The Select and Start News Report: 08.11.08
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 08.11.2008
Mega Man 9 to be glitchy on purpose, Diablo III art director leaves, GTA4 gets banned in Thailand, price cuts for multiple Xbox 360 SKUs(?), Midway continues to lose money, Ubisoft sues over PC piracy, and more.
If you ever decide to buy a laptop from Best Buy, be sure to get the 3-year warranty. It comes in real handy when you laptop decides to try and commit suicide just to piss you off.
Also, never fly JetBlue. Their customer service sucks.
Big News
MEGA MAN 9: THE TECHNOLOGY OF YESTERDAY, TODAY! [credit: Gamasutra, Arstechnica]
Capcom is REALLY trying to push the 8-bit old school feel for Mega Man 9. Not only does the game now have shitty boxart (yes, that is the boxart for the game that doesn't even come in a box), but it's going to feature the flickering glitch. The glitch is when there are too many enemies or too much action going on that the characters start to flicker and slow down the game. This glitch is optional for the player to have on or off.
Never before have I seen so many people excited for purposely asinine game designing. Since the continuity of the series has already been destroyed, the least I was hoping for is that with it's 8-bit look, it wouldn't have any of the 8-bit problems that plagued the game. But now Capcom is actually going to include it as an optional feature! Are gamers truly so stuck in the past that even features that were TERRIBLE back then is going to be seen as good now? If I want a glitchy 8-bit Mega Man game, I'll go play Mega Man 2, which I have no doubt people will think is better than Mega Man 9 anyway.
SPEAKING OF GAMERS STUCK IN THE PAST... [credit: GameSpot, Gamasutra, CVG, The Escapist]
Blizzard has announced that current Diablo III art director Brian Morrisroe is parting ways with the company. Of course many gamers would think that this is has something to do with the petition to change the art of Diablo III because it doesn't have the gothic look of Diablo II, but according to Blizzard, Brian is leaving to form his own startup technology company. Blizzard says they're very happy with the look of Diablo III and are not amused by the fans making altered screenshots to "prove" how better it would look.
I can't believe so many people are getting pissed off over the graphics of a game. Honestly, these people act as if the colors of Diablo II was it's greatest feature and having different colors will completely change the way Diablo III plays, hence ruining the entire gameplay experience. Honestly, between Mega Man 9 getting praised for going back to 8-bit and Diablo III getting flamed for not looking like Diablo II, it's like gamers are stuck in the past. Or at least the 50,000 out of 4,000,000 Diablo II fans.
NINTENDO IS OUT OF IDEAS [credit: Gamasutra, GameSpot, Destructoid, GameDaily, CVG]
Now that Wii Music was announced and Wii MotionPlus was shown, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that the company has used up all the original ideas they had for the Wii in Miyamoto's original proposal, along with the initial ideas for new peripherals. They currently have no plans to release any new accessories. As for the Wii MotionPlus, there will be games that are enhanced by it and games that must use it, and since it doesn't cost much to make, should be affordable.
Hey Nintendo, here's an idea: MAKE SOMETHING TO INCREASE WII STORAGE! A memory card! A hard drive! Freaking punch cards! SOMETHING!
As for no new peripherals coming out, that's great. Between the gun from Resident Evil, the wheel from Mario Kart, the balance board from Wii Fit, and all the musical instruments for Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the last thing I want to see is more and more peripheral attachments for the controller. The remote and nunchuk (and I guess the Wii MotionPlus) should be enough to make a great game without adding a dozen attachments to it.
EVEN MORE XBOX 360 PRICE CUTS? [credit: GameDaily, GameSpot]
Back at E3 Microsoft announced that the 20GB Xbox 360 would drop to $299, and the 60GB Xbox 360 would come out for it's original price of $349. Well according to a rumor started by someone speaking to Ars Technica, the prices for many of the SKUs would drop by September, as in THIS September. If the rumors are true, the Arcade SKU will be $199, the 60GB SKU will be $299, and the Elite SKU will be $399.
I really doubt that is going to happen. Microsoft announces the 60GB at $349 only to suddenly drop the price within a couple of months? But then again, Apple did the exact same thing with their iPhone, so I guess the possibility isn't so low.
GTA BANNED IN THAILAND OVER COPYCAT MURDER [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily, GameSpot, GamePolitics, The Escapist]
The Thai distributor of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV is stopping the sales of the game after an 18-year-old admitted to killing a cab driver based on what he saw in the video game. According to police, the teenager wanted to find out if killing a taxi driver was as easy as in the video game. Thailand's Culture Ministry has recently been advocating stronger regulation of video game sales. Currently Thailand has no video game ratings system.
Oh great, another "blames the video game" kind of suspect. These days I'm starting to think that perhaps teenagers are catching on to the whole blame game and are purposely trying to blame video games like GTA4 to go off scott free. Also, why does Thailand have no video games rating system? You'd think with the worldwide problems games are blamed for, everyone would've started doing something like this by now.
