Coming on the heels of Blizzcon 08 (where a StarCraft II trilogy of sorts was announced), Blizzard has come under attack from forum trolls and games journalists alike! Has the Activision merger finally come to haunt the seemingly snow white reputation of Blizzard? Blizzard’s Starcraft rep says NO!

In an interview with Edge magazine, Bob Colayco was quoted as saying “Blizzard is the one calling the shots.” Alright Bob — with you so far — what else do you have to say?

“Effectively, what are we really talking about here? We’ve always done our RTS games with one expansion pack. So now we’re releasing two. Is it really that weird?”

So let me get this straight, you are going to charge consumers full price in the future for “expansion packs”? Even if Activision isn’t calling the shots, something has inherently changed at the top levels of Blizzard.

The company recently added a new recruit-a-friend feature to the World of Warcraft game, which allows new recruits, and those who recruit them, to both benefit from triple the amount of XP. Excuse me, but how is this not a slap in the face to long time WoW gamers?

Are these changes really being done in the best interest of the majority of consumers? Are full priced expansion packs what we’re used to seeing from Blizzard?

Source: edge-online.com

Sony’s CEO Jack Tretton recently gave news that PSP and Playstation 3 sales are up 30% from their projected targets. While this news comes as a welcome surprise, it’s also bittersweet. Mr. Tretton went on to say that because of the high sales numbers of the PSP and PS3, he anticipates manufacturing shortages on both consoles later this year.

Mr. Tretton, in an interview with Reuters, was quoted as saying:

“We are tracking at 100 percent up over last year… About 30 percent ahead of where we should be. So sales could slow down and we will still hit our number.

“I’d say we are able to meet somewhere between 80-90 percent demand, based on how things are trending,” he said, adding that any product shortages wouldn’t be “drastic”.

Source:CVG

A video featuring a mechanical Tetris playing robot table has just hit the internet. In the video the rig features an NES style controller that adjusts the x and y axis of the blocks.

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Every time you think this cold war relic has retired itself into video game history; another port will pop up in the damnedest place. The recent iPhone rendition is a shining example of this. The fact that someone took such a huge amount of time and effort into building something so elaborate is a testament to the timelessness of the video game classic that is Tetris.

Via TechEBlog

According to BusinessWeek Sony has cut manufacturing costs of the PS3 by half: making the current cost $400 instead of the $800 they started with at launch. Nikko Citigroup’s Kota Ezawa chalks up the price reduction to smaller chip sizes and design tweaks.

Could this be the real reason why Sony decided to cut the price of the PS3 so early in the game? Regardless, halving the manufacturing costs of such a pricey console can only bode well for potential customers.

This juxtaposed with Sony’s immanent HD victory has stocks rising steadily with a 4% increase in Tokyo. It seems their Trojan Horse video format has finally paid off. It’s only a matter of time before this success is passed down as a savings to the end consumer—hopefully.

Via BusinessWeek, Joystiq

According to Canadian physicians, videogames can be more effective than drugs alone for people who suffer from chronic pain.

Scientists observed that participants at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver felt more comfortable playing “virtual reality games” than taking pain medication alone.

Researchers note that videogames apparently have the potential of providing a safe, partial alternative to addictive medicine.

Founder of the university’s BioMedia Lab, Diane Gromala went on record stating,

“Controlling pain through computerized VR and biofeedback meditation therapies has the promise of providing successful, cost-effective alternatives to pain medications”.

It’s funny, every time I play “virtual reality games” my pain increases. After pulling a five hour stretch in WoW the pain in my ass is nigh unbearable…maybe I just need to increase my dosage.

Via Engadget, DailyTech

Due to the recent Writers Guild strike, the staff of Late Night with Conan O’Brien have been lazing around playing RockBand (are they hiring?). While I wish the free time would have culminated into some better material for the oft times painful to watch show, I guess beggars can’t be choosers. Hit the jump for Conan’s take on RockBand.

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With all the talk swirling around regarding video games benefiting from the lack of TV, this skit may hold more weight than was intended. While I’m not going to say that one Conan O’Brien skit is a definitive victory for gamers everywhere, I will say that it’s interesting to see TV hosts acknowledging the success of modern gaming on national television.

Complaints have started to hit the internet en mass regarding the Psyclone Wii-Mote charger. Claims range from the unit simply not working, to reports of the remote actually melting onto the charger. Amazon.com’s review page runs rampant with warnings regarding the battery charger; out of 27 reviews, 25 of them ended up being negative. Psyclone chargers can be found at most major retailers ranging from Target to Circuit City.

After looking at the product description on Psyclone Essentials’ website, we noticed a very lengthy warning regarding their Recharge Station:

WARNING – Rechargeable batteries left unattended in the recharge unit for an extended period of time may cause the batteries and/or unit to overheat. If the Wii (TM) remote doesn’t charge properly or begins to heat up, please stop the charge process and contact our customer service line to prevent further damage. If you feel that your batteries are heating up, please do not use those batteries any more. We are happy to help you and replace your product: Psyclone Customer Service #1-800-315-0795

How many times have you left your cell phone or iPod on a charger all night? You simply don’t expect that the charger will keep charging after it’s finished, it should go without saying. So instead of owning up to the problem and issuing a recall, Psyclone Essentials takes the easy way out and tries to gloss over manufacturing laziness with a warning on their website. The summation of the story can be described no better than by someone who got duped by this faulty product:

Do not buy this charger. After using mine one time it fried my remote. The controller was very warm when I took it off the charger and the rechargeable battery pack had melted in the Wii remote. This product is a fire hazard and it does not work. Save yourself money by replacing the batteries rather than replacing the remotes after they get destroyed by this terrible product.

