tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137 2012-02-06T06:25:46Z Video game news, opinion and commentary from Village Voice Media. Movable Type Enterprise 4.21-en tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.574808 2012-02-06 15:00:00 2012-02-06T06:25:46Z

What did you play this weekend?

James Hawkins http://joystickdivision.com tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.574806 2012-02-06 13:00:00 2012-02-06T06:09:46Z

Skyrim's content creation will be debuting Tuesday.

James Hawkins http://joystickdivision.com Just a heads up to readers out there -- if you bought The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and want to do some content creation, you are in luck. Well, if you have a PC and want to do content creation, you are in luck. If you have an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3, you're shit outta luck.The game's PC exclusive content creation package will be released tomorrow. It is detailed in this video here, and Bethesda promises a "special surprise" to accompany. We aren't quite sure what that is yet, but I guess it wouldn't be a surprise if we did! tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.574676 2012-02-06 10:00:00 2012-02-06T05:46:52Z

What role does fantasy play in video games for you?

Alexandra Geraets http://www.joystickdivision.com/ Normal 0 0 1 1015 5791 48 11 7111 11.0 0 0 0 ​Fantasy is a healthy part of life. Delving into the imagination, pursuing creative experiences, embracing strange new worlds, and all that jazz, it's all a good part of growing up and experiencing life. Fantasy also proves to be a huge draw for the world of video games, as games embrace creativity and imagination, and push those pursuits as far as they can go. Fantasy worlds also play a huge part in video games, from Bethesda's sprawling land of Tamriel, and the countries contained within it, to Lionhead's fabled Albion. Why does fantasy play such a huge part in video games? I think it partially has something to do with the fact that video games are escapism. Pressing a button and watching a character hurl a fireball at an enemy is quite an enjoyable experience, in much the same way as sighting an enemy down a scope and pulling the trigger is in a military shooter. Video games are escapist entertainment, and they are fantasy. In the world of books, we tend to set fantasy into a niche market, mixing it with science fiction. While the two genres don't necessarily mix in set piece areas, they do mesh with ideas, archetypes, and ideas. Usually there is a single person who gathers people around them to set out and fight the one true foe of the world. This is as basic as storytelling gets, but it is in world building that fantasy stories elevate themselves. Continue reading "Fantasy Matters" > tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.573805 2012-02-03 14:00:00 2012-02-03T17:20:21Z

Whether you see them as an attack on used game sales or as a means for publishers to stay afloat, it looks like online passes are here to stay.

Ryan Winslett http://www.joystickdivision.com/ ​The battle for used video game sales continues, spurred on by all the latest advancements in technology. More recently, publishers have begun including "online passes" in many of their games, one-time use codes that grant access to (usually) multiplayer content. While the internet has made it easier to track down and purchase a used title, that same modern marvel has allowed publishers to lock out portions of their game in order to encourage new purchases. If you don't buy a game new, chances are pretty good that you'll need to fork over an additional $10 to take your second-hand copy into multiplayer. Several types of online passes have surfaced and, more recently, there have even been rumors of next gen consoles locking out used copies of games altogether. This type of action being taken against used sales is pretty unique to video games. I've never had to jump through hoops to enjoy a used movie or CD, for instance. But the question remains: Is it fair? And, if so, where should we draw the line on gating content for used sales? Continue reading "Online Passes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" > tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.574275 2012-02-03 10:00:00 2012-02-02T23:31:23Z

In anticipation of next week's The Darkness II, we're giving away the original game!

Jeremy M. Zoss http://joystickdivision.com Who's ready for some evil? The Darkness II launches next week, and based on what we've seen so far, it's a title you'll want to check out. "But wait!" you say. "What if I've never played the first game?" Never fear, we've got you covered! We're giving away a few downloads of the original game so you can check it out before the sequel launches on Feb. 7. Whattaya gotta do to win? Find out below! Continue reading "Contest: Win The Darkness For Xbox 360" > tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.574293 2012-02-03 09:00:00 2012-02-03T07:57:51Z

Has Nintendo gone off the deep end? No DVD or Blu Ray for Wii-U.

