The Select and Start News Report: 10.15.07
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 10.15.2007
Sonic is in Smash Bros., good and bad news for Nintendo, the Manhunt 2 Saga continues, Atari execs get the boot, and much more!
Hanging on the edge of tomorrow from the works of yesterday, it's the Select and Start News Report!
Big News
A SPECIAL WEEKLY SMASH BROS. ROUNDUP [credit: Smash Bros. Dojo, GameSpot, GamePro]
Now usually all the related stuff with Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be reserved for a different spot of the news report. But last week at the Nintendo conference the game was available to play for the press, meaning lots of new tidbits outside of the official Smash Bros. website would be released. However, even without the conference, the news from was still really huge this week for two reasons. One of them being that...
Sonic the freaking Hedgehog is in it!
A lot people say they aren't surprised by this, and ever since we found out that Sega is using Mario for the Mario & Sonic Olympics crossover, we probably shouldn't be surprised Nintendo is now using Sega's mascot. Personally I think it's because those that aren't surprised were the ones that were begging for Sonic to be in it. Me? I figured it wasn't going to happen because that would be too good, and the only reason Snake is in it is because Kojima begged for Miyamoto to do it. It wasn't like Sega was demanding the same thing.
Anyway, Sonic is now part of the roster and the next day we learned his special attacks. He'll have the spin dash which can he use while jumping and do it again in mid-air as his standard special, a spin charge as his down special, and those red springs with the star on it as his up special (complete with Genesis-style sound bite). The problem with the spring however is that if you use it on the ground, other players can come along and use it as well.
So was this going to be the best week ever for Smash Bros? It was until we noticed that the release date read "TBD". Oh no...then that means...
We have had to delay the launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl by just a little bit—it will now be launching on February 10th in the Americas. I know that many of you will be disappointed by this news, but please understand that the extra development time will enable us to make the game the best it can be.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Oh well. At least it lessens my choices as to what game to get at this very crowded season (leaning towards Zack & Wiki). Other news this week from the Dojo were:
-Snapshots. The snapshot mode is back and works a lot freaking better then it did in Melee.
-Zero Suit Samus' specials. She can paralyze you, plasma whip you, and use the plasma wire to pull you in or save herself from being elimated.
-WarioWare: Ashley's theme. The theme of Ashley in WarioWare Touched can now be listened to, and the vocals are different for each language section of the Dojo. So if you're interested in hearing the Japanese version, just visit the Japanese Dojo.
-Kirby's Final Smash. About time we had details about this! He gathers foes into his pot, cooks up a meal, and items suddenly pop out. The foes that got into the pot of then blasted out, probably giving you good time to get those items you made.
New stuff shown at the Media Summit:
-Smart Bomb. The bomb from Star Fox can be used as an item, causing massive damage in a big radius.
-Returning items: Beam Sword, Hammer, Ray Gun, Heart Container, Paper Fan, Party Ball
-"Spike Ball". This new item was shown that once thrown or touched, spikes suddenly pop up and it stays on the ground.
-Peach's Final Smash. Basically she puts everyone else into a deep sleep and peaches surround the place, which can be picked up to regain health. This looks more like a defense move.
-Norfair. A stage for Metroid that was shown on the stage select screen. Haven't seen what it actually looks like.
-Sonic's Final Smash. As seen from the preview video, he turns into Super Sonic, which means he flys around the stage fast and damages anyone he rams into. Unfortunately since there are no rings to collect, you won't stay in this mode for very long.
-Orange Star Army. From Advance Wars; 2D assist trophy where some troops and a tank start walking across the stage. The tank I think also fires a missle.
-Smash Ball details. The ball floats around the stage and you have to pound on it in order to obtain it. But even after you obtain it, if you get knocked really hard, the others can steal your Smash Ball away.
But now we go from basking in Smash Bros. goodness to dealing with Manhunt hell. That's right, it's time for the continuing story of the year that is...
[credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
This week in the ongoing saga that is Manhunt 2, the game is still being banned in the UK by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), despite the changes Rockstar applied that led to the ESRB, that was hated for giving the game an AO rating, giving the game an M rated and is now hated for that instead.
