Category: Industry News

Activision Wants to Sell Gaming Cut Scenes as Movies

Starcraft 2Get your popcorn ready. Bobby Kotick’s got a bright idea for you.

Ever since gaming content distribution has moved online in a significant way, I’ve wondered privately why video game studios haven’t taken full advantage of this by capitalizing on their audiences with video content. Since it’s ridiculously hard these days to get a video game movie produced, why don’t video game studios take this development into their own hands?

With great looking game assets and competent studio directors, there’s no reason someone like Konami, Bungie or Naughty Dog couldn’t take their popular franchises and create an in-game graphics movie out of the cut scenes, extending their stories or telling side stories. At a proper price point, this would be cheaper than producing a movie, and much cheaper than going to a movie for consumers. I imagine a 90 minute Uncharted movie would sell millions online, but I could be naive about this.

Well, we appear to be inching in a slightly different direction, if Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s latest comments are to be taken at face value. You see, Kotick thinks that if Blizzard took the cut scenes from the already released Starcraft II and put them all together at once, gamers would pay up to $20 or $30 for them. Say what, Bobby Kotick? Check the jump for the quote. Continue reading Activision Wants to Sell Gaming Cut Scenes as Movies

The Many Companions of Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas companions

The apocalyptic Wasteland can be a lonely and bizarre place, especially for gunmen hopping around on RPG-like quests and equipped to their teeth in dangerous weaponry. Naturally, slaughtering ghouls and all kinds of other baddies in the Mojave is a grim task to face alone. So that’s why Fallout: New Vegas, like Fallout 3, allows you some tag-alongs in the form of one humanoid and one non-humanoid buddy with which to explore the expansive desert.

In a recent update on the Playstation blog, Bethesda Senior Community Manager Matt Grandstaff outlined the possible Fallout: New Vegas companions that we can look forward to meeting in the sequel to the hit Fallout 3. The list actually gives quite a bit of detail on the various friends you can partner up with, and they come in all shapes and sizes. There are dudes, dames, dogs and even a mutant named Lily who looks like Beast straight out of the X-Men.

Anyway, totally worth checking it out, especially for the non-humanoid companions. With this game only about a month away from release, who’s getting more anxious for it to finally be here? What do you think of the companions?

Source – Playstation Blog

Poll: How Do You Buy Your Games?

The other night, I gathered in a line of the nerdiest of nerds, standing in mostly single file all with the same goal: Halo: Reach. I know, we’re trying to cut back on Reach posts, and you’ll see some more impressions/reviews in the coming week (I’ve already beat Campaign), but the line got me thinking about something else entirely.

As all of the nerds (I say this with mostly affection) began clamoring for whatever merchandise was being thrown out as prizes, I wondered how they all came to arrive there, and how the hype is different for a release in this digital download age. After all, you won’t see quite as many people lining up to play an exclusively PC game, since they can just order it with the click of a mouse. In the future, when Call of Duty 11X is being released for download on consoles, the hype machine will take a different appearance than we know it right now. Even talking to all of my friends, there are a variety of different methods that people used to obtain Halo: Reach. Online, pre-order, walk-in, etc.

So, I thought I’d ask: how would you say you purchase the majority of your games, and through what service? Go!

How Do You Buy Your Games?

View Results

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Team Ico Collection for the PS3 is Happening

Shadow of the Colossus

I guess it’s for real this time.

Several months back, there was a rumor that a Team Ico Collection coming to the PS3 at some point in the near future. This little anthology would feature both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, upgraded to glorious and stunning HD to match their already gorgeous art design.

Well, this juicy rumor has now been proven real, and confirmed by this week’s issue of Famitsu, the Japanese gaming magazine. Now, when it will release – and for what price – is still up for grabs. However, there are rumors going around placing its release in March or April 2011 for a price of about $40. Call me crazy, but I like it.

While I’d rather be playing the game at Christmas, I guess I can live with getting this game next year, because let’s face it – these are two of the greatest games of last gen, put together on one disc for our enjoyment. Who else is ridiculously excited about this?

Source – Andria Sang

Mario Celebrates 25 Years of Stomping Goombas

There are a few times when I feel older than my years, despite the fact that I am only 23. One example is that children born when Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone came out are now teenagers. The other is that, 25 years ago today, Super Mario Bros. graced the Nintendo Entertainment System and changed the way we viewed home entertainment. What started that day in 1985 was just the beginning of a life long journey for Nintendo from a small playing card company to the video game giant it is today. Mario has been through a lot of changes in his life time, and Nintendo has cooked up a video to celebrate.

