Nintendo has never been known for having good relations with third-party developers and it seems like they have no plans to change their ways.  E3 last month was a great example of how they simply fail to develop good relations.  None of the developers or publishers attending E3 knew a single thing about Wii MotionPlus until the moment Nintendo had their press conference.  LucasArts was more pissed off than any of the other companies considering the fact that Wii MotionPlus would have worked well with ‘The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels’, which is an exclusive title developed by LucasArts for the Wii.  

With that said, I have to wonder if Wii Motion Plus will be adopted by many developers, considering the fact they were basically left in the dark.  I’m sure we’ll eventually see some games, but that will probably be a year from now.  If Nintendo wants to continue their success, they simply need to improve the way they treat third-party developers.  Most of the third-party games we are seeing on the Wii tend to be gimmicky, cheap and simply pointless.  Improved third-party relations would increase the quality of Nintendo Wii games and certainly extend the life of the console.  Have they learned anything since the Game Cube?

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Conference, Hurt, LucasArts, MotionPlus, Nintendo, Nintendo Wii, Party, press, Third

The Red Faction: Guerilla Beta just received a very nice update for the Xbox 360 testing going on right now.  Gaming Today recently reported on the update and it certainly looks nice. The following changes have been reported:

• Fixed clients seeing excessive lag when performing destruction with the sledgehammer.
• Fixed a few crashes during gameplay.
• Fixed players sometimes dropping out during matchmaking.
• Fixed clients not seeing the countdown timer during matchmaking before there are enough players to launch the game.
• Fixed the countdown timer halting at zero without starting a match
• Fixed the excessive darkness of Deadzone.
• Added NAT type to the bottom right of the main menu.
• Changed patience dots to not cause a line break when matchmaking.
• Changed “BACK” to “DONE” on the match results screen.
• All party members can now hit Y to bring up their friends list in the party lobby, rather than just the leader.
• Finishing a match now awards 25 XP, rather than 5 XP.
• Removed the backpack info popup when you pick up a backpack.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: backpack, beta, Changed, countdown, Faction, Fixed, game, Guerilla, match, matchmaking, NAT, Party, Red, timer, update, Updated, Xbox

We’ll all get a chance to play FaceBreaker on September 5. This will be the first good “cartoony” boxing title we’ve seen in a very long time. So far, all the screenshots and gameplay videos look great. If you happen to own a Wii, there will also be a different version of the game titled FaceBreaker K.O. Party released for that console.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: cartoony, Chance, Facebreaker, gallery, game, Gameplay, Nintendo Wii, Party, Screens, September, time, title, version

Most of us recall the first game we really got into on the PC.  My first was Wizardry, a simple (yet complex for the time) dungeon crawler published by Sir-Tech.  Although there were some similar games at the time, this would probably be what I considered the first true “dungeon crawl”.  You start the game in a podunk town and have to create a party of up to six characters from an assortment of races including humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits and gnomes.  This was also one of the first games where you could choose alignment which included good, neutral and evil.  You could also choose from four classes for each of your characters including fighter, mage, thief and priest.  Later in the game, you could also upgrade certain characters to elite classes.    

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: assortment, character, crawl, crawler, Dungeon, game, Old, Party, PC.  My, podunk, School, series, Sir, Sir-Tech, time, town, Wizardry

“Listen Obama, take off those coke bottles and ‘choke hold’ those Republicans”

At Kezins.com, we do not talk religion, politics or salary.  I can’t say that for Star Wars conversations, and all the “What If’s” we ask each other… daily.  So, when you throw Star Wars into the mix, we’ll write about it.  Don’t kill the messenger but George Lucas has some strong comments, and I only understand them when he speaks ‘Star Wars’.  Correct he may be.

George Lucas has created legendary film heroes like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, but the US director says that in real life, his hero is Barack Obama.

Lucas was in Japan on Wednesday to promote his latest film, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” as Obama clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

“We have a hero in the making back in the United States today because we have a new candidate for president of the United States, Barack Obama,” Lucas said when asked who his childhood heroes were.

Obama, “for all of us that have dreams and hope, is a hero,” Lucas said.

Lucas is the creator of the blockbuster “Star Wars” series, as well as the adventures of the swashbuckling archaeologist Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford.

Obama on Tuesday sealed the Democratic contest after a marathon battle with Hillary Clinton, becoming the first black White House candidate nominated by a major party.

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: Barack, candidate, coke, com, Crystal Skull, Film, Force, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Hero, Hillary-Clinton, hold, Indiana, Japan, Jones, Kezins, Lucas, Luke Skywalker, Obama, Party, President, press, Star, United States, US

How many hairdo’s are wet in this picture?

Sexy Playboy babes, cellphones and games… yes I know I just mentioned two out of three necessities but how else can you call your friends to tell them what your playing. OK, there’s a lie to what I just said, What Friends?!

THQ Wireless Inc., a subsidiary of THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), today announced that it has signed a worldwide agreement with Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA, PLAA) to exclusively develop Playboy-branded mobile games. The multi-year Playboy agreement covers the development and publishing rights to multiple Playboy-branded, lifestyle themed, non-nude mobile games featuring bikini-clad Playmates to be released worldwide. The first title, Playboy Games: Pool Party, is scheduled to launch in summer 2008.

“Given the extensive appeal and popularity of the Playboy brand, mobile games based on this license are sure to provide a fun and entertaining experience,” said Adam Comiskey, vice president, international, THQ Wireless. “THQ Wireless is ideally positioned to provide engaging games with the hallmark of the Playboy lifestyle.”

“The number of Playboy fans around the world has never been greater and that popularity is reflected in the growing sales of Playboy-branded products and services,” said Ed Lang, senior vice president of mobile, Playboy Media Group. ”Given the growth of the mobile industry, we’re excited to join THQ Wireless in offering this next-generation form of entertainment to consumers.”

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written by Juan Perez \\ tags: Adam Comiskey, agreement, Chuck Woolery, Ed Lang, Inc, lifestyle, Mansion, nude women, Party, Playboy, Playboy Games, playboy nudes, Playboy-branded, Pool, Pool Party, popularity, President, release, thq, Vice, Wireless, Women in pool, worldwide