3/31/08

I’m sorry I missed the review this weekend. I got some exciting news Friday that should be revealed by this time tomorrow.

 

In real news, score one for Kotaku. They got the same cease and desist from Sega that Destructoid. The difference is Kotaku apparently has a legal department; and they fought it. As long as this video is online the press wins. Yay Kotaku!

 

Microsoft is stepping up their digital video distribution. There will be six new short shows produced specifically for Xbox Live. Now if they had native podcast support I think they’d be a full-fledged service.

 

Capcom went to the grocery store and picked up K2. The news is all over the web, but I have to wonder what the big deal is. Were the last three Tenchu games way better than I remember?

 

The UK and Canada are feeling some friction. Merry old’ seems to have it’s knickers in a twist over Canada’s incentives to get developers to set up shop in great white north. That’s right, the UK is going to complain to the WTO about video game developers coming to North America. I didn’t realize it was possible to anger former empires by stealing their unsung content producers. Way to grief, Canada. You do the continent proud. Read about it here.

3/28/08

I’m jealous. I want a cease and desist too! Sega told Destructoid to take down their Sonic Unleashed content. Their write up wasn’t even as complete, factually, as the content I have right here. At least it wasn’t initially, I’m not sure if they updated it at any point. Oh well, maybe someday I’ll get nasty legal threats too.

 

The specs for "Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One" (That’s annoying to type, and impossible to abbreviate! PAAORSPDEO? God fucking damn it Mike.) They’re all over the net, but I found them here. It looks like Hothead is doing it right for a mass-market game. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t have enough machine to run this game; plus it runs on Mac, Linux, and Windows. If other studios started developing for multiple platforms Windows might be in trouble.

3/27/08

 

Warhammer Online was pushed back until Fall of 08. You don’t have to dig too deeply to see that Mythic has a few issues to address, and hopefully this extra time will allow them to do just that. With the bad comes the good however, there’s a pretty snazzy list of bonuses for everyone who preorders the collector’s edition.

 

 

The PSN has been HAXORED!! Sony admits unauthorized access to personal information, including the PlayStation wallet and passwords. I hope none of my lovely readers were effected; but I really think it’s time for Sony to upgrade their Gibson.

3/26/08

Netflix is still toying with the idea of streaming video to the Xbox 360. They recently polled their users about doing just that, but there has been no word on any sort of partnership. I have to wonder what Microsoft thinks about all this, since they’re probably making good money with their own digital video delivery system.

 

I cannot tell you how entertaining JT’s trial is. If you (justifiably) have not been paying attention to this case, JT is no longer able to file with a court unless another Bar certified attorney writes it off. GamePolitics has been running a series of court transcripts since the 3/18. I highly recommend you read them to discover how "gaming’s biggest threat" protects himself. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

3/25/08

On one hand a petty thief getting pwnt by the internet is hilarious. On the other hand the degree to which he was pwnt is a bit troublesome. I believe the owner of that second link is taking the information down, but it had everything you’d need to harass or stalk the kid. Since the cops were unable/unwilling (which is worse?) to do anything about the case I support the web’s results, I’m just worried about the lack of due process.

Other than that the news front has been pretty quiet. I’m still working on the random content (read: filler) that I can post on days like today. Sorry for the small post.

3/24/08

Sonic the Hedgehog. Here’s what we think we know: it’s 2d game design with 3d graphics but not like “Sonic 3d Blast” (Flickies’ Island to you MegaDrive people), it’s being developed by Sonic Team, Hyper Sonic (maybe they’ll just call him Super Sonic, but those quills are upturned damnit!) is in there, and so far the only non-blue-hedgehogs are Tails, Knuckles, Robotnik…. and Sonic. He turns into a wolf now. I’ve allready admitted to being a Sonic fanboy, so it was hard for me to not get excited about this sort of news, then I heard about the wolf thing. I promise to give it to you straight when the game finally releases.

In “I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up” news: Gibson is going after Harmonix too. It sort of seems like Gibson is patent trolling; I mean when where they planning on getting around entering the “virtual musical performance” racket? Maybe I missed their job posting for programmers. Also, since when can you patent genres of games? I’m filing for “war simulator,” “fast rodent simulator,” “Plummers who jumps on turtles simulator,” and I’m trademarking “Murder simulator,” just to spite JT.

