Archive for January, 2008:
Editorial Blames Video Games For Society’s Problems
Yesterday I would have told you that by now everyone’s heard of the Fox News incident. Apparently, this
isn’t the case because a recent editorial written by Kay Hymowitz titled “Child-Man in the Promised Land” (which sounds like a horror show from the 60s) shows that people are still ignorant as ever about video games and society. The article is extremely biased against media, stating that males mature into men at a far later age in this generation. The reason? Media, and can you take a guess specifically which type of media has the main role according to Hymowitz? You guessed it, video games.
“Nothing attests more to the SYM’s [Single-Young-Males] growing economic and cultural might than video games do. Once upon a time, video games were for little boys and girls—well, mostly little boys—who loved their Nintendos so much, the lament went, that they no longer played ball outside. Those boys have grown up to become child-man gamers, turning a niche industry into a $12 billion powerhouse. Men between the ages of 18 and 34 are now the biggest gamers; according to Nielsen Media, almost half—48.2 percent—of American males in that age bracket had used a console during the last quarter of 2006, and did so, on average, two hours and 43 minutes per day. (That’s 13 minutes longer than 12- to 17-year-olds, who evidently have more responsibilities than today’s twentysomethings.) Gaming—online games, as well as news and information about games—often registers as the top category in monthly surveys of Internet usage.”
All in all this is an ill prepared editorial with little research to back it up. Accusing males who use media of being children is simply immature… and childlike. When Cooper Lawrence ranted about Mass Effect, the gaming community responded by sabotaging her book on Amazon. I wonder what the back lash from gaming community towards Kay Hymowitz’s article will be, hint, hint.
Rock Band Wii Is On The Way
One of the weirdest decisions of last year was the apparent lack of Rock Band occurring on the Wii. I could understand a purely HD approach, but when the PS2 receives its own version on day one, and Guitar Hero 3 sales on the Wii are competing with the 360 (and well above the PS3), it seems a huge wasted opportunity.
John Riccitiello, CEO of EA who confirmed Spore is on the way also wanted to take a moment to confirm the launch of Rock Band on the Wii is coming our way. What we don’t know? Basically everything concerning price (probably would be on par with the PS2 version), downloadable content and the features included on the disc. Oh, and the release date, for all we know which is 2010, here’s hoping we see it soon!
OXM Runs Rock Band DLC Ad For March
It looks like the Official Xbox Magazine has run an ad for upcoming downloadable content in March. While we are still completely in the dark for February, we have a very good idea of what’s coming down the pipe for the month of March. While Harmonix has said that strictly this is a tentative schedule, obviously all of these songs are going to be releasing at some point, as Harmonix has secured the proper licensing for them. March seems to be an interesting month, that’s going to be heavy on the rock, and light on the pop, perhaps the way things should be!
All songs will be available individually at $2.00, and everything, except for the week of March 11th, will come in the nicely priced $5.50 pack.
Week of March 4: Thrash Pack
Blinded By Fear – At The Gates
Thrasher – Evile
Shadow World – Haunted
Week of March 11:
Shooting Star – Bad Company *Cover*
Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Message In A Bottle – Police
Week of March 18: Nine Inch Nails Pack
March Of The Pigs
The Collector
The Perfect Drug
Week of Mar. 25: Metal Pack
Wrathchild – Ironmaiden *Cover*
Supernaut – Black Sabbath *Cover*
Fuel – Metallica
Spore Hitting Before Holidays Says John Riccitiello
Everyone’s favorite piece of software that constantly seems to be far out, will be a little happier knowing John Riccitiello, CEO of EA is confident that we will eventually see the title before the holidays. After the title was confirmed to be missing fiscal 2008, it seemed very unlikely we’d be seeing it within the calendar year, but if John is to be believed, that isn’t the case.
It’s almost a bit perplexing how far out the title has been. We are encroaching the three-year mark since we’ve seen the title fully playable at E3 05. Yes, it’s almost been 3 years since that faithful day when Will booted up the title and exposed to the world what many would agree was the show stopper.
I’ve been excited to play Spore for an extremely long time, but the longer it takes; the further it seems to slip from my mind. Hopefully they can get it into gear and finally release the game years and years after development started.
More Fuel Added To 120 Gb PS3 Rumors
The 80Gb unit is going out the door. At this point in time it seems no one can deny these rumors. After the PS2 backwards compatibility was removed from the PS3 40Gb model, to virtually little to no complaints, it’s obvious that Sony would want to cost cut some more on its upper tier model. Best Buy and other retailers are all reporting this to be the case, and while Sony isn’t making many comments regarding these rumors, you only have to look as far as the European market, which still doesn’t have the 80Gb models and have absolutely no plans of doing so.
However, yesterday it seems IGN has gained some more valuable information regarding a GameSpot conference call, which confirmed these rumors to be true, and a 120Gb model would be replacing the exiting SKU. The console would naturally come with the Dualshock 3, the controller that magically managed to combine rumble and motion control, despite that being an impossibility just a few short years ago. We’ll likely hear more about this in the coming months, once Sony decides to officially announce its plans, but given the ferocity of the rumors, it seems more fact than fiction.
Denied: Final Fantasy XIII In 2008
Looks like reports of a 2008 release date for highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII have come to a crashing halt. If you at all hoped to see the title this calendar year, go out and buy a 2009 calendar instead, and hope that it doesn’t take all the way into the 10’s. It seems that the so called release date was made up, and is not supported by Sqaure Enix.
Some have already speculated this to be true, as it seemed incredibly unlikely that the title we’ve yet to see in-game footage of, would also be released in the same time period as Dragon Quest for the Nintendo DS. Square Enix financially would be smart to separate this two blockbuster titles into different financial periods.