David Cooke, director of the BBFC said: "We recognize that the distributor has made changes to the game, but we do not consider that these go far enough to address our concerns about the original version. The impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the gameplay, is clearly insufficient. There has been a reduction in the visual detail in some of the ‘execution kills', but in others they retain their original visceral and casually sadistic nature. We did make suggestions for further changes to the game, but the distributor has chosen not to make them, and as a result we have rejected the game on both platforms. The decision on whether or not an appeal goes ahead lies with the distributor."
I think by now you all know my opinion of this game and Rockstar. If not, I'm going to put it as simple as possible: FUCK THEM ALL.
GOOD AND BAD NINTENDO NEWS [credit: GameSpot, GameDaily, Gamasutra]
The Good News: Nintendo is the #1 Publisher. At least according to Game Developer magazine's 5th annual Top 20 Publishers report. The 2007 rankings were calculated by considering number of releases by SKU, average game review scores, and publisher revenue from August 2006 to July 2007. It also included the results of a survey conducted to gather opinions on the major video game software publishers by more then 300 industry professionals. This is also the first time someone different was at #1, as for the past four years EA had taken the top spot. EA is now ranked second, followed by Activision in 3rd, Ubisoft in 4th, and THQ in 5th.
So congrats to Nintendo on that, and this might also explain why EA is suddenly up and buying other companies. Yeah, in case you haven't heard, EA bought the company that owned BioWare and Pandemic Studios for over $800 million. I really don't have anything much to say on this because I don't play much, if any, games made from these guys. I do hope though that the Sonic the Hedgehog RPG still comes out even though Bioware is now under EA.
The Bad News: Developers are doubting the success of the Wii. According to Japan's Nikkei Business Daily, several Japanese software publishers expressed both uncertainty as to how to best capitalize on the expanded market, and concern over the longevity of Nintendo's console. This is mostly because Nintendo's games are the only ones that sell well on the Wii, and because 70% of Wii's audience are over the age of 20, this caused many publishers to "miscalculate demand" in developing games for the Wii since Nintendo's audience is usually elementary school kids.
When it comes to Nintendo, it's either because the Wii is a fad or that Nintendo are the only ones succeeding, which is actually true based on how a lot of the Top 10 Wii Games on GameRankings are Nintendo games. Man I hope Zack & Wiki does really great on that system.
LACK OF GIRL GAMERS BLAMED ON PARENTS [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
According to a survey by PopCap Games, 72% of parents and grandparents who play casual games do not allow their kids or grandkids to play hardcore video games. However, of those parents and granparents that don't allow their children to play hardcore games, 60% forbid girls from playing hardcore games compared to 37% forbidding boys. So why the gender bias?
Here's what New York-based psychologist Dr. Carl Arinoldo had to say based on the results: "Overall, boys do tend to be more active and aggressive than girls, and their choices for play activities are no different. It is generally considered more acceptable for boys to engage in more action-oriented and even somewhat violent activities (such as contact sports) than it is for girls. In addition, parents often tend to be somewhat more protective of their daughters in what they do than they are of their sons, allowing for a bit more independence and leeway for the boys. This is somewhat outdated thinking, but obviously a perspective shared by many parents even today. But most experts agree that exposing children and adolescents to graphically explicit content of a sexual or extremely violent nature should be avoided, and this applies to both genders."
Damn you oppressive casual playing parents! This is why 411Games doesn't have any girl gamers writing columns for our site! It's all your fault damn it! But the thing that sort of gets me is how the doc says "most experts agree that exposing children and adolescents to graphically explicit content of a sexual or extremely violent nature should be avoided". Is that what he or these parents were thinking when hear the word "hardcore games"? I'd just assume they were talking about semi-complicated ones like Zelda. Anyway, at least they're not trying to sue game companies.
And now for the #4 rated console related drama series...
[credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
We've seen PS3 go through many forms of price cuts. We've seen the Xbox 360 go through price cuts. So now we are left with the Nintendo Wii. There weren't any rumors going around about it, nor did people expect any news about it, but the soon-not-to-be Vice President of Marketing George Harrison says that Nintendo won't be doing any sort of price cut for the Wii, mostly because demand is still high and the supply is still low.
Meanwhile, Sony hasn't been saying anything about the PS3 either, but industry analysts say we're going to get a $399 version of the PS3 before Thanksgiving. Or, more specifically, on November 2nd. Are the rumors true? Stay tuned for the next episode.
