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Backbreaker may be the greatest football game no one will ever play. While I can attempt to detail its incredible use of the Euphoria physics engine, its spectacular graphics and truly innovative gameplay, all these features are moot thanks to the crippling fact that the game does not have the NFL license. Without the license, the annual Madden devotee won’t have this on his (or her!) radar — ironic, because Backbreaker makes good on the lofty promises of Madden 06’s teased “CG movie” effect, which EA Sports has yet to deliver on, even four years later.

It’s easy to get jaded about sports games as they iterate, releasing slightly improved games year after year. We’ve grown accustomed to complacency. But simply watch a video of Backbreaker and you’ll probably agree: this game is a breath of fresh air no one expected from the genre. It goes to show that with proper competition, there’s a lot of room for innovation.

Perhaps the most obvious thing to discuss are Backbreaker’s animations, powered by the same tech used in Grand Theft Auto IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Euphoria allows game characters to react to their virtual environment and create dynamic animations. Unlike canned ragdolls, these animations are surprisingly lifelike, and because they can be generated on the fly, ensure the game feels spontaneous. Backbreaker has one huge advantage over games like The Force Unleashed, though: it’s developed by NaturalMotion, the studio that made the Euphoria tech.

Continue reading Impressions: Backbreaker

Impressions: Backbreaker originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On December 17, role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII went on sale for the PS3 in Japan. It was priced at ¥9,240 (US$102). Want to sell back your copy?

In a little over a month and a half, the used game is fetching ¥1,500 (US$17) from major Japanese game retailer GEO. By comparison, used games Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 on the PS3 commands ¥4,800, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 merits ¥4,500 and Musou OROCHI Z is priced at ¥3,100.

The lower end of the scale looks like this: Uncharted is worth ¥1,500, NBA Live 10 is ¥2,000, Grand Theft Auto IV is ¥2,500 and Dragon Ball Z Raging Burst is ¥1,500.

Remember, these are buy-back prices. The games will then be sold at higher prices. What’s more, the prices do not reflect the quality of the games, but rather, the supply and demand. Most likely, low buy-back prices means that many players, who have probably already finished the title, are selling back the game.

In Japan, renting games is not wide spread and permitted in the same way it is in the West. Instead, players buy games and keep the disc, booklet and case in pristine condition so they can sell back to the titles to shops like GEO.

PS3?FF13?????????1500???? [??????????]

To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft
RE: Gadgets

Guess there are loads of gadgets in Japan, but haven’t really had the time to think about them. Exhausted and drained. Emotional week, looking forward to the weekend.

What you missed last night
Introducing “Vanquish”, A New Game From The Creator Of Resident Evil
“Entirely New” Pokemon Series Coming This Year
Final Fantasy Creator Working On Wii Game
Where Is Metal Gear Arcade?
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City Announced for PS3 and PC

Nintendo dominates the first half of the charts down under, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 holds strong against Bayonetta and Darksiders.

The week of January 3-9 was the first fully tracked seven-day sales period of the new year when it came to game sales in Australia, and it also saw 2010’s first triple A titles get released. Interestingly, both failed to make it into the top five. Instead, Darksiders for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 took out the eighth and ninth places, respectively, while Bayonetta for the 360 landed in at number 10.

The top spot down under went to Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo also holds the next four spots, with the likes of Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii filling the ranks. The only non-Nintendo and non-new release game to make it into the charts was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which took out the sixth and seventh spots, respectively.

