News from Bitopia 07.27.06
Posted by Caleb Newby on 07.27.2006
Sony sucks, Blex was ahead of his time, NCAA football rules all until Madden hits the shelves, and GTA: Wilmington, Delaware?
Yo yo yo. Back for round two. I am Caleb, and this is News from Bitopia.
The News
In an interview with Billboard, Microsoft's new GM of marketing for MSN Entertainment Business; Chris Stephenson, announced the release of "Zune". Zune being the brand name which will be used for portable entertainment devices.
In the interview, Stephenson talked about how music was going to be the first focus of the brand and would not comment on future gaming devices. But did talk about how the device could connect to different Microsoft branded devices including the Xbox 360 game console, PCs running Windows Media Center and mobile phones using the Windows Mobile operating system. This could be part of the Live everywhere strategy which Microsoft alluded to at E3.
One could presume that the Zune brand might be gearing up to take on the might of Sony, Apple and Nintendo at once.
You can read the full interview here.
Credit: Billboard.biz
Well, Microsoft has the cash to do it. And they have the connections, what with that whole Windows thing. I would love to see some people go after the iPod myself. I don't own one and don't plan on it. But even worse than the iPod is iTunes. Blah. I don't want to have to use their media player. I don't trust em. I will stick with Winamp. It has served me faithfully for, wow, could it possibly be 10 years? And $.99 to download a song? Seriously? I know this conversation has been moved away from the Zune, but it needs to be said. Maybe I am just too old school when it comes to this. I fear to say more publicly. I come from the days of Blex's Page of Good MP3's. If anyone has any idea what I am talking about, email me. I would be shocked.
The best selling Xbox 360 and PC RPG, Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion has been listed as a launch game for the PlayStation 3 by Gamestop. While the announcement of the game shouldn't come as a surprise, considering its status as one of the few "real" best selling Next Gen titles; One has to wonder why Sony would try to sell their system on the back of a title, which their competitor has had available for over a year.
Credit: ComputerandVideoGames.com
I have Oblivion for the PC and it is an awesome game. My problem with it though is my video card can only handle it when I turn most of the settings to low. Even then combat is sort of choppy. But for RPG fans it is a solid game to have for the system. I agree with trying to sell a system based on the game though. Either way, it is better to have it for the PS3 than not. Still, no reason for me to get a PS3 yet, unless Ashish decides to get me one for a Christmas bonus. He's hard to read though, he is an enigma.
Rockstar Games has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is in line with the October 17th release date and will retail at $49.99. The European release date remains October 20th.
The box art (pictured above) seems to reveal that some of the characters from the console version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City will carry over to the PSP version. The character with the elaborate mustache appears to be Umberto Robina from Vice City while the biker appears to be a younger version of "Big" Mitch Baker from Vice City.
Credit: Gamespot.com
While I love Vice City, I never got into Liberty City Stories. The real news I want to here is about GTA 4. Over at gamefaqs on their forums on GTA 3, people were claiming that GTA 4 would take place in Wilmington, Delaware. Best part was how people believed that. Imagine the glory of GTA: Delaware.
Sports got another big debut with NCAA Football 07 this week. Video game versions of Cars also managed to get into the top ten while New Super Mario Bros. remained strong. Here is the updated Bestbuy.com console video games best seller list for the week of July 9th to July 15th.
1. NCAA Football 07 (PS2)
2. NCAA Football 07 (Xbox 360)
3. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
4. NCAA Football 07 (Xbox)
5. Cars (PS2)
6. Cars (GBA)
7. Brain Age: Train Your Brain In Minutes A Day (DS)
8. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP)
9. NCAA Football 07 (PSP)
10. Cars (GC)
Credit: Gamespot.com
I've been playing NCAA for the Xbox the last couple days. Look for a review up shortly. Not much else going on the list there. If you haven't yet, discover the wonder of the New Super Mario Bros. and become a handheld fan for the first time. It is that good of a game.
What looks good this week?
Civilization IV: Warlords (PC)– Civilization is one of my favorite games of all time. Since the original all the way to Civ IV. I am a sucker for this series because it always delivers. No other game has as much "One more turn" appeal than this. Warlords is going to add six more civilizations to the mix, along with other changes, bells and whistles. If your playing Civ IV less these days, this will probably freshen it up a bit.
CivCity: Rome (PC) – Finally, Civilization meets SimCity. From the little I have read this game looks to be a winner as well. While I don't know if I feel like buying it I would like to play it at some point.
Flash Game of the Week
Hapland 2 is the flash game of the week. It is a very unique puzzle game. I don't want to give anymore away. I accidentally discovered it a year ago, and had no idea what to do or what I was trying to do, and therein is the beauty of it.
Jordan looks at the PS3 and its price tag this week. Good article that makes me want to rant off about Sony. The more and more I hear from that company, the more I want to see them get trounced in the next console war. It is a game machine!!! Like Jordan said, that is why people are buying it. Or won't be, depending on. And what was with that crack as Sony exec said about the PS3 making the personal computer obsolete? Then there was something when Sony had spyware packed on some of their music CDs for their nefarious purposes. I loved the PS1 and PS2, but go Wii and 360! $600, please.
One game you should know about
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon comes out October of this year. It will be taking pretty much every playable character from the series past and making them all playable for a last hurrah on the current gen systems. I for one can't wait to choose from over 60 playable characters.
Question of the Week
If you could only buy one: a PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii, which would you choose. Why that system over the others?
If I happen to get some intelligent responses I'll put them in a feedback section in next week's column.
Now what?
411Games is starting to take shape. A shout out and thanks to Michael Joyeux for helping Ashish with the news updates around here. I think next week I should talk more about the Suikoden series as one of the other writers did (forgot who though, sorry). That game needs more love. Except for 4. 4 sucked.
