The Select and Start News Report: 01.26.09
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 01.26.2009
People everywhere are getting laid off, Mario and Sonic return to the Olympics, Square-Enix making Final Fantasy announcement Wednesday, complete listing of tracks for Guitar Hero: Metallica, and more
As the US economy continues falling into a crisis and people still continue to scam each other, many game companies begin laying off their employees. Here are this week's updates on who is losing a job.
EA Black Box - The studio is suffering from widespread layoffs, but just how many of the 350 is unknown. A source told GameSpot that the number is around 80, while Gamasutra originally had it as 200.
EA Tiburon - An undisclosed amount of people have been laid off from the Madden developers. Overall, EA is going to be cutting 10% of their total workforce and consolidate around nine production facilities.
Eidos Rockpool - Eidos will be closing down the developer studio Rockpool, laying off 14 staff members in the process.
Microsoft - The company announced they will lay off 5,000 workers over the next 18 months, with 1,400 of them being cut immediately. It's ACES studio, who make Flight Simulator, has been shut down.
Sega - A rep from Sega of America has confirmed that "around 30 people" has been laid off.
Sony - With it's game division underperforming, Sony will be accelerating its restructuring plans, which will eventually lead to the loss of 16,000 jobs (8,000 regular workers and 8,000 contract workers).
Sucks to be them.
MARIO AND SONIC COME BACK FOR WINTER OLYMPICS; SEGA KEEPS QUIET [credit: CVG, GoNintendo]
The image you see above came from the latest issue in the spanish language version of Nintendo Power. The text translates as Mario and Sonic coming back once again for the olympics, this time of the winter variety. Sega however had "no comment" about it.
Figures that the game would get a sequel considering how very well it sold. Let's hope it's actually better then the first one.
COUNTDOWN TO ANNOUNCEMENT BEGINS... [credit: CVG, GameSpot]
As we wait for an eternity for Final Fantasy XIII and it's dozen spinoffs to be released, Square-Enix has begun a countdown on their website that will end by this Wednesday, 8AM PST. Along with the countdown the site reads "The countdown has begun. A new vision will soon be revealed to the world. Register now to ensure you're there for the unveiling."
The most surprising thing that it could be in my opinion? Showing a trailer featuring the actual gameplay.
Tidbit News
-Lamar Roberts, the 18-year-old who killed 7-year-old Zoe Garcia using moves he claimed to have learned from Mortal Kombat, has been sentenced to 36 years in prison. Roberts told the court "I do agree to get what I get. I'm not a monster, your honor. I'm truly sorry (for) what happened." Heather Trujillo, also involved in the killing, received 18 years, but her sentence will be suspended if she successfully completes a six-year program for youthful offenders. [credit: GamePolitics]
-Jason Montes, 33, of Sacramento was found dead by police at the home of his estranged wife in Concord, California on Sunday, January 11. His wife Serena Montes, 25, was fatally wounded at the location. According to police, Montes had called a friend to say he had shot his wife and planned to kill himself. The gun belonged to his father. The two had met online and wed in 2007, but then got divorced last year. Jason Montes had recently filed for bankruptcy protection. [credit: Edge Online, GamePolitics]
-The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood gave it's first annual TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award to LEGO Batman. Reasons for this include turning a toy known for creative building being used for licensed toys instead, and marketing those toys in junk food such as Happy Meals and with the not kid friendly movie The Dark Knight.
-Will there be a Grand Theft Auto V in 2009? According to Rockstar, NO. [credit: Kotaku]
-Ubisoft recently put up a job notice sign wanting a lead designer "to help guide the creation of an exciting new cross-platform music based game." Oh great, yet ANOTHER music game is coming out. Give it up people! Unless you do something dramatically different and awesome, Activision and Harmonix will continue to dominate. [credit: GameDaily]
-Valve announced that Team Fortress 2 is set to receive a "very different new game mode" as well as another class update early this year. [credit: CVG]
-Square Enix has banned approximately 550 players in Final Fantasy XI as an issue that allowed for the creation of multiple items was exploited. In other news, MMOs continue to be the same old shit. [credit: Kotaku, VideoGaming247]
-EA Maxis has announced four new games in the Spore franchise: the PC expansion Spore Galactic Adventures, Spore Creature Keeper, Spore Hero for the Wii and Spore Hero Arena for the DS. Expect four times as many angry Amazon reviews to appear shortly after. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
-The latest news in Sony vs. Microsoft: Kaz Hirai of Sony says the company is continuing the official leadership of the industry, the Xbox 360 lacks longevity (which is true) and that in the end the PS3 will have the higher install base, while Aaron Greenberg of Microsoft responded by saying Sony is out of touch and says there is no possible way that Sony's PS3 can catch up to Xbox 360. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra]
[GH vs. RB]
-A writer at Forbes magazine writing an article about Activision and Guitar Hero said the following: "EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars."
AAAHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
That was good for a laugh. [credit: GameDaily]
-Here's the complete listing of tracks for Guitar Hero: Metallica. [credit: ShackNews]
Metallica Tracks:
-All Nightmare Long
-Battery
-Creeping Death
-Disposable Heroes
-Dyers Eve
-Enter Sandman
-Fade To Black
-Fight Fire With Fire
-For Whom The Bell Tolls
-Frantic
-Fuel
-Hit The Lights
-King Nothing
-Master of Puppets
-Mercyful Fate (Medley)
-No Leaf Clover
-Nothing Else Matters
-One
-Orion
-Sad But True
-Seek And Destroy
-The Memory Remains
-The Shortest Straw
-The Thing That Should Not Be
-The Unforgiven
-Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
-Wherever I May Roam
-Whiplash
Other Artists:
-Alice In Chains - No Excuses
-Bob Seger - Turn The Page
-Corrosion of Conformity - Albatross
-Diamond Head - Am I Evil?
-Foo Fighters - Stacked Actors
-Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather
-Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
-Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesdays Gone
-Machine Head - Beautiful Mourning
-Mastodon - Blood And Thunder
-Mercyful Fate - Evil
-Michael Schenker Group - Armed and Ready
-Motorhead - Ace of Spades
-Queen - Stone Cold Crazy
-Samhain - Mother of Mercy
-Slayer - War Ensemble
-Social Distortion - Mommy's Little Monster
-Suicidal Tendencies - War Inside My Head
-System of a Down - Toxicity
-The Sword - Black River
-Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back in Town
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 5th - Halo Wars DEMO (XBL)
February 9th - Deadly Creatures (Wii)
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 12th - Flower (PSN)
February 16th - Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)
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 19th - Noby Noby Boy (PSN)
February 20th - The Sims 3 (PC)
February 23rd - Dawn of War II (PC)
February 24th:
-Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (X360)
-The Godfather II (PS3, PC, X360)
-Star Ocean: The Last Hope (X360)
February 27th:
-Killzone 2 (PS3)
-Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii)
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 - 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)
If Ace of spades shows up in one more video game I'm done.
Posted By: Guest#6907 (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 02:23 AM
Is there anyone we can... I dont know... kill for putting Lego Batman as the worst toy in the entire world this year lol. Its sooo destructive, i mean when they get hurt the bricks fall apart, and there isnt any blood. That is obviously too violent for kids.
Posted By: Ant (Guest) on January 26, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Another Mario/Sonic game? Cool. I can't wait to see what happens next.
Posted By: Fox (Guest) on January 30, 2009 at 03:26 AM
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[GH vs. RB]
