Fresh from the Rumor bin…

This morning one of my gamers stated:  “So, i was listening to the cranky gamers UK podcast this morning, and they reported that gamespot UK had found out that when Sony said they would give that 52″ bravia hdtv away to the first people in line, actually turned out to all be Sony PR people.. “

 

Now I’ve not been able to confirm this news.. but, if proved true, what in the heck was Sony thinking!?

TOP 10 BLUNDERS OF 2007 – AS per Next Generation

[VIA NextGen]

[NOTE: NextGen copy edited by PogoWolf for length]
#10 – The Non-Elite Elite
Instead of cutting costs, Microsoft kept the same expensive hardware design and then added even more features and jacked up the price. Now, for only $20 shy of the price of a PlayStation 3 you could own a wireless-less, HD-DVD-less system with a larger hard drive and that thunderous Xbox 360 fan noise.

It was an ELITE system.   It was supposed to be top of the line ‘limited’ edition for those that wanted a ‘rare’ 360.  it’s marketed to the game collectors.  Not a Blunder in this respect at least.    Besides, M$ did drop the price and pack in 2 games for bundle packs on the other systems.

#9 – This Heading Guaranteed 100% Free of Wii Puns
Nintendo sold 3+ million Wii’s this year.  Analysts said it is just a fad.
Now an analyst has revealed a price for Nintendo’s commercial conservatism: $1.3 billion lost this holiday due to Wii shortages. Damn, that stings.

Nintendo should have listened to the Blogs. WE where all saying that the Wii was going to sell like hot cakes.  Now, I firmly believe the shortage is artificial, and most likely for a good reason.  Nintendo needs time for the 3rd Parties to create some good games for the weird control scheme.

 

#8 – We’ve Got a SKU Just for You!  [Or PS3 owners.. you got SKU'd]

Remember when the two Xbox 360 models were announced back in 2005? All the pissing and moaning about two models with different specifications – the Xbox 360 Premium with a hard drive and wireless controllers and the emasculated Xbox 360 Core. Phil Harrison famously said of Sony’s PlayStation 3 plans, “I think we wouldn’t take that [multiple SKU] strategy. We wouldn’t create confusion”.

To help consumers sort out the different PS3 models, we’ve created this handy chart:

But hey.. PS3 owners have RIDGE RACER!!! 

#7 – Surprise! Zombies! [Or Yes, 360 degrees of shame]
The corporate VP of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, had a secret. Each morning he chuckled quietly to himself, knowing it would make a huge splash at E3 in 2007. Then a Game Informer interview ruined it. You can’t really improve on the original, so just read for yourself:

Kim: I think one of the most important, subtle announcements at the Xbox 360 briefing is that Resident Evil is coming to Xbox 360. Yes, it’s from Capcom, who’s been a great supporter of us.

GI: But we knew that two years ago.

Kim: What?

Funny, but a top 10 blunder?   Come on, there’s still plenty of blunders from Sony this year…

#6 – Sony Exec Offers to Buy PS3s
In his January 2007 interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly, it most certainly did not. In response to reports of PlayStation 3 systems sitting unsold on store shelves, Tretton famously replied: “If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that’s been on shelves for more than five minutes, I’ll give you 1200 bucks for it.” If people on the street can see that the systems aren’t moving, then Tretton should have known as well. Still, his ill-timed boast isn’t unique – it’s merely part of the larger hubristic posture Sony has assumed for far too long.

Damn, and I could have had a V8.

 

#5 – Alone Against the Empire
Right before the Game Developers Conference keynote, one of the most prominent videogame blogs, Kotaku, published a rumor about an as-yet-unannounced PlayStation 3 online service dubbed PlayStation Home. Kotaku attempted to verify the details but Sony refused to comment. Further, Sony requested – then demanded – that Kotaku not publish the story.  Kotaku published their information anyway, with appropriate journalistic caveats. In response, Sony sent an email blackballing Kotaku.

Kotaku published that too.

Sony could have tried to tell there PR people to shut up.. but an NDA works just as well I guess.  But are you sure they weren’t talking about RIDGE RACER!!!!  ?

#4 – Game Over Gerstmann
When a big-budget game gets a negative review on a site plastered with adverts for said game and the reviewer is subsequently sacked, you can’t really be faulted for initially thinking the events are all related.

Which is all to say, we don’t know for sure how much Jeff Gerstmann’s Kane & Lynch review figured into his late November firing. Granted, it did look a mite bit suspicious. The Kane & Lynch promotion that Eidos had purchased on GameSpot – decorating the margins of the site with Kane & Lynch graphics – ended just after the news broke that Gerstmann was fired. Then CNet, the parent company for GameSpot, hurt its own credibility by issuing uninformative non-denial denials for almost a whole week. In the meantime, websites and forums worked overtime generating rumors, unflattering GIFs, and raw nerd rage.

We all know it was about the money from the ads coming into the web site.   Reviewers should be able to call the kettle black if it’s black. Though I’m still betting the Eidos people will be walking around with their thumbs up there butts wondering why Kane & Lynch is selling just about as well as the last Tomb Raider.

