Archive for May, 2006:
Halo Movie Delayed?
A movie based on Bungie’s Halo game was originally scheduled for a Summer 2007 release, but now IMDb lists the movie with a “sometime 2008″ release date. The movie, still without a director, is produced by Peter Jackson and his WingNut Films production company. Microsoft paid Alex Garland (28 Days Later) $1 Million dollars to write the screenplay, and then sold it to universal for $10 Million.
Koreans Are Too Addicted
South Korea probably has the most extreme gamer culture in the world, where 2.4% of the population aged 9-34 are addicted to videogames. South Korea also has the the biggest professional league in the world, and of course dedicated TV channels showing nothing but videogames.
“I guess I knew I was becoming addicted, but I couldn’t stop myself, I stopped changing my clothes. I didn’t go out. And I began to see myself as the character in my games.”
says Kim, recalled from a clinic where he was undergoing counseling. In 2005, 10 teenagers died from playing video games for a long period of time without a break. In Taegu, South Korea, a 28-year-old man died after playing an online game for over 50 hours without a break.
Seems like we westerners have a lot of catching up to do.
Read more here. (Washington Post)
PlayStation 3 Still Too Big
Rumors are going around that Sony is having trouble fitting the PS3 hardware into its smooth, curvy box. Leaked images of the dev kit show the size is just about a normal computer case. How Sony will fit that in the final case is unknown, one idea suggests further cutbacks on features like backwards capability. Like we didn’t have enough cutbacks from Sony since E3.
Hitman Blood Money Patch
Earlier today Ubisoft released a patch for the new Hitman game, fixing a few bugs, most importantly performance improvement on low-end machines and crashes to desktop.
- Fix to the low performance problems that have been experienced on some hardware configurations.
- After extended play sessions game could crash to desktop when transitioning between levels.
- Items could become stuck in mid-air if game was saved and then loaded directly after a throwing action.
- Hitman Logo on Main Menu could disappear at 1280×720 resolution.
- Screen borders on cutscenes could be displayed badly at certain screen resolutions.
- Game could crash if menu is invoked on death sequence after a 3 headshot revival has been performed.
- Game could crash if when loading and saving within certain locations after making changes to render options.
- Fix to blurring of Weapon Upgrade Icons when running at LOW in render options.
- Fix for very occasional graphics corruption when using fibre-wire in 1st person and moving camera very quickly.
- Fix for slightly oversized Red dot scope zoom.
You can get the patch here (Mentalgamers).
Official site: www.hitmanbloodmoney.com
PSP Tilt Sensor
[gv data="http://www.youtube.com/v/jTm-EbnlCk0"][/gv]
Some guy managed to build a custom tilt sensor for his PSP, just like the one used inside the PlayStation 3 controllers.Watch him playing Mercury with the device.
Halo 2 PC Info
Bungie’s weekly update includes lots of information on the upcoming Windows Vista title Halo 2. Halo 2 will feature new maps exclusively for the PC version. You will also be able to run the game using a DirectX 9 graphics card, while for full eye candy you will need a DX10 compatible card. Read the rest of the news here (Bungie.net).
Mercenaries 2 Causing Controversy
The lawmakers in Venezuela are pretty upset over Mercenaries 2, a game that takes place in Venezuela. In the game, Venezuela becomes a war zone after an invasion to rid the country of a tyrant which the lawmakers feel is U.S government influenced propaganda to justify a real life conflict with Venezuela to possibly oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Developer Pandemic Studios denied any (U.S.) government involvement in the game. The game will be out on PlayStation 3 some time 2007.
Star Fox DS Renamed
Star Fox DS was showcased at E3 and looked like a decent DS game. Nintendo made sure that the name was just temporary, and that it will named the following weeks. Now they have renamed it, to Star Fox Command. The biggest innovation is that players will be able to map out each mission’s route via the DS touch screen, and of course the Wi-FI multiplayer capability, with up to 4 players online and 8 players will be able to battle it out in a local wireless match.
Gordon To Appear On Xbox360?
