Blitz Arcade Bring Xbox Indie Clover To PC

Binary Tweed’s hit Xbox Indie Game Clover is reborn as Clover: A Curious Tale, as the developer partners with Blitz Arcade to bring the watercolor political platformer to the PC.

Dreams really do come true! Though sometimes heavy-handed in its message, the Xbox Live Indie puzzle-platformer Clover was an amazing accomplishment for Binary Tweed. Blitz Games Studios recognizes this, bringing the story of orphaned teen Sam to the PC via its downloadable division, Blitz Arcade.

“It’s fantastic to be working with Blitz Games Studios. As stalwarts of the UK games industry, the Oliver Twins were responsible for many of the games I played growing up, giving the relationship between Binary Tweed and Blitz 1UP a common cultural background. Partnering with a company of such experience is exactly the kind of route that I hoped Xbox Live Indie Games development would make accessible.”

Clover: A Curious Tale will feature many improvements over the original version, including a completely remastered piano score, new puzzles, voice acting, and new ambient effects. They’ve also improved the animation and added a new intro and ending, making this the ultimate version of Clover and a must-buy for fans of the original.

The game is being released as part of Blitz’s 1UP initiative, dedicated to assisting independent developers in bringing their titles to the market. No word on when Clover is coming to the market, but it’s good to know that it’s making its way.

Help Sony Create Even More Upsetting and Controversial Ads

Sony loves to make unsettling ads that appear designed to offend rather than sell video games. Fair enough, Sony! But I think we can beat them at their own game.

Create a twisted PlayStation 3 ad for Sony, and send it to me at contests@gizmodo.com with Sony Ad in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs, and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Send your work to me by next Tuesday morning, and I’ll pick three top winners and show off the rest of the best in our Gallery of Champions. Get to it! [Original image from Charlie White's "Understanding Joshua" series]

Are You Bad Enough For Data East Arcade Classics?

Fifteen classic arcade games are heading to the Wii early next year, courtesy of Majesco and the Data East Arcade Classics collection. Are you a bad enough dude?

Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja is just one of the many excellent arcade titles Data East created back in the day. Titles like BurgerTime, Side Pocket, and Magical Drop are all the sort of arcade games that you forget about until someone mentions them, and then you’re flooded with fond memories. Majesco hopes to help you recapture those memories with Data East Arcade Classics for Wii, a collection of fifteen of the best games Data East had to offer, with full multiplayer support so you can share them with friends and family. Other games in the compilation include Burnin’ Rubber, Heavy Barrel, Caveman Ninja, Side Pocket, and BurgerTime sequel Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory. If those names don’t get you excited, then you’re probably much younger than I am.

Data East Arcade Classics should hit the Wii early next year, priced to move at $19.99.

APB Beta Hits The Streets Next Week

After a good month and a half of grilling potential participants about all aspects of their lives, Realtime Worlds is ready to get its beta test on for gangland MMO APB.

Realtime Worlds CEO Gary Dale was on hand at the Tech Media Invest conference in London, where he confirmed that the game some describe as a persistent world Grand Theft Auto would slowly begin letting in beta testers next week. One would expect those accepted into the test to find out extremely soon. Dale also made a point of mentioning that the number of beta participants would steadily increase leading up to next year’s launch, so don’t give up on it, baby.

I honestly have no idea where that last bit came from.

APB beta to go live next week [GamesIndustry.Biz]

Wii Update 4.2 Is Killing Wiis Dead

The Nintendo support forums and our tips email alike are packed with reports that Wii system update 4.2 is doing horrible things to Wii consoles, and not just the modded ones.

A quick scan of the Nintendo tech support forum tells the tale of a system update gone slightly awry. The update is freezing halfway through. The update is giving system errors informing customers that their Wii has been modified and then failing to start. There are even reports of random disk read errors following the update. While some of the problems can be attributed to modified systems, customers are reporting issues with units right out of the box.

Kotakuite Crazy Weavile submitted a possible explanation for the problems on the Nintendo forums, suggesting that the latest update irresponsibly updated the system’s bootloader, only to find himself banned shortly thereafter.

While no help is on the horizon for modded console owners, Nintendo tech Jane posted a message in the forums yesterday instructing owners of unmodded Wiis to send their units in for a free repair.

Some of you have reported problems with your Wii console after updating to the Wii System Menu 4.2. The symptoms most people are describing usually occur when the Wii has been modified. However, some of you also mention your system has never been modified.

We’d like to help get your system working properly again. If you’re experiencing problems with your Wii console after downloading Wii System Menu 4.2, and you believe your system has not been modified, please give us a call. If we find that you have a normal system and the update caused your system to not work, we’ll repair it at no charge.

Please call our Customer Service Department at your earliest convenience, 1-800-255-3700. We are open 6 AM to 7 PM, Pacific Time, 7 days a week.

