Actually, it’s more like Joystiq’s Top 3 of 2009, followed by Joystiq’s Top 7 That Were Left In The Dust By Said Top 3. We agonized over the bottom seven choices, trading positions just as we traded tantrums and highly unprofessional insinuations with each other, but nobody on the Joystiq staff could muster a reasonable argument against 2009′s three best games. Probably because they were too busy being completely wrong about something in the lower seven and honestly how could you pick that game I can’t believe I have to work with someone like this on a day-to-day basis.

Perhaps it’s best to step away from emotion and simply focus on the facts behind our overall top 10:

• Contains 60 percent new IP!
• Features 20 percent downloadable content!
• Can be summarized in four bullet points!
• Includes five platform-exclusive titles!

If you want to continue reading about good games throughout the day, keep checking back as we’ll be publishing each staff member’s personal picks for 2009. Many of them will also be wrong.

Joystiq’s Top 10 Games of 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s pretty adorable listening to our electronics-obsessed sister site Engadget talk about video games, a sensation not unlike listening to a music professor trying to connect with students over the latest Jay-Z album. (“Say kids, isn’t this track vibin‘?!”) But we think they nailed it with their inclusion of the Xbox 360 in their “Ten gadgets that defined the decade” list. The piece reminds that the system’s success seemed all but impossible at its launch, with a weaker feature set than the PS3 and a for-pay online service.

Honoroable mentions were given to the PS2 and the Wii, both will presumably fare better on Engadget’s “Ten gadgets that didn’t melt if you looked at them wrong” list.

Engadget says Xbox 360 helped define the decade originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source — Call of Duty is in 7th heaven [Chart Track]
Source — All formats chart [Chart Track]

Modern Warfare 2 reigns over UK charts for seventh week originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Truth be told, there’s so much info contained in G4′s massive interview with Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells that we couldn’t possibly encapsulate it all in one headline. Naturally, it all focuses on Uncharted 2, which has been raking in awards left and right as 2009 comes to a close. Among other things, Wells discusses the script, which the team actually wrote as the game was being developed. While there was a rough outline at the beginning of production, Wells notes that having a fully fleshed out script can cause trouble if changes have to be made in the middle of development.

Wells also discusses the pacing of the game, which he likens to pulp novels and movies like Indiana Jones. He admits that Uncharted 2‘s treasure hunting mechanic can actually slow the pacing. Should Naughty Dog work on another Uncharted — and we get the feeling they just might — Wells says the treasure hunting could be improved, perhaps by making more hidden treasures available only after the first playthrough.

Other topics covered include the complexity of the train level, sales numbers and how far Naughty Dog thinks it can push the PS3 hardware. Uncharted fans should definitely give it a read.

Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells talks writing, pacing of Uncharted 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As you already know, the launch of Final Fantasy XIII was met with record-breaking sales success for the game and the platform upon which it’s played. However, you may not know the ripple effect the uber-anticipated RPG had on the rest of the Japanese economy. Let us examine this phenomenon in our traditional style:

- Hair styling products: 36,818 11,511 (45.49% )
- Preposterously large swords: 19,115 14,447 (309.49% )
- Gaudy chain necklaces: 56,701 33,776 (147.33%)
- Entire outfits made out of belts: 17,846 4,409 (32.81 )
- Richard K. Schnopp’s self-help book, “How to Speak Succinctly”: 11 4,509 (99.76%)

- PS3: 237,086 162,000 (215.75%)
- Wii: 191,915 56,017 (41.22%)
- DSi: 95,227 27,043 (39.66%)
- PSP: 79,194 7,309 (10.17%)
- DSi LL: 75,241 17,235 (29.71%)
- DS Lite: 12,879 1,503 (13.21%)
- Xbox 360: 8,965 1,681 (15.79%)
- PSP Go: 3,260 183 (5.95%)
- PS2: 2,982 519 (21.07%)

[Source: Media Create]

Read: The preposterous archives

Japanese hardware sales, Dec. 14 – Dec. 20: Final Fantastic edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The reports of Duke Nukem’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Though Forever has been jettisoned into the inky blackness of the vaporware realm, leading to a court struggle over the Nukem IP, 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller still sees a future for the foul-mouthed hero. “The next few years should see a strong resurgence in Duke,” Miller mentioned in a recent interview with new gaming mag Gamesauce. “There are numerous other Duke games in various stages of development, several due out this year.”

