Kotaku

Pirates Versus Ninjas In Fat Princess What started as a concept artist fooling around becomes reality later this month, when Fat Princess update 1.06 brings the never-ending struggle between pirates and ninjas to life.


Oh, and giants too.


Fat Princess was never supposed to have pirates and ninjas. That's what a rep told me when I gave the new characters a spin at the Sony booth during E3 2010. A concept artist at Titan Studios thought it would be funny to post pictures of Fat Princess-styled pirates and ninjas last August. The internet picked up the image, and said concept artist will never do that again.


The image caused such a stir that Atomic Operations, the team that took over development from Titan, had to bring the two characters to the game, and they'll be showing up later this month as part of the 1.06 update. Update: To Clarify, the new classes are coming in the "Fat Roles" paid expansion, while the 1.06 patch adds same-screen multiplayer for up to four players.


Players who download the new content will gain access to one new hat with three different flavors - pirate, ninja, and giant. Upon donning the new chapeau, players can cycle through the three new classes before selecting one that works for them.


I tried the ninja first, of course.


As with most Fat Princess character types, the Ninja has a short-range attack, in this case a katana, and a long-range attack, which sends a spread of shuriken flying. He's a brutal little killer that, when powered up, can turn invisible, walking right through the enemy team's barriers as if they weren't there. I've a feeling they'll be despised by many a player once the backstabbing begins.


Pirates Versus Ninjas In Fat Princess
The pirate is much more in-your-face. The cold steel of his cutlass lays into nearby foes, while his pistol is always loaded for bear to take out enemies from afar. Powered up he calls in a devastating cannon strike that decimates barriers in one blow.


Pirates Versus Ninjas In Fat Princess
Finally we have the giant, a super-sized character that packs a powerful punch but has one giant weakness - he can't eat cake to heal himself. This lumbering lug has decidedly different tastes: he has to grab and eat other players to regenerate health. Ew.


There's no firm date on when the content comes out, but it's definitely coming soon, according to the rep who walked me through the classes. End of this month soon.


The battle lines are about to be drawn. It's time to eat or be eaten.


Kotaku

Couldn't make it to E3? Don't worry! Ubisoft made this nifty interactive booth tour just for you.


Kotaku

One of the coolest things at E3 2010 was the zoom function for Xbox Live Arcade game Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. I had to see it. You do too.


I shot the quick video for this post after I confirmed that I hadn't been misled by the game's E3 trailer. That trailer showed a lot of classic Castlevania side-whipping action but also what looked like dozens of Super-Nintendo-era Castelvania screenshots quilted together. No, it wasn't a trailer trick. Harmony of Despair allows gamers to play at three levels of zoom: close, medium and far. The far view lets you see an entire level of the game. There are at least a half-dozen of them. The game supports multiple players, so at max zoom you could see someone else's hero in the castle as well.


We'll have more in the game later. I just saw the game in passing and had to shoot this video ... and show it to all of you.


Kotaku

InFamous 2 Brings Lightning-Spewing Tornadoes To The Big Easy There are a lot of things you need to know about Sucker Punch's upcoming Playstation 3 action sequel InFamous 2, but none are as important as this: You can use your powers to hurl city-demolishing, lightning-spewing tornadoes at people.


The effect was so amazing the first time I saw it - the game's star Cole MacGrath took out a helicopter and several buildings with it - that I asked the developers to show it to me again and again, convinced it was really just an elaborate cut-scene. It wasn't.


InFamous 2 picks up where the first Playstation 3 game left off, following MacGrath's loss to "The Beast." This time around the game takes place in New Marais, a sort of re-imagined, crumbling New Orleans. MacGrath rolls into town to try and head off The Beast which is making its way down the coast taking out everything in its path. MacGrath is in town to try and find a scientist who he thinks can help him take the creature down.


InFamous 2 Brings Lightning-Spewing Tornadoes To The Big EasyThe problem is that the town is run by the Militia, a group described by the developers as "the KKK meets Batman." This group of freak-hunting vigilantes are headed up by Bertrand.


