The Full Circle 360 News Report 8.15.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 08.15.2008

It's Friday which means that it's time for you to go around The Full Circle. This week we've got some EA news including the rumor about a highly anticipated game that they might be publishing, plus we're hearing about the Japanese loving the 360 suddenly, a Star Trek cross platform MMO, Rock Band delays and just because I caught so much crap for it before the July NPD numbers. All of this plus the Hot Button to close out your week in style.



I realize that I'm starting to sound like a broken record but I'm going to have to apologize ahead of time again this week for a shorter then I would like Full Circle. I am in the middle of what can only be described as the most insane handful of weeks in my life, most of you know that I took the Massachusetts Bar Exam at the end of July but what you don't know is that next Saturday I am getting married. So you can imagine that my life is a whirlwind of fun things like hearing about flowers, jewelry, and photographers. As such I haven't really been able to keep up with my Xbox 360 news; although from what I have seen there hasn't been much to miss. So again I apologize for a relatively short Full Circle again this Friday but once we're through this period of insanity I'll be back to writing the column you all don't care for anyways.

Rock Band 2 Delay



Remember when there was word that the Rock Band 2 big box bundle (that's the one that would include all the instruments) was going to have a timed exclusive release on the 360? Yeah well that seems to have come and gone as the game will still release on September 14th as scheduled but the bundle will not hit store shelves until October 17th. This delay has been shown on both the official Rock Band store and other online retailers and raises an interesting conundrum that Rock Band enthusiasts will face – do you buy the game immediately upon release, or do you wait a month and purchase the $199 bundle? I think that this delay is going to hurt individual game sales as I think a lot of people would rather wait for the new and improved instrument peripherals, although I am sure there are a lot of people who couldn't care less about cluttering up their home with more plastic drum sets and this won't effect those people in the least bit.

Cross Platform Star Trek



In what can only be classified as a game that has absolutely zero chance of succeeding beyond a very small window it is being reported that the Star Trek MMO might be cross platform. This would allow players to interact with individuals boldly going on their PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. I'd like to think that this is a good sign because it raises the possibility that other games might enjoy cross platform interaction online, however I feel that this is a desperate attempt by Cryptic Studios to draw some interest in a game that should suffer from little fanfare. I understand that there is a huge Star Trek community out there but how many of them are looking for an MMO to play that doesn't start with War and end with Craft? This game obviously won't appeal to non Star Trek fans as I couldn't imagine ever picking this up, and once you rule out MMO fans and non Star Trek fans what are you left with?

The Japanese LOVE Tales of Vesperia



I've said some unkind things about Tales of Vesperia but there is no denying the fact that the Japanese can't get enough of the game. Want proof? Well CheapAssGamer's CheapyD is saying that every Xbox 360 console at Yodobashi Camera was sold out earlier in the week. If you're unfamiliar with Japanese electronics retail giants allow me to give you a quick brush up. Yodobashi Camera is the largest electronics store in Tokoyo, and according to CheapyD possibly in the entire world. If you want to compare this to something just imagine that there was only one Best Buy on the Eastern Seaboard and all of the Xbox 360's there were sold out. I bring this up because it is a good sign for Microsoft who as everyone knows is getting killed in Japan by every console from the PS3 to the Neo Geo, as a matter of fact I've sold more consoles in Japan then Microsoft and all I did was tape an anime picture on the back of a cigarette box and charge $250 for it. So while I don't think Tales is going to do much here in the good old U S A it seems to be a console mover in the land down under if that was Japan and not Australia.

