The Select and Start News Report: 12.10.07
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 12.10.2007
Activizzarrd is born, Eidos causing more controversary for Kane & Lynch, do parents want the government regulating games, and the MLG Week 4 Recap.
Hello everyone, I'm Vincent the Christmas Virus and this is the Select and Start News Report. As you can see we have a few new things going on here at 411. For our articles uou can now Digg us, StumbleUpon us, bookmark it to whatever you use, and post comments. It's the wave of the future.
Big News
ACTIVISION AND BLIZZARD MERGE; STOCKS SORE, BLIZZARD REMAINS THE SAME [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, GameSpot]
Last week we heard a huge surprising announcement with Activision and Vivendi games (who own Blizzard) decided to merge into one company, now known as "Activision Blizzard". This merger is worth $18.9 billion and could topple EA as the world's biggest third-party publisher. Vivendi games will own a majority of the stock, somewhere from 52% to 68%.
Activision boss Robert Kotick will be President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard, and Vivendi Games' Bruce Hack will be CCO.. As for Blizzard, the company will still remain as it's own stand alone division, most likely thanks to the huge success of World of Warcarft. Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime (who still has that position after the merger) says that fans of Blizzard's games don't need to worry about any major changes that will hurt the company. It'll be simply business as usual, only their stock is now under the name "Activision Blizzard". He also denounced the speculation that Blizzard's games would be coming to the console, as the company has no plans as this point.
The announcement was a good one for stockholders, as Activision's stock in the NASDAQ jumped 16% to $25.70, with EA's stock falling 91 cents to $55.29. Vivendi games saw their stock in the Paris Stock Exchange go up 3%.
So far it looks to be a positive thing, until I found out that they're going to become as big or even bigger then EA. EA was once a very beloved company until they bought out the NFL license and got accused of slavedriving their workforce. Hopefully Activizarrd doesn't wind up the same way and all the great games under each company continue to be just that.
In other Activizzarrd related news, Vivendi also owns the Universal Music Group, which has over 40 music labels under it's name. With Activision now merging with Vivendi Games, this relationship could lead to some huge benefits for Guitar Hero IV, which the company announced after the merger. Also announced was Call of Duty 5, a new Tony Hawk game, a new James Bond game, and titles from Dreamworks, Marvel, and Bizarre's new racing game.
BUT IF IT'S IN THE AD, IT MUST BE TRUE! [credit: Kotaku, GameBump]
So last week the shit hit the fan when Jeff Gerstmann was let go from GameSpot, and so far the reason seems to be over the Kane and Lynch review where Jeff gave the game a 6.0, not pleasing Eidos at all who was sponsoring GameSpot. Well, the Kane & Lynch review score saga continues as Eidos is putting up fake review scores on the Kane & Lynch site. The site shows the following reviews:
Game Informer and GameSpy did not ever give the game five stars (Game Informer doesn't even rate games with stars) and the quotes were from previews of the game at E3 2007. Eidos claims that those stars and quotes were up there before any official reviews, and that they're being seen as official reviews instead of previews is because "Eidos bashing" is the favorable thing to do right now. However, upon visiting the site myself, Eidos has since removed the 5 star graphics, but the quotes still remain.
In case you haven't figured it out by now: Eidos is full of shit. It's bad enough that GameSpot is under heavy scruntiny for supposedly firing Gerstmann over his mediocre review, but it sure as hell doesn't help when you're pulling shit like this and adding fuel to the fire.
I THINK THIS FINALLY EXPLAINS IT [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
The National Institute on Media and the Family gave out it's 12th annual Video Game Report Card, where the game industry got a "C" in it's overall effort of making sure kids play appropriately rated games and teaching parents the importance of the ESRB ratings. While some of the findings contradict an FTC report on just how well the industry is actually doing and how much parents, they also provide a list of ten M-rated games parents should not be buying for their kids. So basically, it was the same old "Teach Parents and Retailers the importance of the ESRB" and all that.
But then a different kind of survey popped up, one that shows that perhaps the reason parents aren't doing a good enough job getting kids to not play M-rated games is because they don't WANT to. A survey from Hill & Knowlton, a public relations and public affairs consultancy, says that 60% of 1,147 adult US consumers think the government should regulate the sales of violent or mature content video games, and that 51% want the government to regulate the content of mature rated video games themselves. To top it all off, the survey claims that 44% of gamers surveyed approved of the government regulating violent games.