#3 – It’s Just a Toy Guitar and Some Music
The Wii GH3 port, by Vicarious Visions, claimed to have Dolby Pro Logic II audio output and, at the very least, stereo sound but in fact was neither. It was plain mono.  Don’t you think someone in testing would have noticed?

Then there’s Rock Band.  The hardware EA did manage to ship, during the holidays, had guitars marred by “an imperfection with the strum bar,”

 

OMG!?  a game with bugs?!  Holy mother of all that’s good and pure the Amish using electricity now!  But still $170 for Rock Band and getting a hosed Guitar can’t be cool and mono for GH3? That’s just funny.

 

#2 – We Already Bought All the Good Ones, Right? [Or Thank God!]
Powerful men like John Riccitiello, chief executive of Electronic Arts, have their fingers on the pulse of the industry. If big moves are afoot, you can bet that they know about them well in advance. So when Riccitiello oversees EA’s acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic for $855 million and later says the industry has “been largely picked” for mergers, you can take that wisdom to the bank.

After all, a man like Riccitiello wouldn’t say something like that just three days before the announcement of an $18.9 billion merger between his company’s biggest rival and the company that publishes the game with more paying subscribers than Sweden has citizens. No way he’d get caught off guard like that.

And this is a blunder how?  God if EA bought Blizzard, WoW would turn into Horizons quicker then flies on fresh poop!

And number one…

#1 – Red Ink of Death

With a year’s headstart and exclusive hits like Gears of War, Microsoft started 2007 looking every bit the confident market leader they’d longed to be since 2001. Beneath that sanguine exterior, however, lurked a horrible, horrible truth: “Things break.”

So said Microsoft’s Peter “Antoinnette” Moore of increasingly prevalent Xbox 360 hardware failure – known colloquially as the Red Ring of Death – in a May 2007 in an interview with Mike Antonucci of The Mercury News. Within two months Microsoft publicly acknowledged finding several design flaws which were killing systems and took a $1 billion charge to extend consumer warranties. That charge alone cut Microsoft’s profit for the quarter by 25%.

A chastened Microsoft now says it has its problems sorted. We’ll see.

And the first NES has problems, and the SNES, and the Genesis, and the PS1. .and the PS2.. AND the PS3.. AND the XBox.. AND everything else yeah..it was a blunder, but it happens.  I wouldn’t say it was the #1 blunder.   I would still leave that to Sony.

Proposed Law Would Tax Video Games

 

Are you ready for this? A senator in Wisconsin wants to add a tax to video games and video game hardware. Why a tax on video games? You’ll just love the answer:

The bill’s author, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, said the money raised from the tax isn’t to dissuade gamers, but to help cover the cost to move 17-year-olds, who commit non-violent crimes, back into the juvenile system. Currently, 17-year-olds are treated as adults, WISC-TV reported.

Why in the world would anyone apply a tax to video games to cover the cost of teenage offenders? Oh, I forgot, it is the video games that are causing these teens to commit crimes. 

 

“I just think it’s pretty unfair to attack gamers and have them pay for something they, more than likely, have nothing to do with,” said Sallows.

 

I could have said that.. but it would have had a lot more cuss words in it.

What Happened with… HellGate: London

I still play HellGate and very much enjoy the game play, the game itself has a lot of serious problems.   From the looks of the Game Flagship centered around the core game play (which is a good thing) however they left out much of the interface that would make the game an MMO.   HellGate (at this point) lacks just about every tool possible to make it an MMO.
for a game touted to be a cross between a first person shooter and an MMO paying homage to the Diablo series, HellGate lacks in some of the most basic elements of an MMO.
like none of the developers had ever played an MMO.

This article goes into depth about the negative aspects of HellGate: London and what the developers should have done, or be doing,  in order to make the game the best it could possible be while keeping the ‘feel’ of the game the same.

Rock Band Cheats

 

Unlockable: All Songs

If you want to unlock every song in the game (which disables the ability to save), head to the game’s title screen and insert the following code on any instrument: Red, Yellow, Blue, Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Red, Yellow, Blue.

 

Unlockable: Silver Fender Stratocaster

To unlock the Silver Fender Stratocaster, complete the Bonus Tour option on Solo Tour with the guitar.

Unlockable: Gold Fender Stratocaster

To unlock the Gold Fender Stratocaster, complete Solo Tour mode with the guitar.

Unlockable: Gold Microphone

To unlock a Golden Microphone, score a million points or more in Solo Tour.

Unlockable: Transparent Instruments

To unlock the “transparent” series of instruments (which gives you a transparent bass, guitar, drum kit and microphone), enter the Hall of Fame on that instrument. So, if you want the transparent bass, enter the Hall of Fame as a bassist.

HellGate: London Evoker Skill list.

While starting up a FAQ system for games I ran across a post from hellgatepalladium describing in detail the Evoker skills per level and I thought that it would make a great edition to the the games FAQ.    So with a note back to HellGatePalladium on each of the pages, I’ve broken down the list into separate lists based on level and posted them up all on web pages.

it’s a work in progress.. so bare with me as things change and get moved around. =)

[HellGate: London - Evoker Skills]

Motion Control Gaming In Development For Xbox 360?

