411 Games Fact or Fiction 03.09.10: Final Fantasy, the Next Call of Duty, Tomb Raider, DRM, More

Posted by Mark Salmela on 03.09.2010

This week 411’s Greg Bruno and Jacob Lopez talk about the PlayStation 3 leap year crisis. Also, is putting out Final Fantasy 14 so close to FF13 a bad idea? Are anti-piracy measures effective on PC games? Will the next Call of Duty game be in Vietnam? Is this the end of the line for Infinity Ward? These questions and more answered inside.



Welcome back to another spectacular edition of 411Games Fact or Fiction! I'm your host with the worst possible opinions on video games ever, Mark Salmela. This week we're joined by the two biggest guidos 411 has to offer. Wait, no that was last week. Hmm, Final Fantasy week at 411? Fuck that. I need a back-up plan. Hmmm, I know! Let's get the two biggest scrubs on this site possible. The two biggest pieces of crap this site has to offer, guys that you people probably don't even know still write for this site. Hell, one of them probably isn't even officially part of the staff anymore. But that's not going to stop me. Because despite numerous attempts to get me fired for my lack of originality and terrible sense of humor, I'm like herpes. You can't get rid of me.

With that said this week's participants are Greg Bruno and Jacob Lopez. Greg Bruno is best known for his work fantasizing about all of the PG-13 things he would do to Megan Fox. Jacob… Well he's a child-molester. Just kidding, Jacob is probably more known for his attempts to molest me at this past year's E3. There's a reason I made sure I bunked with John De Large instead of Ramon Aranda or Jacob Lopez. I don't know what went on in their bedroom, nor do I want to know. With that said, let's get it on!



1.) Putting out Final Fantasy 14 so close to FF13 will end up being a mistake for Square Enix.



Greg Bruno - Fact: I feel Valve did the same thing with releasing L4D2 too soon as well. Let's give it a little time to settle in and get played before we toss another game into the mix. To me, it comes across as not having faith in FF13 so they have to "fix" it with releasing the next game right away.

Jacob Lopez - Fiction: Making Final Fantasy 14 ONLINE will end up being a mistake. Now it's just another game that you have to have an internet connection to play. I may be totally wrong, but I think most Final Fantasy fans love Final Fantasy because it still plays like a traditional JRPG. Then again, how did FF 11 do? I'm too much of a lazy bum to look it up.

Score: 0 for 1 - What I want to know is where the hell is Final Fantasy Versus 13?



2.) This past week two key members of Infinity Ward were fired. You think this is the beginning of the end for Infinity Ward.



Greg Bruno - Fiction: Just because a couple of corporate dipshits were fired doesn't mean the people who actually create the game will have any less talent or go under. The Modern Warfare franchise is way too big to crumble just because two higher-ups were let go. I believe this may lead to bigger and better things for Infinity Ward.

Jacob Lopez - Fiction: Infinity Ward will continue, most of the employees are still there. Activision knows the importance of the studio, and Modern Warfare, which only IW is under contract to develop. Then again, I'm not a lawyer or any sort of law expert, so I don't know if the contract will be rendered void after this whole shit storm blows over.

Score: 1 for 2 - I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a lot of other Infinity Ward members quit and they formed a new studio with someone like EA as their publisher. Time heals all wounds. But I think a good chunk of Infinity Ward will stay where they are now.



3.) There's still mileage left in the Tomb Raider franchise.



Greg Bruno - Fact: Of course Lara still has a few adventures left for us to play. I really enjoy the Tomb Raider series and I feel there's a strong enough character here that people will want to keep playing. Sure, Lara is smoking hot, which is probably why half of the people play it, but it's also got great gameplay and fun puzzles. Ms. Croft isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Jacob Lopez - Fact: Not a lot, but the games have their fanbase. However, I do think that it was a smart move for Crystal Dynamics to make the next game in the franchise a downloadable title. It will definitely minimize risk, and hopefully please series fans.

Score: 2 for 3 - I've never really been a fan of Tomb Raider. And now that we have the vastly superior Uncharted series I don't see the point of continuing on with Tomb Raider.






4.) The whole PS3 Error 8001050F situation this past Monday was inexcusable.



