Once upon a time there was a little company called Working Designs. Before indie developers came to the limelight and before community development became a packaged commodity, they were the closest thing to nerds like us delivering games. Perhaps most famous for adapting the Lunar Series, Working Designs localized games as a labor of love (love steeped in fart jokes and ephemeral political humor perhaps, but love nonetheless).

When Working designs eventually folded, founding father Victor Ireland didn’t give up the dream. Instead he founded a newer, leaner company by the name of Gaijinworks to fill the legacy that Working Designs left.

There, um, hasn’t been much filling in the intervening years, but the localization giant has just stirred. Ireland himself has announced an upcoming announcement (meta-announced?) for a game Gaijinworks will release around the summer. The announcement is due in a month or two, so if you’re the speculating type, now’s your chance. Otherwise, if you yearn hard enough, perhaps your pet game will be the project announced.

Tags:   1up · Gaijinworks · Victor Ireland · Working DesignsNo Comments.

The new year is upon us and so it’s time to take a look back. For gaming websites like this one, that usually means some sort of game of the year award where the editors of the publication get together and vote/argue for their personal picks.

How myopic. It’s a new year; some perspective is in order.

Tags:   2008 · game of the year · statisticsNo Comments.

Ok, by now everyone who has so much as touched a computer has experienced the effects of anonymity on human behavior (nsfw). We need feedback from vocal tone, facial expressions, and general body language to keep us grounded, especially as we develop. When you lose the feedback, you can’t judge when you’ve overstepped yourself.

Need some anecdotal evidence to make it more believable? Gamepolitics caught word that some teenager threatened suicide in an attempt to strongarm an employee in the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. When police arrived on the scene, the teen was arrested for a first degree misdemeanor.

Tags:   Blizzard · World of WarcraftNo Comments.

The Wii’s $6 profit margin suddenly doesn’t seem so amazing because Sony has cut the PS3’s manufacturing costs by about $250. Evidently investors were impressed, because the software and hardware giant’s market value rose by over a percent once the announcement had been made.

Although Sony has not yet announced a corresponding price drop, it’s not unreasonable to hope the console will fall into the $400 range.

Tags:   bloomberg · price drop · ps3 · SonyNo Comments.

It looks like Nintendo is getting a case of the ‘me toos’. Gamasutra reports that the casual console maker is following suit with Microsoft and Sony’s Netflix partnerships.

Of course, Nintendo still marches to its own drummer, and it appears that the new partnership will actially be with an advertising company, Dentsu, to provide original streaming content instead of the Netflix video rental model. Although this announcement only applies to japan for the time being, Nintendo hopes to extend the service to the west in 2009.

This announcement follows an earlier one that the Wii would soon see a theater channel. Whether this means that Nintendo plans to offer both movies and television remains to be seen. How long can it be before the Omni-Leisure 5000 graces our living rooms?

Tags:   Gamasutra · Nintendo · videoNo Comments.

World of Goo is one of those bite-sized games you can consume before it gets stale. The tower-building puzzle gameplay offers a level of accessibility that should appeal to casual gamers and deep innovative puzzles that should appeal to just about everyone. There’s not too much incentive to replay the game, but at $20, you get what you pay for and more.

Tags:   2D Boy · Review · Wii · World of GooNo Comments.

Ok, so the holidays have started to wane, and it has come time to reflect on the past year: your achievements (and related gamer score), and more immediately, whether you got the gifts you wanted. The importance of this question cannot be overstated–you’re probably broke after your shopping and you won’t be paid until January. If you didn’t get a game you really wanted to play, you’ll need something cheap to tide you over to the new year.

Fortunately 1up has come to the rescue with a cheap holiday buyer’s guide. It’s organized by console, which is handy, but here’s a subset of those games we’ve actually played, organized more practically. Go check out 1up for the complete list.

For the Hardcore:
Kameo: Elements of Power
Resident Evil 4
GTA 3: Liberty City Stories
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

For the Genre Fan:
Resident Evil 4 (Survival Horror)
Trauma Center: Under the Knife (Portable Sim)
Cooking Mama: Cook Off (Sim)
GTA 3: Liberty City Stories (Action Adventure)
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (Strategy)

For the Casual:
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Viva Piñata
Cooking Mama
Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Tags:   1up · buyer's guideNo Comments.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Gee, I sure do like fire, but I wish I could get it without that pesky heat,” Microsoft has released a virtual fireplace for the 360. This incredible technological marvel burns so clean that its only emissions are produced at your local power plant. It’s also child safe and is unlikely to burn your house down. Screw peace on earth and goodwill toward men and make your christmas wish help prevent the heat death of the universe.

Oh wait, it costs 400 Microsoft points ($5)? Never mind.

Tags:   fireplace · wtf · Xbox 360No Comments.

Happy holidays! Have a present from all of us here at pixelsocks.com. Ok, so it was technically from NCsoft, but we aren’t above regifting.

You may recall Lord British’s abdication of his NCsoft throne or have heard that Tabula Rasa was in its final hours, but it’s finally completely free to play. Either way, the sci-fi MMORPG with FPS overtones is on its way out and the profit is all yours. If you’re willing to submit your credit card number to a MMORPG in its death throes, you can download the client for free and play without charge until the last server closes its ports forever.

Even if you’re not particularly excited by the gameplay, this is a chance to see how a MMORPG closes up shop. Will there be epic griefing now that there’s no banhammer to fear? Will there be any recognition in the game of the inevitable end? Will the servers fill to the brim with curious onlookers, or will Tabula Rasa pass unmarked? No matter what happens, you can always play armchair analyst and try to figure out what went wrong.

Tags:   epic failure · NCsoft · Tabula RasaNo Comments.

Fallout 3 inherited a great deal from its developer’s last successful game: Oblivion. Although this means that Fallout 3 may not be the gameplay sequel some fans had hoped for, the final product is somewhat more accessible without losing that post-apocalyptic flavor.

Tags:   Bethesda Softworks · Fallout 3 · Review2 Comments