Watching that video brings a smile to my face as it makes me remember all the great times I’ve had playing Mario games over the years. Although Nintendo doesn’t really click with my anymore, there’s no denying that they were a powerful force in my childhood, and probably ruined my willingness to engage in physical activity for the rest of my life. Do you guys have any memories about the plumber? Any game you remember more fondly than the others? What do you hope to see from Mario in the next 25 years?

GamerSushi Asks: Halo: Reach Roll Call?

Halo: ReachIt’s about time, gents. For those of you who have been waiting patiently and impatiently for Halo: Reach, the week is finally upon us, rolling like a tidal way to sweep us up in its inexorable and powerful wake. For those that are sick of any and all Reach-around news, you are equally as joyous as the pain will soon be at its end, the hype pushed behind.

Regardless of your stance towards the huge franchise that Bungie fashioned with its own hands, Halo: Reach will be a hard game to ignore, and stands as Bungie’s swan song to Halo when it drops this Tuesday. If you’re unaware, the reviews are already pouring in, and apparently the game is turning a few heads. Many are calling it the greatest Halo game created.

So, with all of this nonsense in mind, I figured it was about time to do a roll call in these parts. I’m picking the game up tomorrow night at midnight, and I’m more than likely going to play it with my brother co-op through the night and the next day until we beat it, before jumping into other modes and replaying it again on legendary with multiple combatants. That’s the plan, anyway. I’m flexible, though.

What about you guys? Who out there is going to be getting Halo: Reach? When will you have it in your grimy and gamepad calloused hands? Roll call, boys. Go!

Play as a Creepy Zombie Baby in Dead Space 2

Dead Space gained instant cult status amongst gamers, becoming notable for its chilling atmosphere and unique combat mechanic of dismembering foes instead of going for headshots. The game rightly got a bit of stick for essentially boiling down to an extended “Mr. Fix-It” run inside of a derelict spaceship crawling with flesh-rending foes, but it had a lot going for it under the hood, so we’re getting a sequel in January of 2011. One of the things that Visceral Games is adding this time around is multiplayer, and GTTV had an episode up last night with the exclusive reveal. If you ever played through the original Dead Space wishing you could control a dead baby with tentacle-like appendages on a mission to devour your friends, you are in for a treat.

Looks pretty interesting in my opinion, if a little reminiscent of Left 4 Dead’s versus mode. I doubt that the trailer showed all of what is shipping on the final product, but it looks like a four on four blood and guts fest is in the cards. Visceral Games is sure on track to live up to their moniker. Any thoughts on Dead Space 2’s multiplayer? Is the game on your “must have” list, or does the addition of multiplayer make you wary? Tell us in the comments!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Will Have Post-Launch Support, No Online Passes

Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-DLC

EA recently launched a new initiative a while back in which a unique code (such as Bad Company 2’s VIP or Mass Effect 2’s Cerberus Network) would incentivize purchasers not to trade their games back in by offering exclusive access to downloadable content (used game buyers would have to pay a fifteen dollar fee to access such a service). EA Sports also branched out with their own version of this program with the Online Pass, a one-time use token that would allow gamers to play the online portions of upcoming sports titles like Tiger Woods and Madden. Naturally, there was a bit of a backlash, but EA is just trying to protect itself from the ravenous jaws of the used game industry. So far, this is the only solution put forward by a publisher to actively combat trade ins, but is it the best one?

Enter Mark Lamia of Treyarch Studios, currently the developer of the upcoming Black Ops and potential savior of the Call of Duty series’ image amongst gamers. He maintains that a strong multiplayer segment and good post-launch support is the key to keep people playing your game long past the point of considering a trade-in. Teryarch still has a section of their studio working on keeping World at War fun, and they expect to dish out a lot of content for Black Ops. Instead of moving on immediately to the next project, they will be focusing on keeping fans engaged in the hopes that they’ll continue playing without gimmicks like VIP passes and online access codes, even if you bought the game used. With the new additions to multiplayer features like Wager Matches, replays and bringing back dedicated servers on the PC, Black Ops looks like it’s shaping up to be a proper title.

What do you guys think about his statement? What incentives would keep you from trading a game in? Online codes for first time purchasers, or a lot of DLC regardless of how you came by the title?