ATARI EXECS GET THE BOOT [credit: GameDaily, GameSpot]
So for a very long time, Atari hasn't been making a profit, and because of that has faced plenty of delistings from NASDAQ, reported a net loss of $70 million, sold some of it's studios, and laid off 20% of it's workforce. Recently, Infogrames has decided to replace five members of Atari's board of directors as soon as proper notice had been served. New board members, who are currently being nominated and evaluated, will join the three remaining Atari directors: Evence Charles Coppee, Jean-Michel Perbet, and Thomas Schmider.
Atari: Screwing up since 1983.
Tidbit News
-The Video Game Expo (VGEXPO) announced its lineup for a controversial video game violence debate to be held at the event, with none other then Jack Thompson to be part of the discussion panel. The panel will be talking about Moral Kombat director Spencer Halpin documentary about the issue of violence in video games. [credit: GameDaily]
-The latest issue of Brandweek has named Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime the "Grand Marketer of the Year" thanks to his efforts for the hugely successful Wii console, "preaching the gospel of gaming to the unconverted and turning moms and older people on to the fun of Wii." [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-PopCap Games are releasing a game collection featuring their best hits, entitled "PopCap Hits Volume 1", to the PS2 and Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 version gets Bejeweled 2, AstroPop, Feeding Frenzy and Zuma for $29.95, but the PS2 version gets only Bejeweled 2 and AstroPop for $19.95. What the crap? I know Xbox 360 is more powerful but do those games really need that much room on a disc? [credit: GameDaily]
-Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad was announced as the one who will be producing the long-speculated EverQuest film. Avi Arad was most recently responsible for Bratz: The Movie, which really sucked. Joining him on the project is Michael Gordon, who worked on 300, which was good. [credit: GameSpot]
-Capcom's Monster Hunter 3, which in Japan is massively popular, was announced as now being a Wii exclusive game due to the PS3's high development costs. [credit: Gamasutra]
-There's been rumors lately that for the Hitman movie, director Xavier Gens had turned in "an explicitly violent, very bloody cut of the film that apparently included a number of head shots and extreme gore moments," so Fox is getting rid of Gens and bringing in editor Nicolas De Toth to cut together a toned-down, bloodless version of the film. Fox says this isn't true and that Gens is still with the project and the film will be released with it's intended R rating. [credit: GameSpot]
The Other Crap
THE DR.PHIL VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES EPISODE
A couple months ago there was a news report that Dr.Phil was going to do an episode based on violent video games, which based on his comments from the Virginia Tech massacre, meant it was going to be horrible. I don't know if I've skipped it or it hasn't happened, but I haven't seen anything mentioned again about this episode. If anybody knows when it aired or when it's going to air, please let me know.
FUCK YOU STING
Note: I'm writing this before Bound for Glory, so right now I don't know how that show actually turned out.
So Sting from TNA called my house the other day (or more precise, his recorded message) reminding me to order Bound for Glory on DirecTV PPV. First of all, I'm pissed at DirecTV that I can't record the PPV's I fucking buy to DVD. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE STEAL OFF THE INTERNET! Second of all, TNA is being booked like shit since exactly one year ago, and I've quit being so supportive of this company around after Victory Road when I realized Samoa Joe, the most over guy in TNA, was never going to get that belt because it's obvious Vince Russo is racist. Even though Bound for Glory looked like a great card, I'm still not ordering TNA PPVs until Joe gets that fucking title.
GAMING CALENDAR
October 16th - Fury to be released
October 26th - Crysis Demo to be released
October 28th - Guitar Hero III to be released
October 30th - Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction to be released
October 31st
-Hellgate: London to be released
-Dementium: The Ward to be released
November 2nd - Tabula Rasa to be released
November 5th:
-Area 51: Blacksite to be released
-Call of Duty 4 to be released
November 12th - Super Mario Galaxy to be released
November 16th - Crysis to be released
November 20th:
-Mass Effect to be released
-Kane & Lynch to be released
-Mario & Sonic at the Olympics to be released
-Uncharted: Drake's Fortune to be released
November 23rd - Rock Band to be released
February 2008 - No More Heroes to be released
February 10th, 2008 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be released
March 1st, 2008 - Metal Gear Solid 4 to be released
March 8th, 2008 - God of war: Chains of Olympus to be released
