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Weekly Poll Results: Should There Be Video Game Competitions in the Olympics?
by Phillip Levin | 08/19/08 | 5:19 PM PST

At the beginning of each week, we update our Weekly Poll. You can check out the results for last week's poll just below.

What we asked: Should there be video game competitions in the Olympics?

What you said:

• Yes (35%)
  
• No (65%)

I voted for "no" because I've always thought of the Olympics as a competition of physical skill. Sure, video games can be played competitively, but they're about mental skill. Admittedly, there are physical elements to playing games, such as finger dexterity, but the Olympics are on a totally different level.

Anywho, we have another new poll up for this week. Be sure to check it out and vote.

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Rumor: Paul W.S. Anderson No Longer on Spy Hunter Movie?
by David Oxford | 08/19/08 | 4:39 PM PST

What's this? Sounds like the Spy Hunter movie, which has been in development hell for the last half-decade, may have just suffered another setback as it's now being said that director and writer Paul W.S. Anderson is no longer attached to the project.

It looks like the bigscreen version of "Spy Hunter" has taken a backseat because when asked about Spy Hunter and they way he answered the question to me at least, seems that he is not doing it anymore. He might write it but it sure looks like he will not be directing the project.

I've also been told from people who are close to the project is that Anderson is NOT doing the film and that he's been off the project. -- Kellvin Chavez, Latino Review

Well, that doesn't sound good. Here's what Anderson actually had to say:

Latino Review: Does this (movie) prepare you to do another [car film] like Spy Hunter?

Anderson: I had some what fun making this movie and I firmly believe this is the best, most spectacular car action I've ever seen in a film, I don't know if I'll ever do another car movie after this, because I really feel like we pushed it to the max and the only other car movie I'll do is maybe a sequel to this, knock on wood, if this movie does well enough to deserve that, I really think we've kind of raised the bar when it comes to car action….we've done everything practical, we've done spectacular stunts, we've kept it R rated, really hard, we've had the actors do a lot of their own driving, so you know, I think we've really maxed our car movie, so I think we've laid down a challenge to any one else, I think we're now the movie to beat.

What can I say? I think Anderson can do a good movie, and the Midway/Anderson combo worked pretty well for me when they did Mortal Kombat all those years ago (the sequel was awful, though).

More importantly, I think this is where he can do less damage. There's really not a whole lot to Spy Hunter than anyone can mess up, short of ditching the car. Just get him as far from Castlevania as you can drag him.

Seriously, ditching a whip, the whip, for a sword? That's akin to blasphemy, and I'll watch Blade again if I want that. To say nothing of the rest...

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Dyack Banned from NeoGAF, 'the Worst Forum Out There'
by David Oxford | 08/19/08 | 12:35 PM PST

Dennis Dyack of Silicon Knights has received a prestigious honor: Being banned from NeoGAF, with whom he's recently had some issues.

So, what was the last straw?

VG247: Why did you pick NeoGAF specifically? It wasn't just NeoGAF that was picking on Too Human…

DD: NeoGAF is considered to be the worst, and I would say is probably the worst forum. And so, you might as well pick the worst one. Why not? So, that was the idea of that. -- Dennis Dyack to videogaming247

Not much to argue there, but then came this:

What is an appropriate action to take in response to the man who continues to post here? I won't be tolerating a second retconned "social experiment," a second call for NeoGAF's closing, or a second "worst forum" insult. You decided to ignore the option for real terms for your pointless tag bet, so with the majority of reviews condemning your magnum opus to mediocrity I'll claim a suitable prize by telling you to get the hell off NeoGAF. -- EviLore, NeoGAF

I believe that one of our Kombo forum users said it best:

...look how most of them are handling it, haha. Did you (GAF) really expect Dyack to just sit there and take the criticism and not be allowed to dish it out himself? It looks like they can dish it out, but they can't take it. -- ReaganYouth, Kombo Forums

We'll see if we can get any response from Mr. Dyack about his expulsion from NeoGAF.