IGN reports that best-seller Half Life 2 could be heading to the Xbox360 later this year. Apparently, both EB Games and GameStop have listed the game at $59.99. Half Life 2 is already available on the Xbox, and its sales were a big disappointment, so does it make sense for Valve to port it one more time to the Xbox360? The only reason could be the potential of episodic content on Xbox Live, and perhaps even Counter Strike. However, I doubt Valve would risk having another failure on the Xbox platform again.
Still, Counter Strike Source on Xbox Live? Mmmmm…
Here We Go Again (Battlefield 2)
A few days ago, we posted the news about the latest Battlefield 2 patch (1.3), where we, as many others, predicted more problems than fixes (business as usual). The BF2 server browser, which hasn’t worked properly since its launch has been rolled back, so no update there. EA said:
“After a thorough investigation into the issues plaguing the server browser after the 1.3 Update, we believe that a last minute update in the way the Battlefield servers and Gamespy servers communicate may be the cause. We have decided to revert this change in an attempt eliminate these browser issues.”
If you try and browse for a server, the information will be inaccurate, for instance the amount of players on the server, what map is played etc. Luckily players don’t have to uninstall anything, this is only a server issue says EA;
“All servers currently running must be restarted once this change has taken place.” The statement also observes that “If you are experiencing CTD issues upon start up that any alternate-ranking redirections in your windows “Hosts” file must be removed.”
Perhaps EA and DICE are too occupied with Battlefield 2142, instead of fixing Battlefield 2, which was pretty much in a BETA stage the first 6 months of its release.
Xbox Live Update
The biggest update since the launch, Xbox Live will now feature (among other things) background downloading, so you can customize the background on your dashboard. Microsoft has also added additional video control and improved IM chat. You will also be able to select if you want to launch with the disc or go directly to the dashboard when powering up.
More info here (from Joystiq).
Xbox360 Games To Drop In Price
Currently the Xbox360 games are selling at $59.99, the most expensive ever. Now EB Games, OverStorck and BestBuy (among others) are selling games at a much more affordable $39.99. At the moment the list isn’t as long as many wished, but it’s a start.
Burnout Revenge
The Outfit
Madden NFL 06
NBA Live 06
FIFA Soccer 06: Road to FIFA World Cup
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
In the UK, games will retail at £39.99, almost US$74. Current games priced at £49.99 in the UK cost a whopping US$95. The Brittish are certainly the ones paying the high price and that will continue with the PlayStation 3, going for $800 this November.
Half Life 2: Episode 2 And 3 Confirmed
Just days before Epidosde 1 launches, Vavle has announced that Episode 2 is due out later this year, and Episode 3 will be out “before the end 2007″.
By the time Episode 2 launches, it will already be graphically inferior to the new games, especailly the ones powered by the Unreal 3 engine. Imagine how Episode 3 will look in 2007, with the Source engine being 5 years old at that time?
Smash Bros Site Updated.. Again!
We have been waiting patiently for a while now for Super 
Smash Bros. After hearing the dissapointment of no Smash at Wii launch it has been tough. But, Nintendo hasn’t forgotten about you. In order to tease us and make us rip our hair off, the Super Smash Bros. Dojo website has updated yet again, sporting information about Zero Suit Samus and our gassy friend Wario. Samus sure looks hot. And Wario is… Did I mention Samus is hot? You can read all the character information and view the screens here.
Nintendo Promotes Reggie
Nintendo of America’s marketing boss Reggie Fils-Aime has been promoted to president of the company, while the current president Tatsumi Kimishima will become chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Reggie was the guy speaking to us at Nintendo E3 conference in 2005/06, we hope to see him again. From the press release:
“In his new role as president and chief operating officer, Fils-Aime will lead the day-to-day operations of Nintendo of America while continuing to oversee the Sales & Marketing Division… He joined Nintendo of America in December 2003… Prior to joining Nintendo, he served as senior vice president of marketing at VH1. He also has held key marketing positions with Guinness Import Co., Derby Cycle Corp., Pizza Hut, Panda Management Co. and Procter & Gamble.”
Fils-Aime will now be directing the Wii (and its success) as the president, alongside Satoru Iwata.
Via Joystiq.