The Select and Start News Report: 08.27.07
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 08.27.2007
Another episode of Price Cuts, lots of Bioshock news, Rock Band update, Manhunt 2 IS coming out after all, and more
Welcome to the Select and Start News Report, where I'm pissed off that the Bioshock PC Demo will basically install malware on your computer. Thanks a lot assholes.
Big News
And now for another episode of the award-winning series:
[credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
Microsoft had announced that the UK and other European territories would be recieving price cuts for the Xbox 360 as well. Since August 24th, prices for the Xbox 360 are now £179.99 for the core (down £20) and £249.99 for the Premium (down £30). The Elite will debut for £299.99 rather then £329.99. So if you don't have an Xbox 360 yet, get it now...especially since BioShock is out.
THE FORMAT WARS: STUDIOS START CHOOSING SIDES [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, GameSpot]
For a while there's been news about how the Blu-Ray was outselling the HD-DVD, but now the tide seems to be turning as movie studios Paramount and DreamWorks have decided to exclusively support HD-DVD. The exclusive support begins August 28th with Blades of Glory, followed up by Transformers and Shrek the Third. Any films by Steven Spielberg, however, is not exclusive to HD-DVD nor Blu-Ray.
AND THEN... 20th Century Fox and MGM has pledged their exclusive support for 29 Blu-ray titles through the end of this year, including Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Live Free or Die Hard.
Looks like the side people will wind up choosing is going to come down to who has the better movies that people want to buy. As for me though, I'm still sticking with DVD. The most amusing thing about all this though is that Micheal Bay was making such a big fuss that he decided not to do a sequel to Transformers because of this decision. He later apologized and agreed with Paramount's decision, so there will be a sequel.
ROCK BAND: COMING TO PS2, BUT NOT YET TO EUROPE [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
MTV and Harmonix announced at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, that Rock Band will be coming to the PS2. The PS2 version will include "many" of the same game modes as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version but will also include new exclusive elements. Unfortunately for Europe, the game has been delayed due to localizing the music content for each territory and will miss the 2007 launch.
In case you missed it, they also announced 10 new songs. Here now is the updated list ordered by decade:
1960s
Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
1970s
The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Mountain "Mississippi Queen"*
David Bowie "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid"*
Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"
The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"
Deep Purple "Highway Star"
1980s
Rush "Tom Sawyer"*
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
Faith No More "Epic"
1990s
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Nirvana "In Bloom"
Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"
Weezer "Say It Ain't So"
Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock"
Radiohead "Creep"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
2000s
The Hives "Main Offender"
Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow"
The Strokes "Reptilia"
Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
OK Go "Here It Goes Again"
Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"
*Indicates a cover song, all other songs are original master recordings
BIOSHOCK NEWS
Lots of tidbits involving the hottest game for Xbox 360 right now, so here's all of them in one convenient lising.
-Seems the PC version of BioShock (both regular and demo editions) installs a rootkit that embeds itself into Explorer, as part of its SecureROM copy-protection scheme, which pisses me off because with all the positive buzz about this game I was going to get the demo, only to find out that it might install malware in my computer. Here's the strange part: SecureRom copy-protection is owned by SONY. CONSPIRACY~! [credit: Slashdot]
-Speaking of Sony hating BioShock, the worst review BioShock has recieved so far was a 5 out of 10 from a site called, get this: Sony Defense Force. Thankfully this review is not being counted towards the GameRankings average. To see the horrible review for yourself, Click here. [credit: Actiontrip.com]
-Take-Two shareholders were having a great week as on Tuesday, shares of Take-Two soared to $14.55, an increase of 8.58%, pretty much thanks to BioShock. Analysts are also predicting the game could sell nearly two million units soon, but the success could come to an end once Halo 3 arrives. [credit: GameDaily]
-2K Games released the original score to BioShock as a free download on The Cult of Rapture website. Click here to download the score. But then again, I probably wouldn't trust any downloads from 2KGames involving BioShock. [credit: Evil Avatar]
-In an interview with Joystiq, Ken Levine (lead designer for BioShock) says that the PC version's issues are overblown because the game's high profile has placed it under a microscope. They are working on patches however as he also confirmed that there will be no PS3 version of the game. [credit: JoyStiq]
THE MANHUNT 2 SAGA: THE GAME IS GETTING RELEASED! [credit: GameDaily, GameSpot, Gamasutra]
That's right Manhunt fans; the game is going to get released on October 31st in North America (no word yet for the UK).Rockstar has created a "modified version" of the game that recieved the M for Mature rating and will be released on PSP, PS2 and Wii. Rockstar did not comment on what exactly from the game had been cut.
"Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we're glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience. We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it," commented Sam Houser founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games.
So in the end, despite all their talk about wanting the game to stay exactly the same and saying banning the game is an attack against the industry and such, they wind up changing it to make it an M rated game. Now that wasn't so hard was it Take-Two? Speaking of things that are hard to handle, how are those stock option investigations going?
Obviously the Manhunt 2 fans are going to be happy because the game is getting released, but really I never cared about this game and I am going to just laugh my ass off if it winds up getting terrible reviews.
Tidbit News
-Guild Wars has now sold passed the four million mark for number of units sold since the game's debut over two years ago. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Epic has now gained majority stake in Polish studio People Can Fly, the people working on the PC version of Gears of War. The two companies are now working together on a new unnamed project. [credit: GameSpot]
-Player X announced that it is among the fastest-growing companies in the U.K. According to a Library House report. It's the 4th fastest-growing company in the U.K. after increasing revenues by 179% in 2006. [credit: GameDaily]
-Gamecock Media announced they will be the ones to publish Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball created by Blazing Lizard. Systems it will appear on have still not been annonuced. [credit: GameDaily]
-Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht gave a keynote speech at the Leipzig Games Convention critizing the ESRB for it's "bizarre system" of rating games such as his own PS3 exclusive Lair. He also suggests that there be a rating between "Teen" and "Mature", and that people should "Push the violence! Push the sex! But push it in an artistic way! Show that games are art!" Is Shingeru Miyamoto the only man left in this world who doesn't need violence and sex to make his games fun? [credit: Gamasutra]
-Southpeak Games has announced a new title for the DS called Ninjatown, a strategy game starring cute miniature ninjas who must battle Mr.Demon with moves such as Ninja Dropping and Stealth Hugs. They'll probably be even more annoying then Naruto. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-Analysts are currently debating on just how big of an issue it is for the PS3 version of Madden '08 to look inferior to the Xbox 360 version. UBS analyst Ben Schachter says it'll have a huge negative impact, while Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter says this issue is being overblown. So let me get this straight: The PS3 can make rubix cubes explode but it can't play the latest version of Madden well?[credit: GameDaily]
Profits and Losses
GAMESTOP: The company's net earnings grew to $21.8 million, an increase of 586% year-over-year. Net sales jumped 38.9% to $1.34 billion, and comparable store sales increased 29.1%, which beat the prior guidance of 16 to 18%. The top selling titles for GameStop during the quarter included Guitar Hero II, NCAA Football '08, Mario Patrty 8, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and Forza Motorsport 2. [credit: GameDaily]
The Other Crap
OMG FEEDBACK?
Despite having a new column, Gaming Trends is still getting feedback. From Charles Besso
Nice article first off, second you seem to have forgotten the #1 wrestling game developer on earth AKI Corp (name changed to Syn Sophia recently) who is responsible for Virtual Pro Wrestling 1 & 2, WCW World Tour, WCW Vs. NWO Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania 2000, WWF No Mercy, Def Jam Vendetta, and the Ultimate Muscle games. With the exclusion of AKI Corp from the wrestling genre (they're working on the revamped "Ready to Rumble" series) Spike are clearly the undisputed champions of the wrestling genre with Yukes in distant second (many good things in their games but gameplay is not on a level near AKI or Spike). U.S. gamers can look forward to more Smackdown until we choke on it, and as for hoping the TNA title works out I'd like to but realisticly they're the developers behind Backyard Wrestling which you failed to mention in your article (Don't feel bad I had to do research). In closing the U.S. Wrestling Genre is dominated by a third rate contender and there is no real hope of this situation changing anytime in the future. If only Syn Sophia or Spike would make Create-A-Wrestler in the vain of Fighter Maker all would be well or if the WWE or TNA could wiggle free of their license holders inorder to acquire Syn Sophia or Spike to make their licensed titles then we'd have some hope. In closing the WWF as well as WCW were fools for letting their licensing deals with AKI Corp not continue, and TNA is foolish to have overlooked them as well. U.S. Video game wrestling is dead, Long live Fire Pro Importing.
