Hey all. My kids birthday is this weekend so while I'm busy with their party and what not I'm not going to be posting. I would like to tell you a couple of tidbits though:
1. Go buy The Darkness NOW!
2. The Rainbow Six Black Pack DLC is now available for FREE!
3. Go see Transformers MONDAY (if it's in your area)!
4. I need to stop ending sentences in caps and with exclamation POINTS!
That is all...have a nice weekend
Here's a video that was posted on IGN interviewing Neversoft about Guitar Hero III:
Rock and F'n roll!!
Nothing...nothing really noteworthy going on in the video game world. Do you know why? Everyone is holding their secrets close to their chest because the new E3 is next month. I hate this time of year...
What do you think will be at E3?
BTW I'm working on chapter 3 of my book. It's going pretty well when I don't go off on tangents :)
Manhunt 2 has recieved an AO rating in the US. Nintendo and Sony have both said the game will not appear on their consoles unless the rating goes down. Take Two can appeal the decision. This is serious, if you doubt the seriousness, click the video.
He is not amused...
Start the timer, I think we've found the next Jack Thompson soapbox topic (actually I think this has been in his sights for a while, this just adds more fuel to it).
Manhunt 2 has been banned by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) due to the game being rated AO, or Adults Only, due to what they call "An unrelenting focus on sadism and brutal slaying". As of right now this affects Britain, but other European countries may follow suit such as Germany (who bans anything with violence and Nazis) and Austrailia (which originally was a penal colony, pretty much). But what does that mean for Take Two, Rockstar and gamers? Remember the last "AO" bruhaha?
Hot Coffee. Those two words ignited a fire under the asses of politicians and parents the likes of which have never been seen in the gaming world since the days of Doom and Mortal Kombat. For the two people that think "Hot Coffee" refers to a McDonalds lawsuit, allow me to bring you up to speed...
Hot Coffee was a mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (rated "M" by the way) that after your character went on a date with one of his women they would invite you in for some "Hot Coffee", if the date went well enough (you actually had to build up a relationship with them, the hookers were for random sex after all). This was a feature that was actually cut from the final game so when the topic of "Hot Coffee" came up in the game all you heard were the sounds, no visual of blocky people doing the Hump de Bump (in an "M" rated game, for people 18 and over. Let's not forget that).
However, Rockstar left the actual code in the game for HC, they just put "walls" up to block the content from seeing the light of day. Once hackers and code monkeys started ripping apart the game after release they found the code. In order to play it on the PS2 and Xbox I believe you needed either a modded system or a Gameshark but on the PC it was a whole lot simpler to access the mature content, still in an "M" rated game. The visuals weren't impressive by an means, but god forbid you see simulated sex acts in a game filled with guns, hookers, drugs and other criminal (and dare I say it, adult) acivities.
Parents, politicians, the Amish, family pets; everyone seemed to try to get on the HC bandwagon. Hillary Clinton was one of the most vocal people in this crusade against keeping GTA out of the hands of "young people". Read that again: young people. IT'S A MATURE RATED GAME! I am totally in agreement with kids not being able to play it, but the game isn't marketed towards kids. Games aren't just for kids anymore lady, they've grown up. By the way, wasn't it not too long ago that you could put on pretty much any channel and hear about your husband getting some "Presidential Treatment" in the Oval Office any time of day? At a time when children might be home? While people are eating dinner? Why don't you worry about satisfying the Leader of the Free World's needs and leave the parenting to the parents. K, thanks.
Of course Jack Thompson was all over this like cheese on a cracker but he is always crusading against games and Take Two always seems to be his favorite target. JT actually had a "secret meeting" with the CEO of Take Two not too long ago (I can't link to the article because I'm on my Q. I'll link it later). You can find all of the JT information you ever wanted to know on Wikipedia and gamepolitics.com
The end result of the HC fiasco was the game getting the Adult's Only rating (basically the XXX of the game industry) and the game getting pulled from shelves and re-editied to recieve the more socially acceptable "M" rating it originally had.
What I can never understand is what makes the gaming industry more of a target than the film and industry? Some of the daytime soaps feature some pretty hot and heavy stuff and air at a time when kids may be home. As far as film goes, I've seen more nudity in some PG-13 movies than in some R rated movies. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't PG-13 mean "13 and over"? Some of the conversations can make me a little uncomfortable sometimes but, as long as your over 13, it's fine. And people wonder why 13 year olds are getting pregnant. And what about movies like Saw and Hostel? I can't even watch Hostel without my stomach turning. Why are these forms of entertainment more socially acceptable than gaming?
Ok enough with the history lesson, what does the mean for Manhunt 2?
First and foremost, the game has just recieved a HUGE amount of free publicity. People that didn't know the game even existed (or coming out for the Wii, a system that needs some edgier games) now know about it.
Secondly, the game now has a huge target on it's back. Out of those people that have just found out about Manhunt 2 (and that it's coming out on the Wii, a system percieved for women, children and the elderly) is sure to send about half of those people off the deep end.
