PixelJunk Inc. is 'PixelJunk 1-6,' on Steam later this year

PixelJunk Inc. - the official moniker of the codenamed PixelJunk 1-6 - is coming to Steam later this year. The 2D game follows budding soup makers looking to strike it rich in the gregarious game of goulash. Essentially, it's a 2D platformer where you use a laser to deconstruct matter in the environment, which you then use to build up your interstellar soup empire. Simple.

In addition to the name and narrowed launch window, developer Q Games has announced Mac and Linux versions of PixelJunk Inc. will follow the PC launch on Steam. PixelJunk 1-6 was announced late last year, specifically for the PC - an uncharacteristic first for the series that traditionally debuts to Sony platforms. Witness the future of soup in the first footage of PixelJunk Inc. above, offered up with a side dish of fresh screens in our gallery below.

Gallery: PixelJunk Inc. (Steam)

Continue reading PixelJunk Inc. is 'PixelJunk 1-6,' on Steam later this year

PixelJunk Inc. is 'PixelJunk 1-6,' on Steam later this year originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Super Joystiq Podcast 052: Fuse, Grid 2, Double Fine Kickstarter, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

Filed under: Podcasts

This week's Super Joystiq Podcast is joining Dave on an intense Wahlburger hunt.

We are back to the regular format for a couple of weeks before the E3 2013 explosion. This week in games, Richard, Dave, and Jordan convene to talk Insomniac's break onto the multiplatform scene with Fuse. Also on-tap, 2D roguelike survival horror game Darkwood, Grid 2, and this week's XBLA release, CastleStorm.

In news, Alexander, Jess, and Sinan kick things off with Nintendo's Best Buy E3 plans. In other news, GameStop stock prices are suffering over the Xbox One used games controversy, Sony confirmed that PS4 games will support remote play on PS Vita, Double Fine has launched another Kickstarter, the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games discussion continues, and more.

Be sure to catch the games segment recorded live on YouTube every Thursday. This week's edition can be seen on the Joystiq YouTube page and after the break.

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Details about each segment and video of the games segment are available after the break.

Continue reading Super Joystiq Podcast 052: Fuse, Grid 2, Double Fine Kickstarter, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

Super Joystiq Podcast 052: Fuse, Grid 2, Double Fine Kickstarter, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 May 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Charlie Murder preview: Anarchy in the XBLA

For the second year in a row, I spent far too much time playing Charlie Murder at PAX East. As part of the Indie Megabooth, Ska Studios' exhibit belonged to a larger group, one of dozens of in-development, independent games, and this year it was directly across from Supergiant's high-profile premiere, Transistor. Still, Charlie Murder stood out. Its gritty punk rock style caught my eye - again - and the co-op, beat-em-up gameplay was so gripping that it almost made me late for a following appointment.

Charlie Murder is a punk game from conception to execution, with a soundtrack composed and performed by James and Michelle Silva, the duo of Ska Studios. No, it's not a ska soundtrack.

Charlie Murder is a side-scrolling beat-em-up with heavy RPG elements, including character customization, loot and unique ability upgrades. It stars five playable characters, each with disparate strengths and powers, and all of them making up the in-game band Charlie Murder.

Gallery: Charlie Murder (PAX East 2013)

Continue reading Charlie Murder preview: Anarchy in the XBLA

Charlie Murder preview: Anarchy in the XBLA originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Contraption Maker, spiritual successor to The Incredible Machine, due this year

1992s Rube Goldberg-em-up The Incredible Machine is getting a spiritual successor this year, produced by the creators of the original. Contraption Maker will makes its debut on Windows PC and Mac, helped along by The Incredible Machine coder Kevin Ryan, producer Jeff Tunnell, and original pixel artist Brian Hahn.

Expect improved physics, art and animations in Contraption Maker, developer Timothy Aste told Indie Games. "The higher fidelity graphics really shine on making the puzzles more fun an exciting (especially for those who enjoy flipping cats). In addition, we have some really cool things in development that are new to the series such as a super beefed up the sandbox mode and allow players to build much more elaborate puzzles and machines that can interconnect and be easily share-able over the internet." Aste added Contraption Maker will be mod-friendly. "We have even discussed some really 'out there' stuff such possibly support for Arduino to control real life puzzle elements, but we'll have to wait and see if we can get that far.

The Incredible Machine tasks players with constructing a series of complex Rube Goldberg devices around fixed devices to complete an objective. The series was published by Sierra Entertainment. In 2009, Tunnell acquired the rights through his studio, PushButton Labs.

Gallery: Contraption Maker

Contraption Maker, spiritual successor to The Incredible Machine, due this year originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 May 2013 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wii U Virtual Console, Panorama View launches in EU, Japan tomorrow [update: NA VC live]

Update 2: The Virtual Console is live in North America now.