Source: MCV

Portal 2 Co-Op Demo from PAX

A few weeks ago, Valve released a brief Portal 2 co-op trailer. While it didn’t show us any actual gameplay, it finally gave us a small but illuminating look at what the game might entail for the many Portal fans that are dying to play with one another.

Over the weekend at PAX, though, Valve did even more: they brought a Portal 2 co-op demo with them for the world to see. As Mitch mentioned in his PAX 2010 round-up, there are definitely a few surprises to witness here. For one, instead of splitting the portal guns between the two players, both can each create both sets of portals, adding a layer of complication to the puzzles. There are some other surprises there, too, but I’ll let you guys see those for yourselves.

If these puzzles are any indication of how the later co-op puzzles could escalate, color me excited. Who else is dying to play this even more than before? What do you think of the gameplay they showed?

GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

Well, GamerSushi-ans, the last time we had a GC vs LC vs PC was back in June, before E3. Ah, things were so innocent then. We had no knowledge of the terrible Kinect software, Portal 2 on the PS3 and Kid Icarus on the Nintendo 3DS. It was a simpler time. And now we’re back, ready to kick off the Fall with a new edition.

If you’re unfamiliar with this feature, we discuss gaming issues and we switch roles each time. The GameCop is looking out for you, the gamer, while the LameCop is just what he sounds like: kind of a lamewad. Meanwhile, PsychoCop is a troll in every sense of the word, and completely bat poop insane.

The topics of this week’s feature include the Final Fantasy XIV experience cap, Dead Rising Case Zero and the raised subscription fees of XBox Live.

Continue reading GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

Valve Regrets Love Affair With 360, Moves to Open Development

team fortress valve heavy
A few years back, around the release of The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead, Valve was really going hard for Microsoft. They were trotting out quotes left and right saying how LIVE was the wave of the future and that the PS3 wasn’t really a good choice for developers. Fast forward to 2010, and opinions are changing. Back in July, Valve head honcho Gabe Newell swaggered out on stage at Sony’s E3 presser and announced that not only would Portal 2 be coming to the PlayStation 3, but it would be the premier version of the game. Naturally, some hyperbole is expected at E3, but Valve seems to be doing a neat about-face in regards to their console preferences.

Part of what caused Valve to change their mind about the X-Box 360 is that the development cycle for the system is very closed off. If you’re not familiar with Microsoft’s certification process, it is a very stringent battery of tests that need to be done internally by Microsoft before anything gets released to LIVE. This adds to the time needed to get patches out, even the critical ones. Microsoft also has a habit of insisting that downloadable content costs money, something Valve has preferred to avoid. The PS3, on the other hand, presents a much more open development platform for Valve, something they’re eager to utilize.
Continue reading Valve Regrets Love Affair With 360, Moves to Open Development

GamerSushi Asks: Launch Anticipation?

Midnight LaunchIf you haven’t gotten sick of us pointing out that Halo: Reach releases next week, then congratulations, you’re a trooper. As one of the bigger launches of the year, it’s kind of a hard thing to ignore, like King Kong taking a poop on your car. Not that any of us have experienced this, but you get the idea.

For me, there’s nothing quite like the anticipation that builds for a new release that you can’t wait to play. While I’m not the biggest Halo guy out there, I tend to get extremely excited about each new entry’s launch date. Perhaps it’s for nostalgia, and remembering the awesome nights I had for Halo 2 and 3, I don’t know. I seriously can’t wait for the launch of Halo: Reach, and I’m even taking September 14th off from work to play it all day with my brother.

I got just as excited this year when Mass Effect 2 came out, and I remember how antsy I got at work with it sitting on my desk (I picked it up during lunch). The only other release I can really remember getting this jazzed about was Gears of War 2, when I picked it up at midnight to play co-op with my buddy til the early hours of the morning.

So what about you guys? What games have you been most excited to have released in the past? Do you have any launch day ceremonies? What’s the next game coming out that you feel this way about? Go!

Bungie Tempts Us With Halo: Reach Campaign Walkthrough

I think I’ve mentioned this little factoid on here before, but I am kind of a spoiler hound. There are very few occasions where I manage to keep myself totally in the dark about a story for any book, movie or game. Case in point, I was playing through the new Mass Effect 2 DLC last night, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and I looked up the end of the level while I was playing it. If that isn’t crazy behavior, I don’t know what is. Just to make the wait for Halo: Reach even more unbareable, Bungie has seen fit to release a walkthrough of one of the campaign’s levels called Tip of the Spear, complete with commentary straight from the developers. I’m going to try and avoid watching this, but if you’re so inclined, I’ve embedded the video below:

If you did watch the video, what did you think? Pretty interesting, or are you trying to keep yourself squeaky clean for the next six days?

