The Full Circle: 360 News Report 02.06.09

Posted by Joe Roche on 02.06.2009

Another Friday is here and it brings with it The Full Circle. This week we're going to talk about Halo Wars, Wallace & Gromit, Scene It, and Grand Theft Auto in the Old West. Plus we'll hear from the readers in their own rant section, and talk about Jack Thompson. It's all inside The Full Circle.

Welcome back to another edition of The Full Circle. I'll try to be brief this week which for anyone who reads regularly will attest to is easier said then done.

- I think this season of Lost has been very solid thus far. I wasn't sold on the time jump thing at first but it has absolutely grown on me. I was also leary of letting Daniel and the Islanders carry half of the show but they've shown that they are fully capable of holding up their end of the bargain. All of that being said though this past Wednesday I could not suspend my disbelief any longer. The Oceanic Six are like the most famous people in the world right? I mean they were dead, and suddenly they were not dead so you imagine that's a pretty huge story right? Well explain to me how Jack and Kate just meet up on the side of the road in LA to stake someone out without anyone even noticing? I can't visit one website without seeing how Lindsey Lohan tied her shoes this morning and she's practically nobody. Ah well – I guess if that's my main complaint then this has been a good season so far.

- On the gaming front I realize that I say it every week but I'm finally in the home stretch of The Last Remnant. I have unlocked the final mission/quest and will finally be able to complete that review. Let me just say that if you're looking for a game that will consume close to 100 hours, The Last Remnant is a choice pick.

Alright enough of that – lets get to the column shall we?

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Wallace & Gromit Going LIVE
Telltale Games, the company behind Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People will be creating a new episodic adventure title titled Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventure

PC Gamers know Telltale pretty well, and I'm almost certain that the Strong Bad game only released on the Wii in console form so this marks their first foray into the Xbox Live Arena. While I'm not that excited about the possibilities of a Wallace & Gromit episodic adventure I do like that developers seem to be dipping their toes in the Xbox Live pond. Telltale CEO Dan Conners was quoted as saying ""Our episodic series focus on story, character, humor, and cinematic presentation—very much like a television or film production. This all makes for a great living room experience through the gaming console, we're looking forward to expanding our catalog onto Xbox LIVE Arcade."



Box Office Smash DLC
Scene It? Box Office Smash is set to release the Award Winners game pack on February 13th for 560 Microsoft points. The DLC will add 300 new questions spanning nearly two dozen award winning films, from 1960's Spartacus to 2007's The Last King of Scotland. In addition to the Award Winners questions, the DLC is also set to add a "Pop Quiz" round featuring more than 600 new true or false questions.

If there was ever a game that could benefit a great deal from DLC it has to be Scene It? Box Office Smash. If you go to a store that sells board games you'll see rows upon rows of different Scene It iterations. By utilizing Xbox LIVE you're going to be able to have an almost endless supply of new questions for Scene It. Whether you're talking about Seinfeld, Friends, Sports, Famous Midgets – instead of releasing a new disc every six weeks, there can just be a DLC pack that will add new questions and extend the life of the game. If you're looking for a game for our current economic times this ought to be it. Basically you purchase the game buzzers once, and for the rest of the console's life span you're just downloading new question packs. For me this is a wise use of DLC, and something that makes Scene It? Box Office Smash a game that should be in your collection. When you factor in the NXE's party function you're really looking at a game that could have a massive appeal across the board as a must have party game.



Rockstar Goes Old West
Rockstar San Diego announced that they will be releasing a sequel to 2004's Red Dead Revolver for the Xbox 360 and PS3 titled Red Dead Revolution. The game is being developed with the RAGE engine, and will focus around former outlaw John Marston at the turn of the 20th century.

After not being a huge fan of Red Dead Revolver I have to admit that I am very interested in Red Dead Redemption. I think that most of my anticipation comes from the fact that Rockstar is just a better developer in 2007 then they were in 2004, and I really love the potential of the RAGE engine. But more importantly, it's an open world, Western starring a former outlaw – or as I like to think of it in my head, Grand Theft Auto in the Old West.



EA Announces Sequels
EA's recent financial earnings call divulged information indicating that the publisher was preparing sequels to Bioware's Mass Effect, and DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company. Mass Effect 2 is said to be coming to multiple consoles, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will drop in Q4 of fiscal 2010.