Update 1: Nintendo of America reiterates the Virtual Console and Panorama View are rolling out "a short time" after the 3.0 system update, which is live now.

The Virtual Console proper looks to be lining up a worldwide launch on Wii U tomorrow, with the retro cavalcade confirmed for arrival in Europe and Japan on April 27. While we know the eight games initial confirmed for the Virtual Console launch in North America, we're still waiting on an ETA - we'll update this post as soon as we know.

Europe's initial Virtual Console launch largely mirrors North America's: Donkey Kong. Jr, Excitebike, Ice Climbers, Punch Out, F-Zero, and Super Mario World appear in both line-ups. Europe, however, doesn't get Kirby's Adventure and Balloon Fight - that may be to do with the criticism Nintendo received for releasing the slower 50Hz version of Balloon Fight in the region earlier this year. In the two games' European stead is Mario's Super Picross.

In contrast, Japan's starting line-up is beefy. It features Ice Climbers, Spelunker, Excitebike, Xevious, Downtown Nekketsu March: Let's Go to the Great Athletic Meet, Balloon Fight, F-Zero, Super Mario World, Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Mother 2, Kirby's Adventure, Mario's Super Picross, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.

Finally, Nintendo also confirmed the Panorama View app arrives in Europe and Japan tomorrow, with both regions getting four starting videos to enjoy in 360° on the GamePad.

Continue reading Wii U Virtual Console, Panorama View launches in EU, Japan tomorrow [update: NA VC live]

Wii U Virtual Console, Panorama View launches in EU, Japan tomorrow [update: NA VC live] originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BioShock Infinite returns to Rapture in Burial at Sea

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea will take players in a bathysphere back to the emerald city of Rapture for a noir-styled adventure. The second and third pieces of downloadable content for Infinite offer a more narrative experience than today's Clash in the Clouds.

The first episode places Infinite protagonists Booker and Elizabeth in Rapture, the underwater city Andrew Ryan built so kindly in the original BioShock, around 1958, two years before the fall. Players will experience the city through Booker's eyes in a time before it became the leaky dream under the sea, with new weapons, new "Plasmids/Vigors," tears, Big Daddies and ... some sky-lines, apparently.

The second episode will have players taking on the role of Elizabeth. She won't be the bullet-absorbing tank that Booker DeWitt is, as Irrational Studios head Ken Levine explained it'll be a different type of experience. The two packs have been priced at $14.99 apiece (included in the BioShock Infinite Season Pass) with more details and a release date coming soon.

Gallery: BioShock Infinite (Burial at Sea, Episode 1 and Clash in the Clouds DLC)

BioShock Infinite returns to Rapture in Burial at Sea originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Assassin's Creed graphic novel set in 19th century India

Announced earlier today, Assassin's Creed: Brahman is the newest graphic novel series in Ubisoft's two-dimensional expansion of its video game universe, following in the footsteps of Assassin's Creed: The Fall and Assassin's Creed: The Chain.

Written by Brenden Fletcher (Wednesday Comics) with artwork by Cameron Stewart (Catwoman, Batman & Robin) and Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman), Assassin's Creed: Brahman takes place in nineteenth century India, which means that the series' staple of killing evil British people will proudly continue.

The story follows Arbaaz Mir, a new assassin who works to bring down a "lifelong foe" that totally jacked up his land and kinsmen. We're no psychics, but we've got a sneaking suspicion that some dudes are totally going to get stabbed by some wrist-knives before this thing wraps up.

Gallery: Assassin's Creed: Brahman (SDCC reveal)

Continue reading New Assassin's Creed graphic novel set in 19th century India

New Assassin's Creed graphic novel set in 19th century India originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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June NPD: 3DS still on top, Ouya sales 'light' [update]

The NPD Group has published its monthly report outlining the performance of the physical sector of the video games retail market, with unsurprising results with respect to both the industry's overall performance and which games sold the most between June 2 and July 6. Nintendo's 3DS remained the best-selling piece of hardware for its second month in a row with "nearly 225,000" units sold according to Nintendo, while the Xbox 360 held its spot as the best-selling home console by moving 140,000 units.

The overall industry brought in $593.3 million from the sale of hardware, software and accessories (read: Skylanders toys and digital currency giftcards) at brick and mortar retail locations. This was a 15 percent year-over-year decrease from the $700.6 million the industry brought in during the same period in 2012.

The hardware sales segment and its collectively accumulated $142 million suffered the most severe year-over-year loss out of the three subsections, down by 30 percent from last year's $201.5 million.

June was also the first month of availability for the Ouya, the Kickstarter-funded Android microconsole that kicked off a growing craze for Kickstarter-funded Android microconsoles. "Retail sales for Ouya (not counting direct sales through ouya.tv) and were relatively light for a new console," an NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. "This may be due to the lack of a major marquee title driving consumers to seek out the console, low awareness due to Ouya being a new brand, or low inventory volume due to manufacturing constraints."

