R.I.P. James Kim.Maybe it's me, but for some reason this week I feel as if there wasn't any major news going on and felt like putting them all under Tidbit News. Either that or I haven't been paying attention lately.
Big News
PARENTS UNDERSTAND ESRB [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
An online survey conducted by Activision's "Ratings are not a game" educational initiative finds that from a survey of 1,014 gamers and their parents, that 84% are very familiar with the ESRB ratings and that 68% of them believe the system is effective. 56% also said that the rating is the top influence when buying a game for their child.
Honestly, I think these campaigns to raise awareness of the ESRB ratings are stupid. Did the MPAA have to go through with this for the movie ratings? Also, as shown above a majority of parents understand. But what about the senators and protestors who think the ESRB never works? How about doing something to convince them?
POLICE KILL SUSPECT ACCUSED OF STEALING PS3 [Full credit: Gamespot, Starnewonline.com]
Eighteen-year-old Peyton Strickland of Wilmington, North Carolina, accused of robbing a student of two Playstation 3 consoles at the system's launch, died Friday after being shot by police intending to search his home and arrest him.
The police went to Strickland's apartment on Friday evening intending to serve a search warrant and arrest him. One of Strickland's three roommates, Mike Rhoton, told the Star-News that the student was killed while walking to answer a knock at the door. The roomate also claimed that Strickland was unarmed, and that he could see no reason why the police opened fire. Strickland's German shepherd was also shot and killed by a deputy. Because of safety concerns, UNCW Police Chief David Donaldson requested the help of sheriff's deputies to serve the warrants on Strickland, according to a university news release. Three unloaded guns were in the house - a hunting rifle and two shotguns - which were in Strickland's room, Rhoton said. And when Strickland answered the door, he may have been holding a PlayStation controller in his hand, he said.
On Friday night, Rhoton said he and Strickland played a PlayStation video game...when they heard a knock on the door. Strickland, who sat on a couch closest to the front door, got up to answer, Rhoton said. As Strickland approached the door, law enforcement officials knocked it down and "there was a bunch of yelling," he said. "Four or five shots went off and they killed him. They pinned me down to the ground and told me not to move anything." Within seconds, Strickland lay on the floor moaning while officers held a gun to Rhoton's head as he lay on the floor. He said they mentioned something about a search warrant, but they did not provide a copy.
County District Attorney Ben David said that an investigation had been launched and the conduct of all officers and deputies invloved was being reviewed. "No one's above the law. If there's any criminal conduct that can be established, I'm not going to hesitate to treat them as any other defendant," said David.
And this is coming in after the incident here in NY where cops shot someone 51 times without a very strong case of why they did it in the first place. It's bad enough the people trying to buy the console are hurting others, but now the police are barging in and killing people. I'm not even sure if they fully proved that he stole the PS3 in the first place.
OLD PROBLEM: WII STRAP. NEW PROBLEM: PATENT INFRINGEMENT [credit: Kotaku, Evil Avatar, Next Generation, Gamasutra, GameDaily]
With people throwing their Wii controllers like damn maniacs, Nintendo has responded saying it's investigating into the manner. Shingeru Miyamoto says "we are looking into the situation to see if there are additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself."
Kotaku, however, noticed that The Australian market are recieving better straps with their Wii Remotes as seen here:
While the remote strap problem is getting fixed, another problem has arisen in the form of...aw crap, a patent lawsuit! California-based Interlink Electronics is suing Nintendo for infringing on patents Nintendo used for designing the Wii remote. The patent details "a portable, trigger operated pointing device for use with an electronically responsive system, the pointing device comprising: a housing for location at least partly between a first finger and a thumb of a user's hand." Nintendo's response? "Nintendo doesn't comment on pending litigation."
Okay, so why are they suing now and not, say, over 12 months ago when Nintendo showed off the Wii Remote's capabilities IN THE FIRST PLACE?! Answer: They're a bunch of greedy assholes. Also, why are they not going at PS3 for their SIXAXIS as well? Stupid. Absoulutely stupid.
PS1 GAMES HIT PSP (WHICH SONY WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO IMPORT) [credit: IGN, GameDaily]
Sony has begun it's Playstation download service, where you can purchase games at the Playstation Store with the PS3 and download to your PSP. The games available right now are CoolBoarders, Crash Bandicoot, Hot Shots Golf 2, Syphon Filter and Tekken 2, all for $5.99 each. The games do not have multiplayer functionality, and Sony says that this will not replace the PSP downloads site, so one day you will be able to download games without a PS3.
I think they should've offered this WITHOUT the need of a PS3 in the first place. The PSP is struggling lately and the last thing people need is to be screwed by this service because they don't own a PS3.