Via QJ, Amazon

Replica plasma grenades are now available on Ebay, thanks to a little handy work by worldwidewebbs. The Ebay user is charging $19.99 plus a $5.00 shipping fee for the little bundles of joy. We know what you’re thinking, but unless you want to spend another 25 bucks, don’t throw this in your dad’s face when he tells you to mow the lawn.

Clearly specified in the auction, the seller states “This grenade is TOUGH, but NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE. It should not be thrown under any circumstances.” That’s his take, although it might be worth it to stick any unsuspecting siblings.

Via TheXboxDomain, Ebay

After losing a fight in school, a 17 year old boy in Beijing covered his classmate with gasoline and lit him on fire. According to Beijing News the teen claimed that he “had lost himself in World of Warcraft” and “transformed into a Fire Mage.”

The Teen has since been sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay the victim and his family 760,000 RMB (about $103,140 USD).

Game|Life’s Earnest Cavalli had the following to say regarding the recent events:

In light of the recent “Mortal Kombat killings,” we’re hesitant to believe the claims of any youth who says they have been influenced by a video game into violence. In this case, though, we believe him simply because China lacks our American legal system that allows people to claim “games made me do it,” and subsequently shift all blame to the game’s creators.

I too am glad to see that this individual is going to be held accountable for his actions. His warped perception of reality caused him to set fire to another human being, and there is no justification for his actions.

Via, Game|Life, Massively, Beijing News

The PC gamer is probably the hardest person to shop for. We are a well informed and well connected bunch. If it’s out, we probably already own it, or at the very least we know if it’s worth buying or not. With that in mind, this guide is tailored specifically for you. I won’t insult your intelligence, because lets be honest, we know damn well your Grandma isn’t reading this article.

#10 Turtle Beach X-52 : $79.95

Give the gift of gab this Christmas! You know that guy on Vent who always sounds like he has a d*ck in his throat? Get him a Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52. The 5.1 surround sound built into these, are worth the price of admission in and of themselves. When coupled with a flexible boom mic, the X-52 becomes the definitive gaming headset to own this holiday season. It’s made for those long nights sitting alone at your desk in TeamSpeak, talking to your E-friends about the latest season of Heroes…or maybe that’s just me.

#9 Logitech THX Z-5300 5.1

Pissed off because your console gaming friends keep bragging about their 5.1 surround sound being better than your piece of shit computer speakers? Grab the Logitech THX Z-5300 5.1 setup, your PC will become your new hub for all kinds of media. Movies and music will sound amazing, while you gain the upper hand in heated Counter Strike matches. If you’ve never played with surround sound, now is the time, it’s not a gimmick, directional audio will save your ass in shooters, period.

#8 D-Link DGL-4100 : $94.99

Nothing will take the egg out of your nog faster than a marathon session of port opening on Christmas Eve. While I’m not sure about the eggnog analogy, I am sure about opening ports, it sucks, plain and simple. If you’re new to wireless routers, let me explain what I mean. Each piece of software uses a different port , in order to play pc games, or to play wirelessly on your game consoles, you have to have the said port opened. Some routers come with some specific ports already opened. So if you are ever in Best Buy looking at boxes, and you notice some say Xbox Live ready and some don’t, all it means is that the Live port comes pre opened on the router. That’s why the D-Link DGL-4100 is a handy product for hardcore gamers. It comes with most of the ports for your favorite games already open. Trust me, it saves allot of time and hassle, especially if you end up buying more than five PC games a year.

#7 X-Arcade Dual Stick : $129.95

If you haven’t played any MAME games yet, stop reading this guide and go download the emulator. It’s free, and it has all the old arcade games you played growing up. Alien vs. Predator, Die Hard, and Street Fighter– After you grow tired of playing on your keyboard, the next step is to upgrade to an X-Arcade Dual Stick. The buttons feel just how you would expect from an arcade machine, and it also has two sticks for multiplayer bouts. Just add some pizza grease and you’ll be reliving the nostalgic button mashings of your youth.

#6 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard : $61.99

A keyboard’s a keyboard, that’s what I thought before I bought a G15. While I admittedly sound like a used car salesman, don’t let that distract from the fact that the G15 is amazing for gaming. Being able to see IMs on the LCD screen, or using a macro key in World of Warcraft are some of the most intuitive usages of keyboard applications to date. The back lit letters for night gaming, and the ability to lock the Windows key show just how tailored this keyboard is to gamers. Hardware buffs may notice I included the picture for the older model of the G15, that’s because if you can get your hands on one, it’s superior to the new version. The newer model has fewer macro keys, a smaller LCD, and no flap to close the screen(Leaving it on overnight with the screen on is annoying if in the same room).

#5 Gametap

Gametap has always been one of those things that sounded good on paper, but never panned out in practice. However, with current titles such as Clive Barker’s Jericho, Sam and Max, Far Cry, and Infernal–GameTap’s monthly fee starts to look more and more like a bargain. Now don’t get me wrong, GameTap still has a ways to go to sift through all the piles of raunchy shit that they currently have available, not every title is worth the download. Still the package as a whole still delivers the goods, and at $59.95 a year, the price of one console game, GameTap is an easily recommendable product for PC gamers this year.