Plants Vs. Zombies In The Streets Of New York

Downloadable defense game sensation Plants vs. Zombies invades the nation’s largest Halloween celebration, as hordes of zombies and their leafy foes take to the streets in New York City’s 36th Annual Village Halloween Parade.

Popcap Games is an official sponsor of this year’s Village Halloween Parade, and they’re not content to be represented by a lousy street sign. No, they’re forming a Plants vs. Zombies troupe to march in the parade, inviting fans of the game, zombie groupies, and “macabre gardening types” to come celebrate with them on October 31st. The company is attempting to make this year’s event the largest zombie gathering in parade history, going as far as to extending special invitations to zombie enthusiast organizations such as NYC Zombie Crawl and ZombieCon.

If I were in New York City, I would totally go as a plant.

“Plants vs. Zombies seems to inspire people to new heights of zaniness, and we have the photos to prove it,” laughed Garth Chouteau, vice president of public relations at PopCap. “We wanted to give those rabid PvZ fans a fun time and place to gather and celebrate their passion for the game. What better way than marching up 6th Avenue in New York’s historic Halloween parade!”

The parade kicks off at 7PM on Halloween night. If you’re in the area, you probably won’t want to miss it. And hey, bring the kids! It’s an excellent alternative to keeping them locked in the closet all night for their own safety.

Hunting For Innovation in Dante’s Inferno

To do more than use Dante’s Inferno as a colorful setting for a generic game the Electronic Arts developers have to find interesting ways to tap into the themes of the poet’s nine hells.

At least that’s what I told executive producer Johnathan Knight during a chat in Tokyo last week.

While the multiplatform game seems to be shaping up (Knight told me the team is busy “polishing like crazy.”), it’s not doing much to impress itself as an innovative title. At least not yet.

I told Knight that if the game wants to stand apart from titles like God of War it needs to make better use of the circles of hell. Both the game and the poem it is based upon have Dante traveling down through hell from the first circle of hell, limbo, to the final, treachery.

So far, having played a bit in limbo and violence, the game seems to me to be using this rich settings as backdrops. Granted, the design of enemies, from the unbaptized babies in spider form to the lustful demons, are quite creative. But there is so much more potential in the setting.

Wouldn’t it be neat, I theorized to Knight, if the game could somehow more subtly tap the themes of those nine circles through gameplay mechanic and not just art design. What if lust had you playing the game in a way that made you massage the controller in a sensuous rhythm. Or if in the fifth circle, the one devoted to wrath and sloth, gamers ping-ponged between furious button mashing and pregnant pauses?

While Knight declined to talk details, he did say there are some interesting mechanics that pop-up in the game, each tied to different circles.

He pointed this out after explaining why the team didn’t create the game starting with the prologue and ending with the final confrontation in hell. Instead, he said, the jumped around while designing the game.

“We started with limbo, the second level of the game and the first ring of hell,” Knight said. “I wanted to do the introduction last.

“That way when we go to make our first impressions we’ve already learned a lot.”

Gluttony, in particular, was a level that the team didn’t want to do early. It is, Knight said, different from the rest.

“I can’t talk about details, but there is something unique in that level that is integral to that sin.”

You will, he added, see something like that throughout the game.

“In Anger? Lust?” I asked.

“To varying degrees,” he said. “The creative team really pushed things.”

New Xbox 360 Samurai Shodown Looks Like This

SNK Arcade title Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny is coming to the Xbox 360 this December in Japan and this November in North America.

But before that, here is a game trailer.

This is the 15th anniversary of the Samurai Shodown series, and the game is packed with 24 fighters. The title is being developed by K2 LLC, the developer behind Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven.

2009 Can Not End Soon Enough

As seen on Go Nintendo.

Peter Molyneux Haaaates Demos

Designer of the Fable series, Peter Molyneux is not a fan of game demos. Don’t freak out just yet — he has a good reason why.

“Now, I hate demos,” Molyneux tells website Edge Online. “I think demos are the death knell of experiences. Over the years I’ve done demos and they’ve either completely ruined the game, given too much to the player, or they’ve confused people, so I said that we should give away the very first 45 minutes of the game, completely free, and just before you get to Bowerstone up comes this message saying, ‘If you want to continue playing press this button, but if you want to buy the rest of the game, press this’. So people that are interested but don’t want to commit to the full purchase can play more, and people that are into it can buy all of it, and they don’t lose experience or gold they’ve collected.”

Instead of a separate demo, it sounds like Molyneux would rather allow players to start playing the actual title. If they like it, they can buy the game. If not, they can stop and be done with it. Kind of like flipping through a book in a bookstore, but without the ability to sit in said bookstore all day and read the book free of charge. Dammit.

“If you think to the future I think you can see a world in which the close relationship with the customer that digital affords is going to completely change the way players pay for games,” adds Molyneux. That future, argues the designer, should be fairly priced so that players are “second mortgaging [their] house” every time they’re buying an episode.

Interview: Peter Molyneux [Edge]