Yet another story seeing resolution: Remember the kid who sent his autographed 360 in to the repair center, and the scrubbed all his signatures off it? Fixed. MS sent him some games, and a new 360 autographed by folks from Bungie and Microsoft including Bill “I <3 Linux" Gates. Microsoft, you done good. You done good.

Word on the street is Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 is buggy. Most of the problems seem to be centered around the online multipalyer. Ooops. Ubisoft’s probably working on a fix; but it seems strange that the PC game I bought this week works fine while the console game I was considering is broken.

Frontlines Video Review

3/21/08

Remember a few days ago when I was talking about Acer making either high end gaming PCs or getting into the console arena? The final answer was gaming PCs. I’m still not convinced they can do it; but their odds for success are a lot higher than if they tried to go for the console market. So, that rumor is squashed.

Continuing the theme of wrapping up older stories, there is a patch out for Bully. I haven’t heard any additional complaints, so I assume everything’s peachy now. Let me know if you notice anything odd with your copy.

I’ve been silent on the issue for a while; I just don’t like talking about this subject. Today the veil of silence ends; here are some transcripts from Jack Thompson’s Bar Trial. I suppose we all knew JT’s practices weren’t right, but to see how he behaves in court… well it just cements the thought. Well, that and the sanctions against him. Does this mean Fox news will stop caring about what he has to say?

Activision piped up a bit today about the Gibson lawsuit. I didn’t bring it up before because, well honestly? I don’t care about lawsuits. But since Activision went through all the trouble of including games media in the press release…

Gibson’s lawsuit is a transparent end run around an impartial court that Activision asked on March 11 to rule on patent assertions that Gibson knows have no merit. Our Guitar Hero retailing partners have done nothing wrong. We will confront this and any other efforts by Gibson to wrongfully interfere with Activision’s relationship with its customers and its consumers.

As Activision noted in its filing, Gibson waited three years to make its patent allegations, and only did so after it became clear that Activision was not interested in renewing its marketing and support agreement with Gibson. Activision continues to believe that Gibson’s claims are disingenuous and lack any justification.

3/20/08

Okay, this first story is a wad of hype with a tasty nugget of news hidden within. I wouldn’t expect any less from Peter Molyneux. Your character in his upcoming game – I think you know the game I mean – will use currency from three different arcade games. While I doubt you’re required to purchase any of the three $5-$10 in addition to the $60 retail disc, but I bet it gives you enough of an advantage in game to make it tempting. If you want to start getting excited about Fable, you can click here.

I’m going to get $100 off my PS3. See, I was one of those suckers who bought a HD-DVD drive at Best Buy a few months ago. In their graciousness, my neighbors are offering $50 gift cards in exchange for my primary dvd player. I will hold on to that $50 card until the price drop sometime late this summer. Genius!

That’s about it for news today. I’m going to be wrapping up the recording for Frontlines on the 360 tonight. Want to be in the video? Friend GeorgeDorn on XBL and be online ~6pm Central. See you there.

3/19/08

Interesting news from Gamasutra. GameStop 1) predicts Wii shortages to continue for at least 6 months, 2) expects price drops of at least $50 on both the PS3 and 360, and 3) is looking for continued growth despite the recession. Let’s break down one and two a little.

The Wii shortages are obvious, the Wii is the new NES in terms of market penetration. I suspect nearly every house in America will have on in it at some point; so let’s hope 3rd parties can get the ball rolling. The last time the gaming industry saw a console like this it was possible to make simple games that formed the hardcore gaming community. Will the magic happen a second time?

The price drops aren’t really a surprise. The real question to me is when. For the PS3 I’m predicting it will hit just before fall. They’ll move a bunch of units off GT5/MGS’s steam and then lower the price. As for the 360? Well, I don’t see any reason to put it off. Maybe after GTA, so the beginning of May?

CPL has been dead for about a week now. It took 6 days for this news to reach me. Thankfully CAL is still up and running. Is this a sign of the times, or did CAL simply dominate the PC tournament scene? If you don’t know what I’m talking about; go play more PC games.

Maybe this would help the 360 sell in Japan.

Next Page »