Look up some of your Game Casa pals and send them a friend invite on your favorite system! Here’s how you do it:
1: Sign in to your profile
2: Click on the Friends button, located in the Me column (first column on the left)
3: Click on one of your friends and scroll down in their profile to the Gaming Goodness section (if they haven’t filled that section out, send them a message and yell at them!)
4: Take note of their Online ID–you can have Online ID’s set up for Xbox Live, PSN, Wii, Games For Windows and Other
5: Send them an invite from your system, making sure to put “Game Casa Bitches!” in your invite message and meet up for some real Gaming Goodness
EA loses $82 million in fiscal Q3 2010, revenue down 25%–Joystiq
Right off the bat, you should know this: for EA, losing $82 million in the third quarter of a fiscal year is an enormous improvement. Compared to the same period last year (”Q3″ for EA is October 1 – December 31), the company lost 559 million fewer actual physical dollars. Yes, really. Now that we’ve told you that, we should also note that the publisher pulled in 24.85 percent less revenue year over year (down to $1.243 billion in Q3 2010 from $1.654 billion in Q3 2009). That said, Playfish had “two of the top ten Facebook games” for the quarter! Good thing EA spent $300 million on those folks, eh?
Okay, okay, real talk: the company also points out that it was the “#1 packaged goods publisher in North America and Europe” for its entire fiscal year. CEO John Riccitiello even notes that Mass Effect 2 is “the first blockbuster of 2010.” And hey, with 2 million units already shipped, we tend to agree.
Electronic Arts has its eye on the social space in a big way, moving aggressively toward digital revenue models and buying up Playfish — and it looks like one of its next moves will see the Madden NFL franchise coming to Facebook.
“We have to make Madden more accessible,” EA Sports boss Peter Moore told Bloomberg. “You’ll see us on Facebook going forward.”
Playfish, the social game developer EA spent $300 million to acquire late last year, recently revealed it was working on a game involving one of EA’s well-known brands.
Offering its players, as Moore says, a “simpler” Madden experience will likely provide a strong entry point to the brand via the massive social network.
Playfish president and general manager Kristian Segerstrale recently said that the most successful Facebook games are those featuring a brand that spans multiple platforms.
February 1st is the date announced by the creators, Star Vault for their upcoming full PVP MMO, Mortal Online. Originally Feb 1st was to be the release date for the game, but they have instead decided to go into open beta until they reach gold status.
What the heck is Mortal Online?
As one gamer put it “It’s not for your casual gamer”. Mortal Online is a first-person MMORPG in an open player-controlled fantasy game world for the PC. Player versus Player (PvP), or rather Player to Player interaction plays an important part in Mortal Online as trading, learning, combat, rumors and alliances are largely dependent on communication between players.
What this means is with players in control, building their own houses, setting up guilds with their own keep and controlling the in-game economy, you are truly in the wilderness. Their claim is to move away from grinding and get you right into the thick of things where the real fun begins.
There are no levels in MO, you are free to travel the world in any way you like, limited only by the terrain, mode of conveyance or dangers in the environment. In the same way you can use any sword you like, provided you have the necessary skills to wield it.
Also you do not begin the game with a specific class, but there are presets skills and abilities you can choose from at the start. The entire world is PVP which means you can be killed anywhere so guilds and teams are important. Like most MMO’s there is a monthly fee to play.
The game has incredible graphics, but we all know that does not make a good MMO. As much as the idea of player controlled, hardcore PVP world sounds great we also know that does not always work out.
Only time will tell what will become of MO, but if you want more information check out their official page at http://www.mortalonline.com
There was a time in my younger days when I would buy absolutely anything with Sonic’s blue visage stamped on it: video games, comic books, even T-shirts with jokes that went over my head. In retrospect, this spending habit led to many rather poor purchase decisions, with Wacky Worlds probably chief among the worst. I spent $60 on this piece of shit when it came out simply because Sonic was on the cover. But, like a seasoned drug addict scavenging for a new fix, I needed something fresh — something that could recreate the sheer ecstasy of playing through the first few games of the series for the first time.
