Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen.
Microsoft made a very intelligent move last Friday by introducing PayPal to Xbox Live for US users. From Friday onward users could use the online service to add points to their Xbox Live accounts. Those of you who don’t have credit cards rejoice. Things just got easier for you.
The Numbers Keep Climbing
As of last Friday, sales of Wii Sports Resort hit 600,000 copies. It’s also racked up at least 500,000 in the US and 350,000 in Japan, again, as of last Friday. We’ve got a big seller on our hands here.
I Really Wish They’d Stop Doing This…
Square Enix announced last week that they would be announcing the release date for Final Fantasy XIII in the coming weeks. Instead of rejoicing, most people said “Yeah, ok…How about you just tell us the release date when you know it?” Popular opinion is that the date will be revealed during Tokyo Game Show 2009.
Your Mother Lied, There’s Only So Much Love to Go Around
Ever wonder why you’re limited to a scant 100 friend on your Xbox Live buddy list? The answer lies where it always lies with Microsoft: legacy support. Keeping Halo 2 on the roster of games played over Xbox Live requires that the 100 person cap be met. Since tons of people still play Halo 2, the artificial limit continues.
Really?!
Nintendo has announced that the DSi outsold the DS, DS Lite, and Wii in its first three months of sales. Since the buzz seemed to be so muted, I was personally way shocked by this news. Who knew the new iteration was so popular?
Exclusivity
Xbox continues to lock down Netflix by getting exclusive movie streaming right to the service. PS3 users are out of luck as are Wii users in the USA, despite similar streaming services being available in Japan.
Pre-Buy One, Get One Free
In a move that screams lack of confidence, Activision has announced that anyone who pre-orders the upcoming Guitar Hero 5 will get…a free copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen.
It’s definitely the first time I’ve ever seen a company outright give away a brand new game should the consumer commit to buying another game. It’s a move that’s got me scratching my head and wondering just how bad the projected Van Halen sales are supposed to be, but it could easily be a response to the nosediving sales numbers of rhythm music games.
Open SD
Nintendo has finally opened up the SD card slot in their system for booting DLC, allowing Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans to cry out in joy. No longer will players have to leave space open on their hard drives to swap data, they can now launch and play DLC directly from the SD slot. The new feature will debut on 1 September concurrent with the launch of Guitar Hero 5
A Good Old Fashioned Competition
The latest iteration of the classic Wolfenstein series will launch next week, a mere four days after August behemoth Madden NFL 10, which launched at 0000 today. Manveer Heir, a designer at Raven Software, would like to make a deal with you involving these seemingly disparate events.
If Wolfenstein outsells Madden in August, he will personally pay for any and all copies of Wolfenstein sold that month.
Good thing for his wallet that it will never happen. Like Kotaku said when they reported the story, he may as well just use that cash to buy copies of the game for himself to drum up sales.
Sgt. Soul
Harmonix has announced/confirmed that The Beatles albums Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul will be among the first albums released as DLC for the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band (09/09/09)
While we’re on the subject, Game Informer Magazine has announced 44/45 of the track list for the upcoming game.
Singles I Want To Hold Your Hand I Feel Fine Day Tripper Paperback Writer Revolution Don’t Let Me Down
Please Please Me (1963) I Saw Her Standing There Boys Do You Want To Know A Secret Twist and Shout
With the Beatles (1963) I Wanna Be Your Man
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) A Hard Day’s Night Can’t Buy Me Love
Beatles For Sale (1964) Eight Days a Week
Help! (1965) Ticket To Ride
Rubber Soul (1965) Drive My Car I’m Looking Through You If I Needed Someone
Revolver (1966) Taxman Yellow Submarine And Your Bird Can Sing
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds Getting Better Good Morning Good Morning
Magical Mystery Tour (1967) I Am The Walrus Hello Goodbye
The Beatles (White Album) (1968) Dear Prudence Back In the U.S.S.R. While My Guitar Gently Weeps Birthday Helter Skelter
Yellow Submarine (1969) Hey Bulldog
Abbey Road (1969) Come Together Something Octopus’s Garden I Want You (She’s So Heavy) Here Comes the Sun
Let It Be (1970) Dig a Pony I Me Mine I Got a Feeling Get Back
Love (2006) Within You Without You/ Tomorrow Never Knows
Most surprising to me is that last entry, Love. This album is from the remixed Cirque du Soleil show Love and it’s interesting to see that such modern additions are being made to the game.