The Entertainment Software Association, however, had a huge problem with Hill & Knowton's survey, claiming it was only part of the full official findings. The ESA explained in this official statement:
"Hill & Knowlton released the findings of research it conducted on the American public's views about the computer and video game industry. According to the agency's findings, a majority of respondents believe that the government should regulate the sale of mature content video games...the research released was conducted by Hill & Knowlton for a proposal the agency made to the ESA this summer, but only a portion of it was released publicly now. Hill & Knowlton's decision to release these findings was both unprofessional and unethical and its timing is questionable. The research was done this summer and only performed in an effort to help Hill & Knowlton win our business.
In addition, the release of only part of the findings paints an inaccurate picture of the entertainment software industry. The other research conducted by agency but not released showed:
- More than two-thirds of 18-34 year olds currently play video games;
- Less than 1 in 5 Americans think playing video games is a negative way to spend time with friends and family;
- More than half of families think that video games are a positive way to spend time together;
- Educational video games are perceived to provide more learning than TV or DVDs."
While these surveys are questionable, it made me wonder; Do a majority of parents really want the government to be regulating games? If the answer is yes, then it could really explain why so many kids are getting M-rated games and why when bad stuff goes down, they sue the game industry rather then themselves. They don't want to do the job and are begging the government to step in and do something. I really hope this isn't true.
Tidbit News
-Just when GameTap was proud to announce that they reached the 1000 game milestone, they recently announced that on December 11th, 70 of their games will be taken off the service. This is nothing new for GameTap as games are usually discontinued due to deals it makes with publishers, but this is the first time that so many was done at once. [credit: 1UP]
-Micheal Bay says that Microsoft is secretly trying to get both the HD-DVD and the Blu-Ray to fail in order to make themselves look like heroes and make people move to digital downloads. Does this mean Transformers 2 is canceled again? [credit: CVG]
-Jack Tretton said that the biggest disappointment for the PS3 in it's first year was the launch, where the demand was high but the supply was very limited. I thought it would be the time he bet us $1200 we wouldn't find a PS3 anywhere. [credit: GameDaily]
-With the ESA essentially trying to do the same thing the MPAA does, the ESA has hired former MPAA senior vice president Rich Taylor as the new senior vice president for communications and research. [credit: GameSpot]
-Congressmen Joe Baca (D-CA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) are asking for the ESRB to start publicly posting the videos online that the game publishers send them to rate their games. More specifically, they want them to post clips of what were most relevant for the rating in games that get rated T or higher. Umm...doesn't this mean that the kids who aren't suppoesd to be watching this kind of stuff will have easier access to it? It's like the Paris Hilton burger commercial all over again. [credit: GameSpot]
-So far, PSP owners can download PlayStation Store games through the PS3 or the PC. But PlayStation director of network operations Eric Lempel says that Sony is currently working on a method where you can download directly to the PSP without the need of a PS3 or PC. [credit: GameSpot]
-Dead or Alive designer Tomonobu Itagaki's sexual harassment suit has been settled, with Itagaki being found not guilty. He may now continue to create games with the focus on bouncing boobs in peace. [credit: 1UP, GameDaily]
-Ever since Sega filed a trademark update for the Dreamcast name, speculation was going on that Sega was thinking of creating a Dreamcast 2. Sega of America PR Director Charlie Scibetta however said that Sega isn't coming back to the console business, thus making this the smartest decision Sega has ever made when it came to creating hardware. [credit: ActionTrip]
-Nintendo might be pulling it's advertisements for the Wii because of the lack of supply that still plagues the company. Now if only they can, you know, actually make more Wiis. [credit: Evil Avatar]
-Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada says that people are buying the Nintendo Wii more as a toy rather then a game machine and that Sony needs to specfically define what exactly they're doing with the PS3. In other words, business as usual. [credit: GameDaily]
-GameStop has become so successful that they've now become part of the S&P 500, a list of 500 primarily American stocks which is watched globally as, says Standard and Poor, "the best single gauge of the U.S. equities market." [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-With Uncharted: Drake's Fortune getting positive reviews, Naughty Dog says that we will eventually see a sequel sometime in the future. They are also possibly doing a Jak and Daxter game for the PS3. [credit: GameDaily]
The Other Crap
COACH MCGUIRK MII
Interested in a Coach McGuirk (from Home Movies) Mii? Check out the one I created. Entry number 0264-3694-8173.