All sales stats, including console-by-console breakdowns, can be found below:

Top 10 Full-Priced Games
1. Mario Kart Wii, Wii

2. Wii Fit Plus, Wii

3. Wii Sports Resort, Wii

4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii

5. Wii Play bundle, WIi

6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, PlayStation 3
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Xbox 360
8. Darksiders, PlayStation 3

9. Darksiders, Xbox 360
10. Bayonetta, Xbox 360

Top 10 PS3 Games (over A$60)
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2. Darksiders
3. Bayonetta
4. Assassin’s Creed 2
5. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
6. FIFA Soccer 10
7. Ashes Cricket 2009
8. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
9. MX vs. ATV Reflex

10. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Top 10 Xbox 360 Games (over A$50)
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2. Darksiders
3. Bayonetta
4. Assassin’s Creed 2
5. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
6. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
7. Ashes Cricket 2009
8. DJ Hero
9. Forza Motorsport 3
10. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Top 10 Wii Games (over A$50)
1. Mario Kart Wii
2. Wii Fit Plus bundle
3. Wii Sports Resort bundle
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
5. Wii Play bundle
6. Wii Fit
7. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
8. Biggest Loser
9. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
10. Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Top 10 PC Games (over A$20)
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2. The Sims 3
3. The Sims 3: World Adventures
4. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
5. The Sims 2: Double Deluxe
6. World of Warcraft Battlechest
7. World of Warcraft
8. Dragon Age: Origins
9. Fallout 3 GOTY
10. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Top 10 Nintendo DS Games (over A$40)
1. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?
2. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old is Your Brain

3. Hasbro Family Game Night

4. Mario Kart DS
5. Kageyama’s Math Training: The Hundred Cell Calculation Method
6. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
7. New Super Mario Bros.
8. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

9. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
10. Pokemon Platinum

Top 10 PS2 Games (over A$50)
1. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
2. FIFA Soccer 10
3. Marvel Super Hero Squad
4. Ben 10: Alien Force Vilgax Attacks
5. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
6. Guitar Hero 5
7. MotorStorm Arctic Edge
8. Cars Race-O-Rama
9. TMNT Smash-Up

10. Band Hero

Top 10 PSP games (over A$40)
1. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
2. Little Big Planet
3. Gran Turismo
4. Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
5. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
6. Invizimals
7. FIFA Soccer 10
8. Tekken 6
9. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
10. MotorStorm Arctic Edge

All data supplied by GfK Australia.

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2000: Recently transplanted from the Forth Worth Star-Telegram. I mange to juggle my full-time job as a police reporter with the Palm Beach Post and writing occasional pieces for the feature’s section of the paper about the real value of virtual real estate, and internet addiction.

After much though, I decide to put my Playstation aside and invest in a Playstation 2 because it has a DVD player. It is the height of cool. While I play a bit of console games, my favorites are almost entirely PC titles like Half-Life: Counter Strike and Diable II.

I also land a side job with a company that want’s to allow people to interact in a virtual world while reading my stories. Jester.com doesn’t last.

2001: Sick of life in Florida, and desperately wanting to stay married to my new wife, I hunt down a job in Denver, Colorado as a police reporter. I also start freelancing for Geek.com as this thing called a blogger.

I’m intrigued by Bungie’s Halo, but not enough to get an Xbox. Grand Theft Auto III blows my mind. But I spend most of my time playing PC titles, like Max Payne and Black & White, usually between late night checks on our newborn son, Tristan.

2002: My wife buys me an Xbox for Christmas, something I only become interested in when Xbox Live is announced. I am deeply disappointed with the initial experience, but I see the potential.

I write my first gaming piece for the Rocky. It’s about Xbox Live and runs in the business section. I still spend my nights covering crime in Denver.

Metroid Prime renews my interest in Nintendo and the GameCube.

2003: The feature’s section of the Rocky Mountain News takes over my monthly gaming stories. I write one lengthy piece a month about broader game-related topics during the day. At night I cover crime, fires, serial killers and riots.

My interest in PC gaming begins to wane as I find more and more console games for my PS2, GameCube and Xbox that I like. I end up playing Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox, not the PC.

2004: Continuing my freelance feature job with the Rocky I find I end up having lots of story material left over after writing my story. One night on a whim, I create a website for posting the excess. I call it RedAssedBaboon. It’s my first blog, and I kind of enjoy doing it during the day.

