The Select and Start News Report: 03.10.08
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 03.10.2008
D&D Creator passes away, Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy, changes at Atari and Infogrames, A new Xbox 360 SKU(?), a teenage "hero" turns out to be a fraud, Ex-ESRB rater critiques the company, and more!
Welcome to the Select and Start News Report. So after several months of waiting, I finally got to chance to play Super Smash Bros Brawl. Was it worth the wait? Based on what I've played so far, most definitely. I'll explain some more stuff about the game later on.
Big News
CO-CREATOR OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS DIES [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
Gary Gygax, co-creator of the legendary Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, has passed away on March 4th at the age of 69. Gygax had been suffering from an inoperable abdominal aneurysm for some time. Considered the father of tabletop role-playing, Gygax, together with Dave Arneson, created the pen and paper system in 1974, after co-founding the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). Gygax left the company in 1985, after a management disagreement, and TSR was acquired by Wizards of the Coast in 1997 – itself now acquired by Hasbro. He remained passionate about D&D until the very end. Despite his illnesses, he even hosted weekly games of D&D as recently as January, his wife said.
R.I.P. Gary Gygax. You know, even after all these years I've never once played a game of D&D. I heard a 4th Edition is going to be released in June 2008. Perhaps I'll get that and start a game.
LEWIS BENNETT III: FRAUD [credit: Joystiq, Philadelphia Daily News]
Back in October, Lewis Bennett III was being credited as a hero (even by George W. Bush himself) for tipping the police on 14-year-old Dillon Cossey about to commit a school massacre. Last week, however, Lewis appeared in court in which he admitted to breaking into Dillon Cossey's house last month and stealing video game equipment, money, and jewelry. He then sold Cossey's Xbox 360 to another student for $20. The break-ins were reported to an assistant principal at the high school by another teen who overheard Bennett bragging about the heist.
An Open Letter to Lewis Bennett III:
Bennett, back in October you said you were sick of hearing about these school shootings. But then what did you do? You committed an act of crime that causes people like Cossey to start a school shooting. But luckily for you, you were able to send Cossey to a detention center first so that you can get away with this burglary. In fact, I'm starting to think the whole reason Cossey was going to start a "Columbine style" attack as some people called it was because of you and your punk friends. Bennett, it's people like you I despise the most, because you and your kind are the biggest reason kids want to start school shootings, but this generation of parents and conservatives will blame it on games and other violent media, giving you a free pass on the crimes you commit.
Enjoy staying in Youth Detention Center.
ZIFF DAVIS FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY; STILL IN BUSINESS FOR NOW [credit: Destructoid, Gamasutra, Evil Avatar, Joystiq, GameDaily]
Ziff Davis, the company behind 1UP.com and various magazines including EGM and Games for Windows, recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of their debt restructuring plan. Ziff Davis had debts totaling up to $400 million, and are filing the bankruptcy so that if approved, they can reduce their debt. Despite this bankruptcy, 1UP will still be online for now and none of the employees will be losing their jobs.
Well, unless you really hate the website and their magazines, this sucks. I like reading EGM Magazine and would hate to see it go, despite that these days printed magazines are going the way of the dodo and it's likely it will happen. Hopefully Ziff Davis pulls through and 1UP stays around.
INFOGRAMES AND ATARI NEWS [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily, ]
Speaking of going out of business, I'm surprised Atari is still around. They and their owners Infogrames had a lot of tidbits going on this week.
-Phil Harrison, who recently had left Sony over reasons not yet revealed, has now become the new Infogrames president and a member of the board of directors. Harrison will be overseeing software development in both online and packaged games, overseeing the company's studios and attracting talent to the company. Considering what Harrison has accomplished for Sony, this is a big plus for Inforgrames and can be a great help for Atari.
-Speaking of new positions at Atari, Mathias Hautefort has been promoted to head of global distribution. He will now be responsible for Atari's business in the U.S., Europe and Asia, with a primary goal of optimizing the company's global distribution network. Don't know anything about the guy, but good for him.
-Right now Infogrames only owns about 51% of Atari. But now, Infogrames has sent out a letter to Atari for an offer for Infogrames to buy out the rest of Atari's outstanding stock at $1.68 per share. If this were to happen, Atari would no longer have to face NASDAQ delisting threats (of which they've had several) and would make the company private, allowing for faster company decisions to be made. I say Infogrames, because at this rate Atari has nothing else to lose (except more money).
ANOTHER XBOX 360 SKU? [credit: GameSpot, Joystiq, Evil Avatar]
Well at least this isn't news about another PS3 SKU. Rumors are now going around from TrustedReviewers.com that, according to their trusted sources, Microsoft is considering releasing a new SKU where the 20GB hard drive will be replaced with a 60GB one instead. The new SKU might also have a built-in Blu-Ray player as well, since Microsoft recently stated they'll be now supporting the format.
