It’s rare to see third-party companies put a lot of work into fostering a community for their portable games, even less so for titles 6+ months away from launching, but n-Space and Square Enix are working hard to build up hype for online/co-op action RPG Heroes of Ruin.

The site they’ve launched — which they promise to update nearly every day — has more than you’ll find at most hubs for DS/3DS games. Even in its initial phase (with more phases on the way), the site already has active forums, a contest for a custom 3DS, and an XP system that promises unspecified bonuses for user participation.

Yesterday, n-Space also launched an informative podcast that has British dudes talking about Heroes of Ruin’s difficulty scaling (based on number and level of players), Borderlands-esque loot randomization, and Pat Benatar.

Now all we need is a gameplay trailer! There’s a blurry, shaky-cam video making the rounds, but it does a poor job of showing what the game looks like in motion.

Preorder: Heroes of Ruin

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: More Heroes of Ruin posts

tags / heroes of ruin / n-space / podcast / square enix / nintendo 3ds / 3ds / gaming / ec

UK gaming radio show One Life Left hosts a semi-regular segment in which the entertaining Mathew Kumar elects a “Best Worst Game”, inviting listeners to try out interesting but flawed titles, such as Skip’s Art Style: BoxLife:

“When I was a student, fresh in my first year, I decided to get a job in a factory rather than somewhere sensible like at a Carphone Warehouse. The hours were longer, but I knew it was going to pay more.

So, when I went for the interview, thanks to my university education, I was given a job in quality assurance. My job was to open the boxes the factory produced, check them, then reassemble them. And so I did this for 12 hours a night, every night, all summer.

I never had the feeling that what I did had any point or any idea that the boxes were going to do anything useful. And all the money that I made was just frittered away on the pointless improvements to my life. They were just pointless. …

[BoxLife] captures everything about that one summer I worked in a factory and its sublime education in futility for the uninitiated.”

My transcription likely isn’t 100% accurate, as I couldn’t pick out  a few words from Kumar’s thick Scottish accent. You can listen to the segment yourself in this week’s episode of One Life Left, starting around the 46:45 mark.

Buy: U.S. Matte Black and Blue DSi

Import: Japanese Nintendo DSi (White, Black, Pink, Lime Green, Metallic Blue)

See also: Boxlife Cribs, Tiny Preview: Art Style: HacoLife (and DSiWare to an extent)

tags / boxlife / art style / hacolife / skip / mathew kumar / podcast / one life left / ec

You guys don’t need me to tell you that there’s a new Retronauts podcast out — if you know about our little site, odds are pretty good you’ve heard of 1up as well. But I wanted to bring your attention to this one, because a) it celebrates the Game Boy (and other stuff), and b):

So, we’re trying a new format for the show: a series of smaller segments on specific topics, consisting of one-on-one (or one-on-two conversations as necessary) between the host and someone familiar with and knowledgeable about the topic.

There will be less shouting, which means people will complain because the show “lacks energy.” There will be fewer large-scale topics, which means people will complain because the show “lacks depth.” And so it goes.

If you’re not, in general, a fan of video game podcasts, you may be surprised by just how nice this new format is. It is, like Parish says, way less shouty. I’ve been struggling with podcast formats for a long time, trying to come up with something unique and listenable. The Retronauts team has demonstrated why they’re at the top of the field with this refresh. It is a perfect… podcast!

tags / retronauts / podcast / jc

A lot of gaming sites (I assume) hope to one day put together a podcast similar to the quality and format of Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life — Robert Ashley actually made one, while the rest of us sat around with the fantasy in our heads, where it existed unknown to our idle hands and the ears of potential listeners.

If you’ve never listened to TAL, it’s an entertaining hour-long radio show (with a shorter television series running on Showtime), each episode collecting stories around a theme, like matchmaking or being afraid to sleep. Ashley’s A Life Well Wasted podcast borrows the format and presentation, sharing interesting interviews on video games and the people who love them, in high fidelity.

The monthly show’s most recent episode, “Gotta Catch ‘em All,” explores the efforts of collectors and archivists, visiting a vintage pinball museum and investigating a Stanford University program seeking to save the history of online gaming. There are only two episodes so far, but already it’s one of my favorite podcasts, which isn’t saying much actually, as I can’t be arsed to listen to any other video game programs other than Penny Arcade’s.

On a related note, our own JC Fletcher had a somewhat cameo in Joystiq’s most recent podcast, lending his vast knowledge of video games no one else bothers to remember. The segment starts around the 01:09:05 mark, and JC’s contribution, though offscreen, is pretty funny!

This was a lot of text for a random link post. TLDR: A Life Well Wasted is a good podcast for a lazy Sunday.

tags / a life well wasted / joystiq / robert ashley / podcast / this american life / ec

I missed last week’s 1UP FM podcast due to holiday freak-outishness, which means that I missed a 35-minute interview with Jeremiah Slaczka, Creative Director of 5th Cell, and Matt Cox, lead designer of Scribblenauts. It’s definitely worth checking out, as is anything related to Scribblenauts.

It’s pretty interesting to hear Slaczka’s perspective on the big user-generated content boom of this year, since 5th Cell kind of anticipated it with Drawn to Life.

(The post title isn’t meant to imply rambling — I was just looking for a speech equivalent to scribbling.)

See also: Tiny Q&A: Lock’s Quest and producing art for DS

tags / 5th cell / 1up / podcast / scribblenauts / drawn to life / jc

I’ll know I’m living my life right when I get to appear on the Retronauts podcast. Until then, I am secure in the knowledge that I am a lowly and worthless person. This week’s podcast is especially excellent, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Famicom. I’ve decided that I’m going to get a Japanese system now. I’ve always wanted one, and for some reason, the Famicom, with its pre-wired controllers and candy-colored cartridges, seems more enjoyable than the NES. Plus, of course, I want to play all the kusoge that never made it here.

The lineup is packed with Famicom experts: Christian Nutt (who wrote a huge Famicom retrospective five years ago for Gamespy,) Chris Kohler (who wrote a whole damn book about early Nintendo), Jeremy Parish (all-around awesome retro guy), Shane Bettenhausen (who seems to know and own every game) and Ray Barnholt (who, along with Parish, wrote a wonderful series of Famicom blog posts to celebrate the 25th anniversary — and who is also the man behind the exhaustive Game Center CX guide).

tags / retronauts / famicom / podcast / jc