The Select and Start News Report: 01.28.08
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 01.28.2008
Updates on the Fox News/Mass Effect controversy, Romero and Wilson start a flame war, the end of the 80GB PS3(?), and more
Come Magic Cloud! It's time for the Select and Start News Report.
Big News
EA CALLS OUT FOX'S BULLSHIT; FOX DOESN'T APOLOGIZE [credit: Just about everyone]
The biggest news of the week was about Fox News lying about Mass Effect on air, claming it had full digitial nudity and that it was purposely being marketed to children. Instead of doing proper research, it seems likely they decided to jump on the bandwagon created by idiots like Kevin McCullough and completely ignore the testimony of game journalist Geoff Keighley. Not only was the entire gaming community in an uproar, but so was Electronic Arts.
Jeff Brown, EA's vice president of communications, EA sent a letter to Fox News to point out all the mistakes that Fox News made. He also criticized them by saying the coverage insulted the men and women making the game, and that the "sex scene" was not anymore graphic then on Family Guy and The OC, shows on the Fox network. EA is calling for Fox to admit their mistake.
Fox responded to these comments NOT with an apology, but rather saying that the network made several invitations for EA to come on Live Desk With Martha MacCallum to discuss Mass Effect, but recieved no response.
Okay, let's say an EA representative actually did come on to the show. Would that have REALLY have made any difference in what happened? Odds are they would just ignore the representative and not take anything they would say seriously just like the panel did with Keighley. Fox has still not admitted that they wrong about any of this, so basically, fuck Fox News.
One person who actually did apologize was Cooper Lawrence, the "expert" on the show who didn't know shit about the game and admitted it. She released this statement from the New York Times:
Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography. But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of ‘Lost' that are more sexually explicit.
Unfortunately for Cooper, this apology came a little too late when the gaming community decided to get on Amazon.com and give her latest book about 400 1-Star Reviews, basically giving her a taste of her own medicine of judging before doing the research. As of now Amazon has since deleted most of the negative reviews.
But what I found surprising the most was that there was actually some positive reviews on this book. What made it personally horrible for me was that one of the people who actually gave her a positive review happens to be a professor at my school. You know, I always thought my school was full of fucktards, but this actually confirms it.
ROMERO VS. WILSON: ONE WILL MAKE THE OTHER HIS BITCH [credit: Voodoo Extreme, Evil Avatar]
When Kotaku did an article about Gamecock's release schedule, John Romero made a statement about how Mike Wilson is "taking all the credit away from the indie devs and pasting his asinine logo everywhere." Romero says that Wilson hasn't changed in over ten years, and that there were "the kinds of jackass stunts he pulled at Ion Storm with Daikatana." Romero claims it was Wilson's idea in the first place to run the infamous bitch ad (Romero also claimed this in his book) and the ads of Ion Storm which only contained images of the staff. When Wilson worked at Godgames, he partied all the time until Take Two took over the company and he left, "waiting for his next victim/investor so he could go hogwild all over again."
Not pleased about Romero's comments, Mike Wilson replied with an open letter to Romero. After saying Romero would rather live in the memories of his twenties given the reality of his thirties, he says he won't allow Romero to "rewrite the history of it all, more to your liking and to my public detriment, and I will in no way take the rap for what you did (or didn't do)with your dream company." He talks about how he wasn't as paid as much as Romero seeing how Romero was part of the "big boy partners" that Romero refered to himself as, he only owned 5% of Ion Storm, didn't have an assistant like Romero, and "unlike you, I didn't get to file a federal trademark for my own personal catch phrase," Suck it Down." Wilson admits that the bitch ad was funny, but in the end it was Romero that had to approve it before they can use it, and Romero did exactly that. He also points out that the whole reason for the ad to be made in the first place was because Romero kept promising that Daikatana would be released by Christmas 1997. He also says he was let go from Ion Storm because Wilson kept fighting "to save that company from the poison which you had invited into it", but they saw it as complaining. He also points out when Gamecock got bought out by Take Two, they made $350 million for the company in the same time "it took you and the remaining 'big boy partners' to shit away Eidos' (your investors) 30 million and deliver one of the biggest heaps of dung ever put onto a CD Rom, just before being foreclosed on." He then goes on to talk about how he's got a great marriage with kids, while Romero has left a trail of "ex-wives, fatherless kids, and ill advised breast implants strewn across this fair nation".
Romero has replied criticizing Wilson for having to make such a long letter to recount his side of the story of Ion Storm and slam Romero's personal life. Romero also said they were mature enough to end this flame war, and according to Romero, later received an e-mail of apology from Wilson. However, he also made mention about the approval process of the bitch ad:
Yeah, approval process of bitch ad:
mike: hey, here's the kickass ad the richards group did - i think it's great and we should do it
john: uh, i would never say that to someone "you're my bitch" - that's kinda gay
mike: don't be a pussy! people will get it - it's trashtalking.
john: ok, whatever...
With that last comment Romero made, I'm starting to feel skeptical on whether or not this feud is actually over. Because if there's anything I've learned from the world of professional wrestling, some people will just not let things go. You know, maybe this is the way we should settle this between Romero and Wilson. Romero vs. Wilson in a steel cage match! We can book it on the same card with Fox News and EA.
