Thursday Regulars:
No RetroforceGO! this week: We all have SARS
The Memory Card .46: Insult swordfighting!

Review:
Tomb Raider Underworld

Contest:
Get your running shoes on: we have 80 copies of Mirror's Edge to give away!

News:
Gran Turismo 5 release date still in the air, fast car devs build slow
Virtual Peace 'better than shooting 'em up'
Ken Levine likes PC gaming, would like to have it back
Square Enix expected to bid for Eidos
Character in Animal Crossing tosses out the N-word, Nintendo rescues our eyes
Harrison: Kids will soon refuse to buy discs
Research group says that consoles are the new hotness for on-demand video
Could Brutal Legend news be coming? We all hope so
Qore episode 7 is free this week at the PlayStation Store
How Sirlin struggled with Street Fighter 2 HD
Dress up your Xbox 360 avatar in new duds -- for free, no less!
Animal Crossing Wii character imports region locked: Because that's not dumb
Real bands vs fake ones: the argument goes on
WiiWare manga starts this January with Princess Ai Monogatari
Penn describes motivation behind Desert Bus minigame
Buy this PS3 for the every day low price of $736.99 [Update]
List of streamable videogame movies on Netflix

Rumortoid:
SCEE reminds staff of their NDA after PS3 price drop talk

Offbeat:
The Daily Mail: Win a Sega Megadrive! Or ... not

Galleries:
Screenshots for Suikoden Tierkreis: Because the DS needs more RPGs
Go to Burger King for a heart attack/Nintendo toy combo

Videos:
Mirror's Edge DLC announced, looks bloody weird [update]
Banjo goes to Paris in this absurd Nuts & Bolts promo video
New 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand video displays the art of Counter-Kills

Community:
C Blogs of 12/04/08

Qore

Qore Annual Subscription ($24.99)
Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network is a monthly interactive video production covering the world of PlayStation. Qore provides its audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to developers and their games, from both the SCE Worldwide Studios and the third-party community, where the audience member can freely navigate through the content.
File size: 1.34 GB

Qore Episode 07: December, 2008 (free)
Episode 07 (December 2008) of Qore: Presented by the PlayStation®Network is being offered to all PSN account holders, 18 and older, for free! (*PSN registration required. user responsible for internet fees.) Download now to see what all of the excitement is about!
File size: 1.34 GB

Downloadable Games

Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer ($9.99)
Set in the distant future, Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer is a fast and furious shoot ‘em up with state-of-the-art graphics, driving soundtrack and classic fun gameplay sprinkled with fresh innovations. In the storyline, planet Earth’s resistance aims to stop a deadly infection consuming both life forms and technology alike, oddly having to rely on an anti-hero mercenary and bounty hunter to pilot a mighty prototype star fighter.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 845 MB

Add-on Game Content

LittleBigPlanet Kabuki Actor (free)
Download the winning Costume Contest submission from Japan. This free costume will dress your SackBoy in traditional japanese Kabuki attire.
File size: 1.04 MB

Age of Booty Map Pack 1 (free)
Download the new “Oasis” and “Slow and Stead” maps! These maps are available in the 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 playlists.
File size: 100 KB

Age of Booty Map Pack 2 (free)
Download the new “Tight Passage” and “Tug of War” maps! These maps are available in the 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 playlists.
File size: 100 KB

Age of Booty Map Pack 3 (free)
Download the new “Bombs and Whirlpools” and “Bloody Wake” maps! Battle Royal is also unlocked as a new gameplay mode. These maps are official maps and will appear in the 2v2v2v2 playlist.
File size: 100 KB

Far Cry 2 Fortunes Pack ($9.99)
Ramp up the terror with the Far Cry 2 Fortunes Pack. Loaded with 3 new weapons, 2 new vehicles and 4 new multiplayer maps. You get:

• Silenced Shotgun
• Craftsman Shotgun
• Crossbow (with explosive bolts)
• All-terrain Vehicle
• Heavy-duty Utility Truck

Plus 4 NEW MULTIPLAYER MAPS:

• Last Resort
• Cheap Labour
• Lake Smear
• Fort Fury

Let the mayhem begin…
File size: 61 MB

GRID 8-Ball Additional Content ($9.99)
The ‘8 Ball’ pack for GRID features 8 thrilling new cars and two new online events as the first in a series of three new extensions for the game. Car List: McLaren F1 GTR, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, Mitsubishi 2.0 Turbo Lancer Evolution X, Honda S2000, Nissan GTR GT500, VW Nardo, Pontiac Firebird Trans AM, Volvo C30 Green Racing.
File size: 171 MB

Guitar Hero World Tour
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com

• “1979″ by The Smashing Pumpkins ($1.99)
• “G.L.O.W.” by The Smashing Pumpkins ($1.99)
• “The Everlasting Gaze” by The Smashing Pumpkins ($1.99)
• The Smashing Pumpkins Track Pack ($5.49) - Downloadable Track Pack for Guitar Hero World Tour featuring “G.l.o.w.”, “1979”, and “The Everlasting Gaze” by The Smashing Pumpkins.

