add a comment
"Let me start by apologizing. The demo? Ya, it is way way WAYYYYY more buggy than anything ANYONE should ever release, much less a demo," Schilling wrote. He said that due to "the depth of breadth of a game that has anywhere from 40-50 hours (main quest line play) to 2-300 hours (for completionist)," it was inevitable there would be bugs. However, rather than releasing a demo with said inevitable issues, he argued with EA to not put out a demo at all. A fight that he said he's glad he lost.
"The demo has been a God send, especially when I realize even in this thread, how many people became aware because of the demo," Schilling said. "In a partnership there is a lot of give and take, and I believe in my team, they are world class, but when you have a publisher there are things happening you'd rather not choose. Shipping old code out 3 months prior to gold master to a 3rd party with no stake in the demo success can be problematic." Regardless of the issues, Schilling ultimately says he was glad for the exposure the demo granted Reckoning, and he'll be "chatting more" on NeoGAF in the future.
[Thanks, Wombat!]
38 Studios head Curt Schilling apologizes for 'buggy' Reckoning demo originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.