The chunk of gameplay we saw opened with Bertrand riling up a crowd of folks in a New Marais courtyard, surrounded by the armed and hooded men of his movement.


InFamous 2 Brings Lightning-Spewing Tornadoes To The Big EasyBertrand tells the gathered people about MacGrath, who is hanging out unnoticed in the crowd, and promises to hunt him down and kill him.


The meeting is broken up by a group of mutated freaks who attack the militia and MacGrath steps in to try and grab Bertrand. The leader manages to get to his car and the game turns into a chase mission.


The run through the city gave us a chance to check out just how deep and detailed this new setting looks. It is an open world with more interactivity than the original game and the ability to show more than 100 characters on screen at a time. The game also includes new gangs, destructible buildings and collapsible environments.


As before, you'll use parkour moves to get around the city, but this time around there's a lot more fluidity in how you transition from special move, to running, to climbing.


InFamous 2 Brings Lightning-Spewing Tornadoes To The Big EasyAs I watched MacGrath surfed along powerlines, electricity arcing away from his feet, jumping off walls and hopping from one line to the next.


"This city is a fantastic jungle gum for Cole to get around in," Nate Fox, the game's director said. "The city has tons of big breakables which make you feel like a small flick of your wrist has tremendous consequences."


The game also has giant-sized enemies, giant enemies that don't just pop up in cleverly designed arenas, but, Fox promises, that can move through the world just like you.


The game we saw was only about seven percent complete. In fact it was such an early build that Fox insisted on showing us a pre-canned version of the play-through we saw so we could check out the game running at the optimized framerate they expect to hit.


InFamous 2 Brings Lightning-Spewing Tornadoes To The Big EasyBecause the game is so early, there are still some things that the developers don't want to talk about like how they're going to deal with the choice and consequences of the first game.


Depending on how you played the original InFamous, the MacGrath you're left with at the end of the game can be very different.


"We believe we understand the answer to that question," Fox said. "But we're not going to answer it yet."


MacGrath does look and sound quite different than the original game. Both are deliberate. His appearance is still a work in progress, his voice is not.


Fox said that the voice actor they used for the first game got more and more gruff as the game progressed, something they didn't count on happening.


"It got to the point that we thought, 'This is not what we think of as Cole'," Fox said.


This time around they went with a different voice actor, one who they think is a better fit for the lead character's voice.


The end result of InFamous 2, Fox hopes, will be a game that is about MacGarth as a super hero.


"This game is about being a super hero and kicking ass," he said. "We did the origin story, this is the battle story."


InFamous 2 Brings Lightning-Spewing Tornadoes To The Big Easy



Jun 18, 2010
Kotaku

The Real Metal GearMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is a tale of giant robots and Cold War drama. It may be fantasy, but did you know that in the early 1960s, the US military actually had a giant robot?


Meet the "Beetle".


Built by Jered Industries in Detroit for General Electric's ominous — and very Metal Gear-sounding — Nuclear Materials and Propulsion Operation division, the Beetle was a mechanical terror designed for the Air Force Special Weapons Centre, initially to service and maintain a planned fleet of atomic-powered Air Force bombers. According to declassified Air Force reports, work began on the "mech" in 1959, and it was completed in 1961.


Unlike the fictional Metal Gears, the Beetle didn't try and walk on two legs. It was piloted, and not an AI. It never tried to destroy the world, either. But its history, design, construction and operation are all so eerily similar to that of "actual" units from the Metal Gear universe that fans of the series should find it fascinating, especially given the timeliness of the Beetle's existence in parallel with the Shagohod, from Metal Gear Solid 3's Cold War drama.


The Real Metal Gear


Shagohod was a giant Soviet war machine, and like the Beetle, was a product of the Cold War. It shared a focus on nuclear weapons and an obsession with the promise of the atomic age, was piloted by a single man, heavily armoured, shrouded in secrecy and also ditched cumbersome legs in favour of a more down-to-earth propulsion system, though Shagohod employed "screws" instead of conventional tracks (the Beetle, meanwhile, was built atop the treads and body of an M-42 "Duster", a mobile anti-aircraft vehicle).


