The Full Circle: 360 News Report 06.06.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 06.06.2008

It's a special Jimmy Buffet edition of The Full Circle as I take a break from writing bar exam prep essays and start drinking margaritas while sitting on a boat in the sunshine. This week we're talking about the implosion of Team Ninja, the interesting timing that Itagaki seemed to have with his resignation, your first chance to get your hands on HAWX, the changes coming to the XBL Marketplace, and an update on Beyond The Report's biggest fan Jack Thompson. All of that plus The Nostalgic Hot Button, this week in The Full Circle.



There are two things on my mind right now – the first being Game 1 of the Lakers/Celtics NBA Finals which as you read this will already be over, but as I am writing it remain a few hours away. I don't want to sound overdramatic but I am goosebumps right now just thinking about the game, and I think that it's making my fiancé uncomfortable that heading into the weekend of her bridal shower I couldn't care less about a new slow cooker when a basketball game will be starting soon.

The other thing on my mind is Jimmy Buffet, and I will not apologize for being a fan. I just got my tickets in the mail for the Sept. 4th show conveniently located right after my honeymoon ends. So to save all of you non Celtics fans the trouble of sifting through a column littered with Larry Bird and Dino Radja references I've turned this into a Jimmy Buffet titled column (you'll figure it out). Without further ado let's get into The Full Circle.

Burn That Bridge



One of the most difficult aspects of writing The Full Circle for Friday morning is that most of the major news stories have already happened by the time I come around. Case in point – the news of Tomonobu Itagaki leaving Tecmo under less then stellar conditions already seems pretty stale by now. However, as someone who is at least hypothetically supposed to be writing about the gaming industry I'd be doing a disservice if I at least did not mention this story. For those two of you who do not know Itagaki is one of the creative minds behind Ninja Gaiden, and Dead or Alive.

Itagaki didn't go quietly as he made the decision to air his laundry about his reasons for leaving Tecmo which boiled down to basically this: I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year.

Apparently this dispute centers on unpaid bonuses from Dead or Alive 4 which should have been paid upon completion of the game, but were not. Interestingly enough DOA4 was released on December 29, 2005 in North America (the first of the international releases), meaning the entire scenario has come to a head two and a half years after the fact. Seem suspicious to anyone? This factor was brought up by Tecmo and Yasuda but I'd venture a guess that Itagaki didn't want to leave Team Ninja and burn down that bridge on his way out the door while Ninja Gaiden II was in development. It wasn't a coincidence that he left his position the week that Ninja Gaiden II (now his final project with Team Ninja) was coming out. I'm not going to spend any more time on this situation because we all know that Itagaki will be fine, it was just fitting when this entire two year ordeal finally came to the forefront.

Waiting In Vain



For those of you who held off on Ace Combat 6 in vain for some alternative flight/air combat simulator type game you've got two things to rejoice over. First, you've saved about $160 in downloadable content for AC6, and secondly you're going to be able to get your hands on the demo for HAWX. before committing any money to the Tom Clancy/Ubisoft effort.

According to Videogamer.com, they spoke with Andrei Costin at Ubidays who is the international product manager at Ubisoft Romania and he confirmed that there will be a demo for HAWX. No other details were available but the boys at videogamer.com suspect that the demo will be similar to the playable code shown at Ubidays which included dogfights over Rio de Janeiro.

<.b>Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Lattitudes



Remember when Microsoft announced that they would be delisting games from XBLA? That little announcement caused a bit of a stir in the gaming community because you wouldn't think that shelf space (for lack of a better term) would be an issue with a virtual marketplace but that seemed to be what Microsoft was saying. If your game wasn't selling well, it'd be taken off the shelves. Well as it turns out, Microsoft is pulling a bit of a mea culpa and admitting it was a communication breakdown on their end for failing to explain exactly what they meant by delisting an Xbox Live Arcade game from the service.

According to MTV Multiplayer in an interview with Aaron Greenberg there has been an attempt to clarify that this delisting process will be much akin to the process on Amazon.com when a book gets taken off the front page. No longer pushed, no longer assaulting the consumer, but if someone recommends the game you'll still be able to find it. It'll be out there, and it'll be downloaded but it'll just be less up front. The interview mentions that Microsoft has been less then thrilled with the Xbox Live Marketplace with good reason (go ahead try to search through all the available content there sometime), and this process of delisting the less popular items is all part of a concerted effort to make the marketplace more – marketable.

Piece of Work



I know a little while back I was talking about getting back into Team Fortress 2 after the updates, and the advances made on the Medic classification. Of course after I made that statement I started playing Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and then Grand Theft Auto (and, well you know all the other stuff I've been doing) so I never actually got a chance to play the new game modes, or the new Medic. Hopefully I will get a chance to play the updates on TF2 because we're about to get another one, this time for the Pyro. According to Valve, now that the groundwork has been laid for the updates to be rolled out they will come more quickly, and the next one in line is the Pyro class.

1Up.com is reporting that the 360 updates were waiting for a critical mass of content so it seems likely that this is when the new Pyro update will be thrown to the wolves. After the rousing success of the updated Medic though I wonder what people will be looking for with the new Pyro?

