Busy Gamer News

If you're using an ATI 8500, 9000 or 9200 graphics card or just experiencing weirdness with Hitman Contracts, be sure to get the v1.74 patch from Fileshack.com/file.x?fid=4929. It'll repair several crashing bugs, graphical glitches and the ability to fire a sniper rifle with the right mouse button...

While Dungeon Siege had its fans, creator Chris Taylor caught some flack for its overall lack of depth, particularly when compared to his real-time strategy masterpiece Total Annihilation. Enter Dungeon Siege II. Unlike the recent expansion pack, this hack-and-slash RPG sequel offers wildly new features such as branching skills, special powers, smarter enemies, interactive environments, new graphical effects and an expanded range of pets/friends, including a fire elemental...

It seems the Olsen Twins, aka Mary-Kate and Ashley, are suing Acclaim, charging that their videogames based on the duo's license are a blemish on their otherwise pristine brand. The suit, actually filed by management company Dualstar, claims breach of contract and seeks $500,000 in back royalties. In fact, Acclaim published several GBA, Gamecube, PC and PlayStation titles that were popular (at least with teen girls!) but canceled Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! late last year...

To promote the upcoming Tribes: Vengeance, Vivendi Universal has released the first two Tribes games for free download. Tribes 2 has a limited number of software keys available, which are being released in batches. You can only get them at Fileplanet.com...

Gearbox has released Halo Custom Edition (Halo CE), an add-on pack with improved networking code, new multiplayer options, a performance boost for pixel-shading effects and the Halo Editing Kit for building mods. Frankly, Bungie missed the boat on licensing their core gaming engine and creating new worlds on top of it when it was Xbox exclusive. Now you can do it for free on the PC. Get Halo CE at Fileshack.com...

The Commodore 64 had a rich library of games, and Tulip Computers is taking 30 of them mainstream. The C64 Direct-to-TV will cost about $37 at retail, but before you get too excited: It's another of those gaming system in a joystick gizmos. That's right, you won't be able to program in BASIC, dial up BBSes or play non-bundled games like M.U.L.E. If you love Epyx classics like Summer Games, Winter Games and, we can only hope, Impossible Mission and Jumpman, this is good news. But know that Summer Games alone destroyed many a cheap joystick in its day...

If you've been drooling for a chance to play Guild Wars, the massively multiplayer RPG from ex-Blizzard devs who worked on Warcraft and Diablo, get ready. An alpha version will be released for a free spin May 12-14 during E3. For those who haven't heard, the game features unique streaming gameplay and the ability to lock a party (or go solo) by entering an "instance" of a quest. There are also deathmatch style missions and no monthly fees, even after its release this fall. Get in on the action at Guildwars.com...

Halo 2 will ship on November 9. This year...

Per previous rumors, Electronic Arts will support Xbox Live this year. Fifteen titles are due to ship with online action for Xbox (and PS2!), including Madden 2005, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Need for Speed Underground 2, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect and yes, at last, Battlefield: Modern Combat -- a long-promised console port of Battlefield 1942...

The PlayStation 2 costs $149, effective immediately...

Despite proclamations that the Nintendo DS is not an heir in the GameBoy line, the dual-screen portable will play GBA games. The PDA-shaped device boasts Bluetooth for wireless linkups and a touchscreen with stylus in addition to the standard game pad. No price is set, but conventional wisdom puts it around $150...

The elusive Phantom is taking shape. Due to ship Nov. 18, this broadband-only gaming system is free with a two-year commitment at $29.95 per month. Or buy it for $199 and get credit back if you stay subscribed for two years. (That's $718.80 before rebate, for those keeping score.) All games are downloaded to a 40GB hard drive. The service includes a number of "free" games with your subscription, plus premium games for rent or purchase. Both classic and new games are promised, but what's missing is a list of actual launch titles...

If you'd rather play a Sims-style game with unblurred naked people enabled from the start, keep an eye out for Eidos' Singles. This naughty Sims knockoff, already out in Europe, is getting the ESRB's dreaded Adult Oriented (AO) rating -- the gaming equivalent of NC-17 -- despite its complete lack of violence. Sneak a peek (you pervs!) at www.singles-the-game.com...