I come home after a day spent driving from Texas to Colorado and immediately start playing Half-Life 2 on my computer. I play until I get viciously sick from the combination of fluid movement and amazing graphics. Halo 2 proves to me that first-person shooters, which I’ve only ever played on PC, can be not just fun, but functional on a console.

In November I get an email about running a site I’ve never heard of and can’t pronounce. It’s called Kotaku, and after accepting the job (which I did during the day, while working as a cop reporter at night) I keep forgetting how to spell the name of the site and keep bugging my mentor, Gizmodo’s Joel Johnson, for the site’s name.

2005: God of War, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, this was a fantastic year for gaming. It was also the first year I attended E3.

In February, I land my first big scoop as a video game writer: Detailing the Xbox 360 before any unveiling or mention of the new console hit. Only 2,000 people read the story.

2006: After noticing that I was being quoted in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Australian, the publisher of the Rocky Mountain News calls me into his office.

He want’s to know why I’m not writing about video games for them full time. My first story as a full-time feature’s writer for the Rocky was a look at Uwe Boll and the movies everyone loves to hate.

I spend almost all of my gaming time now on consoles, playing Twilight Princess, devouring Gears of War, loving Okami. I like the idea of Company of Heroes, but spend almost no time playing it.

It’s nearly midnight, two days after Valentine’s. I’m up late playing through Star Wars: Empire at War for a review. In the middle of an online match the phone rings. It’s my mom, she’s sobbing. My 18-year-old niece’s body has been discovered. She was murdered by her boyfriend.

I spend the next hour trying to contact my brother to tell him his daughter is dead.

The next day I go to an interview with Net Devil, shell-shocked.

In October, I punch a wall while working on my computer, breaking my hand.

2007: After a bit more than a year working as a full-time feature’s writer for the Rocky, earning my own page dedicated to video games, the publisher calls me back into his office. They tell me they’re moving nearly a half-dozen people from feature’s to news spots. They want me back as a police reporter.

I decide to quit and move to Kotaku full time.

It is a fantastic year for games with Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Halo 3, Uncharted, The Orange Box and Modern Warfare all sucking up inordinate amounts of my time. Trish often sits with Tristan and I as we play Super Mario Galaxy together.

I am so moved by the story behind BioShock and it’s amazing exploration of objectivism that I launch Kotaku’s first “critique”.

2008: I Spend nearly a week of my life locked up in a hotel room with Mike McWhertor playing Grand Theft Auto IV and then write about the experience for the Rocky Mountain News.

Tristan gets a taste for game development playing LittleBigPlanet and asks me to email a handful of developers for advice.

I buy a copy of Fallout 3 for my brother. He loves it. I knew he would. My dad, now 70, buys himself a PS3 after being exposed to Grand Theft Auto IV while visiting. He later buys himself Metal Gear Solid 4 and beats it.

2009: Uncharted 2 delights. Modern Warfare 2 campaign disappoints. Street Fighter IV is amazing. Demon’s Souls surprises.

Finally manage to snag Totilo after stalking him for years.

I spend the last month of the year in Australia. I watch no television and only play a handful of games for review and judging. I spend way too much of my time traveling around the country playing games on my iPhone.

By now, you should be familiar with one of gaming’s most prolific actors, Nolan North, made famous by his role as Uncharted’s Nathan Drake. In an interview with GamePro, the actor talks about his meteoric rise in gaming. “There’s no pressure when going in for an audition now, since I’ve worked on such big games,” North told the site. With the actor seemingly guaranteed work, it’s no surprise that Giant Bomb dedicated an entire award to him: The Northies, for the Best Performance by Nolan North. “I’m humbled by all this. I feel blessed.”

Of course, not all voice actors have been as lucky as Nolan North to get work with such regularity. Salaries for actors have always been a point of contention, especially with regards to royalties. In 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV’s Michael Hollick slammed the industry for not providing better compensation for titles that go on to sell millions of units. North seems to disagree with that sentiment. “In all fairness, hundreds of people are working 12 hour days for several years to make a game, so it’s unfair for me to expect residuals, given the amount of work I contribute.”