Metallman http://www.metallman.com ​​Hey there. What's up your sleeve, Nintendo? I have grown up thinking that Nintendo knows what it's doing. It gave me Super Mario Bros., Link, Samus, and Mega Man. But I don't understand why the new Wii-U won't play DVD or Blu Ray discs. I just don't get it. Now, I know that the last few consoles didn't play them, but considering that the Wii-U would have great processing power, I would assume that that power would be put into good use. I guess not. Continue reading "Wii-U Won't Play DVD or Blu-Ray Discs" > tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.573945 2012-02-02 16:00:00 2012-02-02T17:21:21Z

The term "video game" is too broadly applicable to mean anything anymore. And it limits all the possibilities from the possible "video stories" that could be.

Mark Filipowich For the last week or so, Joystick Division has been having a pseudo-conversation about the value of story in video games. While I think most of us here put a fairly high value on what games have to say, it's relatively to consider storytelling so heavily. Nobody questioned the value of "the story" in Bad Dudes: ninjas kidnapped the president and he can only be rescued two dudes...that are bad. Even though some of the very earliest games were clearly an attempt at telling a story, any "story" to speak of was subservient to gameplay. Games are played, you play them as a game, you don't consume them as a reader of literature. But the development of more sophisticated fantasies, nuanced plots, structured narratives and other academic sounding words have challenged what a video game even is. As stripping the term down might suggest, a video game is a game played on video. Take table tennis, put the paddles on a screen and you've got a video game. We can call it Pong. You can read the diametric separation of paddles as allegory for the uncompromising competition between feminine and masculine identities in the player but that argument falls apart very quickly (it's also liable to have you permanently uninvited to all future family events). Pong is just a game on video. That's all the term means. But Heavy Rain isn't just a game on video--in fact, as a game, there are significant shortcomings that make it not worth playing at all--Heavy Rain is a story told by a developer and a player. Pong and Heavy Rain are both called "video games" even though they really aren't the same thing at all.Putting an epic storyline into Pong would be as pointless as it would be absurd, just as much as taking the story out of Heavy Rain would make it unapproachable. But even in the case of Heavy Rain, calling it a "game" means that the mechanics it operates on must, in some way, comply with the design of a game. A game has rules, it has conditions for victory and defeat. If there's any story at all, it must come after the conditions for a game are met. This leads to a false dichotomy between gameplay and story, where priority has always been given to the former--although less since the latter has permeated deeper into the medium. The more control story has over the experience--as in the case of Heavy Rain--the more likely audiences will be to question whether it should even be called a "game" at all. Continue reading "What is a Video Game?" > tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.573933 2012-02-02 13:00:00 2012-02-02T20:08:57Z

Celebrate! No Syndicate online pass. Now, let's just hope it's good enough to buy!

James Hawkins http://joystickdivision.com Okay, so for a while there, it seemed like all of the used-game buyers (me included!) were abso-fucked if we wanted EA games, gently-used. A decent used game + a $10 pass costs just about as much as a new game, so what's the point of buying a used game? I may as well just buy the game when it releases, at full pri...oh. Oh! Sneaky EA. I see what you did there.Anyway, we don't have to worry about Syndicate following this trend. Electronic Arts has stated publicly that Syndicate will have no $10 Online Pass, because the game encourages a lot of cooperative play, and the online mechanism supports that to the fullest.The game is being built by an "EA Partners" studio -- Starbreeze -- meaning EA is just publishing the title. Producing, marketing, hyping, shipping, collecting a cut. Not actually developing the game itself. And like Crysis 2 and Portal 2 (also games not made by an EA-owned studio), Syndicate will be free to play online; even if someone buys it in 30 years.Check out that trailer for the game, and also download the co-op demo online now! tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.573923 2012-02-02 10:00:00 2012-02-02T06:17:06Z

Hey Mister White, do you wanna....BREAK BAD?! (not an actual line from the show.)

James Hawkins http://joystickdivision.com tag:www.joystickdivision.com,2012://137.573490 2012-02-01 13:00:00 2012-02-01T06:37:00Z

This week, we're opening the floor to any and everyone who wants to discuss game narrative. We'll start by talking about the ones that mean something to us.

James Hawkins http://joystickdivision.com