Right now it's a RUMOR, but it comes to fruition, then I probably wouldn't be surprised. Sony and Microsoft have been constantly releasing new SKU's over and over, and at this rate, I hope this generation of consoles lasts longer then 5 years, because at this rate I find it a bit ridiculous. Meanwhile, Nintendo still only has 1 kind of Wii. How long until that makes some sort of SKU makeover?
ESRB CRITIQUE FROM EX-ESRB RATER [credit: Gamasutra, GameSpot]
The ESRB has been facing a lot of criticism these days (to which personally I think most are underserving), but now the latest critique comes from former ESRB rater Jerry Bonner who worked there for about six months. In the latest EGM, he's made several suggestions on how to improve the ESRB, including:
-Stop trying to act so secretly about how they work, especially when changes to the ratings and content desciptions are made with little to no reason given.
Okay, that I can understand. If the ESRB could be more open about how they work, they probably wouldn't be critisized so much.
-Split the T rating to T13 and T16, plus get rid of the AO rating since console makers refuse games with that rating and have the M rating for gamers 18 and older.
But then wouldn't console makers just ban the M rating? Besides, people seem to be really offensive about sex in video games to the point where they will sue the companies to get their refunds back (GTA: San Andreas) or make up completely false reports about the game having hardcore pornography (Mass Effect). As for fixing the teen ratings, that probably does need to happen.
-Allow another ratings system to compete against the ESRB, theorizing that competition will drive both sides to improve themselves and benefit the consumer.
Now this is interesting. A rivaling system? Maybe they should take all those suggestions for what the ESRB should do and be and base a new company on that. Perhaps then we'll see just how well it would all work out.
-Allow the game raters to actually play the games instead of watching the video.
And once again we reach this issue. This was the main issue with Brownback's "Truth in Game Rating Act", where he stated the ESRB should play everything all the way through. The problem is, there are about 50 games released a month, and games that you really can't play all the way through like MMO's would be impossible to rate. I guess it could work out if given the right circumstances and amount of time for each game.
-Don't simply give sequels to games the same rating as the previous game.
The ESRB actually do that? I almost find that hard to believe.
ESRB president Patricia Vance responded to Bonner, claiming the ex-rater's article "contains numerous misleading statements, factual inaccuracies, and misrepresentations with respect to key aspects of the rating system.". As for ratings being changed:
"In a rare case when an adjustment is made to a particular recommendation from our raters, it is done only when it is obvious that [one of] their findings contradicts previous ratings for similar content, does not reflect cultural norms that have been established through publc-opinion research, or would cause consumers to question the reliability of [our] ratings information."
I guess the ESRB need to press the reset button on themselves and start working on a new way to how to rate games, because it looks like it's getting to the point almost nobody is getting satisfied about them.
Tidbit News
-Remember when "everyone's favorite lawyer" was going to help EA buyout Take-Two? EA told him to buzz off. [credit: GamePolitics]
-On March 19th, EA will be revealing new information about The Sims 3 at thesims3.ea.com. So far, the biggest change to be seen in this one is that this time, the game takes place in a constantly changing wide-open neighborhood, in which what you do there will have just as much effect as what you do at home. The individual meters for each aspect of the character are now replaced with discrete moods which means players will have to do a variety of things to keep their Sims happy. [credit: GameSpot, 1UP]
-Over in Japan, Sony has revealed a new color for the PSP: A limited-edition "matte bronze" PSP Slim that will retail at ¥23,800 (£115, $228) on April 24th. So wait...does this mean that the PSP is third-rate? [credit: Gamasutra, GameSpot]
-Company buyouts and mergers seem to be the most popular topic these days, as Sega Sammy U.S. chief executive Simon Jeffrey recently stated that Sega will NOT be acquired or bought by another company, stating the company is happy with their current position. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-Harmonix has been so successful thanks to Rock Band that the company could be earning a $208.7 million bonus from MTV's parent company Viacom over the course of the next couple years should the game continue to see success. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, GameSpot]
-Marc Ecko Entertainment (Getting Up) has announced it has entered into an agreement with Showtime Networks to design a videogame based on the Emmy and Golden Globe winning television series Dexter. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Metal Gear Solid 4 is such a huge game that Hideo Kojima says the Blu-Ray disc was almost not big enough to contain the game. Considering that a single sided Blu-Ray disc is 25GB, that's a lot of room. [credit: GameSpot]
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[credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
This week's lawsuit news comes from THQ, who last week won their case against Jakks Pacific over the use of the WWE license in their games. On July 1, 2006, a royalty rate was to be determined for how much THQ would owe Jakks. But Jakks delayed the process, so it would now be decided through arbitration. Jakks asked for the court to disqualify all but one arbitration judges due to outside interference, but the court has denied Jakks request and now arbitration can officially begin.