Tidbit News
-The Director of the Cyberathlete Professional League Angel Munoz says the league will begin drug testing professional gamers at next years tournament. No reports of drug abuse have ever taken place, but the reason for this is to test gamers if they are taking drugs such as Crystal Meth and Ritalin to increase their reflexes. [credit: Bit-tech.net]
-Because the Fall Update of the Xbox 360 has been breaking some consoles, someone decided to sue Microsoft for $5million for saying that they released a bad update on purpose. I remember a time when you didn't need to get upgrades for a console constantly and it was a great advantage over PC gaming. [credit: Gamespot]
-A kid decided to open one of his Christmas presents early (a Game Boy Advance) despite being told not to by his great-grandmother. His mother was so furious that she CALLED THE POLICE and had the boy arrested for petty larceny. Next time try hiding it in a place he can't it. [credit: IGN]
-Burger King and Konami announced a new partnership in which Burger King will be offering DDR toys in their kids meals from December 4th to the 31st. First the Xbox 360 games and now this? Burger King truly is better then McDonalds! [credit: GameDaily]
-Police in Rhode Island are in serious trouble for trying to cut in line to buy PS3s. You just can't trust cops these days. [credit: Next Generation]
-The Bob Ross video game has officially been cancelled. Everyone, in three, two, one...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! [credit: Wii-Volution.com]
-A modder by the name of Benjamin J Heckendorn created an Xbox 360 controller for those who are one-handed. For details about this mod, click here. [credit: Team Xbox]
-Apparently there's some confusion how to how many units of the Wii is actually selling and Nintendo have been retracting their statements. The latest info so far from the NPD is that the Wii actually sold 476K units, not 600K that Nintendo claimed, and Zelda sold 412K units, not 476K. I hate data confusion. [credit: Evil Avatar, 1UP]
-180 PS3s have been stolen in Japan. According to the IGN article, "The 180 units were left outside a Meitetsu Golden Air Cargo warehouse in Naka City for several hours prior to a planned shipment." I emphasized the several hours part because when you leave something outside for that long, no shit it's about to get stolen. [credit: IGN]
-Many customers were turned away at a Wal-Mart by police when the store decided to change it's mind at the last second on what time they would be selling the Wii. As if you didn't have enough reasons to hate this franchise. [credit: Consumerist.com]
-Will Sony make a Playstation 4? Yes, but not until beyond 2010 says the company. They also say predicting that there won't be a console based on management changes is "a bit far fetched." [credit: Gamepro.com]
-Now that Gran Turismo HD has been turned into a free download, the developer Polyphony Digital are now working on Gran Turismo 5 instead. If anything like GT4, expect constant delays and long waits until the game is outclassed by Forza Motorsport. [credit: Gamepro.com]
-Because of a school shooting that took place a few weeks ago in Germany, the country is now proposing a bill that punishes those who distribute games that feature "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters" with a fine and up to a year in prison. Just like Columbine; Same shit, Different country. [credit: Gamasutra]
The Other Crap
VIDEO GAME VIDEOS
Check out this video of a fanmade ad for the Wii done in the style of those PS3 ads that make no sense. At least you can get what this one means.
Speaking of Wii, this guy plays the system on his television...that's only 1.5 inches!
And for you Halo fans, here's a trailer for Halo 3 dissected by the 1UP staff. 13 minutes of detailed goodness.
SpikeTV 2006 VIDEO GAME AWARDS
For a lesson in how to do everything bad when it comes to video game awards, check out this show. I haven't actually watched any of the previous shows entirely, and it's entirely thanks to what happened in the first five minutes of the very first show. The show opens up, host is introduced, the Game of the Year is awarded, then the opening credits begin.
Yes, you read that right. They gave away the Game of the Year award BEFORE THE OPENING CREDITS! At that point I just stopped watching, though I did catch a clip from I forgot which year of Samuel L. Jackson yelling at nerds about how to play Mortal Kombat. Uh...aren't nerds and geeks the kind of people who excel at games like Mortal Kombat instead of actors who's only recognizable talent is saying the word fuck? I don't play Mortal Kombat much, but even I think I could kick Samuel Jackson's ass at it.
Anyway, this year I'm actually going to watch it because they'll have a preview of TNA's video game, and I might as well recap it in the next news report. In fact, it might not even be a news report anymore with the recaps I'm doing. Also, to make things slightly exciting, I won't read the spoilers posted by websites on who won what awards so I least could be somewhat surprised...maybe.
I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING
God of War...Gears of War. They both start with a G, end with "of War" and are considered really great games. Something about that seems...freaky.