Almost Nothing Creepier Than a Carnival
You really didn’t think you’d get through an edition of Game Overview without mention of Left 4 Dead 2, did you?
Gabe Newell announced on Gametrailers last night that one of the new campaigns for L4D2 will be The Fairgrounds, an amusement park-style level. All I can say here is that I’m already decently terrified by clowns. Please don’t make me cry in the corner Valve. Please don’t make clown zombies.
I’m going to go not think about zombie clowns for a bit. Have a week.
I get tired of saying it guys, but, really, MLB Power Pros 2009 is not coming to North America. Nintendo has, yet again, released a list of upcoming titles for 2009 (seen here, from Kotaku)
Seriously guys, it sucks, but we’re not getting the game.
Gamestop Getting Paid
Hey readers, surprise! Gamestop likes to make money. Since they like making money so much, they’ve launched their own digital download store for casual games.
Considering that digital download retail will be the death of the traditional Gamestop, it’s rather forward-looking and a wise business move to get on track with this.
Cost Reduction
Sony has managed to drop the production cost of the PS3 by 70%, a huge margin that can only mean great things for a console manufacturer who was selling at a pretty major loss per unit. With rumors abound about the PS3 slim swirling around and a drastic need for a price reduction, it seems Sony is right where it needs to be to pull the trigger and make something happen to increase sales. Whether or not they do so will remain to be seen.
Trailer Break!
You’ve seen the Uncharted 2 trailer, but have you seen it…in Japanese?
I don’t know about Japanese characterization, but it seems that they’ve lost the lighthearted, scoundrel-like voice for Drake while both Elena and Chloe have voices so similar that I can’t tell them apart. It’s really bizarre to see something so distinctly American with a completely different audio track, but I like it.
New L4D Campaign!
Valve stated that there was a reason that L4D2 was coming out when it was and claimed that they weren’t done supporting Left 4 Dead (obligatory L4D2 reference on this week’s GO). They made good on those claims this week with the announcement of a new campaign for Left 4 Dead called Crash Course.
Our latest adventure for our heroes has been slated as a connecting mini-campaign that bridges the end of No Mercy, in which our heroes escape via helicopter, to the beginning of Death Toll, which begins at a camp site.
It’s a strange shift in philosophy concerning the first game, as the developer commentaries mentioned an overarching narrative idea that they trashed in lieu of just having four independent campaigns. I’m not saying I mind connecting the two games together with one narrative, but the about face is a bit jarring.
Can’t complain about free (on PC) content, though! Go Valve! I can’t wait for L4D2 in November!
Big Money for EA and Other Sales Data
Guess what guys? The Sims 3 sold. A lot. The numbers are somewhere in the 3.7 million copy range for everyone’s favorite life simulator. What’s more, EA’s brilliant idea to cash in on the fitness craze with the more western-focused EA Sports Active has earned them great sales numbers to the tune of 1.8 million copies sold to date.
Other big sales winners obviously include Nintendo, who has already sold 500,000 copies of Wii Sports Resort in America within eight days of launch. Japan has seen a cool 828,000 copies leave the shelves proving that Nintendo still hasn’t lost its edge.
The other two big franchises of Japan, Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter, have seen recent releases. DQIX has hit 3.39 million copies sold this week with 3.5 million copies shipped and the new release of Monster Hunter Tri has already sold 520,000 copies this week. A few games can’t exactly revive the entire industry, but it’s nice to see that the juggernauts are still selling like hot cakes.
Delays
For the first time in ages, titles have been backing out of the holiday launch window to head for the greener pastures of Q1. Unfortunately, everyone seems to have gotten the same memo and not talked to each other, because so many games have been delayed to 2010 that it’s starting to get too crowded out in January and February.
One game whose delay has nothing to do with the aforementioned information is Blizzard’s Starcraft II. Many of you remember Blizz stating that Starcraft II would require a four-to-six month beta test to determine that it was ready. Guess what, we’ve passed the point where six months can still fit comfortably within 2009. As a result, we’re looking at a 2010 release.
I hope none of you were surprised by this, we all knew it was going to happen.
The best news of a game not delayed will come from the lawsuit settlement between Activision Blizzard and Double Fine Productions. Brütal Legend is free from legal limits to its release this fall. Rejoice all ye fans of Tim Schafer.