WEEKLY SMASH BROS. ROUNDUP
I thought we were going to have something special on December 3rd to make up for no Brawl. Oh well.
-Friend List. You can see which friends are online, how good their connection is, and see whether they created a room or are trying to join one.
-Returning Pokemon. These Pokemon from previous Smash Bros will be returning: Suicune, Lugia, Entei, Staryu, Bellossom, Ho-Oh, Wobbuffet, Togepi, Snorlax, Celebi, and Mew. Mew and Celebi, instead of just going away, will also be dropping CDs and perhaps other items.
-King Dedede's Final Smash. The king of Dreamland calls forth his Waddle-Dee minions to run around and take out anyone they come across. Looks similar to Pit's Final Smash.
-X: Tunnel Scene Music. The music from the Japan-only Game Boy game "X" is now up.
-Battle for the Smash Ball. This explains how getting the Smash Ball requires you to break it apart before you can get it. It also talked about the "Pity Final Smash", where if you're losing by a large amount, you immediately start off with the Final Smash when you get back in.
-With Anyone/Basic Brawl. When you do the With Anyone brawl, you just go right to the character selection screen, choose your character and wait for others. Stages and Itemd in the Item Switch are chosen by lottery, and once all that is settled you go right to the brawl. If someone decides to leave or gets cut off in the middle of a match, that person is taken over by the CPU, but you won't even see the difference. As for what will happen if you see a hidden character you didn't unlock yet, Sakurai feels that with the internet spoiling things quickly, people will know the roster right away anyway, so he advises to play through the Adventure mode where a lot of the hidden characters are unlocked before deciding to play Basic Brawl.
And speaking of the roster, a rumor was going around that Prima Games had released the full roster of characters, but that's highly likely to be false. CoroCoro Comics is said to be releasing the real full roster of characters come December 15th in Japan, so get ready to be spoiled on that day.
GAMING CALENDAR
January 22, 2008 - Turning Point: Fall of Liberty to be released
February 2008 - No More Heroes to be released
February 5, 2008 - Devil May Cry 4 Collector's Edition to be released
February 10th, 2008 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be released
2nd Quarter 2008 - Metal Gear Solid 4 to be released
March 8th, 2008 - God of war: Chains of Olympus to be released
That's all the news this week. Now time for the MLG Recap.
The 2007 Boost Mobile MLG Pro Circuit
Your hosts are Craig Reynolds and MLG founder Sundance DiGiovanni.
Week 4 takes place in Chicago, and once again we get serious roster changes. After Perfect Storm failed to win last week, Legit and Naded left their team AGAIN, this time to join The Agency. I'm almost starting to hate these guys. The Agency decided to get rid of Halogod and ElamiteWarrior to make room, but at the last second decided to keep Halogod and replace Legit! With Legit and Elamite having nowhere to go, Tsquared got them over back to his team Str8 Rippin. But will Carbon and Final Boss just kill them all again? We're about to see as Str8 Rippin takes on Carbon.
Round 3 Match: Carbon vs. Str8 Rippin
Team Slayer on Midship
We start off with Gandhi who moves into red 2 and gets a double kill on Legit and Elamite, then gets stickied. We jump to Karma who heads to the pink tower and takes out Neighbor before getting killed by Elamite. Elamite goes into pink 2 and takes out Gandhi and Shockwave. Legit is outside of the pink tower and takes out Gandhi. He goes into bottom pink and kills Gho57ayame, but is then killed. We go to Shockwave who kills Elamite and ties the game. He kills Elamite again and is beaten down by Tsquared. Legit goes into pink tower and goes up against Karma. He kills Karma and gets two more kills on Gandhi and Shockwave. Legit is controlling pink tower as Str8 Rippin pulls ahead 27-21. Karma finally takes down Legit, then he respawns at Carbine. He kills Shockwave, gets the double on Karma, gets the triple on Ghost, and goes for the killtacular on Gandhi but he's killed instead. Nieghbor is locking down pink tower, helps Legit assassinate Ghost and kills Gandhi. Str8 Ripping is winning 41-28. Neighbor is killed as we switch to Ghost. Ghost heads to pink and kills Tsquared. He kills Legit but takes too much heavy fire and dies. Legit gets the BXR on Gandhi and is two kills away from winning. Elamite gets a kill, then he throws a grenade at Karma and gets the final kill.
