They say ignorance is bliss. Based on this tutorial video for Hothead's Swarm, however, ignorance is apparently tantamount to suicide. Watch the video for an extended look at Swarm's gameplay, and to learn just how delightfully expendable your little Swarmites are.

Continue reading Gather around this Swarm tutorial video

Gather around this Swarm tutorial video originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared on Fox News today to bash President Obama’s recent proposal to help small businesses and jump start the economy. Dubbing it “TARP III,” Steele said Obama’s plan wouldn’t work because it focuses on extending credit lines to small business, which Steele claimed “they don’t need”:

STEELE: What we have right now is more of the same, you have the president proposing a small business bill, which is nothing more than TARP III or mini-TARP, in which basically, you’re going to put money into financial institutions on the assumption that small businesses are going to go and take out credit loans, or credit lines — they don’t need that.

Watch it:

Steele’s dismissal of the need to extend credit lines to small businesses is curious, considering that he touted the very idea as a key Republican proposal just last week on Sean Hannity’s Fox show:

STEELE: Republican leadership on the Hill has offered time and time again and will continue to do so until they take the majority in November when they can actually begin to act and put into place these policies that empower small businesses by creating — helping them create jobs by opening up capital and credit markets.

And on September 1st, Steele questioned Democratic efforts to help small businesses precisely because he claimed they didn’t extend enough credit to those firms. “[L]ook at the bill,” Steele told pundit Roland Martin on his podcast, “does it do for small businesses what small businesses need to have done? How much credit and capital is it made accessible to them?”

In fact, Steele has repeatedly expounded on the need to extend credit to small businesses. For example, in June on CNBC, countering the notion that Republicans haven’t presented any ideas, Steele said, “We talked about freeing up the capital markets and credit markets to allow small business to access that capital and credit so they can invest.”

Last year, on ABC’s This Week, Steele attacked the administration for not doing the very thing he is attacking them for doing today:

STEELE: And I didn’t hear anything from [White House economic advisor Larry] Summers that assured me or reassured me that this administration gets it when it comes to how you create wealth in this nation. It is not by spending dollars on programs that you can put in a separate bill and deal with later on, instead its focusing on, you know, tax credits and relief for small-business owners, incentives for people to get back into the credit markets.

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reports that Steele spokesman Doug Heye later clarified his boss’ comment, explaining that “Steele was referring to small businesses not needing the bill overall, and wasn’t focused specifically on the lines of credit.” He also cited a study saying that consumer confidence is more important than credit lines for small businesses.

Filed under: Podcasts

We're in that weird space between PAX and TGS, and we've marked the lull with a heavy dose of gaming, everything from Dragon Age to Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Unfortunately, we don't talk about any of those on this episode. ... No, we do, we do. Just trying to mix it up.

Also, thanks to us for authorizing Alan Black to use his photoshopping powers on this image.

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Hosts: Justin McElroy (@justinmcelroy), Ludwig Kietzmann (@ludwigk) and Chris Grant (@chrisgrant)
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See all of this week's links after the jump.

Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 152 - Not the bad one edition

Joystiq Podcast 152 - Not the bad one edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PC Gamer has posted the latest round of its Valve interview series, and today it's all about Portal 2. The interview covers a range of topics, including how GLaDOS tries to pit players against each other in co-op mode -- something we heard about during E3 -- and designing puzzles that require four portals to solve.

One of the most interesting bits revealed is that Valve originally toyed with the idea of not using portals at all. "What if [the Portal franchise] was always about introducing a new puzzle element that you're going through?" asked Valve's Erik Wolpaw. "It's about Aperture Science, and now you're going through this new testing track with this new element." The team tried using both paint (which is in Portal 2 as gel) and a gravity gun as central mechanics, but every tester wound up wanting the portal gun back (and who can blame them?).

Speaking of paint, Wolpaw revealed that there is another kind of gel in addition to the propulsion and repulsion gels. This third gel is apparently "sticky" and PC Gamer postulates that it may enable players to walk on walls, though Wolpaw noted Valve is still "working on it." Check out the full interview for more Portal goodness.