If you're already planning to get The Sims 2 (and you know who you are), you can start creating your own avatars -- or just paint privates on existing Sims models. Get the Body Shop app and starter files at thesims2.ea.com/bodyshop.php. The files you'll need total a few hundred megs, so start downloading now...

Both Microsoft and Konami hope to finally knock Sony and its Gran Turismo series off their racing pedestal. Due in March 2005, Konami's Enthusia Professional Racing for PS2 will include 200 cars, 50+ tracks and a "Visual Gravity System" that's supposed to show the G-forces experienced at high speeds. Microsoft's no stranger to arcade-style racing, with RalliSport and Project Gotham Racing titles earning high marks but no prize. That could shift with Forza Motorsport, due winter 2005. If the Xbox 2 rumors are true, Forza might just be a launch title...

Finally, some Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas details. Squashing rumors of a '70s-style prequel, the game will be '90s set in the state of San Andreas. That's right, not a hybrid city as previously believed. Instead, there will be separate cities modeled after L.A., San Francisco and Las Vegas. Other new features include dual wielding, swimming, drivebys, home invasion, gambling, casino management, eating (to recharge stamina), and bicycles and gyms (to work off the junk food)...

Fans of multiplayer Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow now get an auto-update when logging into Xbox Live. The patch fixes a freezing bug and a profile glitch, improves lobby communications and adds a who's talking indicator, offers language matching and changes to the complex ranking system. As a result, leaderboards will be cleared next week. Ubisoft promises downloadable content is coming soon...

The good news is that you can now download eight cars and eight tracks in a new city, Paris, for Project Gotham Racing 2. (And that means some new track records are up for grabs!) The bad news is that you'll pay $4.99 per Xbox. The cars include some tasty morsels, including the BMW M3 CSL, BMW 645Ci, Chevrolet Corvette C6, Ferrari 250TR, Ferrari 288 GTO, Ferrari 365 GTS4 (Daytona) and Porsche 356A Carrera Speedster. Gentlemen, start your credit cards...

At first glance, Conker: Live and Reloaded is a simple texture-boosted port of the foul-mouthed squirrel's adventures from Conker's Bad Fur Day on the N64. But a deep multiplayer battle mode should give fans a reason to come back. Expect classes a la Return to Castle Wolfenstein and vast air and ground battles to rival Battlefield 1942. If Rare had their way, they'd create an online-only adventure...

The downloadable map count for Ghost Recon: Island Thunder is now at 12, making it one of the best supported games on Xbox Live. Recent additions include Trenches and City Blocks. If you're having trouble finding someone to play, turn off filtering. And be patient: The game is a year old...

If you want to play Sega Genesis games on your PS2, you might want to grab an Action Replay Max quick. Datel may have gone too far when it added Genesis emulation and support for CD-Rs. Using bundled PC software, you can now create discs packed with MP3s, Divx video and Genesis ROMs. The cheat gizmo also circumvents DVD region codes and permits access to PC music and videos and -- oh yeah -- new codes via the PS2 network adapter...

The v2.0 update to Red Orchestra, a highly anticipated World War II total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, is here. Set in eastern Europe, the game does away with typical crosshair aiming in favor of the iron sights built onto weapons. Authentic details include voices in English, German and Russian and realistic death animations. Future updates will add vehicles and bots. Get it from redorchestramod.gameservers.net...

Dear Jason Hall, Senior VP,

So, I heard you want to make movie-licensed games better. Good. That's a great first step. We all know it's an age-old story, dating back to E.T. on the Atari 2600 -- the game that landed more copies in the landfill than in gamers' living rooms. Yeah, we've heard it -- and said it -- a million times: Videogames based on movie licenses suck.

Sure, there are a few notable exceptions: Goldeneye 007, some of the Star Wars games, The Two Towers. Even the new Chronicles of Riddick game is turning some heads. But weigh them against all of those that end up clogging the discount rack at Electronics Boutique, and it's no contest.

On the surface, tying a game developer's paycheck to the overall rating a game gets sounds like a fair proposal. It's probably true that a game that scores less than 70 percent as an average review score is hurting your brand and the company that made it deserves to pay you a larger share of its royalties as a penalty. Heck, even if the game is a runaway hit in sales, the negative taste left in gamers' mouths will probably put a damper on your inevitable sequel's opening weekend.

