In a recent segment on The Jace Hall Show, the typically secretive Blizzard dev team gave the towering host/television producer/Monolith founder a sneak peek at some of the concept art for the female iteration of Diablo 3's Monk class. While she doesn't embody what we normally imagine when we think of devout martial arts experts, she looks supremely badass. You can check out a few screengrabs from the clip on fan site BlizzPlanet, or simply watch the video posted after the jump (the segment starts at the 6:44 mark).

[Via VG247]

Continue reading Diablo 3's female Monk designs revealed on The Jace Hall Show

Diablo 3's female Monk designs revealed on The Jace Hall Show originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It would have been nice to hear more of an explanation way back in October when Sega's Alpha Protocol was "officially delayed" to the amorphous "Spring 2010," but, unfortunately, that didn't happen. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer this week, though, assistant producer at Sega Matthew Hickman explicitly detailed the reasons for the delay, saying, "We really wanted to polish the game up, make it everything Obsidian planned it to be, and give the consumer a very polished game."

He added that there's been some "tweaks in lighting here and there," and the inventory screen has been revamped a bit, but in general the team has been focused on "bringing the whole quality level up." The post's author also notes that the game is set for a "Summer 2010" release window now, and we've reached out to him (and Sega) for clarification.

Sega cites 'tweaks' and release position for Alpha Protocol delay originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Other than knowing it's a thing, details of Nintendo and Team Ninja's collabrotive effort to bring Samus back into 2D space in Metroid: Other M are slim. In the current issue of Famitsu, a one-page interview with Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto didn't reveal much in the way of new information but the legendary creator did say the upcoming game will focus on Samus Aran's "human side."

The complete Metroid: Other M experience is being produced by three teams: Nintendo will continuously peek over the shoulder of Team Ninja (presumably to ensure very few bouncy-bikini shots appear in the final game) while D-Rockets will handle the title's movie sequences. The computer-generated movie sequences in Metroid: Other M are one of the methods Sakamoto says players will learn more about Samus Aran's emotional side. "She's a strong woman, but she also has a fragile side. We want to make a game whose charms can be felt from the story areas and these human touches as well," he said.

Before you begin to cringe, Sakamoto clarified that he's well aware of the core of the Metroid franchise. "It's an action game, but it's capable of having a clear emotional side." Emotionality that you can view, after the break. Metroid: Other M is excepted to hit the Wii later this year.

Continue reading Sakamoto: Other M shows 'human side' of Samus

Sakamoto: Other M shows 'human side' of Samus originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our biggest gripe with Facebook "games" most times is the lack of actual gameplay involved in them. Things like Mafia Wars seem much more like stat management spreadsheets couched in a social networking medium rather than games with a social media component. That said, it seems that 3G Studios is bringing a full on 3D shooter to the website in Brave Arms, announced this week and set for a March launch.

As the screenshot above corroborates, Brave Arms puts players in the first-person perspective for a Team Fortress 2-eque cartoony death match. CEO James Kosta says in the press release announcing the game that, "Our new title, Brave Arms, will bring first-person shooter games to the masses." Snarkier, meaner bloggers might mention games like Doom, Quake, Halo, or Call of Duty at this point, but we wouldn't do that. Nope. No sir. We'd just say something like, "How has EA not jumped on Facebook with Battlefield Heroes, nonetheless id Software/Bethesda with Quake Live?" As you might imagine with this type of free-to-play fare, there will be some form of microtransactions, though nothing has been explicitly detailed just yet.
[Via Games.com]

Facebook nabbing its first FPS: Brave Arms originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew the Ultimate Fighting Championship was open to all forms of combatants, but we think professional brawler Brock Lesnar's admittance to the league is just a little unfair. Our attention was turned to Lesnar by the recently revealed cover of UFC Undisputed 2010 (the full version of which is posted after the jump), which features his countenance. See, we don't have anything against Lesnar -- we just think it's a little one-sided to pit human fighters up against shaved kodiak bears.

We can't wait to scare the living crap out of all the other game cases on our shelf by placing this one near them when UFC Undisputed 2010 releases May 25.