File sizes: 36 MB - 45 MB (singles), 121 MB (track pack)

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2
Expand your Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 library by purchasing these tracks.

• Don’t You (Forget About Me) ($1.49)
• For You I Will ($1.49)
• Friends in Low Places ($1.49)
• Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door ($1.49)
• Midnight Train To Georgia ($1.49)
• Unwritten ($1.49)

File sizes: 15 MB - 54 MB

NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja STORM Pack 4 (free)
Download Storm Pack 4 and unleash legendary ninja Asuma as your support character in battle. The Storm Pack 4 also contains new Ultimate Mission to engage!
File size: 100 KB

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Real World” - All - American Rejects ($0.99)
• “Ready, Set, Go!”- Tokio Hotel ($0.99)
• “I Don’t Want to Go to School” - Naked Brothers ($0.99)
• “Headphones On” - Miranda Cosgrove (free)
• “Hay Poco Rock N Roll” by Platero y Tu ($0.99)
• “Body I Occupy” - Naked Brothers ($0.99)
• “Are You Dead Yet?” - Children of Bodom ($0.99)
• “Tutto E Possibile” - Finley ($0.99)
• “Tempted” - Squeeze ($0.99)

File sizes: 17 MB - 40 MB

SOULCALIBUR IV Customization Equipment 3 ($1.99)
Christmas is here with with the Santa equipment set. Turn Santa sexy by picking Ivy or Amy. This equipment can be used for both female and male characters.
File size: 3.1 MB

Game Videos (free)

Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Trailer
File size: 63 MB (HD)

Prince of Persia Dev Diary 2
File size: 221 MB (HD)

Prince of Persia Dev Diary 3
File size: 214 MB (HD)

Mercenaries 2 Blow It Up Again Trailer
File size: 43 MB (HD)

Facebreaker Audition Video #4
File size: 83 MB (HD)

Facebreaker Audition Video #5
File sizes: 82 MB (HD)

BAJA: Edge of Control - Launch Trailer
File size: 190 MB (HD)

Savage Moon Trailer
File size: 52 MB (HD)

Resistance 2 - Last Hours
File sizes: 91 MB (HD), 158 MB (1080)

Life in LittleBigPlanet: Ep 4
File size: 180 MB (HD)

LittleBigPlanet WELCOME TO MY WORLD Video
File size: 103 MB (HD)

PS3 Themes

Lingerie Girls Theme ($1.49)
File size: 6.77 MB

University of Florida Theme ($1.99)
File size: 5.15 MB

European Highlands Theme ($1.49)
File size: 6.25 MB

Bloodwork Theme ($1.49)
File size: 5.71 MB

Atomic Acid Theme ($1.49)
File size: 5.4 MB

Metal Battalion Maidens Theme ($0.99)
File size: 3.38 MB

PS3 Wallpaper (free)

Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Wallpaper 1
File sizes: 220 KB - 660 KB

Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Wallpaper 2
File sizes: 264 KB - 977 MB

SOULCALIBUR IV Holiday Hilde Wallpaper
File sizes: 2.99 KB - 1.09 MB

SOULCALIBUR IV Holiday Ivy Wallpaper
File sizes: 233 KB - 881 KB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games

* Archer Maclean’s Mercury ($9.99)
* Brain Challenge ($9.99)
* Super Stardust Portable ($9.99)
* Everyday Shooter ($9.99)

Game Videos (free)

* Ben 10 Alien Force - Making Of Trailer

Warning: Watching this trailer for Ghostbusters: The Video Game (which is expected to have a multi-platform release date of June 2009) may result in a sudden uncontrollable release of ooey gooey ectoplasm. Featuring the likenesses and voices of the original cast from the movie (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson for all you youngins who weren’t around a quarter of a century ago), you’ll remember exactly who you need to call soon enough. Which would be your local game store. So you can get this shit preordered. The first thing I’ll do upon playing this game? That would be crossing the streams baby. Cause that’s the way I roll.

The scent of a man…a man that is going to be the main star of a new game. Too bad we can’t get this goodie…it’s only on sale in Capcom’s Japanese store. Hey Capcom, wouldn’t this make a great preorder gift in the states?!

Check out more interesting Phoenix Wright-related goodies here

• Compatibility with all standard drum controllers for Rock Band 1 and 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour on all platforms
• Metal plating for lasting durability
• Rubber feet to keep the pedal firmly in place
• Coiled wire keeps the drum kit tangle free
• Wide base for stable footing and consistent response

• Rock Band 2 Patch 1.01: compatibility with Guitar Hero World Tour drums and guitar
• MTV Games: Drum pedal lawsuit "opportunistic and baseless"
  

So Rusty wanted me to write a little blog post about Everyday Shooter for PSP. I don’t really know what to talk about so I guess I’ll start chronological and see where that goes.

