The Select and Start News Report: 05.05.08
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 05.05.2008
It's a special "0% GTA News" edition of the Select and Start News! Activizzard parts ways with the ESA thus not appearing in E3, Earthbound is coming to the Virtual Console, Infogrames has merged with Atari, and more.
Welcome to the Select and Start News Report. GTA4 was the biggest item talked about this week, and of course along with this game comes the tirade of how this is turning kids into killers, prostitution is bad, it promotes killing cops, states and countries want to outlaw it, and all sorts of ridiculous crap from the usual suspects while we are told to read America's favorite book. So this week, in an effort to not make this news report a real downer, I'm not going to mention one single thing about any of them.
Okay, I'll actually say ONE thing relating to GTA4: Remember how Hollywood supposedly thought Iron Man wasn't going to do as well as they hoped because of GTA4's popularity? Well considering Iron Man made over $100 million this weekend, I'm pretty sure there's nothing to worry about.
Big News
ACTIVISION AND VIVENDI LEAVING THE ESA, WILL NOT APPEAR AT E3 [credit: GamePolitics, GameDaily, Evil Avatar, Destructoid, GameDaily]
Activision and Vivendi, soon to be merging into Activision Blizzard, have resigned as members of the ESA along with deciding to not appear at the annual E3 event. With two of it's biggest members leaving the firm, the ESA could be losing a lot of revenue that it uses not only for E3, but the Video Game Voters Network, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the D.I.C.E. Summit.
Activision sent out the following comment:
After careful consideration, Activision has decided not to renew its ESA membership for business reasons and will not be participating in any official E3 activities. We appreciate the work that the ESA has done over the years in promoting the interactive entertainment industry with state and federal governments and wish the ESA best of luck with the show.
Well this definitely sucks for ESA. On top of Activision and Blizzard leaving, other companies are also deciding to not appear at E3 this year (NCsoft, Foundation 9, and possibly id Software). From the looks of it, E3 could be completely gone over the next couple of years, and even though it isn't the colossal event that it used to be, will be a sad day for many gamers.
EARTHBOUND GETS RATED BY ESRB, CONFIRMING IT FOR VIRTUAL CONSOLE [credit: Destructoid, Evil Avatar, 1UP]
The ESRB's website has a listing for Earthbound with an "E" rating, and listing the platform it's on as the Wii. While it hasn't officially been confirmed yet, this is more then likely proof that Earthbound will be heading to the Virtual Console very soon. In fact, it just might be by the time you read this Monday.
Hooray! Now all the gamers that keep wondering why critics seem to praise this game like no tomorrow will finally get a chance to why they never shut up about it. Basically, if you've never heard of Earthbound and are wondering why this game is loved so much, here are a few reasons from me personally:
1. In an age where all the big RPGs were taking place in your typical fantasy settings (Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star), Earthbound took place in a more modern, urban environment. Characters would recover using food like Cookies and Hamburgers, buy equipment like baseball bats and bottle rockets, and status effects included getting colds and feeling homesick.
2. It had this unique damage counter where even if you took enough damage that you would about to die, if you were quick enough to use a healing item, you'd survive.
3. Just like in Chrono Trigger, you can see enemies, but depending on how you approached them (either walk up to them or get behind them), you would be at either a disadvantage or advantage in battle.
4. Some of those enemies include "The Annoying Old Party Man" and "The New-Aged Retro Hippie." Tell me you wouldn't want to love to beat the crap out of an enemy called "The New-Aged Retro Hippie."
5. There's a character named POO in the game. I'm serious, that's his default name.
There are a couple of faults though. At a few points in the game the difficulty of the enemies you're fighting will take a suddenly huge step up, thus forcing you to level up on weaker enemies for a little while. Then there's Pokey Minch. You will come to hate this man very, very much. But overall, it's a fun game that you should check out if it's actually coming out for the Virtual Console. Or get a rom and stick it to the man.
