Irrational Games continues to empty out its vault of memories and secrets over on its newly commissioned blog -- Ken Levine and the crew are revealing so much old insider information over there you have to wonder how long they'll keep it up. Today, it's "what might have been" on System Shock 2, as Levine relates what they would have liked to do with the SHODAN showdown game, given more time and resources. The game was originally designed as an Apocalypse Now-style assassination in space, and it included some zero-G gameplay ideas (that sound pretty similar to what Dead Space pulled off years later). The ending also had to be rewritten, as the cinematic that Levine got back didn't have much to do with the script that he had originally put together.

And perhaps the most disturbing factoid is that the entire game was created in just 900 square feet of office space, full of overworked (and smelly) game developers. Wandering around the Von Braun was scary and all, but spending 11 months in a tiny room full of developers on crunch? No wonder Levine sounds ecstatic he survived.

Ken Levine goes behind the scenes on System Shock 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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D3Publisher has announced a worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Partnerships & Licensing that will see the upcoming 3D animated film, "Despicable Me," transformed into an obligatory video game for consoles (which likely includes the one making a cameo above) and handheld systems. Despicable Me: The Game casts you in the role of Gru, the film's anguished supervillain mired in a war with his archnemesis, Vector. Expect "a unique blend of action and puzzle solving," along with "an army of loyal-but-manic minions" and a release date in line with the film's debut on July 9, 2010.

The developer hasn't yet been named (uh oh), but we're hoping for a decent tie-in title, if only to spare us from the inevitable one-liner reviews:

• "This is a despicable game."
• "Only despicable you would spend time on this one."
• "This game is not fun but it is despicable which is funny because Despicable Me is the title of this game."

D3 becomes 'Despicable Me' publisher originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First reaction: lolwhut? Of course casual gamerz haven't hurt the hardcore. Hardcore have mad skillz.

Second, more thoughtful reaction: Oh -- Cowen and Company's Doug Creutz was speaking in terms of business. That makes a little more sense. Speaking to Edge, Creutz espoused his belief that "non-traditional" formats like the iPhone and social gaming have not hurt the core gaming market. Rather, said Creutz, "We believe that these newer gaming media represent a distinct and non-competitive market segment from console gaming, which is dominated by the core gamer." He elaborated that while casual titles didn't fare as well in 2009, the sales of core titles were still strong (a reasonable belief).

According to Creutz, the "difficulties" faced by the industry are the result of the "relatively slow uptake" of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, thanks in large part to their high price points. However, now that both the PS3 and 360 have reached mass market prices, the console cycle will "reaccelerate to the benefit of the publishers that are positioned to take advantage."

Creutz sentiments seem to be in line with many of the major game publishers, as both Capcom and EA have expressed dissatisfaction with the Wii market, with a Capcom spokesperson outright declaring, "If you're not Nintendo, it does seem harder to make money on the Wii today compared to the PS3 and the Xbox 360". Meanwhile, Ubisoft has announced that it plans to "refocus" its efforts on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2010.

Analyst: Casual games not bad for the core originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The slow trickle of EA Sports MMA media appears to be picking up again with today's small handful of new shots. EA released a relative pittance of assets in the form of five screenshots (including the Eeyore-inspired headshot you see above). Rather than show off new fighters, the screens instead showcase two long-announced Strikeforce combatants -- Jake Shields and Brett Rogers. Head to the gallery below for both gentlemen in all their polygonal glory.

EA Sports MMA drops an elbow full of screenshots onto our lower back originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond was in the unfortunate position of being a not-so-bad follow-up to a pretty darn bad game. As if we needed to feel even worse for it, Gamasutra has released one of its all-too-humanizing postmortems centered on the PSN and XBLA release.

Developer Vicious Cycle's revelations about underestimating the work a downloadable game would take are interesting, but we're kind of disappointed that the "What went wrong" section isn't just "The first Matt Hazard game" in big letters.

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond gets postmortemed originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We love the paper craft goodness of Tubbypaws so check out their latest creation: a 3D paper blocky Steve Jobs presenting the iPad from last week's Apple press conference! You can make your own if you've got some paper and a color printer on hand. So cute.

We're not going to pussy-foot around this (ha, you said -- nevermind): Team Ico's highly-anticipated The Last Guardian finally has an honest-to-goodness website now, chock full of saliva-inducing high-res screens. Aside from that, there isn't really much there at the site now -- apart from the trailers we've all seen way too many times but, hey, you might as well watch them again because it's been [insert any amount of time here] since you last watched them and why not? Anyway, go to the site and look at the new screens.

What? No more words! The only thing we want to hear is you going "awwww" at the beautiful relationship between a young boy and his catbird thing.

[Via VG247]

Look! There are new The Last Guardian screens originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to its Facebook page, Metro 2033, the upcoming post-apocalyptic FPS from 4a Games, will feature a full (optional) Russian voiceover track with equally optional English subtitles. Seeing as how Metro 2033 is set in Russia, this option could really add to the game's atmosphere, granted you don't mind reading subtitles -- or hey, maybe you even speak Russian. It's a shame other games developed by foreign studios and set in foreign countries so often neglect authentic language options when localized for North America. Yes, Yakuza, we're looking at you.

Since Metro 2033 will offer a Russian language option, we think it only makes sense that this post does, too:

По данным Facebook свою страницу, Метро 2033, предстоящий пост-апокалиптические FPS от 4A Games, будут представлены полные (не обязательно) русский закадровый трек с не менее Факультативный английскими субтитрами. Видя, как какой Метро 2033 установлен в России, этот вариант может действительно добавить в атмосферу игры, допуская, что вы не возражаете чтения субтитров -- или Эй, вы, может быть, даже владеющие русским языком. Это позор, другие игры, разработанные иностранными студиями и установить в зарубежных странах часто пренебрегают таким подлинным параметры языка, когда локализована в Северной Америке. Да, якудза, мы смотрим на вас.

[Via Gameswire]

Metro 2033 will also speak Russian originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Podcasts

We're short one man on the Fancast this week, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about Mass Effect 2. So, expect to hear plenty of (spoiler free) discussion on that, as well as some new fan mail and another birthday shout out. As an added bonus, we get the first fan mail from one of our own hosts. Also, be sure to stick around for the outtakes. Something epic just may be in the offing.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in Zune Marketplace (MP3).
[RSS MP3] Add the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Hosts: Richard Mitchell (SenseiRAM), Alexander Sliwinski (Sli Xander) and Dave Hinkle (KnifefightYoDad)

Produced by Richard Mitchell

Music: Intro/Outro: "Electromooq" by Uma Floresta. Break: "The Extremists" by Frausdots.

For fans: Xbox 360 Fancast Facebook group

Continue reading Xbox 360 Fancast 151 -- Massively Affected

Xbox 360 Fancast 151 -- Massively Affected originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that certainly didn't take long. Industry Gamers reports that Walmart's and Best Buy's stab at tapping into the lucrative used games market will soon come to an abrupt end. E-Play, the company that distributed used games kiosks to certain locations for the two retailers, suspended operations earlier today -- and as a result, said kiosks will be shut down and removed within the next three weeks. Neither Walmart nor Best Buy looks to be pursuing similar operations without E-play.

We had an inkling that the two retailers weren't seeing significant returns from dabbling in the used games market through third-party vendor E-play, but the brevity of this venture is still a little surprising. Even our "mullet and horn-rimmed glasses" phase lasted longer than eight measly months.

Walmart and Best Buy cease used games trade-in operations originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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