This news story seems to be directed at me alone because if you asked me to pick out the top five games I've played since I started writing this column both Mass Effect and Battlefield: Bad Company would be on that list. Needless to say I am incredibly excited for both of these games. Mass Effect has been on my mind a lot lately, and while long ass elevator rides aren't exactly on the top of my list of things I love about video games, the story of Commander Sheppard is one that I desperately want to continue. As far as Battlefield: Bad Company goes, while the game doesn't have the "depth" of some games, it was fun – and in the end isn't that what video games are supposed to be? I dare anyone who played Bad Company to tell me that they didn't get some laughs out of that game. Combine that with a very fun online component, some fun weapons, and great sound and you had a solid game that deserved a sequel so I'm glad to see that they're getting one. All in all this is great news for one TFC writer if nobody else.



The Godfather II Gets Bumped
The Godfather II's release date, which was originally slated for later this month has been pushed back to EA's Q1 fiscal period which means April to June 2009. The reason for the delay according to EA CEO John Riccitiello is to generate more excitement for the title, and exercise the company's new focus on longer lead marketing.

This really isn't that surprising from a company that just posted Q3 loses of $641 million, and cut 1,100 jobs. From EA's standpoint their best course of action is to spend the next couple of months putting their full hype machine behind The Godfather II in order to drop a massive title on Q1 and try to give their company a jump in 2009. Godfather is a very recognizable title, and the game is going to have a tremendous amount of buzz when it finally does come out (whenever that might be). I anticipate EA spending the next few months polishing things up and unrolling a huge advertising campaign focused on all of those Italian stereotypes that you've come to know and love – so for those who are disappointed by this delay, fuggetabouit.



Halo Wars Demo
The 1.4GB demo for the highly anticipated Halo Wars became available to the Xbox Live Marketplace on Thursday Feb. 5th. Developed by Ensemble Studios this is the first Halo inspired game to not come from Bungie.

As most of you know I write this column throughout the week so that it can be posted by midnight on Thursday/Friday. With that being the case I have not had the chance to play Halo Wars yet (give me a break I haven't even played Resident Evil 5's demo yet) so I can't give you my take on the game. However I do fully intend on playing through this demo after I wrap up my review of The Last Remnant and I will have some thoughts next week. Until then I suggest if you're a fan of the Haloverse that you give this demo a chance.

As a reminder the full game is set to release on March 3, 2009 in North America.

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Reader Rants

Another solid week of great comments – you guys are consistently the most interesting part of this column so keep it up.

Fellow 411Games writer Rod Oracheski leads us off with his take on the Used Game/Gamestop situation: The problem isn't really with games being traded in months later, it's with games being traded in that same week. GameStop will actively push for trade-ins on new games, then try to sell those games over actual new ones - because it's pure profit for them. They take a trade-in and give you $30 for a new game, then sell it to some other guy for $55 that day.

That means the guy who would otherwise buy a new copy, supporting the developer and publisher of the games he likes, buys that trade-in copy and instead supports the chain store that he probably loves to complain about.

It's not like a trade-in copy of a recently released game is all that much cheaper though. Instead of being $60 - it's $55! And it's only $50 if I buy that year's subscription to your bargain club for $20! What a bargain!

I'm all for companies supporting games with exclusives to 'first purchasers' only, or giving the game love down the road so people won't trade their copies in.

I know the economy is rough and people don't want to pay $60 for a game if they don't want to, but why would you buy it used and not support the publishers in the slightest?

If you bought a game used (especially one that had recently been released) and loved it, but it had crappy sales and they never made another, you're part of the problem.

While I understand where Rod is coming from on this one, I'd simply answer that if you make a game that entices you to play it for extended periods of time then you would eliminate Day One/Week One trade-ins. There are some other valid arguments to be made but I'll let the readers handle those.

One of my favorite weekly comment providers Tubby brings his own take on Rod's position: Rod, you said it very well in regards to people paying $5 less for a game and supporting the chain, opposed to shelling out the extra $5 to support the publishers.

This is a topic where I start to get a moral dilemma in some ways. In regards to games, I will always buy a game to support the publishers because they get a decent percentage for each sale. I will not download a game, I will not mod a system.

But with music, I download it because the record companies only give their bands 2-3% of each record sale (unless you're huge like... Madonna.. I don't know...). I support my bands by going to their shows, buying their merchandise, and since I meet most of the bands I see, I will hand them $20 and tell them I downloaded their album. (Side note: The bands I have done that for are usually very happy to stick it to the record company)

You can call me a hypocrite, I don't mind. I just strongly feel that the people who make our games, make our music, make our movies, deserve the biggest piece of the pie, and not the people behind the scenes.