THE END OF THE 80GB PS3? [credit: 1UP, PS3fanboy.com]
With Sony no longer caring so much for backwards compatibility on the PS3, there have been rumors that Sony is planning on discontinuing the 80GB PS3 and completely focus on only having the 40GB PS3, which has been the biggest help in increasing PS3 sales. This week more news came out that might make those rumors. PS3fanboy recieved a memo from a Best Buy employee stating that the 80GB PS3 is having a closeout. The memo also stated that Sony hasn't made any announcements about it.
And then there was one, and hopefully it's the way it stays. But I still have a feeling we will see a 100GB or 120GB PS3 sometime in the future.
Tidbit News
-Activision says they've reached the $1 billion mark in the Guitar Hero franchise. Too bad that small amount of money will not be enough to let Harmonix release that patch to play Guitar Hero 3 with the Rock Band guitar for free. [credit: GameDaily]
-Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura says that Final Fantasy XIII will have a 2008 release date, and that a demo showing off the new battle system will be released on the PlayStation Network. [credit: Joystiq]
-Along with announcing the release date for Grand Theft Auto 4 (April 29th), Rockstar also said that the reason for the delay was in fact caused by the development difficulties of the PS3, though now it is no longer an issue. [credit: GameDaily]
-Were you a fan of the Juiced or Stuntman franchises? Well I've got bad news for you. Due to disappointing sales, both of those franchises (bought from other companies) have been axed. The PS3 version of Frontlines: Fuel of War and the PS2 version of Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed have also been cancelled. [credit: GameSpot]
-Former Naughty Dog veterans Jason Hughes and Andrew Gilmour have announced the formation of a new independent studio named Steel Penny Games and will be developing games for the Nintendo WiiWare service. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-A Brazilian judge has confirmed a ban, first ordered in October last year, for first person shoot ‘em-up Counter-Strike and massively multiplayer online game EverQuest, on grounds that they incite violence and are "harmful to consumers' health". Expect Fox News to greatly exagerate this story next week. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Ever wondered if Wii Boxing is just as good exercise as walking or doing boxercise? According to a research by students at the Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it isn't, though playing the game is a good way to get people interested in doing actual sports. [credit: GameDaily]
Gaming Calendar
GAMING CALENDAR
February 5th - Devil May Cry 4, regular and collector's edition, to be released
February 8th - The Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition to be released
February 12th - Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney to be released
February 26th - Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors to be released
March 2008 - WiiWare service to be released?
March 4th - Army of Two to be released
March 8th - God of war: Chains of Olympus to be released
March 9th - Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be released
March 11th
-Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates to be released
-Condemned 2 to be released
March 25th - FFVII: Crisis Core to be released
NEW: April 25th - Grand Theft Auto IV to be released
Rockstar made it official over the week. Hopefully, unlike the last GTA game and Mass Effect, this won't have any sex scenes of sorts. But then again, Fox will probably still make something up about it.
Spring 2008
-Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms to be released
-The World Ends With You to be released
2nd Quarter 2008 - Metal Gear Solid 4 to be released
September 2008 - LittleBigPlanet to be released
October 9-13 - The Tokyo Game Show 2008 to be held
Fall 2008 - Resistance: Fall of Man 2 to be released
Weekly Smash Bros. Roundup
Rumors have been flying out every which way over the final character roster. Is Ness actually returning? Is Lucario now playable? Are there a total of 44 or more characters? ANOTHER third-party character?! With Smash Bros. coming to Japan any day now, all our questions will finally be answered. In the mean time, here are the updates from the Dojo:
-Manaphy. This Pokemon comes out and makes you switch characters with another opponent like it was Freaky Friday. Eventually you go back to normal.
-Iwata Asks. On Nintendo's official site, the President of Nintendo himself interviews other employees from time to time. Last week he interviewed Masahiro Sakurai, the man behind this game, even though he's technically no longer a Nintendo employee.
-Mushroomy Kingdom. No, that's not a typo. It's World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros recreated, only this time it looks like a barren wasteland. Maybe Greenpeace was right. Nintendo IS ruining the environment! Anyway, sometimes when you pick this stage, you wind up in World 1-2 instead.
-"Super Mario Bros: Ground Theme". This is the music that'll be used in Mushroomy Kingdom
-Test Battle: Tokyo vs. Kyoto. This is a video showing off a demo they had of the online battle with the Nintendo guys in two different parts of Japan, with the distance being similar to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The battle played with no lags, so at least country wise the game will play well. How the game will fare between American and Japan is where the real question lies, because hopefully we don't get seriously bad lag like in Jump Ultimate Stars.
-Masterpieces. A series of Virtual Console demos featuring the games the characters are from. A good way to get to know those unfamiliar characters, and answer questions such as why older gamers are glad to be Pit and why older gamers are sad to see the Ice Climbers.
The Video of the Day
With all the talk about Smash Bros Brawl, today's I'd like to share this video of "Smash Kingdom", a Smash Bros Brawl parody done in a Robot Chicken kind of style. This video is Part 1, and you can check out the original at newgrounds.com.
(Note: This video is NSFW due to plenty of swearing)
I'm proud of Cooper Lawrence for admitting she didn't know the facts about Mass Effect and of EA for standing up to false facts made by Fox News. I swear, if WWE had the better sense to challenge CNN, EA has rights to do the same.
Oh, as for Smash Kingdom...LMAO!
Posted By: DarkKinger (Guest) on January 28, 2008 at 10:38 PM