Square has followed up given the rumors and had this to say, smashing all hope for this year:
“Although information regarding the release date of FINAL FANTASY XIII has been reported by certain videogame websites, Square Enix itself has yet to make an official statement on this topic. Any reports of a confirmed release date are erroneous and should be disregarded.
Square Enix will make an official announcement in the future concerning the release date when it has been determined.”
Major Minor Announced For The Wii
The Dreamcast revival seems to be in full swing. With the Wii receiving tons and tons of Sega related updates to their classic franchises, it seems like Dreamcast fans have finally be satisfied with their favorite titles making a comeback. In addition to that though is a completely new title by the creators of PaRappa the Rapper, and will be bringing a new rhythm game to the Wii. A genre that has really seen a huge rise in popularity since Guitar Hero and Rock Band have hit the scenes.
Major Minor features a bevy of cute animal characters that will all participate in a parade of your design. Using 15 different instruments and directing the characters as they march down Main St, the Wii remote serves as your virtual baton, keeping rhythm and time. What would a game be without special items, as you’ll be able to collect them to ultimately build the greatest parade.
So far, the limited character art definitely marks this title down as family friendly, but given the creators, it would be great to see them really nail the concept on this title, and have another 3rd party title to look forward to.
EA Predicts Patriots To Win Superbowl
Having recently moved to New York City I find myself a minority when it comes to who I’m rooting for in this years Superbowl. Being a former Massachusetts resident I’m a Pats fan amidst a sea of Giants supporters. Music to my ears is an announcement from EA Sports that they’re predicting the Patriots to win this year’s superbowl. Simulations using the Madden NFL 08 game for the Xbox 360 ended up with the Patriots scraping by with a 38-30 victory. While many will think this is probably pointless speculation, EA Sports has accurately predicted the super bowl winners for the past five years running.
Crysis 1.2 Patch Details
Crytek is showing great progress working on Crysis updates, patch 1.1 was released only recently, and details about the next patch, 1.2, have already been revealed:
- Fixed potential server exploit that could cause servers to crash.
- Added mouse wheel scrolling support for server browser.
- Fixed an issue where in unarmed mode, the character’s arms will suddenly reappear and disappear when picking up and dropping an object.
- Added new effects for vehicle shattering after being frozen.
- C4 will now stick to doors correctly.
- Added new grenade indicator icon.
- Adjusted explosion radius of grenade launcher to be more efficient vs. players.
- Added check for players riding on vehicles while not seated to prevent them being killed.
- Tweaked damage for players hit by vehicles at lower speeds.
- Adjusted wall collision damage for civilian car.
- Improved AI machinegun handling (both stationary and mounted machineguns on vehicles).
- Fixed an issue with “Escort Prophet out of sphere” objective failure causing reloading issues.
- Added team colors to kill/death messages.
- Fixed some game states not properly resetting after game restart.
- Fixed issue where VOIP doesn’t work properly on non-dedicated servers.
- Added auto team balance. Players will now be moved from full teams to the opposing side when dead if the numbers are unbalanced. (Can be disabled/enabled via cvar)
Battlefield Bad Company, Mercenaries 2 Officially Delayed
EA released a financial press release today, where it reported record earnings, and confirmed the delay of two key titles, Battlefield Bad Company and Mercenaries 2. Both games have been pushed to “Fiscal 09″, which begins on April 1. Mercenaries 2 has already been delayed once, and will most likely be released in the beginning of this summer, while Bad Company will have to wait until late summer, hopefully earlier.
GTA 4 Viral Marketing Has Begun
Rockstar’s GTA 4 is months away from release, but apparently there isn’t enough hype out there, so Rockstar (or someone else), have begun with a little viral marketing around cities in the US, posting “wanted” posters of GTA 4 characters. Most probably work of eager fans, but classy nonetheless. Two more shots after the break. More »
EA Announces Facebreaker
EA has announced a new game today, Facebreaker, which can be described as an arcade version of Fight Night. The game is in development at EA Canada, and will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii later this year. The game uses the same cartoonish style seen in Team Fortress 2, and recently, in EA’s upcoming Battlefield Heroes game.
Flow Coming To PSP
The PS3 download-only game Flow, which, in its simplest form, is about swimming around, eating funny little glowing animals (or plankton), is coming to the PSP. The game originally started as a Flash based PC game, was then purchased by Sony and made available on their PlayStation Network, and will now be ported to the PSP. The game is identical to the PS3 version, which is pretty good (read: relaxing), if you ever played it. The PSP version should be out within the next few months.
Dr. Kawashima Turns Down Brain Age Money
If you didn’t know, the bobbing head in the Brain Age games is the face of Dr. Kawashima, who is in fact a real person. He studies the brain at Tohoku University, where the rules allow him to accept half of the total royalty money he’s entitled to because of the success of the Brain Age franchise. The total royalties are $22 million which leaves Dr. Kawashima with an impressive $11 million. In a refreshing display of scholarly devotion the good doctor has elected to sink the entirety of his royalties into the university, building several laboratories in the university’s Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer. He reports that his $100,000 per year salary is more than enough for his lifestyle. Understandably his family has voiced their dissatisfaction, but he reportedly said: “I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it.”
Guild Wars Gets Mission Pack
A bonus mission pack for Guild Wars has gone online for sale and download. It offers new scenarios for the online RPG, offering “four pivotal moments in Guild Wars history” and rare weapon rewards described as “some of the best-looking gear in the game.”According to this FAQ, the mission pack lets players become a key figure in the battle of Jahai; experience Cantha’s past; learn how the White Mantle rose to power; and discover what became of Gwen after the Charr invaded her home.