Seacrest out!
The most amazingly adorable Mega Man ever.
Sweet Brothers Art
Ever wanted to see some great renditions of the Mario Bros.? Well, BAM!
SNES!
It’s kind of old news, but here’s a neat way to use an old SNES to connect to a PC and play your carts on an emulator.
SNL Hilarity
Ever wonder what a game based on a depressing drama would be like? Wonder no more.
Floyd-tastic!
Daniel Floyd, with Leigh Alexander’s help, has put out a new video! Check out “Video Games and the Female Audience”
Red, White, and Blue!
The Fourth of July is tomorrow! If you love Little Big Planet and you love America, you’ll no doubt love the new Sacktue of Liberty Sackboy skins to celebrate your love for both.
Blizzard Gets Chilly with Audience
Do you love to play Starcraft at LAN parties? Too bad! According to Kotaku, Blizzard has decided to completely remove LAN support from Starcraft II.
I understand why they’re doing this. They’re trying to curb piracy. No doubt you know tons of people who totally pirated a copy of Starcraft or Warcraft 3, so now this cuts out one of the major draws, since players will have to connect to Battle.Net to play other people.
There’s also the fact that Battle.Net is ad-supported. Guess what you don’t see when you play a LAN game? This is one of the best ways to completely milk all of the money that they can out of Starcraft.
The one downside: super-low latency games will now be impossible.
I usually have so much goodwill for Blizzard, but this reeks of Activision. I don’t like it and I think it’s an awful idea. I’m not mad enough to not buy the game, but this is definitely uncool. Online petitions are pretty dumb, as I’ve said before, but feel free to sign!
Ero-Banning
There’s been a developing situation on the Internets involving the Ero-Game industry in Japan. Again, according to Kotaku, due to the controversy over RapeLay, an increasing number of Japanese H-Game developers are blocking any and all foreign IP addresses from accessing their websites. This seems like a rather drastic response to the recent threats of legislation upon their industry that have resulted from an increase of sexual crimes in Japan coupled with poor international press from the rest of the world.
I can see where Japan is coming from here in trying to insulate themselves from the rest of their world that doesn’t “get” their hentai games, but I really can’t support segregation on the internet.
Emulate!
Sony seems to have patented a software emulation technique to run PS2 software on non-PS2 compatible PS3s (thanks again Kotaku!)
Too Hard? Just Cheat!
Is Guitar Hero too hard? Here’s a control that will play the game for you!
New FF
Kotaku reports that a new Final Fantasy side story is coming to the DS. Story details are light at the moment, but I’m definitely supporting all of these DS games by Square Enix.
That’s all for this week!
They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow”, he continues. “If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony…When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console – and the PSP [portable] too.
Those words were uttered by Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, last Friday and made huge waves in the gaming world. For the big boss man of the largest video game company in the world to try and throw his weight around like this is certainly surprising.
Everyone agrees that the PS3 is too expensive. It’s a topic covered on almost every podcast and Sony knows it’s what everyone wants. Still, their console is expensive to make and someone in their company thinks that price must not be the limiting factor in their sales. Then again, the recently announced PSP Go was priced at $250, proving that Sony might not quite understand that pricing a new portable at the same price as the Wii (and higher than the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU) might not be the best choice to launch a system reboot.
I can honestly say that no huge publisher has tried to make such a statement as this. For Activision to outright threaten to stop supporting the system and essentially hold Sony hostage is huge. Will they ever make good on this promise? That’s where things get hazy. It’s clear that they must make more money on the platform than it costs to develop for it, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. So it would seem like a stupid business choice not to develop on the system. No, I’m pretty sure that Activision, the new Evil Empire, is simply trying to garner goodwill from gamers. “Hey guys, look at us, we want you guys to be able to buy this system for cheaper. We’re the good guys!”
After that suit over Brütal Legend, all I can say is you don’t fool me Activision.
Just about every serious adult (and employed) gamer has one thing in common, regardless of his/her tastes: the pile of shame. It sounds a lot worse than it is, because it’s definitely not a stack of Barbie Horse Adventure games or anything, it’s a stack of games that have all received critical acclaim or come highly recommended, but that the gamer has no time to get around to playing, mainly because of other releases or just being too busy.
