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LucasArts has patched Star Wars Battlefront for Xbox, adding support for 32 players (you'll need 1.5Mbit up and down to host), voice identity, the ability to fully switch off Auto Aim, and more. As a bonus, after getting the autoupdate you'll find a new downloadable content menu option. Select it to get a new map: Jabba's Palace, complete with Rancor...
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is introducing a new rating between E (for Everyone, which really means 6 and up) and T (for Teen, or 13 and up). The E10+ rating is designed to help parents distinguish between games appropriate for young kids and those with a significant amount of mild violence (cartoon or otherwise), mild language and/or suggestive themes. No word yet on the first title to carry this rating, but the "10+" on the new logo isn't very prominent...
Internet speculation about the mass Xbox power cord replacement suggests nothing is actually wrong with the cords. Rather, there may be a more widespread problem with the power supply inside the Xbox. The new cords are actually Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) designed to shut off power instantly if there's fluctuation in current. Unless Microsoft was concerned about idiots trying to play their Xboxen in the bathtub, this new theory makes real sense. Apparently, the risk of a flameout is still very remote and the new GFCI cord should reduce it to nada. But you might want to back up your saved games, just in case... A new rumor states that Bungie, despite earlier denials, is hard at work on Halo 3 (aka the "real" ending of Halo 2) in order to meet a strategic release date: the PlayStation 3 launch. Since Bungie is notorious for resisting its corporate overlords and no one really knows the PS3 release date (or whether Sony is prepared to move it up to go toe-to-toe with Xbox 360), file this one under possible but unlikely...
Ghost Recon 2's stock just went up with some free Xbox Live downloads. First there are the new game types: Recovery (a riff on capture the flag) and Assassination (protect or rub out an AI officer). Add to that some new maps: Train Yard Interior, Train Yard Forest and Railway Valley. Plus, act now and you'll get eight new weapons (including the MP5 SD and FAMAS G2) and two new skins. How much would you pay? It doesn't matter: It's free...
Sony's no longer alone offering UMD format movies for the PlayStation Portable. Lions Gate just signed on to release a dozen titles including Total Recall, The Punisher, Saw and Open Water. This brings the known title list tally to 11 (with Lions Gate promising 7 more yet unnamed releases). For those keeping score, here's the full UMD list... If you're an avid movie collector, you're probably much more interested in the spectre of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. There are already 89 titles announced for HD-DVD alone...
[See related Rant]
As expected, Microsoft announced details for the Xbox 360 at GDC but withheld plenty - such as whether the rumored name for Xbox 2 is even accurate. We do know that many first gen features such as music playlists, Xbox Live Friends lists and voice chat will be built-in at the chip level so all games will support them. Xbox Live Downloads will become a centralized Marketplace that supports micropayments and community content. There are also believable rumors that all games will support at least 720p widescreen HDTV and 5.1 audio. Juicy details such as name, price, release date, backward compatibility and hard drive are apparently being saved for E3 in May...
Wanna take the red pill like Neo? There's a free sneak preview of The Matrix Online starting noon Saturday, March 12 and running until 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 15 (all times PST). Register and download the game client now at thematrixonline.warnerbros.com...
Nintendo joined the GDC party, announcing some of the first details of its Revolution console due in 2006. The big news is that it will be backward compatible with GameCube games and offer Wi-Fi wireless networking, allowing gamers to extend multiplayer games globally to anyone with a wireless access point. As a first step toward this, Nintendo will release a free Wi-Fi connection service for the Nintendo DS later this year along with what appears to be a massively multiplayer version of Animal Crossing. It seems the big N finally checked its back pocket and found it had an online strategy after all...
