Achievement Unlocked 10.08.09: The Worst Kind of Hero
Posted by Rod Oracheski on 10.08.2009
Is IGN's editorial opinion up for sale, or did the sale already take place? 411's Rod Oracheski looks at the controversy surrounding the IGN 'Music Hub' this week in Achievement Unlocked. Plus HD video from Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising!
The idea of 'journalistic integrity' in games journalism took a pretty solid hit this week, as IGN fired up an apparently Activision-sponsored subsite that shills the various 'Hero' games.
The site sprang to life labeled as IGN's Music Hub, ostensibly the meeting place for all music games fans. The catch, however, is that the site caters only to Activision's 'Hero' games: Guitar Hero, Band Hero, DJ Hero; making no mention of other franchises at all - aside from a 'Guitar Hero to outsell Rock Band 2:1' article that is.
You can read a great deal more on the story here and I'd really recommend you take a look at it to get a lot more of the shady dealings than I have time to convey here.
Read IGN's rebuttal, then go check out the community sites they set up for games like Asheron's Call or Everquest. Any that you check, you'll find they're clearly labeled as being for specific games - not labeled in a confusing fashion, as the 'Music Hub' is. You won't find mmorpgs.ign.com, catering only to World of Warcraft, for example.
That an IGN employee was busted commenting on the blog and trying to intimidate them into removing the story - though they apparently haven't got the first clue about the legalities of the situation. Slander is verbal, libel is written.
It wouldn't kill IGN to have someone - like, for example, their Editorial Manager - take a class or two on the applicable laws - maybe even an ethics class.
Or maybe, since Teddy's their community manager (aka in charge of the forums) he should look into his own job enough to know that his IP address could be used (in conjunction with his e-mail) to pin down where he's from and who he is.
I'd love to ask someone at IGN if Activision provide the articles going up without a person's name attached on the byline.
After all, the question of whether or not they paid to have 'music hub' set up and populated with these 'articles' hyping their products seems to have already been answered by the URL for images on the 'Music Hub' being linked through ads.ign.com - example. I wonder, then, how much Activision paid to take control of IGN's editorial department.
Did you get the full 30 pieces of silver, IGN?
A strange last-minute delay for Sega's espionage RPG has people wondering what's up, Wii titles escape review, and U2 gives a Rock Band appearance a second thought - this week in The Business.
Games being delayed - it's not exactly a concept that gamers are unfamiliar with. The list of titles originally slated to release this Fall that won't see the light of day until early next year is a lengthy one, and just got a little bit longer with the addition of Alpha Protocol.
What makes Alpha Protocol's delay unusual is the manner in which it happened. The title was slated to release on October 6th - the same day the delay was belatedly revealed. There were rumours of a delay prior to the announcement, based largely on commerce website release estimates and the lack of advertising. Those rumours subsided a bit with a print advertising compaign, though a release date was notably absent from those ads.
The delay also comes on the heels of the leaked Sony/Sega conference notes, which showed Sony wasn't impressed by the title but would work with Sega on a marketing campaign if the PS3 version received special attention. New rumours are circulating that the title may have been delayed to incorporate PS3 motion control, though there's no solid basis for the speculation.
On one hand, it seems fitting that 'the espionage RPG' should have such a convoluted development cycle. On the other, Sega really dropped the ball on communicating with their fans. The official website, for example, still claims the game will be available in October.
The average review score for a Wii title has risen dramatically in 2009, up 6% year over year, though that increase doesn't mean the quality of games has gotten better according to the research done by Jesse Divnich, Director of Analyst Services at EEDAR.
The difference might well stem instead from the amount of Wii games not being reviewed at all. Last year, the Wii had 25% of its games not reviewed through June. In 2009, 37% of games haven't been reviewed. By comparison, the PS3 has only 9% of games going unreviewed, while the Xbox 360 has only 3% slip through the cracks.
The investigation showed that 'core' targeted games tend to be reviewed on the Wii, while games aimed at the casual market escape notice.
The full effect of The Beatles: Rock Band isn't necessarily limited solely to the number of units it pushes through retail, with the care taken in the game possibly leading to further titles featuring other bands.
U2, for example, is now more receptive to the idea of appearing in Rock Band after seeing what they did with John, Paul, Ringo, and George.
"We definitely would like to be in there, but we felt some of the compromises weren't what we wanted," bassist Adam Clayton said in a USA TODAY interview. "That could change. I love the idea that that's where people are getting music, and we'd love to be in that world. We'll figure something out. What The Beatles have done, where the animation is much more representative of them, is what we're interested in, rather than the one-size-fits-all animation. We didn't want to be caricatured"
After the furor surrounding Guitar Hero and their inclusion of Kurt Cobain as a playable character, it seems unlikely U2 will be appearing in a Guitar Hero game any time soon.
My quest for 77,777 was stopped short by exactly what I'd feared would happen - unlocking a hidden Achievement unexpectedly. I had everything worked out perfectly - well, almost perfectly, as it turned out. Finishing Monsters Vs Aliens landed me right on 77,777...only because I didn't die in the last level, I also earned a hidden Achievement that put me 25 points over my goal.
I wasn't really disappointed since it was a meaningless goal anyway, but if you're ever thinking of doing the same 'hit a specific number' personal challenge you might want to check out the full Achievement list instead of just trusting that none of those hidden ones will come back to bite you.
I'd recommend this site's lists, but if you find a better one feel free to let me know.
Aside from jumping back into Saints Row 2 to play alongside a friend who just picked up the game, the only thing I've been playing in the last week is Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. As expected, it's a wholly different experience than anything else out there - even for 'just another' first person shooter.
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Open fields are a death sentence.
For starters, the bullets you'll be firing aren't magic. Unlike other FPS games, they don't fly in a straight line from your gun to whatever point you're aiming at. If you're targeting someone 300 meters away you'll need to adjust where you're aiming, as your bullet will drop. You can successfully hit targets that are nothing but a dot on your standard view, with my personal best a headshot at 415 meters.
The bigger issue is that you simply can't run-and-gun in Operation Flashpoint - something that's been true of the series since its PC roots. Even with an assault loadout, you'll need to check corners and maintain cover. Run out into a field blasting away at the enemy position in the trees and you'll wind up on your back before you get anywhere near them. You'll need to study the map for more than just the 'enemies here' position in Operation Flashpoint - you'll also need to decide on good approach angles, and adjust those strategies on the fly. No plan, no matter how well thought out, survives first contact.
The enemies aren't superhuman, however. If you remain in cover, they'll walk right past you without blinking an eye. Movement will give you away though - so make sure you check the surroundings before you break cover. It also helps considerably to use the binoculars you're carrying, as they'll allow you to spot enemies from 300-400 meters out. If you aren't careful, you'll blunder into ambushes - cut down in record time by enemies that were just smarter than you were.
It's a three-pack of Operation Flashpoint goodness this week! A short video of the sniping found in the game's second mission, along with some ship-based howitzer action and a long-distance headshot, and finishing up with the game's intro cutscene.
If you have any questions or want to request any videos, leave a comment below. Until next week, I'm out.
