Galactic Civilization II: Twilight of the arnor invading digitally April 30th

Galactic Civilization II: Twilight of the Arnor invading digitally April 30

Further proof that the retail industry can be skirted entirely for the digital distribution highway have been confirmed yet again. Galactic civilization 2 has finished and is published it last installement in the 3 part saga, titled “Twighlight of the Arnor”.

The expansion offers a retooling of the core gameplay, with additions to the tech tree’s for the twelve key space fareing races.

It goes live for digital download April 30th.

Home is Homeless

Home is Homeless

Well one of my reasons for considering a Playstation 3 just went out the door to go party in the lands of vapor ware. The closed Beta will be extended through summer and an open beta will launch this fall. I can remember when several months ago all the rage among anyone involved in Sony Sales was trumpeting Home and with good reason. If all goes well it would be akin to a sort of second life meets the Sims concoction that could have some people switching over or picking up the console based off of Home, alone.

However, the basic concept if it is indeed just a second life for console experience, seems to go in the wrong direction. Being able to pause my game and quickly check my gamerscore, achievements, messages and friends is a rather speedy process. It has to be when all a gamer wants is a simple yes or no as to who is online, what must he do to increase his gamerscore and weather or not his inbox has invites.

Hopefully this fall we get some answers about things like interface and in game use.. For now we sleep soundly knowing that all the time spent on development has produced an unfocused mess according to Sony Entertainments Presidents.


"We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but... we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today,"

Move over Duke Nukem, drop dead daikatana, there’s a new sheriff In town. He’s promising to make Live his bitch.

Gears of War 2 footage to be shown via Spike TV...wtf's abound

Spike TV’s Gametrailers TV, has secured the rights to air the very first footage of the Gears of War 2. Gears of War was an epic game but most would agree it was created to be a stand in until Halo 3 arrived. Though no one can deny it had a more intelligent method of gameplay involved then most First Person Shooters.

But the game is still very impressive and likely to sell extreamly well. If the hype and trailers are good (pinning everything on a demo), then sales could fall within the CoD4 – Halo 3 range, with the top dog presumably being the impossibly high yet presumptive GTA4 sales figures.

Game Trailers TV host Geoff Keighley said something that sounded as credible as saying the world is flat or that the earth is the center of the universe. “At Spike we are committed to delivering the biggest blockbuster videogame exclusives every week”.

Alright so the network that had Telia Tequila host a gamers event that was more about half naked girls then creativity, sales or any level of evaluation that matters, is committed to games, gaming and the blockbuster video games it somehow fails to see with its stereotypical lenses of ignorance and greed.

Portal was a wonderful game when the awards show Spike hosted was making evaluations on who to nominate and award what prize for w/e category. It’s still a good game even now. This didn’t matter however to Spike since it wasn’t part of some long running established series. These same people probably don’t understand why a HALO 3 either A) wouldn’t make sense or B), be in poor taste.

Spike: HALO 4 = $$$ = rateing if we show it on our channel = $$$ for execs at the top.

So while you’d think they’d care about capitalizing and marketing the shit out of said special event i.e the exclusive footage. They pull a move that would have Red Foreman screaming dumbass and threating steel toed boots up someone’s hind parts by airing the footage at 1AM EST?PST slot on May 9th.

I mean if we are all pimply headed teens who have nothing better to do then look at porn (thus loving girls covered gamer icons), and play video games. How exactly are we going to watch this at 1AM ?

The College kids in Game Trailers 13-24 demographic will no doubt be huddled around a large plasmas or sitting alone in their dorms studying for tests or too drunk to comphrend the images splashing across the screen (assuming they haven’t passed out).

While the last two paragraphs are filled with the stereotypical assumptions of tv executives and more then a few ignorant politicians, it goes without saying that this “exclusive”, footage will presumably appear on Xbox Live and GameTrailers.com (not to be confused with Spikes crudely contrived creation). I think I’ll get some sleep knowing I can watch the Gears of war 2 trailer at my leasure after I’m well rested enough to better appreciate its glory.

Prince Of Persia...is a prodigy ?

Anyone who’s enjoyed the prince of Persia series will now have a clue as to what the title for the next game in the series. And the winner is, “Prodigy”.

The creater/publisher Ubisoft has recently trademarked the title, “Prince of Persia Prodigy”, in relation to video game software.

Ubisoft announced in January that a new Prince of Persia game was in development. However to really get a handle on the situation we’ll have to wait till Ubisoft either confirms or denies at an upcoming San Francisco this May.

UK Authorities Yank "shocking " Kane and Lynch Ads

To paraphrase brother Cavil on Battle Star Galactica, "You know what really chaps my ass?". That quote could continue you on with the bit about manipulation just short of tyranny but I think either or would do just fine in this case. Censorship is what chaps my ass and its because it tyrannical manipulation of the media.

Sure you expect some level of censorship and grudgingly tolerate it, but here in America we are rather used to being able to express ourselves in a million different ways because freedom of speech is freedom of expression, weather it be through art,politics, or just telling someone higher up, to go fuck themselves. So you can imagine my reaction to Britain's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), forcing Eidos Interactive to pull some *shocking*, ads out of magazines and off television.




