The Full Circle: 360 News Report 06.13.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 06.13.2008

It's Friday which means that it is time to round out the week with The Full Circle. This week we're talking about Peter Moore, NASCAR 09 and other wacky EA related items, we're also going to discuss Street Fighter and how to get your hands on the beta June 25th, the mystery around Alan Wake and what Microsoft does not have planned for E3 this year, plus we'll round out the week with some news about exclusive 360 titles coming down the road and The Hot Button to close it out. So while you wait for that forty minute Solid Snake cut scene to end why don't you sit back, relax, and enjoy The Full Circle.



It's the week of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot which means most of you have probably swung through The Full Circle as you wait an inexplicable amount of time for the chapters to change, or a thirty minute cut scene to end. Early return on the game seem to indicate that Playstation magazines are giving the game a perfect score, and other people are giving it a high score but calling it a flawed game. If you haven't checked out Mark's superb rundown of the lineage behind the MGS franchise you really should because it will get you excited to play Guns of the Patriot, and make you realize that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is bizarre beyond belief. I'm not here to talk bad about that other system through because we've got a bunch to talk about today and not a whole lot of time to do it.

The Celtics lead the Lakers 2-1 heading into a game tonight that if gambling were legal I'd have the Celtics (+270, and the points +7). For anyone who thinks the Lakers got screwed out of Game 2 in Boston the Celtics committed only 7 less personal fouls in that game, don't blame the officials for the Lakers not driving to the hoop. That being said anyone who thought that the Celtics wouldn't get into foul trouble early in Game 3 have never watched an NBA game before – and whether David Stern wants to admit it or not everyone knows that particular refs are assigned certain games to give a leg up to the home team. Joey Crawford was not assigned to Game 3 in LA on accident.

One last thing before we get into the video game news for you wrestling fans out there and those of you who just tuned into Monday Night Raw to see Vince McMahon give away $1 million dollars, what type of a rank do you give Vince hanging up on the guy who had a Rick Astley ring back tone? I'd have to say that seeing a man who might never dial his own phone try to navigate the ring back of that classic piece of garbage made the entire night worthwhile. Alright enough idle chat lets get right down to it folks, it's Friday and that can only mean that it's time for The Full Circle.

Sponsorship Cover Deal



I'm not even sure this is note worthy but yesterday NASCAR 09 hit shelves and while I intend to cover the game more in the HOT BUTTON I wanted to make mention of something interesting that I noticed. I bought my copy of the game at Gamestop, and because of that I can't speak for other places but I know that the most common cover of the game has Jeff Gordon prominently displayed. However, on my way to my car I walked through Best Buy and who is on the cover of NASCAR 09? Well Elliot Sadler the driver of the Best Buy sponsored Sprint Cup car. Now while I don't think more people would buy the videogame if they could find it at Home Depot so that they had Tony Stewart on the cover, I wouldn't necessarily ignore the potential National Guard enrollment rate if you got a special Dale Earnhart Jr. cover for the game when you signed up for a five year commitment.

Peter Moore Might be Dumb



There is an interesting post on Peter Moore's EA Sports blog where he talks about the annual EA evaluation which requires all high level employees to be evaluated in terms of their productivity. Moore seems relatively confident that the upcoming EA season is going to be a good one because he has put his body where his mouth is – proclaiming that if he underperforms he will get a tattoo, potentially of a competitor's logo. Now I'm all for standing behind your product but Peter Moore might be an idiot. As I said, I did buy NASCAR 09, but lets not forget that the Tiger Woods franchise hasn't changed in a number of years, Madden has been the same basic game for about the same amount of time, and with competition in the boxing ring now from 2K Sports will there be as much anticipation for a new Fight Night Round 4 (not to mention the development being moved to a new studio). Again I respect that Moore is willing to vouch for the product that EA puts out there, but I just hope that what we can take from this little bit of showmanship is that Moore has seen the future of EA games and we're finally going to get some meaningful progression in some fan favorites instead of a $60 roster update.

Alan Wake is Missing



Remember Alan Wake, the Xbox 360 exclusive psychological thriller from Remedy Entertainment that had been rumored to finally see the light of day before the end of 2008? Well I'm starting to get the feeling that saying "end of 2008" might be the new Microsoft codeword for "sometime in 2009" because as of now there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Alan Wake is coming before the end of this calendar year. Do I have this on any good authority? Not at all although I don't have it on any good authority that it is coming out either so take that as you will. I do know that Microsoft released a list of games that they will have on display at E3 which to nobodies surprise included the games that they are stressing for the holiday season. If you'll be in San Diego around July 14th you can pick me up a birthday present and also see Gears of War 2, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Fable 2, Too Human and Halo Wars but no words on whether or not Alan Wake will be one of the featured games next month.

Street Fighter Commando



Sorry but this has nothing to do with seeing Ken or Ryu fighting with underwear on so I hate to disappoint those who stumbled over here from Beyond the Report. However, now that Commando 3 has gone live on the Xbox Live Marketplace you should know that bundled with the Commando 3 download (800 MS points) is an invitation to try out the beta for Street Fight II HD Remix. The Street Fighter beta will be available on June 25th and run for six weeks where you'll be able to fight as Ken or Ryu in one stage of the game. Oh and for those of you still here from Beyond the Report good luck finding the Street Fighter beta on the Playstation Network – but hey at least you don't have to concern yourself with taking time away from watching epic cut scenes.

