The Negative Edge News Report 07.18.07
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 07.18.2007
Peter Moore's move from Microsoft to EA, why MySims' success will be bad for Wii owners, lame summer releases, the wooden Guitar Hero guitar, and More!
It's been a year since I've started to write for 411mania. I'd like to think that my writing has improved a little since I began, but I know that I still have a long way to go. First of all, out of all the news reports that I've put together over the past year, there were only three or four that I actually liked. So, while driving to and from E3 this year, I thought about what was needed to improve my column. It was a six hour drive both ways so I had a lot of time to myself. I eventually decided that the main thing that I didn't like about my column was the way that I got my news. While I do enjoy spending hours scouring several news sources throughout the Internet in order to find the interesting stuff to talk about, what I really wanted to do was to find stuff that isn't talked about by EVERYONE ELSE. Sure, common news is important too, and I won't skip out on what's good, but I'd like to supplement that with whatever I can find on my own. It's time for me to make use of all those years of doing Sociological research in college. I need to stretch my journalistic muscles. So, what kinds of things am I going to be looking for? Basically, I always have video game related questions that I want to ask but until now I've never had a way to get them answered. I've finally realized that I'm now in a position where I can ask the people that can actually answer those questions. I was going to start the section this week, but I decided that, while I already have my own questions that I've been wanting to get to the bottom of for the longest time, I know that many of you have your own so I figured that I'll take in questions from my readers as well. So, if there is anything that you've ever wondered about certain video games or the video game industry, send your questions and inquiries my way and I will use all of my awesome resources to find out the definitive answer for you. I'm not going to guarantee that I'll find the answer, but I'll try my hardest! Just make sure that whatever you need me to find out cannot be answered by a simple Google search. I'm more interested in the types of questions that would require me to contact people that are directly involved in the video game industry. You want examples? How about -
X has been rumored for a little while. So is it going to happen, or are you just jerkin our chains?
People keep complaining about X and X. Are you ignoring your fans for are there plans to fix those problems?
It's been 10 years. Are there plans to make a sequel for X?
I'll give this a few weeks. I really hope that it pans out...
The news as I see it
So that's why he didn't have any new tats this year!
According to a press release that was released today, Peter Moore has resigned from Microsoft in order to move back to California and head up the sports division at EA. I've been reporting for a year, and honestly, this is pretty much the most surprising bit of news that I've come across since I started. I'm sure that we'll find out more about this throughout the week. The main thing that I'm wondering right now, though, is - why the hell does EA need someone like Peter Moore to head up its sports division? It's already dominant. This is like hiring James Bond to assassinate your neighbor's cat. Total overkill! There's got to be more to this...
Microsoft probably won't be in a bad position once Peter Moore leaves. According to Microsoft's press release, Don Mattrick, Moore's successor, has "23 years of games industry and development experience," so at least he isn't totally green. I hope that he is a good speaker though. During Microsoft's E3 conference, things were infinitely more interesting when Peter Moore was speaking. If you have some footage of the conference, check out the Games for Windows part. Soooo boring! Peter's got that certain something that none of MS's other speakers at the con could even approach.
So, do you think that Sony has anything to worry about now that the spokesman for their greatest competitor is now in charge of one of the most important sources of revenue for them? Probably not. I'm sure that the fact that EA's football games run twice as fast on the Xbox 360 is mere coincidence. You do too, right? Jack Tretton knows things are on the up and up too, as is evidenced by the following quote that I got from Next Generation - "We have an outstanding relationship with EA and their sports products have been incredibly successful on all our platforms. I am sure this will continue with Peter now at the helm." Of course it will Jack. Of course it will...
