Want to play the Michael Jackson video game on PS3 and Xbox 360 this year? You'll have to beat it, because Ubisoft has delayed the HD versions of the game to next year. It's not all bad news, though. The publisher told IGN that "we're giving our teams more time to develop the Kinect and Move versions to ensure we deliver awesome experiences that take full advantage of the new technologies."

Before you say they don't care about us, the Wii and handheld versions of the game are unaffected by the delay. The Wii, DS and PSP versions are still planned to ship this November. Will you be there?

Michael Jackson Xbox & PS3 delayed to 2011, Wii and handhelds unaffected originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) attended a ribbon-cutting event for the Health West clinic in Aberdeen, Idaho. Crapo praised the clinic, which will specialize in assisting low-income patients in rural areas, saying, “What is happening right here in Aberdeen today is one of the core pieces of the solution that we need in America today.” What Crapo did not mention in his praise for Health West is that most of its funding came from the stimulus package that he opposed:

During a brief speech at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Sen. Crapo said the clinic is essential in providing efficient high-quality services in a rural community. He said the facility helps address two disturbing trends in U.S. health care ? skyrocketing cost of services and limited access to quality care.

?What is happening right here in Aberdeen today is one of the core pieces of the solution that we need in America today,? Crapo said. [...] Stephen Weeg, executive director for Health West in Southeast Idaho, said the clinic hopes to partner with the larger medical hospitals to bring in specialists once a month. Green light for the clinic did not come until stimulus money was made available.

Weeg said stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided $500,000 of the $660,000 project. Additional money came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About $74,000 was raised locally, with about $35,000 left to raise.

At the time of the passage of the stimulus bill, Crapo called it “an avalanche of special funding, much of which is unrelated to stimulating our economy as a whole.” It now appears that the senator realizes, at least implicitly, that it has provided funding to important projects like the West Health center that he calls “one of the core pieces of the solution that we need in America today.”

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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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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A study released today by former leaders of the 9/11 Commission finds that “terrorism is increasingly taking on an American cast.” Warning of “a much more diverse threat,” the report urges the U.S. government to prepare for “the radicalization and recruitment of Americans to terrorist ranks.” While the report rightly warns of threats from radical Muslim extremists, law enforcement officials should also be concerned about right-wing zealots, as a 2009 Homeland Security report warned.

For instance, this past Tuesday, the FBI arrested 26-year old Christian radical Justin Carl Moose in Concord, NC for “providing information to create explosives” to “blow up a North Carolina abortion clinic.” Through his conversations with an FBI informant and his Facebook page, Moose expressed virulent “anger at abortion doctors, President Barack Obama’s health care plan, and plans to build a mosque near ground zero in New York city.” He goes on to describe himself as “the Christian counterpart to Osama bin Laden” who “has learned a lot from the muslim terrorists and have no problem using their tactics”:

Justin Carl Moose, 26, is a self-described “extremist, radical” and the “Christian counterpart of Osama bin Laden,” according to an affidavit filed by FBI agents. [...]

“Whatever you may think about me, you’re probably right,” he wrote on his Facebook page, according to the affidavit.

“Extremist, Radical, Fundamentalist…? Yep! Terrorist…? Well, I prefer the term ‘freedom Fighter.’” [...]

Status updates posted beginning in January urge violence, FBI agents said in their affidavit.

“The Death Care Bill passed last night,” he wrote when Obama’s health care plan was approved in March. “Keep your phone and rifle close and wait.”[...]

“If a mosque is built on ground zero, it will be removed. Oklahoma City style. Tim’s not the only man out there that knows how to do it,” the affidavit says he wrote in July, in a reference to Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City.[...]

FBI agents obtained search warrants and started reading his private messages. In one sent to a fellow abortion opponent, agents say Moose wrote: “I have learned a lot from the muslim terrorists and have no problem using their tactics.”

According to WCNC-TV, a yellow “don’t tread on me” flag – the anthem of the Tea Party movement – hangs over the door to Moose’s family home. Watch it here:

Moose is self-attested member of “Army of God,” an “underground network of domestic terrorists who believe that the use of violence is appropriate and accetable as a means to end abortion.” According to its manual, the group’s purpose is to “officially declare war on the entire child killing industry.” Believing that “Our Most Dread Sovereign Lord God requires” bloodshed, members “are forced to take arms against” abortion clinics in which “execution is rarely gentile [sic].”

Arrested Tuesday, Moose will appear in federal court Monday. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Despite his arrest, Moose has no intention of surrending peacefully. In a post taunting the federal authorities monitoring him, he told “all the feds watching me: You can?t stop what is in motion. Even if you bring me in, my men will continue their mission. Furthermore, I will not go peacefully. Do you really want another Waco?”

