Welcome to a HUGE edition of The Select and Start News Report. This report is huge for two reasons. 1) Just below is a recap of all the Wii news that's been going on for the past week. 2) Starting this week for three weeks, I'll be posting my recaps of that Championship Gaming Invitational that aired last weekend, so look for that after the News Report.In case you're lost in all this Wii news, here's everything that's happened:
ALL THE DETAILS WIIVEALED [credit: Nintendo Press Events, Various Gaming Websites]
Here now is a total Wiicap of everything so far.
LAUNCH DATE, PRICES, AND ACCESSORIES
North America: November 19th, $249.99 and comes with Wii Sports
Japan: December 2nd, 25,000Yen
Europe: December 8th, EU 249 and comes with Wii Sports
Australia: December 7th, AU 399.95 and comes with Wii Sports
The Wii will come with the sensor bar, cables, and 1 controller set (Wiimote + Nunchuku).
First-party games will cost $49.99 and under. Third-party games will be whatever those companies price it at. Wiimotes sold separately for $40. Nunchukus for $20.
In Japan, the "shell"/classic controller will see for 1800Yen. No price for North America/Europe yet, but expect it to be $20.
LAUNCH TITLES
There will be 30 games available during the "launch window" from 11/19/06 to 3/31/07. Here's the list of title so far:
First-Party Wii games
Wii Sports (bundled with console)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Excite Truck
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Battalion Wars II
Big Brain Academy (temporary name)
Mario Strikers Charged
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Super Mario Galaxy (temporary name)
Activision
Call of Duty 3
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Rapala Tournament Fishing
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
World Series of Poker
Atari
Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 2
Atlus
Trauma Center: Second Opinion*
Buena Vista Games
Chicken Little: Ace in Action
Disney's Meet the Robinsons
Codemasters
Dance Factory
Sidewinder
Electronic Arts
The Godfather
Madden NFL 07
Need for Speed: Carbon
SSX
Tiger Woods PGA Tour
Konami
Elebits
Majesco
Bust-A-Move Revolution
Midway
The Ant Bully
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
Happy Feet
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Rampage: Total Destruction
Sega
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
SNK
Metal Slug Anthology
THQ
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Barnyard
Cars
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
Ubisoft
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Far Cry: Vengeance
GT Pro Series
Monster 4x4: World Circuit
Open Season
Prince of Persia
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Red Steel
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent
Vivendi Games
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Because I've seen different lists of what titles will be available on Day 1 I haven't made any indications. The only two I know for sure for Zelda:TP and Excite Truck.
WII VIRTUAL CONSOLE
Similar to Microsoft Points that are used on Xbox Live, Nintendo revealed that users can purchase Wii Points. A 2000 Wii points card will cost $20 (making it 100 points per dollar).
In Japan, there will be cards for 1000, 3000, and 5000 Wii points. For a limited Those who buy the 5000 point card will receive the classic controller for free.
NES titles will cost 500 points, SNES games will cost 800 points and N64 titles will be cost 1000 points.
Around 30 VC titles will be available for launch.
WII CHANNELS
Disc Channel - For playing Wii and Gamecube games.
Mii Channel - Create a caricature for certain Wii games and other applications. Can store portraits to your Wiimote to use on other consoles. Each Wiimote can have it's own personalized caricature.
Photo Channel - View pictures from an SD memory card and edit them. Play MP3s in the background while viewing your slideshow.
Forecast Channel - Part of the News Channel, this allows you to check on the local weather. WiiConnect24 automatically downloads the latest info.
Wii Shop Channel - Purchase Wii Points for the Virtual Console and download the Opera browser. Pretty much the same as the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Wii Message Board - Place to leave messages for family and friends, trade photos and text messages with Cell Phone users, and receive updates for your games.
OTHER WII NEWS
The Wii Channel, where you'll buy games for the virtual console, will be up by Day 1. Yay!
Nintendo plans to release 4 million units worldwide by the end of the year. Hopefully!
The Gamecube version of Zelda: Twilight Princess has been delayed to December. Boo!
The Wii will NOT be region-free, meaning as of now you can't import games from other countries. Boo!
All First-party games will have the 16:9 aspect ratio but won't be in high-def. Yay because I don't have high-def yet!
Pokèmon Battle Revolution will be the first online multiplayer game. Meh!
The Wii won't be able to play DVD movies. Meh! DVD players are $50 people, just get one already.
