Busy Gamer News

Wow, I've been punk'd by Sony. After all of my bitching about the quality of UMD movies, Sony announced today that they're releasing a clip-on ultrathin DVD player for your PlayStation Portable. Priced at $89.99, the DVD into PSP (DiP) lacks its own screen and, alas, won't connect to your TV set. (Bet someone hacks a way to do this in about 10 minutes!) But, thanks to the PSP's USB hookup, it will permit you to watch your DVD collection on the go. For people like me with nearly 1,000 DVD titles, this is a dream come true. And as a bonus, the DiP supports music CDs plus burned discs containing MP3s and, naturally, Sony's own ATRAC3 files. Guess someone at Sony realized UMD was a bad bet and decided to support a non-proprietary alternative...

[See related Blog entry]

April showers bring pranks and dead pixels

Check the date - it's April Fool's Day. C'mon, "punk'd" and "DiP"? The clues were there.

For the five of you still scratching your heads, there is no DVD into PSP.

Though I have to say, why the hell not?

I mean, there's a USB 2.0 connector sitting right on top of the PSP, minding its own business and not doing anything. Most people won't even use it. And there are ultrathin DVD players dropping in price everyday. Subtract the screen (since the PSP has one) and you could create a sub-$100 peripheral that would help drive sales of this portable gaming platform. It plays games, it plays music files, it plays movie files, it plays DVDs. It even plays some formats like UMD and ATRAC that nobody but Sony wants or needs.

I have to admit the honeymoon has worn off on the PSP just a little bit. I absolutely refuse to pay MSRP for the overpriced Memory Stick Duos, so that really limits my ability to enjoy services like Videora. And until today I only had two PSP games, and they're competing with Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater on the PS2 and now Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory on the Xbox.

After a weeklong quest, I finally tracked down a copy of Lumines. From what I've heard, this is the PSP game to own - and good luck finding it. I hope to log a little time with it this weekend, if I can wrestle it away from GrrlGotGame. She absolutely loves Tetris and puzzle games, and this is right up her alley.

I've also heard a lot of whining about dead pixels on the PSP screen. I have one that's stuck, right smack dab in the middle of my screen. And I could care less.

When I bought a 42-inch rear-projection LCD TV a little over a year ago, I located and fixated on a stuck pixel almost immediately. I'd been reading all of the video forums and hearing all of the whining (mostly from plasma owners) that stuck pixels were a huge downside to LCDs. And that TV was a significant investment (10x the price of a PSP). The more I stared at the stuck pixel, the more pissed off I got. But I eventually started actually watching the programs on it instead of staring at a single spot on the screen and, you know what? I haven't seen it more than a year. It's like it isn't there.

Sony's advice, for once, is right on the money: Hang onto your PSP and play it for a week or so. If it still bothers you, call 'em on it. If you have a cluster of dead or stuck pixels that are close together, get a replacement. Otherwise, you're probably fine and will have years of pleasant gaming ahead.

-=Gamewatcher

Here's a roundup of April Fool's Day game-related pranks (none of these are true!):

• Blizzard, taking a shot at EverQuest II's ties to Pizza Hut, announces a World of Warcraft Chinese takeout delivery service
  
• Bungie agrees to port the Chiron map to Halo 2, but funds the job with Mountain Dew money
  
• Half-Life 2 honcho Gabe Newell quits to tour with a folk rock act while Valve offers a Counter-Strike: Source patch that greatly enhances realism
  
• Apple declares war on Nintendo and Sony with the gPod, a gaming version of the iPod
  
• Unreal III: Slug Saga - The Adventures of Ne'ban promises to examine the shady past of a parasite inside the giant slug-like alien from Unreal II
  
• Imps take over Quakecon.org - hostilely, of course
  
• Disgruntled ex-Rockstar employees leak the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to the Internet
  
• Microsoft announces a massively multiplayer online word processor, World of Wordcraft
  
• Nintendo offers Duckhunt and Hogan's Alley ports for the DS that include a gun-shaped stylus
  
• EA reveals a sports and hip-hop reimagining of World War II, Medal of Honor Street

In an interesting twist, THQ is asking its Web visitors which bonus item they'd most like as a premium for buying Destroy All Humans. The choices include DVD movies (Independence Day or Plan 9 from Outer Space), a poster, a t-shirt, a soundtrack album or a making of DVD. If the numbers hold, it's going to be ID4. Make your voice heard at thq.com...

The v1.0 update for the PC version of Star Wars: Republic Commando features Hanger, a bonus multiplayer map that provides players with multiple pathways including a zero gravity section. Best of all, it's only about 3MB at support.lucasarts.com/patches/commando.htm...