So let's see...Lucas shows up in Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Earthbound comes to the Virtual Console. Hey Nintendo...does this mean you're finally going to release Mother 3 (Earthbound is known as Mother 2) in the US? PLEEEEEASE?!
INFOGRAMES MERGES WITH ATARI, GETS REJECTED BY SCI [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
For months on end poor financial news about Atari just kept coming. Last month however, Infogrames, the majority stockholder of Atari, offered to buyout the entire company in order to save the sinking ship. Well just recently, Atari accepted the offer and Infogrames has bought out the rest of Atari's outstanding stock, totaling $11 million at $1.68 per share. Atari will now not be subject to any financing conditions and the merger is expected to be completed in the third calendar quarter of 2008. The existing management of Atari, Inc. will formally join Infogrames at that time. Along with the transaction, Infogrames has also agreed to lend Atari $20 million.
So it looks like Atari is going to stick around after all. It was either this or go OOB. Speaking of buyouts, Infogrames apparently had interest in buying out SCi Entertainment, who suffered some major financial losses in 2007. SCi rejected the offer, likely because Warner Bros recently gave them an investment of $120 million. So that's that.
Tidbit News
-Sierra announced two new games in the Crash and Spyro franchises. Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant will be coming this Fall to PS2, PSP, DS, Wii and Xbox 360, while Spyro has his Legend of Spyro trilogy ending with Dawn of the Dragon for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2, Wii, and DS. In other news, these two guys are still around? [credit: GameSpot, GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-Blockbuster has announced that it's going to expand their video game offerings by adding more video games available to rent and customers will now be able to purchase software, hardware, and accessories for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. The company is also releasing an exclusive $499 PS3 bundle, which includes the 40GB console, an HDMI cable, Blu-Ray movies Spider-Man 3 and Transformers and a Blockbuster 12-week rental card for PlayStation 3 games and Blu-ray movies. In other news, Blockbuster is still around? [credit: GameSpot, Gamasutra]
-Bobby Kotick, CEO of developer and publisher Activision, says that U.S.'s slowing economy along with the rising prices of food and oil is pressuring video game console manufacturers to reduce prices on their consoles. Considering the Wii is still too hard to find and Satoru Iwata said so himself (on the price), that price isn't dropping. Sony seems satisfied enough with the $399 price tag considering that was a price drop of sorts from $499-$599. I could see the Xbox 360 probably dropping in price, but Microsoft will not do it. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Actually, Microsoft WILL cut the price of Xbox 360...in Asia. Singapore gets a 20% drop to SGD$499 ($366), Taiwan dropping 17% to NT$10,360 ($340), Hong Kong dropping 11% to HKD$2,499 ($321), and South Korea dropping 5% to KRW$369,000 ($367). [credit: GameSpot]
-As what may be a sign of things to come, Wii Fit is selling very quickly in the UK. In fact, it's now the sixth fastest selling title of all time in the UK. So yeah, it's probably going to sell really well in the US. Heck, my MOM is even interested in getting it! [credit: Gamasutra]
-Peekaboo Pole Dancing is planning to release a pole dancing game for the Wii. The company says the game is "all about fun and fitness" and wants the game "to do for pole dancing what Guitar Hero did for rock n roll!" I can not wait for the shitstorm to hit when the media gets a hold of this. We just might have a new champion for most controversial game. [credit: Joystiq]
-Electronic Arts announced today that they will be shutting down EA-Land on August 1, 2008. The micro-transaction supported title was an attempted re-launch of The Sims Online. EA is offering everyone who was a subscriber to EA-Land as of April 29 a free three-month subscription to Pogo.com or $15 off any game at the EA Store. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-With Mega Man being recognized with the "Most Number of Games In a Single Series" according to the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008 with 46 titles, Chris Kramer on the Capcom blog stated "That's right, the Mega Man franchise has been recognized as being milked like no other milking in the history of video game milkings!" He also thinks that 46 is actually not the right number, and is asking for help from gamers to list all the games Mega Man has starred in (excluding titles he only appeared in like Marvel vs. Capcom), who may or may not recieve a prize for their efforts. So I guess it's official then: Mega Man is a fucking cow. [credit: GameDaily]