AND NOW FOR SOME STAND-UP "COMEDY"
Have you heard about Taco Bell lately? Apparently several Taco Bells in New York had E-Coli in their food. Sadly that's the healthiest thing to eat at a Taco Bell these days. *BA DUM PISH*
I'll be here all week people.
Other guys who write for this site...IN AMERICA!
The other news writers:
Shawn Struck with The Code (And extra Kudos for the eBaums World line)
Theo Fraser's Nintendophiles
Columns:
Damian Sarcuni and Jordan Williams join forces to bring you two tag-team columns:
Angry Title - How Final Fantasy has been killed.
Working Gamer - How fan service is killing games.
Will Scott looks at licensed games that can use a remake
Damian also mourns for video game badasses
Joshua Richey and Adam Smith in Fact or Fiction
Top 5 Gameboy/Gameboy Advance Games
And one of these days I'll get Gaming Trends back up. I'm serious.
Reviews:
Power Stone Collection by Adam Smith
Guitar Hero 2 by Caleb Newby
Viva Piata by Greg Bruno
Magical Starsign by Sean McCabe
DBZ: Budoaki Tenkaichi 2 by Chris McCarver
Rayman Raving Rabbids by Ramona Aranda
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom by Andrew Mellick
Nintendogs: Dalmation and Friends by Shawn Struck
Previews:
Far Cry Vengeance by Armando Rodriquez
Elebits by Ramon Aranda
So with all that crap out of the way, here's the latest in the MLG Pro Circuit.
The Boost Mobile MLG Pro Circuit 2006, Week 5Week 5's Tournament is in Orlando, FL, where this will be the final game of the regular season and team roster must be locked. Once this tournament is over, the seedings will be set for the playoffs in NYC. The hosts talk about Storm Ventures making a rise in the rankings and if Final Boss are getting better prepared. Speaking of preparing, Carbon and Str8 Rippin both made major roster changes.
After losing to Storm Ventures last week, Strongside has been dropped and is replaced with Ghostayame, another great player in the MLG. Str8 Rippin has dropped Defy for Captain Anarchy, but this decision was made by Defy himself rather then the team. Defy and Strongside have decided to form a new team, Legendz.
Because of the roster changes, the season point standings have changed since each player is scored individually and they take their points with them. Hence here is now the updated standings so far:
1.Final Boss: 8000
2.Str8 Rippin: 5240
3.Carbon: 5185
4.Legendz: 4480
5.Storm Ventures: 4260
6.Xit Woundz: 4200
7.Shook One Gaming: 3820
8.Vanity Gaming: 3490
This tournament had some surprise according to host Penn Holderness. Was it in Winners Round 4 when Storm Ventures took on Final Boss? Nope, because Final Boss swept the series. Str8 Rippin and Carbon took each other on with their new teammates in Round 4, and Carbon swept the series. So now Carbon will face Final Boss in the Winners Finals. Will Carbon end Final Boss' undefeated streak? We get a hyped up video package for this match.
In Game 1 Carbon beat Final Boss 5-1 in CTF, but Final Boss won Game 2 in Team Slayer thanks to Orge2. Game 3 had Final Boss jump ahead, but just when Carbon was about to lose, Ghost helps the team get the ball in the seconds of the game and Carbon won 3:53 to 3:52! In Game 4 the two teams fought in an epic match that had Carbon taking control. In sudden death, Gandhi got the double kill on Saiyan and Orge1, grabbed the flag, ran right through the map, and Carbon captured to flag to defeat Final Boss! The undefeated streak of Final Boss has ended and Carbon goes to the championship. In the Losers Finals, Final Boss swept Str8 Rippin, so now Carbon and Final Boss will face each other once again, this time for the championship.
Carbon has never ranked lower then 3rd on the MGL circuit, and it's mostly thanks to their leader Shockwave, whose innovative strategy and clutch objective skills has made him one of the most feared and respected players on the Halo 2. His teammates and rivals from other teams put him over.
In Game 1 of the championship, Final Boss jumped into an early lead but Gandhi blew them away. In Game 2 Carbon took the early lead but this time Final Boss was able to score the victory. We're now about to watch Game 3 of the match.
Game 3 of the Championship Finals: Carbon vs. Final Boss
Players on Team Carbon: Players on Carbon: Chris "Shockwave" Smith, Scott "Gandhi" Lussier, Ben "Karma" Jackson, Eric "Ghostayame" Hewitt
Players on Final Boss: Players on Final Boss: David "Walshy" Walsh, Dan "Orge 1" Ryan, Tom "Orge 2" Ryan, Ryan "Saiyan" Danford.
Game is Team Slayer on Warlock. No power weapons, only invisibility power up.