The Doom 3 Collector's Edition for Xbox includes both Ultimate Doom and Doom II. But how do you enter IDKFA for these classic games without a keyboard? Don't worry, the codes are there. For God mode, hold the Left Trigger and tap A four times. Reveal the full map with Left Trigger and four Y pushes. Get very happy with all weapons and ammo using the Left Trigger and four B button presses. No word yet on any actual Doom 3 cheats...

The new Call of Duty Deluxe Edition for PC includes Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition and the Call of Duty: United Offensive expansion pack, plus a soundtrack and strategy guides for $39.99. Not a bad deal if you're catching up on the World War II shooter craze...

The next big viral marketing campaign from Microsoft hopes to replicate the I Love Bees phenomenon for the Xbox360 - word is it's timed to peak on or near the big unveiling party in May, just before E3. OurColony.net is the online entry point for this series of challenges. Teams compete to unravel clues and are awarded points toward some yet unknown victory goal. Gamestay.com has a team; enter "play" on the home page and join team 94415580. Be prepared to try dozens of times to register since apparently Gamem8ker didn't order enough servers to handle demand...

Director Francis Ford Coppola told off Paramount Pictures on the AMC show Sunday Morning Shootout for selling out The Godfather. The haughty auteur denounced an early build of the EA game adaptation. Though it includes the voicework of pedigree actors (Brando, Caan and Duvall), the game apparently sacrifices story and character development: Lots of shooting, not so much with the talking. Not that this is shocking to anyone who's played a videogame adapation of a movie. Or most any game for that matter. Word is that EA execs are on their first-ever horse head alert...

Microsoft still hasn't given up the specs for the Xbox360 but it did name the time and place it'll do so: 9:30 p.m. Eastern May 12 on MTV. The 30-minute unveiling special will be hosted by head hobbit Elijah Wood... Microsoft also revealed it expects to release new games for the first-gen Xbox hardware until 2007, suggesting backward compatibility made the final feature list for its next-gen console... Small details about the next Xbox system are leaking out via the OurColony game; you can still join Gamestay on the quest for answers with the team password 94415580. If you're wondering how it works: Points are awarded for each team member added, with bonus points if they represent a new country. Daily puzzles (and submission of new ones!) lead to even more points. It's not clear what the payoff will be, but the countdown timer does point to the MTV launch special...

If you're the kind to try before you buy, there are a pair of hot new demos you should download. Project Snowblind promises to tide us over for a bit while we wait for news of Halo 3; get shooting at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=6687. And Psychonauts is the surreal platformer that Microsoft ditched; see how good it is for yourself at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=6682. Both games are PC, PS2 and Xbox but the demos are for the PC, naturally...

Reports floating around the 'Net suggest Half-Life 2 for Xbox will feature fast load times and improved lighting but no multiplayer. That's right - no LAN, no Xbox Live, not even the deathmatch mode now available for the PC version. Speaking of which, PC gamers can look forward to the Aftermath expansion pack, which picks up where Half-Life 2 left off and promises to offer you more time with Alyx. Both are due for summer release...

Using Half-Life 2 and an add-on called Garry's Mod, a writer has published the new Web comic APOSTASY. Read the first issue at brashfink.blogspot.com...

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 for PC has been cancelled, but all of the major console versions are available. UbiSoft explained that it needed to pull resources from the PC port to ensure the quality of Ghost Recon 3 for all platforms (including PC) this winter. However, they still managed to wrangle enough devs to put together a Ghost Recon 2 MultiMission expansion for Xbox. Due this summer, it promises 11 single-player missions set in Kazakhstan and 16 multiplayer maps...

Access Xbox Live with Halo 2 to get a new autoupdate that rebalances multiplayer weapons. Melee attacks, for one, are much more effective to help counter dual wielders. The Brute Shot in particular has been amped in deference to the large blade hanging off of it. Combine this with a jumping attack for a single-strike kill. Also, fuse times are shorter on grenades and they'll emit more powerful blasts. And the power of the Magnum (for non-head shots) and the combination of the SMG and Plasma Rifle are lessened slightly, giving single-weapon wielders an opening...

Two heart-stopping bits of news today. In a further consolidation of game stores, Gamestop (which absorbed Software Etc a few years back) is now swallowing up Electronics Boutique. This will greatly limit game buyers' choices in most cities, with competition mostly coming from electronics, toy and department stores... Gamers will miss out on the next chapter in the Oddworld Inhabitants realm. Despite a compelling track record, founder Lorne Lanning is hanging up his gaming spurs and moving his company into TV and movies. Might there be a Pixar-quality film set in the Oddworld universe on the horizon? We can only hope...