In a recent Q&A session on Rockstar's Facebook page, the developer responded to a query about Mac support with terrific news for fans of the company's last-gen titles. "Look for the long-awaited release of the classic Grand Theft Auto Trilogy (Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) for Mac -- most likely later this year," Rockstar confirmed.

The Q&A promises that a proper announcement will arrive soon. Until then, we suggest you start planning your crime spree as soon as possible!

Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City and San Andreas pack coming to Mac originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, playing as the Taliban might be taboo now, but give it about 60 years. The latest trailer for the free-to-play Company of Heroes Online (currently in open beta) slyly promotes the Nazis' Terror Division, showing that time heals all wounds when it comes to video game enemies.

Continue reading Company of Heroes Online trailer shows how to serve the Fatherland

Company of Heroes Online trailer shows how to serve the Fatherland originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:00:00 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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Halo: Reach isn't even out in stores, but IGN has already found a way to exploit part of the game for the sake of easy Achievements. In this video, its outlines a surefire method for farming up a good amount of the game's cheevos by tweaking the customized Firefight system to be really hard and then giving yourself invincibility. Which means "you can basically shoot around in circles, and get massive amounts of points." Seems like fun ... we guess?

If nothing else, this shows off just how customizable the multiplayer system in Reach actually is. Bungie has made it so that the priority is coming up with fun gametypes with your friends, not just tweaking for as many points towards Achievement as possible. Not that we don't appreciate sweet, sweet cheevos, but that's not the only reason we're Firefighting against the Covenant, right? Right?

Continue reading Video: Halo: Reach Achievements made easy (and cheat-y)

Video: Halo: Reach Achievements made easy (and cheat-y) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viewing the GOP as “the party of ideas,” Republican Senate candidate Bill Binnie entered the New Hampshire senate race to “add my voice to economic challenges” as a self-described fiscal conservative who believes in a woman’s right to choose. According to Binnie, his pro-choice stance invited “over 1,000 pieces of mail” and threatening phone calls to his home. “We don’t answer our phone anymore,” he said.

In defending his pro-choice stance, he said, “I believe that the individual has the final say, not the government, in terms of how we live our lives.” He added, “There is a fight in my party for individual rights and what it means to be a Republican.” But as the GOP shifts towards a more radical stance, he says “it is a challenge” to “stand in a Republican primary” when the party “has morphed into parts that I don’t recognize”:

“My view of the Republican Party is the party of ideas. It morphed into parts that I don’t recognize. I think it’s one of the debates of my candidacy.” [...]

“I started out in this race to add my voice to economic challenges and my background,” he said. “I didn’t realize, you’re talking about the polarization, I am a centric New Hampshire citizen. I’m fiscally conservative, I’m socially moderate. I’m not an extremist in any way. And yet, as I stand up in a Republican primary, it is a challenge. That’s what I’ve learned from this process in the last few months.

“I went to a debate in Portsmouth and I was the only one when asked are you a social conservative, I said no,” Binnie said. “I couldn’t believe that. Everyone is a fiscal conservative and we all have to be social conservatives? I don’t think we all have to stand on the same square to be a Republican. That’s what this fight in my view has turned into. You could put a piece of paper between the substance of most of our decisions. By any measure I’m a conservative. Just ask my kids.”

Binnie is not the only Republican falling victim to the “hostile takeover” and radicalization of the GOP. The so-called “reasonable Republican” Rep. Bob Inglis criticized Republican leaders for the “lowest form of political leadership” and Tea Party-driven “demagoguery” that is “dividing the country into partisan camps that really look a lot like Shia and Sunni.” Though he received “a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union,” he lost in his primary run-off.

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), who fell victim to a Tea Party backlash, slammed the GOP for letting tea parties and Fox News lead it by the nose. Echoing Binnie’s sentiments, Bennett noted, “I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas.”

TimeGate Studios has just announced a sequel to its multiplayer-focused 2009 multiplatform FPS, Section 8. Titled Section 8: Prejudice, the game -- destined for yet-unknown platforms, though the original hit PC, 360 and PS3 -- is targeted for an "early 2011" release.

Based on the first trailer (which you can find after the break), we're looking at new abilities, locations and weaponry. The title, as the clip's narrator so gruffly puts it, comes from the fact that in the game's universe, wars are being fought based on -- wait for it -- prejudice.

In this universe, we do our best to combat prejudice through tolerance, understanding and generally not pre-judging people. We don't need fancy power-armor, though it's admittedly pretty damn cool.

Continue reading TimeGate judges Section 8: Prejudice ready for debut, 'early 2011' release

TimeGate judges Section 8: Prejudice ready for debut, 'early 2011' release originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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