Electronic Gaming Monthly fooled at least a few people with its April report of a preorder bonus for the upcoming Legend of Zelda - the one without the kiddified graphics. According to the fake story, Nintendo would offer a remake of The Wind Waker done in the grownup style of the new game complete with bonus dungeons. It's almost plausible in a corporate "we admit no wrongdoing while remedying the problem" sort of way while feeding off the cloud of desperation that's hanging over the big N these days. It's something that millions of Zelda fans have secretly wished for. Suck up that drool, because it's not happening...
Why UMD will fail
This past week I launched a couple of movie lists:
BLOG: Why UMD will fail - I ranted about HD-DVD and non-anamorphic DVD but only dashed off a footnote about UMD. Frankly (to paraphrase Heathers), this new format isn't worth my Rant. But it is blog-worthy, so here goes.
[Read full Blog entry]
If you prefer your console RPGs on the PC, Fable: The Lost Chapters will take the Xbox game to new places this fall - specifically, some new regions and bonus quests. There are also new monsters, spells, armor, weapons and customization options and, naturally, graphics are suitably enhanced for higher-end hardware. Let's hope they're also doing something about the frequent pauses for level loading...
If you missed The Matrix Online beta, it ended with a bang. When the development team pulled the plug, the game world began to dissolve with many players still in it. According to reports and some video capture, eyes floated in the sky, people burst into flame and those who weren't dispatched by fire or a sudden flood of agents were "turned into a wadded piece of paper." Perhaps not the best online beta ending ever but it's created a small buzz where there wasn't one before...
More UMD movie titles
Buena Vista has entered the UMD fold, ponying up five titles. They join Lions Gate and, well, Sony. The UMD Movie List has been been updated.
After I blogged this topic on Monday, I had a chat with a former colleague and realized I had a few more things to say:
Since UMD is a proprietary format, no one is shouldering the load with Sony. There's nothing wrong with this per se for gaming media - except, as I mentioned, it drives manufacturing costs up which makes it harder to fight a price war. But UMD is bound to be cheaper to produce than Nintendo's cartridges, so it's probably OK.
But it is a big deal when it comes to video formats. When the time comes to discount movies (and you know that day is going to come rather quickly for the aforementioned reasons), Sony will be eating the losses.
You just know there's a Sony exec with his butt on the line somewhere going, "UMD is going to take off. It'll be the new iPod. Don't worry." And secretly he's huddling in a corner of his office rocking every afternoon and waking up at night with cold sweats.
Yeah, I'd hate to be that guy.
-=Gamewatcher
BLOG: More UMD movie titles - Buena Vista has entered the UMD fold, ponying up five titles. After I blogged this topic, I had a chat with a former colleague and realized I had a few more things to say.
[Read full Blog entry]
Effective today, the Nokia N-Gage QD is $100 with pre-paid service (down from $200), and games have dropped to $15-25. Word is that Nokia is far from abandoning the N-Gage; expect details on a new, improved model at E3 in May...
If you wanted a PlayStation Portable at launch, your choices were to buy a $400+ bundle with three preselected games and an accessory, or take your chances at retail. Fortunately, GameCrazy (often tucked inside Hollywood Video stores) has backed off the bundle, offering just the $250 Value Pack if you want. You can also add a game or two from the full launch title list - assuming they haven't oversold their PSP allotment by the time you read this...
If you love both Star Wars and Lego blocks, you're in luck. There's now a demo for the upcoming Lego Star Wars. You'll get one single-player level in the 227MB download at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=6477...
If you've given up on World of Warcraft because your character is stuck in a laggy, overcrowded realm, there's hope. Blizzard is now accepting requests for transfers from Arthas and Warsong to newer, more sparsely populated spaces. If enough people make the journey, it should help balance server load and improve the game experience for those who leave and those who stay behind. Players on eight additional crowded realms will get a similar offer in coming days; see if your server is on the list at worldofwarcraft.com...
UMD movies: 'Hilariously dumb'
I posted a mention of my UMD movie mini-rant Friday to one of my favorite game sites, evilavatar.com.
Wow, what a response. There have been 3,200+ views and 57 replies. So far.