Perhaps it’s that attitude that continues to provide North a steady lineup of gigs, including the upcoming Alpha Protocol and Dark Void. With Uncharted 3 and a new Assassin’s Creed in the works, it’s clear that Nolan can expect a few more paychecks in the immediate future.

Nolan North believes voice acting royalties ‘unfair’ to expect in gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Entertainment Software Association wins preliminary injunction against Chicago Transit Authority over policy prohibiting promotion of M- or AO-rated titles.

A district court judge on Thursday told the Chicago Transit Authority it could not refuse to carry ads for mature games, granting the Entertainment Software Association’s request for a preliminary injunction against the metropolitan transportation system. In a 22-page ruling, US District Court Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer said the gaming industry lobby is likely to prevail in its assertion that a policy prohibiting ads for M- or AO-rated games is an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.

A final ruling hasn’t been issued yet, but a judge is finding a lot to agree with in the ESA’s case against the CTA.

The policy was adopted last January, in response to a minor controversy. In the lead-up to Grand Theft Auto IV’s April 2008 debut on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a Chicago news channel reported on a series of ads for the open-world action game appearing on public transit buildings and buses. The CTA pulled the ads, fearful of public outcry, and in response, GTAIV publisher Take-Two Interactive sued the transit authority. The suit was eventually settled with an agreement for the CTA to rerun the ads later that year.

The CTA adopted its current game-specific advertising policy on January 1, 2009, and the ESA filed suit to have that guideline declared unconstitutional the following July. In its argument, the ESA noted that CTA buses have carried potentially disagreeable advertising many times before, including advertisements for an atheism advocacy group’s campaign against organized religion and “Puppetry of the Penis,” an experimental theater production.

The judge was particularly skeptical of the CTA’s decision to single out games for more stringent advertising guidelines than its fellow entertainment media.

“Video games consist of a tiny fraction of the media violence to which children are exposed,” the judge wrote. “Yet the CTA’s ordinance singles out only video game advertisements for regulation, while granting carte blanche to a wide range of advertisements for other forms of media that may depict similar violence and may be similarly rated for age appropriateness. If an advertiser sought to place identical advertisements for an R-rated film and an M-rated video game of the same name–both with the same characters, based on the same storyline, and containing the same depictions of violence–the ad for the video game would be banned while the ad for the film would be displayed.”

In defending its policy, the CTA said the government had a compelling interest in limiting speech related to M-rated and AO-rated game ads due to a correlation between youth aggression and violent games. That’s the same justification used by states like California, Illinois, and Louisiana in their heretofore unsuccessful bids to establish state laws to keep violent games out of children’s hands.

The ESA hailed the preliminary injunction, with the organization’s president and CEO Michael Gallagher issuing a statement calling it a victory for the gaming industry, the people of Chicago, and the First Amendment itself.

“It is our hope that the CTA sees the futility of pursuing this case further,” Gallagher said. “To do so will waste taxpayer money and government resources. Chicago deserves better and we look forward to bringing this matter to an end.”

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Apple’s multimedia handheld marks milestone in online storefront’s first year and a half, game-specific numbers not revealed.

Traditional gaming series like Civilization and Grand Theft Auto are making the jump to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. Part of that is attributable to the devices’ combined installed user base of more than 50 million, and part of that is due to those users’ extensive use of the system’s App Store online storefront.

The iPhone plays host to a wide swath of familiar gaming franchises, from Super Monkey Ball to Rock Band.

Apple today announced that App Store downloads for the iPhone and iPod Touch have surpassed the 3 billion mark. Originally launched in July of 2008, the App Store features more than 100,000 downloadable utilities, games, and other applications, many of them for free. Apple did not say how many of the 3 billion downloads were games, but it has boasted of the systems’ handheld gaming appeal before.