Brutal Legend Goes EA



There is always a lot of EA hate around these interwebs but I'm here to defend the monolith for a moment. You can make a pretty solid argument that EA didn't put a lot of innovation into most of their games for quite a few years, and I would tend to agree that they may throw money around to buy up smaller publishers in a pseudo monopoly type of way. However, you can't deny that at least they put themselves out there with interesting new titles even while they recycle some old classics. Sure before this year Madden had become stale (this year it's pretty fantastic I must admit), but what about Dead Space? And now the rumor is that former Vivideni title, and current developerless "Brutal Legend" will see the light of day thanks to the helping hands of EA. While there has been no confirmation about this story it would be a great thing for people who enjoyed Psychonauts (all seven of you that played the game), and while there seems to be a line of people claiming that they're not going to publish Brutal Legend, EA is not on that list so there is a good chance that this rumor is going to come true.

New Batman Video Game



Eidos and Warner Brothers have announced that Rocksteady Studios is currently working on a new Batman game titled "Arkham Asylum" for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. This seems like a great move by these companies to capitalize on what will wind up being the highest grossing US movie in history (take that Leonardo DiCaprio). What's that? Oh the game isn't slated for release until 2009? I remember some talk about the Batman movie tie in video game being delayed because of a lot of issues with things like – well Heath Ledgers death namely – and because of that we're unlikely to see a Batman game until Arkham Asylum releases next year at some point. Seems unfortunate that a calendar year might pass before we get to see a new Batman game which probably would have been HUGELY successful had it come out a week or two ago, but I guess that's all part of the Dark Knight curse.

Rumors Of Our Demise



Well last month I got ripped to shreds for not including the NPD numbers in my column when the PS3 topped the 360. I was called everything from a fanboy to a lousy writer and while one of those things is clearly true the other is only half true (I'll let you decide which is which). So in the interest of fairness I will make mention of the NPD numbers from July and admit that Sony topped the 360 once again. Well…the PS2 and PSP topped the 360, but in the land of current generation gaming rumors of the 360 demise have been greatly exaggerated. After the obvious bump from Metal Gear Solid in June the PS3 has returned to their pre-Snake days of 159k units sold in July, and the Xbox 360 continues to hold steady at 170k units moved. Commonly I wouldn't even mention these numbers because I don't think they mean anything but there were a lot of people who laughed and sent hate mail claiming the death of Microsoft and the fact that Sony would never relinquish their lead in hardware sales for the current generation after they moved ahead last month. It is obvious from across the board that Metal Gear Solid 4 appealed to a lot of people on it's launch and then died almost as fast as it rose, the PS3 didn't have anything planned for July and as such they've slid back down to the bottom of the totem pole in hardware sales ahead of only the Gameboy Advance. Continuing to rub it in the Top 10 software sales for July show the 360 and PS3 share a common game, NCAA Football 09 which sold 397k copies on the 360, and 156k copies on the PS3 – so anyone wondering why Square would release Final Fantasy with Microsoft has their answer right there.

Tiger 09 Demo



Well if the sports fan who doesn't like Madden and you're looking for something to do this weekend you might want to check out Xbox Live for a Tiger Woods 09 Demo. Clocking in at 1GB the demo showcases some of the new features that have been added to the newest installment of the franchise. Tiger Woods is a great, great game but I'm glad that there will be a demo for this installment because I'm sick of buying new golf games when they're essentially the exact same game. Admittedly EA has done a good job of juicing up some of their releases this year (NCAA 09, Madden 09), but they've sat on their hands a bunch as well (NASCAR 09) so I don't intend on buying another golf game until I'm convinced that the updates actually move the franchise forward.

THE HOT BUTTON

Next week the gaming world will center on Leipzig, Germany – well almost the entire gaming world. By now everyone is aware that Microsoft will not be holding a press conference at Leipzig (which is the largest gaming convention in the world). For a developer to not hold a press conference isn't a huge story – this year at Leipzig, Nintendo isn't even going to grace gamers with their presence where at least Microsoft will have booths and games on display. On the flip side next Wednesday Sony will be holding their own conference that pretty much by default makes Sony the biggest winner in Germany.

It's clear that this is a bit of a non story, however it does establish one thing – there will be no major Microsoft announcements at Leipzig. Why do I bring this up? Because there had been some rumbling and grumblings that Bungie was going to have their moment in the sun at the German show, and that has been completely obliterated by the news that Microsoft will not take the stage.