My basic position on UMD movies hasn't changed but I feel like I have some fresh perspective. Keep in mind that my mini-rant was never really meant to be taken as a researched piece of intelligence - as you may recall, I stated that the topic really wasn't worth my Rant. It was just my opinion based on my passion for game machines, fast women and movie collecting. Well, two of those. But it's become something else now, a fascinating pulsing entity that I just can't take my eyes off of. Maybe I secretly want an excuse to buy UMD movies (hey, I am a collector with nearly 1,000 DVDs!) and I'm hoping someone will convince me that it's all OK - spend away!
Maybe I'm just an attention whore.
Either way, here are some highlights from the thread (wade through the full 6+ pages if you want it all):
There's more, but these are the most interesting takeaways in my mind. A few good points, and some that I take issue with:
Cartridges might have some advantages as a portable media format, but they're costly to produce. Discs tend to be cheaper as media goes, so Sony might have a small advantage there. But these UMD discs are proprietary, so unless DVD manufacturing plants can be easily retrofitted to mass produce them, they'll be a costly one-off format.
Cartridges may be more power efficient for portable gaming, but they're costly to produce. For games, this isn't a huge deal because gamers are willing to pay $20-35 for a new game cartridge (and maybe as much as $40-50 for PSP game discs; we'll see). But movie collectors have become accustomed to paying as little as $8-10 for good quality anamorphic DVDs with 5.1 sound (or better). Why would they pay $20-30 for a portable title that may look good and sound OK on a small screen but won't offer nearly the cinematic experience of a cheap DVD? Even if you're made of money, it's just not good use of your cash.
Personally, I have nearly 1,000 titles on DVD - more if you count my laserdiscs. And I'm already backing off DVDs somewhat in anticipation of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Hell, I'm they're target market - a movie collector - and I doubt I'll pick up much beyond the launch bundle's Spider-Man 2. I will watch Spidey on my PSP, though, and I'll blog my thoughts when I do.
DVDs were an open format, and they were technically a step up from laserdiscs. People with laserdiscs were apprehensive at first (heck, I was one of them) but it was mostly due to the cost of players and the fact that early DVDs were by and large poorly mastered.
The UMD format is fully proprietary as far as I can tell. I'd be very surprised if anyone who makes UMD movie discs doesn't pay a licensing fee to Sony and has to use Sony's plants to manufacture them (at least for now).
It's also unlikely that anyone will manufacture standalone living room players, since they would cost more than DVD players (which are mainstream and very cheap to produce now) and wouldn't stand up to DVD when played on a modern TV with a decent audio receiver. Portables are possible, but they'd have to compete with the PSP which, face it, can play games and MP3s and MP4s. Where's the upside to competing with Sony on their own turf?
Someone commented that there might be a small amount of money to be made off UMD movies, so why not do it? Generally the upfront costs for new techologies tend to be high, and mastering and producing UMD movies isn't going to be free - though it might be cheaper than starting from scratch since they can leverage the assets created for DVDs.
Right now I think there's still a high risk of a big loss. If UMD movies were to take off somewhat and costs to produce them were driven down a lot, that's where the small to moderate profit would materialize.
Those are some big 'ifs' and I still hold that UMD for movies is a major gamble. I envision someone at Sony kneeling every night and praying that the iPod-killer rhetoric that is sometimes attached to the PSP will come to pass. Based on a recent WSJ review (and my own preliminary assessment), PSP is far from a mainstream device - and it will take a major investment in easy-to-use tools and product synergies (e.g., using the PSX or other PVRs to transfer your TV shows to PSP) before hordes of non-gamers will even look at it.
Again, as I mentioned in my original blog entry, if Sony can drive down prices for UMD movies or offer them for free bundled with DVD titles, they might have a chance. But there we go again - I can hear those damned dice rattling. Place yer bets, place yer bets.
