Tony told us it would drop soon and lo and behold, you can now download Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 from the App Store. The iPhone game will set you back $9.99 and features 13 different environments and skaters, plus accelerometer-enhanced controls, if you don’t mind looking like the weirdo shaking their iPhone on the train like it owes them money.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 ($9.99)

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 now on iPhone originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Red Steel 2 walkthrough highlights ninja juggling originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a recent interview with Japanese gaming news site 4Gamer (as translated by Andriasang), Chiyomaru Shikura, the CEO of music publisher 5pb, revealed his upcoming foray into the world of interactive electronic games. When asked about his upcoming projects, Shikura explained that one title will carry quite a bit of clout — specifically, the one on which he’s collaborating with “Konami’s Hideo Kojima.”

“Kojima said that he wanted to make an adventure game,” Shikura explained, adding, “we’re still at the level of ‘let’s lock ourselves away in the mountains somewhere and work on the plot,’ so the specifics haven’t been finalized.” If this project comes together, we’re really hoping to see some classic-style, point-and-click adventure game puzzles — just imagine what positively insane item combinations Kojima could think up.

Hideo Kojima linked to adventure game project originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With good old games being appreciated more than ever — as evidenced by yesterday’s arrival of classic LucasArts titles on Steam — we can welcome another retro fave, Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, to the growing ranks of “remember-when-ware” — for free. The game, which paved the way for a more modern classic, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, is now available for download via the developer’s site but won’t run right out of the box … er, zip file.

Since the game files are exactly the same as they were in the original 1996 release, they require DOS to run. Thankfully, Bethesda has provided a link to the freeware DOS emulator, DOSBox, as well as detailed instructions on how to get the game up-and-running using it. How thoughtful! So, if you’re an Elder Scrolls fan — or just like yourself a good RPG — the deals don’t come much better than this. Just remember: it’s not always the looks that count.

[Via Shacknews]

Bethesda’s classic The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall goes free originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A GamePolitics article recently turned our attention to two new Flash-based titles based on every news outlet’s current infatuation: Swine Flu. The first is noteworthy because it’s actually pretty fun — originally titled Sneeze but now going by the more timely moniker Stop Swine Flu, the game tasks you with spreading a disease among a crowded area by sneezing on as many folks as possible. Though the game was commissioned by uber-charity Wellcome Trust, it’s caught a bit of flack from critics for awarding points for infecting toddlers. It’s definitely worth checking out.

The other game is also noteworthy, but only because it doesn’t make a freaking lick of sense. In Swine Flu: Hamdemic, players must slingshot infected pigs across the U.S. - Mexico border, using a six-shooter to keep said pork suspended in the air. Ah, yes. Of course. The origins of this potent malady have at long last been discovered.

Swine Flu-based games becoming an internet pandemic originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 May 2009 00:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bloomberg guesstimates that Microsoft’s Xbox Live service “probably” surpassed $1 billion this past fiscal year. The financial outlet came to that conclusion using fancy mathematicals after Microsoft claimed that half of Xbox Live’s 25 million users paid the annual fee, and Xbox COO Dennis Durkin stated “in an email” that product sales on the service surpassed subscription revenue. Now, we all know there are ways around the $50 annual Xbox Live fee, but let’s surmise Bloomberg is right with its estimate of $600 million in revenue. That would mean the service generated $1.2 billion in sales last year.

Contacted for comment, Microsoft’s official statement read: “We do not have any more details to share. Microsoft does not break out Xbox LIVE earnings.” At the end of the company’s third quarter, it did say that Xbox Live was a major contributor to revenue for the division that houses the Xbox. The company will officially announce the results of its fiscal year, which ended June 30, on July 22.

Bloomberg: Xbox Live sales ‘probably’ topped $1 billion originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though the name still sounds like an utterly abysmal gallery on a frat boy’s Facebook page, we thought you’d like to know a bit more about the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum DLC pack, “Insane Night.”