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Laying Odds on a Viewtiful Joe Return This Generation
by David Oxford | 08/18/08 | 3:46 PM PST

One of Capcom's original properties which debuted last generation as a part of the notorious "Capcom 5," Viewtiful Joe's star quickly rose, and soonafter, just as quickly fell.

This lead to the question on the Capcom*Unity forums as to how long Joe would be "resting" for, and if we might see another Viewtiful day in this generation. Of course, with the closing of Clover Studio, it seems that the original team may not be around for such a revival. Nonetheless...

Difficult to predict. There's no "percentage chance" that I could give you that would at all be accurate. If it strikes someone of influence (a producer of note, Inafune, Takeuchi, perhaps even me) that it's something that has potential (both gameplay and sales) then it could happen. If not, it won't. I can't predict who might or might not see that potential. -- Christian Svensson, Capcom Corporate Officer/VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development

Personally speaking, I wouldn't mind seeing some more Viewtiful Joe. NotAlexander, the person who posed the question, added:

Personally, I would LOVE to see Viewtiful Joe 3 on Wii Ware or XBLA (preferably WW for the GC controller support) split up as episodic content! That would definitely be a perfect fit for the game, if nothing else.

Sounds good to me!

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Sonic Says: The Internet is for Porn
by David Oxford | 08/18/08 | 12:31 PM PST

Oh, wow. Some nice synching here. Not safe for work lyrics, though relatively mild for the most part. Thanks to Liz-sama for finding this.



If SatAM Sonic isn't your thing, you can see the X version (with Knuckles and Amy) after the cut.

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EA Lets Take-Two Offer Expire... for Now
by David Oxford | 08/18/08 | 10:58 AM PST

After what's felt like an eternity, it seems that EA has finally decided to let their bid for Take-Two run out, for real this time. At least, for the time being.

We expect EA to impress upon Take-Two management that its offer is subject to being lowered due to likely completion after the holidays. We expect Take-Two to impress upon EA
management that the company is worth more than the existing offer of $25.74, due to Take-Two's world-class entertainment franchises and strong operational and financial performance.

...

EA accepted the offer of a presentation, and intends to allow its hostile tender offer to expire. The expiration of the hostile tender
offer merely changes the proposal from hostile to friendly, and keeps the pressure on the FTC to rule by Thursday, as previously expected.

It is somewhat surprising to us that EA agreed to change its offer from hostile to friendly. It appears that the company recognizes the benefits of a friendly deal (continuity of key employees, greater access to documents and records), and concluded that it was prudent to make the attempt. In spite of its prior acrimonious comments about EA's offer being "inadequate" and "opportunistic", Take-Two management apparently recognized that the olive branch offered by EA gave it a last (and only) opportunity to affect the outcome. -- Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities

You can see the exchange between Take-Two Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick and EA CEO John Riccitiello after the cut.

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Now Shipping: Galaga Legions, Ratchet & Clank, Too Human
by David Oxford | 08/18/08 | 10:06 AM PST



Tuesday, August 19th:

• Commando: Steel Disaster (DS)
• Smash Court Tennis 3 (360)
• Super Pick Ups (Wii)
• Too Human (360)

Wednesday, August 20th:

• Galaga Legions (360)

Thursday, August 21st:

• Anibus (Wii)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PS3)

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Silicon Knights Claims Epic has "Defrauded" Them and the Industry
by Joey Davidson | 08/18/08 | 7:07 AM PST

Silicon Knights, a while back now, bought the rights to use the Unreal 3 Engine from Epic Studios in the development of their upcoming Too Human. They claimed, about a year ago, that what they received from Epic was an incomplete engine... something that just didn't work. So they went on to develop Too Human with their own engine. This is one of the many reasons for lengthy delay. They are also caught up in an already year long lawsuit.