E3 was obviously all about the fall update, Gears of War 2, and Fallout 3. We were told that a Bungie even would be forthcoming, and recently pieces of information and hints have been dropped on the Bungie website (and in awards receptions) that tended to give people the impression that a Halo related Bungie announcement was on the horizon. I think a lot of people thought that the announcement would be coming at Leipzig – it is the internationally renowned biggest gaming convention that will be held all year, seemed like a pretty good time to make a splash.

Not so fast my friend.

So the Bungie announcement isn't coming, and Microsoft and Nintendo won't even be participating. This leads to an important question – namely should we care about Leipzig next week? We asked it about E3 and now we're left to wonder if there needs to be some major developments in the world of gaming conventions to make them viable again? Think about it for a second, E3 tries to be the center of the gaming universe but we were all left feeling pretty let down, now comes word that Leipzig isn't going to have ANY major announcements – unless Team ICO comes out of hiding and blows us all away. Aside from having no major announcements Leipzig couldn't even convince one of the three major companies to attend.

I feel like Microsoft felt very good after E3, even if their comfort was a little out of place. I also think that Nintendo was really hurt at E3 and they didn't feel like duplicating that a month later in Germany when it's obvious that they don't have anything in their back pocket. These two companies obviously chose to skip Leipzig (for lack of a better term) simply because they didn't have anything to show after blowing their load at E3. I'm not sure what Sony is going to show but I doubt it'll be anything more then another LittleBigPlanet display, and some Resistance 2 footage.

Basically it'll be the same old song and dance my friend. I really thought that Microsoft had a chance to make a splash by unveiling their Bungie project at Leipzig. With Nintendo not making the trip, and Sony at the very least doing a redo of their E3 speech it'd a chance of Microsoft to give Bungie the platform that they deserve and be the stars of a pretty major convention. Instead we'll get the same recycled crap that we all trashed from E3, except this time it'll be in Germany instead of LA and at the end of the convention we'll be left feeling let down and wondering why we even have these conventions in the first place.

I don't like to write negatively about Microsoft, because lord knows I've poured enough money into making their gaming wing profitable for once but I think they've completely screwed the pooch here. If Bungie had an announcement a month ago, shouldn't it be ready today? If you know your competitors aren't going to make much of a splash wouldn't you like to give one of your top developers a nice platform to feel good about them and draw focus to your brand? I'm a bit let down by the entire way Bungie has been handled by Microsoft and I'm sure that the two sides aren't excited about spending the holidays together. But more so then the infighting I'm let down because gaming conventions used to be exciting – new games and new footage – and now that's all gone. We get graphs and pie charts and boring speeches from guys who wouldn't entertain a midnight crowd in a Chinese food restaurant. I want gaming conventions to mean something again and I think once again Microsoft has come up short with an opportunity to do just that.

Punching Out

Nintendophiles by Theo Frasier. Wait Mass Effect on the DS? That's cool.

The PC Centric Extravaganza by Chris Evans. Battlefield 2 was a great game, it began my love affair with DICE which continues on through Bad Company.

The 10th Hour by Derek Robbins. Reading about Derek's Top 10 favorite games I realized that other then Metal Gear Solid 3 and Final Fantasy VI we don't have much in common. The Smash Bros. series is good but c'mon your second favorite of all time?

The Hall of Shame by Vincent Chiucchi. Pictionary is a horrible, horrible game. It's not even good when you play it against real people never mind the NES.

The Negative Edge News by Tommy Coloma. Apparently someone is excited about downloading his 360 games to his HDD.

by Owen J. Brimfield. I remember Shining Force, I seem to remember enjoying that game on the Genesis but I could be wrong I can barely remember yesterday.

Working Title by Jordan Williams. Def Jam Vendetta was the perfect combination of hip hop and professional wrestling. I guess the perfect combination would be none, so this game isn't exactly the perfect combo.