Probably even worse then Lewis Bennett III is his attorney Brian McLaughlin, who defended Bennett's actions by having this to say:
"That's a lot of notoriety to deal with at such a young age. How does a child, a young adult, deal with that situation, where all these cameras are put in his face and he's required to respond and he meets the president?"
Are you fucking kidding me?! You're telling me that the reason he wound up robbing the kid about to start a school shooting was because he was pressured from fame? Either McLaughlin is getting paid a high amount of money from his client to say something like that, or he's the perfect candidate for the idiot of the week.
Gaming Calendar
March 25th - FFVII: Crisis Core to be released
April 4th - Myst Online to be discontinued
April 15th - Okami gets ported to the Wii
April 20th - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games to be released
April 22nd - The World Ends With You to be released
April 25th - Grand Theft Auto IV to be released
May 1st - Mario Kart Wii to be released
May 12th - WiiWare Service to be launched
May 19th - Wii Fit to be released
May 2008
-Mass Effect gets ported to the PC
-R-Type Command to be released
-Haze to be released
June 3rd - Ninja Gaiden II to be released
June 12th - Metal Gear Solid 4 to be released
June 28-29 - Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational convention to be held
June 2008 - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to be released
Spring 2008:
-Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms to be released
-Death Jr.: Root of Evil to be released
September 7th - Spore to be released
September 2008 - LittleBigPlanet to be released
October 3-5 - E for All 2008 to be held
October 9-13 - The Tokyo Game Show 2008 to be held
November 2008 - Gears of War 2 to be released
Fall 2008 - Resistance: Fall of Man 2 to be released
The Video of the Day
In memory of Gary Gygax, here's a classic comedy skit about D&D from The Dead Ale Wives:
Smash Bros Brawl Stuff
In the March Roundtable (which should be posted any day now) I mention my Wii Code thinking it would apply for Smash Bros., but as it turns out it uses an entirely different code. So my official Smash Bros Brawl code is 0344-8940-1196.
I must say the difficulty of the A.I. for this game has definitely risen. I'm currently fighting Level 5 ("Hardy") A.I. in multi-brawls and they put up a strong fight.
They really don't give you much to work with in the early parts of Stage Builder. Also, every time I build a stage a couple of the fighters start at the weirdest/wrong place. I need to further study this mode.
The Home Run Contest can be a pain in the ass sometimes.
Remember how Jigglypuff used to be the easiet person to unlock? Not in this game. I've unlocked about 5 or so characters and Jigglypuff isn't one of them. I really want to get to her (is it a she?) fast, because that was my best Melee character.
Jigglypuff, Sonic, and Toon Link are the hardest to unlock, it looks like. That is, if you're going about unlocking them in the Subspace Emissary. I think you have to finish the mode, then go back through certain levels to unlock them.
Posted By: Hunter (Guest) on March 10, 2008 at 12:21 AM
Coming from someone who knows Lew Bennett, I have to say that this whole thing officially makes him one of the most retarded people I've ever seen. Lew found out about Dylan's plan because Dylan asked him if he wanted in on it. After Lew told everyone about it, he was a hero. Like you said, he met the President. He had college funds set up for him and his sister by 6 different companies.
However, he wants to be Tony Montana when he grows up, so he took advantage of a basically empty house, COMPLETELY ignoring the fact that it's the house of a kid who had aspirations of shooting his school up. Then, he went around his school bragging about what he did and selling the stolen stuff. I sincerely hope they're beating some sense into him in juvie, because you have to be actively trying to ruin your life to fuck up what he had going for him that badly.
Posted By: ProtomanV1 (Registered) on March 10, 2008 at 12:23 AM
Metal Gear Solid 4 filled up the 50 GB dual layer Blu-Ray disc. Certain games have been filling the single layer Blu-Ray disc since the PS3 launch back in 2006 *Resistance was 22 GB*. MGS4 is 50+ GB.
Posted By: Mark Salmela (Registered) on March 10, 2008 at 01:02 AM
The Wii needs a new SKU with some storage space included. Something with a built-in HDD is unlikely, but they need to find some solution.
Posted By: Rod Oracheski (Registered) on March 10, 2008 at 03:15 AM
I know that print magazines are becoming more and more obsolete, but I will be sad to see EGM go. I hope they hang on. After all, you can't take your PC in the crapper (well, I guess you could your laptop, but I ain't stankin' up my laptop just so I can read a game review.)
Posted By: Ken B. (Guest) on March 10, 2008 at 03:24 PM
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