#4 V1 CPU Cooler

Get the gift of silence this holiday season with Thermaltake’s V1 CPU cooler. If you’re downloading videos and music, a silent PC is a must. With the Thermaltake V1 you can leave your rig on overnight without it sounding like a derailed freight train. Your adult video collection will grow tenfold, trust us on that one. The Thermaltake CL-P0401 supports these socket types respectfully…

Intel Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo (socket LGA775)
Pentium D (socket LGA775)
Pentium 4 (socket LGA775)
Pentium (socket LGA775)
Celeron D (socket LGA775)
Celeron (socket LGA775)
Athlon 64 FX (socket AM2 / 939)
Athlon 64 X2 (socket AM2 /939)
Athlon 64 (socket AM2 / 939 / 754)
Sempron (socket AM2 / 754)

#3 The Witcher

One of the things we’ve come to relish about our platform of choice is the mature nature of the games developed for it. The Witcher is a prime example of an adult RPG that transcends traditional high fantasy fare. Developed by CDPROJEKT Red Studio in Poland, the Witcher has a truly unique take on the genre, introducing sexual scenarios into gameplay, each of which are truly more suave than a pot of “hot coffee”. The fraternizing with pixilated honeys isn’t the only thing this European developed title brings to the table. The combat is top notch, this in culmination with a deeply engaging story with plot twists based solely on your choices throughout, makes The Witcher the sleeper hit to own this Christmas.

#2 Dell 2707 WFP

Bigger is better, a tired cliché resonates true in so far as monitors are concerned. The bigger it is, the bigger the chance of you seeing an opponent that you otherwise might have missed. If you’re building the ultimate rig, you can’t finish with anything less than a Dell 2707 WFP. After playing on a normal sized screen, and then seeing what it’s like on a 24” high resolution monitor, you won’t want to go back. The drawback is that with increased pixels needing to be rendered, the overhead load is allot higher for your GPU to process, making framerates dip considerably. So make sure your graphics card is up to date before asking for this 1920×1200 native res beast.

#1 Nvidia 8800GT

Even though it’s doubtful that your cheap ass will be buying your own presents, it’s always good to conserve resources wherever possible. The cheaper each present is, the more you get!–We know how it works. That said, the new 8800GT has the best of both worlds, in terms of sheer processing power and a price point that won’t break the bank. At least that’s the theory, we scoured the web to find out the raw numbers behind each card currently on the market—I think you’d be surprised by the results, I know we were…

It’s only natural to feel a strong nostalgic resonance with a piece of artwork. Look at literary works such as Huckleberry Finn or Dante’s Inferno that only seem to gain popularity as the slow weather of time imprints their narratives into the deepest psyches of our mind. So why then do the classic games of our time fall short as the years slowly wear them away?

To examine this phenomenon, we must first acknowledge the superficial nature that lies within us all. Text in classic literature is uniform to today’s books, however not so with movies or games. Could this be the definitive factor as to why literature can be truly timeless — in the way a movie or game cannot?

The answer may lie in the technical pretenses of the medium. A piece of literature never pretends to be flashy or visually appealing. However with audio/visual media, technical prowess often serves to be the death of any sub-par graphically rendered piece of modern art.

So why then, does cinema have its classics that keep viewers entranced for generations? The answer again lies with technical marvel; works such as Star Wars or the Alien films have all been remade with the modern movie watcher in mind. Each of these has seen its fair share of remakes to enhance visual quality in order to be taken seriously, even by the snobbiest of A/V buffs.

The summation could be made that classic video games need to be remade, as seen by Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and Tomb Raider: Anniversary, but to what end? Video games are a cumulative medium, drawing on the strengths and weeding out the flaws of each previous generation of titles.

In that sense, video game development draws on a sort of Darwinistic Philosophy, where only the strong survive. So what makes a game weak enough to be left behind by natural selection? Again, it comes back to our superficial nature—the medium is meant to submerse our minds into the game world, and it becomes nigh impossible to do this when the technical hurdles placed before us serve to deter our classics at every corner.

So what then are we to do? Will the games we’ve played and loved; the games which have changed our life, be forever buried by the sands of time? The question has already been answered– you played and cherished them so much that they have impacted your life, so whether or not the game gets remade is irrelevant.

In other words, it’s still a classic that belongs to you, and belongs to all of us. We, as gamers, are the backbone of modern media. Books and movies can continue to dwell on their successes, we are constantly at the forefront of something new, the future is ours for a price–Our past.

Want a stocking stuffer for that Playstation owner that seems to have everything? Well you can’t get them a PSN pre paid card…At least not this year. Sony confirmed on their Official Playstation Blog today that US retailers should start getting the cards in early 08’. Get the full details after the jump.

If you stopped by one of of the major gaming sites in the last day or so, there’s a good chance you’ve seen one of these stories confirming the existence of PLAYSTATION Network cards, or the debut of such cards in Japan.

We’ve heard the call – usually around the time we update the PLAYSTATION Store – from loyal PS3/PSP owners who’d like to give (or receive) these cards as a gift, and from those who’d like an alternative to using a credit card to purchase things on the PLAYSTATION Store. So here’s an update: Yes, the option many of you have been asking for – PLAYSTATION Network Cards – are coming, and should start appearing at retailers in early ‘08. The cards will be redeemable via the PLAYSTATION Store for PC, and on the PLAYSTATION 3 to supply the wallet with funds to spend on games, add-ons, and other paid content.

We’ll continue to keep you updated here on the PlayStation Blog as their arrival grows nearer.

The existence of pre paid cards can only be a smart move on Sony’s part in order to compete for customer attention—especially with an already crowded retail space. This is even better news for younger gamers who may only be able to pay with cash. The only downside is the fact that it’s releasing after Christmas this year, which would have been ideal timing. So give the gift of an Everyday Shooter or a Super StarDust HD—just…do it next year.

Via US Official Playstation Blog, ShackNews

Chris Kohler over at Wired reported today that Sony has allowed developers to overclock the PSP to run at 333mhz, instead of the current 222mhz. In addition, the people over at 1up put a video together illustrating the extent of the changes being made.

Using next year’s God of War: Chains of Olympus the graphical overhaul can be easily seen. What’s unclear is just how portable, or rather un-portable, this overclocking will make the PSP.