Jacob Lopez - Fact: Yeah, it put a ton of systems offline for a day and made mainstream news. I am sure at least a few people got an ass-whoopin', maybe even fired. Still, it's a hell of a lot better than a red ring.

Greg Bruno - Fiction: You mean the apocolyPS3 2010? (I read that somewhere...very clever) After the debacle that has been the Xbox 360 failure rate, this isn't so bad. I'm not saying that it's alright, but compared to what Microsoft's been dealing with, I'd say Sony gets a pass this time. Next time though, I want heads rolling.

Score: 2 for 4 - Let the Microsoft hate flow through you guys. I still think it was totally inexcusable though. Someone had to have seen this coming at Sony, even if it was a low-level engineer.



5.) It has been announced that Treyarch is developing the next Call of Duty title due this year. The game will be set during Vietnam.



Jacob Lopez - Fact: All the rumors point to yes. Activision needs a new war to exploit the hell out of, because (and I know we have been saying this for at least 6 years) how many WWII shooters can someone make?

Greg Bruno - Fact: Sounds about right. We really haven't had a chance to play during that time and this would be a great way for Treyarch to get out of the WW II rut they've been in. World at War was decent, but honestly, I'm done with WW II.

Score: 3 for 5 - I couldn't agree more with these two bums.



6.) Ubisoft's new digital rights management system on PC has already been broken and has already upset gamers. Companies need to stop developing ridiculous DRM systems for games. They're not going to stop piracy.



Jacob Lopez - Fact: It doesn't matter what sort of measures are taken to prevent piracy, it's going to happen. In fact, it just seems to piss of the gamers who do pay for their stuff, because something usually ends up going wrong with the DRM and causes problems down the line.

Greg Bruno - Fact: Can't we just play our games? This is getting ridiculous. If people want to pirate something, it's going to happen. Accept it and deal with it. I don't blame them for trying to stop it, but there's really nothing that will.

Score: 4 for 6 - Once again well put.



Bonus Question #1: So Greg, what the hell do you actually do around here?

Greg Bruno - All of your mothers. At once.

Jacob Lopez - No one pays attention to Greg anyways. So what do I do on 411? Um, I stay in Mark's basement waiting for when he needs me to contribute to FoF.

Mark Salmela - Greg if you put as much work into your love life as you do your writing, I can't picture you pleasing any of our mothers. Not even Todd's, and that woman gets off to eating a banana.



Bonus Question #2: Jacob, how's the weather down in my basement?

Jacob Lopez - Sticky.

Mark Salmela - Ehhh…. Fair enough.



Bonus Question #3: Despite popular belief, The Salms did not sleep with a cougar he met at Microsoft's Windows 7 launch party.



Jacob Lopez - Fact: No. John De Large did. He slept with the two cougars and their cameraman.

Greg Bruno - Fact: I believe that. There's no way any woman of any age would sleep with you. Not when your pickup line is "Hey I'm Mark. Can I listen to you eat a banana in the dark?"

Mark Salmela - Fiction: Pfft unlike you babies I didn't go to bed the second we got back to the hotel room. While the sign may have said the hot tub was out of order, you can trust me that it was working fine as hell. Well at least it was until I got through with it.



Bonus Question #4: So Greg, what's with the crappy answers today? You get slipped the date rape drug or something?

Greg Bruno - Mark, I'm typing this with could quite possibly be the world's worst hangover. I went to Navy Pier last night for some sort of benefit thing and woke up somewhere with cement ceilings. I half expected my leg to be chained to a pipe and a hack saw next to me on the floor. Details from the night are scarce, but I recall something about a fat chick in the back of a cab and my hands all up in her. Shortly after that, I believe I was drugged because I remember being afraid of pizza. Anyway, what I mean to say is there might be some spelling and grammar errors in this...please fix them for me because I don't give a shit. I just want to wash the poor decisions off myself and get into bed...you're going to publish this aren't you?

Mark Salmela - Why yes, as a matter of fact I am!



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Looks like 411's resident hobos finish with a solid 4 for 6. I guess homeless people think alike. With that said do you guys agree? Disagree? Be sure to let your opinions be known below. As always I'll be back next week, but don't expect me to be reading the comments section much next week. I'll be killing Zeus, that cheating bastard. Cya in 7!