The perfect time for burning through this back catalog is usually the summer. Releases have slowed down in anticipation for the upcoming holiday season and developers have only just started getting over E3 preparations, limiting their ability to release in the summer anyway. Plenty of other people are taking this time to burn through their backlog, but I find myself unable to focus on the rather considerable stack of games I have in lieu of achievement hunting or just purchasing new games.
It’s a serious problem when I’m in Best Buy seriously considering buying Resident Evil 5, the latest in a series of games that I never play because I hate horror video games, instead of just going home and playing Dragon Quest V or Suikoden Tierkreis, both games I’ve never played and own, or finishing the remakes that I’d started like the DS Chrono Trigger or GBA Final Fantasy VI. I keep having to resist buying Gears of War 2, even though I’ve yet to finish Fallout 3, play the Uncharted 2 Beta at all, or milk the remaining content out of Left 4 Dead or Mass Effect. Then again, should I really be all that surprised? People love the brand new and the allure of buying a new copy of Ghostbusters, despite its middling reviews, is just a part of human nature.
The main problem with my “problem” is that I don’t really have the cash to throw around to just be buying all sorts of new games. You may have applauded my self-control in resisting RE5 and GoW2, but the real deterrent is that I just couldn’t afford to buy them. I’ve flirted with the notion of starting some kind of retro-gaming feature to motivate me to both clear my backlog and give me new, interesting (video game related) writing topics. Honestly, if I could take easy screenshots or capture video more easily, I might be more likely to try and do something like that, but it loses some of its allure to have it be text-only.
This may or may not still happen. I’m going to do some research into cheap video capture mechanics and if I can manage it, then we might see me start to clear through my backlog with accompanying screens or movies. If not, well then this winding, aimless post is just me whining about having games that I don’t want to play because I want shiny new ones.
Let’s start with a little NSFW. Remember that game Left 4 Dead? Remember how Zoey was a great example of a non-sexualized hero, something Valve specializes? Remember no more, because diligent modders have released the Nude Zoey mod (Kotaku story mildly NSFW, but no actual nudity in it).
The designer of the mod wasn’t happy with just slapping on a nude skin, nope, apparently it wasn’t complete until Zoey featured realistic boob jiggle. Modders have too much time on their hands, perhaps?
Three Part Harmonix
Want to learn some interesting tidbits about The Beatles: Rock Band? Check out this interview, courtesy Gamasutra, with Harmonix’s Josh Randall for more.
!
Konami, developer of hits like Metal Gear and Castlevania, have come under fire for being giant jerks. Yoko Sekiguchi is suing the company because she took maternity leave and, upon return, found that she had been demoted and docked ~$2000 for her time off. She rightfully believes that this is discrimination and is now suing Konami for $344,000. Yep, that was brilliant Konami, you were assholes and saved $2000 only to have to pay legal fees and potentially $344,000.
Voice Talent
Interested in learning a bit about the two female leads in Uncharted 2? Here’s a longish interview by Sony with Emily Rose and Claudia Black:
No Mai?
Kotaku is reporting that Mai will officially not be in King of Fighters XII. I am announcing that I will not be buying KOF XII until/unless Mai Shiranui is added via DLC. So much for that…
Says Ignition Entertainment’s Shane Bettenhausen:
I think the thinking is that they are making you wait because you want her.
Looks like I’ll be making them wait because they want my money.
On my second attempt to win an Uncharted 2 Beta key, I finally succeeded! I will let you guys know what it’s like once I get a chance to start playing, but I’m super pumped.
Thanks 1UP.com!
Death
Death in a single-player game is a fairly private thing. You do something stupid and, if your friends aren’t there, no one knows it happened and no one can even see it. Heck, if you’re playing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Prince will even refuse to canonically admit that he died due to their unique narrative structure.
According to Kotaku, Demon’s Souls by Atlus is looking to change some of that with some creative coding. The system they’ve got in place will generate the ghosts in the game by recording other player’s actions. Other players can leave canned messages for other players to view as ghastly apparitions or just run around. The coolest feature was that examining blood stains on the floor will allow you to see ghastly representations of other player’s last seconds before dying. Totilo watched what was probably a beta tester’s ghost appear by a blood stain and promptly miss a jump, falling to his death. It seems pretty awesome in concept, that’s for sure.
Rhythm Heaven/Paradise/Tengoku
The latest Rhythm Heaven trailer has hit the nets and I can’t not post it. Come to think of it, did I post the second in that series?
