The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly 04.20.09: The Debut

Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 04.20.2009

We debut a brand new news report as Armando Rodriguez talks about the good, the bad and the ugly as it happens in the game industry. Armando will break down the week's news while pointing out what's big, what's not and what plain sucked about it.

Welcome to the first edition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly News Report. I am your very opinionated host Armando Rodríguez ready to break down a week's worth of news for you all! My format will be very simple and easy to follow. I will start with the biggest piece of news on the week and finish the article with the most useless, funny or mundane bit of news to come out this week. Also, each bit of news will be rated as Good, Bad or Ugly, with my opinion at the bottom. Only the top news will be covered here, but consider it your one way ticket to all the stuff you missed during the week.

Biggest News of the Week: Microsoft Extends Warranty to Cover "E74" Errors

Though the Xbox 360 beat its competitors to market by a year, Microsoft paid a heavy price for the privilege of launching in November 2005. According to research done by VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi, 360 hardware was experiencing a 68 percent failure rate off of the assembly line at one point. Once on sale, the console was beset by so many "Red Ring of Death" (RROD) errors that Microsoft spent upwards of $1 billion replacing more than 1.2 million of the initial batch of 11.6 million 360s under an unprecedented three-year warranty plan.


Now, in addition to the infamous RROD, Microsoft's warranty will cover a new issue with the 360 hardware. After weeks of increasing reports of consoles displaying an "E74 Error" after ceasing to function (pictured), the company has announced via its support Web site that the completely free, three-year warranty is being extended to cover the problem--which is apparently RROD-related.

"While the majority of Xbox 360 owners continue to have a great experience with their console, we are aware that a very small percentage of our customers have reported receiving an error that displays 'E74' on their screen," the company said in a statement. "After investigating the issue, we have determined that the E74 error message can indicate the general hardware failure that is associated with three flashing red lights error on the console."

As with the RROD, the warranty covers the Xbox 360 for only three years after its date of manufacture, which can be found on the back of the box. As many early adopters have discovered, consoles made during the 360's first six months on the market are no longer covered and will have to be replaced at the owner's expense. Microsoft is assuring purchasers of new 360s that it has "already made improvements to the console that will reduce the likelihood of an occurrence of this issue."

Anyone experiencing the E74 error should visit www.xbox.com/support to see if his or her console is under warranty. As with the RROD, Microsoft will send a mailer that will let owners send in their afflicted 360 and receive a replacement free of charge. Those who already paid Microsoft out of pocket to have the E74 issue fixed will be automatically refunded the cost of the repair in the next 4 to 12 weeks.

Credit: Gamespot.com

UGLY: I appreciate Microsoft for supporting costumers with all this issues, but this does not change the fact that the Xbox 360 continues to find new ways to break. Even with this warranty plan in place, gamers will loose their systems for months at a time to get them fixed. One of my best friends owns a 360 and he has had to send it over for repairs four times in the past three years, loosing a good 8 months of gaming if you sum up all the time it took for it to get repaired. If I pay $300 for something I expect it to work and work well. Hopefully from this fiasco, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and anyone else who is planning to build a new system will learn to be patient and make sure everything works fine before letting it out on the world.

Street Fighter IV Championship Mode Dated!

Street Fighter IV's Championship Mode has finally been dated, with the free upgrade coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next week.

The pack heavily bolsters the online content, introducing tournaments and a replay function. Tournament Mode builds upon the Battle Point system currently employed by the game, with players acquiring Grad Points to enter higher tier tournaments, wherein huge amounts of Championship Points are up for grabs. Capcom's Unity blog has the full rundown on what the new Tournament Mode brings to the game.

Most exciting is the introduction of a replay function, allowing players to analyze their opponents moves and spectate in tournaments. The PlayStation Network version will enable players to rate videos, applying tags in an approach that will be familiar YouTube users, while the Xbox 360 version allows players to download videos any study input commands.

The Championship Mode update goes live on April 24th.

