The Casual Gamer News Report 09.15.06
Posted by Steven Masters on 09.15.2006
After two weeks, 1200+ miles, three states, and a rabid turkey, the CGNR returns...Giant-Sized!
Welcome once again to the thirteen ring circus known as the Casual Gamer News Report. Thanks to Sarcuni for filling in for me as I moved to Kansas and left about 12 hours later due to a dispute with my landlord. So, this is coming to you from the Live Music Capitol of the World, once again. Anyway, last week was put on hiatus due to editorial and personal conflicts and I return this week, true believer, in a giant-sized report. This week marks the debut of "Comic Archives" feature (more on that later), as well as TWO weeks of news. Grab a beer (or OJ for those under- aged) and a sandwich, this'll take awhile.
A little more about me
Born in Jacksonville FL, lives in Austin TX.
Avid Jacksonville, Tampa, and Pittsburg fan.
News of the Week Past
Game Releases, Updates, and other Tidbits
Nazi's ruling America. Intrigued? I know at least one of you out there is, and so am I. Codemasters announced a new NextGen game called Fall of Liberty where exactly that has happened. You're part of a resistance to overthrow your bigot regime. I wonder if you can play as the Nazi's and quell the rebellions too. That'd be cool. It's another game for me to throw some money out on when it comes out. Definite rent, at the very least.
Madden '07 sets sales records as they take the top EIGHT spots on the charts for all systems. Over two million copies have been shipped out making the four of you who HAVEN'T played it, the biggest loser on the playground. But I mean no offense, savvy?
A pilot's version of the Prince of Persia called Timeshift has been pushed back to a '07 release. The premise sounds intriguing, but I don't think I'll be getting into it much. I'd much rather a sword and a knife and mind-bending acrobatics myself.
The final roster for Smackdown VS RAW '07 has been announced. There are too many people for me to type out here, so clicky for the article.
Battlefield goes futuristic with Battlefield: Bad Company. Set a few years from now somewhere around Europe, the new game features you and three others going AWOL with a vengeance. Nearly completely destructible battlefields, air, land, and sea vehicles as well as new gameplay make this a NextGen worthy title. Man, that sounded like a lame sales pitch. Anyway, if you're a fan of Battlefield or the like, this should be right up your alley. Me? I'll stick to my pilot sims. It's due out next year for the 360 and the PS3 (If it survives).
Project Gotham Racing 4 is in the developmental stages right now. Click here for more details.
Hey, the new list for Guitar Hero 2 has been reported and my typing is just fine for those. It is as follows.
"Beast and the Harlot" - Avenged Sevenfold
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" - The Rolling Stones
"Crazy on You" - Heart
"Heart-Shaped Box" - Nirvana
"Jessica" - The Allman Brothers Band
"Laid To Rest" - Lamb of God
"Message in a Bottle" - The Police
"Misirlou" - Dick Dale
"Surrender" - Cheap Trick
"Tattooed Love Boys" - The Pretenders
"Them Bones" - Alice in Chains
"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" - Spinal Tap
Those tracks join these previously announced tracks.
"Arterial Black" - Drist
"Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"John The Fisherman" - Primus
"Madhouse" - Anthrax
"Psychobilly Freakout" - The Reverend Horton Heat
"Shout at the Devil" - Mötley Crüe
"Strutter" - KISS
"Sweet Child O' Mine" - Guns N' Roses
"Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots
"War Pigs" - Black Sabbath
"Who Was in My Room Last Night?" - The Butthole Surfers
"You Really Got Me" - The Kinks, as performed by Van Halen
"YYZ" – Rush
We recently got new screens from God of War 2 (here) and Lair (here) The original was fun GoW, if short. I beat it in a night. Sure, it took all night and into the morning, but it was still pretty short. Flier looks pretty cool; however the subject isn't really my style. I'm sure I can make exceptions though.
Sega's bringing the old-school flava to the Wii with Sonic, Toe Jam and Earl, Golden Axe, and others. Oh HELL yes. Sonic is one of my all-time favorite games and Toe Jam and Earl rules all things funk. I am so gonna try and make friends with someone who has a Wii to take advantage of this news.