-=Gamewatcher
p.s.- If you're still reading, I finally updated my About page to better reflect what this site has become: a news feed for busy adult gamers who just want the most important and interesting news in a quick-read format with more depth than your typical gaming news site. Enjoy!
BLOG: UMD movies: 'Hilariously dumb' - I posted a mention of my UMD mini-rant to one of my favorite game sites. Wow, what a response. My basic position on UMD movies hasn't changed but the topic has become something else now, a fascinating pulsing entity that I just can't take my eyes off of.
[Read full Blog entry]
Word on the street is that the PS2 sleeper Katamari Damacy is on Namco's list of games to port to the Nintendo DS. It makes sense - stylus rolling could be all the rage in a few months. Let's just hope they offer some untimed modes because, face it, moving a ball around and collecting junk shouldn't have to be a twitch game...
The console update of NARC threatens to push videogame critics' buttons even further than GTA and other controversial titles with its power-up system. The player has the option to use illegal drugs to boost performance: taking Ectasy cools down aggressive enemies (how does this work if YOU take the drug?), crack cocaine improves marksmanship (a "crack" shot, get it?) and marijuana temporarily slows time (wouldn't you get slow and your enemies stay in real time?!). The murky morality is balanced by penalizing the player if he becomes a chronic abuser. One more caution: This PS2 and Xbox title is priced to move at $20...
Sony introduced its first major expansion pack for EverQuest II, only this vampire-themed module is being sold online and part of it is free. The Bloodline Chronicles costs $5 and includes five new areas, new creatures (including vampires, hellhounds, fleshgoyles and revenants), destructible walls leading to hidden areas, vampiric magic and a bloodsucking boss named T'Haen the Lost. If you don't pay, you can still download the The Tombs of Night zone and get some new quests, challenges and items. Like they say, the first taste is free...
The anticipated patch for World of Warcraft is now available and entirely free. With it you get a new ogre-packed dungeon called Diremaul, two new outdoor raid bosses to defeat (a blue dragon and a demon lord), chat bubbles that float above the speaker's head, dungeon player caps to improve the challenge, new effects for drunken players and hundreds of other small improvements and bug fixes...
Killing iPods and eating crow
This past week has been an interesting one. Thanks to all of the feedback at EvilAvatar I chronicled Sunday night and a few followup conversations, I believe I have a much better handle on Sony's PSP strategy.
First, I'll start by eating a little crow. After all of my trumpeting about how UMD will fail due in large part to price, Amazon.com is offering several UMD titles at 30 percent off retail (about $14 before tax and shipping), which is a little more competitive than I expected at launch. I imagine other retailers will follow suit. This means either Sony is prepared to take a small bath on UMD short-term (and maybe even long-term), or the discs are much cheaper to produce than I had guessed.
Either could be true - I don't have access to the Sony bean-counters' master spreadsheet. But even without the hard evidence, I have a good idea where Sony is trying to take the PSP.
I realized straight away that UMD was Sony's attempt to make PSP a more mainstream consumer offering. It's a game machine, it's a movie player, it's a digital Walkman, it's a dessert topping, it's a floor wax. An all-in-one entertainment device. Everyone'll want one, right?
Alas, no. For at least some of the reasons I've chronicled, the PSP is still destined to fail in that respect. But Sony is convinced UMD is the missing piece of their iPod-killer puzzle. Here's why.
If you're a bit of a power user, you can transfer movies from your PC to your PSP. Home movies, downloaded content, whatever. You can even rip your DVDs (quasi-legally), convert them to MP4 video and then copy them to a memory card. Instant entertainment (well, almost). The problem is that the steps and tools to do so are a bit intimidating for the average person. It's not drag and drop. You can't just pop a DVD into your PC and add it to your digital movie library like you would a music CD with iTunes. And Sony probably won't offer this option. But they should.