Today’s WTF: Microsoft Bans a Man for Living in Fort Gay

x-box live fort gayMicrosoft, Microsoft, Microsoft. What, are we playing catch-up to our former WTF King Blizzard now? If you’re not putting down your fanbase or trying to disguise your fairy leanings, then you’re banning people from your online service based on the name of their home town.

While this might not be an issue for most people (unless you have the misfortune to live near Lake Titicaca), an X-Box LIVE gamer recently ran afoul of Microsoft’s stringent “no bad words” policy. Typically these types of epithets are wielded on the internet with the expressed purpose of hurting someone’s feelings, but what if you’re just trying to tell people where you live. Fort Gay resident Josh Moore was kicked off of X-Box LIVE for adding the name of his town, a small 1,000 person hamlet in West Virginia, to his bio. Playing the devil’s advocate for Microsoft, they probably have a program that scours their user base looking for offensive language and auto-bans them without delving into specifics. Surely a phone call to X-Box LIVE’s customer service center could fix the issue? Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Mr. Moore was informed by Microsoft that the word gay was unacceptable in any context, and if he persisted in keeping the name of his town on his account, then his subscription would be canceled without a refund. Fort Gay’s mayor David Thompson got involved at this point, and through a series of interviews with local TV stations and the Associated Press, X-Box LIVE’s Director of Policy and Enforcement Stephen Toulouse stepped in and solved the issue. He reasons that, without context, the words Fort Gay, WV could be misconstrued as an insult. Mr. Toulouse promised to get in touch with Mr. Moore and remedy the situation. He said that keeping a lid on improper conduct on LIVE is a challenge, but he will work to set this particular incident right.

What do you guys think of this latest slip up? Microsoft is no stranger to backlash from heavy-handed maneuvers on LIVE, so this is just one more unfortunate incident. Obviously they were wrong in this instance, but is it better to be safe than sorry?

Source:CSB News

Today’s WTF: Rare’s Kameo Had Fairies?

Kameo Remember MeBack when the X-Box 360 launched in 2005, one of the the titles it came with was called Kameo: Elements of Power. At this point, the game has mostly slipped the collective memory of the 360’s user base, but the game’s developer, Rare, remembers. Rare just recently celebrated its 25 anniversary, and it spent a little time reminiscing about a game that is apparently a “painful” memory for the developer.

Rare initially started making Kameo for the GameCube back in 2002, but it was bought up by Microsoft shortly thereafter and transferred the game over to the then-upcoming 360. By that point, Kameo was mostly finished, so they just made a few tweaks to bring it up to next-gen standards. According to Creative Director George Andreas, the studio wished that they had scrapped it and started all over again. The game was originally aimed at the Nintendo audience, and Rare thought that the main character’s race wouldn’t fly with the 360’s shooter-centric crowd, so they fibbed. Here’s the word from Rare’s George Andreas on Kameo’s dirty secret:

“We changed direction slightly because of the new audience we were trying to aim at. We called Kameo an elf, but really she was a fairy. We tried to disguise that a few times, but it didn’t really work out. It was a game with a fairy for an audience that likes shooting and killing things. In hindsight, it probably would have been best to scrap everything and start again. And then we jumped on 360 as a launch title. We weren’t far off finishing [when that happened].”

Well there you have it, folks. We’ve been lied to all these years. This is kind of a funny thing to finally reveal after all this time, but carrying a burden such as this can be hard on people. While this is more of a amusing WTF than a puzzling one, I thought you guys would get a kick out of this. Do you have anything to say on this? Maybe it’s an over-all comment on the difficulty of breaching the X-Box audience with a new, more kid friendly IP?

Source: CVG

Microsoft Belittling Gamers at Kinect Launch Event?

Fat GamerAs both Sony and Microsoft follow the lead of Nintendo in the motion control front, there has been a question over which is more suitable to either hardcore or casual audiences. In my mind, there are bigger concerns about Kinect’s target audience. After the showing at E3, I’ve maintained that Kinect isn’t for gamers – it’s for their spouses, girlfriends, moms, etc. Microsoft is going after a new audience altogether, it seems.