The period's 10 best-selling games were lead by three different console exclusives: The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the physical SKU for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. New physical sales of console and portable games in general were down 10 percent from last year, ringing up $296.1 million at the end of the period.

Continue reading June NPD: 3DS still on top, Ouya sales 'light' [update]

June NPD: 3DS still on top, Ouya sales 'light' [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Jul 2013 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NPD forms 9-publisher panel to gather, report digital storefront data

The NPD Group, responsible for compiling and releasing monthly sales data of the gaming industry in North America, is attempting to address a hole in its retail-skewed data: digital point-of-sale information.

NPD plans to change its methods to include these digital POS figures, and change them "quickly," Games President David McQuillan tells Games Industry. McQuillan wants to prepare for the new consoles hitting shelves this holiday.

"We fully realize that the market needs the same level of information for the digital categories as exists for the physical business today: SKU-level POS," he says. "The progress on that effort up until recently has been slow and frustrating at times, but today I am very happy to share that the pace of progress has changed recently. NPD has formed a leader panel to track digital POS sales of full game and add-on content downloads."

The leader panel includes nine "leading games publishers," and it will first focus on full-game downloads and DLC for PC, consoles and mobile devices. The program is in beta now, and NPD is partnering with research company EEDAR to track digital POS numbers worldwide -not only in North America as its current system does.

Eventually the digital results will make their way into NPD's monthly reports, but there's no word on when that will happen. "Once we move past the beta or proof of concept phase, subscribers will have access to the full data set, which you would expect of any service," McQuillan says. "The level of information to be shared publicly has not been determined at this time."

Since 2010, NPD has tracked downloads of full games and add-on content, subscriptions, mobile games and social games, but it leaves out numbers from digital stores such as Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network in its monthly reports. The importance of these marketplaces continues to grow over the years, and last month the ESA called the NPD reports a "disservice to the truth." In 2011, EA called NPD's data "a misrepresentation of the entire industry."

NPD forms 9-publisher panel to gather, report digital storefront data originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Metareview: BioShock Infinite

It's a good day for the team at BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games, with the game receiving nearly universal praise. Our review couldn't help gushing either, saying Infinite is "undoubtedly the finest game crafted by Irrational Games" and "one of the best told stories of this generation. It simply cannot be missed."

• Eurogamer (100/100): "BioShock Infinite doesn't blur the lines between your reality and the game's to quite the same extent as its predecessor, but it's a more complete and polished story, and that's the thing you'll remember. "
• Game Informer (100/100): "Infinite is more than a new setting, story, and characters; those elements are seamlessly integrated with complex themes, a mysterious plot, and entertaining combat to create an amazing experience from beginning to end."
• PC Gamer (91/100): "Elizabeth herself is nice. I liked her. If you were hoping for something more - perhaps even the fabled Strong Female Character[TM] - you might be disappointed. When you're together, she's relegated to the role of caddy, limited to passing you a new weapon when you run out of ammo, and only ever using her own abilities when you command her to."
• Edge (90/100): "Sadly, as the combat opens up, the story begins to slowly unravel. There's no golf club moment, no singular twist around which the tale turns. Instead, Infinite provides a series of revelations that have you replaying earlier sections with a more enlightened, inquisitive eye."
• VideoGamer (80/100): "It is fascinating, and also boring. It is important, yet forgettable. Its world is enticing and unappealing. It attempts to move things forward, yet is in places stuck in the past. For a game that has the potential to open the franchise up to a multitude of different ideas and interpretations, BioShock Infinite can feel curiously limited."

Metareview: BioShock Infinite originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Deus Ex: The Fall stumbles as it lands

This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go.

Deus Ex: The Fall had a difficult coming out party. After predicting a follow-up to Deus Ex: Human Revolution, fans recoiled in frustration when Square Enix revealed The Fall as a mobile-exclusive game.

Molding the movement and style of Eidos Montreal's reimagined world to a touch interface must not have been an easy task, but developer n-Fusion has pulled it off. Deus Ex: The Fall features a number of control options, including precision movements with virtual sticks and/or screen taps. Customizable icons allow for easy access to weapons, executions, abilities, items and more.

Deus Ex: The Fall can be enjoyable, but the overall experience is hollow. With a sparsely populated world, unenthusiastic story, and drastic dips in quality, Deus Ex: The Fall lacks the same passion that made Human Evolution one of 2011's best video games.

Gallery: Deus Ex: The Fall (7/11/13)

Continue reading Deus Ex: The Fall stumbles as it lands

Deus Ex: The Fall stumbles as it lands originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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