Everybody's Talkin'



In what appears to be a never ending effort to completely bleed the Guitar Hero franchise dry, this week we learned that there is at least the groundwork being laid for Guitar Hero: Metallica which will follow the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and Guitar Hero: World Tour and come right before Guitar Hero: Best of Guitar Hero all of which hope to be released within a six month period so that the market is completely flooded with Guitar Hero games and everyone gets so sick of buying new peripherals that they just stop caring about the entire genre.

All of that being said Metallica was the first band I ever saw in concert (well first headliner), they are my favorite rock band, and a Guitar Hero dedicated solely to Metallica is a fantastic idea. When you factor in that this game will come after Guitar Hero World Tour you're at least going to assume that we'll have drums, bass, and vocals for GH: Metallica and there is a zero percent chance that I won't spend a few weekend nights knocking Jager, wearing nothing but boxers and doing my best Lars Ulrich impersonation. Of course all that means is that I'll alienate myself from my fans, piss off my family and become a biter old man, but I think we can all agree that I'm probably headed that way anyways – might as well throw in some drums.

Come Monday



If you're looking for a way to spend the weekend you might be in luck because a couple highly anticipated demos are now up and running in the XBL Marketplace. First up to the plate is the 1.23 GB download of Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution demo which I am planning on trying out this evening as turned based strategy games bore me to no end, but a few hours tinkering with the demo should provide me with all the Sid Meier that I can handle for a couple more years.

Also out now to check out is 1.5 GB Battlefield: Bad Company demo. After all the talk about this game, EA, and the role of charging for DLC I am going to be a bit interested to check out how the game looks and is received. I honestly have no intention of getting this game either but hey it's a free demo so how can you go wrong?

Finally, even though this isn't a new download the demo for NASCAR 09 is available on the Marketplace, and I just got a chance to check it out last night. I must say that the game seems like a step up from the 08 disappointment, and as a huge fan of turning left I cannot wait to get my hands on the complete build next week. That being said I still think that the in race graphics seem a bit tame, as the crowd is almost non existent but I don't think this will be a giant concern of mine down the road. You can play as a few drivers (namely Hendricks drivers), at either Lowes or Daytona. The multiplayer and customization of this game is supposed to be great so I will wait with baited breath for this next week.

One Particular Harbour



Well if you've been wondering about a place that you can go and not run into Mark Salmela's father Jack Thompson you might want to try any court room in Florida. Yes, it has become official the Florida Board of Bar Overseers has been disbarred and prohibited from the practice of law for at least the next 10 years (he will be allowed to reapply for admission to the bar in 2018).

Naturally in all of his Jack Thompson lunacy he couldn't go quietly as he filed a 4,500 word appeal of the decision that basically slammed Judge Dava Tunis and claimed that she forged her loyalty oath to the bar, and never complied with the required regulations. Furthermore Thompson proclaimed that it was his crusade against Grand Theft Auto IV (which he referenced as a cop killing, woman bashing training video) has brought the game, and violence in video games to the forefront of the Presidential election. Naturally, there is absolutely no evidence that this is the case as I don't remember the last time Obama, McCain or Clinton gave a speech about regulating the practice of free speech but I haven't been paying as close attention as Jack Thompson obviously.


THE HOT BUTTON



Still no graphic for THB but that's alright because we can soldier on without one. This week it's been difficult to avoid the commercials being run for Street Fighter IV. If you tried to watch the EliteXC event on CBS last Saturday night you probably saw Ken give the "come and get it" sign roughly fifteen hundred times throughout the night so it's pretty safe to say that we're getting a heavy push for the Street Fighter franchise being reborn on the current generation consoles. I must admit that after seeing the trailer, and then being switched back to an MMA fight the entire crowd that I was with starting reminiscing about Street Fighter moves, and whether or not Kimbo Slice would be able to stop Guile's tornado kick (the obvious answer is no).

It's taken a few days for me to properly put into prospective the entire rebirth of the Street Fighter franchise, as well as convince myself that the upcoming Street Fighter movie will offer more then just a reason to watch Kristen Kreuk in some skimpy outfit beat people up (which is clearly enough to charge me $10 but I digress). Frankly, I am especially excited for SF4 because it brings back fond memories of when video games could be played at bowling alleys and the dentist office.

Within a relatively short period of time both the Street Fighter, and Soul Caliber series' will be brought to the current gen consoles, and while I have almost no expectation for either series I must admit that it'll be cool to have them around again. I'm pretty sure that I haven't played a fighting game since the Dreamcast got the box treatment in my attic and I can't even decide if I'll take the time to sit down with either the new Soul Caliber, or Street Fighter franchise but it was nice to be reminded about how much fun video games used to be, and how that was shared between everyone. I never thought about the original Grand Theft Auto when Niko Bellic started showing up everywhere, and if you're not playing the Wii then you don't usually get that nostalgia feeling when a game trailer shows up on TV.

Was there any reason for me to write THB this week? No. Was it a simple attempt to slide a picture of Kristen Kreuk into the article for almost no reason because I haven't been able to put actually sit down and write a better column due to anticipation behind the Celtics/Lakers final this evening? More then likely. However, there isn't a video game player among us who doesn't have at least one fond memory of either Street Fighter, or Soul Caliber that isn't at least intrigued by the opportunity to play these characters again.