Credit: IGN.com

GOOD: There is no way I am going to see bad to something that is free. Tournament Mode is something that will extend the replay value of the game and with the ability to upload replays and watch fights, well, this is a true fighting gamer's dream come true. Now, if only they would add T.Hawk and Dee Jay for free….

Bethesda Terminating Fallout MMO

After years of silence, the Fallout massively multiplayer role-playing game has suddenly become major headline fodder. Two weeks after the once-mighty publisher announced that it had entered into a partnership with Earthrise publisher Masthead Studios to co-develop Project V13, the game's code name, its once-nearly-bankrupt publisher Interplay announced that the project is in jeopardy.

In an April 15 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Interplay reports that Bethesda Softworks has announced its intent to cancel the deal that gave Interplay rights to make a Fallout massively multiplayer game. The deal was struck in 2007, when Bethesda--after having licensed the right to make Fallout 3 from Interplay in 2004-- bought the Fallout intellectual property (IP) outright. The Maryland-based company then licensed the Fallout MMORPG rights back to Interplay, provided that the latter company began developing such a project within two years.

Now, according to the 10-K, Bethesda and Interplay's deal is unraveling. "Interplay recently received notice that Bethesda Softworks, LLC ('Bethesda') intends to terminate the trademark license agreement between Bethesda and Interplay which was entered into April 4, 2007 for the development of a Fallout MMOG," states the filing. "Despite the fact that no formal action is currently pending, Bethesda claims that Interplay is in breach of the trademark license agreement for failure to commence full-scale development of same by April 4, 2009 and to secure certain funding for the MMOG."

"Although the potential damages are currently unknown, if Bethesda ultimately prevails and cancels the trademark license agreement, Interplay would lose its license back of the 'Fallout' MMOG and any damages resulting therefrom are unknown at this time."

When asked for comment, Bethesda vice president of marketing Pete Hines declined to elaborate. "As it's a legal matter, none of that is stuff we can comment on," he told GameSpot.

Hines also declined to comment on what would happen if the Fallout MMORPG license were to revert to Bethesda and its parent company, ZeniMax Media. However, it's unlikely that such a prized property would lie fallow for long. In August 2007, ZeniMax announced that it was opening its own MMOG studio, rumored to be working on a massively multiplayer spin-off of Bethesda's popular fantasy RPG series, The Elder Scrolls. In October of that year, the division scored $300 million in funding, although little has been heard about its project--or projects--since.

Credit: Gamespot.com

GOOD: It might seem harsh, but I agree with Bethesda here. People might see this as a case of "big guy pushes little guy around", but I believe that Bethesda has a vision for the Fallout franchise that began with Fallout 3 and that vision could be affected by another company handling a Fallout MMO. If Bethesda is taking this action it is not only to protect their own intellectual property, but I bet it is also because they want to handle this MMO project themselves.

New Gran Turismo 5 Info?

Over at the Gran Turismo fansite gtplanet.net, a user by the name of amar212 is well known for posting previously unheard of bits of info about upcoming Gran Turismo releases, and to this date, it seems like he's always been dead-on. We're not sure who is he or who he works for, but many folks over there swear by what he says.

Today he made an extremely cryptic post that seems to detail a number of features regarding Gran Turismo 5. If he is to be believed, and the "translation" correct, it sounds like the game will ship with more than 600 vehicles, a track count somewhere in the 90s, and user-created tracks (put together from existing parts). He also mentions increased connectivity options, which could mean either more players in one race or a full clan/racing team system. The release date, depending on how you decipher the message, could be either December 1st 2009 or sometime in March of 2010.

Furthermore, two versions will be released, one that's more expensive but will contain "everything", and another, cheaper version that will allow you to purchase only what you want. Some forum goers think that this could mean a regular $60 release and a Prologue-esque release that doesn't contain all of the content, but you'd be able to buy what you wanted. I happen to think this could mean that the "cheap" release would be the normal $60 disc, but you have to pay for any future add-on content, while a more expensive version might buy you a lifetime subscription to any DLC ever released.