On September 17th (on PS3, PC and 360), you’ll be able to download the “Totally Insane” combat challenge, which pits the Dark Knight against escaped lunatics in Arkham’s records facility, as well as the “Nocturnal Hunter” predator challenge, where you and Bats will rely on the shadows of the Arkham watchtowers to remain hidden.

Best of all, they’ll both be available for the bargain price of nothing.

Batman: Arkham Asylum’s ‘Insane Night’ DLC detailed originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A hands-on preview of Crackdown 2 at TGS last week came with a catch: deathmatch only. No matter how much potential for greatness a game might possess, it’s hard to gauge its true character when limited to a boring multiplayer mode. That’s not to say that my time with Crackdown 2 was entirely boring — it wasn’t — but simply playing the most generic mode of all didn’t raise my enthusiasm beyond a mild passing interest.

While I wasn’t able to play the game’s single-player campaign, I was shown a rough portion of it in action. Ruffian lead designer Steve Iannetta and producer James Cope showcased the game’s new weapons and enemies (the mutated citizens of Pacific City that were simply referred to as “The Freaks”). Unlike the deathmatch portion of the preview session, this part was interesting.

Continue reading Preview: Crackdown 2

Preview: Crackdown 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When the sun set on the Xbox Live service for original Xbox games on April 15, some Halo 2 players decided they just didn’t want to let go. So they’ve been in-game and have left their consoles running past the designated April 15 shutdown, staying in Halo 2 for almost two weeks now. They’re going to flip when they see their electric bills!

This thread over on the Bungie forums lists the numerous individuals still online in Halo 2, the last few people able to play the game online ever. Determined not to abandon it until they’re forcibly removed by Bungie or Microsoft (or their consoles blow up, which is a very real possibility), you can clearly see each individual’s commitment via their profile page on Xbox.com:

• Agent Windex
• APACHE N4SIR
• sherlok 1
• Rob2D
• Lord Odysseus11
• xxMAKDADYxx
• H2o Shoagie
• DirtyCajun
• HiredN00bs

You gotta give it to these guys for their perseverance. Sometimes, you just can’t accept something coming to an end. That’s why we’ve never gotten around to watching the series finale of Who’s The Boss?.

[Via CNET]

Halo 2 still kinda alive, thanks to some fans originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Immediately following his well-attended GDC panel, Nintendo’s Yoshio Sakamoto talked with us about (what else?) Metroid: Other M. In addition to all sorts of questions on the unique Team Ninja collaboration, we asked Sakamoto about the long-rumored Metroid Dread project and, barring a confirmation of that product, when we’d see another 2D handheld Metroid.

Joystiq: Speaking of the core Metroid development team that last worked on the GBA, there have been rumors of a game known as ‘Metroid Dread’ - purportedly a 2D Metroid game for DS. First question: Was ‘Dread’ a real project? Second question: If not, where is a 2D Metroid on DS?

Yoshio Sakamoto: It seems we get a lot of questions about Metroid Dread, especially at interviews following E3 for example. But nothing’s ever been announced about this game; it’s all just been rumors so far. So we never know exactly how to respond to questions like this.

While there actually was a point where some teams were meeting to discuss if it was possible to create a 2D Metroid for DS using a relatively small team size, it’s not something that we ever really announced or thought of as “Metroid Dread.” But whenever people bring out that idea, we recognize that the basic concept is something that we can’t say never existed. But at the same time, we can’t of course, make any official comment about a Metroid Dread-like project coming out.

Our main goal [with Metroid: Other M] is to, as I said earlier, first raise knowledge about the Metroid universe and the Samus character before we start to introduce different elements like online or even going back to another handheld game for the next in the series. So there’s nothing coming immediately, we want to think about these new challenges first.

But, of course, we never say never.

Metroid Dread concept is something Sakamoto ‘can’t say never existed’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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