Left 4 Fashion
Ever wanted to dress like Zoey from Left 4 Dead? Now you can!
The replica track jacket retails for $65. Awesome zombie-fighting posse and submachine gun not included.
SM…L?
The theme for Super Mario Land was way underrated. Enjoy this great rendition.
TWO-BITS
I leave you with Bit Boy!! The game has yet to sell me, but its concept is pretty cool.
E3 is a magical time for video games. So much news happened in this past week that this is gonna be an epic post filled with tons of trailers and news. In no particular order, here it goes:
Look! A three-headed monkey!
First off we have the Monkey Island news again. Tales of Monkey Island will be debuting next month (!) on 7 July from Telltale Games. Yes, it’s super exciting…yes, Telltale has proven that they can have moderate success and timely release with episodic adventure games…but I don’t feel the humor of Ron Gilbert in the trailer.
I just hope the game is quality and we get to see a lot more MI.
Legendary
Speaking of former Lucasarts comedic geniuses, Tim Schafer’s Brütal Legend (mind the umlaut) has had production suspended in what can only be known as a dick move by Activision. The litigious Activision dropped Brütal Legend not long ago when they merged with Vivendi and they claim it was because they never met milestones. Supposeedly they still retain the rights to release the game and will suffer “irreparable damages” for this.
My favorite part of the story, Tim Schafer’s response:
“Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it,” Schafer said. “Oh great, now Beyoncé is going to sue me too.”
Seriously Activision? You guys look like major tools. I already don’t play much anything by Activision and I just might consider this a permanent decision. It’s unbelievable.
Back in Black (and Red)
Nintendo will be selling the Wii in black starting this summer in Japan and the DSi in red at the same time. Not a bad idea, considering that sales of Nintendo systems have started to lag behind some of the Sony stuff. It’s just the kind of Nintendo thing to do in this situation.
NEW SMB
New Super Mario Bros. Wii is on the way! It will not feature online play =[
Left 8 Dead?
Left 4 Dead 2 is coming! A bit sooner than most expected, that’s for sure, but I think even Valve deserves to make some money every so often.
Melee weapons, incendiary ammo, new special infected, new AI Director sadism, new/updated weapons, and new survivors.
What’s more, you won’t be able to just camp for alarm moments, some won’t turn off unless you advance and complete tasks.
Nick reminds me of GOB. That makes me happy.
Metal Gear?!
New MGS games announced. Rising will be on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and Peace Walker will be on the PSP. I’m kind of bummed about PW being a PSP game, since it focuses on Big Boss, but maybe I’ll end up asking for a PSP for Christmas or something.
NEVER
Funny tidbit from the Nintendo conference
Jedis go Boom
It’s just the cinematic that opens the game, but it sure gets me excited for the release.
Walrus?
Some more The Beatles: Rock Band info.
XIII
Also: Final Fantasy XIV?
Uncharted!!!! OMGOMGOMGOMG
Random Games
OBJECTION!
Tangled up in BlazBlue:
More Samus, No T or A
New Metroid game being made by Team Ninja?! Nintendo will probably keep the ridiculously large, bouncy boobs and thongs to a minimum, so calm down.
Galaxy 2?
New Mario Galaxy game. 90% new levels, some old ones remixed.
As a corollary, no new Zelda or Pikmin games announced today. Maybe next time.
Fallout 3 DLC
Alan Wake…FINALLY
Seriously, this game has been in development FOREVER.
Heavy Lluvia
Still looks good.
Sunny Gold
Coming to the DS is Golden Sun! The RPG is BACK! I hope this iteration is more interesting.
Misc News
Social networking was the big theme of the conferences. From Facebook on DSi and Xbox 360 to Twitter making an appearance on the latter too, it seems like the next big thing.
Microsoft is also offering full games on demand on Live for real, non-MS point money.
All in all, a great conference. I know I missed some big news, but, hey, you’ve got the internet too, so quit being so damn lazy. Now if only we could rush to the fall and make these games come out already!
I just can’t wait until Friday to start putting these things up. Uncharted is one of my favorite games for the PS3 and the sequel promises to be all that and more.
Things to note:
- New love interest…who cares… - Snow - ELENA! OMG ELENA! She’s back and her shirt is also only half-tucked. Naugthy Dog has got to be just rolling with the joke now - Sully is back too - Some rando dude is on your side
Yep, Uncharted 2 appears to be the action movie video game of the year, yet again.