Wii now wiiturn to your regularly scheduled news report
PROFESSIONAL GAMING MINUS THE PROFESSIONAL PART [credit: Gamespot]
Kavitha Yalavarthi of Odessa, Texas, was crowned World's Best Casual Gamer by Fun Technologies at the first-ever Worldwide Web Games, held in Hollywood, California. Three games--Bejeweled 2, Solitaire, and Zuma--were featured in the competition, which took place over 12 hours and featured 71 contestants. For winning the competition, he took home a prize of one million dollars.
ONE MILLION DOLLARS?! For a freaking CASUAL GAMES tournament?! Folks, forget everything I've ever said about pro gaming in my Gaming Trends column. It's CASUAL gaming you should be getting into!
SOMEWHAT POSITIVE SONY NEWS [credit: Evil Avatar]
A post on Evil Avatar did a price comparison for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 with various components:
Gaming PC:
BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC $349.99
Cooler Master Praetorian (PACT01EK) ATX Mid-Tower Case $109.99
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard $146.99
Seagate Barracuda 250GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer $88.00
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Socket AM2 $265.00
Kingston KVR533D2E4/1G 1GB DDR2-533 PC2-4300 ECC Memory (x2) $222.00
+Keyboard +Mouse +Monitor
Total: $1181.97+
Xbox 360:
Xbox 360 Pro: $399.99
Gold Xbox Live Subscription: $49.99
Second Wireless Controller: $49.99
Two Play and Charge Kits: $19.99 times two.
HD-DVD: $199.99*
Total: $739.94
Playstation 3:
Playstation 3 Deluxe: $599.99
PS3 Network Platform: Free (TBD + Individual charges by Publisher/Title = $big bucks$)
Wireless Networking Adapter: Built-in
Blu-ray player: Built-in
Second Wireless Controller: $49.99*
Two charge Kits: $19.99 times two*
Total: $689.96
Of course a number factors would change the totals of the PS3 and Xbox 360, but at least Sony fanboys will have some little piece of news to gloat about.
573 GAMES AT TOKYO GAME SHOW [credit: Gamespot]
According to the TGS's official website, this year the convention will feature 573 different games, making this the largest TGS event yet. 18 of those games will be for the PS3, 20 for the Xbox 360, but only 5 for the Wii.
573 games huh? We're going to have a REALLY busy week here at 411Games.
EGM JOKE GOES TOO FAR [credit: Evil Avatar, Next Generation]
Apple has recently revealed it's 5th-gen iPod, and this one is going to be capable of playing actual games. Casual games including Pac-Man, Zuma, Texas Hold ‘em and Tetris will be made available on the iTunes store for $4.99 each.
I wonder if the iPod will wind up looking like what EGM made up back in their April issue.
MAN KILLS DAUGHTER OVER VIDEO GAME [credit: 1UP, Philadelphia Inquirer]
Tyrone Spellman (also known as Anwar Salahuddin), 25, has been charged with the murder of her 17-month-old daughter, Alayiah Turman. Alayiah pulled the cords of her father's video game system causing it to fall. Tyrone became so enraged that he beat his daughter and threw her across the room. When the child's mother returned home, Spellman told her the girl was sleeping. The police were later told that the young girl had fallen off the bed, but quickly found that there was no evidence to support that claim.
The family of Alayiah has had a history of problems before. In the last month an anonymous caller reported the family to the Department of Human Services. The next day, a social worker interviewed Alayiah's mother, Mia Turman, and inspected the child and the home. Human Services Commissioner Cheryl Ransom-Garner asked the mother if anybody was living in the house besides her and the baby, and the mother said no. "It's just so heartbreaking," Ransom-Garner said. "This was a case where the child didn't appear to be abused. Obviously the caller knew something about the child and the inside of the house, but they didn't give us much information."
Jack(ass) Thompson B.S. rant about something he knows absolutely nothing about in 3, 2, 1...
DON'T PANIC! IT'S JUST A LONG AWAITED SEQUEL! [credit: 1UP]
At a press event in Tokyo, Sega showed a trailer for the upcoming sequel to the weird Dreamcast game, Seaman. The premise of Seaman 2 has you interacting with a virtual pet, which this time is some kind of mini-neanderthal man. A new controller with a built-in mic will be available alongside it's release.
