The Select and Start News Report 12.29.08
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 12.29.2008
It's the final report of the year. EA joins Steam, Japan gets Smash Bros. for the Virtual Console, an "Epic Mickey" game in the works, and more. Plus my goodbyes to 2008 and what I look forward to in 2009.
Welcome to the final Select and Start News Report of 2008. Let's get this year over with.
This Week's News
-EA has announced that several of their games will be available for Valve's Steam service. Available now are Spore, Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Mass Effect, Need for Speed Undercover and FIFA Manager 2009. In the future they'll also have Mirror's Edge, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, and Dead Space. EA have previously digitally distributed their games through their own store and Steam's competitors such as Direct2Drive. So now that they games are available through Steam, does this mean we won't have to deal with terrible DRM? [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, GameSpot]
-The Good News: The original Super Smash Bros has finally arrived on the Virtual Console for 1200 Wii Points. The Bad News: It's only going to be available in Japan, with no word on if everybody else will get to see it. Will it ever actually come to America? I think that the more we want it to come to America, the more likely Nintendo is not going to let it happen under what I call the "Mother 3" Theory. [credit: Joystiq, Destructoid]
-Idol Minds' Pain is the most popular downloadable game on the PlayStation Network (PSN) in 2008, according to a new top ten revealed by online show Pulse. The game involves tossing people with a catapult to inflict as much damage as possible. Because nothing is quite as fun as launching helpless saps into the air and watch them glide peacefully until they make their horrible, agonizing crash. [credit: Gamasutra]
-PETA has released yet another protest inducing flash game, entitled Holiday Snowball Fight. In this game you must save the holidays by throwing snowballs at various enemies of PETA, both alive and dead. The final level consists of none other than the woman who reads every newspaper ever, Sarah Palin! After playing the game myself, I have to say it was nice getting to pelt Palin to save Reindeer, but you'd think someone as extreme as PETA would also include a level to stop Santa Claus because he uses Reindeer. Or maybe they're saving for an entirely different game. [credit: GamePolitics]
-According to a recently released SEC filing detailing Take-Two's 2008 fiscal year, the company revealed that it incurred $11.1 million in costs "related to the EA Offer and our strategic review process." To think that Take-Two's stock was at around $27 when EA tried to buy them, and now because EA pulled out and Wall Street exploded, it slightly above $8. In other news, Thompson is buying more stock to lead a revolt at the next meeting to get rid of CEO Zelnick. That hasn't been exactly new, although this time people might actually support this because they could've made lots of money if Take-Two accepted the offer. [credit: GameDaily]
-Blizzard Entertainment announced that World of Warcraft's subscriber base has grown to 11.5 million gamers worldwide since the PC MMORPG launched in November 2004. So many players and yet the world is still full of monsters and evil rulers like the Lich King. Seriously, what kind of world is it where there are over 11 million warriors in the world and none of them can rid the world of all it's evil? Probably because half those warriors are hackers and griefers. [credit: Gamasutra]
-According to a report in the Tehran Times, the Iranian government is "joining" the ESRB and instituting that all games start carrying the ratings. Expect to hear several complaints that the ratings do nothing in the next few months. [credit: GamePolitics] UPDATE: Apparently Iran isn't actually joining the ESRB, as nobody can actually "join" the ESRB and that the ratings only apply to U.S. and Canada. [credit: GamePolitics, Destructoid]
-Rumor has it that Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios is planning on releasing a Mickey Mouse game called Epic Mickey. According to Gamasutra, concept art from early versions of the game showed mockups of the potential game's environment, including pencil sketches of cities assembled from junk. Another sketch included a surreal seashore invasion scene, in which machines wearing the faces of the Seven Dwarfs deposit old-fashioned renditions of Disney characters onto the beach with mechanical hands. Sounds like an interesting concept that could result into an awesome Disney game. [credit: Videogaming247, Gamasutra]
-Many analysts are predicting that Nintendo is going to release a new Zelda game for the Wii in 2009, possibly at late 2009. My prediction? Not going to happen. My basis for this prediction? A random guess. Any less accurate than the analysts? Not to me it isn't. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Last week it was reported that Factor 5 laid off 35 employees as it faced serious financial problems. Well this week, word is that the entire company is now out of business according to an "inside source" who e-mail the news to a staff member at IGN. It hasn't been officially confirmed by anybody publicly at this point, but odds are with companies suffering these days, Factor 5 could very well be gone. [credit: Gamasutra]
A Final Goodbye
Time to say one last goodbye to those that left us in 2008.
Jack Thompson's Law Career - Everyone's favorite lawyer is no longer a lawyer. Maybe walking out on your hearing that would determine the fate of your career wasn't such a good idea.
Gary Gygax - The creator of the revolutionary Dungeons and Dragons passed away back in March. Without him, we would never be able to cast our saving throws.
The Wavebird - Nintendo decided to stop manufacturing the wireless controller, which means I have really got to stop throwing them every time I lose at Smash Bros.
HD-DVD - Warner picked Blu-Ray and everyone followed suit, putting an end to the format war. Better luck next time Toshiba.