The original Manhunt was basically an interactive snuff film. As a convicted criminal you are chosen the be filmed and see if you survive. It was a fun, but flawed, game that relied more on the grisly violence than the actual story. Manhunt 2 is a story of survival. As a doctor in a mental hospital you have to fight for your life after something goes horribly wrong and figure out what happened.
Why wasn't the first one banned? That one featured more of a criminal element than the new one does and the new one seems to have more story and an actual reason to kill.
But there will be an uproar I'm sure. I don't think the game will be banned here in the states, but I'm sure people like JT, Hillary Clinton and others will start a crusade to "protect our children". There is one thing that they still don't realize...
Videogames are not just for kids!
Most of us are part of the "Nintendo Generation". We grew up with games and, in turn, they grew up with us. While we may still play games like Paper Mario and other "family" type games, sometimes we want something a little more "raw" so to speak. So games, like most forms of entertainment, evolved. So why do we "mature" gamers have to suffer?
As a parent, I actually put a majority of the blame on parents. I play games with my twins, monitor how long and what they play and talk to them if they see something they don't like. For example, I was playing Prince of Persia Classic the other day and Tori didn't like the sound of the blades coming down. She didn't mind the game in general (I told her that the prince was like Aladdin, the princess looks like Jasmin and the vizier's actual name is Jaffar so it works) and she would be happy when I passed them.
Both my girls like racing games, especially Burnout, but hate when I have a big crash because they were in a car accident with my mother and the car actually flipped over and landed on it wheels. So they get a little nervous but I explain that it's just a game.
The bottom line is it's important to play with your kids and monitor what they are playing when your not with them. Let them play different types of games based on the child's maturity, not the rating on the box. Just like kids shouldn't be allowed to play games like GTA there are some immature (and sometimes unstable) older kids that shouldn't be allowed to play them either. Politicians and other law makers should leave monitoring what a child plays to the actual parents. I'm sure there are bigger things for the government to worry about. I think I heard something about a stupid war going on...why don't they worry about bringing our troops home safe instead.
Team Xbox is reporting that the Halo 3 achievements have been leaked. Check em out!
Team Xbox has broken the story that the upcoming Tomb Raider: Anniversary (seemingly coming soon to every platform EXCEPT the 360) will actually be available to 360 owners as episodic content. Episodes one and two will be available in September with the other following shortly after. Interestingly enough, the full version of the game will be available as a retail release after all of the episodes come out as DLC. It'll cost 2400 points which rounds out to about $30.00.
10pm EST tonight is the Robot chicken: Star Wars special. Watch it Beeyotches! Here's a sneak peak:
From a place where no one has really heard anything the Project Sylpheed has arrived. I'm downloading it as we speak so I will post some impressions of it later.
**UPDATE**
Not holding my interest...
After I started downloading PS I started to browse to see if there was anything else up there. Apparently the Splinter Cell: Conviction trailer snuck it's way up there too! I will also post my thoughts on that after it is downloaded.
**UPDATE**
Conviction looks crazy! It seems to resememble Assassin's Creed in the "Stealth in an open area" theme. Sam (who has a full head of hair now) flips table over, punched cops and generally fights really dirty now. The trailer was all in-game footage and looks fantastic. And remember kids: It's exclusive to the 360!
An autoupdate is coming out tomorrow that adds some new achievements to Gears of War. The Achievements are in relation to the Annex game type and the Hidden Fronts map pack (800 pts in the Marketplace). Also in the AU is some improvements to the handling during the Roadie Run and some other tweaks and fixes.
Guess what's coming to the 360 and PS3:
Hopefully there is Live play. Oh, and Ivy looks even hotter than before!
I don't even need to say anything about this video, just watch it and know this chick will own you:
Wow, 100 posts. I've been waiting to post this until I found something either funny or some big game news. The biggest thing going on right now is the end of the Halo beta, so I decided to go with the funny. One of the guys on my friends list, Strider Hirryu , sent me this link for a video that shows just how far Microsoft's Ban Hammer reaches. If your watching this at work be carful, there is a very questionable person starring in the video. Enjoy at your own risk!
Here's to another 100!
I've been following this game for a while and had no idea a demo was being worked on.
The Overlord demo hit the marketplace this morning (along with a sweet new Kane and Lynch trailer) and the game offers a new twist on the RPG formula: You're the evil villian trying to take over a peaceful land. Dungeon Keeper had this to an extent (along with the Tecmo's Deception series) in trapping innocent people or heroes in a dungeon and trying to kill them, but never on the "take over the countryside" scale.
And if your minions don't listen to you, you can torture them. Good family fun!
Wow, 3 big demos just dropped on the marketplace: Tenchu Z, Vampire Rain and, most importantly, Shadowrun (for those who were on the fence about it). Fire up those hard drives and start downloading!
I have seen the future and...it looks lsightly different. Two new Guitar Hero 3 videos have been leaked and I bring them to you now. Watch em quick, they'll probably be pulled soon (a few other links to it were):
Slow Ride by Foghat
My Name is Jonas by Weezer
And a little humor for all of you out there :)
I've just been very sick and actually been making some progress on the book. updates forthcoming.