I hope these mini-neanderthals don't turn out to be just cute little pets. I want an evil mini-neaderthal that I can dress in armor, give him a sword, and have fights with. How psyched would you be knowing there's a mini-neanderthal waiting for you that you'd have to battle? That's awesome! (Gold star for anyone who gets this reference)
SEX IN VIDEO GAMES: THE BOOK [credit: Gamasutra]
Course Technology PTR and Charles River Media have announced the release of Brenda Brathwaite's book Sex in Video Games, which provides analysis of sexual content in video games. Author Brenda Brathwaite, who has an extensive video gaming career that spans nearly 25 years, has personal experience in dealing with sex in video games issues. She holds credit for designing and writing Playboy: The Mansion, one of the games used as a case study in chapter content.
Jack(ass) Thompson B.S. rant about something he knows absolutely nothing about in 3, 2, 1...
PSP "ENTERTAINMENT" BUNDLE [credit: Gamasutra, Gamespot, Gamepro.com]
Sony has recently released a PSP bundle pack that comes with the PSP, Sony 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails, and Lords of Dogtown UMD movie for $250.
Meh, I'd still rather go listen to some cheese. Preferably Mozzarella.
XBOX LIVE TO BE SUED TO DEATH? [credit: Slashdot]
A company called Paltalk is suing Microsoft over its Xbox Live service, alleging that Microsoft's Xbox Live infringes on two of its patents, and that the company has suffered damages "in at least the tens of millions of dollars". However, Paltalk didn't exactly explain how Microsoft is infringing on these patents, only saying "gameplay on the Xbox or Xbox 360 through the Xbox Live online gaming service infringes the Paltalk patents."
Don't you just love ridiculous game related lawsuits? This is probably as ridiculous as that Nintendo/Universal lawsuit over Donkey Kong.
AND YOUR WINNER IS, EH... [credit: Gamasutra]
The 1st ever Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts have announced the winners from their September 14th event hosted by William Shatner. Peter Jackson's King Kong won the most awards, including Best Character Design, Best Graphics, and Best Innovation in Gaming. Ubisoft also won awards for Best Motion Graphics (Far Cry Instincts Predator) and Best Console Game (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones). BattleGoat Studios' Supreme Ruler 2010 won for Best PC Game, Buena Vista Games' Kim Possible Kimmunicator won for Best Mobile Game, and Relic Entertainment's The Outfit won the Game of the Year.
You know why us Americans hate Canada so much? Because we're so damn jealous. Canada > G4 and Spike TV.
Tidbit News
News I just didn't feel like detailing.
-Final PS3 assembly will start by the end of the month. Keep the hope alive PS3 fanboys! [credit: Gamedaily]
-The rumors of a HD-DVD Xbox 360 continues, as Taiwanese industry site DigiTimes says Microsoft is currently in the process of selecting a Taiwan-based manufacturer to produce the HD-DVD drive [credit: Gamepro.com]
-Enchanted Arms is being ported to the PS3. [credit: Gamespot]
-EA will be making the following titles for Nokia cellphones: Tetris, Tetris Mania (two Tetris'?), The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, and FIFA Street 2. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Telltale games is in talks with Nintendo to bring Sam and Max to the Wii. Cool. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Capcom is spending $3 million on more TV ads for Dead Rising. With 500,000 units already shipped, do they really need to though? [credit: GameDaily]
-Rumor has it that Project Gotham Racing 4 will be released around the end of 2007 or first half or 2008 based on car manufacturer Peugeot's Web site. [credit: Gamespot]
-The PS3 controller, instead of being called the Dual Shock, may now be going under the name "SIXAXIS". But as Nintendo fans would tell you, it's not the name that matters. [credit: 1UP]
The Other Crap
TOKYO GAME SHOW
This week is going to be the Tokyo Game Show, so there's probably going to be a big amount of news to cover. Keep tuning to 411Games (or at least this column) for all the big news that comes from the land of the rising sun.
COOL VIDEO GAME STUFF*
*99% guaranteed to be free of giant enemy crabs.
Now this is something probably few will remember. When FF3 for the SNES was coming to the US, they ran commercials for it where Mog the moogle would have a monster come into his office, and he'd just zap them to death instantly. For those that do remember, here's a special treat for ya.
Meanwhile, for all you European gamers, you probably feel really pissed that those wankers at Sony have delayed the PS3 until 2007. Well here's a site where many people feel the same way and are expressing it in hilarious photoshop goodness.
Guys who are sick of my constant Wii puns
Your 411 Super Hyperforce Action Game News Team:
Joshua Richey with the Digital Pulse
Tommy Coloma with The Negative Edge
Caleb Newby with News from Bitopia
Steven Masters with The Casual Gamer News
Shawn Struck with the ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A (Start) News
THE 411GAMES COLUMNIST HEROES:
Damian Sarcuni, with the power of great anger towards ridiculous crap like too much retro gaming these days.