Meanwhile, a blogger from Pinoy Biscuits thinks that because pirated copies of GTA4 are so popular, a time bomb is just waiting to explode in the Philippines. A time bomb because of a popular video game? Must be a Fox News employee.
Midway announced its second fiscal quarter results, reporting a $34.8 million net loss for the three-month period that ended June 30th, 2008. Net revenues fell from $31.8 million last year at this time to $23.4 million, but the total did exceed Midway's prior guidance of $18 million. A few days after the announcement, several high-level employees at Midway are resigning from the company. Mike Bilder, head of the Chicago studio responsible for development on Stranglehold, Mortal Kombat and Blitz: The League, is one of them. He'll be leaving to join another Chicago based studio.
Midway hasn't had any positive financial news for a long time. I just hope that the company lives long enough for TNA iMPACT to be released.
[credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily, GameSpot]
This week's lawsuit comes from Ubisoft, who are suing disc manufacturer Optical Experts Manufacturing (OEM), blaming the North Carolina-based company for the leak of the PC version of Assassin's Creed onto the Internet earlier this year. Ubisoft claims the game has been downloaded 700,000 times compared to the 40,000 copies sold at retail. Apparently an employee at OEM was allowed to take a copy of the game home and then posted the game online six weeks before the official release, and Ubisoft has tracked the game to his home. The pirated version damaged Ubisoft's reputation because of a game crash bug that the company purposefully left in the prerelease version of the game, but there is no bug in the retail version. Ubisoft is suing OEM for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and negligence to the sum of $10 million.
I think Ubisoft has every right to sue this company. Based on Ubisoft's findings it seems it really was this companies fault for the Assassin's Creed piracy. It's shit like this that is going to eventually kill PC gaming.
Tidbit News
-Soul Calibur IV has now reached the two million mark in units shipped worldwide since it's July 29th release. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-Along with their 2nd fiscal quarter, Midway announced that The Wheelman and This Is Vegas are being pushed back to 2009. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Sega of America vice president of marketing Sean Ratcliffe says that criticisms of their latest Sonic games are probably warranted. Maybe they should make their next Sonic game look and play exactly like the original Genesis games. Seems to work for Mega Man. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-EA and Pandemic Studios were planning on making a Batman: Dark Knight game based on the latest movie, but between poor sales projections and controversy surrounding star Heath Ledger's death, EA canned the game. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that EA missed out on earning $100 million for canceling the game. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-Hudson Soft's Deca Sports, which is basically like Wii Sports, has now shipped 700,000 units worldwide. No wonder Nintendo is ignoring the hardcore crowd. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Capcom's Devil May Cry is also suffering from PC piracy, as sales of the US version are not as good as Capcom frontman Christian Svensson likes it to be. Svensson is pushing for digital distribution of the game, but says that Capcom Japan is resisting. [credit: CVG, Gamasutra]
-In Final Fantasy XIII news, Square-Enix has yet to recieve the Xbox 360 Dev Kits to create that version of the game. They still plan on making the PS3 version first and then porting it to Xbox 360, but will release both versions in the US at the same time. The Xbox 360 version has also been announced for Asian territories, but still no word on a Japanese release. Meanwhile In Japan, they're possibly going to include a demo of the game for the blu-ray release of FF7: Advent Children. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Publisher THQ canceled Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed for the PSP due to difficulties with translating the port's controls from the original Wii game. [credit: Gamasutra]
-You'd think with Activision Blizzard being the biggest game company in America now and EA trying to buy Take-Two, EA would seem really bothered by AB. Frank Gibeau, head of EA Games, says they actually don't think about Activision too much. [credit: GameDaily]
-One of the achievements that can you earn in Fable 2 is participating in an orgy. Exagerated inaccurate Fox News report about it 3...2...1... [credit: Destructoid]
-With yet another victory in the courts, the ESA is getting $282,794 for attorney's fees in California for a failed anti-game law. With my state of New York recently passing a game law, I expect news of how much money was wasted any day now. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
Gaming Calendar
August 21st - Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty (PSN)
August 25th - Mario Super Sluggers (Wii)
August 26th - Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3)
August 2008 - Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)
Summer 2008 - Air Traffic Chaos (DS)
September 2nd - Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360)
September 5th - FaceBreaker (X360, PS3)
September 7th - Spore (PC)
September 16th - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
September 18th - Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
September 22nd - Sim City Creator (Wii, DS)
September 23rd:
-Disgaea DS
-Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (DS)
September 29th:
-Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
-Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii)
September 2008:
-TNA iMPACT (Multi)
-Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360)
October 3-5 - E for All 2008 to be held
October 9-13 - The Tokyo Game Show 2008 to be held
October 21st:
-Dead Space (X360)
-Fable II (X360)
October 2008:
-LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
-Bioshock ported to the PS3
-Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Xbox 360, PC)
November 4th - Left 4 Dead (PC, X360)
November 7th - Gears of War 2 (X360)
November 11th - Eternal Poison (PS2)
Fall 2008:
-Resistance: Fall of Man 2 (PS3)
-MySims Kingdom (DS, Wii)
March 13th 2009 - Resident Evil 5 (X360)
Video of the Day
Know how Mega Man 9 can feel even more old school? If Capcom starts sending out promotional VHS tapes like this:
Once again we hear a belligerent madman rant about Mega Man 9 being the death of the franchise just because its returning to its roots, no every new game in a series needs to be innovative to sell, Dynasty Warriors does it, i rest my case.