I actually tried porting Everyday Shooter to PSP way back around December 20th, 2007, and stopped around December 27th, 2007. Here’s an old video I found from back then:

WHAT!!??!? WHY DIDN’T YOU RELEASE IT!?!?? WHY DID YOU SIT ON IT FOR 239846921487 MONTHS YOU SON OF SO MANY UNMENTIONABLE THINGS!!!!!!!

I thought the same thing until I remembered that it crashed every eight seconds, had a ridiculously low frame rate, was missing graphics and effects, and generally blew.

Yeah, Everyday Shooter PSP really worried me at the time. I was convinced to get the game running properly it needed to be hacked to shreds - reducing the number of enemies, changing all the
backgrounds, changing the enemy graphics - ugh, this is going to SUCK.

So I dropped the idea until Rusty contacted my agent, Warren, and I, saying Sony was interested in putting Everyday Shooter on PSP. Immediately, the floodgates opened to the stress of so many potential problems sweeping my soul to the faraway depths of darkness where it was then beaten repeatedly at three frames per second before crashing…

But Rusty said (paraphrased): “Jon, this is how it’s going to go down. We’re going to hire this developer [Backbone], and I know this guy, he is one of the best programmers I know. And the deal is going to be this: if they even hint at a suggestion of messing with your vision, we are going to fire them and find a new developer. This is going to be a straight port, we are not going to mess with your vision.”

Skeptically, I replied “and the boobies?” To which he answered “no boobies.”

Honestly, I was still skeptical.

I was also told that the original QA team for ES-PS3 was brought in to test the PSP version too, so I’m quite confident that it was left in good hands.

I’m amazed at the job Backbone did:

They actually ported it without altering any of the graphics, effects, or gameplay! How!?? No seriously, how did you do that!? Like, even the backgrounds? I was expecting to have to do this whole back and forth about what graphics needed to be changed and redesigned, what enemies needed to be reduced, gimping the game just for the sake of performance… NO! Not at all! They just somehow made it work. What is this sweet juice of hexadecimal that you drink from and where do I get it?

Then again, I’m not technically a great programmer, so maybe there’s some simple secret I’m not aware of. I generally just multiply things by negative one if they don’t work because in math, to get the opposite of something you just multiply it by negative one. Since the opposite of “doesn’t work” is “it works,” multiplying numbers by negative one should yield a correct result. Unfortunately, when
applying this strategy to Everyday Shooter PSP it still didn’t work.

Thus, and clearly thus, there was no solution.

Of course Backbone proved me wrong.

I think this is a pretty accurate port of the game. I mean, I played it till my hands cramped, jotting down every subtle problem, some bordering on imaginary, but yet still fixed. For example, the first
few builds I played, everything looked great and seemed to be in working order but something was weird. I kept getting beaned by the game! I mean, I couldn’t even get to level 4! Suspecting my own
skill level, I busted out the PS3 version just to make sure and to my surprise, I was still able reach the final stage with just three starting lives. It’s got to be the port.

Okay, so how do you convince someone that this is actually a bug and not because of some lack of skill on my part? I mean, otherwise, the game felt exactly like the PS3 version, so there was no factual information to draw from except for “well, Jon thinks it’s too hard now.” For weeks, I kept thinking they were going to ignore it, and it’ll get released, and the internet will swallow me whole, and then it will hurt a lot.

But amazingly, the bug was found. Apparently (and from what I recall — I might be wrong), it had something to do with timing issues since Everyday Shooter PSP runs at a much lower simulation rate given that the PSP isn’t as powerful as the PS3.

To this day, I’m still not sure if anyone believed me on this, and I’m not even sure if I believed myself (I’m quite positive it was way harder, though), and I totally see that the whole thing just sounded nuts and imaginary, but either way, Backbone was gracious enough to give me the benefit of the doubt and make this change. I know some people who paid a silver dollar only to have their ports birched by shoddy developers, so I’m very grateful for the amount of effort and attention Backbone gave to the project.

Anyway, we tried to make this as accurate as possible. Warren called me a few weeks before the final build asking whether I played the PSP port yet and what I thought of it. I replied, “I don’t know what to say. I mean, it’s basically Everyday Shooter PS3, except it’s running on a PSP.”
_______________________

More info on the DLC from EA:

Players will be challenged to achieve the fastest times possible on nine races across seven all-new and totally redesigned Time Trial maps. No guns, no cops, and no city: this is true aesthetics, agility and flow that will challenge any runner.

I think the video says it best:

This special DLC pack will be available for $10. Look for an update on the PlayStation.Blog right before it hits the PlayStation Store.

Phil Harrison sees downloads as the future of gaming originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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