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An enhanced CPU on board will do nothing to help Sony fans that are already attached at the hip to their power cord. In addition, there is no mention of heat dispersal. If you increase the amount of processing a CPU has to do, you also increase the amount of ambient energy expended around the core.

PC gamers are no strangers to overclocking, and any one of them can tell you if you speed up the core, you better have a damn good heatsync or your motherboard will fry. This calls into question the PSP’s future platform stability, in addition to general comfort of holding a hotter console. I think Chris Kohler hit the nail on the head when he said, “But now, with PSP being eviscerated by the DS, they need to do whatever they can to make it appealing.”

This move may make the PSP more appealing in the short term. However, with an increase in ambient heat and an even skimpier battery life, Sony needs to think long and hard before making this a staple for PSP development moving forward.

UPDATE: After contacting Sony PR with regards to Syphon Filter and other games running at 333mhz, we can comfirm that God of War is not the first to use this clock rate. A list is being compiled for us pertaining to which games have run 333, but in the mean time I would like to thank Tom Simpson for pointing out this flaw in my piece. While not actually saying that God of War was the first title to use 333mhz I feel like it was implied in my article. Sorry for any confusion, and thanks for visiting Ripten.

Via Wired, and GameVideos

Three hours of work, and it didn’t save my game!

Save points are truly a spear in the side of any modern gamer. It’s 2007, we have the latest in bump mapping, anisotropic filtering, and the best of mipmaps. We’ve got the graphics, so now it’s time to look beyond superficial beauty. We need to fix problems that have plagued our media for far too long, namely, sparsely placed save points.

How has something this high profile gone unnoticed? Furthermore, how many games have you stopped playing solely because you didn’t want to invest another hour into something you just did? We fixed this problem, didn’t we? Look at Metal Gear Solid, a game that saves damn near every time you enter a room.

I suppose they aren’t true save points, more like continue points. Still, when you died in MGS all you had to do was retry the area you failed. This game was released in 1998, almost 10 years ago. Why hasn’t the developer community adopted this base mechanic?

The answer can be found by looking at what a game is on a rudimentary level. Or specifically, what a game is to you. Do you play games for the challenge? Or are you more interested in the story, and the experience as a whole? This fundamental choice draws a line in the sand between the two audiences.
I feel that the level of tenacity required to develop a game in the 21st century may be a telling sign that the development community is made up of largely “challenge gamers”. That’s what they enjoy in games, so the only logical summation for them to make would be to assume that everyone wants a challenge.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to instill a sense of fear for the player dying. Namely, should a player die, they will have to redo the entire level as punishment for their mistake. At least that’s how it’s worked all the way back since Mario Brothers. The problem is, that’s how it’s worked since fucking Mario Brothers. The idea is as dated as the title itself.

Games need to evolve beyond their challenge – that’s not to say they should be effortless, but the fabric of these games needs to be woven with today’s gamer in mind. Let the golden age of difficult games die with the arcades that bore them.

Nine million people can’t be wrong. How many times have you heard that one? Well if nine million people each shell out an extra $40 for Burning Crusade, and another $40 for Wrath of the Lich King, then that leaves Blactivison with…A hell of allot of money. Simply put WoW is big business.

This makes news of the Alpha code being leaked to the public all the more interesting. How does ActiBlizzion mess this one up? News has been reaching our ears of gamers logging onto entire servers full of people playing the Alpha leak. How does a company worth an estimated $18.9 billion in assets let something like this happen?

For all the masochistic gamers with a love for PAIN, comes the news that Sony will be adding in game advertisements to its $9.99 PSN title.

In addition, with the PSN’s tracking capabilities, Sony will be able to charge advertisers based on how many people are currently playing the game. This differs from the industries currently running plan to charge based on projected sales figures. In rare form, Sony also releases the price of advertisements, $30 per thousand players.

Furthermore, Sony goes on to announce their partnership with Nielsen Games, an in game advertisement agency who has access to back end Sony proprietary data.

As of now, all PAIN advertisements have been fake or directly related to Sony. That will change in the coming weeks. With no advertisers being disclosed as of yet, Darlene Kindle, director of Sony’s new in-game advertising unit went on to say, “You can imagine people like Lionsgate, who publish Blu-ray movies, getting involved. Media, creative agencies and brands all want to be involved in this program”.

Perhaps the most interesting bit of news here isn’t the PAIN advertisements, but Sony’s commitment to in game ads as a whole. Quotes from product strategy director Gerardo Guzman don’t serve to douse suspicions, “We can’t get inside the game, at least not yet.”

“Advertisers aren’t saying they want Sony players or Xbox players, they want gamers. For this to work it has to be across all platforms, including the PC.” Double Fusion places most of its ads on PCs.

In addition Jonathan Epstein, CEO of Double Fusion, an in game advertisement network based in San Fransisco said to AdWeek, “I hope we can extend this paradigm. Advertisers want to reach game players across all media.” With money to be made, it seems like everyone is hot-to-trot the new business trend of in game advertisements—That is, except us…the gamer. Who cares about us though? Sony, as well as any other publisher worth his salt knows that we will buy the games, in game advertisement or not. Even with the knowledge that the extra revenue won’t be passed on as a savings to us, the end consumer.

via AdWeek Magazine, Destructoid

With all the heavy reading shining a negative light on Eidos’ recently released Kane and Lynch, it’s great to see someone actually excited to play it. Just don’t tell Grandma about the lightning Kane shoots out of his fingers, or she may just beat you with the ol’ bicycle chain.

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Those of you who frequent the GFW Brodeo will no doubt recognize the voice as none other than Mr. Shawn Elliot. The man strikes fear in the hearts of basement dwellers everywhere. Mr. Elliot’s antics have been well documented, spanning his reign of terror from YouTube to GameVideos. If Grandma loving Team Fortress 2 nerds aren’t your thing, try a demon possessed Counter-Strike player…

An insider at GameSpot has come forward today claiming he worked on the Kane and Lynch ads. He put in his two cents regarding the Gerstmann firing. Read his thoughts after the jump.