Lastly, and perhaps most interesting, is that he says that a second, but different, version of the game will be released, one for people who "do not want to see it in its full glory", and on a platform that we don't know about yet. Could this mean a release for the oft-rumored PSP2? We'll have to see.

Again, we do not know who amar212 is or if any of this is remotely accurate, but given his history, it seems like it's solid.

Credit: IGN.com

GOOD/BAD: I don't like to comment on rumors, but since this is Gran Turismo 5 we are talking about, I made a decision that it deserved to be in this report. If this report is to be believed, I would say GOOD to the feature list of 600 cars, 90 tracks and Track Creator options. These features really excite me and I know other GT junkies are salivating now. But the BAD comes with the possibility that we need to pay $100 or so for a super expensive, fully featured version. It would be ideal that the $60 version was the fully featured one and that they release a $40 version in which you buy only what you want. But like the report said, I have a feeling we are looking at $60 for the sub-par version and $100+ for the fully featured one and that's a BAD bordering on UGLY.

No Backwards Compatibility for WiiMotion Plus

At last year's 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo unveiled the Wii MotionPlus, a new peripheral designed to enhance the Wii Remote's motion-sensing capability. The president of the company's US operations, Reggie Fils-Aime, proclaimed that the add-on would make the controller "more precise and more intense," and would generate "a need" for outstanding software to live up to its technological promise.

Given that the add-on would come packed in with Wii Sports Resort, many took Fils-Aime's words to mean that the beach-themed minigame compilation would be the first to support the Wii MotionPlus. However, that assumption was dispelled by yesterday's announcement that an a la carte $19.99 Wii MotionPlus would go on sale on June 8, almost two months before Wii Sports Resort launches on July 26. During the seven-week gap between the launches of the game bundle and the stand-alone peripheral, only three third-party games that support the peripheral will debut: Sega's Virtua Tennis 2009 and Electronic Arts' Wii versions of Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

The hype behind Wii MotionPlus and its somewhat scant initial catalog led to speculation as to whether Nintendo would update older games with a patch to support the new add-on's improved motion sensing. Today, though, company reps confirmed to GameSpot that only upcoming games built from the ground up for the add-on will be able to take advantage of its capabilities.

"Wii MotionPlus accessory is only for games that are designed to make use of its abilities," a rep told GameSpot. (Emphasis added.) "Wii MotionPlus is an optional accessory for developers and players who want to further refine their game experience."

Nintendo reps also said that the Wii would continue to sport old-fashioned games that support only standard Wii Remote control schemes, which will still play normally with the Wii MotionPlus attached.

"The Wii Remote pioneered a revolution in video games and made this pastime accessible to millions of new gamers," explained the rep. "This technology is still relevant and compelling."

Credit: Gamespot.com

BAD. How many current Wii games would benefit with compatibility with WiiMotion Plus? I say a lot. There have been quite a few games whose main issues had to do with the controls, like Red Steel. Imagine wielding that katana with WiiMotion Plus and finally having responsive controls? I don't know why Nintendo fails to see how great backwards compatibility with WiiMotion Plus would be. Of course, I am no expert and I do not know what needs to be done to get old games working with the new technology, but I believe it can be done.

New Smackdown vs Raw 2009 DLC

For 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live and a suggested retail price of $4.99 on the PlayStation Network, owners of the game can download additional Superstars, including Bushwackers Butch and Luke, Earthquake, Vader, and Doink the Clown.

"We are pleased to deliver a new downloadable content package for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009," said Cory Ledesma, senior creative manager, THQ. "The addition of new playable Superstars to our roster is one of our most frequent requests from fans worldwide, and we are excited to expand the gameplay experience with talent from key moments in WWE history."

Credit: IGN.com

GOOD: Am I the only one that has always wanted to play as The Bushwhackers? As long as new characters with their own unique moves keep being added, I have no problems at all with DLC. Good to see THQ supporting the hardcore fanbase.