Continue reading Brock Lesnar makes the cover of UFC Undisputed 2010

Brock Lesnar makes the cover of UFC Undisputed 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had questions, they had answers!  On February 5th, we had the privilege of being invited to a conference call with the developers of one of the season’s hottest titles, Bioshock 2.  The guys taking the call were Jordan Thomas (Creative Director at 2K Marin), Zak McClendon (Lead Designer, 2K Marin), Hoagy De La Plante (Lead Environment Artist, 2K Marin), Mat Tremblay (MP Art Director, Digital Extremes), and Jesse Attard (MP Lead Programmer, Digital Extremes).  The guys were nice enough to field non-stop questions for about an hour and a half.

Unfortunately, due to some technical errors regarding the beginning of the call, some people had trouble getting in.  Needless to say, I was one of those with this problem.  Therefore, the audio file picks up just a little after the beginning of the interview, only a minute or two late.

Also, due to the sheer number of callers participating, there wasn’t anytime at the end for follow up questions.  It didn’t make too much of a difference though because the amount of information and insight that they gave during the interview is nothing short of phenomenal.  So take a listen and get inside the heads of the developers of the sure-to-be-a-hit (if not a classic) Bioshock 2.

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Two noteworthy pieces of information came out of a recent Famitsu interview (as translated by Andriasang) with Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura regarding the prolific Disney-Final Fantasy mash-up franchise, Kingdom Hearts. The first isn't all that surprising -- when questioned at the end of the interview about Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura simply replied "Regarding III, fans and partners alike are pressing us for it, so we'll work to realize it as soon as possible."

Here's the more intriguing (or disturbing, depending on how you look at it) tidbit -- when asked about Sora's character design, Nomura remarked that the Disney staff made a few alterations to his outfit, explaining his stupid big shoes and pants. He went on to reveal that, in addition to wielding a chainsaw-sword instead of a giant key, Sora once possessed a tail and "beast-like ears." That can only mean one thing in our book: Furry. We'll take outrageously baggy pants over unsettling therianthropy any day of the week.

Nomura working to 'realize' Kingdom Hearts III, explains Sora's furry origins originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, Sunsoft, you shouldn't have. Here we were, thinking no news from this day would cause our hearts to swell in our chests, sending us into fits of nostalgic joy. Then you come along and announce that a new installment in the long-dormant Blaster Master franchise not only exists, but is coming out in two days.

Yes, according to a recent Sunsoft press release, Monday's WiiWare update will see the addition of Blaster Master: Overdrive, a sequel to the NES classic, priced at 1000 Wii Points. Like the original, Overdrive features both side-scrolling and top-down action sequences. Looking at the images posted on Sunsoft's official site, it certainly seems to retain the same charm of the first game -- if it also preserves the original Blaster Master's completely awesome theme song, we might not be able to stop ourselves from purchasing the game two or three times over.

Sunsoft announces Blaster Master: Overdrive, coming to WiiWare next week originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've already seen John Marston get himself into a whole mess of different being a cowboy-related situations before Red Dead Redemption's impending April release date, but today's are (as you might imagine) just a bit different. That's right, folks -- this time he's got a lasso. Rather than employing the ubiquitous Old West tool in cow wrangling, though, Marston drops some rope-based justice on fools and horses alike (okay okay -- we suppose it's possible there are also some fool horses). Peep the five new screens below in our hi-res gallery.

Red Dead Redemption screens go hogtie wild originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atlus is an awfully empathetic company. It realizes that not everyone gets all sunshine and lollipops around the 14th of February -- in fact, some folks experience the opposite sensation: Darkness and ... salt-water taffy? We guess?

With this dichotomy in mind, Atlus is allowing players to vote on the special event which will overtake its hard-as-hell RPG Demon's Souls on Valentine's Day -- will it be the easy-going White Tendency which appeared during the holiday season? Or the extra difficult Black Tendency which destroyed players on Halloween? Only you, and your either loving or jilted heart, can decide.

Atlus lets you pick your special V-Day event in Demon's Souls originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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