Console War Updates: The Front Line
Sony (PS3, PSP)
In a resounding "piss off" to nearly everyone, Sony has reduced it's shipments by something like 75%. Day one projections have 400,000 for the US' launch date on Nov. 17, while Japan gets 100,000. Europe gets the PS3 next March. The reason for all the tomfoolery? Blu-ray malfunctions. Good lord Sony, stop pissing people off, make a public announcement that the PS3 will be shipped out next June or something and scrap the Blu-Ray and cut the price by half. Trust me; it'll be better for business.
Also in Sony news, Xfire announced a deal to develop a platform for the PS3, but that was later shot down by Sony Yoga, saying that Xfire was only developing it for a single game.
Contributing to the downward spiral of the PS3 is the game cost of $60 for each game. Forget that. First, you buy a bugged system for an overpriced $600 and then you pay a tithe to Sony for each game? No way. That's THE final nail in the coffin for Sony. Casual gamers will not throw down $60 for a game when they can buy an equally good system and a ton of games for just the price of the PS3. Sony has lost and they haven't even stepped into the ring.
X360
What? Xbox news? Japan's offering an Xbox bundle with Ninety Nine Nights and Project Gotham Racing 3 for about $250. Or for those in the US, you can just get that pack from Mexico for even cheaper.
Nintendo (Wii, DS, GBA)
In light of Sony's misstep, Nintendo is taking FULL advantage. They're expecting 6 million unit shipments between their launch date and March '07. And it'll be ₤149 in Europe (₤50 less than the core 360 and ₤275 less than the PS3) with it now confirmed to be an astounding $250 here in the States. The box includes the console, the Wiimote and Nunchaku, Wii-Sensor, system cables, and Wii Sports (Wii Tennis, Golfing, Bowling, Baseball, and Boxing). Also announced is that the Wii will be Region-Freakin-Free! All Nintendo games will be not be coded by region, but third party titles still might be. Here's hoping not.
In other news, the Nintendo WiFi landed its 2 millionth user last week. Nintendo plans to expand on their once-reluctant online services with the WiiConnect 24, which allows the Wii to connect to the Nintendo WiFi 24/7, even when the system is off. Expect for Nintendo to change their name to Cyberdyne in the next decade and for the world to end within twenty years. Get ya gaming on, hooah.
Also announced for Europe is the GBA/GBAM/DS MP3 player. No release date yet, but at least it's confirmed. It'll work a lot like the Play-Yan in Japan and I'm assuming like a regular MP3 player for the unaware here in the States.
In my everlasting search to add onto the CGNR, I cam up with the idea to add in one of my favorite pastimes: Comics. I've been a fan since I learned to read (at 3) and haven't passed up anything with "Marvel" on it yet. The point if this section? Just add in something from the Marvel U that I find intriguing. The debut weeks features one of my personal hidden treasures: the Runaways.
In a nutshell: The kid's parents are evil in varying degrees. The kids find out and run away. Each kid has their own gift. One has a mind-link with a genetically engineered dinosaur, one's a mutant, one is a genius, one inherited her parent's gift of sorcery, one's an alien, and the other is a son of mad scientists. They hide from the Pride (their parents) and generally try to stay out of trouble and failing miserably. They encounter the Avengers and Cloak and Dagger before finally confronting their parents. A traitor is revealed in their mist and he almost gets everyone killed before he is defeated, along with the parents. The remaining Runaways get separated and sent to foster homes before they reunite to rescue the dinosaur. That pretty much completes the first series of the Runaways, though the series did start back up last year. Barnes and Noble have the whole thing in hardcover for fewer than thirty bucks and I strongly recommend you pick it up.
The Early Morning Stoned Pimp is Here Check out the other guy's columns from the last week
The Send Off
So yeah, that is one helluva drive and one I don't intend on making again. Disputes with people that force you to move back to where you just came from after ending everything in said location is not the best thing you can do with your life. Nor is being attacked by a rabid turkey at a rest stop. But let's not go there, yah? Until next week, this is Steven Masters and this has been your Casual Gamer News Report.
Sony (PS3, PSP) 
X360
Nintendo (Wii, DS, GBA)