Still on the fence about the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP? Here are some titles in the works for each. The DS promises Advance Wars, Bomberman DS, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, The Incredibles 2, King Kong, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime: Hunters, two Need for Speed games, Pac 'n Roll, Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Star Wars, The Sims 2, and a massively multiplayer wireless version of Animal Crossing. The PSP will have Batman Begins, Bloodrayne, a Daxter PSP spin-off game (from the Jak & Daxter series), Dead to Rights: Reckoning, Death Jr., The Godfather, Gran Turismo 4, Grand Theft Auto, The Incredibles 2, King Kong, Midnight Club 3, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Pac-Man World 3, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Star Wars, The Sims 2 and Splinter Cell. A ton of overlap and, no doubt, a few surprise announcements for each are due at E3...

Building on the original, Full Spectrum Warrior 2 includes more squads and smarter enemies. You still won't be taking over and shooting for your soldiers; the game keeps to its chess-like strategy roots as an Army training tool. But you will get to control sniper and Humvee squads and face smarter foes who aren's as scripted, patrol specific areas and respawn until you destroy their egress point. You'll also have a combat effectiveness rating that affects a squad's performance. You can divide squads into buddy teams and even send a single soldier to retrieve a wounded comrade. Multiplayer will include an adversarial mode as well as cooperative play via system link or Xbox Live...

Clever hackers have figured out that Wipeout Pure on the PSP includes a rudimentary Web browser. If you know what you're doing, you can change your wireless network's host data to redirect the game's Downloads page to an Internet address that you specify - or simply update your PSP's wireless settings to use this DNS server, courtesy of gamer Jonathan Terleski: 67.171.70.72. The only reason it won't work is if your wireless network ignores your DNS settings and uses its own. Rumor has it that Sony is working on an official full-featured PSP Web browser plus mobile phone functionality - but this works pretty well and it's bound to impress your non-gamer friends. If you're really devoted, you can use your PSP to control your home; details at psphacks.blogspot.com...

While Blizzard is banning people who farm virtual property and sell it outside of the game, Sony is turning it into a revenue stream. The EverQuest II Station Exchange, due to launch in late June, will let players auction in-game items for real cash, less a service change to Sony. Initially, only new game servers will offer Station Exchange capabilities and players can opt to move to one of those worlds or not. Supposedly each community will determine whether their server is "upgraded" to Station Exchange or left to play out without these cash for advancement trades...

It's a big day for shooter fans. First, run (do not walk) to get your two free maps for Halo 2. If those aren't enough, you can shell out $6 for the Killtacular Premium Map Pack - but they'll be free eventually if you're patient. Ghost Recon 2 fans also get some more love from UbiSoft in the form of a third free Tactical Pack, which contains alternative versions of popular maps Flooded Bunkers, Dam Pumping Station and Dam River Crossing - plus some skins...

If the rumors are true, the Xbox360 will launch this fall with 15-20 games, wireless controllers and an optional hard drive. Likely launch titles include Perfect Dark Zero, Ninja Gaiden 2, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Splinter Cell 4, Burnout Revenge, Project Gotham Racing 3, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivian and Fuzion Frenzy 2. The 40GB hard drive is rumored to be necessary for Xbox backward compatability and, to seal the deal, something akin to a Halo 2 Director's Cut (aka Halo 2.5). We'll know more for certain in a couple weeks...

Nintendo has been extremely tight-lipped about its next-gen console, but a few interesting rumors have surfaced. If they hold up, the Nintendo Revolution will live up to its name. First, there's the suggestion that traditional controllers will be replaced with touchscreen pads, allowing gamemakers to customize the inputs for every game. This has pluses and minuses: A touchscreen with no buttons doesn't lend itself to twitch games, though it can be really innovative in other genres. We're predicting a hybrid approach, with some buttons you can feel and others that evolve on the screen. Another rumor indicates the controllers will be gyroscopic, permitting certain games to react when players tilt them. The other big reputed feature is the way you view the games: in stereoscopic 3D. This suggests a headset or projector might be needed to vive la Revolution...

The movie adaptation of Silent Hill shows promise with Brotherhood of the Wolf's Christophe Gans directing, Pulp Fiction scribe Roger Avary's penmanship and a quirky cast that includes Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean and Deborah Kara Unger. The story seems to be a prequel to the survival horror series with Rose (Mitchell) taking her daughter to a faith healer in the eerie and overly foggy town that many gamers have come to both love and loathe...

A global Halo 2 tournament starts Monday, so you might want to spend the weekend practicing. Register at gamestop.com and then play Rumble Pit optimatch sessions on Xbox Live between May 2 and May 30. The U.S. winner will take home $500 and other prizes and then compete against the highest rankers from other countries for $1500, the title of Halo 2 World Champion, a gold Halo 2 disc and a 50-inch DLP TV...