This is what I came here to say.

I worked on the K&L ads personally, and I had a front-row seat to the whole debacle.

The ads were originally supposed to point to the GS review page, as they sometimes do. When the review came out, Eidos was understandably upset, and yes — they did threaten to pull the whole campaign — but they eventually simmered down and kept the campaign. They had us change the clickthrough URL from the GS review to the official site, but other than that little changed.

The ads went up and the Eidos brouhaha was settled over two weeks ago. Jeff got fired yesterday. Furthermore, I’d heard a few people tell that he’d already been skating on thin ice for “unprofessional reviews and review practices.” I don’t know much about that, though, so I can’t say one way or the other.

My gut tells me that he got canned for larger reasons. Maybe the Eidos debacle was part of it — I don’t know. But I sincerely doubt that Eidos made Gamespot fire him. CNET doesn’t kowtow to its advertisers, and I’ve more than once seen the higher-ups turn away big advertising dollars for the sake of the company’s integrity.

I think the whole thing is likely a combination of factors, the biggest being poor timing. Gerst gets canned just two weeks after the K&L incident, so people blame it on that (especially when backed by PA, the gaming journalism equivalent to The Daily Show).

It’ll be interesting to see how everything pans out, but I’m definitely gonna keep an open mind about it for now.

In addition on the 1up message boards Mr. Sam Kennedy previously of Gamespot, now site director at 1up chimed in claiming he never received pressure due to advertisers.

Jeff’s been overseeing GameSpot’s reviews for over a decade, and publisher complaints (of which there have been many — I would know, I worked there years ago) never affected policy.

Sam Kennedy also shared with us a link showing the Yahoo article where Stephen Colvin was hired to oversee GameSpot, as well as other C|Net publications.

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CNET Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNET – News), a leading interactive media company, today announced that Stephen Colvin, former President and CEO of Dennis Publishing, the publisher of Maxim, Blender, Stuff, and The Week magazines, is joining the company as executive vice president. Colvin will be dedicated to overseeing the company’s entertainment and lifestyle brands, which includes leading properties such as GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, FilmSpot, CHOW, and UrbanBaby.

The launch of the Penny Arcade strip all but confirmed to us that these accusations were real. Here is what the comic writers had to say about the situation as a whole.

It’s been a couple weeks discussing reviews and reviewers around here, but somewhere along the way I neglected to mention that their job is essentially impossible. The 7-9 scale they toil under is largely the result of an uneasy peace between the business and editorial wings of the venue. No matter what score they give it, high or low, they’re reviled equally by the online chorus. Apparently, even when they do it right they’re doing it wrong.

Jeff Gerstmann is no stranger to controversy. In general terms, Gamespot can be relied upon to give high-profile games scores which are slightly lower than their counterparts elsewhere. It’s almost as though there is an algorithm in place there to correct the heady rush associated with cracking open an anticipated new title. Gerstmann’s 8.8 review of Twilight Princess cemented his reputation as a criminal renegade with no law but his own, even though he gave the game an 8.9 – a nine, essentially – out of ten.

I will tell you the Gerstmann Story as we heard it. Management claimed to have spoken to Jeff about his “tone” before, and no doubt it was this tone that created tensions between their editorial content, the direction of the site, and the carefully crafted relationships that allowed Gamespot to act as an engine of revenue creation. After Gerstmann’s savage flogging of Kane & Lynch, a game whose marketing investment on Gamespot alone reached into the hundreds of thousands, Eidos (we are told) pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site.

Management has another story, of course: management always has another story. But it’s the firm belief internally that Jeff was sacrificed. And it had to be Jeff, at least, we believe, precisely because of his stature and longevity. It made for a dramatic public execution that left the editorial staff in disarray. Would that it were only about the 6.0 – at least then you’d know how to score something if you wanted to keep your Goddamned job. No, this was worse: the more nebulous “tone” would be the guide. I assume it was designed to terrify them.

For Gabriel, this tale proves out his darkest suspicions. People believe things like this anyway, but they don’t know it, and the shift from intuitive to objective knowledge is startling. I think it rarely gets to this point. The apparatus is very tight: there are layers of editorial control that can massage the score, even when the text tells a different tale. A more junior reviewer might have seen their Kane & Lynch review streamlined by this process, divested of its worrisome angles and overall troubling shape. It was Jeff Gerstmann’s role high in the site’s infrastructure that allowed his raw editorial content to pierce the core of the business.

Could all of this be a case of money hungry CEOs wanting to bathe themselves in swaths of money? Or could the Kane and Lynch review serve as a figurative last straw for Jeff at Gamespot? Regardless, this is all part of a larger trend of review scores becoming hostage to the same negative focal point that games were held to for so many years. Let Mr. Gerstmann become a catalyst for change, because this industry doesn’t belong to overzealous publishers, it belongs to us– the gamers.

via 1up, PennyArcade, Forumopolis, Yahoo News

In a forum post via the official community forums, Harmonix went on record claiming that the strum bars in early production where “imperfect”. This just confirms what we already knew. We’ve been getting reports of guitars breaking by the truckload. In addition, Harmonix spoke on the issue of PS3 guitar compatibility, saying, “These issues have our full attention”. Read the full response after the jump.

Many of you have contacted us regarding your guitar controllers. As sometimes happens when new products first go into manufacturing, we discovered an imperfection with the strum bar in an early production run of guitars that were shipped at launch.