While Shagohod was a threat to world peace – especially given plans to export the vehicle overseas to enemies of the US – the Beetle couldn't have been more peaceful if it tried. Shagohod's primary purpose was to serve as a launch platform for nuclear weapons. The Beetle's was to…repair and maintain engines, and when the atomic aircraft project was cancelled in 1961, it was earmarked by the US military for a role in cleaning up the debris caused by a nuclear explosion.


The Real Metal Gear


Because the Beetle was first conceived to fix aircraft engines that would be soaked in radiation, it had to be nuclear-proof. Because these would be big aircraft, with large parts that were high off the ground, the Beetle had to be big as well. And because the actual duties it was to perform would require a great deal of precision and finesse, the Beetle was given two arms with pincers for "hands", which is where the "Beetle" name originates.


All of which explain why the Beetle was a colossal 19 feet long, 12 feet wide, 11 feet high and weighed a ground-shaking 77 tons. The pilot was shielded by an inch of steel armour on the outside of the unit, half-an-inch inside and a minimum of 12 inches of lead plating around the cabin, which would keep him shielded from all but the most intense blasts of radiation. On top of all that, the cockpit glass was 23 inches thick, and was made up of seven individual panes of leaded glass.


The Real Metal Gear


To actually drive the Beetle, then, the pilot couldn't just pop open a hatch and jump in. The canopy, which weighed 15,000 pounds, had to be raised by hydraulic lifts then lowered onto guidance rods, a process which took several minutes. Once inside, despite cramped conditions, the pilot had some degree of comfort, with a small TV set, air conditioning and even an ashtray, should the stress of dealing with the remains of a nuclear holocaust get a little much from time to time.


Powered by a 500hp engine, the Beetle could, on a hard, flat surface, reach a top speed of…eight miles per hour. Any faster – not that it could go much faster – and the vibrations damaged some of its finer instrumentation and mechanics. That's painfully slow, yes, but speed had been traded off for power, the robot's bulk meaning it had 85,000 pounds of pull in its arms, strong enough to either punch clean through a thick concrete wall or, should the need arise, grab a wall and tear it clean off a building or bunker.


The Real Metal Gear


Yet despite this raw power, it could also – thanks to its roots as a servicing platform – perform incredibly delicate operations. At a public demonstration in 1962, for example, the Beetle was able to roll up to a carton of eggs (pictured up top), pick a single egg up and hold it in its pincers without breaking it.


The Real Metal Gear


In a final and — given the appearance and scale of the Beetle — unexpected twist, the robot was also capable of reaching great heights. The cabin, which housed the cockpit and arms, was able to be raised on four hydraulic pistons, and when fully extended the Beetle stood an imposing 27 feet off the ground, more than high enough to pick through the rubble of a decent-sized apartment building.


All of which sounds amazing, you're probably thinking. It's like a mech, only real! Why don't we have these today? Why aren't US military personnel going to war in Metal Gears, instead of tanks, which are so twentieth century?


Well, for all its promise and science fiction appeal, the Beetle just didn't work very well.


At the same 1962 demonstration it managed to pick up an egg – for Popular Science and Life magazines - it also, over the source of four days, "operated seldom", the Beetle plagued by hydraulic leaks, broken arms, dead generators (the cockpit instrumentation had its own engine) and countless short circuits. Internal testing conducted by the Air Force was even more damning, citing constant mechanical failures and an impossibly high standard of maintenance required to keep the Beetle in good working order.


The Real Metal Gear


Perhaps its biggest failing, however, was that it was utterly unsuitable for active duty. The Beetle had been designed as a maintenance platform, which would operate from the confines and relative safety of an Air Force base. With the demise of the atomic aircraft program, however, the other potential roles planned for it would have required a more active deployment, something its size, weight and most crucially unwieldiness (as in, taking several minutes for a pilot to get in and out) simply could not stand up to.