Winner: Str8 Rippin, 50-38.
Str8 Rippin would get another win and took the round 3-0. That means if Carbon loses again, they're gone from the tournament, and it won't be easy, because they're going to take on The Agency.
Quarterfinal Match: Carbon vs. The Agency
Team Slayer on Midship. Again? C'mon MLG, show something new for once.
We start with Ghost who makes it to pink 2 and controls it until he trades kills with Naded. Over to Halogod, he gets the sword and slices Ghost. He gets beaten down out of nowhere by Shockwave, who grabs his sword. He makes his way into pink tower, taking out Naded along the way. He comes across Victory X and gets him on the second swing, but is soon grenaded. We go to Mackeo who throws grnades all over the place, gets into pink tower and gets a double kill on Ghost and Shockwave. Halogod gets the sword and helps kill Ghost. He takes down Shockwave with a grenade, kills Karma and Ghost with another grenade, and kills Gandhi from a distance for the killtacular. He kills Karma at the blue base and is on a killing spree. We go to Victory X who kills Shockwave up close, and kills Karma as Mackeo kills Ghost. He kills Ghost from a distance as The Agency is winning 28-17. He gets taken down by Gandhi as we jump to Ghost. Ghost goes into the red base and kills Halogod, then picks off Mackeo from afar. Naded beats down Shockwave, and then kills Karma. We go to Karma who kills Halgod and heads to pink, taking out Naded and ducking to recover. Naded kills him up close with a shotgun, heads back to pink tower and takes down Shockwave. The Agency is winning 43-31. Naded scores another kill and Mackeo gets a double kill, giving them one kill away from victory. Victory X pushes in on Karma and gets the final kill.
Winner: The Agency, 50-33.
The Agency would sweep Carbon in the rest of the round and just like that, Carbon is gone. Shockwave really didn't feel like being there today for some reason, and Shockwave feels bad about letting down his team so badly. Meanwhile, The Agency will be taking on Str8 Rippin. These teams have a personal grudge against each other, and the winner faces Final Boss in the finals.
Semi-Final #2: The Agency vs. Str8 Rippin
Team Slayer Beaver Creek.
We start with Legit who grabs the overshield but quickly loses it from too much fire. He climbs Red Base and takes out Halogod. Over to Naded, he kills Elamite and grabs his sniper rifle. He now both the rifle and the rockets. He snipes Neighbor, then snipes Elamite before being taken down. We go to Neighbor who takes both power weapons. He misses a rocket on Mackeo and hits him with the sniper. He grabs the overshield and searches for someone to kill. He snipes Halogod and looks for another. He runs out of ammo on both and gets rid of the rockets. He heads to the creek and kills Victory X. He gets jumped by two players just as he gets the overshield. He kills Mackeo, kills Naded, then kills Halogod. He kills Mackeo along his way of getting the sniper. Str8 Rippin is winning 20-7. He grabs the sniper, gets shot from behind so he jumps into red base, and lands right in front of Victory X and quickly beats him down. Tsquared disses Victory X which gets a laugh out of Elamite. Elamite gets out of red base and kills Halogod. He gets the overshield and beats down Mackeo. He gets shots on Victory X, kills Halogod, and climbs up the arc. We go to Legit who snipes Victory X with a jumping headshot, then another snipe on Halogod. Legit gets triple teamed to be taken down as we switch to Mackeo. He grabs the overshield and shoots it out with Elamite. He goes to red base and takes down Legit. He goes to the back and kills Tsquared with the carbine, puts shots on Elamite, and gets killed by Neighbor. We got to Naded who goes to red base and kills Neighbor and Elamite. He goes up the rocket ramp but falls off and tries to kill Legit from a distance. He kills Elamite but Str8 Rippin has grabbed the overshield and gets killed by Neighbor. Neighbor snipes Halogod with two shots, and is then killed by Mackeo as Str8 Rippin is ahead 40-29. Legit takes down Victory X with the shotgun, shoots it out with Naded and teleports to recover. After recovering he goes back and kills Victory X. Naded takes down Legit and starts tossing grenades as Str8 Ripping is 5 kills away from winning. Naded drops down on Legit and beats him down, then is killed by Neighbor. Str8 Ripping is 4 kills away as Tsquared gets ready to snipe someone. Elamite gets a kill and Tsquared snipes Naded. We go to Neighbor as he chases down Naded to get the final kill and does it.