The difference between iPod and PSP is pretty clear. It's a little thing call DRM, or Digital Rights Management. iTunes lets you rip your CDs in a way that is non-threatening to the music industry because it uses DRM to protect their ownership. Think you own the songs in your music collection? Guess again. You own a license to use them within certain parameters. It's only a matter of time before they add a frickin' EULA.
The files you create with iTunes are not shareable except to the PCs and iPods you have licensed to play the music. There's a limit, and if you abuse it you'll get caught pretty easily. That's a pretty good deterrant for the average user to raise the Jolly Roger - but more importantly, it's really easy to take 10,000+ songs from your music collection with you wherever you go. "Grandma can do it" easy. That's why the iPod is such a hit. That and some really good marketing.
The last time I checked there wasn't an easy, legal way to do the same with your DVD collection. Maybe Sony will pony up a turnkey DVD to PSP solution. They've already released their $15 Image Converter 2 software to make movie conversion a little easier in Japan. Alas, there's no news of a U.S. release yet, though someone has rigged an English translation if you're brave. Anyway, you're better off right now with PSP Video 9, which is free. Combine it with Videora to automate BitTorrent file conversion.
All of this is reasonably cool, but it's hardly iTunes simplicity, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. Sony wants you to buy its UMD discs because it's easier for them to introduce a new movie format than solve the huge DRM puzzle and convince the movie studies to go along with it.
Another path to PSP entertainment nirvana might be digital video recorders, or PVRs. Sony has already announced that PSX recordings can be transferred to the PSP. That would be great if the PS2 game console/PVR hybrid were a mainstream device. And even if it does take off, there doesn't seem to be an immediate plan to bring it to the U.S. What we need is Tivo to support this. And Replay TV. And Media Center PCs. Then we'd be getting somewhere close to a killer app. True, PVRs still aren't really mainstream yet. But this would create some synergy and the symbiotic combination could be a catalyst that boosts adoption of both.
The simple truth is that Sony stands to make more money with an iPod-killer than with a UMD player. Someone in their ivory tower should realize this. Maybe it's an executive who's maneuvering pieces like a chess pro as he tries to maneuver the skittish movie studios into a lukewarm cauldron before slowly turning up the heat. Or possibly it's a mid-level flunkie who's screaming into a supply closet every night because his superiors won't listen to his big ideas. I'd like to think it's the former.
UMD, in fact, could be seen as Sony hedging its bets. They'll try to use this awkward new format to make some incremental income on movies and maybe sucker a handful of non-gamers into buying into the PSP as "the last portable media device you'll ever need." If DRM proves un-doable, they have another pile of chips on the table - albeit on a real long shot.
Bring down the price of memory sticks and enable drag-and-drop DVD and PVR for my PSP and I'll buy two - one for each eyeball. And so will a lot of people.
I mean, A LOT. Pretty much everyone. Even Grandma.
-=Gamewatcher
Now that you have your shiny new PlayStation Portable, you're going to want to try out its PC connectivity. What better way than to download and share game saves. PSP-Vault.com is the first on the block with PSP downloads, including utilities. The first save (for Wipeout Pure) was uploaded last week; watch for more to join it any minute now. Or upload your own...
BLOG: Killing iPods and eating crow - Sony is convinced UMD is the missing piece of their iPod-killer puzzle. The difference between iPod and PSP is pretty clear. It's a little thing call DRM, or Digital Rights Management.
[Read full Blog entry]
PSP first impressions
I picked up my PSP today from GameCrazy. Here are some quick impressions:
BLOG: PSP first impressions - The screen is GORGEOUS. It really is beautiful. Words can't describe it, but I'll try anyway. The whole face is like glassy onyx and the picture looks crisp and sleek. Dark scenes seem to emerge from the shadowy darkness like you'd see on a well-calibrated HDTV. All in all, it's very easy on the eyes. If it were a girl, you'd want to buy it a drink and ask for its star sign. And move in for the kiss at the end of the date.