Miller later added, “We are definitely looking to bring Duke into casual gaming spaces, plus there are other major Duke games in production.” Wait, casual Duke games? Like … FarmDuke? BeDuked Twist? Diner Duke? The possibilities are endless! (And horrifying.)

3D Realms teases ‘numerous’ upcoming Duke Nukem projects originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fielding a question on today’s quarterly investors call regarding the performance of Grand Theft Auto 4′s DLC double-header and the accompanying retail bundle – The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony, and Episodes from Liberty City, respectively – Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick admits, “Both we and Microsoft believed there was a big market for GTA 4 episodic content and some factors affected their performance.” Calling the two companies’ relationship “a historic, strategic partnership” – remember this? – and calling the episodes themselves “profitable contributors to the company,” Zelnick nevertheless offered some insight into what his company could have done to make them even more profitable.

“Both were released significantly after the launch of the core unit,” Zelnick says, referring to the April 2008 launch of Grand Theft Auto 4. “And therefore weren’t able to leverage GTA 4′s initial marketing campaign and initial launch fervor.” With The Lost and Damned coming out in February of this year, some 10 months after GTA 4′s initial release, and The Ballad of Gay Tony this past October, 18 months after the initial release, we’d have to agree that timing played an issue; the GTA 4 hype machine had worn off.

Continue reading Take-Two boss thinks Grand Theft Auto 4 DLC was late to the party

Take-Two boss thinks Grand Theft Auto 4 DLC was late to the party originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the most recent edition of Iwata Asks, Nintendo prez Satoru Iwata gathers up Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago for a thorough discussion of their time with the company, the many projects they’ve worked on and their 25-year-long partnership with Shigeru Miyamoto. Let’s break it down: Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago both started at Nintendo around 1984, helping to shape everything from Balloon Fight to Super Mario Bros. These guys were part of the team that developed Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda – at the same time.

During the 10-page chat, a plethora of interesting tidbits are revealed about some of the game industry’s most influential Nintendo titles. Did you know that Zelda was initially designed as a dungeon game without an overworld? Or, how about the revelation that World 1-1 was created last, after the rest of the levels in Super Mario Bros., and designed implicitly to teach the game to non-gamers? The chat even gets into the lurid sleeping arrangements of Miyamota-san and Nakago-san while on business trips for ExciteBike (spoiler: it’s not that lurid).

Iwata Asks: 25 years with Miyamoto’s dev posse originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though the Modern Warfare 2 community is uncovering some unsavory hidden aspects of the game for their own benefit, the kind folks from Defend The House have labored to uncover some of the game’s harmless (but awesome) unadvertised features. For instance, did you know throwing knives are still lethal after bouncing? Also, you can survive a forty-foot fall with the help of a few well-placed mattresses. That’s news to us!

Check out all these revelations in the first episode of Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters, which we’ve posted after the jump. Oh, one last thing — we will not rest until we kill someone by blowing up a nearby fire hydrant. Do you hear us? It is our life’s new purpose.

Continue reading Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters: Explosive hydrants uncovered

Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters: Explosive hydrants uncovered originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know there’s a temptation to freak out, but just stick with us until the second graph, okay? When asked by Nikkei Japan how the company managed the cost of maintaining the free PlayStation Network, Sony Computer Entertainment executive VP Masayuki Chatani highlighted the possibility of new revenue streams, saying, “In addition to single-payment packaged software, there are also schemes like monthly fees or per-item charges.”

As GameIndustry.biz points out, Chatani could be talking about any number of different items and monthly-charged services delivered via PSN — as was vaguely referenced in a presentation last month. Viewed together, the comments may seem troubling, but additional services don’t necessarily equate to PSN itself becoming a subscription service. If Sony wanted to lose the biggest advantage of its online service just as the PS3 builds up a good head of steam, a funeral service might become more appropriate.

Sony considering monthly fees for PSN content, services originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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