Brandon Ratliff and Damien Wilkens, who combine their powers to form the perfect Fact or Fiction!
Jordan Williams, with the power of creating proper ratings for RPG games.
Will Scott, with the power of turning into several different kinds of role players
Sean McCabe, with the power to go back in time and relive the Metal Gear series
The uh...random editors who...um...okay, I got nothing. Check out this week's Top 5.
Reviews:
Ramon Arnada with Test Drive: Unlimited
Jordan Williams with Starfox Command
Chris McCarver with Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run
Andrew Mellick with NASCAR 2007
Joshua Richey with Flatout 2
Damian Sarcuni with Mechassault: Phantom War
Previews:
Steven Master with Spore
Shawn Struck with Final Fantasy XII
Armando Rodriguex with Import Tuner
That's it for this wiik's week's news report. Right below is the CGI recap mentioned earlier, and I'll see you next week for the news on the Tokyo Game Show.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAMING INVITATIONALYour hosts are Stryker (who?) and Tommy Tallarico (G4's Judgment Day and Electric Playground).
After all the talk about the set and the gamer's lounge we start off with the first match in the DOA 4 tournament. The rules are first to 5 wins, winner of the tournament wins $10,000.
One of the first players is Felicia "Mage" Williams, who they interview at her local arcade which looks like it was stuck in the mid 90's. She wants to surprise her family and friends at how much of a gamer she really is.
DOA4, QF: Felicia "Mage" Williams vs. Adande "Swoozie" Thorne
Mage plays as Eliot, Swoozie plays as Brad Wong, and the stage is the one with the bridge.
Results: Swoozie dominated for the first 4 rounds by constantly pulling off his juggles and taking Mage down to the lower level. In the 5th round Mage tried fighting back and as it got down neck and neck, Mage quickly a 3-hit combo for the win. But in the 6th round, Swoozie once again dominated despite Mage trying to rotate around and block. This is was a pretty one-sided battle.
Up next is a Halo 2 match. The matches for Halo 2 takes place on Lockout with only Assault Rifles. First to 10 frags or most at 10 minutes wins. Winner of the tournament gets $10,000.
Halo 2, QF: Jeff "Pacmayne" Powell (a Halo champion) vs. Jake "LaidToRest" Forsyth
Results: In the start first half it gets pretty close as PacMayne and LTR scored a frag each. PacMayne scored the 2nd frag by shooting from afar, and as he tries to score a 3rd one LTR runs away in time...only to miss a gap when jumping and lose a point. PacMayne and LTR get real close to each other and end up getting a double frag.
In the second half PacMayne risks getting close to LTR and it pays off as he gets another frag on him. Afterwards LTR charges in on PacMayne while PacMayne's reloading but PacMayne fires a couple headshots quickly to take LTR down. Afterwards LTR scores the next frag from PacMayne overexposing himself, then again when PacMayne charges but LTR was waiting. PacMayne charges in again and kills LTR. LTR and PacMayne then get in each others face and PacMayne bashes LTR in the head to take the frag. 30 seconds left and PacMayne gets another frag just to show off. PacMayne wins 8-3. It started out pretty good but it was over the moment LTR accidently killed himself, despite almost making a comeback. The double frag and bashed-in frag were definitely the highlights.
Next is another Halo 2 match, where one of the players is LTR's girlfriend, "Maryjane". First meeting at a Halo tournament in New York a few months before, they now compete in tournaments together.
Halo 2, QF: Shannon "Maryjane" Ridge vs. Nathan "Decoy" Corless
Results: Maryjane starts shooting from a long distance, then charges in for the 1st frag. Decoy then comes up from behind and ties it up. After that Maryjane scores a frag from afar then immediately scores again once he respawns. Then she's caught off guard again and Decoy scores another frag. MJ tries to charge but Decoy gets another frag, and then again when MJ is still caught off guard. After some long distance shooting, LTR chases down MJ and takes her down to take a 5-3 lead. Then he scores another frag on her, and MJ is getting upset. MJ tries to hide, but Decoy finds her again and gets yet another frag. MJ finally gets a frag back, but Decoy quickly takes it away. Decoy charges around a corner and scores his 9th frag on her. Then he quickly scores his 10th frag for the win. She started out well, but then it suddenly became one-sided as Decoy quickly got frag after frag because of her poor defense.