[Read full Blog entry]
If you were hoping to pick up Soul Calibur III on anything but the PS2, you'll be disappointed. Due out by year's end, the game will offer up three new characters including, it's rumored, Dante from the Devil May Cry series. If none of the premade characters suit you, you'll be able to create your own. Hm, maybe you can make one that looks like Master Chief...
Bungie's revealed the deal with the Halo 2 bonus multiplayer maps. The first four will be released in late April on Xbox Live. Two (Containment and Warlock) will be free; the other two (Sanctuary and Turf) will cost $6. On June 28, Microsoft will release a $20 Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack at retail (the disc also includes bonus videos) and the additional five maps (to be named later) will be available for $12 on Xbox Live. By the end of summer, Bungie promises all of the maps will be free on Xbox Live... If totally free now content is more your speed, UbiSoft just released some for Ghost Recon 2. Login to Xbox Live to get three new modes (Double Siege, Co-op Hamburger Hill and Thief) and three new maps (Mountain Pass, Missile Site and night and day versions of Bonfire). There are even some new skins...
PSP goes to the movies
As promised, I watched the UMD version of Spider-Man 2 on my PSP, and here's my report. I was fully prepared to enjoy it and have it dazzle me since, after all, it's a movie disc designed specifically for one device. The sound was reasonably good though it wasn't surround sound and I was using the relatively cheap headphones supplied by Sony. But the picture, that's another story.
If someone rigs a way to hook a PSP to your living TV set (and I'm sure we'll be hearing about a hack to do just that by, I don't know, noon tomorrow?), I wouldn't expect the movies to look nearly as good as a DVD - particularly on an HD-capable screen. But on the portable it was made to play on, it should look great, right?
Yes and no. The PSP does have a gorgeous screen, but only if you keep it at arm's length. Up close, you'll get smacked in the face by the screen door.
Those of you who know your TVs are no doubt emitting a collective "Aha!" The rest of you are scratching your noggins. Allow me to explain.
Most of the pricier TV options (plasma, LCD, DLP) have one big problem: Viewed up close, you can see the grid of picture elements used to display your programs. Translated into non-geek speak, it's like a woman who wears a lot of makeup. Across a crowded room, she's a supermodel. Move in for a smooch and, well, you start to see the effect that all of those years of cosmetic abuse have had on her skin. You literally see a screen door mesh overlayed on your TV picture.
The trick is to sit back about 5-7 feet from your set. Then the mesh disappears and all you see is a great picture (assuming you have a great TV that's reasonably well calibrated). Or if you're at a party, "Hello beautiful!"
The same thing happens with the PSP. If you're sitting down playing a game, you're probably holding the device about 15-20 inches away from your face. The picture looks fantastic and, besides, things are happening on it that require all of your attention. When you're playing games you probably aren't studying any one part of the screen too closely. But try to replicate the widescreen cinema experience by moving the PSP within 10 inches of your face and you'll see an ugly mesh of disgusting dots. Blech.
The effect diminuishes during action scenes where your eyes are busy following everything that's going on. But slow things down for a quiet talking scene and your eyes will focus in on the underlying pixel-pushing technology. Let's just say that releasing My Dinner with Andre on UMD probably wouldn't be a good idea, even if Wallace Shawn does somehow develop a devoted following among handheld gamers.
True, the PSP has a huge screen for a gaming device. But it's not so big for a movie player - just about any DVD portable would kick its ass, and usually for less money. It'll have the screen door problem too, but thanks to the bigger screen you can hold it further away and still enjoy a bigger picture than the PSP up close.
Another flaw with UMD movies (apart from everything that I've already chronicled) is the lack of a zoom feature. Regardless of what you're watching, there are often times when the PSP's small screen just doesn't cut it in the detail department. You might want a close up of the action, whether it's to examine a small background element or some hottie who's going all girls gone wild.