First it was confusion that Kane and Lynch was apparently still such a big deal in Europe. I mean we in the States have since moved onto bigger and better things...a couple of them at least. We've been in salivating mode for the past 2 months over the upcoming release of the far more controversial Grand Theft Auto's latest installment.

Besides the fact the game is old news and being censored by a country who's freedom of expression isn't clearly defined or even protected, that nations game industry and design schools also lag behind. It was the details of the ASA's case against the ads that caused me to do a double take.

Excerpt's from Briton's Guardians newspaper:

The ad was used a double-page spread in Future Publishing’s computer game magazine Edge, while a second version appeared in the magazine Total Film…

Ruling on the Kane & Lynch poster… the ASA said it was “likely to be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence”, and was also irresponsible and “likely to cause serious or widespread offence”

We noted that the demographic profile of the magazines that carried the ads was predominantly adult males and that only a small number of children were likely to have seen the ads.

We considered, however, that the graphic and shocking image, which would be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence, was likely to cause distress to some readers and was unsuitable for children to see. We therefore concluded that the placement of the ads was irresponsible.

Now while the girl in the ad may be tied up, its not suggesting anything particular is going to happen. I mean the Game came out in November of 07 and had lackluster reviews and a just ok storyline. Sure one of your buddies gets black outs that result in several people be dead or maimed for life when he comes to, and yes Cops and inoccent bystanders get shot up. But I don't for a second assume the game is telling me to go kill someone just as I don't assume Harry Potter is telling me to practice magic or attempt to go airborne via broom out my second story window.

Of the hundreds of thousands of gamers in the UK and a total population of over 60 million, only 26 felt so shocked by the ad so as to file a complaint. If anything I'm assuming they probably belong to the same demographic that makes up people who join groups with "values","Concerned" and "Parents", in the name and then proceed to pass laws against something they don't understand. Which is an odd little repeat of history considering they belong to the generation of rock & roll and drug induced hippie flower power.

We just want to play our video games for a an hour or two (or 5), a day to relieve stress,explore a story or just enjoy ourselves and those around us. But with no real evidence other then 26 annonymous complaints of either shock or distate, the ASA believes these *controverial*, Kane and Lynch ads are "likely to cause widespread offence"

Censorship of idea's often has the opposite intended effect. When freedom of expression is curtailed, we see people being limited and ideas not being tried out for fear of some dystopian government imposing its moral standards upon we the people. Sales for a game thats largely fallen off the charts and out of the news in the US, could see a slight spike in the UK, though UK gamers have probably already had their jollies with the game and decided it was only mediocre at best.

I wonder if Jack Thompson has european relatives.

Sourecs: CIA world factbook
GamePolitics.com

SAT prep for the DS.

As anyone who's studied for the SAT knows, its a necessary ill in life that lends itself to mind numbingly long hours of studying extended over several months to ensure weather or not your life is blessed with a good ivy league college education or that safety school you applied for *just as precaution*. With the slew of brain related games for the DS and a few for PSP, its a little surprising no one else has tried to create an SAT prep game until now.

Aspyr Media (makes games for the mac plateform), and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, have teamed up to produce a game that will help students study for the SAT through the Nintendo DS.

While Details are hard to come by, it will be out later this year on the PC and Mac Platforms alongside the Nintendo DS version.

Source: GameLife

Upon a trip to Costco

I realised something walking into Costco in its last 45min before closing. I hate things. Like Cartmen and his theme park, I dislike lines. When it comes to the piss poor selection of video games that makes Wal-mart look like a f'n mall in comparison, I found myself confronting yet another deep simmering distaste. The distaste for bundles.

In a effect, a bundled video game system usually is an attempt by hardware manufacturers to sell more units by selling said units with what the company perceives to be the best possible game. What could go wrong ?

Starting with the premise of the age old tradition that goes as far back as duck hunt and the NES (or the more recent and far less fun Star Wars PlayStation Portable bundle), we find ourselves confronting the sheer morality of it. Do we as individuals let a company bundle a game system with a predetermined game and pay an increased amount even if we couldn't give two fucks about the said game. Maybe I want to play Brain Age or beat myself stupid with some puzzle based trifecta from hell. Really its about having the decision to do so.

The fact that we could go into a GameCrazy, Target or other retail chain and just buy a DS or PSP or some other platform, by itself and then choose where to spend what could well be no more then 10-20 bucks on our first game is an empowering fact gamers appreciate. If you don't think Bundles are a negative then need I remind you of Pokemon Snap Nintendo 64 bundle ?

We've all seen bundles that have either made or broken a company's attempt to sell us a game system. Costco aside from lacking in intelligent reading material (Liberal Fascist was piled high in the book section), or Intel based computers, threw the Zelda Bundle at you for 172 dollars. Since there weren't any DS's being sold by themselves in the otherwise massive retail store, the PlayStation Portable could well have looked competitive, what with the Renascence its been enjoying.

Leaving Costco stewing over the philosophical implications of Bundles, I realised something else. I dislike 95% of the people that shop at Costco.