Hijinks Inc.

Between reading liveblogs from Kotaku and listening to coverage from 1up I’ve gotten the distinct impression that E3 was…lacking this year. Between Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony the only huge announcements were FFXII for 360 and…that’s about it. Harmonix hosted a concert at the historic Orphium Theatre featuring the elderly classic rock band, The Who. Evidently it was amazing, even though the band wasn’t sure what video game they were supposed to be promoting.

There was a few things that interested me personally, namely in the handheld market. The big surprise announcement for the DS was Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. I’m not sure how that’ll work unless its 2D, although they are working on a new engine for it. I don’t I think the DS has the power to handle a full 3D GTA, but maybe they will surprise me. Beyond that, Nintendo announced nothing exciting. No New Super Mario Bros 2, nothing we didn’t know about before. Chrono Trigger is coming though, so I can’t get upset.

The PSP has a couple of new titles that look cool. Insomniac Studio’s Resistance franchise is coming to the PSP Spring 2009. Dubbed ‘Resistance: Retribution’, it departs from the footsteps of Nathen Hale and play as James Grayson, a quiet hero in search of a cure for the alien virus that’s turned most of the world into Chimera (think ‘I Am Legend’ style monsters). I never played the first Resistance, but I’ve heard great things.

Also, Patapon 2.

Pata pata pata PON … PON pon pata pon.

Man, July hit and Hijinks died. While Aaron has an excuse (he’s trying hard to hospitalize himself with his new scooter), I really don’t. My problem hasn’t been a lack of content to write about, but more of a lack of interest in the content thats available. Apple’s App Store launched recently with a plethora of new games and software for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The aspiring developers found within the confines of Installer.app have been busy too, but I haven’t taken the time to actually play around with any of the new stuff.

Its times like this that convince me I couldn’t make it as a serious video game writer; I really enjoy games…with the caveat that they are actually enjoyable to play. No offense to the nice and I’m sure well meaning indie developers, but 90% of it isn’t stuff that’s enjoyable to play. Enjoyable to make fun of maybe, but even that gets old after a while.

Complaining aside, I promise to get some actual content going here in the near future. E3 is in full swing, with all the major press conferences in the past 24 hours. Final Fantasy XIII is coming to 360, Wii gets a voice chat periphial, and Sony announced God of War 3 and a handful of 1st party PSP games. Yay for the handheld market!

Many moons ago I shared my bewilderment over the state of the world we live in. I now retract my statement. I love people who spend money on trading card games. In fact, I think they should spend some right now.

Imagine my surprise when I picked up a couple booster packs from the latest World of Warcraft Trading Card Game expansion to find a X-51 Nether-Rocket card staring up at me in all its shiny glory. For a brief moment I considered keeping it, but then I realized I’d be losing out on the more then two hundred bucks I could make selling it on eBay. I kinda feel like I just won the lottery.

Following Aaron’s excellent commentary on Brian Caulfield’s article in Forbes, I thought I’d throw in my two cents on the whole subject.

It would be easy to just laugh off the suggestion that Apple could even dent Nintendo’s grasp of the hand held gaming space, but before I start chuckling let me play devil’s advocate for a moment.

Caulfield makes one really good point. Apple’s content delivery system through iTunes kicks anything Nintendo can offer out the window. Digital distribution is the future, and Apple is getting a great head start with the upcoming launch of the iPhone App Store. The ability to buy games directly from the iPhone is huge, and it’s easily the biggest thing Apple has going for them right now. More below. Continue reading »

In an interview with the guys over at Pocketgamer.biz Ignacio Cavero, CEO of Spanish firm LemonQuest hints at previously unannounced pricing information for the soon to be released line of Apple approved iPhone games.

“We’re going to see a new generation of games,” he tells PocketGamer.biz. “Instead of being sold for €5 in Europe, they’ll be closer to €10 or €12. Take a look at what Apple is preparing for iPhone. Their games will be sold in iTunes for €17-18.”

According to the latest exchange rates €17-18 is around $28 over here. If you like shopping on eBay, 28 bucks can buy you almost any current DS title, and 90% of the current PSP titles.

With a price point like that we hope to see Apple release some pretty darn good games in the upcoming weeks.

LemonQuest talks iPhone, ARM and industry consolidation

In a sudden and somewhat surprising move, indie developer Adikus has taken their aptly titled Pool sim for the iPhone and iPod Touch to the consumer market. With the upgrade to version 2.1 they have added a $9.00 price tag.

Adikus has recently partnered with RiP Dev, a software dev and distribution house. From their website:

Since the game continues to evolve and be improved, it is now being distributed by RiP Dev (www.ripdev.com), one of the largest software houses for the iPhone.
Adikus.com will continue developing the game while RiP Dev will provide the customer support for it.

Adikus’ only other project is a Backgammon port for the iPhone, which is currently still a freeware release.