Written by Alexis Morgenstern   

Xbox 360 motion controllers may not be that far off. Looks like Microsoft may be working with motion control developer Gyration to bring the technology to the Xbox 360, according to an article at XboxFamily.com. Gyration worked on early prototype motion control technology with Nintendo. Gyration has also developed a Windows Media Center Universal Remote, which uses “In-air cursor control using Patented Gyroscopic Motion-Sensing technology.” Talk or mention of motion control is not new to the Xbox 360 platform, however, XboxFamily.com’s article noting Gyration shows things could be well in development.

There’s been attempts on getting the Wii Remote and motion technology to work with the Xbox 360 by home brew devs. One example is from Xilt. The homebrew mod from Xilt allows you to rig up a Xbox 360 controller to add motion control to the Xbox 360.

With Microsoft’s Xbox 360 being the only current generation gaming console missing motion technology in a controller, it’s a good possibility that it’ll happen. Especially seeing how motion control gaming has been adopted and successful on the Wii. Motion control on the Xbox 360 has been bat about earlier this year, with the former Xbox 360’s Peter Moore and Microsoft’s Chris Satchell sharing thoughts on it. There’s been no official announcements from Microsoft on motion control on the Xbox 360.

[Via XboxFamily.com]

2008 Predictions…

Orginal Post on 12/27/07

Every year I like to think up (and this year post) my predictions for the next year.

1) BioShock will turn into an MMO.
    Think about it.  Being able to run around killing splicer’s while earning enough money to buy better plasmids?  All the while picking up bits and pieces of items to craft them into new weapons, armor and ammo?   All in an underwater city that was seemingly built as an MMO in the first place?   The ability to explore areas shut off from you the first time around? It would be sweet.  Could even do the game like HellGate: London (only done right.. see #9)

2) Blizzard will announce that the next Gen MMO game they are making will be the ‘World of Starcraft’
    The only big sci-fi MMO out there is EVE.  Of course there’s Star Wars Galaxies and Tabula Rasa, but that’s not saying much.  So the world is in need of a good Sci-Fi MMO to take the place of Earth and Beyond. (..!.,   EA)
  
    Starcraft has just as much or more of a following then the Warcraft series and has just as deep of a story and background.  WoW has already has and continues to embrace Diablo like a brother (sockets?  come on) and has some cross over story lines between the Diablo and StarCraft games; Blizzard is also readying up Starcraft II to enter the market.   So, to me, it makes total sense to have a World of StarCraft.

    Now what would REALLY be cool is the ability to merge the three games together so that WoW is the beginning  WoD (that’s World of Diablo) is the middle and WoS is the ending and your character can port back and forth between times.

    Of course, the announcement could be nothing more then the release of Diablo 3 (wasn’t that HellGate?) But the World of StarCraft would be MUCH cooler.
    —————————————————
    Update: 06/28/08
    Well Blizzard has annouced Diablo 3 about 3 odd hours ago.  This is the major announcement for this year
    however there’s still that top-secret project they are working on…

 

3) Nintendo will continue not to be able to create enough Wii’s for demand and within 6 to 8 month it won’t matter.  People will finally give up paying extremely high prices for a system that has very few good games when they can buy an Xbox 360 for cheaper then some of the package deals and get a library of better games.

4) I call 3 ‘hot’ titles for the Wii this year, the rest will suck.

5) Sony will continue to lie to their customers and survive on the fanboys throwing huge amounts of money at the feet of their God.  But no one will care because the PS3 has RIDGE RACER!!

6) The Xbox360 will continue to dominate the online play aspect of console gaming.  The PC will continue to mock LIVE.

7) The industry will begin to understand that most gamers don’t care that they can show off their photos on their console.  We want to play games.

Mobile gamers will finally realize that Cell phones are NOT good gaming platform.  PDA users will continue to look around clueless.

9) HellGate: London will be used as a model to teach new game developers how NOT to just concentrate on the game play and worry about the interface aspects of a game also.  (GREAT game.. Horrible interface..)

10) Some Jerk somewhere will kill someone over something and blame it on a video game. 

11) Rock Band will completely take over and destroy the Guitar Hero market.

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Want to hear my prediction on a specific game coming out? 
    Just comment to this thread and ask! (all posts are moderated)

[EDIT - Cleaned up some grammar and did a rewrite in a few places to clear things up]  (Never said I was a good writer.   )

$500 for a phone book?!

Teen Opens PlayStation 3 Box, Finds Phone Book Inside!

Thousand Oaks  –  Imagine tearing into a holiday present to find a PlayStation 3 box… with a phone book sealed inside! That’s what happened to 13-year-old Brandon Burns Christmas morning. He was amused by the whole thing. His parents… not so much, since they spent $500 for the PS3. They say they plan on taking the phone book, the box, and their receipt back to the Thousand Oaks mall store where they bought it. Good luck, guys!

 

(Via: Fox LA, Video at link)

Happy Holidays

GamersVue would like to extend a Happy holidays to all our readers.  Thank you for the hits!
We hope you have a great season and extend well wishes for the upcoming year.  May you make it a great one!