Winner: Str8 Rippin, 50-33.
Everyone on Str8 Rippin had a positive ratio, while Victory X on The Agency had a -11 ratio. Ouch. Agency would win the next two games, but Str8 Rippin would eventually take it all and now, after having to switch around his team so much, Tsquared is making it to the finals to fight Final Boss.
In the best of eleven finals, Final Boss already has 5 wins as we head into Game 7. Str8 Rippin has to win this and the rest of the games in order to finally win a tournament.
Championship Match: Str8 Rippin vs. Final Boss
Team Slayer on...oh c'mon, Midship?!
We start off with Walshy who heads to the pink tower and locks it down. He kills Legit and starts playing defensively. He gets a double kill on Legit and Elamite and then kills Neighbor before being taken down. Elamite pushes out to the carbine side and kills Orge1 from the other side. Neightbor kills Strongside and pushes into Walshy and Orge2. He kills Walshy and runs for it as Str8 Rippin takes the lead. Neighbor shoots from above on Orge1 and gets a double kill on him and Strongside. We switch to Walshy who heads to carbine and shoots from afar. He assists Strongside in killing Legit and is double teamed to death. Strongside goes to pink tower as Orge1 clears out the tower. Final Boss is barely winning 22-21. Strongisde kills Elamite and Walshy kills Neighbor. Tsquared gets into the tower but Strongside kills him. Strongside teammates are down as he kills Elamite and gets the killing spree on Tsquared before being taken down. Tsquared throws grenades at pink tower killing Walshy and sneaks attacks the rest of Final Boss. He kills Orge1, gets the double kill on Orge2, and charges into pink tower with half a shield. He kills Strongside for the killing spree as Final Boss is still winning 37-36 as we go to commercial.
Back from commercial and we jump right back in with Legit. Legit goes to blue base, into the pink tower. He kills Walshy, then pushes out and gets the double kill on Strongside, giving Str8 Rippin the lead, but it's still really close. Legit goes to the right side and shoots at Orge2, lays down some grenades as Walshy charges in and Elamite helps Legit get the kill on him as Orge1 is killed by Neighbor. Str8 Rippin is winning but the score is still very close. Legit helps Neighbor kill Walshy from the other side as Strongside comes into pink tower. Legit kills Strongside to get the killing spree, then he leaves pink tower. He finds Orge2, they have a shootout and Orge2 gets the kill. The score is 48-46 Str8 Rippin. We go to Orge2 who teleports up to Str8 Rippin for a sneak attack, killing Elamite and Tsquared, as Orge1 killed Legit, giving Final Boss only one kill away from victory. Orge1 beats down Neighbor and Final Boss are once again the champs.
Winner: Final Boss, 50-48. A very intense match. I really thought Str8 Rippin was going to do this.
Final Boss continue to show their dominace as Str8 Rippin seems to be getting their act together. Despite how great these teams played, this week the MVP Award goes to PoWeeZy from Team Versus. PoWeeZy had the best ratio and took his team from #21 in Dallas to #7 in Chicago.
Next week is going to be the final regular tournament in Orlando, Florida, before heading to the playoffs in Las Vegas.
The Top 3 Plays of the Week
#3: "Halogod's Beatdown". Halogod gets his sword, jumps high off the top middle and kills Ghost with the sword.
#2: "Halogod's Killtacular". After getting a kill on Shockwave, he kills Karma and Ghost with grenades and then kills Gandhi. What happened to Carbon this week?
#1: "Neighbor's Domination". Just when he was about to get triple teamed, Neighbor gets the overshield in the nick of time and takes out all three.
Who's going to win the final regular tournament? Tune in Friday at 11PM on G4, or come back next week to find out.