Dennis Dyack came out and had this to say about the court proceedings and SK's stance on Epic's actions:

"Well the trial is proceeding, we feel really good about our claims, and we're hopeful that justice will be done. We all feel really strongly that they have defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry"

The trial drags onward.

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SEGA Fills Room with Every SEGA Game Made, Then Loses It (Until Now)
by David Oxford | 08/15/08 | 3:39 PM PST



What would you do if you had a room filled with every SEGA game ever made? (No fire jokes, please.) Some people would play through them one by one. Some would perhaps attempt to swim through them as Scrooge McDuck does his money bin. And then likely be taken to the emergency room.

Then there's SEGA themselves. What did they do with such a room? Well, apparently, they lost it. Well, forgot about it and how it came to be, at any rate. Of course, someone must know, since SEGA is still making games, lest the "every game ever" part be a misnomer.

It's the stuff dreams are made of. Just about every single Sega game ever released (plus some bonus "competitor's" titles), all secretly tucked away in a forgotten room at Sega HQ. Yeah. They forgot about it. And don't even know how it came to be. If that doesn't sum up Sega in the 21st century, we don't know what does. Ah well, point is, it's here, enjoy it. Would write more, but having browsed the shelves for ten minutes we're feeling a little faint... -- Luke Plunkett, Kotaku

Check the link for more pics. Makes me wonder if Nintendo or Capcom have rooms like this.

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Game Developer Talks to Game Pirates, Learns Valuable Lessons
by David Oxford | 08/15/08 | 3:30 PM PST



Piracy is an issue plaguing the game industry in a number of ways. There are those who pirate, which leads to video game companies trying to put a stop to it through various means, which ironically seems to turn more people to piracy, which is usually unphased by things such as DRM that are meant to deter piracy, and instead seem to only serve to disgruntle honest consumers.

Well, one developer, Cliff Harris of Positech Games wanted to get to the root of the problem, and at least with his own goods, do something about it. And so he asked the pirates directly why they do it.

Response was overwhelming, and seemed to boil down to six main reasons:

1. The information wants to/free anarchists think copyright shouldn't exist.
2. Games are too expensive.
3. The quality of gaming is too uneven.
4. DRM is hurting the legitimate customers.
5. Going to the shops is annoying.
6. Because piracy is easy to do with low risk for getting caught.
-- Ars Technica

Harris goes into more detail on his blog, detailing his thoughts behind each reason, and what he has begun to do with his own games, and soon reaches the following conclusion:

...it was all very worthwhile, for me. I don't think the whole exercise will have much effect on the wider industry. Doubtless there will be more FPS games requiring mainframes to run them, more games with securom, games with no demos, or games with all glitz and no gameplay. I wish this wasn't the case, and that the devs could listen more to their potential customers, and that the pirates could listen more to the devs rather than abusing them. I don't think that's going to happen.
But I gave it a go, and I know my games will be better as a result. I'll never make millions from them, but I think now I know more about why pirates do what they do, I'll be in a better position to keep doing what I wanted, which is making games for the PC. -- Cliff Harris

Of course, this largely refers to PC games, but any avid gamer is likely to recognize some overlap as digital distribution grows ever close to that of PCs, and other universal factors like quality and price are also worth noting. Here's hoping some of the big guys pick up on this.

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EA Price Fixing Used Games?
by David Oxford | 08/15/08 | 1:32 PM PST

It's no secret that publishers despise the second-hand game market, but it seems EA may have found a solution, albeit perhaps an illicit one:

I was in GAME a few days ago looking at some of their second hand bargains - I was after a copy of Battlefield Bad Company on the cheap but to no avail. Not because they didn't have any copies second hand, but because of the price.

To buy a brand new, sealed Battlefield instore would have cost me £39.99 which is about standard. I went to check for a cheaper one in the second hand section and noticed there were at least 5 copies available, all priced at £37.99. Thinking it was a pricing mistake, I spoke to one of the sales people who told me that in fact the price was indeed correct. Not wanting to just let it go, I pressed him to explain why it was almost as expensive as a new copy - I was very surprised by his response.