I know that in some cases, it is the people behind the scenes who ultimately make these great things that we cherish happen. This is why I have a moral dilemma with myself sometimes.

Now to get back on topic. The fact of the matter is that in a few short years, disks of all kinds will be obsolete, or at the very least, scarce. Everything will be done through the internet. Bands are doing it now, some movie/sitcom writers are trying it out (Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog for example), and games are not as good unless you have some DLC in there.

Wow, I ranted today. I'm sorry... that's my piece. I'm done now.

Hey Tubby don't worry about the ranting – when you bring the heat like you've done the past couple of weeks I'll clear space for you. You'll notice that a well thought out and reasonable sounding argument makes the column, as opposed to the comment that came right before this one in last week's edition of Reader Rants. Also the fact that Tubby would hand a band $20 because he downloaded their album is fantastic, especially when you consider that if it's a newer band they probably only see cents on the dollar per album sold. So actually Tubby is paying for about fifteen people to download an album when he pays in cash.

Reader ghg brings a take on the topic similar to my own: Yeah well $5 is $5. These companies are going to have to lower there prices or go out of business. Ebay is always a good place to pick up games for cheap.As far as the video game companies, times is tuff all over, adapt.

I'm on board with the idea that saving $5 is always good, but Rod Oracheski returns to shoot down that theory with his "logic" and "reasoning" – which I always find come in second to snap judgment and perception: This is how that works: companies drop their prices $5. Gamestop takes a Day One trade-in and gives the guy $25 instead of $30, then sells it for $50 instead of $55. Game developers are still stuck in the same spot.

I think the best way to deal with it would be to simply stop selling them games. You're telling me there's somewhere out there that has a Gamestop, but no Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Futureshop, etc...?

In any case, I've generally found that video game specialty shops are great places to find old games, but the worst place to buy new releases. The employees at Wal-Mart tend to know as much about games, and they've never gotten on my ass about the importance of preordering a game.

The go home comment this week will be from reader Wildkarrde23 who has some praise for Tubby and his own take on last weeks Hot Topic: I have very mixed feelings on the topic of used games. On one hand, I basically agree with what everyone is saying here. It is the right thing to do to support the dev. It is how they get enough money and numbers to make more rockin' games. And game stores do like the gouging. Its all about their bottom line. On the other hand, if I sell a new game and get $30 for it, I can use that to pay for half a new game.

I think part of the problem is that games are very expensive these days. Now that we, the "original" generation of gamers, have grown up and started families, it is hard to justify the purchase of $60 games that we play on a "one-and-done" basis. Especially when it is hard to find time to play these games because my wife and baby girl take a lot of attention.

But that may just be my old man ramblings. NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!!

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The Hot Button

Topic: Jack Thompson

If you missed it, on Wednesday afternoon my colleague Greg Bruno posted an interview that he conducted with disbarred Florida attorney, and all around curmudgeon Jack Thompson.

The interview can be found here: Jack Thompson Interview and if you haven't had the chance to read it, I strongly suggest you go there right now and check it out. Its ok I'll wait for you

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Welcome back.

First off I wish I could have been more involved in the interview that Greg conducted. I think he did a great job, and all of the writers who proposed questions to Thompson provided well thought out positions. But because of scheduling, and my actual real world job I just wasn't able to get around to asking what I wanted to ask. There was one part of the interview though that I thought hit on a point I've always wanted clarified by Thompson.

411: Why not direct the attention of your crusade to encouraging responsibility among parents? I am not talking as much about what games they buy for their kids (I do believe following the ratings helps) but about sitting down with their kids and helping them understand the difference between the game's virtual reality and real life.

Jack Thompson:
I encourage responsibility among parents, including the parents who are at cash registers who sell Mature games to other parents' kids with their parents nowhere in sight. See, that is the sole issue for me. Is the industry going to stop selling Mature games to kids under 17 with no parent in sight. The industry says it wants parents to be fully involved in the buying process. Fine, then get your lying butts, Wal-Mart and Best Buy and Target to the 94% age compliance rate of GameStop. How did GameStop do that? By having "zero tolerance" for the sale of M games to anyone under 17. You do that and you the clerk gets fired and the store manager gets fired. It's freaking easy. Instead, all of the retailers are selling, with no age restriction and no age verification all games to anyone of any age via Internet sales. We're closing that loophole in Utah, and that law we are going to pass there is going to spread like wildfire.