For the PGR3 tournament, a player named Christopher "Badxx75" Bjorkman has experience from competing in NASCAR. Let's see if that actually helps him wins this tournament. There are 3 heats, and the winner of each heat will face each other for $10,000.
PGR3, Heat 1: Joe "PhantomHitman" Tackett vs. Barry "BB" Brady vs. Christopher "Badxx75" Bjorkman.
They'll be racing with Ferraris in Japan for two laps.
Results: Brady takes the lead but he messes up in the first turn and is past by both cars. Badaxx75 slides through Hitman for first but loses control of his car into a turn and Phantom takes the lead. Badaxx75 tries moving up but Hitman is far into first. BB is way too behind as Hitman is way ahead. This pretty much goes for the entire second lap and Hitman wins. Boy did that ever suck.
Up next, the Swedish team world champs "Code 7" will be competing in Battlefield 2, and one of the players named "Speedy Headshot" wants to take out a player from team "20ID" named Jeff "Speedy" Penny for apparently taking his nickname. But first, they'll have to take on Warchild.
Battlefield 2 will have an 8 vs. 8 battle, with each team starting with 85 tickets. Once a ticket count reaches 0, the half is over and teams switch armies. Whoever has the most combined tickets from both halves win. The finalists are playing for $40,000.
Battlefield 2 Semifinals: Code 7 vs. Warchild
Code 7 starts as USA on offense and Warchild is China on defense. Each army has a base and there are two neutral bases to capture (Hill Village and Power Station).
Results of First Half: Code 7 takes over Hill Village as Warchild goes over to the Power Station. They try taking it over but Code 7 takes out their tanks with a helicopter before they can. Code 7 takes a heavy army tank to the Power Station and takes it over easily. Now Code 7 surrounds them and their base. Warchild tries to escape in a jeep but the jeep is shot and tips over. Now Code 7 has a dominant lead as they still have most their tanks and helicopter. Warchild is then finished off with Code having a 65 ticket lead.
Second half, teams switch sides. Warchild must have more then 65 tickets in order to win this.
Results of Second Half: The battle begins at Hill Village as a Code 7 soldier takes out a Warchild soldier with a grenade but is quickly shot down as Warchild takes over. Now Warchild takes over the Power Station and they all go down to the main base to take out Code 7. Warchild enters the base and hijakcs one of their heavy armor tanks. Now Warchild has surrounded the base the way Code 7 before. As the fight continues, another Code 7 vehicle is destroyed and it's now 79-33 Warchild. Code 7 is able to escape from the base and are now trying to take over the Power Station and Warchild takes them out with an anti-air tank. Now Code 7 uses their helicopter to take over the Power Station and succeeds, so now the score is 73-8. Warchild takes out their helicopter but Code 7 is still winning as we reach the final battle. A Warchild tank is taken out by two tanks but one of Code 7's tanks is taken out and now it comes down to a long distance tank battle. Warchild fires one final rocket and takes out Code 7's last tickets to win it 68-65 overall! This was an awesome match to watch.
DOA4, QF: Margorie "Kasumi Chan" Bartell vs. Katherine "Mystic" Gunn
Kasumi Chan chooses Kasumi and Mystic choose Ayane, fighting in that electric stadium-esque stage.
Results: Mystic kicks her ass in the first round, but then Kasumi Chan puts up a fight in the second round. But Mystic came back with low health and was able to win the second round. Kasumi once again takes out Ayane with multiple combos and this times takes the win. Kasumi constantly pulls off 7-hit combos and scores a near perfect victory to tie it up. Mystic starts it off well, but then Kasumi comes back from behind and takes the lead. Mystic wins the next round by constantly hitting Kasumi into the wall. The next round constantly goes back and forth as both players reach very low health as Kasumi scores the winning hit. Kasumi wins the last round by again almost scoring a perfect. The whole fight looked one-sided nearly round but then it would suddenly reverse to the player. A good battle between the two.
Up next is the 2nd heat of PGR3, featuring a 37-year-old pro gamer, Patrick "Indigo Ferret" Wyrick. He's been a pro gamer since the late 80's. Since he works and has a family, he doesn't play PGR as much. Will Pat teach these whippersnappers a lesson?
PGR3, 2nd Heat: Ryan "GameClucks" Erickson (2004 U.S. National Champion) vs. Patrick "Indigo Ferret" Wyrick vs. Brent "Naka360" Dimapilis
The track is some kind of wide scenic place but I don't know the name and it's for 3 laps.