The success of MySims will be bad for Wii owners
Before I get started, I'd just like to clarify that I am looking forward to MySims on both the Wii and the DS. In fact, MySims is pretty much the only non-Nintendo developed game that I'm looking forward to on the Wii this year. And that's where the problem lies. Where are the good platformer games? Where are the good RPGs? Where's the action? All we have are these substandard games that try but usually fail to take advantage of the Wii remote. There are exceptions (Rayman and Trauma Center for example), but you can't honestly tell me that there are a lot of good non-Nintendo games that you're looking forward to for the system. How much worse is it going to get when MySims gets released? Developers will see it and say "Oh, look! EA completely redid The Sims and made it kiddie-like and more accessible to the non-hardcore player. Let's do the same with our franchises." Soon we'll be saddled with games like Devil May Shed a Tear: Dante's Playground where you navigate a younger version of Dante through a sandbox using waggle controls. Or how about Ninja Gaiden Baseball All-Stars, where you swing the remote a-la Wii Sports in order to get Ryu to swing his sword-shaped bat? I'm not saying that that can be bad - well... I am actually - but you know what? We need some good regular games here and there too! Haven't game developers heard of the concept that too much of a good thing can be bad? Well, too much of the mediocre stuff is bad too!
The Week In Releases
Alright. All-Pro Football 2k8 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and Paper Mario for the Wii's virtual console look good. Everthing else just gets a big whatevers from me, though that new Tales game for the PSP might be good (but it's another Tales game so probably not). This week I'm going to forgo my usual mini-descriptions so that I can bring you my...
Summertime Release Epiphany
Last week marked the start of a new season for both Monk and Psych. These are the only two shows on television that I like watching these days. It kind of sucks that they're shown on Fridays, but I can always Tivo them and/or watch them during one of the many repeat showings they'll have throughout the week. One of the main things I like about these two shows is that we get new episodes in the middle of the summer. I don't know about you guys, but I have a lot of free time during the summer and sometimes I want to waste it playing video games or watching TV. It seems like a no-brainer, but for some odd reason, people that are in charge of entertainment seem to ignore the fact that during a large part of the summer, a lot of us have nothing to do. Where are those AAA-games that take us 50 hours to complete? They'll release a bunch of them during the fall and spring (when everyone is busy), but not during the summer? Whack!
There is a solution though - don't buy the good stuff until you have free time. Sadly, waiting isn't something gamers like to do.
This week's background wallpaper
I really should be spreading these out a little seeing as how it takes me forever to find good pics to use. Maybe I'll learn my lesson before I reach the two year mark...
This particular piece was made for Comic Con. Master Chief needs to learn a new stance. Turning your head like that all the time just isn't good for the neck.
I'm really not a big fan of Nariko's character design, but I do dig the hair. They need to open source the hair physics so that we can see it in more games.
Witchblade is a comic book that was first published back in 1995. A few years later it was turned into a television series which lasted two seasons on USA. I remember watching an episode or two back then, but the only thing I remembered about it was that the woman who wielded the Witchblade was the same person from the horribleness that was Mann & Machine. That should give you an idea of how memorable the TV show was. A few years later Witchblade would again be seen on TV, this time in anime form. The anime is just your typical "mother making a deal with a possessed object in order to save her daughter" type show. Well, maybe it isn't that typical. I only watched the first few episodes last year and I liked what I saw, but I'll reserve judgment until I finish the series off.
That will be 255 Rupees please
Half the size but made out of real wood
Ok. Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about the XFPS Mini Guitar. According to the Team Xtender web site, these babies are half the size of the original Guitar Hero peripheral and use "real guitar wood for authentic gameplay."
Now, I have no idea what to make of this. Using real wood is a nice idea, but I don't play guitar hero enough to know whether or not this is something that people would be interested in. It definitely would be more fun to smash a wooden guitar on the ground as opposed to a plastic one. One advantage that this has over the original is the fact that it supports Konami's Guitar Freaks games. I believe that there are 5 GF games on the PS2 (imports of course) right now so if you want more guitar strumming action, this might be something to look forward to in the future. Then again, are 3rd party peripherals like this ever any good? If you're brave enough to try this out, drop me a line. Let's inform the masses.
To be continued...
That's it for this week. A hollow voice just said "Plugh". If I can figure out what that word means, I'll be back next week.