More Street Fighter News



Is news concerning the upcoming Street Fighter movie at all related to the Xbox 360? I didn't think so. But it does allow me to post pictures of Chun-Li (Kristen Kreuk) and because of that I'll make an exception for another week. When news started to leak about this movie I had heard that it would focus on Chun-Li but I didn't realize how focused the movie would be as Ken and Ryu arguably the most noticeable characters from any fighting game, ever will be absent from the movie. Now some people have their own theories about as you'd leave the two poster children of the Street Fighter franchise out of the movie that is supposed to bring some level of respect back to the SF name, but I think the most obvious reason is that neither Damian Chapa or Byron Mann were available to reprise their role from the previous movie. Some people might laugh at the thought that the two nobodies who played Ryu and Ken would be unavailable but go look – I dare you. Chapa (Ken) is currently filming a biopic about Roman Polanski in which he actually plays Polanski, and Mann (Ryu) is filming something called 39 which I can only assume is a movie about Queen.

Some More Exclusivity News



Still waiting for the next chapter to fully download Beyond the Report fans? Well allow me to fill you in on some more exclusive content that you're friends over here are looking forward to getting our hands on. Recently Square Enix announced the official release date of Infinite Undiscovery their horribly named exclusive RPG for the 360, which will drop on September 2, 2008. Furthermore, Square has announced that while the PS3 should/might see The Last Remnant and Star Ocean: The Last Hope those titles will absolutely drop for the 360 in late 2008, and 2009 respectively. If that's not enough RPG goodness for one helping, Namco Bandai also announced that Tales of Vesparia will be coming back to the 360 exclusively with a premium bundle pack in Japan, and a U.S. release in August 2008. Namco also included that a free demo of Tales of Vesparia will be available in June through the Xbox Live Marketplace. Finally, because I love to twist then knife when I get a chance have any of your PS3 owners had a chance to check out Commander and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath? Oh...ouch…sorry.


THE HOT BUTTON

I realize that this week was a bit light but I'm chalking it up to both real life, and more importantly the fact that for the first time since GTAIV came out I was playing a game that doesn't involve a single shotgun – if you don't count the crowd. I've already mentioned that on Wednesday I picked up a copy of NASCAR 09 and I figure this installment of The Hot Button should be a quick review of the game from my perspective.

The first thing you notice when you begin the game is that Jeff Gordon is going to walk you through the initial set up. I really enjoyed this feature because I haven't played an EA NASCAR game in a few years so it was cool to jump right into the game, have Jeff Gordon tell you about the rep system and performance points, and then hold your hand as you figure out the best way to configure the control scheme. Once you've gotten the basics down Jeff sends you to the paint shop to design your car. This is one of the aspects of the game where NASCAR 09 really excels as the in game paint options are huge, so customization of the car can be done to the smallest detail. This is good from what I've understood because the online component of the game is going to allow everyone to show off their own individual designs. I have yet to try it but I have heard that you can export the design shell, and create a custom paint scheme in some compute generated paint programs and then reinput them back into NASCAR 09 which will be an awesome feature once I sit down and try it out I am sure.

The rep system is solid this year because you're going to carry your reputation with you every time you hit the track whether it's during your Chase for the Sprint Cup (career mode), Season, Race Now, or even Sprint Driver Challenge mode. Once again I have not turned on the Xbox Live aspect of the game but I assume that your rep follows you there as well and helps line up races against similarly skilled drivers. Of all the modes that I tried the Sprint Cup Driver Challenge is hugely addictive and the videos from Sprint Cup series drivers add to the overall feel of the game.

As for the actual in game components I started up my Chase for the Sprint Cup and Jeff Gordon informed me that I would need a sponsorship deal. The availability of sponsors all depends on your rep at the time you start the career – as I began with a rep of 0 I chose a sponsorship deal with Whoa Nelly Brakes and then was prompted to select a race team. It's at this point where your rep really comes into play because right off the bat you're not going to be able to jump into the Sprint Cup Series. However, you won't have to start off with the Whelen modified class or any of those lesser circuits. Instead you can choose from the Craftsmen Truck Series, or the Nationwide Series. You will once again be asked to design a specific car for that series and once you've signed the contract you're set to go.

Race weekend hasn't changed much throughout the series – except now you can save your car set up for each track and import it on race day, a feature that race nuts will love I am sure. The graphics during the race are great, and even though your spotter still kinda sucks, the A.I. is seemingly better from the last installment of this game that I played so I was not getting run into the wall for almost any purpose. The variation in driving style, and difficulty modes is extensive and in my first three races I finished 30th, 18th, and 24th although the final two races I led for many laps before poor pit strategy and a speeding on pit road penalty cost me sure wins.

Although I have had a very limited number of hours with the game (I've complete three races and 11 of the 77 Sprint Cup Driver Challenges) I must say that I've had a very good time with NASCAR 09. Speaking as a NASCAR fan I'm not sure how much of a good time this game would be for people who don't really care for the sport and as such I wouldn't in my right mind recommend it for non race fans. However, if you were scarred off from the series after NASCAR 08 I am glad to report that this game improves on a lot of the things that almost killed the entire franchise last season, and for NASCAR fans I'd recommend it.