The "Create-A-Wrestler in the vain of Fighter Maker" sounds like a good idea, but I've "played" Fighter Maker 2 and I hated it. As for Fire Pro, I've heard the latest one is coming over to the U.S., so I'll probably be getting that one sometime soon. Thanks for the feedback. And one of these days I just might redo that column and make it a whole lot better.
Last week I talked about how MMORPG's can actually improve your social life. Chris Jacobs wants to know what an MMORPG is.
MMORPG's are "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games" such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, and Guild Wars. The game basically consists of picking a job/class such as "Warrior" or "Wizard", fighting various monsters in dungeons, and completing "Quests" to gain many items, experience points, and money.
I don't really like such games because most involve having to pay a monthly online fee, I hate having to deal with assholes and/or hackers, and sometimes the quests you have to complete are a pain in the ass. Some of the most popular MMORPG's right now are World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and...ugh...Maple Story.
WEEKLY SMASH BROS. ROUNDUP
The following Smash Bros. Update is brought to you by the New World Order Wolfpac:
Don't your turn back on the Smash Bros.
-Link's Special Moves. They're basically the same moves only with a Twilight Princess look to them. The Boomerang is a bit different and the clawshot can be used for Tether Recovery. I heard from a friend they might have Link use two clawshots like in Twilight Princess, so that's something interesting to ponder.
-The Subspace Army. We learn more details about this army that you'll fight in Adventure mode. As I keep suspecting, you will play as all the characters in the game PLUS from the look of the latest video, fight bosses from the world of Nintendo such as...
-Petey Piranha. You're going to fight him as a boss with Kirby where he uses Peach and Zelda as weapons. You have to break the cages to set one of them free. As for the one you don't save...well, you'll have to find out yourself.
-Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong's little buddy joins the character roster, and apparently he'll be the very quick kind of character, which from I've seen of Fox from Melee, could make Diddy Kong a top-tier character for tournament players. Speaking of Kongs, I'm thinking Donkey Kong Jr. may cameo in the game as an Assist Trophy. I know the modern day DK was DK Jr., but if Baby Mario and Mario can be in the same game, why the hell not?
-"Go K.K. Rider!" You can now listen to the music that will be used for the Animal Crossing stage.
-Yoshi's Final Smash. Yoshi grows a pair of wings (probably thanks to Red Bull), giving him the ability to fly around. He can also breathe fire and shoot fireballs. Be sure to be over land when it ends, or else...you know.
QUICK SUMMERSLAM THOUGHTS
Kane vs. Finlay - Decent opener, nothing special.
Women's Battle Royal - Predictable
IC Title Match (Umaga/Carlito/Kennedy) - Predictable
ECW Title Match (Punk/Morrison) - Punk's never going to be get a title is he?
Rey vs. Chavo - Rey Mysterio looked like a ghost! And of course he wins.
The Austin/MVP and Cryme Tyme sketches were funny.
World Title (Khali/Batista) - Khali got himself DQ'ed, so this match MUST CONTINUE~! Which I kind of already knew since they'll facing each other in a Punjabi Prison Match at Unforgiven.
HHH vs. King Booker - Holy crap on a stick how long did that HHH intro take?! Of course he wins.
WWE Title (Cena/Orton) - Orton should be called ROK: Resthold OverKill. I knew Cena was going to win.
Overall, it was an okay yet really predictable PPV. Replay isn't really worth getting.
[credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