Apparently, stores such as GAME are not allowed to independently price EA released games - not even second hand titles. The same can be said for other second hand EA games too, Army of Two for one was priced at £29.99 new and £27.99 second hand. The worrying thing is that this practice only seem's to apply to EA titles and not those published by other companies - GTA4 being a good example with a new copy setting you back £39.99 whilst the second hand version were a more respectable £24.99. -- Bleem, Xbox 360 Wire

Of course, this story comes from the UK, and notes that this seems to be widespread throughout the used game market there, and "can only really be described as collaborative price fixing, something which is illegal under UK law."

Of course, around here, we usually just blame GameStop, since they seem to price that way for any game. But has anyone noticed a seemingly different trend where EA titles are concerned? It would be interesting were this phenomenon global.

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Jaffe: Miyamoto and Wright Not as Big as Spielberg Because Their Names Aren't on the Box
by David Oxford | 08/15/08 | 1:12 PM PST

Continuing the trend of people replying to stuff people said the other day, David Jaffe has replied to the recent comments by EA CEO John Riccitiello regarding the crediting of video game creators.

...so until developers- be them individual stars or the core members on the team- can really prove- on a consistent basis- that they can make hit after hit after hit IN DIFFERENT FRANCHISES (without NEEDING to attach an expensive comic or movie license to their games in order to do so), game makers have little room to negotiate. Even the guys who make CALL OF DUTY, HALO, and GTA are not in a perfect position, as amazingly genius as they are. Because All of those games- even if given to C+ level developers- can still make crazy cash for at least 2-4 more iterations before the public catches on and stops buying the series. I am almost certain that if those developers walked away because their money demands were not met, the folks who own the rights to those series would keep pumping them out- regardless of quality- and keep raking in the cash.

More after the cut.

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Snake, a Hero? More Like a Monster
by Phillip Levin | 08/15/08 | 12:29 PM PST


The following article contains spoilers pertaining to the Metal Gear Solid series.

We, the gamers, have been tricked, scammed, and duped by the genius named Hideo Kojima. He has managed to get us to care about one of the most despicable monsters to ever infest our video game consoles. Who is this 'hero' that we have come to love who is nothing more than an assassin, a murder, and a psychopath? Solid Snake. Why would we, the gaming public, not only play as this monster and enjoy it? Right now you're probably asking, "What kind of insane rant is this?" I can assure you, I can prove everything I say, and I can use Snake's own words to prove it.

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Random Flashback of the Day: Sonic Shills the Honey-Sweet Taste of Honey Nut Cheerios
by David Oxford | 08/14/08 | 6:07 PM PST

Wow, I'd all but forgotten this even existed:



...could you imagine Sonic hocking wares now? Bet he'd be a lot more talkative.

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Moore: EA Challenging to Be 'the Leading Brand in Sports'
by David Oxford | 08/14/08 | 4:21 PM PST

EA has a goal: To become the top sports brand.

"But," you might say, "they've already cornered the market with Madden and all that other crap, aren't they already on top?" Well, sort of. They're definitely at the top of sports video games, with bits of competition from the likes of 2K Sports and others, but that's not what they're after. They want to be the top sports brand, period.

They're talking Nike, they're talking Adidas, they're talking Gatorade (ok, I just made that last one up). They want to be the best, around, and nothing's gonna keep them down:

EA has had an extremely successful sports brand for years, but we're evolving with new experiences targeting new consumers in our space. There's a hunger that fuels our teams to challenge to be the leading sports brand in the world.

We need to knock down the barriers to those who find the learning curve of our games too steep, and find new areas in sports – and health and wellness – that our brand can truly make a difference. -- Peter Moore to MCVUK

Quite a lofty goal, but I think it may be achievable. I mean, what makes you feel like you're that superstar with the ball who may suffer some horrendous fate more, a pair of shoes, or a video game where you're calling the shots?