John Madden Retires: EA to Keep Name for Football Franchise

NBC announced the retirement of NFL broadcaster John Madden today in a move so sudden it would be deserving of a trademark "Boom!" from the big man himself.

Rather than taking a season-long victory lap on the network's Sunday night NFL broadcasts, the 73-year-old is stepping down from the booth, effective immediately. His final telecast was this year's Super Bowl, which saw the Pittsburgh Steelers tough out a win against the postseason underdog Arizona Cardinals.

Electronic Arts released a statement from EA Sports president Peter Moore saying that the publisher's football series will keep its ties to the Madden name.

"We're excited to see his legacy live on in the 21st year of Madden NFL football, and well beyond," Moore said. "It's been a privilege for EA Sports to have had the strong relationship we've had with John for more than two decades and one that will continue into the future."

Credit: Gamespot.com

BAD: Madden is one of my all-time favorite commentators and there is no telling how much he has contributed to the sport, but to football video games as well. Madden is synonymous with football and he will be missed. I think it is classy from EA that they will retain the name. May I suggest that we get Madden in the cover of Madden 2010 as a final goodbye to the legend?

New Details Emerge on The Beatles: Rock Band

Harmonix, MTV and EA announced today the first details for the Limited Edition Premium Bundle for the highly anticipated The Beatles: Rock Band. Gamers who order the $249.99 bundle will not only get the game disc but will also receive:

•A Hofner bass controller modeled after the one Sir Paul used in his pre-Rickenbacker days.
•A Beatles-style Ludwig drum controller complete with pearl finish and Beatles kick drum head.
•Microphone and mic stand.

The Beatles version of Rock Band will be available in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand on September 9 of this year.

Credit: IGN.com

GOOD: I am not the biggest fan of The Beatles, but I certainly appreciate the new controller peripherals shaped like their real life instruments. I think it makes it feel like something special and not just another plastic toy.


And now, the moment you have all been waiting for:

The Most Useless News of the Week: Leisure Suit Larry Creator Says Gaming Has Inmatured

Though not as critically pilloried as the latest installment, the Leisure Suit Larry series was never what one might describe as terribly sophisticated or especially erudite. The Sierra-published graphic adventure games of the late '80s and early '90s were instead the innuendo-laden chronicles of a pitiable, aging, sex-starved man with all the depth of a reservoir tip.

So when Al Lowe, the original creator and designer of the Leisure Suit Larry games, says that the industry has actually "immatured" in the years since he made his mark, maybe there's cause for concern.

"It's regressed," Lowe told GameSpot in an interview this week. "I'm the perpetual optimist and I always think that things are getting better. But the gaming business has gotten very, very different in the past 10 years, and it's straining my optimism. I don't want to be an old fuddy duddy here, but on the other hand I need to see some signs of hope, and light, and enlightenment from the business."

Lowe acknowledges the shortcomings of his own library of games, but underscores a key difference between those early efforts and the sex-obsessed games of today.

"While my games were always sexist and misogynistic, they were always showing people that was the wrong way as opposed to the ideal way," Lowe explained.

Credit: Gamespot.com

USELESS:

With all respect to Mr. Lowe, he says the games of today are "sex-obsessed" and that gaming has inmatured. PLEASE!!! The man who created an entire series based on getting a 40-year old virgin wannabe laid is telling US that gaming has inmatured? That today's games are sex-obsessed? Even when I was in my teens and found anything with sex on it fun, I realized the immaturity behind something like Leisure Suit Larry. His only defense seems to be that "his games showed us that being that way was the wrong way". Ok Mr. Lowe, if you say so.

The Reader's Voice:

This is the Reader's Voice, your chance to be featured in the next edition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly News Report! Each week I will post one question and you, my loyal readers, can answer this question in the comments section. The best three answers will be featured in the next edition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly News Report!

This week's question is inspired by Mr. Lowe's comments: What is the most immature thing you have seen in a video game?

Goodbye:

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