Future efforts of this type were thus focused on making military robots smaller, both so that they would be lighter – and thus easier to maintain – and also so that they could be operated remotely, rather than having to provide such extreme protection measures for a single pilot. In 2010, you can see the legacy of the Beetle in remotely operated vehicles such as the TALON, recently made famous from the movie Hurt Locker, and the very Metal Gear-looking "Big Dog", recently commissioned for the US Marine Corps.


The Real Metal Gear


It's unknown what ultimately became of the Beetle. The Air Force couldn't tell us. Maybe it rusted away in a field somewhere. Maybe it was salvaged for parts. Maybe it's tucked away in a forgotten corner of an Air Force base, gathering dust.


Or maybe war really did change, and someone found a way to put the Beetle to use threatening world peace in some remote, isolated corner of the world, where it was blown to pieces by Naked Snake. It's the least such an amazing, and sadly forgotten, piece of military hardware deserves.


The Real Metal Gear


References:
Popular Science Magazine, May 1962
LIFE Magazine, May 1962
Unitd States Air Force Technical Documentary Report Number AFSWC-TDR-62-137 (Unclassified)


Image credits:
LIFE Magazine
Popular Science Magazine



Kotaku

Certain bodies were needed to work E3 2010. These bodies had to strut, pose, wear armor, professionally wrestle, mock-rap badly (on behalf of another media outlet, I believe) or just sit and look unpleasantly pregnant. Good job, everyone!


*The guy in image no. 10 was probably just a regular show attendee, but the shell he is standing in, a robot suit from the next Red Faction, is something of a paid body.


The Paid Bodies Of E3 2010 / top
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Kotaku

How To Trade-Up To The New Xbox 360 For The new, smaller, sexier Xbox 360 is in stores now, and if you know where to go it can be yours for as little as $90.


As a member of the Kotaku team not present at Microsoft's 2010 E3 press conference, I do not get the new Xbox 360 for free, so as soon as I got home I contacted my local GameStop to see if they had them in stock. They do, and even better, they've got trade-in specials going for the original Xbox 360 that make upgrading a lot less painful.


I feel it bears mentioning that my local GameStop manager didn't know about the new model until a customer called him asking for it, ten minutes after the Microsoft presser ended. For a company the regularly leaks information like a sieve, that's rather impressive.


But we aren't here to be impressed by secrets. We're here to be impressed by savings.


Right now the Xbox 360 base unit is trading in for $100 store credit. That's without hard drive and with one controller.


GameStop trades in the hard drives separately as they have to send them off to be cleaned. The smallest size, 20GB, trades in for $30, with the 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB netting you $35, $40, and $50 respectively.


Then there's the network adapter. The new system has built-in Wi-Fi, so your wireless adapter is now obsolete. The white version trades in for $40, while the newer black version will score you $50 credit.


And let's not forget the Edge card, which gives you an extra 10 percent store credit for accessories.


So, if you've got a 250GB Xbox 360 with the black wireless adapter, your trade-in credit works out like this:


System: $100
Network Card: $50 ($55 with Edge card)
Hard Drive: $50 ($55 with Edge card)
————————————————————————
Total: $200 ($210 with Edge)


With the new Xbox 360 selling for $299, that leaves only $90 to $100 unaccounted for.


Other items you can trade-in include wireless controllers at $25 apiece, and wired controllers for $20.


So yes, trading up to the new 360 isn't as painful as it could be, and GameStop told me that if they sell out, they'll let you reserve from the next batch, with the trade-in special still applying.


Of course you have your saved data to worry about, but that just means you'll have to play your favorite games all over again, and who doesn't love doing that?


Update: Someone named Fred informed us that GameStop will give you the trade-in price for your hard drive up to seven days after your purchase, meaning you can transfer your data and bring the drive back later and still receive the credit.



Kotaku

Star Trek's LeVar Burton Is Not Pleased With E3LeVar Burton, aka Star Trek: The Next Generation's Geordi La Forge, is grumpy without his space visor. As seen at E3, dashing away from Nintendo's booth.


