Unlike the less than wonderful relations some developers are currently having with their publishing partners, Vigil Games‘ general manager David Adams says things between his studio and THQ couldn’t have been better during the development of Darksiders. “We were pretty lucky, just because our publisher had this weird, insane faith in us that I don’t necessarily think any other publisher would have had … our take was that if we just did really cool stuff, people would see that — they’d want to jump on the bandwagon and support us, and THQ did,” Adams tells GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview.

Adams adds that his studio is constantly “trying to be more efficient, do stuff quicker, using less money,” so that certainly can’t hurt how THQ feels about Vigil, especially given the last year of “restructuring” the publisher underwent to become financially solvent once again. “THQ went through a lot of pain and restructuring — they took a lot of bullets so we could continue to make our game, and that’s a good indication of their faith in us, and their drive to make great-quality products.” We’d like to point out that, in this situation, we’re all winners because THQ has seemingly become a competitive publisher again, due to producing quality products that we get to play — and hey, tons of people don’t lose their jobs.

Darksiders dev David Adams gushes about THQ originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We touched it: PlayStation Move from every angle originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s impossible to avoid comparisons between EA’s upcoming Medal of Honor reboot and Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare series … so, I’ll just get it out of the way: Medal of Honor unapologetically follows in the footsteps of Call of Duty. In fact, I’m willing to raise the possibility that Medal of Honor could be the “true” sequel to the Call of Duty 4 campaign many of us are still waiting for after suffering through Modern Warfare 2’s increasingly preposterous storyline.

Recently, I got a peak at a new Medal of Honor trailer which lays it out like this: There are two sides to every war: the sledgehammer and the scalpel. What Call of Duty 4 did so well was to portray exactly how these two components work in tandem, as it featured scenarios in which large assaults aided small elite forces, and vice versa. Medal of Honor promises to recreate similar battlefield situations, with the “scalpel” represented by the Tier 1 Operators, an elite branch of SOCOM.

Continue reading Impressions: Medal of Honor

Impressions: Medal of Honor originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does your dead-eyed Home avatar lack a bit of that buccaneering spirit? LucasArts has a sure-fire way to fix your lack of nautical flair: During its pirate-themed party at GDC, the company announced that Monkey Island costumes (pictured above) would soon make their way to PlayStation Home.

Now, we rarely get excited over virtual duds for our virtual manifestations — but Stan’s coat could really add a certain savoir-faire to our terrifying craft.

Monkey Island Home costumes allow for Dread Pirate Quincy originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We have no doubt you’ve been counting the days (likely via tick marks on the wall), waiting for more information on Zootfly/SouthPeak Games’ Prison Break, so you’ll be glad to hear that the game finally got a solid release date (March 30) and a price ($49.99 on 360/PS3, $39.99 on PC) today from its publisher.

Along with the mess of new screens we’ve dropped below into a gallery, this is just about the most flush we’ve been with Prison Break info in the entire history of the game’s development cycle — and it’s coming out in just under three weeks! As the game’s coming from the developer of Mr. T: The Game, we’re willing to give this one a shot just so we can support the company’s upcoming adventure into madness.

Prison Break escaping March 30; new screens released originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At Sony’s special GDC event, Activision, Capcom, WB Games, Namco Bandai, Square Enix, Ubisoft, EA, Disney, Konami, Sega, Crave and Tecmo Koei all confirmed that they’ll be supporting the Move in future versions of their games. Although that confirmation came in the form of a slide full of company logos and word from Sony vice-president of marketing and PSN that, “Virtually every third-party publisher” will support the new motion-control device.

Sony’s Jack Tretton went on to say that 36 publishers and third-party developers will support it, and according to a press release, “In fiscal year 2010, SCE Worldwide Studios will also release more than 20 games that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform. While this same group of publishers will probably support Microsoft’s Project Natal as well, it’s good to know that everyone is onboard. But onboard how? Are they developing Move departments that will get every possible ounce of gameplay out of these things? Or do they mean support like backrubs and cookies?

We aren’t sure what titles will be supported just yet, but our team of Joystiqers are waving the Move about as you read this, and we’ll have more news very soon.

Move supported by 36 companies, 20 games this fiscal year originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case this is your first visit to Joystiq, know that Sony has dropped major megatons this evening at its GDC press conference — as well as one very small megaton: the PlayStation Move “sub-controller.” What you see above is the little brother (if you will) to the main ice cream cone-esque Move wand and the enabler of all things analog stick-controlled.

As per Sony’s announcement of Move, the sub-controller attachment is intended to “expand the game play options that PlayStation Move games can offer,” and — unlike Nintendo Wii’s Nunchuk controller — it will connect wirelessly to the console via Bluetooth. We’ll have our hands-on with the PlayStation Move (and the sub-controller) for you later tonight. For now, ogle the high-res images in our gallery below.

PlayStation Move sub-controller: Don’t call it a Nunchuk originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony announced during its GDC 2010 press conference that the upcoming US release of EyePet will feature support for its motion controller, PlayStation Move. The game will allow players to manipulate toys and also play games with their EyePets. Furthermore, it’s even possible to create new toys. The promotional video during the event showed off a child using the Move to draw a car on some virtual paper, which then jumped off the page and became an object that players and the EyePet could then interact with.

In addition, Sony announced that EyePet is slated for a North American release this holiday. There was no mention of what will happen to the European version of the game, which was released last year. Presumably, Move support will be added once the peripheral launches.

EyePet to support PlayStation Move, hits North America holiday 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though you guys had some bold, provocative ideas for what the heretofore unnamed “PlayStation Motion Controller” should be called, Sony has just squelched your creativity during its GDC event by giving the peripheral its official name: The PlayStation Move. We know, we know — we were also really hoping for “The Seybold,” too.

So, now that we can stop posting conjecture about what the device is going to be called, what other reason will we have to write about it? Sony hopes to provide that information later in the event, when it reveals a few of the killer apps that will accompany the peripheral’s release. Stay tuned! Update: Follow along.

‘PlayStation Move’ is official name of motion controller originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At a pirate-themed party in San Francisco tonight (with special guests Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer!) LucasArts announced The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition, coming “this summer” on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC, iPhone and iPod Touch. This isn’t simply the same “special edition” treatment applied to last year’s edition; instead, fans can expect a new control mechanism. “In addition to the point-and-click interface, we’ve added the ability to move Guybrush around, so you feel more connected to him,” said LucasArts’ Craig Derrick, project lead on all Monkey Island products. They’ve also added never-before-seen art from Peter Chan and Steve Purcell and developer commentary (!) for you Monkey Island fanboys out there (that’s you).

Of course, that’s in addition to all the stuff you’d expect from the special edition treatment, including high-definition art, remastered music, full voiceover track, and the ability to swap between original and “special edition” modes. Derrick even said they’ve “reimagined” each character, citing fan displeasure with Guybrush’s hair in the first special edition. Really? We liked his hair …

The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition announced for XBLA, PSN, PC, iPhone originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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