Harmonix also promised that changes will be made to the new batch of guitars that are set to release. Those of you who already own a broken guitar can contact EA and have a new one sent out here. Or if you are more of a do-it-yourselfer you can attempt the rubber band fix found here. Either way you slice it, it’s bad news for early adopters.

via QJ, and Official Rock Band Forums

In an epic interview with GamaSutra’s Brandon Sheffield and Christian Nutt, Epic Game’s VP and key creator of the Unreal Engine Mark Rein went into detail about Unreal Tournament 3 and other official UE3 licensee titles.

Among other useful niblets of information, Mr. Rein highlights the importance of Sony consoles this holiday season, stating, “I think Sony’s going to have a good Christmas this year. Games like Unreal Tournament 3 will hopefully get out the door.”

Coming from PC roots, Mark realizes that user generated content plays host to some of the most memorable experiences ever created. When asked about the difference between the Unreal Tournament 3 map system and Little Big Planet, he went on to say:

CN: I bet they’re going to police LittleBigPlanet and other stuff.

MR: Well, LittleBigPlanet is more of an example of rearranging chairs on the deck, right?

CN: It’s pretty robust.

MR: This is the real thing. You can’t import your own models in LittleBigPlanet. You can’t write script code in LittleBigPlanet.

That’s all well and good, but what about the problems with the PS3’s development cycle? Brandon Sheffield went on to ask:

BS: Do you think Unreal Engine 3 running on the PS3 now is going to help people surmount the difficulties they’ve been having?
MR: I think that’s generally how it works. That’s part of the reason why we build a game — to prove out the technology, and iron all the kinks out of it and make it good. As I’ve said before, a year after the Xbox 360 was on the market, we had a really good game — Gears of War — and that kind of became version 1.0 of Unreal Engine 3 for the Xbox 360. That became a roadmap. It was well-optimized, and licensees could go look at that code. We released it so they could say, “If I want to do at least what Epic’s doing with Unreal Engine 3 and get that kind of framerate and performance and visual look or move some of those levers up and down to be different, I can do that.”

I think it’s the same thing with Unreal Tournament [3 on PS3] so absolutely. I think now, people can see, “Okay, they’ve got the engine running with this much content.” Everybody’s mileage varies, because not everybody’s making the same game. But, “They have the engine running with this many characters, explosions, and vehicles, and the level’s this size, and if I follow that idea, I can get that kind of performance, and if I do less of this, I can do more of that. If I do more of this, I can do less than that.” So, absolutely, I think we’re at that kind of version 1.0 on PlayStation 3 a year after the PlayStation 3 shipped, the same way we were with Xbox 360 a year after the Xbox 360 shipped. That was a pretty predictable thing, and was what we expected that was going to occur and what we’ve been telling people.

In addition to all of this, Mark Rein went on to comment about the relevancy of the Blu-ray player in the PS3:

CN: The 40-gig PS3 has been out in Europe for a little while now, and the numbers shot way up.

MR: Well, good for Sony. When I said they were going to have a good Christmas, I didn’t necessarily mean because of our game. They’ve got a lot going for them right now. It’s a great Blu-ray player. They’re going to push that really hard.
BS: I got Phil Harrison to admit that the PS2 was not the best DVD player in the past, but the PS3 is a great Blu-ray player.

MR: And a great DVD player, too. They did a really good job on that. It really feels like it was designed for that kind of thing.

CN: They do that multimedia thing…

MR: But it can confuse people.

Mark Rein has always been an outspoken character, rivaled only by Cliffy B in terms of press coverage. It’s refreshing to see this level of candor, given the frequent stonewalling we get from most developers. This may be indicative of the fact that Epic Games is an independent company, and most development teams seem to enjoy the financial umbrella provided by larger companies such as EA or Activision.

While we hope this will be a prelude of things to come such that all developers will want to express their opinions without an army of PR and marketing agents at their side, we won’t hold our breath.

via GamaSutra

Video Game Temptation Corrupting Soccer’s Youth

Ever get so into a game that you forget about the outside world? Things like cutting the grass, paying your bills, and even aspiring to be a world class soccer player? Shame on you!

After England crashed out of Euro 2008 last week, Robert Green, a Goalkeeper for West Ham United, went on record stating “We would have the best team if we could go into every household and throw away every Playstation, Xbox, and video game.” — Apparently someone wasn’t winning the teams online Fifa matches.

Snarky comments aside, video games seem to be getting red carded lately by those who don’t understand the simple pleasures of a good frag. An excerpt from the Aspen Education Group’s website goes on to prove my point,

“Many young people escape from the pressures of school, family life, and socializing with their peers by becoming obsessive video game players.”

Of course, the fact can’t be ignored that most outlets who have gone out of their way to slander our hobby, do stand to gain in return. Take my previous quote for example; the Aspen Education Group tries to rope ill informed and ignorant parents into sending their kids to a nature camp by using “University-based Research.” This coupled by the fact that Mr. Green had to make some kind of excuse after losing the big game, serves to prove that many archaic beliefs about our recently mainstreamed pastime still exist.

via CrunchGear

I hope you aren’t squeamish, because the level of violence in this game is enough to make anyone… squeam! Yeah, that’s right, I made up a word. Ninja Gaiden 2 is shaping up to be one of the goriest titles this side of Soldier of Fortune. I’m sure it won’t be long until we start getting backlash from the same outlets who opposed Manhunt 2 and Hot Coffee. We love us some gratuitous violence, please don’t reform us Hillary!
via IGN

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to drive a Warthog, you may just get your wish next year.

The 2008 Jeep Renegade concept car is making an appearance at this years Detroit Auto Show as reported by KickingTires. Scrolling down a ways we found one that looked oddly familiar. Oh wait! Not only does that one get 110 mpg thanks to a lithium ion battery, but it’s also useful for running over Covenant!

