Welcome to another week of JOE’s videogame round-up. As always, we’re looking to provide you with up-to-the-minute news, download reviews, weekly charts and forthcoming release dates on a weekly basis. So if there’s anything you think we’re leaving out, or would like us to shine a spotlight on, feel free to leave a comment below.
News
Pac Man reality TV show in the works
If it’s half as fun this clip, this show mightn’t be such a bad idea
Television and video games traditionally don’t go too well together. Gamesmaster in the mid-90s aside, there’s something surprisingly dull and slightly embarrassing about watching gamers compete in televised FIFA or Street Fighter IV showdowns. Reality TV and video games hasn’t fared much better, with MTV’s The Tester never making it to our shores. Considering that the prize was a chance to join the lowly-paid and excruciatingly mundane world of video games bug testing, that’s probably for the best. The next foray for our beloved medium? A Pac-Man reality TV show.
US TV production company Merv Griffin Entertainment are behind the bizarre concept and have told Deadline Hollywood that they envision a “big, crazy Wipeout-type event with a lot of energy. The idea we have is to take what Pac-Man is and bring it to life, to bring what is essentially the world’s biggest game of tag to television.” So do people get to wear a Pac-Man suit or not?! Sadly Merv Griffin would say no more, though they are working with Namco Bandai on the project so expect a faithful reworking at the very least.
US leaps at chance to get hands on Epic Mickey
Disney have 1.3m reasons to celebrate their Christmas performance
Apologies for the headline but Disney brought it upon themselves. When Epic Mickey was released in late 2010, both Warren Spector fans and Disney fans couldn’t wait for the much-hyped reworking of the Mouse House’s iconic character. However despite middling reviews and a shonky camera system, we were still a little surprised to see the title completely miss out on the UK Top 40 chart, managing just 11th on the Wii format chart too. It seemed proof positive that the old ‘third-party games do not sell on Nintendo consoles’ adage had been proved right again.
Not so. US NPD (the leading market research group in the State) stats have shown that Epic Mickey was actually the sixth best-selling video game in the US for December, shifting a whopping 1.3 million copies. Not since the awful Twisted Metal series (yeah, we said it) regularly conquered the US gaming charts have we seen such a profound divide in our gaming tastes with our neighbours from across the pond.
Purchase/Download of the Week
Raskulls (Xbox Live Arcade 800 MS Pts)
Sadly for PS3 owners, Raskulls is an XBLA exclusive
Combining racing, platforming and block-busting puzzles, Aussie studio Halfbrick’s Raskulls has achieved huge plaudits since its XBLA debut a few weeks ago and it’s not hard to see why. With it’s unique, perhaps KAWS-inspired art style (just us?), here is a downloadable title packed with variety and humour. Many observers are worried years ago that the endless franchising of the video games industry would leave to a dearth in originality or new IP. While that argument still holds wait, Raskulls is exactly the genre-confounding quirky release that shows that we’re already in a golden age of downloadable must-haves. Support a great studio and lose yourself in hours of gameplay.
Friday Releases 21/01/11
As with most LBP2 screenshots, we have no idea what’s going on here
January is fast becoming a massive month for gamers. After last year’s Mass Effect 2 release, developers are realising that players have plenty of disposable income post-Christmas and are shifting their schedules accordingly. With that in mind, Mass Effect 2 makes its long awaited PS3 debut, with all it’s DLC content helpfully included. ME2 was the first JOE.ie Game of the Year a few weeks ago and we recommend any PS3 gamers wondering what the fuss is all about to snap it up. On the other hand, it should be a brutal Friday for your wallet as LittleBigPlanet 2 also hits the shelves. An early contender for Game of the Year 2011? Don’t be surprised.
Xbox 360
Mindjack
Playstation 3
LittleBigPlanet 2
Mass Effect 2
Mindjack
Wii
Free Running
Nintendo DS
4 Elements
PSP
None
PC
None
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