Posted By: Mega Fan (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 03:02 AM
They are putting the flicker glitch in...purposely? I'm still excited for Mega Man 9 but...I can't deny that putting that in is a really dumb idea.
Also, you aren't kidding about too many Wii accessories. My room is littered with them. A Rams cup full of nunchuks, a big plastic wheel on my DVD player, a plastic controller that only works well for VC games, and the charger stand. Thats not even counting the Rock Band instruments I have. Too much stuff for the Wii.
Posted By: Drew Robbins (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 07:34 AM
Its not so much that Mega Man is "returning to it's roots", its more that CAPCOM is lazy and doesn't seem to want to try. We aren't asking for innovation, we just ask that it doesn't look 20 years old. Now, I will gladly admit that I am wrong if they sell the game for what an original NES game would cost these days... 2 dollars... tops. Anything more than that and I call shenanigans!
Posted By: Guest#7040 (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 07:52 AM
"We aren't asking for innovation, we just ask that it doesn't look 20 years old"
Funny, the only people that feel that way are 15 year old children who's first system was a PS2. Real gamers are excited for this.
Posted By: jojo (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 08:09 AM
"Funny, the only people that feel that way are 15 year old children who's first system was a PS2. Real gamers are excited for this."
Quoted for truth. One of my dreams was to one day see official NES/SNES releases come again; this is just about as good.
I don't think MM9 will be anywhere near as good as MM2 and MM3 were; but it will be a fun venture back in time. And, yeah, I'll be keeping the glitches ON. Yeah!
Posted By: Christopher Warrior (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 12:41 PM
"Funny, the only people that feel that way are 15 year old children who's first system was a PS2. Real gamers are excited for this."
Actually i'm 15 and my first system was the super nintendo.
Posted By: Ryan (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 02:02 PM
Chiucchi doesnt want us to play MM9 just because HE thinks it will be terrible, but guess what it will still be a best seller no matter how many critics bash it.
Posted By: Mega Fan (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 06:28 PM
Your opinion doesn't speak for the majority. Unfortunately for you, you're the vocal minority.
Posted By: David (Guest) on August 11, 2008 at 09:05 PM
There putting a glitch in there on purpose? WTF!! That is the single most stupid idea I have ever heard of.Oh and right on with the Rams Cup. Got me a mug full O pencils.GO RAMS!!!
Posted By: jhfkskbfg (Guest) on August 12, 2008 at 01:27 AM
"Funny, the only people that feel that way are 15 year old children who's first system was a PS2. Real gamers are excited for this"
I'm 27 and I have played all the old Mega Man games as they came out and I gotta tell you, I'm not too excited about a game that looks like I could have played it when I was seven.
How would any of the MGS games have been recieved if Konami "returned to their roots" and made a game that looked exactly like the original? Why produce new gaming systems at all if all we really want is something from the 80's. Should we have stopped at the Commodore 64, ColecoVision, and Atari? Where is my sandwich?
Just because I don't have the time to devote to games right now as I did a few years ago doesn't make me any less of a "hardcore" gamer and doesn't make my viewpoints any less valid. I spent the money on these graphically beastly machines, the games I play should take full advantage of the technology available.
Posted By: Guest#2747 (Guest) on August 12, 2008 at 02:55 AM
The "glitch" is optional. Please, dont get your underoos in a bunch over this ... dork asses!
Posted By: daniel (Guest) on August 12, 2008 at 03:03 AM
A Dark Knight game wasn't expected to be profitable? Christ. They must have known that they would fuck it up spectacularly. If it was even a decent game, with the movie's success the game would do well.
Posted By: Hawkeye (Guest) on August 12, 2008 at 08:18 AM
May I add, that when I spoke to one of the developers at E3, he told me that they were very close to being able to release it on an NES cartridge. They would still release the game on the other platforms as planned, but they really wanted a limited edition cartridge that would work on an NES. I would've liked that!
Posted By: Ramon Aranda (Registered) on August 12, 2008 at 04:05 PM