I suspect this is due to the UMD movie discs' reduced resolution. If you were gambling millions of dollars on a cool new consumer electronics product, you probably wouldn't invest in a feature that shows off your biggest flaw. Just don't expect to be able to read any of the closing credits on your UMD movies. I know, everybody skips those anyway. But it just seems disrespectful for a movie studio to develop a video format that slights the hundreds of people who toiled away on a movie project for them.
Don't get me wrong, I still like my PSP and even harbor some hope that it'll go mainstream as a portable device for video content - if Sony ups the ante a bit.
But the screen door effect that its tiny screen emits is a pretty strong nail in its coffin as a serious platform for UMD movies. If the screen were a bit bigger, you could watch it from further away. But, at the end of the day, the device is a convenient size and not bad for watching TV shows and movies where convenience weighs higher than your investment in the media. (Well, after the price of memory sticks drops again.)
I'm sorry UMD, but I would expect a much better experience for a $12-20 movie title. Whereas if I already owned the movie on DVD and simply ripped a reduced quality copy to my PSP for on-the-go viewing, I'd be pretty happy. But who would spend money on a disc that's locked to a device with these kinds of playback flaws?
People with more money than sense.
-=Gamewatcher
p.s. - I blitzed a year's worth of iTunes data by moving my music files to an external hard drive, so I've been spending much of the weekend piecing back together as much of the ratings and song lists as I can. I finally had to spend $20 on a third-party app to recover most of this data from my iPod (where, fortunately, most of it had been sync'd). As I type this I'm about halfway through what looks to be a 12-hour copy operation. When it's all done, I suspect I might find that I screwed it up and have to do it again.
Thanks, Apple. So much for iPods being "Grandma easy." Still, even with this nasty little turn they're a damn sight more intuitive than PSPs for portable media - at this point.
BLOG: PSP goes to the movies - As promised, I watched the UMD version of Spider-Man 2 on my PSP. I was prepared to enjoy it and have it dazzle me since, after all, it's a movie disc designed specifically for one device. On the portable it was made to play on, it should look great, right? Yes and no. The PSP does have a beautiful screen, but only if you keep it at arm's length. Up close, you'll get smacked in the face by the screen door.
[Read full Blog entry]
A California court ordered Sony to pay $90 million in damages to a company called Immersion for patent infringement over the Dual Shock controllers. Part of the ruling calls for a halt to the sale of PS2s and 40 games, but the judge promptly agreed to allow sales pending final outcome of the lawsuit. So it's basically a non-story or, if you will, a great marketing ploy to ensure that anyone who wanted a PS2 and certain games (including the Grand Theft Auto series) picks them up sooner than later. Oh, if you're wondering why Microsoft's vibrating controllers aren't open to this legal scrutiny, the Xbox maker settled a similar suit two years ago for considerably less money. And Nintendo has its own patent for Rumble Pack technology...
Following what's quickly become the Microsoft formula for its Xbox releases, Conker: Live and Reloaded will include a bonus DVD for those who preorder. The disc includes a mockumentary entitled "Where Is He Now" about the foul-mouthed rodent star. There's also soundtrack music, video strategy guides and clips from the game. The really goods news is the DVD is available now when you place your order at participating retailers, though the game itself won't ship before June...
True story: A Shanghai gamer stabbed a friend to death with a real knife after learning he had sold an in-game dragon sword that he had loaned him for an online game called Legend of Mir 3. The Chinese virtual property owner tried to exact justice but when the police ignored the case, he demanded the cash (about $870) from his pal. He attacked and stabbed his friend when he didn't turn over the money, which is apparently close to a an average year's salary there...
PC gamers having problems playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory will be glad to know there's already a patch. v1.01 improves LAN-play and reduces crashing bugs. Get it from splintercell.com...
Tomorrow is April Fool's Day. Be wary of anything you hear, read or see in the next 24 hours. You've been warned...
This page contains all entries posted to Busy Gamer News in March 2005. They are listed from oldest to newest.
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