Well, as of last week there’s perhaps more fuel to add to the fire. At a Kinect launch event, Microsoft made some rather objectionable comments about gamers, in what appears to be an attempt to connect (get it?) with a casual and non-gaming consumer. Here is what Microsoft’s regional entertainment guru, David McLean, had to say:

Gaming’s not just for sweaty thirty year olds in Metallica t-shirts…

Um, alright? I’m all for going after a new target audience. I can at least wrap my head around that. But this is an entirely different level, here. Continue reading Microsoft Belittling Gamers at Kinect Launch Event?

Duke Nukem Gameplay From PAX 2010

Duke Nukem Forever

Since everybody else and their mom is posting about the shocking news that Duke Nukem Forever lives, I suppose we were obliged to get a post up as well. So here it is: the obligatory Duke Nukem Forever post.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the skinny: the fabled and long ridiculed vaporware has been kept alive like some sort of Frankenstein’s monster by Gearbox, creators of Borderlands. Over the weekend at PAX Prime 2010 in Seattle, Washington, the greatest of all gaming conventions had the killer reveal on the show floor, and people actually got to play the game that time forgot and mocked.

And naturally, people took lots of video. It was like spotting a unicorn in the wild, with double rainbows blazing from its pure and silky mane. Personally, I liked Duke Nukem, but I don’t identify with all of the mania. I think more of the craze is about the fact that the game exists more than the franchise itself, but I could be wrong.

So, is anyone here excited about this news? Were any of you Duke Nukem fans? Crappy offscreen handheld videos after the jump! Continue reading Duke Nukem Gameplay From PAX 2010

Kevin Butler’s Epic Move-Tage

I just love the Kevin Butler persona. Our favorite VP of anything and everything has shown up yet again, this time in what he has deemed an epic move-tage that has a lot of the Playstation Move games on display. So far, looking pretty good. Whatever that mech game is, I actually kind of want to play it.

Out of all the motion control pundits out there, Sony seems to understand that the hardcore gamer wants real games. While I’m still not sold on Move completely, it’s the most appealing to me in terms of software, even though the hardware of Microsoft’s Kinect is much more impressive from a technical standpoint. Awesome promos like this certainly help.

What do you guys think? Go!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Brings Wager Matches

After eating my words about Call of Duty: World at War — a game I doubted for months on end — I have had an up and down relationship with Call of Duty: Black Ops. You see, occasionally I find myself excited, really enjoying some of the glimpses I get to see. And other times, I wonder if the series is getting close to jumping the shark, so to speak.

However, I might be back on the optimistic side after the brand new footage Treyarch revealed this week, showing off the new wager multiplayer mode that they’ve included in Black Ops. Basically, it’s a game mode where you take the currency you’ve earned in multiplayer matches and gamble it against other players. There are a variety of ways to do this, including single shot rounds, knife gametypes and even one where each kill upgrades your weapon up to a new tier. Really, you need to see it yourself.

Did this excite anyone else? Or just me?

GameStop Offers Extra Trade-In Value Towards Halo: Reach and Metroid: Other M

Halo vs MetroidI don’t know how it happened, but the Fall is already here. Basically, all of us have entered a collective form of group time travel, and we’ve managed to skip the summer and get straight to September. Metroid: Other M released on Tuesday, and a whole other round of games is marching inexorably forward. Soon, they will pile atop us, a colossus of entertainment waiting to be felled by our magical swords of light. You know what I mean.

While I know there is a debate that goes around amongst us about trading in video games and buying used games, I do know there is a portion of us that maintain our gaming addiction through this very practice (I count myself as one of those junkies). I’m not a big fan of the practice, but with big titles like Halo: Reach looming around the bend, some of us are trying to scrap together money however we can. For other manic trade-in users like myself, I thought I would post a handy link to GameStop’s trade in offers for September 2010.

The used games retail giant actually has a few good trade-in deals going on at the moment, including offering $40 towards Metroid or Halo: Reach for bringing in any 2 games in a slew of titles. That offer lasts until Sunday, September 5th, so get a move on if you’re interested. On top of that GameStop is offering an additional 25% for all trade-ins that go towards Dead Rising 2, Metroid or Halo: Reach.

There are some other deals, too, but those are some of the highlights. Who plans on buying any of these games? Has anyone played Metroid yet? Report!

Source – GameStop Trade-Ins and image by Ripten