-Game Republic founder and Street Fighter II creator Yoshiki Okamoto thinks that with the glut of bad software for the Nintendo DS, that if Nintendo isn't careful, the DS market will suffer an "Atari Crash", as in the crash that killed video games in 1984. He especially points out how there are too many "brain" games out. An Atari Crash? Yeah the DS has a lot of really bad games out, but that's been happening to Nintendo's handhelds for years. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Remember Phantom Entertainment, the people who were making a console that never came out and lost money to the point where their stock is worth 1/20 of a cent? Then they were making something called the Lapboard and that never showed up yet? Well guess what: According to MaximumPC, that Lapboard might actually get released by mid-June for $130. At that price I think you can also buy out the entire company. [credit: Slashdot, Maximumpc.com]
-After all the back and forth talk and the "we're thinking about it" comments along with "we're not really going to do it" comments, it's finally official: Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, is reported to have received an order from Microsoft to start making Blu-Ray equipped Xbox 360s. [credit: Slashdot, Tomshardware.com]
-Blizzard recently acquired the domain name for Diablo 3 (Diablo3.com), which is a Diablo fan community. The site will remain as one (now known as Diablofans.com), and Blizzard says that even though they acquired the domain name, this does not mean they are going to make a Diablo 3. Well of course not; aren't they already secretly planning a "World of Diablo" anyway? [credit: 1UP]
Gaming Calendar
May 6th - R-Type Command (PSP) to be released
May 12th:
-WiiWare Service to be launched
-Launch titles include: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, Major League Eating
May 13th - Myst (DS) to be released
May 19th - Wii Fit to be released
May 20th:
-Haze (PS3) to be released
-Blast Works (Wii) to be released
May 27th:
-Mass Effect ported to the PC
-Hail to the Chimp (PS3, X360) to be released
-Death Jr.: Root of Evil to be released
Spring 2008 - Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms (PC) to be released
June 3rd - Ninja Gaiden II (X360) to be released
June 12th - Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) to be released
June 28-29 - Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational convention to be held
June 2008 - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (PS3, X360) to be released
July 8th - Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii) to be released
July 22nd - Final Fantasy IV DS to be released
August 1st - EA Land (PC, formerly The Sims Online) will close down
Summer 2008 - Air Traffic Chaos (DS) to be released
September 7th - Spore (PC) to be released
September 2008:
-LittleBigPlanet (PS3) to be released
-TNA iMPACT (Multi) 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 (X360) to be released
Fall 2008 - Resistance: Fall of Man 2 (PS3) to be released
Videos of the Day
Subliminal Messaging in Mario Paint!
Uwe Boll vs. Micheal Bay: It's officially going to happen! (At least according to Boll)
Notice how Boll said September when the background says October, and you have to get in by buying 10 Postal tickets? No doubt this is complete bull...or rather, Bollshit.
Posted By: DarkKinger (Guest) on May 04, 2008 at 11:19 PM
I hope this means those rumors of a TDU 2 will finally come true.
Posted By: TWilliams (Guest) on May 05, 2008 at 12:21 AM
go Mega Man!
Posted By: zer0vrs (Registered) on May 05, 2008 at 01:43 AM
The lousy dollar would make it much easier for Sony or Nintendo to drop prices. Its making it hard for Microsoft though since they are based there. That's why there are all these price drops in other areas. They are just dropping it to equal dollar value. Looks good but doesn't cost them anything.
If they drop the price in the US it'll cut into what they make a lot more.
Posted By: Jack (Guest) on May 05, 2008 at 04:10 AM
MEGA MAN FTW!
Posted By: David R (Guest) on May 05, 2008 at 05:23 AM
Why do they still make ps2 games?
Posted By: Matt P (Guest) on May 05, 2008 at 05:43 AM
With all the Mega Man games released, I don't know why they even bother to try to come up with a coherent storyline for any of them. The RE series is getting up there as well.
