411 Games Fact or Fiction 08.13.07: The Popularity of Fire Pro Wresting Returns, Xbox 360 Games That Require Hard Drives, Heavenly Sword's Button-Timing Sequences, the Relevance of Video Game Award Shows, & More!

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 08.13.2007

411's Greg Bruno and Jordan Williams give us their thoughts on the marketability of Fire Pro Wresting Returns, Xbox 360 games that require hard drives, owning both Rock Band and Guitar Hero, button-timing sequences, video game award shows, and game exclusives at Walmart in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games.

Welcome back to another edition of Fact or Fiction. This week Greg Bruno and Jordan Williams take some time out of their busy schedules to discuss some of today's most important video game related issues.

Greg does both news and reviews for the Games section. His next review will be for the 360 version of Bioshock.

Jordan also does news and reviews. His latest review is for Transformers: Decepticons for the DS. He also brings us his Working Title column every Thursday. For the past few weeks he has been posting his X vs. Y series. Last week he brought the series to an end with a Team Boss segment. Don't forget to check that out, along with the Capcom, Marvel, SNK, and DC segments if you missed them.

Lets go -


1. People are excited about it now, but when Fire Pro Wrestling Returns gets released later this year, hardly anyone will buy it.

Greg Bruno: Fact

I say this because I have almost no knowledge or experience with the Fire Pro series. What I do have experience with is SMACKDOWN vs. Raw. It's going to boil down to name brand. WWE, while perhaps not as popular as it once was, still has drawing power. This upcoming installment looks to expand (once again) on the series to make it even better than before. Sure, Fire Pro will sell, but it won't come anywhere close to where Mr. McMahon's empire will end up on the top 10 list.

Jordan Williams: Fact

But Barely. Mostly because outside of the few people that really play wrestling games that are NOT WWE made, not many people know about Fire Pro Wrestling. It's an awesome game in it's own right, but it's right up there with JRPGs and Imports. Unless you know about them beforehand, it's not something you really care about.

Score: 1 for 1


2. It would be bad if future Xbox 360 titles required hard drives.

Greg Bruno: Fact

See, I'm a bit torn on this one. Part of me thinks that a game requiring a hard drive will end up being faster, longer, and prettier. However, this will alienate those who own the Core system. MS needs to drop the price of the Hard Drive (both the 20gb and the 120gb) and eliminate the Core system all together. If this were the case, I say games that require HDD's are absolutely fine. But, this is most certainly not the case. There are some gamers out there who don't have a hard drive. Releasing a game requiring one would force them to buy a HDD or pass up on the game all together. Either way, they lose.

Jordan Williams: Fiction

Really. I don't see much of an issue, seeing as I really don't see the Core package selling more or being around for any longer. It just seems like eventually we might see memory units and the like be done away with unless it's to transfer data to another system. Will it be bad if all games go to HDD saving? Nope. Is it going to ever happen? Probably not.

Score: 1 for 2


3. Gamers will have no problems with owning both Rock Band and Guitar Hero despite the price of admission.

Greg Bruno: Fiction

One shall stand, and one shall fall. In all honestly, it seems to me that Rock Band will overtake Guitar Hero's reign as the most popular music game. Let's break it down. With Guitar Hero, you can play the set list and possibly some new DLC using only the guitar. My problem with this lies in how Guitar Hero 2's DLC was handled; mostly bad tracks for too much money and not enough variety. Rock Band, on the other hand, allows players to play through the set list and DLC with guitar, drums, and microphone. It's basically 3 games in one. Couple this with the promise of full CD releases through DLC, and I think gamers will know that Rock Band is where the money should go.

Jordan Williams: Fiction

Pretty much agree on all points here. There's only room enough for one of them. I can't really tell you which one will win out over the others. But I wouldn't be surpsied if we don't see a Rockband II in favor of a Guitar Hero IV or vice versca. I do know that I really don't see too many people getting both.

Score: 2 for 3



4. Tomonobu Itagaki, the head of Team Ninja, is wrong for blasting the"button-timing sequences" that are used in Heavenly Sword.

Jordan Williams: Fact

Oh wow, Itagaki firing off at the mouth again? For someone who calls himself really humble he really does seem to like to nitpick everyone else's stuff. Do I find the sequences a bit lazy? Yeah. But where was Itagaki when Resident Evil 4 came out? Or Shenmue? Maybe they are a bit lazy and sort of the cheap way out, but I'd rather have SOMETHING to do during the cutscenes than sit there and mindlessly watch it. Take Metal Gear Solid 4 for instance. If those cutscenes don't have something for me to do in them, I might just go bad.

Greg Bruno: Fact

I agree. Criticizing others' work is one thing, but blatantly ripping into them is another. Shouldn't Itagaki be worried about how to make boobies bounce instead of what other people are doing? Because, honestly, that's way more important than button sequences...

Score: 3 for 4


5. We need more video game award shows.

Jordan Williams: Fiction

No. Never. No. No. Not until the general media can stop treating gaming as the red headed step child of the entertainment media and actually treat game awards shows as real events rather than a reason to get everyone in one place and make fun of them. We don't need NOR want a game award show.

Greg Bruno: Fact

I say fact not because there should be more award shows, but there should be ONE award show. I think video games have established themselves as a pretty important staple in the entertainment industry and should be given a night of appreciation. With that said, we'd need to drop all the other pointless award shows video games make their way into. Just once a year. Like the Oscars or Emmy's or Lindsey Lohan being sober.

Score: 3 for 5


6. Chibi-Robo for the DS will be a Wal-Mart exclusive. The game is destined for failure.

Jordan Williams: Fact

Really don't know much about this one. But I can't recall the origianl ChibiiRobo selling too well, so I don't think this one will fare any better, especially due to the fact that it's only in a certain store.

Greg Bruno: Fact

So, I really have no idea what Chibi-Robo is. However, I do know what Wal-Mart is. Tying down to one store is a sure way to barely make any money. It seems Wal-Mart is tied with Sony for number of exclusive titles at the moment, though.

Score: 4 for 6



We have a final score of 4 for 6. Don't forget to join us next Friday for more Fact or Fiction! Rumor has it that those who remember to check back are twice as likely to leave a game of MIDI Maze with a smile on their faces.