After reading that I have one question – does anyone really disagree with that sentiment? Maybe I'm in the minority here, and maybe I'll get flamed for saying it, but if that sentence right there was Jack Thompson's position every time he opened his mouth wouldn't more people listen to/side with him? I'm not going to get into a discussion of the methods through which Jack Thompson tries to accomplish his ultimate goal (which I'm still not clear on). But if that answer is indicative of his real feelings, and I have no reason to think that it isn't (what benefit would Jack Thompson gain by lying to 411mania?) then how can anyone be against that?

The ESRB is not perfect, but show me a ratings board/rating system that is. The problem with M rated games isn't necessarily the content it's that content getting into the hands of people too young/immature to process it in a contextual scenario. I don't agree that playing Manhunt 2 will make you a serial killer, but I do think someone who is 20 is in a better position to process the content of Manhunt 2 as opposed to someone who is 14.

Now does that mean I think violent video games turn kids into murderers? No. I'm sure there are studies as Jack Thompson says that establish a connection between schoolyard killers and video games. The Columbine kids played Diablo, if you can connect Diablo to other kids who shoot up their lunch room then you've got a causal link. Of course if the Columbine kids also watched The Price is Right during snow days you could link that to someone else who took a gun to school and voila – Drew Carey is off my TV once and for all. I'm sure you've all been exposed to the "Catcher in the Rye" phenomena. That book doesn't turn you into a killer, it just happens to be a book that was in possession of more then one killer – that's not a proven scientific theory, it's a strange coincidence.

So what is my point in all of this? I just want Jack Thompson to clarify his ultimate desire/goal in the whole matter. His response concerning stores checking ID on M rated games is sensible to me, in the same way that liquor stores checking ID on alcohol and tobacco is universally accepted. If I actually thought Jack Thompson was trying to create a policy where we held Wal Mart to the same standard as Jack's Corner Package Store then I would accept that as a reasonable fight.

Unfortunately that message gets lost when Mr. Thompson starts throwing around "murder simulator" and trashing video game companies for these games. In the same sense that pornography, violent movies, and every other form of entertainment exists, I believe that M rated video games have the right to be in existence. I wish that Jack Thompson wouldn't spend his time fighting that point. He has lost that battle before, and he will lose it again in Utah if the law he tries to get passed says these games can not exist.

However, I do not think you have a protected right to have access to these things regardless of any restrictions. It's not a moral crusade in the same sense that I couldn't buy a bottle of vodka when I was sixteen. It's a simple matter of us having a system in place that says you must be a certain height to ride the rollercoaster, and if your head isn't above the line then you can't get on. If Jack Thompson really wanted to be productive, and accomplish a goal then he'd find a way to hold these chain stores to the same standards that we hold Mom and Pop at the corner grocery. Instead I feel he gets bogged down on the video game side of the coin, instead of focusing on enforcing the ratings that are already in place. I'm not sure if his tunnel vision (that's not the best term) is due to his own dislike of these games, or if (and I would bet anything this is the case) he has invested himself too deeply in the plight of victims families that he can no longer see the cause through the damage. That's not to make light of victim's families, who are real people who have had their lives turned upside down. It's a referendum on someone who should attack a position in its legal sense and not with an emotional position.

Either way I think one thing is for sure – Greg Bruno provided a window into Jack Thompson that didn't make him seem completely nuts. I know the video game community has a hate/hate relationship with Thompson and I think a good chunk of that comes from a lack of clarify surrounding his ultimate goals. If he could clarify his position I think more people might not instinctively tune him out.

Also, Mr. Thompson as I know you're probably reading this – I would love to see a copy of the bill you've proposed in Utah if it's available somewhere.

I'm interested to hear what you guys think – would a more concerted effort towards enforcing ESRB ratings sit well with you?

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Punching Out

Hall of Shame: N-Gage by Vincent Chiucchi

Nintendophiles by Theo Fraser

B3yond the Report by Derek Robbins

The PC Spotlight by Chris Vicari

The Triforce…erm Three Player Co-Op by Drew Robbins

What If? by Greg Bruno

The Release List by Tommy Coloma

Fact of Fiction by Ramon Aranda – Featuring me and Mark Salmela in the ultimate battle of evil vs someone who actually writes here.

Living LIVE by Trace Aber

The 10th Hour by Derek Robbins

Achievement Unlocked by Rod Oracheski