Kotaku

PixelJunk Shooter 2 Plays With Light And Acid Building on elements of the first game, Q-Games brings corrosive acid and creative lighting tricks to bear in PixelJunk Shooter 2.


Shooter 2, the first true sequel in Q-Games' PixelJunk series, picks up where the first game left off, plunging the player into the belly of the beast, which is incidentally the name of the first level I played through at Sony's E3 2010 booth.


New game mechanics surface immediately as I find my ship inside the digestive tract of the giant beast that swallowed me whole at the end of the original game. Corrosive acid pours from various orifices and pools in the valleys of the creature's innards, its touch slowly eating away at my ship's armor until washed away with soothing water.


The goal remains the same here: Rescue the trapped scientist by any means necessary. Enemies pop out of the walls, firing projectiles I dodge with varying degrees of success. Unlike water, which allowed shots to pass through, the acid dissolves my bullets, so shooting through it is out of the question.


Furthering my troubles is the fact that shooting the creatures insides causes more acid to ooze forth, making shooting more dangerous than ever.


While water washes the acid from my ship, it doesn't remove it from play on contact, as it did with lava in the first game. Instead, when water and acid mix, they form a slippery gas that fills the area. When your ship hits the gas it becomes nearly impossible to steer. In order to navigate, I must use the ship's grapple to hook myself onto small, circular nodules, spinning around them and releasing like a slingshot in the direction I want to move. It takes a little getting used to, but soon I find myself making it through the final exit, with most of the scientists safely onboard.


I don't fare quite as well in the second level I played.


Light is another element added in PixelJunk Shooter 2, and it doesn't play nice.


The area I find myself in next is comprised of light areas and dark areas. I'm safe enough in the light, able to rescue scientists normally, but in the darkness I can't grapple them, no matter how hard I try.


To make matters worse, motes of shadow gather as I traverse the darkness. If I spend too much time without light, those shadows converge on my ship, destroying it instantly.


My first weapon in the fight against darkness turns out to be a timed switch that inverts light and dark areas, allowing me to pick up stranded scientists previously lost in the inky blackness.


Soon I find a ball of light, growing out of one of the area's walls. Latching on I carry it with me, illuminating the passageways, though each time it hits a wall pieces fall off, leaving it dimmer and dimmer.


I carry the light ball to some scientists and pick them up, but once I drop the ball I can't grab it again. As the Sony rep urges me on I make a mad dash for the light, but the shadows converge, and my ship explodes.


After thoroughly enjoying the first game and tasting what the next has to offer, I'm eagerly awaiting the fall release of PixelJunk Shooter 2. I just hope I can keep a handle on my fear of the dark long enough to finish it.
PixelJunk Shooter 2 Plays With Light And Acid


Kotaku

Not only does 505 Games' upcoming killer bear game have multiplayer, it has game modes that actually promote strategic thinking and cooperation. Who knew?


Naughty Bear is a game about one bear killing other bears, so naturally that extends to the multiplayer modes of the title as well. Developer Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M) didn't simply toss in bear deathmatch, however. Instead, the multiplayer modes in Naughty Bear are unique takes on some of the classics, with a strong focus on cooperation.


Take the mode Jelly Wars, for instance. In this mode, three normal bears need to work together to collect jellies while one player takes on the role of Naughty Bear, trying to keep them from creating the biggest jelly ever. He'll set traps, hide the jellies, and maim and kill the other players while they work together to survive his onslaught.


It sounds rather compelling, doesn't it?


In Cake Walk, one player must survive while holding the Golden Cupcake, which renders him unable to attack or defends and slows his movement speed. Golden Oozy mode gives one player a machine gun with unlimited ammo, with the other players working together to take him down, and then against each other to claim the "oozy" for themselves.


There's also an Assault mode, which is a two-on-two objective defending game, and the closest thing Naughty Bear has to a normal multiplayer mode.


I figured we'd just be getting a single player adventure game on June 29. Looks like it's quite a bit more than that.


So who's going to play online with me?


...