Valve: There was a Portal 2 without portals originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Swaddled in cotton, and hand-delivered by a MJOLNIR-clad stork, please welcome the newest addition to our video game family: Halo Reach Legendary Edition. We didn't want to deprive you of the joys of living vicariously through this delivery, so we broke out the ol' DSLR and snapped off some pics, found in the gallery below. And don't worry, we'll be giving this mammoth package away to one of you soon enough.

Noble Pix: Halo Reach Legendary Edition unboxing originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next week's Rock Band DLC represents quite the buffet of artists. Dio's "Holy Diver" and "Stand Up and Shout" are in there, but you'll have to wait until Rock Band 3 to play the band's classic "Rainbow in the Dark." There's also a double-dose of Morrissey with "Irish Blood, English Heart" from his later solo days and "This Charming Man" from The Smiths era. Finally, you'll find tracks from Juliana Hatfield, Silverchair and Underoath. Check out the details after the break.

Continue reading Rock Band Weekly: Dio, Morrissey and many more

Rock Band Weekly: Dio, Morrissey and many more originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alright, alright -- that's not the only thing that we gleaned from this latest Shaun White Skateboarding trailer. Unfortunately, the clip front-loads the smelly snow boot situation on us. There's some Wii gameplay too, we promise!

Continue reading Shaun White Skateboarding showcases smelly boots

Shaun White Skateboarding showcases smelly boots originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier today, Imam Muhammad al-Masri, the head of a central Florida mosque, brokered an agreement with hate pastor Terry Jones whereby Jones would back off his pledge to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. Jones asserted that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf had “agreed to move” his Islamic center project near Ground Zero.

In a telephone conversation with ThinkProgress tonight, Daisy Khan — the wife of Imam Rauf — said there was no such deal made. She said Imam Masri had called her earlier today to ask whether Imam Rauf would be open to negotiating a relocation with Jones, and she said no.

Jones asserted earlier today that he and Masri are “flying up” to New York on Saturday to meet with Rauf. Khan told ThinkProgress that, while she and her husband are prepared to meet with Jones and Masri, she had not agreed to a meeting this Saturday. She said she told Masri that such a meeting should take place sometime in the future “when cooler heads have prevailed.” She explained that she would prefer not to meet with Jones on Saturday:

We do not want to take away from the solemn day of 9/11. Our Center is not about 9/11, the Quran is not about 9/11, we wish to commorate 9/11 with prayers for the families of the victims.

Khan also told us, “We reject any comparison to what we are prepared to build in NY and what Pastor was ready to destroy in Florida.” So what were the motivating factors for Masri and Jones to announce tonight’s deal?

For Masri, he likely felt pressure to make things happen quickly. Tomorrow, Muslims in America will be congregating in mosques to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, a religious holiday to mark the end of a month of fasting. Masri likely wanted an announcement this evening so that the Eid celebration is not used to engender more animosity and division.

For Jones, as I told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann tonight, he probably felt like he needed a scapegoat in backing down. Jones had not previously linked the Quran burning effort to the Islamic Center project. Jones was trapped in a box because he received the call from Secretary Robert Gates that he had been requesting, asking that the pastor not proceed with his plans. In backing down, Jones — who had taken the world hostage with his hate-filled campaign — shifted the controversy back unto Rauf. Watch it:

Did you know that Kratos is the most popular PlayStation character (with Nathan Drake a close second)? And did you know that 40% of PS3 gamers can't be in a relationship with someone that "gets in the way of their gaming"? Sony shared some fun facts for its 15th anniversary.

30% of surveyed PS3 owners own more than 20 games, and other fun facts originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BioWare's Witch Hunt DLC for Dragon Age: Origins has been affected by a few unfortunate bugs during its launch, executive producer Mark Darrah admitted on the company's forums. "Unfortunately, there is a continuity bug that is causing issues with a subset of our player base. While this issue is not affecting the majority of people, it is still a significant issue that we will address," Darrah said last night.

Furthermore, an issue with saved games not reflecting the DLC's completion is currently being looked into -- our own reviewer even ran into this particular glitch -- which could be troublesome for those hoping to import the DLC's outcome into next year's Dragon Age 2. Darrah also added, "We apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing anyone," and said his team is "doing everything we can to fix this in a timely manner so those who are affected can go back to enjoying Witch Hunt as soon as possible."

BioWare working to resolve 'continuity bug' in Dragon Age's Witch Hunt DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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