We start with Shockwave as the kills already start adding up. Shockwave hides to shoot from afar but gets fraged. Over to Orge1, he grabs the camo but was spotted by Carbon so it didn't do much. FB gets two quick kills and Orge1 throws a grenade far and takes out Karma. FB takes the lead 16-13. Final Boss has taken control of the portals so they're getting quick kills. Final Boss now has a 6 kill lead as Penn points out how Final Boss has never loss on Warlock. Orge1 makes his 7th consecutive kill as it's now 28-21. Orge1 soon makes it 10 kills in a row, officially getting a "running riot". We go now to Walshy as Final Boss is leading 37-24. He assassinates Shockwave and continues to rack up kills. As Walshy is taken down, FB is leading 42-28. We go to Gandhi who grabs the camo in an attempt to make a comeback. Gandhi is racking up kills but Final Boss is only 5 away from winning it. Gandhi tries to sneak up on Walshy but Walshy turns around and hits the BXR. We're about to wrap this up with Orge2, who has 15 kills. Orge2 is taken down but once he respawns he takes out Ghost with a grenade and wins 50-38. The Orge twins only had 5 deaths each and scored 29 kills together. We get a replay of Orge1's running riot.
Final Boss won the next game, so now it's 4-3 Carbon. On a sidenote, Gilbert Arenas from the Washington Wizards is now sponsoring Final Boss. The hosts start to talk about Karma from Carbon, who has been dominating the Free For All tournament.
Ben "Karma" Jackson got his name when he thought it would cool to have said you were killed by bad karma. But since "BadKarma" wouldn't fit on the tag he simply became "Karma". Karma used to be over 300 pounds and was made fun a lot for that, which really got to him. But with his positive perspective on life he started to lose weight thanks to Gandhi and in a lot better shape. Will the king of the Free For All lead his team to victory? But first, Karma gives us this week's pro player tip: the Peek Shot. If you want to embarrass/destory someone, hide behind a wall, use the right stick to line up with the aim, use the left stick to peek out from the wall, fire, then go back behind the wall. Most times this works with you never getting hit.
In Game 5 Carbon won CTF with only 1 flag capture, so now Carbon is only 1 game away from winning the championship and ending Final Boss' championship winning streak.
Game 6 of the Championship Finals
It's Team Slayer on Midship. Midship is a small circular arena with four areas: the blue base, red base, carbine, and pink tower. The Sword is the only power weapon and the key to winning with be controling the pink tower.
We start with Shockwave who sticks Walshy with a grenade. Shockwave scores a double on Orge2 before being took down. Orge1 takes out Ghost before Karma kills him. Over to Ghost, we goes into a melee with Orge1, but his shield is too weak so he escapes in the nick of time. Saiyan fails to lunge at Ghost with the sword, so now Ghost has the sword. Saiyan respawns to get revenge but Ghost kills him with the sword he just took. Ghost calls for help but it doesn't come as he's fraged. Meanwhile, Carbon has control of the Pink Tower. We now switch to Shockwave who tries to lunge with the sword at Saiyan but fails and gets killed for it. Shockwave kills Walshy as Carbon is leading 26-20. He goes for some long shots but Saiyan sneaks up and BXRs him.We go to Walshy as he tries to take over the tower but was trapped by Karma and Shockwave. We go to Orge2 who every time he tries to kill someone, he gets shot at and doesn't pull it off. Final Boss starts going on a run but Carbon still leads 35-33. We go to Shockwave as now Carbon is winning 40-35. The teams are communicating with each other and we switch to Gandhi. Gandhi sneaks into blue base and kills Saiyan with the score at 46-38. Carbon scores three more kills and only need one more to win it all! The team finds Saiyan, swarm him with everything they have and kill him! Carbon has taken the Championship away from Final Boss! Carbon feels really estactic from this major upset they've just pulled. Final Boss, of course, is feeling really down.
So after four weeks of dominating all in their path, Final Boss lost in the championships to Carbon. However, don't forget that it's all about who wins in the grand finals two weeks from now. With the initial season now over, next week's tournament in NYC will be the playoffs. Based on the past 5 weeks of play, here's how the seeding will go:
1. Final Boss
2. Carbon
3. Str8 Rippin
4. Legendz
5. Xit Woundz
6. Storm Ventures
7. Shook One Gaming
8. (TBD at NYC)
The Free for All champion is FOR THE 5TH TIME IN A ROW, Ben "Karma" Jackson.
The Scion Player of the Week is Kyle "Elamite Warrior" Elam from Vanity Gaming.
Despite the loss, will Final Boss stay on top? Will anyone beat Karma in a 1 vs. 1 match? Is Zyos going to cry when watching this at home? Stay tuned to find out!