Well, Sonic Adventure didn’t quite do it. The series was a little late to the going-3D party, unless you count that awful racing game for the Saturn. (I don’t.) I was happy to see Sonic make the next-gen jump, but I had no interest in collecting chaos or girlishly hitting things with mallets. I just wanted to go fast. To me, Sonic Adventure was like drinking flat diet soda: tastes like shit, but I would have enjoyed it more if I had it earlier.
But, thankfully, every subsequent game in the series felt like an improvement. Still, the franchise has never quite recovered. Sonic Adventure 2 just inspired more erotic Dr. Robotnik* fan fiction, Shadow the Hedgehog was the lamest thing I’ve ever seen, and turning Sonic into a werewolf didn’t exactly make me howl with delight.
I bet I’m the first one to make that joke.
But, finally, it looks like we all may be getting a real Sonic game. Here’s the trailer for Episode 1 of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, released just last night to much adulation:
*I hope I never see the phrase “erotic Dr. Robotnik” ever again.
A picture of our deck from the bathroom window. Good thing I have GTA: Chinatown Wars to keep me company whilst I dump-out!
Will be a great weekend for gaming–at least after I spend the next 4 hours digging us out–so make sure to hit me up (if you’re not on my friends list, make sure to put “Game Casa” in your request). Will be on Xbox Live this weekend, playing any of the following: Alien vs Predator MP (Demo), Borderlands, Trials HD, Chime, Dead or Alive 4, Blitz 2, Darksiders, Dirt 2, or Gears of War 2.
Konami Releases Lyric-Matching Rhythm Title RhymePlayer–Finger Gaming
Rhythm genre pioneer Konami has launched the latest title in its expansive music games catalog. RhymePlayer ($1.99) challenges players to tap song lyrics in time to the beat of a background music track.
RhymePlayer’s gameplay closely resembles Konami’s iPhone dance game Dance Dance Revolution S. Scrolling lyrics appear at the bottom of the screen and approach a timing line at the top.
Once the appropriate lyric reaches the timing line, players must tap the screen to sync the words to the song.
RhymePlayer includes a selection of five officially licensed music tracks:
Bell Biv DeVoe – Poison
The Cover Girls – Show Me
Jackson 5 – ABC
Lady Gaga – Just Dance
Lifehouse – First Time
Konami has a neat concept here, but with only five songs and two difficulty levels, there isn’t much variety or replay incentive. An in-app store offering new songs would be a great addition — here’s hoping that Konami adds one in a future update.
Hellacious marketing: Dante’s Inferno is in the code–Joystiq
It seems the marketing team behind Dante’s Inferno hasn’t burnt out yet, with several ASCII art campaigns popping up in the source code for several popular websites. All direct to the same Dante’s Inferno site.
The first image (above) appeared in digg’s code, as noted by brentcsutoras, and other sites like IGN, GameSpot and Kotaku also had their source code altered to display Dante-related images. It’s one of the cuter, somewhat classier approaches to this title’s marketing, and that makes it oddly noteworthy.
If you’re wondering why there’s nothing in our source code (we’re checking now just to make sure) … we don’t let anyone touch that. We consider it to be at least third base and you really have to get to know Joystiq before it’s prepared to take the relationship to that level.
Evidently 60% of this games proceeds go to Save the Children and Starlight Children’s Foundation. I wish it went to the Buy A Bag Fund for Game Casa, as I have a feeling we’ll be smoking a lot when playing this
Anyway, the game is only 400 points on Live Arcade, so it’s definitely worth picking up. Check out this video:
Aliens vs. Predator demo confirmed for Thursday–Joystiq
As hinted at by an Xbox Live Spotlight ad which briefly appeared yesterday, a demo for Aliens vs. Predator will be released on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam tomorrow. A Sega Europe blog post which announced the demo’s imminence revealed that the trial gives players access to all three of the game’s species, who can battle it out Deathmatch-style on one of AvP’s multiplayer maps. You can bet we’ll hop on this one as soon as it’s available — who knows, maybe the fanged proboscis which will soon bore into your skull will belong to one of us!
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