Thursday, January 12, 2012 6:34PM - By Jared Newman
Sub-Zero’s corpse torn asunder on the screen in front of me, I’m standing next to Eddie Ferrier, associate designer of the new Mortal Kombat. I had to ask: How did you guys come up these nasty Fatalities?
Ferrier can’t quite articulate the process. And how could he? Moments ago, he commanded Kung Lao to set his bladed hat on the ground, spinning in perpetuity. Kung Lao reached over the blade to grab Sub-Zero’s ankles on the opposite side, pulling the fallen fighter through, groin first. He lifts both halves of the body, remarkably intact but dripping blood. Ferrier, fumbling through a vague explanation about brainstorming with his colleagues, cracks a subtle smile. He’s been working on Mortal Kombat games since the beginning. I can tell he loves the job.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8:16AM - By Jared Newman
In a few hours, someone at Microsoft will press a button and open the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta to millions of rabid fans. If you’ve got a copy of Halo 3: ODST, you should be able to access the beta by late morning Pacific time, early afternoon Eastern time and early evening GMT. I got a head start over the weekend through an early access code provided by Microsoft (and so did a few of you through our contest), and while I don’t think a beta needs a full review, I’ve got some thoughts on the Halo: Reach beta and what it means for the full version of the game due this fall:
Netflix destroyed Blockbuster for a number of reasons, but one of them was the fact that people are generally lazy (hey, I’m one of them) and would rather download a movie or have it delivered to their house than get up and drive to the store. According to G4, the successful company will now further serve our couch-potato culture by adding Kinect support to their services.
We’ll just come out and say it: all this new technology is basically the equivalent of The Clapper, only for gamers.
Achievements have garnered both fervent supporters who view the concept as the best thing to hit the industry since the 1-Up, and those who decry it as trivial and ruinous to gaming. I’ve found myself somewhere in the middle: I’ve grown to enjoy the process of earning the achievements that I have the ability (and patience) to attain, but often lament how these bonuses have become substitutes to actual in-game unlockable content. Nonetheless, I’ve spent my fair share of hours hunting them down.
However, I realized this week just how pointless they really are at the end of the day.
Considering that Microsoft has spent more than $1 billion to deal with the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death, I’m guessing most UPS drivers have seen at least one dead console come down through their delivery zones. One driver apparently knows the drill all too well, and took the liberty of giving the recipient some words of hope. If you can’t make it out:
I hope this one last(s) you. I’m on my 4th Xbox in just under 5 years. … Tear.
Love, UPS
The recipient said this is his third Xbox 360 — a new console this time, rather than a refurbished model — and so far it’s working alright. [via the Consumerist]
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 1:23PM - By Jared Newman
Bleary-eyed and scrolling through my Twitter feed this morning, I saw an intriguing note from Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, Xbox Live’s director of programming: Daily deal site Woot was selling 250 GB Xbox 360 hard drives for $50, new in box. He posted the tweet at 5:11 a.m., and about an hour later, when I spotted it, the deal was already over. Woot had sold out its stock of hard drives.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 10:53AM - By Jared Newman
While Microsoft loves to promote its Xbox Live Arcade games with sales and such, Xbox Live Indie Games — a smaller storefront whose games are admitted by peer review — are left to fend for themselves. And so they’ve put together the Indie Games Uprising, a week of new game launches that promise not to be shameless clones or lame massage apps. Best of all, the games will be cheap — between 80 and 400 Microsoft Points ($1 to $5) each. The event kicks off today with Epic Dungeon, a new game with four player classes, over 50 dungeon levels and loads of pixelated loot for 80 Microsoft Points. Check out the trailer for the other games that will launch this week, or read the developers’ descriptions after the jump.
Friday, November 12, 2010 10:57AM - By Jared Newman
With two weeks to go until Black Friday, it’s time to start planning your video game strategy. Thanks to BlackFriday.info, we’ve got some early intel on gaming deals at Target and Best Buy for Black Friday 2010. After the jump, we’ll break it down by console.
For all intents and purposes, Atomic Accessories’ Game Boat is just a plain old water raft. But hey, put it in front of a TV with Kinect for Xbox 360, and it’s “de facto the first accessory for the peripheral which doesn’t need any.” I love the brutal honesty.