Jeep gets a pint-size concept – about the size of a Mini Cooper – that looks to us like a dune buggy. It’ll have a hose-out interior and will be Jeep-capable off-road. The hybrid powertrain features a lithium ion battery teamed to a diesel engine, which combined would get 110 mpg because it can run on electricity only for 40 miles at a stretch.

*All numbers are also just concepts. No EPA testing has been done.

Via KickingTires and Evil Avatar

Videos have started making their way across the interwebs on how to hack your Rock Band drums to work with your PC. The reason this gets us so excited is the potential for a freeware version of “Drumer Hero”. Something that would let us jam to our favorite tracks on the PC without having to pay $3 for each new song. The steps on how to hack your 360 controller are slightly harder than it’s PS3 counterpart. Read on for the steps…

1. Download and extract this file. Double click install. This will copy the required system files automatically.
2. Connect your drum kit
3. When the install driver dialog box comes up click “No” to searching for a driver.
4. Click “Install from list or specific location”
5. Click “Include this location in the search” and in the textbox type the name of the file above
6. When Windows asks for the location of the two driver files, point it to the directory you cpied them to
7. If all that went well your drum kit is now recognized as a standard Xbox controller. Open the Gamepad properties and test it out.

via dxprog.com

We’ve seen the connection made before with freeware titles such as Frets on Fire for the Guitar Hero controller, and StepMania for the DDR dance pad. So get on it game programmers! I need something else to beat while on my computer!

That’s right folks, wrap your minds around this — a phone that features Playstation buttons, has a Microsoft Windows operating system, and plays Nintendo games. Confused yet? How about the fact that the phone was made in “Koera” — No, that’s not a typo, that’s what is printed on the phone. Sound to good to be true? That’s because it is. The Chinese made phone is very much illegal, and will probably never make it across the ocean. Even still, one can’t help but wonder what a phone with multiple emulators would be like. After doing a little research, I came up with an NES emulator for mobile phones called VNES, which claims to allow 8 bit Nintendo games to be playable on most newer series Nokia phones.

From a purely business standpoint, putting classic titles on cell phones seems like a no brainer. The arcady vibe of the late 80’s made for a pick up and play experience that lends itself well to a portable platform. Even still, it may be a while before we can legitimately get our 8 bit mobile gaming on.

With the re-releasing allot of it’s hits on Virtual Console, It’s doubtful Nintendo will part with its licensing rights for anything less than an exorbitant amount of money.

Via: mobilementalism.com

It’s hard to stay faithful! While this review may not be about fidelity issues, it is about the fact that Silent Hill: Origins stays true to what made the series great. It captures the whole Middle America town setting, while keeping faithful to the Point-and-Click elements which the genre is known for.

It’s frankly a surprise that the game was released at all. When we saw the first build of the game, it had bad Resident Evil 4 style combat and an art direction that seemed nothing like Silent Hill. This seemed kind of ironic, given the fact that the game is titled Origins. Regardless, the project was axed and handed over to UK development studio Climax.

Upon first booting up Origins, it prompts you to play in complete darkness while using headphones for the best experience. After playing the game with and without said circumstances, it is far more enjoyable playing in the dark with a decent pair of headphones. Although, to be fair, anything would be more immersive in the dark, where your imagination can run wild.

The environment that is Silent Hill still works after all these years. There’s something about the whole Middle America town vibe that resonates strongly, and when thinking about it further it became clear to me -we identify more with a setting we understand.

While the set pieces add up to some of the scariest I’ve seen, the same could also be said of the combat. Remember early Silent Hill/Resident Evil tank controls pre RE4? Yeah, they’re back with a vengeance.

I suppose given the fact that this is a mobile game; it might be too much to ask to have a redesigned combat system to go along with the RE4 inspired quick time events. Still, if the Silent Hill franchise hopes to compete in the modern day market, they need to do something about their control scheme.

Gameplay consists mostly of dodging monsters, looking at your map, and solving puzzles. While this admittedly doesn’t sound very fun, it has a certain unique feel to it that other survival horror games just don’t capture.

A prime example would be when you hear a banging throughout the whole level, it becomes almost rhythmic – you start to tune it out, dismissing it as background ambiance. Then as you make your way further the noise becomes steadily louder, until the climax where you open the door and see what’s making the racket. This approach to level design is something Silent Hill fans will recognize, and immediately fall in love with all over again.

In addition to background noises, the score composed by Akira Yamaoka makes Origins even creepier. There is something almost sinister in the modern guitar riffs and the moody piano solos. With all this work put into sound design, it’s no wonder they tell you to use headphones instead of the underwhelming PSP speakers.

It’s truly a shame the same level of care wasn’t put in the story. The character development ultimately leads nowhere, and the crossover between Origins and the Silent Hill movie doesn’t help matters.

With Silent Hill 5 on the distant horizon, Origins seeks to fill in the cracks in the series’ development cycle. While not quite on par with Silent Hill 2, it still offers an immersive adventure that’s not found too often in portable gaming. Origins won’t win any awards for intuitive controls, but it will offer a satisfying service for long time fans of the series and survival horror buffs alike.

With the landmark release of Guitar Hero 3 last month, Activision claimed the second, third and fourth spots in Octobers NPD numbers. Bear in mind that the game wasn’t released until the last week in sales for October. Because of this success, Activision has been ranked as the leading publisher by the NPD group.

According to QJ.net the release of the GH3 caused Activision’s market share to jump 28.7%. With all these numbers, its hard not to question the longevity of Activision’s figurative thrown of dominance. With the impending release of EA’s RockBand, will the mega-publisher usurp Activision’s short lived rule? Or will Guitar Hero just be a prelude of things to come?

MTV News’ Stephen Totilo and Tim Kash go head to head in a battle of video game knowledge and wits versus Newsweek’s N’gai Croll and Smart Bomb author Heather Chaplin.