And you're right if you think gamers applaud you for wanting to put an end to the shiftless developers who slap a few licensed characters into a cheap videogame engine in an effort to make a quick buck off of unsuspecting gamers who put their unblinking trust in the Warner Bros. brand machine.

But that only solves part of the problem. Here's what your plan misses:

1. Unreasonable deadlines. The number one reason licensed games suck is that they're tied to YOUR movie release dates. Sure, there's a sweet spot where a movie's fans will be more inclined to mindlessly shell out for a tie-in game. But this reflects the kind of thinking that you're trying to get away from. You DON'T want people to just plop down $50 to buy a game because they're high off your movie, and who cares if it sucks or looks like it was rushed out the door? You want them to buy a good game based on your intellectual property. And gamers will ALWAYS buy a really good game, no matter when it's released.
   
   So you have a few choices: 1) allow game release dates to slip well beyond the movie release date, 2) plan better so you can start development earlier or 3) pay more if it's a rush job.
   
   An interesting case study: the way Disney co-opted the unfinished Sea Dogs 2 to make it a Pirates of the Carribean movie tie-in. What they would have known, if they'd done their homework, is that Bethesda Softworks games (like Morrowind) are often quite buggy on first release. It's more of side effect of their complex RPG game engines than an indictment of Bethesda's quality control. Since the game had been in development a long time, it may have seemed like a win, win proposition. Oh, and we're grateful that they didn't slap a Disney-fied story on top of it. But it might have been better to work down the bug count and sim-ship it with the DVD release.
   
   
2. Executive meddling. We all know how the movie business works. Mid-level executives "give notes" to their screenwriters and directors to influence the end product. Beyond their role in greenlighting, that's how they put their stamp on the movies they make and show their worth to the boys upstairs. So it's not a big leap to believe these same executives demand changes in videogames. Only, for the most part, theses execs don't play these kinds of games.
   
   On the surface, longer cut scenes might seem to be a way to fix an otherwise mediocre game (like your Enter the Matrix), but gamers don't like long breaks in the action. And if the action is boring, then no number of cut scenes (no matter how good they are!) will make the game any better. Really, movie executives don't know what the heck they're meddling with and how it will influence gameplay. Tell 'em to stay the hell out of it.
   
   If you really want an opinion on how a game is turning out, hire some kids to be a focus group and let them provide some early feedback. Yeah, it may cost a few bucks, but you can probably pay 'em in t-shirts and movie trinkets you have lying around the office. Just so you're not surprised and disillusioned later: They WILL pawn 'em on eBay.
   
   
3. Developer alienation. Atari has already gone on record saying they'll never sign this type of contract because it's "insulting." Very few established developers will. And they're the ones with the deep pockets. It's an established fact that licensed titles rarely make any money for the developer who builds them. Often, up-and-comers will do it for the prestige, just to land an A-list client. But if you include this kind of penalty clause, they'll shy away too.
   
   Here's a thought. Rather than penalize developers for crappy games, why not reward them for good ones? That's right, they get the usual crappy deal UNLESS their game is rated really good, and then their share of the payoff goes up, up, up. I bet a lot of developers would respond to more money, but give them a proposal that can only get worse and naturally they'll run screaming. Heck, for new developers, you could probably just promise the penalty price up front and the normal price as a reward… they won't know the difference and it's all about how you sell it.
   
   
4. It goes both ways. Your remedy overlooks your movie's role in a videogame's success. What if the game is pretty damn good but the movie just plain stinks. Are you going to pay a penalty to game developers if you screw up and hurt THEIR sales? When you play the review game, maybe you should factor your own movie scores into the mix.

There's a brand new tab on MSN Messenger for Xbox Live integration. You may have to logout and back in to see it. Once your Gamertag is linked to your Passport, you can see who's online playing games while you're stuck at work. Important safety tip: Never add your boss to your Friends list...

Now available on Xbox Live are downloads for Crimson Skies. There are three new planes (Vampire, Firebrand and Hellhound), two maps (Badlands and Plateau) and two new multiplayer game types (Gun Heist and Chicken Pox). Gun Heist is all about capturing and holding anti-aircraft guns. Chicken Pox has you picking up chickens, which power up your plane and pit you against all planes not carrying poultry. Best of all, These downloads are free...

If you've been itching to play a Daredevil game, bad news. The developer, Encore, decided it should focus on publishing and not game design. Hey, it's not even a Warner Bros. property...