Results: Naka goes inside on the first turn and takes the lead with Wyrick close behind. Naka then makes a far right and goes way into the lead, but both cars quickly catch up. Into a sharp Naka takes the shortcut over the grass to take an extended lead. Wyrick goes the other way as Gameclucks does the same as Naka and bumps right into Wyrick sending him sideways! Gameclucks apologizes and goes after Naka, but it's no use as Naka takes all the way for the win. It seemed like it would've been a good match if not for Gameclucks bumping Wyrick out of the race.
Up next is a Counter Strike match featuring team "Complexity", a team comprised of players that were cut from other teams.
Counter Strike is a 5 vs. 5 is nine 80-second rounds for each half. Terrorists wins by detonating bombs, Counter-Terrorists win by defusing them, and both can win just by killing each other off. After the first half, teams will switch sides. First to 10 wins and the finalists will compete for $50,000. Oh, and a big twist to this game is that the teams aren't told what map they're on until 60 seconds before the match.
Counter Strike: Jax Money Crew vs. Complexity
JMC starts off as the terrorists. The map is Dust 2.
Results of First Half: JMC tries to make it to the A site but as soon as they reach there they get obliviated by Complexity in the first round. The second round lasts a big longer but the results are the same as JMC is killed off. JMC uses some teamwork to kill off a CT but once they get to the site three of them are killed off by one person. The other two are soon killed off. The next two rounds has all of them killed right away. The next round, JMC get the bomb planted but are killed off ten seconds later. JMC and Complexity fight it out at the B site as the last member in JMC tries to take the bomb and run but is killed on the way out of the tunnel. Comp is winning 7-0 as we head to commercial (?!).
The Second half is about to begin, and we learn that one of the Complexity players brings a teddy bear with him for good luck. So far it's really working as Complexity has an 8-1 lead (so apparently JMC were able to win one round).
Results of Second Half: Complexity runs towards the A site using the short route. Each side tosses grenades as Complexity charges into the site and takes out 3 of the CT's. They plant the bomb as JMC decides to run away and save their weapons, but are found and killed off. Complexity is now one win away from taking it as they go to the B site. Complexity lay down smoke grenades and take out 2 CT's. They make it to the B site and take out the other three and win it all! See, this is why I don't really like Counter-Strike; it gets one sided way too quickly.
We're now treated to a sneak peak of the Call of Duty 3 demo for the Xbox 360. They show the combat gameplay and show a new feature called "battle actions" where you fight with someone up close. Now it's time for the final PGR3 heat.
PGR3, 3rd Heat: Matt "Zyos" Leto vs. Joseph "Super Noob" Anthony vs. Caitlyn "V3NUS" Buckshaw.
It's for 3 laps at Westminter.
Results: There's bump and grind action right off the bat and V3NUS takes the lead. But then she slams into a wall and is pretty much gone. Zyos comes up through the middle and takes first. Zyos loses control and slams into the wall and then gets rammed by Super Noob. Super Noob takes first as Noob "thanks" him. Zyos is catching up on Noob and is getting closer and closer. Zyos comes up to him on the first turn and bumps him into the wall to take the major lead. After that, Zyos takes it all away. A bit more exciting then the last two PGR heats.
And now we're going to wrap it all up for PGR3.
PGR3 Finals: Joe "PhantomHitman" Tackett vs. Brent "Naka360" Dimapilis vs. Matt "Zyos" Leto.
Same track as Heat 3.
Results: It starts off close with Phantom in 1st, Zyos in 2nd and Naka in 3rd. Zyos comes up on the inside and takes the lead while Naka trails. Zyos tries to bump Hitman into the wall but Hitman charges back into first. Zyos screws up on the hard right and now Hitman is way out in first. So now it's Zyos vs. Naka for 2nd place worth $5,000. Zyos bumps him into the wall and keeps his position. Naka catches up again but can't pass Zyos. Naka is right behind Zyos and passes him on the first turn. Zyos screws up a right turn and trails way behind Naka. Naka bumps and Zyos tries to catch up but to no avail as Hitman wins the race, Naka in 2nd and Zyos in 3rd. Boy was THAT ever anticlimactic.
PhantomHitman is awarded a Best Buy certificate, his $10,000 prize money, and a Mountain Dew Trophy as the first night of the CGI comes to an end.
CGI 1 Overall: I have to question why they decided to switch from game to game constantly instead of playing out each game through by division. Most of the matches were either one-sided or decent, but the Battlefield 2 match was cool. However, since this was mostly quarterfinals, the next two parts should be much better. So tune in next week to see Part 2 of my CGI recap.