The MetaGame, hosted by Mr. Eric Zimmerman and Mr. Frank Lantz, was resurrected from last years GDC where it made its debut with Warren Spector, Mark Leblanc, video game theorist Jesper Juul, Ubisoft’s Clint Hocking, Jonathan Blow, and USC Professor Tracey Fullerton — holy hell that’s allot of names!

So without further ado, bring down the cage, get the fighters ready for combat — lets get ready to rumble! Ok, maybe not so much, but you can’t blame us for getting excited over a game show that’s uniquely ours. Furthermore the debates held are relatively insightful and entertaining, despite the shows oftentimes dimwitted questions.

In this months issue of EGM’s Rumor Mill, Quarterman reported that Konami is developing another Metal Gear game for the PSP. Apparently it isn’t going to be a spin off such as we’ve seen from Portable Ops. The new title is said to “Hearken back to the early days”.

Could this be a new business model for Konami? It seems the Japanese development house has taken a keen interest in portable development of late. With the launch of Portable Ops Plus, and Silent Hill Origins all in one month. It seems Konami seeks to fill in the gaps between their triple A titles with portable games.

Reality, what does the word mean to you? Does it equate to the sum of everything you perceive as living and organic? Or perhaps it’s the quotient of all life’s experiences? Regardless, more often than not, the real world offers an intangible connection that our imaginations do not.

Still every now and again the lines get blurred to the point where it becomes difficult to distinguish reality from fiction. It’s this undefined line that so many developers over the years have strived for, and yet so few have achieved.

Prepare to blur your perception of reality, because to simply say that Crysis is the most beautiful game I have ever seen would be an understatement. Not just in terms of blunt graphical performance, Crysis also boasts one of the most fluid, natural gaming environments ever created by anyone — ever.

Crysis won’t be the last to claim the figurative crown of technical achievement, however it will leave its mark, and likely be remembered as the game that ushered us all into the NEXT next generation of gaming much like Doom 3 did almost four years ago. The similarities don’t stop there between Crysis, and id’s sci-fi shooter, consequently both where branded on podcasts and message boards alike as being the game that everyone wants to have, yet no one can afford.

The sheer amount of money needed to get into PC gaming has always been an obstacle towards the mainstream success of the platform. The stark reality has never been more apparent than it is now, you get what you pay for! An obvious statement, made all the more true by the barrier to entry saddled onto modern gaming PCs.

With costs ranging from $250 to $500 for a single piece of hardware, it’s easy to see where outspoken message board posters are coming from. That said, the visual superiority has never been more apparent than it is now. The CryENGINE2 reminds PC gamers why they’re the bleeding edge in terms of graphics and next gen gameplay. Not only do environments look stunning, but they also feature destructible buildings and foliage, which adds an enormous amount of realism to the game.

Cover never conceals you for very long, as enemy AI will flank your position, inevitably blowing up any shanty or hut you happen to seek refuge in. It makes for a visceral experience that no other game has matched, while still keeping framerates in the green.

With this level of technical marvel, it’s easy to overlook the other end of the proverbial coin. If this game came out two years from now, with every game likely looking very similar from a graphical standpoint, would it still be worth playing? This thought process is the backbone for my review.

In many ways, graphical prowess and fluid gameplay have become symbiotic to each other. When everything around you looks and feels real, you tend to think more in terms of what you would do in real life, as opposed to in a video game. For instance, when you get shot to the point where your nanosuit runs out of energy, your gut instinct is to to run to cover and wait for it to recharge. However, more often than not, your cover will be blown out from under you, or the enemies will come and flank you from behind. It’s this level of realism that often times makes the game frustratingly difficult, as you just aren’t used to it.

Enemy AI isn’t the only thing you have to worry about either, as aiming from a distance can be extremely challenging as well. Bullets don’t fly on a perfectly straight trajectory once they leave your weapon. This makes equipable items like the rifle scope, and the targeting laser all the more necessary. The down side to using these however, is that they use up your power meter, in the same way your four suit powers do.

The powers include Speed, Strength, Armor, and Cloak. Sadly, while these features are fun, they are the only powers you will have throughout the game. The “fab four” become very repetitive, and the games lack of powerups seemed like a missed opportunity. Indeed this is Crysis’ biggest problem — the fact that everything just gets overplayed. It seems like they showed their hand too early, with later levels seeming relatively bland compared to the lush jungles of the beginning stages.

Pacing seems to be another issue, I often times just got burned out after firefights that seemed to take longer than they should. Now this is all subjective, and you’re experience may differ from mine given the open ended nature of the game. However, this feeling, compounded by the “LOST” meets “Predator” storyline made for a slightly disappointing experience (especially when you consider the games ending).

While the Multiplayer experience is not exactly as eye opening as its single player counterpart, it offers up a respectable amount of replay value. However, my one complaint is with the underpowered weapon selection. It’s not all that cool when nearly every attempt to kill your opponent can drag on for minutes, as you unload rounds while they cloak out or speed run away.

One thing the developers definitely deserve credit for, is their solution to the Battlefield vehicle problem. For those of you who’ve never played any of the Battlefield games, every time you want to get a decent vehicle, someone is almost always there before you, camping to get it first. Should you ever be lucky enough to get one, your own teammates shoot you out of jealousy. It’s totally asinine and it pisses me off to no end! In Crysis however, players are offered the chance to buy their own vehicles as opposed to finding them in static spawn areas. This approach works well, and keeps everybody happy.

This game has the style and the substance, so what does it lack? Forgiveness! Crysis brought my quad core, three gig, 8800GTX machine to its knees. It won’t change the way you look at gaming, and it probably won’t change reality as you know it, but what it will do is offer up some of the most stunning visuals ever created, combined with truly next gen gameplay that’s worth the price of admission.