In a September Apple event, an executive noted prices for App Store games typically top out at $10, while DS and PSP titles can go for four times that. Additionally he said the 21,178-title catalog of iPhone OS “Game & Entertainment Titles” dwarfed those of the DS (3,680 titles) and the PSP (607 titles). Part of the reason for such a gulf between the systems is that Apple’s “Entertainment” category includes non-gaming applications, like the free Internet Movie Database program. It also includes lower-brow fare such as competing applications to imitate gastrointestinal emissions.

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Look, we totally get it. Video games are evil — they’re turning your kid into some kind of arsonist or blood-obsessed psycho killer or — in the case of one Boston area mom — a rebellious little rabble-rouser. A frustrated mother called police about her son’s overzealous gaming this past weekend, complaining the kid wouldn’t shut off his console and go to bed.

The call came in on 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when the mother complained her son was walking about the house, turning on all of the lights and failing to comply with her wishes. Two officers responded to the call and were able to diffuse the situation.

The Boston Herald — the outlet which broke the news — said the kid was apparently playing “Grand Theft Auto.”

Mom calls 911 over son’s gaming habit originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GTA publisher’s stock price down nearly one-third in less than a day, Pacific Crest’s Wilson says confidence in management “can not get any lower.”

After the close of trading Thursday, Take-Two Interactive delayed Max Payne 3 by a few months and gave investors a grim outlook on its current fiscal year. The effect in after-hours trading was immediate, as shares in the publisher lost 21 percent of their value in a matter of minutes. That was just the beginning, as shares of Take-Two have continued sliding, down $3.34 (31 percent) at press time from yesterday’s closing price of $10.92.

“Perhaps next year, things will be different.”

One difference between last night’s trading and this morning’s is that a handful of industry analysts have now weighed in with their reactions to Take-Two’s negative announcements. While the response was mixed, some industry watchers didn’t bother mincing words.

Saying his confidence in Take-Two management “can not get any lower,” Pacific Crest Securities Evan Wilson blasted the publisher’s leadership for the 14th and 15th game delays since it took over in mid-2007 and for failing to make the company profitable without relying on Grand Theft Auto.

“We believe there are better ways to invest in video games via names that are not inextricably tied to a single franchise with a management team that has not established an investable track record,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson acknowledged that delaying a game to make it better can be a preferable alternative to releasing an unfinished game on time but said if delays happen “to nearly every game released, structural problems likely exist at the company. Take-Two seems to remind investors every quarter that it falls into this category.”

Janco Partners’ Mike Hickey was similarly disappointed in Take-Two’s announcement, retracting his previous “Buy” rating on the stock and placing it under review. He also expressed frustration at the publisher’s reluctance to detail development expenses or reveal how many copies games would need to sell to achieve profitability.

“We are astonished at the level of disconnect between street expectations and management’s guidance,” Hickey said, “suggesting a profound misunderstanding of the company’s profitability potential. Management credibility has been meaningfully compromised, in our view; although ultimate performance is product-centric, we remain alarmed provided the lack of clarity.”

Not all analysts were so down on the company. Wedbush Morgan Securities’ Michael Pachter maintained his “Neutral” rating on the stock but saw a variety of factors the publisher could have working in its favor.

“With no profitability in sight, investors may again conclude that Take-Two is a ‘one-hit wonder’ with GTA and little else,” Pachter said. “We disagree and think that the company has at least eight bona fide franchises, with the potential for 10 or 12. We perceive the problem to be an overly ambitious development schedule, with high expectations and high quality standards leading to inevitable delays.”

He also expressed frustration with Take-Two’s reluctance to detail its future plans for Grand Theft Auto but said the company could still succeed even with one new installment every three years. If Take-Two generated $3 earnings per share in years when proper Grand Theft Auto installments came out, Pachter said the publisher could easily weather off-years with $0.50 losses per share and still grow the business. (Take-Two’s expectations for fiscal 2010 are between $0.40 and $0.60 losses per share.)

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