EA Chicago - The studio that created the mediocre Marvel fighting game went under, along with future plans for other Marvel games. Can Capcom get the license back now?
The Getaway, Eight Days, and Red Alert 3 - Three games for the PS3 were canceled all within a week.
Tecmo's Luck - Itagaki leaves, the President leaves, and they get lawsuits up the ass. If that not a sign of luck being completely gone, I don't know what is.
Digital Life - With Ziff Davis suffering financial problems, the Digital Life convention was canceled this year. So unless E3 comes to New York City...
The E3 Summit - Speaking of E3, apparently it's the last time we ever see the Media Summit version that we had to endure for the past two conventions.
E For All - With E3 supposedly changing it's ways, E For All is now taking a dirtnap.
Heroes - Ubisoft decided to cancel all plans for making games based on the TV show Heroes. I blame the people who wrote for Season 2 of that show.
Championship Gaming Series - DirecTV's answer to professional gaming went under. Probably didn't help that it was only viewable exclusively on DirectTV.
Tabula Rasa - In 2009, Tabula Rasa is going under as Richard Garriot is off to do other stuff. Trips to space will do that to you.
Ensemble Studios - Microsoft decides to shut down the studio making Halo Wars. They also had plans to make a Halo MMO, but do we really need another MMO? Do we even need MMOs to begin with?
ESA's Members - Many game companies left the ESA this year, questioning what benefits there was to being part of them, especially with the big changes they made for E3.
Things I look forward to in 2009
With 2008 about to be behind us, here's what I'll be paying close attention to in 2009.
Madworld by Sega - This game has been garnering some hype, so I'm interested to see if it's actually successful. Considering it's an M-rated game for the Wii, I'm not holding my hopes up.
GTA: Chinatown Wars - Grand Theft Auto has only appeared on the PSP, but now the series is arriving for the DS. Will it be some watered down junk to ease Nintendo's mind on dealing with M-rated games, or will it be just as good as the PSP offerings?
A better use for the Wii MotionPlus - Seriously, a device to improve the Wii controls and the first thing we get is a Wii Sports sequel? Will somebody out there please put this to a better use?
Microsoft's plans on Blu-Ray - Alright Microsoft, HD-DVD has been dead for a while now, and you've been waffling on this issue for too long. I want a definitive sometime in the next 365 days.
The Eidos buyout saga - This year one of the biggest stories was companies buying other companies. The current situation with Eidos could be the first of many stories where the industry is changing big time.
The musings of GameStop's CEO - I find it almost amusing to hear the things that this man has to say considering the way he lets GameStop operate.
The Mega Man Movie - Eddie LeBron decided to make a fan made, non-profit movie based on Mega Man that based on the trailers looks pretty good for a fan movie. Will definitely be better then 99% of other video game movies released over the years.
PETA's Games - Super Chick Sisters was horrible, but Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals was pretty good,
I also predict many bad things to happen, but you can find out more about that later this week.
Yes, I seriously updated this for once.
January 5th - Saints Row 2 ported to PC
January 6th:
-Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP)
-Big Bang Mini (DS)
-Retro Game Challenge (DS)
January 13th:
-Lord of the Rings: Conquest (X360, PS3, PC, DS)
-Mirror's Edge ported to PC
January 20th:
-Ar tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica (PS2)
-Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop (Wii)
January 21st - Skate 2 (X360, PS3)
January 26th - MLB Front Office Manager (PS3, X360)
January 27th - Afro Samurai (X360, PS3)
February 2nd - Gauntlet (DS)
February 3rd:
-Rygar: The Battle of Argus (Wii)
-My WorldMy Way (DS)
-Burnout Paradise ported to PC
-Ninja Blade (X360)
February 10th:
-Legacy of Ys: Books I & II (DS)
-Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (PS3, X360)
-F.E.A.R. II: Project Origin (PS3, X360)
-X-Blades (PS3, X360, PC)
February 17th:
-Street Fighter IV (X360, PS3)
-Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)
-Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (X360)
-Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (PSP)
-Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (X360, PS3)
February 20th - The Sims 3 (PC)
February 24th - Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (X360)
February 27th - Killzone 2 (PS3)
February 28th - Tabula Rasa to be shut down
March 2nd:
-Damnation (PS3, X360, PC)
-Shellshock 2: Blood Trails (PS3)
-This Is Vegas (PS3)
-Samurai Shodown Anthology (PSP)
March 3rd:
-Star Ocean: The Last Hope (X360)
-Halo Wars (X360)
March 13th - Resident Evil 5 (X360, PS3)
March 17th:
-Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (DS)
-GTA: Chinatown Wars (DS)
-Trackmania DS
-Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball (Wii)
March 22nd - Pokemon Platinum (DS)
March 24th - Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
March 29th - Guitar Hero: Metallica (X360, PS3)
May 1st - Batman: Arkham Asylum (X360, PS3, PC)
Videos of the Day
Ever heard of an Aerosmith PC game called Quest For Fame? Yeah, me neither.
